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Archive for May, 2013
Asia-Pacific leaders warn of water conflict threat
Posted by Agence France-Presse: Aidan Jones on May 21st, 2013
Agence France-Presse: Fierce competition for water could trigger conflict unless nations cooperate to share the diminishing resource, leaders from Asia-Pacific nations warned on Monday.
From Central to Southeast Asia, regional efforts to secure water have sparked tensions between neighbours reliant on rivers to sustain booming populations.
Breakneck urbanisation, climate change and surging demand from agriculture have heaped pressure on scarce water supplies, while the majority of people in Asia-Pacific still lack...
Drought and Desertification – Global Response
Posted by Environmental News Network: Andrew Burger on May 21st, 2013
Environmental News Network: Land degradation — more specifically drought and desertification — have become increasingly pressing problems for a growing number of countries around the world, threatening efforts to alleviate poverty, improve basic health and sanitation and address socioeconomic inequality, as well as spur agricultural and sustainable economic development.
The only multilateral, international agreement linking development and environment to sustainable land management (SLM), high-level representatives from...
ALERT! Protect Papua New Guinea Indigenous Cave Dwellers from Rainforest Destroying Mafia
Posted by Water Conservation Blog on May 21st, 2013
By Ecological Internet's Rainforest Portal
TAKE ACTION!
Notorious Malaysian illegal loggers Rimbunan Hijau [search] have diversified into mining in primary rainforests, in East Sepik threatening unique nomadic cave-dwellers and their 20,000 year old ancient stenciled cave art. Support the local resistance and demand an end to indigenous genocide and rainforest ecocide in the name of false development that is little more than pillaging and plundering of cultural and biological diversity.
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Comments Off on ALERT! Protect Papua New Guinea Indigenous Cave Dwellers from Rainforest Destroying MafiaWith U.S. Awash in Oil, Nat’l Interest Argument for Keystone Weakens
Posted by InsideClimate: John H. Cushman Jr. on May 21st, 2013
InsideClimate: U.S. oil production is suddenly growing so fast that some analysts are questioning how much the country really needs the Canadian tar sands oil that would move through the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. This month, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said it expects domestic crude oil production to surge 20 percent by the end of 2014 from its level at the start of this year. That means an additional 1.4 million barrels of U.S.-produced oil will be available each day—about twice as much...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on With U.S. Awash in Oil, Nat’l Interest Argument for Keystone WeakensClimate change pushes farmers in India to the tipping point – in pictures
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 21st, 2013
Guardian: British artist and designer Gerry Judah was born in Kolkata, West Bengal. He returned to India with Christian Aid after more than 50 years to see how people are tackling the effects of global warming.
A series of works inspired by his trip can be seen in Christian Aid's Tipping Point exhibition at Wolverhampton Art Gallery
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Climate change pushes farmers in India to the tipping point – in picturesClimate change threatens Gulf monarchies’ survival
Posted by Deutsche Welle: None Given on May 21st, 2013
Deutsche Welle: Qatar-based author Mari Luomi says the Persian Gulf monarchies will have to change to be sustainable in the era of climate change. But reaping the benefits of the fossil fuel economy has blinded most of them to that.
DW: Why do you conclude that the Gulf monarchies have reached their limits of "natural sustainability."
Mari Luomi: The growing imbalance between current natural resource consumption and preserving the environment for the future has reached a tipping point. The states are starting...
United Kingdom: Marine Harvest agrees to limit pesticides and seal killings
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 21st, 2013
Guardian: One of the world's largest fish farm companies, Marine Harvest, has voluntarily agreed to much tougher limits on its pesticides use and seal killing by joining a strict new environment scheme.
Marine Harvest will join the Aquaculture Stewardship council, a new accreditation scheme championed by WWF, after coming under repeated attack for heavy use of toxic chemicals, seal-killing and major outbreaks of sea lice and salmon diseases.
The Norwegian-owned company, which grows 25% of all Scotland's...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United Kingdom: Marine Harvest agrees to limit pesticides and seal killingsDonors Will Flee Obama if Keystone Approved, Says Billionaire Activist
Posted by The Hill: None Given on May 21st, 2013
The Hill: Billionaire climate activist Tom Steyer, who’s increasingly throwing his weight around in politics, said approving the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline would create political hurdles for President Obama’s second-term agenda and cost him the support of key donors.
Steyer, a major Democratic fundraiser, told Grist magazine that Keystone opponents have leverage to exert over Obama even though he’s free of having to run for reelection.
“If you look at the people who support Obama, and then you look...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Donors Will Flee Obama if Keystone Approved, Says Billionaire ActivistAmazon River exhales virtually all carbon taken up by rain forest
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 20th, 2013
PhysOrg: The Amazon rain forest, popularly known as the lungs of the planet, inhales carbon dioxide as it exudes oxygen. Plants use carbon dioxide from the air to grow parts that eventually fall to the ground to decompose or get washed away by the region's plentiful rainfall.
Until recently people believed much of the rain forest's carbon floated down the Amazon River and ended up deep in the ocean. University of Washington research showed a decade ago that rivers exhale huge amounts of carbon dioxide...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Amazon River exhales virtually all carbon taken up by rain forestRising Temperatures in Europe Leave Ducks Grounded
Posted by Climate News Network: Kieran Cooke on May 19th, 2013
Climate News Network: Most birds are acutely sensitive to changes in temperature. Scientists now say that changes in climate and warmer temperatures in parts of Europe have resulted in the migration patterns of certain birds being radically altered.
A study looking at the migration patterns of three species of duck -- the goldeneye, goosander and tufted duck -- has found there has been a sharp decrease in the number of birds migrating south.
Birds like this female goosander are migrating much less than before due...