‘Restore tropical forests’ to address climate change

23/02/2022 0 Comments read Environment & Development, Health & Science

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 23.02.2022 (SciDev.Net): Restoring biodiverse tropical forests could be a nature-based solution to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and address climate change, scientists show in a study that simulates how forests will respond to future climate scenarios on earth.

According to the study, limiting global warming caused by human activity to less than two degrees Celsius requires rapid reduction in greenhouse gas emissions as well as reduction of carbon in the atmosphere.

Peter Talaas, secretary general of the World Meteorological Organisation, says that sea level rise and the melting of glaciers may continue until 2060 because of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. “Of course, if we had carbon removal techs we could change the big picture, but so far that’s not the case,” Talaas said at a meeting ahead of the 28 February release of a section of the sixth report of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

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The omnipresence of Omicron as we usher in 2022

02/01/2022 7 Comments read Features

Photo Credit: © Neena Bhandari

By Neena Bhandari

The incisive eyes of a Powerful Owl were staring at me from the last page of the wall calendar. The days had melted into weeks and then months. 2021 had begun on a note of optimism, ignited by a promise of vaccines against the novel coronavirus, but that ray of hope has been eclipsed by the lengthening shadow of new mutations.

A more transmissible mutation — the Omicron (B.1.1.529) variant is surging unhindered as we usher in another year of living with SARS-CoV-2. The omnipresence of Omicron has dimmed New Year festivities and disrupted family reunions, just as we were hoping life would return to some form of normalcy.

Globally, on an average one million new coronavirus cases are being recorded daily. Public health systems have been stretched to a breaking point. Doctors, nurses, medical laboratory professionals, pharmacists, scientists and the innumerable health professionals have spent most part of their waking hours over the past two years helping the world cope with the pandemic.

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‘Perfect storm’ created for food collapse, panel hears

27/11/2021 0 Comments read Environment & Development, Health & Science

A vegetable seller in Hanoi, Vietnam. COVID-19 disruptions have worsened hunger and receded development gains. Photo Credit: © Neena Bhandari

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 26.11.2021 (SciDev.Net): Hikes in oil prices, conflicts, emerging diseases, poor governance, and disruption in supply chains due to transportation blockages during the pandemic have come together to create a potentially devastating scenario for the global food system, a panel on food security heard.

“These have created a perfect storm for global food collapse”, Fan Shenggen, chair of the academy of global food economics and policy at China Agricultural University, told an online panel hosted by SciDev.Net and its parent organisation CABI on Thursday (25 November).

Globally, food prices are up nearly 33 per cent since the same period last year, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s monthly food price index released on 2 September.

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