The environment in the news wenesday, 19 March 2008
Climate change to hit hip pocket nerve
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- Himalayan Glaciers May Disappear within Decades: UN
Climate change to hit hip pocket nerveRobyn Sykes Tackling climate change is going to hit us in the hip pocket. Through the pain, it will be helpful to remember that the cost of not tackling the problem is predicted to be higher. It appears that the rate of climate change is higher than most people expected: a United Nations report has shown that the world’s glaciers are melting at a record rate. Melting glaciers are an important source of water for millions of people. One glacier in Norway thinned almost 3.1 metres in 2006, compared with 0.3 metres in 2005. The disturbing data lead the Head of the UN Environment Program, Achim Steiner, to call on all nations to work harder towards a global agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Here in Australia, the government is committed to introducing an emissions trading scheme by 2010. The Minister for Climate Change, Penny Wong, warns the Government’s plan to reduce greenhouse gases will produce the biggest shake-up to the economy in decades. The debate is now centred on the price of emitting carbon and how permits to emit will be allocated. It seems inevitable that the price of electricity will rise across Australia, although in NSW we have the added factor of the state government pressing ahead with its plans to privatise electricity, a path which has led to significant increases in the cost of power in South Australia. Many people seem to agree that as a nation we should reduce our consumption of energy. Many are prepared to save energy on the fringes, as long as it doesn’t impact on lifestyle. However, it seems clear that the cuts we are aiming for are not achievable without changes to lifestyle. However, this puts the government in a sticky position. For it to meet its target reductions, we should be feeling pain by the time the next election, scheduled for 2010, rolls around. A report released yesterday by the Australian Climate Group (ACG) called on the Australian Government to stabilise its national greenhouse gas emissions by 2010. The ACG was first convened in 2004 by Insurance Australia Group (IAG) and WWF-Australia and includes eminent Australian scientists Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, Professor David Karoly, Professor Ian Lowe, Professor Tony McMichael, and Dr Graeme Pearman. The report, Climate Change – Solutions for Australia 2008, warns the extent of climate change is likely to be at the extreme end of the range predicted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. “Any delay in achieving significant emission reductions could lead to a major disruptive shock to both our economy and our whole way of life. If the extent of climate change continues to emerge faster than anticipated, Australia will quickly run out of options unless we have already made good progress down the path of reducing emissions,” IAG’s Chief Risk Officer Tony Coleman said. WWF-Australia CEO Greg Bourne said that even with measures already announced by the Federal Government, Australia’s emissions were set to rise by 120 per cent on 1990 levels by 2020 unless immediate action was taken. The report calls on the Federal Government to stabilise national emissions by 2010. The Rudd government climate change policy was pivotal plank of its election campaign. It’s a fairly safe bet voters don’t want to bear all the pain themselves. They want businesses to bear their share. How we allocate the permits to pollute goes to the heart of that matter. We are lining up to take our medicine. The problem for Kevin Rudd, Penny Wong et al will be to convince us the medicine is good for us, even after we’ve tasted it and decided we don’t like it. http://yass.yourguide.com.au/news/local/opinion/climate-change-to-hit-hip-pocket-nerve/1205272.html ………………………………………. Himalayan Glaciers May Disappear within Decades: UNNew York | March 18 Himalayan glaciers are melting fast and may disappear within decades, affecting as many as 750 million people downstream who depend on the glacial melt for their water, according to a new UN report. Rivers in the region such as the Ganga, the Indus and the Brahmaputra, as well as others criss-crossing northern India may soon become seasonal rivers - a development that has ramifications for poverty and the economies in the region, warns the report released by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). On the Indian subcontinent, the report said, people in the Himalaya and Hindu Kush regions and those downstream who rely on glacial waters would be seriously affected. The trend in the Himalayas is reflective of glaciers worldwide that are melting at more than double the rates existing until a few years ago, warns the report, based on data from 30 locations across nine mountain ranges. The average glacier shrank 1.4 metres in 2006, compared to half a metre in 2005 and 0.3 metres in the eighties and the nineties. Some of the most dramatic shrinking has taken place in Europe, with Norway's Breidalblikkbrea glacier thinning by close to 3.1 metres during 2006, compared with a thinning of 0.3 metres in 2005. The report is based on findings of the World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS) - a centre based at the University of Zurich in Switzerland and supported by UNEP. It has been tracking the fate of glaciers for over a century. "The latest figures are part of what appears to be an accelerating trend with no apparent end in sight," said Wilfried Haeberli, WGMS director. Head of UNEP Achim Steiner said: "Millions if not billions of people depend directly or indirectly on these natural water storage facilities for drinking water, agriculture, industry and power generation during key parts of the year." A two degree Celsius warming by the 2040s is likely to lead to sharply reduced summer flows in most rivers fed by glaciers, which will coincide with sharply rising demand for water. http://www.kashmirobserver.com/index.php?id=3896 ………………………………………….. 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