The main greenhouse gases have reached their highest concentration levels since pre-industrial times, a United Nations climate research body said today. The World Meteorological Organization’s (WMO) 2009 Greenhouse Gas Bulletin warns that carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide have all increased their presence, increasing their burden on the earth’s atmosphere. “Greenhouse gas concentrations have reached record levels despite the economic slowdown. They would have been even higher without the international action taken...

Rising food prices have not yet reached crisis levels but they are expected to remain very volatile for about the next decade, researchers said Thursday. The conclusions were based on a new study of the factors that contributed to the 2007-08 food crisis, which researchers hope will shed light on what actions might be taken to avoid food crises in the future. "There were many suspects for what caused the crisis, but...

India's key sectors like water, forest, health and agriculture will be affected in a major way due to the increase in net temperature by 1.7- 2.2 degree celsius in another 20 years in the four climate hotspots. The "climate change and India: a 4x4 assessment" report, which was released today providing an assessment of impact of climate change in 2030, also predicts an increase in precipitation (rain, snow and storm) in...

Even as the Indian Network for climate change Assessment — dubbed “the Indian Intergovernmental Panel on climate change (IPCC)” — released its first report on the impact of climate change in four regions of the country, it admitted that significant research gaps and lack of extensive databases were hampering Indian climate science. Long-term localised data was not available on vegetation and forest cover, socio-economic trends, farm inputs, pests and crop diseases,...

Developed countries at the 15th Conference had committed themselves to providing around $30 billion for 2010-12 The fund is for supporting developing countries' climate efforts No clarity on how donors will channel the fast-start funds Developed countries are failing to meet the funding pledges that they made at the Climate Summit in Copenhagen last December to support developing countries' climate efforts. At the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP-15) in Copenhagen, developed countries...