29 February 2012
What are the options for financing climate change adaptation?
Although there is widespread agreement on the need for adaptation measures to limit the risks posed by climate change, there is no clear consensus on how much adaptation will cost or how it will be paid for
Grantham Research Institute and Duncan Clark | guardian.co.uk | Tuesday 28 February 2012
The overall bill for adaptation will depend on the severity of climatic changes and the range of measures chosen. Photograph: Ian Nicholson/PA
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Label: adaptation, climate-change, monetary
China Tightens Energy Targets
China is calling for energy-intensive industries such as steel and textile manufacturing to reduce their energy consumption more sharply compared with targets set last year, in a move intended to help cull obsolete capacity to contribute to efforts to reduce its carbon footprint
By Chun-Wei Yap | The Wall Street Journal | February 28, 2012
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Label: asia-pacific, emission, energy, green house gases, policy
Possible embezzlement halts WWF-run REDD project in Tanzania
Two conservation and community projects in Tanzania have been halted after the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) reported possible corruption
Jeremy Hance | mongabay.com | February 29, 2012
Forest in Tanzania. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler.
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Label: africa, conservation, governance, NGOs
Power groups face huge carbon bill
Victoria's major power generators have emerged as some of the biggest carbon emitters in the country and will pay hundreds of millions of dollars under the carbon tax - costs that will largely be passed on to consumers
David Wroe | The Age | February 29, 2012
Hazelwood Power Station. Photo: Pat Scala
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Label: australia, emission, monetary, power-sector
28 February 2012
Japan Weighed Evacuating Tokyo in Nuclear Crisis
In the darkest moments of last year’s nuclear accident, Japanese leaders did not know the actual extent of damage at the plant and secretly considered the possibility of evacuating Tokyo, even as they tried to play down the risks in public, an independent investigation into the accident disclosed on Monday
By MARTIN FACKLER | The New York Times | February 27, 2012
Journalists, in protective gear, were taken on a tour last week of Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, at the center of the crisis last year. Issei Kato/Reuters, via Bloomberg
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Label: asia-pacific, contingency, industrialised-countries, nuclear
Colonialism in Africa helped launch the HIV epidemic a century ago
We are unlikely to ever know all the details of the birth of the AIDS epidemic. But a series of recent genetic discoveries have shed new light on it, starting with the moment when a connection from chimp to human changed the course of history
By Craig Timberg and Daniel Halperin | The Washington Post | Feb 28, 2012
To export ivory and rubber from what is now Cameroon, traders created routes that enabled the first cases of HIV to reach large population centers. This photograph is from a collection by Alice Seeley Harris and her husband, John Harris, who were missionaries in the Belgian Congo at the turn of the century. They documented the horrific abuses of the indigenous people of the Congo by Belgian King Leopold II's regime. Anti-Slavery International/PANOS
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Label: africa, colonialism, disease, outbreak, research
After the Durban climate talks: State and market climate failures amplified by civil society failure
In 2007, former World Bank chief economist Nick Stern termed climate change the worst "market failure" in history – since those who pollute with greenhouse gases are not charged, and since they threaten future generations and vast swathes of natural life – and at that moment, even the 1991 ravings of another former World Bank chief economist, Larry Summers, made sense
By Patrick Bond | Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal | February 28, 2012
Durban, December 3, 2011. Photo by Anne Petermann/GJEP-GFC.
