European Council on climate change: Vague messages, no concrete measures

Drought in Eastern Africa is becoming worse because of climate change. Photo: WWF-Canon / Mauri RautkariThe European Council opted for vague messages on most of the essential issues blocking international climate change negotiations, further diminishing hopes on strong European leadership in the global fight against climate change.

"It is especially frustrating that no clear European financial offer to developing countries has been agreed, and that the increase in CO₂ emission reduction targets is made conditional upon comparable efforts by other developed countries," says Jason Anderson, Head of EU Climate and Energy Policy at WWF.

"Europe is being particularly relaxed on mid-term emissions reductions - in order to reach its current 20% reduction pledge, it would actually have to slow the current pace of emissions reductions. What kind of signal about being ambitious on climate is Europe sending to the rest of the world ahead of Copenhagen?"

“We do welcome the new goal of CO₂ emission reductions in Europe of 80-95 per cent by 2050: the upper end is in line with what’s needed. To meet that goal, however, we have to pick up the pace.”

The EU’s emphasis on the need for a legally binding agreement is a step in the right direction as is introducing language around innovative financing. This can give impetus to the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Negotiation in Barcelona from 2-6 November as well as the EU-US summit on 3 November which also has climate change as one of the main items on its agenda.

China records drop in energy consumption

China's energy consumption per unit gross domestic product (GDP) has dropped more than 13 per cent since the beginning of the "Eleventh Five-Year Plan" (2006-10), disclosed Xie Zhenhua, vice director of the National Development and Reform Commission, in a news conference of the Third Ministerial Conference of the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate, which was held in Shanghai on October 27, 2009.

"Through our continuous efforts, the objective of reducing the energy consumption per unit GDP by 20 per cent proposed in the 'Eleventh Five-Year Plan' would be achieved at the end of next year," said Xie at the conference.

There are difficulties in achieving the binding indicator in energy conservation and emission reduction, especially in the current financial crisis, as China is in the process of industrialisation and urbanisation.

However, China has made energy conservation and emission reduction top priorities, and deems them critical issues in economic structural adjustment, as well as in shifting the manner in development.

In 2006, the energy consumption per unit GDP in China dropped 1.79 per cent; and the magnitude of drop was further extended to 4.04 per cent and 4.59 per cent in 2007 and 2008, respectively. In the first half of 2009, the value dropped 3.35 per cent. So far, the energy consumption per unit GDP in China has dropped more than 13 per cent accumulatively since 2006.

"It's expected that the energy consumption per unit GDP in China will drop about 5 per cent in 2009, and similar margin can be achieved next year. Therefore, it's possible to achieve the overall objective of 20 per cent by 2010," said Xie. This means that China will achieve its objective of saving 620 million metric tons of standard coal and reduce the emission of carbon dioxide by 1.5 billion tons annually by the end of 2010.

To achieve this objective on energy conservation and emission reduction, the Chinese government has eliminated a large quantity of inefficient production capacity in iron and steel, cement, coke and other industries, including the shutdown of a batch of inefficient small coal-fired units.

In addition, non-fossil energy is also developing swiftly in China, especially in the renewable energy sector. China has ranked at the top of the world both in the installed capacity of hydropower and the utilisation area of solar energy. China recently has proposed to improve the proportion of non-fossil energy in total primary energy consumption to about 15 per cent by 2020.

Exploring lightning's 'NOx-ious' impact on pollution, climate

Central Africa receives the most flashes of lightning per square kilometer, while the polar regions receive the least. This global map of lightning flash density was created with data from the Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) aboard the Tropical Measuring Mission (TRMM) and the Optical Transient Detector (OTD) aboard the Microlab-1 spacecraft. Credit: Jeff De La Beaujardiere, Scientific Visualization StudioEvery year, scientists learn something new about the inner workings of lightning.

With satellites, they have discovered that more than 1.2 billion lightning flashes occur around the world every year. (Rwanda has the most flashes per square kilometre, while flashes are rare in polar regions.) Laboratory and field experiments have revealed that the core of some lightning bolts reaches 30,000 Kelvin (53,540 ^ºF), a temperature hot enough to instantly melt sand and break oxygen and nitrogen molecules into individual atoms.

And then there is this: each of those billion lightning flashes produces a puff of nitrogen oxide gas (NOx) that reacts with sunlight and other gases in the atmosphere to produce ozone. Near Earth's surface, ozone can harm human and plant health; higher in the atmosphere, it is a potent greenhouse gas; and in the stratosphere, its blocks cancer-causing ultraviolet radiation.

In 1827, the German chemist Justin von Liebig first observed that lightning produced NOx - scientific shorthand for a gaseous mixture of nitrogen and oxygen that includes nitric oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO₂). Nearly two centuries later, the topic continues to attract the attention of scientists.

Fossil fuel combustion, microbes in the soil, lightning, and forest fires all produce NOx. Scientists think lightning's contribution to Earth's NOx budget - probably about 10 per cent - is relatively small compared to fossil fuel emissions. Yet they haven't been sure whether global estimates of NOx produced by lightning are accurate.

"There's still a lot of uncertainty about how much NOx lightning produces," said Kenneth Pickering, an atmospheric scientist who studies lightning at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centre in Greenbelt, Md. "Indeed, even recent published estimates of lightning's global NOx production still vary by as much as a factor of four. We're trying to narrow that uncertainty in order to improve the accuracy of both global climate models and regional air quality models."

Using data gleaned from aircraft observations and satellites, Pickering and Goddard colleague Lesley Ott recently took steps toward a better global estimate of lightning-produced NOx and found that lightning may have a considerably stronger impact on the climate in the mid-latitudes and subtropics - and less on surface air quality - than previously thought.

According to a new paper by Ott and Pickering in the Journal of Geophysical Research, each flash of lightning on average in the several mid-latitude and subtropical thunderstorms studied turned 7 kilograms (15.4 pounds) of nitrogen into chemically reactive NOx. "In other words, you could drive a new car across the United States more than 50 times and still produce less than half as much NOx as an average lightning flash," Ott estimated. The results were published July.

When the researchers multiplied the number of lightning strokes worldwide by 7 kilograms, they found that the total amount of NOx produced by lightning per year is 8.6 terragrams, or 8.6 million metric tons. "That's somewhat high compared to previous estimates," said Pickering.

More remarkable than the number, however, is where the NOx is produced. A decade ago, many researchers believed cloud-to-ground lightning produced far more NOx per flash than intracloud lightning, which occurs within a cloud and far higher in the atmosphere.

The new evidence suggests that the two types of lightning produce approximately the same amount of NOx per flash on average. But since most lightning is intracloud, this suggests a great deal more NOx is produced and remains higher in the atmosphere.Compounding this effect, the research also shows that strong updrafts within thunderstorms help transfer lower level NOx to higher altitudes in the atmosphere.

"We've really started to question some of our old assumptions as we've gotten better at measuring lightning in the field," said Ott.

The observations spring out of field projects conducted in Germany, Colorado, Florida, Kansas, and Oklahoma between 1985 and 2002. For example, in a NASA field campaign called the Cirrus Regional Study of Tropical Anvils and Cirrus Layers Florida - Florida Area Cirrus Experiment (CRYSTAL-FACE) aircraft flew headlong through anvil-shaped thunderheads to measure the anatomy of the thunderstorms. Sensors sampled the pressure, humidity, temperature, wind, and the amount of trace gases such as NOx and ozone.

Later, Ott input this data, as well as additional data from the U.S. National Lightning Detection Network and NASA's Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS), into a complex computer model that simulated the six storms and calculated the amount of NOx that the average flash of lightning produced. With that number, she could then estimate the amount of NOx that lightning produces globally each year.

"One of the things we're trying to understand is how much ozone changes caused by lightning affect radiative forcing, and how that might translate into climate impacts," said Pickering.

There's a possibility that lightning could produce a feedback cycle that accelerates global warming. "If a warming globe creates more thunderstorms," Pickering noted, "that could lead to more NOx production, which leads to more ozone, more radiative forcing, and more warming," Pickering emphasises that this is a theory, and while some global modelling studies suggest this is indeed the case, it has not yet been borne out by field observations.

The new findings also have implications for regional air quality models. Scientists from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), for example, are already plugging the new numbers into a widely-used air quality model called the Community Multi-scale Air Quality Model. "Lightning is one of the smaller factors for surface ozone levels, but in some cases a surge of ozone formed from lightning NOx could be enough to put a community out of compliance with EPA air quality standards during certain times of the year," said Pickering.

Pickering offered one important caveat to the findings: The value of 7 kilograms per flash was derived without consideration of lightning from storms in the tropics, where most of the Earth's lightning occurs. Only very recently have data become available for tropical regions, he noted.

Written by: Adam Voiland
NASA Earth Science News Team

Harvesting energy from nature's motions

Photo: Danleo/WikimediaBy taking advantage of the vagaries of the natural world, Duke University engineers have developed a novel approach that they believe can more efficiently harvest electricity from the motions of everyday life.

Energy harvesting is the process of converting one form of energy, such as motion, into another form of energy, in this case electricity. Strategies range from the development of massive wind farms to produce large amounts of electricity to using the vibrations of walking to power small electronic devices.

Although motion is an abundant source of energy, only limited success has been achieved because the devices used only perform well over a narrow band of frequencies. These so-called "linear" devices can work well, for example, if the character of the motion is fairly constant, such as the cadence of a person walking. However, as researchers point out, the pace of someone walking, as with all environmental sources, changes over time and can vary widely.

"The ideal device would be one that could convert a range of vibrations instead of just a narrow band," said Samuel Stanton, graduate student in Duke's Pratt School of Engineering, working in the laboratory of Brian Mann, assistant professor of mechanical engineering and materials sciences. The team, which included undergraduate Clark McGehee, published the results of their latest experiments early online in Applied Physics Letters.

