Monthly Archives: April 2010

Brazil’s PAC 2 spells environmental disaster

Posted on by
Reply

From Alexandra De Sá Pereira Meciel Teixeira at International Rivers

The Brazilian government is planning the second phase of its PAC or Growth Acceleration Program. While Belo Monte Dam is the jewel of PAC 1, PAC 2 includes the construction of over 50 hydroelectric plants in Brazil over the next 4 years, spelling disaster for Brazil’s rivers.

The Growth Acceleration Program (PAC) is an investment plan launched by the Brazilian government in 2007 whose main goal is to promote large-scale infrastructure projects throughout the country for advancing economic development. The program is essentially a series of public works projects, which include many massive dams in the Amazon. The initiative was expected to promote investments of US$288.9 billion from 2007 to 2010 in five main areas: housing, sanitation, energy, transport and water resources. This was expected to increase Brazil’s GDP by 5% during the four-year period.

Belo Monte dam is the biggest and most symbolic project in PAC. However, hydroelectric projects are being developed in more than 10 river basins, including 7 of the main Amazon river tributaries: Tapajós, Araguaia, Jari, Trombetas, Branco, Madeira and Juruema. Besides the highly destructive “Belo Monstro” Dam, PAC includes other controversial dams such as Jirau and Santo Antônio on the Madeira River.

Read article…


Visit Alexandra De Sá Pereira Meciel Teixeira’s blog on International Rivers

Did asteroids bring water to Earth?

Posted on by
Reply

By Pete Spotts for The Christian Science Monitor

Water ice discovered on the surface of an asteroid orbiting the sun between Jupiter and Mars lends credibility to the theory that asteroids, not comets, brought water to Earth.

It may be time to rename asteroid 24 Themis. Perhaps 24 Thermos might be in order.

Two teams of astronomers have independently detected water ice and organic compounds on 24 Themis, a discovery that could add weight to the notion that asteroids brought water to Earth’s surface.

Solar-system researchers had already amassed strong clues that carbon-rich asteroids such as 24 Themis contained some water and organics. But in the past, the water has been locked up in mineral form on these objects. This discovery, published in the latest issue of the journal Nature, marks the first time scientists have detected either on the surface of an asteroid.

Why the connection to water on Earth? The collision that resulted in the formation of the moon 4.5 billion years ago would have heated Earth and vaporized any water the young planet had gathered. Comets had been a leading candidate as sources of replacement water. But the forms of hydrogen in water molecules bound in asteroids are a closer match to those found in seawater than are those found in water comets carry.

24 Themis, discovered in 1853, is 198 kilometers (123 miles) in diameter and orbits the sun as part of the solar system’s asteroid belt, sandwiched between the orbits of Jupiter and Mars.

The discovery of water ice on the surface of 24 Themis is unexpected, says Richard Binzel, a planetary scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass.

Typically, ice on the surface of an object such as 24 Themis would quickly vaporize and vanish, he says. “Seeing freshly exposed ice on the surface, now that’s a surprise. It has to be replenished from below, somehow.”

Read article…

Visit The Christian Science Monitor

'80 million' attended India's Ganges festival

Posted on by
Reply

AFP

NEW DELHI — About 80 million people bathed in the river Ganges in northern India during the Kumbh Mela festival that lasted 104 days, organisers said on Wednesday as the event drew to a close.

The Kumbh Mela, which is billed as the largest festival on Earth, attracts Hindus from across the country to the sacred water that they believe washes away their sins and frees them from the cycle of life and rebirth.

The Ganges is especially auspicious during the Kumbh Mela, which is held every three years and rotates among four Indian cities.
“Our confirmed total is 80 million bathers along the 15-kilometre (nine-mile) stretch of the river,” Ashok Sharma, the Mela’s senior press official, told AFP from Haridwar, this year’s venue.

“The numbers were even bigger than we expected, but the event generally passed off safely due to excellent organisation.”

Read article…on Google news

Visit AFP

Water-related conflicts set to escalate

Posted on by
Reply

The Academy of Finland

Population growth, urbanisation, increasing pollution, soil erosion and climate variations are all reflected in the management and adequacy of the world’s waters. The situation is particularly difficult in many developing countries, where there are growing concerns over escalating water crises and even outright water conflicts between countries and regions.

