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Archive for February, 2011
Record high fish consumption keeps populations imperiled
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 1st, 2011
Mongabay: Record high fish consumption keeps populations imperiled
More people than ever are eating more fish than ever, according to a new report by the United Nations covering the year 2008. At the same time, fish populations in the world's oceans continue to decline threatening marine ecosystems, food security, and the fishing industry itself.
"That there has been no improvement in the status of stocks is a matter of great concern," Richard Grainger, senior fisheries expert at the UN Food and Agriculture...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Record high fish consumption keeps populations imperiledScientists launch major ecological study on Borneo’s deforested landscapes
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 1st, 2011
Physorg: Scientists launch major ecological study on Borneo's deforested landscapes
A giant-scale experiment on deforestation, biodiversity and carbon cycling has got underway in the spectacular forests of Sabah, a Malaysian state on the tropical southeast Asian island of Borneo. Scientists hope the results will help guide the management and conservation of remaining rainforests in tropical Asia.
One of the largest ecological studies in the world, encompassing 8000 hectares (an area larger than Manhattan),...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Scientists launch major ecological study on Borneo’s deforested landscapesChina’s big hydro wins permission for 21.3GW dam in world heritage site
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 1st, 2011
Guardian: China's dam builders will press ahead with controversial plans to build a cascade of hydropower plants in one of the country's most spectacular canyons, it was reported today, in an apparent reversal for prime minister Wen Jiabao.
The move to harness the power of the pristine Nu river - better known outside of China as the Salween - overturns a suspension ordered by the premier in 2004 on environmental grounds and reconfirmed in 2009.
Back then, conservation groups hailed the reprieve as a...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on China’s big hydro wins permission for 21.3GW dam in world heritage siteDemand for fish hits record high
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 1st, 2011
BBC: Fish products provide the planet's population with almost 16% of its animal protein intake The global consumption of fish has hit a record high, reaching an average of 17kg per person, a UN report has shown.
Fisheries and aquaculture supplied the world with about 145m tonnes in 2009, providing about 16% of the population's animal protein intake.
The findings published by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) also stressed that the status of global fish stocks had not improved.
It...
Study shows rapid deforestation in Malaysia
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 1st, 2011
Washington Post: New satellite imagery shows Malaysia is destroying forests more than three times faster than all of Asia combined, and its carbon-rich peat soils of the Sarawak coast are being stripped even faster, according to a study released Tuesday.
The report commissioned by the Netherlands-based Wetlands International says Malaysia is uprooting an average 2 percent of the rain forest a year on Sarawak, its largest state on the island of Borneo, or nearly 10 percent over the last five years. Most of it is...
Great drying unearths clues to big wet
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 1st, 2011
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Climate change The ancient dry lakes of central Australia could provide clues to modern climate fluctuations, and should recalibrate our thinking on major flood events, Australian scientists say.
In a paper published in the February edition of Geology , the researchers present a new timeline for the shorelines of Australia's "inland seas" over the past 100,000 years.
Their studies indicate that Lakes Frome, Callabonna, Blanche and Gregory in central Australia were joined in a mega-lake until...
Malaysia rapidly destroying forests for palm oil: group
Posted by Reuters: Niki Koswanage on February 1st, 2011
Reuters: Malaysia, the world's second largest palm oil producer, is destroying large areas of carbon-rich peatswamp forests to expand plantations, a leading conservation group said on Tuesday.
Wetlands International and Dutch remote sensing institute Sarvision said palm oil plantations are being expanded largely in the Malaysian state of Sarawak on Borneo island.
"Unless this trend is halted, none of these forests will be left at the end of this decade," said the report released on Tuesday.
It said...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Malaysia rapidly destroying forests for palm oil: groupRainforest is destroyed for palm oil plantations on Malaysia’s island state of Sarawak
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 1st, 2011
Telegraph: Rainforest is destroyed for palm oil plantations on Malaysia's island state of Sarawak
New satellite imagery shows Malaysia is destroying forests on the island state of Sarawak, Borneo, more than three times faster than all of Asia combined. Its carbon-rich peat soils of the Sarawak coast are being stripped even faster and the effects on wildlife will be dire
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Rainforest is destroyed for palm oil plantations on Malaysia’s island state of SarawakMalaysian peatswamps obliterated for palm oil: study
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 1st, 2011
Physorg: A palm oil plantation is seen here in Malaysia. Peatswamp forests home to such species as the Borneo pygmy elephant are being obliterated in Malaysian Borneo to make way for palm oil plantations, according to a new study.
Peatswamp forests home to such species as the Borneo pygmy elephant are being obliterated in Malaysian Borneo to make way for palm oil plantations, according to a new study.
The Netherlands-based Wetlands International said that the ecologically important forests could disappear...
Study shows rapid deforestation in Malaysia
Posted by Associated Press: Arthur Max on February 1st, 2011
Associated Press: New satellite imagery shows Malaysia is destroying forests more than three times faster than all of Asia combined, and its carbon-rich peat soils of the Sarawak coast are being stripped even faster, according to a study released Tuesday.
The report commissioned by the Netherlands-based Wetlands International says Malaysia is uprooting an average 2 percent of the rain forest a year on Sarawak, its largest state on the island of Borneo, or nearly 10 percent over the last five years. Most of it is...