THE ENVIRONMENT IN THE NEWS
Monday, 02 September 2013
UNEP and the Executive Director in the News
New York Times (US): As Floods Ravage Sudan, Young Volunteers Revive a
Tradition of Aid
News 24 (South Africa): SA spikes solar solutions
4th-Estate News Wire (Kenya): Strategy to Conserve Wetlands Should Align with
Ramsar Convention’s Main Pillars, Says Kenya Wetlands Atlas
Other Environment News
Reuters (UK): Japan vows quick action, public funds for Fukushima
AFP: Protests in Romania against shale gas, Canadian gold mine
BBC News (UK): Climate change 'driving spread of crop pests'
AP: African dust clouds worry Caribbean scientists
Guardian (UK): 'We are fighting for survival,' Pacific islands leader warns
Independent (UK): Biofuel project funded by UK ‘leaves Africans without food’
Times of India (India): Migration of tigers outside protected areas under study
RT (Russia): Air pollution cause of 200,000 premature US deaths – study
New Vision (Uganda): 2015 and beyond
Environmental News from the UNEP Regions
ROA
ROLAC
RONA
Other UN News
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Environment News from the UN Daily News of 2 September 2013
To read an article, press the ctrl button on your keyboard and right-click on the news
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UNEP and the Executive Director in the News
New York Times (US): As Floods Ravage Sudan, Young Volunteers Revive a
Tradition of Aid
29 August 2013
Their temporary headquarters are a beehive of young volunteers buzzing in and out of rooms,
up and down stairs, carrying bags of donated food, medicine and large packets of plastic
sheets.
“What happened to your house?” one volunteer asks on the phone, as others load aid on trucks
or create maps and charts on laptops. “And where do you say you are? We’ll have a team out
there soon.”
They are the members of Nafeer, a volunteer, youth-led initiative that responded swiftly to the
humanitarian crisis caused by heavy rains and flash floods that struck Sudan this month.
The deluge has taken a heavy toll. Beyond the dozens of people killed, more than 300,000
people have been directly affected, with 74,000 homes damaged or destroyed, according to the
United Nations. The spread of diseases like malaria is also reported to be on the rise.
The impact of the heavy rains and floods has been felt in most of Sudan, including the camps
for displaced people in the war-torn region of Darfur. In one case, six United Nations
peacekeepers were swept away by a current. Four are still missing.
But the area around Khartoum, the capital, suffered the hardest blow. More rain is expected,
and as the Nile and the Blue Nile rise to record levels, many fear the worst is yet to come.
“We saw that the heavy rains and floods were going to impact the lives of many, and we felt we
had a social responsibility to help people,” said Muhammad Hamd, 28, a Nafeer spokesman.
“The idea came out of a discussion on Facebook among friends.”
A “nafeer” is a Sudanese social tradition that comes from an Arabic word meaning “a call to
mobilize.” The group’s formation was all the more important because the Sudanese government
was slow to respond, some critics say.
“It was a weak response,” said Khalid Eltigani, the executive editor of Ilaf, a weekly newspaper.
“The Nafeer youth broke the silence on the flood situation.”
Government officials said that the level of rain this year had surpassed their expectations, but
they maintained that matters were under control.
“There is no need to declare a state of emergency,” said Sudan’s interior minister, Ibrahim
Mahmoud Hamid.
Mark Cutts, the head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in
Sudan, described the situation as a “huge disaster,” which his agency called the worst floods in
25 years. Aid has arrived from United Nations agencies, Qatar, the United States, Japan, Egypt,
Ethiopia and others.
The rainy season started late this year in Sudan, but when it arrived, it came with a vengeance.
“We can attribute this to climate change,” said Nagmeldin Elhassan of the Higher Council for
Environment and Natural Resources, a government agency.
Mr. Elhassan, who has contributed to reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change, referred to studies that predicted what he called “incidents of frequent and intense
droughts and incidents of high levels of rains” in the region and “shifts in rain patterns,” like later
start dates of the rainy season.
Poor urban planning, however, may have also contributed to the immense damage caused by
flash flooding, especially around Khartoum.
“Khartoum is in a shallow basin that will always be prone to flooding,” said Howard Bell of the
United Nations Environment Program in Sudan, “and urban areas should be planned
accordingly.”
Over 5,000 volunteers have registered to help with the Nafeer campaign, organizers said. At the
hot line desk, volunteers work in two-hour shifts, receiving emergency calls, 24 hours a day.
Hundreds of Sudanese living abroad have joined the Nafeer campaign, with hot lines set up to
receive donations in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, the United States, Canada,
Australia and other countries.
At the hot line desk in Khartoum, volunteers are glued to their cellphones. “The phones don’t
stop,” said Wafa Tawfig, 16, a student volunteer. “People call for food, sheets and covers.”
After receiving calls, Nafeer sends out assessment teams to evaluate the needs of different
areas. The next day, a team goes back with whatever aid it can offer.
On a trip to one flooded area east of Khartoum, a team of 20 Nafeer volunteers, men and
women, mounted two four-wheel-drive vehicles and a pickup truck loaded with bags of food,
plastic tarps and sandbags.
Both sides of the highway leading east from Khartoum were crammed with families seeking
refuge. The road itself is elevated, sitting above the flooded areas flanking it, so families
dragged their mattresses, suitcases and other belongings to the highway’s edge, desperate for
help. An old woman sat on a stool, her head lying on her fist, waiting. Behind her was a puddle
of water where a donkey lay dead.
At the Nafeer volunteers’ first stop, several families went to meet them. Ahmad Sadig, 65,
enthusiastically explained what had happened.
“The night it rained, it didn’t stop, and it was windy,” he said. “My daughter had just given birth a
couple of weeks before.”
His daughter, Zainab Sadig, 26, continued. “Then a wall fell, and a stream of water came in,”
she said. “I carried my baby and ran.”
Mr. Sadig said he called the local authorities the day after. “But no one answered the phone,” he
said. “At least these Nafeer guys answer the phone.”
A Nafeer volunteer offered them a bag filled with sugar, flour, dry milk, fava beans and
macaroni, along with a plastic sheet.
“May God bless you,” Mr. Sadig replied.
The Nafeer volunteers then moved to another stop down the road, Al Samra, which looks not
like an inhabited village but an ancient ruin frozen in time. Flood ponds cover empty spaces,
and from across one pond, a little girl shouted, “We are over here!”
The Nafeer volunteers formed a line and moved around the pond. As they got closer, the girl’s
mother, Nur Jafar Bashir, 38, met them.
“It was raining really hard,” she said. “We were asleep, but then we heard a loud noise. The
ceiling from a nearby room fell.”
Ms. Bashir said she and her family woke up terrified, walked out and saw a stream of water in
the yard.
“The water was up to our knees,” she recalled. “We got buckets and stared to scoop the water
outside.”
After hours of driving around and delivering aid to flood victims, the Nafeer volunteers headed
back to their headquarters in Khartoum as night fell.
“These youth brought back an old Sudanese tradition,” said Mr. Eltigani, the editor.
Ms. Tawfig, the student volunteer, explained what made her come back every day to volunteer
with Nafeer.
“You have to imagine yourself in their place — no shelter, no food, no water,” she said. “You
wouldn’t stand it.”
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News 24 (South Africa): SA spikes solar solutions
02 September 2013
South Africa has jumped its investment in renewable energy in the last year, a reports says.
According to a report on the Climate Action Programme website, the investment into renewable
energy topped $5.7bn, as measurement by the United Nations Environment Program (Unep).
Solar energy has gobbled up the majority of the investment, and several companies have installed
solar solutions as a way to cut costs.
Google also recently announced its support for the Jasper Power Project in the Northern Cape
province. The project is estimated to be able to produce 96MW of electricity and will cost $12m.
Investment in solar can be linked to the reduction of the cost of solar panels and though the initial
cash outlay is expensive, the return on investment period has been shortened due to the rising
cost of electricity.
Vodacom recently spent about R10m to build a photovoltaic solar panel on its Cape Town office
and the operator said that it would recoup the cost in just over five years.
"A couple of years ago, you were looking at a return of investment of about 17 years for a simple
payback model; it has come down to where you can reach payback anywhere between eight and
12 years, but with this particular project here, and also because we've entered into an agreement
with Eskom, our payback is around 5.5 years," Chris de Jongh, manager of Repairs and
Maintenance for Facilities South at Vodacom told News24.
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4th-Estate News Wire (Kenya): Strategy to Conserve Wetlands Should Align with
Ramsar Convention’s Main Pillars, Says Kenya Wetlands Atlas
02 September 2013
Kenya is embarking a long-term strategy to conserve and enhance its rich and varied wetlands—
key natural resources important for agriculture, drinking water, flood defense and tourism—amid
concern that many are facing serious degradation and decline.
The Kenya Wetlands Atlas, produced with funding from the Government of Kenya and the Danish
International Development Agency (DANIDA) and technical support from the UN Environment
Programme (UNEP), details the many challenges facing dozens of important ecosystems.
In order to reverse the worrying trend of degradation, the atlas highlights the need for Kenya to
embrace a raft of measures under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands’ main pillars of wise use,
designating and managing more Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar Sites), and
international cooperation.
“The integrity of the country’s water resources and agricultural productivity is sustained by our
wetlands, which are nutrient rich and productive for most of the year,” said Judi W. Wakhungu,
Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Water and Natural Resources.
“Despite their role in sustaining livelihoods we are seeing severe pressures. To combat this, the
government has embarked on a long-term strategy to promote the protection of wetlands, in
particular through a wetlands conservation and management policy currently under revision.”
Another aspect of this strategy is the Master Plan for the Conservation and Sustainable
Management of Water Catchment Areas in Kenya, also funded by DANIDA.
The Plan recognizes that persistent and intense cyclical droughts and floods are a proxy indicator
of extensive environmental degradation. In view of this, the Plan identifies water catchment pillars
that require critical conservation and sustainable management.
Indeed, the Plan identifies gaps and conflicts in current legislation and policies, and draws a
roadmap for integrated planning that includes all stakeholders. The Master Plan provides a
framework upon which recommendations in the Wetlands Atlas shall be implemented.
The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands has been in force in Kenya since 1990, and an
environment-friendly Constitution was promulgated in 2010. The Environment Management and
Coordination Act and its by-laws contain a number of innovative wetland provisions. In addition
the government is in the process of introducing a holistic national environmental policy that deal
with challenges facing wetlands including:
∙
Over-extraction of water;
∙
Eutrophication (the process when a body of water receives excessive nutrients, resulting in
excessive plant growth and less oxygen in the water) from domestic, agricultural and industrial
runoff;
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Fragmentation of land;
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Deforestation of major water catchment areas;
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Overgrazing;
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Invasive species;
Climate change“The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment estimated that wetlands provide services
worth US$ 15 trillion worldwide, including food, water, disaster regulation, climate regulation, and
cultural and recreational values,” said Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP
Executive Director.
“Yet wetlands including water catchment areas are being degraded and lost more rapidly than
other ecosystems, largely because their functions are not always understood by governments or
given enough weight in policy decisions,” he added. “UNEP is therefore very pleased that Kenya
recognizes the value of its wetlands and their importance in attaining Vision 2030, and that it is
implementing a long-term strategy to promote their sustainable management.”
The atlas details many of Kenya’s wetlands and the specific pressures facing them, including:
Lake Victoria North Basin Wetlands—Located to the north of Lake Victoria, the world’s secondlargest freshwater lake, these wetlands provides many services including fishing, farming and
forestry. However, they face threats from inappropriate land use, mining, conversion of wetlands
to agricultural use and unsustainable exploitation of resources.
For example, about 6,900 hectares in the Yala Swamp, part of the wetlands, have been leased to
private companies for intensive agricultural activities, leading to water extraction and the flow of
pesticides and fertilizers into the ecosystem.
Rift Valley Basin Wetlands—A 60-kilometre wide internal drainage basin, the Rift Valley hosts
some of Kenya’s most-iconic lakes, such as Lake Nakuru, Lake Naivasha, Lake Elementaita,
Lake Baringo and Lake Turkana. Urbanization, increasing demand for resources and other
pressures have led to pollution, soil erosion and reduced quantity and quality of water.
For example, Lake Naivasha, designated as a Wetland of International Importance since 1995,
has seen reducing water levels due in part to a massive increase in flower farms withdrawing
water and a 50-fold increase in local population over the last three decades.
Mara River Basin—Shared between Kenya and Tanzania, this transboundary region hosts the
Masai Mara and Serengeti national parks, whose wide variety of animals provides vital tourism
income to both countries. The human population of the basin was estimated at 838,701 in 2010,
and is clocking in an annual growth rate of around three per cent. This growth is likely to outpace
the wetland’s capacity to provide ecosystem services. Land-use changes are already eroding
important habitats.
Nairobi River Basin—Many of Nairobi’s wetlands have already been lost due to the expansion of
the city, drained to create space for shopping malls, buildings, roads, car parks and recreational
facilities. Those that have survived are under pressure from subsistence farming, quarrying and
dumping. As a result, the numbers of birds in and around the city are steadily declining, while
virtually all the tributaries of the Nairobi River are polluted.
In order to achieve sustainable management of Kenya’s wetlands and water catchment areas, the
report calls for the urgent implementation of the three pillars of the Ramsar Convention—a move
which would enhance the capacity of wetlands and water catchment areas to support human
wellbeing and national development.
Specifically, the Atlas and the Master Plan bring to the fore a series of recommendations under
the three pillars, including:
Wise Use
∙
The urgent formulation and passing of a national wetlands policy that would set out broad
strategic goals to ensure wise use of wetlands, and the creation of a statutory wetlands law.
