THE ENVIRONMENT IN THE NEWSThursday, 19 June 2008

Other Environment News

BBC: Arctic sea ice melt 'even faster' AFP: Oceans warm more quickly than suspected: study AFP: US should take on lead role in climate change battle: envoy Reuters: Beijing hires foreign experts for pollution watch

AFP: German cabinet agrees a raft of energy-saving laws

AFP: Green car bonus to push French budget into red: report

Reuters: Biotech crops seen helping to feed hungry world

Environmental News from the UNEP Regions

ROA ROAP RONA ROLAC

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UNEP and the Executive Director in the News

Reuters: Property must cut carbon footprint faster: U.N. Nigerian Tribune: Man as crucial factor in climate change reduction The Korea Herald: Regulator urges socially responsible management Gulf Times: Qatar leads mercury control drive in Gulf AfricaNews (Netherlands): Children unite to conserve environment Money Morning.com: Corn Prices Linger at Record Highs but Wheat and Rice Wear Thin Die Welt (Germany): Wie sich Afrika in den letzten Jahrzehnten verändert hat Le Monde : Atlas de l’Afrique: un bijou d’information

Other UN News

Environment News from the UN Daily News of 18 June 2008 (none) Environment News from the S.G.’s Spokesman Daily Press Briefing of 18 June

2008 (none)

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UNEP and the Executive Director in the News

Reuters: Property must cut carbon footprint faster: U.N.

Wed Jun 18, 2008 7:34am EDTLONDON (Reuters) - The global property industry could pay a high price for moving too slowly to shrink its colossal carbon footprint, a report to a United Nations conference on the environment said on Wednesday.

The "Building Responsible Property Portfolios" report urged investors to comply with the U.N.-backed Principles for Responsible Investment or risk seeing their returns on environmentally unfriendly property assets slide sharply.

The report, which was written by Gary Pivo of the University of Arizona and supervised by the Property Working Group of the United Nations Environment Program Finance Initiative (UN EPFI), said buildings were responsible for around half of global carbon dioxide emissions, both from operations and the energy consumed by people traveling to and from them.

It said investors could exert crucial influence on property fund managers to invest in sustainable property, and reap significant financial benefits from savings on operating costs and higher rents from tenants.

"We operate in an industry where investors, occupiers, constructors, and developers each blame the other for the lack of positive action in improving the environmental footprint of new and existing buildings," said Paul McNamara, co-Chair of the UN EPFI Property Working Group.

"Our report highlights the wide range of opportunities that exist for institutional investors who want to take positive action and apply the Principles for Responsible Investment to their property assets," he said.

European members of the UN EPFI Property Working Group include AXA Investment Managers, F&C Asset Management, Hermes Real Estate, Morley Fund Management, PRUPIM and WestLB AG.

(Reporting by Sinead Cruise; Editing by Paul Bolding)

(See www.reutersrealestate.com for the global service for real estate professionals from Reuters)

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Nigerian Tribune: Man as crucial factor in climate change reduction

By Sulaimon Adesina - updated: Thursday 19-06-2008

When Emeritus professor David Okali, started his keynote speech at the event to mark the 2008 World Environment Day at the Faculty of Law Auditorium in the University of Ibadan, with a particular reference to the works of the late revered writer, Chinua Achebe in his Things Fall Apart, the audience was actually made to realise the bottomline of his message. Okali had analysed the untold suffering of man occasioned by climate change, as put up by Achebe, a situation made more worrisome as man had no positive clue to either the causes or the remedies to his dilemma. Achebe published the famous book in 1958.

Without doubt, climate change and its inherent calamities have become front burner issues globally in recent times with nations becoming more alert to the need to carry out proactive measures. Okali’s contention, however, is for human beings to practically take control of the situation. As a field expert with decades of experience, the professor, who is the Chairman of the Nigerian Environmental study/Action (NEST), said the future generation would be ashamed of the 21st century generation which had all the wherewithal to put a meaningful check to preventable catastrophe but failed to act. The most crucial weaponry required to fight the menace, Okali said, was information which man, he stressed, now has in abundance.

For instance, he traced the immediate causes of the phenomenon as radiative force, which is the alteration in balance between incoming and outgoing radiation in the earth’s atmosphere; and change in the balance of greenhouse gases (carbondioxide, methane and nitrite oxide) and halocarbons. Out of these, carbondioxide, he said “has the highest effects and most of these are due to the human effect.” To drive his point home, Okali, who is also the President of the Nigeria Academy of science said, “Carbondioxide in the air since mid 19th century has risen by 31 percent.” And the emission of the gas has been traced mainly directly to the action or inaction of man. Okali’s contention, then is, why and how will man continue to be the architect of his misfortune?

Corroborating Okali’s stance, the National Chairman, Institute of Environmental Engineers, Akin Kumolu, said “Climate charge is happening and it has been established that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere are the causes.

On the specific activities of man which add to the volume of the atmospheric carbon dioxide, Kumolu listed gas flaring, deforestation (especially the burning of fire wood), burning of fossil fuel (with burning of kerosere and cooking gas having the largest share), industrial emissions (the discharge of gaseous emissions indiscriminately into the atmosphere) and automobile release of carbondioxide into the atmosphere as those factors which require urgent attention.

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The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), recognising climate change as the defining issue of our era, chose the slogan, “Kick the Co2 (carbondioxide) Habit: Towards a Low Carbon Economy,” to mark the 2008 World Environment Day across the globe.

No doubt, the over concentration on the use of non-renewable energy sources had ignited the significant portion of the global warming as experienced today. Kumolu stated,” Coal and oil paved the way for the world’s industrial progress and the developing countries are following the same route.

But, while the highly industrialised societies that have accounted for over 97 per cent of global emissions are striving meaningfully to adopt alternative energy sources to power their economy, Nigeria, nay other developing nations still have their power generation tied to wood, charcoal, kerosere, petrol and the likes, thereby fueling the dangers ahead.

The present and potential risks of climate change are repeatedly drummed into our ears and the stories are not palatable. Okali is more concerned of the dangers posed to Nigeria.

“There is proneness to desertification and drought, there is threat to water resources, there is threat to food security and livelihoods, there is threat to health security, there is threat to energy, industrial, transport and financial sectors and there is high vulnerability to the economy of our nation,” he said.

On the global front, the United Nations Office for the coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said flood has affected between 250,000 and 300,000 people in Cuba alone as at March 2008. Out of the figure, about 100,000 are in need of immediate assistance including food, shelter, health, water and sanitation, while some 13,465 persons are in 225 temporary shelters.

In the United states of America, as at June 16, 2008, nine rivers are at record levels of upsurge, dozens of bridges have been destroyed, up to 80 bridges have been closed due to flooding, Cedar River flood crest has exceeded the historic 1929 record, 400 city blocks are under water with 438 streets submerged, 25000 people have been evacuated and damage costs in cedar rapids have been estimated at $737 million.

In China, over a hundred thousand people were directly affected from earthquake with many thousands submerged. Ban Ki-Moon, the United Nations Secretary General in his message to the 2008 mark of the World Environment Day said, “The environmental, economic and political implications of global warming (caused mainly from over concentration of carbondioxide in the atmosphere) are profound.

“Ecosystems—from mountain to ocean, from poles to the tropics are undergoing rapid charge. Low lying cities face inundation, fertile lands are turning to deserts and weather patterns are becoming ever more unpredictable.”

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Kumolu said the government, the industry and the general public have specific roles to play for man to overcome the most daunting challenge of this century. According to him, “the government must set up regulatory agencies to make and enforce laws and also review them as we learn more of dynamics of climate charge and as technological solutions begin to manifest themselves.”

Though the Federal Government is said to be finalising arrangements on the establishment of a commission on climate, the nation will benefit from the whole exercise if such commission was composed of seasoned field experts, who could utilise their wealth of experience to bring a local solution to the issue at hand.

It is also important that the Federal Government hasten the birth of the said commission if something meaningful would be achieved. The industry, Kumolu said “also must innovate, manufacture and operate under a new paradigm where clean and sustainable environment will drive many decisions.”

The government is also the key player here as it has enormous influence on the operation of the industries. Nigerian companies will become more of agents of positive change if their registration, operation mode and regulation are tailored towards maintaining clean environment.

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The Korea Herald: Regulator urges socially responsible management

June 18, 2008 Wednesday

Financial Supervisory Service Governor Kim Jong-chang yesterday urged financial institutions to use responsible management that will control various social, economic, and financial risks.

"Socially responsible management will prevail in the Korean corporate arena," the nation's top financial regulator said yesterday in a speech to the U.N. Environmental Program Finance Initiative conference held in Seoul.

Kim noted that many advanced financial companies have increased socially responsible investing, or SRI, and taken into account "business sustainability" in their credit assessment policy.

SRI is an investment strategy combining the intent to maximize both financial return and social good.

The Kookmin, Woori, Daegu and Ex-Im banks are considered to have exemplified the new business practice in Korea's financial industry by considering a company's "environmental risk" in their credit decision-making process.

Other financial companies also appear to have followed suit by paying close attention to the ethical aspects of a company - such as their activities in charities, scholarship funds and community services.

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"In Korea, some financial companies have incorporated SRI into their credit assessment process and published books on topics related to SRI and the environment," he said.

The role of financial institutions in sustainable economic development was high on the agenda for the conference, co-hosted by UNEP and two other international agencies under the U.N. umbrella.

In an attempt to give additional momentum to the trend, the financial regulator said he will take measures to encourage companies to disclose information about socially responsible management. With surging oil prices and a growing need for environment-friendly energy, he urged financial companies to increase their portfolios and alternative energy development projects while extending their loans to companies involved in them.

By Kim Jung-min

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Gulf Times: Qatar leads mercury control drive in Gulf

Published: Thursday, 19 June, 2008, 01:25 AM Doha Time

By Noimot OlayiwolaAN information system developed by Qatar for regulating the use of mercury has been recommended as a model for mercury inventory development worldwide at the end of a regional meeting in Doha yesterday.The three-day event was a preparatory meeting for the upcoming second Open Ended Working Group on mercury in October in Nairobi, Kenya.The system called the ‘Qatar mercury management information system (QMMIS)’ was developed by the information technology department of the Supreme Council for the Environment and Natural Reserves (SCENR).SCENR’s head of Chemical Management section Eng. Mohamed al-Ebrahim told Gulf Times that through QMMIS, the council has taken several steps on mercury control in the country.“The council has been able to create an inventory on mercury within different sectors such as health, agriculture, education and the municipalities and we are glad that this is being considered as part of the recommendations to the working group meeting coming up in October,” he said.The consultation meeting, comprising delegates from the GCC countries such as Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia as well as Iran, Iraq, Syria, Oman, Yemen and representatives of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) regional office for West Africa, UNEP-Chemicals and Programme for the Environment of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, held discussions on control of mercury, its challenges and way forward at national, regional and global levels.They agreed that there were three essential areas to consider in moving forward, which included actions to be taken at national level, regional level and finally the requirements for international action.

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“At the national level, all concerned authorities, including the private sector and non-governmental organisations, should be involved to provide support because national partnerships are seen as an important element for the control of mercury,” they said.

Regional co-operation and co-ordination on all activities, but in particular monitoring activities and measures to control the movement of mercury via customs controls were seen as key by the delegates.  They stressed the importance of involving regional offices such as United Nations Environment Protection, ROWA and other regional organisations such as PERSGA and ROMPE in the work in the region.The importance of partnerships at a global level, in particular to assist with information and resources from countries with more developed programmes to manage mercury was equally emphasised. 

According to a draft communique, the delegates agreed that a legally binding instrument, which would ensure the provision of information and assistance, that may not necessarily be delivered under a voluntary agreement, should be developed; financial and technical support, including technology transfer and the provision of information relating to the management of mercury, should be readily available; there should be support for capacity building on mercury management; enabling activities, including but not limited to, the development of inventories and action plans should be developed; monitoring activities, to include not only levels of emissions, but also levels present in environmental media (air, water, soil, biota).There were also recommendations on the management of waste containing mercury, including the provision of assistance to manage contaminated sites and creation of information sources, such as database with lists of products containing mercury and a list of alternatives to mercury if they exist.The meeting agreed that their recommendations are essential for a legally binding instrument to succeed and meet the needs of the region.

UNEP-ROWA regional network co-ordinator Abdulelah al-Wadaee and Mercury and other Metals programme co-ordinator Sheila Logan praised the efforts of the Qatari government in leading the campaign on mercury control in the region.“Qatar has done so well by being the only country in the region to put in place a programme on creating inventory on mercury in different sectors of the country as well as reaching out to different stakeholders who will help facilitate strong partnership on the issue,” al-Wadaee said.He expressed hope that the recommendations put forward by Qatar delegates would be considered in Nairobi.

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AfricaNews (Netherlands): Children unite to conserve environment

Mugira Fredrick, Africanews reporter in Uganda, Photo: Elles van Gelder

A 13-year-old Cameroonian running clean-up campaigns and tree plantings is among 700 children from around the world attending a UN environment conference in Stavanger, Norway for children who are engaged in environment conservation in their communities.

Other remarkable children taking part in this conference include a 13-year-old Australian who is making a documentary called ‘A Kid’s Guide to Climate Change’, for which he interviewed a local indigenous leader, visited a wind farm and a wave generator, and built a model solar car, a 14-year-old Indian who is campaigning against water waste in his community and a 13-year-old American who has helped organize a recycling drive and collect 100,000 pounds of e-waste.

The biannual Tunza International Children's Conference that runs from today till 21st June under the theme ‘Creating Change’ is one of the largest international children’s conferences in the world organized by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

This year, in partnership with the UN Children’s Fund UNICEF, UNEP will show the inspiring initiatives of dozens of children from around the world through ‘My Story’, a series of short video clips.

In a news release, Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director says that, “the 700 children attending the Tunza conference are a powerful sign of the creativity, energy and dynamism that children are capable of to protect our planet. We can all learn from them, and we should all take heart in the fact that increasing numbers of children are becoming a force for positive change as we move towards greener lifestyles.”

The Conference is organized by UNEP in partnership with the Norwegian NGO Young Agenda 21 with Bayer AG as one of the main sponsors, brings together children aged between 10 and 14 from more than 100 countries who are engaged in environmental issues. The aim is to increase their environmental awareness and equip them with skills to promote environmental projects in their communities.

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Money Morning.com: Corn Prices Linger at Record Highs but Wheat and Rice Wear Thin

By Jason SimpkinsAssociate Editor

Flooding in the Midwest has devastated much of the region’s corn crop, and caused prices to skyrocket. However, major rice and wheat producers are expected to have bumper crops this year, offering some hope that food prices could soon recede.

The price of corn for July delivery jumped Monday to an all-time high of $7.60 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade. It was the eighth straight day of trading in which the price hit a record high. The price has already shot up 71% this year, boosting food prices worldwide and fueling what is fast becoming a global inflation epidemic.

Fortunately, there are signs that the price of rice and wheat could recede sharply in coming months and relieve some of the inflationary pressure. In fact, the price of wheat is already on the way down having fallen roughly 50% since February. And increased plantings will yield a wheat crop 8.7% larger than that of 2007, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported.

“This improvement in supply should, in principle, help,” Hafez Ghanem, the FAO’s assistant director-general, told a news conference. “But we don’t expect to see prices going down to what they were before.”

The United States will produce 16% more wheat than last year, making this year’s harvest the biggest since 1998, the FAO said. The European Union, on the other hand, will add 13% to its wheat crop. Global cereal output is expected to climb 3.8%.

Rice could be next in line for a price drop, as yields from Thailand, the world’s largest rice exporter, could rise 29% this year. Rough rice production will rise to 8.9 million metric tons for the May-June harvest, Bloomberg News reported. Farmers increased the amount of land devoted to the rice crop by 27% to 5 million acres to take advantage of high prices this year.

Rice futures on the Chicago Board of Trade hit a record high $25.07 per 100 pounds on April 24, and are climbed 79% in the past year, according to Bloomberg. The benchmark Thai export price for 100% grade-B white rice hit a record $1,080 per metric ton on April 24, but has since fallen to $795 per metric ton.

