NatureNews

NatureNews for the week ending December 12, 2008. To subscribe to NatureNews, please write to Library.

Environment - General

WWF to help govt review eco-legislation
The Sindh Forest and Wildlife Act will be reviewed in collaboration with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Additional Chief Secretary (Planning and Development) Nazar Hussain Mahar said. He was chairing the fifth meeting of the Indus Eco Region Steering Committee. A statement issued stated that Mahar said that both laws were quite old and needed to be reviewed in order to meet the increasing challenges being posed to forest and wildlife in Sindh. Mahar said that the social, economic, and environmental conditions of coastal areas had declined and that water for downstream Kotri was essential to curb the sea’s intrusion. He said that the study was being conducted on the impact of the LBOD project under the water sector improvement programme. Water for the Pai forest would be ensured from its sanctioned minor. Various stakeholders responsible for managing the Keenjhar Lake would be brought on one platform for the effective management of the lake, Mahar said, adding that eco-tourism would be promoted to avoid a negative impact on the ecology of the lake and ensure that local people get better opportunities of livelihood. He said that Sindh Sustainable Fund would be made operational with the contribution of Rs200 million by the Sindh government. The corporate sector would be encouraged to contribute to the fund under corporate social responsibility. For more: http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=151340

Biodiversity atlas from UNEP
Boosting funding for efforts to slash greenhouse gas emissions stemming from deforestation can simultaneously combat climate change and conserve biodiversity, a newly made atlas launched by a United Nations agency shows. The Carbon and Biodiversity Demonstration Atlas of the UNEP pinpoints areas where high carbon and high biodiversity converge. “At a time of scarce financial resources and economic concerns, every dollar, euro or rupee needs to deliver double, even triple dividends,” said Achim Steiner, UNEP Executive Director. “Intelligent investment in forests is a key example of where climate benefits and ecosystem benefits can be achieved in one transaction.” For more: http://www.hindu.com/2008/12/07/stories/2008120756611600.htm

Mining ban in toto at Western Ghats
“The Government is ready to take any tough measure to protect the Western Ghats. Mining operations will also be banned shortly in the Ghats’ limits,” he told reporters after a meeting with the members of Western Ghats Task Force. According to Task Force Chairman Anant Hegde Ashisar, a satellite survey is being done by Hyderabad-based National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA) to identify encroachment in the Western Ghats. The survey will also reveal mining activities in the Ghats and help to stop them. Besides, the survey will help identify villages and revenue hoblies falling in the Ghats. The survey report will be ready by the end of December. For more: http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Nov272008/state20081127103075.asp

Climate Change & Energy

Clearing forests for biofuel hurts climate
Clearing tropical forests to plant biofuels is a bad idea for the climate and reduces the diversity of animal and plant life, a study found. "Keeping tropical rain forests intact is a better way to combat climate change than replacing them with biofuel plantations," according to scientists from seven nations writing in the journal Conservation Biology. Millions of hectares of forest land in South East Asia has been converted to palm oil plantations to produce biofuels -- seen as greener than fossil fuels because plants soak up greenhouse gases from the atmosphere as they grow. But the study, released on the opening day of 187-nation talks on a new UN climate treaty in Poland, said it would take 75 years for carbon emissions saved from using biofuels to make up for carbon released into the atmosphere by burning down a forest to clear it for a biofuel plantation. And the balance would only be achieved after more than 600 years if the habitat was carbon-rich peatland, it said. Planting biofuels on degraded grasslands, however, could lead to a net removal of carbon after only a decade. For more: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Earth/Flora__Fauna/Clearing_forests
_for_biofuel_hurts_climate/articleshow/3783011.cms

India loses more people to climate change than any other country
Between 1998 and 2007, India has lost more people due to extreme weather events caused by climate change than any other country, with an average of 4,532 people killed every year, a well-known German NGO has calculated.
The monetary losses were an average of $12 bn a year in terms of purchasing power parity, representing 0.62 percent of India's GDP, added Sven Harmeling of Germanwatch.
Releasing his findings on the sidelines of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) summit in this western Poland town, Harmeling said if one took into account average death, deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, average total losses and average losses as percentage of GDP, India would rank seventh among countries most affected by extreme weather events in the last decade. For more: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ET_Cetera/Death_due_to_climate_
change_highest_in_India/articleshow/3796220.cms

