The greenhouse-gas emissions for an entire country : Possible to measure ??

The United Nations reported this week that Kyoto Protocol signatories have reduced greenhouse-gas emissions to 5 percent below 1990 levels, four years ahead of the treaty schedule.

For a country to get a direct readout of its national emissions, it would have to put a greenhouse-gas meter on every tailpipe, landfill, and cow. Since that's impractical, government officials track the inputs rather than the outputs. In other words, they count up the number of gallons of fossil fuels consumed, cattle raised, and pounds of waste produced. From there, it's just a matter of doing the right calculations.

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Greenhouse gases hit record

UN:

November 26, 2008

Greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere have reached new record highs and show no sign of leveling off, the UN weather agency said Tuesday.

The report by the World Meteorological Organization was released a year before representatives from major countries meet in Denmark to negotiate a new international treaty to curb greenhouse gases for 2012 and beyond.

The gases—carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane—are produced partially by natural sources, such as wetlands, and partially by human activities such as fertilizer use or the combustion of fossil fuels.

Agreements with the United Nations and the International Atomic Energy Agency

Protocol concerning the entry into force of the Agreement between the United Nations and the World Meteorological Organization (UN), 1951

Agreement between the United Nations and the World Meteorological Organization (UN), 1951

Protocol concerning the entry into force of the Agreement between the International Atomic Energy Agency and the World Meteorological Organization (IAEA), 1960

Agreement between the International Atomic Energy Agency and the World Meteorological Organization (IAEA), 1960

Protocol concerning the entry into force of the Agreement between the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-test-Ban Organization and the World Meteorological Organization (CTBTO), 2003

Agreement between the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-test-Ban Organization and the World Meteorological Organization (CTBTO), 2003

IPCC : International Panel For Climate Change

Climate change is a very complex issue: policymakers need an objective source of information about the causes of climate change, its potential environmental and socio-economic consequences and the adaptation and mitigation options to respond to it. This is why WMO and UNEP established the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 1988.

The IPCC is a scientific body: the information it provides with its reports is based on scientific evidence and reflects existing viewpoints within the scientific community. The comprehensiveness of the scientific content is achieved through contributions from experts in all regions of the world and all relevant disciplines including, where appropriately documented, industry literature and traditional practices, and a two stage review process by experts and governments.

The IPCC is a scientific intergovernmental body set up by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Its constituency is made of :

• The governments: the IPCC is open to all member countries of WMO and UNEP. Governments of participate in plenary Sessions of the IPCC where main decisions about the IPCC workprogramme are taken and reports are accepted, adopted and approved. They also participate the review of IPCC Reports.
• The scientists: hundreds of scientists all over the world contribute to the work of the IPCC as authors, contributors and reviewers.
• The people: as United Nations body, the IPCC work aims at the promotion of the United Nations human development goals

IPCC does :

The IPCC provides its reports at regular intervals and they immediately become standard works of reference, widely used by policymakers, experts and students. The findings of the first IPCC Assessment Report of 1990 played a decisive role in leading to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which was opened for signature in the Rio de Janeiro Summit in 1992 and entered into force in 1994. It provides the overall policy framework for addressing the climate change issue. The IPCC Second Assessment Report of 1995 provided key input for the negotiations of the Kyoto Protocol in 1997 and the Third Assessment Report of 2001 as well as Special and Methodology Reports provided further information relevant for the development of the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol. The IPCC continues to be a major source of information for the negotiations under the UNFCCC.

Green House Air : Future Impacts

Greenhouse hot air could be very dangerous for our this green planet. Such as

• Experts predicts that as a result of global warming sea levels will rise by between 0.09 and 0.88 metres by 2100. This may not sound like much, but a half-metre rise in sea level would put paid to many low lying islands, especially in the Pacific, and cause vast saline inundations in countries like Bangladesh.
  
• Many cities - among them Mumbai (Bombay) and Bangkok - could be threatened too. Millions of people will be forced to move as 'environmental refugees' to higher ground.
  
