Tsavo National Park, Kenya (AFP) Feb 13, 2011 – A slowdown in the increase of Kenya’s elephant numbers is raising fears among conservationists that hard-fought gains in saving the animals may be reversed amid growing demand for ivory. An aerial census conducted in the east African country’s largest elephant sanctuary last week showed a drop […]
By Laurie Goering11 Feb 2011 15:47 LONDON (AlertNet) – Increasing drought and aridity around the world, linked to climate change and land degradation, are becoming a major threat to food security and poverty reduction efforts, according to the United Nations’ anti-desertification chief. Stepping up investment in restoring degraded land and curbing desertification could work toward […]
ScienceDaily (Feb. 11, 2011) — Increasing numbers of domestic livestock and more resource-intensive production methods are encouraging animal epidemics around the world, a problem that is particularly acute in developing countries, where livestock diseases present a growing threat to the food security of already vulnerable populations, according to new assessments reported February 10 at the […]
By Bryan Walsh February 10, 2011 It’s not the heat that might get us with climate change—it’s the humidity, so to speak. The risk of sea level rise due to melting land ice is one of the most recognized—if controversial and hard to predict—threats posed by global warming. Other potential impacts from global warming include […]
VIENNA, Feb 10 (IPS) , 2011 (IPS) – Pakistan is still reeling from flooding that caused one of the world’s costliest natural disasters in 2010, with millions of people lacking shelter, infrastructure in ruins and donations falling short of appeals. But worse may come. The United Nations’ disaster coordination agency announced on Jan. 24 that […]
By Dr John Church, CSIRO Fellow at the Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research08 February 2011 Today there are more than 140 million people and a trillion dollars in infrastructure in the first one metre above high tide level around the world. Coastal areas (people, infrastructure and the environment) are already affected by extreme […]
By Evan Abramson, Yale Environment 360February 8, 2011 For thousands of years, nomadic herdsmen have roamed the harsh, semi-arid lowlands that stretch across 80 percent of Kenya and 60 percent of Ethiopia. Descendants of the oldest tribal societies in the world, they survive thanks to the animals they raise and the crops they grow, their […]
By Staff WritersFeb 9, 2011 Beijing (AFP) – China called Wednesday for higher rice output to offset damage to its wheat crop in the drought-stricken north and pledged $1 billion in spending to battle a problem the UN warned could be “very serious”. The drought affecting large swathes of northern China is the worst in […]
By JEFF RUBIN, Globe and Mail BlogPosted on Wednesday, February 9, 2011 6:21AM EST It’s more than coincidence the Arab world is convulsing with social unrest just as the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization’s widely watched price index recently soared past the previous food price peak set in the summer of 2008. After all, […]
Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Feb 08, 2011 – Pharmaceuticals, illicit drugs, shampoo, toothpaste, pesticides, chemical run-off from highways and many other pollutants infiltrate the giant aquifer under Mexico’s “Riviera Maya,” research shows. The wastes contaminate a vast labyrinth of water-filled caves under the popular tourist destination on the Yucatan Peninsula. The polluted water flows through the […]
