Desdemona Despair

By NATION Correspondents
Posted Monday, January 25 2010 at 20:00

Kenya Forestry Service guards burnt 10 houses belonging to settlers evicted from Mau after they went back to the forest to harvest their maize.

One of the houses was full of maize when the guards struck on Saturday evening.

The families, which had been camping at Chematich, had gone back to the forest to harvest the grain.

The family that suffered the heaviest losses had stored the maize in a house which they had deserted in last October’s evictions. Many of the houses were intact as most of their owners left the forest voluntarily.

The guards swung into action after the settlers returned to Kipkisor, four kilometres into the forest, and started harvesting the crop.

Area chief John Mutai said the guards panicked on seeing the settlers pitching tents in the forest.

He said the settlers had gone back to Kipkisor village in Ndoinet Forest, one of the 22 blocks of the Mau Forest Complex.

The more than 14,000 families ejected from south-western Mau have been living in nine camps within Kuresoi District.

Efforts to take them back to their home districts hit a snag after they refused to board government lorries.

Evicted settlers lose harvest as houses set on fire

By STEVEN DUBOIS Associated Press Writer
Posted: 01/26/2010 05:51:24 PM PST
Updated: 01/26/2010 05:51:25 PM PST

PORTLAND, Ore.—California brown pelicans are begging for food on the Oregon coast rather than migrating south to breeding grounds.

An estimated 1,000 brown pelicans have remained on the state's coast, an unheard of number at a time of year when they should be in Mexico or Southern California. About 50 birds have died, but wildlife officials expect the number to escalate, said Dawn Grafe, visitor services manager for the Oregon Coast Wildlife Refuge Complex. …

Brown pelicans have steadily been expanding north. They typically migrated from Oregon and Washington in October or November, but they lingered until late December last winter. No one is certain why there are still here in late January, but theories range from the weather to an abundance of bait fish in early winter that enticed them to stay. Strong winds and severe storms have limited the pelicans' ability to hunt and dive for food that has since been pushed by currents to deeper waters, Grafe said.

"They don't have the energy," Grafe said. "They're so emaciated, so starving."

So the pelicans try to survive on bread crumbs or anything else they can get from humans. Typically unapproachable, the birds are surrounding visitors who come to see the breeding plumage—a look not seen in summer months.

Karen Munson of Brookings, who describes herself as a casual bird-watcher, saw about a dozen pelicans Monday at the Port of Brookings Harbor. She said some walked right up to her Jeep Wrangler, close enough to touch if she were inclined to roll down the window, which she wasn't.

"They do go right up to people," she said. "I saw one of them pull a man's jacket."

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has urged residents not to feed the pelicans, saying it will further disrupt their migration patterns. People who find a starving or injured bird are asked to leave it alone and contact a wildlife rehabilitation center, such as the Astoria-based Wildlife Center of the North Coast or the Bandon-based Free Flight Bird Rehabilitation.

Calif. brown pelicans linger on Oregon coast

The icy cap over Earth’s North Pole reaches its summer minimum in September and its winter maximum in late February or early March. Satellite observations since 1979 have shown that amount of ice that survives the summer is getting smaller; declines have been especially dramatic in the past decade. Recently, scientists from NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center described another way Arctic sea ice is changing: the summer melt season is getting significantly longer. …

The graph illustrates how the length of the melt season varies significantly from year to year, but the long-term trend is clear. …

The scientists say this pattern is consistent with a climate process known as the ice-albedo feedback. Dark ocean water absorbs more sunlight than bright, reflective ice. Even a small change in the start of the melt season exposes the ocean to more incoming sunlight, which warms the water, which melts more ice, and so on. The more solar energy the ocean absorbs during the summer, the longer it takes in the fall for the water to cool down enough to freeze.

Melt Season in the Arctic Getting Longer

By Jeremy Hance, www.mongabay.com
January 28, 2010

Sometime around 2050 researchers estimate that the global population will level-out at nine billion people, adding over two billion more people to the planet. Since, one billion of the world's population (more than one in seven) are currently going hungry—the largest number in all of history—scientists are struggling with how, not only to feed those who are hungry today, but also the additional two billion that will soon grace our planet. In a new paper in Science researchers make recommendations on how the world may one day feed nine billion people—sustainably.

The difficulties are many and large, according to the paper: "growing competition for land, water and energy, and the over-exploitation of fisheries, will affect our ability to produce food, as will the urgent requirement to reduce the impact of the food system on the environment."

The finiteness of arable land and freshwater will be further strained by what the authors call "higher purchasing power", which increases the demand in the developing world for "processed food, meat, dairy and fish, all of which adds pressure to the food supply system."

Further complicating the problem of limited—and over-stretched resources—will be the need to adapt to a changing climate.

"Projections of food needs over the next 40 years have generated deep concern about how agricultural production can increase sufficiently in the face of climate change threats," explains co-author Dr. Camilla Toulmin from the International Institute for Environment and Development. "Not only will rising temperature and shifts in rainfall patterns render crop production more uncertain in many areas, but the agricultural sector will need to become a better sink for carbon, through sequestration, while reducing emissions of greenhouse gas such as nitrous oxide, which is produced from use of chemical fertilizers."

She adds that the availability of arable land is further constrained by the "need to maintain and improve the carbon stores held in forests, which also contribute to the world’s water balance, biological and cultural diversity, so expansion of farming into forest and grazing lands is not a sensible option."

