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"A GOOD SPIRIT IN THE ROOM" AT WORLD SUMMIT ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, August 29, 2002 (ENS) - A "good spirit in the room" has enabled negotiators at the World Summit on Sustainable Development to resolve many of the most difficult issues relating to trade and finance over the past 48 hours, according to the United Nations official chairing the talks. John Ashe, deputy permanent representative to the United Nations from Antigua and Barbuda, is chairing the talks on trade, finance and globalization. He says that virtually all of the provisions on finance have been agreed upon, with outstanding issues referring to the inclusion of "common but differentiated responsibilities," a phrase that is being dealt with in separate discussion. Ashe said negotiations are continuing on the issue of phasing out subsidies, and there are still disagreements on how to characterize the effects of globalization, as an opportunity as well as a challenge. The key to the progress so far, Ashe says, has been the "good spirit in the room" that allowed delegates to work to 3:00 in the morning. Overall, about 88 percent of the outcome document is complete. Of the 156 paragraphs that were in dispute at the start of the Summit, 76 are still outstanding. Negotiators have agreed on about 99 percent of the text concerning finance and about 80 percent of the section on trade, with the agreements drawing heavily on language from the World Trade Organization meeting in Doha, Qatar, last November, and the International Conference on Financing for Development held in Monterrey, Mexico, in March. In addition to the 17 targets and timetables that were agreed upon at the final preparatory conference in Bali, four important targets have been set in Johannesburg and will be included in the summit's final outcome document. The targets include the goal of 2004 to limit the health related impacts of pollution, the goal of eliminating gender disparities in education by 2005, the development of food strategies for Africa by 2005, and a date of 2015 to restore depleted fish populations globally.

posted by West 7:42 AM

 

Summer Smog In US May Double in 2002
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of times unhealthy smog levels blanketed U.S. states rose 10 percent during the summer of 2001, and may double this year, according to a study released Thursday by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. Ground-level ozone, known also as smog, is worst during summer months when hot temperatures react with chemicals spewed by cars, trucks and power plants to form a gas which causes respiratory ailments. The American Lung Association has estimated 141 million people -- or half of the U.S. population -- lives where smog levels are high enough to cause serious health problems such as asthma, eye and throat irritation and headaches. During 2001 summer months, ozone levels exceeded federal health limits at least 4,634 times in 42 states and the District of Columbia, according to the new report by PIRG, an environmental advocacy group. That was up 10 percent from the number of unsafe days in 2000. The trend appears to be worsening. Preliminary data for 2002 showed ozone levels for 21 states are already up 23 percent from 2001, PIRG said. The smog data "should cause alarm bells to go off among state and federal policy makers," PIRG said in its report. California, Pennsylvania and Texas were the smoggiest states in 2001, followed by Ohio, Maryland, New Jersey and North Carolina, PIRG said. Regionally, levels in New England, the Mid-Atlantic and Midwest rose from 2000 to 2001, while those in the Southeast and West fell, PIRG said.

posted by West 1:28 PM

 

GOOD NEWS: Chemists try to turn plant waste to fuel
UPI -- A team of chemical engineers has taken the first step to turning plant wastes into Earth-friendly hydrogen fuel that one day could keep the lights burning and engines running without depleting diminishing reservoirs of precious natural resources. Hydrogen, the most plentiful element in the universe, already is employed in the chemical-processing, food and fuels industries, but at a cost two or three times that of natural gas. Because hydrogen rarely stands alone, however, harnessing its power means devising ways to break the ties that bind it to a wide variety of chemical compounds. In laboratory experiments, detailed in the British journal Nature, the researchers devised a new way to extract hydrogen from plant and animal matter, collectively known as biomass.

posted by West 6:38 PM

 

