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Agriculture is part of the solution in the fight against climate change—this was the sentiment echoed by various stakeholders gathered at COP 22 in Marrakech. This is established by their respective climate action plans or Intended Nationally Determined Contributions. Almost 95 per cent of countries covered agriculture, and 89 per cent discussed water management in their plans. Most of the countries have considered agriculture among their adaptation or mitigation priorities to help limit global temperature rise, in line with the Paris Climate Change Agreement. Working towards sustainable agriculture also addresses other global challenges: fighting hunger and malnutrition and sustainable management of natural resources and ecosystems. However, the progress made at COP 22 related on agriculture was very slow and the issues related to agriculture will now be discussed in May 2017. Three new initiatives discussed at COP 22 highlight the potential in agricultural adaptation: Adaptati...

The latest move by the Donald Trump administration to repeal Clean Power Plan (CPP), reckoned as the major instrument to cut emissions of the single largest source—US power plants—is only one of the many regressive steps adopted by the US administration. This is in line with its Executive Order, ‘Promoting Energy Independence and Economic Growth’ which largely serves to put fossil fuel back on the US economic agenda. CPP was intended to cut emissions from US power plants by 32 per cent by 2030, and move to cleaner sources of energy; its repeal would further encourage the growth of the fossil fuel sector in the US. Against the backdrop of the Executive Order designed to repeal, revoke, revamp any action that can potentially burden the development of domestic energy resources, the US is aggressively taking climate regressive steps to subsidise its fossil fuel industry and protect redundant coal plants at the cost of clean energy sources. And this is when the US itself has been affecte...

Donald Trump’s entry into the White House must not lead to the triumph of climate change denial. That’s the prayer on everyone’s lips as the 45th President of the United States takes the Oath of Office just ten weeks after stunning the world by winning the US election.  As the US has already started witnessing climate refugees and a broad scientific consensus seems to emerge on how human activity is the primary cause of global warming, the Donald Trump’s presidential administration has lot to learn and unlearn. From freakishly warm Arctic winter to coral bleaching in Great Barrier Reef and Japan, the signs of global warming are getting more and more evident. The President, who wants to ‘Make America Great Again’, cannot ignore the fact that the US has suffered climate-related losses worth $27 billion in 2016. As the global temperature is expected to rise by 2.9°C to 3.4°C by this century, the climate change believers must turn up the heat on Trump so that he doesn’t water down...

In many ways, the Marrakech climate summit was entirely ordinary. As is usually the case, the first week was spent drowning in technical detail while most of the second was dedicated to photo opportunities and political speeches. And as always the negotiations ran over time, finishing early on Saturday morning. But while this latest “Conference of the Parties” (COP) was intended to be an “action COP”, aimed at getting down to the business of implementing the Paris Climate Agreement reached last year, it will mainly be remembered as the “Trump COP”. It was a summit held under the spectre of renewed US climate recalcitrance in the wake of the surprise election result, which dropped like a bombshell on the summit’s third day. The main topic of debate in the first week was the creation of a “Paris Rulebook”, set to be finalised by the end of 2018. The Paris Agreement sets up a loose skeleton for a pledge-and-review system of deepening emissions-reduction targets over the coming decade...

Agriculture is part of the solution in the fight against climate change—this was the sentiment echoed by various stakeholders gathered at COP 22 in Marrakech. This is established by their respective climate action plans or Intended Nationally Determined Contributions. Almost 95 per cent of countries covered agriculture, and 89 per cent discussed water management in their plans. Most of the countries have considered agriculture among their adaptation or mitigation priorities to help limit global temperature rise, in line with the Paris Climate Change Agreement. Working towards sustainable agriculture also addresses other global challenges: fighting hunger and malnutrition and sustainable management of natural resources and ecosystems. However, the progress made at COP 22 related on agriculture was very slow and the issues related to agriculture will now be discussed in May 2017. Three new initiatives discussed at COP 22 highlight the potential in agricultural adaptation: Adaptati...