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Label: africa, civil-society, climate-change, collapse, controversy, global-governance, united-nations
The real Iron Ladies
With all the hype surrounding the Hollywood version of Margaret Thatcher as the ‘Iron Lady’ who (supposedly) brought the miners and trade unions to their knees, there now comes the real story of the Miners Strike of 1984 from Betty Cook and Ann Scargill, two women who not only played their part during the strike but who now say that the events of that historic year changed their lives forever
by John Dunn and Richard Vivian | In Defence of Marxism | 27 February 2012
Betty Cook and Ann Scargill - Real Iron Ladies
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Label: europe, labour, movement, resilience
Pakistan: Orchestrated anarchy
The Taliban are not a homogenous whole and the Islamic parties have no fundamental ideological differences with imperialism. The conflicts erupt when competing groups of these zealots are sponsored by imperialism
by Lal KhanMonday | In Defence of Marxism | 27 February 2012
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Label: asia-pacific, conflict, political-economy
Chilled out - Measures of well-being
A poll contradicts what we thought we knew about income and happiness
The Economist | Feb 25th 2012
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Label: community, controversy, economy, research
Bolivia: Challenges face Morales' goal of 'governing by obeying the people'
A new twist in the turbulent saga surrounding a proposed roadway through Indigenous land has reignited a debate raging throughout Bolivia since the middle of last year
By Federico Fuentes | Green Left Weekly | February 19, 2012
A march by indigenous group Conisur in favour of a controversial highway being built through Indigenous lands.
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Label: central-america, conservation, development-destructiveness, indigenous-peoples, political-economy, politics
Indonesia's moratorium will not significantly reduce emissions, but has other benefits, finds analysis
Indonesia's moratorium on new forest concessions alone "does not significantly contribute" to its goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 26 percent from a projected 2020 baseline, concludes a new analysis by the World Resources Institute (WRI)
mongabay.com | February 27, 2012
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Label: asia-pacific, climate-change, deforestation, emission, forest degradation, forestcarbon, offset
Why are gas prices high?
Gas prices are going up again, resulting in a lot of discussion by people who don't normally think about the oil markets, and therefore aren't necessarily that well informed about the subject
by Stuart Staniford | Feb 27 2012 by Early Warning in Energy Bulletin | Feb 27 2012
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Label: fossifuels, knowledge, monetary, political-economy
27 February 2012
Economic growth, obesity, and the creed of greed
Who’s right? Gordon Gekko (greed is good) or Tim Jackson (prosperity without growth)? It should be a simple question, but the answer is not so clear
by Garry Egger | Feb 27 2012 by The Daly News in Energy Bulletin | Feb 27 2012
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Label: europe, human-right, industrialised-countries, investment, justice, morality, north-america
What is climate change adaptation? - The Guardian's ultimate climate change FAQ
There are two main policy responses to climate change: mitigation and adaptation. Mitigation addresses the root causes, by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, while adaptation seeks to lower the risks posed by the consequences of climatic changes
Grantham Research Institute and Duncan Clark | guardian.co.uk | 27 February 2012
A family carries their possessions from their village which had become engulfed by rising floodwaters, on September 14, 2011 in Badin, Pakistan. Photograph: Warrick Page/Getty Images for UNICEF
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Label: adaptation, climate-change, knowledge
Old king coal
Asian growth will remain fuelled by coal, which is worrying for the planet
The Economist | Feb 25th 2012
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Label: asia-pacific, development-destructiveness, fossifuels, political-economy
26 February 2012
Drought spreads across England as soil moisture in Anglia reaches record low
The drought is spreading across England with areas in the Midlands and South West declared in danger of water shortages in the latest report from the Environment Agency
The Telegraph | 24 Feb 2012
Some rivers and groundwater levels are lower than during the drought of 1976 Photo: SWNS
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Label: catastrophe, drought, europe, extreme-wheather
Discriminatory Forestry Regulations and REDD projects in Indonesia
Earlier this month, a group of Indonesian and international organisations wrote to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination about the Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate (MIFEE) project in Papua
By Chris Lang | REDD-Monitor | 24th February 2012
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Label: advocacy, asia-pacific, deforestation, forest degradation, forestcarbon, governance, indigenous-peoples, justice, NGOs, offset
China sets up first renewable-energy think tank
China has established its first national think tank on renewable energy to conduct research and develop programs and policies, as part of the country's effort to deal with climate change and carbon emissions
By Du Juan | China Daily | 02-24, 2012
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Label: asia-pacific, climate-change, emission, policy, political-economy, renewable-energy, research
23 February 2012
China: Working-class struggles on the rise
Working class struggle is an important part of modern Chinese history, and is rising
By Kevin Lin | Green Left Weekly | February 19, 2012
Honda workers on strike in China.
