Ireland is so broke, they’re talking about selling off their forests, which they’re famous for. Seriously. (via Hacker News)
Selling 80 years of forest harvest rights will equal 3 weeks of the country’s loan interest.
Posts tagged eu.
Great map from The Economist showing which European countries are pursuing shale gas fracking and which have banned it.
The Economist is also hosting a live debate on the topic of shale gas this week. Check it out here.
No drilling permits required in Norway? Hard to believe.
In Austerity Crisis, Greeks Turn to Wood-Burning, Illegal Logging
“A steep increase in heating costs has led many Greeks to switch from heating oil to wood-burning. But the price of using cheaper fuel is growing.
Illegal loggers are slashing through forests already devastated by years of summer wildfires. Air pollution from wood smoke is choking the country’s main cities. And there has been an increase in blazes caused by carelessly attended woodstoves.
Three children died in a northern village last month when a fire gutted the home of their grandparents, who had recently changed from oil-fueled central heating to a wooden stove to save money.
In Athens, the capital, officials have warned of severe health risks from the low-lying smog that smothers the city at night, when fireplaces and woodstoves burn at full blast in poorly insulated homes. Greece’s leading medical association is demanding urgent action to clean the air. But those warnings have largely been ignored for a simple reason: Burning wood provides the same warmth as heating oil, for roughly half the cost.
For the past three years, the country has been wracked by its worst financial crisis since the end of World War II. Living standards have plummeted, pensions have been slashed and a quarter of the workforce is unemployed, following deeply resented cutbacks demanded in return for international bailouts shielding Greece from total ruin.
The heating crisis was triggered by taxation changes, and made desperate by financial woes. For years, fuel for vehicles was taxed more heavily than heating oil. That encouraged crooked traders to sell heating fuel for use in vehicles and pocket the difference.
Hoping to boost faltering revenues and foil tax fraud, the government this year harmonized taxes on vehicle fuel and heating oil, which now costs about 40 percent more than last winter, although lower-income residents of colder areas get a rebate. Critics say the move backfired due to a drastic decline in sales.”
Via Weather
Part of this complicated issue is that Greeks aren’t used to paying market rates for basic services. Nor is the government itself used to the process of collecting taxes (sounds weird, but true). After recent austerity cuts, taxes and public services adjusted to (or attempt to) reflect a more market-oriented structure to help create a less corrupt, tax-dodging culture. The measures, as the above shows, may have been too strong and too fast, causing more damage to the country than taking a slower approach.
Climate change refugees lack legal protection ›
Currently, climate change refugees have few rights. While international law provides protection for political refugees, climate and environmental refugees are inadequately covered. If they are taken in by a neighboring country, the support that they are supposed to receive is unclear.
Developing adaptation strategies
Still, the international community has been able to agree that countries, especially in the southern hemisphere, have to adapt to climate change and protect themselves against natural disasters. In 2011, a Green Climate Fund was set up at the UN Climate Conference in Durban, South Africa, to help countries adapt to climate change. The fund was provided with 30 billion euros ($40 billion) of initial capital, which is now set to be increased to 100 billion euros ($134 billion) by 2020.
Via DW
U.S. Department of State: Water Should Be a Priority in Every Nation's Foreign Policy ›
About the Author: Maria Otero serves as the Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights.
I was glad to see more than 200 people in the audience for a discussion on water, peace, and security on the margins of the 67th meetings of the UN General Assembly yesterday. The United States, the European Union, and UN-Water co-sponsored the event, which drew senior representatives from governments, UN agencies, and international financial institutions. Secretary Clinton, whose remarks closed the event, has made water issues a priority in our diplomatic and development efforts, and I have been pleased to lead those efforts for the State Department.
Citing the findings in a recently released United States Intelligence Community Assessment on Global Water Security, Secretary Clinton noted… more »
![U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton delivers remarks at a roundtable on global water security at the United Nations in New York, New York on September 25, 2012. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0926_clinton_water_roundtable_m.jpg)
The UK public’s concern over genetically modified food has softened in the past decade, according to a new survey.