∙
The development of a comprehensive and technically proficient database on the country’s
wetlands and wetland resources in order to create a baseline for tracking changes and to draw
attention to those wetlands in pressing need of rehabilitation or protection.
∙
The implementation of Integrated Water Resources Management, a framework for the
sustainable development, apportionment and monitoring and water resources.Wetlands of
International Importance
∙
The designation of new sites, such as the Yala Swamp and Saiwa Swamp, (including the
entire littoral zones of Lake Victoria and the coral platform of the coastal strip of Indian Ocean
stretch in Kenya) to boost the monitoring and management of wetlands from the six currently
designated.
∙
The restoration and rehabilitation of degraded wetlands currently unable to perform their
ecological functions.International Cooperation
∙
The replication of existing initiatives fostering regional cooperation of transboundary
wetlands to encompass critical wetlands shared by Kenya and its neighbours. Possible
candidates are the Mara River system and Lake Turkana and Lake Jipe.
∙
Embracing partnerships and collaboration in implementation of international and regional
agreements on the sustainable management of Wetlands and Water catchment areas—a
recommendation the Kenyan government has already taken on board.
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Other Environment News
Reuters (UK): Japan vows quick action, public funds for Fukushima
02 September 2013
Japan vowed quick, decisive action, including the use of public funds, to tackle the worsening
problem of contaminated water pouring from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant, as the
authorities step in to help the facility's embattled operator.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the government "will step forward and implement all necessary
policies" to deal with the flood of radioactive water from the plant, a legacy of the world's worst
atomic disaster in a quarter century.
The government will present a "comprehensive package of measures" on the water problem as
soon as Tuesday, a senior official said.
Tokyo's measures come amid proposals to create a government agency devoted to
decommissioning the Fukushima plant and as some outside the government call for a break-up
of the operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co, or Tepco.
Two and a half years after a massive earthquake and tsunami crippled the facility, the problem
of contaminated water is only getting worse, and the government is taking a more direct role as
Tepco appears overwhelmed by the task.
"The government has stayed in the background and extended support for Tokyo Electric's effort
to tackle the problem of contaminated water. But we've now decided that Tokyo Electric's
patchwork response has reached its limit, and the government needs to come forward and
quickly respond, even by using budget reserves," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told
reporters.
Tepco, rushing to contain the crisis from the steady accumulation of water used to cool melted
fuel rods, said at the weekend that radiation near a tank holding highly contaminated water at
the plant had spiked to 18 times the initial reading, a level that could kill an unprotected person
in four hours.
This follows the utility's admission late last month, a reversal previous denials, that large
amounts of contaminated water were flowing into the Pacific Ocean from the coastal facility 230
kms (140 miles) northeast of Tokyo.
OLYMPIC BID
Japan's nuclear industry, which once provided a third of the nation's power, has ground nearly
to a halt since the quake hit the Fukushima plant in March 2011, causing reactor meltdowns.
Restarting Japan's off-line reactors, and reducing the nation's reliance on foreign energy
supplies, is a key element of Abe's economic growth plans and a pillar of Tepco's turnaround
plan.
Japanese officials also fear that international attention to the Fukushima crisis could threaten
Tokyo's bid to host the 2020 Olympics, a decision set to be made by the International Olympic
Committee on Saturday in Buenos Aires.
The government will present a package of measures as soon as Tuesday to a taskforce dealing
with the contaminated water problem, officials said. The steps will include using existing
budgetary funds.
Japan's nuclear regulator reiterated on Monday that it may have to consider discharging water
with radiation below regulatory limits into the ocean. Tepco has been pumping water over the
wrecked reactors to keep them cool and storing the radioactive waste water as well as
contaminated ground water in ever-growing numbers of above-ground tanks.
Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) Chairman Shunichi Tanaka told reporters there was no
evidence of new water leaks at the Fukushima plant, following the discovery of high radiation
levels in recent days.
Still, he said, "The people at the Fukushima plant have been dealing with the post-accident
situation with haphazard, stop-gap measures for several years." Tanaka said the NRA has
instructed plant officials to foresee possible risks and take action as quickly as possible to
mitigate them.
DECOMMISSIONING AGENCY
More broadly, policymakers may be moving toward even greater intervention in the ongoing
response to the nuclear disaster.
Yasuhisa Shiozaki, deputy policy chief of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and head of its
project team on nuclear regulation, called for the creation of a "decommissioning agency." He
also urged the merging of the NRA with the Japan Nuclear Energy Safety Organization, a body
that provides engineering experts and inspects Japan's nuclear facilities.
Giving Tokyo direct oversight of Fukushima, a decommissioning agency could resemble
Britain's National Decommissioning Authority, a public body charged with managing the
dismantling of the nation's atomic power and research stations.
"It is an urgent task to promptly restructure our overall nuclear power policies under a resolute
system and revive domestic and international trust," Shiozaki said in comments posted on his
website.
Debate has also emerged over nationalizing or breaking up Tepco to put the Fukushima
reactors directly under official control.
Tepco, Japan's largest utility, last year got a 1 trillion yen ($10.2 billion) injection of tax money in
exchange for giving the government a de facto controlling stake, but management has been left
to the company. The firm also receives public funds - in theory to be paid back - to help
compensate residents forced to flee after the 2011 disaster.
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AFP: Protests in Romania against shale gas, Canadian gold mine
01 September 2013
Thousands of people took to the streets of Romania on Sunday to protest against shale gas
exploration and a controversial Canadian gold mine project using cyanide.
Protesters also lashed out at the government and the president for supporting these
controversial projects.
In Bucharest, between 4,000, according to the police, and 7,000 people, according to organisers
walked between the central University Square and the government building, shouting slogans
against a gold mine project planned by Canadian company Gabriel resources in the village of
Rosia Montana, in the heart of Transylvania.
The open-cast mine would be the biggest in Europe, according to the company.
The project has triggered fierce opposition as the mine would use an average of 12,000 tonnes
of cyanide a year in a leaching process, destroy four mountains and threaten to partially
damage Roman mining galleries.
The company says European environment regulations will be respected.
"We don't want cyanide", protesters, mainly young people and families, shouted.
In the evening, they organised a sit-in on one of Bucharest's main avenues, partially blocking
traffic.
"We hope we can save Rosia Montana," Irina Enea, a jewellery designer who came to protest
with her husband and two children, told AFP.
"We are angry because the right to a safe environment is violated and because the government
adopted a draft law saying the mine is of national interest," she added.
Romania's government on Tuesday approved a draft law granting national interest status to the
Canadian gold mine project.
The draft law will have to get approval from Parliament to be valid.
Protests also took place in several other Romanian cities gathering hundreds of people each.
In Barlad (north-east), more than 3,500 people gathered to protest shale gas drilling plans by
US giant Chevron.
They oppose the controversial drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing or "fracking"
which involves injecting huge amounts of water, mixed with sand and chemicals, at high
pressures to break up rock formations and release the gas.
"We inherited a clean land from our ancestors. Our duty is to transmit as clean (a landscape) to
our children and grandchildren but if Chevron proceeds with shale gas, they will poison the
land", 86-year-old Mihai Berlea said.
Chevron says it will respect "the highest standards in terms of safety and environmental
protection".
"Many protesters took to the streets today not only because of environmental concerns but
because they feel they have been betrayed", sociologist Mircea Kivu told AFP, recalling that rhe
ruling centre left coalition was against these two projects while in opposition.
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BBC News (UK): Climate change 'driving spread of crop pests'
2 September 2013
Climate change is helping pests and diseases that attack crops to spread around the world, a
study suggests.
Researchers from the universities of Exeter and Oxford have found crop pests are moving at an
average of two miles (3km) a year.
The team said they were heading towards the north and south poles, and were establishing in
areas that were once too cold for them to live in.
The research is published in the journal Nature Climate Change.
Currently, it is estimated that between 10% and 16% of the world's crops are lost to disease
outbreaks. The researchers warn that rising global temperatures could make the problem
worse.
Dr Dan Bebber, the lead author of the study from the University of Exeter, said: "Global food
security is one of the major challenges we are going to face over the next few decades.
"We really don't want to be losing any more of our crops than is absolutely necessary to pests
and pathogens."
Trade transport
To investigate the problem, the researchers looked at the records of 612 crop pests and
pathogens from around the world that had been collected over the past 50 years.
Continue reading the main story
These included fungi, such as wheat rust, which is devastating harvests in Africa, the Middle
East and Asia; insects like the mountain pine beetle that is destroying trees in the US; as well as
bacteria, viruses and microscopic nematode worms.
Each organism's distribution was different - some butterflies and insects were shifting quickly, at
about 12 miles (20km) a year; other bacterium species had hardly moved. On average,
however, the pests had been spreading by two miles each year since 1960.
"We detect a shift in their distribution away form the equator and towards the poles," explained
Dr Bebber,
The researchers believe that the global trade in crops is mainly responsible for the movement of
pests and pathogens from country to country.
However, the organisms can only take hold in new areas if the conditions are suitable, and the
researchers believe that warming temperatures have enabled the creature to survive at higher
latitudes.
Dr Bebber said: "The most convincing hypothesis is that global warming has caused this shift.
"One example is the Colorado potato beetle. Warming appears to have allowed it to move
northwards through Europe to into Finland and Norway where the cold winters would normally
knock the beetle back."
The researchers said that better information about where the pests and pathogens were and
where they were moving was needed to fully assess the scale of the problem.
"We also need to protect our borders, we have to quarantine plants to reduce the chances that
pests and pathogens are able to get into our agricultural systems," added Dr Bebber.
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AP: African dust clouds worry Caribbean scientists
27 August 2013
Each summer, microscopic dust particles kicked up by African sandstorms blow thousands of
miles (kilometers) across the Atlantic to arrive in the Caribbean, limiting airplane pilots' visibility
to just a few miles and contributing to the suffering of asthmatics trying to draw breath.
The phenomenon has been around as long as there's been sand in the Sahara Desert. But it's
attracting ever more attention from regional scientists who say the clouds have grown, even if
there's no global consensus on the issue.
In recent days and weeks a particularly large cloud dusted eastern Caribbean islands, made for
hazy skies and intense, tangerine-tinted sunsets off Havana, drifted over Mexico's Yucatan
Peninsula and was detected as far away as Wyoming. In satellite images provided by NASA,
the enormous, smoky clouds can be seen wafting westward from Africa covering hundreds of
square miles. From the ground, they can bring a faint haze.
While the clouds have mostly been treated as a meteorological curiosity by TV newscasts,
scientists say periodic masses of dust may have important climactic consequences, even
hindering hurricane formation to some degree. NASA has been sending unmanned drones into
tropical storms this year to study the phenomenon.
Experts say particulate matter found in the clouds may also be cause for health concerns, and
are calling for more study to understand their potential impact.
"It is a matter of great magnitude, interest and importance for health," said Braulio JimenezVelez, a specialist in molecular and environmental toxicology at the University of Puerto Rico at
Mayaguez, who is researching the issue.
African dust has prompted two health alerts this year in Puerto Rico for asthma sufferers and
people with allergies, and the Dominican Republic also issued a lower-level warning.
Airborne particulate matter is connected to respiratory disease worldwide, usually among people
with existing problems such as asthma. Parts of the Caribbean, such as Puerto Rico, have high
asthma rates. However, no direct link between African dust and higher rates of asthma or lung
cancer has been established.
The phenomenon is similar to the giant dust storms that paint the skies yellow in Asian
metropolises and can travel all the way to the U.S. West Coast — only the African clouds
produce even more dust. A 2011 study in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics estimated that
North Africa is behind more than 70 percent of global dust emissions.
Charles Darwin may have suspected as much back in 1832, when he collected the grime that
caked the HMS Beagle at the Cape Verde islands.
"The dust falls in such quantities as to dirty everything on board. ... It has often fallen on ships
when several 100, and even more than 1,000 miles from the coast of Africa," Darwin wrote.
Analysis showed microorganisms and plant silica in his sample.
Since then, increasing human activity has changed the composition of the clouds.
Scientists say they contain trace amounts of things like metals, microorganisms, bacteria,
spores, pesticides and fecal matter, though there's no evidence that the quantities are enough
to pose a threat. Joseph M. Prospero, professor emeritus of marine and atmospheric chemistry
at the University of Miami, said African dust sampled in Barbados also had elevated levels of
arsenic and cadmium.
"The specific impact on health is not known here or anywhere else. It has been extremely
difficult to link specific particle composition to health effects," said Prospero, lead author of a
paper on the dust to be published in September by the bulletin of the American Meteorological
Society. "So it cannot be said what effect all this dust has, but there is reason for some
concern."
Eugenio Mojena of Cuba's Institute of Meteorology said the particles are believed to originate in
the semi-arid Sahel region south of the Sahara Desert, where farmers raise livestock and
employ chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
"Today's dust is not the same as what Darwin studied," Mojena said. Before, "it didn't have
pesticides or herbicides."
Some experts worry iron in the clouds may pose a threat to coral by feeding populations of
algae and spores that damage it, though it's still a subject of debate. The clouds can also
complicate air traffic by reducing visibility to less than 3 miles, said Jason Dunion, a researcher
at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
On the flip side, the clouds may inhibit the formation of tropical cyclones in the Caribbean.
Prospero said lower rainfall in West Africa presumably causes more dust, which reduces
sunlight, lowers water temperatures and cuts evaporation, all factors in cyclonic formation.
While experts disagree about the changes in the dust clouds over the decades, all agree this
year's cloud was remarkable.
Mojena said the dust arriving in Cuba has risen 10-fold in the last 30 years after severe
droughts in northern Africa, though Omar Torres, a specialist in atmospheric physics at the
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, said satellite studies since 1980 do not show
increased Sahara dust emissions beyond normal seasonal variability.