“The market was very quiet. Most buyers are waiting for lower prices in July when Vietnam is expected to lift its ban on rice exports,” one trader told Reuters.

Vietnam is also positioned for a bumper harvest, this year. Vietnam has lifted its ban on the signing of rice-export deals, but will only allow contracts for a limited quantity as it has capped exports of the grain at 3.5 million tons for the first nine months of this year.

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The Philippines is already set to import 600,000 metric tons rice from Vietnam through a government-to-government agreement, Xinhua reported yesterday (Wednesday). The Philippines is the world’s top rice importer but has vowed to achieve 98% self-sufficiency by 2010.

India has also curbed rice exports but the nation expects to produce a record 95.5 million tons of the grain this year, an increase of 2.5% from 2007.

“The pressure would considerably ease if India, which is about harvest a bumper 2007 secondary crop, would relax its current export curbs,” said the FAO’s Food Outlook report, released last month.

Only 7% of global rice production is traded internationally, which means any government intervention in the export or import markets could have a dramatic impact on rice supply and prices.

Also, speculation among investors and consumers has run rampant in recent months, adding to political and economic pressures. As the run-up in commodities price steepened in the early part of the year, driving the price of corn and wheat to all-time highs, traders on the Chicago Board of Trade dove head first into already volatile markets.

“We have enough food on this planet today to feed everyone,” Adam Steiner, head of the U.N. Environment Program told the Associated Press, adding that the way that access to that food is being distorted by perceptions of future markets is distorting access to that food. “Real people and real lives are being affected by a dimension that is essentially speculative.”

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Die Welt (Germany): Wie sich Afrika in den letzten Jahrzehnten verändert hat

Ein neues Programm der UN dokumentiert, wie sich Afrika in den letzten 35 Jahren verändert hat. Danach werden die Gletscher am Kilimandscharo, dem höchsten Berg Afrikas, bis 2020 weggeschmolzen sein. Ursachen sind Erderwärmung, verstärkte Waldrodung und das starke Wachstum der Millionenstädte.

Die Gletscher am Kilimandscharo, dem höchsten Berg Afrikas, verschwinden angesichts der Erderwärmung allmählich – ebenso wie der Tschadsee. Diese und andere fundamentale Veränderungen der Umwelt in Afrika dokumentiert ein Atlas, den das UN-Entwicklungsprogramm (Unep) in Johannesburg vorstellte. Auf mehr als 300 Fotos ist darin zu sehen, wie sich Landschaften auf dem afrikanischen Kontinent in den letzten 35 Jahren verändert haben. Dabei geht es auch um die Waldrodung auf Madagaskar und das enorme Wachstum der Millionenstädte.

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Unep-Chef Achim Steiner hob bei der Vorstellung der Dokumentation hervor, die Weltgemeinschaft müsse nicht nur dringend Abkommen zum Klimaschutz schließen, sondern auch für einen schnellen Mittelfluss zur Umsetzung von Klimaschutzvorhaben sorgen. Die Gletscher am Kilimandscharo dürften bis zum Jahr 2020 weggeschmolzen sein, auch der Gletscher am Rwenzori-Berg in Uganda verlor zwischen 1987 und 2003 die Hälfte seines Umfangs. Im Westen Sudans leidet in den Dschebel-Marra-Bergen die Vegetation durch Bevölkerungsbewegungen. SchlagworteJohannesburg Kilimandscharo Gletscher Klimaschutz Erderwärmung Laut Unep-Atlas ist in mehr als 30 afrikanischen Ländern ein Verlust des Artenreichtums und eine allmähliche Entwaldung zu beobachten. Zudem nehmen demnach die Waldflächen des Kontinents jährlich insgesamt um vier Millionen Hektar ab.

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Le Monde : Atlas de l’Afrique: un bijou d’information19 juin 2008

Avec un titre pareil, voilà encore un billet qui ne va intéresser personne… et pourtant je trouve que cet outil est formidable de par le travail qu’il représente et la manière dont il permet de se rendre compte de l’évolution de l’environnement… Comme l’explique cet article du Courrier International paru il y a une semaine, suite à la Conférence ministérielle africaine sur l’environnement, “à partir de la comparaison de plus de 300 images des mêmes régions prises à une vingtaine d’années d’écart, par satellite, dans tous les pays d’Afrique, dans plus de 100 endroits, le nouvel atlas de l’Afrique publié par le Programme des Nations unies pour l’environnement (PNUE) montre clairement la façon dont les choix de développement, la croissance démographique, le changement climatique et, dans certains cas, les conflits affectent les ressources naturelles du continent.”

Ainsi, “l’atlas rend compte non seulement des changements connus, comme la fonte des glaces du mont Kilimandjaro, l’assèchement du lac Tchad et la baisse du niveau de l’eau du lac Victoria, mais il donne également une idée précise de l’ampleur des dégâts environnementaux dans des régions moins médiatiques”.

Concrètement, en arrivant sur le site internet mis au point par le PNUE, vous pouvez choisir un pays, puis un site donné (par exemple, l’Ethiopie, puis Addis Ababa). S’ouvre alors une page sur laquelle vous trouvez deux photos satellite prises avec 30 ans d’écart, puis une description des changements qui ont eu lieu depuis la première photo.

Addis Ababa PNUE

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Sous ce premier onglet se trouvent d’autres onglets vous permettant de télécharger ces photos, mais vous donnant aussi des photos du lieu (donc on a des photos d’Addis Ababa), l’accès aux sources utilisées pour établir cette fiche, un onglet pour retrouver ce lieu sur Google Earth, puis un onglet prévoyant à terme l’existence d’un blog! Bref, cet outil est un vrai bijou pour s’informer en détail sur l’environnement en Afrique, fruit du travail du “North American Node of UNEP GRID” situé au “USGS EROS Data Center”, dont le travail consiste justement à appliquer les technologies de l’information pour traiter des relations entre l’environnement et la population humaine. L’information ainsi créée permet de se renseigner et d’agir en utilisant des sources scientifiques plus que fiables!

Enfin, comme le rappelle l’article de CI, “le PNUE ’souligne la nécessité urgente pour la communauté internationale d’élaborer un nouvel accord sur le climat d’ici la réunion de la Convention sur les changements climatiques à Copenhague, en 2009 – un accord qui non seulement impose d’importantes réductions des émissions de gaz à effet de serre, mais prévoie également des aides financières substantielles pour l’adaptation et la protection des économies contre le climat’. En outre, le PNUE note que ‘bien que l’Afrique ne soit responsable que de 4 % du total mondial des émissions de dioxyde de carbone, ses habitants souffrent des conséquences du changement climatique de manière disproportionnée‘”…

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Other Environment News

BBC: Arctic sea ice melt 'even faster' By Richard Black Environment correspondent, BBC News website

Arctic sea ice is melting even faster than last year, despite a cold winter.

Data from the US National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) shows that the year began with ice covering a larger area than at the beginning of 2007.

But now it is down to levels seen last June, at the beginning of a summer that broke records for sea ice loss.

Scientists on the project say that much of the ice is so thin that it melts easily, and the Arctic may be ice-free in summer within five to 10 years.

"We had a bit more ice in the winter, although we were still way below the long-term average," said Julienne Stroeve from NSIDC in Boulder, Colorado.

"So we had a partial recovery; but the real issue is that most of the pack ice has become really thin, and if we have a regular summer now, it can just melt away," she told BBC News.

In March, Nasa reported that the area covered by sea ice was slightly larger than in 2007, but much of it consisted of thin floes that had formed during the previous winter. These are much less robust than thicker, less saline floes that have already survived for several years.

After a colder winter, ice has been melting even faster than last year

A few years ago, scientists were predicting ice-free Arctic summers by about 2080. Then computer models started projecting earlier dates, around 2030 to 2050.

Then came the 2007 summer that saw Arctic sea ice shrink to the smallest extent ever recorded, down to 4.2 million sq km from 7.8 million sq km in 1980.

By the end of last year, one research group was forecasting ice-free summers by 2013.

"I think we're going to beat last year's record melt, though I'd love to be wrong," said Dr Stroeve.

"If we do, then I don't think 2013 is far off anymore. If what we think is going to happen does happen, then it'll be within a decade anyway."

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Rising tide

Countries surrounding the Arctic are eyeing the economic opportunities that melting ice might bring.

Canada and Russia are exploring soverignity claims over tracts of Arctic seafloor, while just this week President Bush has urged more oil exploration in US waters - which could point the way to exploitation of reserves off the Alaskan coast.

But from a climate point of view, the melt could bring global impacts accelerating the rate of warming and of sea level rise.

"This is a positive feedback process," commented Dr Ian Willis, from the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge.

"Sea ice has a higher albedo (reflectivity) than ocean water; so as the ice melts, the water absorbs more of the Sun's energy and warms up more, and that in turn warms the atmosphere more - including the atmosphere over the Greenland ice sheet."

Greenland is already losing ice to the oceans, contributing to the gradual rise in sea levels. The ice cap holds enough water to lift sea levels globally by about 7m (22ft) if it all melted.

Natural climatic cycles such as the Arctic Oscillation play a role in year-to-year variations in ice cover. But Julienne Stroeve believes the sea ice is now so thin that there is little chance of the melting trend turning round.

"If the ice were as thin as it was in the 1970s, last year's conditions would have brought a dip in cover, but nothing exceptional.

"But now it's so thin that you would have to have an exceptional sequence of cold winters and cold summers in order for it to rebuild."

Richard.Black-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk

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AFP: Oceans warm more quickly than suspected: study

by Marlowe Hood Wed Jun 18, 1:17 PM ET

PARIS (AFP) - The world's oceans have warmed 50 percent faster over the last 40 years than previously thought due to climate change, Australian and US climate researchers reported Wednesday.

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Higher ocean temperatures expand the volume of water, contributing to a rise in sea levels that is submerging small island nations and threatening to wreak havoc in low-lying, densely-populated delta regions around the globe.

The study, published in the British journal Nature, adds to a growing scientific chorus of warnings about the pace and consequences rising oceans.

It also serves as a corrective to a massive report issued last year by the Nobel-winning UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), according to the authors.

Rising sea levels are driven by two things: the thermal expansion of sea water, and additional water from melting sources of ice. Both processes are caused by global warming.

The ice sheet that sits atop Greenland, for example, contains enough water to raise world ocean levels by seven metres (23 feet), which would bury sea-level cities from Dhaka to Shanghai.

Trying to figure out how much each of these factors contributes to rising sea levels is critically important to understanding climate change, and forecasting future temperature rises, scientists say.

But up to now, there has been a perplexing gap between the projections of computer-based climate models, and the observations of scientists gathering data from the oceans.

"The numbers didn't add up," said Peter Geckler, a co-author of the study and a researcher at the Program for Climate Model Diagnosis and Intercomparison at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in California.

"When previous investigators tried to add up all the estimated contributions to sea level rise" -- thermal expansion, melting glaciers, ice caps and ice sheets, along with changes in terrestrial storage -- "they did not match with the independently estimated total sea level rise," he told AFP.

The new study, led by Catia Domingues of the Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research, is the first to reconcile the models with observed data.

Using new techniques to assess ocean temperatures to a depth of 700 metres (2,300 feet) from 1961 to 2003, it shows that thermal warming contributed to a 0.53 millimetre-per-year rise in sea levels rather than the 0.32 mm rise reported by the IPCC.

"Our results are important for the climate modelling community because they boost confidence in the climate models used for projections of global sea-level rise resulting for the accumulation of heat in the oceans," Domingues said in a statement.

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"The projections will in turn assist in planning to minimize impacts, and in developing adaptation strategies," she added.

The IPCC report was criticised for including only the impact of thermal expansion in its projections of sea level rises over the next century, despite recent studies showing that melting ice is a significant -- and growing -- factor.

The planet's oceans store more than 90 percent of the heat in the Earth's climate system and act as a temporary buffer against the effects of climate change.

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AFP: US should take on lead role in climate change battle: envoy

Wed Jun 18, 2:43 PM ET

LONDON (AFP) - The United States must take on a leading role in combating global warming, the head of the country's delegation to climate change talks said in an interview published Wednesday.

"The US should take on a greater role (in cutting greenhouse gas emissions) that is commensurate with our economic standing," Paula Dobriansky told the Financial Times.

The American under-secretary of state for democracy and global affairs said that while the United States would agree to cut its emissions, the amount by which it would do so had yet "to be sorted through".

She acknowledged that "as a developed economy, we should be taking on a greater role here."

Dobriansky added, however, that rapidly-growing developing countries would have to agree to legally-binding emissions cuts, and warned that the poorest countries also had a role to play.

"You have to look at national characteristics and circumstances, to look at where these countries are in terms of their economies, where they are in terms of their overall capacity," she told the business daily.

"We have been strong proponents at looking at varied national characteristics and taking this into account in determining what role and responsibility countries would be taking.

"Even those that have limited capacity (have) something to contribute."

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Reuters: Beijing hires foreign experts for pollution watch

Thu Jun 19, 2008 1:56am EDT

By Nick Mulvenney

BEIJING (Reuters) - Beijing has hired a panel of foreign environmental experts to lend credibility to its pollution monitoring and forecasts during the August 8-24 Olympics, state media reported on Thursday.

Fifty days before the opening ceremony, Beijing was again shrouded in smog on Thursday in a graphic reminder of how much remains to be done to clear the city's skies for the Olympics and September's Paralympics.

This is the first time foreigners have joined the Chinese capital's fight to improve air quality, the poor state of which was in part behind Australia's decision earlier this week to tell its track and field athletes to skip the opening ceremony.

"This panel will ensure the air quality monitoring and forecasts are publicized and authoritative because we have both domestic and foreign experts," Du Shaozhong, vice director of the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau, told Xinhua news agency.

Environmental experts have in the past cast doubts on the Beijing's claims of improvement in air quality, particularly the much-vaunted "blue sky days" tally by which the authorities measure the improvement.

The 12-person panel, including scientists from Hong Kong, the United States and Italy, will monitor and forecast air quality in Beijing during the Olympics and will also evaluate actions already taken to improve air quality, Xinhua reported.

The panel will be headed by Tang Xiaoyan of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and he promised they would be producing forecasts up to a week ahead.

"If the forecast show a bad situation, we will take strict actions to control pollution like limiting vehicles on the road and limiting vehicles from outside coming into Beijing," he said.

Beijing has spent 140 billion yuan ($20.34 billion) on environmental improvements over the last decade, shutting down heavy polluting factories, switching tens of thousands of homes from oil to gas heating and imposing higher emission standards on vehicles.

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The problem persists, however, particularly when there is no wind as was the case on Thursday.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has said it might reschedule endurance events such as the marathon to prevent health risks to athletes competing for more than an hour.

Beijing will also close more factories and force 19 heavy polluters to reduce emissions by 30 percent for two months from July 20. Six surrounding provinces also have contingency plans.

Other Games-time measures in Beijing include a ban on construction and cars being barred from the roads on alternate days according to whether their license plates end in odd or even numbers.

"I will stay in Beijing for the whole of August to monitor the air quality," Ivo Allegrini, research director at Italy's Institute for Atmospheric Pollution, told Xinhua.

"My work group from Italy will help them to use our equipment to survey the air quality and report to environmental department of Beijing."

(Editing by Alex Richardson)

(For more stories visit our multimedia website "Road to Beijing" here ; and see our blog at blogs.reuters.com/china )

© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved

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AFP: German cabinet agrees a raft of energy-saving laws

Wed Jun 18, 2:51 PM ET

BERLIN (AFP) - The German cabinet on Wednesday adopted new measures aimed at cutting the country's carbon dioxide emissions by more than a third by 2020, the environment ministry said.

The package includes laws aimed at lowering electricity consumption, in particular in private homes, and proposes calculating tolls for vehicles according to their emission levels, the ministry said in a statement.

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It stipulates that from 2009, all new and renovated buildings will have to comply with stricter energy efficiency standards and provides for the introduction of easy-to-use private electricity meters.

