World-News

Report reveals how the world's poorer countries are forced to pay for the CO2 emissions of the developed nations.

http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article353476.ece


From Information Clearing House

Die Landwirtschaft sorgt weltweit für sinkende Grundwasserspiegel.
http://www.telepolis.de/tp/r4/artikel/22/22141/1.html

Global warming appears to be pushing vast reservoirs of ice on Greenland and Antarctica toward a significant, long-term meltdown. The world may have as little as a decade to take the steps to avoid this scenario.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/032406EB.shtml

By Deborah Zabarenko
Reuters
March 24, 2006

http://tinyurl.com/elwna

WASHINGTON - Miami would be a memory, Bangkok a soggy shadow of its former self and the Maldive Islands would vanish if melting polar ice keeps fuelling a faster-than-expected rise in sea levels, scientists have reported.

In an issue of the journal Science focussing on global warming, climate scientist Jonathan Overpeck of the University of Arizona reported that if global trends continue, Earth could ultimately see sea levels 20 feet (6 meters) higher than they are now.

By the end of this century, Earth would be at least 4 degrees F (2.3 degrees C) warmer than now, or about as hot as it was nearly 130,000 years ago.

Back then, significant portions of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets melted, pushing the global sea levels to about 20 feet (6 meters) higher than current levels.

A similarly dramatic, and in some cases catastrophic, rise in ocean levels could happen by the year 2500, Overpeck said in a telephone interview, but he noted it could come sooner.

"We know when the sea level was that high in the past, and we know how much warming is necessary to get that amount of sea level rise from both Greenland and Antarctica," Overpeck said.

The Earth will get that hot sometime early in the second half of this century, he said, and once it does, the big ice sheets will start melting "in a more dramatic manner" than they currently are.

A conservative estimate would call for sea level rises of 3 feet (1 metre) per century, he said.

He cautioned, however, that this estimate assumes the Earth will get only as hot as it did 130,000 years ago when the ice sheets melted.

"If we decide to keep on the track we're on now and just keep on warming, because of greenhouse gas pollution, then we could easily cook those ice sheets more rapidly," Overpeck said.

The earlier ice melt was concentrated in the Northern Hemisphere in the summer months, and was due largely to changes in Earth's orbit, he said.

"The climate warming we're in now is global and it's year-round and it's due to human influences on the climate system," he said. "That will be more damaging to the ice sheets than the that warming we had 130,000 years ago."

The ice sheets are already melting, accelerated by relatively warm water that eats away at them, said NASA glacier expert Bob Bindschadler.

"It's not really a debate any more about whether sea level is rising or not. I think the debate has shifted to, how rapidly is sea level rising," Bindschadler said in a telephone briefing.

Overpeck's Web site -- http://www.geo.arizona.edu/dgesl/ -- offers dynamic maps of the projected results of the rise in sea levels.


Informant: NHNE

This is the main story of today's San Francisco Chronicle–front page, above the fold. One item is untrue. This is not the first time a 20-feet this century warning has been issued. I issued it eight years ago in the Earth Island Journal, and have done so in person since 1995. (check http://www.earthisland.org/eijournal/summer98/wr_sum98d.htm )

Andy Caffrey
Climate Action NOW!
The Great Conversion
P.O. Box 324 Redway, CA 95560

P.S. So what are you doing about it?

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/03/24/MNG22HTITV1.DTL&type=printable

OCEANS RISING FAST, NEW STUDIES FIND Melting ice could raise levels up to 20 feet by 2100, scientists say - David Perlman,
Chronicle Science Editor
Friday, March 24, 2006

Glaciers and ice sheets on opposite ends of the Earth are melting faster than previously thought and could cause sea levels around the world to rise as much as 13 to 20 feet by the end of the century, scientists are reporting today.

If the researchers' estimates are correct, a rise in ocean waters projected by the new studies not only would drown many of the low-lying inhabited atolls and islands that are already endangered by rising ocean waters, it also would threaten coastal cities and harbors on every continent.

Scientists have been warning for decades that greenhouse gases from autos and industry are warming the planet and raising the seas, but the studies appearing today in the journal Science are the first to suggest that sea levels could climb as high as 20 feet as a result of global warming.

