While these countries already experience severe floods, prolonged droughts and other disasters, the frequency and intensity of these disasters are likely to increase, claiming more human life. However the impacts caused by these events can be reduced through appropriate disaster and risk management, said the report.

Presenting a snapshot of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report to Climate Change Media Partnership (CCMP) on the sidelines of UN climate talks here in South Africa, Dr Christie Ebi explained that there is some evidence that there has been an increase in the severity and frequency of extreme weather conditions as a result of the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere caused by humans.

“Economic losses from weather and climate related disasters have increased,” she said. “Fatality rates and economic losses expressed as a proportion of GDP are higher in developing countries than in the developed countries,”  citing the period from 1970 t0 2008 during which over 95 percent of deaths from natural disasters occurred in developing countries.

The report is likely to be released to the public in full in February, but a summary is now available and provides an insight into how disaster risk management and adaptation may assist vulnerable communities to better cope with a changing climate.

According to the report, there is a high possibility that maximum and minimum temperatures have risen on global scale due to the increase in greenhouse gases thus resulting in extreme events which will have greater impacts on sectors such as water, agriculture and food security, forestry, health and tourism. Water management systems will be seriously affected.

However, disaster risk management and adaptation to climate change can help reduce both the economic and human losses. “High exposure and vulnerability are generally the outcome of skewed development processes such as those associated with environmental degradation, rapid unplanned urbanization in hazardous areas, failures of governance and the scarcity of livelihood options for the poor,” Dr Ebi said.

She added that countries can more effectively deal with the impacts of extreme weather events if they include considerations of disaster risk in their national development and sector plans and if they adopt climate change adaptation strategies. They should then translate these plans and strategies into actions targeting vulnerable areas and groups.

Another way of risk management is post–disaster recovery and reconstruction. These measures provide an opportunity for reducing weather- and climate-related risks and for improving adaptive capacity. The report says that effective national systems for risk management comprise multiple actors from national and local governments, private sector, research bodies and civil society including community based organizations each playing different but complimentary roles to manage risk. In this view addressing social welfare, quality of life, infrastructure and livelihoods and incorporating a multi-hazards approach into planning and action for disasters in the short term facilitates adaptation to climate extremes in the long term.

Adaptation to climate change and disaster risk management provides a large range of complementary approaches for managing the risks of climate extremes and disasters. Effectively applying and combining approaches may benefit from considering the broader challenge of sustainable development.

Tanzania  has  yet to incorporate climate change disaster risk in its sector plans nor does it have a climate change policy that would ensure the inclusion of disaster risk in its national development plans.  In contrast, Kenya developed its first National Climate Change Response strategy (NCCRS) last year in order to put in place robust and thorough adaptation and mitigation measures to minimize risks. South Africa has also developed a National Climate Change Policy which was approved by the cabinet at the end of last year.

It would be unfair to say that only some have been victimized by the changing climate, but what would be fair to say is that some parts of the world have tougher times than the others, and the Himalayas are one of those. Studies have shown that mountains across the globe in general, and the Himalayas specifically, are threatened by climate change. This needs to be looked into seriously.

Mountain regions have experienced above-average warming in recent years, with significant implications for the eco-system goods and services they provide to humanity. These are especially critical for the survival of  poor and indigenous communities. “Scenarios of climate change in mountain regions are highly uncertain and poorly understood, with large gaps in knowledge,”say the mountain experts.

Though there has to be more research on the mountains to find out the realities of climate change, the thing agreed upon globally by scientists is that the melting of the glaciers in the Himalayas is at a higher rate than in the past, and if this continues at the same pace one of the largest freshwater systems on the earth, also known as the water tower of Asia, would no longer be sustainable incoming decades.

The Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the scientific body of UN climate change framework convention, said that  glaciers have melted significantly, and that this will accelerate and affect the water supply from major mountain ranges where more than one-sixth of the world population currently lives.

Though threatened, the mountains have not yet received global attention due to various reasons. The most debated issues among the scientists is that there has been scant research regarding the Himalayas and climate change, as it is one of the most difficult terrains in the world, with huge diversity. Experts have urged that there is no need to wait, but start taking actions to fight climate change as agreed upon by the scientists. “There is the urgency to act to fight climate change as the Himalayas are in threat and for this, regional cooperation is the need of the hour,” said Dr. Andreas Schild, outgoing Director General of International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), an inter-governmental agency based in Kathmandu that is the knowledge center for eight Himalayan countries, including Nepal.

