Partner Opinion | Connect4Climate

The 2016 Global Citizen Festival

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The Global Citizen Festival is an action-rewarded, awareness driven free music festival where fans engage with causes in order to win tickets. On September 29, 2012, more than 60,000 people attended the first Global Citizen Festival on the Great Lawn in New York’s iconic Central Park. The Festival featured live performances by Neil Young with Crazy Horse, Foo Fighters, The Black Keys, Band of Horses, K’Naan and more.

Lesotho Needs Enhanced Water Infrastructure to Build Climate Resilience

The report evaluates the vulnerabilities, challenges, and opportunities in the Lesotho water management system. It offers an analysis on the need to ensure continued development of one of the Mountain Kingdoms most valuable natural assets, its water resources, in order to increase security around the nexus of water, food, and energy along with sustained economic development. This is in line with the World Bank Group’s goal to support the most vulnerableby ending extreme poverty and promoting shared prosperity.

Climate Change Key for Lesotho’s Domestic and Industrial Water Security, Agricultural Production and Regional Water Transfers

The report examines the implications of climate change for Lesotho’s future development and economy, focusing particularly on the different water infrastructure investments being considered by the Government of Lesotho. Through assessing the performance of the water management system the study tests how different adaptation strategies would affect water availability for different sectors under a wide range of possible future climatic conditions up to 2050.

Report conclusions include:

Lesotho Water Security and Climate Change Assessment

The analysis looks specifically at the need to ensure continued development of water resources within Lesotho and aims to empower stakeholders to act with more confidence by demonstrating that the implementation strategies can provide benefits to water resources management over a broad range of possible future scenarios.

Another September to Remember for Climate Change?

September has a history of being a pivotal month on the climate calendar and 2016 appears to be no different. China and the US, the world’s largest historical emitters of carbon emissions, rang September in over the weekend, when they announced they would each be ratifying the Paris Climate Agreement. This announcement signaled that September 2016 could resemble the two previous Septembers, which like the weeks ahead, were packed with climate action.

Last year, September saw Pope Francis head to the United States where he delivered a number of messages, including an emphasis on climate change, to the US Congress in Washington, DC and then to the United Nations General Assembly in New York City. The UN General Assembly in New York last year also saw a number of countries announcing their “Intended Nationally Determined Contributions” or INDCs for what would become the Paris Agreement two months later. Last year the UN also moved forward with its long-crafted Sustainable Development Goals. A year before, in 2014, September saw the the largest climate demonstration in history take place in New York when the People’s Climate March put climate at the forefront of the UN agenda ahead of that year’s General Assembly. The recent US and China announcement about ratifying the Paris Agreement this time around, indicates that 2016 may fit the mold of previous Septembers.

How Climate Change is Challenging the Olympic Games

OLYMPIC ATHLETES CONCERNED ABOUT CLIMATE

At the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, more than 100 Olympians from 10 countries signed a petition urging world leaders to take action to address climate change on a global scale.

Athletes have noticed rising temperatures affecting their sports and failure to address climate change could jeopardise winter sports and the Winter Olympics. In 2014, temperatures in Sochi reached 68 degrees Fahrenheit, making it the warmest winter games in history.

Olympic Biathlon Athlete, Cross Country Skiing. 2002 Winter Olympics, Salt Lake City. Photo Credit: Pixabay

A greener path to competitiveness: Policies for climate action in industries and products

The ninth Sustainable Development Goal advises countries to build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation. Industry has historically been one of the most important pillars of economic and social development, but traditional resource-intensive and heavily polluting production is no longer sustainable in the face of climate change.

Interactive Guide: How Does An Electric Motor Work?

“Everybody recognizes that if you can make very efficient electric motors, you can make a quantum leap forward”. - James Dyson

"The electric motor has become a little more well-known and appreciated over the past few years with its improving integration into our cars. With most people understanding and appreciating the impact that their pollution has on the climate, there has been a greater demand for auto manufacturers to create cars that can help to improve our environment, or at the very least, do less harm."

"It is through this demand for growth and development that some of the world’s greatest inventors have refined the electric motor to now work better and be more efficient than it ever was before."