Environmental Issues
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Hungary battles to stop toxic sludge from reaching the River Danube
By Daniel McLaughlin in Budapest
Thursday, 7 October 2010
Hungary opened a criminal investigation yesterday into an escape of deadly toxic sludge from an industrial plant, amid fears that it could grow into a regional environmental disaster.
Four people were killed, about 120 were injured and three are still missing after a dam holding waste slurry collapsed at an alumina works in the south-west of the country, sending a wave of poisonous red mud racing through nearby villages and into a tributary of the River Danube.
Rescue teams are searching for the missing people, cleaning up the caustic grime and pouring tonnes of gypsum into the River Marcal to try to prevent contamination of the Danube, Europe's second-longest river, which from Hungary flows through Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine and Moldova on its way to the Black Sea.
"Our hope is that we'll be able to contain this and it won't get to the Danube," said the Interior minister, Sandor Pinter, as the European Union and environmental groups assessed the potential wider impact of Hungary's worst chemical spill.
"This is a serious environmental problem," said Joe Hennon, a spokesman for the EU. "We are concerned, not just for the environment in Hungary, but this could potentially cross borders."
Philip Weller, the executive secretary of the International Commission for Protection of the Danube, said the spill had triggered his organisation's warning system, which meant that factories and towns along the Danube might have to stop using water from the river.
"This is what you call a significant event," Mr Weller added. "It is a potential threat to neighbouring countries."
Herwit Schuster, a spokesman for Greenpeace, called the mud spill "one of the top three environmental disasters in Europe in the past 20 or 30 years".
"It is clear that 40 sq km [15.5 sq miles] of mostly agricultural land is polluted and destroyed for a long time. If there are substances like arsenic and mercury, that would affect river systems and ground water on a long-term basis," he added. Another major fear is that fish will ingest the heavy metals, so endangering anyone who eats them.
The Hungarian company that runs the alumina plant insisted that safety tests gave no indication of the impending disaster. It was announced yesterday, however, that the national police chief, Jozsef Hatala, will lead an investigation into an accident that unleashed more than one million cubic metres of corrosive crimson sludge.
"There was no natural disaster in the area. If there was no natural disaster, then we have to look for human responsibility," said Mr Pinter, echoing Prime Minister Viktor Orban's earlier comments that human error may lie behind what officials have called an "ecological catastrophe".
The disaster presents Mr Orban's centre-right government with its first major challenge since taking office in April, and one volunteer worker complained yesterday that the clean-up operation was "chaos".
"I think it's a disgrace," he said, while asking not to be named. "Things are going so slowly. The flood was on Monday and now on Wednesday we're still waiting for orders."
The village of Kolontar, just a few hundred metres from the plant, was among the worst affected. The sludge smashed through the main door of the home of Kati Holtzer, trapping her and her three-year-old son inside.
She saved her son by placing him on a sofa that was floating in the muck. She then called her husband Balazs, who was working in Austria, to say goodbye. "We're going to die," she told him, chest-deep in sludge. She was eventually rescued but was left suffering from the effects of chemical burns from her waist down. Her husband said yesterday that both were in hospital.
In Kolontar, a team of military engineers built a pontoon bridge across a toxic stream yesterday so that residents could return briefly to their homes and retrieve some belongings. Many villagers said they were unlikely to return to their houses.
Red sludge is a by-product of the refining of bauxite into alumina, the basic material for manufacturing aluminum. It contains heavy metals and is toxic if ingested. Treated sludge is often stored in ponds where the water eventually evaporates, leaving behind a dried, red, clay-like soil.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 99921.html
By Daniel McLaughlin in Budapest
Thursday, 7 October 2010
Hungary opened a criminal investigation yesterday into an escape of deadly toxic sludge from an industrial plant, amid fears that it could grow into a regional environmental disaster.
Four people were killed, about 120 were injured and three are still missing after a dam holding waste slurry collapsed at an alumina works in the south-west of the country, sending a wave of poisonous red mud racing through nearby villages and into a tributary of the River Danube.
Rescue teams are searching for the missing people, cleaning up the caustic grime and pouring tonnes of gypsum into the River Marcal to try to prevent contamination of the Danube, Europe's second-longest river, which from Hungary flows through Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine and Moldova on its way to the Black Sea.
"Our hope is that we'll be able to contain this and it won't get to the Danube," said the Interior minister, Sandor Pinter, as the European Union and environmental groups assessed the potential wider impact of Hungary's worst chemical spill.
"This is a serious environmental problem," said Joe Hennon, a spokesman for the EU. "We are concerned, not just for the environment in Hungary, but this could potentially cross borders."
Philip Weller, the executive secretary of the International Commission for Protection of the Danube, said the spill had triggered his organisation's warning system, which meant that factories and towns along the Danube might have to stop using water from the river.
"This is what you call a significant event," Mr Weller added. "It is a potential threat to neighbouring countries."
Herwit Schuster, a spokesman for Greenpeace, called the mud spill "one of the top three environmental disasters in Europe in the past 20 or 30 years".
"It is clear that 40 sq km [15.5 sq miles] of mostly agricultural land is polluted and destroyed for a long time. If there are substances like arsenic and mercury, that would affect river systems and ground water on a long-term basis," he added. Another major fear is that fish will ingest the heavy metals, so endangering anyone who eats them.
The Hungarian company that runs the alumina plant insisted that safety tests gave no indication of the impending disaster. It was announced yesterday, however, that the national police chief, Jozsef Hatala, will lead an investigation into an accident that unleashed more than one million cubic metres of corrosive crimson sludge.
"There was no natural disaster in the area. If there was no natural disaster, then we have to look for human responsibility," said Mr Pinter, echoing Prime Minister Viktor Orban's earlier comments that human error may lie behind what officials have called an "ecological catastrophe".
The disaster presents Mr Orban's centre-right government with its first major challenge since taking office in April, and one volunteer worker complained yesterday that the clean-up operation was "chaos".
"I think it's a disgrace," he said, while asking not to be named. "Things are going so slowly. The flood was on Monday and now on Wednesday we're still waiting for orders."
The village of Kolontar, just a few hundred metres from the plant, was among the worst affected. The sludge smashed through the main door of the home of Kati Holtzer, trapping her and her three-year-old son inside.
She saved her son by placing him on a sofa that was floating in the muck. She then called her husband Balazs, who was working in Austria, to say goodbye. "We're going to die," she told him, chest-deep in sludge. She was eventually rescued but was left suffering from the effects of chemical burns from her waist down. Her husband said yesterday that both were in hospital.
In Kolontar, a team of military engineers built a pontoon bridge across a toxic stream yesterday so that residents could return briefly to their homes and retrieve some belongings. Many villagers said they were unlikely to return to their houses.
Red sludge is a by-product of the refining of bauxite into alumina, the basic material for manufacturing aluminum. It contains heavy metals and is toxic if ingested. Treated sludge is often stored in ponds where the water eventually evaporates, leaving behind a dried, red, clay-like soil.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 99921.html
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Hungary’s toxic flood could turn into a cancerous cloud
Thousands of Hungarian residents battling to contain the flood of poisonous red sludge have been warned to wear face masks because as the slurry dries it will turn into a toxic dust cloud.
By Caroline Gammell
Published: 9:39PM BST 08 Oct 2010
The damage so far has come from the mud but with dry, hot weather and strong winds forecast over the next few days, the environmental disaster is expected to spread.
Environmentalists said high levels of arsenic and mercury, which can cause cancer, had been found in water polluted by the ooze and that, if airborne, this could enter the human respiratory system.
The scale of the pollution – where 180?million gallons escaped from an industrial reservoir – has been compared with the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a leak of 200 million gallons. Seven people have died, one person is missing and 150 people have been injured since the torrent of sludge was unleashed at an alumina plant in Ajka, 100 miles west of Budapest, on Monday. Many of the injured suffered chemical burns.
Hungarian officials played down the severity of the disaster, insisting that the Danube – Europe’s second longest river – was safe. Water tests are being carried out in Serbia and Croatia, where the Danube flows downstream.
Viktor Orban, the prime minister, said: “We managed to take control of the situation in time.”
Emergency workers have spent five days trying to contain the leak, pouring acid and clay into the tributaries of the Danube to neutralise the alkaline from the flood.
The villages of Kolontar and Devecser were among the worst hit. About 2,000 acres of soil will have to be dug up.
Zoltan Illes, Hungary’s environment minister, conceded that the flood did contain “a high content of heavy metals”, some of which could cause cancer.
Tibor Dobson, the head of Hungary’s disaster relief services, urged residents near the flood area to wear face masks.
Greenpeace warned of arsenic, chromium and “excessive” mercury in the water, which could be absorbed by fish, as well as cause long term environmental damage. Levels of arsenic in water taken from Kolontar on Tuesday were 25 times higher than the legal drinking water limit. Herwig Schuster, a Greenpeace chemist, said “the arsenic level was double what is usually contained in such red sludge”.
Barbara Szalai Szita, who lives in Devecser, said: “If I spend 30 minutes outside, I get a foul taste in my mouth and my tongue feels strange.”
All life in the nearby Marcal river has been killed and dead fish were seen floating into the Danube.
MAL Hungarian Aluminium Production and Trade, which owns the factory, said it had set aside €110,000 (£96,000) for the clean-up. It offered its condolences to the bereaved but insisted it had done nothing wrong.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... cloud.html
Thousands of Hungarian residents battling to contain the flood of poisonous red sludge have been warned to wear face masks because as the slurry dries it will turn into a toxic dust cloud.
By Caroline Gammell
Published: 9:39PM BST 08 Oct 2010
The damage so far has come from the mud but with dry, hot weather and strong winds forecast over the next few days, the environmental disaster is expected to spread.
Environmentalists said high levels of arsenic and mercury, which can cause cancer, had been found in water polluted by the ooze and that, if airborne, this could enter the human respiratory system.
The scale of the pollution – where 180?million gallons escaped from an industrial reservoir – has been compared with the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a leak of 200 million gallons. Seven people have died, one person is missing and 150 people have been injured since the torrent of sludge was unleashed at an alumina plant in Ajka, 100 miles west of Budapest, on Monday. Many of the injured suffered chemical burns.
Hungarian officials played down the severity of the disaster, insisting that the Danube – Europe’s second longest river – was safe. Water tests are being carried out in Serbia and Croatia, where the Danube flows downstream.
Viktor Orban, the prime minister, said: “We managed to take control of the situation in time.”
Emergency workers have spent five days trying to contain the leak, pouring acid and clay into the tributaries of the Danube to neutralise the alkaline from the flood.
The villages of Kolontar and Devecser were among the worst hit. About 2,000 acres of soil will have to be dug up.
