Climate change will reduce crop yields sooner than we thought
A study led by the University of Leeds has shown that global warming of only 2°C will be detrimental to crops in temperate and tropical regions, with reduced yields from the 2030s onwards.
Professor Andy Challinor, from the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Leeds and lead author of the study, said: "Our research shows that crop yields will be negatively affected by climate change much earlier than expected."
"Furthermore, the impact of climate change on crops will vary both from year-to-year and from place-to-place – with the variability becoming greater as the weather becomes increasingly erratic."
The study, published today by the journal Nature Climate Change, feeds directly into the Working Group II report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report, which is due to be published at the end of March 2014.
In the study, the researchers created a new data set by combining and comparing results from 1,700 published assessments of the response that climate change will have on the yields of rice, maize and wheat.
Relentless Global Warming 'Scientists' Continue Their Scams
It should be criminal to fund climate change denial
The importance of clearly communicating science to the public should not be underestimated. Accurately understanding our natural environment and sharing that information can be a matter of life or death. When it comes to global warming, much of the public remains in denial about a set of facts that the majority of scientists clearly agree on. With such high stakes, an organized campaign funding misinformation ought to be considered criminally negligent.
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The earthquake that rocked L'Aquila Italy in 2009 provides an interesting case study of botched communication. This natural disaster left more than 300 people dead and nearly 66,000 people homeless. In a strange turn of events six Italian scientists and a local defence minister were subsequently sentenced to six years in prison.
Oxford Brookes completes five Future Climate projects to develop new climate change strategies
Research: Women and children underrepresented in climate change
In communities where environmental degradation is apparent; health, education, livelihood and climate change are constant battles and third world countries continue to lack sustainability due to human disturbances that affect their natural resources.
A report by Mother Jones states that "women are more severely affected by climate change or natural disasters because of their social roles or because of discrimination or poverty."
Their research has pointed out that women are underrepresented in climate change, as they rarely have the opportunity to discuss and make decisions about adaptation. This involves human effort to limit our vulnerability to climate change and mitigation, which is known for projects or programs that impact historic or natural resources.
Climate change, urbanization damaging water reserves
BEIRUT: An acute decline in rainfall has sparked drought fears in Lebanon, with warnings of a "water emergency" and urgent calls for new solutions to combat scarcity and conserve water at home.
Though experts say this year's dry spell is likely a natural variation in weather, they warned that climate change is causing a retreat in the country's snow cover that replenishes its streams and could lead to a worsening water crisis in the coming years.
"The need is certain and drought will extend to desertification," said Akram Chehayeb, the agriculture minister, at a briefing with reporters last week. "The seasons this year are threatened with thirst and we must be in an emergency situation to face the acute shortage of water."
Chehayeb said the country had been "bled" of underground water and the majority of above-ground water is "wasted."
In sounding the alarm bells, Chehayeb, who served in the 1990s as environment minister, blamed the impact of climate change.
"Our water reality this year is in danger," he said. "Our hope is that the political climate changes ... so we can face the effects of climate change and desertification."
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)
CITES and the Illegal Trade in Wildlife
Posted by Karl Ammann of Wildlife photographer, author, and advocate on March 16, 2014
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) is an international agreement supported by 180 governments. Its aim is to ensure that international trade in wild animals and plants does not threaten the survival of endangered species.
But is it doing the job?
Renewable energy fund launched in Africa with USD 100 million initial investment
The African Development Bank (AfDB) and the African Biofuel and Renewable Energy Company (Lomé, Togo) have initiated a new fund to support solar and other renewable energy projects in Sub-Saharan Africa. The Africa Renewable Energy Fund (AREF, Nairobi, Kenya) has closed on an initial investment of USD 100 million.
AREF will target independent power producers from 5 to 50 MW in size, with a commitment of USD 10–30 million per project. The fund will have the capacity to source further funding from co-investors for larger projects.
"Over the past decade, the AfDB has established itself as a prime catalyst for renewable energy investment on the continent and is currently hosting the Africa Hub for the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4All) initiative," said AfDB Regional Director for the East Africa Resource Center Gabriel Negatu.
"As Africa's largest infrastructure finance partner, we understand the value of supporting both large-scale and small-scale projects as part of our strategy for Africa to promote inclusive and sustainable growth."
The Food-Water-Energy Nexus: Smarter Environmental
Who will benefit from investments in Africa's underused arable land resources?
Experts agree that Africa has the capacity to feed itself and become a major global exporter of food, on the basis of coherent and integrated policies that incorporate impacts of the food-water-energy nexus.
Enormous foreign investments are being made through agro-industries in Africa, yet few benefits seem to have percolated across those populations living on less than $2 a day. Transparency and a weak regulatory environment are key challenges without strategic choices and policies dealing with links among food, water and energy. This could potentially end up being another tragic case of resource exploitation, undermining aspirations of the African people.
Projected population and urbanization growth rates for the next 20 years, combined with increased per capita consumption due to an expanding African middle-class, are already affecting the continent dramatically. This in turn will impact global food, water and energy resources.
World's water needs spotlighted at upcoming event
Throughout the world, 783 million people do not have access to clean water. That's partly because 80 percent of the sewage in developing countries is discharged untreated into bodies of water, such as ponds and streams.
