By Jason Simpkins
Associate Editor
Flooding in the Midwest has devastated much of the region’s corn crop, and caused prices to skyrocket. However, major rice and wheat producers are expected to have bumper crops this year, offering some hope that food prices could soon recede.
The price of corn for July delivery jumped Monday to an all-time high of $7.60 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade. It was the eighth straight day of trading in which the price hit a record high. The price has already shot up 71% this year, boosting food prices worldwide and fueling what is fast becoming a global inflation epidemic.
Fortunately, there are signs that the price of rice and wheat could recede sharply in coming months and relieve some of the inflationary pressure. In fact, the price of wheat is already on the way down having fallen roughly 50% since February. And increased plantings will yield a wheat crop 8.7% larger than that of 2007, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported.
“This improvement in supply should, in principle, help,” Hafez Ghanem, the FAO’s assistant director-general, told a news conference. “But we don’t expect to see prices going down to what they were before.”
The United States will produce 16% more wheat than last year, making this year’s harvest the biggest since 1998, the FAO said. The European Union, on the other hand, will add 13% to its wheat crop. Global cereal output is expected to climb 3.8%.
Rice could be next in line for a price drop, as yields from Thailand, the world’s largest rice exporter, could rise 29% this year. Rough rice production will rise to 8.9 million metric tons for the May-June harvest, Bloomberg News reported. Farmers increased the amount of land devoted to the rice crop by 27% to 5 million acres to take advantage of high prices this year.
Rice futures on the Chicago Board of Trade hit a record high $25.07 per 100 pounds on April 24, and are climbed 79% in the past year, according to Bloomberg. The benchmark Thai export price for 100% grade-B white rice hit a record $1,080 per metric ton on April 24, but has since fallen to $795 per metric ton.
“The market was very quiet. Most buyers are waiting for lower prices in July when Vietnam is expected to lift its ban on rice exports,” one trader told Reuters.
Vietnam is also positioned for a bumper harvest, this year. Vietnam has lifted its ban on the signing of rice-export deals, but will only allow contracts for a limited quantity as it has capped exports of the grain at 3.5 million tons for the first nine months of this year.
The Philippines is already set to import 600,000 metric tons rice from Vietnam through a government-to-government agreement, Xinhua reported yesterday (Wednesday). The Philippines is the world’s top rice importer but has vowed to achieve 98% self-sufficiency by 2010.
India has also curbed rice exports but the nation expects to produce a record 95.5 million tons of the grain this year, an increase of 2.5% from 2007.
“The pressure would considerably ease if India, which is about harvest a bumper 2007 secondary crop, would relax its current export curbs,” said the FAO’s Food Outlook report, released last month.
Only 7% of global rice production is traded internationally, which means any government intervention in the export or import markets could have a dramatic impact on rice supply and prices.
Also, speculation among investors and consumers has run rampant in recent months, adding to political and economic pressures. As the run-up in commodities price steepened in the early part of the year, driving the price of corn and wheat to all-time highs, traders on the Chicago Board of Trade dove head first into already volatile markets.
“We have enough food on this planet today to feed everyone,” Adam Steiner, head of the U.N. Environment Program told the Associated Press, adding that the way that access to that food is being distorted by perceptions of future markets is distorting access to that food. “Real people and real lives are being affected by a dimension that is essentially speculative.”
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Die Welt (Germany): Wie sich Afrika in den letzten Jahrzehnten verändert hat
Ein neues Programm der UN dokumentiert, wie sich Afrika in den letzten 35 Jahren verändert hat. Danach werden die Gletscher am Kilimandscharo, dem höchsten Berg Afrikas, bis 2020 weggeschmolzen sein. Ursachen sind Erderwärmung, verstärkte Waldrodung und das starke Wachstum der Millionenstädte.
Die Gletscher am Kilimandscharo, dem höchsten Berg Afrikas, verschwinden angesichts der Erderwärmung allmählich – ebenso wie der Tschadsee. Diese und andere fundamentale Veränderungen der Umwelt in Afrika dokumentiert ein Atlas, den das UN-Entwicklungsprogramm (Unep) in Johannesburg vorstellte. Auf mehr als 300 Fotos ist darin zu sehen, wie sich Landschaften auf dem afrikanischen Kontinent in den letzten 35 Jahren verändert haben. Dabei geht es auch um die Waldrodung auf Madagaskar und das enorme Wachstum der Millionenstädte.
