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Archive for March, 2011
World’s most controversial dam, Brazil’s Belo Monte, back on
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 6th, 2011
Mongabay: A recent injunction against controversial dam, Belo Monte, in Brazil has been overturned, allowing the first phase of construction to go ahead. The ruling by a higher court argued that not all environmental conditions must be met on the dam in order for construction to start.
Issued on February 25th, the injunction against the dam argued that the partial license granted by Brazil's environmental agency, IBAMA, was issued illegally. Judge Ronaldo Destêrro found that the license was granted under...
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Comments Off on World’s most controversial dam, Brazil’s Belo Monte, back onBiodiversity Panel Learns from IPCC Experience
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 6th, 2011
Inter Press Service: After five years of preparation the international community is expected to launch the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services this year. For some of its proponents, even the decisions of the World Trade Organisation should be subject to its analysis.
IPBES would be analogous to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), but focused on biological diversity.
The idea behind this effort is that decisions by all levels of government are largely responsible for...
Experts say roads, ports could be in danger
Posted by Daily Comet: Kathrine Schmidt on March 6th, 2011
Daily Comet: Traffic passes along the Leeville Bridge Thursday. Transportation advocates and port officials say that in the future, sea-level rise could endanger ports and the roads that serve them.
Global warming could pose a threat to Port Fourchon and the roads that serve it, according to transportation advocates and port officials.
Related Links: Air your views about oil recycler`s permit
The La. 1 Coalition, a group that has long pushed for major improvements to the road that connects Fourchon to...
United States: Denver puts water fees toward forest conservation
Posted by Ecosystem Marketplace: Tracy Stanton and Steve Zwick on March 6th, 2011
Ecosystem Marketplace: Like many cities around the world, Denver gets its drinking water from rivers and reservoirs, which in turn get their water from forests. Many of those forests, however, are in trouble – thanks to funding cuts, climate change, and a horde of opportunistic beetles. That puts the city's water supply at risk as well, so Denver teamed up with the U.S. Forest Service to funnel money it collects from water fees into forest restoration. And it's not the only city to do so.
Denver Water delivers clean...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United States: Denver puts water fees toward forest conservationChevron-Ecuador case spawns complex legal issues
Posted by San Francisco Chronicle: David R. Baker on March 6th, 2011
San Francisco Chronicle: The $9.5 billion environmental lawsuit against Chevron Corp. in Ecuador has touched off an international legal scrum, with courts on three continents trying to assert control over the outcome. And it could get messier. The long-running case, watched worldwide for the precedent it could set, will probably move to other countries unless the two sides settle, which Chevron has vowed not to do. Last month, an Ecuadoran judge ruled that Chevron should pay to clean up a swath of the Amazon rain forest...
Climate change takes toll on coffee growers, drinkers too
Posted by Seattle Times: Melissa Allison on March 6th, 2011
Seattle Times: A mile above this rural mountain town, coffee trees have produced some of the world's best arabica beans for more than a century.
Now farmers are planting even higher -- at nearly 7,000 feet -- thanks to warmer temperatures.
"We noticed about six years ago, the weather changed," said Ricardo Calderón Madrigal, whose family harvests ripe, red coffee cherries at the higher elevation. He sells beans to some of the most notable coffeehouses in the U.S., including Stumptown Coffee of Portland and...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Climate change takes toll on coffee growers, drinkers tooDeforestation’s impact on Mount Kilimanjaro calculated
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 6th, 2011
ScienceDaily: The impact that local deforestation might have on the snowcap and glaciers atop Mount Kilimanjaro are being calculated at The University of Alabama in Huntsville using regional climate models and data from NASA satellites.
The first piece of that research, which looked only at the month of July, found that deforestation is changing weather patterns around the mountain but not (at least in July) at the peak, according to Dr. Udaysankar Nair, a research scientist in UAHuntsville's Earth System Science...
US appeals judge’s order on drilling permits
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 5th, 2011
Associated Press: The Obama administration has appealed a judge's order requiring regulators to act on seven drilling permit applications.
The government filed court documents late Friday saying it may have to deny the applications if regulators must make a decision within 30 days as ordered. The order was issued by U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman, who overturned the administration's moratorium on deepwater drilling after BP PLC's oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
The documents say the Bureau of Ocean Energy...
DeChristopher trial, demonstration signal new direction for environmental movement?
Posted by Deseret News: Amy Joi O'Donoghue on March 5th, 2011
Deseret News: Now that environmental activist Tim DeChristopher has been convicted for monkey wrenching a Bureau of Land Management auction, it remains to be seen what impact he will have on the environmental movement. Even DeChristopher himself has said that his cause is larger than climate change or protecting the environment and more about righting the wrongs caused by the unjust — be it the government or others. "This is about building self-empowerment," DeChristopher told a crowd of supporters Thursday...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on DeChristopher trial, demonstration signal new direction for environmental movement?Canada: Risks of shale gas seem to outweigh the advantages
Posted by Montreal Gazette: Henry Aubin on March 5th, 2011
Montreal Gazette: The Charest government wants to permit the exploitation of shale gas while applying safeguards to prevent permanent damage to the environment. Is that a realistic ambition?
Let’s see what steps Quebec can and cannot take to prevent environmental harm.
Here are some measures that would help. Quebec:
Could insist on stringent rules for capping wells that are not in use. This would help keep methane from leaking from wells, as has already happened at 19 of the 31 gas-exploration sites in Quebec....
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Canada: Risks of shale gas seem to outweigh the advantages