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Label: asia-pacific, history, political-economy, politics
“REDD+ has opened a space for increased dialogue on difficult forest sector policy and tenure issues”
The World Bank and its history of involvement in the forests of Indonesia related to REDD+ and forest tenure issues - Interview with the World Bank in Indonesia
By Chris Lang | REDD-Monitor | 23rd February 2012
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Label: climate-change, forestry, indigenous-peoples, land, offset, world-bank
Confessions of a climate gate-opener
I don't normally do requests, as they say - but I've a lot of messages via emails, blog comments and Twitter asking for a follow-up post on the Heartland Institute, and am happy to oblige
by Richard Black | BBC News | 22 February 2012
Peter Gleick apologised for a "serious lapse of judgement and ethics"
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Label: climate-change, denier, europe, north-america
REDD under the spotlight – Can ‘Reducing Deforestation and Forest Degradation’ deliver real benefits for the climate and for rural communities?
In this article, Wally Menne of the Timberwatch Coalition in South Africa asks whether REDD can really help address climate change and whether it can bring genuine benefits for rural communities. The article was first published in Drynet News, in February 2012
By Chris Lang | REDD-Monitor | 22nd February 2012
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Label: africa, carbontrading, deforestation, forest degradation, offset
Cut all fossil-fuel use: scientists
Two Canadian climate-change scientists from the University of Victoria say the public reaction to their recently published commentary has missed their key message: that all forms of fossil fuels, including the oilsands and coal, must be regulated for the world to avoid dangerous global warming
By MIKE DE SOUZA | Postmedia News in the Gazette | February 22, 2012
Growth in Alberta's oilsands industry is only one symptom - of many - of the planet's unhealthy dependence on fossil fuels, say two Canadian climate-change scientists. Photograph by: TODD KOROL REUTERS FILE, Postmedia News
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Label: development-destructiveness, fossifuels, globalwarming, north-america
Forest clearing blamed on local govt
Local government officials may have accepted bribes from logging, mining and plantation companies in exchange for permission to clear forests, a top official has said
Chloe Booker | The Jakarta Post | 02/16/2012
Harvest: Workers gather oil palm seeds at a plantation in Lampung. The Forestry Ministry has alleged that forest clearing for oil palm plantations has been conducted by companies operating without licences or with licences obtained through corrupt means. JP/R. Berto Wedhatama
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Label: agriculture, asia-pacific, deforestation, forest, forest degradation
22 February 2012
Venezuela: The spectre of Big Oil
“Never again will they rob us — the ExxonMobil bandits. They are imperial, American bandits, white-collared thieves. They turn governments corrupt, they oust governments. They supported the invasion of Iraq.”"Never again will they rob us — the ExxonMobil bandits. They are imperial, American bandits, white-collared thieves. They turn governments corrupt, they oust governments. They supported the invasion of Iraq"
By Paul Kellog | Green Left Weekly | February 29, 2008
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Label: central-america, corporates, fossifuels, governance, political-economy, politics
Existence of Javanese tigers at Indonesia’s Meru Betiri to be proven
Officers at the Meru Betiri National Park (TNMB) have installed five trap cameras to establish the existence of Javanese tigers (panthera tigris sondaica), now believed to be extinct
ANTARA News | February 21 2012
Javanese Tigers, Panthera tigris sondaica. (istimewa)
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Label: asia-pacific, biodiversity, conservation, controversy
Forest height affects climate change
Map of forest height helps to understand role of forests in climate change
Disaster News Network | February 21, 2012
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Label: climate-change, forest, map
All fossil fuels must be cut to avoid global warming, scientists say
Two Canadian climate change scientists from the University of Victoria say the public reaction to their recently published commentary has missed their key message: that all forms of fossil fuels, including the oilsands and coal, must be regulated for the world to avoid dangerous global warming
By Mike De Souza | The Gazette | February 21, 2012