The Indian summer monsoon has changed. Successively unpredictable and volatile monsoons have ratcheted up the spectre of a “new normal” in monsoons- an alternating assault of extreme rain and absolutely none. However, evidence for this change that is underway and its pathways is still being put together. Research published today in Nature Communications goes some way in explaining the newfound extreme nature of our monsoons. The study finds that widespread extreme rain events over central India have increased three-fold in the 66-year period between 1950 and 2015. The study notes a 10-30 per cent increase in rainfall events over the region where more than 150 mm of rain is registered in a day has been occurring despite a general weakening of monsoon circulation. According to the paper, while monsoon rainfall over central India from June-September has decreased by about 10 per cent during the study period, the frequency of extreme rain events has increased by a staggering 75 per cent...

While the world is gearing up to address climate change, events taking place in the US are in stark contradictions to the global trend. A report, titled Dirty Energy Dominance: Dependent on Denial, reveals how the US fossil fuel industry depends heavily on federal and state governments’ subsidies to grow and thrive. According to the report, released by the Oil Change International, a Washington-based non-profit organisation, the US federal and state governments gave away $20.5 billion a year in 2015 and 2016 in production subsidies to the oil, gas, and coal industries to support exploration, development and production of fossil fuels. This includes $14.7 billion in federal subsidies and $5.8 billion through state-level incentives. Every dollar spent subsidising this industry takes the global community away from achieving accepted long-term emissions reduction goals and preventing further heating up of the earth. The report highlights that the cost of federal subsidies to the fossi...

Last year about 11 per cent of the total human population (approximately 850 million people on the planet) suffered from daily hunger, according to a recent United Nations report on the state of food security and nutrition in the world. This is a tragedy no matter how you look at it. The numbers show a 4.5 per cent increase — or 38 million more hungry people — from the previous year. This rise in hunger is especially significant because it is the first rise in global hunger we have seen in more than a decade. Though global hunger was at 14 per cent of the world’s population in 2005, each year since then, between 2005 and 2016, the number of hungry people on the planet dropped. Development officials were cautiously optimistic that we were on our way to eradicating hunger. Conflict and climate change are the culprits behind this year’s rise in numbers. According to the United Nations, food security worsened across major parts of sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia and Western Asi...

As higher global temperatures can affect the nutritional quality of crops and affect their productivity, it is time we develop grains that can withstand the negative effects of climate change. Pearl millet seems to be the solution for a future when temperatures will soar. Decoding and sequencing the pearl millet grain by a team comprising 65 scientists from across 30 research institutions have proved its adaptive capacity and increasing tolerance to drought. This research has been published in the journal, Nature Biotechnology. Research coordinated by the International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics, India, BGI-Shenzhen, China and the French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development used the latest innovations in DNA sequencing and analysis to identify new genetic tools like molecular markers related to drought and heat tolerance, as well as other important traits like better nutrition profile and pest resistance. This will help farmers grow the cr...

Last year about 11 per cent of the total human population (approximately 850 million people on the planet) suffered from daily hunger, according to a recent United Nations report on the state of food security and nutrition in the world. This is a tragedy no matter how you look at it. The numbers show a 4.5 per cent increase — or 38 million more hungry people — from the previous year. This rise in hunger is especially significant because it is the first rise in global hunger we have seen in more than a decade. Though global hunger was at 14 per cent of the world’s population in 2005, each year since then, between 2005 and 2016, the number of hungry people on the planet dropped. Development officials were cautiously optimistic that we were on our way to eradicating hunger. Conflict and climate change are the culprits behind this year’s rise in numbers. According to the United Nations, food security worsened across major parts of sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia and Western Asi...

The 14th EU-India Summit concluded in New Delhi today (October 6). The main agenda of the summit was strengthening trade and investment ties. While the EU was represented by Donald Tusk, President of the European Council and Jean Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, India was represented by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Three pacts were signed: one between European Investment bank and International Solar Alliance; second on Bangalore metro rail project and third on mobility of Indian and European researchers. Discussions on migration, refugees and stepping up maritime security were held among other issues. They called for a free trade agreement between India and the EU. The EU-India strategic partnership was launched in 2004 and the joint action plan (JAP) was developed in 2005. With the initiation of negotiations on Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA), the nature of this bilateral relation seems to have moved towards being trade-based. Other issues...