“The current rate of population growth and urbanisation are already impacting food production. We need to improve the efficiency of agricultural output, as it’s unlikely that the acreage under cultivation can be much increased. Improved efficiency requires the efficient use of water resources,” says Professor Olli Varis from the Water and Development Research Group at Aalto University. The Group’s main research interests include integrated approaches to the management and planning of water resources as well as international water issues.

Professor Varis points out that the utility of existing water resources is adversely affected by increasing industrial pollution and the breakdown of natural material circulation. The utilisation of water resources, and groundwater in particular, already exceeds the renewal capacity. “Up to 60–90 per cent of the world’s population live in countries that suffer from water shortages, and that figure will rise sharply in the future.”

Water for energy production

Water-related conflicts are particularly clearly visible in the Mekong River Basin in Southeast Asia. At an estimated length of almost 5,000 kilometres, the Mekong is one of the world’s largest free-flowing river systems. However, China, Laos and other countries in the region are now driving to harness these water resources, particularly for hydropower production. The Academy of Finland has contributed to finance the studies undertaken by the Water and Development Research Group on the water use situation in the Mekong River Basin.

Plans are in place to develop over 100 hydroelectric power plants along the Mekong and its tributaries. The dams would bring the riparian countries much needed income, but at the same time jeopardize many traditional water-related livelihoods. One particular concern is the loss of local fish stocks, which are a major source of income and food for millions of people, many of whom live below the poverty line.

“The economic value of fisheries in the Mekong is roughly the same as that of hydroelectric power generation. The annual value of the fish catch is estimated at up to three billion US dollars,” says Marko Keskinen, whose recent doctoral thesis deals with the management of the Mekong River’s water resources. “The current plans tie in with wider issues about development and power relations. Centralised dam projects will fundamentally change the distribution of benefits derived from the river.”

According to Keskinen the development of water resources has evolved into a highly complex political issue both within and between states, with clashing interests over the different uses of water. “At the same time, water management has become increasingly integrated, which as such is a positive trend. However, the reality out in the field is extremely complex, and measures aimed at integrated water management rarely achieve their expected outcomes.”

“Many integrated approaches neglect to take into account broader philosophical and conceptual dimensions. As water management involves a number of interacting actors, it’s also always about political and personal processes. For this reason, it is also important to look at how different groups cooperate and interact, both with each other and internally.”

More information:

Professor Olli Varis, Water and Development Research Group, Aalto University, tel. +358 (0)9 4702 3844, olli.varis(at)tkk.fi
Researcher Marko Keskinen, Water and Development Research Group, Aalto University, tel. +358 (0)9 4702 3833, +358 (0)50 382 4626, keskinen(at)iki.fi

Water & Development Research Group
water.tkk.fi/global

Academy of Finland Communications
Riitta Tirronen
Communications Manager
tel. +358 9 7748 8369, +358 40 828 1724
riitta.tirronen(at)aka.fi

Source

Despite promises, world governments failing to save biodiversity

Posted on by
Reply

Jeremy Hance for MongoBay.com

In 2002 world leaders committed to reducing the global rate of biodiversity loss within eight years time: 2010. While many have noted that world governments have largely failed on their promises, a new study in Science looks at the situation empirically and agrees that their has been no significant reduction in biodiversity loss and, at the same time, pressures on the world’s species have risen, not fallen.

“Although nations have put in place some significant policies to slow biodiversity declines, these have been woefully inadequate, and the gap between the pressures on biodiversity and the responses is getting ever wider,” said Dr Stuart Butchart the paper’s lead author. Butchart works with the United Nations Environment Program World Conservation Monitoring Centre, as well as BirdLife International.

The paper looked at 31 indicators to measure the state of biodiversity, including risk of extinction, declines or increases in populations, and size of habitat. The majority of these indicators had worsened, not improved, for examples the study found population declines for the world’s vertebrates, habitat-specialist birds, and shorebirds. Globally, the extent of forests, coral reefs, seagrasses, and mangroves all suffered declines as well. While the study found slight improvements in freshwater quality and predator communities in the ocean, it warns that these are likely due to incomplete data.

“Since 1970, we have reduced animal populations by 30 percent, the area of mangroves and sea grasses by 20 percent and the coverage of living corals by 40 percent,” explains the United Nations Environment Program’s Chief Scientist Prof Joseph Alcamo.

Read article…

Visit MongoBay.com