-
-
More floods In northern India predicted due to glacier melt of Himalayas
With over a million people and 250,000 homes damaged due to the recent floods this prediction does not bode well for India, especially the poor of India. And without governments and social mores changing to accomodate a moral standing regarding this crisis, many will die and that is not an exaggeration. In the recent flooding, "untouchables" were either the last to be rescued or were not rescued at all. So how will that play out in the event of other major environmental climate change catastrophes? Those deemed unworthy of aid will simply be left to die?
From the article:
With over 2.7 million people affected by the floods caused by the change of course of the Kosi river in Bihar, researchers have now warned of more floods in northern India in coming years following changing stream flow patterns in the Himalayan rivers. The researchers from Pune University and College of Military Engineering, Pune, found an increase in the number of ‘high-magnitude flood’ events in four rivers - Chenab, Ravi, Satluj and Beas in northwestern Himalayas in the last four decades.
The researchers analysed the discharge of glacial melt into these rivers and found changing water flow patterns in the river due to global warming.
“The high-magnitude events in Himalayan rivers are generally in monsoons; hence they may lead to floods in plains too,” researcher M.R. Bhutiyani, professor at the College of Military Engineering, told IANS.
Bhutiyani said a “high magnitude flood event” is defined as an event when river flow at a particular point exceeds its average value.
“The data analysis shows that there was a significant number of high magnitude flood events in the rivers in the last four decades and the frequency of such events has been increasing,” he said.
The researchers found that due to global warming smaller glaciers in the Himalayas have receded at a relatively faster rate than the larger ones. This may ultimately lead to their disappearance in the near future.
“It is the glacier contribution which is going to be impacted because of global warming. There will be variations in response to the monsoon rainfall. Glaciers, which acted as natural regulators of discharge, will no longer play an important role in the hydrological regime of such basins,” Bhutiyani said.
The researchers found a significant increase in the glacial discharge in the Chenab and Satluj rivers, attributing this to a larger number of glaciers in the basin being on the retreat. With over a million people and 250,000 homes damaged due to the recent floods this prediction does not bode well for India, especially... more -
Kivalina, Alaska: A melting village
Kivalina's precarious situation has been worsened by a changing climate. Historically, the Chukchi Sea had turned solid by early winter, with slush forming along the shore in the fall, creating a kind of bumper cushion that protected the island from autumn storms. Over the past half century, however, the average annual temperature here has risen more than three degrees Fahrenheit, to 23.5, with a wintertime increase of almost seven. Last year it rained in January for the first time in memory, and in summer 2007 the thermometer approached 80 degrees. As a result, sea ice forms later in the year, while storms occur earlier: a literal double whammy.
Kivalinans know they have to move. In the 1990s, even before global warming was widely recognized, they targeted a pair of potential relocation sites to the east and south, but the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers found geological problems with both. Now the village is fast running out of time. "Before, leaving was optional," Swan says. "Now it's an emergency situation."
After another storm forced an evacuation of the island in the fall of 2007, you might say that Kivalina reached the end of its rope. Which is why, on February 26, 2008, this community of 400 Native Americans filed suit in federal court against 24 oil, electricity, and coal companies, including ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, British Petroleum, Chevron, and Shell. Demanding up to $400 million in damages-the estimated cost of moving the village out of reach of the rising sea-the lawsuit accuses the companies of contributing to global warming and creating a public nuisance that has harmed property in the town.
It's an audacious move-after all, even snowmobile-using Kivalinans bear some responsibility for climate change. But the lawsuit goes further, charging that some of the corporations "conspired to create a false scientific debate about global warming in order to deceive the public."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Hmm, and I wonder, just what is the Governor of Alaska doing about this? Oh yes, I forgot, she is too much into being tutored to play the Washington political game now to care about her own state. And she thinks climate change is not manmade? And she thinks thst Alaska should actually pump out more oil in order to continue to precipitate the crisis? I for one am pleased that Kivalina is suing oil companies for their part in climate change because they have been part of an all out deceptive PR campaign as tobacco companies were to make people believe climate change is not as serious as it really is in order to protect their profits. So, Governor Palin claims to be tough on oil companies? Sorry, that claim doesn't fly when you look at the Kivalinas of this world. And it is said that she stood up to them as far as taxing them? Then where did all that money go since the native people of Kivalina in her state don't even have enough money to move their village due to the effects of climate change? Kivalina is indeed the canary in the coal mine for climate change. Too bad their leader is too busy being a media star to care. Kivalina's precarious situation has been worsened by a changing climate. Historically, the Chukchi Sea had turned solid by early ... more -
Climate change refugees look to Australia, New Zealand
With the apparent effects of global warming already being felt among Pacific island nations, Australia and New Zealand are being urged to do more to prepare for climate change refugees.
