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Archive for March 28th, 2011
Brazil: How to save the Pantanal and increase profits for the cattle industry
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 28th, 2011
Mongabay: Continuous versus rotational grazing. Photo courtesy of: Eaton, D. P., Santos, S. A., Santos, M. C. A., Lima, J. V. B. and Keuroghlian, A. 2011. Rotational Grazing of Native Pasturelands in the Pantanal: an effective conservation tool. Tropical Conservation Science. Vol. 4 (1):39-52.
The Pantanal spanning Brazil, Bolivia, and Paraguay is the world's largest wetland--the size of Florida--and home to a wide-variety of charismatic species, such as jaguars, capybaras, and giant anteaters. However,...
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Researchers look into Wisconsin climate report implications
Posted by Ashland Current: None Given on March 28th, 2011
Ashland Current: Ask a roomful of Wisconsinites if they think the climate has changed during their lifetimes and the response is often a unanimous yes, says the Unversity of Wisconsin - Extension.
While most people remember stories from their parents and grandparents about how bad--or good--the weather used to be, UW-Madison scientists have documented the changes in Wisconsin's climate that have occurred over the past 60 years. These include a 1.3-degree-Fahrenheit increase in the annual average temperature (2.5...
Canada: Ottawa fights EU’s dirty fuel label on oil sands
Posted by Global and Mail: Shawn McCARTHY on March 28th, 2011
Global and Mail: The European Union is preparing to slap a dirty fuel label on Canada's oil sands, a move that would increase political pressure on Europe's major oil companies to curb their investments in the Alberta projects.
The Conservative government has been lobbying furiously to prevent the EU from targeting the oil sands -- so much so that one member of the European Parliament has condemned Canada's intervention as "unacceptable.'
After backtracking in the face of Canadian opposition, Europe's environment...
Shift in boreal forest has wide impact
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 28th, 2011
Daily Climate: Boreal forests across the Northern hemisphere are undergoing rapid, transformative shifts as a result of a warming climate that, in some cases, is triggering feedback loops producing even more regional warming, according to several new studies.
The climate has shifted. It's done. It's clear. - Glenn Juday, University of Alaska, Fairbanks
Russia's boreal forest - the largest continuous expanse of forest in the world - has seen a transformation in recent years from larch to conifer trees, according...
Japanese nuclear plant says partial meltdown caused water contamination
Posted by Guardian: Justin McCurry and Suzanne Goldenberg on March 28th, 2011
Guardian: High levels of radioactivity in water leaking from a reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant resulted from a partial meltdown of fuel rods, Japanese officials have said, amid growing fears that radiation may also have seeped into seawater and soil.
Contamination in a pool of water in the turbine building of the No 2 reactor was found to be 100,000 times normal levels, the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), said.
On Sunday, the firm said the figure was 10m times higher,...
Highly radioactive water leaks from Japanese nuclear plant
Posted by Reuters: Kiyoshi Takenaka and Yoko Kubota on March 28th, 2011
Reuters: Highly radioactive water has leaked from a reactor at Japan's crippled nuclear complex, the plant's operator said on Monday, while environmental group Greenpeace said it had detected high levels of radiation outside an exclusion zone.
Reflecting growing unease about efforts to control the six-reactor Fukushima Daiichi complex, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) had appealed to French companies for help, the Kyodo news agency said.
The plant, 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo, was...
Greenpeace reveals the maps of the moratorium
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 28th, 2011
Rainforest News: Bad news from Indonesia: Greenpeace got a copy of the draft moratorium, crunched the numbers and the news is not good. The data shows this proposed moratorium does little to protect areas that are not already off limits under Indonesia's existing laws. Unfortunately, if the plan moves forward as it is, the forests, peatlands and all the wildlife living within them will continue to suffer deforestation from the pulp, paper and palm oil industries.
This land is vital to the survival of rare tigers...
India’s wild tiger population up
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 28th, 2011
BBC: The number of tigers in India's wild has gone up by 20%, according to the latest tiger census, which has surveyed the whole of India for the first time.
The census puts the population of the big cat at 1,706. There were 1,411 tigers at the last count in 2007.
But officials have raised concerns about the amount of territory that tigers have to roam in.
India has more than 45,000 sq km (27,961 miles) of forest area in 39 designated tiger reserves.
But India's Environment Minister Jairam...
Philippines: Dolores learns to cope with climate change
Posted by Philippine Information Agency: Ninfa B Quirante on March 28th, 2011
Philippine Information Agency: Dolores local government is trying to cope with climate change through planting alternative crops other than rice.
The town is the biggest rice producing municipality in the province but due to too much rain and severe flooding, Dolores River overflows destroying homes and the rice farms.
Mayor Emeliana ‘Ewit’ Villacarillo visited Barangays Quiatan and Magsaysay; two barangays reachable by the Dolores River after an hour of rivercruise and gave a lecture on climate change and how it has brought...
Sooty Himalayan snow ‘warms climate, alters monsoons’
Posted by SciDev.Net: Archita Bhatta on March 28th, 2011
SciDev.Net: Black carbon landing on snow may be accelerating the melting of Himalayan glaciers more than atmospheric soot or even greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2), according to a study.
The effects of this carbon, a key component of soot, could change the timing and intensity of the monsoons; increase the chances of downstream floods and reduce farmers' access to irrigation when they most need it, researchers say.
The Tibetan Plateau has warmed 1.8 degrees Celsius in the last 50 years and...