The package also includes a new law that links the way heating costs are calculated more closely to individual household consumption, rather than the average figure for a particular apartment block.

"Our goal is to move away from oil and gas to embrace renewable energy and energy efficiency," Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel said.

The cabinet also approved a law that provides for the extension of electricity networks to make use of energy from offshore windfarms -- of which Germany's first is expected to go into operation in the Baltic Sea next year.

The German lower house of parliament on June 6 adopted a first chapter of climate protection laws that aims to increase the amount of power generated by renewable energy sources like wind or solar power to 30 percent from the current 14 percent by 2020.

It also seeks to double the amount of electricity generated by combined heat and power (CHP) or cogeneration, which uses excess heat from power stations, to 25 percent in the next 12 years.

The government's overall goal with the new laws is to reduce Germany's carbon dioxide emission levels by 40 percent by 2020 compared to 1990 levels -- double the minimum percentage cut agreed by the 27 European Union member states last year.

Gabriel said the two sets of climate protection laws will bring about a carbon emissions reduction of "about 35 percent".

"The remaining five percent we will be achieved through other means," he said.

Meanwhile, a council of government experts on the environment said in a report released Wednesday that Chancellor Angela Merkel's left-right coalition has not done enough to promote climate protection in agriculture.

And they expressed reservations about plans to build about 20 new coal-fired power plants to prepare for the planned closure of the country's nuclear power plants by 2020.

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AFP: Green car bonus to push French budget into red: report

2 hours, 52 minutes ago

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PARIS (AFP) - An initiative which rewards buyers of environmentally friendly cars and penalises those who buy high pollution vehicles could cost the French government 200 million euros, the business daily Les Echos reported Thursday.

France introduced the bonus-malus (bonus-penalty) system this year, giving a tax break for the purchase of new vehicles which emit less than 130 grammes of carbon dioxide per/kilometre, and imposing an additional tax on vehicles that emit more than 160 grammes.

The scheme was supposed to be revenue neutral, with the penalties financing the bonuses, but the daily said the French finance ministry now estimates the scheme could end up costing the state 200 million euros (310 million dollars).

"The car bonus-malus is a victim of its own success," wrote Les Echos.

"The additional cost to the state complicates the extension of the scheme to other products," it warned.

Ecology Minister Jean-Luis Borloo told the newspaper earlier in the month he wanted to expand the scheme next year to a couple dozen other types of products in order to encourage consumers to favour environmentally-friendly goods.

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Reuters: Biotech crops seen helping to feed hungry worldThu Jun 19, 2008 12:26am EDT 

By Carey Gillam

SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - Biotechnology in agricultural will be key to feeding a growing world population and overcoming climate challenges like crop-killing droughts, according to a group of leading industry players.

"It is critical we keep moving forward," said Thomas West, a director of biotechnology affairs at DuPont, interviewed on the sidelines of a biotechnology conference in San Diego. "We have to yield and produce our way out of this."

DuPont believes it can increase corn and soybean yields by 40 percent over the next decade. Corn seeds that now average about 150 bushels per acre could be at well over 200 bushels an acre, for example, DuPont officials said.

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Crop shortages this year have sparked riots in some countries and steep price hikes in markets around the globe, and questions about how to address those issues were the subject of several meetings at the BIO International Convention being held this week.

Despite persistent reluctance in many nations and from some consumer and environmental groups, genetically modified crops, -- and the fortunes of the companies that make them -- have been on the rise. Growing food and biofuel demands have been helping push growth.

By using conventional and biotech genetic modification, crops can be made to yield more in optimum as well as harsh weather conditions, can be made healthier, and can be developed in ways that create more energy for use in ethanol production, according to the biotech proponents.

"You can bring a number to tools to bear with biotechnology to solve problems," said Syngenta seeds executive industry relations head director Jack Bernens. "As food prices increase ... it certainly brings a more practical perspective to the debate."

Syngenta is focusing on drought-resistant corn that it hopes to bring to market as early as 2014, as well as other traits to increase yields and protect plants from insect damage. Disease-resistant biotech wheat is also being developed.

Syngenta and other industry players are also developing biotech crops that need less fertilizer, and corn that more efficiently can be turned into ethanol.

Bayer CropScience, a unit of Germany's Bayer AG, has ongoing field trials with biotech canola that performs well even in drought conditions, said Bayer crop productivity group leader Michael Metzlaff.

Water scarcity is a problem seen doubling in severity over the next three decades even as the world population explodes, and will only be exacerbated by global warming climate change, he said.

With some 9 billion people expected to populate the planet by 2040 and 85 percent of the population seen in lesser developed countries, decreased land for agriculture and multiple demands on water use will come hand in hand with an expected doubling in food demand, said David Dennis CEO of Kingston, Ontario-based Performance Plants.

Performance Plants is working with the Africa Harvest Biotech Foundation International to develop and field test drought-tolerant white maize.

"The biggest problem we have in crops is environmental stresses and the biggest stress is drought," said Dennis.

Biotech crop opponents rebuke the idea that biotechnology is the answer, and say industry leaders continue to focus much of their efforts on plants that tolerate more

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chemicals even as they push up seed prices and make more farmers reliant on patented seed products that must be repurchased year after year.

"I know they love to talk about drought tolerance but that is not what they are really focusing on," said Bill Freese, science policy analyst at the Washington-based Center for Food Safety.

Freese said conventional breeding had the ability to address climate change and food needs, but funding cuts to public-sector crop breeders had reduced the ability of non-biotech groups to advance crop improvements.

"The facts on the ground clearly show that biotech companies have developed mainly chemical-dependent GM crops that have increased pesticide use, reduced yields and have nothing to do with feeding the world," Freese said. "The world cannot wait for GM crops when so many existing solutions are being neglected."

(Editing by Christian Wiessner)

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ROA MEDIA UPDATETHE ENVIRONMENT IN THE NEWS

19 June 2008

UN In The News

Nigeria: 300 participants for geoparks conference

PANA (Lagos): The third international conference on geoparks will be held in Osnabrück, Germany, 22-26 June 2008, according to a UNESCO statement obtained here Wednesday. More than 300 participants from 35 countries are expected at the meeting, which aims to highlight the planet's geological riches and the need to preserve them. Topics to be discussed during the conference include How to spark people's interest in geology, How to develop tourism in the geoparks and what links geoparks and climate change. The conference is being organised as part of the International Year of Planet Earth in the very heart of the Terra Vita site, a member of the Global Network of National Geoparks since 2004. Created under UNESCO's auspices, the Global Network of National Geoparks was founded in 2004. It currently includes 56 sites in 17 countries. To earn the geopark label, an area must possess a significant geological heritage, a coherent management structure and an economic development strategy, based notably on sustainable tourism. Each application is examined by a team of experts mandated by UNESCO, which visits the site to ensure criteria for inclusion are met. The network brings together such diverse places as the Island of Langkawi (Malaysia), with the country's oldest rock formation; the petrified forest of Lesvos Island (Greece); and Vulkaneifel (Germany), with its remarkable volcanic craters. Latest sites to join the network are Zigong and Longhushan in China and Adamello-Brenta in Italy.

Nigeria: 300 participants à la Conférence sur les géoparcs

PANA (Lagos): Plus de 300 participants de 35 pays sont attendus à la troisième conférence internationale sur les géoparcs prévue à Osnabrück, en Allemagne du 22 au 26 juin 2008, selon un communiqué de l'Organisation des Nations unies pour la science et la culture (UNESCO) parvenu mercredi à la PANA à Lagos. L'objectif de la Conférence est d'attirer l'attention sur les richesses géologiques de la planète et sur la nécessité de susciter l'intérêt du public pour la géologie et de développer le tourisme dans les géoparcs pour les préserver. Un des sujets examinés sera la relation entre les géoparcs et le changement climatique. Cette conférence est organisée dans le cadre de l'Année internationale de la Planète Terre sur le site de Terra Vita, un membre du Réseau mondial des géoparcs nationaux depuis 2004. Créé sous les auspices de l'UNESCO, le Réseau mondial des géoparcs nationaux a été fondé en 2004. Il compte actuellement 56 sites répartis dans 17 pays. Pour obtenir le label géoparc, un site doit posséder un patrimoine géologique conséquent, être doté d'une structure de gestion cohérente et d'une stratégie de développement économique, basées principalement sur un tourisme durable. Chaque demande est examinée par une équipe d'experts mandatée par l'UNESCO, qui visite le site pour s'assurer qu'il remplit les critères d'adhésion. Le réseau rassemble des sites aussi

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divers que l'île de Langkawi (Malaisie), qui présente la plus vieille formation rocheuse du pays; la forêt pétrifiée de l'île de Lesvos (Grèce); et le site de Vulkaneifel (Allemagne) remarquable pour ses cratères volcaniques. Les derniers sites inscrits au réseau sont ceux de Zigong et de Longhushan en Chine et d'Adamello-Brenta en Italie.

General Environment News

Tunisie : La BAD lance un Fonds pour la protection du Bassin du Congo

PANA (Tunis): Le Groupe de la Banque africaine de développement (BAD) a lancé, mardi à Londres en Grande Bretagne, un Fonds fiduciaire du Bassin du Congo (FFBC) de 100 millions de dollars fourni par le gouvernement britannique. Dix (10) Etats membres de la Commission des forêts d'Afrique centrale (COMIFAC) notamment le Burundi, le Cameroun, le Tchad, la République Centrafricaine, le Congo, la République Démocratique du Congo, la Guinée Equatoriale, le Gabon, Sao Tomé-et-Principe, le Rwanda ainsi que le Royaume-Uni sont partenaires du FFBC. Le Fonds abrité par la BAD comme un Fonds spécial multi-donateurs auquel d'autres donateurs potentiels pourraient contribuer, sera utilisé sur une période de dix ans, période couverte par la convention jusqu'en 2018, pour financer le plan d'action de la COMIFAC dans dix secteurs stratégiques visant à la conservation de la forêt tropicale du bassin du Congo. La forêt tropicale du bassin du Congo est la deuxième plus grande étendue de forêts au monde, ce qui représente 26 pour cent de la forêt tropicale humide mondiale. Elle couvre une superficie totale de 2,1 millions de kilomètres carrés, avec une population de plus de 50 millions de personnes, 10.000 espèces de plantes, 1000 espèces d'oiseaux et 400 espèces de mammifères. La forêt sert donc non seulement de ressource économique pour les onze pays, mais aussi comme écosystème vital pour le monde entier avec son rôle dans la régulation de l'oxygène atmosphérique et du carbone, ce qui amène certains écologistes à la décrire comme "le deuxième poumon" après le bassin de l'Amazonie. L'objectif global des forêts du Bassin du Congo est d'améliorer la sécurité alimentaire et la subsistance de la population, réduire la pauvreté et relever les défis liés au changement climatique en réduisant le taux de déforestation dans le Bassin du Congo. La forêt tropicale du Bassin du Congo est actuellement de plus en plus menacée en raison de l'exploitation illégale des forêts, l'agriculture itinérante, l'accroissement de la population, ainsi que les industries pétrolières et minières. Le conseil d'administration de la BAD a déjà examiné les documents relatifs à l'hébergement du fonds par le Groupe de la Banque et ceux-ci devraient être transmis au Conseil des gouverneurs pour approbation finale. Le Fonds sera situé dans le département de l'Agriculture et de l'Agro-industrie (Osan) et son directeur, dont le personnel technique sera basé dans les bureaux de la BAD au Cameroun et en République démocratique du Congo (RDC), supervisera les opérations du secrétariat du fonds. Au fil des années, le Groupe de la Banque a accumulé une vaste expérience dans la gestion des fonds tels que la Facilité africaine de l'eau (FAE), le mécanisme africain du financement des engrais, Le Fonds de préparation des projets d'infrastructures du Nouveau partenariat économique pour le développement de l'Afrique (NEPAD) ainsi que le Fonds pour l'environnement mondial (FEM).

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Uganda: Famine Threat Looms

New Vision (Kampala): Famine is likely to strike several parts of the country, following the outbreak of crop diseases in several staple foods. Participants at a seminar on the causes of the food and energy crisis heard that bananas, cassava, sweet potatoes, millet and other key staple foods have all been invaded by diseases. Dr.Yona Baguma, a senior research officer with the National Crop Resources Research Institute in Namulonge said: “Every banana you buy has survived an ambush of pests and parasites. From the roots, attacked by nematode worms, to the leaves, devastated by fungal diseases, banana plants are vulnerable to many diseases." http://allafrica.com/stories/200806180057.html

Ghana: EPA Boss Calls for New Guidelines

Ghanaian Chronicle (Accra): The Executive Director of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Mr. J.A Allotey has observed that the consumption of the Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) had been on the steady rise since its introduction into the country. The increase in demand, according to him, had attracted investments into the sector, resulting in the proliferation of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) Filling plants, particularly in the rural centres. He added, "this situation poses a serious threat to lives and properties due to the volatile nature of LPG and the potential to cause fire outbreaks. The case of the Kumasi explosion is still fresh in our minds." Speaking at a two-day workshop organized jointly by the EPA and the National Petroleum Authority, he advised that the situation called for the introduction of new guidelines and effective collaboration between operators and regulators to ensure safe and sound operations in the sector. He said that the EPA is mandated under Act 490, 1994 to ensure compliance with the requirements of the Environmental Assessment Regulations, 1999, LI 1652 and laid down EPA procedures. http://allafrica.com/stories/200806180732.html

Nigeria: Country Worst Hit By Food Crisis - Yar'Adua

Leadership (Abuja): President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua has stated that Nigeria is among the worst hit by the shortage of food occasioned by land degradation and climate change. The president made the remarks yesterday while declaring this year's National Desertification Summit in commemoration of the World Desertification Day held at the Multi-purpose Hall, Bauchi. He said the summit is quite appropriate at this moment given the current global food crisis, saying the administration will not fold its arms in the face of the rise in food prices being experienced in the country. "We have ensured increase in budgetary provisions in the 2008 fiscal year with the aim of improving not only the agricultural production but also other sectors of the seven-point agenda in the country. Let me say that climate change is the major contributing factor to desertification, therefore tree planting became the only solution and contributing factor to desertification not only in the country but the world over," he said. He called on every Nigerian to at least plant a tree to cool the earth, considering that the Federal Government has put measures, especially through the establishment of different agencies, to tackle specific environment problems. Yar'Adua, who was represented by the Minister of Environment,

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Housing and Urban development, Arc. Halima Tayo Alao, applauded the members of the National Assembly for encouraging the establishment of various agencies in the country that could tackle issues relating to land degradation in the country. He then commended the Bauchi State government for hosting this year's submit. http://allafrica.com/stories/200806180377.html

Botswana: Vilart Energy to Take Solar Power to the Cattlepost

Mmegi/The Reporter (Gaborone): Botswana companies are taking calls by Government to find alternative sources of energy to supplement dwindling supplies seriously following downscaling by Eskom of South Africa. As the search intensifies, several energy companies are harnessing more sustainable and environment-friendly sources like the sun. Vilart Energy is one such Botswana company that has been successful in that regard. Vilart Energy has been hailed for embracing the philosophy of green energy in powering streetlights with solar energy. It is considering extending the technology to boreholes. Solar power is already in wide use in a number of countries around the world, among them Israel and Spain. The co-directors of Vilart Energy, Mesh Moeti and Modirwa Kekwaletswe, last week held a seminar for civic leaders and heads of parastatals, among them council chairmen, mayors, council secretaries and CEOs of public companies to enlighten them on solar technology at the National Museum and Art Gallery in Gaborone. http://allafrica.com/stories/200806181195.html

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ROAP MEDIA UPDATETHE ENVIRONMENT IN THE NEWS

Thursday, 19 June, 2008

General environment news

Bangladesh - Centre formulating action plan on climate change – Times of India China rushes to repair dams; 9,000 square miles flooded – China Post India - Floods leave 300,000 homeless in India's east – ABC News Japan - Panel offers 300 measures for handling global warming – Daily Yomiuri Lao - Nam theun dam reservoir set to be flooded – The Nation Thailand - Artificial reefs 'would slow down erosion' – The Nation

General environment news

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Centre formulating action plan on climate change

18 Jun, 2008, 1934 hrs IST, PTI BANGALORE: The Centre is formulating a national action plan to find out measures to help adapt to consequence of climate change, Shyam Saran, special envoy of the Prime Minister said here on Wednesday.