"In Tuvalu and Kiribas we're already starting to see the effects of king tides and storm surges on the coastline, but in particular, on people's crops," says Damien Lawson, national climate justice coordinator from Friends of the Earth Australia.
"People on the islands are not going to just be affected when the sea rises up and covers their land. They're already affected by sea water encroaching through the ground water and having a big effect on their capacity to grow crops," he says.
Global warming is regarded as one of the major factors causing sea level rise. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change expects seas to rise by between 18 and 59 centimetres by the end of the century.
As a result, inhabitants of low-lying Pacific island nations are among the most vulnerable to the effects of global warming.
A report released in July by Make Poverty History -- a coalition of more than 60 aid, community and faith-based organisations, including Friends of the Earth -- noted that two villages on Kiribati have already been abandoned due to climate change.
Additionally, some 2,000 people on Papua New Guinea's isolated Carteret Islands -- which are disappearing beneath the waves -- are preparing to be evacuated to Bougainville, 86km to the southwest. They are regarded as some of the world's first climate change refugees.
With more pacific islanders expected to be forced to leave their homes over the coming decades as seas rise, calls for Australia and New Zealand to prepare to aid environmental refugees are growing louder.
Prior to the 39th Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) -- held on Aug.19-20 in Niue -- representatives of more than 100 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the region released an open letter addressed to the prime ministers of Australia and New Zealand, Kevin Rudd and Helen Clark.
"We welcome the past acknowledgement of the problem the Pacific faces and expressions of a willingness to help, but now is the time for action. Therefore we call on the Australian and New Zealand governments to recognise the urgency of climate change and the particular threat it poses to the peoples of the Pacific," wrote the NGOs.
Among the actions demanded by the NGOs -- which also includes a call to reduce carbon emissions -- is that Australia and New Zealand establish a plan to assist climate change refugees.
"The primary focus should be on mitigation, then adaption within the Pacific and then resettlement within the Pacific," says Lawson.
But the NGOs also want the region's two largest nations to develop an extension of their immigration quotas specifically for climate change refugees.
Lawson told IPS that putting a plan in place now to cater for the anticipated increase in refugees from the Pacific who may ultimately require resettlement outside their own homelands can avert problems associated with a rushed implementation of such a scheme in the future.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Again, regardless of what you may believe is causing climate change which is a moot point at this juncture, there are and will be climate refugees as a result of rising sea levels, melting glaciers, water shortages, and other events such as desertification, drought, wildfires, floods, etc. Is it not time to plan for what will happen in the event of thousands to hundreds of thousands of refugees moving to other areas? Should the Southwest US become a desert in the next half century, where will the people who live there go? Will we be prepared? And what should be the criteria for resettlement in another area? With the apparent effects of global warming already being felt among Pacific island nations, Australia and New Zealand are being urged... more -
Food riots as Indian floods destroy 250,000 homes
Food riots erupted on Wednesday in eastern India, where more than two million people have been forced from their homes and about 250,000 houses destroyed in what officials say are the worst floods in 50 years.
One person was killed in Madhepura district when angry villagers fought among themselves over limited supplies of food and medicines at overcrowded relief centres.
The Kosi river in Bihar, one of India's poorest states, smashed through mud embankments and changed course last week, unleashing huge walls of water that inundated hundreds of villages and towns.
The floods have since killed nearly 50 people in Bihar.
Torrential rains have killed more than 1,000 people in South Asia since the monsoon began in June, mainly in India's northern state of Uttar Pradesh but also in Nepal and Bangladesh.
Some experts blame the floods on heavier monsoon rains caused by global warming, while others say authorities have failed to take enough preventive measures to improve infrastructure.
Officials said flood victims had looted grains at some places in Bihar. Others ran for miles under helicopters that were dropping food packets. One boy was killed and about 30 people were injured in Supaul district when food packets fell on them.
"We have enough stock of food grains but the problem is that we have limited means of transport to supply them among the villagers," Rajesh Kumar Gupta, a government official in Madhepura, told Reuters by telephone.
