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Archive for March 1st, 2011
China pollution ‘threat to growth’
Posted by Financial Times: None Given on March 1st, 2011
Financial Times: Please respect FT.com's ts&cs and copyright policy which allow you to: share links; copy content for personal use; & redistribute limited extracts. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights or use this link to reference the article - http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3671a476-4359-11e0-8f0d-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz1FM39Wyrd China’s environment minister has issued an unusually stern warning that pollution threatens to imperil growth, positioning it as a central theme of the next five-year plan...
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Rep. Waxman uses persuasion, media savvy to defend EPA authority
Posted by Greenwire: Jean Chemnick on March 1st, 2011
Greenwire: When he took the gavel of the House Energy and Commerce Committee last month, Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) acquired a well-staffed majority office and the prerogatives to set the committee schedule and subpoena witnesses. But being chairman of the powerful committee also means facing off against a veteran lawmaker who colleagues say is one of the most formidable legislators and communicators in the House: ranking member Henry Waxman (D-Calif.). Waxman, who has chaired and been the ranking Democrat...
Ecuador: Ecuador Amazon oil: Legal battle far from over
Posted by BBC: Irene Caselli on March 1st, 2011
BBC: Servio Curipoma moved to Ecuador's Amazon rainforest in 1981, when he was only 10 years old.
His parents, originally from southern Ecuador, decided to move to the Orellana region in the north-east of the country to seek their fortune.
It was the era of Ecuador's oil boom, and US company Texaco was a pioneer in oil extraction in the region.
But things didn't go as planned.
The Curipoma family settled by an oil well that was then being operated by Texaco - something common at the time,...
China drought worsens in parched north
Posted by BBC: Damian Grammaticas on March 1st, 2011
BBC: Across northern China swathes of land are dry, parched by drought.
In some areas these are the driest conditions in a lifetime. Snowfalls in recent days have helped a little, but still, across huge areas of land, water is in short supply.
The countryside is dotted with empty dams. Standing on top of one, near Qufu in Shandong Province, you can see just a tiny muddy pool in the centre of a dam that is hundreds of metres long.
Sitting rusting on the earth is a small boat. Along the dry dam...
China: Minister in clean-up call over green errors
Posted by Standard: None Given on March 1st, 2011
Standard: China faces acute environmental and resource strains that threaten to choke growth unless the world's second-biggest economy cleans up, the environment minister said in an unusually blunt warning.
In an essay published yesterday, Zhou Shengxian also spoke of making assessment of projected greenhouse gas emissions a part of evaluating proposed development projects.
That could give the Environmental Protection Ministry more sway on climate change issues, an area dominated by agencies whose main...
Australian farmers key to climate change fight: adviser
Posted by Reuters: James Grubel on March 1st, 2011
Reuters: Australian farmers could be major winners from plans to put a price on carbon emissions, particularly as other countries also move to curb greenhouse gas pollution, the nation's top climate adviser Ross Garnaut said Tuesday.
In a report on how carbon markets will impact on rural land use, Garnaut said farmers had a key role to play in climate change mitigation schemes, and had the potential to cash in on carbon offsets through a new Carbon Farming Initiative.
"The land sector, especially through...
Study illustrates shifting Alaska boreal forest ecosystem
Posted by Cordova Times: None Given on March 1st, 2011
Cordova Times: A new study released in the scientific journal Ecology Letters offers one of the first confirmations of a wholesale shift in the boreal forest ecosystem due to climate change.
Among the findings, researchers said, is increased tree growth in the Western Alaska tundra margin.
Collaborators on the study, which compared three-ring data to satellite images, include Glenn Juday, a professor of forest ecology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and co-author of the article.
"This is one of...
Australia: Yasi-affected rainforest could take decades to recover
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 1st, 2011
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: ELEANOR HALL: Now to concerns about forests in the north of Australia. Scientists are warning that Queensland's rainforest areas will take decades to recover from cyclone Yasi. Trees in the region were stripped bare and some were snapped in half by winds in excess of 250 kilometres an hour, as Kerrin Binnie reports. KERRIN BINNIE: Yasi ripped through the North Queensland region almost four weeks ago. It's completely stripped trees in the rainforest of leaves and branches, in many parts leaving...
Indonesia’s Largest Palm Oil Producer Sees Profits Double on Rising Prices
Posted by Jakarta Globe: None Given on March 1st, 2011
Jakarta Globe: Golden Agri-Resources, the world’s second-largest palm oil producer, said fourth-quarter profits more than doubled as prices for its main product jumped to record highs and its assets gained in value.
Net income increased to $1.17 billion for the quarter ending on Dec. 31, compared with $473 million a year earlier, the Singapore-listed Indonesian company said on Monday. Profit, excluding gains from asset value upgrades and currency exchange gains, jumped 124 percent to $146 million. Sales rose...
Scientists warn of water woes
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 1st, 2011
Independent: Demand for water in agriculture and energy production could spike in the coming decades while catastrophic floods and droughts strike more often, a water conference in Canada is to hear this week.
"At unpredictable times, too much water will arrive in some places and too little in others," said Zafar Adeel, chair of UN Water which coordinates water-related efforts of 28 United Nations organizations and agencies.
Within a generation, water demand in many countries is forecast to exceed supply...