Climate change and global warming news May 2007

May 31 - Carbon trading could assist Africa's poor
The Carbon credit market could play a vital role in reducing poverty in Africa, according to a World Bank official, but a lack of infrastructure and a dominance of carbon markets by India and China stands in the way. Read more.

May 31 - Emissions outpacing predictions
Carbon dioxide emissions gained further momentum at the start of the millennium, increasing by more than 3% a year. This level exceeds the A1F1 emissions scenario predicted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Read more

May 30 2007 - China rejects calls for emission caps
China, soon to become the highest carbon dioxide emitting nation, has rejected calls from the European Union to more thoroughly address climate change, stating it was the responsibility of fully industrialized countries. Read more

May 30 2007 - Canada sued for breaching Kyoto
Environmental group, Friends of the Earth Canada, has filed a lawsuit today against  Canada for failing to meet it's commitments under the Kyoto Protocol to reduce greenhouse gases. Read more

May 29 - Australia to set up carbon trading program
After intense pressure from many sectors, Australian Prime Minister John Howard has committed to begin the process of establishing a national carbon emissions trading scheme. Read more

May 28 - Biofuel production increasing food prices
The burgeoning biofuel industry is raising prices of basic food items in South Africa, increasing pressure on impoverished people according to a report by the Regional Hunger and Vulnerability Programme (RHVP)

May 26 - Indonesia and Malaysia deny deforestation claims
Malaysian and Indonesian officials plan to debunk European claims that their massive oil palm industries are destroying huge amounts of tropical rainforests. The destruction of rainforests causes masses of carbon dioxide to be released due to burning prior to plantation. Plantation crops also do not process the same levels of CO2 as the original rainforest. Read more

May 25 - Yangtze flooding threat
Melting glaciers in Tibet could flood the Yangtze river again this year according to Chinese government officials. The last major flooding in 1998 killed over 3,000 people. Read more

May 25 - Japan, Germany urge 50% CO2 reduction
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are pushing for a global target of 50% reductions in carbon dioxide emissions by 2050. Read more.

May 24 - NASA says Arctic ice not replenishing
NASA has discovered that ice replenishment in the Arctic during 2005 was greatly reduced and recent studies indicate Arctic perennial ice is declining up to 10 percent each decade. Read more.

May 24 - Global warming killing frogs
Global warming is thought to be the indirect culprit in the disappearance of over a dozen Costa Rican frog species. Warmer temperatures are allowing the right conditions for a deadly fungus to grow on frogs' skins. Read more.

May 23 - Agency keeps climate change reports from public
The Office of National Assessments (ONA); an Australian intelligence agency is withholding climate change studies from the public. Read more.

May 23 - Australia's emissions increase
Australia, one of the only Kyoto signatories to have not ratified the protocol is generating carbon dioxide emissions 450% higher than the global average. Read more

May 23 - Holland wary of climate change
Living in a country where 26 percent of the land is below sea level, Dutch authorities are monitoring the impacts of global warming very closely as a rise in sea levels could compromise the nations extensive series of dikes and dams protecting the country from a North Sea deluge. Read more

May 22 2007 - Plankton enlisted to fight global warming
A company hopes to create an experimental bloom of 50-60 million tonnes of plankton in international waters west of the Galapagos Islands - the goal being that the carbon dioxide they consume, converted to carbon in their bodies, will sink to the bottom of the ocean when they die. Read more

May 21 2007 - APEC meet won't lead to emissions trading
Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer says that while climate change will be a central issue at the APEC meeting in September, it likely won't lead to regional emissions trading in the foreseeable future. Read more

May 20 2007  - Companies to be tracked on emissions
In a world first, RepuTex has developed the Climate Change Growth Index, which will track the performance of top companies on climate change when introduced in June. Read more

May 19 2007 - Beyond Kyoto planning stalled
After 14 days of discussions, next to no progress has been made in preparing a plan to cut carbon dioxide emissions beyond 2012, when the Kyoto Protocol expires. Among recalcitrant nations such as the USA and Australia, China and India, who are currently exempt from emissions limitations, are still unprepared to take action. Read more (learn more about the Kyoto Protocol)

May 18 2007 - Population and the planet
Recent projections by the United Nations state Earth's current population of six billion will reach between nine billion and 10 billion by the year 2050 - and some are seriously doubting the planet's ability to support such a huge number; particularly given issues relating to global warming. Read more

May 17 2007 - Southern Ocean saturated in CO2
The Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica has become so saturated with carbon dioxide that little more can be absorbed in the world's largest carbon sink. The saturation of the Southern Ocean wasn't expected to be seen until the middle of this century. Read more

May 16 2007 - Massive Antarctic ice melt
Scientists have reveal a chunk of Antarctica the size of California melted in early 2005, due to unseasonably high temperatures. This phenomenon was the first of its kind observed in Western Antarctica. Read more

May 16 2007 - No ice age for Europe; heatwaves instead
Climatologists no longer fear a shutdown of the North Atlantic Current due to ice water melt and consequently causing an ice age in parts of Europe. It seems good news, but the reason is that the rate of global warming is outpacing previous projections, and therefore it will override the effects. Read more.

