New Zealand Herald
UN wants new rules on sex abuse by peacekeepers
25.03.05 5.00am
UNITED NATIONS - UN peacekeepers accused of sexual and other abuse should be court-martialed in the country where the offense is said to have taken place, a UN report is recommending.
The report comes from Jordan's UN ambassador, Prince Zeid al-Hussein, who once served as a UN peacekeeper in Bosnia. He was asked by Secretary-General Kofi Annan to look into abuse allegations in the Congo and to recommend changes.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10117036
Human tests of avian flu vaccine underway
25.03.05 5.00am
WASHINGTON - United States health officials said this week they have started human tests of a vaccine against avian flu, which experts believe could kill tens of millions of people if it becomes easily passed from person to person.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10117033
More chemicals scrutinised in sick port workers inquiry
25.03.05 5.00am
Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) is investigating whether chemicals other than methyl bromide are causing port workers to become sick following a review of fumigation processes at Port Nelson.
OSH says it is generally satisfied the methyl bromide fumigation process is safe, but Labour Department communications adviser Dionne Barton said chemicals used as solvents and preservatives in timber were now under the spotlight to see if they were harmful.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10117076
The weather in Antarctica (Crystal Ice Chime) is:
Scott Base
Overcast
-17.0°
Updated Friday 25 Mar 7:59AM
Global Warming/Global Climate Change
25 Million Makeovers Would Reach Global Warming Targets
A massive cut in carbon dioxide pollution from British homes can meet Government emissions targets if the necessary polices are applied now, says a comprehensive research report by Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute and the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research. The 40% House report sets-out a far-reaching policy agenda that prescribes cuts in energy and carbon dioxide pollution from existing and future housing.
http://www.newbuilder.co.uk/newbuilder/NewsFullStory.asp?ID=595
Get serious about global warming
Web Posted - Fri Mar 11 2005
The March 8 public lecture by Dr. Leonard Nurse on climate change made it clear that the threat to Barbados of sea level rise due to global warming is now beyond doubt and imminent. Within the next few decades we will see increasingly frequent flooding of coastal areas and its consequential catastrophic effect on the tourist industry, as well as increased shortage of drinking water due to contamination of the aquifer by sea water.
http://www.barbadosadvocate.com/NewViewNewsleft.cfm?Record=20713
Yeo pledges action on global warming
Tim Yeo
Tim Yeo has set out the Conservative "road map" to a low carbon economy.
In a keynote speech on Monday, the shadow environment secretary pledged to put Britain back on track to meet its Kyoto protocol targets.
A second priority would be securing international agreement on the way forward beyond Kyoto, he said.
Yeo said he was personally committed to protecting the environment, and was becoming increasingly concerned about the impact of global warming.
http://www.epolitix.com/EN/News/200503/98e378e8-edea-4a9a-b874-1b93316f90d3.htm
STATE FORESTS FACE CHANGES WITH GLOBAL WARMING
By Steven Stycos - Special to The Sun
Rhode Island forests will experience large changes in the next hundred years unless global warming is abated, a research landscape ecologist for the U.S. Forest Service has told state environmentalists and others.
Louis Iverson, speaking at a R.I. Natural History Survey conference in Cranston last week, said that, if carbon dioxide levels continue to increase and average temperatures rise, Rhode Island will be suitable for oak, pine and hickory forests commonly seen in the southern US, according to a forest service study. Meanwhile, the state will no longer be suitable for the now common tree species of black ash, red pine, quaking aspen and big tooth aspen. Rising temperatures will push their habitat northward, Iverson predicts.
http://www.thewesterlysun.com/articles/2005/03/14/news/news5.txt
Himalaya glaciers receding fast due to warming-WWF
14 Mar 2005 09:37:53 GMT
Source: Reuters
GENEVA, March 14 (Reuters) - Himalayan glaciers are receding at among the fastest rates in the world due to global warming, threatening water shortages for millions of people in China, India and Nepal, a leading conservation group said on Monday.
The Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) said in a new study that Himalayan glaciers were receding 10-15 metres per year on average and that the rate was accelerating as global warming increases.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L14156827.htm
UK seeks to become leader on climate change
Wednesday, March 16, 2005 6:12:33 PM
http://www.afxpress.com
LONDON (AFX) -- In an effort to be seen as a leader on climate change issues, the British government announced Wednesday a package of environmental measures aimed at further reducing the country's greenhouse gas emissions
The government said the proposals, included in the 2005 budget report released by the Treasury, will increase funding for energy research, provide fiscal incentives for the purchase of more environmentally friendly medium- and small-size cars, and encourage the development of the biofuels market
http://futures.fxstreet.com/Futures/news/afx/singleNew.asp?menu=latestnews&pv_noticia=1110996749-30410f08-44277
Hurricane scares energy markets
By Brad Foss The Associated Press
Posted September 14, 2004
WASHINGTON -- Oil prices shot up more than $1 a barrel Monday as traders focused on the changing path of Hurricane Ivan, which prompted several large oil and natural gas producers to evacuate rigs in the Gulf of Mexico.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/orl-bizhoil14091404sep14,0,580315.story
Pollution Litigation Review - June 2002
USA/Canada
On June 4, 2002, it was reported that the Potomac Electric Power Co. (PEPCO) has spent more than $65 million in cleanup and resource restoration costs after an April 2000 pipeline rupture spilled 126,000 gallons of oil into Swanson Creek and the Patuxent River. The company has agreed to spend an additional $2.7 million on additional natural resource restoration. BNA Chemical Regulation Daily 6/4/02
http://www.facworld.com/FACworld.nsf/doc/Pollitrev0602
This is an older article but still relivant.