Two Canadian climate change scientists from the University of Victoria say the public reaction to their recently published commentary has missed their key message: that all forms of fossil fuels, including the oilsands and coal, must be regulated for the world to avoid dangerous global warming. Pictured, Suncor's operation. Photograph by: Bruce Edwards , Edmonton Journal
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Label: climate-change, development-destructiveness, fossifuels, north-america
EU to vote on oil sands pollution
European Union officials are expected to vote on draft legislation that would label Canadian fuel as more polluting than oil from other parts of the world
By Pallab Ghosh | BBC News | 21 February 2012
The Canadian province of Alberta has vast oil sand reserves
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Label: climate-change, europe, fossifuels, north-america, pollution
20 February 2012
Iran: Willing to Deal
With the United States and the European Union (EU) imposing one of the toughest sanction regimes ever on Iran, the world is inching closer to a potential catastrophic war at the heart of the Middle East
By Richard Javad Heydarian | Foreign Policy in Focus | February 20, 2012
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin meets Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
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Label: asia-pacific, controversy, europe, geopolitics, north-america, nuclear, political-economy, resilience
Nigeria again delays power sector privatisation
Nigeria has again pushed back the timeframe for selling off state-owned power assets, its privatisation agency said on Monday, another setback for reforms which investors hope will unlock the potential of Africa's second largest economy
Reuters | Feb 20, 2012
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Label: africa, energy, political-economy, power-sector, resilience
The Ooooby Local Economic Model
Ooooby began in December 2008 on Waiheke Island, Auckland, as an online social network of food gardeners. An evolving project, it now also facilitates the distribution of locally grown food
Pete Russell | Fleeing Vesuvius | February 18, 2012
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Label: asia-pacific, food, political-economy, sovereignty
Oil shocks around the world: Are they really that bad?
Recent developments in oil markets and the global economy have, once again, triggered concerns about the impact of oil price shocks around the world. This column wonders whether the fuss is really necessary. It presents evidence of relatively small negative effects of oil price increases
by Tobias Rasmussen and Agustin Roitman | The Oil Drum | February 20, 2012
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Label: energy, fossifuels, geopolitics, monetary, political-economy, politics
Annie Leonard: Creator of "The Story of Stuff" Shows What's At Stake with Commons Assets
Annie Leonard is one of the most articulate, effective champions of the commons today. Her webfilm The Story of Stuff has been seen more than 15 million times by viewers. She also adapted it into a book
Jay Walljasper | On the Commons | Feb 20 2012
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Label: campaign, commons, consumption, environment, health, paradigm
19 February 2012
Forest waste plan slammed
A plan to make native forest waste eligible for renewable energy credits has angered the North Coast Environment Council
ABC North Coast NSW | 14 February, 2012
The North Coast Environment Council is fearful of the potential consequences of a new plan to deal with forest waste (Stateline Victoria)
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Label: australia, carbontrading, controversy, forest, renewable-energy
Biomass isn't carbon neutral, study finds
Burning wood for electricity instead of using fossil fuels might increase levels of atmospheric carbon, a study of the U.S. Southeast determined
United Press International | Feb. 15, 2012
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Label: biomass, energy, north-america, research
Large Area of New Guinea Stripped of Protection for Agribusiness
More than 400,000 hectares (1 million acres) of land in Indonesian New Guinea — including 350,000 hectares of carbon-storing peatland — was stripped of its protected status to facilitate the expansion of a government-based agribusiness project, according to a new report
e360 digest | 17 Feb 2012
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Label: advocacy, agriculture, asia-pacific, controversy, food, forest
Nuclear power is an expensive gamble that may (or may not) pay off
