– The day’s top climate change stories as chosen by RTCC
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– Updated from 0900-1700 BST (GMT+1)
Latest news – Friday 7 September
1600: New research suggests deforestation could significantly reduce rainfall in the Earth’s tropical regions.
This could have major implication for farmers in these areas, such as the Amazon and Congo forest basins, as well as reducing hydro-electricity output.
1500: As the concern over food production grows, attentions turn to Europe’s pollinators including bees and hoverflies.
Pollinating insects contribute to agriculture production of 84% of European crops – either partly or entirely – and the value of these insects has been estimated at €22 billion a year inEurope.
1400: Firms are quickly catching on to the fact that the best way to market sustainable living is not to lecture but to nudge people into changing behaviour and making sustainability fun, says business writer Oliver Balch.
1300: Edward Cameron and Yamide Dagnet from the World Resources Institute offer a comprehensive look at where countries stand following the Bangkok talks and what’s next ahead of the COP18 conference at the end of the year.
1200: The one billionth certified emission reduction credit under the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) will be issued today, according to the UN climate secretariat (UNFCCC).
1100: BusinessGreen provide a round-up to Obama’s speech last night, and the lines he drew between himself and Mitt Romney on the environment and energy.
1000: Scientists in the Arctic are warning that the record-breaking melt seen this summer could be part of an accelerating trend with profound implications.
Researchers from the Norwegian Polar Institute said impacts could be felt in Europe and beyond. They expect to see much more precipitation in Northern Europe, while warning Southern Europe could become drier.
0900: New Zealand’s High Court has dismissed a challenged launched by climate change sceptics against a government research agency’s findings that the temperature had risen in the past century. The court backed the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research’s conclusion that New Zealand’s climate warmed almost 1°C between 1909 and 2009.
0830: Geologists from the British Geological Survey say warm water held in a network of disused coalmines could supply 40% of Glasgow’s heating. The technique has said to have already been demonstrated locally in one of Glasgow’s housing projects.
Accepting his party’s presidential nomination at the Democratic National Convention, President Obama called the 2012 election a pivotal moment in the battle against climate change, criticising Republicans who say global warming is a myth.
African farmers are finding new ways to cope with drought, erosion and other effects of climate change but will need even more techniques to thrive in an increasingly unpredictable environment, say scientists.
A survey of 700 households in Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and Tanzania found many smallholders are now planting more drought-resistant and faster-growing crops to ensure harvests continue.
Top tweets
Not quite as exciting as @leodicaprio‘s hybrid, but still good… ‘Green’ #Pope presented with #electric car bbc.in/TusK0C via BBC
— Lang Banks (@LangBanks) September 7, 2012
bit.ly/P6CDAtWe are loosing ground with man-made deserts overrunning fertile #land & subsistence #farmers in SSA among most affected
— Luc Gnacadja (@LucGnacadja) September 7, 2012
President Obama: “My plan will continue to reduce the carbon pollution that is heating our planet—because climate change is not a hoax.”
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) September 7, 2012
Thanks @barackobama for telling it like it is on #climate change.
— Kelly Rigg (@kellyrigg) September 7, 2012