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Archive for October, 2010
Brazil: Drought strikes the Amazon rainforest again
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 29th, 2010
Nature: Five years ago, vast areas of the Amazon were hammered by a historic drought, which destroyed trees, impacted the livelihoods of fishermen and others who are dependent on the river and presented scientists with what was seen as a rare opportunity to investigate the world's largest rainforest in extreme distress. Drought has now struck again, reinforcing fears that the invisible hand of climate change may be involved. Nature takes a closer look.
How does the current drought compare with the one...
Posted in 
UN summit poised to seal biodiversity deal
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 29th, 2010
AFP: Rich and poor nations were poised to forge an ambitious pact to protect threatened ecosystems Friday after breaking a deadlock over genetic treasures derived from places such as the Amazon.
The meeting in the central Japanese city of Nagoya aims to produce a roadmap of 20 goals to be achieved over the next decade to contain man's destruction of nature and save the world's rapidly diminishing biodiversity.
Delegates from more than 190 countries had agreed to most of the goals during 12 days...
U.N. meeting to protect nature split on targets
Posted by Reuters: Chisa Fujioka and David Fogarty on October 29th, 2010
Reuters: Environment ministers from around the world tried to wrap up a U.N. meeting to preserve nature on Friday but remained split on targets to fight losses in animal and plant species that support livelihoods and economies.
Delegates from nearly 200 countries have gathered in Nagoya, Japan, for a two-week meeting to map out goals to protect oceans, forests and rivers as the world faces the worst extinction rate since the dinosaurs vanished 65 million years ago.
The meeting has aimed to push governments...
Impact of climate change to be far reaching in India
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 29th, 2010
Press Trust of India: Union Minister of State for Agriculture, K V Thomas, Friday said impact of climate change on agriculture would be 'far reaching' in India.
Inaugurating the International Workshop on Climate change and Island Vulnerability here, the minister said due to high population depending of agriculture, excessive pressure on natural resources and lack of fast alternatives the impact of climate change on agriculture would be 'far reaching' in the country.
In India several areas have been recognised as...
The great forest sell-off
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 29th, 2010
Guardian: The dog walkers arrive early at Cardinham Woods. It's still another hour before the cafe in the old woodsman's cottage starts serving walnut cake and bowls of stew, but already the car park is filling with vehicles containing excitable dogs yelping to be released on to the muddy forest trails heading up towards the steep valley flanks. The dense rain cloud resting on the tree canopy overhead doesn't appear to be dampening their zeal for fresh air and freedom. Stephen Lees pulls on his raincoat,...
RELEASE VICTORY! UN to Impose Geoengineering Moratorium on Risky Climate Techno-Fixes
Posted by Water Conservation Blog on October 29th, 2010
Major victory for common sense as hacking of planetary ecosystems is premature until such time as all other options are exhausted; and there are global protocols, consensus and a sound scientific basis for any geoengineering that may or may not occur. This is the 8th major conservation victory for Ecological Internet (EI) in 2010, though chronic lack of funds and a slow 11th annual fund-raiser makes for an uncertain future for EIs ground-breaking biocentric advocacy.
NAGOYA, Japan Ecological Internet welcomes reports that the 193-member UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) will close its tenth biennial meeting with a de facto moratorium on geoengineering [search] projects and experiments. This is a tremendous victory for the ETC Groups Hands Off Mother Earth campaign [1], which has carefully researched and presented the case for such a moratorium on planet hacking, and with whom Ecological Internet is affiliated. Any private or public experimentation or adventurism intended to manipulate the planetary thermostat will be in violation of this carefully crafted UN consensus, stated Silvia Ribeiro, Latin American Director of ETC Group.
In announcing the outcome, the ETC Group publicly thanked Ecological Internet for help winning a moratorium on Geoengineering and particularly those that had written to ...
DECC urges communities to embrace watermill ‘renaissance’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 28th, 2010
Business Green: The government has today called on local communities and businesses to harness the power of their rivers and streams in a bid to boost the UK's nascent hydropower market.
Climate change minister Greg Barker urged communities to revive disused waterwheels and turbines, confirming they would be eligible for financial incentives through the Feed-in Tariff (FIT) scheme.
In a bid to ensure projects are environmentally sustainable, the Environment Agency has also published a new hydropower guide,...
Step-by-step guide to installing small scale hydro
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 28th, 2010
Business Green: The Environment Agency has today published a new guide to help businesses, households and communities generate electricity and earn money from hydropower.
BusinessGreen.com outlines the path to gaining planning consent:
Suitability
Use the Home Energy Generation Selector tool on the Energy Saving Trust website to find out if a hydropower project could work for your business, home or community. Alternatively call EST on 0800 512 012 to speak to an advisor.
Quotations
Talk to an installer...
Undergrads in the Amazon: American students witness beauty and crisis in Yasuni National Park, Ecuador
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 28th, 2010
Mongabay: Although most Americans have likely seen photos and videos of the world's largest rainforest, the Amazon, they will probably never see it face-to-face. For many, the Amazon seems incredibly remote: it is a dim, mysterious place, a jungle surfeit in adventure and beauty--but not a place to take a family vacation or spend a honeymoon. This means that the destruction of the Amazon, like the rainforest itself, also appears distant when seen from Oregon or North Carolina or Pennsylvania. Oil spills in...
Amazon suffers worst drought in 100 years
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 28th, 2010
Telegraph: River levels in parts of the Amazon rainforest have fallen to their lowest in more than a century.