Despite horse shoe crabs being heavily harvested for fishing bait or the pharmaceutical industry, scientists at the USGS are able to calculate exactly how much climate change has appeared to have historically played a part in their diminishing population by gauging sea levels. The USGS has inferred that oceans have been altered by climate change and will continue to jeopardize the successful reproduction of horse shoe crabs which need a precise temperature and depth of water with beach in order to mate. Even the US National Oceanic and Air Administration in its latest report confirm findings that climate change is in fact altering sea levels.

“Predicted future climate change, with its accompanying sea-level rise and water temperature fluctuations, may well limit horseshoe crab distribution and interbreeding, resulting in distributional changes and localized and regional population declines, such as what happened after the last Ice Age,” the report stated. “Using genetic variation, we determined the trends between past and present population sizes of horseshoe crabs and found that a clear decline in the number of horseshoe crabs has occurred that parallels climate change associated with the end of the last Ice Age,” said Tim King, USGS scientist.

Such claims are definitely corroborated having extrapolated data from Florida to Maine as well as a majority of the Gulf of Mexico. As seen there, the drastic reduction in population will have long term and reciprocal effects, King asserts. For instance, Atlantic loggerhead sea turtles, which used to feed mainly on adult horseshoe crabs and blue crabs in Chesapeake Bay, already have been forced to find other less suitable sources of food, perhaps contributing to declines in Virginia’s sea turtle abundance. Horse shoe crab eggs are an important source of food for millions of migrating shore birds as well.  Population decline has been registered officially since the 1990s between shore birds and horse shoe crabs respectively. However, horse shoe crabs have experienced the most dramatic changes in population since.

“Consequently, harvest limitations on females in populations with low numbers may be a useful management strategy, as well as relocating females from adjacent bays to help restore certain populations,” King said. “Both studies highlight the importance of considering both climatic change and other human-caused factors such as overharvest in understanding the population dynamics of this and other species.”

The two nations, meeting in Beijing, agreed to make a combined effort to implement the Joint Statement on Climate Change between China and Japan, said Zhang Ping, chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), during the third China-Japan high-level economic dialogue.

Continued, as reported by Xinhua:

The two sides will conduct pragmatic cooperation in the areas of clean development mechanisms, energy-savings, energy efficiency improvement, new energy, renewable energy, clean coal technology, methane recovery and utilization, carbon capture and storage, adaptation to climate change and technology development and transfer, he said.

On international climate change negotiations, he said the two sides are ready to fulfill their responsibilities and try their best to cope with climate change in line with the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities “.

He said the Cancun climate summit should continue to adhere to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Kyoto Protocol and the Bali Road Map, as well as the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities “.

The negotiation process should be in line with the principle of being open and maintaining transparency, broad participation, being party-driven and achieving consensus, he added.

China will host UN climate change talks in Tianjin city this October, which reflects the country’s constructive attitude on promoting the UN climate negotiation process, he said.

China is willing to work with the other sides, including Japan, to contribute to the Cancun conference slated for the end of this year, Zhang said.

During the meeting, China and Japan also agreed to hold the fifth China-Japan Energy-saving and Environment Protection Forum in Tokyo this October.

Zhang said the two nations had made substantial achievements in energy-saving and environmental protection.

China’s National Development and Reform Commission and Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry have signed many cooperative documents on energy-saving and environmental protection, he said.

The two countries have held four energy-saving and environmental protection forums and inked 76 agreements involving cooperation in this area.

Both governments support enterprises of the two countries to cooperate on commercial demonstration projects, he said, adding China had sent 300 management personnel to Japan to study energy conservation policies and technology.

During the dialogue, the two sides also pledged to cooperate on developing green economies and low-carbon technologies, enhance cooperation between energy-saving centers of both countries and promote commercial demonstration projects on energy-saving and environmental protection

Environmentalists world-wide may have been shocked to hear the news that the Obama Administration has chosen to side with major utility companies rather than protect the environment. The decision contradicts his initiative for green energy, eco-activists claim, arguing that the decision would hurt the cause to reduce green-house gas emissions or even formally bring legal suit to it in future instances.

The legal case, brought recently before the US Supreme Court on Thursday, in which the Federal Government officially backed the utility companies, in theory stated that there was no need to go after them. The Administration has been very clear on the matter reiterating the incremental steps the Environmental Protection Agency has been regulating to restrain carbon dioxide emissions, and as such made the lawsuit unnecessary. As a result, the Supreme Court was asked by the solicitor general to return the case back to the US Court of Appeals for the 2^nd Circuit Courts.

The EPA’s announcement, however, doesn’t limit the amount of emissions currently being produced by existing power plants and other utility companies environmentalists are concerned about. Furthermore, their worries persist having to mitigate the precedent laid by the recent ruling in which could be used to jeopardize the basis for legal action on behalf of environmentalists for future endeavors. The government’s arguments for having the case dropped it seems have formed the basis for a legal argument all but set in stone and are iron-clad fear many environmental activists.

