Climate change and poisonous chemicals focus of new UN study

According to Fatoumata Keita-Ouane, a scientist with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) who is leading the study, some data suggest that higher temperatures can make wildlife more sensitive to exposure to certain pollutants.

In the Arctic region, climate change can be expected to alter the exposure levels of marine mammals such as seals or the polar bear to toxic substances through a variety of means, including the melting of the ice caps.

[From UN.org] - Saturday, December 5

Have the hacked emails of climate scientists changed anything? While climate skeptics have pounced on the disclosure, scientists say nothing about the science has changes. “It’s a complete non-story,” says Achim Steiner, who heads to UN Environment Programme. He called the whole affair a “desperate attempt” by some to discredit the science. The science is all public, all transparent, he says. And besides, “thousands of scientists are working every day to prove each other wrong.”

[From UN.org] - The Copenhagen Accord

It took two years of intense negotiations and the full engagement of world leaders, but the deal reached in Copenhagen represents a marked break with the deadlocked political landscape that has prevented action on climate change for years. Reaching the Copenhagen Accord wasn’t pretty but the implications are huge.

Reuters AlertNet - [Attempted $100 billion annual swindle is "modest"] - economist

LONDON (AlertNet) - The annual $100 billion rich countries have agreed to mobilise by 2020 to help developing nations address climate change is "a very modest sum", according to a top academic who is a member of a high-level panel that will work out how to raise the money.