The studies by two teams of researchers are the first to combine data on long-term climate change and sea ice melting from both the north and south polar regions.

"This is a real eye-opener set of results," said geoscientist Jonathan T. Overpeck of the University of Arizona, who led one of two teams of university and government climatologists. "We need to start serious measures to reduce greenhouse gases within the next decade, (and) if we don't do something soon, we're committed to 4 to 6 meters (13 to 20 feet) of sea level rise in the future."

The scientists used models of climate change widely accepted by government and university researchers and the fossil record of episodes of global warming thousands of years ago.

The teams, which Overpeck led together with Bette L. Otto-Bliesner, a climatologist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., analyzed climate and polar ice records from 130,000 years ago during a period of global warming when Earth was tilted somewhat more on its axis than it is today and its orbit around the sun was slightly different. As a result, the sun at that time warmed the north polar regions by about 5 degrees Fahrenheit, Overpeck and his colleagues calculated.

By using evidence from ice cores, stranded coral reefs, fossilized pollen and ancient ocean sediments, the team estimated that Greenland's glaciers and Arctic sea ice all melted rapidly in that period and thrust sea levels up by about 10 feet. Overpeck said that during the same period, the West Antarctic ice sheet, much of which is unstable below sea level, may have also melted along with other ice-clad coasts of Antarctica and added another 10 feet to the rise in global sea level.

The teams then compared that era to what might happen in this century if emissions of carbon dioxide and other industrial gases into the atmosphere continue to increase dramatically, as present trends foresee.

They concluded that ice in both the Artic and Antarctic regions is now melting faster than previously believed and, unless the trend is reversed, that would lead to an average global temperature increase of at least 4 degrees Fahrenheit and a rise from today's global sea level of 13 to 20 feet. Melting of glaciers on Greenland and Arctic sea ice alone could raise sea levels by considerably more than 3 feet, they calculated.

Their conclusions are already provoking controversy -- even among other scientists who are concerned about the impact of greenhouse gases on warming trends but who foresee much smaller increases in future sea levels.

John R. Christy, a noted atmospheric scientist at the University of Alabama who supports the idea that human activities are a major cause of global warming, said in an interview that "these papers don't alarm me. When you look at all the data, it's confusing but not alarming. People are searching for hard answers, and there's still a lot of speculation."

Where Overpeck's team said that "sea level rise could be faster than widely thought," Christy said: "I wish they'd written 'could or could not be faster.' "

On the other side, James Hansen, a leading NASA climate expert who recently accused White House officials of trying to censor his scientific reports, supported the findings.

The work by the two teams "is a useful contribution because they point out that sea level change may be much more rapid than we thought," Hansen said in an e-mail. "The practical problem for humanity is that ice sheet disintegration starts slowly, but once it gets going fast enough it will be out of our control and there will be no way to stop it.

"The further implication is that we have to get serious about reducing greenhouse gas emissions now, not wait 15 years until some magic new technology is available."

Michael Oppenheimer, a Princeton geoscientist and member of the university's Atmospheric and Ocean Sciences Program, agreed with Hansen.

"These are important papers," he said in an interview, "because they provide new insights into the effects of temperature change on melting ice at both poles. They show how even modest increases in global temperatures could put the Earth in a dangerous spot.

"We don't have to know for sure how fast the glaciers and polar ice sheets would disappear to realize that this is a serious warning, and by the end of this century we could be locked into an irreversible trend that no technology could reverse."

In a report that also appears in today's issue of Science, Robert Bindschadler, a glaciologist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., wrote that Canadian and European satellites monitoring glaciers around the margins of both Greenland and Antarctica provide strong support for the new findings.

Radar aboard the satellites shows that for the past five years, in both the northern and southern regions, warmer waters have been moving into cold ocean layers 3,000 feet deep where the bases of many large glaciers lie, Bindschadler said. The warm waters are rapidly increasing the rate at which those glaciers, as well as deep-rooted sea ice around them, are melting -- and thus are speeding the pace of the rise in sea level, he concluded.