Floods a Wake-Up Call on Climate Change, Scientist Says
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - The devastating floods which have killed scores of people across central Europe are the wake-up call that could push industrial nations to act faster to stop the planet heating up, a leading scientist said on Tuesday. Robert Watson, now the World Bank's chief scientist since he was ousted from the chair of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC) in April due to U.S. opposition, insists dramatic floods and droughts will become more frequent. "You don't have to identify each event with climate change. All you have to say is this is the type of world that may become more prevalent. It is the sort of wake-up call, I believe, that could have an impact," he told reporters at the Earth Summit. Scientists say "greenhouse gases" produced by human activities during the past 100 years have made the world a warmer place and increased carbon dioxide emissions are set to linger in the earth's atmosphere for years to come. As head of the IPPC, Watson predicted the Earth's temperature could rise by up to 10.4 Fahrenheit over the coming century, a change that he says would lead to more extreme weather patterns. "(The floods are) the type of event which will become more prevalent in a warmer world. It's the sort of thing that can be a wake-up message to say 'If this becomes more frequent this is not the type of event we want to see in the future'," he said. Besides the floods which swept across Europe this month, hundreds have died as torrential rain hit China, Nepal, Iran and the Philippines in recent weeks. Watson said as the globe heats up rainfall would become heavier and more frequent in areas where it already rains a lot while arid areas would suffer from more droughts.

posted by West 12:05 PM

 

Big Business Accused of Derailing Earth Summit
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -- Activists accused big business on Tuesday of hijacking the Earth Summit from a goal of halving poverty without poisoning the planet. "The resources of Mother Earth are being sold off," said Anuradha Mittal of Indian group Food First on the second day of the 10-day talks in Johannesburg tackling issues from promoting clean energy and preserving fish stocks to fighting AIDS. The World Development Movement, a British-based anti-poverty group, accused rich nations of "kowtowing to the powerful corporate lobbies." Among activists' complaints on Tuesday were limited access to the summit venue, ringed by armed police. The main business lobby, representing about 200 corporations in Johannesburg from automakers to chemicals groups and oil majors, rejected charges that businesses would get better deals than those on environmental protection.

posted by West 11:54 AM

 

Study: Coral reefs in peril worldwide
LOS ANGELES, Aug. 26 (UPI) -- An analysis of hundreds of coral reefs worldwide indicates human activities are having a profound negative impact on the health of these delicate ecosystems, researchers reported Monday. Reef Check, a 5-year study of the planet's coral reefs and the threats to them, deployed more than 750 volunteer sport divers, trained and led by 100 scientists in surveys of more than 300 reefs in the Atlantic, Caribbean and Indo-Pacific regions offshore 31 countries. In all, about 5,000 people participated in the study, the results of which are compiled in the report "The Global Coral Reef Crisis: Trends and Solutions." Gregor Hodgson, director of Reef Check and a visiting professor at the Institute of the Environment at the University of California at Los Angeles, told United Press International, "We've stuck our neck out and said that these indicators are human impact indicators on reefs ... This is defining the issue objectively for the first time." Reef Check's investigators found many signs the health of coral systems is in decline. Globally, for instance, there were no spiny lobsters found at 83 percent of shallow reefs, indicating overfishing. Spiny lobsters are a "universally prized seafood item," the report said, but 90 percent of the reefs in the Indian and Pacific oceans had no lobsters, while 49 percent of those in the Atlantic had none. In addition, "The mean abundance of Diadema sea urchins decreased significantly in the Indo-Pacific from 1998 to 2000, approaching levels similar to those found in the Atlantic and possibly indicating ecological destabilization," the report said. Virtually every indicator examined by the study showed some reason for concern. There were no moray eels on 81 percent of the reefs. Four species of fish -- Nassau grouper, barramundi cod, bumphead parrotfish and humphead wrasse -- are in critical condition, missing from nearly 90 percent of the reefs. Mean hard coral cover was only 32 percent of expected levels. A 1997-98 bleaching event "reduced live coral cover by 10 percent globally, indicating that coral reefs are a sensitive indicator of global warming," the report said.

posted by West 11:47 AM

 