Given all of these issues, the authors conclude that "a three-fold challenge now faces the world: match the rapidly changing demand for food from a larger and more affluent population to its supply; do so in ways that are environmentally and socially sustainable; and ensure that the world’s poorest people are no longer hungry." …

Will it be possible to feed nine billion people sustainably?

By Staff Writers
Rosetta, Egypt (AFP) Jan 28, 2010

The Nile Delta, Egypt's bread basket since antiquity, is being turned into a salty wasteland by rising seawaters, forcing some farmers off their lands and others to import sand in a desperate bid to turn back the tide.

Experts warn that global warming will have a major impact in the delta on agriculture resources, tourism and human migration besides shaking the region's fragile ecosystems.

Over the last century, the Mediterranean Sea, which fronts the coast of the Nile Delta, has risen by 20 centimetres (six inches) and saltwater intrusion has created a major challenge, experts say.

A recent government study on the coast of Alexandria, Egypt's second largest city, expects the sea to continue to rise and flood large swathes of land.

"A 30 centimetre rise in sea level is expected to occur by 2025, flooding approximately 200 square kilometres (77 square miles).

"As a result, over half a million inhabitants may be displaced and approximately 70,000 jobs could be lost," the study said.

Environmental damage to the Nile Delta is not yet one of Egypt's priorities, but experts say if the situation continues to deteriorate, it will trigger massive food shortages which could turn seven million people into "climate refugees" by the end of the century.

The fertile Nile Delta provides around a third of the crops for Egypt's population of 80 million and a large part of these crops are exported providing the country with an important source of revenue.

Climatic changes have forced some Delta farmers to abandon their land, while others are trying to adapt by covering their land with beds of sand to isolate it against seawater infiltrations, and grow crops. …

Egypt's fertile Nile Delta falls prey to climate change

By Ben Blanchard, BEIJING
Wed Jan 27, 2010 9:39am EST

BEIJING (Reuters) - China still faces a serious threat from pollution despite recent government efforts to clean up, the Cabinet said on Wednesday, adding the country would step up investment in environmentally friendly industries.

While noting some progress at closing outdated factories, cleaning up dirty rivers and increasing access to clean drinking water, the State Council, or Cabinet, warned against any resting on laurels during a regular meeting.

"Though our country's environmental protection work has achieved positive results, generally the pollution of the environment has yet to be controlled," according to a statement posted on the government's website (www.gov.cn) about the meeting, chaired by Premier Wen Jiabao.

"Supervision and management abilities over the environment remain lagging, and the situation is still severe," it added.

We must "increase investment in and forcefully develop environmentally-friendly industries, as well as strengthen the ability to protect the environment," the statement said.

"Spare no effort in promoting efforts to fight pollution and cut emissions ... vigorously reduce air pollution and emissions from the thermal power generation, steel, nonferrous and cement industries," it added, without elaborating.

More than 30 years of breakneck economic growth have had an appalling affect on China's environment, with rivers blackened and blankets of smog smothering many cities.

The government has pledged to do more to tackle pollution -- a cause of violent protests in some parts of China -- by closing factories and mines and investing in green technology, but admits it faces a hard and long fight.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Jerry Norton)

China's Cabinet says pollution situation still serious

Rise tied to warming and receding glaciers

By Larry O'Hanlon
updated 12:49 p.m. PT, Wed., Jan. 27, 2010

Mountains along the southernmost swath of South America are growing taller at a record rate, say researchers, who attribute the growth to the accelerating loss of glaciers there.

The new GPS-based measurements from Patagonia's southern ice field show that between 2003 and 2006 the mountains grew at a rate of 39 millimeters (1.5 inches) per year. The discovery was reported in the latest issue of the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters.

"Before I saw this article I would have said the highest rate (of mountain growth) was at Glacier Bay, Alaska," said Bruce Molnia, a veteran glacier researcher and geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey. In 2005, similar measurements at Glacier Bay found the mountains there rising at a rate of 32 (1.3 inches) millimeters per year.

Such an exceptional rate of mountain growth is being tied to the powerful tectonic forces building the mountains as well as what's called "isostatic rebound" of the crust when the heavy weight of glaciers is removed. In other words, the mountainous crust of the Earth in Patagonia is literally springing up like a hammock that's being relieved of a load.

The cause of all that ice unloading? You guessed it: the warming climate.

"In Patagonia, glaciers are retreating faster now than they have ever retreated formerly," said Erik Ivins of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and a co-author on the Patagonia article.

Ivin's role in the study was to model the rise of those mountains, based on the known ice losses in Patagonia, and make a prediction of how fast the ranges would rise. He predicted they ought to grow by about 30 millimeters (1.2 inches) per year.

"It was surprisingly higher than we predicted," Ivins told Discovery News. What's more, this is no delayed reaction. "There is an immediate response with ice loss and ground rising -- at the speed of seismic waves." …

Patagonia mountains are growing

Migrating birds can and do keep their travel dates flexible, a new study published online on January 28th in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, reveals. But in the case of pied flycatchers, at least, an earlier takeoff hasn't necessarily translated into an earlier arrival at their destination. It appears the problem is travel delays the birds are experiencing as a result of harsh weather conditions on the final leg of their journey through Europe. …

"We have been claiming for a while that migratory birds have difficulties in adapting to climate change because of their rigid and rather inflexible timing of spring migration; in Africa and South America, they cannot know when spring starts at their northern breeding grounds," said Christiaan Both of the University of Groningen in The Netherlands. "This study shows that timing of spring migration is flexible and that birds do respond to climate change, although in a rather indirect way: breeding dates have become progressively earlier, and birds are thus born earlier in the spring. We now show that the effect of early birth is also that the birds migrate early, and migration time has advanced over the last 25 years. The reason that the birds did not advance their arrival is thus not due to a failure to start migration earlier, but because circumstances at passage in Southern Europe have not improved."