"Nature doesn't work in a single frequency, so we wanted to come up with a device that would work over a broad range of frequencies," Stanton said. "By using magnets to 'tune' the bandwidth of the experimental device, we were able verify in the lab that this new non-linear approach can outperform conventional linear devices."

Although the device they constructed looks deceptively simple, it was able to prove the team's theories on a small scale. It is basically a small cantilever, several inches long and a quarter inch wide, with an end magnet that interacts with nearby magnets. The cantilever base itself is made of a piezoelectric material, which has the unique property of releasing electrical voltage when it is strained.

The key to the new approach involved placing moveable magnets of opposing poles on either side of the magnet at the end of the cantilever arm. By changing the distance of the moveable magnets, the researchers were able to "tune" the interactions of the system with its environment, and thus produce electricity over a broader spectrum of frequencies.

"These results suggest to us that this non-linear approach could harvest more of the frequencies from the same ambient vibrations," Mann said. "More importantly, being able to capture more of the bandwidth makes it more likely that these types of devices could someday rival batteries as a portable power source."

The range of applications for non-linear energy harvesters varies widely. For example, Mann is working on a project that would use the motion of ocean waves to power an array of sensors that would be carried inside ocean buoys.

"These non-linear systems are self-sustaining, so they are ideal for any electrical device that needs batteries and is in a location that is difficult to access," Mann said.

For example, the motion of walking could provide enough electricity to power an implanted device, such as a pacemaker or cardiac defibrillator. On a larger scale, sensors in the environment or spacecraft could be powered by the everyday natural vibrations around them, Mann said.

Typhoon Mirinae scaring Philippine residents before Halloween

NASA and JAXA's TRMM satellite captured the rainfall in Typhoon Mirinae on Oct. 29 at 1018 UTC. Mirinae had moderate rainfall (yellow-green) around its centre. Rainfall was between .78 to 1.57 inches per hour. Image: NASA /SSAI, Hal PierceAnother typhoon in the northern Philippines really is something to be scared about, and Mirinae is expected to make landfall there in the mid-morning hours on Halloween, October 31. Mirinae will be the fourth major storm to hit the Philippines in one month bringing more rain to an already flood-weary region.

NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite is already hard at work analyzing rainfall, to provide meteorologists with an idea of what can be expected when the storm hits.

NASA and the Japanese Space Agency's TRMM satellite flew over Typhoon Mirinae on October 29 at 1018 UTC and measured its rainfall from space. Mirinae had moderate rainfall between .78 to 1.57 inches per hour around its centre. TRMM images are made at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centre in Greenbelt, Md. and take some ingenuity to create.

A typical TRMM rainfall image combines the infrared and visible channels overlaid with a precipitation analysis from the TRMM Microwave Imager and PR instruments.

The government of the Philippines isn't waiting for the storm to arrive. It is already sending evacuating people and sending in relief supplies.

On October 29 at 11 a.m. EDT (11 p.m. Asia/Manila Time), Mirinae had maximum sustained winds near 90 knots (104 mph or 167 km/hour). Mirinae's centre was about 480 nautical miles east of Manila, near 15.6 North and 128.7 East. It was still moving west near 12 knots (14 mph) and kicking up dangerous waves as high as 31 feet high.

The environment that Typhoon Mirinie is in is enabling the storm to maintain intensity.Mirinae is in an area of light-to-moderate vertical wind shear. Strong wind shear (winds blowing at different levels of the atmosphere) can tear a storm apart, but that's not the case in the Philippine Sea where Mirinae is currently located. In addition, the sea surface temperatures remain warm there, in excess of 28 degrees Celsius (82 Fahrenheit). In order for a typhoon or hurricane to maintain intensity, it needs sea surface temperatures as warm as 80F.

Current forecasts expect Mirinae's centre to make landfall sometime around 8 a.m. Asia/Manila time on October 31, and after 12 hours, the storm is expected to move into the South China Sea.

Tiger experts call for urgent action to save species

Photo: John Hollingsworth, Karen Hollingsworth/USFWSMore than 250 experts, scientists and government delegates from 13 tiger range countries this week called for immediate action to save tigers before the species disappears from the wild, citing the urgent need for increased protection against tiger poaching and trafficking in tiger parts.

WWF welcomes the recommendations from the Kathmandu Global Tiger Workshop 2009, where organisers on Thursday stated in closing remarks that "without immediate, urgent, and transformative actions, wild tigers will disappear forever."

The recommendations from the workshop include support for implementing a resolution related to tigers in the Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES), and to avoid financing development projects that adversely affect critical tiger habitats.

"These are a good start but the momentum from Kathmandu needs to be carried forward all the way to the Tiger Summit during the Year of the Tiger 2010 and beyond," said Mike Baltzer, head of WWF's Tiger Initiative. "The tiger range countries are clearly committed to saving their wild tigers and the world needs to extend unstinting support to this mission because once tigers are gone, they're gone forever."

There are only about 3,200 tigers left in the wild and WWF's goal is to double that number by 2022, the next Year of the Tiger. Tiger populations are declining in face of massive poaching for illegal wildlife trade, habitat loss and fragmentation, and conflict with humans.

"I am convinced we are on the right road to saving tigers," said Dr. Eric Dinerstein, WWF's Chief Scientist, in his closing remarks to delegates from 20 countries at the conclusion of the meeting. "We will look back on this meeting as the dramatic turning point for conserving this magnificent species, its habitats, Asian biodiversity, and the billions of people who depend upon healthy natural landscapes for which tigers are the talisman."

The Kathmandu Global Tiger Workshop is the first in a series of political negotiation meetings occurring throughout the year and leading up to a final Heads of State Tiger Summit in September 2010, which is the Year of the Tiger.

The workshop was hosted by Nepal's Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation, Government of Nepal, and co-organised and co-sponsored by the CITES Secretariat, Global Tiger Forum, Global Tiger Initiative, Save The Tiger Fund, and the World Bank.

Hormones in US beef linked to increased cancer risk

Beef produced in the United States is heavily contaminated with natural or synthetic sex hormones, which are associated with an increased risk of reproductive and childhood cancers, warns Dr. Samuel S. Epstein, Chairman of the Cancer Prevention Coalition.

"Increased levels of sex hormones are linked to the escalating incidence of reproductive cancers in the United States since 1975 - 60% for prostate, 59% for testis, and 10% for breast," Dr. Epstein says.

The hormones in past and current use include the natural estrogen, progesterone and testosterone, and the synthetic zeranol, trenbolone, and melengesterol.

When beef cattle enter feedlots, pellets of these hormones are implanted under the ear skin, a process that is repeated at the midpoint of their 100-day pre-slaughter fattening period, Dr. Epstein explains. These hormones increase carcass weight, adding over $80 in extra profit per animal.

Also, Dr. Epstein says, "Not surprisingly, but contrary to longstanding claims by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), residues of these hormones in meat are up to 20-fold higher than normal."

"Still higher residues result from the not uncommon illegal practice of implantation directly into muscle. Furthermore, contrary to misleading assurances, meat is still not monitored for hormone residues," Dr. Epstein emphasizes.

Nevertheless, he points out, the FDA and USDA maintain that hormone residues in meat are within "normal levels," while waiving any requirements for residue testing.

Following a single ear implant in steers of Synovex-S, a combination of estrogen and progesterone, residues of these hormones in meat were found to be up to 20-fold higher than normal.

The amount of estradiol in two hamburgers eaten in one day by an 8-year-old boy could increase his total hormone levels by as much as 10%, particularly as young children have very low natural hormone levels.

Not surprisingly, Dr. Epstein says, the incidence of childhood cancer has increased by 38% since 1975.

These concerns are not new. As evidenced in a series of General Accountability Office investigations and Congressional hearings, FDA residue-tolerance programs and USDA inspections are in near total disarray, aggravated by brazen denials and cover-ups.

A January 1986 report, "Human Food Safety and the Regulation of Animal Drugs," unanimously approved by the House Committee on Government Operations, concluded that "the FDA has consistently disregarded its responsibility - has repeatedly put what is perceives are interests of veterinarians and the livestock industry ahead of its legal obligation to protect consumers, thus jeopardizing the health and safety of consumers of meat, milk and poultry."

On January 1, 1989, the European Community placed a ban on meat imports from animals treated with growth inducing hormones. This had a direct impact on the U.S. beef industry, which uses hormones in more than half of the cattle sent to market each year.

Twenty-years later, on May 6, 2009, the European Union and the United States settled their long- running dispute over hormone-treated beef. Under terms of the four-year deal the EU will be permitted to maintain its ban on hormone-fed beef. In return, the EU has agreed to increase the amount of hormone-free beef that can be imported from the U.S. without duty.

It is well recognized that American women have about a five-fold greater risk of breast cancer than women in countries that do not permit the sale of hormonal beef.

However, as recently confirmed by studies of cancer rates in Los Angeles County, the most highly populated, ethnically diverse county in the U.S., the low risk in Japanese women in Japan increases sharply in Japanese immigrants to the United States after one to two generations.

This, and a wide range of other studies in migrant populations, is evidence that avoidable causes of breast cancer include adoption of Western dietary habits, particularly the consumption of hormone- laced beef.

Samuel S. Epstein, M.D. is professor emeritus of Environmental and Occupational Medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health; Chairman of the Cancer Prevention Coalition; and a former President of the Rachel Carson Trust. His awards include the 1989 Right Livelihood Award and the 2005 Albert Schweitzer Golden Grand Medal for International Contributions to Cancer Prevention. Dr. Epstein has authored 250 scientific articles and 15 books on cancer prevention, including the groundbreaking The Politics of Cancer (1979), and most recently Toxic Beauty (2009, Benbella Books: www.benbellabooks.com) about carcinogens in cosmetics and personal care products.

