Environment | WPN World People News

Progressive steps at the 25th COP have yet again been undermined by fossil fuel and corporate interests who see a multilateral agreement on tackling the climate emergency a threat to their profit margins. The door was literally shut on values and facts as civil society and scientists demanding an end to the climate emergency were temporarily barred from COP25. Instead, politicians squabbled over the ‘Article 6’ carbon trafficking scheme, which threatens Indigenous Peoples rights and puts a price-tag on nature. Most politicians showed no commitment at all to lower emissions here and have clearly not understood the existential threat of the climate crisis.

Ecuador declared a state of emergency Sunday after a barge carrying nearly 2,300 liters of diesel fuel sank at the Galapagos Islands.

Uganda’s Ministry of Tourism Wildlife and Antiquities and the Greater Virunga Transboundary Collaboration reveal that the number of mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei) in the 340-square kilometer transboundary protected forest have increased to 459 from an estimated 400 in 2011.

On December 23, residents of St. James joined with environmental justice and legal organizations to urge the St. James Parish Council to rescind its decision to allow FG LA, a member of the Taiwanese-based Formosa Plastics Group giant, to build a massive chemical facility in a predominantly African-American community. In letters to the council, they cite new and alarming information about the levels of cancer-causing chemicals the facility would emit, the company’s failure to follow through on its promise to alter its layout to lessen exposure to school children and residents nearby, and its failure to alert Parish officials and residents of the existence of graves of enslaved people.

A newly released paper, Planning for Change: Conservation-Related Impacts of Climate Overshoot, examines the potentially substantial impacts climate overshoot could have on our ecosystems and species around the globe, and how we must account for peak warming temperatures as we navigate the ongoing climate crisis.

On Dec.5, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) released Food Waste Warriors: A Deep Dive Into Food Waste in US Schools. The report, which gathered information from WWF’s Food Waste Warriors education program, analyzed post-service food waste in 46 schools in nine U.S. cities across eight states. Based on the results from this sample, food waste in schools could amount to an estimated 530,000 tons per year, costing as much as $9.7M per day or $1.7B every school year.

Climate change and sea-level rise pose a serious threat to Bangladesh’s impressive growth in agricultural productivity. To address impacts of climate change on agriculture as well as to prioritize investments to improve productivity, resilience and mitigation in the agriculture sector, the government of Bangladesh and the World Bank 11 of Dec. launched the Climate Smart Agriculture Investment Plan (CSAIP).

The Partnership for Market Implementation was unveiled 10th of Dec., on the sidelines of COP25, by the World Bank and country partners including Canada, Chile, Germany, Japan, Norway, Spain, and the United Kingdom. The Partnership will provide technical assistance to countries to design, pilot and implement carbon pricing and market instruments. It will support the direct implementation of carbon pricing in at least 10 developing countries and help a further 20 countries get ready to do so.

High-level radiation hot spots have been found at the sports complex where the 2020 Tokyo Olympic torch relays will begin, according to a survey to be released by Greenpeace Japan. The radiation levels around J-Village Stadium in Fukushima Prefecture were as high as 71 microsieverts per hour at surface level. This is 1,775 times higher than the 0.04 microsieverts per hour prior to the Fukushima Daiichi triple reactor meltdown in 2011.