Country’s foreign minister says UN climate summits have produced ‘no results’ as Pacific nation takes the rare step of withdrawing from upcoming Cop29
Papua New Guinea’s decision to pull out of an upcoming UN global climate summit due to frustration over “empty promises and inaction” has prompted concern from climate advocates, who fear the move will isolate the Pacific nation and put vital funding at risk.
Prime minister James Marape announced in August the country would not attend Cop29 in “protest at the big nations” for a lack of “quick support to victims of climate change”. Then last week, foreign affairs minister Justin Tckatchenko, confirmed Papua New Guinea would withdraw from high-level talks at the summit, which begins on 11 November in Baku, Azerbaijan, describing it as “a total waste of time”.
Continue reading...
Breaking Waves: Ocean News
11/07/2024 - 23:02
11/07/2024 - 18:50
Royal says ‘it’s probably been the hardest year in my life’ as Catherine and King Charles underwent cancer treatment
Prince William has described the past year as “brutal” and “probably the hardest year in my life” as he dealt with his wife and father having cancer.
In a video interview to mark the end of his week-long visit of Cape Town in South Africa for the Earthshot prize awards ceremony, William was asked about his year. “Honestly, it’s been dreadful,” he said. “It’s probably been the hardest year in my life. Trying to get through everything else and keep everything on track has been really difficult.
Continue reading...
11/07/2024 - 15:26
Newfoundland Memorial Univeristy team find white masses are likely material used to clean pipes in oil industry
When the chemist Chris Kozak finally got his hands on a sample of the mysterious blobs that recently washed up on the shores of Newfoundland’s beaches, Project Unknown Glob officially began.
At his disposal, Kozak and a team of graduate students had the “gorgeous” new science building and “world-class facilities” of Newfoundland’s Memorial University to run a battery of tests on the white, doughy blob.
Continue reading...
11/07/2024 - 12:45
Continue reading...
11/07/2024 - 12:34
Critics say amendment 2 is intentionally ‘open to applying chicanery’ and outdated hunting practices
Black bears in Florida could soon again be in the crosshairs of trophy hunters after a controversial wildlife ballot measure was approved by voters, environmental advocates say.
The fear stems from amendment 2, which enshrines into the state constitution legal protections for citizens’ right to hunt and fish.
Continue reading...
11/07/2024 - 11:50
Tree planting has been widely touted as a cost-effective way of reducing global warming, due to trees' ability to store large quantities of carbon from the atmosphere. But, an international group of scientists argue that tree planting at high latitudes will accelerate, rather than decelerate, global warming. Why? Because soils in the Arctic and Subarctic store immense amounts of carbon that may be released into the atmosphere when disturbed, and the trees will soak up more heat from the sun than white snow.
11/07/2024 - 11:50
Plastic pollution exacerbates the impacts of all planetary boundaries, including climate change, ocean acidification and biodiversity loss, a new paper shows. Ahead of the final negotiations of the international Plastics Treaty, researchers urge decision-makers to stop viewing plastics pollution as merely a waste management problem.
11/07/2024 - 11:00
Analysis of 19m flights between 2019 and 2023 reveals 50% rise in emissions, condemned as ‘gratuitous waste’
Private jet flights have soared in recent years, with the resulting climate-heating emissions rising by 50%, the most comprehensive global analysis to date has revealed.
The assessment tracked more than 25,000 private jets and almost 19m flights between 2019 and 2023. It found almost half the jets travelled less than 500km and 900,000 were used “like taxis” for trips of less than 50km. Many flights were for holidays, arriving in sunny locations in the summertime. The Fifa World Cup in Qatar in 2022 attracted more than 1,800 private flights.
Continue reading...
11/07/2024 - 11:00
Pollution is affecting the climate, biodiversity, ecosystems, ocean acidification and human health, according to analysis
Plastic pollution is changing the processes of the entire Earth system, exacerbating climate change, biodiversity loss, ocean acidification, and the use of freshwater and land, according to scientific analysis.
Plastic must not be treated as a waste problem alone, the authors said, but as a product that poses harm to ecosystems and human health.
Continue reading...
11/07/2024 - 09:13
Jon Thompson tells industry conference there was ‘no evidence’ that bats were at risk from the trains
The cost of a “bat shed” to protect a species in woodland along the new HS2 high-speed line has risen to more than £100m, HS2’s chair has revealed.
The 1km-long mesh structure will be built where the London-Birmingham high-speed line emerges from a tunnel in Buckinghamshire, to protect a colony of Bechstein’s bats.
Continue reading...
