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Remarkable advances in computing power have revealed how climate change is already impacting social life around the world. While it may seem elementary to connect the observable uptick in extreme weather events in recent years with the changes we’re now seeing in the economy, agriculture, trade, energy, migration, and other areas, it has only been… Continue reading New Analysis Backs Up Current Climate Impacts with Data

Few places are more closely identified with marine resources than small island states. From traditional fisheries to larger operations to the hundreds of millions of dollars ocean tourism reels in around the world, islands depend on healthy fish habitat and healthy fish stocks. The topic has been the subject of a series of recent international… Continue reading Climate change hits small island fisheries hard

News out of the G20 on Saturday that China and the United States ratified the Paris Agreement, presenting their official documents to the United Nations Secretary General in person, marked an important milestone in the global effort to build a universal climate change regime and is also an opportunity to reflect a bit on the… Continue reading History Shows World Must Seize Opportunity Presented by US and China Ratification

(Pic: Nattu/Flickr) First Published in Climate Home Thoriq Ibrahim For all the progress made in the Paris Agreement, there was always a risk that the treaty would be seen as an end point in the international effort to tackle climate change and not the beginning of a generational challenge. As with other environmental and humanitarian… Continue reading Paris Was Just The Beginning of Climate Change Struggle

(NASA graph shows loss of ice in Greenland Ice Sheet) In it’s State of the Climate report released last week, NOAA scientists revealed a number of ominous thresholds the earth crossed in 2015: Greenhouse gases were the highest on record; Global surface temperature was the highest on record; Global sea level rose to a record… Continue reading Sea Level Rise is Accelerating; Time for Action

The Ministerial Segment of the United Nations High-Level Political Forum began today at New York Headquarters. H.E. Thoriq Ibrahim, the Maldives’ Environment and Energy Minister is attending the session. This process grew out of the landmark UN conference on global sustainability, known as Rio+20. It meets both under the UN General Assembly every four years… Continue reading HLPF Ministerial Segment Opens at UN Today

Bonn, Germany—Welcome to Groundhog Day. Punxsutawney Phil predicted an early end to winter back in February, and indeed the weather has been pleasant here, but it still feels like déjà vu all over again for a more ominous reason. Almost invariably for the past few years the international climate negotiations have opened against the backdrop… Continue reading Groundhog Day All Over Again

From Climate Home By Thoriq Ibrahim The United Nations climate change agreement reached in Paris last year marked the culmination of over 20 years of contentious negotiations to limit greenhouse gas emissions. In so doing it shifted the talks from focusing primarily on who is responsible for taking up the burden to finding ways to implement… Continue reading UN talks must deliver clean power surge

UNITED NATIONS–Today some 160 countries from around the world are gathered here at the signing ceremony for the historic Paris Climate Change Agreement. The record number of signatories reflects the global urgency of the crisis and follows a a number small island states–Fiji, RMI, Palau and Maldives–that were the first to complete their domestic ratification… Continue reading World Gathers to Sign Historic Climate Treaty

In a watershed moment for international cooperation, global political, business and civil society leaders are in to New York where they will pledge fast action on the new United Nations sustainable development agenda and the landmark Paris climate agreement, to build on momentum from 2015 to create a better future for people and the planet.… Continue reading Critical Week For Sustainable Development and Climate at the UN