Pied flycatchers are one of the best-studied migratory bird species in the world. With records going back more than 50 years, researchers have been able to investigate the birds' reaction to climate change over time. Pied flycatchers are also forest-dwelling, which makes them particularly interesting because of the strong seasonality in food dynamics in the forest.

"Forests are characterized by a short burst of insects rather early in spring," Both explained. "If the birds miss this insect peak for raising their chicks, they do not produce enough offspring to keep up their population sizes." …

"Based on our calculations, they are covering the distance from Northern Africa to The Netherlands in about 6 days, and to central Sweden in about 12 days," Both said. Only a small fraction of birds make it through that harrowing journey. For those that do, "in some of the northern or eastern breeding grounds, the first birds often arrive when the breeding areas are still snow-covered. And these birds are strictly insectivorous—earlier arrival probably means death because there are not enough insects to be found." In The Netherlands, circumstances are better at arrival, he added, but the birds there get little or no chance to rest before breeding and nest building must begin. In most cases during the warm springs of the past decade, birds in The Netherlands have laid their first eggs 7 to 8 days after completing their journey.

Both's team found that the birds left their wintering grounds and made it all the way to Northern Africa 10 days earlier in the year in 2002 than they did in 1980. Still, they didn't arrive at their European breeding grounds any sooner.

The findings imply that "little should be expected in terms of an evolutionary response [to climate change]: any genetic variation in spring departure is likely to be masked by environmental constraints and not translated into earlier arrival," the researchers conclude. "More generally, because climate change often alters temperatures differently at different periods in the year, adaptation of life cycles in animals with a complex annual cycle is not likely to be solved by simple phenotypic or evolutionary responses toward earlier phenology. An adaptive evolutionary response most likely is needed on a whole suite of different traits simultaneously, and it remains to be seen whether evolution can alter species quickly enough to stop their decline."

With climate change, birds are taking off for migration sooner; not reaching destinations earlier

A review of the amount of water flowing into Melbourne’s dams shows 2000-2009 was the worst on record for Melbourne’s major reservoirs. It was significantly down on the previous low set during the 1980s.

Decade in dam levels

After initially losing sight of the polar bear spotted near Thistilfjördur fjord in east Iceland in the early afternoon yesterday, police and three hunters tracked it down by the abandoned farm Ósland around 4 pm and killed it.

Ósland is only a few kilometers east of the farm Saverland where the polar bear was first spotted. “It was rather small and I thought it looked dreadfully tattered,” Svanhvít Geirsdóttir of Saevarland told Morgunbladid. …

Police never considered other options than to kill the animal. An attempt was made in 2008 to catch a live polar bear but to no avail.

Afterwards a task force was established by the Environment Ministry to determine how authorities should react the next time a polar bear came ashore in Iceland.

The task force’s conclusion was to kill all polar bears spotted in Iceland for three reasons: they are dangerous, they are not at risk of extinction and it is too costly to save them, as Hjalti Gudmundsson from the Environment Agency of Iceland, who was a member of the task force, explained on RÚV’s news magazine Kastljós last night. …

The slain polar bear was such a young animal that police fear another bear, an adult, might be on the loose in the area. …

The polar bears that come to Iceland usually originate from Greenland. They drift with sea ice and can also swim long distances. Biologist Thórir Haraldsson told RÚV that with a warming climate and continued melting of the sea ice in Arctic regions, more polar bears can be expected to arrive in Iceland than in previous decades. …

Stray Polar Bear Shot and Killed in Iceland

January 28, 2010 (AAP) - Sydney's controversial desalination plant has been switched on and is pumping purified sea water into the city's drinking supply.

NSW Premier Kristina Keneally pushed the button on the $1.9 billion plant, at Kurnell in Sydney's south, this morning.

At capacity, the plant will generate 250 million litres of water a day, providing around 15 per cent of Sydney's water supply. …

"Here's to securing Sydney's water into the future," Ms Keneally told reporters at Kurnell as she pushed the button about midday.

Sydney's desal plant switched on

ScienceDaily (Jan. 28, 2010) — The number of bee colonies in Central Europe has decreased over recent decades. In fact, the number of beekeepers has been declining in the whole of Europe since 1985. This is the result of a study that has now been published by the International Bee Research Association, which for the first time has provided an overview of the problem of bee colony decline at the European level.