Even so, "this year's advancement all the way to Wyoming was totally unexpected," Torres said.
"I never saw anything like that in recent years."
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Guardian (UK): 'We are fighting for survival,' Pacific islands leader warns
1 September 2013
Pacific islanders will challenge world leaders this week to act on climate change, warning that
their low-lying atolls are close to becoming uninhabitable because of rising seas and
increasingly severe floods, droughts and storm surges.
"The Pacific is fighting for its survival. Climate change has already arrived," said Christopher
Loeak, president of the Marshall Islands, which will host the Pacific islands' annual summit,
attended by most of the world's largest emitters of greenhouse gases, including the US, China
and the EU.
The Marshall Islands, a group of 29 atolls and coral islands standing on average only two
metres above sea level, and lying halfway between Australia and Hawaii, is particularly
vulnerable to climate change. Earlier this year the president declared a state of emergency
following a simultaneous drought and some of the worst floods ever experienced. A freak tide
nearly destroyed the capital Majuro, breaching its sea walls and flooding the airport runway. The
drought left 6,000 people surviving on less than one litre of water per day
Many other small island Pacific "microstates", including the Solomons, Tuvalu and the Carteret
Islands, have all suffered rapid erosion, higher tides, storm surges and inundation of wells with
seawater. Earlier this year Kiribati's president, Anote Tong, predicted his country was likely to
become uninhabitable between 30 and 60 years from now because of inundation and
contamination of its freshwater supplies. Many of its outer islands are being invaded by the sea
and people are flocking to the capital, South Tarawa. The state has plans to buy 2,000 hectares
of land in Fiji to grow food for itself and possibly to act as a new island home.
"I say 'welcome to climate change' when people come here," said President Loek whose home
island of Buoj has almost been washed away in the last few years. "We will not stop telling
people that it is a real issue for humanity. We will be the first to feel it, but it will come to them
and they should realise it."
The Marshalls and most other Pacific states hope that their physical vulnerability on the frontline
of climate change will help galvanise world leadership in the stalled UN climate talks. They
expect all countries at the Pacific summit, including the US, China and the EU, to sign the
Majuro declaration of leadership that will focus attention on emission cuts before the expected
resolution of the talks in 2015. The declaration will be presented to the UN at the talks in Poland
in November.
The islands, which produce less than 0.1% of the world's emissions, say they are leading by
example. Most have started to substitute the expensive diesel they must traditionally import to
generate electricity with renewable energy, including coconut power – biodiesel derived from
homegrown coconut palms to power cars and outboard motors. The Marshall Islands has
converted its outer island communities to solar energy and Tokelau has become the first
territory in the world able to meet all its electricity needs with solar power. The Cook Islands and
Tuvalu are aiming to get all of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020. Others plan to
become self-sufficient in energy within 15 years.
Many of the islands look to New Zealand, their closest large land mass, to give financial and
diplomatic leadership. "New Zealand can and should do more," said Loeak. "They are the fifth
highest per capita emitters in the world and Kiwi emissions continue to climb."
EU climate commissioner Connie Hedegaard pledged last week to support the Pacific island
states at the summit. "These low-lying islands risk being swamped by rising sea levels and their
inhabitants forced to emigrate. Weather extremes in the Pacific are not about a distant future.
They have become the new normal. Heatwaves, floods, droughts and rising oceans are the new
reality of an ever warming world. And this should not come as a surprise. Scientists have been
warning for years that as the planet heats up, we will have to deal with more severe, more
changeable, more unpredictable weather."
"The Pacific can count on Europe's co-operation and ambition. We count on the Pacific region
to help us bring all other major economies on board the future climate regime," she said.
Climate models all predict steadily rising sea levels as ice melts at the poles, but the higher
tides being experienced in the Pacific have also been attributed to El Niño events and tectonic
shifts.
"The longer we wait, I'm afraid we may reach the point of no return," said the Marshall Islands'
foreign minister, Phillip Muller. "We need to re-energise the international community and make
them aware that there are countries that may not be in existence much longer."
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Independent (UK): Biofuel project funded by UK ‘leaves Africans without food’
01 September 2013
Thousands of people in one of Africa’s poorest countries are going hungry because of a biofuels
“land grab” by a firm that receives funding from the Department for International Development, a
charity claims.
ActionAid accuses the Swiss company Addax Bioenergy of threatening livelihoods in rural
communities in Sierra Leone, where it runs an extensive sugar-cane plantation.
Addax, which will soon begin the first commercial shipping of biofuels from Africa to Europe,
receives funding from a UK-based development fund that received just under $150m (£97m)
from DfID in 2012-13.
The Addax project, set up in 2008, saw the company take a 50-year lease on 57,000 hectares
of land in the Makeni region of northern Sierra Leone. Due to begin exporting in 2014, the
project will produce 85 million litres of ethanol a year, for petrol – enough to meet 12 per cent of
the UK’s ethanol consumption in 2011/12.
The scheme had been promoted as an example of an environmentally and socially responsible
biofuels project. But following visits to the Addax project and 100 interviews with local people,
ActionAid claims that the company is harming the livelihoods of 13,000 people, across 60
villages.
Of those surveyed, 99 per cent said that food production had declined in their communities, and
90 per cent said that loss of farmland to the Addax project had been responsible. More than
three quarters of local people said that they had never seen the land lease agreements with
Addax and 85 per cent said that they had not been adequately informed about the pros and
cons of the company’s investment in their land, the charity claimed.
The project is funded by a number of development banks and Government-backed funds,
including the Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund (EAIF), which receives substantial funding
from DfID.
Tim Rice, ActionAid’s biofuels policy adviser and author of the report, told The Independent: “It
is deeply concerning that DfID, whose aim is to reduce poverty around the world, is funding a
project in one of the poorest countries in Africa which is pushing people off their land and into
hunger.”
Fiona Hall, Liberal Democrat MEP for North-east England, and a member of the European
Parliament’s Industry, Research and Energy and Development committees, told The
Independent she would call for a European Commission investigation into the project. “It is a
matter of great concern,” she said.
A DfID spokesperson said ActionAid’s claims should be investigated. “EAIF makes their own
commercial funding decisions,” the spokesperson said. “As one of EAIF’s funders, we would
expect them and their fund managers to investigate any allegations raised and to seek
reassurance from the company.”
An Addax spokesperson said the project in question “is already held up as a positive example
by the authorities in Sierra Leone, and by international organisations like the Food and
Agricultural Organisation of the UN and the African Development Bank.”
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Times of India (India): Migration of tigers outside protected areas under study
2 September 2013
Researchers are studying the migration corridors of tigers in the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve
(TATR), focusing on the landscape outside the protected areas to cut down man-animal conflict.
"We want to understand the movement of tigers at a landscape level. We will try to look at how
the areas outside the reserve's core and buffer zones are being used by tigers, their copredators and their prey," VK Sinha, acting principal (wildlife), said.
A joint effort by the state forest department, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA)
and the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), the long-term project will cost Rs 1.64 crore for the first
five years. The field work for the project commenced this April, Bilal Habib, a scientist at WII,
said.
By studying the dispersal of tigers and how they use the surrounding landscape, researchers
hope to identify areas to be prioritized for man-animal conflict mitigation measures, he said.
"For now, we have divided 7,000 sq km area outside the reserve into 13km by 13km grids —
believed to be the ideal home range for a tiger. We are mapping these grids for various
parameters such as the number of villages within the grid, human population density, livestock
kept by villagers, population density of prey, type of forest and the presence of watering holes,"
Habib said.
Based on the mapping, the study will identify areas that should be prioritized from a man-animal
conflict point of view. For example, a grid that has 100% forest cover and no human habitation
would not require conflict mitigation measures while a grid that has high human habitation and
accompanying livestock would require more attention, he explained.
"At present, we have to spread ourselves thin over a large area. But if we can pinpoint likely
conflict areas, we will have a better grip," Sinha said.
The next phase of the project will fit about a dozen tigers with radio-collars and monitor their
movement. Habib and his colleagues will attach the radio-collars on two-year-old tigers as that
is the age when they leave their mother's home range.
They will be able to follow these tigers as they find newer areas — their dispersal through areas
of human habitation. By monitoring their movement from season to season and comparing data
over the years, researchers will be able to determine how long a tiger remains in an area. "We
are planning to radio-collar the tigers this December," he said.
As part of the socio-economic impact, the project will be able to study the relocation of villages
from protected areas of the reserve, Sinha said.
The project will also study infrastructural pressures on conservation. Sinha pointed out that,
while the areas to the south and north-east of the reserve are relatively undisturbed, plots to its
west are fraught with mining activity as well as human population pressures.
"When mapping the grids, we will also keep in mind factors such as the presence or
construction of roads, if there are any railway or mining projects in the area and how all of this
affect tiger movement," Habib said.
Why Tadoba?
Tadoba-Andhari is known to be a reserve where tiger numbers are rising, says Bilal Habib,
scientist at the Wildlife Institute of India (WII).
"We know that tigers in Tadoba are breeding. We will be tracking young tigers for the project as
they are coming out of their mother's home range and venturing into areas of human habitation,"
he said.
Acting principal chief conservator of forest (wildlife) VK Sinha pointed out that Tadoba's location
is ideal to study the linkages between tigers in Maharashtra and the broader landscape in
central India.
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RT (Russia): Air pollution cause of 200,000 premature US deaths – study
29 August 2013
Air pollution in major US cities is the largest cause of premature mortality, a new study has
revealed. An average of 200,000 people have their lives cut short by about a decade every year
because of continuous exposure to toxic fumes.
Researchers from MIT’s Laboratory for Aviation and the Environment carried out a nationwide
study, tracing ground-level emissions and their effect on citizen mortality. The team of
investigators looked at sources such as car exhausts, industrial smokestacks and commercial
and residential heating and found that an average of 200,000 people die prematurely each year
because of exposure.
Steven Barrett, an assistant professor of aeronautics and astronautics at MIT, said the new
research confirmed already existing fears. He stressed that prolonged exposure to toxic
emissions could shorten people’s lives by up to a decade.
“In the past five to 10 years, the evidence linking air-pollution exposure to risk of early death has
really solidified and gained scientific and political traction,” said Barrett, adding that something
must be done to mitigate the problem.
In the study sources of air pollution were divided into six different categories: electric power
generation, industry, commercial and residential sources, road transportation, marine
transportation, and rail transportation. Data on each of the categories was then fed into an air
quality simulation program to assess their impact on the atmosphere.
Out of all 50 states, California is the worst offender, with over 21,000 premature deaths mostly
attributed to exposure to car exhaust fumes and emissions from heating and cooking. Moreover,
the US Environmental Protection Agency says that more than 1 million southern Californians
are at a greater risk of contracting a respiratory disorder because they live within 300 meters of
a highway.
Transport biggest killer
The primary cause of premature death in the US was found to be transport emissions,
responsible for 53,000 of the 200,000 premature deaths. Fumes from electrical power
generation followed closely behind, claiming 52,000 lives annually. Early deaths from industrial
activities were found to be particularly prevalent in the Midwest, as well as in Los Angeles,
Philadelphia and Atlanta.
“It was surprising to me just how significant road transportation was,” Barrett observed,
“especially when you imagine [that] coal-fired power stations are burning relatively dirty fuel.”
Domestic emissions sources were also flagged as part of the problem, with pollution from
cooking and heating behind a large number of premature deaths. Although they may seem
harmless the use of these appliances produces carbon dioxide which can cause health
problems after prolonged exposure.
“A public health burden of this magnitude clearly requires significant policy attention, especially
since technologies are readily available to address a significant fraction of these emissions,”
Jonathan Levy, a professor of environmental health at Boston University, commented to MIT.
The US Environmental Agency recently introduced new guidelines that will require air pollution
monitors to be installed on the side of major highways in over 100 cities across the country.
However, fossil fuels still remain the principle source of US power, accounting for 42 percent of
the country's electricity production in 2011.
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New Vision (Uganda): 2015 and beyond
31 August 2013
Job vacancy: Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for Earth Limited. The suitable candidate will have
to demonstrate abilities to secure the future of humanity.
The CEO will have to implement measures that address the global challenges that threaten the
future of humanity. These include poverty, climate change and an economic meltdown. The
successful candidate will begin work in 2015 when the curtain will fall down ending 15 years of
implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The CEO will usher in
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) being debated across the world to replace MDGs, a
set eight global development targets.
Politicians in the global north and global south both pay lip service to development. In light of
this, the CEO will also have to advise Uganda, which has discovered oil and is seeking to
become a medium income country by 2030. The CEO is required to look beyond the face value
portrayed by Government officials and suggest ways that will improve the quality of life of
Ugandans.
The world does not have a CEO, but the global leaders from different parts of the world will be
meeting in 2015 to adopt SDGs to drive the world into a sustainable future. So far, reports by
reputable institutions indicate that the world has derailed from the path to sustainable
development and that drastic measures should be taken to ensure that SDGs do not remain
slogans at global events.
What should be the priority for Uganda’s development agenda beyond 2015?
Sustainable charcoal production and efficient use needed
Green energy or renewable energy, according to Robert Ddamulira, the regional coordinator for
energy at the World Wide Fund for nature (WWF) should replace fossil fuels if the world is to
shift to a sustainable economy. “We need to replace the fossil energy powered economies to
renewable energy,” says Ddamulira, adding that energy drives economic growth.
Given that Uganda is still a developing country, biomass (charcoal and firewood) is going to
remain the main source of energy for some time, according to Ddamulira.
Currently, the technology used to produce charcoal recovers only 10% of the wood, according
to Ddamulira. In addition to this wastage, only 8.7% of Ugandans use improved cooking stoves
with the potential to reduce energy wastage by 60%, according to Ddamulira.
