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Archive for February, 2010
Climate change effects on prairies studied
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 3rd, 2010
United Press International: Scientists say the loss of wetlands due to climate change across central North American prairies will negatively affect millions of waterfowl. The researchers said they've discovered the region is much more sensitive to climate warming than previously thought, posing a bleak future for waterfowl that depend on wetlands for food, shelter and the raising of their young. "The impact to the millions of wetlands that attract countless ducks to these breeding grounds in spring makes ...
United Arab Emirates: Protection of wetlands key to human survival
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 3rd, 2010
Khaleej Times: Protection of wetlands is key to human survival and UAE plays a central role in this endeavour, a panel of scientists observed at the World Wetlands Day seminar organised by Dubai Municipality (DM). Being a crucial stopover junction for thousands of migratory birds from across the world, wetlands in the UAE play a key role in the survival of hundreds of avian species as well as other forms of life, environmentalists stressed at the conference themed 'Caring for wetlands -- and answer ...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on United Arab Emirates: Protection of wetlands key to human survivalEight out of 10 UK ponds in a ‘terrible state’, says study
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 3rd, 2010
Guardian: Eight out of 10 ponds in Britain are in a "terrible state", according to the biggest ever survey of the country's nature-rich small water pools. England, Scotland and Wales are thought to have about half a million public "ponds", from tarns in the Lake District and wild mountain pools to patches of water on village greens. But mostly as a result of pollution from farmland, roads and villages, the study by the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology and the charity Pond Conservation ...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Eight out of 10 UK ponds in a ‘terrible state’, says studyGlobal warming good for trees, bad for ducks: studies
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 3rd, 2010
Agence France-Presse: Global warming is good news for trees, which are thriving in higher temperatures and longer growing seasons, but bad news for ducks and other waterfowl, whose wetland habitat may dry up and disappear, two studies show. A study by researchers at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) in Maryland indicates that higher temperatures, longer growing seasons and increased levels of carbon dioxide brought by climate change are helping trees in temperate climates to grow ...
The Amazon Is Not Eternal
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 3rd, 2010
Inter Press Service: The Amazon jungle "is very close to a tipping point," and if destruction continues, it could shrink to one third of its original size in just 65 years, warns Thomas Lovejoy, world-renowned tropical biologist. Climate change, deforestation and fire are the drivers of this potential Amazonian apocalypse, according to Lovejoy, biodiversity chair at the Washington DC-based Heinz Centre for Science, Economics and the Environment, and chief biodiversity adviser to the president of the World ...
The Amazongate fiasco
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 3rd, 2010
Mongabay: A claim published in the Sunday Times over the veracity of a statement published in an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report may land the British newspaper in hot water. On Sunday, Jonathan Leake, Science & Environment Editor of the Sunday Times, accused the IPCC of making a "bogus rainforest claim" when it cited a report warning that up to 40 percent of the Amazon could be "drastically" affected by climate change. Climate change skeptics immediately seized on ...
U.S. should not punish Canada’s oilsands: Envoy
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 3rd, 2010
Canwest News Service: Canadian ambassador Gary Doer on Wednesday cautioned United States policy-makers against imposing punitive climate-change measures against Alberta's oilsands, saying Ottawa's decision to adopt identical greenhouse-gas emissions targets has strengthened Canada's opposition to American states planning to target carbon-intensive fuels. The Harper government's decision to align its emissions target with the Obama administration's goal is "useful," Doer said, in Canada's ongoing battle ...
Environmentalists and indigenous groups decry approval of massive dam in Amazon
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 2nd, 2010
Mongabay: The approval of the hydro-electric Belo Monte Dam from the Brazilian environmental agency, IBAMA, has raised condemnations from environmentalists and indigenous groups. The dam will divert the flow of the Xingu River, a tributary of the Amazon River, which runs through the Amazon in northeast Brazil. According to critics the dam will destroy vast areas of pristine rainforest, disrupt sensitive ecosystems, and relocate 12,000 people. "The government is trying to steamroll this project, ...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Environmentalists and indigenous groups decry approval of massive dam in AmazonBrazil to build Belo Monte dam in Amazon
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 2nd, 2010
Guardian: The Brazilian government has given the green light to the construction of a controversial hydroelectric dam in the Amazon rainforest that environmentalists and indigenous activists claim will displace indigenous tribes and further damage the Amazon basin. Brazil's environment ministry granted the Belo Monte dam project an environmental licence late on Monday paving the way for tenders from companies interested in constructing the world's third largest hydroelectric plant, on the ...