Until now there had only been the reports from individual countries available. As other pollinators such as wild bees and hoverflies are also in decline, this could be a potential danger for pollinator services, on which many arable crops depend, according to what an international team of scientists have written in a special edition of the Journal of Apicultural Research. …

According to the analysis, the number of bee colonies has already been on the decline in Central and Western Europe since 1965. Since 1985 this trend has also become apparent in countries such as the Czech Republic, Norway, the Slovak Republic and Sweden. By comparison, in the South of Europe (Greece, Italy and Portugal) the number of bee colonies increased between 1965 and 2005. In contrast however, the number of beekeepers decreased in all of the countries that were investigated. …

"The price of treating bee diseases has increased to the extent that the cost of treatments may equal or exceed the income from a colony for an entire year, thus making it uneconomic to keep bees on a small scale," explains Dr. Simon G. Potts of the University of Reading in England. "Moreover, the effort for treating disease, in particular V. destructor, has probably also reduced the attractiveness of beekeeping as a hobby." …

Fewer honey bee colonies and beekeepers throughout Europe

By Michel Rose
SETE, France
Thu Jan 28, 2010 6:49am EST

SETE, France (Reuters) - As the clock on Sete's city tower strikes 5 p.m., the clear blue sky of this Mediterranean seaport suddenly fills with seagulls, awaiting the return of fishing boats from their regulated time at sea.

SETE, France (Reuters) - As the clock on Sete's city tower strikes 5 p.m., the clear blue sky of this Mediterranean seaport suddenly fills with seagulls, awaiting the return of fishing boats from their regulated time at sea.

"They will be disappointed today. Mackerel and sardines are just not there," says a fish trader at the Pecherie Cettoise, next to the Sete wholesale fish market. "It's the tuna, they eat the other fish and there are too many of them." …

"We are talking about a very small number of individuals who became extremely rich, who are now euro millionaires," says Francois Catzeflis, a biologist at Montpellier-II University and a member of Greenpeace. "As soon as military sonar equipment was available for civil use, they would buy it," he adds. …

The World Wild Fund for Nature (WWF) said recently that tuna could become extinct as soon as 2012 because of the size of the Mediterranean fleet and estimates of undeclared fishing. Scientists struggle to work out how big bluefin stocks are. …

About 1,500 jobs are at stake in Sete and the golden age of the "sushi boom" is already coming to an end.

"Before, we would work between three and six months a year and make about 30,000 euros," said Akabbar Im'hand, a fisherman in Sete for 32 years. "Now, with a 50-tone quota (per boat) you earn up to 5,000 euros. You can't live a whole year on that." (Reporting by Michel Rose, editing by Tim Pearce)

French fishermen fear end of sushi bonanza

Greenhouse Gases via Wit’s End

By Joe Hanel
Herald Denver Bureau

DENVER - Beetles killed 70,000 acres of spruce trees last year, mostly in southern Colorado's high-altitude forests.

Meanwhile, the mysterious die-off of aspen trees appears to have stabilized, according to a yearly survey of forest health that the Forest Service released Friday.

Forest scientists now believe the aspen die-off was caused by last decade's drought. Aspen decline peaked in 2008 and increased very little last year, according to the annual aerial survey of Colorado forests.

The spruce beetle epidemic, however, is growing with no signs of abatement.

“There's really nothing to stop it," said Susan Gray of the U.S. Forest Service. “The winter temperatures continue to be very mild compared to a decade ago."

The spruce beetle outbreak began in 2002 and has killed 508,000 acres of trees, mostly Englemann spruce, in Colorado and southern Wyoming. Hotspots of the outbreak include Wolf Creek Pass and Colorado Highway 149 between South Fork and Creede.

But the spruce beetle is far from the state's biggest insect problem. Farther north, the mountain pine beetle outbreak grew by an additional 524,000 acres last year in Colorado and southern Wyoming, bringing the total to 3.6 million acres. The beetle's range has spread east across the Continental Divide, and it has hit especially hard in Larimer County, home to Fort Collins and Rocky Mountain National Park. …

Spruce beetle outbreak keeps growing via Apocadocs

The mighty Himalayan glaciers are vanishing. The rate of recession is unprecedented and accelerating. If the present rate of melting continues, many of these glaciers will be gone by the middle of this century, disrupting the perennial water supply to hundreds of millions of people at the least.

Explore this extraordinary and growing collection of glacier images from the “roof of the world",” made possible by mountaineer and filmmaker David Breashers, Founder and Project Leader of the Glacier Research Imaging Project (GRIP).

On Thinner Ice

By Khaled Yacoub Oweis, DAMASCUS
Wed Jan 27, 2010 1:54pm EST

DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Syrian officials addressing a rare public forum have revealed the full impact of a drought that ravaged the 2008 wheat crop and displaced hundreds of thousands of people in the east of the country.

The officials recommended diversifying the eastern Syrian economy and finding alternatives to subsidized cash crops, whose cultivation has severely depleted water resources, mainly in the eastern region along the River Euphrates.

The officials, speaking at a forum that is a rare reminder of the "Damascus Spring" democracy movement snuffed out in 2001, recognized they faced a huge challenge, tackling high levels of poverty, unemployment and illiteracy, and low investment.

Rainfall in eastern Syria fell to 30 percent of the annual average in 2008 -- the worst drought for 40 years -- and al-Khabour, a main tributary of the River Euphrates, dried up, they told the meeting on Tuesday.

The region's wheat crop fell by about half to 1.3 million tonnes that year, and the number of people displaced is estimated at between 300,000 and one million, though there are no official figures.

"We must plan an overhaul that includes an integrated economy, health and education, not just agricultural production," said Hassan Katana, head of statistics and planning at the agriculture ministry.

Poverty levels stand at 80 percent and the region's investment budget is only $17.4 million, according to Khader al-Muhaisen of the government-backed Peasants Union.