Sustainable use of land
Stephen Muwaya, Coordinator for sustainable land management, Ministry of Agriculture says
land remains a critical asset for most Ugandans. “People depend on land for production and its
sustainable use is important,” he says, adding that Government policies on land use and soils
should be implemented without delay.
This also goes with water and both resources are needed to ensure food security, energy
security, reduce climate change and re-vegetation also promotes bio-diversity conservation.
Water conservation
According to the 2009 review report by the Ministry of Water and Environment, the per capita
water availability will drop to 896 cubic meters per year, below the international threshold of
1,000 cubic meters in 2035. Water stress will hit Uganda even earlier, by the year 2020. The
available water will have dropped to 1,480 cubic metres per person, per year, by then, down
from the current 2,000 cubic meters.
According to Dr. Callist Tindimugaya, a commissioner in the ministry of water and environment,
this means that food and hydro-electric power production is increasingly coming at a big cost.
Climate Change:
According to Kimbowa, climate change is an emerging challenge that has far reaching
implications on many aspects of life including health, education, agriculture and security.
Climate change, according to Kimbowa should be considered as a priority under SDGs. But
Kyoto Protocol, which is the only legally binding agreement that obliges the industrialised
countries to cut their emissions by 5.2% of the 1990 levels, is being undermined by the rich
developed countries.
As a result, according to Kimbowa, climate change is threatening to reverse many years of
development in Uganda with successive disasters of floods and landslides. Government needs
policies to support the resilience against Climate Change.
More investment in agriculture
The negative environmental implications including climate change are eroding the ability of
people to fend for themselves. “It is sad that some farmers cannot even feed themselves,” says
Betty Tigawalana, a resident of Nalimawa in Kamuli district, adding that such farmers are losing
their dignity by relying on relief supplies to survive.
She added, “We need good seed and skills in productive approaches that conserve soil fertility
and water in the soil.”
According to a World Bank report, about 62% of Ugandans depend on agriculture, which
includes cash crops, livestock, forestry and fishing. But the sector’s real growth has been falling
since 2000/2001 and was expected to increase to 2% in 2010. The report notes that low growth
in agriculture relative to population growth will increase the number of the poor, and hamper the
possibility of achieving MDGs
Improved quality through education and health care
What the country needs is also to improve the quality of the services such as education, health,
according to Eugene Muramira, the deputy executive secretary of the Lake Victoria Basin
Commission. “Who will appreciate and participate in green growth? It is only a population with
education and access to health care that will appreciate value in green growth.”
Muramira says Uganda is becoming a regional hub when it comes to education and that the
county should explore other areas such as health, banking, insurance that could provide
services to Ugandans and the neighbouring countries such as Sudan and DR Congo.
Inequalities
While Uganda has reduced extreme poverty levels by half in the last two decades (from 56.4
per cent in 1992–1993 to 24.5 per cent in 2009–2010-UN report), the gap between the poor and
the rich is widening every year. Also some parts of the country such as eastern, northern and
north-eastern Uganda are becoming poorer. Others are areas around protected areas such as
national parks and lakes.
Population dynamics
A recent report by UN Environment Programme (the Africa Outlook report), Uganda’s population
growth rate was higher than the economic growth, which undermines development efforts aimed
at improving livelihood and sustainable use of the environment.
At the same time most of the over populated areas are around ecologically fragile areas such as
Mt. Elgon and Rwenzori, which are described as water towers that feed lakes Victoria, Kyoga
and River Nile.
The catchment of Lake Victoria has the highest global population growth rate every year
estimated at 7% as opposed to the national average of 3.2%, according to a report by UNEP. In
absence of alternative livelihood opportunities and strategic management of the environment,
this rapid population growth and urbanisation has resulted into environmental degradation.
Governance
Governance relating to the way how decisions are taken and resources allocated will help to
avoid what is referred to as the resource curse by spreading the benefits from natural resources
such as oil, fisheries and forestry. It will help in resolving emerging conflicts over water and
climate change.
As Uganda shifts from the least developed world to a middle income economy, the citizens
should be at the centre. This will not only help to create awareness but also mobilisation to
ensure easy implementation of SDGs. It is only active citizens and effective institutions that will
save the earth. Are you playing your part?
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Environmental News from the UNEP Regions
ROA MEDIA UPDATE
THE ENVIRONMENT IN THE NEWS
Monday, September 02, 2013
Star (Kenya): Tree Seedlings for mudslide victims
Pokot West Pokot women's representative Regina Nyeris has donated 2,000 indigenous tree
seedlings to Kadukunya village residents who were affected by a mudslide last week.
Speaking yesterday after handing over the seedlings, Nyeris asked residents to plant trees on
slopes of Sondanyi Hill and other areas prone to mudslides.She asked the county Environment
ministry to supply more seedlings. http://allafrica.com/stories/201308301150.html
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Star (Kenya): Naivasha farmers threaten to kill wildlife
Farmers in Maella village, Naivasha have threatened to kill all wild animals intruding into the
area. They said the animals have been invading their farms and destroying crops.
Joyce Wangui, a maize farmer said the animals sneak into their farms from a nearby
conservancy. "They invade our farms in large numbers and we fear because they include
buffalos," she said.
Wangui said some farmers have abandoned their farms that neighbour for fear of night attacks.
She said that if the situation is not contained, the farmers will be rendered jobless.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201308301181.html
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Ethiopia: Government of Norway partners with world bank to support ethiopia in
scaling up climate-smart land management
Press Release
World Bank, (Washington, DC)—Ethiopia, a country highly vulnerable to extreme weather
events, land degradation, deforestation and food insecurity, is stepping up its efforts to fight
climate change, promote sustainable rural development and build resilience. Today, two
agreements were signed between the Government of Norway and the World Bank to provide
significant financing for sustainable land management, climate-smart agriculture and forest
protection in the country.
The first agreement injects an additional US$50 million grant funds from the Government of
Norway through a trust fund to co-finance the Sustainable Land Management Program (SLMP
II) aimed at reducing land degradation and increasing land productivity of smallholder farmers.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201308310604.html
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Shabait (Eritrea): Paper factory demonstrating noteworthy commitment towards
ensuring environmental health
Seid Mohammed-Nur Paper Factory in Asmara is reportedly demonstrating noteworthy
commitment towards ensuring environmental health on the basis of reprocessing.
Mr. Mohammed Yasin, factory Manager, disclosed that around 60 quintals of paper collected
from individuals and organizations is recycled weekly and utilized in the production of various
forms of cases and folders. He further called on nationals to sell paper collections to the factory
rather than burning or throwing them away. http://allafrica.com/stories/201309020052.html
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Government of South Africa: Progress made in advancing women's equalitynorth west agriculture, conservation, environment and rural development mec
desbo mohono
Press Release
South Africa has made great progress in advancing women's equality and much of the progress
is owed to the vision and ideals of the many women who drafted the Women's Charter and
those women activists who marched to the Union Buildings, North West MEC for Agriculture
and Rural Development, Desbo Mohono said in Mahikeng on Thursday.
"Today the women our country are beneficiaries of a strong economy, a progressive
constitution, massive service delivery in terms of access to water, sanitation, housing, electricity,
land, agrarian reform and to major improvements to the education system," said MEC Mohono
who received a recognition award on behalf of Premier Modise who was honoured by Mahikeng
Local Municipality for her role in contribution towards the emancipation of women.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201308310134.html
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South African Government: 2013 fishing rights allocations process (frap)submission of documentation
Prospective applicants applying for fishing rights in the KZN Prawn Trawl, Demersal Shark,
Squid, Tuna Pole, Hake Hand Line, White Mussels, Oysters and Traditional Linefish fishing
sectors as part of the 2013 FRAP may approach the department for copies of documentation as
follows:
1. A copy of the letter granting the long-term commercial fishing right:
Applicants do not have to follow the procedure in terms of PAIA (Promotion of Access to
Information Act, 2/2000) to obtain copies of their rights letters. Instead, the Department will
assist applicants by releasing a confirmation letter that the applicant is indeed a Rights Holder
as per our Rights Register and that this confirmation will replace the rights letter for the
purposes of the 2013 FRAP. Applicants may email nadiner@daff.gov.za or
thelisam@daff.gov.za
to
request
copies
of
these
letters.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201308301476.html
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Guardian (Nigeria): Mitigation without adaptation can leave communities
vulnerable, says report
Understanding the vulnerability of forest-dependent communities is a point of departure for
building more effective climate mitigation and adaptation strategies, a study has found.
Among its findings, the study reported that mitigation activities might make communities more
vulnerable to the effects of climate change and other factors. It also argued that positive
outcomes from conservation depend on the willingness and motivation of communities to
engage and participate in mitigation activities.
The study, published in the International Journal of Biodiversity and Conservation, was written
principally by Eugene Chia who conducted the research as part of a graduate thesis at the
Norwegian University of Life Sciences.
The research focused on two villages in the rainforests of southern Cameroon that are involved
in
payments
for
ecosystem
services
(PES)
pilot
projects.
http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/property/property/131609-mitigation-without-adaptation-canleave-communities-vulnerable-says-report
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Guardian (Nigeria): 2,355 AFRICAN BIRDS SPECIES THREATENED WITH
EXTINCTION
Amid significant threats to birds in Africa due to habitat fragmentation, degradation and
destruction, the BirdLife Africa Partnership has produced the first regional State of Africa’s Birds
(SOAB) report, launched at the BirdLife World Congress recently in Ottawa, Canada.
The report provides a comprehensive overview of current and emerging environment and
development issues in Africa as reflected from in-depth information on birds. It presents a
synthesis of the work and knowledge of the BirdLife Africa Partnership in conserving birds, their
habitats and other biodiversity, as well as livelihoods efforts for sustainability in the use of
natural resources.
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ROLAC MEDIA UPDATE
THE ENVIRONMENT IN THE NEWS
Monday, September 02, 2013
For a full summary of news from Latin America and the Caribbean region, visit:
http://www.pnuma.org/informacion/noticias/2013-08/30/index.html
Ver todas la Noticias Ambientales
http://www.pnuma.org/informacion/noticias/2013-08/30/index.html
Manchete Notícias
UNEP : Especialistas en el Financiamiento Climático Global se reúnen en Río de Janeiro
para el VII Foro Latinoamericano y Caribeño del Carbono
Agosto 30, 2013
La mayor conferencia en América Latina y el Caribe sobre precios del carbono, nuevos
mecanismos de mercado y el desarrollo bajo en emisiones
UNEP: Global climate finance specialists meet in Rio de Janeiro for the 7th Latin
American and Caribbean Forum
Agosto 30, 2013
The Largest Conference in Latin American and the Caribbean on Carbon Pricing, New Market
Mechanisms and Low Emissions Development
Yahoo! Chile Noticias : Colombia deberá compartir con Nicaragua la caribeña Biosfera
de Seaflower
Agosto 30, 2013
La protección de la Reserva de la Biosfera de Seaflower, que alberga uno de los arrecifes
coralinos más extensos del mundo, deberá ser compartida por Colombia y Nicaragua,
consideró el jueves un representante de la UNESCO con base en la redefinición de límites que
hizo la Corte Interancional
la alimentación de los peces" y la incidencia en su hábitat del cambio climático, entre otras
muchas cosas, indicó Arríen. La protección de la...
Regional
Elgolfo.info : Señalan riesgo por deshielo para México
Agosto 30, 2013
Tabasco sería el estado más dañado, en 21 por ciento de su superficie; Quintana Roo sufriría
un impacto en 81 por ciento de su población, y en Veracruz más de 1 millón de habitantes se
encontrarían en condiciones
Señalan riesgo por deshielo para México Tabasco sería el estado más dañado, en 21 por
ciento de su superficie; Quintana Roo sufriría un impacto...
País: México
Lignum.cl :v Paraguay amplía hasta 2018 prohibición de tala de bosques de región
oriental
Agosto 30, 2013
La "Ley de Deforestación Cero" ha demostrando que desde su primera implementación en el
2004 el índice de deforestación disminuyó en un 90%.
...prohibición de tala de bosques de región oriental La "Ley de Deforestación Cero" ha
demostrando que desde su primera implementación en el 2004...
País: Paraguay
Diario San Rafael : Reciclaje y teatro en la escuela Bianchi
Agosto 30, 2013
Juntan botellas para montar una escenografíaLas botellas y recipientes plásticos siempre
suelen ser un inconveniente, ya que generan grandes cantidades de basura, es por eso que
siempre se buscan alternativas para reutilizar y darles una vida útil .
País: Argentina
Recuperan zonas ecológicas para su sostenibilidad
Agosto 30, 2013 - La Patria
Tweet Recuperan zonas ecológicas para su sostenibilidad Medio Ambiente lapatria.
...medio ambiente de la región al integrar ecosistemas y consolidar la biodiversidad y la captura
de gases de efecto invernadero. Unidos por las...
País: Colombia
Prensa Latina : El Salvador abre planta de biofertilizantes en cooperación con Cuba
Agosto 30, 2013
30 de agosto de 2013, 02:12Por Miguel Fernández Martínez Chalatenango, El Salvador, 30 ago
(PL) La primera planta de biofertilizantes de El Salvador, construida con la colaboración de
científicos cubanos, fue inaugurada la víspera por el vicepresidente Salvador Sánchez Cerén,
en el municipio
...género, equidad, justicia, preservando los procesos naturales y biodiversidad, y de esta forma
contribuir para recuperar el equilibrio ecológico.
Diario La Republica : Gestores del cambio climático
Agosto 30, 2013
Más de 100 agricultores se capacitaron para implementar nuevas tecnologías en sus cultivos
para hacerlos sostenibles Tres organizaciones se unieron para capacitar a 100 productores del
sector de las regiones Huetar, Atlántica y Brunca.
