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Archive for March, 2013
Meltwater catastrophes are forming high in the Andes
Posted by ClimateWire: Ines Perez on March 15th, 2013
ClimateWire: Glacial melt is a popular topic in global warming discussions, with its contribution to rising sea levels and shrinking freshwater supplies among the main concerns. But for mountainous communities in Peru, such long-term worries are obscured by a much more imminent threat -- glacial lake outburst flows, called GLOFs -- poised just above them.
Last month, the Risk Management Office of the Peruvian Municipality of Huaraz sounded the alarm that glacial lake Palcacocha had once again swollen above...
Human climate change big factor in Somali famine
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 15th, 2013
Associated Press: A new study has found that human-induced climate change contributed to low rain levels in East Africa in 2011, making global warming one of the causes of Somalia's famine and tens of thousands of deaths.
Climate scientists with Britain's national weather service studied weather patterns in Somalia in 2010 and 2011 and found that yearly precipitation known as the short rains failed in late 2010 because of the natural effects of La Nina.
But Peter Scott, one of the study's authors, said the lack...
Bangkok breakthroughs gives Cites a bigger stick
Posted by BBC: Matt McGrath on March 15th, 2013
BBC: Amidst the great celebrations of a historic moment in the history of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites), when regulations on the trading of several shark species were upheld, one man stood looking a little forlorn.
For Shingo Ota, the spokesman for Japan's negotiating team in the conference hall, the debate and the result made it an unhappy day.
"It was not so pleasant to listen to all the clapping and sometimes screaming on the floor," he told me.
The upgrading...
Hundreds more dead pigs found in Chinese river
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 15th, 2013
Guardian: The number of dead pigs found in a river that provides drinking water to Shanghai, China, has risen to 7,545, after local authorities retrieved 944 more carcasses.
The Shanghai municipal government has repeatedly assured the city's 23 million residents that tap water remains safe. However, locals remain worried about water contamination from the swollen and rotting carcasses in the Huangpu river.
The dead pigs are believed to be from farms in the upstream Jiaxing area in neighbouring Zhejiang...
Cheap ‘nano-tablet’ purifies water for up to six months
Posted by SciDevNet: Munyaradzi Makoni on March 15th, 2013
SciDevNet: Researchers have developed a water purification tablet comprised of nanoparticles that can be used by developing world communities with no access to clean water.
The tablet, MadiDrop, invented by PureMadi -- a non-profit organisation of the University of Virginia, United States -- was presented at the organisation's one-year celebration event last week (8 March).
It consists of a small ceramic disk filled with silver or copper nanoparticles that is placed a water vessel, where it can repeatedly...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Cheap ‘nano-tablet’ purifies water for up to six monthsFracking: the monster we greens must embrace
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 15th, 2013
Guardian: Most environmentalists are in no doubt. The new technology of fracking to extract shale gas from the rocks beneath our homes is both a nasty neighbour and a sure recipe for climate Armageddon. Not only that, fracking was pioneered in the US, the gas-guzzling land of climate sceptics. Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, uses high-pressure water to shatter shale rocks and release natural gas lurking within. The gas is then piped to the surface. Shale rocks are widespread. But fracking requires lots...
Climate change: Pakistan, Italy join hands to identify adaptive measures
Posted by Express Tribune: None Given on March 15th, 2013
Express Tribune: Pakistan’s only dedicated climate change research centre is going to partner with Italian experts to identify climate change adaptation measures.
The Global Change Impact Studies Centre (GCISC), which recently became an autonomous body by act of parliament, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Ev-K2-CNR, an Italian research organisation that has worked in Pakistan’s northern areas for many years.
The signing ceremony took place at the Ministry of Climate Change in Islamabad on Thursday....
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Climate change: Pakistan, Italy join hands to identify adaptive measuresU.N. bodies want to tackle drought to avert food crisis
Posted by Reuters: Emma Farge on March 15th, 2013
Reuters: U.N. agencies want to strengthen national drought policies after warnings that climate change would increase their frequency and severity.
Droughts cause more deaths and displacement than floods or earthquakes, making them the world's most destructive natural hazard, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation, one of the groups taking part.
"We must boost national capacity to cope before droughts occur," Ann Tutwiler, FAO deputy director-general told the five-day talks on drought in...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on U.N. bodies want to tackle drought to avert food crisisMore work needed on 2010 Michigan spill
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 15th, 2013
United Press International: Pipeline company Enbridge has less than a week to respond to an order for more river dredging in Michigan to clean up oil from a 2010 spill, the EPA said.
The Environmental Protection Agency issued an administrative order requiring Enbridge to dredge the Kalamazoo River in southern Michigan.
"EPA has repeatedly documented the presence of recoverable submerged oil in the sections of the river identified in the order and has determined that submerged oil in these areas can be recovered by dredging,"...
Catastrophic loss of Cambodia’s tropical flooded grasslands
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 15th, 2013
ScienceDaily: Around half of Cambodia's tropical flooded grasslands have been lost in just 10 years according to new research from the University of East Anglia.
The seasonally flooded grasslands around the Tonle Sap, Southeast Asia's largest freshwater lake, are of great importance for biodiversity and a refuge for 11 globally-threatened bird species. They are also a vital fishing, grazing, and traditional rice farming resource for around 1.1 million people.
Research published today in the journal Conservation...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Catastrophic loss of Cambodia’s tropical flooded grasslands