Sustainable Development Update (SDU), our newsletter on evironment - development issues since 2001, has become a news blog. This is a way of adapting the newsletter to the new ways people use the Internet today.
The new format of "Sustainable Development Update" means that the newsletter has been transformed from a bimonthly newsletter to a continuously updated newsblog (but of course with the possibility to subscribe to monthly email updates). This was a natural next step to make SDU more in tune with current web development while also benefiting more from "Web 2.0 functions", like twitter feeds, Youtube channels and blog posts. We hope you like it!
A few weeks ago I saw one of the most influential plays ever written: “Waiting for Godot”, by Samuel Beckett – about the two characters, Vladimir and Estragon, who wait and wait and wait for someone named Godot, who never shows up.
Because the play is so elemental it invites all kinds of interpretations, be they social, political or religious. I, myself, couldn’t help thinking of the upcoming climate meeting in Copenhagen, aiming to secure a new global climate change treaty to replace the Kyoto protocol. Interestingly, the version of the Godot-play I saw in Stockholm even included the word “climate villain” and made me think even more of climate deals and real action that never seem to arrive.
Climate change seems to be even more devastating for sea living species than for those on land. That is the message from a group of researchers from Canada, the UK and the US who have modelled how climate change will affect fisheries of the world.
Specifically, the study looks at how ocean biodiversity will change by 2050 under three different climate scenarios that represent high, medium and low range greenhouse gas emissions. In essence, it highlights that under all three scenarios it is the countries primarily responsible for churning out greenhouse gases (e.g. parts of Europe, the US and Australia) that will have improved fisheries production in 2050.
Climate change increases the likelihood of civil war in sub-Saharan Africa by over 50 percent within the next two decades, says a new study published online this week by the US Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Watch the video above: "The link between climate change and the incidents of civil war in Africa is clear and strong", says David Lobell of the Woods Institute, co-author of the new study.
The new study has undertaken the first comprehensive examination of the potential impact of global climate change on armed conflict in sub-Saharan Africa. In doing this the team of scientists from Stanford University, the University of California-Berkeley, New York University and Harvard University found strong historical linkages between civil war and temperature in Africa, with warmer years leading to significant increases in the likelihood of war.
Combining these historical findings with climate model projections of future temperature trends suggests a roughly 54% increase in armed conflict incidence by 2030, or an additional 393,000 battle deaths.
There is no lack of problems in the world today. Climate change, poverty, biodiversity loss, overfishing and pollution… just to mention a few. And when solutions are presented they tend to be isolated, partial and quick-fix oriented. Now, the bimonthly coffee table publication “Solutions” wants to change this by taking a whole-systems approach to find and showcase bold and innovative sustainable solutions.
Solutions was launched earlier this year. It is both an online and print journal that aims to showcase “bold and innovative ideas for solving the world's environmental, social and political problems”.
Founded by a bunch of leading scientists (like ecological economist Robert Costanza and ecologist, entrepreneur and best-selling author Paul Hawken) the journal wants to reach out to an audience of policy makers, business leaders and engaged members of the public.
As such, Solutions is an interesting hybrid between a popular magazine and a scientific “peer-reviewed” journal. It is looking for solutions that are “novel, perhaps even surprising, but also well-thought out and credible”.
The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) has released a report with tools for Decision-makers. TEEB is an independent study hosted by the UN Environment Programme with financial support from the European Commission. It shows that the cost of sustaining biodiversity and ecosystem services is lower than the cost of allowing them to dwindle.
All policy makers who factor the planet's multi-trillion dollar ecosystem services into their national and international investment strategies are likely to see far higher rates of return and stronger economic growth in the 21st century, argues the new report for decision makers prepared by The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) initiative. The report calls on more sophisticated cost benefit analysis before policy decisions are made, and demands policy-makers to accelerate, scale-up and embed investments in the management and restoration of ecosystems.
– Nature's multiple and complex values have direct economic impacts on human well being and public and private spending. Recognizing and rewarding the value delivered to society by the natural environment must become a policy priority, said Pavan Sukhdev, TEEB's Study Leader, at a press conference in Brussels on Friday 13 November.
