Trump cancels NASA system to monitor greenhouse gases
Washington, May 11: At a time when the world is struggling to fight climate change, US President Donald Trump's administration has quietly killed a NASA system to monitor the flow of greenhouse gas, the media reported.
The White House has mounted a broad attack on climate science, repeatedly proposing cuts to NASA's earth science budget, including NASA's Carbon Monitoring System (CMS), the Science Magazine reported this week.
It has now scrapped the funding for the US space agency's CMS which has until now used satellite and aircraft instruments to monitor carbon dioxide and methane levels remotely -- spending $10m each year, the Independent reported on Thursday.
Canceling the CMS "is a grave mistake", Kelly Sims Gallagher, director of Tufts University's Centre for International Environment and Resource Policy, told the Science Magazine.
"If you cannot measure emissions reductions, you cannot be confident that countries are adhering to the (Paris climate) agreement," Gallagher added.
Other scientists also expressed their concerns about the impact the killing oc CMS would have on fighting climate change.
Scrapping the system was "disappointing", said Stephen Hagen, a senior scientist at Applied GeoSolutions in New Hampshire.
"(This) means we're going to be less capable of tracking changes in carbon," he added.
But the NASA system has been an obvious target for Trump who had begun the withdrawal process from the Paris accord.
The accord was signed in December 2015 by nearly 200 countries to curb global carbon emissions and contain global warming to 2 degrees Celsius.
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Putin in close contact with Gulf leaders to facilitate de-escalation: Kremlin
Moscow (PTI): Russian President Vladimir Putin is making all possible efforts to de-escalate the crisis in the Gulf and is in close contact with the regional leaders as Iran is retaliating with massive strikes on the US facilities and infrastructure on their territories, the Kremlin said on Tuesday.
The US and Israel launched joint strikes against Iran on Saturday, assassinating 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, alongside family members, including his daughter and grandchildren. Since then, Iran has targeted multiple US bases in the surrounding Gulf States.
"Putin will certainly make every effort to facilitate at least a minor easing of tensions. In this regard, we discussed with virtually all of our interlocutors yesterday," the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
"Taking advantage of the dialogue we maintain with the Iranian leadership, (President) Putin will convey his deep concern regarding the strikes on their infrastructure to our colleagues in Iran," he added.
According to the Kremlin, Putin spoke by telephone with leaders of Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia.
In his telephonic conversation with Crown Prince and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, Putin discussed the escalating situation in the region as a result of the American-Israeli armed aggression against Iran.
“Both sides expressed serious concern over the real risks of escalation of the conflict, which has already affected several Arab countries and is fraught with catastrophic consequences. In this context, Vladimir Putin underscored the urgent need to resolve the current extremely dangerous situation through political and diplomatic means,” the Kremlin said.
On Monday, Putin also had telephonic contacts with the King of Bahrain, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, who currently chairs the Gulf Cooperation Council, Emir of the State of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and President of the United Arab Emirates, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
“Exchange of views was held regarding the unprecedented escalation around Iran as a result of US and Israeli aggression, which is bringing the entire region to the brink of a full-scale war with unpredictable consequences. Sides underscored the need for a swift cessation of hostilities to prevent the situation from spiralling completely out of control and to return it to a political and diplomatic framework,” the Kremlin said.
The current developments, in particular, threaten the security of many Arab states with which Russia maintains friendly relations.
Given this, President Putin reaffirmed Russia's readiness to use all available means to actively contribute to stabilising the situation in the region, the Kremlin said, adding that contacts with the Gulf leaders will continue.
