Category Climate Change

Climate plans lag as Asia tops temperature-linked deaths

0 Comments read Climate Change, Environment & Development, Health & Science
Low-lying and crowded coastal cities in East and South Asia most impacted by temperature related mortality. Photo Credit: ©Neena Bhandari

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 12.07.2021 (SciDev.Net): Asia accounts for more than half of the over five million global deaths attributed to ambient cold and hot temperatures, according to an international study. But many governments are failing to prioritise health in their climate change strategies, experts warn.

The study, published 1 July in The Lancet Planetary Health, found that mortality rates in low-lying and crowded coastal cities in East and South Asia were particularly affected by temperature.

Researchers found that 9.4 per cent of global deaths from 2000 to 2019 could be attributed to non-optimal temperatures, with most of those caused by exposure to cold. However, this is predicted to change as global warming increases heat-related deaths. Continue reading →

Why Pacific Island nations like Micronesia need climate finance now?

0 Comments read Climate Change, Environment & Development

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 28.06.2021 (IPS): Robby Nena is one of the many farmers and fishermen on the frontline of climate change in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), where coastal flooding and erosion, variable and heavy rainfall, increased temperature, droughts and other extreme weather events are becoming all too common.

FSM is one of the 22 Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs). These nations contribute less than 0.03 percent of the world’s total CO2 and other greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Yet, they are amongst the most vulnerable to the impacts of global warming, climate change and sea level rise. A quarter of Pacific people live within 1 km of the coast.

“Every time it rains, our home and farm get flooded, destroying our crops, damaging infrastructure and posing a major health hazard. Our tapioca and taro crops were completely destroyed in the major flooding event last month”, Nena tells IPS from Utwe village in FSM’s Kosrae state via a choppy Messenger call.

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Waste to wealth with new generation nanocatalyst

0 Comments read Climate Change, Health & Science

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 05.11.2020 (SciDev.Net): Researchers have developed a new and cheaper method of recycling used cooking oil and agricultural waste into biodiesel, which also has the potential to efficiently convert food scraps, micro-plastics and old tyres into valuable molecules used in medicines, fertilisers and biodegradable packaging.

The findings of the research, an international collaboration led by RMIT University in Melbourne (Australia) published 26 October in Nature Catalysis, point to the multifunctional properties of the new and more efficient catalyst, a highly porous, micron-sized ceramic sponge that contains different specialised active components that accelerate chemical reactions. Molecules enter the sponge through large pores, where they undergo the first chemical reaction, and then pass into smaller pores to undergo the second reaction with the help of nanoparticles.

“Biodiesel is currently manufactured using soluble catalysts (substances that accelerate chemical reactions). These are difficult to recover (for reuse) from the fuel product, can corrode engines and are rapidly ‘poisoned’ by contaminants present in the oil feedstocks,” says Adam Lee, co-lead investigator and professor of sustainable chemistry at RMIT University.

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