Tiempo Climate Newswatch

The global economic crisis and recent natural disasters have increased the vulnerabilities of Pacific Island developing nations, already weakened by rising food and fuel prices. Efforts are required at both national and international levels to more effectively manage their impacts, delegates at a recent high-level meeting in Port Vila, Vanuatu, concluded. "Pacific Island economies are vulnerable for a number of reasons. They are isolated, small in size, lacking in resources, subject to a high frequency of natural disasters and vulnerable to rising sea-levels," said Noeleen Heyzer, executive secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), in a keynote address. "In order to move forward, we must first understand the social, economic and environmental impacts these new risks and vulnerabilities have had on the region. With this knowledge we can then develop appropriate strategies for recovery and long-term plans for sustainable development," she continued.

The two-day meeting, organized by ESCAP and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, focused on a five-year review of the Mauritius Strategy for Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States (MSI). It was concluded that strengthening the implementation of the MSI requires that the international community honour their commitments, the adoption of green growth policies, strengthening of implementation mechanisms and adequate budget allocation. Heyzer noted that "external assistance, through development aid, debt relief and foreign investment, is needed to support the Pacific on its path to equitable economic growth." In a follow-up meeting the same week, United Nations Development Programme head Helen Clark said that the financial crisis presents an opportunity either to initiate or to broaden existing social protection programmes that address the needs of the vulnerable, particularly of women and children. "Well designed, [such programmes] can help make societies more crisis-resilient over the longer term, and contribute to more stable and equitable growth," she said.

As El Niño continued to disrupt Pacific weather patterns, flooding affected parts of Central and South America while Rio de Janiero, Brazil, experienced a record heatwave. "February right now is the hottest month for the past 50 years," commented meteorologist Giovanni Dolif. The heatwave was blamed for the deaths of 32 elderly residents of Santos on the coast of São Paulo state, where heavy rains over recent months have been held responsible for the deaths of more than 70 people. In Peru, flooding isolated the Machu Picchu Incan ruins leading to the evacuation of over two thousand tourists.

The Philippines has reactivated its El Niño Task Force in preparation for an abnormally dry season which is expected to cause agricultural losses amounting to over a billion pesos this year. The province of Isabela has already been placed under a state of calamity. According to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM), ocean temperatures in the equatorial Pacific remain at levels typical of a mature El Niño event. Since peaking in late December, temperatures continued to cool in January. In the latest BOM assessment, it is reported that most climate model simulations are predicting that the warmer temperatures will persist in El Niño regions over the coming months, declining to neutral conditions by about the middle of the year.

With a bill to control domestic greenhouse gas emissions stalled in the Senate, United States climate negotiator Todd Stern has called on the major developing nations to make clearer commitments to combat climate change. China, India, Brazil and South Africa have submitted plans under the Copenhagen Accord but insist they are voluntary and they have not formally endorsed the Copenhagen agreement. They have committed to the on-going two-track process under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. "I do believe that they will sign on to the accord because the consequences of not doing so are so serious - in a word, leaving the accord stillborn, contrary to the clear assent their leaders gave to the accord in Copenhagen," Stern said.

The first signs of emissions trading have emerged in Tianjin, China, where a regional emissions intensity trading scheme is being established. Three voluntary transactions have taken place, covering energy savings at utilities that supply heating to businesses and hospitals. China should meet its existing energy intensity target of a 20 per cent reduction below 2005 levels this year and aims to cut carbon emissions per unit of GDP by 40 to 45 per cent below the 2005 baseline by the year 2020. The Tianjin trading scheme should be established by early 2011. "We see this as a start for building a fully implemented carbon-intensity market in China," said John Shi of Arreon Carbon in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.