**********************
I believe this to be due to a combination of global warming and inferior infrastructure. Again, a foretaste of what is to come for others if we continue to only talk and write about this. This is playing out in exactly the regions the IPCC warned it would. I do not believe we can any longer dismiss global warming/climate change as a reason for it. Food riots erupted on Wednesday in eastern India, where more than two million people have been forced from their homes and about 250,0... more -
G-8 leaders only pledge to halve emissions by 2050
Pledging to “move toward a low-carbon society,” leaders of the world’s richest nations endorsed Tuesday the idea of cutting greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2050, but did not specify whether the starting point would be current levels or 1990 levels, and refused to set a short-term target for reducing the gases that scientists agree are warming the planet.
The declaration by the so-called Group of Eight — the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy, Canada and Russia — came under intense criticism from environmentalists, who called it a missed opportunity and said it ignores the urgent need to cut emissions more rapidly.
However, European leaders, who have long pressed President Bush to adopt a more aggressive stance on climate change, said they were pleased with the agreement, which is nonbinding. They cast it as an important step toward laying the groundwork for a binding international treaty, to be negotiated in Copenhagen in 2009 under the auspices of the United Nations.
“This is a strong signal to citizens around the world,” the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, told reporters at a news conference near here. “The science is clear, the economic case for action is stronger than ever. Now we need to go the extra mile to secure an ambitious global deal in Copenhagen.”
~~~~~~~~
To me this sends a strong signal that for the fate of this Earth and our species to be in the hands of these eight countries means that nothing effective will be done to solve this urgent crisis. Again, this is what happens when you make this crisis a political issue. Halving by 2050 is NOT GOOD ENOUGH. The Arctic ice will be melted by then (which of course they probably want to be able to plunder the resources there as well,) coal plants will have spewed millions of tons of toxic gases into the air by then, and many islands in other parts of our world already threatened by sea level rise will be feeling the affects of our behavior. As it stands now we are approaching the third degree of a six degree doomsday scenario. Are these leaders so greedy and blind to scientific reports that they actually think this is good enough? And the fact that it is non binding is simply and honestly, BS.
As an environmentalist but more importantly as a citizen of the world I am outraged that these men of rich countries think they can tell the poor of this world who will feel the brunt of this most what they are going to do. I say it is time for people to tell them that they are going to do what must be done. I now have little hope for Copenhagen next year. All I see are political leaders using this crisis as an economic ping pong ball and bargaining chip as droughts become more pervasive and prolonged, glaciers continue to melt, storms become more intense, and the resources that we depend on from our land and oceans become scarcer and more polluted. As it is already the oceans are more acidic than we thought, and should this be the first summer the Arctic is ice free it is only a portent of more to come. We don't have until 2050 for politicians to get around to this!
What will it take to get the message through to these people? A global revolution? Remember this also, all of this opens the doors for government and multi nationals to continue their chokehold on the poor and oppressed. This climate crisis is just what they are looking for to institute a one world government and make the most profit they can from this. So of course, they will take their time. That is why they alone cannot be allowed to dictate to us what our future will be, especially when our survival is on the line. Good enough? No. It is an outrage. Pledging to “move toward a low-carbon society,” leaders of the world’s richest nations endorsed Tuesday the idea of cutting greenhouse... more -
The floating cities that could one day house climate refugees
At first glance, they look like a couple of giant inflatable garden chairs that have washed out to sea
But they are, apparently, the ultimate solution to rapidly rising sea levels.
This computer-generated image shows two floating cities, each with enough room for 50,000 inhabitants.
Based on the design of a lilypad, they could be used as a permanent refuge for those whose homes have been covered in water. Major cities including London, New York and Tokyo are seen as being at huge risk from oceans which could rise by as much as 3ft by the end of this century.
This solution, by the award-winning Belgian architect Vincent Callebaut, is designed to be a new place to live for those whose homelands have been wiped out.
The 'Lilypad City' would float around the world as an independent and fully self-sustainable home. With a lake at its centre to collect and purify rainwater, it would be accessed by three separate marinas and feature artificial mountains to offer the inhabitants a change of scenery from the seascape.
Power for the central accommodation hub is provided through a series of renewable energy sources including solar panels on the mountain sides, wind turbines and a power station to harness the energy of the waves.
