2007/05/22
2007/05/24
Date: May 4, 2007
The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Bangkok, has released the report Mitigation of Climate Change. The Report, an output of the ninth session of the Working Group III meeting in Bangkok, urges a timely response to global warming but stresses that such measures need not be expensive. Two scenarios for reduction of greenhouse emissions are offered, one with greater impact to nations' Gross National Product (GNP). The IPCC will release a fourth report in Valencia Spain in November 2007. The IPCC, composed of more than 2,000 specialists from more than 130 nations, was established in 1988 by the United Nations to guide government responses to climate change.
The second of a series of reports on global climate change has been released in Brussels by the Working Group II of the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The report, Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability, suggests that severe food and water shortages, and other related issues, could be the result of rising temperatures, and that these rises were already causing global impacts.
Date: Feb 2, 2007
The Physical Science Basis, a report of the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group I, was released in Paris. The report, the first of a series of reports of the 4th Assessment (AR4) of the IPCC, provides an overview of global warming and says it is highly probable that global warming is caused by human activities.
Date: September 26, 2006
The African Regional Workshop on Adaptation was held in Accra, Ghana, from September 21-23, 2006. The workshop aimed at facilitating exchange of information and integrated assessments in order to assist in identifying Africa's needs and concerns related to adaptation. About 60 participants, including representatives of 33 African Parties, 10 Annex I Parties and a number of international, intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations, participated in the workshop. Mr. William Kojo Agyemang-Bonsu, from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of Ghana, chaired the workshop on behalf of SBI Chair Mr. Thomas Becker of Denmark.
Date: September 16, 2006
IPCC recently released a public letter to the scientific community requesting information regarding activities in scenario development.
Date: May 31, 2006
The Web site Global Geographical Distribution of Vulnerability to Climate Change has been released by CIESIN. 
It features the report "A Synthetic Assessment of the Global Distribution of Vulnerability to Climate Change from the IPCC Perspective that Reflects Exposure and Adaptive Capacity" and a complete set of downloadable global distribution maps and data. Scientists and researchers from Wesleyan University, the University of Illinois, the University of Maryland Joint Research Center for Global Change (JRCGC), the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) of the U.S. Department of Energy, and Columbia University together conducted the assessment, which seeks to advance the understanding of the nature of climate change risks and vulnerabilities. The report and the maps and data are available for download on the Web site.
Date: April 28, 2006
IPCC made its final decision in its 25th Session in Mauritius on April 28, 2006 regarding further work of the IPCC on Emission Scenarios.
Date: September 28, 2006
Kenya will host the second meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (COP/MOP 2), in conjunction with the twelfth session of the Conference of the Parties to the Climate Change Convention (COP 12), in Nairobi November 6-17, 2006. The conference will also include, from November 6 to 14, the twenty-fifth session of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA 25), the twenty-fifth session of the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI 25), and the second session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol (AWG 2). The second workshopunder the dialogue on long-term cooperative action to address climate change by enhancing implementation of the Convention (the Dialogue) will be held from November 15 to 16.
2007/05/25
Date: March 2006 (CoP VII)
The CBD Conference of the Parties agreed on a limited number of trial indicators, to assess progress at the global level towards the 2010 target, and to effectively communicate trends in biodiversity related to the three objectives of the Convention (paragraphs 3 and 4 of decision VII/30). The 2010 target is "to achieve by 2010 a significant reduction of the current rate of biodiversity loss at the global, regional and national level as a contribution to poverty alleviation and to the benefit of all life on earth." The COP agreed on eight indicators for immediate testing and another 13 indicators requiring further development.
Date: May 2, 2006
The 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species brings into focus the ongoing decline of the earth's biodiversity. Widely recognized as the most authoritative assessment of the global status of plants and animals, the Red List provides an accurate measure of progress, or lack of it, in achieving the globally agreed target to significantly reduce the current rate of biodiversity loss by 2010. Of the 40,177 species worldwide assessed using the IUCN Red List criteria, 16,119 are now listed as threatened with extinction. This includes one in three amphibians and a quarter of the world's coniferous trees, on top of the one in eight birds and one in four mammals known to be in jeopardy. The total number of species declared officially Extinct is 784 and a further 65 are only found in captivity or cultivation.
