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Archive for October 22nd, 2010
US: No warning system before deadly Ark. flood
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 22nd, 2010
AP: The U.S. Forest Service acknowledges in a new report that the agency had no warning plan in place the night 20 people died in a flash flood in southwestern Arkansas.
The Forest Service released the report Friday about the deadly June flood. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says the Forest Service will make changes nationwide as a result. The Forest Service says it will put in place an emergency notification system and evacuation plans. It will also train staff and volunteers on the plans.
A...
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Warming threat to life in rivers
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 22nd, 2010
BBC: Future warming could have "profound implications" for the stability of freshwater ecosystems, a study warns.
Researchers said warmer water affected the distribution and size of plankton - tiny organisms that form the basis of food chains in aquatic systems.
The team warmed plankton-containing vessels by 4C (7F) - the temperature by which some of the world's rivers and lakes could warm over the next century.
The findings appear in the journal Global Change Biology.
"Our study provides...
Vital role for ‘neglected’ fish
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 22nd, 2010
BBC: Inland fisheries provide employment for more people than their marine equivalents, as well as being a vital source of nutrients, a study concludes.
The UN-backed Blue Harvest study says that in Africa alone, fish from rivers and lakes are a key source of protein and minerals for 100 million people.
However, dams and other kinds of water management have drastically reduced yields, particularly in Europe.
Properly valuing these fisheries could lead to better forms of management.
The study...
Hard to Put a Price-tag on Healthy Rivers
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 22nd, 2010
Inter Press Service: Damming a river may bring electric power, but it often comes at the price of high-quality food fisheries, experts say. When dams are proposed for power, flood control or irrigation, the often devastating impacts on fisheries in rivers and lakes are ignored or discounted.
"It is very difficult to put a dollar value on what inland fisheries represent because it is much more than the landed value of the fish at the dock," says Yumiko Kura of the WorldFish Center office in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Kura...
Yemen’s capital ‘will run out of water by 2025’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 22nd, 2010
SciDev.Net: Water shortages in Yemen will squeeze agriculture to such an extent that 750,000 jobs could disappear and incomes could drop by a quarter within a decade, according to a report.
Poor water management and the enormous consumption of water for the farming of the popular stimulant khat are blamed for the predicted water shortages, which experts say could lead to the capital Sana'a running out of water by around 2025.
The report was produced by McKinsey&Company, an international management...
Canada: Syncrude to pay C$3 million penalty over duck deaths
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 22nd, 2010
Reuters: Oil producer Syncrude Canada Ltd will pay a C$3 million ($2.9 million) penalty for negligence in the deaths of 1,600 ducks in a toxic waste pond, a case that fueled international concern about the environmental impact of developing Canada's oil sands.
Most of the money will be contributed to wildlife and habitat conservation programs in northern Alberta.
Alberta Provincial Court Judge Ken Tjosvold found Syncrude, one of Canada's largest oil sands producers, guilty in the deaths of the birds...
Himalayan climate change threatens regional stability. Can India help?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 22nd, 2010
Christian Science Monitor: New Delhi; Palo Alto and Orange, Calif. -- It is widely known from satellite imagery and on-the-ground intelligence that the Arctic and parts of the Antarctic polar ice caps are melting, and melting fast. But what both scientists and the public don't know enough about is the rapid melting of Earth's third large reservoir of snow and ice "“ the glaciers of the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau.
The regions surrounding the Himalayas – China, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Bhutan – could...
Syncrude Canada fined C$3 million for 1,600 duck deaths
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 22nd, 2010
Reuters: Oil producer Syncrude Canada Ltd will pay a C$3 million ($2.9 million) penalty for negligence in the deaths of 1,600 ducks in a toxic waste pond, a case that fueled international concern about the environmental impact of developing Canada's oil sands.
Most of the money will be contributed to wildlife and habitat conservation programs in northern Alberta.
Alberta Provincial Court Judge Ken Tjosvold found Syncrude, one of Canada's largest oil sands producers, guilty in the deaths of the birds...
Oil Sands Effort Turns on a Fight Over a Road
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 22nd, 2010
New York Times: As U.S. Highway 12 hugs the serpentine banks of the Clearwater and Lochsa Rivers here, road signs bear the silhouettes of the 19th-century explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, with Mr. Lewis pointing off into the distance.
He is not pointing the way for big oil companies, says Lin Laughy, whose gravel driveway abuts the road.
But to Mr. Laughy’s dismay, international oil companies see this meandering, backcountry route as a road to riches. They are angling to use U.S. 12 to ship gargantuan...
Freshwater losses pose risks for food, health: U.N.
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 22nd, 2010
Reuters: Damage to rivers, wetlands and lakes threatens to destabilize the diversity of freshwater fish species, posing risks for food security, incomes and nutrition. Rivers and lakes are the source of 13 million metric tonnes of fish annually, which in turn provide employment to 60 million people, the study by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the World Fish Center showed.
Fish from inland waters is also important for nutrition, especially in Africa and parts of Asia, by supplying micronutrients...