“We’re very angry and very disappointed that they would take this tack,” said David Doniger, policy director of the climate center at the Natural Resources Defense Council. An EPA official, on behalf of requesting anonymity, spoke on behalf of the recently ruling stating the government is taking “a series of regulatory actions indicating that it’s moving forward on greenhouse gases and really making it inappropriate for the courts to step in and take on this issue.”

The Solicitor General won the case brought before the Supreme Court by invoking the Clean Air Act, in which gives the right to regulate green house gas emissions to the EPA alone. To go further, the Department of Justice has pushed that states no longer be allowed to sue private companies for the harm their emissions “allegedly” cause within their state borders. The Justice Department says judges have no clear standards in which they can measure the amount of harm done by utility companies and as such makes it difficult to award damages let alone accurate verdicts. Power companies have already asked the court to dismiss the suit. In addition, the Obama Administration has also argued for a dismissal of the suit altogether. However the Administration has also suggesting that the Supreme Court should wait until the Circuit Courts addressed the issue first.

The lawsuit brought against the power companies to reduce their green house gas emissions by 3% over 10 years is a stricter attempt at regulation than what the EPA has been pursuing. Rather than incentivize the suit for utility companies to play ball, so to speak, with the government, the Federal government instead is blatantly siding with power companies altogether in dismissing the case against them outright. The government should be pushing the suit against the power companies to leverage them into pursuing higher standards on the restrictions of green house gas emissions.

Hundreds of millions of Africans rely on corn production for income, as well as basic sustenance in their daily lives.  But in recent decades, drought has wreaked havoc on populations across the continent, killing many and forcing others to rely on handouts to survive.

From 2007 through 2009 unusually low rainfall across East Africa devastated rural communities and forced the Kenya government to adopt measures to combat food shortages and rising prices.

But a new study conducted by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center has found new breeds of corn could help farmers fight the effects of drought and provide food throughout periods of low rainfall.  The study, conducted in cooperation with Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation found widespread adoption of so-called “drought-tolerant” corn could result in collective economic benefits of around $900 million for African farmers by 2016. Continued, as excerpted from the Voice of America:

According to the study, the new breeds could also save consumers more than $500 million in drought related price increases during the same period.

According to one of the report’s authors, Wilfred Mwangi, the introduction of drought-tolerant corn will be critical for African farmers trying to weather the effects of global climate change.

“The issue of climate change is a reality,” said Mwangi.  “Drought occurs very, very often in sub-Saharan Africa.  It is even predicted that by 2050 we might even need entirely different varieties of maize if we are going to mitigate against drought.  This whole question of climate change and drought out of that climate change is the major constraint to maize production in Africa.  This is an important strategy that famers can use to adapt against climate change.”

According to Mwangi, who is also the associate director of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center’s Global Maize Program, many of Africa’s farmers are small-scale subsistence producers with little or no access to irrigation systems, which leaves them especially vulnerable to drought conditions.

He told VOA the introduction of new corn varieties could boost yields by as much as 30 percent and protect against future shortages.

East Africa has managed to recover from two consecutive years of drought with help from unusually high rains in late 2009 and early 2010.  The rains were caused by an “El Nino event” and produced extremely high crop yields across the region.

But early signs of a “La Nina” event have many expert predicting reduced rainfall in the coming months.  According to a brief released in August by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Famine Early Warning Systems Network, the developing “La Nina” could inhibit the rainy season, which typically lasts from October through December.  If the rains fail, another devastating, region-wide drought can be expected as early as February.

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At the right is the central Pakistan city of Hyderabad on July 31. The ramifications of the disaster are clear; agriculture has been disrupted and their society has been thrown into disarray.

As University of Michigan atmospheric scientist Ricky Rood wrote on the Weather Underground blog, “What is happening in Pakistan cannot be described in a single word – like disaster or catastrophe. We are watching a combination of climate, weather, population, societal capacity, and geopolitics whose scope and ramifications are far beyond a historic flood.”

The water has flowed south from northwestern Pakistan, where seasonal monsoon rains lasted for a month without stopping. Monsoons are normal, but the duration and intensity was bizarre. Climate scientists often describe such weather aberrations as fitting a pattern predicted by global warming — indeed, Indian subcontinent monsoons have been getting more extreme for a half-century — but don’t assign blame for specific events. In Pakistan, however, some scientists have no trouble placing blame.

“There’s no doubt that clearly the climate change is contributing, a major contributing factor,” World Climate Research Program director Ghassem Asrar told Climatewire.

