Tiempo Climate Newswatch

The 2006 Climate Change Conference, held in Nairobi, Kenya, ended 17th November with a range of decisions supporting developing country efforts to respond to the threat of climate change. The Nairobi Work Programme on Impacts, Vulnerability and Adaptation was agreed, as was management of the Adaptation Fund. The meeting also set the rules for the Special Climate Change Fund. "The conference has delivered on its promise to support the needs of developing countries," said Conference President and Kenyan Minister for Natural Resources and the Environment Kivutha Kibwana. "The spirit of Nairobi has been truly remarkable."

There was criticism of the level of financial support currently committed. "The Adaptation Fund... may raise at most 300 million Euros for the period between 2008 and 2012. But the World Bank predicts that the most vulnerable developing countries would actually need one hundred times this amount, annually," commented Jan Kowalzig of Friends of the Earth Europe. "Rich countries are largely responsible for the climate crisis. As a matter of justice, they must now commit to far greater contributions to this fund." There remained concern that no deadline had been set for resolution of a post-2012 agreement to follow on from the Kyoto Protocol. "While progress was made in Nairobi, our leaders must recognize that scientific evidence and public opinion demands much stronger action than what was agreed," said Hans Verolme of WWF.

China is to build one the world's largest solar power stations. The 100MW facility will be located near Dunhuang, in Gansu province in northwest China. "Covering a total area of 31,200 square metres, Dunhuang boasts 3,362 hours of sunshine every year and is hailed as a prime area for solar energy development, with its easy access to electricity transmission and communications," according to the Xinhua news agency. The project is part of the China Desert Photoelectricity Project, supported by the National Development Reform Commission, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IEECAS) and WWF. According to Gan Lin of WWF, desert areas such as the Hexi Corridor in Gansu province and the Taklimakan Desert in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region are suitable for large solar projects. It has been estimated that exploiting one per cent of that desert area to generate solar power would have covered China's total electricity consumption in 2003.

Currently, 70 per cent of China's energy is derived from fossil fuel combustion and the nation is the world's second largest consumer of oil. China's proven coal reserve will be exhausted in 81 years, petroleum in 15 years and natural gas in 30 years at the current development rate, according to an expert at IEECAS. By 2020, 15 per cent of the nations' energy needs must be met from renewable sources. "In China, introducing renewables is good industrial development strategy, it's not part of the climate-change argument," comments Eric Martinot of the Worldwatch Institute in Washington DC in the United States. "Local air pollution is playing a big factor in driving many of these arguments, as ordinary people don't accept this kind of pollution." According to the State Environment Protection Agency, pollution cost China three per cent of its GDP - £34 billion - in 2004. Meanwhile, Nancy Pelosi, speaker-elect of the United States House of Representatives, has written an open letter to Chinese President Hu Jintao, proposing a partnership on climate change based on a New Shanghai Communique. The letter, which can be read as somewhat patronizing in tone, may not be well-received as Pelosi has been a vocal critic of China's record on trade and human rights for some decades.

Some bird populations have already declined by up to 90 per cent, according to a report on the impact of climate change on bird species from conservation group WWF. "Robust scientific evidence shows that climate change is now affecting birds’ behaviour," according to co-author Karl Mallon of Climate Risk, in Sydney, Australia. "We are seeing migratory birds failing to migrate, and climate change pushing increasing numbers of birds out of synchrony with key elements of their ecosystems," he continued. "Birds have long been used as indicators of environmental change, and with this report we see they are the quintessential 'canaries in the coal mine' when it comes to climate change," said WWF's Hans Verolme.

Migratory birds and sea birds are particularly at risk. The report cites the unprecedented breeding crash of North Sea sea birds in 2004 as an example of acute vulnerability to environmental change. Common guillemots, Arctic skuas, great skuas, kittiwakes, Arctic terns and other sea birds in Shetland and Orkney colonies were affected by a shortage of their prey, sandeels. The shortage is believed to have been caused by ocean warming. The report calls for a major change in bird conservation as the effectiveness of current approaches based on protected areas is weakened by global warming.