The Wall Street Journal’s new environment blog

The sidebar announcement preempts the dropped jaws…

No, your computer isn’t misfiring. Welcome to a new Wall Street Journal blog, Environmental Capital. It replaces the Journal’s Energy Roundup blog. Environmental Capital will continue Energy Roundup’s tradition of tracking daily energy news. And it will go further, analyzing how the energy world, and all of business, is adapting to mounting concern about the planet.

With Jeff Ball at the helm, look for smart analysis on the sector. He’s a sharp reporter who’s been covering Detroit for years and I’m sure he’ll bring great insights to the forum. And Keith Johnson is nothing if not prolific, with a great filter for what’s news and what’s not.

Curious to see how the editorial side will cover (if at all) the new blog. I’ll post any reax in the days to come.

Will the Waters Still Flow?

Andean societies rely heavily on glacial runoff for their drinking water, agriculture and hydropower production. The possible disappearance or shrinking of glaciers in coming decades because of global warming would have grave consequences for the region. Recognizing this, the International Research Institute for Climate and Society and its partners have just started on a two-year project to characterize how climate change will impact water resources and the people who rely on them in three major Andean river basins.

To read more about this project, visit the IRI’s features page

Photo taken by Haresh Bhojwani/IRI.

WSJ discusses IRI work

Tom Wright has a post about IRI on the Energy Roundup blog.

That’s because for most people, especially the world’s poorest, forewarning of short-term changes in temperatures can help them make life-or-death decisions, these scientists say. It’s also because scientists say models that predict climate can do so with accuracy only over a year or so. The International Research Institute for Climate and Society, part of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, outlined a project to help farmers on the Indonesian part of Borneo island to predict up to six months ahead when dry weather is likely to cause uncontrollable bush fires. The institute aims to raise funding to pay farmers not to use slash-and-burn techniques during those peak dry periods.

Read it here.

WSJ and COP13

The Wall Street Journal is covering Bali on its Energy Roundup blog, which, word has it, will transmogrify into a climate change blog in early 2008. About time. Looks like you don’t have to be logged in to access the posts, so check it out.

Speaking of Bali, anyone there now? I’ve never been to a COP, so I can only imagine the total chaos that must ensue, especially to the uninitiated. Please feel free to post your stories!

IRI, COP13 and other acronyms

Wish I could join my crew on the Island of the Gods, but I need to tend to business at the office. But here’s what we’re up to…

Scientists from the International Research Institute for Climate and Society will be speaking at various events during this year’s Conference of the Parties in Bali, Indonesia. Most notably, the IRI and some of its Indonesian partners will be hosting a side event on Wednesday, December 5, at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. The event will focus on the challenges decision makers face in managing climate risks, and will showcase the efforts of two countries, Indonesia and the Philippines, that are making important strides on this critical issue.

“This COP is especially significant in light of this year’s IPCC findings, which signal the now urgent need to come to grips with managing climatic risks globally,” says Director-General Steve Zebiak. “The IRI will be there to share our experience in helping countries become more resilient to climate changes, and to highlight the importance of this agenda to sustainable development.”

The side event, called Managing Climate Risks for Adaptation and Mitigation:New Initiatives in Southeast Asia will analyze the broader opportunities and obstacles for tackling climate impacts in the region, and features a high-level panel that will share insights and expertise:

• Anton Apriyantono, Minister of Agriculture, Government of Indonesia
• Rajendra Pachauri, Chairman, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Director-General of The Energy and Resources Institute (by audio conference)
• Jeffrey D. Sachs, Director, The Earth Institute at Columbia University (by audio conference)
• Stephen E. Zebiak, IRI’s Director-General

The side event will also highlight efforts of Indonesia and the Philippines, demonstrating new approaches to managing climate change risks by integrating cutting-edge climate information with agriculture, water and land management policies. Presentations by:

• Anton Apriyantono, Minister of Agriculture, Government of Indonesia, on strategies for addressing risks from climate variability and change for agriculture and food security in Indonesia
• Pacita Barba, National Water Resources Board, Philippines, on the integration of climate forecasts in decision making for usage of the Angat Reservoir for urban and agricultural needs
• Johan Kieft, CARE Indonesia, on the potential use of climate forecasts to better plan for the mitigation of destructive peatland fires in Central Kalimantan

The event will conclude with the signing of a memorandum of understanding between IRI and the Ministry of Agriculture of Indonesia to collaborate on research that advances the understanding of climate variability and change and to develop strategies for agricultural risk management in the country.

For full details, visit the IRI’s features page.

Climate Change and Development

[my latest piece for IRI]

United Nations representatives from 53 countries met at Columbia University recently to discuss the effect of climate change on development goals. The Danish Mission to the United Nations, the IRI and the Earth Institute organized the event. The IRI presented some of its experiences of helping countries become more resilient to climate variability and change.

By convening meetings such as the one held at Columbia, the Danish government is hoping to find ways to harmonize the development and adaptation agendas. In 2009, Denmark will host the Conference of the Parties (COP)–the annual meeting held by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to assess progress in dealing with the issue. A key focus of this COP, according to the Danish government, will be to build agreement on what to do about climate change when the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.

The Danes believe, as others do, that left unabated, climate change threatens years of development and could destabilize societies. “We need to climate-proof development investments,” said Carsten Staur, Denmark’s Ambassador to the U.N. “We haven’t yet found the right approaches and sufficient resources to do so. To be effective, adaptation efforts have to be coordinated and aligned,” Staur said.

Poor countries, which have contributed least to global warming, will be the hardest hit by climate change, because of their overall greater vulnerability and lower adaptive capacity.

“In much of the developing world, adaptation to climate change should be a development priority,” wrote IRI’s Molly Hellmuth and Haresh Bhojwani in a paper they prepared for the meeting. Climate change “exacerbates inequalities, threatens poverty alleviation and the sustainable achievement of the Millennium Development Goals,” they wrote.

Read the whole piece here.

Kyoto versus the Montreal Protocol

In a recent essay, Scott Barrett, a professor at Johns Hopkins, offers some insights on why the Kyoto Protocol was impotent from the start. All gums, no teeth.

What is the Montreal Protocol’s secret of success? One difference between Montreal and Kyoto is that Montreal imposed restrictions on all countries from the start. A second difference is that Montreal created strong incentives for participation and compliance – a combination of carrots and sticks. A final difference is that Montreal created a system for positive feedback, with each step in reducing ozone depletion creating incentives for countries to take yet another step.

Read the full article here.

Climate Adaptation in a Development Context (IRI feature)

The IRI and the United Nations Development Programme have partnered to help bring climate risk management into the development planning process of Asian countries.”Climate, now and in the future, poses high risks as well as opportunities for the advancement of households, communities and societies,” says Shiv Someshwar, director of IRI’s Asia and Pacific Program. “Realizing the benefits requires more collaboration and cooperation between the adaptation and the development communities. Furthermore,their efforts need to be guided by the demands of those stakeholders who stand to gain or lose the most from the impacts of climate change.”In April, the two organizations held a workshop in Nepal, Managing Risks of a Changing Climate to Support Development, that convened delegates from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. They released a report about the workshop proceedings last week.To read more about this, visit here.