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"Meltdown in the mountains," UNEP said in a statement, saying that a retreat of glaciers from the Andes to the Arctic should add urgency to UN negotiations on working out a new treaty by the end of 2009 to combat global warming.

"Data from close to 30 reference glaciers in nine mountain ranges indicate that between the years 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 the average rate of melting and thinning more than doubled," it said.

Some of the biggest losses were in Europe — in the Alps, the Pyrenees and the Nordic region — according to the UNEP-backed World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS) at the University of Zurich in Switzerland.

"The latest figures are part of what appears to be an accelerating trend with no apparent end in sight," WGMS director Wilfried Haeberli said.

The estimates, based on measuring the thickness of glacier ice, indicated an average loss of about 1.5 metres in 2006, up from just over half a metre in 2005. UNEP said that the thinning was the fastest since monitoring began.

Since 1980, glaciers have thinned by about 11.5 metres in a retreat blamed by the UN Climate Panel mainly on human use of fossil fuels.

The thaw could disrupt everything from farming — millions of people in Asia depend on seasonal melt water from the Himalayas — and power generation to winter sports. The thaw could also raise world sea levels.

UNEP said glaciers were among the clearest indicators of global warming. "There are many canaries emerging in the climate change coal mine. The glaciers are perhaps among those making the most noise," said Achim Steiner, head of UNEP.

The WGMS monitors about 100 glaciers in total.

Mr Steiner said that governments had agreed to work out by the end of 2009 a new pact to succeed the UN’s Kyoto Protocol, which binds developed nations except the United States to curb emissions of greenhouse gases.

"Otherwise, and like the glaciers, our room for manoeuvre and the opportunity to act may simply melt away," he said.

A first set of UN negotiations on a new climate treaty will be held in Bangkok from March 31-April 4.

From ABC Online  

Australia has been told it must commit to a 25 per cent cut in carbon dioxide emissions by 2020 if it is to be taken seriously by other members of the Kyoto club.

That is the message from a key member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Dr Bill Hare, who is currently in Australia.

Dr Hare is currently helping the United Nations set up the next climate agreement for when the Kyoto Protocol winds up in 2012.

He met with economist Ross Garnaut, who is advising the Federal Government on the costs of climate change.

Dr Hare says Professor Garnaut’s recommendation for a 90 per cent cut in emissions by 2050 is good, but short-term targets are also crucial.

"I think the level of ambition is in the right range," he said.

"What’s missing and I think will come in the final report are reductions targets for 2020".

Dr Hare says Australia must deliver on its Bali commitment and explain how it can help cut global emissions by 40 per cent over the next decade.

"For Australia to start making a contribution and to start setting an agenda which the Rudd Government wants to do, then it needs to have a very serious proposal for what it is prepared to do and what it thinks the rest of the world should be doing to prevent dangerous climate change," he said.

See related article at Climate Friendly 

Read it at The Herald  

A STATE of permanent transport gridlock is threatening to choke Sydney as it grows by a forecast 1.1 million people over the next 20 years.

The Iemma Government has released draft targets for each local government area to house the population boom, promising that $7.5 billion in road and rail infrastructure, bus services, open space, schools and health facilities will follow.

Under the draft plans compiled for the Government’s Metropolitan Strategy, 600,000 new dwellings will be built by 2031. The City of Sydney heads the list for the number of new dwellings with 55,000. A further 248,000 will be built in nine western Sydney council areas.

A number of prominent community leaders warn that the figures raise serious concerns about the ability of Sydney’s road and public transport network to cope.

The president of the Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils, Tony Hay, said the city needed additional rail lines and bus corridors, and a substantial increase in service frequencies, if it were not to descend into transport gridlock.

"While over 100 kilometres of motorway, mostly in the form of toll roads, have been built in western Sydney, the rail systems coverage is still much the same as it was in the steam era," he said.

"The result is a region that is heavily car-dependent – a problem that will only get worse as the population both increases and ages.

"In response the State Government has built two bus transitways and announced plans for the construction of the urgently needed north-west and south-west rail links. However, the north-west rail link is under threat from an unholy coalition of inner-city metro enthusiasts, road advocates and cost-cutting treasury officials."

Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore said the development was welcome but warned it must be accompanied by investment in community facilities and infrastructure.

"The State Government must provide the transport, hospitals and schools to support the increase [when needed], not 10 years later," she said.

NRMA president Alan Evans said the Government needed to give a commitments to its road network expansion and public transport plans.

"People just want to see action," he said.

A Department of Planning spokesman said the draft 25-year strategy and the Government’s 10-year, $110 billion State Infrastructure Strategy would be updated over time.

"Housing growth in existing areas will in the main be clustered within and nearby existing centres – quarantining 80 per cent of suburban streets from increased density," he said. "Furthermore, the strategy proposes to increase the rate of greenfield land to be released on Sydney’s fringe, in particular in the growth centres."

A report from the Murray Darling Basin Commission released in March 2008 shows that the huge rains in January did  very little to relieve the long-term challenges faced by the drought stricken river system. The total inflows to the river over the last two years are the lowest since 1937. The two year total to December 2007 was 3,350 gigalitres, which is 15 per cent of the average.

The lack of water in the system as a whole, means that even though good rains in January have relieved local shortages, the reserves downstream of Burke have experienced a small or zero increase in storages. The amount of water in the Menindee Lakes has risen to 550 gigalitres, which is 35 per cent of the total capacity. 100 gigalitres has been released for downstream use.

The commission reports that farmers will get a backlog of emergency water that was denied them over summer, but will start the year with no allocations. The situation will be reviewed depending on winter and spring rains. No extra water will be released from the Hume and Dartmouth wiers.

The high salinity and acidity of the river in South Australia will continue to be a problem with no relief in sight. The full report is available from the commission’s website .