May 16 2007 - Oceans around Japan warm dramatically
The ocean temperature at the surface around central, western and southern Japan has increased by up to 1.6 degrees Celsius in the last one hundred years - over one degree higher than the global average according to Japan's Meteorological Agency. Read more.

May 15 2007 - Water theft in Australia
Since January there have been five incidents where more than 25,000 gallons of water were stolen from properties in New South Wales, Australia. Water theft is reported up by 30% as a result of the ongoing drought - one of the worst in the nation's history. Read more

May 14 2007 - Area size of UK deforested yearly
Two billion tons of carbon dioxide is spewed into the atmosphere annually; just from deforestation. That destruction amounts to 50 million acres - or an area the size of the United Kingdom, each and every year. The danger is that existing forests were a part of the original Kyoto protocols and therefore even more susceptible to destruction. Read more

May 14 2007 - 1 billion climate change refugees
An aid agency has stated that global warming will be responsible for generating at a billion refugees by the middle of this century due to lack of safe water supplies and crop failures. Read more

May 13 2007 - Addressing global warming - economics
Far from damaging the economy as many politicians would have us believe, addressing global warming will become a massive economic growth engine. For example, many jobs are being creating around addressing climate change. Read more.

May 12 2007 - Biofuel challenges
While biofuels such as ethanol may reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the UN has warned of the possible complications caused by massive demand for land and water resources as a result, and changes in soil carbon content plus loss of biodiversity possibly negating the benefits of biofuels. Read more

May 11 2007 - G8 global warming dilution attempt
It's been reported that the USA is attempting to dilute a declaration on global warming being prepared for June's G8 summit. The USA is supposedly resisting the concept of targets and timetables, an increased involvement of the UN and will refuse to endorse carbon trading. Read more

May 10 2007 - Increase temperature outlook for USA
According to a new computer climate model, the average summer temperatures in eastern USA could could increase by up to an incredible 5.5°C (10°F) by 2080, if carbon dioxide emissions continue to increase by the current level of 2% annually. Read more

May 10 2007 - Economic disaster looms
Scientist and environmentalist, David Suzuki,  has predicted that between 5 and 20% of the economy will vanish if temperatures are allowed to rise even just a few degrees. Read more

May 9 2007 - EU decreases, US increases emissions
The recent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in the EU has been cancelled out by the increase in carbon dioxide emissions from the USA. United States, Russia and European emissions combined, which make up half of the world's total, rose by 0.4 percent in 2005 over 2004. Read more.

May 9 2007 - Benefits of CFL's
With Australia phasing out the sale of incandescent light bulbs by 2010 in favor of compact fluorescent lamps, other countries are considering the same sort of action. If the rest of the world should follow, the drop in electricity usage would allow for the equivalent of over 270 coal-fired power plants to be closed. Read more

May 8 2007 - Beijing experiences early summer
When the temperature goes over 22 degrees Celsius (71 Fahrenheit) for 5 days in a row in China, summer is said to have officially started. Beijing is experiencing its earliest summer in over 30 years, yet another indicator of global warming taking hold. Read more

May 8 2007 - Climate change threatens migratory birds
A United Nations body has warned that climate change is a serious problem for animals, particularly for migratory birds, due to their frequenting of different habitats during migration. Habitat loss or changes in stopover sites may compromise certain species of birds ability to complete migration, therefore threatening extinction. Read more (PDF)

May 7 2007 - Minimum fuel economy proposed
In an effort to decrease fossil fuel usage and it's contribution to global warming, automobile manufacturers in the USA will need to achieve an average fuel consumption of 35 miles per gallon by 2020 under the terms of a new proposal put to the Senate. Read more

May 7 2007 - Britons and carbon dioxide emissions
The Optimum Population Trust has suggested that given the average Briton generates 750 tonnes of carbon dioxide over their lifespan, a part of the solution to global warming is population control. Read more

May 6 2007 - Italian drought
After the hottest winter weather in 200 years, Italy's largest river is experiencing record low levels and the Italian government have now declared a state of emergency based on a fear of impending major drought. Read more

May 6 2007 - Cayman islands coral decline
The Caymans tourism industry, responsible for much of the country's income is under threat due to global warming effects on their coral reefs. A 50 percent decline in hard corals has already occurred in the last ten years, despite stringent environmental guidelines. Read more

May 5 2007 - UK under threat
British government forecasts stat that global warming related heatwaves,  food poisoning, flooding and ozone pollution could kill thousands of people each year across Britain over the next few decades. Read more

May 4 2007 - Renewed interest in coal power generation
Coal is the most carbon-intensive of all fossil fuels and a global rush to utilize cheap and dirty coal for the purposes of power generation is threatening to impose massive costs to the environment and the world's economy. Read more

May 2 2007 - Economic pluses in combating climate change
The IPPC has determined that minimizing climate change damage is possible without the massive so-called economic damage that many politicians have used as an excuse for not addressing global warming. The critical take-home advice for governments is that we must act decisively.. and now. Read more

May 1 2007 - Arctic ice retreating 
Scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) found that satellite and other observations show the Arctic ice cover is retreating more rapidly than estimated by any of the eighteen computer models used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in preparing its 2007 assessments. Read more