Gestores del cambio climático Más de 100 agricultores se capacitaron para implementar
nuevas tecnologías en sus cultivos para hacerlos sostenibles...
País: Costa Rica
ElPais.cr : Japón apoya a Costa Rica en la conservación de humedales
Agosto 30, 2013
San José, 30 ago (elpais.cr) - El gobierno de Japón está apoyando al de Costa Rica para
aumentar las capacidades de conservación y manejo de humedales en nuestro país.
...Japón enfocado a la Conservación y uso sostenible de la biodiversidad de ecosistemas de
humedales en comunidades base . Este entrenamiento nos...
País: Costa Rica
Caribseek News: Public Education On Climate Change Effects Remains Priority –
Pickersgill
Agosto 29, 2013
Jamaica
Public Education On Climate Change Effects Remains Priority - Pickersgill Jamaica Information
Service KINGSTON (JIS) -- Water, Land, Environment...
País: Jamaica
Acento : El 52 % de la energía que consume Nicaragua es de fuentes renovables
Agosto 29, 2013
"En lo que va del año, tenemos un consumo del 52 % de energías renovables, y podríamos
estar terminando el año con un 51 %", dijo el ministro nicaragüense de Energía,
...renovables "En lo que va del año, tenemos un consumo del 52 % de energías renovables, y
podríamos estar terminando el año con un 51 %", dijo el...
País: Nicaragua
The Guardian: We must protect nature to conserve peoples' wellbeing
Agosto 29, 2013
Research shows the positive effect of nature on health and happiness. So why does
environment remain on the margins of debate?
...been made on at least two key issues (reducing the release of ozone-depleting substances
and ending lead additives in petrol) in large part because...
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RONA MEDIA UPDATE
THE ENVIRONMENT IN THE NEWS
Monday, September 02, 2013
Bloomberg: Climbing CO2 Hurting Marine Life from Oysters to Coral
26 August 2013
Climbing levels of carbon dioxide are harming all forms of marine life as the gas dissolves in the
oceans, making them more acidic, German researchers say.
Mollusks, corals and echinoderms, a class of creatures that includes starfish and sea urchins,
are the worst affected by the uptake of CO2 by the seas, according to a study in the journal
Nature Climate Change by researchers at the Alfred Wegener Institute in Bremerhaven. The
gas forms carbonic acid when it dissolves in the oceans, lowering their pH level.
Totten Virginica oysters, on the waters of Oyster Bay in the Totten Inlet near Shelton, Wash., in
this 2011 file photo. Rising acidity levels in the oceans pose a serious threat to shellfish and
other marine life, and tackling that problem in Washington state will require reducing carbon
dioxide emissions, keeping polluted runoff out of marine waters, and increasing monitoring at
hatcheries. Photographer: Ted S. Warren/AP Photo
Commercial species that show negative effects from acidification include oysters and cod.
Given the pace at which carbon-dioxide levels are growing, human emissions threaten to trigger
extinctions at a faster pace than die-outs millions of years ago, according to the study.
“There is a danger that we’re pushing things too fast and too hard toward an evolutionary crisis,”
Hans-Otto Poertner, one of the authors, said in a phone interview. “In the past, these crises
have taken much longer to develop.”
The research will be fed into the United Nations’ most detailed study into the science of climate
change, which is being published in three parts and an overall summary by the end of 2014, and
is designed to inform international climate treaty negotiations. Today’s study will be input for the
second part of that report, by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, due to be
published at the end of March. The first part is scheduled for publication on Sept. 27.
More-Acidic Waters
The researchers examined 167 previous studies about the effects of acidifying oceans on 153
species, analyzing their findings and using forecasts of future emissions to predict how they
might be affected as carbon-dioxide emissions into the atmosphere grow. The oceans absorb
more than a quarter of man-made CO2 emissions.
They found that at concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere of 500 parts per million to 650 parts
per million, negative effects outweighed positive ones for corals, echinoderms, mollusks and fish
though not for crustaceans. At higher concentrations, all categories of creatures were harmed.
CO2 is currently just under 400 parts per million, rising about 2 ppm to 3 ppm a year.
“All animal groups we considered are affected negatively by higher carbon-dioxide
concentrations,” Astrid Wittmann, a biologist at the institute and the report’s other author, said in
a statement. “Corals, echinoderms and mollusks above all react very sensitively to a decline in
the pH value.”
Behavior Change
Negative effects include behavioral and sensory changes that make fish less fearful of
predators, altered metabolism, and a slowing of the rate at which mollusks can form shells.
Similar sensitivity to rising CO2 can be observed in the fossil records of extinctions that took
place 55 million years ago and 250 million years ago respectively, Poertner said.
He cautioned that the study has limitations because “you cannot do sufficiently long studies to
really mimic what will happen in 50 years.”
The research was designed to look solely at the effects of the acidification caused by the
carbon-dioxide emissions, according to Poertner. When the warming effects of the gas are also
factored in, it could accelerate negative effects because the temperature a species can
withstand in more acidic conditions may be lower, he said.
“We are at a risk of causing extinctions,” Poertner said. “We cannot give with any certainty the
year when people will start to report extinctions due to climate change. It depends on what
temperature change and CO2 concentrations we allow.”
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UN News Centre: UN climate change body partners with Latin American bank to
boost clean development efforts
23 August 2013 – The United Nations climate change secretariat has signed an agreement with
the Latin American Development Bank to increase participation in clean development projects in
the region, it was today announced.
The agreement, signed by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
Secretariat, will establish a Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) regional collaboration centre
(RCC) in Bogotá, Colombia.
“The CDM has demonstrated what can be achieved when we use markets to incentivize action
on climate change and development,” UNFCCC Executive Secretary, Christiana Figueres, said
in a statement.
“The RCC in Bogotá will help tap the potential for CDM projects in Latin America and serve as a
working example of the kind of inter-agency cooperation necessary to tackle climate change,”
she added.
The CDM RCCs are part of an effort to bring the benefits of the Kyoto Protocol’s emissionreduction projects in developing countries to earn certified emission reductions – or CERs –
which can then be traded, sold and used by industrialized countries to meet environmental
targets. Each CER is equivalent to one ton of carbon dioxide.
This is the fourth regional collaboration centre established by the UNFCCC and a regional
development bank. The first centre was established in 2012 in Lomé, Togo, in collaboration with
the Banque Ouest Africaine de Développement and provides assistance in the development of
CDM projects in Francophone Africa.
The two other centres are in Kampala, Uganda, which supports the remaining countries in the
Africa, and in Saint George’s, Grenada, to assist CDM projects in the Caribbean.
The office will be operational on 1 September and will provide support to all countries in Latin
America.
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UN News Centre: School meal programmes benefit children, support local farms
in Latin America – UN study
23 August 2013 – School feeding programmes in Latin America are having a positive impact on
children’s well-being and are fostering local development when food is sourced from family
farmers, a United Nations study found.
The study, A Panorama of School Feeding and the Possibilities for Direct Purchases from
Family Farming - Case Studies in Eight Countries, indicates that these programmes promote
school attendance and bolster the learning process. Additionally, the eight countries who took
part in the study showed interest in sourcing food from family farmers to advance local
development.
“This is a triple-win approach: it secures quality food for students of public schools, promotes
consumption of fresh and healthy food, and opens new markets and the possibility of higher
incomes for family farmers while boosting local development,” said the Director-General of the
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), José Graziano da Silva.
The various programmes examined by the study include 18 million students of different ages
and educational levels, with a combined budget of approximately $940 million, representing an
investment of $25 per student each year.
The study found that Governments’ commitment for school meal programmes has grown, but
notes that appropriate legal and regulatory frameworks are required to make it easier for small
local producers to supply food to government networks.
“The study shows that tackling the challenges of school feeding programs requires the
involvement of various actors, including Governments, parliamentarians, international
organizations, private sector, the educational community and civil society,” said Najla Veloso,
coordinator of FAO’s regional work in this area.
The study was undertaken in Bolivia, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua,
Paraguay and Peru, and was supported by the Brazil-FAO International Cooperation
Programme, which is engaged in a series of activities aimed at helping countries achieve
various Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Given the advances shown by the study on school feeding programmes, FAO and the
Government of Brazil are stressing the need to translate the political commitment shown by
countries into concrete school feeding policies and institutions, to guarantee the quality and
nutritional value of food in schools.
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United States
Bloomberg: Soybean Futures Jump Most Since 2011 as Hot Weather Curbs
26 August 2013
Soybeans surged the most since October 2011 as hot, dry Midwest weather threatens to curb
deteriorating yields in the U.S., the world’s biggest grower. Corn climbed to the highest in a
month, and wheat rose.
Temperatures will average as much as 14 degrees Fahrenheit above normal during the next
seven days, with little rain expected in the Midwest, T-Storm Weather LLC said in a note to
clients today. Rainfall in July and August will be the least since 1936 in Iowa, Illinois and
Indiana. Soybean yields will be 1.8 percent lower than the government forecast Aug. 12,
Professional Farmers of America said Aug. 23, after a tour of more than 2,600 fields in seven
states last week.
The weather outlook “is causing the trade to lower their U.S. corn and soybean yield ideas,”
analysts led by Dan Basse and Bill Tierney at AgResource Co. in Chicago said in a report
today. “Last week’s heat and dryness took a toll on the U.S. corn and soy crops in the drier
areas of Iowa, Illinois and Missouri. Further condition losses are expected.”
Soybean futures for delivery in November gained 3.9 percent to $13.7925 a bushel at 8:50 a.m.
on the Chicago Board of Trade, heading for the biggest advance since Oct. 11, 2011. Prices
rose 5.5 percent last week, the third straight increase.
The rally pared this year’s loss, with futures down 5.8 percent as of Aug. 23. The U.S.
Department of Agriculture predicted Aug. 12 that output may gain 8 percent to 3.26 bushels
after drought hurt last year’s harvest. Production may fall below the government’s estimate,
reaching 3.16 billion bushels after planting delays and unusually cool, dry weather stunted
growth, Cedar Falls, Iowa-based Pro Farmer forecasts.
‘Nervous’ Sentiment
“The market’s increasingly getting a bit nervous about the soybean crop,” Paul Deane, an
agricultural economist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd., said by telephone today.
The forecast from Pro Farmer is “only adding to sentiment.”
Corn futures for December delivery surged 4.2 percent to $4.8975 a bushel in Chicago, after
touching $4.96, the highest since July 23.
Production will be 13.46 billion bushels, less than the 13.76 billion estimated this month by the
USDA, Pro Farmer said Aug. 23.
“The prediction of continuing hot and dry weather in growing areas of the U.S. is responsible for
the rising prices,” Eugen Weinberg, the head of commodities research at Commerzbank AG in
Frankfurt, said in an e-mailed report. “These conditions could have a significant impact on crop
yields, especially since sowing was delayed this year and plants are lagging behind the normal
growth pattern.”
Wheat futures for delivery in December rose 2.3 percent to $6.6075 a bushel, heading for the
biggest gain since June 19.
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NY Times: Where Sand Is Gold, the Reserves Are Running Dry
24 August 20-13
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — With inviting beaches that run for miles along South Florida’s
shores, it is easy to put sand into the same category as turbo air-conditioning and a decent
mojito — something ever present and easily taken for granted.
As it turns out, though, sand is not forever. Constant erosion from storms and tides and a rising
sea level continue to swallow up chunks of beach along Florida’s Atlantic coastline.
Communities have spent the last few decades replenishing their beaches with dredged-up sand.
But in South Florida — Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties — concerns over
erosion and the quest for sand are particularly urgent for one reason: there is almost no sand
left offshore to replenish the beaches.
In these communities, sand is far from disposable; it is a precious commodity. So precious, in
fact, that it has set off skirmishes among counties and has unleashed an intense hunt for more
offshore sand by federal, state and local officials who are already fretting over the next big
storm. No idea is too far-fetched in this quest, not even a proposal to grind down recycled glass
and transform it into beach sand. The once-shelved idea is now being reconsidered by Broward
County.
The situation is so dire that two counties to the north — St. Lucie and Martin — are being asked
to donate their own offshore sand in the spirit of neighborliness.
“You have counties starting wars with each other over sand,” said Kristin Jacobs, the Broward
County mayor, who has embraced the recycled glass idea as a possible stopgap. “Everybody
feels like these other counties are going to steal their sand.”
St. Lucie and Martin Counties are none too keen to sacrifice their sand for the pleasures of
South Florida. The last time the idea was mentioned, in 2006, it engendered accusations of
subterfuge and raised so much ire that it was dropped. If recent public meetings on the issue
held by the Army Corps of Engineers are any measure, little has changed, despite a new study
by the corps that says the two counties have enough offshore sand for at least 50 years.
“What happens in 50 years when all that sand is gone?” asked Frannie Hutchinson, a St. Lucie
County commissioner. “Where are we supposed to go then? I told them to take their sand
shovels and sand buckets and go home and come up with a better plan.”
In a state where the lure of pristine beaches is pivotal to a robust economy, hoarding sand is not
unlike stocking the basement with toilet paper, water and peanut butter. One never knows when
the next storm could sweep away a beach and wreak havoc on beach communities.
“When we got hit with back-to-back hurricanes, we had no beach in front of our infrastructures:
A1A was wiped out,” Ms. Hutchinson said, referring to storms that engulfed a busy beachfront
road.
The reason for all this agitation is straightforward: Miami-Dade County is officially out of offshore
sand, which is environmentally sound and easily accessible. The last piles will be depleted in
February, when sand replenishment is completed on the beach of the affluent village of Bal
Harbour.
Broward County is not much better off; its offshore sand is nearly depleted. And Palm Beach
County’s stocks are dwindling rapidly.