Date: August 23, 2006
As Louisiana rebuilds one year after the Hurricane Katrina and Rita tragedies, "Washing Away," a new public broadcast documentary exposing the extent of the hurricane's impact on the state's disappearing coastline, premiered to Louisiana audiences....
Date: September 13, 2006
In the Yellow river basin in China, 100 million people need to share the water. In the Pangani river basin in Tanzania, conflicts are emerging between water users. To promote peaceful ways of solving potential water crises while benefiting both people and nature, the World Conservation Union (IUCN) convened a workshop at the IWA Beijing World Water Congress ( September 10-14, 2006).
Date: September 19, 2006
The World Conservation Union (IUCN) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) have signed an historical cooperation agreement.
Date: Fall 2006
The Global Amphibian Assessment (GAA) is the first-ever comprehensive assessment of the conservation status of the world's 5,918 known species of frogs, toads, salamanders, and caecilians. Since the initial release of the GAA data in 2004 there has been constant updating and upgrading of the information. The 2006 update is now available.
Date: 2007
The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) is an international non-profit organization to provide free and universal access to data regarding the world's biodiversity, with a wide range of countries and organizations participating and sharing data. The portal provides access to the two types of data which are already being shared through the GBIF Network, taxonomic names; and specimens and observations.
Date: 2006
In this article, Dr. Nils Meyer-Ohlendorf, Ecologic Senior Fellow, discusses the need for international environmental governance reform, the advantages and disadvantages of creating a United Nations Environment Organization (UNEO), and its potential in helping to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. The article concludes that a UNEO¿as a United Nations specialized agency¿may have greater political clout than the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) currently commands, which is only a programme based on a resolution of the General Assembly. Given its increased political weight, a UNEO could be a better tool to address environmental needs in developing countries, and help to achieve poverty and development goals.
Date: March 2006
This collection, published by Cambridge University Press, is the outcome of an interdisciplinary research project involving scholars in the fields of international and comparative environmental law, the sociology and politics of global governance, and the scientific study of global climate change. Earth system analysis as developed by the natural sciences is transferred to the analysis of institutions of global environmental change. Rather than one overarching supranational organization, a system of "multilevel" institutions is advocated.
Date: December 2006
The Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE) has released a report entitled "How to Improve the Dialogue Between Science and Society: The Case of Global Environmental Change."
Date: March 29, 2005
The World Bank publication Natural Disaster Hotspots: A Global Risk Analysis is now available.
Date: April 21 , 2006
Hazards of Nature, Risks to Development is the first-ever assessment of World Bank assistance for natural disasters, and one of the most comprehensive reviews of disaster preparedness and response ever conducted. The World Bank offers the report freely as a PDF.
Date: May 24, 2006
IEG Award 2006Natural Disaster Hotspots: A Global Risk Analysis has received the Initiative with Demonstrated Impact/Results Award from the World Bank Independent Evaluation Group (IEG). IEG deemed the study "an innovative and influential study study marked by a noteworthy partnership highlighting collaborative work among multiple stakeholders including Columbia University, an international consortium (ProVention), and the World Bank."
Date: June 26, 2006
The second Natural Disaster Hotspots publication presents a collection of case studies: "Drought Disaster in Asia," "Global Landslides Risk Case Study," "Storm Surges in Coastal Areas," "Natural Disaster Risks in Sri Lanka: Mapping Hazards and Risk Hotspots," "Multihazard Risks in Caracas, Republica Bolivariana de Venezuela," and "Reducing the Impacts of Floods through Early Warning and Preparedness: A Pilot Study for Kenya."
Date: September 7, 2006
The 2006 International Disaster Reduction Conference in Davos, Switzerland, hosted by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) saw the adoption of a Declaration.
Date: October 11, 2006
This Web site provides access to UN materials on disaster reduction.
