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Source: Information Clearing House

01/14/07 Al Jazeera — — The presidents of Iran and Venezuela have agreed to spend billions of dollars to help other countries free themselves from what they describe as US domination.

Hugo Chavez announced the plan in a speech on Saturday with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The two also called for Opec to cut oil production to support falling crude prices.

They had previously announced plans to establish a joint $2bn fund for projects in Venezuela and Iran but on Saturday they said that the money would also be used to help friendly third countries.

"This fund, my brother," Chavez said, "will become a mechanism for liberation."

Chavez said the fund "will permit us to underpin investments … above all in those countries whose governments are making efforts to liberate themselves from the [US] imperialist yoke … Death to US imperialism."

Ahmadinejad, who is on a tour of Latin America, said that Tehran and Caracas had the task of "promoting revolutionary thought in the world".

"The reason for all the current problems is the erroneous direction of the powerful countries, where there is poverty, hate, enmity and war," he added.

Oil agreement

The two presidents announced that they would make a joint effort to obtain new oil production cuts.

"Today we know that there is too much crude in the market, that’s why we support … the decisions that have been taken to reduce production and protect the price of oil," Chavez said.

He emphasised that he was sending the message "to all the heads of state in the Opec countries to continue to strengthen our organisation in this direction".

Members of the 11-nation Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) have expressed concern about the falling price of oil, which has slid 14 per cent since the start of the year.

Ahmadinejad has praised Chavez for his outspoken support of Iran’s nuclear programme, which the US and European governments say may be part of a project to build atomic weapons.

Vocal supporter

Facing the threat of international isolation and sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council over its uranium enrichment work, Iran is keen to demonstrate it has backing among a number of leaders in Latin America.

Chavez is the most vocal supporter in Latin America for Iran and its president, with both men calling each other "brother" and relishing their status as fierce opponents of Washington’s influence.

"Hugo is my brother," Ahmadinejad said during his last visit to Venezuela in September. "Hugo is the champion of the fight against imperialism."

In September 2005, Venezuela was alone in opposing a resolution at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that found Iran in violation of nuclear safeguards. Chavez has since backed Iran’s right to enrich uranium.

Iran and Venezuela are both important players in Opec and have signed numerous co-operation agreements in the energy sector and other fields.

During a visit to Iran last September, Chavez came out in support of Iran’s nuclear programme, as well as denouncing Israeli military operations in Lebanon.

The two presidents also signed deals covering iron and steel production, petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals and health care equipment and munitions.

Cultivating allies

While Ahmadinejad seeks to cultivate Latin American allies, Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, is in the Middle East to rally Arab support for a new US strategy in Iraq and counter Iran’s alleged "interference" in Iraq.

Ahmadinejad arrived in Nicaragua late on Saturday, where Daniel Ortega has just returned to power. The Iranian president was met at the airport by the new Nicaraguan president.

On Monday, Ahmadinejad will take part in the swearing-in ceremony of Ecuador’s new president Rafael Correa, who has vowed to forge stronger ties with Venezuela and not to renew a lease for a US military air base on the country’s Pacific coast.

The Iranian president will also hold meetings with other South American presidents including Bolivia’s Evo Morales on the sidelines of the ceremony in Ecuador, before finishing his tour on Tuesday.

The Economist, 21/10/2006, p.64

Source: Erisk Net

Water rates for mutual benefit: The argument that it was unfair for some people to use more water "ignores the fact that rates are a tax, which we all pay for our mutual benefit." Changes in a taxation system may be done in the name of equity, but it was only ever the proponents who benefited, Freeman added.

Usage stable over decade: "The current usage of water in Southern Tasmania varied between 36,000 and 40,000 megalitres a year and this has not increased over the last 10 years so we have adequate resources and the present infrastructure could cope with a significant increase in load if that is required in the future," Freeman said.

State faces rural supply hurdle: "There is no doubt that if the State Government is to access part of the $2 billion Commonwealth water fund then it will need to show that it can solve the problems of the rural areas who are without adequate infrastructure and do not have the rate base to provide it themselves.

Cooperation with needy councils: "I would suggest that there are two ways this might be done. The first is that the councils with inadequate infrastructure form an association with the water authority in their region and use that authority’s expertise to develop and implement appropriate systems to supply water and waste water systems to their areas. Hobart Water has already done this with Derwent Valley Council and is in discussions with the Glamorgan Spring Bay and Tasman councils to assist them with their problems.

New authority proposed: "A second solution is that a fourth water authority is created to take in all the councils which have inadequate infrastructure and that given the large geographical spread such an organisation would tender out its work to one of the existing authorities. This would prevent cross subsidisation and give greater control to local users.

Funding goal for deprived areas: "Both of these solutions would allow our State Government to present to the Federal Government a plan for upgrading the water supply for the 20 per cent with inadequate systems and thus access commonwealth funding with the minimum of disruption to the system, which works very well for the majority of the state."

The Mercury, 9/1/2007, p.37

Sound innovations were not always accepted by landholders: If there is one central message from this review it might be summed up as “adoption occurs when the landholder perceives that the innovation … will enhance the achievement of their personal … economic, social and environmental goals.” By contrast, non-adoption or low adoption of sound innovations can come down to its failure to provide relative advantage or to difficulties that landholders have in trialling them.

Australia needs more adoption of innovation: The authors comment that the current level of adoption of innovation in Australia is far short of what will be required to arrest the landscape-scale degradation caused by issues such as dryland salinity and biodiversity loss.

Scientists should know what landholders are doing: To support high levels of adoption, biophysical scientists are encouraged to be conscious of the type of practices landholders adopt more readily — those with high relative advantage and high trialability. A participatory approach with landholders encourages engagement, which can lead to adoption, and this should be supported by a real awareness of what landholders are already doing and why they do it.

"Communication" needs substance for farmers to accept change: The reviewers contest a conventional premise that lack of adoption implies inadequate communication. Rather than advocating a greater effort to improve communication of research ‘products’, they argue farmers are already deluged with information, some of which is contradictory. For communication to really enhance extension it needs to be founded on “credibility, reliability, legitimacy, and the decision-making process”.

Reference: Focus on Salt, Issue 39, December 2006, ISSN: 1444-7703. Contact: David Pannell, Phone: (08) 9842 0820. Email: david.pannell@uwa.edu.au Document is available at: http://www.crcsalinity.com/documents/articles/Adoption%20-%20why%20some%20do.pdf

Erisk Net, 10/1/2007

Works best in mid-summer: Mid-summer average daily yields were about 20 per cent higher than annual daily averages, while peak yields on a hot, cloudless summer day with some wind (to drive the rotor) could reach 2 kL.

Prototype trials: Modelled results had an uncertainty of +/- 20 per cent. A prototype project trialled for 12 months in South Australia’s Riverland aimed to get accurate production data.

Shandy option for irrigation: Distilled water from the unit could be shandied to varying degrees with source water to allow it to be used for irrigation. For drinking water, a downstream mineral filter would be installed with the unit.

Reference: Focus on Salt, Issue 39, December 2006, ISSN: 1444-7703. Contact Jeroen van der Sluijs, ph: +44 (0)1162 471 160, email: j-vandersluijs@dds.nl Document is available at: http:/ http://www.crcsalinity.com.

Erisk Net, 10/1/2007