News archive: January 2014
17 January 2014
A leaked draft report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) states that the reluctance of states to take measures to battle climate change has made that the situation has grown critical, and the risk of severe economic disruption is rising. It also finds that another 15 years of failure to limit carbon emissions could make the problem virtually impossible to solve with current technologies.
The report finds that if states permit continued high emissions growth until 2030, the agreed target that the warming of the planet should be limited to 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit above preindustrial levels will most likely be impossible to meet. Future generations then would have to develop ways to pull greenhouse gases out of the air. But it is not clear whether such technologies will ever exist at the necessary scale, and even if they do, the approach would probably be wildly expensive compared with taking steps now to slow emissions.
Source: The New York Times | U.N. Says Lag in Confronting Climate Woes Will Be Costly
15 January 2014
This is our News Items Overview of 16 December 2013-15 January 2014, a summary of recent news relating to shared responsibility. (more…)
14 January 2014
On 6 January 2014, six tonnes of confiscated ivory (ornaments, tusks and carvings) were publicly destroyed by Chinese authorities in the city of Dongguan, in an effort to combat the illegal trade in elephant tusks.
UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Achim Steiner said: “[t]he largest remaining land mammal on the planet is facing one of the greatest crises to hit the species in decades (…) Yet, there is reason for optimism. International cooperation is paving the way towards improved law enforcement and increased efforts to reduce demand. These efforts need to be stepped up and strengthened to produce the desired results (…) We have also seen the destruction of ivory stockpiles across range, transit and demand states: in the Philippines, the Gabon, the United States and China among others. As well as create critical public awareness, such actions send a clear message that wildlife crime will not be tolerated.” (more…)
Source: UN News Centre | UN agency praises China’s destruction of ivory stockpile
Source: UNEP News Centre | UN Applauds China Efforts to Combat Illegal Ivory Trade
13 January 2014
The World Bank ombudsman criticised the International Finance Corporation, which provides loans to companies in developing countries, for failing to follow requirements when it approved a loan to Corporación Dinant, a Honduran palm-oil company, in 2009 and inadequate supervision afterward. Dinant is in violent conflict with farm workers over land tenure of the Bajo Aguán Valley, where Dinant is the largest single landowner. Almost 100 people have been killed since 2009 in Bajo Aguán, according to the country’s human rights commissioner, Ramón Custodio. (more…)
Source: The New York Times | World Bank Is Criticized for Honduran Loan
13 January 2014
The United States deployed a small team of military advisers to Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, last month to assist Somali and African forces in combating the Shabab, an Islamic militant group. Col. Tom Davis, a spokesman for the military’s Africa Command, stated ‘[t]he U.S. has established a military coordination cell in Somalia to provide planning and advisory support to the African Union Mission in Somalia and Somali security forces to increase their capabilities and promote peace and security throughout Somalia and the region.’
While the U.S. has been cautious in deploying its forces to Somalia, as seen by the small deployment of three advisers, the Obama administration has come closer to reversing the decades old policy that bars American ‘boots on the ground.’ The U.S. has officially recognised the new federal government in Somalia and although the U.S. embassy has not yet reopened, officials from the U.S. embassy in Nairobi visit Mogadishu frequently.
Source: The New York Times | U.S. Advisers Sent to Help Somalia Fight the Shabab