Infrastructure in the east, which accounts for the bulk of Syria's grain and cotton output, has fallen into disrepair. …

Eastern Syria grapples with drought, poverty

(Reuters) - Syrian officials have held an unusually frank discussion about a drought in the eastern region that ravaged the wheat crop and caused massive displacement of the population.

The following are key facts that emerged from the forum, organized by the Syrian Economics Society.

• Eastern Syria, which borders Iraq and Turkey, comprises the provinces of Hasakah, Raqqah and Deir al-Zor.
• Population growth is 3 percent a year and the majority of the population are under 15 years old.
• The region contains 40 percent of Syria's farmland and accounts for 56-58 percent of its wheat production.
• The region's wheat output fell to 1.3 million tonnes in 2008, when the worst drought in four decades hit, compared with 2.4-2.9 million tonnes a year between 2003 and 2007.
• Around 59,000 families each owning 100 head of cattle or less lost half their animals.
• Poverty levels hover around 80 percent.
• The region has a water shortage of 2.5 billion cubic meters a year out of the 3.5 billion cubic meter shortage for the whole of Syria.
• Officials did not estimate the number of people displaced by the drought. Independent estimates give a range of 300,000 to one million.
• The East received 30 percent of its average rainfall in 2008. No figures were available for 2009, but the officials said rainfall has improved.
• The government has started charging market prices for fuel and fertilizers, but still buys wheat and cotton at higher than market prices.

Factbox: Drought, poverty in eastern Syria

DAMASCUS, Syria, January 27, 2010 (ENS) - A severe shortage of rainfall that has lasted more than three years has crippled agriculture in northeastern Syria, where residents say conditions are still deteriorating in the absence of economic alternatives and an adequate government response.

People's living conditions in the area are dire, said Ahmad al-Salem, an agricultural engineer who lives in a village close to the town of Qamishli.

He said that most of his fellow villagers have moved to Damascus or other big cities looking for new sources of income, many ending up with difficult laboring work. …

Today, many northeastern villages are half-deserted with closed-down schools and abandoned houses and land.

Traditionally, the northeastern provinces, a region rich in rivers, contained some of Syria's most fertile agricultural lands where wheat, cotton, vegetables and fruits have been grown.

"Agriculture is the backbone of the economy here," said an official at the ministry of agriculture, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

He added that the lack of rainfall affected the whole national economy since 30 percent of Syrian agricultural land is in the northeastern Jazeera province.

Observers say that the drought, coupled with poor irrigation strategies, has led to the impoverishment and displacement of large numbers of the area's inhabitants.

Some 1.3 million people have been affected by the disaster, of whom 800,000 have lost almost all of their livelihoods and face extreme hardship, according to the Syrian government and United Nations assessment missions.

Migration out of the affected areas has increased, with estimates indicating that between 40,000 and 60,000 families have relocated, the UN says.

Like many people in Jazeera, Mohamad al-Sheikh, his wife and three daughters survive on the small remittance sent by his two sons who work in a factory in Damascus.

Although Sheikh owns farmland in the small town of Tal Hamis, very little grows since the drought hit the area.

"I had a piece of good agricultural land but the scarcity of rainfall made it barren," he said, adding that without the monthly remittance of 5,000 Syrian liras (US$110), his family would "probably succumb to illness and hunger." … 

"It is no exaggeration to say that people are dying from hunger here," said an official of the ruling Baath party from a village in the Jazeera area. …

Drought Blights Syrian Villages, Residents Dying of Hunger

By Jeff DeLong, USA TODAY

Deer, elk and even raccoons have a new type of predator to worry about: Poachers who kill increasingly for the thrill of it.

Scott Talbott, an assistant division chief with Wyoming's Fish and Game Department, calls it "wanton destruction" that goes beyond shooting.

Poachers run down deer with cars or snowmobiles, and chase raccoons, then beat them to death with clubs. They also shoot deer, elk and antelope, sometimes removing valuable antlers but often leaving the carcass to rot on the ground, Talbott and other wildlife officials said.

"It's thrill killing — people just going out and killing stuff," Talbott said. "We have seen a significant increase of that in Wyoming. It's disturbing."

In Wisconsin, state wildlife officials are teaming with researchers from University of Wisconsin-Green Bay to study the trend, which they said has emerged in recent years.

The thrill killing usually involves youths ages 14 to 23, who gather in groups with the intent of killing as many animals as possible, said Chuck Horn of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

"These are cases where they're just looking for something to do," Horn said. "It seems like in some of these cases kids are looking for instant gratification, like a video game. …

'Thrill killing' poachers pose threat to wildlife via The Oil Drum

By Staff Writers
Sanaa (AFP) Jan 24, 2010

Impoverished Yemen is reeling under the threat of Al-Qaeda, northern Shiite rebels and southern secessionists, but a lack of water is putting its ancient capital at even greater risk, experts say.

Within a decade -- or even less -- Sanaa could become the first waterless capital in the world, they warn, adding the outlook is also bleak for the rest of this parched country where wells in some regions are already dry. …

"The situation in Yemen is rapidly deteriorating in the face of several challenges, all of which have the potential to develop into a serious crisis within the next five years," the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said in a report last year.

It said roughly 80 percent of conflicts in Yemen are over water, which is being used more rapidly than it can be replenished. Water extraction rates in Sanaa are estimated at four times that of replenishment, it added.

"Sanaa will be the first capital in modern history to run dry," the Carnegie report said.

Dierk Schlutter, a water specialist with the humanitarian German Development Service, said that could happen in less than a decade.

