2017 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #34
Editor's Pick
Climate change threatens agricultural trade in Pacific Rim economies, UN agency warns
Harvesting rice in Viet Nam. Global rice consumption trends are rising. Photo: FAO/Hoang Dinh Nam
With global warming expected to significantly impact future yields in countries located closer to the equator, the United Nations agriculture agency is calling on Asia-Pacific economies to take a leading role in adaptation and mitigation.
“Many APEC [Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation] economies have already felt the full force of agricultural losses from natural disasters in recent years, with the vast majority of these being climate related,” said Kundhavi Kadiresan, Assistant Director-General and FAO Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific.
Geographically, the negative impact of climate change on agricultural output could result in lower yields of rice, wheat, corn and soybeans in countries with tropical climates, compared with the impacts experienced by those in higher latitudes. Fisheries could also be affected by changes to water temperature, warned the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) today.
“The annual tally runs into the billions and billions of dollars in losses. So, the time to act is now. Policy makers need to prepare for changes in supply, shifting trade patterns and a need for greater investment in agriculture, fisheries, land and water management, that will benefit smallholder farmers and others that produce our food,” Mr. Kadiresan added.
Many vital agricultural regions in Asia are at risk of crossing key climate thresholds that would cause plant and animal productivity to decline, according to a meeting in Viet Nam of Agriculture Ministers of APEC member economies.
Based on the findings of the global research community, the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) anticipates that these trends are expected to worsen in the future with the projected impacts of anthropogenic climate change.
Much can be done to increase the efficiency of agriculture and land-use activities in Asia, according to Mr. Kadiresan.
Climate change threatens agricultural trade in Pacific Rim economies, UN agency warns, UN News Center, Aug 25, 2017
Links posted on Facebook
Sun Aug 20, 2017
- Curbing climate change: Why it’s so hard to act in time by Timothy H. Dixon, The Conversation US, Aug 17, 2017
- What should you say to a climate change skeptic? by Mira Abed, Los Angeles, Aug 18, 2017
- Researcher finds new evidence of western forest decline by Daniel Grossman, Yale Climate Connections, Aug 17, 2017
- The Trump administration just disbanded a federal advisory committee on climate change by Juliet Eilperin, Energy & Environment, Washington Post, Aug 20, 2017
- Let Monday’s eclipse be a call to action on climate change, Opinion by Rabbi Dan Fink, Idaho Statesman, Aug 18, 2017
- Britain’s seabird colonies face catastrophe as warming waters disrupt their food supply by Robin McKie, Observer/Guardian, Aug 19, 2017
- This Q&A Is Top Secret, Contains Leaked Info and Definitely Was Not Peer Reviewed by Theresa Riley, Moyers & Company, Aug 18, 2017
- Climate advisory group died quietly by Michael Doyle & Brittany Patterson, ClimateWire, Aug 17, 2017
Mon Aug 21, 2017
- Volkswagen To Bring Back The Iconic Microbus In 2022 — Only This Time It's Electric by Joann Muller, Forbes, Aug 19, 2017
- Q&A: The return of UK fracking and what it could mean for the climate by Jocelyn Timperley, Carbon Brief, Aug 16, 2017
- Arctic voyage notes global warming’s impact on ice, animals by Frank Jordan, AP/Fairbanks Daily News Miner, Aug 20, 2017
- What Happens to Solar Power in an Eclipse? We’ll Find Out Monday by Brad Pulmer, Climate, New York Times, Aug 18, 2017
- Greenland: how rapid climate change on world’s largest island will affect us all by Kathryn Adamson, The Conversation UK, Aug 18, 2017
- The Fundamentalists Holding Us Back from a Climate Change Solution by Allie Conti, Vice, Aug 20, 2017
- How Deeply Will Rising Temperatures Cut into Crop Yields? by Georgina Gustin, InsideClimate News, Aug 21, 2017
- Are the floating houses of the Netherlands a solution against the rising seas? by Olga Mecking, Pacific Standard, Aug 21, 2017
Tue Aug 22, 2017
- Climate Change May Shrink the World’s Fish by Graig Welch, National Geographic, Aug 21, 2017
- How Climate Change Canceled the Grizzly Salmon Run by Ed Young, The Atlantic, Aug 21, 2017
- Climate Change Solutions: Bringing Forests to Center Stage by Nancy Harris & Donna Lee, World Resources Instittue, Aug 21, 2017