"The plan will look at science behind the phenomenon of climate change, risks it poses to the country and to achievement of its economic and social development objectives", Saran said at the Clean Air Summit being held here.

The plan, expected to be released by the Prime Minister later this month, was formulated after deliberating with the academic institutions who are studying the subject closely.

"There will also be a strategy to enable India to pursue, in a significantly enhanced manner, sustainable development, which means a development pattern that assumes a graduated shift from fossil fuels to non-fossil fuels, non-renewable to renewable sources of energy and conventional to non-conventional sources of energy", he said.

"This would enable the country to stabilise its greenhouse gas emissions at a lower and more sustainable level and eventually reduce them significantly", he said, adding the national action plan will also contain mechanisms for implementation of various policy measures.

"We envisage a key role for private sector and would welcome public-private partnerships to achieve the objectives of the plan", he said.

There will also be an acknowledgement that in several areas reliance on market mechanisms may be more efficient in delivering results than administrative processes.

"There will be a focus on improving fuel efficiency and emissions standards for vehicular traffic and for promotion of mass public transportation in general", he said. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ET_Cetera/Centre_formulating_action_plan_on_climate_change/articleshow/3142632.cms ....................................................................

China rushes to repair dams; 9,000 square miles flooded

By John Ruwitch, Reuters

FENGKOU, China -- China has posted hundreds of police and rescue officials to shore up dams threatening to burst under torrential rain that has already flooded thousands of square miles of crops and homes. The rain and floods, concentrated in the southern industrial hub of Guangdong, have killed at least 171 people and left 52 missing since the start of the annual flood season and forecasters have warned of more downpours in coming days.

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More than 750 government officials and police had been sent to conduct rescue work for six reservoirs in "danger of bursting" in southern Guangxi region, Xinhua news agency said.

Some 3,000 people had already been evacuated downstream from a reservoir with a capacity of 1.8 million cubic meters, the agency said.

More than 1.66 million people have been evacuated across nine provinces and regions in southern China since major flooding started 11 days ago.

Families were perched on the roofs of homes flooded up to the first floor ceiling, enduring the latest in a series of disasters in Beijing's Olympic year after record snowstorms in January and February and the devastating May 12 earthquake.

Rain-triggered floods have toppled 134,000 houses, damaged or destroyed 2.32 million hectares (9,000 square miles) of crops and caused economic losses of 27.7 billion yuan (US$4 billion).

China's meteorological bureau forecast storms in western Guangdong and southern Guangxi and warned authorities to halt outdoor work and guard against damaged electric cables.

Water levels in the swollen Xijiang and Beijiang rivers in Guangdong were subsiding slowly, but rain forecast over the next three days would provide renewed risk of flooding, Xinhua said.

Heavy rains forecast for neighboring Fujian province could also "cause geological disasters".

Provincial water authorities earlier reported the Pearl River Delta, a major exporting base, had suffered its greatest flooding in 50 years.

Sherman Chan, an Australia-based economist with Moodys.com, said the economic cost would be measured not only in the direct damage and lost output in the flooded areas, but also in worsening food price inflation across the country.http://www.chinapost.com.tw/china/national%20news/2008/06/19/161640/China-rushes.htm ....................................................................

Floods leave 300,000 homeless in India's east

Indian soldiers have evacuated thousands of stranded people from submerged villages as floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains swept across the country's east and north-east.

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More than 300,000 people have lost their homes so far, and are scattered between camps, highways and makeshift shelters on higher ground, officials said. Rising river waters have broken through mud embankments and flooded vast areas.

"Flood waters have submerged thousands of acres of land, disrupted electricity, roads and rail communication in many districts," S Barai, a senior state government official said in Bhubaneswar, capital of the eastern state of Orissa.

Hundreds of people are camping on highways and authorities have asked them to move to higher ground, saying the weather could worsen in the next few days. Others are stranded.

"We are not able to move out of our homes, because the roads are cut off since last night in our town," Mohhammed Rafiq Khan, a resident of the worst-hit Balasore district said.

In the neighbouring state of West Bengal, soldiers used speedboats to help evacuate flood victims.

Monsoon rains have also lashed India's remote north-east, killing at least 30 people in the region since the weekend.

In tea-rich Assam state, thousands of people were still living in waist-deep water. Officials said teams of doctors and paramedics had been sent to flood-hit areas.

"Although there are no reports of any outbreak of diseases, we are taking no chances," Assam's Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said.

Assam accounts for about 55 per cent of India's tea production, but officials said they were still to get reports of rains affecting the tea trade. – Reutershttp://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/06/19/2279123.htm?section=world ……………………………………………

Panel offers 300 measures for handling global warming

The Yomiuri Shimbun

A panel of experts advising the Environment Ministry announced Wednesday about 300 measures to deal with global warming such as building houses on pillars and desalinating seawater.

The measures were divided into seven categories including food, water, disaster prevention and public health. It is the first time a government panel has announced measures based on the assumption that global warming will continue to intensify, according to sources.

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The panel comprises scientists and global warming experts, and is chaired by Prof. Nobuo Mimura of Ibaraki University. It has been studying the effects of global warming and measures to limit those effects.

The measures were devised on the premise that the average temperature in Japan will rise 1 or 2 degrees by about 2030. The panel recommended central and local governments adopt its recommendations in their disaster damage prevention plans and actively develop precautionary measures against global warming.

Among its findings, the panel predicts the quality of rice will deteriorate because of the temperature rise, and suggests governments try to develop rice strains that thrive in higher temperatures. It also suggests farmers delay the timing of rice planting. (Jun. 19, 2008)http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20080619TDY02307.htm ...................................................

Nam theun dam reservoir set to be flooded

By Supalak G khundee, The Nation, Published on June 19, 2008

Conditions said to have worsened for moved villagers

The operator of the Nam Theun II hydropower dam in Laos plans to shut the dam's watergates in a week or so to fill its reservoir, amid concerns it is behind in its livelihood programme and it lacks environment protection.

The flooding of the 450 square kilometres is to reserve water for generating 1,070 megawatts of electricity, to be mostly sold to Thailand next year.

The project directly affects 6,200 people living in the Nakai Plateau where the dam is located.

They have been relocated from villages that will be submerged soon.

Their living standards initially improved when they were moved, but as the dam is about to start operations their conditions have worsened.

The 13th report by the International Environmental and Social Panel of Experts (POE) in February said overall living standards had fallen. Most villages appear affected and the conditions can be expected to stagnate or decline further during most of this year because of delays in implementing a "livelihood programme".

The POE was employed as an adviser to the Laos government to monitor social and environmental impact at the dam.

"A further decline is likely if the dam shuts because the settlers will be unable to cultivate draw-down areas for rice during the rainy season this year," it said.

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"Buffaloes are dying of disease and there are cases of starvation at many villages and a drop in employment opportunities associated with the construction of the project," the report said.

General concerns for filling the reservoir are biomass clearance and water quality.

Decomposing biomass in flooded areas could spoil water quality. Degraded water quality was observed as levels of dissolved oxygen dropped.

The dam's developer has cleared 1,500 hectares of biomass but shortly before filling the reservoir, an additional 1,500 hectares also required clearance but that has not been done, said conservationist Shannon Lawrence, director of the International Rivers' Lao Programme.

Decomposing matter is not the only problem associated with dams. In many cases, hydropower dams can emit greenhouse gas, contributing to global warming, she said.

Previous studies suggested that the world's largest dams emit 104 million tonnes of methane annually from reservoir surfaces, turbines, spills and water downstream.

This implied the dams are responsible for at least 4 per cent of the total warming.

However, a report from the Nam Theun II developer argued that the dam would offset the use of gas-fired plants, which translates into a saving of over 520 million tonnes of carbon dioxide over a century.

There are many problems in downstream areas raised by the panel of experts and they had not yet been addressed by the developers, Lawrence countered.

Due to its design, the hyropower plant would not release water from its turbine to the same river but to another basin at Xe Bang Fai where some 25,000 to 120,000 people could be affected.

High water levels caused by the dam could result in flood, which takes place every two or three years in the basin.

The dam developer allocated US$ 16 million (Bt534 million) in total resources to help relieve the impact but it may not be adequate.

The real cost should be $80 million to$100 million, said Lawrence .

The panel of experts urged the Asian Development Bank, one of the major financiers, to commit more resources with emphasis on flood management and dry season irrigation.

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Another group from 300 to 400 households who lost more than 10 per cent of their productive land to the construction have not yet obtained land compensation since the dam developer could not find new plots to replace old ones.

The second option, which takes time, is to find a new site and develop an irrigation system.

Lawrence alleged that ascheme allowing the developer to take people's land before replacing it is against the World Bank's regulations.

The bank is heavily involved in the project since it provided its risk guarantee.

There remains a group of affected people in some 40 villages living downstream who are off the radar screen of the project and do not qualify for compensation, Lawrence said.

The immediate impact could be serious as the flow of water in the Nam Theun River will quickly drop when the dam shuts the flow.

The impact on aquatic species, animal and vegetation, which villagers depend on, will be substantial, he said, as there is no clear plan to help them. http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2008/06/19/politics/politics_30075906.php ........................................................

Artificial reefs 'would slow down erosion'

By The Nation, Published on June 19, 2008

Artificial reefs will have to be used to slow down shoreline erosion, which is now a big threat to the country's coastal areas, an engineering lecturer says.

Worawuth Wisuthimethangkul, of Prince of Songkhla University's (PSU) Faculty of Engineering, said students were studying ways to use artificial reefs to reduce the impact of waves.

The project, supported by the Department of Mineral Resources, not only aims to solve the problem of erosion, which is occurring at an alarming rate, but also to increase nursery areas for marine life, he said.

Worawuth did not say what kind of material would be used to make the artificial reefs. But he said it must not have an adverse impact on the marine eco-system and should not create visual pollution.

He said the coastline at Samilah Beach, Songkhla, was selected for a pilot project. However, before putting the artificial reefs into the sea, public opinion about the project would be gathered.

33

Payom Rattanamanee, also from PSU's Faculty of Engineering, who heads the project, said about 2km of shoreline of Samilah Beach had been damaged. The rate of erosion of the beach was 1.3 metres a year.

Shorelines along both the Gulf of Thailand and Andaman Sea were under serious threat from coastal erosion. Worawuth said more than 1,650km of coastal line in 23 provinces from Trad to Narathiwat and Ranong to Satun had been damaged by waves. The erosion rate in some areas was as high as 20 metres a year, Worawuth said.

The possibility of artificial reefs being used to control coastal erosion is just the latest idea to be studied by academics.

A few years ago, Thanawat Jarupongsakul, of Chulalongkorn University's Department of Geology, invented a breakwater comprised of boomerang-shaped concrete columns to lessen the power of the waves. The breakwater had been installed, as part of an experiment, at the small coastal village of Khun Samutchine in Samut Prakan province, which had been suffering from coastal erosion for years.

According to Thanawat, the breakwater worked very well in stabilising and rehabilitating the shoreline at the village. He will soon present the results of the World Bank-supported experiment to the public.

But Thanawat said the breakwater would only work with a muddy seashore, not sand.http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2008/06/19/politics/politics_30075904.php

Back to Menu _________________________________________________________________________

RONA MEDIA UPDATETHE ENVIRONMENT IN THE NEWS

Wednesday June 18, 2008

UNEP or UN in the NewsReuters: Property must cut carbon footprint faster: U.N.Time: Gulf’s Growing ‘Dead Zone’

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UNEP or UN in the News

Property must cut carbon footprint faster: U.N.

June 18, 2008

LONDON (Reuters) - The global property industry could pay a high price for moving too slowly to shrink its colossal carbon footprint, a report to a United Nations conference on the environment said on Wednesday.

The "Building Responsible Property Portfolios" report urged investors to comply with the U.N.-backed Principles for Responsible Investment or risk seeing their returns on environmentally unfriendly property assets slide sharply.

The report, which was written by Gary Pivo of the University of Arizona and supervised by the Property Working Group of the United Nations Environment Program Finance Initiative (UN EPFI), said buildings were responsible for around half of global carbon dioxide emissions, both from operations and the energy consumed by people traveling to and from them.

It said investors could exert crucial influence on property fund managers to invest in sustainable property, and reap significant financial benefits from savings on operating costs and higher rents from tenants.

"We operate in an industry where investors, occupiers, constructors, and developers each blame the other for the lack of positive action in improving the environmental footprint of new and existing buildings," said Paul McNamara, co-Chair of the UN EPFI Property Working Group.

"Our report highlights the wide range of opportunities that exist for institutional investors who want to take positive action and apply the Principles for Responsible Investment to their property assets," he said.

35

General Environment News Reuters: Bush urges Congress to end offshore oil drill ban MSNBC : Feeling thrifty, the thirsty reach for tap water MSNBC: Levee could breach 47 square miles MSNBC: McCain striving for superhero status New York Times: McCain showcases his environmental side Globe and Mail: Friends of the Earth take Ottawa to court over Kyoto Los Angeles Times: Offshore oil drilling opponents are rethinking Los Angeles Times: Dig into Debate Yahoo: Scientists fighting disease with climate forecasts

European members of the UN EPFI Property Working Group include AXA Investment Managers, F&C Asset Management, Hermes Real Estate, Morley Fund Management, PRUPIM and WestLB AG.

(Reporting by Sinead Cruise; Editing by Paul Bolding)

(See www.reutersrealestate.com for the global service for real estate professionals from Reuters)

 http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSL1868886420080618

Time Gulf’s Growing ‘Dead Zone’Bryan WalshJune 18,2008

The American Midwest is essentially the granary of the world, supplying corn, wheat and

other crops to markets from Chile to China. But all that food doesn't grow by itself. In

2006 U.S. farmers used more than 21 million tons of nitrogen, phosphorus and other

fertilizers to boost their crops, and all those chemicals have consequences far beyond the

immediate area. When the spring rains come, fertilizer from Midwestern farms drains

into the Mississippi river system and down to Louisiana, where the agricultural sewage

pours into the Gulf of Mexico. Just as fertilizer speeds the growth of plants on land, the

chemicals enhance the rapid development of algae in the water. When the algae die and

decompose, the process sucks all the oxygen out of the surrounding waters, leading to a

hypoxic event — better known as a "dead zone." The water becomes as barren as the

surface of the moon. What sea life that can flee the zone does so; what can't, dies.

Since 1990 the dead zone, which begins in summer and lasts until early fall, has averaged

about 6,046 sq. mi. But the threat is growing. A study released last week by scientists

from Louisiana State University (LSU) and the Louisiana Universities Marine

Consortium estimated that this year's dead zone would be more than 10,000 sq. mi.,

roughly the size of Massachusetts. But that prediction was made before massive floods

hit the Midwest: with the flow of the Mississippi at dangerous levels, and with rains

sweeping fertilizer off drowned farms, the dead zone could grow even bigger. The

Louisiana fishing industry, the second largest in the nation, is already hurting, with

shrimp catches falling in the dead zone's wake. The U.S. is not alone in grappling with

this aquatic byproduct. As modern, chemically intensive agricultural practices spread

36

around the globe, so does hypoxia; a 2004 U.N. report documents nearly 150 dead zones

globally. But none compare to the black hole in the Gulf of Mexico. "This year would be

the largest since we've started keeping records," says R. Eugene Turner, a zoologist with

LSU who led the modeling effort. "It's definitely getting worse."