Zoltan Illes, Hungary’s environment minister, conceded that the flood did contain “a high content of heavy metals”, some of which could cause cancer.
Tibor Dobson, the head of Hungary’s disaster relief services, urged residents near the flood area to wear face masks.
Greenpeace warned of arsenic, chromium and “excessive” mercury in the water, which could be absorbed by fish, as well as cause long term environmental damage. Levels of arsenic in water taken from Kolontar on Tuesday were 25 times higher than the legal drinking water limit. Herwig Schuster, a Greenpeace chemist, said “the arsenic level was double what is usually contained in such red sludge”.
Barbara Szalai Szita, who lives in Devecser, said: “If I spend 30 minutes outside, I get a foul taste in my mouth and my tongue feels strange.”
All life in the nearby Marcal river has been killed and dead fish were seen floating into the Danube.
MAL Hungarian Aluminium Production and Trade, which owns the factory, said it had set aside €110,000 (£96,000) for the clean-up. It offered its condolences to the bereaved but insisted it had done nothing wrong.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... cloud.html
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Global warming, overpopulation - and now this:
'Water mining' is now a prime culprit for raising sea levels
Global warming is not the only culprit for swelling seas, writes Geoffrey Lean.
Published: 9:30AM BST 09 Oct 2010
Nowhere in the Maldives juts more than 10 feet above the Indian Ocean, making it extremely worried about sea level rise. Its president, Mohamed Nasheed, illustrated the point by holding a cabinet meeting under water in the run-up to last year's Copenhagen summit.
But a new study shows that global warming is not the only cause of swelling seas. Much comes from "water mining" – the pumping of vast amounts of groundwater from beneath the earth, mainly to irrigate crops. This inevitably ends up in the oceans after it evaporates from farmland and comes down as rain.
The study – to be published in a forthcoming issue of the journal Geophysics Research Letters – reckons that this accounts for about quarter of global sea-level rise, as much as the melting ice from all the glaciers outside Greenland and Antarctica.
More worryingly, increased pumping threatens food supplies. Underground reservoirs are shrinking by more than 280 cubic kilometres a day, well over twice as much as in 1960. Nature cannot replenish them as fast. The vast Ogallala acquifer – which underlies eight US states, helping to grow food on which 100 countries rely – is being drawn down by a three feet a year. How much of that is replenished by rainfall percolation? A mere inch.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthc ... evels.html
'Water mining' is now a prime culprit for raising sea levels
Global warming is not the only culprit for swelling seas, writes Geoffrey Lean.
Published: 9:30AM BST 09 Oct 2010
Nowhere in the Maldives juts more than 10 feet above the Indian Ocean, making it extremely worried about sea level rise. Its president, Mohamed Nasheed, illustrated the point by holding a cabinet meeting under water in the run-up to last year's Copenhagen summit.
But a new study shows that global warming is not the only cause of swelling seas. Much comes from "water mining" – the pumping of vast amounts of groundwater from beneath the earth, mainly to irrigate crops. This inevitably ends up in the oceans after it evaporates from farmland and comes down as rain.
The study – to be published in a forthcoming issue of the journal Geophysics Research Letters – reckons that this accounts for about quarter of global sea-level rise, as much as the melting ice from all the glaciers outside Greenland and Antarctica.
More worryingly, increased pumping threatens food supplies. Underground reservoirs are shrinking by more than 280 cubic kilometres a day, well over twice as much as in 1960. Nature cannot replenish them as fast. The vast Ogallala acquifer – which underlies eight US states, helping to grow food on which 100 countries rely – is being drawn down by a three feet a year. How much of that is replenished by rainfall percolation? A mere inch.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthc ... evels.html
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River of money flows to Thames as it wins global conservation prize
London's mighty river was declared a dead zone 50 years ago – but now it is full of life and has been rewarded for its resurgence
Juliette Jowit guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 12 October 2010 21.11 BST
In the 1950s it was declared biologically dead – a heavily polluted river that was a far cry from the days when it was admired by William Wordsworth, Claude Monet and the Three Men in a Boat of Jerome K Jerome's book. Now the Thames and its tributaries teem with 125 fish species including salmon, trout, sole and bass.
The resurgence was rewarded yesterday when the river was given a top global conservation prize for its dramatic recovery.
The International Thiess river prize is awarded annually in Australia and comes with prize money of A$350,000 (£218,000).
That the Thames triumphed over competition from the mighty Amazon and idyllic rural waterways such as the Piddle in Dorset, can be explained by the prize's focus on restored and well-managed rivers. "The Thames has 13 million people living along it and it's still got quite a bit of industry," said a spokesman for the Environment Agency, which manages the river. "The Piddle and the Amazon don't have those environmental pressures – the sewage, the industry."
The agency plans to spend the prize on further restoration work and a project to twin the Thames with a river in the developing world which needs restoration.
Having initially been selected from more than 100 entries, the Thames beat three other finalists including the Yellow river in China, which has huge pollution and overuse problems – so much so it sometimes does not reach the ocean.
The agency pointed out that 80% of the Thames is now judged to have "very good" or "good" water quality.
In the last five years there have been nearly 400 habitat enhancement projects and more than 40 miles of river has been restored or enhanced, often transforming concrete urban channels back into quasi-natural meanders.
"In the last 150 years the Thames has been to hell and back," said Alistair Driver, the EA's national conservation manager.
Even the agency admits, though, that there is much more work to do before everyone agrees with the judges at the International River Foundation, especially on the Thames's many urban and suburban tributaries – some of which still flow spasmodically through concrete pipes or over shopping trolleys and other modern jetsam.
David Suchet, the actor and boater, sent a message of support, saying: "I am fortunate in my life to have travelled extensively and enjoyed many other rivers worldwide. But the river Thames is priceless and one of the most glittering jewels in the crown of our English heritage."
The other two finalists were a scheme to restore the drought-ravaged Hattah lakes in Australia and protection and restoration work by the Smirnykh rivers partnership in Russia. Previous winners include the Danube, currently swamped by a toxic chemical spill, and the Mersey in Liverpool – the prize's first winner in 1999.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2 ... tion-prize
London's mighty river was declared a dead zone 50 years ago – but now it is full of life and has been rewarded for its resurgence
Juliette Jowit guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 12 October 2010 21.11 BST
In the 1950s it was declared biologically dead – a heavily polluted river that was a far cry from the days when it was admired by William Wordsworth, Claude Monet and the Three Men in a Boat of Jerome K Jerome's book. Now the Thames and its tributaries teem with 125 fish species including salmon, trout, sole and bass.
The resurgence was rewarded yesterday when the river was given a top global conservation prize for its dramatic recovery.
The International Thiess river prize is awarded annually in Australia and comes with prize money of A$350,000 (£218,000).
That the Thames triumphed over competition from the mighty Amazon and idyllic rural waterways such as the Piddle in Dorset, can be explained by the prize's focus on restored and well-managed rivers. "The Thames has 13 million people living along it and it's still got quite a bit of industry," said a spokesman for the Environment Agency, which manages the river. "The Piddle and the Amazon don't have those environmental pressures – the sewage, the industry."
The agency plans to spend the prize on further restoration work and a project to twin the Thames with a river in the developing world which needs restoration.
Having initially been selected from more than 100 entries, the Thames beat three other finalists including the Yellow river in China, which has huge pollution and overuse problems – so much so it sometimes does not reach the ocean.
The agency pointed out that 80% of the Thames is now judged to have "very good" or "good" water quality.
In the last five years there have been nearly 400 habitat enhancement projects and more than 40 miles of river has been restored or enhanced, often transforming concrete urban channels back into quasi-natural meanders.
"In the last 150 years the Thames has been to hell and back," said Alistair Driver, the EA's national conservation manager.
Even the agency admits, though, that there is much more work to do before everyone agrees with the judges at the International River Foundation, especially on the Thames's many urban and suburban tributaries – some of which still flow spasmodically through concrete pipes or over shopping trolleys and other modern jetsam.
David Suchet, the actor and boater, sent a message of support, saying: "I am fortunate in my life to have travelled extensively and enjoyed many other rivers worldwide. But the river Thames is priceless and one of the most glittering jewels in the crown of our English heritage."
The other two finalists were a scheme to restore the drought-ravaged Hattah lakes in Australia and protection and restoration work by the Smirnykh rivers partnership in Russia. Previous winners include the Danube, currently swamped by a toxic chemical spill, and the Mersey in Liverpool – the prize's first winner in 1999.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2 ... tion-prize
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Britons use three times the planet's resources
People in Britain are consuming three times the resources that the planet can provide, according to a new study.
By Louise Gray, Environment Correspondent
Published: 2:36PM BST 13 Oct 2010
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) calculated the impact of each country by measuring the amount of carbon, water and other natural resources consumed by an average person in a year.
Overall people are using 50 per cent more than the planet can provide.
The United Arab Emirates has the worst ecological footprint, using six planet’s worth of resources for each person. If everyone lived like a person in the US, the population would need 4.5 times the resources provided by one planet.
Canada, Australia and Ireland are also in the top ten.
However people in Africa use a fraction of the resources they are entitled to.
People in the UK consume almost three times as much of the planet’s resources than they should do, making it 31st in the table of ecological footprints.
The country has fallen down the league table from having the 15th biggest footprint in the last report two years ago, but WWF attributes this to an increase in other countries' impact rather than a reduction in the UK's use of resources.
Eating meat and dairy has more impact on the planet than a largely vegetarian diet and the report suggest that the world would use less resources if people in rich countries change their diet.
Jim Leape, Director General of WWF International, said if people continue to consume more than the planet can provide it will drive other species into extinction. Already global species are down 30 per cent and 60 per cent in the tropics since 1970.
"The report shows that continuing of the current consumption trends would lead us to the point of no return,” he said.
How many planet’s resources are used up by individuals in the top ten countries for consumption?
United Arab Emirates 6
Qatar 5.9
Denmark 4.6
Belgium 4.5
United States 4.5
Estonia 4.4
Canada 3.9
Australia 3.8
Kuwait 3.5
Ireland 3.5
* Britain 2.75
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthn ... urces.html
People in Britain are consuming three times the resources that the planet can provide, according to a new study.
By Louise Gray, Environment Correspondent
Published: 2:36PM BST 13 Oct 2010
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) calculated the impact of each country by measuring the amount of carbon, water and other natural resources consumed by an average person in a year.
Overall people are using 50 per cent more than the planet can provide.
The United Arab Emirates has the worst ecological footprint, using six planet’s worth of resources for each person. If everyone lived like a person in the US, the population would need 4.5 times the resources provided by one planet.
Canada, Australia and Ireland are also in the top ten.
However people in Africa use a fraction of the resources they are entitled to.
People in the UK consume almost three times as much of the planet’s resources than they should do, making it 31st in the table of ecological footprints.
