SCIENTISTS WARN OF GROWING THREAT TO GLOBAL WARMING FROM UNCHECKED GASES – UN

An international team of scientific researchers has warned that hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) gases – used increasingly in insulation foam, air-conditioning and refrigeration – present a significant threat to global efforts to stabilize climate change, in a move welcomed today by the head of the United Nations Environment Programme.

A scientific paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) highlights the need for urgent action over the HFC group of greenhouse gases, arguing that their use could climb sharply as replacements for gases being phased out to protect the ozone layer, such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).

"By some estimates, action to freeze and then reduce this group of gases [HFCs] could buy the world the equivalent of a decades-worth of C02 emissions," said Achim Steiner, UNEP Executive Director.

Mr. Steiner stressed that cutting carbon dioxide emissions is the key to accelerating a transition to a low carbon, resource efficient 'green economy.'

"It is also central to delivering a stabilization of the atmosphere as outlined by the assessments of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change," he added.

According to a news release issued by UNEP, if HFC growth continues unchecked, by 2050 the amount of gas produced could total nine Giga tons, or the equivalent of 45 per cent of total CO2 emissions. Conversely, rapid action to freeze and to cut emissions annually alongside fostering readily available alternatives could see HFC emissions fall to under one Giga ton in the same period.

The projected growth in production and consumption of HFCs is in part linked with the success of the UNEP-administered Montreal Protocol, which has successfully phased out 97 per cent of chemicals that deplete the ozone layer.

In 2007, countries meeting in Canada, under the Montreal Protocol, agreed to speeding up the freeze and phase-out of hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) – chemicals designed to replace the old, more ozone-damaging CFCs.

The new research findings in the PNAS indicate that unless urgent measures are taken to restrict HFCs, countries and companies are likely to pick this group of gases to replace HCFCs in products such as air conditioning units, refrigeration and insulating foams.
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GREATER EFFORTS MUST BE MADE TO REALIZE EVERY PERSON’S RIGHT TO FOOD – BAN

GREATER EFFORTS MUST BE MADE TO REALIZE EVERY PERSON'S RIGHT TO FOOD – BAN
New York, Mar 5 2009 3:00PM

With the number of hungry people around the world surging amid the current global financial crisis and the effects of climate change, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today stressed the need to scale-up efforts to combat hunger and realize every person's right to food.

"Food is not just a commodity, and agriculture is not just a business. Both are central to survival. Realizing every person's right to food is a moral and humanitarian imperative," Mr. Ban told students of the UN International School at a conference on the global food crisis.

The Secretary-General said that the way the world grows, markets and trades food does not protect the poor, and the situation is getting worse. "Between global warming and the financial crisis, the number of hungry people is surging."

Last year saw an unprecedented movement of farmers, community groups, businesses, governments, the UN and development organizations working together to tackle the food crisis, in what Mr. Ban described as "the largest emergency scale-up against hunger and malnutrition in history."

Donors have pledged more aid, and the international community has held a series of emergency meetings, but the main work is in communities and countries, he noted. "That is where we are using food assistance and giving seeds and fertilizers to farmers. That is where we are helping communities adapt to climate change and building roads and storage centres so that produce can get to market."

Nevertheless, the global community needs to do even more this year, Mr. Ban stated.

The UN is moving on two fronts: delivering immediate food and nutrition assistance, and improving longer-term food production and agricultural development. In addition, it is pushing for a fairer world trade system that works for poor people while combating climate change.

The way out of the crisis, he noted, is to tackle the urgent challenges while fixing the underlying problem.

"Hunger is a stain on humanity," he asserted. "The time has come to remove that stain – forever."
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INTERNATIONAL POLAR YEAR SPURS CRITICAL RESEARCH ON GLOBAL WARMING – UN AGENCY

INTERNATIONAL POLAR YEAR SPURS CRITICAL RESEARCH ON GLOBAL WARMING – UN AGENCY
New York, Feb 25 2009 5:00PM

Research produced during the International Polar Year 2007-2008 shows clearly that the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctic are losing mass, providing a critical boost to knowledge of global warming, the United Nations' climate agency said today.

"The International Polar Year 2007 – 2008 came at a crossroads for the planet's future" said Michel Jarraud, Secretary-General of the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO), which today released a study entitled "The State of Polar Research" jointly with the International Council for Science (ICSU).

"The new evidence resulting from polar research will strengthen the scientific basis on which we build future actions," Mr. Jarraud added.

A joint project of WMO and the ICSU, the International Polar Year (IPY) garnered international funding support of about $1.2 billion over the two-year period aimed at a better understanding of the Arctic and Antarctic regions.

More than 160 multi-disciplinary research projects, developed by scientists of more than 60 countries, have been carried out over the two-year period that will end in March 2009.

The new research shows that the warming of the Antarctic is much more widespread than previously known, and it now appears that the rate of ice loss from Greenland is increasing.

A freshening of the bottom water near Antarctica is consistent with increased ice melt from that continent and could affect ocean circulation, the research finds.

The report also identified large pools of carbon stored as methane in permafrost which, if thawed, threatens to become another massive source of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere.

In addition to lending insight into climate change, the new research has aided our understanding of pollutant transport, species' evolution, and storm formation, among many other areas, WMO said.

According to the agency, the Year will leave a legacy of enhanced observational capacity, stronger links across disciplines and communities, and an energized new generation of polar researchers.

"The work begun by IPY must continue" said Mr. Jarraud. "Internationally coordinated action related to the polar regions will still be needed in the next decades," he said, adding that a major IPY science conference will take place in Oslo in June 2010.
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AFRICAN YOUTH TO CLIMB KILIMANJARO, JOINING UN CAMPAIGN FOR CLIMATE CHANGE

AFRICAN YOUTH TO CLIMB KILIMANJARO, JOINING UN CAMPAIGN FOR CLIMATE CHANGE
New York, Feb 25 2009 2:00PM

A group of young people from impoverished urban areas in Kenya, Tanzania and Ghana, will set off on a gruelling trek to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro under the United Nations banner to draw attention to the effects of climate change.

Ten underprivileged youth will join 25 other people from the private and public sectors in the fourth annual ascent to the "rooftop of Africa" organized by the Kilimanjaro Initiative, a Nairobi-based non-governmental organization (NGO), in partnership with the "UNite to Combat Climate Change" global campaign.

"This year's climb will highlight – with the melting ice of Mount Kilimanjaro as a backdrop – how global warming has a direct impact on the living conditions of individuals and communities throughout the world," said Wilfred Lemke, Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General on Sport for Development and Peace.

"By raising awareness about the impact of global warming, including in populated urban areas, the Kilimanjaro Initiative will assist in the achievement of MDG [Millennium Development Goal] 7 of 'ensuring environmental sustainability,'" he added.

The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) warned that rising temperatures, increased rainfall and extreme weather conditions will dramatically change where and how people live in cities.

The change in climate does untold damage to economic and public infrastructure and stretches the ability of urban centres to accommodate displaced populations, leading to unemployment, deteriorating educational facilities, inadequate health care systems and a possible rise in crime in urban centres, according to the agency.

At the top of Kilimanjaro, the group will use a satellite telephone to call Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, who is currently on the South African leg of a tour that will take him to Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Rwanda and Egypt.

Mr. Ban is also due to fly over the receding ice cap of Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest peak, on his way to the city of Arusha to visit the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.
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