In response to the growing problem, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) —

along with several other federal groups and the governments of states that feed into the

Mississippi — released a plan of attack on Monday to reduce the Gulf's dead zone. The

plan, an update of an effort launched in the waning days of the Clinton Administration in

2001, looks to harness state and federal action to reduce the flow of fertilizer into the

Mississippi, much of which comes from agricultural sources that aren't covered by the

regulations of the Clean Water Act. The ultimate goal is to shrink the size of the dead

zone, averaged over five years, to 1,930 sq. mi. or less by 2015 — considerably smaller

than the 7,900 sq. mi. the zone reached last year. "This plan has greater accountability

and specificity [than 2001]," says Benjamin Grumbles, the EPA's assistant administrator

for water. "This is urgent."

But not so urgent that the government seems ready to spend what it would take to truly

revive the dead zone. Although Grumbles points out that an action plan isn't the same

thing as a budget allocation, there's little evidence that anyone is prepared to bear the

financial burden of drastically reducing fertilizer runoff in the Midwest. (It doesn't help

that 31 states feed into the Mississippi River basin, or that multiple federal agencies are

involved with the dead-zone task force.) A 2007 report by the National Research Council

called for more aggressive leadership by the EPA to coordinate and oversee state

activities along the Mississippi, but the agency doesn't seem ready or able to seize that

role. The plan itself reports that "resources are insufficient to gain the goals" of the task

force. "We seem to be going in the opposite direction," says Donald Scavia, a professor

of natural resources and the environment at the University of Michigan. "We don't seem

committed to fixing the problem."

Not that it's an easy one to fix. Most of the nutrient pollution that ends up in the Gulf

comes from the hundreds of thousands of farms in the Midwest. The only sure way to

shrink the dead zone is to reduce the amount of fertilizer running off those farms. But

thanks in part to the push for corn-based ethanol and the skyrocketing price of food crops,

U.S. farmers are planting more acres for corn than they have since World War II —

including 15 million more acres last year than in 2006. Although there are measures

37

farmers can take to limit fertilizer runoff, those changes are expensive, and there's little

federal funding to support such conservation. The just-released action plan relies mostly

on voluntary activities. "We need Congress to act as if this is going to get done," says

Doug Daigle, a member of the task force. "The state governments will contribute, but this

has to be initiated by the Federal Government."

Unfortunately, the dead zone isn't simply an environmental failure, but also a

consequence of our national agricultural policy, which subsidizes farmers to grow vast,

heavily fertilized quantities of corn and other grains. The pork-laden farm bill, which

recently passed Congress over President George W. Bush's veto, will only worsen the

problem. And even if we can begin to reduce the future flow of fertilizer, repeated dead

zones are having a cumulative effect, with smaller amounts of nitrates and other

chemicals in the Gulf having a larger hypoxic impact than in the past. "We have to decide

how much we're willing to spend to save the Gulf fisheries," says Daigle. "Right now, we

don't seem to be willing to invest much." Put simply, the Gulf is running out of air — and

we're running out of time to fix it.

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1815305,00.html

General Environmental News

Bush urges Congress to end offshore oil drill ban

June 18, 2008

By Tabassum Zakaria and Chris Baltimore

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush on Wednesday urged Congress to end a ban on offshore oil drilling, seeking to address rising consumer angst over record-high gasoline prices with a plan sure to anger environmentalists.

"Every American who drives to work, purchases food or ships a product has felt the effect, and families across the country are looking to Washington for a response," Bush said.

As average U.S. pump prices pierced the $4-a-gallon level for the first time this month, energy policy has become a key issue in the presidential race ahead of November elections.

38

Bush said opening federal lands off the U.S. east and west coasts -- where oil drilling has been banned by both an executive order and a congressional moratorium since the early 1990s -- could yield about 18 billion barrels of oil.

That's enough to meet current U.S. consumption for about 2 1/2 years, but it likely would take a decade or more to find the oil and produce it.

Bush's latest drilling plan comes as lawmakers on Capitol Hill wage a war of words over who is to blame for record-high gasoline prices.

Republicans and Bush have repeatedly blamed Democrats for blocking legislation that opens offshore lands and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to drilling.

"Democrats on Capitol Hill have rejected virtually every proposal, and now Americans are paying the price at the pump for this obstruction," Bush said.

About 60 percent of Americans support government moves to encourage more oil drilling and refinery construction as a way to combat soaring energy prices -- but the same number also profess to be in favor of conservation, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday.

Republicans, including presidential candidate John McCain who announced his position this week after opposing it in the past, increasingly support lifting the ban on offshore oil drilling.

Barack Obama who is running for president, and fellow Democrats, oppose it over environmental concerns and say such action would have little immediate impact on fuel prices.

Bush's statement was the latest in a long-running blame game between Democrats and Republicans over who shoulders the blame for high fuel prices.

"I know the Democratic leaders have opposed some of these policies in the past. Now that their opposition has helped drive gas prices to record levels, I ask them to reconsider their positions," Bush said.

Environmental groups have long opposed expanded offshore oil drilling, raising concerns about the dangers to fragile ecosystems as well potential for oilspills that could mar the U.S. coastline.

"The Bush-McCain plan is a gift to the oil companies that endangers the economic and environmental health of the Jersey Shore and our entire state," said Sen. Frank Lautenberg, a New Jersey Democrat.

Bush also proposed an end to the ban on oil shale drilling, and said the United States needs to expand its refining capacity and proposed measures to speed up federal approval of refinery building permits.

39

(Additional reporting by David Alexander; Editing by David Wiessler)

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSWAT00968520080618?sp=true

Feeling thrifty, the thirsty reach for tap water

June 18, 2008

Associated Press

Tap water is making a comeback.

With a day's worth of bottled water — the recommended 64 ounces — costing hundreds

to thousands of dollars a year depending on the brand, more people are opting to slurp

water that comes straight from the sink.

The lousy economy may be accomplishing what environmentalists have been trying to do

for years — wean people off the disposable plastic bottles of water that were sold as

stylish, portable, healthier and safer than water from the tap.

Heather Kennedy, 33, an office administrator from Austin, Texas, said she used to drink a

lot of bottled water but now tries to drink exclusively tap water.

"I feel that (bottled water) is a rip-off," she said in an e-mail. "It is not a better or

healthier product than the water that comes out of my tap. It is absurd to pay so much

extra for it."

Measured in 700-milliliter bottles of Poland Spring, a daily intake of water would cost

$4.41, based on prices at a CVS drugstore in New York. Or $6.36 in 20-ounce bottles of

Dasani. By half-liters of Evian, that'll be $6.76, please. Which adds up to thousands a

year.

Even a 24-pack of half-liter bottles at Costco Wholesale Corp., a bargain at $6.97, would

be consumed by one person in six days. That's more than $400 a year.

40

But water from the tap? A little more than 0.14 cent for a day's worth of water, based on

averages from an American Water Works Association survey — just about 51 cents a

year.

U.S. consumers spent $16.8 billion on bottled water in 2007, according to the trade

publication Beverage Digest. That's up 12 percent from the year before — but it's the

slowest growth rate since the early 1990s, said editor John Sicher.

Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc., the biggest bottler of Coca-Cola Co.'s Dasani, recently cut its

outlook for the quarter, saying the weak North American economy is hurting sales of

bottled water and soda — especially the 20-ounce single serving sizes consumers had

been buying at gas stations.

"They're not walking in and spending a dollar plus for a 20-ounce bottle of water," said

beverage analyst William Pecoriello at Morgan Stanley. Flavored and "enhanced" waters

like vitamin drinks are also eating into plain bottled water's market share.

Pecoriello said Americans' concern about the environment was also a factor, driven by

campaigns against the use of oil in making and transporting the bottles, the waste they

create and the notion of paying for what is essentially free.

The Tappening Project, which promotes tap water in the U.S. as clean, safe and more

eco-friendly than bottled water, launched a new ad campaign in May. The company has

also sold more than 200,000 reusable hard plastic and stainless steel bottles since last

November.

Linda Schiffman, 56, a recent retiree from Lexington, Mass., bought two metal bottles at

$14.50 each for herself and her daughter from Corporate Accountability, a consumer

advocate group, after she swore off buying cases of bottled water from Costco.

"I've been doing a lot of cost-cutting since I retired," said Schiffman, a former middle-

school guidance counselor. "Additionally, I started feeling like this was a big waste

environmentally."

Aware of those concerns, some bottled water makers are trying to address the issue.

41

Nestle says all its half-liter bottles now come in an "eco-shape" that contains 30 percent

less plastic than the average bottle, and it has pared back other packaging. PepsiCo and

Coca-Cola have also cut down on the amount of plastic used in their bottles.

While it is difficult to track rates of tap water use, sales of faucet accessories are

booming.

Brita tap water purification products made by Clorox Co. reported double-digit volume

and sales growth in May and have seen three straight quarters of strong growth.

Robin Jaeger of Needham, Mass., fills her kids' reusable bottles with water from the

house's faucet. But she doesn't use water straight from the tap.

"My kids have come to the conclusion that any water that's not filtered doesn't taste

good," she said.

Her reverse-osmosis filter system costs about $200 every 18 months for maintenance —

still cheaper than buying by the bottle.

Kennedy, the tap convert from Texas, has a filter built into her refrigerator. She also

recently bought a reusable aluminum bottle made by Sigg, a Swiss company which has

stopped selling its $19.99 metal bottles from its Web site, saying demand has swamped

its supply.

While Brita is the dominant player in water filtration, according to Deutsche Bank analyst

Bill Schmitz, sales of P&G's Pur water filtration systems are also growing. Sales from the

Pur line have increased almost every month since mid-2007, said Bruce Lux, its brand

manager. He declined to give sales figures but said "the water filtration category is

expanding very rapidly."

"There's a backlash against the plastic water bottle," Schmitz said.

Cities and businesses, big to small, have also gotten in on the action.

42

Marriott International Inc. distributed free refillable water bottles and coffee mugs to the

3,500 employees at its corporate offices in Bethesda, Md., and installed multiple water

filters on every floor. The Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkeley, Calif., got rid of bottled

still water in the summer of 2006 and started sparkling its own water in early 2007.

"Does it make sense to bottle water in Italy, trek it to a port, ship it all the way over here,

then trek it to our restaurant?" said Chez Panisse general manager Mike Kossa-Rienzi.

"We were going through 25,000 bottles a year. ... Someone has to end up recycling

them."

Many cities, including New York, have enacted pro-tap campaigns, and some have

stopped providing disposable water bottles for government employees.

Chicago started a 5-cent tax on plastic water bottles in January. San Francisco has done

away with deliveries of water jugs for office use, instead installing filters and bottle-less

dispensers, and banned the purchase of single-serving bottles by city employees with

municipal funds. The city has already cut its government water budget in half, to

$250,000 a year, said Tony Winnicker, spokesman for the San Francisco Public Utilities

Commission.

"It's becoming chic to say, 'Oh no, I don't drink bottled water, I'll have tap water,' " he

said.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25211545/

Levee breach could swamp 47 square miles

June 18, 2008MSNBC News Services

MEYER, Ill. - Floodwaters with the potential to swamp 47 square miles breached a levee

in western Illinois on Wednesday, adding to the 18 other levees breached or overtopped

along the Mississippi River.

43

The Illinois breach flooded farmland near the hamlet of Meyer, Adams County

Emergency Management Agency spokeswoman Julie Shepard said.

Meyer, a town of 40 to 50 people, had to be evacuated, and authorities patrolled the town

Wednesday morning to make sure no one was left behind, she said.

Flooding at Meyer could swamp 30,000 acres — or about 47 square miles — in the

largely rural area, she said.

The rising river also ran over the tops of eight levees north of St. Louis overnight,

bringing the total number of compromised levees on the most important U.S. inland

waterway to 19.

"They were lower level agricultural levees," said Army Corps of Engineers spokesman

Alan Dooley. "We're also watching another seven levees that may overtop in the next

couple of days ... all agricultural levees."

The slow-rolling disaster, the worst Midwest flooding in 15 years, has swamped vast

sections of the farm belt and forced tens of thousands of people from their homes.

Flooding that began in eastern Iowa caused at least $1.5 billion in damage as it crept

south toward the Mississippi. About 25,000 people in Cedar Rapids were forced from

their homes, 19 buildings at the University of Iowa were flooded and water treatment

plants in several cities were knocked out.

Later in the week, the Mississippi is expected to threaten a host of others communities,

leading officials to consider evacuation plans and begin sandbagging.

In Clarksville — a historic artists' town of 500 between St. Louis and Hannibal, Mo. —

National Guard members, inmates and students were sandbagging. Five blocks were

already swamped, but volunteers were doing their best to save buildings housing the

shops of artisans and craftsmen.

44

"We fix one thing and it breaks," Mayor Jo Anne Smiley said. "Sewers are plugged up.

We have leaks in walls and people who need things. We're boating in food to people."

1993 buyouts helped

But even as the water jeopardized scores of additional homes and businesses, officials

said the damage could have been worse if the federal government had not purchased low-

lying land after historic floods in 1993 that caused $12 billion in damage.

Since then, the government bought out more than 9,000 homeowners, turning much of

the land into parks and undeveloped areas that can be allowed to flood with less risk. The

Federal Emergency Management Agency has moved or flood-proofed about 30,000

properties.

The effort required whole communities to be moved, such as Rhineland, Mo., and

Valmeyer, Ill.

In Iowa, FEMA spent $1.6 million to buy out residents of Elkport, population 80, and

then knock down the village's remaining buildings. Some residents moved to Garber,

Elkport's twin city across the Turkey River, but others abandoned the area.

"There's nothing there in Elkport anymore," said Helen Jennings of Garber. "They built

new houses in different places."

Some of those who stayed are paying a price.

The federal government bought about a quarter of the homes in Chelsea, Iowa, after the

1993 floods, but most of the 300 residents stayed. At least 10 homes are now inundated

by the Iowa River to their first floors.

Residents take it in stride, said Mayor Roger Ochs.

"For the most part, it's another flood," he said. "For Chelsea, it's more of an

inconvenience."

45

On Tuesday, people were urged to evacuate an area near Gulf Port, Ill., as floodwaters

threatened about 12 square miles of farmland. Henderson County Deputy Sheriff Donald

Seitz said a major highway could be under 10 feet of water by midday Wednesday.

On the Iowa side of the river, a sandbagging operation was moved south to the outskirts

of Burlington after floodwaters streamed across state Highway 99.

Oakville Apostolic Church "is now an island," said Carly Wagenbach, who was taking

food to levee workers.

Officials were also concerned about the integrity of a levee that protects a drainage area

south of Oakville.

"It's outrageous," said Steve Poggemiller. "We're hanging on by a thread — or a

sandbag."

Jeff Campbell, a farmer carrying sandbags on his four-wheeler, said he spotted pigs

swimming away from a flooded hog farm near Oakville. They were climbing a levee,

poking holes in the plastic that covered it, he said.

One tired pig was lying at the bottom of the levee "like a pink sandbag," Campbell said.

The rising water forced the closure of the Mississippi bridge in Burlington and stopped

car traffic on the bridge in Fort Madison. The bridge's railroad tracks remained open. A

bridge downriver in Keokuk also remained open.

Clean up in Cedar Rapids

To the north in Cedar Rapids, floodwaters had dropped enough that officials let hundreds

of people return to their damaged homes and businesses.

"It's obviously much more shocking when you walk in the door for the first time and see

what happened," said Amy Wyss, watching sullenly as a giant blower was used to dry out

her upscale wine bar, Zins. "I don't think you can be prepared for this, even if you think

you are."

46

The National Weather Service expects crests this week along some Mississippi River

communities near St. Louis to come close to those of 1993. The river at Canton, Mo.,

could reach 27.5 feet on Thursday, just shy of the 27.88 mark of 1993 and more than 13

feet above flood stage.

Crests at Quincy, Ill., and Hannibal, Mo., are expected to climb to about 15 feet above

flood stage, narrowly short of the high water from 15 years ago.

In St. Louis, the Mississippi is projected to crest Saturday at 39.8 feet, about 10 feet

above flood stage but still a foot lower than in 1993.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25238987/

McCain striving for superhero status

By Howard Fineman

MSNBC

June 18, 2008

WASHINGTON - Sen. John McCain may be 71 — a quarter century older than Sen.