The country has fallen down the league table from having the 15th biggest footprint in the last report two years ago, but WWF attributes this to an increase in other countries' impact rather than a reduction in the UK's use of resources.
Eating meat and dairy has more impact on the planet than a largely vegetarian diet and the report suggest that the world would use less resources if people in rich countries change their diet.
Jim Leape, Director General of WWF International, said if people continue to consume more than the planet can provide it will drive other species into extinction. Already global species are down 30 per cent and 60 per cent in the tropics since 1970.
"The report shows that continuing of the current consumption trends would lead us to the point of no return,” he said.
How many planet’s resources are used up by individuals in the top ten countries for consumption?
United Arab Emirates 6
Qatar 5.9
Denmark 4.6
Belgium 4.5
United States 4.5
Estonia 4.4
Canada 3.9
Australia 3.8
Kuwait 3.5
Ireland 3.5
* Britain 2.75
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthn ... urces.html
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More species slide to extinction
By Richard Black, Environment correspondent, BBC News
One fifth of animal and plant species are under the threat of extinction, a global conservation study has warned.
Scientists who compiled the Red List of Threatened Species say the proportion of species facing wipeout is rising.
But they say intensive conservation work has already pulled some species back from the brink of oblivion.
The report is being launched at the UN Biodiversity Summit in Japan, where governments are discussing how to better protect the natural world.
Launched at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) meeting, the report says that amphibians remain the most threatened category of animals, with 41% of species at risk, while only 13% of birds qualify for Red-Listing.
The highest losses were seen in Southeast Asia, where loss of habitat as forests are cleared for agriculture, including biofuel crops, is fastest.
"The 'backbone' of biodiversity is being eroded," said the eminent ecologist, Professor Edward O Wilson of Harvard University.
"One small step up the Red List is one giant leap forward towards extinction. This is just a small window on the global losses currently taking place."
However, the scientists behind the assessment - who publish their findings formally in the journal Science - say there is new evidence this time that conservation projects are having a noticeable global impact.
"Really focused conservation efforts work when we do them - many island birds are recovering, lots of examples like this," said Simon Stuart, chair of the Species Survival Commission with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
"We can show for sure that when we focus conservation efforts and really address the threats and put enough money into it, then you see positive results."
Species that have benefited from such action include three bred in captivity and returned to the wild - the California condor and black-footed ferret of the US, and Przewalski's horse in Mongolia.
The ban on commercial whaling has led to such a swiftly increasing population of humpback whales that they have come off the Red List entirely.
Meanwhile, a parallel study, also published in Science, asks where trends of increased risk, but also increased conservation effort, will lead the natural world in future.
Researchers analysed a range of scientific studies and global assessments. Although projections varied, all found that fundamental changes are needed in order to avoid declining populations across many types of plant and animal species.
etc...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11630355
By Richard Black, Environment correspondent, BBC News
One fifth of animal and plant species are under the threat of extinction, a global conservation study has warned.
Scientists who compiled the Red List of Threatened Species say the proportion of species facing wipeout is rising.
But they say intensive conservation work has already pulled some species back from the brink of oblivion.
The report is being launched at the UN Biodiversity Summit in Japan, where governments are discussing how to better protect the natural world.
Launched at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) meeting, the report says that amphibians remain the most threatened category of animals, with 41% of species at risk, while only 13% of birds qualify for Red-Listing.
The highest losses were seen in Southeast Asia, where loss of habitat as forests are cleared for agriculture, including biofuel crops, is fastest.
"The 'backbone' of biodiversity is being eroded," said the eminent ecologist, Professor Edward O Wilson of Harvard University.
"One small step up the Red List is one giant leap forward towards extinction. This is just a small window on the global losses currently taking place."
However, the scientists behind the assessment - who publish their findings formally in the journal Science - say there is new evidence this time that conservation projects are having a noticeable global impact.
"Really focused conservation efforts work when we do them - many island birds are recovering, lots of examples like this," said Simon Stuart, chair of the Species Survival Commission with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
"We can show for sure that when we focus conservation efforts and really address the threats and put enough money into it, then you see positive results."
Species that have benefited from such action include three bred in captivity and returned to the wild - the California condor and black-footed ferret of the US, and Przewalski's horse in Mongolia.
The ban on commercial whaling has led to such a swiftly increasing population of humpback whales that they have come off the Red List entirely.
Meanwhile, a parallel study, also published in Science, asks where trends of increased risk, but also increased conservation effort, will lead the natural world in future.
Researchers analysed a range of scientific studies and global assessments. Although projections varied, all found that fundamental changes are needed in order to avoid declining populations across many types of plant and animal species.
etc...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11630355
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- Aug 7, 2001
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- 54,631
Jellyfish 'may benefit from ecosystem instability'
By Mark Kinver, Science and environment reporter, BBC News
The causes behind jellyfish blooms are difficult to disentangle, say the authors A team of researchers have been trying to identify how jellyfish may benefit from marine ecosystems destabilised by climate change and overfishing.
There is concern that a rise in jellyfish numbers could prevent depleted commercially important fish stocks recovering to historical levels.
However, a study by European scientists says more data is needed to understand what is happening beneath the waves.
The findings are set to be published in the journal Global Change Biology.
Researchers from the UK and Ireland said samples collected from the Irish Sea since 1970 have recorded an increase in material from cnidarians (the division of the animal kingdom that includes jellyfish and coral), "with a period of frequent outbreaks between 1982 and 1991".
"There does appear to have been an increase in abundance since 1994 for the Irish Sea," said co-author Christopher Lynam, a researcher at the Centre for Environment Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas).
The team added that previous studies had recorded changes to marine ecosystems as a result of various factors, such as the removal of top predators, and changes to the distribution and characteristics of plankton.
These changes have led to a growing concern that the oceans may become increasingly dominated by jellyfish because "many gelatinous zooplankton species are able to increase in abundance rapidly and adapt to new conditions".
In recent years, there have been a number of examples of sudden blooms of jellyfish in European waters - including the Irish, Mediterranean and Black seas - which have killed fish and closed beaches.
In 2007, an invasion of mauve stingers (Pelagia noctiluca) wiped out Northern Ireland's only salmon farm, killing more than 100,000 fish.
However, Dr Lynam was keen to point out that the team's study was dominated by the common moon jellyfish (Aurelia aurita), which was not responsible for wiping out the salmon.
The main concern, the team wrote, was the establishment of a "never-ending jellyfish joyride" in which the creatures become so established that it makes it almost impossible for commercial fish stocks to return to historical levels.
But Dr Lynam told BBC News: "I don't think that the hypothesis that jellyfish will come into an area and dominate, not allowing anything to come back again, is really supported.
"Such a nightmare scenario does not seem to be the case, when you consider the data and studies that have been carried out."
etc...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11644500
By Mark Kinver, Science and environment reporter, BBC News
The causes behind jellyfish blooms are difficult to disentangle, say the authors A team of researchers have been trying to identify how jellyfish may benefit from marine ecosystems destabilised by climate change and overfishing.
There is concern that a rise in jellyfish numbers could prevent depleted commercially important fish stocks recovering to historical levels.
However, a study by European scientists says more data is needed to understand what is happening beneath the waves.
The findings are set to be published in the journal Global Change Biology.
Researchers from the UK and Ireland said samples collected from the Irish Sea since 1970 have recorded an increase in material from cnidarians (the division of the animal kingdom that includes jellyfish and coral), "with a period of frequent outbreaks between 1982 and 1991".
"There does appear to have been an increase in abundance since 1994 for the Irish Sea," said co-author Christopher Lynam, a researcher at the Centre for Environment Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas).
The team added that previous studies had recorded changes to marine ecosystems as a result of various factors, such as the removal of top predators, and changes to the distribution and characteristics of plankton.
These changes have led to a growing concern that the oceans may become increasingly dominated by jellyfish because "many gelatinous zooplankton species are able to increase in abundance rapidly and adapt to new conditions".
In recent years, there have been a number of examples of sudden blooms of jellyfish in European waters - including the Irish, Mediterranean and Black seas - which have killed fish and closed beaches.
In 2007, an invasion of mauve stingers (Pelagia noctiluca) wiped out Northern Ireland's only salmon farm, killing more than 100,000 fish.
However, Dr Lynam was keen to point out that the team's study was dominated by the common moon jellyfish (Aurelia aurita), which was not responsible for wiping out the salmon.
The main concern, the team wrote, was the establishment of a "never-ending jellyfish joyride" in which the creatures become so established that it makes it almost impossible for commercial fish stocks to return to historical levels.
But Dr Lynam told BBC News: "I don't think that the hypothesis that jellyfish will come into an area and dominate, not allowing anything to come back again, is really supported.
"Such a nightmare scenario does not seem to be the case, when you consider the data and studies that have been carried out."
etc...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11644500
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- Aug 7, 2001
- Messages
- 54,631
ALIEN INVADER!
Invasive seaweed found in Falmouth and Helford
11:19am Thursday 18th November 2010
By Stephen Ivall »
A previously unrecorded invasive seaweed has been discovered in the Fal and Helford Special Area of Conservation. Wakame is large, brown non-native kelp associated with the temperate waters of Japan, China and Korea.
It is hoped that the early detection of this invasive species, and the quick response for its removal taken by a team from Cornwall Wildlife Trust’s Investigate Invasives project, Natural England and the Port of Truro, will prevent further spread.
Wakame, scientific name Undaria pinnatifida, grows rapidly and is regarded as invasive with the potential to outcompete native seaweed communities. In recent times it has been introduced to European shores for commercial interest, however, up until now has only been recorded in the UK as far west as Plymouth. It can form dense mats that clog up marinas and recreational areas as a result of its prolific growth.
Kevan Cook Lead Advisor for Natural England’s Cornwall, Devon and the Isles of Scilly Marine team advises, “Follow up surveys will need to be undertaken to check for further outbreaks in case spores released by the kelp have settled further afield. The Fal Estuary is part of a site of European importance, and Natural England is keen to be part of any work that will maintain the special biodiversity of the estuary.”
Lisa Rennocks, Investigate Invasives Project Officer from Cornwall Wildlife Trust says: “One of the ways in which non native organisms can be introduced is on the hull of both commercial and recreational boats. We are trying to build up a picture of which non-native invasive species are threatening our coastal waters, and would like boat owners and marinas to watch out for anything unusual when they are cleaning off the hulls of their boats as there may be invasive species amongst the fouling communities.”
http://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/86 ... rd/?ref=mr
Invasive seaweed found in Falmouth and Helford
11:19am Thursday 18th November 2010
By Stephen Ivall »
A previously unrecorded invasive seaweed has been discovered in the Fal and Helford Special Area of Conservation. Wakame is large, brown non-native kelp associated with the temperate waters of Japan, China and Korea.
