Tiempo Climate Newswatch

Australia has shelved plans for its carbon trading scheme until at least 2013. "The opposition decided to back-flip on its historical commitment to bring in a Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) and there has been slow progress in the realization of global action on climate change," prime minister Kevin Rudd said. The legislation was rejected for a second time by parliament in December. "Climate change remains a fundamental economic and environmental and moral challenge for all Australians, and for all peoples of the world. That just doesn't go away," Rudd said, confirming that Australia remained committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least five per cent of 2000 levels by the year 2020.

Despite the Australian delay, New Zealand will launch its emissions trading scheme on July 1st. "This is a long-term issue requiring a steady and consistent approach. Our strategy has been to start the transition early but at a softer rate," climate change minister Nick Smith commented. "There would be real instability and uncertainty in deferring the emissions trading scheme's introduction at this late stage," he continued. New Zealand would, however, be unlikely to proceed with its full obligations for the energy, transport and industrial sectors, nor would it expand the scheme to other sectors, unless there was progress in other countries, particularly trading partners like Australia, Japan and the United States.

Meeting in South Africa, the BASIC group of major developing countries, Brazil, South Africa, India and China, have called for a global, legally-binding agreement on climate change to be finalized by 2011. "Ministers felt that a legally binding outcome should be concluded at Cancún, Mexico, in 2010, or at the latest in South Africa by 2011," according to a joint statement. It was proposed that US$10 billion of this year's fast-start funding, available under the Copenhagen Accord, would be used to test and demonstrate ways of adapting to and mitigating climate change.

The countries of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) have adopted the Thimphu Statement on Climate Change, reaffirming their commitment to address the challenge of climate change. Amongst other initiatives, an Inter-governmental Expert Group on Climate Change will be established to develop clear policy direction and guidance for regional cooperation as envisaged in the SAARC Plan of Action on Climate Change. Advocacy, awareness and education programmes on climate change will be undertaken and a study will be commissioned to explore the feasibility of establishing a SAARC mechanism to provide capital for projects that promote low-carbon technology and renewable energy. Ten million trees will be planted over the next five years in a regional campaign. The SAARC leaders agreed to work towards a common position for this year's climate summit in Cancún.

A new study has used scientific data to confirm Inuit observations that Arctic weather is becoming less predictable. "I've been hearing these reports from the Inuit probably since the late '90s," said researcher Betsy Weatherhead from the University of Colorado in the United States. "My colleagues would give these presentations saying, 'The Inuit are saying this, and I don't see it. The data isn't showing it.'" By analysing weather data in terms of short-term, day-to-day variability, Weatherhead showed that there had been a decrease in persistence since the 1960s that was consistent with the Inuit observations of more variability in weather conditions.

"The Inuit, by being really clear about what they were observing, and us, by taking it seriously, have not only given us insight into what's going on in the Arctic, but really given us insight into how the climate is changing around the world. We probably wouldn't have come down this path if they hadn't been really clear about it," Weatherhead observed. "Part of what I learned is to listen incredibly carefully to what Inuit are saying in real detail and understand that our numbers are telling only half the story. They've got something unique and different to say and anyone who lives it, who's out there, we've got to respect that," she added. Exchange for Local Observations and Knowledge of the Arctic has been set up to support the collection, preservation, exchange and use of local and traditional knowledge.