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Archive for July 4th, 2011
Montana leak may alter Exxon safety reviews: exec
Posted by Reuters: Ilaina Jonas on July 4th, 2011
Reuters: The president of Exxon Mobil Corp's pipeline unit said the company still does not know the cause of a pipeline leak that has sent about 1,000 barrels of oil into Montana's Yellowstone River, but that it may change the way it conducts pipeline safety reviews.
"This will give us additional information to think about when we consider doing risk assessments on any line that has a river crossing anywhere in the country," Gary Pruessing, president of ExxonMobil Pipeline Co said during a Monday press...
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Famine to be declared in Horn of Africa unless more food is sent to area
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 4th, 2011
Telegraph: A combination of failed rains and soaring global food prices has left more than 12 million people living in remote areas across Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia facing hunger, according to aid agencies. Oxfam has launched its largest ever appeal to try and stop famine.
Save the Children say that more than a quarter of children in the worst-hit parts of Kenya are now dangerously malnourished.
In the world biggest refugee camp in Dadaab in Northern Kenya, designed for 90,000 people, there are fears...
Drought in east Africa the result of climate change and conflict
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 4th, 2011
Guardian: A displaced Somali awaits aid from locals at a neighbourhood in Mogadishu after fleeing the drought in the south of the country. Prolonged drought in the Horn of Africa is the immediate cause of the severe food crisis already affecting around 10 million people in parts of Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Somalia. Rains have failed over two seasons, with a strong La Niña event having a dramatic impact across the east coast of Africa. Now this year's wet season has officially ended, there is little prospect...
Lack of data on droughts hampers risk reduction efforts
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 4th, 2011
SciDev.Net: Drought can hit crop yields hard
Droughts pose a "hidden risk" as they are poorly understood and lack reliable data that could inform mitigation strategies, says a report on global disaster risk.
Lack of systematic monitoring means that the risk of impeding drought is largely invisible despite having significant effects on agricultural production, rural livelihoods and economies, says 'Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction 2011: Revealing Risk, Redefining Development'.
According...
Brazil’s Amazon rainforest under threat
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 4th, 2011
BBC: Brazil considers relaxing code protecting the Amazon
Within the next few months, the Brazilian government is going to have to decide whether to approve proposals to relax the Forest Code, which is designed to protect the Amazon rainforest.
Farmers and agricultural businesses want to be allowed to cultivate more of their land, but environmentalists say the code should be strengthened, not weakened.
Robin Lustig reports from the Amazon.
Britain’s richest man to build giant Arctic iron ore mine
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 4th, 2011
Guardian: Great Sail Peak reflected in a snow melt pool on Baffin Island, Nunavut, in the Canadian Arctic. ArcelorMittal has bought Baffinland Iron Mines in order to exploit Mary river iron ore deposits.
Britain's richest man is planning a giant new opencast mine 300 miles inside the Arctic Circle in a bid to extract a potential $23bn (£14bn) worth of iron ore.
The "mega-mine" – which includes a 150km railway line and two new ports – is believed to be the largest mineral extraction project in the Arctic...
Africa’s latest food crisis needs a long-term strategy
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 4th, 2011
Guardian: People gather to collect water in Wajir, Kenya. A severe drought in east Africa is causing malnutrition rates to soar and threatening the lives of children throughout the region.
A "toxic mix" of drought, failed harvests and rising food prices have brought severe food shortages to the east and the Horn of Africa.
As a result, the UN office for the co-ordination of humanitarian affairs (OCHA) predicts that around 10 million people in parts of Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Djibouti will...
Drought-hit Kenya struggles to provide for Somali refugees
Posted by AlertNet: David Njagi on July 4th, 2011
AlertNet: A Somali refugee woman stands with her children outside their makeshift shelter at Dagahaley camp in Dadaab, near the Kenya-Somalia border, Apr. 3 2011. At a camp near Dadaab, a town in northeast Kenya, 35-year-old Sahara Abdi clutches a worn envelope outside the refugee affairs department, hoping her request to be transferred to another camp in the northwest will be processed soon.
The Somali mother of six has been arguing her case at the office since March. She wants to be reunited with relatives...
Mass tourism threatening Venice lagoon, say ecologists
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 4th, 2011
AFP: An Italian environmental group warned on Monday that mass tourism is slowly eroding the Venice lagoon, which it said is also threatened by major real estate development and an inadequate transport network.
Architect Cristiano Gasparetto said a 1988 study indicated that while the acceptable maximum number of tourists for Venice is 33,000 daily, today the average figure is 59,000.
Alessandra Mottola Molfino, head of the Italia Nostra non-governmental organisation, said the figure "is too high...
‘Global plant database’ to help monitor effects of climate change on ecosystem
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 4th, 2011
Asian News International: Scientists have created the world's largest global plant database that is expected to promote biodiversity research and Earth-system sciences.
The compilation of three million traits or functional properties for 69,000 out of the world's 300,000 plant species has already been published.
The vast project is the outcome of worldwide collaboration of scientists from 106 re-search institutions. The initiative, known as TRY is hosted at the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry in Jena (Germany)....