Category: Archive

Reef freezes in recent cold snap

admin /5 August, 2007

A RECORD cold snap across southern Queensland has triggered coral bleaching normally associated with the extremes of hot weather linked to climate change.

Scientists say the bleaching has been caused by a combination of cold waters, winds and air temperatures hitting exposed reefs around the Capricorn-Bunker group of islands at the southern end of the reef.

While other sections of the reef appear to have been spared by being fully submerged or far enough north to avoid the worst of the cold snaps in June and July, bleaching has been recorded by University of Queensland researchers on Heron Island, near Rockhampton.

The area is regarded as having some of the most pristine sections of accessible reef.

19 million climate refugees in India

admin /5 August, 2007

GAUHATI, India: Heavy monsoon rains and floods have killed at least 1000 people and displaced 19million across Bangladesh and much of northern India

The Indian states of Assam, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, along with Bangladesh, were among the hardest-hit areas, where incessant rains have caused dozens of swollen rivers to inundate surrounding regions.

There were 21 deaths overnight in three eastern districts hardest hit by the heavy flooding, Uttar Pradesh relief commissioner Umesh Sinha said.

A total of 1028 people have died in India in the annual downpour that begins in June and lasts until September. Further east in Bangladesh, authorities reported another 11 deaths, taking the annual monsoon toll to 191.

 

APEC meeting adopts retro climate policy

admin /5 August, 2007

Auto lobby alarmed by plans for emissions cap

admin /5 August, 2007

Australia does not have greenhouse emissions or fuel efficiency regulations for transport Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries chief executive Andrew McKellar has declared that such mandatory standards were "impractical" and would clash with the introduction of emisisons trading in Australia, according to The Age (27/7/2007 p. 3). International trend towards stricter emissions rules: Speaking at Continue Reading →

Asia’s Brown Cloud accelerates warming

admin /5 August, 2007

PARIS: The haze of pollution that blankets southern Asia is accelerating the loss of Himalayan glaciers, bequeathing an incalculable bill to China, India and other countries whose rivers flow from this source.

The Middle Rongbuk Glacier in Tibet

 In a study released by the British journal Nature, the investigators say the so-called Asian Brown Cloud is as much to blame as greenhouse gases for the warming observed in the Himalayas over the past half century.

Rapid melting among the 46,000 glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau, the third-largest ice mass on the planet, is already causing downstream flooding. But long-term worries focus more on the danger of drought, as the glaciers shrink.

 

Organic farming can feed the world

admin /5 August, 2007

Organic farming can produce enough food to feed the world, according to a recent study by researchers at the University of Michigan. The researchers found that, in developing countries, organic farming can produce up to three times greater yields as low intensive methods on the same land. The study joins an increasing body of research highlighting the benefits of organic farming and refutes the long-standing claim that organic farming methods cannot produce enough food to feed the global population.

The researchers found that, in developed countries, yields were almost equal on organic and conventional farms – whereas, in developing countries, food production could double or triple using organic methods. Furthermore, these yields could be accomplished using existing quantities of organic fertilisers – without putting more farmland into production.

“My hope is that we can finally put a nail in the coffin of the idea that you can’t produce enough food through organic agriculture” said Ivette Perfecto, one of the study’s chief investigators at the University of Michigan’s School of Natural Resources and Environment.