Don't put all eggs in one (geoengineered) basket

Should research efforts focus on single large-scale geoengineering schemes? Or...

Dec 16, 2011

Global emissions rebound to record levels after global financial crisis

Global carbon dioxide emissions increased by a record 5.9 per cent in 2010...

Nov 24, 2011

Conference deadline extends

The Planet Under Pressure management team is extending the oral presenters...

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FEATURES

Tracking groundwater depletion

As water demand rises rapidly, some regions are withdrawing groundwater faster...

Scientists who published the famous “hockey stick” graph experienced sustained attacks soon after the figure was incorporated in the 2001 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Now one of those scientists, Ray Bradley, has written a very personal account of his experience. He spoke to Owen Gaffney about his new book.

Learning from the past

When it comes to managing the environment, we rarely look beyond the past few years to inform decisions. John Dearing says this needs to change.

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MULTIMEDIA

The promise and perils of creating markets to pay for public goods

Some payment mechanisms to support ecosystem services can be environmentally harmful, warn experts in...

IGBP research presented to Dalai Lama

Global-change researcher Diana Liverman presented IGBP's Great Acceleration graphs to the Dalai Lama...

Single-celled plankton reveal past climates

How do scientists reconstruct past climate conditions on Earth? One way of doing this is by culturing...

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Member countries of the Asia Pacific network

Published: October 12, 2011

Asia-Pacific climate report published for COP17

APN website

Download the report (pdf, 6 MB)

News |

The Asia Pacific Netwrok (APN) has published a new synthesis report — Climate in Asia and the Pacific: A Synthesis of APN Activities — to contribute to policy development relating to climate vulnerability and impacts, including adaptation and mitigation.

The timing of this publication is related to three major activities: the “Planet Under Pressure: New Knowledge Towards Solutions Conference” and the “Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development,” both taking place in the first half of 2012, and the work of the current IPCC fifth assessment with the report scheduled for release in 2014.

The synthesis report indicates that, while there is much activity at the global level, there is a great need to intensify investigative research of climate change and climate variability and trends at the regional level, as these are still poorly understood. Consistent socio-economic data collection is needed, as is the need for an interdisciplinary approach to solving complex climate change problems. The increasing frequency and severity of floods, droughts and extreme temperatures requires the use of appropriate indices to improve monitoring and prediction of extreme events.