Unep-Chef Achim Steiner hob bei der Vorstellung der Dokumentation hervor, die Weltgemeinschaft müsse nicht nur dringend Abkommen zum Klimaschutz schließen, sondern auch für einen schnellen Mittelfluss zur Umsetzung von Klimaschutzvorhaben sorgen. Die Gletscher am Kilimandscharo dürften bis zum Jahr 2020 weggeschmolzen sein, auch der Gletscher am Rwenzori-Berg in Uganda verlor zwischen 1987 und 2003 die Hälfte seines Umfangs. Im Westen Sudans leidet in den Dschebel-Marra-Bergen die Vegetation durch Bevölkerungsbewegungen.
Schlagworte
Johannesburg Kilimandscharo Gletscher Klimaschutz Erderwärmung
Laut Unep-Atlas ist in mehr als 30 afrikanischen Ländern ein Verlust des Artenreichtums und eine allmähliche Entwaldung zu beobachten. Zudem nehmen demnach die Waldflächen des Kontinents jährlich insgesamt um vier Millionen Hektar ab.
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Le Monde : Atlas de l’Afrique: un bijou d’information
19 juin 2008
Avec un titre pareil, voilà encore un billet qui ne va intéresser personne… et pourtant je trouve que cet outil est formidable de par le travail qu’il représente et la manière dont il permet de se rendre compte de l’évolution de l’environnement… Comme l’explique cet article du Courrier International paru il y a une semaine, suite à la Conférence ministérielle africaine sur l’environnement, “à partir de la comparaison de plus de 300 images des mêmes régions prises à une vingtaine d’années d’écart, par satellite, dans tous les pays d’Afrique, dans plus de 100 endroits, le nouvel atlas de l’Afrique publié par le Programme des Nations unies pour l’environnement (PNUE) montre clairement la façon dont les choix de développement, la croissance démographique, le changement climatique et, dans certains cas, les conflits affectent les ressources naturelles du continent.”
Ainsi, “l’atlas rend compte non seulement des changements connus, comme la fonte des glaces du mont Kilimandjaro, l’assèchement du lac Tchad et la baisse du niveau de l’eau du lac Victoria, mais il donne également une idée précise de l’ampleur des dégâts environnementaux dans des régions moins médiatiques”.
Concrètement, en arrivant sur le site internet mis au point par le PNUE, vous pouvez choisir un pays, puis un site donné (par exemple, l’Ethiopie, puis Addis Ababa). S’ouvre alors une page sur laquelle vous trouvez deux photos satellite prises avec 30 ans d’écart, puis une description des changements qui ont eu lieu depuis la première photo.
Addis Ababa PNUE
Sous ce premier onglet se trouvent d’autres onglets vous permettant de télécharger ces photos, mais vous donnant aussi des photos du lieu (donc on a des photos d’Addis Ababa), l’accès aux sources utilisées pour établir cette fiche, un onglet pour retrouver ce lieu sur Google Earth, puis un onglet prévoyant à terme l’existence d’un blog! Bref, cet outil est un vrai bijou pour s’informer en détail sur l’environnement en Afrique, fruit du travail du “North American Node of UNEP GRID” situé au “USGS EROS Data Center”, dont le travail consiste justement à appliquer les technologies de l’information pour traiter des relations entre l’environnement et la population humaine. L’information ainsi créée permet de se renseigner et d’agir en utilisant des sources scientifiques plus que fiables!
Enfin, comme le rappelle l’article de CI, “le PNUE ’souligne la nécessité urgente pour la communauté internationale d’élaborer un nouvel accord sur le climat d’ici la réunion de la Convention sur les changements climatiques à Copenhague, en 2009 – un accord qui non seulement impose d’importantes réductions des émissions de gaz à effet de serre, mais prévoie également des aides financières substantielles pour l’adaptation et la protection des économies contre le climat’. En outre, le PNUE note que ‘bien que l’Afrique ne soit responsable que de 4 % du total mondial des émissions de dioxyde de carbone, ses habitants souffrent des conséquences du changement climatique de manière disproportionnée‘”…
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Other Environment News
BBC: Arctic sea ice melt 'even faster'
By Richard Black
Environment correspondent, BBC News website
Arctic sea ice is melting even faster than last year, despite a cold winter.