Energy deals could suck in vast resources for generations, or prove one of the most far-sighted government decisions ever
John Vidal | The Guardian | 17 February 2012
A picture of the now decomissioned Hinkley A nuclear power plant. A new Hinkley C plant is proposed near the Bridgwater site in Somerset. Photograph: Martin Argles for the Guardian
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Label: energy, europe, nuclear, political-economy
Foreign aid cash spent tackling climate change
Nearly £1.5 billion has been spent tackling man-made climate change by Government department responsible for fighting poverty abroad, it can be revealed
By Richard Gray | The Telegraph | 18 Feb 2012
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Label: aid, climate-change, europe, political-economy
18 February 2012
Revealed: fossil fuel reserves match climate negotiating positions
Want to understand why we’re not solving climate change? Then follow the money – which in this case means following the carbon. I’ve spent much of the past 24 hours crunching data and it turns out there’s a very striking – and oddly overlooked – correlation between fossil fuel reserves and national negotiating position on climate change
by Duncan Clark | OurWorld 2.0 | February 17, 2012
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Label: climate-change, fossifuels, political-economy, united-nations
‘Global sustainability’ wilts in South Africa’s political hot air
The latest acts in South Africa’s’s intensifying political drama include a sizzling summer-long battle between young and old within the African National Congress (ANC), the February 10 State of the Nation speech by President Jacob Zuma and the release of the ANC’s “research” on alternatives to mining nationalisation, a demand by the ANC Youth League which is now one of the main issues dividing the ruling party
By Patrick Bond | Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal | February 15, 2012
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Label: africa, extractive-industry, globalisation, political-economy, politics
Heartland Institute leak shows climate change skeptics are playing the public
The nation’s leading skeptics of climate change science were dealt a blow this week when hundreds of private internal documents — detailing donors, spending and the group’s anti-science strategy — were leaked to the public
By Star-Ledger Editorial Board | nj.com | February 17, 2012
An iceberg is seen in Disko Bay, Greenland above the arctic circle in this 2005 file photo. Scientists meeting in the area said global warming has an increasing effect on the Arctic region with glaciers shrinking, temperatures of the arctic waters warming, and permafrost softening and that nations must take action against global warming. AP Photo/John McConnico
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Label: climate-change, controversy, corporates, denier, science
The inside story on climate scientists under siege
Michael Mann reveals his account of attacks by entrenched interests seeking to undermine his 'hockey stick' graph
Suzanne Goldenberg | guardian.co.uk | 17 February 2012
Expanding desert in China’s Gansu province. Michael Mann in his new book, The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars, describes the campaign by the fossil fuel industry against his science. Photograph: Peter Parks/AFP
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Label: climate-change, controversy, corporates, denier, politics, science
17 February 2012
Anthropocentrism versus biocentrism – Murray Bookchin discusses a false dichotomy
We have no need for biocentrism, anthropocentrism, or for that matter any centrism, nor for any ideology that diverts popular attention from the social sources of the ecological crisis
by Ian Angus | Feb 17 2012 by Climate and Capitalism | Energy Bulletin | Feb 17 2012
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Label: controversy, paradigm, thought
Merlins Wood’s mysterious REDD projects in Pakistan
In May 2011, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed in the province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan for a REDD-type project. Last week, Sarhad Awami Forestry Ittehad (SAFI) rejected the agreement. This is a strange story, involving the Taliban, an illegal logging mafia, carbon trading, REDD and a UK-based company called Merlins Wood
By Chris Lang | REDD-Monitor | 16th February 2012
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Label: asia-pacific, deforestation, forest degradation, forestry, offset
Statement of apology: Blog-manager
I apologize for any inconvenience caused by the improvement of this blog.BoilingSpot hopefully you can visit more smoothly. Enjoy your reading.