While discussing a possible link between Pakistan’s floods and Russia’s heat wave, National Center for Atmospheric Research explained why the monsoons were so bad. The Indian Ocean’s surface waters have warmed by two degrees Fahrenheit since the late 1970s. That heats up the air, allowing it to hold more moisture, ultimately sending about eight percent more water vapor into monsoon systems over land. That extra eight percent stirs up the storms, causing them to pull in even more water.

“Global warming isn’t reponsible for the 85 percent” of the monsoon rain that is normal, said Trenberth. It’s responsible for the 15 extra percent — “and it’s that extra bit of water that causes devastation.”

Putin, who has in the past displayed a light-hearted approach to global warming by joking Russians would have to buy fewer fur coats, flew to a scientific research station in the Samoilovsky island at the delta of Siberia’s Lena River.

“The climate is changing. This year we have come to understand this when we faced events that resulted in fires,” Mr. Putin told climate scientists working at the station, opened in 1998 to study the melting Siberian permafrost.

The two-month heatwave, Russia’s worst on record, killed 54 people in forest fires, destroyed a quarter of the grain crop and shaved at least $14-billion off the economy.

Continued, as excerpted from the Globe and Mail:

Mr. Putin, who has sought to burnish his action-man image flying firefighting planes and facing angry fire victims, was clearly stunned by the extent of the natural disaster, likening it to Nazi Germany’s attack on the Soviet Union.

Though experts say it is impossible to link individual weather events to climate change, the heatwave has shown signs of shifting perceptions of global warming risks among northern nations such as Russia, Canada and the Nordic countries.

Mr. Putin, dressed in a warm jacket, told the scientists on the barren tundra that he was still waiting for an answer whether global climate change was the result of human activity or “the Earth living its own life and breathing”.

He argued that the end of the Ice Age which forced woolly mammoths to seek refuge in Samoilovsky and other Arctic islands ten thousand years ago was not mankind’s fault and sought advice on how to handle climate change.

“Which islands should we be fleeing to?” he asked.

Scientists blame global warming on emissions of greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels. Mr. Putin, keen for Russia to retain position as one of the leading exporters of oil and gas, has spoken dismissively of alternative energy sources.

Russia’s own greenhouse gases emissions are well within its Kyoto goal of keeping them below 1990 level by 2012, but are set to rise as the country bids to develop manufacturing.

Russia was the fourth biggest emitter of carbon dioxide in 2009, according to energy firm BP, and is a key player in efforts to agree a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, whose first phase ends in 2012.

Scientists say that melting Siberian permafrost which stretches up to 1.5 km into the ground will accelerate the global warming process further, as huge quantities of methane gas are released into the Earth’s atmosphere.

Though President Obama has requested nearly $334 million for international climate adaptation in the Fiscal Year 2011 budget, its merely a step in the right direction, failing far too short for what’s really needed. In 2009, only ten percent of the US’s foreign disaster aid budget was devoted to disaster risk reduction which is estimated to have reached $86.7 million. However, the UN is estimating for at least 5 times that amount alone to deal with disaster response in Pakistan, calling for at least $460 million dollars to mitigate the crisis. If the US commits more earlier, it should reason that less would be needed after disasters

The US thus far has promised almost $76 million dollars in relief efforts in Pakistan, and has even sent 19 helicopters to help transport additional relief supplies.  By comparison, however, the U.S. government sent nearly $1 billion in aid in response to the tsunami.

With unlimited speculation to its reasons and causes among experts, climate change represents an even larger speculation in its future effects. Correlation between climate change and natural disasters must be made official knowledge in order to further advance appropriately in preparation and in response efforts. Without a doubt, scientists confirm that climate change is behind the recent flooding in Pakistan, displacing so many and killing others. That said, why shouldn’t the US acknowledge climate change enough to tailor disaster preparation to it?

Six and a half million Pakistanis still need food, water, and medical supplies on account of abnormal air patterns. Scientists world-wide have recorded new temperature highs this summer, the hottest in 130 years actually and higher ocean temperatures lead to more water vapor entering the atmosphere. Therefore, there is an abundant amount of oversaturated air in result that’s not being equally dispersed. As such, it’s not inhibiting the likelihood of extreme precipitation, the likes of which are causing the flooding seen now. The abnormal airflow is creating varying pressure extremes, blocking warm saturated air from moving west to east normally. Predicting such events is difficult and is further unpreventable, but preparation is both simple and applicable when it comes to mitigating the affects of climate change. And now, only 35% of what the UN is calling for in funds needed to assist Pakistan is being matched by the US and UK combined. Should disaster preparation include tactics centric to climate change, the amount of money allocated to help those at risk will result in considerable savings in both life and funds. Equally great is the incentive to foster partnerships in developing and implementing these preparations, facilitating good will while increasing political stability as well.