GOOD NEWS: China prepared to ratify Kyoto protocol
SHANGHAI, China, Aug. 23 (UPI) -- China is preparing to ratify the Kyoto pact on climate control, a move that will give the protocol on global greenhouse gas reduction support from one of the world's largest polluters while placing increased pressure on the United States to follow suit. "We are making preparations to approve the pact, but a final decision has not yet been made," a Foreign Ministry official told United Press International on Friday. "Once the protocol is approved, then a formal announcement will be issued." The official said the treaty is being reviewed by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, which must give the pact a green light before it goes to China's State Cabinet for final approval. If approved, the pact then goes before China's parliament when it meets next March. The 1997 Kyoto Protocol is an international pact which calls for both developed and developing countries to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, which are believed to cause global warming and contribute to rising sea levels. The protocol requires industrialized countries such as the United States and Australia, both of which have refused to sign the treaty, to cut their emissions to below 1990 volumes over the next decade. China, the world's second-largest source of greenhouse gases, is considered to be a developing country and therefore not required to meet the protocol's strict emission-reduction targets. But signing the treaty would make China eligible for clean development mechanisms, which give developing nations credits for lowering greenhouse emissions and using cleaner fuel sources. China has become increasingly concerned about its environmental problems in recent years and has taken its own steps to cut emissions, clean-up polluted rivers and adopt clean energy fuels. Last year, a study conducted by the Berkeley National Laboratory found China has reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 17 percent and methane by 2.2 percent from the mid-1990 levels.

posted by West 10:12 AM

 

GOOD NEWS: Brazil Creates World's Largest Rainforest Park
BRASILIA, Brazil, August 22, 2002 (ENS) - Brazil is establishing the largest rainforest national park in the world as the country's contribution to the World Summit on Sustainable Development, President Fernando Henrique Cardoso announced today. Covering 9.4 million acres of the northern Amazon along Brazil's boundary with French Guyana, the Tumucumaque Mountains National Park shelters rare jaguars, harpy eagles and 12 percent of all primates known to exist in the entire Brazilian Amazon. "With the creation of Tumucumaque Mountains National Park, we are ensuring the protection of one of the most pristine forests remaining in the world," said President Cardoso. "Plants and animals that may be endangered elsewhere will continue to thrive in our forests forever." Conservation International (CI) served as a lead nongovernmental advisor for the park's creation, providing technical assistance during the planning phase and collecting information about the region's biological importance. "Brazil should be congratulated for its long term vision, dedication and leadership on conserving its precious biodiversity," said CI president Russell Mittermeier today at the group's headquarters in Washington, DC. "Since Tumucumaque is one of the greatest unexplored places on Earth, we can only imagine what undiscovered mysteries will one day be found in the park," said Mittermeier, who serves as chairman of the World Conservation Union's Primate Specialist Group, and has discovered several primates previously unknown to science in the Brazilian Amazon.

posted by West 8:47 AM

 

GOOD NEWS: Parrots return after nine decades
BBCOne of the rarest bird species in the world, the indigo-winged parrot, has been rediscovered in Latin America. Ornithologists spotted a flock of the parrots on 28 July on an Andean volcano in central Colombia. The species was first recorded in the region in 1911, but since then there have been no confirmed sightings. Conservationists hope the parrots' rediscovery may be the prelude to safeguarding their future.

posted by West 5:37 PM

 

How Earth's land is used
BBC -- A new global map taken from space is providing scientists with their most detailed picture ever of the Earth's ecosystems and land use patterns. The data will aid scientists and policy makers involved in land resource management as well as a range of global monitoring objectives such as determining the amount of Carbon released into the atmosphere that could contribute to global warming. The maps were developed at Boston University, US, using data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (Modis) instrument on Nasa's Terra satellite. The maps are based on data collected between November 2000 and October 2001. Scientists say the image is an important milestone. "These maps mark a significant step forward in global land cover mapping by providing a clearer, more detailed picture than previously available maps," says Professor Mark Friedl of Boston University. "With data collected over several years," he adds, "we will be able to create maps that highlight global-scale changes in vegetation and land cover in response to climate change, such as drought. "We'll also be establishing the timing of seasonal changes in vegetation, defining when important transitions take place, such as the onset of the growing season."

posted by West 5:36 PM

 