Barack Obama — but he is trying to win the White House by portraying himself as the

more action-oriented, practical and resilient man.

He wants to have some of the powers of both the Ironman and the Hulk, although the

post-spinach Popeye would be more appropriate.

And he wants to portray Obama as the former professor too inexperienced and caught up

in theoretical matters to be president in perilous, crisis-ridden times.

That is the sense I get of one prong of the McCain camp’s strategic thinking as their

candidate junks much of his past association with environmentalism in a five-day energy

tour that continues today.

47

McCain wants to do immediate things as gas prices continue to rise inexorably toward

five dollars a gallon.

He remains in favor of a federal gas-tax moratorium, a gimmick for sure, but a politically

salable one. Yesterday he announced — in Houston, of course — that he has reversed

course, and now favors lifting the 27-year-old federal ban on drilling for oil and gas in

the Outer Continental Shelf, or OCS (though McCain remains in favor of the ban on

drilling in Alaska’s National Wildlife Refuge, or ANWR).

He is coming out for an aggressive plan to build more nuclear power plants and attendant

facilities; for new federal money for quick-to-market “clean coal” technology; for oil-

shale development; and for other measures. He wants to pour money into currently-

available car-battery technology.

In other words: Let’s drill! Let’s generate! Let’s dig! Let’s manufacture!

Whoa!

Allies pitching in

The Bush White House, key McCain allies in the states, and most Republicans on the Hill

seem glad to hear the news, and are pitching in. The president announced yesterday that

he, too, now favors lifting the OCS moratorium. Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, who would

love to be on the ticket with McCain, says that he too is for doing so, even in the beach-

and-tourism dependent Sunshine State, and GOP members are lining up with bill after

bill to tap American energy supplies.

Is McCain making the right bet politically? Even some Republican leaders are dubious.

The Arizona senator can’t afford to be seen as a flip-flopper, said Rep. Tom Cole of

Oklahoma, who heads the House GOP’s campaign committee. And while the McCain

campaign insists that this isn’t a change of position, Cole worries that McCain is risking

his most prized possession, the image of a man of conviction.

48

But McCain operatives think they are striking pay dirt. For one, they note it would be up

to the individual states to decide whether to allow drilling in the OCS. Second, most

proposals call for the feds to let the states keep most of the tax money that would result.

And third, most proposals call for off shore drilling to be pretty far off shore — 50 miles

or more.

More importantly, McCain is trying to turn the energy issue into an immediate security

matter — and offering himself as commander-in-chief of a new era of gas-pump warfare.

This strategy is called making the best of a bad situation.

McCain trails Obama in most measures on most issues, including the question of who can

best deal with rising pump prices. McCain’s candidacy is built on one rock: national

security and the war on terror. Now he wants to turn energy supply and prices into an

urgent national security issue. “We are talking security at every stop,” says advisor

Charlie Black.

Raising money

Campaign funds are part of the calculation, too, though the McCain campaign denies it. It

is no accident that McCain launched his new energy round in Houston, where his

fundraising appeal remains weak and where George Bush’s donors have hung back. They

may still.

“We’re not going to get a lot of those people, regardless,” said Black. That doesn’t mean

the campaign can’t try. There is a lot of potential profit for old-school corporate America

in most of the measures McCain is suggesting.

The McCain campaign may also be looking at the demographics of the electorate right

now and, for the most part, giving up on the youngest voters, who have been reared on

concerns for the global environment, and who incorporate it in their approach to

everything. McCain is losing 2-1 to Obama among under-30 voters in the latest

Washington Post poll. Older voters are more inclined to the drill-dig-and-generate ethos.

49

So, perhaps, are voters in key industrial states such as Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylva-nian

and West Virginia — all places where Obama may be weak and McCain will try to

counterattack as Obama pursues his “50 state strategy” through Novem-ber.

The candidate's bet

McCain is making a specific bet on states such as Colorado and New Mexico, which are

seen by some as seedbeds of environmentalism, but which also are oil-and-gas states that

could benefit from a new drilling, digging and building boom in rural areas.

McCain and his advisors argue that they support all the long-range solutions too; from a

sweeping conservation ethic, to switch grass, to solar panels and to wind farming.

McCain’s current proposals are only a “bridge” to a non-carbon-based future, Black said.

“Of course we need renewable and recycling and all of the exotics,” he said. “But we

can’t get there from here without being urgent about production now.”

The word exotics got my attention. It’s a rather dated technical term for innovative, over-

the-horizon fuel sources.

Of course in today’s world nothing is exotic anymore, but Black — as savvy a political

counterpuncher as there is — was using it in a new context, with a new, unspoken

subtext: Obama is an “exotic” candidate in favor of “exotic” fuels. He likes Green Tea

and Whole Foods for heaven’s sake.

McCain wants to portray his foe as a professorial man mesmerized by the big picture.

Not action-hero McCain. He’s for spinach — and oil.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25243109/

50

McCain showcases his environmental sideJim RutenbergNew York TimesJune 18, 2008

Senator John McCain of Arizona began running this commercial on Tuesday on cable

news and in closely contested states like Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania, where his

advertisements have been running for the past couple of weeks.

PRODUCER McCain campaign.

ON THE SCREEN The spot opens with a frenetic series of images of industry and

nature: Smoke stacks and mountains, traffic and streams and, finally, a huge, orange

setting sun. It then shows Mr. McCain at a lectern with an image of a newspaper headline

— “McCain Climate Views Clash with G.O.P.” — below him and in the background. It

then shows images of alternative energy sources — wind turbines, a solar panel — before

switching to a shot of Mr. McCain standing on a mountain. Before the commercial ends

with the standard candidate approval, it flashes a new slogan against the bright blue sky

beside Mr. McCain, “Reform. Prosperity. Peace.”

THE SCRIPT A female announcer says, “John McCain stood up to the president and

sounded the alarm on global warming five years ago. Today, he has a realistic plan that

will curb greenhouse gas emissions. A plan that will help grow our economy and protect

our environment. Reform. Prosperity. Peace. John McCain.” Mr. McCain says, “I’m John

McCain, and I approve this message.”

ACCURACY In 2003 Mr. McCain joined with Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, then a

Connecticut Democrat, to draft a bill requiring industries to cut emissions of carbon

dioxide. The White House frowned on the bill, and it did not win Senate approval. Mr.

McCain has also joined with Democrats in supporting the idea of a system allowing

power plants and other industrial polluters to buy credits from more efficient producers

that fall well below limits on emitting heat-trapping gases. But Democrats and some

environmentalists have criticized him for missing votes on bills setting stricter fuel

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standards and for opposing incentives devised to promote energy conservation and the

development of energy alternatives, like the wind turbines and solar panels shown in this

commercial. (Mr. McCain’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment on those

criticisms on Tuesday, but he has generally favored market approaches to foster energy

alternatives.)

SCORECARD This spot does a good job promoting a major policy difference between

Mr. McCain and President Bush (not to mention most of the rest of his party.) Promoting

that rift could certainly help increase Mr. McCain’s appeal to the independent voters over

whom he and Senator Barack Obama are expected to fight intensely this fall. But his call

this week to lift the federal moratorium on oil and gas exploration and give individual

states the right to decide if they wanted to allow drilling off their coasts, which is also

being considered by Mr. Bush and is not highlighted in this commercial, may undercut its

message. Regardless, the spot, with its “reform, prosperity, peace” tagline, is decidedly

more upbeat than Mr. McCain’s last commercial, which was somber in tone and focused

on war.

JIM RUTENBERG

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/18/us/politics/18madbox.html?

scp=5&sq=environment&st=nyt

Friends of the Earth take Ottawa to court over Kyoto

Globe and Mail

MARTIN MITTELSTAEDT

ENVIRONMENT REPORTER

June 18, 2008 at 12:52 PM EDT

The federal government is being challenged in court by Friends of the Earth Canada for filing a plan to reduce greenhouse gases that doesn't meet Canada's obligations under the Kyoto Protocol, the first time any country has faced such a lawsuit.

If successful, the legal action, being heard Wednesday in Federal Court in Toronto, could be politically embarrassing for the Conservatives by forcing them to devise a new plan to fight climate change that meets the tough targets in the Kyoto Protocol, an international plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that has been ratified and signed by Canada.

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Under the protocol, Canada is supposed to cut releases of planet-warming gases — mainly carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels — by 6 per cent below the country's 1990 levels during the period 2008-12.

But last year Environment Minister John Baird introduced a climate-change program that would allow emissions to be about 34 per cent above the pact's limit in 2012, and not attain the required reductions until after 2020.

Canada is the only one of 38 industrial countries with binding Kyoto targets that has announced it would ignore the reduction requirements.

Friends of the Earth filed the action to try to force the government to put “its political will behind meeting” the protocol, says Beatrice Olivastri, the group's chief executive officer, who said Canadians want the country “to play an honourable role for climate action for the planet.”

Lawyers for the group say that Mr. Baird's plan is a violation of the Kyoto Protocol Implementation Act, which was passed by the combined opposition parties last year against the wishes of the government, and requires Canada to meet the pact's target.

But federal lawyers have argued in a legal brief on the case that the adequacy of Mr. Baird's plan is “not justiciable” and is a matter for Parliament rather than the courts to resolve.

A ruling in the case is expected in the summer or early fall.

The case for Friends of the Earth is being presented pro-bono by Toronto lawyer Chris Paliare, along with additional legal council from Ecojustice.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080618.wkyoto0618/

BNStory/National/home

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Offshore oil drilling opponents are rethinking

June 18, 2008

By Richard Simon and Bob Drogin, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers

WASHINGTON -- The environmental movement, only recently poised for major advances on global warming and other issues, has suddenly found itself on the defensive as high gasoline prices shift the political climate nationwide and trigger defections by longtime supporters.

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Opposition to offshore drilling -- once ironclad in places like California and Florida -- has begun to soften. Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida on Tuesday eased his opposition to new energy exploration off the coast.

"Floridians are suffering, and when you're paying over $4 a gallon for gas, you have to wonder whether there might be additional resources that we might be able to utilize to bring that price down," said Crist, a Republican.

At the same time, pressure to drill is mounting.

President Bush today is expected to call on Congress to lift the ban on new offshore drilling, and a House committee will consider a proposal to relax the moratorium.

John McCain, the presumed Republican presidential nominee, opposed new offshore drilling in his 2000 presidential campaign. He said Tuesday that he now supported lifting the long-standing ban.

"I believe it is time for federal government to lift these restrictions and put our own reserves to use," the Arizona senator said in a Houston speech on energy security.

Much of the nation's coastal waters are off-limits to new oil and gas leasing until 2012 under executive orders first issued by Bush's father,President George H.W. Bush, in 1991 and extended by President Clinton in 1998. In addition, Congress has taken action annually since 1981 to preclude drilling in coastal areas.

But high petroleum prices have caused policymakers to begin rethinking a variety of issues, including opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to energy exploration and imposing mandatory limits on greenhouse gas emissions from oil refineries and power plants.

"For years I have argued that we should avoid offshore drilling and tapping into underground reserves in ANWR until there was an emergency that left us with no choice," Rep. James T. Walsh (R-N.Y.), a longtime backer of the drilling ban, said recently. "That time has come."

The developments are the latest indication of the growing power of energy prices to overwhelm other priorities.

"We're seeing a large shift in public attitudes toward exploration," said C. Jeffrey Eshelman of the Independent Petroleum Assn. of America, expressing hope that McCain's change of heart "breaks ground for others to follow."

Environmentalists are increasingly concerned. Richard Charter of the Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund called this "the most risky year in 29 years" for the drilling ban.

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In one sign of concern, an effort to pass a major climate-change bill stumbled this month amid complaints from Democrats as well as Republicans that it would drive up energy prices.

McCain, in reversing his long-held position in support of the offshore ban, said he continued to oppose drilling in the Arctic refuge, an environmentally sensitive wilderness that he said deserved to stay off-limits.

Environmental groups, as well as McCain's Democratic rival, Sen. Barack Obama, argued that renewed offshore drilling would not increase supplies or lower prices for years. They warned that new drilling off California and other states would carry the risk of pollution.

Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a senior advisor to McCain's campaign, acknowledged in a conference call to reporters that new offshore drilling would have no immediate effect on supplies or prices.

But he added: "There is an important element in signaling to world oil markets that we are serious."

Congressional Republicans have been seizing on high energy prices to ratchet up the pressure on Democrats to allow more domestic drilling.

"For a long time, for appropriate reasons, we've been very sensitive about offshore drilling in California because of our beautiful Pacific Coast," Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Redlands) said recently on the House floor, adding that technology could allow for a second look.

Despite skyrocketing oil prices, efforts to weaken the offshore ban face stiff opposition.

"The people of California feel strongly about protecting the coast of California from offshore drilling. And so do I," Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said Tuesday. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger opposes lifting the moratorium but "still absolutely supports" McCain, said Aaron McLear, a spokesman for the Republican governor.

"They're going to disagree from time to time, and this is one of those cases," he said.

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) decried McCain's stance. "He ought to know he'd ruin Florida's $65-billion tourism economy by allowing oil rigs off the coast."

But as Bush adds his support to the drive to lift the ban, a new attempt is expected today in the House Appropriations Committee to allow drilling 50 miles or more off the coast.

The ban, inspired by a devastating 1969 oil spill off Santa Barbara, has prohibited drilling in most coastal waters except for parts of the Gulf of Mexico and areas off Alaska. Rep. Lois Capps (D-Santa Barbara) expressed confidence that Congress would resist efforts to

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roll back the ban.

But Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) said he saw a shifting political climate.

"I think it's changed. And I think $4 a gallon has done that," he said. "This is compelling. I hear that from people everywhere I go."

Martinez said in the new climate, the nation needed resources.

"It's about how can we supply enough product so that there is more supply available to meet the ever-increasing demand," Martinez said. "And offshore may be a part of that equation." Tamara Lytle of the Orlando Sentinel and William E. Gibson of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel contributed to this report.

http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-na-offshore18-2008jun18,0,1293740,full.story

Dig into debate over “green” utensils Los Angeles TimesJune 18, 2008

Now that you feel environmentally conscientious for having used a corn fork -- those forks made with corn starch that lately are the darlings of the takeout world -- what will you do with it?

Santa Monica passed an ordinance banning all non-recyclable plastic and polystyrene (Styrofoam) at food service establishments in February, and with daily fines topping $250, restaurants have been quick to comply.

"Our goal is to become zero waste . . . to go back to a 1950s approach of using less, like wrapping a sandwich in paper instead of plastic," explains Josephine Miller, an environmental analyst for the city of Santa Monica's Green Programs Division. "But first we've got to do what it takes to get the Styrofoam and non-recyclable plastic out of the ocean."

Acceptable choices include recyclable aluminum and plastic, paper and those compostable vegetable products.

But compostable isn't the same as biodegradable. Corn forks must be professionally composted at high temperatures, or they'll end up sharing landfill space with Styrofoam.

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Some chefs, including Daniel Snukal of , have always preferred paper products "because they just decompose." And they cost a fraction of their shiny new vegetable great-grandchildren.

But others aren't as up on their composting lingo. At Bar Pintxo, manager Angel Stork says the restaurant recently switched from aluminum to corn to-go containers "because they were on the city's list, and they sounded better, so we thought they must be." Aluminum, almost 100% recyclable, is also on the list.

The problem isn't the product, but the lack of public compost bins. "The city said we could sign up for a food waste program," says Sang Yoon, owner of Father's Office in Santa Monica. "But we don't use to-go containers. Our customers do."

Santa Monica doesn't currently have public compost bins. Miller says the city plans to provide green compost bins for all single-family homes "very soon" (some private homes already have them). But getting compost bins to apartment buildings and office parks "is much more complex."

At Andiamo in Silver Lake, which isn't affected by the ban but "tries to keep everything compostable," manager Casey Anderson offers to take customers' used corn products and "put them in our composter." So far, no one has brought back their used cornware.

"You can always boil the stuff until it dissolves," Anderson says. But he calls back to say, "Forget that -- it'll only turn the fork into a twisted-up, weird science experiment."

