Bangladeshi coastal communities gird for cyclones by planting mangroves
Over the past three decades, Moyna Rani Mondol, who lives right on the coast in Bangladesh’s southwestern district of Satkhira, has lost her home around 10 times to floods due to tidal surges. Bangladesh is a large delta crisscrossed by more than 300 rivers. It’s one of the most vulnerable countries to natural disasters like floods, tropical storms and cyclones, inducing coastal erosion and soil salinization. Most coastal villages here have the protection of several dikes and embankments built along the coasts to separate themselves from the sea as well as the tidal surges during high tides and cyclones. The coastal people are no strangers to the tidal surges during high tides. But during the cyclone season, when the surges are much higher and more severe than usual, they flood the settlements by breaching the dikes and embankments set up to protect the communities. Now, each time a cyclone makes landfall, the villages get flooded. “Nowadays, the number of destructive cyclones is increasing, and the weather is getting worse,” Mondol, 55, a widow who lives with her son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren, told Mongabay. “The height of the tidal surges have also increased and, along with them, the damages.”
India targets net-zero carbon emissions by 2070, says Modi
India’s economy will become carbon neutral by the year 2070, the country’s prime minster has announced at the COP26 climate crisis summit in Glasgow. The target date is two decades beyond what scientists say is needed to avert catastrophic climate impacts. India is the last of the world’s major carbon polluters to announce a net-zero target, with China saying it would reach that goal in 2060, and the United States and the European Union aiming for 2050.
COP26: What climate summit means for one woman in Bangladesh
China's carbon emissions are vast and growing, dwarfing those of other countries. Experts agree that without big reductions in China's emissions, the world cannot win the fight against climate change. In 2020, China's President Xi Jinping said his country would aim for its emissions to reach their highest point before 2030 and for carbon neutrality before 2060. His statement has now been confirmed as China's official position ahead of the COP26 global climate summit in Glasgow. But China has not said exactly how these goals will be achieved.
Why China's climate policy matters to us all
China's carbon emissions are vast and growing, dwarfing those of other countries. Experts agree that without big reductions in China's emissions, the world cannot win the fight against climate change. In 2020, China's President Xi Jinping said his country would aim for its emissions to reach their highest point before 2030 and for carbon neutrality before 2060. His statement has now been confirmed as China's official position ahead of the COP26 global climate summit in Glasgow. But China has not said exactly how these goals will be achieved.
Deliver on promises, developing world tells rich at climate talks
A crucial U.N. conference heard calls on its first day for the world's major economies to keep their promises of financial help to address the climate crisis, while big polluters India and Brazil made new commitments to cut emissions. World leaders, environmental experts and activists all pleaded for decisive action to halt the global warming which threatens the future of the planet at the start of the two-week COP26 summit in the Scottish city of Glasgow on Monday. The task facing negotiators was made even more daunting by the failure of the Group of 20 major industrial nations to agree ambitious new commitments at the weekend.