Data from the US National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) shows that the year began with ice covering a larger area than at the beginning of 2007.
But now it is down to levels seen last June, at the beginning of a summer that broke records for sea ice loss.
Scientists on the project say that much of the ice is so thin that it melts easily, and the Arctic may be ice-free in summer within five to 10 years.
"We had a bit more ice in the winter, although we were still way below the long-term average," said Julienne Stroeve from NSIDC in Boulder, Colorado.
"So we had a partial recovery; but the real issue is that most of the pack ice has become really thin, and if we have a regular summer now, it can just melt away," she told BBC News.
In March, Nasa reported that the area covered by sea ice was slightly larger than in 2007, but much of it consisted of thin floes that had formed during the previous winter. These are much less robust than thicker, less saline floes that have already survived for several years.
After a colder winter, ice has been melting even faster than last year
A few years ago, scientists were predicting ice-free Arctic summers by about 2080. Then computer models started projecting earlier dates, around 2030 to 2050.
Then came the 2007 summer that saw Arctic sea ice shrink to the smallest extent ever recorded, down to 4.2 million sq km from 7.8 million sq km in 1980.
By the end of last year, one research group was forecasting ice-free summers by 2013.
"I think we're going to beat last year's record melt, though I'd love to be wrong," said Dr Stroeve.
"If we do, then I don't think 2013 is far off anymore. If what we think is going to happen does happen, then it'll be within a decade anyway."
Rising tide
Countries surrounding the Arctic are eyeing the economic opportunities that melting ice might bring.
Canada and Russia are exploring soverignity claims over tracts of Arctic seafloor, while just this week President Bush has urged more oil exploration in US waters - which could point the way to exploitation of reserves off the Alaskan coast.
But from a climate point of view, the melt could bring global impacts accelerating the rate of warming and of sea level rise.
"This is a positive feedback process," commented Dr Ian Willis, from the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge.
"Sea ice has a higher albedo (reflectivity) than ocean water; so as the ice melts, the water absorbs more of the Sun's energy and warms up more, and that in turn warms the atmosphere more - including the atmosphere over the Greenland ice sheet."
Greenland is already losing ice to the oceans, contributing to the gradual rise in sea levels. The ice cap holds enough water to lift sea levels globally by about 7m (22ft) if it all melted.
Natural climatic cycles such as the Arctic Oscillation play a role in year-to-year variations in ice cover. But Julienne Stroeve believes the sea ice is now so thin that there is little chance of the melting trend turning round.
"If the ice were as thin as it was in the 1970s, last year's conditions would have brought a dip in cover, but nothing exceptional.
"But now it's so thin that you would have to have an exceptional sequence of cold winters and cold summers in order for it to rebuild."
Richard.Black-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk
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AFP: Oceans warm more quickly than suspected: study
by Marlowe Hood Wed Jun 18, 1:17 PM ET
PARIS (AFP) - The world's oceans have warmed 50 percent faster over the last 40 years than previously thought due to climate change, Australian and US climate researchers reported Wednesday.
Higher ocean temperatures expand the volume of water, contributing to a rise in sea levels that is submerging small island nations and threatening to wreak havoc in low-lying, densely-populated delta regions around the globe.
The study, published in the British journal Nature, adds to a growing scientific chorus of warnings about the pace and consequences rising oceans.
It also serves as a corrective to a massive report issued last year by the Nobel-winning UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), according to the authors.
Rising sea levels are driven by two things: the thermal expansion of sea water, and additional water from melting sources of ice. Both processes are caused by global warming.
The ice sheet that sits atop Greenland, for example, contains enough water to raise world ocean levels by seven metres (23 feet), which would bury sea-level cities from Dhaka to Shanghai.
Trying to figure out how much each of these factors contributes to rising sea levels is critically important to understanding climate change, and forecasting future temperature rises, scientists say.
But up to now, there has been a perplexing gap between the projections of computer-based climate models, and the observations of scientists gathering data from the oceans.
"The numbers didn't add up," said Peter Geckler, a co-author of the study and a researcher at the Program for Climate Model Diagnosis and Intercomparison at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in California.
"When previous investigators tried to add up all the estimated contributions to sea level rise" -- thermal expansion, melting glaciers, ice caps and ice sheets, along with changes in terrestrial storage -- "they did not match with the independently estimated total sea level rise," he told AFP.