- A controversial California effort to fight climate change just got some good news by Chelsea Harvey, Energy & Environment, Washington Post, Aug 21, 2017
- California power grid survives solar eclipse unscathed by David R Baker, SF Gate, Aug 21, 2017
- Agriculture a culprit in global warming, says U.S. research by Ellen Wulfhorst, Thomson Reuters Foundation, Aug 22, 2017
- People Furthest Apart on Climate Views Are Often the Most Educated by Umair Irfan, ClimateWire/Scientific American, Aug 22, 2017
- Can Anyone, Even Walmart, Stem The Heat-Trapping Flood Of Nitrogen On Farms? by Dan Charles, NPR News, Aug 21, 2017
Wed Aug 23, 2017
- Doctors must respond to changes in the politics of climate change by Gary W Yohe & Kristie L Ebi, Stat, Aug 22, 2017
- Will the U.S. Ever Build Another Big Coal Plant? by Benjamin Storrow, ClimateWire/Scientific American, Aug 21, 2017
- The World Eyes Yet Another Unconventional Source of Fossil Fuels by Nicola Jones, Yale Environment 360, Aug 21, 2017
- Alaska’s Permafrost Is Thawing by Henry Fountain, New York Times, Aug 23, 2017
- Harvard scientists took Exxon’s challenge; found it using the tobacco playbook by Dana Nuccitelli, Climate Consensus - the 97%, Guardian, Aug 23, 2017
- The Surprising Effect of Ocean Waves on Global Climate by Tim Lougheed, Ensia, Aug 22, 2017
- Tropical Depression Harvey an Extremely Dangerous Flood Threat for Texas, Louisiana; Hurricane, Storm Surge Watches Issued by Jon Erdman, Weather Underground, Aug 23, 2017
- Why is climate change’s 2 degrees Celsius of warming limit so important? by David Titley, The Conversation US, Aug 22, 2017
Thu Aug 24, 2017
- In Italy’s Drought-Hit Vineyards, the Harvest of a Changing Climate by Jason Horowitz, New York Times, Aug 22, 2017
- The Fight Against Climate Change Could Get Unexpected Help from Seaweed by Dom Galeon, Futurism, Aug 23, 2017
- Another US agency deletes references to climate change on government website by Jamiles Lartey, Guardian, Aug 23, 2017
- Tropical Storm Harvey projected to become 'major hurricane' by Nicole Chavez, CNN, Aug 24, 2017
- Trump keeps saying ‘clean coal.’ It does not mean what he thinks it means. by Dino Gandino, Energy & Environment, Washington Post, Aug 23, 2017
- Typhoon Hato, a maximum category 10 storm, slams into Hong Kong, Macau, AAP/New Zealand Herald, Aug 23, 2017
- Coal in decline: an energy industry on life support by Adam Morton, Guardian, Aug 23, 2017
- Nine states aggressively step up plans to cut emissions by David Abel, Boston Globe, Aug 23, 2017
Fri Aug 25, 2017
- How machine learning could help to improve climate forecasts by Nicola Jones, Nature, Aug 23, 2017
- Can we save our lakes from global warming? by Bob Berwyn, Deutsche Welle, Aug 23, 2017
- New study finds that climate change costs will hit Trump country hardest by John Abraham, Climate Consensus - the 97%, Guardian, Aug 24, 2017
- Hurricane Harvey Is Going to Slam Into Texas and the National Flood Insurance Program Is a Mess by Nathalie Baptiste, Climate Desk/Mother Jones, Aug 25, 2017
- Harvey’s intensity and rainfall potential tied to global warming by Brendan Gibbons, San Antonio Express-News, Aug 25, 2017
- Thirsty world must wake up to looming water crisis, expert says by Megan Rowling, Thomson Reuters Foundation, Aug 24, 2017
- I was an Exxon-funded climate scientist by Katharine Hayhoe, The Conversation US, Aug 24, 2017
- What you can and can’t say about climate change and Hurricane Harvey by Chris Mooney, Energy & Environment, Washington Post, Aug 25, 2017
Sat Aug 26, 2017
- Failure to Set Cost of Carbon Hampers Trump’s Effort to Expand Use of Fossil Fuels by Andrew Revkin, ProPublica, Aug 24, 2017
- We’ve been underestimating the solar industry’s momentum. That could be a big problem by Chelsea Harvey, Energy & Environment, Washington Post, Aug 25, 2017
- Worst monsoon floods in years kill more than 1,200 across South Asia by Jatindra Dash & Ruma Paul, Reuters, Aug 25, 2017
- Climate change threatens agricultural trade in Pacific Rim economies, UN agency warns, UN News Center, Aug 25, 2017
- Russian tanker sails through Arctic without icebreaker for first time by Patrick Barkham, Guardian, Aug 24, 2017
- Climate Change Is Making This Bolivian Village a Ghost Town by Ben Walker, InsideClimate News, Aug 25, 2017
- Why the IPA's claim global warming is natural is 'junk science' by Graham Readfearn, Planet Oz, Guardian, Aug 25, 2017
- Keep It 100 by Bill McKibben, In These Times, Aug 22, 2017/Sep Print Issue
Posted by John Hartz on Saturday, 26 August, 2017