It is hoped that the early detection of this invasive species, and the quick response for its removal taken by a team from Cornwall Wildlife Trust’s Investigate Invasives project, Natural England and the Port of Truro, will prevent further spread.
Wakame, scientific name Undaria pinnatifida, grows rapidly and is regarded as invasive with the potential to outcompete native seaweed communities. In recent times it has been introduced to European shores for commercial interest, however, up until now has only been recorded in the UK as far west as Plymouth. It can form dense mats that clog up marinas and recreational areas as a result of its prolific growth.
Kevan Cook Lead Advisor for Natural England’s Cornwall, Devon and the Isles of Scilly Marine team advises, “Follow up surveys will need to be undertaken to check for further outbreaks in case spores released by the kelp have settled further afield. The Fal Estuary is part of a site of European importance, and Natural England is keen to be part of any work that will maintain the special biodiversity of the estuary.”
Lisa Rennocks, Investigate Invasives Project Officer from Cornwall Wildlife Trust says: “One of the ways in which non native organisms can be introduced is on the hull of both commercial and recreational boats. We are trying to build up a picture of which non-native invasive species are threatening our coastal waters, and would like boat owners and marinas to watch out for anything unusual when they are cleaning off the hulls of their boats as there may be invasive species amongst the fouling communities.”
http://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/86 ... rd/?ref=mr
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- Aug 7, 2001
- Messages
- 54,631
The Great Barrier Reef of Norfolk: 20 mile chalk bank found of [sic] British coast is world's longest
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 8:17 AM on 26th November 2010
It is a mere stone’s throw from the shore and just 25ft under the sea’s surface.
But for 300 million years, no one realised that the world’s longest chalk reef lay off the coast of Norfolk.
It was only when divers surveyed what they thought was a small rocky plain earlier this year, that they discovered the towering arches of rock and deep chasms actually stretched for more than 20 miles.
The marine haven has so many species, including sponges, sea slugs and fish, that experts are describing it as ‘Britain’s Great Barrier Reef’.
It is one-and-a-half times longer than the Thanet Coast chalk reefs in Kent, the former record holder.
Diver Rob Spray, 43, whose team discovered the reef, said: ‘It was like finding a natural Stonehenge hidden under the water.’
The true scale of the underwater landscape, which is likely to be made a protected reserve, only emerged when Mr Spray, who runs the Marine Conservation Society survey project, and his team of 20 volunteers were granted funding to do a survey of the structure.
He said: ‘We couldn’t believe it when we found it was actually 20 miles long and had this amazing complex of gullies and arches. In some areas it looks like a moonscape.’
Three species never before recorded on the East Anglian coast have already been found there; the leopard spotted goby, the blush-red strawberry anemone and the Atlantic ancula sea slug. It is also home to the rock-loving, ‘smiling’ tompot blenny fish.
The team next plan to find out how wide the reef is. Mr Spray added: ‘Every time we went back we found more. I never expected to find anything on this scale in Norfolk.’
Mr Spray, who has been diving in the North Sea with partner Dawn Watson, 41, for 12 years, knew there was a chalk area off the east coast but had always believed it was fairly small.
'We thought it would be a small project, but on the very first day we started five miles west of where we though the reef was and discovered chalk,' he said.
'So after our first dive we had already doubled the size of the known reef and every time we went back we found more and more.
'We were also stunned to see it had so many significant features, such as the man high rock arches. I found one then suddenly discovered a whole row.
'It reminds me of reefs I have seen in Malta and I never expected to find anything on this scale in Norfolk.'
Mr Spray added: 'The chalk reefs are fantastic for wildlife and are teaming with shoals of reef-loving fish, coated with anemones and hosting characters such as the tompot blenny.
'Animals and plants can live in sand and gravel but they are hostile environments and rocky reefs are much better as they enable creatures to get up into the water column to feed.'
The divers hope the reef will be made into a protected reserve under European law.
They also plan to continue their survey next year to find out how wide the reef is, so they can work out its total area.
'The white chalk gives this reef a really unique character and we hope people will now come to Norfolk to see it for themselves,' he said.
'Norfolk is an easy place to dive and you can walk just 100 metres out from the coast and be on the reef.
'I think the reef will really benefit tourism in the county and we hope it will officially be made into a reserve as it has no real protection at the moment.'
Although less than one per cent of the UK coastline is chalk, the UK has 75 per cent of the chalk reefs in Europe.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ ... z16O5Nxedw
Some of the comments ask if this reef could be man-made. Well, it would have been dry land in the last ice age, so humans might at least have seen it - which makes a nonsense of the second sentence of the article!
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 8:17 AM on 26th November 2010
It is a mere stone’s throw from the shore and just 25ft under the sea’s surface.
But for 300 million years, no one realised that the world’s longest chalk reef lay off the coast of Norfolk.
It was only when divers surveyed what they thought was a small rocky plain earlier this year, that they discovered the towering arches of rock and deep chasms actually stretched for more than 20 miles.
The marine haven has so many species, including sponges, sea slugs and fish, that experts are describing it as ‘Britain’s Great Barrier Reef’.
It is one-and-a-half times longer than the Thanet Coast chalk reefs in Kent, the former record holder.
Diver Rob Spray, 43, whose team discovered the reef, said: ‘It was like finding a natural Stonehenge hidden under the water.’
The true scale of the underwater landscape, which is likely to be made a protected reserve, only emerged when Mr Spray, who runs the Marine Conservation Society survey project, and his team of 20 volunteers were granted funding to do a survey of the structure.
He said: ‘We couldn’t believe it when we found it was actually 20 miles long and had this amazing complex of gullies and arches. In some areas it looks like a moonscape.’
Three species never before recorded on the East Anglian coast have already been found there; the leopard spotted goby, the blush-red strawberry anemone and the Atlantic ancula sea slug. It is also home to the rock-loving, ‘smiling’ tompot blenny fish.
The team next plan to find out how wide the reef is. Mr Spray added: ‘Every time we went back we found more. I never expected to find anything on this scale in Norfolk.’
Mr Spray, who has been diving in the North Sea with partner Dawn Watson, 41, for 12 years, knew there was a chalk area off the east coast but had always believed it was fairly small.
'We thought it would be a small project, but on the very first day we started five miles west of where we though the reef was and discovered chalk,' he said.
'So after our first dive we had already doubled the size of the known reef and every time we went back we found more and more.
'We were also stunned to see it had so many significant features, such as the man high rock arches. I found one then suddenly discovered a whole row.
'It reminds me of reefs I have seen in Malta and I never expected to find anything on this scale in Norfolk.'
Mr Spray added: 'The chalk reefs are fantastic for wildlife and are teaming with shoals of reef-loving fish, coated with anemones and hosting characters such as the tompot blenny.
'Animals and plants can live in sand and gravel but they are hostile environments and rocky reefs are much better as they enable creatures to get up into the water column to feed.'
The divers hope the reef will be made into a protected reserve under European law.
They also plan to continue their survey next year to find out how wide the reef is, so they can work out its total area.
'The white chalk gives this reef a really unique character and we hope people will now come to Norfolk to see it for themselves,' he said.
'Norfolk is an easy place to dive and you can walk just 100 metres out from the coast and be on the reef.
'I think the reef will really benefit tourism in the county and we hope it will officially be made into a reserve as it has no real protection at the moment.'
Although less than one per cent of the UK coastline is chalk, the UK has 75 per cent of the chalk reefs in Europe.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ ... z16O5Nxedw
Some of the comments ask if this reef could be man-made. Well, it would have been dry land in the last ice age, so humans might at least have seen it - which makes a nonsense of the second sentence of the article!
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2001
- Messages
- 54,631
Government launches £4.2m urban tree-planting plan
A £4.2m scheme to plant one million trees over the next four years has been unveiled by the government.
It will see trees planted in urban areas that need them most, in the first government tree-planting campaign since the 1970s.
It aims to reverse declines in the rates in the number of trees being planted in towns and cities.
It will be led by Defra, alongside the Forestry Commission and organisations such as the Woodland Trust.
Trees for Cities and the Tree Council will also be involved in the Big Tree Plant scheme.
The Forestry Commission will provide £1m a year over the next four years, while £200,000 of existing London Tree and Woodland Community Grant money will also be used.
Defra minister Jim Paice said: "Using the enthusiasm of local communities and the knowledge of the groups that know most about trees and their unique benefits, we'll help create neighbourhoods that we can be proud of."
Existing funding is already going to NHS Forests to plant 65,000 trees across 25 sites in this planting season.
The Tree Council will plant more than 1,000 trees across four sites and Keep Britain Tidy will plant 100,000 trees across 750 sites.
Hilary Allison, policy director for the Woodland Trust said it welcomed the move to encourage people to plant trees.
"We launched our More Trees More Good campaign in June to highlight the need for twice as many native trees and woods for the sake of wildlife and the environment, and have had a fantastic response from schools, community groups, corporate partners and large landowners,"
She said the aim was to change from current levels of planting of around six million trees a year to 20 million a year over the next 50 years, to double woodland cover in the UK.
To do this, the Woodland Trust needed support from people who could help make tree planting a "national habit," she said.
Griff Rhys Jones, president of Civic Voice, an organisation which aims to make places more attractive, enjoyable and distinctive, said: "The Big Tree Plant is a great way for people to get together with their neighbours, civic society and local community groups to plant and care for more trees and improve the local environment for everyone.
"Plant a tree, change the future and the future will thank you for it."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11894742
A £4.2m scheme to plant one million trees over the next four years has been unveiled by the government.
It will see trees planted in urban areas that need them most, in the first government tree-planting campaign since the 1970s.
It aims to reverse declines in the rates in the number of trees being planted in towns and cities.
It will be led by Defra, alongside the Forestry Commission and organisations such as the Woodland Trust.
Trees for Cities and the Tree Council will also be involved in the Big Tree Plant scheme.
The Forestry Commission will provide £1m a year over the next four years, while £200,000 of existing London Tree and Woodland Community Grant money will also be used.
Defra minister Jim Paice said: "Using the enthusiasm of local communities and the knowledge of the groups that know most about trees and their unique benefits, we'll help create neighbourhoods that we can be proud of."
Existing funding is already going to NHS Forests to plant 65,000 trees across 25 sites in this planting season.
The Tree Council will plant more than 1,000 trees across four sites and Keep Britain Tidy will plant 100,000 trees across 750 sites.
Hilary Allison, policy director for the Woodland Trust said it welcomed the move to encourage people to plant trees.
"We launched our More Trees More Good campaign in June to highlight the need for twice as many native trees and woods for the sake of wildlife and the environment, and have had a fantastic response from schools, community groups, corporate partners and large landowners,"
She said the aim was to change from current levels of planting of around six million trees a year to 20 million a year over the next 50 years, to double woodland cover in the UK.