Mr Callebaut said: 'The design of the city is inspired by the shape of the great Amazonia Victoria Regia lilypad. Some countries spend billions of pounds working on making their beaches and dams bigger and stronger.
'But the lilypad project is actually a long-term solution to the problem of the water rising.'
The architect, who has yet to estimate a cost for his design, added: 'It's an amphibious city without any roads or any cars. The whole city is covered by plants housed in suspended gardens.
'The goal is to create a harmonious coexistence of humans and nature.'
'And it has the other objective of providing housing for refugees from islands that have been submerged.'
~~~~~
Well, it certainly is innovative, but I would have many questions about them if it ever came to be. Firstly, only holding 50,000 people, who would get picked to go on them? Also, what about security and provisions? Let us hope it doesn't get this far, although islands like Kiribati, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, and islands near Bangladesh are already dangerously close to getting there. Would you live on one? At first glance, they look like a couple of giant inflatable garden chairs that have washed out to sea ... more -
Kiribati likely doomed by climate change: president
The president of the low-lying Pacific atoll nation of Kiribati said Thursday his country may already be doomed because of climate change.
President Anote Tong said communities had already been resettled and crops destroyed by sea water in some parts of the country, made up of 33 coral atolls straddling the equator.
Tong was one of several international figures in New Zealand's capital to promote action on climate change for World Environment Day.
Although scientists are still debating the extent of rising sea levels, Tong told a press conference that changes were already obvious in his country of 92,000 people.
"I am not a scientist but what I know is that things are happening we did not experience in the past," Tong said.
"We may be beyond redemption, we may be at the point of no return where the emissions in the atmosphere will carry on to contribute to climate change to produce a sea-level change that in time our small low-lying islands will be submerged," he said.
"Villages that have been there over the decades, maybe a century, and now they have to be relocated.
"Where they have been living over the past few decades is no longer there, it is being eroded."
He said at international meetings others had argued that measures to combat climate change would hurt their countries' economic development.
"In frustration, I said, 'No, it's not an issue of economic growth, it's an issue of human survival.'"
~~~~~~~~~
Not an issue of economic growth, or political haggling one way or the other to get votes in an election year... it is an issue of human survival. So clear, so concise, so true. Why then can't humanity as a whole get it? How much longer do we need? When it hits home? The president of the low-lying Pacific atoll nation of Kiribati said Thursday his country may already be doomed because of climate cha... more -
Aftershocks demolish China homes
Parts of China devastated by a deadly earthquake two weeks ago have been hit by powerful aftershocks that have destroyed more than 420,000 homes.
Aftershocks are smaller earthquakes that happen after a main quake in the same area.
They hit the Sichuan region as up to 160,000 people were being moved from villages near a newly formed lake as its water level continues to rise.
Millions of people are thought to be at risk if the lake bursts its banks.
Tangjiashan is the largest of 35 'quake lakes', which formed after landslides triggered by the main earthquake blocked several rivers in the area.
Earthquake refugee camp in the Sichuan province
Millions of families have been left homeless
It's formed behind a fragile mud and rubble dam, next to the town of Beichuan - one of hardest hit areas by the massive quake on 12 May.
Chinese soldiers are working really hard to get water flowing out of the lake to relieve pressure on the makeshift dam.
But officials say heavy rain and forecast storms are adding to their problems.
Devastation
Since the main earthquake hit, at least 67,183 people have died and thousands more are still missing.
Millions of families are already living in temporary shelters and camps. Parts of China devastated by a deadly earthquake two weeks ago have been hit by powerful aftershocks that have destroyed more than 420... more -
Maldives president seeks help for "paradise drowning"
Maldives President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom made an impassioned plea Tuesday for a cut in global greenhouse gas emissions, warning that rising sea levels could submerge his paradise island chain.
He launched a book at the UN-backed Business for the Environment conference to highlight the threat to his South Asian tropical island chain favoured by tourists for its white sandy beaches, clear waters and swaying palm trees.
"My people are blessed with one of the most beautiful settings that nature has to offer... To many people across the world, our shores have indeed become an earthly paradise. This paradise, though, is endangered," he said.
"Each year, the seas that make up 99 percent of the Maldives are rising, and, slowly but surely, engulfing our 1,192 low-lying islands and posing serious risks to the lives and livelihoods of the people."
He said he chose the title "Paradise Drowning" for his book because "it evokes an image fraught with great danger" and "most clearly encapsulates the threat of climate change and sea-level rise to my people."