Awicaksono
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14 February 2012
Public Utility, Private Profit: Privatization of Water Is as Benign as Lucifer
There hasn’t been much rain this season where I live. Personally, I don’t mind much. I like sunny days, summer weather, dry fairways at San Geronimo. The deer are not very happy, having to spend more time on my street than they’d prefer but they’ve had to come down from the hills a bit looking for food
by: Richard Raznikov | truthout | 9 February 2012
Picture taken in Sénégal, Western Africa. A tap locked in order to limit the usage of water. (Photo: nitot)
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Label: commodification, neoliberalism, political-economy, water
Darwin proved right on origin of life on Earth
Life on Earth really did start on land in a "warm little pond" and not in the oceans - just as Charles Darwin said more than 140 years ago
The Telegraph | 14 February 2012
Like the hot springs and geysers of Yellowstone National Park today - volcanic processes actively vented vapour from the planet's interior Photo: ALAMy
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SPC and Fiji Cooperate to Map Forest Cover
The Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) has announced a collaboration with Fiji's Department of Forestry to increase capacity in the use of high resolution satellite images to map land and forest cover in the country. The programme will focus on classifying forest types in Drawa, a 6,400 hectare area of indigenous forest on Vanua Levu
Climate Policy & Practice | 8 February 2012
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Label: asia-pacific, forest, map, small-islands
Commission for Social Development Adopts Resolution on NEPAD
The 50th session of the Commission for Social Development (CSocD), which focused on the theme “Poverty Eradication,” concluded with the adoption of six resolutions, including on the need to mainstream disability in the development agenda and the social dimensions of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD)
Climate Change Policy & Practice | 10 February 2012
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Label: agriculture, justice, poverty, sustainable-development, united-nations
7 New Countries Join the UN-REDD Programme
The UN-REDD Programme welcomes Benin, Cameroon, Chile, Ghana, Myanmar, South Sudan and Suriname as new partners to the Programme
UN-REDD Programme Newsletter | Issue# 25 Dec 2011/Jan 2012
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Label: deforestation, forest, forest degradation, forestcarbon, offset, political-economy, united-nations
13 February 2012
Satellites key to global conservation: Ice caps, forests feed $2.1B market
Brazilian deforestation and melting polar ice caps are feeding a boom in demand in the $2.1-billion market for satellite data, images and services used to monitor the planet
By Chiara Remondini And Alex Morales | Bloomberg in The Windsor Star | February 13, 2012
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Label: climate-change, conservation, forest, research, technology
Japan OKs fresh support for Fukushima nuclear plant
Japan's trade minister approved nearly $9 billion in additional support for Tokyo Electric Power Co to help compensate victims of the Fukushima nuclear crisis on Monday, but said the government would not go ahead with a plan to inject tax money into utility unless it got adequate management say
By Yoko Kubota | Reuters | Feb 12, 2012
The crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant's No.4 reactor building is seen after the removal of debris on the upper side of the unit in Fukushima prefecture, in this handout picture taken on January 5, 2012. Credit: Reuters/Tokyo Electric Power Co./Handout
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Label: asia-pacific, controversy, disaster, industry, nuclear
Out of the woods: Emissions from deforestation
Forests are chock-full of carbon. Some three-quarters of the stuff on the Earth's surface lies trapped in leaves, branches, stems and roots. Two to three times more is buried in the soil but it is hard to dislodge
The Economist | Feb 12th 2012
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Label: climate-change, deforestation, emission, forest, forest degradation, forestcarbon, offset
With climate change, today's '100-year floods' may happen every three to 20 years: research
Last August, Hurricane Irene spun through the Caribbean and parts of the eastern United States, leaving widespread wreckage in its wake. The Category 3 storm whipped up water levels, generating storm surges that swept over seawalls and flooded seaside and inland communities
by Jennifer Chu | Physorg | February 13, 2012
An atmospheric image of Hurricane Irene on the U.S. East Coast in August 2011. Image: NOAA - Enlarge
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Posted by Unknown on Monday, February 13, 2012 0 comments
Label: climate-change, extreme-wheather, research
Community power projects urged to challenge big firms
Community-run renewable energy projects should be promoted by ministers to break the grip that the Big Six power firms have over consumers, a leading think-tank director has said
Scotsman.com | 12 February 2012
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Label: community, controversy, energy, power-sector, renewable-energy
Cycle city Kathmandu
Jennie O’Hara meets Nepali campaigners seeking to tackle pollution and inequality by transforming their capital into a cycle-friendly city
Jennie O’Hara | RedPepper | 13 Feb 2012
