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Archive for June 20th, 2011
Environmental impact research urged for fish farming
Posted by SciDev.Net: Joanna Carpenter on June 20th, 2011
SciDev.Net: More research and sharing of best practice could minimise the environmental impacts of aquaculture, and maximise its potential to alleviate food insecurity, according to a report by the WorldFish Center and the non-profit organisation Conservation International.
Almost half of all seafood consumed originates from aquaculture -- the farming of aquatic animals and plants in coastal and inland areas -- according to the report 'Blue Frontiers: Managing the environmental costs of aquaculture', launched...
Trees ‘help stem desertification’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 20th, 2011
BBC: A UN-led pilot scheme hopes to highlight how trees can help people in arid zone, considered to one of the most hostile habitats on the planet.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Acacia project's goal is to show how trees provide, food, fuel, shelter and income during times of hardship.
So far, six nations - including Senegal and Sudan - have hosted tree planting schemes for at-risk communities.
Drylands cover 30% of the Earth's land area, and are found in 100 nations.
"People...
Salt-tolerant plants may help Pakistan reclaim ruined farms
Posted by AlertNet: None Given on June 20th, 2011
AlertNet: Fatima Bibi, 36, looks back at the time when she was an affluent farmer.
"I along with my husband and two daughters used to grow rice, sunflower and vegetables. ... We would earn a hefty amount at the time of harvest,' she says.
But those days are gone. Bibi now earns her living selling biscuits from a stall at a bus stop in Badin, a town 200 km (125 miles) east of Karachi.
Her lifestyle was turned upside down when her 6 hectares (14 acres) of fertile land became saline, leading to a sharp...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Salt-tolerant plants may help Pakistan reclaim ruined farmsGreat lakes restoration
Posted by Epoch Time: Paul Darin on June 20th, 2011
Epoch Time: Workers with the Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee dump a chemical into the Little Calumet River to kill all of the fish in an approximately two-mile stretch of the river on May 20, 2010, in Chicago, Ill.
The Great Lakes are among the world's largest supplies of fresh water. An insidious environmental villain, climate change, threatens them.
The National Wildlife Federation, EcoAdapt, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are working on "climate smart' strategies...
Climate, government controls hit Bolivia’s farmers
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 20th, 2011
Associated Press: Bolivia's farmers were hit from all sides last year - drought, floods and wildfires - forcing the poor Andean nation to import staple foods on an unprecedented scale.
a woman buys cooking oil at a street market in Achacachi, Bolivia. Corn and sugar farmers worried as their crops withered last year during a drought that was the worst in 20 years. But the drought was only the start of their problems: Farmers said they were hurt just as much by price controls that eliminated profits and by other...
Stress rises in climate shifts
Posted by Canberra Times: Justin Ryan AND Clive Mcalpine on June 20th, 2011
Canberra Times: The recent devastating floods that occurred in many parts of Australia were a reminder of the power of nature. Infrastructure and property took a hit, but can be rebuilt. Crops can be replanted and fences mended. Whether it's a natural cycle or climate change that's fuelling these natural disasters, surely we can cope. But there are insidious factors we've overlooked. They are incremental changes occurring over a long time and over broad areas an almost imperceptible accumulation of impacts associated...
Armadillos move north across a warmer North America
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 20th, 2011
Daily Climate: Here's one advantage to armadillos' steady northward march across the Southeast United States:
They're awfully handy to have as bait if, say, you're a wildlife biologist looking to trap an alligator that has inexplicably settled into your local pond in north Georgia.
That's what happened last month near Atlanta: A biologist with Georgia's Department of Natural Resources, on the way to trap an alligator scaring residents, stopped en route to pick up some fresh road kill.
Now it's true that...
China affected by violent floods
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 20th, 2011
Guardian: Torrential rain continues to cause deadly flooding in parts of central and southern China. Millions of people have been evacuated amid the early onset of the rainy season
Afforestation Not Likely To Reverse Global Warming
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 20th, 2011
redOrbit: Afforestation, or the replacing of farmlands or unused open areas with forests is being encouraged under the UN’s Kyoto Protocol climate-change treaty under the theory that forests are will soak up carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air through photosynthesis, AFP is reporting.
Environmental researchers, in a new probe, said that even massive conversion of land to forestry would have only a slender benefit at best against the increase of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere.
The primary reason is...
River falls short of Nebraska nuke plant shutdown
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 20th, 2011
Associated Press: The supply of sand used to fill hundreds of thousands of bags needed to fight off the swollen Missouri River is running low after weeks of relentless flooding. It's a problem that could get worse as the river is expected to remain high through August, making it unsafe to gather sand from the easiest place to get it: the river itself.
The sand shortage comes as the bloated river rose to within 18 inches of forcing the shutdown of Cooper Nuclear Plant at Brownville, Neb. It stopped and ebbed slightly...