The groundwater feeding Sanaa "will be exhausted in 2015 or 2017, one cannot say exactly," Schlutter said. …

Water woes could undermine Yemen's drive against Al-Qaeda

Preliminary mass balance values for the observation period 2007/08 have been reported now from more than 90 glaciers worldwide. The mass balance statistics (Table 1) are calculated based on all reported values as well as on the data from the 30 reference glaciers in 9 mountain ranges (Table 2) with continuous observation series back to 1980.

The average mass balance of the glaciers with available long-term observation series around the world continues to decrease, with tentative figures indicating a further thickness reduction of 0.5 metres water equivalent (m w.e.) during the hydrological year 2007/08. The new data continues the global trend in strong ice loss over the past few decades and brings the cumulative average thickness loss of the reference glaciers since 1980 at about 12 m w.e. (see Figures 1 and 2). …

Preliminary glacier mass balance data 2007/2008

Preliminary mass balance values for the observation period 2007/08 have been reported now from more than 90 glaciers worldwide. The mass balance statistics (Table 1) are calculated based on all reported values as well as on the data from the 30 reference glaciers in 9 mountain ranges (Table 2) with continuous observation series back to 1980.

The average mass balance of the glaciers with available long-term observation series around the world continues to decrease, with tentative figures indicating a further thickness reduction of 0.5 metres water equivalent (m w.e.) during the hydrological year 2007/08. The new data continues the global trend in strong ice loss over the past few decades and brings the cumulative average thickness loss of the reference glaciers since 1980 at about 12 m w.e. (see Figures 1 and 2). …

Preliminary glacier mass balance data 2007/2008

By Staff Writers
Nairobi (AFP) Jan 26, 2010

Four extremely rare Northern White rhinos recently transferred to Kenya from a Czech zoo have been dehorned to protect them from poachers, a conservation group said Tuesday.

"With the increase of poaching in Kenya, we are simply not taking any chances," Elodie Sampere from the Ol Pejeta Conservancy, which is overseeing the animals' acclimatisation told AFP.

"Without a horn, these rhinos are of no value to poachers," she said.

The rhinos, two males and two females, are among only eight members of a very rare sub-species of white rhinos known to be alive worldwide and were transferred back to Kenya with the hope they would reproduce.

Kenyan wildlife rangers earlier this month arrested 12 men from an illicit game trade syndicate suspected of killing a 10-year-old white rhino and hacking off its horns.

The east African country, which has the world's third largest rhino population -- around 600 black and 300 white rhinos -- suffered its worst year for rhino poaching in 2009, when 12 black and six white rhinos were killed. …

Rare Kenya rhinos de-horned to frustrate poachers

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Tigers in the Greater Mekong region are facing extinction, their numbers down more than 70 percent in slightly more than a decade due to poachers and habitat destruction, conservationists say.

A new report by wildlife group WWF says tiger populations in the region that includes Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam have fallen to 350 from an estimated 1,200 in 1998.

Globally, tiger populations are at an all-time low of 3,200, down from an estimated 5,000 to 7,000 some 12 years ago.

"Decisive action must be taken to ensure this iconic sub-species does not reach the point of no return," said Nick Cox, coordinator of the WWF Greater Mekong Tiger Programme.

"There is a potential for tiger populations in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia to become locally extinct by the next Year of the Tiger in 2022, if we don't step up actions to protect them," he added in a statement.

Tigers are being killed illegally to satisfy increasing demand for their body parts, which are used in traditional Chinese medicine. Destruction of their forest homes has also fueled the decline, said the report, released ahead of the Chinese lunar Year of the Tiger which beings next month.

Asian countries are a hotspot for the illegal wildlife trade, which the international police organization Interpol estimates may be worth more than $20 billion a year.

Tiger skins sell as rugs and cloaks on the black market, and can fetch up to $20,000 in countries like China.

The WWF said Indochinese tigers were once found in abundance across the Greater Mekong region, but today there are no more than 30 tigers in each of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. …

Indochinese tigers on brink of extinction: WWF

Norman, Okla.--Biodiversity in freshwater systems is impacted as much or more by environmental change than tropical rain forests, according to University of Oklahoma Professor Caryn Vaughn, who serves as director of the Oklahoma Biological Survey. “When we think about species becoming extinct, we don’t necessarily think of the common species in freshwater systems, many of which are declining,” says Vaughn.

“We need to be concerned about these declines, because these common species provide many goods and services for humans,” she states. “Factors underlying these declines include water pollution, habitat destruction and degradation, and environmental changes, such as overexploitation of water and aquatic organisms, all of which are linked to human activities. Freshwater biodiversity is also threatened by climate change which is predicted to alter species ranges and abundance.”

Vaughn studies freshwater mussels, or clams, that live in Oklahoma’s rivers. North America contains the highest diversity of freshwater mussels in the world with over 300 species, but over 50 percent of these species are declining. Oklahoma contains 55 mussel species, mainly in rivers in the eastern portion of the state. …

CORVALLIS, Ore. – A major increase in maximum ocean wave heights off the Pacific Northwest in recent decades has forced scientists to re-evaluate how high a “100-year event” might be, and the new findings raise special concerns for flooding, coastal erosion and structural damage.

The new assessment concludes that the highest waves may be as much as 46 feet, up from estimates of only 33 feet that were made as recently as 1996, and a 40 percent increase. December and January are the months such waves are most likely to occur, although summer waves are also significantly higher.