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Label: activism, asia-pacific, city, climate-change, pollution
Central African rainforests disappearred from climate change
Climate change combined with human activity caused the disappearance of tropical rainforests in central Africa 3,000 years ago, a study has found
The Economic Times | 12 FEB, 2012
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Label: africa, climate-change, forest, history, report, research
Argentina: Oil behind British militarist threats over Malvinas
“We support the right of self-determination of the habitants of the Falkland Islands [Malvinas]; what the Argentines having been saying recently is, in my opinion, much more similar to colonialism, because these people want to continue being British and the Argentines what them to do something different”
America XXI in Green Left Weekly | February 12, 2012
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Label: colonialism, europe, geopolitics, military, south-america
12 February 2012
Processed food and coronary capitalism
The food industry is characterised by market failures that pass external costs on to consumers and to society
Kenneth Rogoff | Al Jazeera | 11 Feb 2012
More than one in six US children and adolescents are reportedly obese, triple the 1980 rate [GALLO/GETTY]
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Label: consumption, controversy, food, health, industry, market, world
Global Fund Fights AIDS, TB and Malaria
The long-awaited shake-up in the Geneva-based Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (the Fund) finally became operational this month with the assumption of office of Gabriel Jaramillo, a former leading banker, as the new general manager. The change followed various unflattering audit reports of the Fund operations in some recipient countries that suggested money lost to corrupt practices and lax oversight
Chinua Akukwe | World Press | February 6, 2012
A pregnant Sudanese woman being treated for Malaria in a health center in Nyala. (Photo: Raul Touzon, National Geographic Society, Corbis)
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Label: africa, disease, governance, health, humanitarian, political-economy, society-collapse
Rolling Out the Red Carpet for the Second Coming With Nuclear War
On February 8 I posted about an online dialogue on evangelical Christians and nuclear disarmament. In March of last year, at A Deeper Story: Tales of Christ and Culture, site administrator Nish shared emails with Reverend Tyler Wigg-Stevenson, founder of the Two Futures Project, a groundbreaking evangelical disarmament group, as well as with commenters
By Russ Wellen | Foreign Policy in Focus | February 11, 2012
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Label: controversy, north-america, nuclear, policy, political-economy
11 February 2012
Nuclear Regulatory Commission Ignores Fukushima, Green-Lights First New Reactors in 34 Years
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has granted a construction and operating licenseto Southern Co. for two reactors to be added to its Plant Vogtle facility in Georgia. The OK is the first granted by the US regulator since 1978
by: Gregg Levine | Capitoilette in truthout | 10 February 2012
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Label: controversy, energy, north-america, nuclear, policy, political-economy, politics, power-sector
Somali famine 'will kill tens of thousands'
The UN in Somalia says tens of thousands of people will have died of starvation by the time the famine in the Horn of Africa ends
BBC News | 15 January 2012
Many Somalis have fled across the border into Ethiopia to seek aid
Read more... Sphere: Related ContentPosted by Unknown on Saturday, February 11, 2012 0 comments
Label: africa, crisis, food, society-collapse, united-nations
Eight ways Monsanto fails at sustainable agriculture
Monsanto has held back the development of sustainable agriculture, and continues to do so. None of its competitors come close to matching its impact on global agriculture
The Union of Concerned Scientists in Climate and Capitalism | February 10, 2012
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Posted by Unknown on Saturday, February 11, 2012 0 comments
Label: agriculture, capitalism, corporates, genetically-modified-organism, sustainable-development
Capitalism's destructive car mania detailed
The car, say Canadian authors Bianca Mugyenyi and Yves Engler, who took a bus ride across the United States, is a doomed jalopy going nowhere. It fails, especially in the “home of the car”, on every green count
By Phil Shannon | Green Left Weekly | February 5, 2012
Cars cause about 40,000 deaths a year in the US.
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Label: book, capitalism, consumption, political-economy, review
Going with the flow
To fix the country’s long-term problems, action needs to start now
The Economist | Feb 11th 2012
Arid debates
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Label: asia-pacific, crisis, demography, political-ecology, water
Community Radio Saves Lives and Livelihoods
Fisher Wanka Masani, 25, has been inseparable from his two- dollar transistor ever since a community radio (CR) station started up in this coastal town. The square black box blares popular songs while Masani waits for his brothers to land the daily catch
By Manipadma Jena* | Inter-Press Service | Feb 10, 2012
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Label: asia-pacific, community, disaster, resilience
Is China Reentering the Great Game?
