Climate-change-induced scarcity of things, like water, or productive lands, added Baron, reflect the main symptom of our world’s broken economy and society and it is the poor who suffer the most.

The global community, said Baron, has neither implemented any plan for the commitments made in Paris in 2015, nor adapted the agreed-upon $100 billion annually to assist the most vulnerable in mitigating against harmful climate change. 

In the meantime, said Baron, arctic ice shelves continued to melt at an alarming rate making the ocean get warmer and the subsequent development of  hurricanes, storms,  drought and flooding continue to develop and threaten our countries.

Hurricane Maria last year she said had devastated Dominica the cost of rebuilding it could not be met  singlehandedly.

Arguing that climate change is not “a freak of nature,” but man-made, she encouraged the global leaders work together to end climate change and to reduce local vulnerabilities.

“We, together, must grasp this moment,” concluded Baron.

(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)​

#PreservationoftheOzoneLayer; #WorldOzoneDay2018; #UnitedNations; #MontrealProtocol
​
New York,  Sept 17 (Canadian-Media): With record-breaking heat once again enveloping the earth this year, United Nations (UN) declared Sept 16 as an the International Day for preservation of the Ozone Layer.

Phasing out ozone-depleting substances protect the ozone layer --  a fragile shield of gas, which protects the earth and preserves life -- and contributes to global efforts to address climate change.

The theme for World Ozone Day 2018 is a motivational call urging all of us to carry on with the exemplary work of protecting the ozone layer and the climate under the Montreal Protocol --  a global agreement to protect the Earth’s ozone layer -- by phasing out the chemicals that deplete it. 

The theme has two connotations – that our work of protecting the ozone layer also protects climate and that the Montreal Protocol is a “cool” treaty, as exemplified by its outstanding success.​

World Ozone Day. Image credit: ozone.unep.org

​Looking at concentration of ozone layer due to chlorofluorocarbons, found mainly in refrigerants and aerosol sprays,  over the Antarctic pole, United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres said it was “a pivotal time for climate action” and said.

​ “We can draw inspiration from the Montreal Protocol, a shining example of how the world can come together for people and planet,” added Guterres. 

For over three decades, the Montreal Protocol has done much more than helped repair the ozone layer.

 “Thanks to this global commitment,” Guterres stated, “the ozone layer is expected to return to its 1980 levels by mid-century...It has shown us how environmental governance can respond to science, and how countries can come together to address a shared vulnerability."

Justin Trudeau, Canada's prime minister, who had discussed this  week town hall in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, the cause of carbon pollution in the atmosphere, also tweeted as follows:

​(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)

Through its Oceans Protections Plan, Canada is ensuring the  Canadian Coast Guard has the necessary equipment to respond to marine pollution by helping to reduce the spilled oil incidents in Canadian waters as well as separate and remove oil from the water surface and to timely and effectively respond to environmental emergencies.

The new equipment, part of the Environmental Response Equipment Modernization (EREM) initiative under the Oceans Protection Plan, is a critical component of Canada’s world-leading marine safety system to keep more than 80 Canadian Coast Guard locations across the country, including more than 20 in B.C. Canada’s waters, and new stations in Tahsis and the areas of Hartley Bay and Port Renfrew.

(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)

A new framework for safeguarding rivers from growing pressure from dam development, climate change, and increasing demand for water to irrigate farms and fuel hydropower plants is also provided in this report.

The new framework gives guidelines for societies to measure, value, and promote rivers’ diverse benefits and offers solutions to support better decisions and management.

The potential role of new technologies -- such as artificial intelligence, remote sensing, and blockchain -- are also provided by the report which offer a number of methods to improve  measurement water and river systems. 

Improvements in methods for valuing water, quantifying ecosystem services, and evaluating tradeoffs also provide new opportunities.

Apart from their cultural and religious values, the report shows that healthy rivers, particularly free-flowing rivers, provide a range of benefits to people across the planet such as 2 billion people rely directly on rivers for their drinking water; 500 million people live on deltas that can only be sustained by sediment from rivers; 25 percent of the world’s food production depends on irrigation from rivers; At least 12 million tonnes of freshwater fish are caught each year, providing food and livelihoods for tens of millions of people.

 The report said that services like freshwater fisheries to natural flood protection for cities and sediment flows that keep the world’s deltas above rising seas that directly benefit hundreds of millions of people could be lost if low priority to these sevices are given by decision makers until the crisis occur. 

“Rivers are not just pipes for delivering water, and we don’t have to accept the loss of rivers’ diverse benefits as the unavoidable collateral damage of development,” said Jeff Opperman, WWF global lead freshwater scientist and author of the report. “Emerging innovations, alongside existing solutions, now allow us to reconcile sustainable economic growth with healthy rivers.”

The report shows how a short-sighted approach has proven costly across the globe and could result in even greater economic losses in the future.

Already, 19 percent of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) comes from watersheds with very high water risk.

Most of the world’s great deltas, continued the report, including the Ganges, Indus, Mekong, Nile and Yangtze, are sinking and shrinking.

“Collapsing fisheries and disappearing deltas are just two examples of the collateral damage caused by our failure to value rivers for all their diverse benefits, not just the water flowing down them,” said Stuart Orr, WWF freshwater practice lead. “We need to urgently transform the way we value and manage our rivers, or we risk undermining economies and global efforts to achieve the sustainable development goals.”

Finally, the report recommends governments, companies and financial institutions should ensure best decisions are taken for effective water-management institutions and governance for sustainable progress.

“This is not a zero-sum game: communities, companies and governments can, and must, help plot a better course that helps secure water for all while maintaining these critical lifelines for people and nature,” said Opperman.

(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)

​

#TransMountainpipeline; #RachelNotley; #Alberta; #Ottawa;  #FederalCourtofAppeal; #Indigenous; #BillMorneau; #DominicLeBlanc; #pan-Canadianclimateplan

Ottawa, Sep 2 (Canadian-Media): Construction on Trans Mountain pipeline halted after Alberta Premier Rachel Notley announced this week that she was pulling Alberta out of the Federal climate deal, media reports said.​

Ottawa's implementation of its pan-Canadian climate plan -- which would include a price on carbon pollution of  $20 a tonne in 2019 and rising to $50 in 2022 -- for the time being had been shattered.

Notley said that Alberta, one of the strongest supporters of the federal climate change plan, would not rejoin it until the federal government takes some bold action and Alberta gets fair value for its resources.

Federal Court of Appeal also cancelled construction permits for the pipeline, this week, saying that consultations with Indigenous peoples were inadequate.

"The court laid out a series of concerns, but also laid out a path that may allow us to remedy or to fix the particular failings that the court identified, so that's the work we're doing," said Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Northern Affairs and Internal Trade.

In spite of Canada's commitment of finding a collaborative way forward with the provinces to tackle environmental issues, LeBlanc said, Canada wants only major energy projects with proper reviews and environmental protections in place to go forward.

Canada, in the meantime, is moving forward with plans to purchase the pipeline, said Bill Morneau, Federal Finance Minister, adding "tackling climate change is something that our government has been committed to doing since we took office."

(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)​