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Archive for October 26th, 2010
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 van Ommen, Principal...
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 Measurement, Reporting...
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 eastern...
Brazil’s Amazon region suffers severe drought
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 26th, 2010
Reuters: A severe drought has pushed river levels in Brazil's Amazon region to record lows, leaving isolated communities dependent on emergency aid and thousands of boats stranded on parched riverbeds. The drought fits a pattern of more extreme weather in the world's largest rain forest in recent years and is, scientists say, an expected result of global warming. Last year, the region was hit by widespread flooding and in 2005 it endured a devastating drought. The level of the dark Rio Negro, a tributary...
United States: Court approves new Hanford cleanup schedule
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 26th, 2010
AP: The U.S. District Court in Spokane has approved a new schedule for cleaning up toxic waste in underground tanks at the nation's most contaminated nuclear site.
Watchdog groups have complained that the new schedule delays cleanup at south-central Washington's Hanford nuclear reservation for too long. But federal and state officials said the consent decree imposes a new, enforceable and achievable schedule for ridding the tanks of waste.
In a statement Tuesday, Gov. Chris Gregoire said the agreement...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on United States: Court approves new Hanford cleanup scheduleMore ducks land on Syncrude Canada oil sands pond
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 26th, 2010
Reuters: About 125 ducks had to be euthanized after landing on a toxic waste pond owned by Syncrude Canada Ltd, just three days after the oil sands producer was penalized C$3 million for a similar incident two years ago that killed 1,600 waterfowl.
In a statement posted on its website, Syncrude said about 200 birds landed on its Mildred Lake tailings pond in the northern Alberta oil sands on Monday night and the majority had to be euthanized after becoming fouled by tar-like bitumen floating on the surface...
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 estimates global deforestation...
Greenpeace hands PNG ‘golden chainsaw.’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 26th, 2010
Sydney Morning Herald: Greenpeace has presented the Papua New Guinea government with a "Golden Chainsaw" for being greedy rather than green when it comes to tackling climate change.
Greenpeace gave the award to PNG representative Federica Bietta during climate change talks in Nagoya, Japan, on Monday.
Greenpeace said it chose PNG for the dubious honour for its continued corruption in the forestry sector, stalling UN talks on reducing climate change, disregard for indigenous people's rights and rampant deforestation....
Food security risk if crop biodiversity lost: report
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 26th, 2010
Reuters: Future global food security may be at risk unless greater efforts are made to conserve and use the genetic diversity of cultivated crops and their wild relatives, the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said.
The world's cereals output needs to rise by 1 billion metric tonnes a year by 2050 to feed a population that is expected to grow by about 40 percent by then from 2005, the FAO said in a report published on Tuesday, reaffirming its earlier forecasts.
Crop biodiversity...
Fifth of vertebrates face extinction-study
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 26th, 2010
Reuters: About a fifth of the world's vertebrates are threatened with extinction, a major review has found, highlighting the plight of nature that is the focus of global environment talks underway in Japan.
The study by more than 170 scientists across the globe used data for 25,000 species from the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Red List of threatened species and examined the status of the world's mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fishes.
The authors found, on average,...