World Economic Forum report notes climate change as key threat

Environment-related risks are the most likely and among the most impactful global risks of 2019, says a new report by the World Economic Forum, issued just as world leaders gather next week for the annual conference.

The WEF survey, completed by roughly 1,000 experts
and business leaders in preparation for the meeting
in Davos, Switzerland, lists extreme weather events,
 natural disasters and environmental policy failure
among the greatest hazards for 2019.

The survey, completed by roughly 1,000 experts and business leaders in preparation for the meeting in Davos, Switzerland, lists extreme weather events, natural disasters and environmental policy failure among the greatest hazards for 2019.

“Of all risks, it is in relation to the environment that the world is most clearly sleepwalking into a catastrophe,” the WEF report said, highlighting the strong relationship between intensity and likelihood of severe events and the failure of government climate action last year.

Alison Martin, group chief risk officer at Zurich Insurance Group who collaborated on the WEF report, is urging businesses to develop a timely climate-change strategy.

Read the story from The Globe and Mail by Alastair Spriggs - “World Economic Forum report notes climate change as key threat.”

Australia not on track to hit Paris emissions goals, as UN warns global efforts must increase

Australia is among a number of countries currently not on track to meet their unconditional Paris carbon emissions reduction targets by 2030, a United Nations (UN) report has warned.

Current emissions reduction targets won't hold the world to 2C of warming.

The 2018 Emissions Gap Report released today by UN Environment shows that global emissions have hit a historic high and are showing "no signs of peaking”.

Australia is listed as a G20 country that will not meet its 2030 target — alongside Canada, Argentina, EU28, the Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and the United States.

Under the Paris agreement, Australia's aim is to reduce emissions by 26-28 per cent on 2005 levels.

Read the ABC News story by Nick Kilvert - “Australia not on track to hit Paris emissions goals, as UN warns global efforts must increase.”

Climate change will increase deaths by suicide

Extreme heat has gripped the northern hemisphere in recent months, and the year 2018 is on track to be among the hottest ever recorded. Higher global temperatures are expected to have detrimental effects on our natural environments and our physical health, but what will they do to our mental health?

People use misters to cool down in Montréal,
 Monday, July 2, 2018, during a heatwave in the city. 

New research from an international team of scientists suggests that one of the most tangible impacts may be an increase in suicide rates.

Suicide is already among the leading causes of death worldwide. For people aged 15-55 years, it is among the top five causes of death. Worldwide nearly one million people die by suicide each year — more than all deaths from war and murder combined.

Read the story from The Conversation - “Climate change will increase deaths by suicide.”

Townsville isn't an outlier. It shows with clarity what Australia could become

When I was a child in Townsville in the 1980s, the Great Barrier Reef still seemed immovable. It was a settled fact like the islands or the sea. As soon as we were old enough to swim the adults would take us out in tinnies to catch fish from among the gently swaying blots of coral close to shore. Later, with friends, I swam and snorkeled farther out, on the reef proper. I saw my first real ocean waves on its outer edge – among other things, the reef protected Townsville and its harbour from the wild moods of South Pacific.

 Videos taken from light planes by the ARC Centre of
Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (CoECRS) show
‘hectares of sepulchrally white, dead and dying
coral pass spread out under their wings.’

Neither Townsville nor Australia has reciprocated that protection. The reef is dying. You can see for yourself in the videos and photos published by the ARC Centre of Excellence, based in Townsville, which studies the ecosystem that we will likely soon have killed. The videos are mostly taken from light planes. They show hectares of sepulchrally white, dead and dying coral spread out under their wings. The vision is accompanied by deadpan commentary from the crew. They’re doing important work, but the footage is pretty thin as a requiem for what may once have been the world’s greatest natural wonder. In our ecologically diminished future, people will be surprised that this was the best we could manage in the way of mourning.

Read The Guardian story by Jason Wilson - “Townsville isn't an outlier. It shows with clarity what Australia could become.”

UN says 2017 set to be among top three hottest years, as Bonn climate talks seek action despite US stance

This year will be among the three hottest on record, the United Nations says, as almost 200 countries begin talks in Germany to bolster a global climate accord that the United States plans to quit.

A polar bear greets delegates at a UN
climate change conference in Bonn.

Temperatures this year will be slightly less than during a record-breaking 2016 and roughly level with 2015, the United Nations' World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said, part of a long-term warming trend driven by greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels.

"We have witnessed extraordinary weather," WMO head Petteri Talaas said, pointing to extreme events including a spate of hurricanes in the Atlantic and Caribbean, monsoon floods in Asia and drought in East Africa.

The WMO attributed the small dip from last year to the fading effects of a natural El Nino event that released extra heat from the Pacific Ocean in 2016.

Read the ABC News story - “UN says 2017 set to be among top three hottest years, as Bonn climate talks seek action despite US stance.”