Manila Standard Today -- Dec. rains sign of climate change -- 2010/december/21

Manila Standard Today -- Dec. rains sign of climate change -- 2010/december/21: "INTERMITTENT rains in the past two weeks are a manifestation of climate change, the weather bureau said Monday.

“Isolated or thunderstorm rains are becoming frequent and strong. Such is unusual,” meteorologist Edna Juanillo told Manila Standard.

Juanillo is the assistant weather services chief of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration’s Climatology and Agrometeorology Branch.

She said the increase in the amount of isolated rainfall is much larger than those in previous years.

“The frequency of such rains has surged as well,” she added.

Mindanao has not been spared, she said, adding that Pagasa has recorded an abnormal amount of thunderstorm rains in some parts."

wildsingapore news: Demand and supply in the post-peak oil world

wildsingapore news: Demand and supply in the post-peak oil world: "But now the energy watchdog says that oil production has already peaked. Conventional oil output will never exceed the 2006 peak of 70 million barrels per day (bpd). Output from existing wells could fall under 20 million bpd by 2035."

More cars -- more flooding

BANGKOK, Thailand, October 22, 2010 – Asia’s coastal megacities will flood more often, on a larger scale, and affect millions more people, if current climate change trends continue, a new report warns.

The report Climate Risks and Adaptation in Asian Coastal Megacities examines the impact of climate change on Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, and Manila, under a range of different scenarios through to 2050. The report is the product of a two-year collaborative study by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the World Bank. It was released here today at the Asia Pacific Climate Change Adaptation Forum....

WorldBank

Cars cause this

China floods force mass evacuation - Asia-Pacific - Al Jazeera English: "More than 120,000 people have been evacuated in Liaoning, a�province in�northeast China�hit by flooding caused by heavy rains.

The floods�have caused four deaths in China so far and forced thousands of people in neighbouring North Korea to relocate.

China's state media said 94,000 people were evacuated from Dandong alone after heavy rain caused the Yalu river to breach its banks, flooding low-lying parts of the northern city."

Sprawl causes climate change AND makes it worse

MANILA (AFP) – Climate change may be playing a part in record rains ravaging Asia but environment experts say the destruction of ecosystems is more directly to blame for the severity of killer floods.

Widespread deforestation, the conversion of wetlands to farms or urban sprawl and the clogging up of natural drainage systems with garbage are just some of the factors exacerbating the impacts of the floods, they say.... Yahoo!News

Commodity Crops & Weather News | Mekong Delta drought hits hard on Vietnam | 15 July 2010 | www.commodityonline.com

Commodity Crops & Weather News | Mekong Delta drought hits hard on Vietnam | 15 July 2010 | www.commodityonline.com: "World’s largest rice exporter, Vietnam’s Mekong Delta which accounts for more than half of its output is hit by drastic climate changes, resulting huge losses of crops.

Drought caused by a hot spell over the past month has hurt rice fields in the region with nearly 100,000 hectares destroyed or partly destroyed.

A total of 25,000 hectares of rice was ruined and yields on another 70,000 hectares will drop sharply, the report said, giving no forecast for output losses."

Climate crisis is now, not future

Bangkok free buses a big success

Free buses save THB3.3 billion for low income riders

The free bus service available from February 2009 to May 2010 have helped save more than 3.3 billion THB in fare for low-income earners.

According to Director of the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority, Opart Petchmunee, the free bus operation which is part of the relief measures of the government could effectively alleviate low-income earners’ burdens from the high cost of living. More than 477 million people used the service during the period.

According to Mr Opart, about 800 free public buses are plying 76 routes around Bangkok in the project. SiamDailyNews

Need of the hour

... the logical way out of our collective quandary over rising fuel prices is to cut our dependence on oil. Easier said than, yes, but it can be done. In fact, initiatives toward an oil-free public transport system have already been launched even in this country. Take for example the e-jeepneys that ply certain routes in Makati and Fort Bonifacio. The e-jeepneys of Metro Manila have even caught the attention of Discovery Channel, which aired not too long ago a documentary on the iconic Philippine mini-buses that run, not on inefficient and filthy internal combustion engines, but on clean and quiet electric motors. Unfortunately, the rest of the public transport sector has been slow to adopt the notion of motorised vehicles that run on batteries. Above all other considerations there is the cost factor that reinforces resistance.

Need of the hour Online

Malaysia - Stop wasting money on cars!

The involvement and empowerment of stakeholders in the planning and execution of the public bus transit management process is an important process aims at launching a campaign that create awareness of the need for austerity drive and encourages the breaking of car-use habits. It is also an important process to help the Penang state government overcome the problem stem from capacity constraint.ong eu soon

Malaysia -- make the buses and light rail fare-free

...In the case of Kuala Lumpur’s traffic congestion, I suggest a policy of cross subsidies where we charge cars coming into the city say, RM10 per day and motorcycles RM5 per day to be collected by a wholly owned Government entity, which I believe in this case should be Prasarana.

This will allay any fears of cronyism and its like. At the same time Prasarana should provide public transport such as buses, monorail and light rail for free as their revenue is collected from the congestion charge.... TheMalaysianInsider

Huge iceberg breaks off of Antarctica

 AP (satellite image from Commonwealth of Australia)

SINGAPORE - An iceberg the size of Luxembourg has broken off from a glacier in Antarctica after being rammed by another giant iceberg, scientists said Friday, in an event that could affect ocean circulation patterns.

The 965-square-mile iceberg broke off earlier this month from the Mertz Glacier's 100-mile floating tongue of ice that sticks out into the Southern Ocean.

The collision has since halved the size of the tongue that drains ice from the vast East Antarctic ice sheet. MSNBC

Senator warns of high costs of climate change

MAKATI CITY, Jan. 26 - Sen. Loren Legarda today warned that unless the Philippines takes action, climate change would severely affect the Philippine economy, creating more poverty and drastically lowering its productivity.

In an address at the Asian Institute of Management here, Loren said that "If the Philippines will do nothing, climate related risks will create a 6 percent decline of our GDP (Gross Domestic Product) annually by 2010."

...She said that in 2008 the world suffered from 321 disasters which killed about a quarter of a million people and affected more than 200 million lives. The total economic cost was a stunning 180 billion US dollars, which is twice the average annual economic losses of the past seven years. The Asia and the Pacific bore the brunt, accounting for more than 80 percent of the global loss of life, said Loren, who is also the UN champion climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction in the Asia-Pacific region.

...Concerning ecosystems, the Millennium Ecosystem Report, released in 2005, found that 60% of ecosystem services - services that nature provides to sustain human life, are declining with some services like fisheries beyond repair, rued Loren. In the Philippines, forests and mangroves are fast disappearing, posing risks of greater floods and landslides. Senate of the Philippines