To do this, the Woodland Trust needed support from people who could help make tree planting a "national habit," she said.
Griff Rhys Jones, president of Civic Voice, an organisation which aims to make places more attractive, enjoyable and distinctive, said: "The Big Tree Plant is a great way for people to get together with their neighbours, civic society and local community groups to plant and care for more trees and improve the local environment for everyone.
"Plant a tree, change the future and the future will thank you for it."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11894742
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2001
- Messages
- 54,631
Freshwater wildlife thrives in cleanest rivers since Industrial Revolution
Otters, water voles and many species of freshwater fish make dramatic recovery as water quality continues to improve
Ian Sample, science correspondent The Guardian, Friday 31 December 2010
Otters, water voles and species of freshwater fish which had all but vanished from waterways have made a dramatic recovery following the healthiest decade for rivers since the industrial revolution.
The toxic effects of pesticides nearly wiped out the wild otter in the 1970s, but steady improvements in water quality mean their numbers are expected to make a full recovery.
Otters may already have reached their maximum capacity in parts of the south-west of England, Cumbria and Northumbria. In the past 30 years, positive sightings have risen 10-fold, says a report by the Environment Agency.
The return of wildlife in and around the waterways reflects clean-up operations by water companies and environmental bodies to meet national and forthcoming European water quality directives.
The number of serious water pollution incidents has more than halved since 2001, while major conservation programmes have protected and restored rivers, streams and lakes.
Water voles are also returning to riverbanks after serious habitat degradation in the 1990s saw the mammal become critically endangered in Britain. According to the agency, water voles have recently been spotted in 30 locations.
Fish are also now thriving in once polluted rivers. The Tyne has seen record numbers of migrating salmon, while the Thames recorded its highest number of sea trout since many species were wiped out in parts of the river by pollution in the 1830s. The agency boosted fish populations with more than half a million farmed fish, including roach, barbell, tench, dace and chub.
Water quality tests on rivers in the Thames catchment area in 2008 found that 80% were "very good" or "good", compared with just 53% in 1990. Officials have recorded 125 fish species in the Thames estuary, which is home to shellfisheries and provides nursing grounds for sole and bass.
Ian Barker, the agency's head of water, said: "Rivers in England and Wales are at their healthiest for over a century, with otters, salmon and other wildlife returning in record numbers."
Water quality will need to improve more if environmental organisations are to tackle pollution that runs into waterways from fields and roads. A further 9,500 miles of rivers and streams are due to be revitalised by the agency over the next five years.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2 ... ean-rivers
Otters, water voles and many species of freshwater fish make dramatic recovery as water quality continues to improve
Ian Sample, science correspondent The Guardian, Friday 31 December 2010
Otters, water voles and species of freshwater fish which had all but vanished from waterways have made a dramatic recovery following the healthiest decade for rivers since the industrial revolution.
The toxic effects of pesticides nearly wiped out the wild otter in the 1970s, but steady improvements in water quality mean their numbers are expected to make a full recovery.
Otters may already have reached their maximum capacity in parts of the south-west of England, Cumbria and Northumbria. In the past 30 years, positive sightings have risen 10-fold, says a report by the Environment Agency.
The return of wildlife in and around the waterways reflects clean-up operations by water companies and environmental bodies to meet national and forthcoming European water quality directives.
The number of serious water pollution incidents has more than halved since 2001, while major conservation programmes have protected and restored rivers, streams and lakes.
Water voles are also returning to riverbanks after serious habitat degradation in the 1990s saw the mammal become critically endangered in Britain. According to the agency, water voles have recently been spotted in 30 locations.
Fish are also now thriving in once polluted rivers. The Tyne has seen record numbers of migrating salmon, while the Thames recorded its highest number of sea trout since many species were wiped out in parts of the river by pollution in the 1830s. The agency boosted fish populations with more than half a million farmed fish, including roach, barbell, tench, dace and chub.
Water quality tests on rivers in the Thames catchment area in 2008 found that 80% were "very good" or "good", compared with just 53% in 1990. Officials have recorded 125 fish species in the Thames estuary, which is home to shellfisheries and provides nursing grounds for sole and bass.
Ian Barker, the agency's head of water, said: "Rivers in England and Wales are at their healthiest for over a century, with otters, salmon and other wildlife returning in record numbers."
Water quality will need to improve more if environmental organisations are to tackle pollution that runs into waterways from fields and roads. A further 9,500 miles of rivers and streams are due to be revitalised by the agency over the next five years.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2 ... ean-rivers
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2001
- Messages
- 54,631
Floodwater threatens overwhelming damage to Great Barrier Reef
The great deluge is pumping contaminated water into the ocean, with potentially disastrous results
By Michael McCarthy
Thursday, 13 January 2011
Australia's great Barrier Reef, one of the ecological wonders of the world, may also be severely affected by the Queensland floods.
The pristine waters of the vast 1,400-mile reef system, home to thousands of exotic and often endangered marine species, from whales and dolphins, seabirds and tropical fish to tiny coral polyps, are threatened by huge volumes of polluted floodwater flowing out from the coast.
Already the brown flood "plume" has been detected offshore over a huge expanse of sea, stretching more than 1,000 miles from Cooktown in northern Queensland to Grafton, south of Brisbane in northern New South Wales. But it is in the centre of this area – the Barrier Reef's southern sector – that the threat is greatest.
Here, three big rivers are pouring their swollen and filthy waters out constantly – from north to south the Burdekin, which flows into the sea at Upstart Bay south of Townsville, the Fitzroy which enters the sea at Keppel Bay near Rockhampton, and the Burnett River, which empties into the Pacific at Burnett Heads near Bundaberg.
In all of these, top soil, sediment, rubbish, pesticides and fertilisers from farmland are being washed through the river systems out to sea, as well, potentially, as trace metals from flooded mines. All of these contaminants will be dumped on the reef and affect its salinity and water quality, besides directly threatening much of the fragile life in what is the world's largest living organism and the only one which can be seen from space.
The sediment in particular can silt up the coral reefs, the foundation for the whole ecosystem, and other habitats such as the extensive sea grass beds, which are used for grazing by those exotic sea mammals, dugongs. And there can be other, stranger impacts.
In the past, large floods of the Burdekin River have led to outbreaks of coral-eating crown-of-thorns starfish, and there is concern that a new wave could soon form on the reef.
"The timing and location of the three observed outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish in the past have all coincided with the times and place where the largest Burdekin floods have impinged on the reef," said Dr Katharina Fabricius, principal research scientist at the Australian Institute of Marine Science. "These outbreaks are still the greatest source of coral mortality on the Great Barrier Reef."
Off the Fitzroy River delta, where hydrologists estimate that the equivalent of three Sydney Harbours of floodwater is flowing out to sea through nearby Rockhampton and into the Great Barrier Reef lagoon every day, the Keppel Island group is in the firing line. Floods in 1991 wiped out vast swathes of coral in the islands.
Laureth Craggs, who runs the tourist resort of Pumpkin Island, said that water visibility was already down to one metre. "It is normally 25-30m under water, but the usually crystal-clear turquoise water is a murky mud brown," she said. "You can't see a thing."
etc...
http://www.independent.co.uk/environmen ... 83250.html
The great deluge is pumping contaminated water into the ocean, with potentially disastrous results
By Michael McCarthy
Thursday, 13 January 2011
Australia's great Barrier Reef, one of the ecological wonders of the world, may also be severely affected by the Queensland floods.
The pristine waters of the vast 1,400-mile reef system, home to thousands of exotic and often endangered marine species, from whales and dolphins, seabirds and tropical fish to tiny coral polyps, are threatened by huge volumes of polluted floodwater flowing out from the coast.
Already the brown flood "plume" has been detected offshore over a huge expanse of sea, stretching more than 1,000 miles from Cooktown in northern Queensland to Grafton, south of Brisbane in northern New South Wales. But it is in the centre of this area – the Barrier Reef's southern sector – that the threat is greatest.
Here, three big rivers are pouring their swollen and filthy waters out constantly – from north to south the Burdekin, which flows into the sea at Upstart Bay south of Townsville, the Fitzroy which enters the sea at Keppel Bay near Rockhampton, and the Burnett River, which empties into the Pacific at Burnett Heads near Bundaberg.
In all of these, top soil, sediment, rubbish, pesticides and fertilisers from farmland are being washed through the river systems out to sea, as well, potentially, as trace metals from flooded mines. All of these contaminants will be dumped on the reef and affect its salinity and water quality, besides directly threatening much of the fragile life in what is the world's largest living organism and the only one which can be seen from space.
The sediment in particular can silt up the coral reefs, the foundation for the whole ecosystem, and other habitats such as the extensive sea grass beds, which are used for grazing by those exotic sea mammals, dugongs. And there can be other, stranger impacts.
In the past, large floods of the Burdekin River have led to outbreaks of coral-eating crown-of-thorns starfish, and there is concern that a new wave could soon form on the reef.
"The timing and location of the three observed outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish in the past have all coincided with the times and place where the largest Burdekin floods have impinged on the reef," said Dr Katharina Fabricius, principal research scientist at the Australian Institute of Marine Science. "These outbreaks are still the greatest source of coral mortality on the Great Barrier Reef."
Off the Fitzroy River delta, where hydrologists estimate that the equivalent of three Sydney Harbours of floodwater is flowing out to sea through nearby Rockhampton and into the Great Barrier Reef lagoon every day, the Keppel Island group is in the firing line. Floods in 1991 wiped out vast swathes of coral in the islands.
Laureth Craggs, who runs the tourist resort of Pumpkin Island, said that water visibility was already down to one metre. "It is normally 25-30m under water, but the usually crystal-clear turquoise water is a murky mud brown," she said. "You can't see a thing."
etc...
http://www.independent.co.uk/environmen ... 83250.html
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2001
- Messages
- 54,631
The Choking of China - and the World
The world knows that the Chinese economic boom has led to a huge increase in carbon emissions. But the damage has to stop if global environmental catastrophe is to be averted, says Johann Hari
Monday, 24 January 2011
The world is watching China’s economic surge with understandable awe – while politely and passively ignoring the country’s ecological disintegration.
When the journalist Jonathan Watts was a child, he was told, like so many of us: “If everyone in China jumps at exactly the same time, it will shake the earth off its axis and kill us all.” Three decades later, he stood in the grey sickly smog of Beijing, wheezing and hacking uncontrollably after a short run, and thought – the Chinese jump has begun. He had travelled 100,000 miles criss-crossing China, from the rooftop of Tibet to the deserts of Inner Mongolia and everywhere, he discovered that the Chinese state was embarked on a massive program of environmental destruction. It has turned whole rivers poisonous to the touch, rendered entire areas cancer-ridden, transformed a fertile area twice the size of Britain into desert – and probably even triggered the worst earthquake in living memory.