Earlier in the year, the US Department of State has promised $250 million to help with Afghani refugees fleeing into Pakistan. In addition, internal skirmishes between the Pakistani government and militants have displaced almost a million Pakistanis already, joining the 2 million Afghani refugees already estimated to be residing in Pakistan. With the recent flooding in Pakistan, the problem is further compounded, increasing the amount of resources needed as well as undermining US foreign policy efforts thus far too.

Zamir Akram, Pakistani ambassador to the U.N. center in Geneva, said floodwaters now cover an area roughly the size of England and is further confirmed by satellite imaging. Estimates put the number of displaced people at somewhere between 15 million and 20 million, and the Pakistani government believes about 1,600 are confirmed dead.

Climate change is a force to be reckoned with and to be reckoned with urgently. If the US intends to continue to respond to humanitarian needs abroad, it must factor the preparation needed for climate change among those most at risk. Preparation increases effective response.

The news, brought to Bloomberg from the government’s Carbon Trust, stated that some 26 percent of companies currently measure greenhouse gas output, with 38 percent planning to begin within five years. The trust in total surveyed 200 finance directors at firms employing more than 500 people.

With new emissions laws coming in, the task of auditing carbon in a company is increasingly falling onto finance departments, said Harry Morrison, general manager of the Carbon Trust Standard Co., which certifies the environmental performance of corporations.“Finance heads are getting much more involved in carbon than they have previously,” Morrison said yesterday in a meeting with reporters and company officials to discuss the survey results. “In many companies, the finance team in their internal audit function are best placed to have a robust view of carbon and environmental data than the energy and climate teams may have done in the past.”

British companies have until Sept. 30 to register for a government program called the Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme, or CRC. It requires the country’s biggest energy users to report their emissions and trade permits to release carbon dioxide. A third of the estimated 20,000 companies that need to sign up may miss the deadline and face fines, the consultant WSP Environment & Energy said last month.

The lack of preparation for what could be a clear and present corporate social responsibility opportunity is shocking. “A lot of finance directors aren’t up to speed in this, and they don’t think that it’s relevant,” said Rachel Sinha, sustainability manager at the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. She said the institute is working to incorporate carbon accounting into accountancy qualifications.

The CRC will cover about 5,000 companies, universities and local councils. It will redistribute proceeds among the participants according to their emissions-cutting performance. Another 15,000 firms will have to register, while not taking part. The plan has proven a “boon” for consultants, said Alex Flach, construction and maintenance director at Whitbread Plc, which operates hotels, pubs and cafes around the country.

Ben Wielgus, a sustainability manager at the consultant KPMG LLP, said his team has 10 new people joining over the next three months to cover the CRC and broader issues surrounding climate change. He also said KPMG has met with more than 300 company boards to explain the government program.

“All of the big four are increasing their sustainability departments quite considerably,” Wielgus said, referring to the accounting firms KPMG, Ernst & Young, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The Carbon Trust’s survey showed that 72 percent of finance chiefs expect carbon reporting to become mandatory for all U.K. businesses at some point, and 76 percent expect all firms will have to pay a price for emitting carbon dioxide.

Despite contrasting opinions on the cause of climate change, scientists are in agreement, however, over its existence and moreover how it will manifest physically, let alone do so adversely. Greater weather extremes in Pakistan have been documented over a large period thus far raising the flags of climate change.

For 160 million Pakistanis, droughts and floods alike have become regular. With respect to current flooding, rainfall of about 16 inches in mountainous areas in the far north of Pakistan and adjoining parts of Afghanistan between July 28 and 29 triggered a torrent of water down the Indus and Kabul Rivers. It was a record amount of rain in that period to be precise.

In fact, Qamar-uz-Zaman Chaudhry, director-general of the Pakistan Meteorological Department is on record with Reuters stating, “The only explanation can be the link to climate change. Because that area very rarely receives monsoon rains,” while discussing the risk of the monsoon belt shifting as well as reasons for the changes in the intensity of monsoons in the region. However, scientists also say Pakistan could also suffer in the long term from declining amounts of melt water from glaciers feeding the Indus River, which is in fact the nation’s life-blood. Conversely, Indian experts point to evidence of rising temperatures in the Himalayas and more intense rainfall events, perhaps helping to change larger weather patterns.

“No one can say for sure that this is all related to climate change, but yes there is circumstantial evidence that over (the last) 20 years very heavy rainfall events have drastically increased,” Bishwajit Mukhopadhyay, deputy director-general of meteorology at the India Meteorological Department, told Reuters.

Scientists are warning countries to start adapting to climate change specifically citing the likelihood of increased extreme flooding and droughts. Early warning signs and better food storage are of prime concern. Pakistani food expert Abid Suleri, executive director of the Sustainable Development Policy Institute, said the country would need to work on seed varieties to adapt to climate change while simultaneously acknowledging the events surrounding him; the consequences of a changing climate.