In a study just published online in the journal Coastal Engineering, scientists from Oregon State University and the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries report that the cause of these dramatically higher waves is not completely certain, but “likely due to Earth’s changing climate.”

Using more sophisticated techniques that account for the “non-stationarity” in the wave height record, researchers say the 100-year wave height could actually exceed 55 feet, with impacts that would dwarf those expected from sea level rise in coming decades. Increased coastal erosion, flooding, damage to ocean or coastal structures and changing shorelines are all possible, scientists say.

“The rates of erosion and frequency of coastal flooding have increased over the last couple of decades and will almost certainly increase in the future,” said Peter Ruggiero, an assistant professor in the OSU Department of Geosciences. “The Pacific Northwest has one of the strongest wave climates in the world, and the data clearly show that it’s getting even bigger. …

Maximum height of extreme waves up dramatically in Pacific Northwest

Observed ground water trends in the Sacramento and San Joaquin River basins, Oct. 2003 to March 2009.

NASA Data Reveal Major Groundwater Loss in California's Heartland

By Jason Lange, ZAPOPAN, Mexico
Fri Jan 22, 2010 7:40am EST

ZAPOPAN, Mexico (Reuters) - At a modern factory in a city whose main claim to fame is an image of the Virgin Mary revered for granting miracles, Mexican pharmaceuticals firm Grupo Collins churns out antibiotics and other medicines.

But the United States contends that the company in Zapopan is not what it seems. The U.S. Treasury put Grupo Collins on a black list in 2008, saying the firm supplies a small drug cartel in western Mexico with chemicals needed to make methamphetamines.

Grupo Collins, which has denied any connection to organized crime, is one of dozens under suspicion of laundering money for the nation's booming drug business, whose growing economic impact now pervades just about every level of Mexican life.

Mexican cartels, which control most of the cocaine and methamphetamine smuggled into the United States, bring an estimated $25 billion to $40 billion into Mexico from their global operations every year.

To put that in perspective: Mexico probably made more money in 2009 moving drugs than it did exporting oil, its single biggest legitimate foreign currency earner.

From the white Caribbean beaches of Cancun to violent towns on the U.S. border and the beauty parlors of Mexico City's wealthy suburbs, drug cash is everywhere in Mexico. It has even propped up the country's banking system, helping it ride out the financial crisis and aiding the country's economy.

Smuggled into Mexico mostly from the United States in $100 bills, narco money finds its way onto the books of restaurants, construction firms and bars as drug lords try to legitimize their cash and prevent police from tracing it.

"Mexico is saturated with this money," said George Friedman, who heads geopolitical analysis firm Stratfor. …

From spas to banks, Mexico economy rides on drugs

Red List Index (RLI) for (a) birds, (b) mammals and (c) amphibians showing trends driven by the impacts of invasive alien species (IAS)  compared with trends driven by other factors, for the proportion of species expected to remain extant in the near future without additional conservation action; n = 9,785 nondata deficient extant bird, 4,555 mammal and 4,417 amphibian species at start of period. The differently shaded bands illustrate the contribution of different drivers to the overall decline in the RLI over the relevant period.

Gland, Switzerland (IUCN) – Invasive Alien Species, ranging from disease and plants, to rats and goats, are one of the top three threats to life on this planet, according to a new publication coordinated by the Global Invasive Species Programme (GISP), of which IUCN is a partner.

Most countries have made international commitments to tackle this threat, but only half have introduced relevant legislation and even fewer are taking adequate action on the ground.

The publication, Global indicators of biological invasion: species numbers, biodiversity impact and policy responses [pdf], looked at 57 countries and found that, on average, there are 50 non-indigenous species per country which have a negative impact on biodiversity. The number of invasive alien species ranged from nine in Equatorial Guinea to 222 in New Zealand.

A total of 542 species were documented as invasive aliens, including 316 plants, 101 marine organisms, 44 freshwater fish, 43 mammal, 23 bird and 15 amphibian species. According to Prof. Melodie McGeoch, lead author on the publication and member of the Centre for Invasion Biology, these numbers are a significant underestimate. “We showed that regions with low development status and little investment in research have lower than expected numbers of invasive aliens”. An increase in the number and spread of alien species, which adversely affect the habitats they invade, is nonetheless attributed to a substantial rise in international trade over the past 25 years.

“While some threatened species on the IUCN Red List have improved in status as a result of successful control or eradication of invasive alien species, a growing number are more threatened owing to increasing spread and threats from non-indigenous species,” says Dr Stuart Butchart from BirdLife International. “This shows that although we are winning some battles in the fight against invasive species, current evidence suggests that we are losing the war.”

“It’s likely to be more cost effective to prevent the spread of invasive species in the first place than to tackle the biodiversity crisis once they have become established,” says Dr Bill Jackson, IUCN’s Deputy Director General and Chairman of GISP. …

Impact of nature’s invading aliens measured for first time [pdf]

Nature Notebook: Unlike similar introductions, the little owl has been an attractive addition to Britain's avifauna

By Michael McCarthy
Tuesday, 26 January 2010

Here's some sad news for birdwatchers and classicists alike: the wise old owl is in decline. Across Europe, the bird which began the association between owls and intelligence is dropping in numbers – the little owl, which in Greek mythology was the constant attendant of Athena, the goddess of wisdom.  …

You can see little owls in Britain, but they've only been here for about 120 years; they're not a native species. They were introduced by Victorian gentleman-ornithologists of a classical bent, in particular by Edmund Meade-Waldo of Stonewall Park near Chiddingstone in Kent, who released birds onto his estate from 1874 (the first one bred in 1879), and by Lord Lilford, the president of the British Ornithologists' Union, who made releases of Dutch birds at his Lilford Park estate near Oundle in Northamptonshire the following decade.