“The planet’s environmental problems were not made in China, but they are sliding past the point of no return there,” Watts argues in his new book When A Billion Chinese Jump – the essential starting-point for this conversation. The uber-capitalist Communists now have the highest emissions of global warming gases in the world (although the average Chinese person still emits a tenth of the average American). We are all trapped in a greenhouse together: environmental destruction in China becomes environmental destruction where you live. This story will become your story.
So Watts stands in the village in Guandong province where the world’s old motherboards – yours and mine – are sent to die. There, children pick through the old computers, breaking down every reusable part, like they were the globe’s intestine. But the children sicken with lead poisoning, and develop brain damage, cancer, and kidney failure. Even when the kids get to sit in a classroom, they have to wear masks, to protect them from the mountains of garbage.
So he goes to meet the environmental activists who are trying to stop this poisoning of their children, and watches as – terrified – they are carried away to prison. (Imagine if Al Gore had been imprisoned for exposing Love Canal, and was still in solitary, and you get the idea.)
So he ventures out on a ship with an international band of scientists to save the last Yangtze dolphin – an animal that was swimming though China’s rivers 10 million years before the first human, and was a common sight not long ago. But gradually he realises he is too late. They are all dead. He says: “Man had wiped out his first dolphin? The end of a species after twenty million years felt terrifyingly momentous. This was not just a piece of news. It was even more than history. It was an event on a geological timescale.”
So he watches as the globe warms and China’s deserts stretch further and deeper with each passing year. So he stands and stares as the Himalayan glaciers – where most of Asia’s great rivers begin – melt and die, with two thirds on course to vanish by 2050.
This is not an unambiguous story. This destruction is not being pursued out of wickedness: it is happening as a side-effect of a benevolent impulse. The Chinese people are determined to rise from poverty to prosperity. Forty years ago, China was starving. Today, it is in surplus. Some Chinese argue: if environmental damage is the price we pay for whiplash development, why not? You Europeans and Americans destroyed your environments, felled your forests, trashed your habitats all through your Industrial Revolution – and when you were rich enough, you cleaned it up. Yes there is a cost, but it is less than the cost of staying poor forever. How dare you lecture us, when most of our emissions are from factories you have outsourced to make goods and process waste for you, and when you refuse to even make tiny cuts in your emissions at home?
etc...
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/co ... 92372.html
The world knows that the Chinese economic boom has led to a huge increase in carbon emissions. But the damage has to stop if global environmental catastrophe is to be averted, says Johann Hari
Monday, 24 January 2011
The world is watching China’s economic surge with understandable awe – while politely and passively ignoring the country’s ecological disintegration.
When the journalist Jonathan Watts was a child, he was told, like so many of us: “If everyone in China jumps at exactly the same time, it will shake the earth off its axis and kill us all.” Three decades later, he stood in the grey sickly smog of Beijing, wheezing and hacking uncontrollably after a short run, and thought – the Chinese jump has begun. He had travelled 100,000 miles criss-crossing China, from the rooftop of Tibet to the deserts of Inner Mongolia and everywhere, he discovered that the Chinese state was embarked on a massive program of environmental destruction. It has turned whole rivers poisonous to the touch, rendered entire areas cancer-ridden, transformed a fertile area twice the size of Britain into desert – and probably even triggered the worst earthquake in living memory.
“The planet’s environmental problems were not made in China, but they are sliding past the point of no return there,” Watts argues in his new book When A Billion Chinese Jump – the essential starting-point for this conversation. The uber-capitalist Communists now have the highest emissions of global warming gases in the world (although the average Chinese person still emits a tenth of the average American). We are all trapped in a greenhouse together: environmental destruction in China becomes environmental destruction where you live. This story will become your story.
So Watts stands in the village in Guandong province where the world’s old motherboards – yours and mine – are sent to die. There, children pick through the old computers, breaking down every reusable part, like they were the globe’s intestine. But the children sicken with lead poisoning, and develop brain damage, cancer, and kidney failure. Even when the kids get to sit in a classroom, they have to wear masks, to protect them from the mountains of garbage.
So he goes to meet the environmental activists who are trying to stop this poisoning of their children, and watches as – terrified – they are carried away to prison. (Imagine if Al Gore had been imprisoned for exposing Love Canal, and was still in solitary, and you get the idea.)
So he ventures out on a ship with an international band of scientists to save the last Yangtze dolphin – an animal that was swimming though China’s rivers 10 million years before the first human, and was a common sight not long ago. But gradually he realises he is too late. They are all dead. He says: “Man had wiped out his first dolphin? The end of a species after twenty million years felt terrifyingly momentous. This was not just a piece of news. It was even more than history. It was an event on a geological timescale.”
So he watches as the globe warms and China’s deserts stretch further and deeper with each passing year. So he stands and stares as the Himalayan glaciers – where most of Asia’s great rivers begin – melt and die, with two thirds on course to vanish by 2050.
This is not an unambiguous story. This destruction is not being pursued out of wickedness: it is happening as a side-effect of a benevolent impulse. The Chinese people are determined to rise from poverty to prosperity. Forty years ago, China was starving. Today, it is in surplus. Some Chinese argue: if environmental damage is the price we pay for whiplash development, why not? You Europeans and Americans destroyed your environments, felled your forests, trashed your habitats all through your Industrial Revolution – and when you were rich enough, you cleaned it up. Yes there is a cost, but it is less than the cost of staying poor forever. How dare you lecture us, when most of our emissions are from factories you have outsourced to make goods and process waste for you, and when you refuse to even make tiny cuts in your emissions at home?
etc...
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/co ... 92372.html
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2001
- Messages
- 54,631
Sharp rise reported in Scots fish lice chemical
The level of chemicals used by fish farmers to treat sea lice infestations has risen dramatically, a BBC Scotland investigation has learned.
Scottish government figures showed that over the past five years, the industry used a broader range of chemicals and more of them.
Campaigners claim the figures are evidence the natural parasite is becoming resistant to the treatments.
Fish lice have been blamed for damaging salmon and sea trout stocks.
According to the government's figures, the use of chemicals used to fight the parasite increased significantly between 2005 and 2009.
Andrew Wallace, from the Association of Salmon Boards, said that when young fish migrate from rivers to the sea they can be susceptible to naturally occurring sea lice.
He added: "Now in normal circumstances there aren't that many lice around, and the lice that are around originate from existing wild fish populations.
"But if you have a million farmed fish in a cage on the migratory route of those fish, then suddenly you're encountering an entirely different scale of problem.
"And the numbers of lice coming off of these farms is horrendous at times."
Mr Wallace said a lack of co-operation from those within the farming sector was prompting the prospect of legal action to force fish farms to be moved away from sensitive rivers used by salmon and sea trout.
However, Dr John Webster of the Scottish Salmon Producers Association, said any legal action would be disappointing.
He said: "I think it's slightly ironic that an organisation that's accused the industry of threatening and bullying tactics should resort to taking a company to court.
"I think it's very disappointing that our critics should at this stage in proceedings... decide to withdraw from that debate to suggest that there's no point in working together any more and should use more draconian and threatening tactics to try and persuade us to do things."
Environmentalists have maintained that the chemicals used to control the lice are pesticides with the potential to hurt other marine life.
But the industry has responded by saying the chemicals are regulated as a veterinary medicine.
Environmental lawyer Guy Linley Adams has been hired by wild fish groups concerned at the impact of sea lice infestations.
He said there were examples of fish farms that were unable to control lice levels, meaning stocks had to be culled early.
He added: "Now that's happening on a handful of farms, no more than a handful. But if that spreads and we have a large number of farms just unable to treat their sea lice, we have an industry in crisis."
In a statement, the Scottish government said it was not possible to determine exactly what had caused a rise in the use of chemicals.
However, a spokesman said the increased rotation of chemicals to avoid resistance and increased focus on dealing with sea lice were possible explanations.
He added: "The reasons for increased use of sea lice medicines are quite complex and almost certainly due to a number of factors.
"In order to be certain of the reasons, much more information would be required on where, when and how use has been made of sea louse medicines but in general, increasing use is not in itself necessarily a matter for concern."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-12297269
The level of chemicals used by fish farmers to treat sea lice infestations has risen dramatically, a BBC Scotland investigation has learned.
Scottish government figures showed that over the past five years, the industry used a broader range of chemicals and more of them.
Campaigners claim the figures are evidence the natural parasite is becoming resistant to the treatments.
Fish lice have been blamed for damaging salmon and sea trout stocks.
According to the government's figures, the use of chemicals used to fight the parasite increased significantly between 2005 and 2009.
Andrew Wallace, from the Association of Salmon Boards, said that when young fish migrate from rivers to the sea they can be susceptible to naturally occurring sea lice.
He added: "Now in normal circumstances there aren't that many lice around, and the lice that are around originate from existing wild fish populations.
"But if you have a million farmed fish in a cage on the migratory route of those fish, then suddenly you're encountering an entirely different scale of problem.
"And the numbers of lice coming off of these farms is horrendous at times."
Mr Wallace said a lack of co-operation from those within the farming sector was prompting the prospect of legal action to force fish farms to be moved away from sensitive rivers used by salmon and sea trout.
However, Dr John Webster of the Scottish Salmon Producers Association, said any legal action would be disappointing.
He said: "I think it's slightly ironic that an organisation that's accused the industry of threatening and bullying tactics should resort to taking a company to court.
"I think it's very disappointing that our critics should at this stage in proceedings... decide to withdraw from that debate to suggest that there's no point in working together any more and should use more draconian and threatening tactics to try and persuade us to do things."
Environmentalists have maintained that the chemicals used to control the lice are pesticides with the potential to hurt other marine life.
But the industry has responded by saying the chemicals are regulated as a veterinary medicine.
Environmental lawyer Guy Linley Adams has been hired by wild fish groups concerned at the impact of sea lice infestations.
He said there were examples of fish farms that were unable to control lice levels, meaning stocks had to be culled early.
He added: "Now that's happening on a handful of farms, no more than a handful. But if that spreads and we have a large number of farms just unable to treat their sea lice, we have an industry in crisis."
In a statement, the Scottish government said it was not possible to determine exactly what had caused a rise in the use of chemicals.
However, a spokesman said the increased rotation of chemicals to avoid resistance and increased focus on dealing with sea lice were possible explanations.
He added: "The reasons for increased use of sea lice medicines are quite complex and almost certainly due to a number of factors.
