Tiempo Climate Newswatch

In a new report, British charity Christian Aid claims that a "staggering 182 million people in sub-Saharan Africa alone could die of disease directly attributable to climate change by the end of the century." According to John Houghton, former co-chair of the science working group of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, "this report exposes clearly and starkly the devastating impact that human-induced climate change will have on many of the world's poorest people."

The Christian Aid report concludes that "climate change is taking place and will inevitably continue." "Poor people will take the brunt, so we are calling on rich countries to help them adjust as the seas rise, the deserts expand, and floods and hurricanes become more frequent and intense." Warren Evans, environment head at the World Bank, said last week that "as a development institution we have to focus on the fact that millions of people will suffer from climate change. The last G8 pushed African development but didn't focus on the impact of climate change on Africa," he continued. "We need to catch up on our understanding of that."

More information

• New Zealand Herald
• Reuters

• Download report, Christian Aid

The latest round of negotiations on implementation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) began on May 15th in Bonn, Germany. The meeting launched with a two-day Dialogue on the way forward post-Kyoto, following the commitment made at the last Conference of the Parties to the climate treaty. "I don't think anyone expects any breakthroughs in Bonn but it will be the start of what could prove to be some very useful discussions," said Elliot Diringer of the Pew Centre on Climate Change. Talks then continued on implementation of the Kyoto Protocol.

Speaking at the talks, Richard Kinley, acting head of the UNFCCC Secretariat, warned that transport is "the big problem" in cutting greenhouse gas emissions. "The growth... is really quite worrisome," he said. "Clearly much more concerted action is necessary." While he felt that progress was being made in some areas, such as the energy sector, he was disappointed that a number of reports on progress in implementing the Kyoto Protocol were overdue. He reported that the Bonn meeting was placing "much emphasis... on the promotion of economic incentives to promote action to reduce emissions - for both industrialized and developing countries."

More information

• Reuters
• Independent Online
• Reuters
• Yahoo
• Reuters
• Planet Ark

• Press release, UNFCCC
• Earth Negotiations Bulletin, daily reports
• On the Web: The climate negotiations

A movie documentary about global warming, An Inconvenient Truth, featuring former United States Vice President Al Gore had its premiere in Hollywood May 16th. The film mixes an account of climate science with the story of Gore's personal crusade to reverse global warming. Movie critic Kirk Honeycutt considers the film a success, meeting its goal of bringing "to a much larger audience... Al Gore's fascinating multimedia presentation of the facts and issues."

That same week, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) launched two television ads in the United States that present the sceptics' case on global warming. "The campaign to limit carbon dioxide emissions is the single most important regulatory issue today," said Marlo Lewis, a CEI senior fellow. "It is nothing short of an attempt to suppress energy use, which in turn would be economically devastating - all to avert an alleged catastrophe whose scientific basis is dubious."

More information

• ENS
• Reuters
• Independent

• Trailer, An Inconvenient Truth
• View TV adverts, CEI