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Archive for November 15th, 2010
Pulling Together To Protect Zambia’s Kafue Flats
Posted by Inter Press Service: Lewis Mwanangombe * - IPS/IFEJ on November 15th, 2010
Inter Press Service: Dams, sugarcane plantations and rapidly growing population threatened the health of the Kafue Flats, a richly diverse wetlands in southern Zambia. But growing recognition of more sustainable use of its water and fertile soil are securing the health of the ecosystem.
The Kafue Flats cover a surface area of about 6,500 square kilometres, part of the Kafue River system which flows into the Zambezi River. The river falls only 13 metres as it flows east for 250 kilometres from Itezhi-tezhi to the Kafue...
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EPA sets water pollution limits for Florida
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 15th, 2010
Associated Press: The Environmental Protection Agency has set legal limits for farm and urban runoff polluting waterways in Florida, the first time the federal agency has set standards for a state.
The EPA set the limits Monday after it settled a lawsuit with environmental groups last year. The numeric limits on runoff are designed to reduce pollution from sewage treatment plants and runoff choking lakes, rivers and other Florida waters with algae blooms.
Agriculture, business interests and some politicians,...
Percolating CO2 and an ‘invisible’ water supply
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 15th, 2010
Daily Climate: Leaking underground CO2 storage could contaminate drinking water
Leaks from carbon dioxide injected deep underground to help fight climate change could increase contaminant levels tenfold or more in drinking water aquifers if it inadvertently bubbles up through groundwater, according to a new study from Duke University scientists.
Leaking carbon dioxide changes the water's chemistry, leaching heavy metals, uranium, barium and other contaminants from nearby rock and soil at levels above the...
Ecotourism brings home the bacon in the Peruvian Amazon
Posted by Mongabay: Catherine Meyers on November 15th, 2010
Mongabay: Ecotourism is one of the most profitable uses of tropical forest in the Tambopata area of the Peruvian Amazon, according to a study released on 29 September in the journal PLoS ONE.
In 2002 Peru’s government passed legislation to allow ecotourism-controlled zones in the Tambopata region of southeastern Peru. Policymakers hoped such zones would preserve spectacular rainforest habitats while bringing in steady money. Critics have wondered, though, whether the strategy can succeed in the face of...
After eruption, ‘the trees are all dying’
Posted by Jakarta Post: Slamet Susanto on November 15th, 2010
Jakarta Post: Thick volcanic ash spewed by Mount Merapi has killed trees and created a virtual dead zone inside 20-kilometer danger zone surrounding the volcano. In Ngepos in Magelang, Central Java, volcanic ash continued to cover fallen trees along the village’s roads. Ash has also weakened the branches of thousands of coconut and salak pondoh (snake fruit) trees in the region, causing their fruits to decompose. More than 1,400 hectares of snake fruit plantations have been destroyed, according to reports....
Climate change worsens plight of Iraqi farmers
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 15th, 2010
Reuters: Frequent dust storms and scarce rains are stifling Iraq’s efforts to revive a farming sector hit by decades of war, sanctions and isolation.
Wheat and rice production has suffered from a severe drought in the past two years, due in part to rising temperatures, along with a dearth of water in the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
The UN Inter-Agency Information and Analysis Unit (IAU) says water levels in the two rivers -- Iraq's main water sources -- have dropped to less than a third of normal capacity....
United Kingdom: Record number of British beaches reach highest European standards
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 15th, 2010
Press Association: A record number of beaches and bathing spots in England and Wales reached the highest European standards for water quality this year, monitoring by the Environment Agency showed today.
Figures showed 86.2% of bathing waters met the higher "guideline" standards set down by the European Commission in 2010 – a rise from 80.2% last year and a huge increase from 1990 figures when less than a third of bathing sites made the grade.
Some 98% of beaches and inland swimming areas met the mandatory minimum...
China’s ecological footprint continues to grow
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 15th, 2010
Agence France-Presse: The spread of consumerism among China's burgeoning middle class is behind the rapid growth of the Asian giant's environmental footprint, a conservation group said Monday.
Demand for construction, transport, goods and public services are the key factors behind ballooning carbon emissions, the World Wildlife Fund said in its annual "China Ecological Footprint" report.
"The growth in the carbon footprint is particularly associated with lifestyle changes in wealthier provinces," it said.
Carbon...
Q+A – Who’s winning the climate science vs sceptics battle?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 15th, 2010
Reuters: In the battle between climate change scientists and sceptics who question the connection between human activities and global warming, location matters.
While signs of a warming world has been truly global in 2010, from fast-melting Arctic ice to floods in Pakistan and fires in Russia, attitudes about whether this can be blamed on human-generated greenhouse gas emissions differ widely.
In China and the United States, the top two emitters of climate-warming carbon dioxide, residents aren't terribly...
China still living beyond its environmental means: WWF
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 15th, 2010
Reuters: China is living further and further beyond its environmental means as it tries to meet surging demand from its huge and increasingly urban population, a report by the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) said.
The report said that overall changes in consumption patterns and the shift from rural to urban lifestyles were putting more pressure on China's already threadbare environment -- and the implications are global.
If the whole world consumed the same amount of resources as China did in 2007,...