Tackle climate change now, top scientists urge world leaders

October 7th, 2009 BANGKOK - "When I have only one pair of shoes, it makes sense to stay with that pair." With these words, UN climate chief Yvo de Boer Wednesday came out clearly in favour of retaining the Kyoto Protocol to tackle global warming, despite strong efforts by many industrialised countries to dump it. The issue has become the main point of contention in the Sep 28-Oct 9 talks here in preparation for the climate summit in Copenhagen this December.

October 6th, 2009 BANGKOK - Rich countries have been framing the climate debate to suit themselves rather than looking at the way global warming affects most of the world, which is why a global treaty is proving elusive, India's top climate negotiator said here Tuesday. "They don't talk about equity, they only talk of how to protect their lifestyles," the Prime Minister's Special Envoy on Climate Change Shyam Saran told a group of Indian NGO representatives.

September 26th, 2009 PITTSBURGH - The G20 leaders have closed their summit here without the industrialised countries following through on their pledge to provide financial and technological assistance to help developing countries limit their greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change, an umbrella group of NGOs said here Friday night. Hours after the G20 summit closed, Alden Meyer, director of strategy and policy at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said: "Overall, the Pittsburgh G20 summit represents a missed opportunity to move the ball forward on climate change.

September 23rd, 2009 Obama pleads for harder work on climate changeUNITED NATIONS — President Barack Obama has implored world leaders to confront climate change, saying there can be no peace without cooperative work to preserve the planet. Appearing before global leaders gathered at the United Nations, Obama said Wednesday that "the danger posed by climate change cannot be denied — and our responsibility to meet it must not be deferred." The president said "this is why the days when America dragged its feet on this issue are over." He said he understood the tempation of nations to put economic recovery from recession ahead of climate change work, but said that must not be allowed to happen.

September 23rd, 2009 NEW YORK - Former US President Bill Clinton has described Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd as one of the world's smartest leaders. Clinton, who was introducing Rudd as a panellist, along with Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, in the opening session of the four-day climate change conference to discuss key global issues, said: "In my opinion, he is one of the most well-informed, well-read, intelligent leaders in the world today." According to The Times,he also praised Rudd for his government's recognition of the need to take urgent action on climate change and for its advocacy of the Group of 20 major economies as a preferred vehicle than the smaller G-8 to deal with issues such as the global financial crisis and climate change.

September 22nd, 2009 NEW YORK - The US and China committed to tackling their greenhouse-gas emissions blamed for global warming and asked each other to do more to halt the rise in global temperatures, at the start of a one-day UN summit on climate change Tuesday. US President Barack Obama acknowledged his country has been slow to respond to the threat of climate change, but said: "This is a new day." "We understand the gravity of the climate threat.

September 16th, 2009 LONDON - More than four million children could die unless world leaders deliver additional funds to help poor countries fight climate change, a report warned Wednesday. Rich countries must come up with additional funds for fighting climate change, rather than raid the money from existing aid promises, said the report by the international nongovernment organisation Oxfam.

September 15th, 2009 LONDON - Democratic freedoms will be in danger around the world unless governments step up immediate efforts to tackle climate change, according to a think tank based here. In an open letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Tuesday, the second International Day of Democracy, the Foundation for Democracy and Sustainable Development (FDSD) has warned of "formidable environmental and natural resource challenges just around the corner - and climate change is the biggest of them all".

August 24th, 2009 STOCKHOLM - Participants at the World Water Week conference here have urged the governments to include the problem of water shortage in the negotiations on climate change. Access to drinking water has a significant impact on economy, health, agriculture and other spheres of life, they said.

August 1st, 2009 NEW DELHI - Nine new varieties of heat resistant wheat have been developed by Indian scientists to fight the impact of climate change in the country. Indian Council of Agricultural Research reports that introduction of this hybrid variety of wheat will contribute to a large extent to achieve food security in the country.

June 16th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The US is already being struck by the effects of climate change and the threats will only grow if the world does not speed up its efforts to reduce pollutants blamed for rising temperatures, the US government warned Tuesday. In a much-anticipated report that was compiled over years by US agencies and independent scientists, the government painted a broad picture of the threats that the United States faces from climate change.

June 12th, 2009 BONN - Climate negotiators from the Obama administration will be in New Delhi to hold bilateral talks on what India is ready to do to tackle global warming, the leader of the US delegation to a UN conclave said here Friday. Jonathan Pershing, who led the US delegation at these preparatory talks of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) for the December summit in Copenhagen, said he had met the leader of the Indian delegation Shyam Saran on the sidelines of the talks here.

June 12th, 2009 LONDON - One hundred senior legislators from around the globe meeting in Rome Friday called on the world's wealthiest eight countries to transfer up to $140 billion per year to developing countries while "laying their cards on the table" to help fight climate change. The legislators, including five from India, said it was imperative for the Group of Eight (G8) countries to state exactly how much of their individual carbon emissions they intended to cut well before world leaders meet in Copenhagen in December to agree upon a final climate change strategy.

April 6th, 2009 BONN - India and China have told the United Nations a climate change agreement that slows down their economic growth and locks them into poverty is unacceptable to them. The UN's climate change boss said Monday the two Asian giants have taken a series of 'ambitious' domestic actions to combat climate change but want to draw the line at anything that would upset their economic growth strategies.

February 3rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - India's wheat production has stagnated in the last 10-15 years and scientists have told the government this is due to climate change, Minister of State for Power Jairam Ramesh said here Wednesday. 'The scientists have told us that the mean and maximum temperatures in north India have gone up by 1-1.5 degrees Celsius in February, which is the crucial month for deciding how good the wheat yield will be,' Ramesh said.