There are no seasons any more in eastern Uganda. Before, we had two harvests every year, but now there’s no pattern. Floods like we’ve never seen came and swept up everything. It rained and rained until all the land was soaked and our houses were submerged in the water. This forced us to move to higher ground, where we sought refuge. By the time we came back home, all the houses had collapsed, our granaries were destroyed and food was washed away. The remaining crops were rotten, and our food was no more.

Reducing carbon dioxide emissions is the key to keep temperatures under control. Photograph: Haydn West/PA

Expectations are running high for the United Nations climate change conference in Copenhagen this December. But will we get the global commitment for radical cuts in carbon dioxide emissions that the world so urgently needs?

One of the main water sources outside Moyale in Kenya runs dry. Photograph: Sarah Elliott/EPA

The World Bank yesterday issued its clearest warning to date that development efforts in poorer nations will be derailed without a huge increase in funding for climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts.

The Bank’s annual World Development Report warns that even if the G8 group of industrialised nations achieves its target of limiting global warming to two degrees above pre-industrial levels, the increase in global average temperatures will still result in shrinking levels of GDP for many African and Asian countries.

Breaking waves in the Pacific Ocean. Photograph: David Pu’u/Corbis

The world’s ocean surfaces had their warmest summer temperatures on record, the US national climatic data centre said today.

Climate change has been steadily raising the earth’s average temperature in recent decades, but climatologists expected additional warming this year and next due to the influence of El Niño.

Ocean surface temperatures were the warmest for any August since record keeping began in 1880. For the June to August summer months, average ocean surface temperatures rose to 16.9C (62.5F), which is 1.04F above the 20th century average, said the report from the climate centre, which is a branch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The world’s combined average land and ocean surface temperatures were the second warmest on record for August, and the third warmest for the summer months.

More than 180 of the world’s largest investors, with collective assets of $13tn, put their combined weight behind a passionate call for strong US and international action on global warming in New York today.

“We cannot drag our feet on the issue of global climate change,” said Thomas DiNapoli, who heads the $116.5bn New York state pension fund. “I am deeply concerned about the investor risks climate change presents, and the human cost of inaction is unthinkable.”