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Author Archive for Andrew Burger

Experts Gather in Bonn to Address Threats to “Water in the Anthropocene”

Member of the Global Water System Project meet in Bonn to discuss "water in the Anthropocene"Concerned about the availability and sustainability of water resources now and in the future, experts from around the world have gathered in Bonn, Germany to “synthesize major global water research achievements in the last decade and help assemble the scientific foundations to articulate a common vision of Earth’s water future.”

A “capstone event” for the Global Water Systems Project (GWSP), “Water in the Anthropocene” is expected to result in the recommendation of “priorities for decision makers in the areas of earth system science and water resources governance and management.” Read More→

Worldwide Efforts to Combat Drought, Desertification to Take Shape in Namibia This Year

Efforts to tacle accelerating drought and desertification take shape this year an Namibia  Land degradation – more specifically drought and desertification – have become increasingly pressing problems for a growing number of countries around the world, threatening efforts to alleviate poverty, improve basic health and sanitation and address socioeconomic inequality, as well as spur agricultural and sustainable economic development.

The only multilateral, international agreement linking development and environment to sustainable land management (SLM), high-level representatives from 195 nations will be gathering in Windhoek, Namibia from September 16-27 for the 11th bi-annual Conference of Parties (COP) to review implementation of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). Meeting for the first time in southern Africa, UNCCD delegates will review implementation of the convention to date and plan for the ensuing two years of programs and actions. Read More→

Rising Temperature, Sea Level On Track to Wipe Out Major World Cities Former Shell Exec Tells UN

Global community risks catastrophic sea level rise if current fossil fuel and c02 emissions stay on trackConsensus among the world’s leading climate scientists has established a 2°C rise in global mean temperature as the tipping point for runaway climate change, but even that could result in catastrophic rises in sea level of as much as 6-7 meters (23 feet), energy expert Ian Dunlop and policy planner and scholar Tapio Kanninen told audiences at packed meetings and panel discussions at UN headquarters in New York City organized by the Finnish Mission to the United Nations, the Club of Rome, the Temple of Understanding and the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

Sea level rises of 6-7 meters would wipe out coastal cities, including London, New York, Shanghai and Tokyo, and that’s even if we could somehow manage to limit global average temperature rise to 2°C this century, Dunlop and Kanninen told shocked audiences at the UN, according to a Club of Rome report. Read More→

Obama Administration Issues First National Climate Adaptation Strategy

The Obama administration set forth a national climate adaptation strategy

Source: US Fish, Wildlife, and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy

Marking a milestone in US environmental and natural resource management policy, the Obama Administration on March 26 released a national strategy aimed at conserving, enhancing the resiliency, and making sustainable use of the nation’s natural resources in the face of climate change.

Drawing on input, resources, and expertise of federal, state, and tribal government agencies as well as non-profit sector organizations and the American public, the National Fish, Wildlife, and Plants (NFWP) Climate Adaptation Strategy, “provides a unified approach – reflecting shared principles and science-based practices – for reducing the negative impacts of climate change on fish, wildlife, plants, and the natural system upon which they depend.”
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20th Century Temperatures the Hottest in 1400 Years

“Continental-scale temperature variability during the past two millennia”; Nature Geoscience

“Continental-scale temperature variability during the past two millennia”; Nature Geoscience

Global average temperatures were the hottest in 1400 years in the 20th century, more specifically during the period 1971-2000, according to a first-of-its-kind scientific study. The study, conducted by a team of 78 climate researchers in 24 countries, helps break new ground in climate science in that the team compiled direct and proxy data from a range of sources to reconstruct 2000 years of temperature change for seven continental-scale regions. The global warming trend they detected, which began in the late 19th and accelerated over the course of the 20th century, is in stark contrast to, and reverses, a long-term cooling trend that lasted well over 1000 years.

Reconstructing climate change across seven continental-scale regions over the past 2000 years, the researchers drew on direct observations of temperature, as well as a variety of proxy data that included ice and coral reef cores, tree-ring measurements, pollen and lake sediment sampling. The study, “Continental-scale temperature variability during the past two millennia,” was published in the current issue of Nature Geoscience. Read More→