COP21: 195 nations in landmark deal to cut carbon emissions

A landmark deal to tackle climate change was agreed at the COP21 summit in Paris over the weekend is a “monumental triumph”, United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon has said.

The agreement, which was reached on Saturday following two weeks of talks, commits all 195 signatories to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change to cutting emission for the first time.

All countries have agreed to work to reduce their emissions in order to hold global temperature rise this century to well below 2 degrees celsius, with an aim for a maximum increase of 1.5 degrees.

The agreement also sets out a roadmap to increase funding for climate change adaptation and mitigation and clean energy generation to $100bn by 2020.

Paris climate change deal ‘signals end of fossil fuel era’, say experts

The international climate deal agreed in Paris is a turning point in history which signals the end of the fossil fuel era, it has been claimed.

The final draft of the agreement has received a largely positive response from environmental and aid campaigners, experts and analysts, although there are concerns it does not go far enough to tackle climate change.

Emma Ruby-Sachs, acting executive director of campaign group Avaaz, said: “If agreed, this deal will represent a turning point in history, paving the way for the shift to 100% clean energy that the world wants and the planet needs.”

NASA: Antarctica Gaining More Ice than Losing

ATP - The continuous melting of ice at the poles of the Earth has been a powerful indication of the effects of global warming on our planet for quite some time now – and it's important to note these new results don't contradict the fact that glaciers are melting at an increased rate. But it does mean that, for the next few years at least, new ice gain is outweighing that loss.

"We’re essentially in agreement with other studies that show an increase in ice discharge in the Antarctic Peninsula and the Thwaites and Pine Island region of West Antarctica," said glaciologist Jay Zwally, lead author of the study. "Our main disagreement is for East Antarctica and the interior of West Antarctica – there, we see an ice gain that exceeds the losses in the other areas."

Though climate change is a crisis, the population threat is even worse

ATP - The perennial cry: we need to talk about climate change. And this week,with world leaders in Paris, we have been. But only up to a point. For the likely impact of the rising global population is almost entirely absent, not only from the debate about climate change, but also from that about loss of biological diversity, food and water security, disease, pollution and energy.

Let’s just remind ourselves of the population statistics of the past half century. In just over half my lifetime, the world’s population has more than doubled, from 3 billion people to now more than 7 billion. The ability to feed some of this growing population has in no small part been a consequence of the advent of the green revolution: that is, the industrialisation and intensification of agriculture and the entire food production system.

Climate change: A threat to food security in Nigeria – Buhari

ABUJA – President Mohammadu Buhari in Paris, France on Monday stated that Nigeria is currently suffering from the effects of the climate change which he said have drastically affected food security.

Buhari spoke while presenting Nigeria’s position at the ongoing Conference of Parties 21 (COP21).

According to him, the challenges were also threatening human lives, adding that they have resulted in the destruction of many economic and social structures.

Also speaking on the devastating effects of insurgency in the country, the president also remarked the drying up of the Lake Chad Basin was consequent upon the effect of climate change.