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Archive for February, 2011
Central America Has Highest Rate of Forest Loss in Region
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 15th, 2011
Inter Press Service: Central America has suffered the highest rate of forest loss in Latin America over the last 10 years, despite a growing number of plans aimed at curbing the decline, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) reports.
FAO's State of the World’s Forests report says the average rate of loss of forest cover in Central America, which is made up of Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala City, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama, was 1.19 percent a year between 2000 and 2010, compared to a global rate...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Central America Has Highest Rate of Forest Loss in RegionNew way to estimate global rainfall and track ocean pollution
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 15th, 2011
ScienceDaily: New Way to Estimate Global Rainfall and Track Ocean Pollution
A study by scientists at the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science suggests a new way to estimate how much of the ocean's pollution is falling from the sky. The new findings can help improve scientific understanding of how toxic airborne chemicals, from the burning of fossil fuels and industrial power plants emissions, are impacting the oceans globally.
By measuring Beryllium-7 (7Be)...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on New way to estimate global rainfall and track ocean pollutionBt cotton yields come at hidden cost to farmers – study
Posted by SciDev.Net: M Sreelata on February 15th, 2011
SciDev.Net: Bt cotton has increased crop yields for small farmers in southern India, a study has confirmed. But the increase is less than claimed by some studies, is unlikely to be sustainable and has come at a substantial cost to the farmers. The cotton farmers at Warangal in Andhra Pradesh, India, are known for their widespread adoption of genetically modified cotton that produces an insecticide that kills bollworm, a common pest. Numerous studies say that planting Bt cotton increases the yield by up to...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Bt cotton yields come at hidden cost to farmers – studyGreen news roundup: Rare birds, spying, and forest sell-off on hold
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 15th, 2011
Guardian: Climate change
* Connie Hedegaard insists tougher carbon targets will boost European economy
* Barack Obama 2012 budget provides $8bn for clean energy
* Carbon Trust funding cut by 40%
* 'Bonfire of the quangos' threatens climate change committee
* China bids to ease drought with $1bn emergency water aid
Activism
* Revealed: how energy firms spy on environmental activists
* Juror in activists' trial hits out at absence of police tapes
* Green groups targeted polluters as...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Green news roundup: Rare birds, spying, and forest sell-off on holdWhat’s behind the Belo Monte dam
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 15th, 2011
Guardian: I recently witnessed a conversation between someone working for the Brazilian federal government and an environmentalist; both were Workers' party (PT) supporters (the ruling party of President Dilma Rousseff).
"I'm in favour of the construction of the Belo Monte hydroelectric plant," the former said, "but I concede it's not a 'left versus right' issue."
"It isn't," the latter replied. "Or if it is, maybe the left isn't who you think."
The scene encapsulates a dimension that the Belo Monte...
Climate change and Africa’s vanishing lake
Posted by Mail and Guardian: None Given on February 15th, 2011
Mail and Guardian: Five-year-old Fatime Owye's emaciated body evokes memories of famines such as those in 1980s Ethiopia.
But Fatime and 4,3-million other children who are suffering from chronic malnutrition are victims of a more permanent crisis -- the disappearance of Lake Chad.
As South Africa prepares to host the United Nations climate change summit in Durban this year, Lake Chad is living proof of the continent's environment in crisis. It was almost double the area of Gauteng just four decades ago but has...
Report warns of worsening western water crisis
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on February 15th, 2011
Climate Central: Last month, we ran a series on water resources in the American Southwest. The stories, by veteran environment reporter Tom Yulsman, made clear that current trends of water supply and demand in the Colorado River basin are simply unsustainable, and resource managers face a series of tough choices ahead.
Now a new report, produced by the Stockholm Environment Institute, an environmental think tank, warns of climate change-related water shortages in the region, and recommends various approaches to...
Climate Change to Cause ‘Massive’ Food Disruptions
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 15th, 2011
Bloomberg: Global food supplies will face "massive disruptions" from climate change, Olam International Ltd. forecast, as Agrocorp International Pte. said corn will gain to a record, stoking food inflation and increasing hunger.
"The fact is that climate around the world is changing and that will cause massive disruptions," Sunny Verghese, chief executive officer at Olam, among the world's three biggest suppliers of rice and cotton, said in a Bloomberg Television interview today. "We're friendly to wheat,...
Amazon pollution: Chevron fined
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 15th, 2011
BBC: A court in Ecuador has fined US oil giant Chevron $8.6bn (£5.3bn) for polluting a large part of the country's Amazon region.
The oil firm Texaco, which merged with Chevron in 2001, was accused of dumping billions of gallons of toxic materials into unlined pits and Amazon rivers.
Campaigners say crops were damaged and farm animals killed, and that local cancer rates increased.
Condemning the ruling as fraudulent, Chevron said it would appeal.
The company will also have to pay a 10% legally...
Panama canal: Imperial trade routes
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 15th, 2011
Guardian: Once sailing ships battled their way through the seas off Cape Horn. Now container vessels make their way through the Panama canal. The purpose is the same: to link the markets of the Pacific world with those of the Atlantic, trading the raw commodities and consumer goods that power the global economy. Like the Suez canal, the Panama canal is a vital pinch point and an immensely profitable strategic asset. Last week oil traders scrambled to plan alternative supply routes in the event that the Egyptian...