Giant Meteorite May Have Delayed Life
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- A gigantic meteorite that slammed into the Earth 3.5 billion years ago may have caused such devastation that it affected the evolution of life, researchers reported on Thursday. Twice as big as the asteroid believed to have wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, the meteorite would have kicked up a thick layer of rock and dust that coated the whole planet and caused tidal waves that wiped clean the early continents, the researchers reported Friday in the journal Science. The team, at Stanford University in California and Louisiana State University, pieced together evidence from ancient rock layers found in Australia and South Africa.

posted by West 5:29 PM

 

Measure your impact: How many planets would we need if everyone was to live like you?
BBC -- The so-called ecological footprint is a concept widely gaining currency as a way of estimating how much of the Earth's resources a person, a business or even a city uses. Have a go at this quiz, developed by the US-based think-tank Redefining Progress, to estimate how much of the earth's resources you use up.

posted by West 7:57 PM

 

Slowing Population Growth Saves Water, Forests
ROME, Italy, August 20, 2002 (ENS) -- World population growth will slow down by 2030, taking some pressure off the world's freshwater supplies and slowing the rate of forest clearing for agriculture, according to a new report issued today by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Globally there will be enough food for a growing world population by the year 2030, and many people will be better fed, the UN agency said, but hundreds of millions of people in developing countries will be hungry and many of the environmental problems caused by agriculture will remain serious. "World Agriculture: Towards 2015/2030," presents the latest FAO assessment of long term developments in world food, nutrition and agriculture. The study says that pressure on natural resources from agriculture "will continue to increase, but at a slower pace than in the past." The projections cover about 140 countries and 32 crop and livestock commodities. FAO's Jelle Bruinsma, editor of the study, says pressure on the environment will increase, but at a slower pace than in the past. "This is because growth in agricultural demand and production will continue to slow down, as population growth slows down and an ever increasing part of the population is better fed." "We expect that, globally, annual agricultural growth will decline from 2.2 percent over the last 30 years to 1.5 percent over the next 30 years," he said today. The FAO forecasts that world population will grow from a little more than six billion people today to 8.3 billion people in 2030.

posted by West 7:40 AM

 

Bush Turns His Back on World Summit
WASHINGTON, DC, August 19, 2002 (ENS) -- Secretary of State Colin Powell will lead the American delegation to the World Summit on Sustainable Development, to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa from August 26 through September 4. President George W. Bush made the announcement late today, giving no explanation as to why he will not be attending the summit to join 106 other world leaders on the speaker's podium.

posted by West 5:39 PM

 

Sustainable development eludes Arab world
BEIRUT, Lebanon, Aug. 14 (UPI) -- Establishing peace and security, limiting poverty, slowing population growth, improving education and developing production sectors were the main challenges facing Arab countries in their effort to achieve sustainable growth, U.N. reports released Wednesday said. The reports were released in Beirut by the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, ahead of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, which is to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa, from Aug. 26 to Sept. 4. ESCWA, which is one of the U.N.'s five regional commissions, has 13 Arab members: Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Syria, Iraq, Oman, the Palestinian Authority, Qatar, Kuwait, Lebanon, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Yemen. The reports said wars and other types of armed conflict had a destructive impact on the Arab region and its chances for sustainable development. They cited "huge losses in human beings, revenues, health and infrastructure along with a dangerous collapse of education, skills and prosperity in contrast with increased military spending and debt accumulations." Although the past decade brought calm to some parts of the Arab region, the absence of peace and security remained the principal obstacle to sustainable development, they said.

posted by West 9:06 AM

 

'Asian Brown Cloud' poses global threat

HONG KONG, China -- A dense blanket of pollution, dubbed the "Asian Brown Cloud," is hovering over South Asia, with scientists warning it could kill millions of people in the region, and pose a global threat. In the biggest-ever study of the phenomenon, 200 scientists warned that the cloud, estimated to be two miles (three kilometers) thick, is responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths a year from respiratory disease.

posted by A Curmudgeon 3:44 AM

 