Speaking to reporters later, Gayoom said the country can only adapt to the problem by relocating citizens to safer islands. Building protective walls on 193 inhabited islands would cost about six billion US dollars, which the government finds too expensive, he said.
Gayoom said the real culprit for rising sea levels is global warming and the solution lies in countries cutting the carbon dioxide emissions which have been blamed for the phenomenon.
He said it was ironic that although the Maldives accounts for only 0.01 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, the country could be "possibly the biggest victim of global warming."
At the rate at which sea levels are rising, the islands would be rendered "uninhabitable in the not-too-distant future," he said.
more at the link Maldives President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom made an impassioned plea Tuesday for a cut in global greenhouse gas emissions, warning that ri... more -
Bangladesh Faces Climate Change Refugee Nightmare
DHAKA (Reuters) - Abdul Majid has been forced to move 22 times in as many years, a victim of the annual floods that ravage Bangladesh.
There are millions like Majid, 65, in Bangladesh and in the future there could be many millions more if scientists' predictions of rising seas and more intense droughts and storms come true.
"Bangladesh is already facing consequences of a sea level rise, including salinity and unusual height of tidal water," said Mizanur Rahman, a research fellow with the London-based International Institute for Environmental Development.
"In the future, millions of people will lose their land and houses. Their survival will be threatened," Rahman told Reuters.
Experts say a third of Bangladesh's coastline could be flooded if the sea rises one metre in the next 50 years, creating an additional 20 million Bangladeshis displaced from their homes and farms. This is about the same as Australia's population.
Saline water will creep deeper inland, fouling water supplies and crops and livestock will also suffer, experts say.
Government officials and NGOs estimate about 10 million people are already threatened by annual floods and storms damaging riverine and coastal islands.
It is unclear how the government could feed, house or find enough clean water for vast numbers of climate refugees in a country of 140 million people crammed into an area of 142,080 sq km.
"We are taking steps to face the threats of climate change. Bangladesh needs $4 billion to build embankments, cyclone shelters, roads and other infrastructure in the next 15 years to mitigate the threats," Mohammad Aminul Islam Bhuiyan, the top bureaucrat in the government's Economic Relations Division, told Reuters.
"These are big challenges and only time will say how efficiently we address them, including finding accommodation for the displaced millions," he said. DHAKA (Reuters) - Abdul Majid has been forced to move 22 times in as many years, a victim of the annual floods that ravage Bangladesh.... more -
Inupiat Eskimos file lawsuit against greenhouse gas hawkers and emitters
A tiny and impoverished Alaskan village of Inupiat Eskimos located in the Arctic Circle, Kivalina, filed a lawsuit March 4 against industrial corporations that emit large quantities of greenhouse gases.
Kivalina faces imminent destruction from global warming due to the melting of sea ice that formerly protected the village from coastal storms during the fall and winter. The diminished sea ice due to global warming has caused a massive erosion problem that threatens the village's existence and urgently requires the village be relocated.
The Native village of Kivalina filed the case against defendants ExxonMobil Corp., Peabody Energy Corp., Southern Company, American Electric Power Co., Duke Energy Co, Chevron Corp. and Shell Oil Co., among others.
The suit claims damages due to the defendant companies' contributions to global warming and invokes the federal common law of public nuisance. The suit also alleges a conspiracy by some defendants to mislead the public regarding the causes and consequences of global warming. The residents of Kivalina are among the nation's poorest people.
Colleen Swan, tribal administrator of Kivalina, said, ''The campaign of deception and denial about global warming must stop.'' She added, ''Global warming and its effects are a reality we have to deal with. People's lives are in danger because of it.
Official reports from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Government Accountability Office have found that Kivalina is directly harmed by global warming and must relocate at an expense that could cost $400 million or more.'' A tiny and impoverished Alaskan village of Inupiat Eskimos located in the Arctic Circle, Kivalina, filed a lawsuit March 4 against ind... more -
Climate Change May Wipe Some Indonesian Islands Off The Map
I wonder then: Are the representatives at Bali seeing this from a moral perspective? I sure hope so, because that is the only way we will save this planet and ourselves. I wonder then: Are the representatives at Bali seeing this from a moral perspective? I sure hope so, because that is the only way we w... more
-
related topics
Climate Refugees
Contributors (102)
Climate Refugees