Mountain countries like Nepal are demanding that climate change issues in the Himalayas be taken more seriously. They have started a project to bring diverse mountain initiatives into a common platform. This is very ambitious. But in the words of Nelson Mandela, repeated at the opening of this year’s summit in Durban, “It always seems impossible until it’s done.”  The dream of Nepal could transform into reality if there is hard work and excellent diplomacy.

It’s not only Nepal that’s in a tight fix with climate change, of course. The Himalayan range extends 3,500 km over all or part of eight countries from Afghanistan in the west to Myanmar in the east. It is the source of ten large Asian river systems – the Amu Darya, Indus, Ganges, Brahmaputra (Yarlungtsanpo), Irrawaddy, Salween (Nu), Mekong (Lancang), Yangtse (Jinsha), Yellow River (Huanghe), Tarim (Dayan), and provides water, eco-system services, and the basis for livelihoods to a population of around 210.53 million people in the region. The basins of these rivers provide water to 1.3 billion people, a fifth of the world’s population.

With these facts and figures, urgent action is necessary to tackle climate change by all the countries in the Himalayan region, in a consolidated form and also at the global level by all the mountain countries.

Though the countries with mountains have various stands in the global forums like climate change meetings, and are linked with various groups of countries like least-developed countries, developing countries or developed countries, the agenda on mountains should be common if we really want to save the elegant Himalayas and other beautiful mountains across the planet. It is not that mountains have been totally neglected, but what we need now is common efforts to save the mountains.

To be heard globally, it is time that all countries came together with urgency in the global forums like climate summit in Durban, where the world has been searching for solutions for the problems created by climate change.

Mount Everest region in Nepal

DURBAN, South Africa–Himalayan snow cover is little more than half of that previously estimated, according to first-ever comprehensive research on snow cover in the region released at UN climate talks here.

The study found that there are 54,252 glaciers in the Himalayas covering 60,054 sq km. Until now it was estimated that the snow covered area was about 110,000 sq km.

The report was released by the Chairman of Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change — the United Nations climate change scientific body — Rajendra Pachauri, and Nepal’s Environment Minister Hem Raj Tater at a programme to mark Mountain Day here on the sidelines of the climate change meeting. Negotiators from 195 countries have gathered here to discuss climate change.

“The study used a standardised methodology based on analysis of satellite images to prepare first-ever comprehensive inventory of glaciers in the 10 major river basins in the Himalayas,” said Samjwal Bajracharya, glacier expert at International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, a regional inter-governmental agency that conducts research on glaciers in eight countries of the Hindukush Himalayan region, including Nepal. “It took about three years to come up with the results.”

The study looked at ten years of data on snow recorded by moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer, which presents an account of snow mapping and monitoring initiatives at different levels from regional to global. The report claims it gives comprehensive baseline information for Himalayan glaciers in which there is very little climate change data available.

“Longer-term data are needed in order to understand the relation between snow cover and climate change but the ten-year snow cover study has shown regional variations,” added Bajracharya.

According to the study, the maximum annual average snow cover area was in 2005 and the minimum was in 2010. “There hadn’t been any mapping of the glaciers in the past. The previously stated figures were all estimates. Now we can say the actual snow covered area in the region,” claimed Bajracharya who has been involved in glacier study for more than a decade.

The IPCC had mentioned in its controversial report published in 2007 that the glaciers in the Himalayas would disappear by 2035. It was later admitted to be a mistake. However, Pachauri said that it could undoubtedly be said that the glaciers were melting at a rapid rate and the mistake is only the year that was mentioned in the report.

By limiting our meat eating, we could reduce greenhouse gas emissions, energy and water consumption. This is the main goal of the Vegetarian Movement (Vegan), one of the thousands of non-governmental organizations attending the 17^th UN Climate Change Conference (COP 17) , which is entering its second week.

COP 17 is taking place from 28^th November to 9^th December, bringing together delegates from 195 countries inside the International Conventions Center (ICC), as well as representatives of civil society movements that raise their voices in alternative forums outside the walls of the ICC.