• Future global warming will affect different regions in different ways. A report by the European Acacia Project predicts that parts of southern Europe will become so hot that the tourist industry could suffer, and alpine glaciers could melt entirely by the end of the century. In northern Europe snowfall and rain may increase. In the north cropland productivity is likely to increase, but with the warmer weather will come a greater risk of pests and diseases spreading.
  
• The scientists predict that a decrease in rainfall in some parts of Africa, Latin America and Asia - another likely consequence of global warming - could lead to a decline in grain yield of 10-15 per cent over the next 50 years.
  
• Indeed, the Experts suggests that global warming could trigger more extreme weather events - floods, droughts and the like - which will have a serious impact on food production and human populations.
  
• Areas of the world which depend on runoff from glaciated mountains would see a catastrophic drop in water supplies as the final ice-fields melt.
  
• The costs of global warming, in financial terms, could be astronomic. Already the cost of property damage is rising at around 10 per cent a year, and between 1970 and 2000 economic losses caused by natural disasters doubled.
  
• Some insurance experts warn that the industry could be in danger of running out of money if it is to meet claims stemming from climate-related disasters in the not too distant future. Warmer ocean waters are likely spark more intense hurricanes, with more damaging winds and much heavier rainfall.
  
• Overall, global warming is likely to be a disaster for biodiversity, complex ecosystems as species migrate to stay within their climate zone. And those that benefit tend to be invasive competitors, adding to the non-climate extinction crisis. A report published in the scientific journal Nature in 2004 suggested that up to a third of species could be 'committed to extinction' because of climate change by 2050.
• Some scientists have speculated that global warming could lead to the complete wiping out of the Amazon rainforest, causing a biological catastrophe unparalleled in modern times. This is likely to be accompanied by the widespread loss of coral reefs due to more frequent 'bleaching' in warmer waters.

Air: Hot or not : The basics of Greenhouse effects

During the twentieth century, global atmospheric temperatures have risen by about 0.7�C. However, since the mid-1970s the rate of warming has tripled. The last decade has seen nine of the warmest ten years since records began in 1861. 2004 was the fourth-warmest ever. In descending order of heat the five warmest-ever years were: 1998, 2003, 2002, 2004, 2001. Moreover, new evidence - compiled from 'proxy data' like ice cores and tree rings - suggests that temperatures are now higher than they have been for over a thousand years.

Just like the glass on a greenhouse, a blanket of water vapour and other 'greenhouse gases' - notably carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide - trap some of the sun's radiation as it bounces off the surface of the earth.

This natural greenhouse effect has enabled life to develop in all its complexity - without it the planet would be frozen solid - but since the industrial revolution the amount of greenhouse gas has risen. As a result more heat has been trapped, causing a warming of the atmosphere.

Hidden Hunger : A View

Several billion people are classified as the hidden hungry. They may appear adequately fed, but suffer in some way from the lack of essential vitamins or minerals. According to UNICEF, almost 2 billion people are anaemic and 3.7 billion are iron-deficient, most being women. In Africa and Asia iron-deficiency anaemia is thought to cause around a fifth of all maternal deaths. Between 100 and 140 million children suffer from vitamin A deficiency, which can lead to blindness, and diseases associated with this deficiency kill a million children a year. Some 20 million people worldwide are mentally handicapped as a result of iodine deficiency.

Hunger in this Planet : A Statistics and a reality

Millions of people, including 6 million children under the age of 5, die each year as a result of hunger. Hunger not only reduces life expectancy. It costs developing countries up to $128 billion a year in productivity losses, according to FAO.

Since the World Food Summit in 1996, many donors have reduced their aid to agriculture. In 1982, 17 per cent of development assistance went to agriculture. By 2002, this had fallen to 3.7 per cent.

A disproportionately large number of those who suffer from malnutrition are women and children.

In 1984, only about 10 per cent of the world�s food emergencies were caused by man-made disasters such as civil wars. By 1999, it was 53 per cent. There is a strikingly close relationship between incidences of civil conflict and child mortality.