"In order to be certain of the reasons, much more information would be required on where, when and how use has been made of sea louse medicines but in general, increasing use is not in itself necessarily a matter for concern."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-12297269
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2001
- Messages
- 54,631
Starlings like 'swarm of locusts' say farmers
Farmers are demanding to be allowed to shoot huge flocks of starlings that are eating valuable animal feed in alarming quantities after unusually high numbers arrived in this country.
By Harry Wallop, Consumer Affairs Editor 6:00PM GMT 09 Feb 2011
Their call came as two further incidents highlighted the destructive potential of the birds whose numbers have been swelled by starlings escaping particularly cold weather in Europe.
A holiday park in Newquay, Cornwall was faced with a £10,000 clean-up bill this week, after a flock left up to seven inches of droppings. Caravans, roads and trees were all covered. :shock:
The birds have also become a nuisance to the residents of Nantwich in Cheshire, some of whom claim they need to walk around town with an umbrella to protect themselves from droppings. They have petitioned the council to do something about the problem.
Starlings are protected, being a so-called red-list bird, whose population has fallen by more than 50 per cent since 1970, as measured by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.
However, though the indigenous population has fallen, during winter starling numbers are swelled by a large number of birds from Europe. It is thought the particularly cold winter on the Continent has encouraged more than normal to come to Britain.
Farmers said that up to a ton of animal feed a day was being eaten by starlings in Lancashire, causing a serious dent to profits. The moment the troughs for the dairy herds are filled, the starlings descend, entering the open-sided barns where the cows live in winter.
Leslie Hull of Gibstick Farm, near Garstang, Lancashire said: "It's like living with a swarm of locusts every day, and yet we're the only EU country that won't allow starlings to be controlled as a pest.
"We've never seen flocks as big as the ones we've had to cope with this winter."
Jim Thornley of Derby Lodge Farm, near Preston, said: "The long spell of cold weather seemed to bring the biggest flocks. They fill the feed troughs for hours and as well as fouling the feed they make a lot of mess."
Jeremy Hunt, at Farmers Weekly, said the problem had been exacerbated on many farms by modern feeding methods. Instead of cows being fed silage – a grass based feed – during they day, they now have a cereal-based feed, which is far more attractive to birds.
Farmers are allowed to apply for a licence from Natural England to shoot the birds, but only after a lengthy process to prove that all other methods have been exhausted. The countryside watchdog said the number of licences granted was increasing, with 13 given out in 2009 and 17 issued last year.
The RSPB said it was aware of the problem and sympathetic towards farmers. However, a spokesman added: "We are alarmed that the number of licenses are going up, given the conservation status of starlings.
"We want to work with farmers to ensure non-lethal methods are used to control the problem, starting with netting."
The spectacular flocks of starlings, which sometimes number tens or even hundreds of thousands, are called murmurations. They have attracted crowds of admirers in places such as Brighton thanks in part to the BBC Springwatch programme highlighting the phenomenon.
Others are less admiring. Mike Finnigan at the Trevelgue Holiday Park in Newquay said: "The bird droppings are causing a major problem. It's acidic and the sheer quantity is phenomenal. The roads on the campsite are absolutely covered and the trees and caravans are lagged.
"It's taking major branches off some trees because of the sheer weight. In some places its up to seven inches deep."
He added: "I have worked here for 15 years and I've never seen anything like it."
etc...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/agricu ... rmers.html
Farmers are demanding to be allowed to shoot huge flocks of starlings that are eating valuable animal feed in alarming quantities after unusually high numbers arrived in this country.
By Harry Wallop, Consumer Affairs Editor 6:00PM GMT 09 Feb 2011
Their call came as two further incidents highlighted the destructive potential of the birds whose numbers have been swelled by starlings escaping particularly cold weather in Europe.
A holiday park in Newquay, Cornwall was faced with a £10,000 clean-up bill this week, after a flock left up to seven inches of droppings. Caravans, roads and trees were all covered. :shock:
The birds have also become a nuisance to the residents of Nantwich in Cheshire, some of whom claim they need to walk around town with an umbrella to protect themselves from droppings. They have petitioned the council to do something about the problem.
Starlings are protected, being a so-called red-list bird, whose population has fallen by more than 50 per cent since 1970, as measured by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.
However, though the indigenous population has fallen, during winter starling numbers are swelled by a large number of birds from Europe. It is thought the particularly cold winter on the Continent has encouraged more than normal to come to Britain.
Farmers said that up to a ton of animal feed a day was being eaten by starlings in Lancashire, causing a serious dent to profits. The moment the troughs for the dairy herds are filled, the starlings descend, entering the open-sided barns where the cows live in winter.
Leslie Hull of Gibstick Farm, near Garstang, Lancashire said: "It's like living with a swarm of locusts every day, and yet we're the only EU country that won't allow starlings to be controlled as a pest.
"We've never seen flocks as big as the ones we've had to cope with this winter."
Jim Thornley of Derby Lodge Farm, near Preston, said: "The long spell of cold weather seemed to bring the biggest flocks. They fill the feed troughs for hours and as well as fouling the feed they make a lot of mess."
Jeremy Hunt, at Farmers Weekly, said the problem had been exacerbated on many farms by modern feeding methods. Instead of cows being fed silage – a grass based feed – during they day, they now have a cereal-based feed, which is far more attractive to birds.
Farmers are allowed to apply for a licence from Natural England to shoot the birds, but only after a lengthy process to prove that all other methods have been exhausted. The countryside watchdog said the number of licences granted was increasing, with 13 given out in 2009 and 17 issued last year.
The RSPB said it was aware of the problem and sympathetic towards farmers. However, a spokesman added: "We are alarmed that the number of licenses are going up, given the conservation status of starlings.
"We want to work with farmers to ensure non-lethal methods are used to control the problem, starting with netting."
The spectacular flocks of starlings, which sometimes number tens or even hundreds of thousands, are called murmurations. They have attracted crowds of admirers in places such as Brighton thanks in part to the BBC Springwatch programme highlighting the phenomenon.
Others are less admiring. Mike Finnigan at the Trevelgue Holiday Park in Newquay said: "The bird droppings are causing a major problem. It's acidic and the sheer quantity is phenomenal. The roads on the campsite are absolutely covered and the trees and caravans are lagged.
"It's taking major branches off some trees because of the sheer weight. In some places its up to seven inches deep."
He added: "I have worked here for 15 years and I've never seen anything like it."
etc...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/agricu ... rmers.html
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2009
- Messages
- 1,584
Then again....
Don't be fooled by big flocks
Despite the incredible size of the flocks, these numbers are just a fraction of what they used to be. Huge starling flocks used to gather over Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, Liverpool, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Belfast, but you have a much better chance of seeing the birds in rural areas.
The starling population has crashed by over 70% in recent years, meaning they are now on the critical list of UK birds most at risk.
The decline is believed to be due to the loss of permanent pasture, increased use of farm chemicals and a shortage of food and nesting sites in many parts of the UK.
http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdgui ... sting.aspx
Don't be fooled by big flocks
Despite the incredible size of the flocks, these numbers are just a fraction of what they used to be. Huge starling flocks used to gather over Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, Liverpool, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Belfast, but you have a much better chance of seeing the birds in rural areas.
The starling population has crashed by over 70% in recent years, meaning they are now on the critical list of UK birds most at risk.
The decline is believed to be due to the loss of permanent pasture, increased use of farm chemicals and a shortage of food and nesting sites in many parts of the UK.
http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdgui ... sting.aspx
ramonmercado
CyberPunk
- Joined
- Aug 19, 2003
- Messages
- 58,348
- Location
- Eblana
Cull Farmers! Not Starlings and Badgers!
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2001
- Messages
- 54,631
China's drought could have 'devastating' consequences
Lowest rainfall for 60 years in the North China Plain threatens wheat harvest, food prices and the global economy.
By Peter Foster, in Shanxi Province 6:30AM GMT 14 Feb 2011
No Chinese family can celebrate the recently passed lunar New Year festival without a prodigious mound of jiaozi, or dumplings – juicy parcels of dough-swaddled pork and leek that explode, scalding and garlicky, in the mouth.
For many Chinese, however, this New Year’s dumplings have left a bitter after-taste thanks to spiralling food prices caused in part by a drought on the North China Plain that the UN food agency warned last week could have “devastating”consequences for China’s annual wheat harvest.
In the village of Qingdepu in Shanxi province – one of eight provinces including Shandong, Jiangsu, Henan, Hebei that account for three-quarters of China’s wheat production and have experienced the lowest rainfall levels for at least 60 years – they are already feeling the pinch.
“Flour (used to make the dough for the dumpling-wrappers) is up by more than 40 per cent from last year,” grumbles 42-year-old Hou Guifa, “and the price of pork (used in the fillings) by more than 25 per cent.”
Mr Hou’s house, like all the others we visit, is coated in a layer of yellow dust that blows in off the parched corn fields that lie beyond his window. “It rained in March,” he recalls gloomily, “but hardly at all since then. The land yielded only half what it does in a good year.”
“If you don’t have a family member with another job (outside farming) you feel the impact. This year the children’s hongbao [the traditional red envelope containing a gift of money] only had five yuan (50p). Last year it was 10.”
China’s drought is not the kind of biblical event that spawns charity telethons and rock concerts, but its impacts are being felt far beyond the tightened-belts of China’s farmers and the children who bought a few less sweets this New Year.
Wheat prices in Chicago, a global benchmark, have hit their highest levels since 2008 amid fears that China’s drought, if it worsens, could further drive up global prices that have already been elevated by the impact of the recent fires and floods in Australia.
Last week the UN’s Food and Agriculture Agency issued a “special alert” – the first for anywhere in the world this year – warning that if rains don’t come in China this spring the situation could reach “critical” levels in the worst-affected areas.
Although the mood of rural China is nothing like that of restive Egypt – where food prices have been partly blamed for fuelling recent political upheavals – the government in Beijing has moved swiftly to assist the nearly 3m people suffering direct consequences of the drought.
Both China’s president, Hu Jintao, and prime minister Wen Jiabao have been on well-publicised morale-boosting tours of the region, promising more than £600m to dig emergency wells, speed up irrigation projects and subsidise next year’s planting.
China’s weather manipulation or “rain-making” machines have also gone into overdrive, with artillery batteries firing hundreds of silver iodide-filled shells into the sky to induce precipitation, which did succeed in triggering a light sprinkling of snow across the North last week.
“But it’s still not enough,” says another farmer in the next village along, scratching at the soil to reveal the dust-dry earth barely a centimeter below the surface, “when the snow melts it will have made almost no difference at all.”
etc...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/chin ... ences.html
Lowest rainfall for 60 years in the North China Plain threatens wheat harvest, food prices and the global economy.
By Peter Foster, in Shanxi Province 6:30AM GMT 14 Feb 2011
No Chinese family can celebrate the recently passed lunar New Year festival without a prodigious mound of jiaozi, or dumplings – juicy parcels of dough-swaddled pork and leek that explode, scalding and garlicky, in the mouth.