E-mail David Perlman at dperlman sfchronicle.com

Page A - 1 URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/03/24/MNG22HTITV1.DTL


Informant: Scott Munson

Thirty miles from the Arctic Circle hunter Noah Metuq feels the Arctic changing. Its frozen grip is loosening; the people and animals who depend on its icy reign are experiencing a historic reshaping of their world.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/032206EB.shtml

CBS 60 Minutes http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/03/17/60minutes/printable1415985.shtml


Informant: NHNE

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In a message dated 3/22/06 4:12:48 PM, ljsullivan1166 writes:

<< Dr. James Hansen talking seriously about global warming -- he thinks we have ten years max before it's too late and cannot be reversed with any amount of anything >> this is the same talk from Dr. James Lovelock author of REVENGE OF GAIA. Im half way through and I want to find a rock to hide below... he thinks renewables wont work and that we need some kind of space shield to alter the heating of the planet along with nuclear so we can aid in the not heating up the planet.. when it gets to a certain degree of temperature theres no turning back. its bleak, bleak... more from him in the next issue of hopedance for thse who still read. CNN reported on the dumbing down of the US stating that only 6% of the US population actually reads more than ONE book a year. Also today CNN reported that theres been a 20 year study on the connection between whining and complaining youngsters and their conservative behavior and politics as well as being quite rigid in terms of gender identities whereas the kids who were more flexible and resilient became that dreaded word "liberals."

Unfortuantely the revenge of gaia is only available in Britain. Figures.

To read about the book go to

http://comment.independent.co.uk/commentators/article338830.ece

for James Lovelock: The Earth is about to catch a morbid fever that may last as long as 100,000 years Each nation must find the best use of its resources to sustain civilisation for as long as they can.


Informant: Hopedance

ENS March 22, 2006

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/mar2006/2006-03-22-01.asp

MEXICO CITY, Mexico - An international meeting on the future of the world's fresh water resources is marking World Water Day today with a renewed effort to ensure that more clean drinking water reaches the 1.1 billion people who do not have access to safe water, but the crisis is complicated by the impacts of a warming climate, an world renowned atmospheric chemist told delegates.

In addition to drinking water scarcity, about 2.6 billion people, four out of every 10, lack access to sanitation. This situation is a humanitarian crisis -- dealing with it must move to the top of the global agenda say ministers and water experts meeting here for the 4th World Water Forum.

In his keynote speech to the Forum Tuesday, Nobel Prize Winner in chemistry Mario Molina warned that climate change and inappropriate water management might intensify global warming by the end of this century, creating "an intolerable risk."

If the current global warming trend is maintained, the temperature of the planet will rise eight degrees Celsius during this century, "an increase of historic proportions," said Molina, who shared the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on the destruction of the ozone layer by chlorofluorocarbons.

Molina said intensifying rains and droughts are related to climate change and to the melting of glaciers. Climate change has exacerbated flooding and water scarcity, he said.

The year 2005 "was the warmest in the last thousand years," Molina pointed out, showing charts of "paleo-climate data," extracted from drops of water encapsulated within glaciers and information from the outer rings of trees in ancient forests.

Director-General of UNESCO Koïchiro Matsuura says the theme of Water and Culture is of particular significance for UNESCO, which is leading the activities surrounding this year¹s World Water Day.

"To achieve sustainable solutions that contribute to equity, peace and development, water management and governance need to take proper account of cultural and biological diversity," Matsuura said. "For this reason, UNESCO believes that the cultural dimension of water deserves further exploration so that its many ramifications may become better understood."

Modern approaches to water resource management have tended to be overwhelmingly technology-driven in their attempt to solve the world¹s urgent water problems, he said.

Water-related extreme events, such as floods and droughts, kill more people than any other natural disaster, and water-borne diseases continue to cause the death of thousands of children every day.

Because of its growth and development, the human population increasingly alters the quality and distribution of water. "But the amount of fresh water on Earth, to be shared among all forms of life, remains the same," said Matsuura. "This situation imposes on humankind a responsibility to develop ethically sound systems of water governance."

But, he said, technology alone will not lead us to viable solutions.

