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Archive for October 26th, 2010
Amazon drought leaves Brazil’s Rio Negro dry
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 26th, 2010
Guardian: Drought Amazon drought leaves Brazil's Rio Negro dry Important Amazon tributary has fallen to its lowest level in a century following a fierce drought in the region
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Antarctic snowfall linked to West Australian drought
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 26th, 2010
Sydney Morning Herald: The significant drought in southwest Australia may be linked to increased snowfall in the Antarctic over the past 30 years, researchers say. They say understanding the connection could help farmers in Western Australia plan for years to come. Analysis of ice cores, drilled at Law Dome just inland from Australia's Casey Station in the Antarctic, shows snowfall may be linked to climate in the Australian sector of the Southern Ocean and south-west Western Australia. Dr Tas ...
UN not worried by corruption and illegal logging
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 26th, 2010
Word Prees: While Papua New Guinea "is in no fit state" to receive international funds to stop deforestation and mitigate climate change because of continued logging and corruption, the United Nations has no such concerns and is preparing to sign off on over $6 million in funding. The funding details are revealed in the UN-REDD PNG National Joint Initiative proposal (file size is 2.3mb) The proposal grandly claims the US$6.38 million will ensure that "by 2013, PNG has an operational ...
India examines cost of mining more closely
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 26th, 2010
Guardian: Citing the need to protect the environment and local residents, Indian courts and government bodies have started blocking – or even cancelling – a growing number of industrial projects. Last month the high court in Madras ordered the closure of a copper smelter operated by the London-listed mining conglomerate Vedanta, to protect "mother nature" from "unabated air and water pollution". In August, the environment ministry prevented Vedanta from opening a bauxite mine on tribal lands in ...
Forestry takes centre-stage at U.N. talks on nature
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 26th, 2010
Reuters: Delegates at a global U.N. meeting to preserve natural resources were on Tuesday trying to agree on ways to deploy about $4 billion in cash to help developing nations save tropical forests. The talks in the Japanese city of Nagoya are aimed at setting new 2020 targets to protect plant and animal species, a protocol to share genetic resources between countries and companies and more funding to protect nature, especially forests. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation ...
COP10 flirts with Copenhagen funk
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 26th, 2010
Japan Times: As the COP10 biodiversity conference headed into its second week Monday with no sign of accord on the key issues dividing delegates, participants feared the same failure that befell last year's climate change talks in Copenhagen.
"COP10hagen" was the word on the lips of many delegates, those from nongovernmental organizations in particular, as no progress was reported on securing a strong new agreement on access and benefit-sharing (ABS), after negotiators met over the weekend. COP10 negotiators...
Amazon drought leaves Brazil’s Rio Negro dry
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 26th, 2010
Guardian: Drought Amazon drought leaves Brazil's Rio Negro dry
Important Amazon tributary has fallen to its lowest level in a century following a fierce drought in the region
Brazilian Communities Find Ways to Live in Semiarid Environment
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 26th, 2010
Inter Press Service: No longer is the image of women trudging through fields carrying heavy water vessels on their heads just a "quaint" scene of Brazil's semiarid northeast, for outsiders.
In many parts of this impoverished region, it's also an increasingly rare sight for the locals, as it gradually becomes a thing of the past, thanks to a simple initiative that is spreading to other countries: the harvesting and storing of rainwater.
"Women used to have to walk six or eight kilometres carrying 20 litres of water...
Drought has Amazon tributary at record low levels
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 26th, 2010
Business Week: A severe drought has dropped water levels on a major Amazon tributary to their lowest point since officials began keeping records more than a century ago, the government reported Monday, cutting off dozens of communities who depend on the river for work and transportation.
Floating homes along the Rio Negro now rest on muddy flats, and locals have had to modify boats to run in shallower waters in a region without roads. Some riverbanks have caved in, although no injuries have been reported. Enormous...
Climate change and water issues
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 26th, 2010
Sydney Morning Herald: "Politicians dream this up to take your mind off the global meltdown to distract people. It is also designed to appease the Greens" ... Mayor and climate change sceptic Peter Laird.
The anger over plans for water cuts along the Murray-Darling Basin underlines how the issues of water, climate change and the environment play out in country and city, writes Debra Jopson.
The angular remains of John Pettigrew's 10,000 peach trees lie in his paddocks where he has pushed them over, testament in part...