'People should not and do not need to be dying in heatwaves'

LONDON - With urban populations surging around the world, cities will struggle to keep residents safe from fast-growing heat risks turbo-charged by climate change, scientists and public health experts warned this week.

Heat is already the leading cause of deaths from extreme weather in countries including the United States. The problem is particularly severe in cities, where temperature extremes are rising much faster than the global average, they said.

In mid-November, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) hosted a summit in Nairobi, Kenya to rally the political will and financial commitments urgently needed to implement the goals of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) adopted by 179 governments in Cairo.

The effect of losing intact tropical forests is more devastating on the climate than previously thought, researchers report.

A new international study reveals that between 2000 and 2013, the clearance of intact tropical forests led to much higher levels of carbon being emitted into the atmosphere than first believed—resulting in a 626% increase in the calculated impact on climate.

A series of leaked emails was leapt on by climate-change deniers to discredit the data, but their efforts may have only slowed the search for solutions

The email that appeared on Phil Jones’s computer screen in November 2009 was succinct. “Just a quick note to encourage you to shoot yourself in the head,” it said. “Don’t waste any more time. Do it today. It is truly the greatest contribution to mankind that you will ever make.”

• During the launch, Environment and Forestry PS Betty Maina called for concerted efforts to help achieve the government’s target of getting 10 per cent forest cover by 2022.

• Environmental activist Benson Wemali on Friday told the Star more than 70 per cent of Kenyans lack knowledge on forest conservation.

Kenyans are largely ignorant of the importance of forests in the country and that is why they attach little importance to afforestation, an environmental organization has said.

• When undisturbed tropical forests are lost the long-term impact on carbon emissions is dramatically higher than earlier estimates suggest, according to a new study.
• Between 2000 and 2013, about 7 percent of the world’s intact tropical forests were destroyed, leading not just to direct carbon emissions but also “hidden” emissions from logging, fragmentation and wildlife loss.

To more effectively guard forests and stem climate change, "simply designating a place as protected can't be the beginning and the end of a conservation effort"

LONDON - Expanding the planet's protected natural areas to safeguard vanishing forests and other ecosystems, and the species they protect, is unlikely to be effective on its own as human encroachment into reserves grows, scientists warned Tuesday.

At the Women Deliver conference in Vancouver in June, Dr. Monica Mhoja made an impassioned case for land ownership rights for women.

"We understand that land is life," Mhoja, the Tanzania Program Director for Landesa, told the crowd gathered. "Land is dignity. Land is destiny. Land is hope. Land is empowerment of women and equality. And land is power. The power to prosper. To thrive."

Dozens of mayors of cities from every continent pledge cleaner air in a bid to improve urban health and tackle climate change

COPENHAGEN, Oct 11 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - From penalising cars to planting trees, dozens of mayors from every continent pledged cleaner air on Friday in a bid to improve urban health and tackle climate change.

More than 90% of people breathe dirty air, causing death and disease, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

• Indonesia’s outgoing parliament has decided to hold off passing a slate of new bills, including on mining and on land reforms, that have been criticized as being pro-business and anti-environment.
• The decision comes amid massive student-led protests across the country in response to the earlier passage of another contentious bill widely seen as weakening the national anti-corruption agency.
• The postponement means the incoming batch of legislators will decide on the bills, but activists point out that they won’t have to start their deliberations f