The Stream, December 13: Climate Quandary

Delegates to the climate negotiations in Durban, South Africa, kicked the can down the road, agreeing to extend the Kyoto Protocol by five years and eventually to draw up a new agreement that would take effect by 2020.

The day after the conference, Canada announced that it will withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol, becoming the first country to pull out of the treaty, Reuters reports.

The Stakeholder Forum, which published daily analysis from Durban, devoted one day to water issues. Topics included fisheries, business, energy, water management and reviews of the water-related side events.

Climate change is pushing farmers higher on mountain slopes, endangering the health of forests that provide the majority of the world’s freshwater. That’s one conclusion from a report on mountain forests from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

The East African county of Djibouti plans to build a wind-powered desalination plant. Gulf News reports that the European Union will provide the financing for the 20 billion Djibouti franc (US$112 million) project.

The Stream is a daily digest spotting global water trends. To get more water news, follow Circle of Blue on Twitter and sign up for our newsletter.

Brett Walton

Brett writes about agriculture, energy, infrastructure, and the politics and economics of water in the United States. He also writes the Federal Water Tap, Circle of Blue’s weekly digest of U.S. government water news. He is the winner of two Society of Environmental Journalists reporting awards, one of the top honors in American environmental journalism: first place for explanatory reporting for a series on septic system pollution in the United States(2016) and third place for beat reporting in a small market (2014). He received the Sierra Club’s Distinguished Service Award in 2018. Brett lives in Seattle, where he hikes the mountains and bakes pies. Contact Brett Walton