A quarter of Britons are now unconcerned by GM food, compared with 17% nearly a decade ago, when supermarkets debated whether to introduce GM products following widespread public opposition and attacks on GM test fields in the 1990s. The number of people “concerned” about GM has also fallen by 5%, said the Populus survey, commissioned by the British Science Association and published on Friday.
The poll comes as the EU prepares to vote on a Danish-led proposal to allow member states to ban the cultivation of GM crops on a country-by-country basis, with the UK concerned that the proposal will not achieve its aims.
“Public concern over GM food has lessened, survey shows”
EU Ministers to Discuss Funding Climate Change Adaptation ›
“European Union ministers will discuss water management and financing of adaptation to climate change, whose costs to the region are estimated at 20 billion euros ($25 billion) in 2020, at an informal meeting this weekend (July 7-8, 2012).
Environment ministers from the bloc’s 27 governments will hold talks on a planned policy paper on safeguarding water resources tomorrow, according to a draft agenda of the meeting hosted by Cyprus.
The second day of the meeting in Nicosia will be devoted to the use of private and EU funds to adjust infrastructure and minimize threats from global warming to human health and ecosystems. The agenda features the presidency priorities in the area of climate change and doesn’t include any discussion on EU carbon-reduction goals beyond 2020 or the bloc’s carbon market after talks on those issues stalled earlier this year.
“The specific characteristics of some adaptation measures, such as their trans-boundary nature, are requiring good coordination across borders, and their reliance on environmental services, by definition difficult to value, make access to finance more difficult,” the Cypriot government wrote in a background paper for the meeting.
“Finding adequate sources of financing is therefore crucial in order to stimulate investments in adaptation action,” according to the document, published on the EU presidency website.
Ministers don’t take formal decisions at such meetings, which are organized twice a year by countries that hold the EU six-month rotating presidency. Cyprus took over the presidency at the beginning of this month”
Just back from a two week adaptation workshop in Budapest, where I did some good things and, err, some unmentionable things. Pretty town. Terrible food. Fantastic wines. Hungary is former soviet state, and it shows. Deteriorating, clunky trains are straight out of the 1950s and made in the USSR, though they run pretty strong and regular. Many streets are recently repaved and cobbled, but buildings are clearly crumbling - many still have shrapnel scars from WW-II. The Danube river is a toxic mess and not a soul dared swim in it. Tourism is way up, and everyone speaks English, even the old timers, which is quite the surprise considering the geographic location. And the city is ultra cheap - medium-fine dining was less than 10 bucks WITH wine and service. “Ruin bars” in the Jewish triangle were just fantastic. Ruin bars are bars setup in old buildings that were falling apart, creating a disorienting bifocalled experience of old world charm and Eurotrash. George Soros is investing millions in educational and non-profit institutions. I suspect that, within 15 or so years, Hungary will be more than an important cross-roads for EU eastern development. The catch is culturally (in my short observations), Hungarians do not seem to be very ambitious - indeed, quite passive. They seem to be just going through the motions of every day life in a dull, tedium induced trance. Otherwise, well worth visiting.
New climate change adaptation tool to manage water (PDF) ›
“(T)ranslating scientific observations and analyses of changes in water availability into water management policy can be a challenge. To address this, the researchers devised a methodology to identify policy options based on scientific evidence.
They began by using a water availability and policy assessment (WAPA) model that takes data on rivers, reservoirs, water flow, environmental conditions and agricultural and urban demand to link supply, demand and management options.
When applied to climate change scenarios for the Ebro basin in the Mediterranean, the WAPA model made predictions similar to those of the IPCC and the European Environment Agency. It indicated that flood risk would increase, as would spring and summer drought. The model could also use information on water demand in the region to help identify management options under climate change scenarios.
EU environmental laws influence US ›
In the EU, “The burden of proof is on industry to demonstrate safety. And by demonstrating the safety…they also take liability and responsibility for that safety.”
It’s backwards in the US, where the burden of proof is on government - not the manufacturer - to show that a chemical is safe for the environment or people.
