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Matthew Warren, The Australian JOHN Howard’s $10 billion national water plan will be scrapped and replaced with a more aggressive redistribution of the resource, under a radical reform blueprint released yesterday. Under the plan to drought-proof the Murray-Darling basin by leading water economist Mike Young, the 10-year Howard plan to hand out nearly $6 billion Continue Reading →
The Economic and Security Implications of Global Warming
By Scott G. Borgerson
From Foreign Affairs , March/April 2008
Summary: Thanks to global warming, the Arctic icecap is rapidly melting, opening up access to massive natural resources and creating shipping shortcuts that could save billions of dollars a year. But there are currently no clear rules governing this economically and strategically vital region. Unless Washington leads the way toward a multilateral diplomatic solution, the Arctic could descend into armed conflict.
SCOTT G. BORGERSON is International Affairs Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a former Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Coast Guard.
From the Financial Times
When William Lapp, of US-based consultancy Advanced Economic Solutions, took the podium at the annual US Department of Agriculture conference, the sentiment was already bullish for agricultural commodities boosted by demand from the biofuels industry and emerging countries.
He added a twist – that rising agricultural raw material prices would translate this year into sharply higher food inflation.
“I hope you enjoy your meal,” Mr Lapp told delegates during a luncheon. “It is the cheapest one you are going to have at this forum for a while.”
His warning that a strong wave of food inflation is heading towards the world economy was met by nods from agriculture traders, food industry executives and western’s government officials at the USDA’s annual Agricultural Outlook Forum.
The United Nation’s agency responsible for relieving hunger is drawing up plans to ration food aid in response to the spiralling cost of agricultural commodities.
The World Food Programme is holding crisis talks to decide what aid to halt if new donations do not arrive in the short term.
Josette Sheeran, WFP executive director, told the Financial Times that the agency would look at “cutting the food rations or even the number or people reached” if donors did not provide more money.
“Our ability to reach people is going down just as the needs go up,” she said.
Modernised energy ratings will appear on all new cars from October, the federal government has announced. The ratings will show fuel consumption of a new vehicle in city and country driving, along with its rate of greenhouse emission. "The new label is about helping motorists make informed choices about the environmental impact of their new Continue Reading →
Source: Reuters
Vast mines in Peru and Chile that supply the world with crucial metals have started to pump water from the Pacific Ocean high into the Andes Mountains because of chronic water shortages exacerbated by climate change. Tapping sea water allows miners to avoid relying on unpredictable rivers, which may run dry as glaciers melt, and avert clashes with farmers who draw their water from creeks in poor mountain villages. "Water always generates conflicts between mines and farmers, so this is a good alternative because the source is limitless," said German Arce, who runs Peru’s newest big mine, Cerro Lindo, owned by Peruvian miner Milpo.
Ocean water is free, except for transportation and treatment. Cerro Lindo relies entirely on sea water, filtered in a desalination plant and sent 6,000 feet (1,800 m) into the barren Andes in a thick green hose to the mine; its zinc, copper and lead refinery; and 700 workers who live there. In Chile, Antofagasta Minerals <ANTO.L> soon will open the $1.5 billion Esperanza gold and copper mine. Like Cerro Lindo in Peru, it will be the country’s first mine totally dependent on the sea.