24 March 2011 (Survival International) – Tribespeople in Sarawak, in the Malaysian part of Borneo, say the 30-year rule of Chief Minister Taib Mahmud has ‘raped’ their land, destroyed their rainforests and brought ‘hardship and suffering’. This Saturday, March 26, will mark Taib Mahmud’s 30th anniversary as head of the rainforest state. Malaysia’s longest-serving Chief […]
Contact: Fariss Samarrai, fls4f@virginia.edu28 March 2011 (University of Virginia) Russia’s boreal forest – the largest continuous expanse of forest in the world, found in the country’s cold northern regions – is undergoing an accelerating large-scale shift in vegetation types as a result of globally and regionally warming climate. That in turn is creating an even […]
By Mujeeb Ur Rehman, VOA NewsMarch 23, 2011Washington, D.C. – In Pakistan, rebuilding efforts are still underway from last year’s devastating floods that submerged one-fifth of the country and displaced some 20 million people. Mujeeb Ur Rehman, reporter for VOA’s Pashto-language Deewa radio service, recently traveled to northwest Pakistan to check on the status of […]
By Jason Clenfield, Bloomberg22 Mar 2011 One of the reactors in the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant may have been relying on flawed steel to hold the radiation in its core, according to an engineer who helped build its containment vessel four decades ago. Mitsuhiko Tanaka says he helped conceal a manufacturing defect in the $250 […]
By Thin Lei Win; editing by Katie Nguyen24 Mar 2011 BANGKOK (AlertNet) – Pakistan’s reconstruction following the worst floods in recorded history will take a minimum of three to five years, the head of the country’s disaster management body said, adding that more money should have been poured into maintaining dikes and dams. Massive flooding […]
Global capture fisheries production in 2008 was about 90 million tonnes, with an estimated first-sale value of US$93.9 billion, comprising about 80 million tonnes from marine waters and a record 10 million tonnes from inland waters. World capture fisheries production has been relatively stable in the past decade, with the exception of marked fluctuations driven […]
Baghdad (AFP) March 21, 2011 – Fifty percent of water resources are wasted in Iraq, where six million people have no access to clean water, the United Nations said on Monday, the eve of World Water Day. “Iraq faces difficulties in meeting the target of 91 percent of households using a safe drinking water supply […]
By ROBERT BURNS21 March 2011 OVERTON — Escalating unrest in the Middle East is not only going to continue to drive gasoline and diesel fuel prices up to 2008 levels, but there’s a good chance it will do the same to the costs of fertilizing pastures, according to a Texas AgriLife Research expert. Even if […]
18 March 2011 (AP) – Wheat prices rose Friday after Russia cut its forecast for this year’s harvest, renewing concerns that global supplies will tighten. Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov said the forecast called for 84 million to 85 million tons of wheat to be harvested this year, compared to an earlier estimate of 85 […]
By TaminoMarch 21, 2011 … The 2010-2011 rise in food prices was triggered by a rise in cereals prices. It started in July of 2010, and still hasn’t relented. Sure, there are other factors too — and as usually happens, an increase in cereals prices can cause a “ripple effect,” leading to increased prices in […]
