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Archive for April, 2011
EU’s biofuel targets ‘unethical’
Posted by BBC: Roger Harrabin on April 13th, 2011
BBC: EU biofuels targets are unethical, according to a report by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics.
Its authors recommend the targets should be lifted temporarily until new safeguards are put in place for biofuels grown in Europe or imported.
But they stop short of calling for a complete halt to biofuels, which some environmentalists want.
And they hold out the hope that new technologies may be able to develop biofuels from cellulose.
Crucially, they hope this could be done in a way that does...
Brazil: Amazon Basin: IIRSA opens the way for rainforest invasion
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 13th, 2011
Rainforest News: A contribution by the World Rainforest Movement show how the Amazon ecosystems are threatened by the continental scheme known as the Initiative for South American Regional Infrastructure Integration (IIRSA), being promoted by the Inter-American Development Bank and and transnational corporations.
As the extractivist and development policies of the region’s governments continue to move forward, they come hand in hand with the destruction of the natural environment and the genocidal ethnocide of...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Brazil: Amazon Basin: IIRSA opens the way for rainforest invasion‘Indigenous thinking can solve climate crises,’ says Bolivia’s foreign minister
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 13th, 2011
Guardian: David Choquehuanca, Bolivia's foreign minister, believes ‘everything in the planet forms part of a big family’. Photograph: John Vidal for the Guardian
David Choquehuanca is Bolivia's foreign minister; he is also a prominent intellectual, an Aymara Indian and has been an adviser to President Evo Morales, a fellow Aymara, for many years. The rainbow-squared, pan-indigenous flag of the Andean peoples, the wipala, flies from his ministry balcony overlooking the presidential palace in La Paz.
I...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on ‘Indigenous thinking can solve climate crises,’ says Bolivia’s foreign ministerNorth Dakota set for Red River crest; rural areas awash
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 12th, 2011
Reuters: The Red River was spreading out in a record swath across broad stretches of rural North Dakota and Minnesota on Tuesday and swelling toward a near-record crest in Grand Forks expected within three days.
The Red River and its tributaries have swamped expanses of land in the two states outside major cities, turning some spots into temporary islands that can be reached only by boat as the water flows north into Manitoba, Canada.
The river crested Saturday at Fargo, North Dakota, with minor damage....
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on North Dakota set for Red River crest; rural areas awashEurope faces drought and flood burden: climate scientist
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 12th, 2011
AFP: A leading climate scientist warned Tuesday that Europe should take action over increasing drought and floods, stressing that some climate change trends were clear despite variations in predictions.
"There are some robust areas like Siberia, we know what the climate will be, another robust area is the Mediterranean, because the models tell the same story," said Zbigniew Kundzewicz, review editor of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) chapter on freshwater resources.
"Climate...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Europe faces drought and flood burden: climate scientistSupport freeze on planned dam projects
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 12th, 2011
SciDev.Net: A new management model is needed for dams in the lower Mekong Countries in the Lower Mekong River Basin (LMB) should support a freeze on planned dam projects and initiate a regional forum to discuss the environmental, livelihood, water and food security implications of such developments, say R. Edward Grumbine and Jianchu Xu.
A new integrated, transboundary approach to managing the river basin could serve as a model for future river projects, they say.
In September, Laos petitioned the Mekong...
Europe faces drought and flood burden: climate scientist
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 12th, 2011
AFP: A leading climate scientist warned Tuesday that Europe should take action over increasing drought and floods, stressing that some climate change trends were clear despite variations in predictions.
"There are some robust areas like Siberia, we know what the climate will be, another robust area is the Mediterranean, because the models tell the same story," said Zbigniew Kundzewicz, review editor of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) chapter on freshwater resources.
"Climate...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Europe faces drought and flood burden: climate scientistEU adopts tougher fishing rules
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 12th, 2011
BBC: EU adopts tougher fishing rules to protect stocks
The EU is stepping up efforts to trace the origin of fish landed The EU has agreed on common inspection rules to prevent overfishing and make it possible to trace fish "from net to plate", the European Commission says.
The rules include a new point system to punish crews who fish illegally. If they accumulate too many points they will lose their licence.
EU nations police their own fisheries, but they have agreed on common inspection and...
Sugar Cane Fertilises Its Own Soil
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 12th, 2011
Inter Press Service: The mechanisation of sugar cane harvesting, originally aimed at curbing the pollution caused by the burning of cane fields, has resulted in an added bonus: it has helped to improve soil quality, according to growers and technical experts in the southern state of São Paulo, where most of Brazil’s sugar and ethanol is produced.
Traditionally, sugar cane fields were set on fire before harvesting to burn off the dried leaves from the plants, making it quicker and easier for cane cutters to manually...
Europe faces drought and flood burden: climate scientist
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 12th, 2011
Physorg: A leading climate scientist warned Tuesday that Europe should take action over increasing drought and floods, stressing that some climate change trends were clear despite variations in predictions.
"There are some robust areas like Siberia, we know what the climate will be, another robust area is the Mediterranean, because the models tell the same story," said Zbigniew Kundzewicz, review editor of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) chapter on freshwater resources.
"Climate...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Europe faces drought and flood burden: climate scientist