Two degree rise could spark Greenland ice sheet meltdown: WWF
A less than two degree Celsius rise in global temperatures might be sufficient to spark a meltdown of the Greenland Ice Sheet and Arctic sea ice, the WWF warned in a new study released. "Scientists now suggest that even warming of less than 2 degree Celsius might be enough to trigger the loss of Arctic sea ice and the meltdown of the Greenland Ice Sheet," the WWF said in a statement to accompany the findings. "As a result, global sea levels would rise by several metres, threatening tens of millions of people worldwide." The melting of Arctic sea ice could affect ecosystems, while a meltdown of the Greenland Ice Sheet could lead to a sea level rise of up to seven metres, with a devastating impact for the rest of the world. For more: http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Two_degree_rise_could_spark_Greenland_
ice_sheet_meltdown_WWF_999.html

Asian Development Bank To Launch $200 mln CO2 Fund
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said it is has secured half of the financing commitments for a $200 million post-2012 carbon fund it plans to launch in January. Announced on the sidelines of United Nations climate change talks in Poland, the ADB's Future Carbon Fund aims to provide money to build clean energy projects in developing countries in the Asia-Pacific region. "The Future Carbon Fund is a public-private partnership between ADB and the governments and companies who have decided to act now," said ADB Vice President Ursula Schaefer-Preuss. Under the Kyoto Protocol climate pact, which expires in 2012, companies and governments can invest in projects in poorer nations and in return receive offsets which can be used towards their own emissions reduction goals. For more: http://planetark.org/enviro-news/item/50867

Analysis: Has the Kyoto protocol worked?
Agreed in 1997, the Kyoto protocol aimed to cut emissions of greenhouse gases across the developed world by about 5% compared with 1990. It came into force in 2005, following ratification by Russia, which means the deadline for the legally binding cuts to be made is 2008-12. It was based on the "common but differentiated responsibility" approach to global warming, with countries most able to make cuts asked to do so. Many countries were allowed to increase pollution, including all those in the developing world. Most controversially, Kyoto introduced mechanisms such as carbon trading to help countries meet their targets in "flexible" ways - often in other countries - rather than by making cuts at home. For more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/dec/08/kyoto-poznan-environment-emissions-carbon

Forestry & Biodiversity

Newest Source of Biofuel: Fungus
It was recently discovered that a fungus found in the Patagonian Rain Forest in South America could potentially be used to fuel vehicles in the future. Yes, you heard right - Patagonian fungus, the next biofuel. Researchers claim that the fungus, Gliocladium roseum, has the ability to produce a plethora of unique combinations of hydrogen and carbon molecules unlike any organism in the world, and the product is remarkably similar to the diesel we use to fuel our cars. And, according to a recently published issue of Microbiology, scientists are currently working to develop its fuel producing potential. So, someday, we might be filling up our cars tanks with hydrocarbonsderived from fungus instead of fossil fuel! For more: http://www.enn.com/sci-tech/article/38798

Forest hotspots pinpointed for climate , animals
A U.N. atlas pinpointed parts of forests from the Amazon to Madagascar where better protection could give the twin benefits of slowing global warming and preserving rare wildlife. The atlas, issued at December 1-12 U.N. climate talks in Poznan, Poland, identified hotspots with a high diversity of animals and plants in forests that were also big stores of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, in trees and soils. For more: http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE4B435F20081205?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews

Flora not flourishing in world's hotspots
Researchers at the University of Calgary have found the biodiversity picture in the region known as the "lungs of the Earth" contradicts commonly held views relating to extinction in that area. A paper published in PLoS ONE by Jana Vamosi and Steven Vamosi outlines that the risk of extinction for plants is higher in countries close to the equator than previously thought. "The tropics contain many ancient species of plants, leading many to consider tropical species as less susceptible to extinction -- but our study indicates that quite the opposite is, in fact, the case," says Steven Vamosi, an assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the U of C. "The extinction risk for plants is high in countries close to the equator and even higher on islands, even after we take into account factors related to human activities and their use of the natural resources." Previous studies on biodiversity in the tropics have focused on beetles, birds, mammals and molluscs. The Vamosi study mined worldwide databases for the number of plant species at risk in each country of the world, from Falkland Islands in the south to Greenland in the north, and looked at human factors such as GDP, population density and deforestation. Vamosi concentrated on data from vascular plants (ferns, conifers, and flowering plants), which includes such threatened species as the Canada Hemlock, Western Prairie Fringed Orchid, and Desert Lily, among many others. For more: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-12/uoc-fnf120808.php

