The United States will use its weather forecasting agencies to develop extreme-weather outlooks in the 15-30 day range, compared to the current two-week limit of reliable forecasting. Longer-range and more reliable forecasts will aid farmers among others. “To kick off the effort this year, NOAA will begin issuing weekly 3-4 week precipitation outlooks and will extend its current extreme-heat index product from the current 6-to-10-days-out to 8-to-14-days-out, giving communities several additional days to prepare for potential life threatening heat waves,” said the fact sheet.
America will be a founding member of the Global Alliance for Climate-Smart Agriculture “to address food security in the face of climate change,” said the fact sheet. The alliance will include farm groups, governments, researchers, businesses and others. The administration cited three existing U.S. programs related to this issue. They include USDA climate hubs, which focus on agricultural adaptation to climate change and a clean air initiative to reduce methane and carbon emissions.
CNN says Obama said pollution must be controlled to address climate change and that he called on China, the world’s most populous nation, to join the world in reducing carbon emissions. “We have a responsibility to lead. That’s what big nations do,” said Obama, according to CNN.
Text of Obama’s speech is available here.
Also at the United Nations, more than 30 countries agreed to end deforestation by 2030 but Brazil, a major agricultural producer, said it would not endorse the pledge, said the Associated Press. Without Brazil on board, “a halt to deforestation would be impossible,” said the AP. The world’s three largest palm oil companies – Wilmar, Golden Agri-Resources and Cargill – said they would cooperate to end deforestation, said AFP. Deforestation contributes to climate change.