Genes inserted into crops will spread
TUCSON, Ariz., Aug. 8 (UPI) -- Researchers have demonstrated that genetically modified crop plants can spread their new genes to wild plants, with unpredictable and possibly uncontrollable effects, they announced Thursday. The researchers studied sunflowers into which a transgene called Bt was inserted. The gene was taken from the soil-dwelling bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis that produces chemicals toxic to certain insects. Mimicking the action of natural pollinators, they hand-transferred pollen from the Bt-containing sunflowers to wild plants. When they examined subsequent generations of the wild plants, they found the Bt transgene, meaning if these genetically modified sunflowers were planted in open fields, insects could spread their modification to nearby wild populations of flora. "Many genetically modified cultivated crops could potentially crossbreed with weeds," said Ohio State University's Allison Snow, co-author of the study. "Weeds are already hardy plants. The addition of transgenes could just make them tougher."

posted by West 8:44 AM

 

Global Warming is Changing Tropical Forests
PANAMA CITY, Panama, August 7, 2002 (ENS) - Human activities are changing the global climate, and these changes are having far reaching effects on tropical forests, according to scientists from around the world gathered here last week for the Association for Tropical Biology annual meeting. The scientists were hosted in Panama City by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. They explored the Smithsonian's tropical biology research station at Barro Colorado, located on the hilltop that became an island when central Panama was flooded during the construction of the Panama Canal in 1911. The Association for Tropical Biology says that tropical forests are undergoing unprecedented changes as 1.2 percent of the remaining forest is removed each year, as atmospheric carbon dioxide which fuels plant growth increases by 0.4 percent each year, and as global climate change begins in earnest.

posted by West 9:12 AM

 

Drugs affecting aquatic reproduction
TUCSON, Ariz., Aug. 7 (UPI) -- Pharmaceuticals flushed into watersheds are disturbing the reproduction of some aquatic wildlife, a finding with detrimental potential for human health in the future, new research released Wednesday warns. Colleen Flaherty, a zoologist at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, studied the effects of several common medications on an aquatic creature called daphnia, a miniature crustacean that can be seen with the naked eye. Daphnia, only about 20 millimeters in length, nevertheless is a critical link in the freshwater food chain because it eats algae and then is eaten by fish. To determine how pharmaceuticals have been influencing this freshwater organism, Flaherty exposed daphnia to drugs already detected in waters around the United States. The daphnia were exposed to five antibiotics, a cholesterol-lowering chemical called clofibric acid and an antidepressant known chemically as fluoxetine and commonly as Prozac. Flaherty conducted both short-term and long-term studies on the female daphnia. The short-term studies examined the female's single set of offspring and found the antibiotics and cholesterol-fighting drug stunted growth and appeared to result in a higher-than-normal number of male offspring at concentrations of only 10 parts per billion. The longer-term studies looked at the daphnia's entire life span -- one month. Flaherty found offspring exposed to antibiotics had longer-than-average life spans, while offspring exposed to cholesterol-lowering medications showed no effects. Although the Prozac produced no effects in the short-term study, it resulted in a larger number of offspring in the longer studies.

posted by West 8:27 AM

 

Sustainable Development Called Security Imperative
WASHINGTON, DC, August 6, 2002 (ENS) -- Sustainable development is a security imperative, writes Secretary of State Colin Powell in a special publication of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). UNEP will publish a special edition of its magazine, "Our Planet," to coincide with the upcoming World Summit for Sustainable Development, containing articles on environmental issues by a variety of international leaders, including Powell. In his article, Powell describes sustainable development as a "compelling moral and humanitarian issue" and says that delivering environmentally friendly development is vital for delivering a more stable world. "Poverty, environmental degradation and despair are destroyers of people, of societies, of nations. This unholy trinity can destabilize countries, even entire regions," Powell writes.

posted by West 8:17 AM

 

ENVIRONMENTAL HOLOCAUST: Leaders Urged to Stick to Pledges to Save Planet
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (Reuters) - World leaders must stick to targets and implement plans to save the environment at this month's Earth Summit in Johannesburg, said organizers of Global Forum, an alternative summit to be held in the city at the same time. The Global Forum will bring around 40,000 environment, women, youth and anti-globalization activists and protesters to South Africa during the Earth Summit, which runs from Aug. 26 to Sept. 4. "World leaders must agree clear implementation mechanisms for the agreement they reach," Reverend Desmond Lesajane, chief organizer of the forum, told Reuters in an interview Tuesday. "There should be a clearly identified funding mechanism. World leaders must answer the question, 'who will fund what actions'," he said, adding that implementation of the agreement should be compulsory. Delegates at the Earth Summit, known officially as the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), are expected to work on an environmentally conscious plan to drag millions of people out of poverty. But preparatory talks for the summit ended in deadlock on key issues in June, raising fears of a diplomatic fiasco.