In sub-Saharan Africa, there has been progress in reducing the prevalence of undernourishment. For the first time in several decades, the share of undernourished people in the region�s population declined significantly � from 35 per cent in 1990�92 to 32 per cent in 2001�03, after having reached 36 percent in 1995�97. Southern Africa, West Africa, East Africa and Nigeria saw a decline in the prevalence of undernourishment, but Central Africa experienced a dramatic increase.

Undernourished People whole over the world:

820 million in developing countries are undernourished, the FAO reported in 2006. This is 20 million more than in 1996 when governments pledged at a World Food Summit (WFS) to halve the number of hungry in the world by 2015. Worldwide the number of undernourished people totals 854 million, with 25 million in the transition countries and 9 million in the industrialized countries adding to the number in developing countries.

Key connections between population and the welfare of the planet

Rapidly Increased population has very tough role on the welfare of this eco-planetary system. in this green earth. The main key connections between population and the welfare of the planet are:

• Rapid or persistent population growth can force farmers and fishermen to over-exploit fragile ecosystems with damaging results.
• It can also increase pressures on local infrastructures and services.
  
• It speeds the rate of urbanisation (itself not a bad thing), often leading to dangerous, overcrowded and unplanned settlements, with poor sanitation, a lack of clean water and health threatening air pollution.
  
• In some rural settings increased population growth appears to have stimulated new farming methods, but elsewhere it has resulted in the over-use of slash and burn techniques, and unsustainable land clearance on fragile, sloping and forested land and destructive coastal development.
  
• Its leading to pressure on land and water resources has been increasing food production. In 2008, food is needed for some 2.5 billion more people than in 1972. The trend in recent years has shown population growth drawing ahead of food production in some regions of the world, particularly Africa. Some commentators believe that China may soon become a major food importer.
  
• One billion new jobs must be created over the next decade just to maintain current employment levels. The availability of a young, educated labour force can be a bonus in newly industrialising countries, but jobs are especially hard to create in countries with high levels of under-employment, poor educational standards and limited infrastructure - and these are often the ones with rapid increases in population.
  
• Progress in reducing hunger in the developing world has slowed to a crawl and in some regions the number of undernourished people is actually growing. In 2006, FAO estimated there are still 820 million hungry people in developing countries - 20 million more than in 1996. In addition, there are 25 million hungry people living in transition countries and another 9 million in industrialised countries, bringing the total number of malnourished people in the world to 854 million.
  
• To achieve the World Food Summit goal of halving the number undernourished in developing countries by 2015, the average annual decrease required is 24 million - almost 10 times the current level of performance.
  
• According to estimates by Harvard entomologist, Edward O. Wilson, some 27,000 plant, animal and insect species become extinct every year (the vast majority being insects). About 24 per cent (1,130) of mammals and 12 per cent (1,183) of bird species are currently regarded as globally threatened. Most species extinction can be traced to human encroachments on habitat, including forests and coral reefs, which results from population growth and economic development.
  
• Where resources are already limited, rapid population growth can make it more difficult to eradicate poverty, because the economy, infrastructure and the necessary pool of teachers, doctors and other professionals all need to grow faster than supply.
  
• Worldwide the number of people in developing countries living on less than one dollar a day dropped to 980 million in 2004, from 1.25 billion in 1990. Though this represents a reduction of 9 per cent since 1990 (from 28 to 19 per cent), it means that in the poorest countries abject poverty is still endemic. Indeed, between 1990 and 2004, the consumption of the poorest fifth of the world�s population actually fell from 4.6 to 3.9 per cent. And close to 3 billion people are still subsisting on two dollars a day or less.
  Source: The Millennium Development Goals Report 2007, UN, December 2007, NY.
  
  
• More than any other resource, water shortage is becoming critical issue both for agriculture (which makes up about 70 per cent of demand)and industry.
  
• A safe water supply is also one of the most important factors in improving the health of poor families. Up to 7 billion people, in 60 countries, will face water scarcity within the next half centrury, according to the UN World Water Development Report released in March 2003.
  
• Human activities have destroyed 11 per cent of the globe's arable land, the size of China and India combined, and over 40 per cent is now degraded in some way. As a result, every year, the world's farmers must feed 77 million more people with 27 billion fewer tons of topsoil.
  
