Category Climate Change

Aboriginal knowledge could unlock climate solutions

0 Comments read Climate Change, Environment & Development, Indigenous
William Clark Enoch. Photo Credit: © Neena Bhandari

By Neena Bhandari

Cairns [Queensland], December 17, 2014 (IPS) – As a child growing up in Far North Queensland, William Clark Enoch would know the crabs were on the bite when certain trees blossomed, but today at 51 years he is noticing visible changes in his environment such as extreme climatic conditions, frequent storms, soil erosion, salinity in fresh water and ocean acidification.

“The land cannot support us anymore. The flowering cycles are less predictable. We have to now go much further into the sea to catch fish”, said Enoch, whose father was from North Stradbroke Island, home to the Noonuccal, Nughie and Goenpul Aboriginal people.

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Nuclear Energy Is Not a Solution to Climate Change, says Dr Sue Wareham

0 Comments read Climate Change, Environment & Development, Nuclear Disarmament
Dr Sue Wareham

By Neena Bhandari

Melbourne 08.12.2009 (IPS):  As the threat of nuclear weapons looms large over the very existence of life on earth, Dr Sue Wareham, International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear weapons’ (ICAN) Australian board member, is calling for a speedy abolition of these weapons and the rejection of nuclear power as a solution to climate change.

Speaking at the sessions on nuclear abolition and disarmament at the 2009 Parliament of the World’s Religions here, Wareham said the power of religion should be harnessed to bring peace in the world through disarmament, abolition of nuclear weapons, eradication of poverty and action on climate change.

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75 Million Environmental Refugees to Plague Asia-Pacific

0 Comments read Climate Change, Environment & Development, Migration

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 03.08.2009 (IPS): Pacific Islanders, aiming to secure their very survival, are calling for immediate commitments from the developed world to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 45 percent by 2020.

“For us, climate change is a reality. We have been experiencing high tidal waves, which has not been the case earlier,” Pelenise Alofa Pilitati, Chairperson of the Church Education Director’s Association in Kiribati, told IPS. “High tides and sea level rise will submerge our homeland. We don’t want to become environmental refugees.”

Climate change could produce eight million refugees in the Pacific Islands, along with 75 million refugees in the Asia Pacific region in the next 40 years, warns a new report by aid agency, Oxfam Australia.

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