One of the world's largest tiger populations could disappear by the end of this century as rising sea levels caused by climate change destroy their habitat in the Sundarbans along the coast of Bangladesh, according to a new World Wildlife Fund (WWF)-led study published in the journal Climatic Change.

Tigers are among the world's most threatened species, with only an estimated 3,200 remaining in the wild, Swiss-based WWF, the worlds largest conservations organisation, said in a report on Friday.

Sweden described the Copenhagen climate change summit as a "disaster" and a "great failure" on Tuesday, ahead of a meeting of European Union environment ministers to discuss how to rescue the process.

The European Union went to Copenhagen with the hope of achieving a broad commitment to at least a 20-percent cut in carbon emissions below 1990 levels within 10 years, but that and other firm goals failed to emerge in the final accord.

UN climate talks avoided complete failure on Saturday by formally acknowledging a new US-led accord for combating global warming despite opposition from several nations.

"The conference of the parties takes note of the Copenhagen Accord," said a final decision at the 193-nation talks that stopped short of endorsing the deal.

Just three days before world leaders are expected at the table to seal a UN climate pact, ministers in Copenhagen were struggling to break deadlock that threatens to derail the whole process.

Organizers of the talks said environment ministers would work deep into night to narrow wide differences, saying the bulk of the work must be complete before some 130 leaders formally join the Dec 7-18 meeting on Thursday.

Former caretaker government adviser Hossain Zillur Rahman has spoken strongly for Bangladesh being presented as an "agent for change" and an example of best practices in coping with disasters, rather than solely as a climate change 'victim'.

He stressed the Bangladesh people's long experience in overcoming disasters, which should be called on now to set best practices to face the adverse impacts of climate change, he told a media briefing on Saturday.

The EU's climate fund commitment is not enough, Bangladesh's state minister for environment said Saturday in Copenhagen.

The European Union on Friday made a commitment of 10 billion euro over three years to the climate adaptation fund being negotiated in Copenhagen, through which rich nations are expected to assist poor and vulnerable countries.

Bangladesh on Thursday pushed for a stronger climate deal to be built on the existing legally-binding Kyoto Protocol that expires 2012.

A Bangladesh official, speaking at a session of the Conference of Parties, said Dhaka would like to see the Kyoto arrangements continued but, if necessary, amended.

Bangladesh on Monday vented its anger and "deep concern" at the lack of climate commitment by developed countries, calling their proposals "not adequate" and unacceptable.

In a statement released at the end of the opening day's deliberations, the Bangladesh delegation to the crucial global climate talks here also denounced "the slow progress" of negotiations.

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina will seek to unite countries worse-affected by climate change to press for climate funds during the 64th session of the United Nations General Assembly and Climate Summit next week, an official said on Saturday.

Hasina will address climate change issues and participate in talks with leaders of countries contributing UN peacekeeping troops around the world, among other subjects, foreign secretary Mohamed Mizarul Quayes told reporters Saturday at the Secretariat.

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina, in Geneva, has called for adaptation funds, transfer of green technology and global commitments for deeper carbon cuts to combat the threat of climate change.

"It is clear all must acknowledge their sacred duty to save our climate system, and hence our planet as a habitable place for future generations," Hasina said, addressing the UN-backed World Climate Conference 3 in the Swiss city on Thursday.

British international development minister Douglas Alexander, and energy and climate change minister Ed Milliband will be visiting Bangladesh next week to see the impact of climate change in Asia.

They will be meeting with top Bangladesh government official to discuss climate change issues before the Copenhagen Summit in December.

Changing weather patterns have affected crop production in Nepal pushing hundreds of farmers into debt, aid agency Oxfam said in a report on Friday.

Many poor villagers were even eating less as crop yields from their meagre holdings drop due to irregular rains, the agency said, citing accounts given by the farmers.

Climate change has made history an inaccurate guide for farmers as well as energy investors who must rely on probabilities and scenarios to make decisions, the head of a United Nations agency said on Wednesday.

Michel Jarraud, director-general of the World Meteorological Organization, said that water and temperature projections have become more valuable than the historical weather data that long governed strategy in agriculture, hydro-electric power, solar technology and other fields.

Torrential overnight rains in Dhaka broke a half-century record, the met office said on Tuesday as the city, half-submerged by morning, ground to a halt.

Meteorlogists said 333mm of rain was recorded in the capital over the 24-hour period up to 7am, breaking a 53-year-old record in Dhaka for the month of July.

More than 100 Nepalis took part in a race near Mount Everest on Thursday to highlight the effect of climate change on a glacial lake that risks bursting near the world's tallest peak.

Environmental activists say rising temperatures are fast shrinking the Himalayan glaciers from which several Asian rivers originate, threatening the lives of millions of people who depend on them for water.

The Arctic is warming up so quickly that the region's sea ice cover in summer could vanish as early as 2013, decades earlier than some had predicted, a leading polar expert said on Thursday.

Warwick Vincent, director of the Center for Northern Studies at Laval University in Quebec, said recent data on the ice cover "appear to be tracking the most pessimistic of the models", which call for an ice free summer in 2013.

Dhaka, Feb 3 (bdnews24.com) — Visiting Danish climate minister Connie Hedegaard says climate change is not some "distant fury", its widespread consequences are already being felt in Bangladesh and around the globe with one thing in common: unpredictability.

"During my visit I saw people are struggling with climate change. It is already here," Hedegaard told bdnews24.com in an interview on Tuesday.

LONDON, (OneWorld) - Failure to factor climate change into the Millennium Development Goals was a major mistake, Lord Nicholas Stern told a meeting in London this week.

Britain must abandon using almost all fossil fuels to produce power in 20 years' time, the government's climate change watchdog will warn today, reports The Guardian

Bdnews24.com

The city experienced a 57 mm rain on Friday as a low developed in the north and western part of the Bay of Bengal, local Met office said.