ONLY THE PEOPLE CAN SAVE THE PLANET.

posted by West 8:53 AM

 

Big footprints and shrinking habitats
United Press International -- There is a saying long popular among those who love the outdoors: "Take only pictures, leave only footprints." The trouble is, our footprints keep getting bigger, and it becomes harder and harder trying to figure out where to set our feet. Many of us dream of a cabin in the Rocky Mountains, near a national park or forest, where we can hike easily into the wilderness. If our new second home doesn't burn down from an inconvenient wildfire, we want to watch the native birds, stroll among the local wildlife, fish the trout-fattened streams and generally play the country squire. A mounting body of evidence, however, indicates the large footprints of our new homes are displacing the very wild things we've come to enjoy. Studies by two Montana State University scientists indicate "Rural sprawl may be driving species toward local extinction. New research suggests that ranchettes in the Yellowstone (National Park) area could degrade the best habitat for birds and so cut their population growth below sustainable levels." The phrase "rural sprawl" is a capsule description of profound changes that have occurred in the America West over the past 30 years.

posted by West 9:39 PM

 

GLOBAL HEAT WAVE: World Heads for Warmest Year Yet
Reuters - The first six months of the year have been the second-warmest ever and average global temperatures in 2002 could be the highest ever recorded, British weather experts said Thursday. "Globally 2002 is likely to be warmer than 2001, and may even break the record set in 1998," said Briony Horton, the Meteorological Office's climate research scientist. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the body that advises governments on long-term climatic variations, blames global warming, caused by rising emissions of greenhouse gases that trap heat in the atmosphere, for the rise in temperatures, a Met Office spokesman said. "We agree with them," he told Reuters. "Since 1970 there has been a marked trend in the rise of global temperatures. "The actual rise prior to 1970 was partly man-made and partly due to natural effects. But since 1970 scientists are in fairly general agreement that warming can be attributed to man's polluting activities." The Met Office said global temperatures were 1.03 Fahrenheit higher than the long-term average of about 59 Fahrenheit in the period from January to June. In the nearly 150 years since recording began, only in 1998 has the difference been higher, 1.08 Fahrenheit, and that was caused by the influence of the El Nino weather phenomenon.

posted by West 11:14 PM

 

Earth experiencing middle age spread
GREENBELT, Md., Aug. 1 (UPI) -- Much like most middle-agers, planet Earth seems to be experiencing a bit of a spread about its mid-section as mass shifts from the high latitudes around the poles to the equatorial regions, researchers said Thursday. However, this particular bulge has come on suddenly, has taken scientists by surprise and goes against a trend that has been underway since the last ice age ended around 10,000 years ago. An increasingly sophisticated array of satellites and computer models has been tracking changes in Earth's equatorial bulge for the past 20 years. During that time, the planet had been becoming more evenly spherical, with mass shifting from the equator to the northern latitudes. The realignment was due to the planet's mass responding to the melting of the huge polar ice sheets that once extended well into Europe and as far south as Virginia in the United States. In 1998, however, the planet dramatically reversed course and continues to show a pronounced increase in its equatorial bulge, researchers said. "Starting a few years ago, we started getting funny results and we gradually came to the conclusion that it wasn't mistaken data, it wasn't faulty models -- that we were actually seeing something," Christopher Cox, with NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., told United Press International. "There's always been movement (in Earth's mass)," Cox said. "But something is different so it begs the question -- What's going on?" The answer -- as the researchers report in the August 2 issue of the journal Science -- is nobody knows.

posted by West 11:10 PM