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Archive for June, 2013
Climate adaptation goes mobile in Brazil
Posted by Climate News Network: Jan Rocha on June 24th, 2013
Climate News Network.: Over the last few years, violent storms, leading to flooding and mudslides, have become more frequent in Brazil.
In 2011, violent rainstorms wreaked havoc in and around Rio. Houses built on steep hillsides were swept away by devastating mudslides. An entire shantytown built on top of a former rubbish dump in Niteroi collapsed, killing over 50 inhabitants.
In Novo Friburgo, a mountainous town settled by 265 Swiss families in 1820, and the surrounding region, over 1000 people died in January...
Tasmania’s old growth forests win protection after three-decade battle
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 24th, 2013
Guardian: Almost 200,000 hectares of Tasmania's old growth forest have been world heritage listed, bringing hope that a three-decade fight between environmentalists, politicians and loggers is over.
The World Heritage Committee has extended the heritage listed boundary of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area by more than 170,000 hectares after accepting a proposal from the Australian government which will give the areas the highest level of environmental protection in the world.
The old growth...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Tasmania’s old growth forests win protection after three-decade battleTasmania hopes foreign zoo breeding program will help save devils
Posted by Guardian: Oliver Milman on June 24th, 2013
Guardian: About 20 Tasmanian devils will be sent to overseas zoos in an ambitious escalation of the battle against a deadly facial tumour disease that has ravaged the marsupials.
The Tasmanian government has launched a pilot project that will see up to three zoos in New Zealand and two in the US take about 20 devils to be exhibited to visitors.
Should the project prove successful, up to 100 devils will be dispersed to zoos across Europe, North America and Japan.
The move follows the recent breeding...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Tasmania hopes foreign zoo breeding program will help save devilsBreathing new life into climate policy: Kemp
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 24th, 2013
Reuters: Shale has killed climate policy. Now the International Energy Agency is trying to bring it back to life.
Following the shale revolution, policymakers can no longer count on peaking oil and gas supplies and soaring fuel prices to save the world from potentially catastrophic climate change.
As the peak-oil panic of 2008 recedes, it has become clear that there are more than enough fossil fuel reserves to cook the planet many times over.
"The world is drifting further and further from the track...
IFC bets big on India?s green biz
Posted by Hindustan Times: Manu P Toms on June 24th, 2013
Hindustan Times: The World Bank’s private sector lending arm, International Finance Corporation (IFC), sees a bright future in the Indian renewable energy sector.
By the end of this month, its investment in Indian renewable energy and clean technology sectors that began in 2009-10 would have exceeded $1 billion (R5,900 crore).
IFC follows a July-to-June calendar.
Pravan Malhotra, who leads IFC’s clean technology investment team in South Asia, said more than a third of this investment occurred this year alone....
Chile presidential favorite says HidroAysen project not viable
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 24th, 2013
Reuters: Chilean presidential favorite Michelle Bachelet said on Sunday night she is against the planned 2,750-megawatt HidroAysen hydropower project, suggesting the controversial complex still faces an uphill battle.
Bachelet, a popular center-leftist who served as president of the world's top copper-exporting nation from 2006 to 2010, is widely expected to win a November 17 presidential election against a weakened right-wing bloc.
"I'm not in favor of HidroAysen and I don't think it's viable," Bachelet...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Chile presidential favorite says HidroAysen project not viableIndonesia names Sinar Mas, APRIL, among eight firms behind Singapore haze
Posted by Eco-Business: Jessica Cheam on June 24th, 2013
Eco-Business: Indonesia has blamed eight companies, including Singapore-based Sinar Mas and Asia Pacific Resources International (APRIL) for the fires raging across its land of Sumatra that has blanketed parts of Malaysia and parts of Singapore in its most severe haze in history.
Senior presidential aide Kuntoro Mangkusubroto was reported by news wires on Friday saying: "The majority of hotspots in Riau (province) are inside APRIL and Sinar Mas concessions,"
The environment minister said not all eight companies...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Indonesia names Sinar Mas, APRIL, among eight firms behind Singapore hazeHotspots expose gaps in Indonesia’s forest moratorium
Posted by Eco-Business: None Given on June 24th, 2013
Eco-Business: Half the fire hotspots that are causing the severe haze in Singapore and Malaysia are in areas that should be protected by Indonesia`s forest moratorium, said Greenpeace International on Thursday.
The environmental NGO said in a statement that half the hotspots detected between June 11 to 18 are in areas meant to be protected.
This information comes after Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono extended the country`s forest moratorium last month, which aims to prevent new clearing of...
Straightening Out Accounts on Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 24th, 2013
Inter Press Service: - The bold strategy implemented by the Brazilian government has achieved an 84 percent reduction in deforestation in the Amazon rainforest in the last eight years. But when the natural resources and pesticides used in agricultural production are taken into account, the environmental progress made is not so impressive.
The achievement was announced this month by leftwing Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and her environment minister, Izabella Teixeira, in the tone of "mission almost accomplished,"...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Straightening Out Accounts on Deforestation in the Brazilian AmazonALERT! HSBC Bank Must Stop Funding Old-Growth Rainforest Logging
Posted by Water Conservation Blog on June 24th, 2013
By Ecological Internet's Rainforest Portal
TAKE ACTION!
HSBC Bank continues to fund logging companies [search] pillaging old-growth rainforests and causing human rights abuses in Sarawak, Malaysia, and expanding globally. After ravaging all but 5% of Sarawaks once pristine tropical rainforests, HSBCs Sarawak clients described in Papua New Guinea as the Malaysian timber mafia now dominate the global, ecocidal old-growth timber industry. Anyone participating in the industrial destruction of Earths last old-growth forests be they banks, governments, corporations, or NGOs are legitimate protest targets, if we are to maintain local well-being and a habitable Earth for all. Please demand that HSBC end all involvement with old-growth rainforest logging.
Posted in Uncategorized Comments Off on ALERT! HSBC Bank Must Stop Funding Old-Growth Rainforest Logging