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Archive for February, 2012
Kenya’s pastoralists reach out for carbon cash
Posted by AlertNet: David Njagi on February 16th, 2012
AlertNet: If the promise of earning carbon credits is realised, Nixon Parnisa counts himself among hundreds of pastoralists likely to profit from a new revenue stream.
The herder already has an anaerobic digester at his home in Kitengela, about 120 km (75 miles) northeast of Lake Magadi, in southern Kenya. The machine uses livestock waste to produce biogas for cooking and lighting.
But now Parnisa is looking beyond saving money on fuel. He hopes to increase his income by joining a scheme to adapt herding...
‘New frontier’ of Antarctic lake exploration
Posted by BBC: Paul Rincon on February 16th, 2012
BBC: When a Russian drilling team reached Antarctica's Lake Vostok last week, they were able to claim a world first.
No one had previously penetrated one of the continent's sub-glacial lakes, prompting Valery Lukin from the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI) in St Petersburg to liken his team's achievement to the Moon landings in 1969.
Whatever the comparison, it represents a remarkable feat.
Over 20 years of stop-start drilling, the Russian team ground their way through 3.7km (2.3mi)...
A greener touch in China’s cities can stem flood risks – World Bank
Posted by AlertNet: Dongwei Liu on February 16th, 2012
AlertNet: China can better protect its fast-growing cities from inundations by making flood-risk maps available to both city planners and the public, and by giving its cities a greener touch, according to a World Bank expert in urban environments.
China’s urban population currently stands at 690 million – accounting for just over half of the country’s total population – and is expected to rise to 1 billion by 2030. Some of the country’s big cities, such as Beijing, Wuhan and Guangzhou, last year experienced...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on A greener touch in China’s cities can stem flood risks – World BankNobel winners urge EU leaders to back tar sands law
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 16th, 2012
Reuters: A group of Nobel peace prize winners urged European leaders in a letter on Thursday to support an EU Commission proposal to class fuel from oil sands as highly polluting.
"Tar sand development is the fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions in Canada, and threatens the health of the planet," eight Nobel Peace Prize laureates, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa and Iranian human rights activist Shirin Ebadi, said in the letter.
"As the tar sands have contributed to rising...
Ottawa defends Kyoto stance
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 16th, 2012
Postmedia News: Environment Minister Peter Kent is rejecting new questions from the world's largest emerging economies about the Canadian government's sincerity and credibility on fighting climate change in light of its decision to walk away from the Kyoto protocol.
"Most of the world recognized the Kyoto protocol was not working, and a post-Kyoto climate-change agreement needs to be created," Kent said Wednesday in the House of Commons in response to questions from NDP environment critic Megan Leslie.
The...
Estuary report warns of dangers of climate change
Posted by Western Mail: Graham Henry on February 16th, 2012
Western Mail: SEA level rises of between 30-40cm in the Severn Estuary over the next 60 years could cause more than three-quarters of the estuary`s intertidal area to be lost, a new report has warned.
In stark findings, The State of the Severn Estuary report warns that the impact of climate change could cause 77% of the zone -- the area that is above water at low tide and underwater at high tide -- to disappear over the next 100 years.
The rapid loss of intertidal areas could have knock-on implications for...
New sanctuaries declared for Asia’s freshwater dolphins
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 15th, 2012
Mongabay: Bangladesh has declared three new sanctuaries to help protect the south Asian river dolphin (Platanista gangetica) in the Sundarbans, the world's largest mangrove forest. Split into two subspecies, the Ganges River dolphin (Platanista gangetica gangetica) and the Irrawaddy River dolphin (Platanista gangetica minor), the new sanctuaries will benefit both. Listed as Endangered by the IUCN Red List, the south Asian freshwater dolphin has disappeared from much of its habitat. Already Asia has its other...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on New sanctuaries declared for Asia’s freshwater dolphinsClimate change may increase risk of water shortages in hundreds of US counties by 2050
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 15th, 2012
EurekAlert: More than 1 in 3 counties in the United States could face a "high" or "extreme" risk of water shortages due to climate change by the middle of the 21st century, according to a new study in ACS's Journal of Environmental Science & Technology. The new report concluded that 7 in 10 of the more than 3,100 U.S. counties could face "some" risk of shortages of fresh water for drinking, farming and other uses. It includes maps that identify the counties at risk of shortages.
In the analysis, Sujoy B....
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Climate change may increase risk of water shortages in hundreds of US counties by 2050Kenya: Challenges Posed By Climate Change and Population
Posted by Nairobi Star: Babatunde Osotimehin on February 15th, 2012
Nairobi Star: IT is fitting that this year's UN Climate Change Conference was held in Africa, where both the current and future consequences of climate change are clearly discernible.
The short and medium-term impacts of floods and drought, and the long-term prospect of rising global temperatures and changes in rainfall patterns, will continue to make Africa Exhibit A in discussions about the implications of climate change.
Until recently, the dominant approach to analyzing the global impact of climate change...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Kenya: Challenges Posed By Climate Change and PopulationHalf of UK households ‘could face water restrictions by April’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 15th, 2012
Guardian: Half of all households in Britain could face water restrictions unless exceptionally heavy and prolonged rain falls by April, water companies and the environment agency have warned.
The environment secretary, Caroline Spelman, will hold a crisis meeting of companies, wildlife groups and other river users next week after the Centre for Hydrology and Ecology (CEH) stated that the average rainfall so far this winter has been the lowest since 1972, and the English Midlands and Anglian regions have...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Half of UK households ‘could face water restrictions by April’