impacts
Guest Blog: Communicating impacts and adaptation: Scientific guidelines
26/08/10 01:21
Many of us know from
experience that opportunities arise at unlikely
moments. “Never let a crisis go to waste,” was the
famous line from Barak Obama’s chief of staff Rahm
Emmanuel. As the summer of 2010 dishes up one
weather-related crisis
after another,
environmental-minded individuals and
organizations around the globe may feel
compelled and obligated to respond – both on
the ground and in public statements about the
genesis of these events. Is climate change to
blame? In this season of extreme weather, we
have an opportunity to solidify our messages
and our standing as the conservation
organization that can help policymakers and
the public separate fact from fiction. But we
must tread carefully.
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Guest Blog: Pakistan Flooding: Impacts, Attribution, & Adaptation Solutions
21/08/10 17:03
by
Hammad Naqi Khan, WWF-Pakistan Programs Director
We cannot attribute these floods in Pakistan solely to climate change but labeling them as an extreme weather event that probably has a climate change component is logical; the current seasonal monsoon rains and flows in the Indus river and a few of its tributaries are a 1 in 100
year event. The signature of
climate change will take some time to
quantify, but 2010 has a confluence of weird
weather that probably has a link to
human-induced climate change.
Consider: 2010 is the globally warmest
year on record to date, the record high
temperatures and wildfires in Russia, the
exceptionally high rainfall and mudslides in
China, the below average rainfalls in
Bangladesh and most of India, and extremely
high rainfall and flows in northern Pakistan
rivers (which carry snow/glacier melt).
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We cannot attribute these floods in Pakistan solely to climate change but labeling them as an extreme weather event that probably has a climate change component is logical; the current seasonal monsoon rains and flows in the Indus river and a few of its tributaries are a 1 in 100
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Water & Climate: Not Everything Is Negative
27/10/09 23:53
I had a bit of press
coverage during World Water Week last August. I'll
spare you from the article that appeared in the
People's Daily Worker in China, but
ThinkGloballyRadio.org conducted a nice 30-minute
interview (and I didn't say "uh" too much either,
which was a relief). You can stream the interview
at the station's website and clicking on the episode
listed (at the top right of the window) as
091011. I talk about the impacts of climate
change on freshwater ecosystems, the ability of
climate change to bring disparate groups
together, and the state (as of August 2009) of
international freshwater adaptation policy
leading up to
COP15. Read
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Guest Blog: A National "Climate Service"?
20/06/09 03:08
Paul Fleming works on
freshwater climate adaptation issues for the
US City of
Seattle, Washington. Seattle obtains
much of its water from large rivers, and much of
that water during the summer and fall is derived
from the melting of annual snowpack — a
process that is shifting rapidly as a result of
climate change.
Among his other
responsibilities, Paul helps the city’s water
supply utility think about how to manage their
water resources in fiscally prudent, flexible
ways, given that Seattle’s “normal” climate is
altering rapidly. In early May, Paul spoke
before the U.S. Congress in regard to the
Waxman/Markey bill (discussed in several
previous blogs here, most recently
here)
about the need for a National Climate Service —
modeled in part on the existing National Weather
Service. Such a group would likely
focus on delivering analytical services for how
climate is changing in critical parameters in
particular regions — an excellent idea,
which would be a great boon for facilitating and
groundtruthing climate adaptation efforts. Below
is his statement, as well as the statement of
marine biologist Jane
Lubchenco, who is now the head
of NOAA, which is the agency that
would host both the Weather Service and the
Climate Service. Many thanks to Paul for
supplying his remarks! — JM
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Flowing Regimes in Central Europe
25/07/08 21:07
The Danube — the Donau in German — is not a Great
River like the Mississippi, the Congo, or the
Amazon. But in Europe, it is a critical resource,
culturally and economically. And it is a complex
place. I have just returned from Vienna and a
swirling mixture of ideas, impacts, and people
focused on the Danube. Read
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NEWS: IPCC freshwater climate change report
25/06/08 13:28
The IPCC has recently
put together a separate report on freshwater and
climate change. Read
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Wetlands in the Air
26/05/08 01:09
A study late last week suggested that
atmospheric methane emissions are way up. This
is disturbing on a number of levels that should
have a lot of people very worried.
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