EU space missions to strengthen earth observation for Climate and Security

Image:NASAIn 2005, the EU made the strategic choice to develop an independent European space borne earth observation capacity to deliver services in the environmental and security fields, called Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES). This capacity is designed in a way that is firmly rooted on existing capacities led by the European Space Agency (ESA), Eumetsat and individual countries, complemented by additional EU components to ensure its global dimension.

Together these three activity strands are forming the GMES space capabilities. A Communication, adopted today by the European Commission, deals with the achievements and the next steps to bring GMES in a fully operational stage in the most cost efficient way. It however covers only the space component, since it defines largely the scope of the programme as well as of the in situ infrastructure and the overall financial costs.

Vice-President Guenter Verheugen, Commissioner for Enterprise and Industry, said: " GMES is essential for understanding climate change, supporting the EU emergency missions and improving the security of citizens. Further steps need to be taken to ensure that the investment put in so far pays off and that GMES becomes fully operational in the most cost-conscious way. This public investment on cutting edge infrastructure marks a turning point in the implementation of the European Space Policy. "

Overall, good progress has been made and the build-up phase of the GMES Space Component is well underway under the coordination of the European Space Agency (ESA). Since 2008, four pre-operational GMES services have been launched, including: land monitoring, marine operations, atmospheric composition monitoring and emergency response. GMES services have already proven helpful for the EU and the international Community, in particular in responding to such disasters as floods and earthquakes in Southeast Asia and the forest fires in Europe in an efficient and timely manner.

When outlining the next steps the Commission highlights that further steps need to be taken to ensure that the investment taken so far pays off and that GMES becomes fully operational in the most cost-conscious way.

Significant resources have been allocated both through ESA and the EU budget through the 7 th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (2007-2013) to develop GMES. Current combined investments 1, implemented through the ESA GMES Space Component Programme, amount to 626 MO (28 per cent) and 1621 MO (72 per cent) by the EU budget and ESA Participating States contributions respectively. This investment will ensure the development of 12 Sentinel constellations and will also ensure data access schemes to the relevant EUMETSAT, ESA and national missions. In addition, the GMES Space Component programme relies on some 40 missions carried out by Member States, ESA, EUMETSAT and other third parties to meet the needs for GMES services.

To start the operational phase for GMES in time 2011, further funding decisions have to be made, both by the EU and by ESA. The Commission has already laid the ground for the relevant EU decision.

Furthermore it is stressed that according to the ESA Long-term Scenario 2 analysis and based on all investments already made, the financial effort for operating GMES would represent in total some O 4 billion for the period 2014-2020. This forecasted investment includes estimated annual costs of O 430 million for the operational activities and O170 million for R&D. Much however depends on the scope of GMES, since any upgrade beyond 2020 would imply further costs, notably if GMES would be given a strong security dimension.

New model may help scientists better predict and prevent influenza outbreaks

Each year, the influenza virus evolves. And each year, public health officials try to predict what the new strain will be and how it will affect the population in order to best combat it.

A new study by an international team of researchers, led by assistant professor Andrew W. Park, who holds a joint appointment in the University of Georgia Odum School of Ecology and in the College of Veterinary Medicine, may make their task a little easier. The study breaks ground by working across scales and linking sub-molecular changes in the influenza virus to the likelihood of influenza outbreaks. The paper, published in the Oct. 30 edition of the journal Science, shows the relationship between the evolution of the virus and immunisation rates needed to prevent an outbreak in the population.

Park explained that these findings can help inform efforts to prevent future outbreaks. “Public health officials will be able to assess the usefulness of a vaccine based upon its relationship to the current influenza strain and the population’s immunity level,” he said.

Through previous vaccinations or infections with earlier strains of the influenza virus, many individuals already have some level of immunity, Park noted. The influenza virus is continually evolving, however. By substituting different amino acids at key molecular points, the virus increases its chances of evading the immune system’s defenses, allowing it to reproduce and spread.

As the number of amino acid differences between a new strain and the strain an individual was vaccinated against increases, the likelihood of becoming infected increases, Park said, as does the likelihood of becoming infectious and the length of time they will remain infectious. These factors combine to increase the chance of an outbreak in a population.

Working with equine influenza, the research team looked at the likelihood of an influenza outbreak in a population that had all been vaccinated with the same strain of the virus. They found that outbreaks began occurring when there were two or more amino acid differences and that the size of the outbreak increased with the number of amino acid differences. They also found that large outbreaks were more likely to occur if the virus and the vaccine were from different antigenic clusters – meaning that a host's immune system perceives the two strains as different. Comparing these results with an earlier human influenza study revealed similar trends.

Another key factor in determining the risk of an outbreak in real populations, however, is the individual variation of immunity in the population. Because the virus keeps changing, so do the vaccines used against it. This causes the immunity of the population to be heterogeneous – some individuals have been infected with or vaccinated against last year’s influenza strain, some against strains from previous years, and some have no immunity at all. Park and his colleagues found that the degree of variability of immunity in the population plays a crucial role in determining the risk of an outbreak.

Park added that in measuring for the first time how the difference between the population’s immunity status and a new virus strain influences the risk of an epidemic, the team has taken a critical step toward linking these relationships with the dynamics of epidemics, not just for influenza but for a wide range of infectious diseases.

Scientists from conflict-ridden region come together for environment sake

An unprecedented effort to collect air pollution data in the Middle East has united researchers in a region mired in conflict.

Scientists in Israel, Jordan and Palestine initiated the four-year project with funding through the U.S. Agency for International Development Middle East Regional Cooperation Programme. Research partners included the Jordanian Society for Sustainable Development, Al-Quds University, and the Arava Institute of Environmental Studies.

University of Wisconsin-Madison civil and environmental engineering professor Jamie Schauer served as project adviser. Jamie is an internationally recognised expert in developing tools to identify the sources of atmospheric aerosols and using such data to assess the effects of aerosols on health, climate and the environment.

He helped the researchers design the study, choose sampling equipment, train staff to operate the sample collectors, develop chemical analysis strategies and quality-control measures, and analyse the data.

Schauer is among authors of the first research paper related to the study, published online this month in the journal Environmental Science and Technology.

The study area spans international boundaries within an area the size of the Los Angeles air basin. The region has air-pollution levels that do not meet World Health Organisation standards, says Schauer.

"One of the goals of the project is looking at the chemical composition of the atmospheric aerosols so we can understand the sources are and how they can be controlled to mitigate unhealthy air," he says.

The research team set up air-monitoring sites in 11 locations - including two in Jerusalem - that ranged from urban and industrial areas to costal ports. They collected samples every sixth day for a year, then chemically analysed the samples and studied the data to identify and better understand particulate matter sources, such as biomass burning, vehicle emissions, or transport from Europe or Africa. One of the key conclusions, says Schauer, was that in some of the industrial areas, levels of pollution, and, in particular, toxins, were very high.

From a scientific standpoint, he says the research forged new ground and paved the way for future cooperation among Israel, Palestine and Jordan for environmental research and air-pollution mitigation. "The project was wildly successful in the sense that we've collected detailed chemical data about aerosols and particulate matter that has never been collected in the region before," he says.

Although the researchers gathered data that can provide a baseline for future studies, they also learned to use Schauer's advanced tools for chemically analysing air pollutants. That knowledge is key as new research continues to link atmospheric particulate matter to public health concerns, ecosystem effects and climate change.

"As awareness about the impact of atmospheric particulate matter has grown rapidly in the U.S. - it's still a very new field - there are many parts of the world where studies of this nature have not been conducted yet," says Schauer. "Helping to develop the research and monitoring capacity to measure and study the sources of atmospheric particulate matter is very important to me."

Beyond the opportunity to share his knowledge and tools, Schauer says it was amazing to be involved in a project that joined researchers despite political challenges.

"The science transcends those challenges," he says. "The broader impacts of this study are beyond anything that I had anticipated to participate in within my research efforts."

Princeton University's environment-friendly shuttle system

One of the new biodiesel-powered buses stops for passengers at the West Garage. Photo: Brian Wilson Princeton University's shuttle system, this fall has launched 10 new buses that run on B20 diesel fuel. The shuttles also are traveling on new routes that include 701 Carnegie Center as well as shopping and dining venues.

The biodiesel fuel powering the buses has demonstrated significant environmental benefits by reducing carbon dioxide emissions, one of the goals of the University's Sustainability Plan. The new buses also feature increased seating capacity from 14 to 30, low floors with full accessibility and a rear access wheelchair ramp with capacity on the vehicle for two wheelchairs.

Each bus has a front rack for two bicycles and light-emitting diode (LED) signage on the front and sides for better visibility at night. There are doors in the front and the back for quicker loading and unloading. Each bus also is equipped with "TigerTracker," a Web-based GPS that enables riders to track the location of buses online by computers and by Web-enabled mobile devices.

All of the TigerTransit buses used on a regular basis now run on biodiesel fuel, including four 14-passenger buses that have been in the fleet since January. Several of the 30-passenger buses used last spring that run on normal diesel fuel will remain in the fleet as spares when additional capacity is needed during peak hours.

Ancient ocean oxygen production began 100 million years earlier than thought

Scientists studied 2.5 billion-year-old sediments from under Australia's red-weathered hills. Photo: Ariel Anbar/ASUEven low concentrations of oxygen can have profound effects on ocean chemistry

Scientists widely accept that around 2.4 billion years ago, the Earth's atmosphere underwent a dramatic change when oxygen levels rose sharply.

Called the "Great Oxidation Event" (GOE), the oxygen spike marks an important milestone in Earth's history, the transformation from an oxygen-poor atmosphere to an oxygen-rich one, paving the way for complex life to develop.

