World 'very likely' heading for three degrees of warming by 2100 — UN report

A UN Environment report says there's a "worrying" shortfall between the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement and the current pledges by global governments and industry to cut carbon pollution.

Fran Kelly.

The 2017 Emissions Gap Report is published ahead of the next round of UN climate talks starting next week in Bonn, Germany, and it finds that the world is currently on track for at least three degrees of warming.

That's double the most ambitious goal of the Paris Agreement, which is aiming for one and a half degrees by 2100.

The report also says no more new coal fired power stations should be built, and that existing coal fired plant should be phased out more rapidly — unless they're retrofitted with Carbon Capture and Storage technology.

Listen to the Radio National report by Fran Kelly - “World 'very likely' heading for three degrees of warming by 2100 — UN report.”

Changing climate has stalled Australian wheat yields: study

The distribution of the annual change in wheat yield
potential from 1990 to 2015. Each dot represents 
one of the 50 weather stations used in the study. 

Australia’s wheat yields more than trebled during the first 90 years of the 20th century but have stalled since 1990. In research published today in Global Change Biology, we show that rising temperatures and reduced rainfall, in line with global climate change, are responsible for the shortfall.

This is a major concern for wheat farmers, the Australian economy and global food security as the climate continues to change. The wheat industry is typically worth more than A$5 billion per year – Australia’s most valuable crop. Globally, food production needs to increase by at least 60% by 2050, and Australia is one of the world’s biggest wheat exporters.

There is some good news, though. So far, despite poorer conditions for growing wheat, farmers have managed to improve farming practices and at least stabilise yields. The question is how long they can continue to do so.

Read what a trio of CSIRO thinkers have to say on The Conversation - “Changing climate has stalled Australian wheat yields: study.”

Changing climate has stalled Australian wheat yields: study

Fields of gold: Australia’s wheat industry
contributes more than A$5 billion to the
economy each year. Wheat image from www.shutterstock.com

Australia’s wheat yields more than trebled during the first 90 years of the 20th century but have stalled since 1990. In research published today in Global Change Biology, we show that rising temperatures and reduced rainfall, in line with global climate change, are responsible for the shortfall.

This is a major concern for wheat farmers, the Australian economy and global food security as the climate continues to change. The wheat industry is typically worth more than A$5 billion per year – Australia’s most valuable crop. Globally, food production needs to increase by at least 60% by 2050, and Australia is one of the world’s biggest wheat exporters.

There is some good news, though. So far, despite poorer conditions for growing wheat, farmers have managed to improve farming practices and at least stabilise yields. The question is how long they can continue to do so.

Read the latest CSIRO blog - “Changing climate has stalled Australian wheat yields: study.”

Australia is dry and global warming makes water supply precarious

A

ustralia is the driest populated continent on earth.

Global warming if bringing seriously disrupted weather that will bring a confusion of drenching downpours and punishing droughts, seeing Australians living a life of “feast and famine” with periods of far too much water to others of far too little.

And along with a dysfunctional climate changing predictable weather patterns, we are gouging our aquifers and so quickly using up our nation’s ancient water, water that has built up over millennia and because of reduced rainfall is not being adequately recharged.

Conscious of that it was interest to note the EcoWatch story that reported: “Earlier this year, an obscure United Nations document, the World Water Development Report, unexpectedly made headlines around the world.

“The report made the startling claim that the world would face a 40 per cent shortfall in freshwater in as soon as 15 years. Crops would fail. Businesses dependent on water would fail. Illness would spread. A financial crash was likely, as was deepening poverty for those just getting by.”

Read the EcoWatch story - “8 Major Cities Running Out of Water”.