Many countries have contributed to Afghanistan’s reconstruction. But it’s only been since 2007 that China has attracted attention with its investments. In November 2007, the Metallurgical Corporation of China (MCC) won the tender to invest over $2.9 billion to develop the Aynak copper mine, which is the second-largest copper deposit in the world
By Dong Yu | Foreign Policy in Focus | February 9, 2012
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Label: asia-pacific, extractive-industry, geopolitics, investment
Earth Summit is doomed to fail, say leading ecologists
We can forget about fixing the planet's ecosystems and climate until we have fixed government systems, a panel of leading international environmental scientists declared in London on Friday. The solution, they said, may not lie with governments at all
by Fred Pearce | New Scientist | 10 February 2012
Concerted action 20 years back has produced few concrete results (Image: Sipa Press/Rex Features)
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Label: biodiversity, climate-change, environment, global-governance, sustainable-development, united-nations
Lead kills 400 Nigerian children
400 Nigerian children dead of lead poisoning due to gold mining
Disaster News Network | February 10, 2012
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Label: africa, children, extractive-industry, heavy-metal, society-collapse
Strong Sustainability
In order to achieve sustainability, we need scenarios of where we want to go: not only warnings and plans, but also reports as if we'd already made the transition. Who would have suspected they'd come from the south Pacific?
by Craig K. Comstock | Feb 10 2012 by The Huffington Post in Energy Bulletin | Feb 10 2012
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Label: asia-pacific, energy, political-ecology, political-economy, resilience
Making the Forest Sector Transparent
Since October 2008, Global Witness has been working on a project called “Making the Forest Sector Transparent“. The project has recently released its 2011 Annual Transparency Report, looking at the transparency record in seven countries: Cameroon, Ghana, Liberia, Peru, Ecuador, Guatemala, and the Democratic Republic of Congo
By Chris Lang | REDD-Monitor | 10th February 2012
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Label: advocacy, climate-change, forestry, governance, investment, justice, report
WWF scandal (part 2): Corporate capture, commodities and carbon trading
A recent article asks whether corporations have captured big conservation? The subheading could have read, “Do bears shit in the woods?”
By Chris Lang | REDD-Monitor | 9th February 2012
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Label: certification, conservation, controversy, corporates, green-wash, NGOs, palmoil, political-economy
IDB Funds Biomass Project for Low Income Families in Brazil
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has approved a US$2 million project to help low-income families in Brazil to supply fruit kernels to biomass plants
Climate Change Policy & Practice | 8 February 2012
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Label: bank, climate-change, investment, poverty, renewable-energy, south-america
10 February 2012
The new geography of trade
Globalisation's decline may stimulate local recoveries
Fred Curtis and David Ehrenfeld | Al Jazeera | 09 Feb 2012
Relocalisation and Transition Towns movements are springing up in developed countries in response to higher oil prices and transport costs - and many 'eco-towns' have been built in Europe [GALLO/GETTY]
Read more... Sphere: Related ContentPosted by Unknown on Friday, February 10, 2012 0 comments
Label: globalisation, political-economy, resilience, trade, world
09 February 2012
Without women there is no food sovereignty
Systems of food production and consumption have always been socially organized, but their organization has varied historically. In the last few decades, under the impact of neoliberal politics, the logic of capitalism has been imposed upon the ways in which food is produced and consumed (Bello, 2009)
by Esther Vivas | Feb 8 2012 by International Viewpoint in Energy Bulletin | Feb 8 2012
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Label: advocacy, crisis, food, political-ecology, political-economy, women
WWF report links Sumatra deforestation to toilet paper
We know how difficult it is to link products to dangerous practices. Eco-friendly companies and individuals are going to be shocked once more at the habitat destruction wreaked on rainforests by their toilet paper, paper towels and tissue
By Paul Robinson | Earth Times | 08 Feb 2012
Don't Flush Tiger Forests; Credit: © World Wildlife Fund
Read more... Sphere: Related ContentPosted by Unknown on Thursday, February 09, 2012 0 comments
Label: asia-pacific, biodiversity, campaign, deforestation, forestry, industry