Greenpeace protests Malaysia's 'laundering' of ramin in RI forests
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillatestnews.asp?fileid=20041006125030&irec=7
BANGKOK, Thailand (DPA): Activists from the Greenpeace environmentalist group on Wednesday handcuffed themselves to the gates of the Malaysian embassy in Bangkok to protest Malaysia's "laundering" of ramin, a protected hardwood found primarily in Indonesian forests.
"Malaysia is turning a blind eye to the rampant trade in this endangered species and the only way to stop it is to take a position against this criminal destructive trade," said Alex Ryan of Greenpeace Southeast Asia.
Indonesia is scheduled on Friday to propose that ramin be listed on Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES), which is holding its 13th conference of signatory nations in Bangkok this week and next.
"Malaysia needs to vote for the listing of Rambling on Appendix II of CITES and the future of over 125 other CITES species that are dependent of the Rambling swamp forest for their survival," said Ryan.
The dozen Greenpeace activists hoisted a giant inflatable Orang-utan bearing the banner, "Malaysia, don't steal my forest."
The protesters released their own handcuffs after the short demonstration and departed without incident.
Malaysia and Singapore have been pinpointed by conservationists as major re-export markets for ramin illegally cut from Indonesian forest reserves and smuggled abroad. Ramin is a protected hardwood under Indonesia's Appendix III CITES's list, but is not protected under Malaysia's country list.
Indonesia hopes to place ramin on Appendix II, which if approved my two-thirds of CITES's 166 members, would increase international monitoring of all trade in ramin, a tropical hardwood that is made into pool queues and other products sold in Europe and the U.S.
The European Union's 25 members have already expressed their support for Indonesia's ramin proposal. (*)
Global Warming: Sierra Club Statement On Historic Clean Cars Deal
Dan Becker, Washington Director, Sierra Club's Global Warming Program
WASHINGTON -- March 23 -- "Today, automobile manufacturers reached an historic agreement with the Canadian government to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 5.3 million tons by 2010. In meeting these greenhouse gas limits, these vehicles will achieve approximately a 25% increase in fuel efficiency. This improvement will be made by using existing, cost effective technologies - like more efficient engines, smarter transmissions, and better aerodynamics - to make all their vehicles go farther on a gallon of gas. This agreement is similar to the Pavley Clean Car Law adopted by California and other states.
http://www.commondreams.org/news2005/0323-06.htm
Report: Global warming could make many rivers too warm for salmon
By ELIZABETH M. GILLESPIE
Associated Press Writer
SEATTLE (AP) -- If current warming trends continue unchecked, more than 20 percent of the Pacific Northwest's rivers could become too warm for salmon, steelhead and trout by 2040, a new Northwest Wildlife Federation report says.
The report predicts that rising regional temperatures could disturb the delicate balance of seasonal stream flows -- making spring flows happen earlier, reducing summer flows to a trickle, or rendering winter flows so high that gravel beds used as nesting sites could get scoured away.
http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2005/03/23/news/regional/767169b5f3f0174b87256fcd003f8a83.txt
UK plc getting to grips with climate change (published on 25-Mar-2005)
So it's official then - the Government has finally acknowledged what has been widely talked about for months - it will fail to meet its self-imposed targets to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 20 per cent from 1990 levels. Some will argue that even though the Government is on course to meet its Kyoto targets, this has largely been achieved via the decline in coal-burning power stations from the previous Conservative government's commitment to gas. Couple that with the request in October for the European Commission to approve an increase in the amount of carbon dioxide that British industry would be allowed to emit under the EU emissions trading scheme to lower carbon emissions due to start in January and the Government's efforts to position itself as leading the way internationally on climate change are looking seriously compromised.
http://www.edie.net/news/news_story.asp?id=9686&channel=0
Prepare For Climate Change
IT is always interesting to get news from Namibia via your website.
Your articles are balanced and objective.
Thank you very much! In response to your article "Farmers to bear brunt of climate change" (February 10, 2005), and because of World Water Day.
http://www.namibian.com.na/2005/March/letters/05A21E8A02.html
The Weather at Glacier Bay National Park (Crystal Wind Chime) is:
45 °F / 7 °C
Clear
Humidity:
57%
Dew Point:
30 °F / -1 °C
Wind:
Calm
Pressure:
30.00 in / 1016 hPa
Visibility:
10.0 miles / 16.1 kilometers
UV:
4 out of 16
Clouds (AGL):
Clear -
Better late than never
end