Date: March 2007
The March 2007 newsletter from CRED (Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters) provides a brief review of the natural disasters occurring in 2006, with graphs of disaster type, occurrence by continent, and more. Available in PDF format.
Date: January 26, 2006
The Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), in partnership with public health organizations and the governments of Canada, Mexico, and the United States, has released the first-ever report on children's health and environment indicators in North America.
Date: January 9-10, 2006
This one-and-a-half day seminar gathers junior and senior researchers interested in urban population growth and growth forecasting in poor countries, to consider how new sources of data (from demographic surveys and from remotely-sensed or other geographically-coded data sets) may be used to improve the estimation and projection of urban growth.
Date: March 13, 2007
The results of the 2006 Revision¿which provide the population basis for the assessment of trends at the global, regional, and national levels, and serve as input for calculating many key indicators in the United Nations system¿incorporate the findings of the most recent national population censuses and the numerous specialized population surveys carried out around the world.
Date: April 2006
This article by Gordon McGranahan, Deborah Balk and Bridget Anderson describes the distribution of human settlements in low elevation coastal zones around the world.
Date: September 28, 2006
Where the Poor Are: An Atlas of Poverty has been published by CIESIN, in collaboration with the World Bank. It features 21 full-page poverty maps, depicting vital development indicators at unprecedented levels of spatial detail, gathered from countries and cities around the world. Geographic patterns are revealed, with practical examples of how the data and tools have been used in decision making and poverty interventions.
As poverty maps have achieved greater spatial detail¿thanks to the integration of recent advances in econometric techniques, innovations in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology, and ever-improving access to Census and survey data¿it is now possible to develop, interpret, and apply such maps to better understand poverty and improve our capacity to address it.
Date: May 11, 2006
The Poverty Reduction Group (PRMPR) at the World Bank organized a conference on May 11, 2006 focusing on the effective use of Small Area Estimation (SAE) poverty maps in policy making. The goal of the conference was to present a range of policies and interventions which have been informed by poverty maps, while focusing on the political economy of poverty maps and the key elements to their effective use by policy makers. Additionally, the conference looked at the future of poverty maps in terms of new techniques and new areas of application.
Date: May 2006
The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) has published Mapping Climate Vulnerability and Poverty in Africa, to identify areas of sub-Saharan Africa where current and projected impacts of climate variability and climate change are likely to be significant, poverty rates high, and vulnerability to change high, over the next 10, 25, and 50 years.
Date: April 10, 2006
A recent article in Ecological Economics describes a potentially valuable new data source for studying the spatial patterns of economic activity that may have an impact on regional sustainability. Using night-time lights remote sensing data, which correlates closely with gross regional product, Christopher Doll and colleagues utilize this data set to map a surrogate of economic activity at 5-km resolution. These results provide the first detailed examination of night-time light characteristics with respect to local economic activity and highlight issues, which should be considered when undertaking such analysis.
Date: May 6, 2006
ICSU's SCOPE has issued a six-page policy brief on sustainability indicators. The report, "Indicators of Sustainability: Reliable Tools for Decision-Making," describes the utility of synthetic indicators in a variety of policy contexts.
Download (1.7 MB PDF) Night-Time Lights Unveiled as Promising Data Source for Sustainability Studies
Date: October 6, 2006
UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) sponsored an expert group meeting (EGM) from October 3-4, 2006 to review indicators included on the Commission for Sustainable Development's list. The main objectives of the meeting is to finalize the 2001 set of CSD Sustainable Development Indicators (CSD-ISD) following a December 2005 EGM which substantially revised the list. That EGM worked within the adopted thematic framework and attempted to maintain the size of the CSD-ISD by cutting some indicators while adding others. The meeting sought commitment from lead agencies to provide updated and revised methodology sheets, where necessary. A report of the workshop is available on the Web site.
Date: February 2, 2007
SEDAC, in partnership with scientists at Goddard Space Flight Center, has released data sets describing the global spatial distribution of net primary productivity (NPP), the global spatial distribution of the human appropriation of NPP (HANPP), and HANPP as a percentage of NPP. The data were originally published in the journal Nature (2004) and Journal of Geophysical Research (2006).