The reasons for the disappearing supply of sand are various. For one, these counties have
been refurbishing their beaches for decades. The problem has also been worsened by sea-level
rise and the number of jetties, or cuts to build seaports, that have proliferated, which causes
sand to pile up on one side of the jetty but not the other.
The scarcity of sand is also a function of geography. There are three reef tracks running
alongside Miami-Dade and Broward, which make dredging difficult. And the continental shelf
narrows greatly here, meaning the ocean gets too deep too quickly.
So while erosion is a problem along all beaches on the Eastern Seaboard, other counties and
states to the north have large areas of ocean they can use to dredge sand. In South Florida, the
slice is relatively minuscule.
“We are just limited in the actual amount of sand that’s available to us,” said Stephen Blair, who
is in charge of beach restoration for Miami-Dade. “They have a much bigger area in which to
look for sand.”
Miami Beach visitors expect lots of sand, but the area is running out of replenishment supplies.
In South Florida, offshore sand has been essential in bolstering constantly eroding beaches,
and healthy beaches are vital to tourism. Guests who routinely pay $400 a night for a Miami
Beach hotel room come with expectations. One of them is sand to frolic on.
“They are not inclined to come if there are no beaches to lay on,” said Jason Harrah, the Army
Corps project manager overseeing Miami-Dade beach restoration.
Broward County faces the same problem. “There is pressure from everybody — governments,
the chambers of commerce,” said Eric Myers, who is in charge of Broward County beach
restoration.
Beaches also safeguard the health of the high-priced cities and towns that abut them. Wide
beaches, preferably with dunes and vegetation, protect buildings and roads by serving as
buffers to waves churned up by large storms.
“These beaches, people think they are recreational, but they are storm damage reduction,” Mr.
Harrah said. “They are meant to sacrifice themselves for the loss of property or life. In the event
we have that kind of storm, we wouldn’t have the means to replenish them.”
Offshore sand has always been the first choice to counter beach erosion. It is inexpensive and
does not disrupt reefs or marine life. This is why the Army Corps and the state are hoping that
Martin and St. Lucie Counties will come around and free up some of their sand, which could
then be dredged and shipped farther south.
The only other option at the moment is buying sand from mines in Central Florida and trucking it
in, which is what Broward County is doing for a stretch of its beaches. Doing so is more
expensive, reserved for low-volume projects, logistically difficult and largely disliked.
“There would be 20,000 trucks going through South Beach in tourist season, so you can
imagine that,” Mr. Harrah said.
A third option is buying sand from countries in the Caribbean, possibly the Bahamas. Under
United States law, the Army Corps must show that domestic sand is not available for economic
or environmental reasons before it can use foreign sand.
Broward County is exploring the cost of recycling glass to fill small gaps in its beaches — it is
more costly than offshore sand, but it is not yet clear by how much. Broward would also have to
find a nearby facility to process the glass and complete the final phase of its environmental
study. Other states have used recycled glass, but mostly for small projects like golf courses.
For now, the idea remains on the table. It is creative, said Ms. Jacobs, the Broward County
mayor. It could promote a market for glass, she added.
Broward is looking to finance the last part of its environmental study, and will weigh the costs.
The sand has so far proved an excellent mimic of regular sand, which is used to produce glass,
after all. “If we could generate our own sand,” Ms. Jacobs said, “it would be fantastic.”
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Huffington Post: Yosemite Wildfire 2013: Blaze Poses 'Every Challenge That
There Can Be'
TUOLUMNE CITY, Calif. — Officials say fire crews made progress overnight against a large
wildfire threatening San Francisco's water supply, several towns near Yosemite National Park
and historic giant sequoias.
Stanislaus National Forest spokesman Jerry Snyder said containment of the Rim Fire was at 15
percent on Monday morning, up from 7 percent the previous night.
The fire did continue to grow, however, and is now 234 square miles in size.
Snyder said crews are being helped by the fire's movement into less forested areas and cooler
temperatures caused at least in part by the shadow cast by the large plume of smoke from the
blaze.
About 4,500 structures and Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, the source of San Francisco's famously
pure drinking water, remain under threat.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier
story is below.
One of the largest wildfires in California history loomed over San Francisco's water supply,
several towns near Yosemite National Park and historic giant sequoias on Monday as it
crackled through tinder-dry forest.
Inaccessible terrain, strong winds and bone-dry conditions have hampered firefighters' efforts to
contain the Rim Fire, which began Aug. 17 and has consumed nearly 225 square miles.
Officials estimate containment at just 7 percent.
It continues burning in the remote wilderness area of Yosemite and is edging closer to the Hetch
Hetchy Reservoir, the source of San Francisco's famously pure drinking water, park spokesman
Tom Medema said. San Francisco gets 85 percent of its water from Hetch Hetchy as well as
power for municipal buildings, the international airport and San Francisco General Hospital. The
threat to the city's utilities prompted Gov. Jerry Brown to declare a state of emergency for San
Francisco.
Despite ash falling like snowflakes on the reservoir and a thick haze of smoke limiting visibility to
100 feet, the quality of the water piped to the city 150 miles away is still good, say officials with
the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.
The city's hydroelectric power generated by the system has been interrupted by the fire, forcing
the utility to spend $600,000 buying power on the open market.
While it has closed some backcountry hiking, the fire was not threatening the Yosemite Valley,
home to iconic sights such as the Half Dome and El Capitan rock formations and Bridalveil and
Yosemite falls. Most of the park remained open to visitors. Park spokesman Scott Gediman said
on Monday morning he was not aware of any additional threats to the park overnight, but was
awaiting a briefing from fire officials scheduled for 7:30 a.m.
Hundreds of firefighters were digging trenches, clearing brush and starting back blazes, but
strong winds were threatening to push the blaze closer to Tuolumne City and nearby
communities.
"This fire has continued to pose every challenge that there can be on a fire...," said Daniel
Berlant, a spokesman with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. "It's a very
difficult firefight."
Park employees are working to protect two groves of giant sequoias that are unique to the
region by cutting brush and setting sprinklers, Medema said. The U.S. Forest Service says
about 4,500 structures are threatened by the Rim Fire. Berlant said 23 structures were
destroyed, though officials have not determined whether they were homes or rural outbuildings
On Sunday, crews worked furiously to hold a line near Ponderosa Hills and Twain Hart, miles
ahead of the blaze. But officials warned that the fire was so hot it could send sparks more than a
mile and a half out that could start new hot spots.
"We're facing difficult conditions and extremely challenging weather," said Bjorn Frederickson, a
spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service.
The blaze sweeping across steep, rugged river canyons has rapidly expanded, thanks in part to
extremely dry conditions caused by a lack of snow and rainfall this year. Investigators are trying
to determine the cause of the fire, which began days before lightning storms swept through the
region and sparked other, smaller blazes.
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CTV News: Taking stock of efforts to reintroduce the weasel-like fisher in
Washington's Cascade range
24 August 2013
OLYMPIA, Wash. -- A predator that disappeared from Washington state two decades ago is in
the midst of a comeback, and wildlife officials are looking to give the cat-sized carnivore known
as the fisher some new help.
Wildlife officials reintroduced 90 fishers to the Olympic Peninsula a few years ago, and are now
preparing a plan to reintroduce more of the weasel-like animals that hunt porcupines, beavers
and hare to Mount Rainier and North Cascades national parks as early as 2015.
"Being able to restore this species is an exciting opportunity," said Elly Boerke, an
environmental protection specialist for the National Park Service.
The initial plan is to introduce 40 fishers a year, with each park receiving a total of 80 animals.
First, though, the national parks, working with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, is
seeking public comment through the end of September. Then, Boerke said, they'll assess any
environmental impacts or other concerns, with a final decision on whether to move forward with
the restoration likely to be made sometime next spring.
Fishers, which feed on small mammals, including snowshoe hares, mountain beavers and
porcupines, are found only in North America, in low-to-mid elevation canopy forests. Fishers
were once highly sought for their fur, and in 1934, Washington state prohibited trapping of the
animals after their numbers decreased. By the mid-1900s, the fishers range had shrunk by 43
per cent due to trapping, logging and development, according to wildlife officials. By the mid90s, they were gone from the region.
The state listed the species as endangered in 1998, and in 2004, the fisher was listed as a
candidate for protection under the Endangered Species Act. Fishers are the only native
carnivore missing from the Cascade Range in Washington state, officials said.
"When you take one of the predators out of the system, you're affecting all the species it preys
upon," said Mason Reid, a wildlife ecologist at Mount Rainier National Park.
Reid noted that fishers had once been used to control the porcupine population because of the
damage porcupines cause to trees.
"Each component is part of a puzzle," he said. "Each component has a role to play in the
ecosystem."
As with the Olympic National Park reintroduction that began in 2008, the fishers for the new plan
would be relocated from British Columbia. Three batches of fishers were introduced in the
Olympic Peninsula over a three-year period, and monitored by radio collars.
"One of the first things that we learned was boy, they could really move across the landscape,"
said Patti Happe, the project leader for the prior reintroduction. "They were swimming across
rivers, they were going across mountain ranges in the middle of winter."
Happe said that one fisher that was released in Quinault trekked as far south as Centralia,
about 100 miles away.
"It was really interesting to see their pattern of dispersal and where they settle," she said. "They
really could explore very widely."
Earlier this year, a study from the U.S. Forest Service found that the fisher population in the
southern Sierra Nevada range appeared to be stable.
While fishers have been reintroduced in places in the West, including Oregon, there are only
two native populations in the West, both in California, according to the Forest Service. Happe
said that Fishers are also found in the upper Midwest and in several East Coast states.
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E&E News: Study proposes large 'carbon farms' to reverse rising temperatures
Elizabeth Harball, E&E reporter
23 August 2013
A recent study by German researchers presents the possibility of "carbon farming" as a less
risky alternative to other carbon capture and storage technologies. It suggests that a significant
percentage of atmospheric CO2 could potentially be removed by planting millions of acres of a
hardy little shrub known as Jatropha curcas, or the Barbados nut, in dry, coastal areas.
But other experts raised doubts about the study's ambitious projections, questioning whether
the Barbados nut would be able to grow well in sandy desert soils and absorb the quantity of
carbon their models predict.
The researchers behind the study say Barbados nut plantations could help to mitigate the local
effects of global warming in desert areas, causing a decrease in average temperature and an
increase in precipitation. If a large enough portion of the Earth were blanketed with carbon
farms, they say, these local effects could become global, capturing between 17 and 25 metric
tons of CO2 per hectare each year over a 20-year period.
"All the other techniques we know about just prevent emission, nothing else," said lead author
Klaus Becker of the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart, Germany. "Only plants are able to
extract carbon dioxide from the air."
The study, published in the journal Earth System Dynamics, states that if 730 million hectares of
land -- an area about three-quarters the size of the United States -- were devoted to this method
of carbon farming, the current trend of rising atmospheric CO2 levels could be halted.
Carbon farms would not compete with food production if they were concentrated in dry coastal
areas, the researchers said. In their scenario, oceanside desalination plants, partially powered
by biomass harvested from the plantations themselves, provide a low-emissions irrigation
method.
Could huge plantations change weather patterns?
The study states that the Barbados nut is uniquely suited to growing in regions inhospitable to
other crops. The plant, which produces a nonedible seed that can be used to create biodiesel, is
comfortable growing at temperatures exceeding 100 degrees Fahrenheit. It can also withstand
high levels of contamination in the soil, making wastewater another potential source for
irrigation.
Additionally, the plant grows rapidly and develops "pretty large roots below the soil, which is
important for carbon binding," said co-author Volker Wulfmeyer, also of the University of
Hohenheim. As part of their research, Wulfmeyer and Becker traveled to a Barbados nut
plantation in Luxor, Egypt, to collect physical samples from the plants to estimate their carbonstoring potential.
There are about 1 billion hectares of desert land in coastal areas that could be used for
Barbados nut plantations, the researchers estimate, located in countries such as Mexico,
Namibia, Saudi Arabia and Oman. If the entirety of this land were used for carbon farming, the
study found, atmospheric carbon dioxide could be reduced by 17.5 parts per million over two
decades, or 16.6 percent of the CO2 increase since the start of the Industrial Revolution.
But less ambitious projects may also have an impact. Using models, the researchers projected
that 100-square-kilometer plantations in Oman and Mexico's Sonoran Desert could cause
temperatures to fall by more than 1 degree Celsius. The model also saw a precipitation increase
of 11 millimeters per year in Oman and 30 millimeters per year in the Sonoran.
Paradoxically, this is because plantations are darker than the surrounding desert, explained
Wulfmeyer, retaining more heat during the daytime. As a result, a low-pressure system
develops over the carbon farm, causing changes in wind patterns that allow clouds to develop
and precipitation to increase.
Mitigating global warming on a more local scale should be a big incentive for countries to back
large plantations, Wulfmeyer said: "The technology is there to do this, but it needs some
enthusiasm and some idealism and some more knowledge in the countries before it can be
realized."
Barbados nut a disappointment in the past
The cost of carbon farming is comparable to the costs associated with other carbon capture and
storage technologies, the study asserts.
The researchers calculated that the total cost for a plantation would be between €42 and €63
per ton of carbon, or between about $55 and $85. The estimated cost of carbon capture
technology varies widely, but the nonprofit Center for Climate and Energy Solutions pegs it
between $36 and $81, depending on the emissions source.
Wulfmeyer stressed that carbon farming could have "fantastic value for the local people" if
international carbon markets pick up, promoting rural development and opening up the
possibility of additional agriculture as the soil quality improves around the plantation.
Becker said he aims to partner with governments or private companies and create a pilot farm
to test the feasibility of their study. But he is already optimistic about the results. He stressed the
simplicity of the idea, saying the risk of carbon leakage, as with other carbon capture
technologies, is not an issue with carbon farming.