Unlike similar introductions which proved to be ecological disasters, such as the grey squirrel and the muntjac deer, the little owl has been an attractive addition to Britain's avifauna, perhaps because it's not in direct competition with anything else and manages to fill a niche in the ecosystem: it's an owl which eats earthworms (as well as anything else it can get).  …

No one knows why they are declining – it may be the spread of intensive farming – but they are dropping in numbers right across Europe, from Spain to Turkey, and in Britain they have declined by 18 per cent since 1995. Perhaps we should ask Athena for her help, and make her a propitiatory sacrifice. …

Michael McCarthy: The sad decline of a little goddess

By Bonnie Hulkower, New York, New York on 01.25.10

…While this week of rain has brought some relief to water officials, much more rain and snow is needed to pull California out of its three-year drought.

The state could emerge from drought, but only if the rain is persistent, and is complemented by heavy snowfall in the mountains. Rainfall has been above average in the Bay Area, and officials from San Francisco Public Utilities Commission have been expressing optimism about the levels of Hetch Hetchy reservoir, the source of the San Francisco's drinking water, which is now at 72% capacity. But the story at Lake Oroville, the state water project's primary drinking water source is quite different. Lake Oroville is only at 31% of it capacity. Lake Oroville, has a capacity of 3.5 million acre-feet of water. Hetch Hetchy is much smaller, only holding 360,400 acre-feet of water.

The state's largest reservoir, Shasta Lake, can hold 4.5 million acre-feet, but is currently only half full. Capacity is difficult to gauge because a percentage needs to be left for flood control and fish passage. In addition to these concerns, there are also issues with aging infrastructure and environmental disputes limiting the amount of water pumped through the Delta. The National Academy of Sciences is meeting tomorrow to examine whether the federal government should lift or modify limits on pumping from California's delta.

As of now, a little more than 23 inches of rain has fallen in the northern Sierra. On average, 50 inches of rain falls each year, meaning another 27 inches would have to fall this year just to reach normal levels. The telltale measurement will be on April 1, which is considered the peak for snowpack. But even if this year is a good year to bring the reservoirs back to a decent level, if next year is dry, it will push the state right back into drought. …

It's raining, It's pouring in California...but the drought isn't over yet

By Jeremy Hance, www.mongabay.com
January 24, 2010

From 2003-2006, Java lost approximately 2,500 hectares a year (10,000 hectares of forest in total) according to the Forestry Ministry. Despite the rate of loss being far lower in Java than other Indonesian islands (such as Borneo, Sumatra, and Sulawesi), Java is particularly threatened because there is so little forest left. If the past rate of deforestation occurs from 2007-2010 then by the end of the year conservation organization Pro Fauna predicts only 10,000 hectares of rainforest will remain on the island, leaving a number of unique and endangered species in deep trouble.

In addition ProFauna campaign officer Radius Nursidi warns that the actual rate is probably higher than the official data reflects.

Java is home to a number of species that survive no-where else, including the critically endangered Javan rhino with a populated estimated at 40-60 individuals; the endangered Javan Hawk-Eagle; the endangered Javan gibbon; the vulnerable Javan langur; the endangered Javan slow loris; and the endangered surili, a species of monkey. The island has already lost one of its flagship species to deforestation and poaching: the Javan tiger likely vanished entirely in the 1980s.

Poaching remains rife in Java, according to Pro Fauna, even in national parks, such as the R. Soerjo Grand Forest Park in Pasuruan and Merubetiri National Park in Banyuwangi. Illegal logging is also a problem at these conservation areas. Currently, there are no security posts at the exit areas of these parks, allowing poachers to easily escape with their quarry. … Indonesia has one of the highest rates of deforestation in the world. …

Little more than 10,000 hectares of rainforest remain on Java

By BEN CUBBY
January 25, 2010

LOGGING is set to start within weeks in a forest that supports the last known koala colony on the NSW far south coast.

The NSW Government is yet to release data from a comprehensive survey of koala habitat and population in Mumbulla and Murrah state forests, near Tathra, even though some trees have been marked for removal.

The two-year koala survey, which could be published this week, is believed to contain strong evidence of koala occupation in several parts of the eucalypt forest.

Sources painted a picture of fractious debate between staff from the Department of Environment and Climate Change, which managed the koala research effort, and Forests NSW, the government agency that will manage the logging operation.

One source described a map of the area that had been drawn and redrawn in search of a compromise between felling trees and maintaining enough forest to allow the koalas to survive.

The NSW Greens and south coast environment groups are campaigning for a moratorium on logging in the koala habitat.

"The koala population on the NSW south-east coast is at a critical level,'' the Greens MP Lee Rhiannon said.

"Yet the NSW Government is prioritising the interests of the logging industry over the ongoing survival of this much-loved native animal.''

The logging operation, due to begin in early March, would involve taking some high-quality timber and some timber for woodchips.

Most of the timber from felled trees in the region goes to a mill in Eden, which exports woodchips to Japan. …

Logging plan poses threat to precious koala colony