Check out this great video:

Finally, some definite numbers are being put forward by key nations in the lead up to the climate change negotiations in Copenhagen in 10 days time.  However, they should be greeted with a muted welcome.

President Obama recently offered a 17% cut by 2020 on US 2005 emissions. In response China has now pledged to deliver a 45% reduction in carbon intensity by 2020. It should be noted that China’s offer is not a reduction in emissions and the US pledge works out at only a 4% cut on 1990 levels.

It is still unclear whether these should be considered opening bids and how much each nation is keeping back for the negotiating table as the talks in Copenhagen continue to be treated like trade discussions.

Will we have to wait until the conclusion of the UN negotiations to discover what commitments countries are truly willing to make?

Remember to add you voice to the thousands calling for a fair and safe global climate deal.

How much do you know about the future of our planet?  Want to test your knowledge?

Why not take Oxfam’s climate challenge and and compete with the likes of Mackenzie Crook, Gael Garcia Bernal and Ashley Jensen.

Play the quiz here!

With only 12 days left until world leaders meet in Copenhagen, make sure to add your voice to the call for a fair and safe global deal.

Stavros Dimas, the environment commissioner of the European Union, has called for Europe to commit to cutting emissions by 30% from 1990 levels.

Although Oxfam Ireland is pressing for a more ambitious cut, this is still higher than many EU member states are willing to agree to without a similar pledge from the United States.  Many EU countries are also eager for China to be seen to do more to control its emissions first.  It was reported that Mr Divas believed such a cut (10% higher that current EU commitments) would put pressure on both developed and developing countries alike.

Elsewhere, it was hinted at today that the Conservative Party in the UK will announce tomorrow their proposition to cut government emissions by 10% within 12 months if they successfully take office.

With only 13 days left until Copenhagen, now is the time to call for a fair and safe climate deal.  Add your voice today!

The International Trade Union Confederation have released some new videos about climate change.  Check them out:

A Call to Action

Making it Happen

Union of Green

The Way Forward

Remember, it’s only TWO WEEKS until the negotiations in Copenhagen. Don’t just stand by, take action! Sign our climate change petition and help us reach 10,000 names.

The UN Population Fund has stated that the battle against global warming could be helped by making free condoms and family planning advice more widely available.

Despite acknowledging that it had no proof of the effect that population control would have on climate change and recognising that the developed world is far more responsible for the historical emission of greenhouse gases, the UN Population Fund still pointed the finger at the projected rise in population in the developing world by 2050 as a reason for why climate change could worsen dramatically.

Is making a link between population density and climate change or indeed population density and poverty alarmist?  Could it be dangerous?

Or do you believe that the UN Population Fund has a point?

Women in developing countries will be the most vulnerable to climate change, a report from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has warned.

The agency said there was a disproportionate burden on women and called for greater equality. Women do most of the agricultural work, and are therefore affected by weather-related natural disasters impacting on food, energy and water, the report said.

The report suggested family planning, reproductive healthcare and “gender relations” could influence how the world adapts to rising seas, worsening storms and severe droughts. “[There] are fundamental questions about how climate change will affect women, men, boys and girls differently around the world, and indeed within nations, and how individual behaviour can undermine or contribute to the global effort to cool our warming world,” UNFPA executive director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid said.

Women, particularly in poor countries, will be affected differently from men, the UNFPA added. Describing “a cycle of deprivation”, the report said that women in developing countries did a larger share of farming and had less access to income-earning opportunities. They also managed households and cared for families, which limited their chances of moving around and increased “their vulnerability to sudden weather-related natural disasters”.

When drought strikes, women have to “work harder to secure food, water and energy for their homes. Given women’s significant engagement in food production in developing countries, the close connection between gender, farming and climate change deserves far more analysis than it currently receives,” the UNFPA said.

Societies which will be more resilient to climate change are those with education, healthcare and legal protection for all, and where people have more say in their own lives, it added. It warned it was a long-term goal – taking “decades, even centuries” – to keep the atmosphere suitable for human habitation.

The report calls for the global climate treaty that comes from the UN climate change conference in Copenhagen next month to take into account individuals’ power to “reverse the warming of the Earth’s atmosphere”.

Read the full UNFPA report, Facing a changing world: Women, Population and Climate here

Have you joined Oxfam Ireland’s campaign calling for a fair and safe global climate deal? Join now

At a meeting of Environment Ministers in Copenhagen today, developing countries made it clear that delay was not an option.

In recent weeks there has been talk that a legall binding treaty on climate change would not be agreed until sometime in 2010 and that only a politically binding deal would be reached in Copenhagen.  However, developing countries are reluctant to accept yet another political declaration without a guarantee of action from the world’s richest countries.  Isabel Sande Frandsen, Climate Advisor for Ibis and Oxfam International added that Rich country politicians need to remember that delay costs lives.  The climate won’t wait.

Elsewhere it was reported that the US and China have stated that they aim to set targets for easing greenhouse gas emissions next month.  It is hoped that this will breathe new life into the deteriorating Copenhagen negotiations.

Remember to add your name to our climate change petition.

The coalition Stop Climate Chaos, of which Oxfam Ireland is a member, is calling on the Government to deliver a fair and safe climate deal that keeps the rise in global temperatures to below 2C.  The deal must support developing countries in their efforts to cope with the impacts of climate change now and in the future.

Here is your chance to be a part of THE WAVE TO STOP CLIMATE CHAOS.

On Saturday 5th of December at 12 noon, thousands of people from all walks of life will flood the streets of Dublin.  Join Ireland’s biggest demonstration against climate change.  To get involved, text WAVE and your name to 0873200900.

For all you campaigners and climate activists who will be in Belfast on the 5th of December, there will be a similar massive event held in the Bank Square in Belfast city centre. To find out more about how you can take part, call 028 9089 7592.

Remember to wear something blue or paint your hands and face!

There are millions of untold stories of the challenges that people face every day because of climate change.

The Climate Orb is a great tool for hearing many of these stories of adversity and hope.   Have a look and see for yourself!

Also, if climate change is impacting on your life, you can submit your own story.