A new “Blue book” analyses global fisheries and aquaculture from the points of view of sustainability, economy, trade and development. It is scientific in scope but popular in style and free to download from the Internet: 32 chapters and 52 experts dealing with fisheries, sustainability and development from different angles.
Fisheries provide nutritious food of major importance as well as livelihoods, export incomes and recreation, still it’s remarkably absent in most plans to reduce poverty, concludes the new book. It is the result of a project, chiefly financed by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and coordinated by the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry (KSLA).
The overall objective of the book, as stated by the cover text, is to “take part in an ongoing discussion, sometimes bordering to a public row, with a scientifically based and easily accessible book”. It discusses why donors and developing countries have failed fully to take advantage of the potential of fisheries and sustainable aquaculture.
Protecting and restoring biodiversity in primary forests and managed forests both help reduce emissions and aid societal adaptation to climate change, says a new study released by the Centre of Biological Diversity (CBD).
Forests are among the largest carbon sinks on earth and contain about half the world's terrestrial biomass of carbon stocks. Consequently, reducing emissions from deforestation (which today stands for some 20% of human greenhouse gas emissions) is now a cornerstone in many national climate strategies (e.g. Brazil). Forest conservation can also help attain climate change adaptation targets through maintaining a steady flow of forest goods and services that are vital in fulfilling human societal needs. In essence they are a reservoir of vital natural capital and alternative livelihood options that can aid societal adaptation to a rapidly changing climate.
Along these lines, a new study released by the Centre of Biological Diversity (CBD) makes compelling arguments that forest-based climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts will ultimately hinge on successful conservation and management of forest biodiversity.
Is it possible to improve food security for a growing world population and contain climate change? Only if we become more responsible farmers, says the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) in a recent report.
Methane emissions from rice fields is one of the reasons behind the fact that agriculture stands for 14 percent of the global greenhouse gas emissions, but this could be changed says a new report from FAO.
The number of undernourished people in the world is now a staggering 1.02 billion, the highest since 1970. Increasing food security in the hardest hit regions remains an immense challenge, but one that is often seen to be limited by the negative effects increased agricultural productivity will have on climate change trajectories. Agriculture, today, stands for 14 percent of the global greenhouse gas emissions. But a new report by the FAO released during the UN-led Barcelona Climate Change Talks, identifies agricultural strategies that can secure future requirements of food security and simultaneously slash greenhouse gas emissions.
- Many effective strategies for climate change mitigation from agriculture also benefit food security, development and adaptation to climate change. The challenge is to capture these potential synergies, while managing trade-offs that may have negative impacts on food security, says FAO Assistant Director-General Alexander Müller.
Discrimination against women and the lack of attention to the ways gender inequality hampers development, health, equity and overall human well-being all undermine countries' resilience to climate change. This is concluded in The State of World Population 2009, released November 18 by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
– Poor women in poor countries are among the hardest hit by climate change, even though they contributed the least to it, says UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid in a press release.
The majority of the 1.5 billion people in the world living on $1 a day or less are women and depend on agriculture for a living. Consequently, they are more likely to go hungry or lose their livelihoods when droughts strike, rains become unpredictable or hurricanes move with unprecedented force. In addition, these poor women tend to live in marginal areas, vulnerable to floods, rising seas and storms. Hence, women are more likely than men to die in climate change related natural disasters, with this gap most pronounced where incomes are low and status differences between men and women are high.
A new web-based map visualizes the potential impacts of a 4 degree Celsius increase in mean global temperatures. It was launched recently by the UK Government, in partnership with the Met Office, and uses the latest findings from leading climate impact scientists.
The interactive map was developed using the latest peer-reviewed science from the Hadley Centre in the UK Met Office and other leading climate scientists. Users can easily navigate within the map and explore the effects on water availability, agricultural productivity, extreme temperatures and drought, the risk of forest fire and sea-level rise.
A few weeks ago I saw one of the most influential plays ever written: “Waiting for Godot”, by Samuel Beckett – about the two characters, Vladimir and Estragon, who wait and wait and wait for someone named Godot, who never shows up. 
The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) has released a report with tools for Decision-makers. TEEB is an independent study hosted by the UN Environment Programme with financial support from the European Commission. It shows that the cost of sustaining biodiversity and ecosystem services is lower than the cost of allowing them to dwindle.