• Humanity will have to undergo a "revolution in thinking" in order to deal with the doubling of urban populations in Africa and Asia by 2030, the United Nations warns in a 2007 report which shows that over 30 years, the population of African and Asian cities will double, adding 1.7 billion people , or more than the present populations of China and the United States put together.

Booming Population Making problems worse

Booming population is only one among many causes of social and environmental problems. But such growth can make these problems much more difficult to solve. But, for a variety of reasons, including a change in the US government's attitude towards family planning, population has slipped down the international agenda, almost to the point of disappearing.

Indeed a report last year (2007) from UK parliamentarians said "a whole decade has been lost" in dealing with the problem. They pointed especially to the rampant growth of human numbers in many poor African countries where the problems of land degredation and poverty are most severe.

Ethiopia, for example, has seen its numbers grow from 42 million at the time of the infamous famine in 1984 to 75 million today. By 2050 its population is projected to reach 145 million � and this at a time when eight million Ethiopians already live on permanent food aid.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, as a whole, the numbers of people in extreme poverty fell from nearly 48 per cent in 1990 to 41.1 per cent by 2004, with most of the progress achieved in the previous seven years. However, the MDG report for 2007 claims what little progress has been made is stalled and there is no immediate likelihood of further reductions in poverty rates for those living on less than one dollar a day. It seems that Sub-Saharan Africa will not come close to halving poverty by 2015.

Population and Human Development : Face To Face

We cannot confront the massive challenges of poverty, hunger, disease and environmental destruction unless we address issues of population and reproductive health.

Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, Executive Director, UN Population Fund (UNFPA)

Experts are concerned that the earth's 'carrying capacity' is already overstrained, and worry that the huge impending increases in consumption in countries such as India and China will add enormously to the burden of greenhouse gases which threaten to heat the planet - not to mention all the other demands which increases in both population and consumption are putting on the earth's natural systems.

The Comparison Chart of Population issue in the world is given below:

Population and human development - the key connections

Globally, many experts are concerned that the earth's 'carrying capacity' is already overstrained, and worry that the huge impending increases in consumption in countries such as India and China will add enormously to the burden of greenhouse gases which threaten to heat the planet - not to mention all the other demands which increases in both population and consumption are putting on the earth's natural systems. Indeed some commentators argue that one of the best strategies for reducing future greenhouse gas emissions is to stabilise population as quickly as can be achieved by non-coercive education and reproductive health programmes.

Nor is the problem confined to the so-called 'developing world'. The United States, for example, produces a quarter of the world's carbon dioxide emissions with only five per cent of the global population. And, unlike Europe, the US population is growing fast - from 200 million in 1970, to over 303 million today and a projected 420 million in 2050.

One of the complicating facts is that much of the world's population - especially in the South - is very young, with plenty of potential to reproduce. So that although the rate of population growth began to decline some 30 years ago, annual additions to the human population are still near to their highest level, with some 75 million being added every year, or over 200,000 people every day. This is equivalent of a San Francisco every week and almost a Germany every year.

These people all need food, housing, jobs and health care. And once basic needs are met, the appetite for other consumer goods and services seems to be limited only by the ability to pay for them. Human impacts on resources and on the environment vary, therefore, not only with changes in population growth and distribution but also with changes in levels of consumption and the technologies involved.

Sundarbans in Danger.................

The chemical hub project at Nayachar in East Midnapore district got the nod at a meeting between the state government(India-West Bengal) and a high-powered committee in the national capital(India/New Delhi) Feb 3.

'If the project comes up at Nayachar, the entire region would get affected by its toxic chemical discharge,' Santanu Chacraverti of the NGO Direct Initiative for Social and Health Action (DISHA) told IANS.

'Not only would it disturb marine life but these poisonous chemicals would also enter the Sundarban creeks and affect the bio-diversity of the large mangrove swamp.'

'The entire mangrove forest is criss-crossed by water channels and there is a huge possibility that this water will get polluted by the Nayachar project.

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