Two questions that remain unresolved in studies of the early Earth are when oxygen production via photosynthesis got started, and when it began to alter the chemistry of Earth's ocean and atmosphere.

Now a research team led by geoscientists at the University of California at Riverside (UCR) corroborates recent evidence that oxygen production began in Earth's oceans at least 100 million years before the GOE.

"Their findings go a step farther," says Enriqueta Barrera, program director in the National Science Foundation (NSF)'s division of earth sciences, which funded the research along with NASA, "to demonstrating that even very low concentrations of oxygen can have profound effects on ocean chemistry."

Study results appear in this week's issue of the journal Science.

To arrive at their results, the researchers analysed 2.5 billion-year-old black shales from Western Australia. Fossilised pieces of the ancient seafloor, the fine layers within the rocks allowed the researchers to page through ocean chemistry's evolving history.

The shales revealed that episodes of hydrogen sulfide accumulation in the oxygen-free deep ocean occurred nearly 100 million years before the GOE, and up to 700 million years earlier than such conditions were predicted by past models.

Scientists have long believed that the early ocean, for more than half of Earth's 4.6 billion-year history, was characterised by high amounts of dissolved iron under conditions of essentially no oxygen.

"The conventional wisdom has been that appreciable atmospheric oxygen is needed for sulfidic conditions to develop in the ocean," said Chris Reinhard, an earth scientist at UCR and one of the research team members.

"We found, however, that sulfidic conditions in the ocean are possible even when there is very little oxygen, below about 1/100,000th of that in the modern atmosphere."

Even very low oxygen levels in the atmosphere, the mineral pyrite can weather on the continents, resulting in the delivery of sulfate to the ocean by rivers. Sulfate is the key ingredient in hydrogen sulfide formation in the ocean.

Timothy Lyons, a UCR biogeochemist who led the research, explained that the hydrogen sulfide in the ocean is a fingerprint of photosynthetic production of oxygen 2.5 billion years ago.

"A pre-GOE emergence for oxygenic photosynthesis is a matter of intense debate, and its resolution lies at the heart of understanding the evolution of diverse forms of life," he said. "We have found an important piece of that puzzle."

"Our data point to oxygen-producing photosynthesis long before concentrations of oxygen in the atmosphere were even a tiny fraction of what they are today, suggesting that oxygen-consuming chemical reactions were offsetting much of the production," said Reinhard.

The researchers argue that the presence of small amounts of oxygen may have stimulated the early evolution of eukaryotes--organisms whose cells bear nuclei--millions of years prior to the GOE.

"This initial oxygen production set the stage for the development of animals almost two billion years later," Lyons said. "The evolution of eukaryotes had to take place first."

The findings also have implications for the search for life on extrasolar planets.
"Our findings add to growing evidence suggesting that biological production of oxygen is a necessary but not sufficient condition for the evolution of complex life," Reinhard said.

"A planetary atmosphere with abundant oxygen would provide a very promising biosignature.

"But one of the lessons is that just because spectroscopic measurements don't detect oxygen in the atmosphere of another planet, doesn't necessarily mean that no biological oxygen production is taking place."

To analyse the shales, Reinhard first pulverised them into a fine powder in Lyons's laboratory.

Next, the powder was treated with a series of chemicals to extract different minerals. The extracts were then run on a mass-spectrometer.

"One exciting thing about our discovery of sulfidic conditions occurring before the GOE is that it might shed light on ocean chemistry during other periods in the geologic record, such as a poorly understood 400 million-year interval between the GOE and around 1.8 billion years ago," Reinhard said, "a point in time when the deep oceans stopped showing signs of high iron concentrations.

"Now perhaps we have an explanation. If sulfidic conditions could occur with very small amounts of oxygen around, then they might have been even more common and widespread after the GOE."

Said Lyons, "This is important because oxygen-poor and sulfidic conditions almost certainly impacted the availability of nutrients essential to life, such as nitrogen and trace metals. The evolution of the ocean and atmosphere were in a cause-and-effect balance with the evolution of life."

Reinhard and Lyons were joined in the research by Clint Scott of UCR; Ariel Anbar of the Arizona State University, Tempe; and Rob Raiswell of the University of Leeds, UK.

Tanzanian farmers to be nudged towards the market

Food processing in Tanzania. Photo: FAOTrained advisers will teach good production and marketing practices

UN Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) is to provide the United Republic of Tanzania with advisory support for farmers that will help them better respond to market opportunities and thus heighten food security.

Tanzania's farmers - for the most part traditional smallholders - will get technical assistance in farm management and marketing and will be encouraged to join producers' groups.

The project, which is conceived to help the country's agricultural sector move from subsistence to commercial farming, will cost USD2.8 million and is to be funded by Germany.

Farmers will be trained in business management and marketing. The programme will result in better extension services capable of giving small farmers a market orientation.

If greater emphasis is given to good practices in both production and marketing, FAO said, decision-makers at all levels in Tanzania will be in a better position to ensure that wherever possible agricultural production will respond to the demands of consumers and not just to that of the individual household.

Training materials will be distributed and coaching and monitoring will also be part of the package designed to help smallholders grow beyond the subsistence level.

The German-funded FAO project should provide the quality advisory services that can help smallholders improve agriculture productivity, marketing methods and, ultimately, income. A major effort will be made to set up farmer learning groups and, at a later stage, to increase contacts among farmers, and between farmers, banks and market outlets.

Windfarm consent could seriously damage internationally protected habitat

RSPB Scotland has expressed its concerns at a decision to grant consent to a wind farm within a designated Special Protection Area (SPA) on the island of Lewis.

Officials at Comhairle nan Eilean Siar Environment Committee have approved the Pentland Road Windfarm on the island - a six turbine 13 megawatt development that sits within the boundary of the Lewis Peatlands SPA to the south west of the island's capital, Stornoway. It will now go to a meeting of the full council next week, but is expected to meet little resistance.

Despite guidelines from SNH calling for raptors to be observed for at least a year to properly determine flight habits, the developer's eagle survey was conducted over two months.

A one-day survey was conducted by local SNH officers in 2003. After finding only two pairs of grouse within 750 metres of the proposed turbines, SNH concluded that this would not represent a significant loss of the eagle's prey, and therefore that "the predicted core range stated in the ES does not reflect the eagles' actual range use".

Martin Scott, Western Isles conservation officer for RSPB Scotland, said: "We are extremely disappointed at this decision, which is clearly based on poor, or completely absent, background information. It is an awful irony that such positive steps were made in protecting the Lewis Peatlands SPA from the larger Lewis Windpower proposal, and yet now a smaller development can sneak through and have a negative impact on this fantastic wildlife habitat.

"We will be scrutinising this decision in great detail, as we believe that there were alternatives available to placing this development on an internationally important designated wildlife site. A number of years have elapsed since this proposal was openly looked at and discussed and it is hugely disappointing to now witness it being driven through. Much has changed in recent years, but this has not been reflected in the planning process."

Aedán Smith, head of planning and development at RSPB Scotland, said: "We desperately need more renewable energy developments to help tackle climate change - but renewable energy can and must be delivered in a way that avoids harming our most important places for wildlife. This is simply the wrong place for a wind farm. There are enough right places."

He added: "Special Protection Areas (SPAs) are some of our most important places for birds. SNH have quite rightly insisted on the rigorous assessment of other proposals that could affect SPAs. We were therefore very surprised and disappointed at the relatively poor quality assessment accepted in this case and we will be looking at the decision very closely over the next few days."

Colombia creates new national park

The Government of Colombia has announced that it was creating a new national park at the request of the local indigenous community. This is a major step forward in the complicated relationship between conservationists and indigenous groups, according to Conservation International.

The Yaigojé Apaporis Park was created to safeguard an area of more than 1,056,523 hectares (about 2,610,725 acres) of forest at the intersection of the Amazon Basin and the Guiana Shield, and will be managed by the indigenous groups who inhabit the Connecticut-sized area.

The area – which straddles the banks of the Caquetá River and its tributary, the Apaporis River – is home to the Tanimuka, Letuama, Makuna, Yuhup, Barasano, Itana, Eduria and Tatuyo ethnic groups, and was previously classified as an indigenous reserve. However, this status – under existing Colombian legislation – did not provide the communities with the power to protect their land when a Canadian gold-mining company began prospecting in the area two years ago.

So the communities looked to a solution that would increase their rights to oversee the future of the land – the creation of a national park. They worked with Conservation International and the Gaia Amazonas Foundation to appeal to the country’s National Parks Unit to better protect the region’s resources.

Fabio Arjona, executive director of Conservation International in Colombia said: “The announcement is a hugely significant step forward for conservation, both globally and in Colombia. It has helped to break-down barriers that have existed between conservation and indigenous groups – who initially resisted efforts to increase protection in their forests because of concerns that it would reduce their ability to manage the lands as they wish to. But in creating this new park we have worked together to create an area that protects both the rights of indigenous people and this hugely important area of forest.”

The area’s lowland forests have great biodiversity and shelter unique and threatened species such as the black curassow (Crax alector), the brown wooly monkey (Lagothrix lagotricha) and the endemic Apaporis river caiman (Caiman crocodilus apaporiensis).

As managers of the new park, the indigenous communities can restrict gold mining and other activities. They will continue to be free to use the park’s resources for their daily needs and cultural traditions, as long as certain conservation standards are met. The National Parks Unit and Association of Traditional Authorities of the Yaigojé Apaporis (ACIYA) will work together to determine and enforce these standards.

Dr. Samuel Epstein's 20 year fight against biotech, cancer-causing milk

Twenty years ago, back when Frank Young, M.D. was Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, he received a report from Samuel S. Epstein, M.D. entitled "Potential Public Health Hazards of Biosynthetic Milk Hormones," warning of the public health dangers of consuming milk from hormone-treated cows.