Peru aims for zero deforestation
The Peruvian government says it can reach zero deforestation in just 10 years with the help of funds from Western governments. It is taking its ambitious proposal to the latest round of UN talks on climate change, which are taking place in Poznan. The government claims more than 80% of Peru's primary forests can be saved or protected. Peru has the fourth largest area of tropical forest in the world after Brazil, Democratic Republic of Congo and Indonesia. It has around 70 million hectares of tropical forest covering nearly 60% of its territory. For more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7768226.stm

Malaysia Chides HSBC Move To Curb Palm Oil
Banking giant HSBC's decision to curb lending to oil palm projects in Malaysia is misguided and will hurt the bank more than it will hurt Malaysia's palm industry, the country's commodities minister said. HSBC, under pressure from environmental groups to brush up its green credentials, said it would cut ties with a third of forestry clients such as palm oil, soy and timber companies. It said that this would include companies in Malaysia and Indonesia, the two largest producers of palm oil in the world, citing them as countries where illegal logging is a problem. "My immediate reaction to that is I think that banks like HSBC should look at individual clients that they are doing business with rather than saying we will cut 30 percent just like that," Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Peter Chin told Reuters. For more: http://planetark.org/enviro-news/item/50801

Climate envoys battle over forests, emissions
Negotiators at a UN climate conference worked to resolve differences over a deal to protect the world's forests and pressed industrial countries to drastically reduce their carbon emissions. The top UN climate official, Yvo de Boer, said the talks were going well, despite "problematic" issues, but nongovernment groups described the negotiations as "slow" and said they had even moved backward on several points. Nearly 190 countries are working on a global warming treaty to regulate pollution by greenhouse gases and to help poor countries handle the effects of climate change, from rising sea levels to more severe storms, droughts and floods. For more: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Earth/Flora__Fauna/Climate_envoys_
battle_over_forests_emissions/articleshow/3811819.cms

Marine & Oceans

Man-made noise in world's seas threatens wildlife
Man-made noise in the world's seas and oceans is becoming an increasing threat to whales, dolphins and turtles who use sound to communicate, forage for food and find mates, wildlife experts said. Rumbling ship engines, seismic surveys by oil and gas companies, and intrusive military sonars are triggering an "acoustic fog and cacophony of sounds" underwater, scaring marine animals and affecting their behavior. "There is now evidence linking loud underwater noises with some major strandings of marine mammals, especially deep diving beaked whales," Mark Simmonds, Science Director of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, told a news conference in Rome. For more: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Earth/Flora__Fauna/Man-made_noise_in_worlds_seas_threatens_wildlife/articleshow/3790727.cms

Fifth of Corals Are Dead, CO2 Destroys Ocean Habitat
One-fifth of the world’s corals have died and many remaining reefs may be lost by 2050 as carbon dioxide from cars and pollution-spewing industries make ocean water warmer and more acidic, the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network said. While natural disasters such as the earthquake that set off the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004 killed some reefs instantly by forcing them out of the water, seas made warmer by heat-trapping CO2 gas is the biggest threat to corals, said the report from the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The Gland, Switzerland-based group is one of eight that manages the network. The study was released as delegates from about 190 nations are meeting in Poland to lay the groundwork for a new treaty to fight global warming that is due to be signed a year from now in Copenhagen. The report shows that to sustain corals, CO2 emissions as well as damage from human activities must be kept to a minimum, said Clive Wilkinson, coordinator of the monitoring network. For more: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601081&sid=a5LmlZgQzoPQ&refer=australia