Major new website to assist with climate change adaptation in Europe ›
” Climate change is already evident in Europe. Across the continent, policy makers are starting to respond to current and future impacts and risks associated with rising temperatures, changing precipitation, melting glaciers, ice and snow, rising sea levels, and more frequent and intense floods and droughts.
To help respond to these challenges, the Climate-ADAPT website was developed by the European Commission and will be managed by the Commission and the European Environment Agency (EEA). It is aimed at policy makers and ‘practitioners’ – engineers, planners and administrators – who can learn from the experience of others facing similar challenges and already carrying out adaptation actions elsewhere.
Climate-ADAPT is the most comprehensive website for information on impacts, vulnerability and adaptation to climate change in Europe. Adaptation means anticipating the effects of climate change and taking action to prevent or minimise damage or exploit opportunities. In many cases, early action will save money because the costs of failing to adapt are likely to be very high.”
More at the EEA
#France to EU: Stop #Monsanto's Corn ›
France has asked the European regulators to suspend the authorization to plant Monsanto’s genetically modified (GM) MON810 corn. France’s ecology minister says the decision is based on studies showing GM crops “pose significant risks for the environment.”
Agence France-Presse reports:
The request is “based on the latest scientific studies” which show that the use of the GM crops “pose significant risks for the environment,” the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry pointed to a recent study by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) that raised concerns with another form of GM crop, BT11, that it said could also be applied to MON 810.
“If the European Union does not act, we can invoke the safeguard clause” which allows EU nations to independently restrict or prohibit the sales of products, it said.
President Nicolas Sarkozy in November pledged to seek new legal measures after the European Court of Justice and France’s top administrative court overturned a French ban on GM crops from US agriculture giant Monsanto.
France tv info writes that six countries in the EU also ban the cultivation of genetically modified corn: Germany, Hungary, Greece, Luxembourg, Austria et Bulgaria.
(SIPA/Durand Florence)
Rotterdam last night. The city has probably the best climate adaptation plans of any city in the world.
Dear Republicans: EU green energy sector crosses the one million jobs mark ›
“Employment in the EU’s renewable energy sector has broken through the one million mark for the first time, after the number of people working in the industry increased 25 per cent in 2010.
The latest figures from the European Commission reveal over 1.14 million people were working in green energy in 2010, an increase of a quarter on 2009. Meanwhile, revenue for the sector soared by 15 per cent year-on-year to €127bn.
With separate reports suggesting the sector continued to grow during 2011, the industry is likely to be considerably larger by now.
According to the report, the solid biomass power sector was the largest employer, accounting for 273,000 jobs, followed by solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind power, which supported 268,110 and 253,145 jobs respectively.
The UK had the ninth biggest renewable energy sector in terms of employment in 2010, boasting 31,700 jobs. Wind accounted for 9,200 of these, followed by biogas at 6,000, biofuels at 5,300, solar PV at 5,000, and biomass with 2,000 employees.
However, the figures are likely to be already out of date with trade associations reporting that over 10,000 people now work in the wind energy industry, while the surge in demand for solar panels last year is thought to have supported between 20,000 and 30,000 jobs. In addition, further employment growth is predicted across the renewables sector over the next five years after a host of wind turbine firms recently announced plans to locate new factories in the UK.
Germany topped the employment league table with 361,360 jobs, based on strong growth in the PV sector. France came in second place with 174,735 jobs, with Italy, Spain and Sweden making up the top five.
The Germans also ruled the roost in terms of turnover, recording €36bn of revenue across the renewable energy sector in 2010.”
Read the rest at Business Green
Big freeze stops famed Brussels statue from peeing ›
The Manneken-Pis, a bronze statue of a young boy urinating that is a symbol of Brussels and a major tourist attraction, has had to stop peeing because of sub-zero temperatures, Belgium’s tourist office said on Wednesday.
Climate Adaptation
by Michael Cote
I want to punch climate change in the face.
A blog about the interactions between the built environment, people, and nature.
I'm a climate change consultant specializing in climate adaptation, environmental law, and urban planning based in the U.S. In addition to traveling and hiking, I research, publish, and lecture on how cities can adapt to climate change.
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