Injection of cows with recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH), the genetically engineered, potent variant of the natural growth hormone produced by cows, sharply elevates levels of insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) in milk, Dr. Epstein warned the commissioner.

IGF-1, which is readily absorbed through the small intestine, increases the risk of cancer in people who drink milk from cows treated with rBGH, he warned. In 1989, Dr. Epstein had found evidence of breast cancer resulting from IGF-1 ingestion; a few years later colon and prostate data began to emerge.

Samuel S. EpsteinIn his role as professor of environmental and occupational medicine with the School of Public Health, University of Illinois Medical Center in Chicago, Dr. Epstein urged the FDA Commissioner to ban the manufacture and sale of rBGH, as well as milk from treated cows, until all public and veterinary health and safety concerns were resolved.

Manufactured by Monsanto, rBGH is sold to dairy farmers under the trade name Posilac. Injection of this hormone forces cows to increase their milk production by about 10 per cent. Monsanto has stated that about one third of dairy cows are in herds where the hormone is used.

Dr. Epstein warns that rBGH milk is often contaminated with pus, due to mastitis, an udder infection commonly induced by rBGH, and also with antibiotics used to treat the mastitis. This poses risks of nationwide antibiotic resistance to life threatening infections, he warns.

His 1989 report criticised Monsanto for failing to disclose their unpublished data and for the company's refusal to label milk from rBGH-treated cows, which denies consumers the right to know when they consume hormonal milk.

"These concerns are further exacerbated by the abdication of regulatory responsibility by the FDA and USDA," Dr. Epstein wrote.

Dr. Epstein did not wait for government action.

In the September/October 1989 issue of the journal The Ecologist, of which he was associate editor, Dr. Epstein published the first major warning to reach the public about the risks of consuming rBGH milk.

In addition to increased risk of breast cancer, consuming hormonal milk increased stress, increased susceptibility to allergens, and suppressed the body's immune system, making the consumer more vulnerable to infectious diseases, the Ecologist article stated.

In Britain, the article explained, field trials of the hormone were being conducted secretly.

In the United States, the FDA granted the industry immunity from measuring hormone concentrations in milk from cows treated with rBGH.

Dr. Epstein objected that this exemption violated the 1938 Federal Food Drug and Cosmetic Act, which requires the FDA to have a "prescribed and approved test method" for determining whether a drug is being improperly used with resulting illegal residues in food. But no test was available for rBGH milk.

In September 1989, Dr. Epstein testified on these matters to the Wisconsin State Assembly Committee on Agriculture, and the following year, published an article based on his testimony in the International Journal of Health Services.

He has repeatedly called on government to require the industry to "fund research in accordance with independently approved protocols" supervised by a "neutral, independent intermediary" such as the National Institutes of Health or the National Science Foundation.

In December 1990, Dr. Epstein presented these views at a conference hosted by the National Institutes of Health, warning that high IGF-1 levels could increase the risk of breast cancer in people who drink rBGH milk.

Nevertheless, in 1993, the FDA approved the commercial sale of milk from rBGH-treated cows and issued regulations banning the labeling of rBGH milk.

In 1994, FDA Commissioner David Kessler, M.D. received a letter from Dr. Epstein expressing his "grave concerns" about the risks of breast and colon cancer from consumption of hormonal milk.

Now chairman of his new nonprofit organisation, the Cancer Prevention Coalition," Dr. Epstein wrote, "IGF-1 induces malignant transformation of normal human breast epithelial cells. IGF-1 is a growth factor for human breast cancer cells, maintaining their malignancy, progression and invasiveness. IGF-1 has similarly been associated with colon cancer."

The letter urged Kessler to revoke the agency's approval of rBGH registration.

Given these concerns, dairy farmers began assuring the public by putting "hormone-free" labels on milk from cows that had not been injected with rBGH. A month later, the Los Angeles Times published an article by Dr. Epstein blasting the FDA for the labeling ban.

The labeling ban was challenged by nationwide grassroots consumers groups, and by two milk suppliers, both of whom were sued by Monsanto.

In a range of public arenas, from 1996 Chicago hearings on the labeling of genetically modified foods to a 1998 article in the "International Journal of Health Services," Dr. Epstein continued to warn that rBGH milk poses increased risks for breast and colon cancer.

"In short," he wrote in the 1998 article, "with the active complicity of the FDA, the entire nation is currently being subjected to an experiment involving large-scale adulteration of an age-old dietary staple by a poorly characterised and unlabeled biotechnology product. Disturbingly, this experiment benefits only a very small segment of the agri-chemical industry while providing no matching benefits to consumers. Even more disturbingly, it poses major public health risks for the entire U.S. population."

In March 1998, Dr. Epstein added a new warning about consumption of rBGH milk - prostate cancer.

In the journal Gene Therapy Weekly, he wrote that rBGH milk is "supercharged with high levels of abnormally potent IGF-1, up to 10 times the levels in natural milk and over 10 times more potent."

"Apart from prostate cancer," he warned, "multiple lines of evidence have also incriminated the role of IGF-1 as risk factors for breast, colon and childhood cancers."

After 10 years of warnings based on in-depth scientific documentation, Dr. Epstein began to get support in his fight against hormonal milk.

In March 1999, the Scientific Committee of the European Commission released a report finding excess levels of IGF-1 in milk of cows injected with rBGH. The report concluded that the excess IGF-1 poses serious risks of breast and prostate cancer.

Commenting on the Scientific Committee's report, Dr. Epstein criticised Codex, the World Health Organisation responsible for setting international food safety standards, which had approved hormonal milk. "FDA officials and industry consultants are members of Codex, which meets in secrecy and relies on unpublished industry assurances of safety," he wrote.

Just five months later, in August 1999, Codex unexpectedly ruled in favor of the 1993 European Union moratorium on rBGH milk. The ruling forced the United States to abandon its threat to challenge the moratorium at the World Trade Organisation.

Cancer Prevention Coalition warnings were endorsed by the National Family Farm Coalition, representing 30 organisations, and also by the Campaign Against rBGH, representing 10 organisations.

The Organic Consumers Association and Director Ronnie Cummins endorsed the campaign to educate the public about the dangers of rBGH milk. In a joint 2005 editorial in the journal Medical Veritas Epstein and Cummins wrote, "...increased IGF-1 blood levels have been incriminated as a major cause of cancer."

Over 100 leading independent experts in cancer prevention and public health, plus citizen activist groups endorsed this warning, wrote Epstein and Cummins.

This endorsement was coupled with insistence that the public has "an absolute right-to-know" of information on avoidable causes of cancer, "a democratic right which the agribusiness and FDA continue to subvert," they wrote.

In 2006, Dr. Epstein published the book, What's in Your Milk? An Expos of Industry and Government Cover-Up on the Dangers of the Genetically Engineered (rBGH) Milk You're Drinking, (Trafford Publishing).

Monsanto, supported by the FDA, insists that rBGH milk is indistinguishable from natural milk, and that it is safe for consumers. "This is blatantly false," wrote Dr. Epstein, listing the dangers of milk from cows treated with the hormone. rBGH makes cows sick. Monsanto has been forced to admit to about 20 toxic effects, including mastitis, on its Posilac label.

rBGH milk is contaminated by pus, due to the mastitis commonly induced by rBGH, and antibiotics used to treat the mastitis.

Different in many ways

rBGH milk is chemically, and nutritionally different than natural milk. Milk from cows injected with rBGH is contaminated with the hormone, traces of which are absorbed through the gut into the blood. rBGH milk is supercharged with high levels of the natural growth factor, IGF-1, which is readily absorbed through the gut. Excess levels of IGF-1 have been incriminated as a cause of breast, colon, and prostate cancers.

*IGF-1 blocks natural defense mechanisms against early submicroscopic cancers.

*rBGH factory farms pose a major threat to the viability of small dairy farms.

*rBGH enriches Monsanto, while posing dangers, without any benefits, to consumers,
especially in view of the current national surplus of milk.

Of still greater concern, based on 37 published scientific studies as detailed in the book, excess levels of IGF-1 in rBGH milk pose major risks of breast, colon and prostate cancers.

Not surprisingly rBGH milk is banned in Canada, the EU and internationally.

The book features an Introduction by Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream and president of the group Business Leaders for Sensible Priorities. The Foreword was written by Jeffrey M. Smith, author of the bestseller Seeds of Deception.

The book attracted endorsements from Congressman John Conyers, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee; Mark Achbar, executive producer of the multiple prize-winning documentary The Corporation; Dr. Joseph Mercola, founder of the world's most visited natural health website; Quentin Young, M.D., chairman of the Health and Medicine Policy Research Group and past president of the American Public Health Association; and Peter I. Hardin, editor and publisher of "The Milkweed," an influential monthly publication covering the dairy industry.

Other endorsers included Ken Ausubel, author of "Seeds of Change" and director of the Bioneers conferences; and Anna Lappe, author of "Diet for a Small Planet."

The book is a unique resource on rBGH milk. It presents Dr. Epstein's trailblazing scientific publications since 1989, which have played a major role in influencing other nations, including Canada, 24 European nations, Norway, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan to ban rBGH milk.

The book also presents the author's editorials and letters to major newspapers, and correspondence with the FDA, Congressman Conyers, and other key members of Congress.

In the book, Epstein also details evidence of interlocking conflicts of interest between Monsanto and the White House, the American Medical Association and American Cancer Society. He presents evidence of Monsanto's white collar crime; the suppression and manipulation of information on the veterinary and public health dangers of rBGH milk; and evidence of Monsanto's "Hit Squad," which attempted to stifle and discredit him.