And distinguishing between recyclable plastic items and corn products isn't always easy. The website for Tender Greens in Culver City touts its "strong sense of environmental responsibility." But co-owner David Dressler says he doesn't alert customers that the box housing their tuna niçoise salad can't be recycled. "We're not the end user of the product, so it's not our responsibility."

http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-fo-journal18-2008jun18,0,6091597.story

Scientists fighting disease with climate forecastsBy RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, AP Science WriterJune 18, 2008

WASHINGTON - A cyclone wrecks coastal Myanmar, spawning outbreaks of malaria,

cholera and dengue fever. Flooding inundates Iowa, raising an array of public health

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concerns. With climate change come new threats to life, and scientists hope to be able to

better predict them as they forecast the weather.

"Everything is connected in our earth system," Conrad C. Lautenbacher, head of the

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said at a panel on "Changing

Climate: Changing Health Patterns."

The key is bringing all types of data together — health, weather, human behavior,

disasters and others — "it's science without borders," Lautenbacher said.

He said 73 countries and more than 50 international organizations are currently

participating in the Global Earth Observation System of Systems and more are expected

to join.

"It's a full court press" to observe what's going on on the Earth, he said. When it comes to

health and disasters "we can't afford to be wrong a lot of the time. We have got to get

ahead of it."

Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association,

noted that "we have these very modern technologies that are very good at sensing

atmosphere and earth surfaces, and you can put them in computers and model some of

these weather events ... and we're pretty good at it right now.

"But imagine for a moment, that not only that we measure that stuff, that we then actively

and aggressively do something about it to mitigate the effects to people, to the

environment, to planets, to plants."

Take a disease like cholera, Lautenbacher said, noting that research has shown that

outbreaks in India vary with the temperature of the Bay of Bengal. Satellites cam

measure that temperature.

In addition, climate researchers are now doing forecasts of the Pacific Ocean

phenomenon known as El Nino, which affects temperatures in the bay, so that might also

be used to forecast cholera.

Barbara Hatcher, secretary-general of the World Federation of Public Health

Associations, likened the research to the work of Dr. John Snow, the 19th century

English physician who first tracked down a source of cholera in London, using a map of

victims' homes and where they got their water.

Lautenbacher noted that changes in vegetation and moisture can help forecast outbreaks

of malaria, showing a vegetation map of Africa based on satellite data.

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But it isn't just weather data that must be worked into the system, he added, researchers

must also use information on population changes, transportation, migration,

epidemiology and social and behavioral factors.

Robert W. Corell of the Heinz Center for Science, Economics and the Environment said

he had been asked to investigate an outbreak of anaphylactic shock in Alaska.

He traced it to stings from a type of bee that hibernates in wet soil, which had never lived

there before but had moved north as the climate became milder and wetter.

In another case, he said, diarrhea-causing giardia has appeared in parts or northern

Norway, where moderating climate has allowed beavers — which can spread the germ —

to move into territory once exclusive to reindeer.

Dr. Bryan McNally of Emory University School of Medicine, suggested requiring

hospitals, as part of being accredited, to set up plans to work with local weather and

warning forecasters.

Traditionally hospitals have sought to ride out storms, but that didn't work out well when

hurricane Katrina inundated New Orleans.

Having a relationship with a warning forecaster would allow a hospital to prepare for

arrival of floods, hurricanes, tornadoes or whatever the local hazard is, he explained.

They could work out plans in advance if they needed to evacuate, and hospitals nearby

would have plans to take in the patients as well as to deal with the newly injured.

Predicting the arrival of flooding should be more than just protecting property, it could

include warnings about the spread of disease such as schistosomiasis, also known as snail

fever, said Joshua P. Rosenthal of the National Institutes of Health. Such warnings should

also include the spread of things like fuel and toxic pollutants, he said.

Factors to be considered should include land use patterns, urbanization, agriculture,

poverty, economic infrastructure and wastewater treatment facilities.

"It's important ... that we build climate into these other types of long-term analyses rather

than trying to separate it out," he said.

"What we do know is it's probably going to hit the most vulnerable populations the

hardest: The poor, children, the elderly, those in low- and middle-income countries with

weak infrastructure, degraded ecological environments, poor health-delivery systems," he

said.

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080618/ap_on_sc/sci_weather_hazards_3

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ROLAC MEDIA UPDATE, 2008

ROLAC MEDIA UPDATEJune 18 2008

1- Regional - How to Atone for Beef's Sins

06 – 16 – 08

Cattle consume many kilos of feed for each kilo of meat they produce and they are an enormous source of greenhouse gases in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil. - The global food crisis and climate change have cast the spotlight on some of the negatives of the cattle industry, such as the high consumption of vegetable protein to generate relatively little meat and its role in global warming.

Because of its cattle, Brazil is among the world's leading emitters of greenhouse-effect gases. The livestock industry has encroached on the Amazon and is a leading cause of deforestation. According to the first national inventory, in 1994, logging represented 75

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OTHER ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS:

I English:

1- Regional - How to Atone for Beef's Sins2- Argentina - Hake Could Disappear from Argentina's Seas3- Brazil - Brazil throws weight behind Amazon soy ban4- Cuba: Don’t Worry, Be Ready - for Hurricanes5- Guyana - Using protected seedling production houses to Combat Climate Change6- Trinidad & Tobago - Floods in the city

II Spanish:

7- Costa Rica - Proseguirá Costa Rica proyecto contaminante en frontera con Nicaragua8- Guatemala - Deslaves causan cinco muertos en Guatemala9- Panamá - Caguamas inician desove

percent of Brazil's greenhouse gases.

The destruction of forests, which has accelerated since the 1980s, coincides with the expansion of cattle raising. From 1994 to 2006, the national herd grew from 158 million to 205 million head, and 82 percent of that increase took place in the Amazon region, according to the study "The Kingdom of Cattle" by the environmental group Friends of the Earth-Brazilian Amazon, released in January.

Cattle in the Amazon -- 73.7 million head in 2006 -- occupied 74 percent of the total deforested area.

But the original cause of deforestation is not cattle raising, but rather the lack of stimuli for sustainable production in the Amazon, said Mario Menezes, assistant director of Friends of the Earth and co-author of the study. Without agricultural regulation, state control and development policies, "the expansion is unregulated," he told Tierramérica.

Most Amazon land is public, but the government does little to monitor it. Many ranchers occupy areas illegally, and have to spend little to eliminate the forests, says Paulo Barreto, a researcher with the Institute of Man and the Environment in the Amazon.

Meanwhile, recuperating degraded pasture costs two and a half times more, Barreto said.

With productivity at little more than one head per hectare, Brazilian cattle hunger for cheap land. Deforesting the land -- which carries little risk of penalty -- then becomes a logical route.

In the Amazon, furthermore, cattle have found "sun, heat and water year round," which means cheaper beef, "competitive despite the distance" to the industrial centers, Assuero Veronez, head of the environment committee of the Agriculture and Livestock Confederation of Brazil, told Tierramérica.

To attribute three-quarters of Brazil's greenhouse gas emissions to deforestation is a mistake, Veronez believes, because the calculation includes all of the area's biomass, neglecting that before the "quemadas" (burning to clear forest), the useful lumber is removed and what burns is just 30 to 40 percent of the original biomass.

Tito Díaz, an animal health and protection officer with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Latin America, also underscored that "pastures fix carbon in their roots (at a volume) that is quite considerable and is not taken into account."

But now "everything is banned" because of environmental issues, which leads to a "stranglehold on the Amazon economy," Veronez complains.

And the pressure grows stronger. Brazil's Consumer Defense Institute (IDEC) launched a campaign in March, "Change Consumption, Don't Change the Climate", urging the public

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and supermarkets to track beef origins and reject any that comes from cattle that have contributed to deforestation.

According to Lisa Gunn, IDEC information manager, beef "is not sustainable" because it comes from the conversion of a much greater quantity of food and plant protein into meat, and requires too much land. But it is only possible to change habits gradually, she says, which is why the institute is calling for reducing consumption of beef instead of eliminating beef from the diet altogether.

In pasture-fed cattle operations like those of South America, one kilogram of beef is produced with 18 to 20 kilos of grasses. For feedlot cattle, where the diet is based on grain, six to eight kilos are needed to produce one kilo of meat, according to Francisco Santini, veterinarian at Argentina's National Institute of Agricultural Technology.

Cattle that are raised confined in feedlots require less space, but they also cause deforestation because they are fed soybeans, of which Brazil and Argentina are major producers. This effect is evident in the increase in deforested area in the Amazon each time there is a rise in the international price for soybeans.

Brazil's greenhouse gas emissions tally must also include the methane released from the intestinal fermentation of cattle and the nitrous oxide in the manure. These gases represent a much smaller volume of the total greenhouse gas emissions, but, respectively, they have 21 and 300 times the greenhouse effect that carbon dioxide from the forest fires does.

In Argentina, cattle ranching has transferred 11 million hectares to crop farming in the last 14 years, while maintaining a herd of 54 million head. Methane emissions have declined with the increase in grain feed, said Santini. But the most recent data available indicate that agriculture generates 44 percent of the country's greenhouse gas emissions, with an increased share from cattle-origin methane.

In Uruguay, which has 10 million head of cattle -- three times the human population -- in addition to 15.2 million sheep, agriculture generates 91 percent of the country's methane emissions and is the country's second leading source of greenhouse gases.

A 2006 FAO report estimated that livestock generated 18 percent of the world's greenhouse gases, surpassing transportation as an emissions source. The calculation included the effects of deforestation, food production and its chemical inputs (pesticides and fertilizers), gases produced by the animals, meat processing and agricultural transport.

Across most of Latin America forests have been lost to livestock and soybean production, but Chile and Uruguay have increased their tree-covered areas, which indicates that livestock can expand "without putting an end to forests," Díaz, the FAO expert, told Tierramérica.

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The region has the advantage of feeding its herds with grasses and forage, which don't compete with human food, given the high prices of grains that Europe and the United States utilize in their heavily subsidized cattle industries, he said.

But, not to miss this opportunity, Latin America must promote "sustainable cattle-raising systems" and recover degraded pastures, Díaz added.

Sustainability is being pursued in Acre, a state in northwest Brazil, by integrating agriculture, pasture and forestry, which improves the productivity of small, medium and large properties. The yield reaches three head of cattle per hectare, three times the national average, reports Judson Valentim, head of the local center of the government's agricultural research agency, Embrapa.

Valentim admits that livestock production leads to deforestation as a result of cheap land, but says this can be corrected with higher productivity and with measures like the ban (beginning July 1) on loans to farmers or ranchers who are involved in illegal logging.

Brazilian cattle raising could be made sustainable with more productive technologies, with ranching limited to appropriate areas, and leaving aside land that is better suited to growing crops, he says.

But Barreto and Veronez agree that this would require policies that compensate for what has been invested in recovering degraded or more costly land, paying farmers and ranchers for environmental services, and changing the economic logic that currently favors deforestation.Source: http://www.tierramerica.info/nota.php?lang=eng&idnews=2770

2- Argentina - Hake Could Disappear from Argentina's Seas

06 – 16 - 08

Electronic systems to track fishing, support for industrialization and environmental certification as a market incentive are among the recommended steps to save the hake.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina.- An urgent government plan is the only thing that can save the common hake (Merluccius hubbsi), Argentina's leading fish export, say environmentalists and experts.

The capture of this species, known in Spanish as merluza, must be reduced, the fishing quotas should be more equitably distributed, more information and stricter monitoring are needed, as well as assistance for dealing with an inevitable crisis, according to Argentina's Wildlife Foundation (Fundación Vida Silvestre).

Added-value for the product, with more industrial processing, should also be increased to lessen the impact on smaller fishing operations, a sector that employs some 12,000 people, says the Foundation.

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A document the Foundation presented this month to officials, lawmakers, business leaders and fisheries unions states that the government should implement a plan for the "urgent" recovery of the hake and establish a sustainable model with clear rules.

It also calls on fishing companies to take on "greater environmental and social responsibilities," respect the established limits and participate in the plans for preventing the fish population decline from harming the industry.

"At the beginning of the year, due to fish shortages, we had to close the San Antonio Oeste processing plant in the province of Río Negro," in southern Argentina, Gerardo Ditrich, of the Alpesca company, which specializes in hake sales, told Tierramérica. The processing plant employed 270 workers.

Argentina's fish exports surpassed 1.1 billion dollars in 2007, according to official figures. The largest share of the total was hake, followed by squid and shrimp. These Southern Atlantic species were destined primarily for Brazil, Spain and Italy.

But the lack of government oversight and continued overfishing have meant that in the last 20 years the adult hake population dropped 70 percent, says the Foundation. Since 2003, the rising international price for the fish -- 166 percent in five years -- only strengthened the trend.

Argentina exported 44,352 tons of hake in 2002, and 156,300 tons in 2006. For 2007, new restrictions caused the annual total to drop to 138,800 tons, but that did not affect revenues because the price per kilo was higher.

The sector "faces difficulties that require a reasonable management of the resource," Gerardo Nieto, deputy secretary of Fishing and Aquiculture, told Tierramérica, adding that the government will work to achieve it.

"Based on the maximum captures permitted, we distribute quotas per boat and we monitor the zones where bans are in place. We have adopted measures to contain the activity, but there are factors that we can't control, like international prices or environmental variables," he said.

In late 2007, the fishing ministry ordered a 20-percent reduction in the hake fishing effort, that is, to let up on the intensity with which the fishing fleet pursued that species.

The Foundation says the measure was insufficient because a limit set at the beginning of 2007 was not ordered until the end of the year, and for 2008 the restrictions should be even tighter.

Nieto announced that there is a bill to forgive a portion of the taxes on the companies that export added-value hake, as a means to reduce the pressure on the fish stocks and prevent further layoffs.

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Eighty percent of the exported hake is unprocessed and fetches lower prices. Only 15 percent is sold without its skin, spines and fat, in the form of filets. In dollars, each ton of processed hake brings in 81 percent more than unprocessed, according to ministry figures.

The coordinator of the Wildlife Foundation's marine program, Guillermo Cañete, said in a Tierramérica interview that industrialization is "one of the keys to advancing sustainable fishing" and recommended environmental certification -- proof of sustainable production -- as a market incentive.

The expert, who put together the Foundation document distributed earlier this month, proposed drafting a plan for each region and a better distribution of fishing quotas among boats that transport the fish fresh to shore and those that process the fish on board.

Cañete added that "the instruments for recording the captures are deficient. What are needed are electronic systems (that certify) what is actually caught, because the fishing companies themselves say that the controls fail."

Some in the sector admit that "they discard as much as they declare," he said.

Also needed are devices that allow younger, smaller fish to escape the nets, which requires a great deal of work in capture of several thousand kilos, said the expert, noting that there are new, more flexible models.

"There are arguments that (the new models) are dangerous, but that is due to the obsolescence of the Argentine fleet," said Cañete.Source: http://www.tierramerica.info/nota.php?lang=eng&idnews=2771

3- Brazil - Brazil throws weight behind Amazon soy ban

06 – 18 - 08

BRASILIA, Brazil - Brazil's new environment minister reached an agreement with the grain processing industry to ban purchases of soy from deforested Amazon until July 2009, winning praise from environmentalists.

"This same initiative will be extended to two other sectors -- the timber sector and the beef sector," Environment Minister Carlos Minc said while praising the grain industry and non-governmental organizations for a "pioneering" initiative.

Environmentalists called Minc's initiative essential to the protection of the world's largest rainforest. Deforestation in the region quickened in the past months as world grain prices continue to set record highs.

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The moratorium is a commitment by the local Vegetable Oils Industry Association (Abiove), which includes big crushers such as Cargill Inc, Bunge Ltd, ADM Co and Louis Dreyfus, and the Grain Exporters Association (Anec) to extend the expiring, one-year ban that began in July 2006.

Rising prices are reviving the local soy sector out of its worst crisis in decades. In 2004 through 2006, the rise in the real against the dollar and production costs like fuel and fertilizers pushed many producers to the brink of insolvency.

