Call for Ambition at #COP25 by #Mad4Survival coalition lead by Marshall Islands

A press conference this morning at the United Nations climate Conference COP25 launched an ambition drive, Mad 4 Survival, spearheaded by the Climate Vulnerable Forum and lead by the Marshall Islands. Apporopriate that this is being launched on Human rights day. Climate change is already having a massive impact on human rights and human rights are fundamental to all parts of the climate negotiations.

Marshall Islands poet Kathy Kijiner was joined on the panel by Philippines Deputy Speaker Loren Legarda, Shanchita Haque, Permanent Mission of Bangladesh to the United Nations. (Source: media release)

See below for headline speech by Loren Legarda from the Philippines.

Mangrove forests threatened by Climate Change in the Sundarbans of Bangladesh and India

A new study has found the Sundarban coast retreating up to 200 metres in a single year due to rapidly deteriorating health of the world's largest Mangrove forest in the Sundarbans, the Ganges delta region of India and Bangladesh.

Zoological Society of London (ZSL) researcher Dr Nathalie Pettorelli, senior author of the paper says: "Our results indicate a rapidly retreating coastline that cannot be accounted for by the regular dynamics of the Sundarbans. Degradation is happening fast, weakening this natural shield for India and Bangladesh."

In the Bengali language 'Sundarban' can be literally translated as 'beautiful forest'. The area is the largest block of continuous mangrove forest in the world, being home to almost 500 species of reptile, fish, bird and mammals, including the endangered Bengal tiger.

See Also: Mangrove Alliance | Mangrove Action Project | Mangrove Watch Australia | Planners need to allow for Coastal wetlands migration due to sea level rise, climate change

Global Warming: Rising Seas creates 70,000 Climate Refugees

Rising seas attributed to human induced global warming have submerged Lohachara island, once the home to 10,000 people. Unhinhabited Suparibhanga has also vanished, while the inhabited island of Ghoramara has lost two thirds of its area to the rising seas in the Bay of Bengal.

While we were all distracted by Christmas festivities, this sober news on the impact of climate change was published in The Independent (UK), about the inundation of various Sundarban islands in the Indian part of the delta region of the Ganges and Brahmaputra river, where they empty into the Bay of Bengal.

The region is considered remote and researchers at Calcutta's Jadavpur University discovered the submergence through examining satellite photos of the area. According to the report in the Independent, Dr Sugata Hazra, director of the university's School of Oceanographic Studies, said that there are now a dozen "vanishing islands" in India's part of the delta.