The new study, led by Catia Domingues of the Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research, is the first to reconcile the models with observed data.
Using new techniques to assess ocean temperatures to a depth of 700 metres (2,300 feet) from 1961 to 2003, it shows that thermal warming contributed to a 0.53 millimetre-per-year rise in sea levels rather than the 0.32 mm rise reported by the IPCC.
"Our results are important for the climate modelling community because they boost confidence in the climate models used for projections of global sea-level rise resulting for the accumulation of heat in the oceans," Domingues said in a statement.
"The projections will in turn assist in planning to minimize impacts, and in developing adaptation strategies," she added.
The IPCC report was criticised for including only the impact of thermal expansion in its projections of sea level rises over the next century, despite recent studies showing that melting ice is a significant -- and growing -- factor.
The planet's oceans store more than 90 percent of the heat in the Earth's climate system and act as a temporary buffer against the effects of climate change.
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AFP: US should take on lead role in climate change battle: envoy
Wed Jun 18, 2:43 PM ET
LONDON (AFP) - The United States must take on a leading role in combating global warming, the head of the country's delegation to climate change talks said in an interview published Wednesday.
"The US should take on a greater role (in cutting greenhouse gas emissions) that is commensurate with our economic standing," Paula Dobriansky told the Financial Times.
The American under-secretary of state for democracy and global affairs said that while the United States would agree to cut its emissions, the amount by which it would do so had yet "to be sorted through".
She acknowledged that "as a developed economy, we should be taking on a greater role here."
Dobriansky added, however, that rapidly-growing developing countries would have to agree to legally-binding emissions cuts, and warned that the poorest countries also had a role to play.
"You have to look at national characteristics and circumstances, to look at where these countries are in terms of their economies, where they are in terms of their overall capacity," she told the business daily.
"We have been strong proponents at looking at varied national characteristics and taking this into account in determining what role and responsibility countries would be taking.
"Even those that have limited capacity (have) something to contribute."
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Reuters: Beijing hires foreign experts for pollution watch
Thu Jun 19, 2008 1:56am EDT
By Nick Mulvenney
BEIJING (Reuters) - Beijing has hired a panel of foreign environmental experts to lend credibility to its pollution monitoring and forecasts during the August 8-24 Olympics, state media reported on Thursday.
Fifty days before the opening ceremony, Beijing was again shrouded in smog on Thursday in a graphic reminder of how much remains to be done to clear the city's skies for the Olympics and September's Paralympics.
This is the first time foreigners have joined the Chinese capital's fight to improve air quality, the poor state of which was in part behind Australia's decision earlier this week to tell its track and field athletes to skip the opening ceremony.
"This panel will ensure the air quality monitoring and forecasts are publicized and authoritative because we have both domestic and foreign experts," Du Shaozhong, vice director of the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau, told Xinhua news agency.
Environmental experts have in the past cast doubts on the Beijing's claims of improvement in air quality, particularly the much-vaunted "blue sky days" tally by which the authorities measure the improvement.
The 12-person panel, including scientists from Hong Kong, the United States and Italy, will monitor and forecast air quality in Beijing during the Olympics and will also evaluate actions already taken to improve air quality, Xinhua reported.
The panel will be headed by Tang Xiaoyan of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and he promised they would be producing forecasts up to a week ahead.
"If the forecast show a bad situation, we will take strict actions to control pollution like limiting vehicles on the road and limiting vehicles from outside coming into Beijing," he said.
Beijing has spent 140 billion yuan ($20.34 billion) on environmental improvements over the last decade, shutting down heavy polluting factories, switching tens of thousands of homes from oil to gas heating and imposing higher emission standards on vehicles.
The problem persists, however, particularly when there is no wind as was the case on Thursday.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has said it might reschedule endurance events such as the marathon to prevent health risks to athletes competing for more than an hour.
Beijing will also close more factories and force 19 heavy polluters to reduce emissions by 30 percent for two months from July 20. Six surrounding provinces also have contingency plans.
Other Games-time measures in Beijing include a ban on construction and cars being barred from the roads on alternate days according to whether their license plates end in odd or even numbers.
"I will stay in Beijing for the whole of August to monitor the air quality," Ivo Allegrini, research director at Italy's Institute for Atmospheric Pollution, told Xinhua.
"My work group from Italy will help them to use our equipment to survey the air quality and report to environmental department of Beijing."