"The sequestration of carbon dioxide by plants is simple," he said. "It has been proven
sustainable over hundreds of millions of years, so why aren't we using this technique?"
Becker's question may be answered by earlier disappointments with Barbados nut farms in
Africa, said Meine van Noordwijk, chief science adviser for the World Agroforestry Center in
Bogor, Indonesia.
In an email, van Noordwijk questioned the growth rate and the atmospheric carbon capture rate
hypothesized by the study's authors, calling the estimated carbon price of the plantations a
"substantial underestimate."
"We're not talking about trees that create substantive, high-density woody biomass, but about a
plant with a shrubby growth habit and a long track record of deceiving farmers with yield
potentials that are not being realized," he said.
Also, van Noordwijk said, "even with the abundance of water, the nutrient storage in sandy
desert soil is low, and bringing in the nutrient supply to support high growth rates has high
energy costs if nitrogenous fertilizer is used."
He added, "The estimated carbon price of this option ... already indicates that there are far
better opportunities for reducing ongoing emissions from peatland use and deforestation."
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E&E News: DOE stayed silent on State's latest pipeline review
Elana Schor, E&E reporter
23 August 2013
The Department of Energy didn't join U.S. EPA and the Interior Department in writing public
comments on the review of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, according to a DOE
spokeswoman.
DOE's decision not to weigh in on KXL during the spring comment period emerged yesterday as
EPA's and Interior's responses continue to give green activists fodder to hammer the State
Department's review of the oil sands crude link.
While EPA took issue with State's projections of the pipeline's carbon emissions and threat to
waterways in the event of a spill, Interior challenged its fellow agency to look at "actual" rather
than possible mitigation measures as well as consider "the entire footprint of the project" when
assessing its impact on at-risk wildlife.
In its previous comments on a 2010 draft environmental review of the project, DOE challenged a
prominent argument made by pipeline backers: that rejecting the project would leave Canada
more inclined to ship its increased volumes of heavy oil sands crude to China and other Asian
markets via a pipeline to the west coast of British Columbia.
"With different investors and stakeholders supporting each project, it seems that issuance of a
presidential permit for the Keystone XL pipeline will not foreclose an option others may be
pursuing to establish a pipeline to the west coast," DOE's Office of Policy and International
Affairs wrote in July 2010. "That is, it appears that these two pipelines are not mutually
exclusive."
Another DOE comment on an earlier KXL review, a 2011 memo signed by Deputy Assistant
Secretary Carmine DiFiglio, provided ammunition to pipeline backers in the oil industry by
contending that the proposed project's route for Canadian oil sands crude to reach the Gulf
Coast would not drive up gas prices in the Midwest -- currently the leading U.S. regional
destination for that heavy fuel.
DOE is one of eight federal agencies listed as able to consult with the State Department in the
2004 executive order that governs the evaluation of cross-border energy infrastructure such as
KXL, along with EPA, Interior and others that have not seen public comments made available
on the 1,179-mile pipeline, such as the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security.
A DOE spokeswoman did not respond by press time to a request for comment on the decision
not to submit a public response on State's draft KXL review.
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E&E News: USDA to withhold funding for habitat improvements to satisfy
sequester
Phil Taylor, E&E reporter
Published: Friday, August 23, 2013
The Forest Service will withhold funding for forest restoration projects to satisfy the 5 percent
cuts mandated under the federal sequester, a move that is unlikely to sit well with Western
states.
Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell sent letters to Western governors this week indicating that
roughly $18 million would be withheld from a Secure Rural Schools program that funds
watershed restoration, road maintenance and decommissioning, and the control of noxious and
invasive weeds, among other projects.
Governors earlier this year were given the option of paying back the money using funds that had
already been distributed under Titles I and III of Secure Rural Schools, but most refused, saying
the Forest Service didn't have the legal authority to ask for the money back. Title I funds support
roads and schools, and Title III funds support wildfire preparedness.
Now Tidwell said the funds will be repaid from Title II, which supports forest restoration projects
recommended by local resource advisory committees, known as RACs.
Secure Rural Schools was designed to compensate counties affected by the decline in federal
timber sales.
"We regret having to take this action, but must ensure that the Forest Service meets the
requirements" of the Budget Control Act of 2011, Tidwell said in one letter to Colorado Gov.
John Hickenlooper (D).
About $787,000 will be withheld from Colorado's allocation of $1 million for Title II restoration
projects.
Oregon will lose the most as a result of the sequester. Nearly $4 million will be withheld from its
Title II allocation, leaving about $3.4 million under that program. Significant money is also being
withheld from California, Idaho and Montana.
Requesting the repayment or withholding of SRS payments has drawn fire from Western states,
and particularly from Western Republican lawmakers who have faulted federal forest managers
for failing to harvest enough timber to support rural jobs.
Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.), chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, opened
an investigation and in late July threatened to subpoena the Obama administration for
documents related to the decision to sequester the funds (E&ENews PM, July 31).
The latest cuts to forest restoration projects come as the Forest Service halts stewardship work
nationwide to scrounge up $600 million for its wildfire suppression budget, which is expected to
be empty any day now (E&ENews PM, Aug. 21).
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The Hill: Obama bypassing Congress on climate
26 August 2013
The success of President Obama's second-term climate agenda hinges on a set of regulations
now in the works at the Environmental Protection Agency.
His plan to combat global warming through new emissions standards and a shift toward
increased renewable energy faces serious opposition from business groups, and Congress is
steeling for battle.
But if the regulations survive the attacks — and subsequent legal challenges — they could
amount to one of the president's most consequential initiatives, his supporters say.
“He’s doing it with one hand tied behind his back,” Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), chairwoman of
the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, said in reference to opposition to the
effort.
The centerpiece of Obama’s push is a set of regulations to limit greenhouse gas pollution from
new and existing power plants, the source of about 40 percent of carbon emissions.
Obama announced the steps in June, as part of a wide-ranging plan to counter the effects of
global warming at a time when legislative efforts lack traction in Congress.
Republicans and industry groups contend the rules will raise prices on home energy bills and at
the gas pump, and warn the coal country, unable to meet the new standards, could be put out of
business. They're also upset that the administration is sidestepping Congress.
“Because it’s very difficult to pass any legislation, they’re doing more by regulatory actions and
executive order,” said Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky), who is chairman of the House’s subcommittee
on energy policy. “To think that [they] are really serious about removing coal from the equation
of our energy needs is a big, big stretch.”
In September, the administration is expected to unveil a revised set of draft emissions standards
for new power plants. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is working on additional
standards for existing plants, to be proposed next June and finalized the following year.
That second round is likely to be more difficult. Energy companies are expected to be especially
vocal about their opposition to the rule, and regulators at the EPA will have technical challenges
in reducing emissions from plants now in operation.
Power companies and industry groups have flocked to the White House to meet with
administration officials and try to influence the final language of the rule for new plants. The
regulations for existing plants are certain to attract similar pressure.
Opponents of the plan are hopeful that new EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy will be more
receptive to concerns about the plan than her predecessor, Lisa Jackson.
But supporters of the climate push say they’re confident that the transition to McCarthy would
not slow their momentum.
“Lisa Jackson has handed the baton to Gina McCarthy, who will run with it,” said Daniel J.
Weiss, director of climate strategy for the Center for American Progress.
Most of the climate initiative can be achieved without congressional backing, but Republicans
are resolved to fight it through whatever means they have.
Before leaving town early this month, House Republicans approved a slate of bills intended to
tamp down on the administration’s regulatory authority. Among them is legislation giving the
Energy Department veto power over environmental rules that harm the economy.
The bills are likely dead on arrival in the Senate, but Republicans say they’re just getting started
in their efforts to shine a light on the economic implications of the climate plan.
“I think it’s time we really focused public attention on this,” Whitfield said.
Upon Congress’ return next month, Whitfield plans to convene a hearing to examine the plan.
He’s already invited 13 agencies to testify.
“I see it as a starting point,” he said. “It’s an opportunity to look at the facts, and not just be
emotional about it.”
On the Senate floor, Boxer has helped lead Democrats in blocking a series of GOP measures
attacking EPA regulations. “I totally expect there will be more," she said.
While successful in protecting regulations, Boxer and her allies have repeatedly failed to win
enough support to pass a comprehensive climate bill.
Obama on Friday blamed industry influence.
“Unfortunately, what we’ve seen too often in Congress is that the fossil fuel industries tend to be
very influential — let's put it that way — on the energy committees in Congress and they tend
not to be particularly sympathetic to alternative energy strategies,” he said.
In lieu of legislation, the president has chosen to move ahead via regulation — and it is a
painstaking process.
Federal rules, especially major ones, take years to finalize. Even if the rule for existing power
plants is completed as expected, which is far from guaranteed, states will not need to submit
their implementation plans until 2016. By then, the 45th president will be replacing Obama at the
White House.
Supporters say that the Obama has no choice than to act through regulations, given the political
landscape.
“It’s great that he’s taking this step through his administrative power,” said Heather White,
executive director of the Environmental Working Group. “Congress is going to be a big
challenge, as we know. But the science is clear and people are ready and they’re ready for his
leadership.”
Delays are likely, too, when opponents of the rule take their grievances to court.
“The more you have these changes coming from executive action and executive interpretations
of statutes, you’re going to, on the one hand, get lots of opponents denouncing the changes as
sort of ‘Oh, it’s the imperial presidency,’ but more importantly you’re going to have a lot of
people who have standing to sue,” said Phil Wallach, a fellow at the Brookings Institution.
The EPA has proven to be a magnet for lawsuits in recent years, many seeking to strike down
regulations.
Currently, there are more than three-dozen cases in which a state is suing the agency,
according to data from the Republican State Leadership Committee.
Environmentalists aren’t expecting any reprieve.
“The goal of the opposition to any kind of regulation is to throw sand in the works, to slow it
down at every turn,” said Melinda Pierce, a deputy director at the Sierra Club.
Major portions of the climate plan are being drafted under authority of the Clear Air Act,
approved in 1970 and amended two decades later. The Supreme Court has upheld the EPA’s
authority to regulate greenhouse gases.
But industry groups maintain that Congress did not intend for the statute to be used for that
purpose.
“Our position is, the Clean Air Act is not the right tool to be addressing climate issues with,” said
Howard Feldman, director of regulatory and scientific affairs for the American Petroleum
Institute.
In addition to the power plant rules, the EPA is scheduled to update regulations governing
bodies of water, including a rule clearing up confusion about precisely which ones are covered
by the Clean Water Act.
Other items on the agency’s agenda include an updated rule to limit smog, regulations for
drinking water, methane emissions from landfills and new standards for biofuel to be blended
with traditional gasoline.
If the regulations emerge unscathed, advocates say they would rank along with ObamaCare as
one of the president's top achievements.
“I think that if you were to pair it climate and clean energy, this is the other side of the coin in
terms of healthcare. This is the other side of the coin for his legacy,” said Pierce.
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Huff Post Green: The Bottom Line: Time to Protect Pacific Forage Fish (Blog)
Lee Crockett, Director, U.S. Oceans, The Pew Charitable Trusts
I learned long ago that it pays to plan ahead before I hit the water for a day of fishing. Knowing
the tides, watching the weather, and reading the fishing blogs for the latest intelligence can
make all the difference.
Similarly, my time at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and on
Capitol Hill taught me that planning ahead and being proactive pays off when it comes to
managing our nation's fisheries. The Pacific Fishery Management Council could get ahead of
the curve in September, when it will weigh the fate of forage fish that nourish the big fish that
many of us love to catch and eat.
As I've discussed previously, these types of small fish, such as sardines and anchovies, serve
as an essential source of nourishment for larger fish, including the wild salmon and tuna that are
popular with anglers, chefs, and consumers. Forage fish also are consumed by other wildlife,
from whales to seabirds, making them a vital part of the marine food web.
The Pacific council recently acted to protect an important species of forage fish, Pacific saury,
by recommending that NOAA establish interim protection for them. The action sets the stage for
the council to begin enacting longer-term protections for these and other forage fish that are not
now included in a federal fisheries management plan.
In September, the council has a great opportunity to begin establishing long-term protection for
important forage species that are not yet being fished. These species, which include sand lance
and various kinds of smelts, are fished extensively elsewhere in the world and are used in a
variety of products, such as feed for livestock and farmed fish. Protecting them will give
policymakers a chance to analyze the potential impact on marine ecosystems to determine
whether industrial-scale fishing can begin.
The Pacific council, which is on record as recognizing the importance of forage fish to marine
ecosystems, set a goal of prohibiting unregulated fishing for these species in Pacific waters. I
hope that they will now translate that goal into strong regulatory protection. After all, placing
vulnerable forage species into an appropriate fishery management plan is the simplest way to
prohibit new forage fisheries until the council can evaluate how removing prey would affect
larger fish and the overall resilience of marine ecosystems.
Bringing important forage species under management before commercial fishing begins, rather
than reacting to problems after the fact, is an approach with widespread public support. Over
the past two years, the council heard from organizations representing the commercial fishing
industry, sport fishermen, seafood suppliers, eco-tourism businesses, birding organizations,
elected leaders, and conservation groups from around the region. All called for stronger
safeguards for forage species. The council also received more than 50,000 comments from the
general public encouraging protection of forage fish as a crucial food source for salmon, orca
whales, and other iconic wildlife.
We already know that protecting forage fish works to ensure sustainable fisheries. In the 1990s,
regional fisheries managers in Alaska preemptively protected many forage species with the
support of the commercial fishing industry. They acted because they understood the importance
of these small fish and the local businesses and jobs that depend on them, and were concerned
about their growing exploitation. Now the Pacific council can extend similar protections along
the entire West Coast.