Brazil is the world's second largest soy producer after the United States. Abiove and Anec control about 94 percent of Brazil's soy trade.

"The decision today is very important as it shows a leading sector in Brazilian agribusiness can guarantee food production without the need to cut down one more hectare of Amazon," Paulo Adario, Greenpeace Amazon campaign director, said in a note.

Deforestation of the Amazon is on course to rise after three years of declines, with figures for April released earlier this month showing a startling 434 square miles of trees lost in the month.

Minc replaced Amazon defender Marina Silva as environment minister last month, raising concern among environmentalists that the government is siding with farming and industrial interests that want to develop the forest.

In a show of commitment to Amazon protection, the government unveiled initiatives in past weeks including the creation of three protected reserves and an operation to impound cattle grazing on illegally cleared pastures.

But Greenpeace said a one year extension may not be long enough to build the tools necessary to ensure that soy production does not result in further deforestation.

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSN1734831620080618?sp=true

4- Cuba: Don’t Worry, Be Ready - for Hurricanes

06 – 17 - 08

HAVANA, Cuba - Cuba has decided not to make public announcements of the overall outlook for the coming hurricane season, because it makes little practical difference to people’s lives and tends to create false apprehensions, said José Rubiera, regarded as this Caribbean country’s top expert on hurricanes.

In an interview with IPS, Rubiera, the head of the Meteorology Institute’s Forecast

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Centre, recognised that such predictions have a scientific basis and are a source of important information for researchers.

But the Institute has dropped its longstanding practice of announcing long range forecasts for the Atlantic weather system, which includes the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico and has an average of 10 tropical storms per season, six of which can reach hurricane strength, and one of maximum intensity (category 5).

"We decided not to issue public forecasts for the hurricane season, not because they were or should be kept secret, or anything like that, but because the decision was in the best interests of the public," said Rubiera.

In his view, until it is known where and when a hurricane will make landfall, "it doesn’t matter much how many are expected." Instead of needlessly alarming people, they should "be well prepared at all times, systematically prepared," said the expert, who has been tracking tropical storms in Cuba and the Caribbean region for more than three decades.

The general public does not properly understand the precise meaning of the forecasts, he said. "On the contrary, they often create a heightened sense of alarm, and a sense of being misled when the season ends and no hurricane has affected the area where a particular person lives," he said.

The usefulness of hurricane season outlook information is controversial at the moment, especially in the United States, where hoteliers in the southeastern state of Florida brought a lawsuit against atmospheric scientist Professor William Gray of Colorado State University for his forecasts last year.

In the third update of their forecast for the 2007 Atlantic season, published on Aug. 3, Gray and his colleague Philip Klotzbach predicted the formation of 15 named storms, seven of which would be tropical storms, four moderate hurricanes (categories 1 or 2 on the Saffir-Simpson scale) and four major hurricanes (categories 3, 4 or 5).

The press circulated the forecast widely, and many people chose not to travel to Florida, which in the end was not hit by any hurricane last year. The tourist industry suffered losses, however, which is why the hoteliers are angry, Rubiera said.

Therefore, "speculating in advance is not advisable. But when there is a tropical cyclone in the vicinity that might strike us, detailed forecasts should be given, specifying the dangers that people must protect themselves against, and keeping the population very well informed, but without sensationalism," he said.

According to Rubiera, Cuba’s experience in disaster preparedness has contributed to its being the country with the lowest number of fatalities per tropical cyclone in the entire Atlantic area, with a record better even than that of developed countries, "thanks to the integrated protection system it has implemented."

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In the 11 years from 1995 to 2006, the most active period of Atlantic hurricane seasons on record, this Caribbean island nation was swept by three tropical storms and eight hurricanes, including four of high intensity.

"However, only 34 people died as a result of the hurricanes during the whole of that period, an average of three fatalities a year," he said. That is because residents in zones vulnerable to flooding, housing collapse and other risks are always evacuated to safe places well in advance.

The Civil Defence, which comes under the Armed Forces Ministry, is in charge of protecting the population. When a tropical depression is detected in the area, the ministry activates the prevention system.

The Meteorology Institute’s Forecast Centre issues warnings about tropical storms of any class and category in the area, and steps up the frequency of its bulletins as the cyclone approaches the country.

When there are indications of potential danger in the short or medium term, the Forecast Centre headed by Rubiera also issues early warning alerts, which allow the authorities to make decisions in sufficient time to reduce risks.

Tracking and predicting the path and future intensity of a hurricane is a complex and arduous task, said Rubiera, which involves great responsibility for decisions that have to be made quickly, and have a direct impact on the population and the economy.

In 2007, the region was hit by six hurricanes, including two that were category 5: Dean, which made landfall on the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico, and Felix, which battered northeastern Nicaragua, causing over 100 deaths and enormous economic losses, and leaving hundreds of missing persons.

Two others, Noel and Olga, brought extremely heavy rainfall.

The hurricanes and tropical storms in 2007 caused heavy material damages and 370 fatalities, especially in Caribbean countries, according to a report by the Meteorology Institute, which is part of the Ministry of Science, Technology and the Environment.

Cuba was affected by Noel in its tropical storm stage, bringing intense and persistent rainfall to the eastern part of the island, which caused one death and great material damage. As it advanced over the Caribbean, hurricane Dean caused coastal flooding in low-lying areas in the south of the country.

A tropical storm reaches hurricane force when its maximum sustained wind speed is greater than or equal to 118 kilometres per hour.

The worst hurricane to have devastated Cuba since the 1959 revolution was Flora, in October 1963, which left a death toll of 1,200.

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Source: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42845

5- Guyana - Using protected seedling production houses to Combat Climate Change

06 – 18 - 08

Construction of several protected seedling production houses in major vegetable production communities will be evident as the National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) moves to introduce this low-cost improved technology to farmers, as concerns loom over the impact of climate change on food security systems globally.

This move comes at a time when the Government of Guyana, through the implementation of the Jagdeo Initiative, seeks to expand Guyana’s lucrative agricultural system by providing farmers with access to improved technologies and services in an era of unpredictable weather patterns.

“One of our main policies at NARI is to ensure that farmers are exposed to improved technologies that are adaptable to increase their levels of competitiveness in order to maintain food security locally and supply the export market. However, in light of the massive changes occurring globally as a result of climate change, there is need for the adaptation of improved technologies by the farming communities in order for them to remain competitive,” says NARI’s Director, Dr. Oudho Homenauth.

In Guyana, many vegetable farmers are accustomed to the traditional technique of sowing their vegetable seedlings directly on flat seedbed under temporary shade conditions, but as the weather patterns become more unpredictable, the use of traditional techniques will not be effective for competitive farming since the increase in rainfall and dry spells will affect vegetable seedling production.

Dr. Homenauth pointed out that one of the many challenges farmers are faced with after the seasonal change, especially the rainy one, is the production of seedlings in a timely manner to commence cultivation in the field. To address this problem, he is advocating that farmers incorporate more improved technology along with their traditional knowledge to increase their production.

Protected seedling houses are economically designed using plastic film as roofing material to reduce the high levels of sunlight and rainfall that affect seedling production.

The use of disease free netting as screens prevents major pest and disease infestation.

According to Qsvaldo Ferrando Gonzales, Cuban Agricultural Engineer attached to NARI with responsibilities for the project, one of the major advantages of the protected seedling production houses is that it allows for the continuous production of excellent quality seedlings throughout the year under a controlled environment.

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This type of seedling production, using a protected system will allow for the control of excessive moisture which reduces the possibility of the disease ‘damping off’. It also avoids washing off of fertilizers and chemicals applied to the seedlings by rain which is very significant when using the traditional seedling production techniques.

At the NARI Mon Repos facility, the construction of a low-cost protected seedling production house measuring 30’ X 15’ with the capacity to accommodate 104 trays with each tray allowing 128 cells has been completed and is operational.

This system, according to Mr. Gonzales, will produce approximately 12000 seedlings at each sowing, allowing nine to ten sowing phases per annum.

While the prospect seems lucrative for farmers, some environmentalists and eco friendly individuals might query the use of plastic films as roofing materials, but this concern was quickly dismissed by Mr. Gonzales who stated that the materials to be used are UV treated and would, depending on the quality, be quite durable to withstand the harshness of the rain and solar radiation.

A simple but meticulous process, the success of seedling production using a protected system will require high levels of sanitary conditions to prevent contamination within the house.

‘Initially the seeds are pre germinated by using dampened sheets after which they are placed in already prepared seedlings trays that were properly sterilized. This system allows only for the healthiest seedlings to be introduced into the house. To reduce contamination, the farmer is advised to construct a foot bath at the entrance of the structure, use pest free material, spray growing areas (such as benches, walkway) with suitable disinfectant (like chlorine solution), and use only uncontaminated tools and material.

All equipment used in the compost mixing and filling procedures should be regularly disinfected. All equipment and operatives should pass through a disinfectant foot or tire bath, preferably on entering the site.

During the seedling growth phase, germination is not uniform due to poor environmental management, poor quality seed, among other things. This will lead to “gaps” in the trays because they have been underutilized, and waste of compost and irrigation supplies.

As soon as the “gaps” become obvious, plants at similar stage of development should be transferred from other trays to fill all the “gaps” ensuring that each cell contains a plant. This will aid the production of a more uniform plant growth habit in the tray as a whole.

The frequency of watering is dependent on weather conditions and the stage of the crop. Watering should be applied to cell capacity with minimum drainage, or nutrients will be leached from the substrate. Excessive watering leads to succulent plants with restricted root growth.

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Most plants produced under a carefully controlled environmental regime need to be adjusted to the harsh realities before transferring to the field. To minimize this problem, the plants are “hardened off” prior to field transplanting. Growth rates are reduced during the hardening process while photosynthetic activity continues at the same or similar rates.

The energy otherwise used in growth of the seedling is thus available as a surplus and can be stored in the plant to aid in resumption of growth after the transplanting operation is complete.

This process of hardening off should be completed in about seven to ten days immediately prior to field establishment.

Gradual reduction of irrigation amounts, and lengthening irrigation interval, will slow down plant growth. The plants should not be allowed to dry out to the stage where wilting is evident.

Source: http://www.guyanachronicle.com/news.html

6- Trinidad & Tobago - Floods in the city

06 – 18 – 08

Commuters and pedestrians in Port-of- Spain were forced to scamper for shelter as a heavy downpour of rain caused flash flooding in the city yesterday.

However, senior meteorologist Shakeer Baig of the Meteorological Services said there was no need for concern as this was a normal rainy season type feature.

“We have day time heating coupled with moisture in the atmosphere which produce the showers. The moisture in the atmosphere is present at all times but there is more moisture during the rainy season,” said Baig.

He, however, said more showers are to be expected this afternoon as a tropical wave was located 500 kilometers east of Trinidad.

Source: http://www.newsday.co.tt/news/0,80932.html

II Spanish

7- Costa Rica - Proseguirá Costa Rica proyecto contaminante en frontera con Nicaragua

18 – 06 – 08

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MANAGUA, Nicaragua: Pese a las protestas de Nicaragua y de sectores ambientalistas, el gobierno de Costa Rica ejecutará un proyecto de explotación de oro cerca de la frontera, que amenaza con contaminar el río San Juan.

Un reporte del canal 11 de la televisión local señala hoy que las autoridades costarricenses no detendrán la concesión a la empresa minera Industrias Infinito S.A., en el sector de Las Crucitas, a pocos kilómetros del río, el cual sirve de límite entre Costa Rica y Nicaragua.

Sectores ambientalistas alertaron sobre la existencia de un enorme peligro de contaminar el San Juan con arsénico, mercurio y otras sustancias tóxicas que se emplearán en la explotación de la mina de oro.

Es un derecho y en noviembre comenzará la explotación, dijo el embajador tico en Managua, Antonio Tacsan Lam, en declaraciones citadas por la televisora.

Mientras Nicaragua puso en conocimiento de Naciones Unidas y de la Comisión Centroamericana de Ambiente y Desarrollo el basamento legal de su reclamo.

Fuente: http://www.prensa-latina.com.ar/Article.asp?ID={2AF352DA-F421-4B8B-B789-ACBC1178ECD8}&language=ES

8- Guatemala - Deslaves causan cinco muertos en Guatemala

18 – 06 - 08

CIUDAD DE GUATEMALA, Guatemala: Por lo menos cinco muertos, entre ellos cuatro niños, dejaron los deslaves ocasionados por las intensas lluvias que hoy afectan al territorio guatemalteco, informaron los equipos de socorro.

El caso más reciente ocurrió esta madrugada en el barrio La Verbena, del este de la capital, cuando un alud sepultó una precaria vivienda y provocó la muerte de Sara Monzón, de 30 años, y su hijo, Héctor Saúl Hernández, de ocho.

Los Bomberos Municipales y Voluntarios lograron rescatar con vida a otros tres menores de la misma familia y a su padre, Héctor Augusto Hernández, aunque su estado de salud es delicado.

Una tragedia similar ocurrió el martes en un suburbio del municipio de Chinautla, aledaño a esta urbe, donde tres hermanos perdieron la vida cuando un muro de contención cedió por la humedad del suelo.

En el momento del deslave los niños estaban solos porque su madre es empleada doméstica y había ido a trabajar, dijeron los vecinos.

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Según responsables de la Unidad para el Desarrollo de Vivienda Popular, desde hacía dos semanas habían advertido a los vecinos que se encontraban en áreas de alto riesgo, pero ellos insistieron en quedarse allí.

Datos oficiales revelan que 80 por ciento de los asentamientos que rodean la capital son inhabitables por estar ubicados debajo de los puentes y en laderas de montañas, lo cual aumenta el peligro de inundaciones y derrumbes en la temporada de lluvias.

Source: http://www.prensa-latina.com.ar/Article.asp?ID={942D5C87-16BD-423F-9C96-E1C4A6B1C0DA}&language=ES

9- Panamá - Caguamas inician desove

17 – 06 - 08

Los voluntarios luchan por preservar a las tortugas. El proceso de incubación dura aproximadamente 45 días, luego nacen cientos de tortugas. Para evitar que los depredadores se las coman, se les coloca una cerca de alambre ciclón.

En un sector de la playa de La Barqueta en el distrito de Alanje, desde hoy, José Ismael Cuesta, un ex panadero, estará atento para ubicar dónde las tortugas hayan desovado.

Cada vez que haga un descubrimiento tomará esos huevos y los trasladará a los nidales artificiales que una familia davideña ha instalado para proteger a las tortugas caguamas (Caretta caretta), especie en vías de extinción.

Es que a partir de esta semana en ciertas playas del país, se dará inicio a una de las maravillas de la vida animal… el desove de las caguamas.

Tras 45 días, de esos huevos nacerán cientos de tortugas que intentarán llegar al mar.

Nidales artificiales

Se hacen escarbando la arena donde no llegan las olas, cada hoyo tiene un pie de profundidad. Su forma asemeja a tinajas, de boca muy pequeña y ancha hacia abajo.

Los huevos son cubiertos con arena y junto a cada nidal se le coloca una estaca de madera, con la fecha en que nacerán. Aparte se confecciona un informe con datos similares y la cantidad de huevos.

Para evitar el ingreso de depredadores se instala una cerca de alambre ciclón. Una vez cumplida la incubación, José y y otros colaboradores ayudarán para que salgan de su incubadora de arena.

Se les examina el ombligo, confirmando que estén en perfecto estado, de lo contrario, nuevamente serán ingresadas al nidal para que el calor de la arena los “seque”. El resto es

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colocado en un recipiente hasta que se complete el nacimiento de ese nido, que promedia 85 unidades, para ser liberadas a pocos metros del mar.

Datos de las caguamas

VIDA: Cuando tocan la arena echan a correr hacia el mar, en la playa son vulnerables a las aves y cangrejos.

TIEMPO: en 20 años, las que logren sobrevivir regresarán para iniciar nuevamente el ciclo.

DEPREDADORES: El principal en tierra firme es el hombre, los perros, cangrejos y las aves.

Fuente: http://ediciones.prensa.com/

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