(Editing by Alex Richardson)
(For more stories visit our multimedia website "Road to Beijing" here ; and see our blog at blogs.reuters.com/china )
© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved
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AFP: German cabinet agrees a raft of energy-saving laws
Wed Jun 18, 2:51 PM ET
BERLIN (AFP) - The German cabinet on Wednesday adopted new measures aimed at cutting the country's carbon dioxide emissions by more than a third by 2020, the environment ministry said.
The package includes laws aimed at lowering electricity consumption, in particular in private homes, and proposes calculating tolls for vehicles according to their emission levels, the ministry said in a statement.
It stipulates that from 2009, all new and renovated buildings will have to comply with stricter energy efficiency standards and provides for the introduction of easy-to-use private electricity meters.
The package also includes a new law that links the way heating costs are calculated more closely to individual household consumption, rather than the average figure for a particular apartment block.
"Our goal is to move away from oil and gas to embrace renewable energy and energy efficiency," Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel said.
The cabinet also approved a law that provides for the extension of electricity networks to make use of energy from offshore windfarms -- of which Germany's first is expected to go into operation in the Baltic Sea next year.
The German lower house of parliament on June 6 adopted a first chapter of climate protection laws that aims to increase the amount of power generated by renewable energy sources like wind or solar power to 30 percent from the current 14 percent by 2020.
It also seeks to double the amount of electricity generated by combined heat and power (CHP) or cogeneration, which uses excess heat from power stations, to 25 percent in the next 12 years.
The government's overall goal with the new laws is to reduce Germany's carbon dioxide emission levels by 40 percent by 2020 compared to 1990 levels -- double the minimum percentage cut agreed by the 27 European Union member states last year.
Gabriel said the two sets of climate protection laws will bring about a carbon emissions reduction of "about 35 percent".
"The remaining five percent we will be achieved through other means," he said.
Meanwhile, a council of government experts on the environment said in a report released Wednesday that Chancellor Angela Merkel's left-right coalition has not done enough to promote climate protection in agriculture.
And they expressed reservations about plans to build about 20 new coal-fired power plants to prepare for the planned closure of the country's nuclear power plants by 2020.
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AFP: Green car bonus to push French budget into red: report
2 hours, 52 minutes ago
PARIS (AFP) - An initiative which rewards buyers of environmentally friendly cars and penalises those who buy high pollution vehicles could cost the French government 200 million euros, the business daily Les Echos reported Thursday.
France introduced the bonus-malus (bonus-penalty) system this year, giving a tax break for the purchase of new vehicles which emit less than 130 grammes of carbon dioxide per/kilometre, and imposing an additional tax on vehicles that emit more than 160 grammes.
The scheme was supposed to be revenue neutral, with the penalties financing the bonuses, but the daily said the French finance ministry now estimates the scheme could end up costing the state 200 million euros (310 million dollars).
"The car bonus-malus is a victim of its own success," wrote Les Echos.
"The additional cost to the state complicates the extension of the scheme to other products," it warned.
Ecology Minister Jean-Luis Borloo told the newspaper earlier in the month he wanted to expand the scheme next year to a couple dozen other types of products in order to encourage consumers to favour environmentally-friendly goods.
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Reuters: Biotech crops seen helping to feed hungry world
Thu Jun 19, 2008 12:26am EDT
By Carey Gillam
SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - Biotechnology in agricultural will be key to feeding a growing world population and overcoming climate challenges like crop-killing droughts, according to a group of leading industry players.
"It is critical we keep moving forward," said Thomas West, a director of biotechnology affairs at DuPont, interviewed on the sidelines of a biotechnology conference in San Diego. "We have to yield and produce our way out of this."
DuPont believes it can increase corn and soybean yields by 40 percent over the next decade. Corn seeds that now average about 150 bushels per acre could be at well over 200 bushels an acre, for example, DuPont officials said.
Crop shortages this year have sparked riots in some countries and steep price hikes in markets around the globe, and questions about how to address those issues were the subject of several meetings at the BIO International Convention being held this week.
Despite persistent reluctance in many nations and from some consumer and environmental groups, genetically modified crops, -- and the fortunes of the companies that make them -- have been on the rise. Growing food and biofuel demands have been helping push growth.