One result of that is that every 20 seconds a child dies because of poor sanitation. Access to sanitation and a safe water supply, plus good hygiene, could save 1.5 million children a year.
These are just some of the statistics that will be handed out on small cards to people who take part in Saturday's seventh annual "Walk for Water" at Rocky Mountain College. The free event is organized by Hope 2 One Life, a Billings faith-based nonprofit, in recognition of World Water Day 2014.
The goal of the event is to raise awareness and money for projects that improve access to clean water, especially in Africa.
Embracing agricultural biotechnology
Agriculture contributes over 25 percent of the Gross Domestic Product and employs above 70 percent of the labour force in most African countries' economies. This is according to the African Biosafety Network of Expertise, a science-based biosafety resource network for African regulators.
The African Biosafety Network of Expertise adds that most people in Africa use agriculture as their avenue to escape harsh realities of life. Surprisingly, less is being done to embrace agricultural biotechnology – a science and technology technique used to improve plants, animals and microorganisms and to fight poverty.
As a result, very few African countries have embraced agricultural biotechnology. In fact, only 10 countries are taking necessary steps. According to the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications, only South Africa grows genetically modified food crops while Burkina Faso and Sudan grow GM cotton. Seven other African countries - Cameroon, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria and Uganda – have conducted GM field trials.
This slow adoption of agricultural biotechnology is hampering development on the continent and in the process agricultural productivity is constrained.
Causes of the slow uptake of agricultural biotechnology are many and take in concerns on access and benefit sharing.
Dr Florence Wambugu, the Executive Director of A Harvest Biotechnology (AHBFI), an Africa-based foundation whose mission is to promote the use of biotechnology for sustainable agricultural development and to fight hunger and poverty in Africa, concurs: "African core issues on GM crops can be summarised as concerns on access and benefit sharing, that is opportunities to engage in GM – trade; possible trade barriers with Europe and limited availability of local expertise in biotechnology with poor infrastructures (local capacity development).
Millions lack despite local veggies
Johannesburg - While South Africa produced enough food for local and export, a lot of people still went to bed hungry despite the presence of indigenous highly nutritious leafy vegetables in almost every part of the country, Thabo Ramashala, the director of plant production at the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, said.
He said: "About 14 million people are still food insecure, with research indicating local households are becoming increasingly dependent on social grants, a situation which is not sustainable in the long term."
Ramashala was speaking at a recent Water Research Commission (WRC) symposium on water use and the nutritional value of indigenous and traditional South African underutilised food crops for improved livelihood.
WRC says while statistics indicate that the general intake of fresh fruit and vegetables by South Africans is below the daily requirements of the World Health Organisation (WHO), the country is rich in edible plants that could potentially address food insecurity in many poor households.
The WRC said the 400g daily per capita intake of fruit and vegetables was recommended by WHO to protect against communicable diseases.
Forestry Association sees political instability, insecurity as major challenge to sector
WorldStage Newsonline-- The Forestry Association of Nigeria (FAN) has identified the political instability and insecurity in the country as the challenges confronting the forestry sector.
The President of FAN, Prof Labode Popoola told journalists at the University of Ibadan (UI) Centre for Sustainable Development (CESDEV), Bodija, Ibadan, Ibadan that, in area where conflicts and insurgencies are being experience no meaningful management activities can take place, lamenting that forestry activities have been stalled in most of north-eastern Nigeria and much of the south-south zone as a result of insecurity and conflicts.
He explained that since 1960, with the transformation of the economy from agricultural to oil-based one, large areas of the constituted forests have been de-reserved for political reasons or for special projects, such as agricultural plantations, road constructions, development of new settlements among others.
He said, "Most states are still operating obsolete forest laws, not suitable for contemporary forest management. The National Assembly passed the first National Forest Policy for Policy for Nigeria in August, 2006, ever since there have been no resources to enable the line Ministry make copies available to stakeholders."
Popoola further attest to the fact that the forestry sector has suffered progressive neglect in the area of funding, stressing that most forestry projects supported by bilateral and other international grants failed as a result of total neglect by government in the country.
But rather than for government to invest in forestry, the don lamented that virtually all states have embarked on aggressive and sustainable revenue generation from the relics of the forests.
Scale up policies that work to eliminate hunger by 2025 - food expert
LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Hunger could be eliminated by 2025 if enough resources are committed and countries scale up policies proven to work, an international food policy organisation suggests in a new report.
"Based on the successful experiences of several developing countries, we see the clear potential for ending hunger and under-nutrition by 2025 if the necessary policies and investments are adopted," Shenggen Fan, director general of the International Food Policy Research Institute, wrote in the institute's 2013 Global Food Policy Report.
Hunger is a continuing concern in many parts of the world, particularly with food prices rising, population growth continuing and extreme weather associated with climate change affecting harvests. Still, the 2015 deadline for the United Nations' Millennium Development Goal of halving world hunger remains "within reach," according to the U.N. Millennium Development Goals Report 2013, even though one person in eight in the world remaining chronically undernourished, the report said.
Long-term success in combating hunger depends on three factors: committing adequate resources, following policy examples set by countries like Brazil and Thailand, and keeping the issue in the public eye, Fan told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in an interview.
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