When you're out on the water, timing is critical. Subtle fluctuations in the weather or tides can
change where fish are located. That's why I take time to research and plan upfront. This allows
me to act quickly when I see the prospect of a great day of fishing.
Just as fishermen wouldn't leave the dock unprepared, the Pacific council can ensure that
plenty of forage fish are left in the water to sustain thriving marine ecosystems. That's why I
hope it won't let this opportunity get away.
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Canada
National Post: Hearings for Enbridge’s Line 9 pipeline plan set for October
23 August 2013
CALGARY – To Enbridge Inc., the project is a simple calculation: Repurpose a 1970s-era
pipeline, no longer needed to import crude from distant countries, to serve Western Canadian oil
companies desperate for new markets beyond the United States while at the same time
bolstering Quebec’s refining industry.
But a proposal to reverse and expand Line 9, a 30-inch diametre ribbon of steel that cuts
roughly 600 kilometres through southern Ontario from Sarnia to Montreal, has also inflamed
debate about the safety of using old infrastructure to transport Alberta crude.
That debate, which has played out in sharp exchanges before the National Energy Board, is
poised to explode in full view at final hearings for and against the project scheduled for October
in Montreal and Toronto.
Calgary-based Enbridge wants to send oil east and boost capacity on the old pipeline to
300,000 barrels a day, from 240,000 barrels today. The project would cost $129-million.
Suncor Energy Inc., Canada’s top oil company, and San Antonio, Tex.-based Valero Energy
Corp. say the proposal would spur investment in the Quebec refining industry by giving them
access to cheaper supplies of Western crude, although an analysis of Line 9’s impact on the
sector by IHS Global Canada Ltd. predicts the price advantage resulting from the project will be
“moderate” as transportation bottlenecks elsewhere clear.
Valero has committed to invest up to $200-million upgrading a Montreal terminal and its 235,000
barrel-a-day Jean Gaulin refinery at Lévis, near Quebec City, if the project goes ahead. Line 9
would create 200 construction jobs and 100 permanent jobs moving crude on ships between
Montreal and Lévis, the company said in regulatory filings.
“If the Enbridge Line 9 reversal is not approved, Valero will experience difficulty remaining
competitive in the North American refinery industry,” the company said in written evidence.
In regulatory filings, major urban centres along the pipeline’s path and environmental groups
have raised concerns about the plan, fearing a repeat of a 2010 rupture and spill on an
Enbridge pipeline in Michigan.
The application has led to sit-ins at an Enbridge pump station in Ontario and stoked anxiety over
the project’s impact on everything from local watersheds to food supplies from residents living
near the right-of-way.
But the board last year approved plans to reverse the flow on a small segment of the pipeline
between Sarnia and North Westover, Ont., calling the use of existing, under-used pipeline
capacity “a sound idea.”
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The Toronto Star: Group takes protests over mercury poisoning to premier's door
25 August 2013
There’s too much talking and not enough doing.
That was the message dozens of protesters brought to the door of Premier Kathleen Wynne’s
home Sunday afternoon.
Winding their way from North Toronto Collegiate towards the Premier’s residence at the end of
a small cul-de-sac, protestors chanted “justice for Grassy” and “hey Wynne, where ya been,”
backed by a small marching samba band.
A series of promises, first from former premier Dalton McGuinty and most recently from Wynne,
then aboriginal affairs minister, have done nothing said frustrated protestors.
“There are people who are suffering from mercury poisoning, who’ve been waiting for 40 years
and our premier is still dragging her heels and not taking action,” said David Sone, organizer of
freegrassy.net. “We’re trying to let people know because we believe that when people do know
they will demand action and that hopefully will wake up Premier Wynne.”
Last summer, Wynne promised to use the Japanese report to help move forward, mending
fences with the Grassy Narrows residents.
Although there was nobody from Grassy Narrows in attendance and Wynne herself wasn’t at
home, event organizers and the community’s supporters renewed their desire to see the
government take responsibility for the poisoning, compensation, and restoration of the river
system.
Mia Mioc, a 28-year-old teacher who used to work in a neighbouring community a few years
ago, said drinking water, eating fish and the idea of swimming in the water was cause for
constant worry.
“I was always checking: is there mercury poisoning? Is it safe? Is it not?”
Even though Wynne wasn’t home to hear the drums, chants and applause, and even though
only a few neighbours on the quiet street came outside to watch, Sone said it’s important for
supporters to keep raising their voices.
“For people in Grassy Narrows there’s no vacation from mercury poisoning, they have to live
with it in their homes, their bodies, their families every day. They don’t get to go to Muskoka and
forget about it for a week.”
We value respectful and thoughtful discussion. Readers are encouraged to flag comments that
fail to meet the standards outlined in our Community Code of Conduct. For further information,
including our legal guidelines, please see our full website Terms and Conditions.
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The Toronto Star: Rouge River: Activist Lois James inspires river’s protectors to
keep fighting
25 August 2013
Down a windy, tree-lined road, past hiking trails and farmstands, Lois James has built her life
atop the Rouge River.
James, who is affectionately called the “mother of the Rouge” by fellow Rouge River crusaders,
has devoted half of her 90 years to what is now the city’s most protected river.
“Once you live there, and you know no one’s going to protect it, why you’re quite ready to begin
to save things,” she says. “That’s how it starts.”
Awarded the Order of Canada in 2003, James has been championing the Rouge as a volunteer,
activist and Green Party candidate. Although she now walks with a cane, James still camps in
Haliburton’s nature reserve to swim, hike and canoe.
Almost every day, James visits Hillside Outdoor Education School on Meadowvale Rd. in
Scarborough, the former one-room schoolhouse her children attended and current home of
Friends of the Rouge Watershed, to share her “opinions,” rummage through the fridge or make
a cup of tea.
Jim Robb, general manager for Friends of the Rouge, remembers the first time he saw her at an
all-candidates meeting for the 1978 Scarborough mayoral race.
“I was in my early twenties and I remember thinking how visionary and ahead of her time she
was,” Robb says. “I remember thinking she probably won’t get elected but it’s a pity because
she probably could make a big difference.”
Having grown up in Detroit, along the banks of the Detroit River, it wasn’t until 1964 that James
first saw the Rouge. Her husband, Bob James, had moved the family to Scarborough to found
the sociology department at the fledgling University of Toronto Scarborough.
The family eventually settled in James’ current home along the banks of the Rouge. Already an
avid volunteer and political activist, James quickly joined up with other people connected to the
university who were bent on saving the Rouge from what they considered to be unbridled
development.
At the time, development in growing Scarborough threatened to spread close to the Rouge’s
river banks and building practices were far from environmentally friendly.
In order to keep rivers from moving into developed areas, banks were hardened with cement,
killing the natural habitats — like grounds where turtles lay their eggs.
“A river moving is a natural thing and a good thing,” said Maria Papoulias, who works for Rouge
Park.
The group quickly realized there was no organized effort to conserve the river that flowed right
through campus, where its unofficial headquarters was located. Eventually, the informal group
of volunteers would found the Save the Rouge Valley System to lobby government.
“It’s just hard to come into a place that you suddenly know has to be saved and find nobody
prepared to work on it,” James says.
When James and her fellow volunteers started advocating for environmental conservation in the
1960s, they didn’t have the funds to fight development.
“Can’t beat them on that ground,” she says.
Instead, the group would sit in on committee meetings, take minutes and distribute detailed
flyers to every door in the neighbourhood. One of their goals: to see a public park built along the
river to protect its natural habitat.
In 1995, that idea became a reality. Rouge Park was built and now encompasses about 12 per
cent of the watershed, making the Rouge the most protected river in the city. With more than
12,000 acres, the green space gives local wildlife like turtles and oven birds, as well as the river,
a home.
Now the Rouge River, which begins in the Oak Ridges Moraine and flows 250 kilometres south,
is one of the cleanest rivers in Toronto.
But while the development of Scarborough threatened the river in the 1960s, it’s the
development of the northern part of the watershed that threatens the river now.
Already, signs are clear that urbanization in the northern parts of the Rouge watershed is taking
its toll. After June’s heavy rains, massive blockades of trees have dammed up parts of the river.
When the Pickering airport was first conceived in the 1970s, James fought hard against it —
and seemed to win.
The airport never materialized and much of the land originally intended for a Pickering airport
became a part of Rouge Park. But just this June, just as the feds lauded the creation of a
national Rouge Park, they reaffirmed their plans to build the airport.
“Same things, just a different generation,” James says with a wizened sigh.
Robb says the biggest problem with the airport is its extension into the Oak Ridges Moraine —
the water source for not only the Rouge, but the Don, the Humber and Duffins Creek.
He’s concerned that toxic de-icing solutions and polluted air will seep into the soil and water,
leaching into source waters for Toronto’s greatest rivers. And without forest cover, rainwater just
rolls off cropland and pavement, causing downriver flooding that destroys water quality and
properties.
“The forests are nature’s filter for air and water,” Robb says.
According to a government report on water policies in the Great Lakes area, a watershed needs
a minimum of 30 per cent forest cover and 10 per cent wetland cover to stay healthy.
Despite the park’s protection, the Rouge River has just 13 per cent forest cover and only 1 per
cent wetland cover.
Robb wants farmland land near the Oak Ridges Moraine to be reforested. But Conservative MP
Paul Calandra says these lands, which were expropriated from farmers in the 1970s for the
airport and re-leased to them later, should stay farms.
“It’s a very, very important part of our heritage here in this community,” Calandra says.
And so the battle for the Rouge — and its lands — rages on. But no matter the outcome, Robb
says the Rouge conservation movement is forever indebted to James.
“Lois became an amazing mentor to me, but it wasn’t just me, there’s literally hundreds of
people,” he says.
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CBC News: Politics is the biggest obstacle on Canada-U.S. energy front
26 August 2013
The strained relationship between Canada and the United States over energy policy is likely to
get worse before it gets better, with a decision on Keystone XL likely to politically strain relations
between the two countries regardless of whether U.S. President Barack Obama gives the
pipeline project the go-ahead or not.
That's one of several findings by pollster Nick Nanos in a study he did as a Public Policy
Scholar this year for the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. His research
focused on public opinion and public policy regarding energy and the environment.
"We are desperately in need of a forthright dialogue between Canada and the United States in
terms of carbon policy and the environment," said Nanos in an interview from Washington, D.C.
Canada's seeming inability to seal the pipeline project, which is the centrepiece of Prime
Minister Stephen Harper's resource-driven agenda, could be the impetus to kick-start talks on
environmental policy and energy, something Obama has focused on in his public statements on
Keystone.
"My sense is that the one way things might change is if there's a crisis. And the Keystone
decision could be a flashpoint to bring Canada and the U.S. together to try to work out a carbon
policy," said Nanos.
"And that could happen whether aproved of rejected. If rejected, there will be pressure on the
Harper government to start to engage Americans in a real dialogue on the environment and
Canada's role as an energy partner. If approved, there will be massive pressure on Obama to
engage Canada to meet environmental standards that are acceptable to Americans."
Nanos's study, which was comprised of original public opinion research and in-depth interviews
over several months with key stakeholders and advocacy groups in the United States, also
found that the majority of Americans support approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, if
accepatable environmental standards are met.
Just what those standards are remains up in the air.
"When we look at the polling data, people are fairly agnostic in terms of the energy sources as
long as they meet an environmental standard," said Nanos. "The challenge is what is that
standard?"
A grid-locked Congress and growing access to shale gas deposits in the United States also
makes the approval of the project less of a priority as well.
Don't pick winners and losers
According to Nanos's study, Canada has failed to highlight to Americans the diversity of our
energy offerings, with too much of a focus on oilsands products at the expense of showcasing
hydro and renewable sources. "Americans think Canada is a one-trick pony," explained Nanos.
"But reality is we are a much more diversified energy partner than Americans perceive."
He says Canada should focus on encouraging investment across various energy technologies
in order to foster healthy competition within a variety of energy sectors.
As well, a lack of leadership at the national levels within both countries has encouraged regional
alternatives where deals are moving forward, such as the effort to move bitumen from West to
East in a pipeline deal that would see oilsand products refined in Saint John, New Brunswick.
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ENVIRONMENT NEWS FROM THE
UN DAILY NEWS
02 September 2013
UN News Centre: UN climate change body partners with Latin American bank to
boost clean development efforts
23 August 2013
The United Nations climate change secretariat has signed an agreement with the Latin American
Development Bank to increase participation in clean development projects in the region, it was
today announced.
The agreement, signed by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
Secretariat, will establish a Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) regional collaboration centre
(RCC) in Bogotá, Colombia.
“The CDM has demonstrated what can be achieved when we use markets to incentivize action on
climate change and development,” UNFCCC Executive Secretary, Christiana Figueres, said in a
statement.
“The RCC in Bogotá will help tap the potential for CDM projects in Latin America and serve as a
working example of the kind of inter-agency cooperation necessary to tackle climate change,” she
added.
The CDM RCCs are part of an effort to bring the benefits of the Kyoto Protocol’s emissionreduction projects in developing countries to earn certified emission reductions – or CERs – which
can then be traded, sold and used by industrialized countries to meet environmental targets. Each
CER is equivalent to one ton of carbon dioxide.
This is the fourth regional collaboration centre established by the UNFCCC and a regional
development bank. The first centre was established in 2012 in Lomé, Togo, in collaboration with
the Banque Ouest Africaine de Développement and provides assistance in the development of
CDM projects in Francophone Africa.
The two other centres are in Kampala, Uganda, which supports the remaining countries in the
Africa, and in Saint George’s, Grenada, to assist CDM projects in the Caribbean.
The office will be operational on 1 September and will provide support to all countries in Latin
America
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