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Archive for February 19th, 2010
Kenya: Indigenous knowledge meets science
Posted by Water Conserve: Water Conservation RSS Newsfeed on February 19th, 2010
Independent (UK): For generations, the Nganyi people of western Kenya have served as rainmakers, helping local communities decide when best to prepare their land and sow their seeds. By observing subtle changes in nature that would be unnoticeable to most people - in air currents, the flowering and shedding of leaves of certain trees, the behaviour of ants, bird songs, even the croaking of frogs and toads - they have been able to interpret weather patterns and provide valuable advice. But even the ...
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Drought concerns plague Syrian farmers
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 19th, 2010
United Press International: Pervasive drought in northeastern Syria sparked the largest wave of internal displacement in the region in years, U.N. agricultural officials said. Outdated irrigation systems and chronic drought pushes 1 million poverty-stricken farmers to look elsewhere for their livelihood, the U.N.'s humanitarian news agency IRIN reports. "Farmers who depend on only one crop are in trouble," said Abdulla Bin Yehia, a representative of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization in Damascus. ...
India ‘unwilling’ to release classified data on glaciers
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 19th, 2010
Daily Times: India is in a fix over releasing "secret data" on the Himalayan glaciers to the scientists studying the phenomenon of ice melting in the region. This data is so classified that government glaciologist Dr VK Raina was refused access to his own work that he had done during his tenure in the Geological Survey of India (GSI). He was bluntly told that all GSI data was classified, which also includes the water flow from the melting glaciers. However, Raina was able to use some of the ...
Profit of biggest companies would be cut by a third if forced to pay for environmental damage from operations
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 19th, 2010
Mongabay: Profits of the world's 3,000 largest companies would be cut by $2.2 trillion per year if they were forced to pay for environmental damage caused by their operations, according to an upcoming U.N. report detailed by The Guardian. The study, conducted by Trucost, a consultancy, and scheduled to be released this summer, estimates that pollution and degradation of natural resources by the world's 3,000 largest companies amount to six to seven percent of total revenue, or roughly one-third ...
Navy agrees to fund toxic water study at NC base
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 19th, 2010
Associated Press: The Navy has agreed after months of fighting to fund a study into the health effects of past water pollution at Camp Lejeune on Marines. The Department of the Navy said in a letter Thursday to the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry that it will pay more than $1.5 million for the work. The study will look at whether there are higher mortality rates for Marines who served at the base during the years the water was contaminated. The Associated Press obtained ...
Launch of European climate satellite is delayed
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 19th, 2010
Agence France-Presse: The launch next week of a European satellite designed to monitor the response of icesheets to climate change has been delayed by a technical worry, the European Space Agency (ESA) said on Friday. CryoSat-2 had been scheduled to be launched from Russia's Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan next Thursday. The operation "has been delayed due to a concern related to the second stage steering engine of the Dnepr launcher," ESA said in a press release. "Although the fuel supply ...
Senator suggests truce in California’s water fight
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 19th, 2010
Reuters: Senator Dianne Feinstein, who angered environmentalists, fishing groups and other Democratic lawmakers by proposing to divert more water to California's farmers, said on Friday she was working to avoid controversial legislation. Feinstein's plan would ease Endangered Species Act restrictions to allow more water to be pumped out of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta for growers in the state's Central Valley. Dramatic cutbacks in irrigation supplies this year alone from both ...