You are here

Situation Report

Report: Freedom Declined Worldwide in 2013

voanews.com - by Jeff Seldin - January 22, 2014

WASHINGTON — The Washington-based group Freedom House said the cause of freedom around the globe took another hit in 2013, as the group released its Freedom in the World 2014 report Thursday. The authors warned of serious setbacks in some of the world’s more influential countries.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

CLICK HERE - Report - Freedom in the World 2014

Country / Region Tags: 
General Topic Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

Nearly US $ 1 Billion Mobilized for Climate Change

reliefweb.int - monre.gov.vn - January 25, 2014

According to the MONRE’s report, from 2010 to now, the Ministry has built and mobilized nearly US$ 1 billion from international aid and preferential loan to implement programs and projects in response to climate change.

The Danish government provided a 40-million preferential loan in the framework of the Program of Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation. In 2013, the Support Program to Response to Climate Change supported an expected loan of US$ 270 million. The Vietnam’s National Investment Program proposed to use the Clean Technology Fund with total budget of US$ 250 million.

The international cooperation on climate change continued to recorded lots of efforts in 2013. The Ministry has organized an international donors meeting in order to call for support for the new matrix policy of the SP-RCC in the period 2013-2015. Also, the ministry has built a plan to attract financial support for climate change, proposed a loan agreement of Climate Change Development Policy Operation (CCDPO2) and ASEAN Minerals Trust Fund.

Country / Region Tags: 
General Topic Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

Failure to set a robust 2030 climate target will hurt our national security

euractiv.com - January 21st, 2014 - Rear Admiral Neil Moriseti

As the European Commission prepares its 2030 climate change White Paper, more than the environment is at stake. As well as health and social issues, a changing climate poses potential risks to global security, in particular to secure, sustainable and affordable supplies of key natural resources (food, water and energy) that are essential for economic prosperity and well being.

Whether as a result of extreme weather events - such as Super Storm Sandy or Typhoon Haiyan - or the early onset of long term trends, climate change poses a threat to EU supply chains, raw materials and markets.

(VIEW COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Country / Region Tags: 
General Topic Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

IAEA Delivers Final Report on Remediation in Fukushima to Japan

Remediation workers check bags of soil and other decontamination waste at a temporary storage site in Date city in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. (Photo: G. Tudor/IAEA)

iaea.org - January 24, 2014

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) handed Japan the final report from an expert mission that reviewed remediation efforts in areas affected by the Fukushima Daiichi accident.

The IAEA report, which is available online, describes the findings of the Follow-up IAEA International Mission on Remediation of Large Contaminated Areas Off-Site the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, held on 14 to 21 October 2013. The report highlights important progress in all areas to date, and offers advice on several points where the team feels it is still possible to further improve current practices.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Country / Region Tags: 
General Topic Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

10 Greatest Threats Facing the World in 2014

weforum.org - usatoday.com - by Kim Hjelmgaard - January 16, 2014

The World Economic Forum on Thursday released its Global Risks 2014 report.

"Taking a 10-year outlook, the report assesses 31 risks that are global in nature and have the potential to cause significant negative impact across entire countries and industries if they take place," is how the WEF describes the report in a statement accompanying its release.

"The risks are grouped under five classifications — economic, environmental, geopolitical, societal and technological — and measured in terms of their likelihood and potential impact," the statement says.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

CLICK HERE - Global Risks 2014 report

Country / Region Tags: 
General Topic Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

EU Moves to Ban Most Plastics By 2020

                   

European Parliament - ecowatch.com - January 15, 2014

The most hazardous plastics and certain plastic bags should be banned by 2020, as part of an EU strategy to reduce plastic waste in the environment, says the European Parliament in a resolution voted yesterday. The EU should also introduce binding plastic waste recycling targets, Members of European Parliament (MEPs) add.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Country / Region Tags: 
General Topic Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

EU Study Predicts Clean Energy, Climate Failure By 2050

      

euractiv.com - January 8, 2014

The EU's decarbonisation of its energy sector will only cut emissions by half the amount needed to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius in 2050, according to a business-as-usual scenario quietly released by the European Commission over the Christmas period.

CLICK HERE - STUDY - EU Energy, transport and GHG emissions trends to 2050

Scientists and EU leaders agree that by mid-century, Europe must ramp up energy savings and green its power generation to slash CO2 emissions by 80-95% compared to 1990 levels, and so avoid catastrophic climate change. 

But according to a European Commission ‘Trends to 2050’ study, which was released below the radar over the Christmas period, the continent is only on track to reduce its emissions by around a third in 2030, and 44% in 2050.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Country / Region Tags: 
General Topic Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

Climate Change Could Put One-Fifth Of World’s Population In Severe Water Shortage

      

CREDIT: shutterstock

CLICK HERE - STUDY - Multimodel assessment of water scarcity under climate change

CLICK HERE - SUPPORTING INFORMATION - Multimodel assessment of water scarcity under climate change

thinkprogress.org - by Ari Phillips - January 3, 2014

A new study by a diverse group of researchers from twelve countries found that of the human impacts stemming from climate change, the threat it poses to global water supplies may be the most severe.

Country / Region Tags: 
General Topic Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

Climate Change Worse Than We Thought, Likely To Be Catastrophic Rather Than Simply Dangerous

            

Blend Images/John Lund via Getty Images

CLICK HERE - STUDY - Spread in model climate sensitivity traced to atmospheric convective mixing

huffingtonpost.com - by Nick Visser - December 31, 2013

Climate change may be far worse than scientists thought, causing global temperatures to rise by at least 4 degrees Celsius by 2100, or about 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit, according to a new study.

The study, published in the journal Nature, takes a fresh look at clouds' effect on the planet, according to a report by The Guardian. The research found that as the planet heats, fewer sunlight-reflecting clouds form, causing temperatures to rise further in an upward spiral.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Country / Region Tags: 
General Topic Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

New Study Models Where Agriculture is Heading Under Climate Change

      

Much is still uncertain about the potential effects of climate change on agriculture. New study merges climate models to learn more. Photo: Cgiarclimate

World's leading economic modelers put their minds together and came up with scenarios for agriculture and food production under climate change.

CLICK HERE - PNAS - STUDY - Climate change effects on agriculture: Economic responses to biophysical shocks

ccafs.cgiar.org - by International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) - December 30, 2013

Climate change will alter future weather and change crop and animal productivity. But economic models differ on the magnitude of these changes, according to the world’s lead economic modelers. Estimates on both the direction and magnitude are crucial to address world food security issues at global, regional, and national levels.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Country / Region Tags: 
General Topic Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

Pages

Subscribe to Situation Report
howdy folks