Livestock generates 18% of global greenhouse gas emissions – more than the world transportation sector- according to reports by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). This multilateral organization was established by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) to assess the science on climate change and its environmental and socio-economic impacts.

According to research published by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, a meat diet requires 17 times as much land, 14 as much water and 10 times as much energy than a vegetarian one. “Replacing livestock products not only can achieve quick reductions in atmospheric GHGs, but can also reverse the ongoing world food and water scarcity,” says a report from the Worldwatch Institute.

By stopping (or reducing) meat production, we can preserve 70 per cent clean water, and save up to 70 per cent of the Amazon rainforest from clearance for animal grazing, according to the Center for the International Forests Research. Besides that, it could free up to 3.5 million hectares of land annually, and consume 2/3 less fossil fuel than those used for meat production, and reduce pollution from untreated animal waste.

Talking about climate finances — a major sticking point in the ongoing climate talks — scientists in the Netherlands found that of the estimated USD 40 trillion needed to stop global warming, almost 80% of this amount would be saved with a vegan diet. That’s a saving of USD 32 trillion for the simple step of turning away from the meat to a plant-based diet.

There is something we can do to mitigate climate change, and we can do it now, activists say.

While lawyers, scientists, businessmen and politicians decide on the future of our planet behind closed doors at UN climate change talks (COP17), the ordinary people who their decisions affect most are almost entirely excluded. On Saturday, thousands took to the streets for the largest mass action of the two-week conference.

Chanting time-honored South African protest songs, the people of Durban joined workers and activists from all over the world to march against climate change, rising poverty and inequality, in the hope of pressuring delegates at the talks – as always, bogged down by diplomatic red tape and a lack of will – into finding real solutions. Below are some photos from Saturday’s march, and click here for more.

Their goal? To press home the urgency for a new climate change deal.

Among the key issues – the Kyoto Protocol, the 1997 international environmental treaty that sets limits on carbon dioxide being pumped into the atmosphere. The treaty ends next year, with no sign as yet that there will be a renewal or extension.

Recent figures show that carbon emissions in the atmosphere are worse than predicted. A UN report showed a six per cent increase in 2009 to 2010 levels. 2010 was said to be the hottest on record. Jamaica and the rest of the Caribbean have seen increasing hurricanes, storm surges and extended drought conditions, all a result of climate change.

The march symbolised unity in the call to governments around the world to take urgent action to prevent what are predicted to be catastrophic consequences due to climate change, including some islands sinking to a watery grave in a few decades. Watch here.

Experimenting with eco-friendly fashion at California College of Art

Sometimes we must travel to the other side of the world to discover something in our backyard. Such was my case in sighting California’s Arts and Craft’s Waterworks project here at COP 17.

As I first explored the UN’s Durban campus early this week, I scanned the aisles of exhibitors: African countries, non-profits of every flavor, clean energy projects, NGOs. I ‘tripped’ as I spotted “CCA”. The signage was boldly familiar among a sea of new acronyms.

I had that moment of slow motion processing as I reconciled something unexpected. I knew ‘CCA’ as California College of the Arts, a highly regarded design school based five miles from my home in San Francisco. An Executive MBA (www.presidioedu.org) colleague, Nathan Shedroff, runs their design MBA. But it seemed surprising that they would be showcasing here in Durban.

CCA is here, with good reason. They are one of the most active sustainability design programs in the world. At COP, they are showcasing their program and an upcoming exhibit – Waterworks. Waterworks is a visually compelling and scientifically innovative collection of high fashion designs, wherein water is used more sustainably in the manufacture, coloring process and even in the consumer use of the clothing. According to Christine Metzger, Assistant Professor of Environmental Science, “The College invited water scientists to teach the student about water science and sustainable water practices. We are committed to integrating science and design teaching. The students then apply this knowledge to their design concepts.”

Showcasing design which uses less water in the production process

The result: 30 highly innovative fashion design projects that aim to inspire and reinvent retail fashion. Read more.

Twenty-four Jamaican artistes have decided to sing for climate change – they have volunteered to help educate the public in Jamaica, the Caribbean and the world. Written by Lloyd Lovindeer – Caribbean song writer extraordinaire – this song is loved the world over and serves as an easy way to introduce people to climate change.