Oxfam surveys Haitians Ahead of Crucial New York Conference on Haiti – March 31st

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Take a look at the official video for Earth Hour 2010;

Will anyone be taking part this Saturday?

Here are some of the latest happenings in the world of climate change;

• As well the InterAcademy Council conducting an independent review into the work of the IPCC, a chairman has now been appointed to investigate the scieince published by the Climate Research Unit at the centre of the so-called Climategate row.

• Today is World Water Day, celebrated since 1992.

• This Saturday will see millions of people around the world come together to call for action on climate change during Earth Hour 2010.

• European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, has highlighted climate change as a top priority in her new portfolio.

A new Climate Action Network report, Troubling Evidence: The Harper Government’s Approach to Climate Science Research in Canada, has claimed that climate researchers in Canada are being muzzled while their funding is being dramatically cut and research stations closed.

Documenting activities by the present government to undermine Canadian climate science research in the country, Canada is criticised for being the country doing the least to address climate change in the developed world.

Among some of the reported actions taken by the government are;

• A prohibition on government scientists speaking to reporters without specific permission from the Prime Minister,
• The placing of climate sceptics in key positions on scientific funding bodies,
• Withdrawal of future funding for Canada’s leading climate science initiative.

Chinese Premier, Wen Jiabao, has spoken out over the acute criticism China was subjected to in the aftermath of the Copenhagen climate negotiations.  Claiming to be baffled by such criticism, the premier made the comments at the close of the annual meeting of the National People’s Congress.

Wen complained that some people were trying to make the issue about China and countered that climate change is about human survival, the interest of all countries, and issues of equity and justice in the international community. It has also been reported that he considers the Copenhagen Accord to be the best deal that could have been achieved given the circumstances.

Does Premier Jiabao have grounds for complaint? Has the criticism of China been unfair or does China have a lot to answer for?

The work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is to be independently reviewed by the InterAcademy Council (IAC).  The joint announcement was made yesterday by the UN Secretary General and the Chairman of the IPCC.

The review will examine every aspect of how the IPCC’s reports are prepared, including the use of non-peer reviewed literature and is expected to be completed by August.

Will an independent review repair the damaged reputation of the IPCC and silence the climate sceptics?

While welcoming yesterday’s European Commission proposals for advancing post-Copenhagen climate talks, Oxfam also brought attention to how major loopholes on climate finance had been ignored.  Such loopholes allow rich countries to raid aid budgets and rely on unpredictable private sector finance to meet their climate finance commitments.

Oxfam’s announcement calls on developed countries to provide at least $200 billion dollars a year in public finance to help poor countries adapt to a changing climate and reduce their own emissions and wants the EU to lead the world in closing climate finance loopholes.

Meanwhile, both China and India have agreed to be listed as parties to the Copenhagen Accord rather than be associated with the US backed accord.

The International Monetary Fund has proposed that countries adopt a quota system based on the model that it uses to raise its own money, in order to secure the funding needed to adapt to climate change.

It has been reported that IMF head, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, is acting on concerns within the fund about the amount of money needed and the effect that such an amount could have on the global economy. The IMF believes that the proposed system would bring in money faster than an increase of carbon taxes or other fundraising methods could.

Can such a system bridge the gap between now, when money is desperately needed, and the time when carbon taxes are a reliable and sufficient source of income?  Will such a time ever arrive?

Should the IMF even be involved in climate financing discussions?

The criticism of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) continues.  Climate sceptics still use the hacked emails from the University of East Anglia in an attempt to discredit climate science as a whole.  And the public’s faith in the veracity of claims made by well established climate scientists is wavering.

In response, the UK MET Office has just concluded a review of more than 100 scientific studies that track the observed changes in the Earth’s climate system and found that it is an increasingly remote possibility that human activity is not the main cause of climate change.

A Guardian report has backed the research to strengthen the case for human induced climate change in the face of ongoing denial by climate sceptics.  It is thought that the 100 studies of sea ice, rainfall and temperature should help the public to make up their own minds and also embolden their confidence in climate scientists.

Will reviews such as this turn the tide against recently rejuvenated climate sceptics?

Oxfam’s assessment of the damage of Saturday’s earthquake to the south of Chile is now well underway. The aid agency’s team of  logisticians and water engineers split in two and headed for two locations – Constitución and Concepcion.

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