Monsanto's corporate recklessness, compounded by FDA's complicity and refusal to require labeling of rBGH milk, more than justify the rejection of any assurances of its safety. Of further interest is the critical relevance of this information to the ongoing growing concerns and debate on genetically engineered foods, including irrefutable evidence discrediting the "trust us" safety assurances of Monsanto, and other industries.

The book also presents resource materials, including listings of national and international anti-biotech, public health, veterinary and animal rights activist groups. Also listed are rBGH-free U.S. dairy producers, such as Horizon Organic, and Swiss Valley Farms.

In 2007, Andrew C. von Eschenbach, M.D. was the FDA Commissioner. The Cancer Prevention Coalition petitioned the FDA, seeking withdrawal of the New Animal Drug application for rBST. This petition was endorsed by the Organic Consumers Association, Farm Defenders, the Institute for Responsible Technology and by Hungarian biologist Arpad Pusztai.

The petition asks that the FDA suspend approval of the rBGH product Posilac and/or require that milk and other dairy products produced by injecting Posilac carry warning labels stating, "Produced with the use of Posilac, and contains elevated levels of IGF-1, a major risk factor for breast, prostate and colon cancers."

It is currently estimated that about 20 per cent of U.S. milk is produced with the use of rBGH.

Still considered the leading international scientific expert on hormonal milk, Dr. Epstein is not waiting for government action on rBGH milk, although all the concerns he has expressed over the past 20 years are still outstanding.

On October 14, 2009 he criticised a widely publicised report, "Recombinant Bovine Somatotropin," which repeats claims that milk from cows injected with rBGH is safe, pointing out that the report was authored by eight paid consultants to rBST companies, including Elanco and Monsanto.

Dr. Epstein is now professor emeritus of environmental medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health, and Chairman of the Cancer Prevention Coalition. He is the author of 270 scientific publications, and author or co-author of 12 books, including the prize winning 1978 The Politics of Cancer, the 1995 The Safe Shopper's Bible, and the 2005 Cancer-Gate: How to Win the Losing Cancer War.

Dr. Epstein has been the recipient of many awards, including the 1998 Right Livelihood Award, the Alternative Nobel Prize, for his incomparable contributions to cancer prevention, and for his leadership role in warning of the dangers of rBGH milk. Dr. Epstein received the 2000 Project Censored Award. In 2005, Dr. Epstein was awarded the Albert Schweitzer Golden Grand Medal for Humanitarianism, and International Contributions to Cancer Prevention.

Olympic support for sustainable tourism initiative

Usain Bolt. Photo: Richard Giles/WikimediaOlympic champion sprinter Usain Bolt took a break from the track on Friday to launch the Zeitz Foundation's Long Run Initiative, which aims to create and support ecotourism projects around the world.

The Long Run Initiative's pilot project in Kenya is a 50,000 acre solar and wind-powered conservancy in the Rift Valley region with a negligible carbon footprint.

"Although I am known for running short distances, I want to inspire others to join me in the long run. Anything worth doing is worth striving for and the future of our planet is the ultimate cause," said Bolt, the Zeitz Foundation's Cultural Ambassador.

Speaking at the organisation's press launch in Nairobi, Zeitz Programme Director, Liz Rihoy, said she was hopeful that the project will be a driver of green growth in the region by creating a model for using tourism to promote the protection of natural habitats.

Kenyan Foreign Affairs Minister, Moses Wetangula, and World Indoor Hurdles Record Holder, Colin Jackson, were among the dignitaries who showed up in force to support the event.

According to Jochen Zeitz, founder of the Zeitz Foundation, the 2009 film "Home" on the state of the planet, by UNEP Goodwill Ambassador and renowned French filmmaker, Yann Arthus-Bertrand, was the main inspiration for the project. "The stunning depiction of the workings of the planet demonstrates that we can all make a contribution to a sustainable world," he said.

Besides Kenya, the Long Run Initiative will launch Ecotourism projects in Brazil, Tanzania, Costa Rica, Indonesia, New Zealand, Sweden and Namibia. The projects are expected to contribute to the conservation of natural and cultural heritage in these countries.

Ecotourism is of special interest to UNEP for its impact on conservation, sustainability, and biological diversity.

As a development tool, ecotourism advance the basic goals of the Convention on Biological Diversity by strengthening protected area management and increasing the value of ecosystems and wildlife. Ecotourism projects also offer a sustainable approach to conservation by helping generate income, jobs and business opportunities, benefiting businesses and local communities.

Pesticide salesman to represent US agricultural interests

Obama administration's nomination of Islam Siddiqui, a former pesticide lobbyist, to be the chief agricultural negotiator in the Office of the US Trade Representative has kicked up a controversy with sustainable agriculture advocates from around the US expressing deep disappointment with the decision.

An article in Politico [“Ag Nomination Steams Greens”] noted the controversy surrounding his nomination by environmental and family farm groups.

Siddiqui is currently a vice-president at Croplife America, an agrochemical industry trade group representing Monsanto, Syngenta, DuPont and Dow Chemical, among others. Croplife America’s regional partner, Mid America CropLife Association, notoriously “shuddered” at Michelle Obama’s organic garden and launched a letter writing campaign in protest. Katherine Ozer, executive director for the National Family Farm Coalition, said, “We are still baffled by the White House nominating a pesticide lobbyist for this key position, severely undermining their credibility and rhetoric about the need for Americans to have access to local, healthy, sustainable food."

The White House issued a defense of Siddiqui that unravels under scruitiny, “During his time at USDA, Dr. Siddiqui led the first phase of development for national organic natural food standards in the US.” Organic Consumers Association was formed in the wake of this controversial first phase, and expressed surprise and shock that the White House would use this to bolster the case for Siddiqui.

Alexis Baden-Mayer, political director for OCA, said, “Our organisation was formed in 1998 due to the massive backlash consumers had against USDA’s initial controversial proposed regulations for organic food that would have outrageously allowed for toxic sludge, irradiated foods and genetically modified organisms to be labeled ‘organic.’ Only after an unprecedented 230,000 consumers wrote USDA to protest the rules were they strengthened. This only confirms to us why Siddiqui is the wrong choice for this position.”

Dr. Marcia Ishii-Eiteman, senior scientist at Pesticide Action Network, noted the double standard of ostensibly advocating for more sustainable food at home while Siddiqui's appointment in fact advances an agenda that undermines developing countries’ capacity to feed themselves: “Putting a CropLife official and former paid lobbyist in charge of US agricultural trade policy sends the worst kind of message to the world. This appointment tells the world that the US will continue to value the interests of our massive chemical pesticide and biotech industry over any serious concern for public health, the environment or the well-being of farmworkers and communities around the world. We will be calling on the Senate Finance Committee to reject this nomination.”

Andrew Kimbrell, executive director of the Center for Food Safety, added, “An Administration that nominates the top salesman of the pesticide/biotech industry to represent US agricultural interests overseas cannot be taken seriously as an advocate of sustainable agriculture. The US should promote organic and sustainable farming, not pesticides and GM crops.”

Farmworker groups fighting for years to regulate pesticide use were also disappointed by the White House’s defense of Siddiqui. The Farmworker Association of Florida, which represents 6,700 farm worker families working in the tomato and citrus industries, remains disturbed by the appointment.

“Siddiqui’s role at USTR will not be about promoting organic products, but eliminating trade barriers for developing countries to accept toxic chemicals and pesticides,” said Tirso Moreno, general coordinator for FWAF. “That is CropLife America’s agenda. They continue to try to stop any international attempts to help us regulate pesticide uses. Farmworkers have the highest rate of chemical-related illnesses of any occupational group. Our community suffers from nausea, liver damage, birth defects, and cancer as a result of exposure to these poisons. For the health of farmworkers around the world, we urge that his nomination be rejected.”

Clean, clean, clean to halt winter bird diseases

A diseased greenfinch. Photo: RSPBWe're urging good hygiene around bird feeders, tables and water baths to help garden birds stay healthy this winter.

Cold weather can trigger outbreaks of diseases that seriously affect garden birds, so we've released advice on how to help reduce the risk of infections spreading.

Wild birds in gardens are susceptible to a variety of diseases, such as certain strains of salmonella in winter, and trichomoniasis in late summer and autumn.

And as the weather gets colder, larger numbers of birds visit gardens for our food supplies and fresh, unfrozen water, making it easier for disease to spread.

The diseases can spread especially quickly if droppings are allowed to mix with uneaten food.

In really cold snaps, birds’ resistance to illness becomes even lower making them particularly vulnerable, and disease can easily kill them.

But we believe that taking steps to keep feeding stations clean and healthy can be very effective in protecting garden birds.

It’s extremely rare for any bird diseases to pass to people or to pets like cats and dogs. Nevertheless, we recommend careful hand washing after cleaning feeders and water baths.

Choosing feeders and water baths that can be thoroughly cleaned in the first instance is vital.

Sick birds can be very obvious. Typical signs include lethargy and fluffed up plumage. In some diseases, there are additional symptoms like drooling saliva, regurgitating food, difficulty swallowing and laboured breathing. Some may have matted wet plumage around the face and beak or swelling in the neck.

RSPB wildlife adviser, Kirsi Peck, says, “As the weather gets colder, and our birds come into our gardens in bigger numbers, it is no surprise they can become vulnerable to diseases. It can be very distressing to find sick or dead birds, but there are things you can do to avoid it happening. We all think good hygiene is important in our homes and it need be no great effort to do the same in our garden. We’d urge everyone to clean their baths and feeders regularly to help keep garden bird infections to a minimum.”

Lawsuit seeks endangered species protection for American pika

Photo: Centre for Biological DiversityThe Centre for Biological Diversity, represented by Earthjustice, has returned to state court seeking protection for the American pika under the California Endangered Species Act due to threats from global warming. The conservation groups are asking the court to intervene once again to overturn a second improper decision by the California Fish and Game Commission to reject a petition to protect the pika under the state law. The commission’s decision has blocked protection of the pika at the first stage of the listing process.