As higher global temperatures can affect the nutritional quality of crops and affect their productivity, it is time we develop grains that can withstand the negative effects of climate change. Pearl millet seems to be the solution for a future when temperatures will soar. Decoding and sequencing the pearl millet grain by a team comprising 65 scientists from across 30 research institutions have proved its adaptive capacity and increasing tolerance to drought. This research has been published in the journal, Nature Biotechnology. Research coordinated by the International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics, India, BGI-Shenzhen, China and the French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development used the latest innovations in DNA sequencing and analysis to identify new genetic tools like molecular markers related to drought and heat tolerance, as well as other important traits like better nutrition profile and pest resistance. This will help farmers grow the cr...

"By the end of this century, we would need 2.8 planets to survive if we are not able to change people’s mindset, industrial processes and our behaviour,” said the President of Switzerland, Doris Leuthard, during her address at a town hall organised by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) at the India Habitat Centre on September 1, 2017. She was perhaps alluding to the goal of restricting global temperature rise to well below 2.8°F (1.5°C) by the end of this century. Taking the audience through the history of Switzerland’s energy policy, Leuthard highlighted how the country phased out coal as early as the 60s and switched to nuclear plants. But the accident at the Lucens reactor in 1969 was a rude awakening for the people who started talking about the safety concerns of nuclear power plants. ”We realised that the risk was not very attractive,” she added. For a country, whose one-third of power supply comes from nuclear power plants, it was a bold move that Switzerland too...

Donald Trump’s entry into the White House must not lead to the triumph of climate change denial. That’s the prayer on everyone’s lips as the 45th President of the United States takes the Oath of Office just ten weeks after stunning the world by winning the US election.  As the US has already started witnessing climate refugees and a broad scientific consensus seems to emerge on how human activity is the primary cause of global warming, the Donald Trump’s presidential administration has lot to learn and unlearn. From freakishly warm Arctic winter to coral bleaching in Great Barrier Reef and Japan, the signs of global warming are getting more and more evident. The President, who wants to ‘Make America Great Again’, cannot ignore the fact that the US has suffered climate-related losses worth $27 billion in 2016. As the global temperature is expected to rise by 2.9°C to 3.4°C by this century, the climate change believers must turn up the heat on Trump so that he doesn’t water dow...

As the debate continues on connection of climate change with growing intensity of hurricanes like Harvey and Irma, climate change is already becoming a ground reality for scores of farmers in the hill state of Mizoram. Changing rainfall pattern and rising temperatures are forcing them to move away from traditional farming and grow exotic crops that are heat-resistant and can survive erratic rains. This year has been particularly bad. There has not been a single day when it has not rained. “Farmers are completely confused. They don’t know whether it was early monsoon or it is ‘everyday monsoon’. All important dates on the agriculture calendar have been missed,” pointed out Dr James Lalnunzira Hrahsel, a scientist with the Mizoram State Climate Change Cell. Data of the past 30 years shows a rise in average temperature of Aizawl in the month of January. The lowest maximum was 18.7 degree in 1992 while the highest was 28.2 degree in 2005. This January it was 26.3 degree. On the other ...

People in the US are already feeling the effects of climate change as the average temperature in the country has increased rapidly and drastically since 1980, according to a federal climate change report prepared by scientists from 13 federal agencies. The report, which is awaiting Trump administration’s approval, claims that the recent decades have been the warmest in the past 1,500 years. Attributing the climate change to human activities, especially greenhouse gas emissions, the scientists observed that even if greenhouse gas emission is completely stopped today, the world would still feel at least an additional 0.30°C of warming over this century as compared with today. The report concludes that a small difference in global temperatures can make a huge difference in the climate. In fact, the difference between 1.5°C and 2°C rise in global temperatures could mean longer heat waves and more intense rainstorms. The Environment Protection Agency is one of 13 agencies that must app...