Climate deal reached in Lima U.N. Conference
Negotiators early Sunday reached a watered-down deal at U.N. Talks in Peru that sets the stage for a global climate pact in Paris next year, the Associated Press reported. Manuel Pulgar Vidal, the meeting's president, said delegates approved a broad blueprint for negotiations leading up to a deal in 2015, the BBC said. The Lima agreement was reached after late-night wrangling between rich and poor countries. Ref. USAToday
The Point of No Return: Climate Change Nightmares Are Already Here:
Historians may look to 2015 as the year when [..] really started hitting the fan. Some snapshots: In just the past few months, record-setting heat waves in Pakistan and India each killed more than 1,000 people. Ref. Source 4o
Climate Change Will Cause the World's Next Migration Crisis:
According to this new study, the percentage of land affected by serious drought has doubled from the 1970s to the early 2000s. One third of the world appears vulnerable to further land degradation. About half of our planet's agricultural land is moderately or severely degraded. Ref. Source 9j
President Barack Obama today said that a successful outcome for the Paris climate talks will include a "Legally binding" mechanism to ensure that countries adhere to their carbon reduction commitments.
Speaking at a news conference at the end of his visit to France, Obama also warned Russian President Vladimir Putin against intervening in Syria's civil war. "I think Mr. Putin understands that ... With Afghanistan fresh in the memory, for him to simply get bogged down in an inconclusive and paralyzing civil conflict is not the outcome that he's looking for," Obama said.
Obama also called for tighter gun laws after last week's shooting at a Colorado Planned Parenthood clinic. Ref. CNN