“In denying the petition, the Fish and Game Commission once again ignored the science showing that the pika is being driven to the brink of extinction by global warming,” said Kassie Siegel, head of the Centre’s Climate Law Institute. “The state’s continuing attempts to deny the reality of the situation – that warming is threatening this animal with oblivion – wastes precious time that should be spent protecting the pika and other California wildlife.”

American pika

The American pika — a small, herbivorous, conspicuously cute mammal related to rabbits and hares — is adapted to the cold climate in high-elevation boulder fields and alpine meadows in the mountains of the American West. But the very adaptations that have allowed this species to survive make pikas extra sensitive to the changes wrought by global warming. Rising temperatures threaten pikas by shortening the period available for them to gather food, changing the types of plants in the alpine meadows where they feed, shrinking the size of alpine meadows, and reducing insulating snowpack that protects them from cold snaps in the winter. Most directly, warming can also cause the animals to die from overheating.

Source: Centre for Biological Diversity

The California Fish and Game Commission first rejected the Centre’s petition to protect the pika under the California Endangered Species Act in April 2008, despite overwhelming scientific evidence showing that the pika is imperiled by climate change in California. In a lawsuit brought by Earthjustice on behalf of the Centre, a California Superior Court invalidated the state commission’s decision in May 2009, ruling that it had used the wrong legal standard when considering the petition.

The commission must accept a petition and begin a status review to determine whether the species should be listed if the information presented would “lead a reasonable person to conclude there is a substantial possibility” that the species could be listed.However, the commission illegally demanded a higher burden of proof.

The court’s May decision ordered the state to reconsider the pika petition using the proper legal standard. But the commission voted once again in June to reject the petition without reconsidering the scientific information in light of the correct standard.

Today’s lawsuit challenges this second improper rejection of the petition.“The court gave the commission a second chance to do the right thing and protect this imperiled species, but the commission persists in disregarding both science and the law,” said Greg Loarie of Earthjustice. “The plight of the pika is a warning to humans that global warming is already changing our climate for the worse.”

In rejecting the petition, the commission ignored scientific evidence demonstrating the pika is threatened by climate change in California. Evidence before the commission includes a study in Yosemite National Park documenting an upslope range shift of the pika over the past century as temperatures warmed; research showing that pika populations have largely disappeared in California’s Bodie Hills in the eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains in recent decades; and a study concluding that global warming will virtually eliminate suitable habitat for the pika in California in this century if greenhouse gas emissions are not drastically reduced.

Just across the California border, more than a third of documented pika populations in the Great Basin mountains of northwest Nevada and southern Oregon have gone extinct in the past century, and these losses have been linked to rising temperatures.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agreed that global warming threatens the pika after reviewing the same set of scientific studies as the commission. In response to the Centre’s petition, the Service determined in May 2009 that the pika may warrant the protections of the federal Endangered Species Act due to threats from climate change, and launched a full status review of the pika.

In its May finding, the Service stated, “Based on the results of these empirical studies, along with predictions of declining climatic habitat suitability, we find that the range of the American pika and the habitat within the range are likely to decrease as surface temperatures increase.”

The commission has not followed science or the law in other recent listing decisions. Last year a state appeals court struck down a decision by the commission to deny a petition to list the California tiger salamander under the state Endangered Species Act by incorrectly claiming that the petition did not contain sufficient information.

The commission also recently voted to deny a petition to protect the Pacific fisher, a rare mammal threatened by logging, but reversed its decision after a public-records act request from the Centre revealed that most state biologists involved in the review had supported the petition.

Massachusetts grocery store sets new national environmental benchmark

Star Market at Chestnut Hill in Newton, Mass. is the first grocery store in the nation to receive the EPA’s GreenChill Partnership platinum store award. The advanced refrigeration technology in the new store, which is part of the Shaw’s line of supermarkets, significantly reduces its impact on climate change and the stratospheric ozone layer by cutting the use of refrigerants by 85 per cent compared with the typical supermarket.

“Supermarkets and their customers know that it’s cool to earn the EPA’s GreenChill Store certification, but the only way to describe the first platinum-level GreenChill supermarket in the nation is, ‘wicked cool,’“ said Gina McCarthy, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation. “This store shows that smart design and advanced technologies help us right now to better protect our climate, the ozone layer, and our health.”

The GreenChill Advanced Refrigeration Partnership is an EPA cooperative alliance with the supermarket industry to promote advanced technologies, strategies, and practices that reduce refrigerant charges and emissions of ozone-depleting substances and greenhouse gases.

GreenChill partners emit about 50 per cent less emission than the industry average, and have pledged to continually lower them as part of the program. EPA estimates that if every supermarket in the nation joined GreenChill and reduced emissions to the current GreenChill average, the U.S. would prevent 22 million metric tons of carbon dioxide and 240 tons of ozone-depleting substances annually, and save $108 million in refrigerant costs each year. GreenChill has 46 partners, with more than 6,500 retail food stores in 47 states.

Battered and bruised : Abused elephants

The rescue of nine cruelly abused elephants from a commercial training facility in Zimbabwe will begin on Monday, the International Fund for Animal Welfare has announced.

The elephants were confiscated in April 2009 after an inspection by the Zimbabwe National Society for the Protection of Cruelty against Animals (ZNSPCA) found cruel and torturous methods were being used to "tame and train" them for the elephant back safari industry – a popular tourist activity in Zimbabwe and elsewhere in southern Africa.

The ZNSPCA requested IFAW to step in and assist in translocating the elephants to a safe haven with a view to rehabilitating the elephants and releasing them back into the wild.

"These elephants have been subjected to the most appalling cruelty, all in the name of servicing an indefensible form of safari industry," said Neil Greenwood, spokesman IFAW Southern Africa.

"In fact 10 elephants were originally caught for training. Tragically one – a young male named Dumisani – died of malnutrition and the abuse he was subjected to. Given all of this, IFAW has assembled a top team of capture experts to translocate the remaining nine elephants to safety with the least possible stress".


The elephants will be transported from a privately owned ranch in the West Nicholson area, south of Bulawayo where the elephants were being "trained", to Hwange National Park, some 700 kilometres (437 miles) further east.

The wild elephants were originally caught on protected land in October 2008. In April 2009 when the ZNSPCA inspected the training facility they discovered some abuses taking place.

The abuses

• Elephants chained on one leg and being fed from a distance requiring them to stand on three legs and strain at their chains to reach their food. This practice was intended to enforce the dominance of the handlers and caused severe wounds to the chained legs.

• Restricted access to water and shade.

• Varying degrees of wounds caused by training techniques and chaining.

• An adult female elephant separated from her male calf causing unnecessary stress and physical suffering to both calf and mother.

• Chaining for long hours preventing the elephants from socialising with each other.

The translocation of the elephants will begin on Monday afternoon, 2nd November and has been mandated by the Government of Zimbabwe. The elephants will be darted and transported in a single group to Hwange National Park overnight before being released into a large rehabilitation boma for monitoring before eventually being released into the park.

Peru plans to disband national indigenous organisation

Armed police attack indigenous protesters at Bagua, northern Peru.
Photo: Thomas Quirynen and Marijke DeleuThe Peruvian government is planning to disband Peru’s national organisation representing indigenous people in the Amazon, known by its Spanish acronym AIDESEP.

The unprecedented proposal for AIDESEP’s dissolution was made by Peru’s Ministry of Justice. It is based on the claim that AIDESEP is ‘flagrantly violating’ its charter and undermining ‘public order’.

In an interview on Peruvian radio on 24 October AIDESEP’s acting president, Daysi Zapata, said indigenous communities would march to the capital city, Lima, if the government did not back down within twenty days.

AIDESEP’s president, Alberto Pizango, currently in political asylum in Nicaragua, said, ‘The government is showing that it is against indigenous people, who are only claiming the right to live with dignity. The government can’t silence indigenous people by dissolving AIDESEP. We are very angry about this. If the government really wanted to solve its problems, it would not be persecuting indigenous leaders nor trying to dissolve an organisation that was founded in 1980 and which is the legitimate voice of Peru’s indigenous movement and deserves enormous respect.’

The proposal to disband AIDESEP was made just three days after armed police attacked a peaceful indigenous protest in Bagua, northern Peru, which formed part of Amazon-wide protests coordinated by AIDESEP. The attack led to more than thirty deaths and two hundred people injured.

The proposed dissolution has been condemned by one of Peru’s leading human rights organisations which described it as ‘arbitrary’, ‘outrageous’, and ‘heightening’ social conflict in the Amazon.

AIDESEP has been summoned by the Public Prosecutor’s office to a hearing on 5 November.

Survival International director, Stephen Corry, said, "No more proof is needed to see that Peru’s government is attempting to completely destroy Peru’s indigenous movement. We urge the Ministry of Justice to withdraw the proposed dissolution and get on with its real job – dispensing justice."

Lack of funds threaten critically-endangered Amur leopards in Primorski

Photo:Colin Hines/WikimediaDespite being home to the Amur leopard – one of the world's most endangered large cat species with just about 30-35 wild individuals remaining, Kedrovaya Pad Nature Reserve in the south-western Primorski region in Russia has been paralysed by lack of funds.

"Currently, 24 of the reserve's 35 employees are on a forced vacation, as they have not received their salaries for the last five months. The reserve even lacks funds to pay for fuel and other basic necessities for those who volunteered to work despite the salary delays. With the fire season approaching, the situation of the reserve is likely to aggravate further," says Michiel Hotte, Coordinator of the Amur Leopard and Tiger Alliance (ALTA) that works for the conservation of Amur leopards and Amur tigers.

The reason for this acute financial crunch has been attributed to a well-intended but poorly-executed reorganisation of the protected areas in the range of the Amur leopard.

