Stopping climate change may be harder than scientists thought

One major goal of the Paris Agreement is to reduce carbon emissions and keep global temperature averages from rising more than two degrees Celsius.

To track the world's progress to the two-degree threshold, climate scientists use a temperature baseline set in the late 1800s.

But a new study finds this baseline measurement may not actually represent the global temperature average prior to the beginning of human-cased warming. Its authors say an older baseline would be more accurate.

If correct, the researchers' findings mean the world has warmed as much as 0.2 degrees Celsius over previous estimates, and that 40 per cent less carbon would need to be burned to reach current emissions reduction targets.

Read this story in full on Mongabay.com at news.mongabay.com/2017/07/stopping-climate-change-may-be-harder-than-scientists-thought/

#climate #climatechange #globalwarming

Image: Drought image courtesy of Nitsuki iStock / Getty images ... See MoreSee Less

2 hours ago  ·  

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Ivory: Tanzania elephant poaching 'kingpin' detained in Mozambique

Authorities fighting poaching in Mozambique and Tanzania have captured an important figure in the slaughter of elephants in the Niassa National Reserve. This is Mateso Albano Kasian, a Tanzanian citizen with a Mozambican identity card, who is suspected of being the accomplice of the group of Chinese citizens from the city of Shuidong who dominate the ivory trade to Asia via the port of Pemba.

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THIS month, EIA released the findings of its groundbreaking ivory trade investigation in 'The Shuidong Connection', exposing the first time the global hub of the illegal ivory trade.

* Report - read it at eia-international.org/report/shuidong-connection-exposing-global-hub-illegal-ivory-trade

* Press release - read it at eia-international.org/chinese-town-centre-global-ivory-smuggling

* Film - watch it at eia-international.org/media-resources/videos?id=224059396
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... According to @Verdade, Kasian, also known as Mateso Chupi, had been sought by the authorities of the neighbouring country since 2013 and by national authorities since 2014 on the basis of evidence suggesting he was the leader of an extensive network of poachers in the Reserve Niassa National Park.

... @Verdade sources say that Kasian is one of the main suppliers of ivory to the Shuidong Chinese who dominates the trade to Asia and uses as Pemba, in Cabo Delgado as their main port of exit because of the ease of bribing public officials involved in the export process.

Read in full at clubofmozambique.com/news/tanzanian-elephant-poaching-kingpin-detained-in-mozambique/

#Tanzania #Mozambique #Africa #China #elephants #ivory #poaching #corruption

Image: Elephant poached in Mozambiqu (c) EIA; inset, Mateso Albano Kasian, via Verdade ... See MoreSee Less

3 hours ago  ·  

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