By using conventional and biotech genetic modification, crops can be made to yield more in optimum as well as harsh weather conditions, can be made healthier, and can be developed in ways that create more energy for use in ethanol production, according to the biotech proponents.
"You can bring a number to tools to bear with biotechnology to solve problems," said Syngenta seeds executive industry relations head director Jack Bernens. "As food prices increase ... it certainly brings a more practical perspective to the debate."
Syngenta is focusing on drought-resistant corn that it hopes to bring to market as early as 2014, as well as other traits to increase yields and protect plants from insect damage. Disease-resistant biotech wheat is also being developed.
Syngenta and other industry players are also developing biotech crops that need less fertilizer, and corn that more efficiently can be turned into ethanol.
Bayer CropScience, a unit of Germany's Bayer AG, has ongoing field trials with biotech canola that performs well even in drought conditions, said Bayer crop productivity group leader Michael Metzlaff.
Water scarcity is a problem seen doubling in severity over the next three decades even as the world population explodes, and will only be exacerbated by global warming climate change, he said.
With some 9 billion people expected to populate the planet by 2040 and 85 percent of the population seen in lesser developed countries, decreased land for agriculture and multiple demands on water use will come hand in hand with an expected doubling in food demand, said David Dennis CEO of Kingston, Ontario-based Performance Plants.
Performance Plants is working with the Africa Harvest Biotech Foundation International to develop and field test drought-tolerant white maize.
"The biggest problem we have in crops is environmental stresses and the biggest stress is drought," said Dennis.
Biotech crop opponents rebuke the idea that biotechnology is the answer, and say industry leaders continue to focus much of their efforts on plants that tolerate more chemicals even as they push up seed prices and make more farmers reliant on patented seed products that must be repurchased year after year.
"I know they love to talk about drought tolerance but that is not what they are really focusing on," said Bill Freese, science policy analyst at the Washington-based Center for Food Safety.
Freese said conventional breeding had the ability to address climate change and food needs, but funding cuts to public-sector crop breeders had reduced the ability of non-biotech groups to advance crop improvements.
"The facts on the ground clearly show that biotech companies have developed mainly chemical-dependent GM crops that have increased pesticide use, reduced yields and have nothing to do with feeding the world," Freese said. "The world cannot wait for GM crops when so many existing solutions are being neglected."
(Editing by Christian Wiessner)
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ROA MEDIA UPDATE
THE ENVIRONMENT IN THE NEWS
19 June 2008
UN In The News
Nigeria: 300 participants for geoparks conference
PANA (Lagos): The third international conference on geoparks will be held in Osnabrück, Germany, 22-26 June 2008, according to a UNESCO statement obtained here Wednesday. More than 300 participants from 35 countries are expected at the meeting, which aims to highlight the planet's geological riches and the need to preserve them. Topics to be discussed during the conference include How to spark people's interest in geology, How to develop tourism in the geoparks and what links geoparks and climate change. The conference is being organised as part of the International Year of Planet Earth in the very heart of the Terra Vita site, a member of the Global Network of National Geoparks since 2004. Created under UNESCO's auspices, the Global Network of National Geoparks was founded in 2004. It currently includes 56 sites in 17 countries. To earn the geopark label, an area must possess a significant geological heritage, a coherent management structure and an economic development strategy, based notably on sustainable tourism. Each application is examined by a team of experts mandated by UNESCO, which visits the site to ensure criteria for inclusion are met. The network brings together such diverse places as the Island of Langkawi (Malaysia), with the country's oldest rock formation; the petrified forest of Lesvos Island (Greece); and Vulkaneifel (Germany), with its remarkable volcanic craters. Latest sites to join the network are Zigong and Longhushan in China and Adamello-Brenta in Italy.