"Traditional knowledge alerts us to the fact that water is not merely a commodity," Matsuura said. "Since the dawn of humanity, water has inspired us, giving life spiritually, materially, intellectually and emotionally. Sharing and applying the rich contents of our knowledge systems, including those of traditional and indigenous societies, as well as lessons learned from our historical interactions with water, may greatly contribute to finding solutions for today¹s water challenges."

"The nexus between culture and nature is the avenue for understanding resilience, creativity and adaptability in both social and ecological systems. In this perspective, sustainable water use and, hence, a sustainable future depend on the harmonious relationship between water and culture," the UNESCO director-general said.

"Consequently," he said, "it is vital that water management and governance take cultural traditions, indigenous practices and societal values into serious account."

The global water crisis is growing, UNESCO said in a statement to mark World Water Day. The water crisis threatens the security, stability and sustainability of the planet and consequently, humanity itself. This is why the period from 2005 to 2015 has been declared the International Decade for Action Water for Life.

Reiterating that lack of access to water is a major source of death and disease in the world, World Water Council President Loïc Fauchon announced the launch of the Council's Water for Schools initiative, which seeks to provide access to water in 1,000 schools in 10 countries.

During the Forum's plenary session on Tuesday, the director of the National Water Commission for Mexico Cristóbal Jaime announced an agreement by which an office of the World Meteorological Organization will be established in Mexico.

Jaime reiterated an "urgent call" to the UN Secretary General¹s Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation to reduce by half the average number of deaths associated to water related disasters that will take place between now and the year 2015, as compared to the figures recorded for the decade from 1991-2000.

Jaime said emergency aid funds should be established for preventive measures against disasters. "The international community might approve financing early warning systems and educational programs for the most vulnerable countries," he suggested.

The representatives of Asian countries Tuesday announced the creation of the Asia Pacific Water Forum in a region particularly hard hit by disasters. A recent UNESCAP study showed that the Asian and Pacific region accounted for 91 per cent of the world's total deaths due to natural disaster. The average annual economic damage has increased from US$10.6 billion over the past five decades to US$29 billion over the past 15 years.

Ryutaro Hashimoto, former Prime Minister of Japan and president of the Japan Water Forum, and chair of the UN Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation, supported the agreement creating the Asia Pacific Water Forum. He reminded the audience that 60 percent of the world population lives in the Asia Pacific region and explored how to obtain financing for local water projects in his keynote address.

Kim Huk Su, executive secretary for the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), said that there are two major priorities for the new regional forum -- the need for tools to support Integrated Water Resource Management, and "radically" more effective risk management and risk prevention.

Asia and the Pacific is also the world's most disaster-prone region. A recent UNESCAP study showed that the region accounted for 91 percent of the world's total deaths due to natural disaster. The average annual economic damage has increased from US$10.6 billion over the past five decades to US$29 billion over the past 15 years.

Kim said that although the Asia-Pacific region has the highest economic growth rates in the world, it also has the lowest per-capita fresh water availability, and the highest number of people living below the poverty line.

North America has had its share of water disasters. At the plenary conference Tuesday on Risk Management, Carl Strock, chief of engineers of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), told delegates that a critical report on the performance of the government concerning Hurricane Katrina recognized that communication among different levels of government, logistics to deliver aid, and local warning systems did not perform as expected.

"Disasters are now globalized phenomena," said Strock, "that require intervention from everyone."

Tropical storms in 2006 are expected to be even stronger than in 2005, the year hurricane Katrina and storm Stan wreaked havoc on the Mesoamerican region, said Max Campo, executive secretary of the Central American Regional Committee for Water Resources during a session of the IUCN-World Conservation Union at the Forum.

Campos emphasized that, "We must integrate existing knowledge and technology in a systematic way so that citizens, with or without internet access, can receive information on time so that people and their families can escape from catastrophic events."

The African continent has to date developed only 3.8 percent of its water resources for supply, irrigation and electrical power, according to the Regional Document on Africa, "Water Resources Development in Africa: Challenges Response and Prospective," prepared for discussion at the Forum.

Africa's situation implies the need for hefty investment in various areas, and this investment must go hand in hand with changes in regional and national policy and capability, the document states.

Investment in water will spur progress in meeting the Millennium Development Goals. It will mitigate the scourge of malnutrition, food scarcity, poverty and disease that has led African nations to be counted among the poorest of the world, said the Regional Document.