Wildlife & Endangered Species

10 tigers, 57 elephants poached in three years
At least 10 tigers and 57 elephants have been poached in India during last three years, the environment and forests ministry said, but said the government was doing its best to protect wildlife. While poachers in Rajasthan killed four tigers, two tigers each in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Kerala fell victims to wildlife criminals, according to a ministry report. Of the 57 jumbos killed, 22 were poached in Orissa alone. While eight elephants were killed each in Karnataka, Assam and Kerala, Uttarakhand accounted for the death of four of them. Meghalaya and Mizoram accounted for two deaths each. What is intriguing is that elephant poaching has shown an increase with 23 elephants being killed during 2006-07 against 16 the previous fiscal year. For more: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Earth/Flora__Fauna/10_tigers_57_elephants
_poached_in_three_years/articleshow/3790779.cms

Antarctica has 'more species' than Galapagos
Antarctica has more species than the Galapagos, a new study has revealed. Researchers in Europe have carried out what they claim is the first comprehensive "inventory" of sea and land animals in the white continent and found a region that's not only rich in biodiversity but has more species than the Galapagos. Using a combination of trawl nets, sampling as deep as 1500 metres and scuba divers, a team from British Antarctic Survey and Hamburg University in Germany found 1,200 species, a third of which were not thought to live in the region. These include sea urchins, free-swimming worms, mites, crustaceans, molluscs and birds. And, the researchers also identified five new species, the 'Journal of Biogeography' reported. For more: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Earth/Flora__Fauna/Antarctica_has_more
_species_than_Galapagos/articleshow/3783486.cms

UN officials launch "Year of the Gorilla"
The "Year of the Gorilla" is a UN effort to raise money for primates threatened with extinction from disease, hunting and deforestation. Officials for the UN-backed Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals said they hoped to raise half a million euros ($630,000) for projects aimed at fighting the animals' biggest threats. "We need to use the resources that we raise to promote more gorilla-watching tourism, to get more equipment and infrastructure to help rangers combat poaching," Robert Hepworth, an official with the Convention, said. "We need to do more to conserve their habitat." For more: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Earth/Flora__Fauna/UN_officials_launch
_Year_of_the_Gorilla/articleshow/3782686.cms

Birds

Canada oil sands seen threatening birds
A coalition of North American environmental groups says the development of Canada's oil sands region threatens to kill as many as 166 million birds over the next five decades and is calling for a moratorium on new projects in the region. The coalition's groups, which include the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Boreal Songbirds Initiative and the Pembina Institute, say petroleum-extraction projects in the oil-rich region of northern Alberta are a threat to migratory birds and the boreal forest they rely on. Their study concluded that development of the oil sands, would be fatal for 6 million to 166 million birds because of habitat loss, shrinking wetlands, accumulation of toxins and other causes. For more: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Earth/Flora__Fauna/Canada_oil_sands_
seen_threatening_birds/articleshow/3786740.cms

Yamuna has company in Siberian feathers
Despite a late winter, Siberian birds have started flocking to Delhi. Delhiites can now look forward to seeing these birds which make an annual winter trip from Subalpine regions in Siberia towards warmer climes. And though the Yamuna, with high pollution, does not attract many migratory birds, Yamuna Biodiversity Park, on the upper reaches of the river at Wazirabad, is now hosting Siberian Red Crested Pochards, rare in these parts. Other migratory birds who have arrived this winter are Pintails, Gadwall, Pygmy Goose and Shovellors. For more: http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/yamuna-has-company-in-siberian-feathers/393493/

EVENTS

Environmental Management in Mining; 10 - 12 February 2009; Perth, WA, Australia; http://www.iqpc.com/au/environmentalmining

The Second Gulf Conference & Exhibition on Environment & Sustainability; 16 - 19 February 2009; State of Kuwait; http://www.wes.com.kw

Climate Change: Global Risks, Challenges & Decisions; 10 - 12 March 2009; Copenhagen, Denmark; http://climatecongress.ku.dk

Cairo International Conference on Energy & Environment; 15 March 2009; Hurgada, Hurghada, Egypt; http://www.eecairo.com

Sustainability 2012: Shaping an Environmental Legacy for World Cities; 25 - 27 March 2009; London, UK; http://www.sustainableregeneration.org/

International Conference on Sustainable Tourism Management; 27 - 29 March 2009; Chiang Mai, Thailand; http://www.tourism.mju.ac.th/

ICEST 2009 - International Conference on Environmental Science and Technology; 28 April 2009; Rome, Italy; http://www.waset.org/wcset09/rome/icest/