Nigeria: 300 participants à la Conférence sur les géoparcs
PANA (Lagos): Plus de 300 participants de 35 pays sont attendus à la troisième conférence internationale sur les géoparcs prévue à Osnabrück, en Allemagne du 22 au 26 juin 2008, selon un communiqué de l'Organisation des Nations unies pour la science et la culture (UNESCO) parvenu mercredi à la PANA à Lagos. L'objectif de la Conférence est d'attirer l'attention sur les richesses géologiques de la planète et sur la nécessité de susciter l'intérêt du public pour la géologie et de développer le tourisme dans les géoparcs pour les préserver. Un des sujets examinés sera la relation entre les géoparcs et le changement climatique. Cette conférence est organisée dans le cadre de l'Année internationale de la Planète Terre sur le site de Terra Vita, un membre du Réseau mondial des géoparcs nationaux depuis 2004. Créé sous les auspices de l'UNESCO, le Réseau mondial des géoparcs nationaux a été fondé en 2004. Il compte actuellement 56 sites répartis dans 17 pays. Pour obtenir le label géoparc, un site doit posséder un patrimoine géologique conséquent, être doté d'une structure de gestion cohérente et d'une stratégie de développement économique, basées principalement sur un tourisme durable. Chaque demande est examinée par une équipe d'experts mandatée par l'UNESCO, qui visite le site pour s'assurer qu'il remplit les critères d'adhésion. Le réseau rassemble des sites aussi divers que l'île de Langkawi (Malaisie), qui présente la plus vieille formation rocheuse du pays; la forêt pétrifiée de l'île de Lesvos (Grèce); et le site de Vulkaneifel (Allemagne) remarquable pour ses cratères volcaniques. Les derniers sites inscrits au réseau sont ceux de Zigong et de Longhushan en Chine et d'Adamello-Brenta en Italie.
General Environment News
Tunisie : La BAD lance un Fonds pour la protection du Bassin du Congo
PANA (Tunis): Le Groupe de la Banque africaine de développement (BAD) a lancé, mardi à Londres en Grande Bretagne, un Fonds fiduciaire du Bassin du Congo (FFBC) de 100 millions de dollars fourni par le gouvernement britannique. Dix (10) Etats membres de la Commission des forêts d'Afrique centrale (COMIFAC) notamment le Burundi, le Cameroun, le Tchad, la République Centrafricaine, le Congo, la République Démocratique du Congo, la Guinée Equatoriale, le Gabon, Sao Tomé-et-Principe, le Rwanda ainsi que le Royaume-Uni sont partenaires du FFBC. Le Fonds abrité par la BAD comme un Fonds spécial multi-donateurs auquel d'autres donateurs potentiels pourraient contribuer, sera utilisé sur une période de dix ans, période couverte par la convention jusqu'en 2018, pour financer le plan d'action de la COMIFAC dans dix secteurs stratégiques visant à la conservation de la forêt tropicale du bassin du Congo. La forêt tropicale du bassin du Congo est la deuxième plus grande étendue de forêts au monde, ce qui représente 26 pour cent de la forêt tropicale humide mondiale. Elle couvre une superficie totale de 2,1 millions de kilomètres carrés, avec une population de plus de 50 millions de personnes, 10.000 espèces de plantes, 1000 espèces d'oiseaux et 400 espèces de mammifères. La forêt sert donc non seulement de ressource économique pour les onze pays, mais aussi comme écosystème vital pour le monde entier avec son rôle dans la régulation de l'oxygène atmosphérique et du carbone, ce qui amène certains écologistes à la décrire comme "le deuxième poumon" après le bassin de l'Amazonie. L'objectif global des forêts du Bassin du Congo est d'améliorer la sécurité alimentaire et la subsistance de la population, réduire la pauvreté et relever les défis liés au changement climatique en réduisant le taux de déforestation dans le Bassin du Congo. La forêt tropicale du Bassin du Congo est actuellement de plus en plus menacée en raison de l'exploitation illégale des forêts, l'agriculture itinérante, l'accroissement de la population, ainsi que les industries pétrolières et minières. Le conseil d'administration de la BAD a déjà examiné les documents relatifs à l'hébergement du fonds par le Groupe de la Banque et ceux-ci devraient être transmis au Conseil des gouverneurs pour approbation finale. Le Fonds sera situé dans le département de l'Agriculture et de l'Agro-industrie (Osan) et son directeur, dont le personnel technique sera basé dans les bureaux de la BAD au Cameroun et en République démocratique du Congo (RDC), supervisera les opérations du secrétariat du fonds. Au fil des années, le Groupe de la Banque a accumulé une vaste expérience dans la gestion des fonds tels que la Facilité africaine de l'eau (FAE), le mécanisme africain du financement des engrais, Le Fonds de préparation des projets d'infrastructures du Nouveau partenariat économique pour le développement de l'Afrique (NEPAD) ainsi que le Fonds pour l'environnement mondial (FEM).