Many developing countries are looking to the World Bank for water investments, and the bank is interested in funding water-related needs.

New investments in water management and development are essential for growth in developing countries, and they need to be sustainable -- achieving the right balance between water security, and social and environmental protection -- said a new World Bank report, Water for Growth and Development, presented at the Forum.

"Simply constructing new infrastructure projects is not enough on its own," said Kathy Sierra, World Bank Vice President for Infrastructure. ³It is essential to manage and govern water resources effectively. Such water investments will lead to responsible growth, embracing both environmental sustainability and social development."

Public financing for basic water security has been and will remain essential, but the scale of needed investments cannot be provided by public funds alone so the private sector will have an important complementary role to play, said the World Bank report. "All investment, whether public or private, should be complemented by robust regulatory and monitoring frameworks, designed with the active participation of water users and civil society."

But privatization of water is just what many people fear, because the essential liquid could be priced out of their reach. Some 10,000 people marched in the streets of Mexico City on Saturday, demanding that water services not be privatized.


Informant: NHNE

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Fresh Water Shortages Damage Environment Too
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Fresh_Water_Shortages_Damage_Environment_Too.html


Informant: Teresa Binstock

WARNS WWF
panda.org
March 22, 2006

http://www.panda.org/news_facts/newsroom/index.cfm?uNewsID=64220

Curitiba, Brazil – Climate change and deforestation could convert the majority of the Amazon rainforest into savannah, with massive impacts on the world’s biodiversity and climate, WWF said today at the 8th UN Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity.

Presenting a review of scientific research on the Amazon and climate change, WWF says that climate-modelling studies are projecting a warmer and drier environment for the region, which will likely lead to a substantial decrease in precipitation over much of the Amazon. Such changes would result in significant shifts in ecosystem types – from tropical forest to dry savannah – and loss of species in many parts of the Amazon.

“A changing climate poses a substantial threat to the Amazon forests, which contain a large portion of the world’s biodiversity. Threats here translate into threats to biodiversity at large,” said Lara Hansen, WWF's chief climate change scientist. "The world needs to urgently evaluate vulnerability to climate risks and integrate them into biodiversity conservation efforts.”

According to the WWF survey, the combination of human activities – such as deforestation and logging – and climate change, increases the drying effect of dead trees that fuels forests fires.

In the absence of effective measures, global warming and deforestation could convert from 30 up to 60 per cent of the Amazon rain forest into a type of dry savannah, according to research carried out under the auspices of Brazil's National Space Research Institute (INPE).

The climate in northwestern South America, including the Amazon region, has already changed over the last century. For example, the average monthly air temperature records have increased by 0.5–0.8°C from 1990 to 2000.

“We are running a serious risk of losing a large piece of the Amazonian tropical forest,” said senior INPE scientist Carlos Nobre. “If warming exceeds a few degrees Celsius, the process of ‘savannisation’ may well become irreversible.”

Currently, the Amazonian forests act as an important sink for carbon dioxide (CO2), a gas emitted mainly from the burning of fossil fuels coal, oil and natural gas, and the major driver of global climate change. However, up to about 20 per cent of CO2 emissions stem from deforestation. If its destruction continues, the Amazon rainforest could become a net source of CO2, WWF says.

WWF believes governments should send a powerful political signal about the need to protect the world’s biodiversity and climate. At COP8, countries of the Amazon basin must announce quantitative commitments to reduce deforestation.

“Both the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation must be urgently and significantly reduced in order to save the world’s biodiversity and people from catastrophic climate change,” said Giulio Volpi, coordinator of WWF's Climate Change Programme for Latin America and the Caribbean.

“Here in Curitiba, there is a unique opportunity to address the deadly combination of deforestation and climate change. Amazon countries need to commit to stop deforestation, for the benefit of present and future generations.”

For further information:
Giulio Volpi, Coordinator
WWF Climate Change Programme, Latin America
Tel: +55 61 38165 6784
E-mail: giulio@wwf.org.br

Olivier van Bogaert, Senior Press Officer
WWF International
Tel: +41 79 477 35 72
E-mail: ovanbogaert@wwfint.org


Informant: NHNE