The reorganisation had aimed to bring together three protected areas - which provide refuge to half of the remaining wild Amur leopards - under one improved management structure. Accordingly, two wildlife refuges – Barsovy and Borisovkoe Plato, were combined to create the Leopardovy Wildlife Refuge in October 2008, by the Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. The responsibility of managing Leopardovy Wildlife Refuge was transferred to Kedrovaya Pad Nature Reserve.

However, both Leopardovy Wildlife Refuge and Kedrovaya Pad Nature Reserve now lack funds to support conservation of the critically-endangered Amur leopards. No state funds have been transferred to the common bank account activated in June 2009. Repeated reminders to the authorities to resolve this prolonged bureaucratic process have come to nought.

Vivek Menon, Executive Director, Wildlife Trust of India, said, "Kedrov in Russian means cedar. This reserve is one of the oldest cedar forest in Northern Europe and is also one of the first protected areas in Russia. Even without considering the Amur leopard which is itself precariously hanging on to its survival, the unique ecosystem of Kedrovaya is reason enough for its protection. In the recent past, the Russian government stopped several commercial ventures for the conservation of the Amur leopard, including stopping an oil pipeline through the leopard's habitat. Their lack of initiative now is disheartening."

"An Indian equivalent to this situation would be denotification of Corbett!"

Wildlife conservation agencies like the International Fund for Animal Welfare, Phoenix Fund, Zoological Society of London, Tigris Foundations as well as individual donors have offered help. The reserve management believes that it is the government's responsibility to provide for the salaries of the employees, at the least.

The Phoenix Fund has written to the Prime Minister requesting his intervention for a quick resolution of the imbroglio.

The Amur leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), also known as far-east leopard is listed as a critically-endangered species in the IUCN Red List.

UN organisation targets land tenure for the first time

Unravelling the land tenure issueLand ownership laws a key instrument in fighting hunger

UN Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) has begun widespread consultations over the first ever international guidelines on governance of tenure to land and other natural resources such as water supplies, fisheries and forests.

The consultations and negotiations, responding to requests from the international community and from governments, will take more than a year to complete.

They will involve governments, the private sector, poor farmers, indigenous groups, local authorities, academia and independent experts and will be led by a secretariat based at FAO headquarters.

“Secure access to land is seen as a key condition to improving food security of some of the world’s poorest people,” said Paul Munro-Faure, the Chief of the Land Tenure and Management Unit of FAO.

“FAO is taking the lead in this exercise because secure land access is the best safety-net for the poor, and because good governance of land is a necessary condition for secure land access and land tenure rights”.

Laws ignored

Although most FAO member nations have rules to protect farmers and forest dwellers, as well as domestic and foreign investors, from being thrown off their land or having their land seized arbitrarily, laws are often ignored or badly enforced.

“Competition for land and other natural resources is increasing due to population and economic growth, foreign direct investment for large scale food production, demands for biofuels and urban and industrial expansion,” said Alexander Müller, Assistant Director General of FAO’s Natural Resources Department.

“A shrinking natural resource base increases competition as land is abandoned because of degradation, climate change and violent conflicts,” he said. “Without responsible governance, growing demands for land threatens to foster social exclusion as the rich and powerful are able to acquire land and other natural resources at the expense of the poor and vulnerable.”

Weak governance is a cause of many tenure-related problems and hinders economic growth because of a reluctance to invest, from both large and small players.

"It also affects the sustainable use of natural resources, causing environmental degradation and condemning people to a life of hunger and in the worst scenarios can cause conflict and war,” he said.

Women vulnerable

Women, the disabled, illiterate and elderly are particularly vulnerable to having the land they farm arbitrarily seized as they often lack legal and social rights, or where those rights do exist are powerless to enforce them.

The work done by FAO and many other international partners has shown that there is a growing and widespread interest in an international instrument to improve governance of tenure of land and other natural resources.

The voluntary guidelines are intended to provide practical guidance to states, civil society and the private sector on responsible governance of tenure.

The guidelines will provide a framework and a point of reference that will allow government authorities, the private sector, civil society and citizens to judge whether their proposed actions and the actions of others constitute acceptable practices.

Germany, together with IFAD, Finland and GTZ are providing funding with UN agencies (UN-Habitat, UNDP), IPC, the International Land Coalition, the International Federation of Surveyors and many others closely supporting and collaborating with the initiative.

The guidelines will also steer a path for governments trying to cope with the growing trend of large-scale foreign investments for food and biofuels, as well as for investor countries with limited water and arable land.

The largest bat in Europe

This is what the bat, Nyctalus lasiopterus, looks like nowadays. Photo: A.G. Popa-Lisseanu et al. /SINCThe animal inhabited north-eastern Spain more than 10,000 years ago

Spanish researchers have confirmed that the largest bat in Europe, Nyctalus lasiopterus, was present in north-eastern Spain during the Late Pleistocene (between 120,000 and 10,000 years ago). The Greater Noctule fossils found in the excavation site at Abríc Romaní (Barcelona) prove that this bat had a greater geographical presence more than 10,000 years ago than it does today, having declined due to the reduction in vegetation cover.

Although this research study, published in the journal Comptes Rendus Palevol, is the second to demonstrate the bat's presence in the Iberian Peninsula, it offers the first description in the fossil record of the teeth of Nyctalus lasiopterus, from a fragment of the left jaw.

"It is an important finding because this species is not common in the fossil record. In fact, the discovery of Nyctalus lasiopterus, at the Abríc Romaní site (Capellades, Barcelona) is one of the few cases of fossils existing on the species in the European Pleistocene", Juan Manuel López-García, principal author of the work and researcher at the Institute of Social Evolution and Human Palaeoecology at the Rovira i Virgili University (URV), tells SINC.

The analysis of the fossilised remains found at the site during the campaigns from 2004 to 2006 reveals that the largest bat in Europe inhabited north-eastern Spain more than 10,000 years ago. "Nyctalus lasiopterus, is a fairly unknown species nowadays, with an indistinct geographical distribution in the peninsula, which does not include the region of Catalonia", adds López-García.

Distribution due to environmental factors

"The presence of Nyctalus lasiopterus, in the north-eastern Iberian Peninsula strengthens the evidence that this species had a wider geographical range during the Pleistocene than today", says the palaeontologist. During the mild periods, when the development of vegetation gave these animals refuge, the Noctule had a wider territory.

Until now, the large bat had been located in mountainous regions such as the Eastern Pyrenees, the Cantabrian Mountains, the central mountain range or open Mediterranean landscapes where oaks, holm oaks and pines dominate.

However, the study confirms a change from the distribution of the species during the Late Pleistocene and the Holocene (less than 10,000 years ago) to now. "The reduction in vegetation cover could be the reason for the current low densities of the species and its biased geographical distribution", concluded López-García.

Finding a common cause in climate change, forest conservation

The presidents of Liberia and Sierra Leone have further underlined their commitment to protect the Gola Rainforest. Photo: Alex Hipkiss; RSPBPresident Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia and President Ernest Bai Koroma of Sierra Leone have further underlined their commitment to a Transboundary Peace Park Project to protect the Gola Rainforest, during a press event at the fourth European Development Days Conference in Stockholm.

The presidents' press statement at the European Development Days Conference strongly noted the effect of climate change on their countries and noted that "Through the Transboundary Peace Park Project we have demonstrated our commitment to be part of the solution."

Both presidents reiterated their commitment by stating that "this project is therefore a symbol of our renewed commitment to peace and stability in the sub-region" and that this is a "joint commitment to forest conservation and the fight against climate change."

The Presidents also strongly positioned themselves in supporting the UN Reducing Emissions from Deforestation in Developing Countries (REDD), which focuses on joint cooperation between developed and developing countries to avert deforestation.

The presidents ended their statement by saying that "there is every reason for us to protect the Gola Forest on both sides of the border, since doing so will ensure that it will continuously provide ecological services to the surrounding communities. A protected Gola Forest will further increase the resilience of the ecosystem to climate change and play an important role in global climate stabilisation."

This event closely follows the Launch in May 2009, by the two presidents of the Transboundary Peace Park Project. The May launch was held in Lalehun, on the border of the Gola Forest in Sierra Leone. The Peace Park will establish a huge protected area covering over 2,000 km2 that will protect one of the largest remaining frontiers of the Upper Guinea Rainforest. These rainforests, as well as holding vast carbon stores that will help in the fight against climate change, also are home to some of the world's most threatened species of wildlife such as Pygmy Hippo, Forest Elephant and 14 species of threatened birds.

The Peace Park unites the Gola Forest Reserve in Sierra Leone (75,000 ha) and the Lofa and Foya Forest Reserves in Liberia (80,000 ha and 100,000 ha respectively), with additional forest to provide corridors for the movement of wildlife between them.

The work to establish the Peace Park has involved several conservation organisations in the BirdLife International Partnership, the two national BirdLife Partners (Conservation Society of Sierra Leone and Society for the Conservation of Nature in Liberia), the RSPB (BirdLife in the UK), Vogelbescherming (BirdLife in The Netherlands), working together with the Forest Development Authority (FDA) of Liberia, and the Forestry Division in Sierra Leone.

The BirdLife Partnership, which is already working on a 4.2 million Euro project to protect Sierra Leone’s Gola Forest, funded by the European Union (EU) and FFEM (French Government), has secured an additional 3.2 million Euros to fund the four-year project to establish the 200,000 ha protected area from the EU, with the balance made up from the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF), and the Sustainable & Thriving Environments for West African Regional Development (STEWARD) Program of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the US Forest Service, International Programs. CEPF is a joint initiative of Conservation International, the French Development Agency, the government of Japan, the Global Environment Facility, the MacArthur Foundation and the World Bank.