Uganda: Famine Threat Looms
New Vision (Kampala): Famine is likely to strike several parts of the country, following the outbreak of crop diseases in several staple foods. Participants at a seminar on the causes of the food and energy crisis heard that bananas, cassava, sweet potatoes, millet and other key staple foods have all been invaded by diseases. Dr.Yona Baguma, a senior research officer with the National Crop Resources Research Institute in Namulonge said: “Every banana you buy has survived an ambush of pests and parasites. From the roots, attacked by nematode worms, to the leaves, devastated by fungal diseases, banana plants are vulnerable to many diseases." http://allafrica.com/stories/200806180057.html
Ghana: EPA Boss Calls for New Guidelines
Ghanaian Chronicle (Accra): The Executive Director of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Mr. J.A Allotey has observed that the consumption of the Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) had been on the steady rise since its introduction into the country. The increase in demand, according to him, had attracted investments into the sector, resulting in the proliferation of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) Filling plants, particularly in the rural centres. He added, "this situation poses a serious threat to lives and properties due to the volatile nature of LPG and the potential to cause fire outbreaks. The case of the Kumasi explosion is still fresh in our minds." Speaking at a two-day workshop organized jointly by the EPA and the National Petroleum Authority, he advised that the situation called for the introduction of new guidelines and effective collaboration between operators and regulators to ensure safe and sound operations in the sector. He said that the EPA is mandated under Act 490, 1994 to ensure compliance with the requirements of the Environmental Assessment Regulations, 1999, LI 1652 and laid down EPA procedures. http://allafrica.com/stories/200806180732.html
Nigeria: Country Worst Hit By Food Crisis - Yar'Adua
Leadership (Abuja): President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua has stated that Nigeria is among the worst hit by the shortage of food occasioned by land degradation and climate change. The president made the remarks yesterday while declaring this year's National Desertification Summit in commemoration of the World Desertification Day held at the Multi-purpose Hall, Bauchi. He said the summit is quite appropriate at this moment given the current global food crisis, saying the administration will not fold its arms in the face of the rise in food prices being experienced in the country. "We have ensured increase in budgetary provisions in the 2008 fiscal year with the aim of improving not only the agricultural production but also other sectors of the seven-point agenda in the country. Let me say that climate change is the major contributing factor to desertification, therefore tree planting became the only solution and contributing factor to desertification not only in the country but the world over," he said. He called on every Nigerian to at least plant a tree to cool the earth, considering that the Federal Government has put measures, especially through the establishment of different agencies, to tackle specific environment problems. Yar'Adua, who was represented by the Minister of Environment, Housing and Urban development, Arc. Halima Tayo Alao, applauded the members of the National Assembly for encouraging the establishment of various agencies in the country that could tackle issues relating to land degradation in the country. He then commended the Bauchi State government for hosting this year's submit. http://allafrica.com/stories/200806180377.html
Botswana: Vilart Energy to Take Solar Power to the Cattlepost
Mmegi/The Reporter (Gaborone): Botswana companies are taking calls by Government to find alternative sources of energy to supplement dwindling supplies seriously following downscaling by Eskom of South Africa. As the search intensifies, several energy companies are harnessing more sustainable and environment-friendly sources like the sun. Vilart Energy is one such Botswana company that has been successful in that regard. Vilart Energy has been hailed for embracing the philosophy of green energy in powering streetlights with solar energy. It is considering extending the technology to boreholes. Solar power is already in wide use in a number of countries around the world, among them Israel and Spain. The co-directors of Vilart Energy, Mesh Moeti and Modirwa Kekwaletswe, last week held a seminar for civic leaders and heads of parastatals, among them council chairmen, mayors, council secretaries and CEOs of public companies to enlighten them on solar technology at the National Museum and Art Gallery in Gaborone. http://allafrica.com/stories/200806181195.html
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ROAP MEDIA UPDATE
THE ENVIRONMENT IN THE NEWS
Thursday, 19 June, 2008
General environment news
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Bangladesh - Centre formulating action plan on climate change – Times of India
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China rushes to repair dams; 9,000 square miles flooded – China Post
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India - Floods leave 300,000 homeless in India's east – ABC News
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Japan - Panel offers 300 measures for handling global warming – Daily Yomiuri
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Lao - Nam theun dam reservoir set to be flooded – The Nation
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Thailand - Artificial reefs 'would slow down erosion' – The Nation
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