One of the predominant themes of 2015 will be the Paris Climate change meeting in December. Even in this short break there has been a continuous stream of commentary on the Lima summit and various VIPs supporting greater action from David Attenborough to the Pope.

 Lima agreement – Water Left Out   

By Codi Kozacek, Circle of Blue  Exactly one month after the United States and China signed a landmark climate change agreement that focused on water supply and water quality in two of its six major provisions, negotiators at the international climate conference in Lima, Peru were silent on the subject. The word ‘water’ is not mentioned once in the five-page agreement signed in Lima on December 12 at the close of the 20th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP), an annual meeting that brings together all 195 countries within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The talks were the last major negotiations to take place before a meeting of the countries in Paris in December 2015, when a binding global climate deal is expected to emerge.

http://www.circleofblue.org/waternews/2014/world/water-left-lima-climate-negotiations/

2014 UK’s warmest year – and fourth wettest

Last year was the UK’s warmest since records began in 1910, the Met Office has said.

It was also the warmest year in the Central England Temperature series, which dates back to 1659, and is the longest running record of its type. The UK’s mean temperature for the year was 9.9C – that is 0.2 degrees higher than the previous record set in 2006. But no month saw record temperatures – instead each month was consistently warm, according to the Met Office. In August, temperatures were below average. Last year’s record means that eight of the UK’s top ten warmest years have occurred since 2002.The analysis also shows 2014 was the UK’s fourth wettest year, with 1,297.1 millimetres of rainfall.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30683339  

David Attenborough – world leaders in denial about climate change

By Sophie Yeo World leaders are in denial about the risks posed by climate change, says naturalist Sir David Attenborough. The broadcaster, whose documentaries explore the natural world, told Sky News that governments often take the easy route of closing their eyes to the problem. “Wherever you look there are huge risks,” he said. “The awful thing is that people in authority and power deny that, when the evidence is overwhelming and they deny it because it’s easier to deny it – much easier to deny it’s a problem and say we don’t care.” He emphasised the scale of the problem, and the difficulty of creating the unity needed to solve it. “We won’t do enough and no-one can do enough because it’s a very major serious problem facing humanity but at the same time it would be silly to minimise the size of the problem. Click here to see more

 

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