For many Chinese, however, this New Year’s dumplings have left a bitter after-taste thanks to spiralling food prices caused in part by a drought on the North China Plain that the UN food agency warned last week could have “devastating”consequences for China’s annual wheat harvest.
In the village of Qingdepu in Shanxi province – one of eight provinces including Shandong, Jiangsu, Henan, Hebei that account for three-quarters of China’s wheat production and have experienced the lowest rainfall levels for at least 60 years – they are already feeling the pinch.
“Flour (used to make the dough for the dumpling-wrappers) is up by more than 40 per cent from last year,” grumbles 42-year-old Hou Guifa, “and the price of pork (used in the fillings) by more than 25 per cent.”
Mr Hou’s house, like all the others we visit, is coated in a layer of yellow dust that blows in off the parched corn fields that lie beyond his window. “It rained in March,” he recalls gloomily, “but hardly at all since then. The land yielded only half what it does in a good year.”
“If you don’t have a family member with another job (outside farming) you feel the impact. This year the children’s hongbao [the traditional red envelope containing a gift of money] only had five yuan (50p). Last year it was 10.”
China’s drought is not the kind of biblical event that spawns charity telethons and rock concerts, but its impacts are being felt far beyond the tightened-belts of China’s farmers and the children who bought a few less sweets this New Year.
Wheat prices in Chicago, a global benchmark, have hit their highest levels since 2008 amid fears that China’s drought, if it worsens, could further drive up global prices that have already been elevated by the impact of the recent fires and floods in Australia.
Last week the UN’s Food and Agriculture Agency issued a “special alert” – the first for anywhere in the world this year – warning that if rains don’t come in China this spring the situation could reach “critical” levels in the worst-affected areas.
Although the mood of rural China is nothing like that of restive Egypt – where food prices have been partly blamed for fuelling recent political upheavals – the government in Beijing has moved swiftly to assist the nearly 3m people suffering direct consequences of the drought.
Both China’s president, Hu Jintao, and prime minister Wen Jiabao have been on well-publicised morale-boosting tours of the region, promising more than £600m to dig emergency wells, speed up irrigation projects and subsidise next year’s planting.
China’s weather manipulation or “rain-making” machines have also gone into overdrive, with artillery batteries firing hundreds of silver iodide-filled shells into the sky to induce precipitation, which did succeed in triggering a light sprinkling of snow across the North last week.
“But it’s still not enough,” says another farmer in the next village along, scratching at the soil to reveal the dust-dry earth barely a centimeter below the surface, “when the snow melts it will have made almost no difference at all.”
etc...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/chin ... ences.html
- Joined
- Aug 10, 2005
- Messages
- 11,990
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2001
- Messages
- 54,631
What does the Arab world do when its water runs out?
Water usage in north Africa and the Middle East is unsustainable and shortages are likely to lead to further instability – unless governments take action to solve the impending crisis
John Vidal The Observer, Sunday 20 February 2011
Poverty, repression, decades of injustice and mass unemployment have all been cited as causes of the political convulsions in the Middle East and north Africa these last weeks. But a less recognised reason for the turmoil in Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Yemen, Jordan and now Iran has been rising food prices, directly linked to a growing regional water crisis.
The diverse states that make up the Arab world, stretching from the Atlantic coast to Iraq, have some of the world's greatest oil reserves, but this disguises the fact that they mostly occupy hyper-arid places. Rivers are few, water demand is increasing as populations grow, underground reserves are shrinking and nearly all depend on imported staple foods that are now trading at record prices.
For a region that expects populations to double to more than 600 million within 40 years, and climate change to raise temperatures, these structural problems are political dynamite and already destabilising countries, say the World Bank, the UN and many independent studies.
In recent reports they separately warn that the riots and demonstrations after the three major food-price rises of the last five years in north Africa and the Middle East might be just a taste of greater troubles to come unless countries start to share their natural resources, and reduce their profligate energy and water use.
"In the future the main geopolitical resource in the Middle East will be water rather than oil. The situation is alarming," said Swiss foreign minister Micheline Calmy-Rey last week, as she launched a Swiss and Swedish government-funded report for the EU
etc...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2 ... unning-out
Water usage in north Africa and the Middle East is unsustainable and shortages are likely to lead to further instability – unless governments take action to solve the impending crisis
John Vidal The Observer, Sunday 20 February 2011
Poverty, repression, decades of injustice and mass unemployment have all been cited as causes of the political convulsions in the Middle East and north Africa these last weeks. But a less recognised reason for the turmoil in Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Yemen, Jordan and now Iran has been rising food prices, directly linked to a growing regional water crisis.
The diverse states that make up the Arab world, stretching from the Atlantic coast to Iraq, have some of the world's greatest oil reserves, but this disguises the fact that they mostly occupy hyper-arid places. Rivers are few, water demand is increasing as populations grow, underground reserves are shrinking and nearly all depend on imported staple foods that are now trading at record prices.
For a region that expects populations to double to more than 600 million within 40 years, and climate change to raise temperatures, these structural problems are political dynamite and already destabilising countries, say the World Bank, the UN and many independent studies.
In recent reports they separately warn that the riots and demonstrations after the three major food-price rises of the last five years in north Africa and the Middle East might be just a taste of greater troubles to come unless countries start to share their natural resources, and reduce their profligate energy and water use.
"In the future the main geopolitical resource in the Middle East will be water rather than oil. The situation is alarming," said Swiss foreign minister Micheline Calmy-Rey last week, as she launched a Swiss and Swedish government-funded report for the EU
etc...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2 ... unning-out
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2001
- Messages
- 54,631
And even in soggy old Britain...
'Water poverty' to rise in the UK as scarcity pushes up bills
Four million British households already 'water poor' as climate change and increased demand lead to higher tariffs
Jamie Doward The Observer, Sunday 20 February 2011
"Water poverty" will become the new fuel poverty for an increasing number of households as scarcity of supply pushes up bills, according to an influential thinktank that says Britain must deal urgently with climate change.
A report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, one of the largest social policy research-and-development charities, says that low-income households are at particular risk because of new methods being introduced to increase the efficient use and distribution of water. It defines "water poverty" as when households spend 3% or more of their income on water bills.
The report, Vulnerability to Heat Waves and Drought: Adaptation to Climate Change, by the environmental consultancy AEA and a team from the University of Surrey, warns that water is becoming scarce as a result of climate change and increased consumer demand. An estimated four million households in the UK are already "water poor", according to the report, and the situation is likely to worsen, with bills predicted to rise by 5% a year for some customers.
Water companies are moving away from flat-rate fees to new charging models that bill customers with steadily higher prices according to how much water they use.
The report warns that this could create affordability problems for some low-income households and lead to "water poverty".
"The issue of water poverty – just like fuel poverty – is extremely important, especially as we start to look into the future and consider how climate change is going to impact society," said the report's lead author, Magnus Benzie. The south-west of England, where bills are on average 43% higher than in the rest of the country, is set to be particularly affected as the UK becomes significantly drier in coming decades, according to the report.
It suggests that any influx of people into the region, coupled with increases in tourism, will exacerbate the problem. The region has tried a new pricing system, using three tariffs that ratchet up with increased water use, but there are concerns that this may see some households hit disproportionately.
etc...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2 ... city-bills
(But the higher water bills in the SW are not because of any extra shortage here, but because the water companies are also responsible for clean beaches. As a peninsula, the SW has more than its share of beaches, but calls for government help have long fallen on deaf ears...)
'Water poverty' to rise in the UK as scarcity pushes up bills
Four million British households already 'water poor' as climate change and increased demand lead to higher tariffs
Jamie Doward The Observer, Sunday 20 February 2011
"Water poverty" will become the new fuel poverty for an increasing number of households as scarcity of supply pushes up bills, according to an influential thinktank that says Britain must deal urgently with climate change.
A report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, one of the largest social policy research-and-development charities, says that low-income households are at particular risk because of new methods being introduced to increase the efficient use and distribution of water. It defines "water poverty" as when households spend 3% or more of their income on water bills.
The report, Vulnerability to Heat Waves and Drought: Adaptation to Climate Change, by the environmental consultancy AEA and a team from the University of Surrey, warns that water is becoming scarce as a result of climate change and increased consumer demand. An estimated four million households in the UK are already "water poor", according to the report, and the situation is likely to worsen, with bills predicted to rise by 5% a year for some customers.
Water companies are moving away from flat-rate fees to new charging models that bill customers with steadily higher prices according to how much water they use.
The report warns that this could create affordability problems for some low-income households and lead to "water poverty".
"The issue of water poverty – just like fuel poverty – is extremely important, especially as we start to look into the future and consider how climate change is going to impact society," said the report's lead author, Magnus Benzie. The south-west of England, where bills are on average 43% higher than in the rest of the country, is set to be particularly affected as the UK becomes significantly drier in coming decades, according to the report.
It suggests that any influx of people into the region, coupled with increases in tourism, will exacerbate the problem. The region has tried a new pricing system, using three tariffs that ratchet up with increased water use, but there are concerns that this may see some households hit disproportionately.
etc...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2 ... city-bills
(But the higher water bills in the SW are not because of any extra shortage here, but because the water companies are also responsible for clean beaches. As a peninsula, the SW has more than its share of beaches, but calls for government help have long fallen on deaf ears...)
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- 54,631
As you were!
Plastic fantastic! Carrier bags 'not eco-villains after all'
Unpublished Environment Agency research shows polythene may be less harmful than cotton or paper
By Martin Hickman, Consumer Affairs Correspondent
Sunday, 20 February 2011
Unpublished Government research suggests the plastic carrier may not be an eco villain after all – but, whisper it, an unsung hero. Hated by environmentalists and shunned by shoppers, the disposable plastic bag is piling up in a shame-filled corner of retail history. But a draft report by the Environment Agency, obtained by the Independent on Sunday, has found that ordinary high density polythene (HDPE) bags used by shops are actually greener than supposedly low impact choices.
HDPE bags are, for each use, almost 200 times less damaging to the climate than cotton hold-alls favoured by environmentalists, and have less than one third of the Co2 emissions than paper bags which are given out by retailers such as Primark.
The findings suggest that, in order to balance out the tiny impact of each lightweight plastic bag, consumers would have to use the same cotton bag every working day for a year, or use paper bags at least thrice rather than sticking them in the bin or recycling.
Most paper bags are used only once and one study assumed cotton bags were used only 51 times before being discarded, making them – according to this new report – worse than single-use plastic bags.
However, despite being commissioned in 2005 and scheduled for publication in 2007, the research has not been released to the public.
Officially, the Environment Agency says the report, Life Cycle Assessment of Supermarket Carrier Bags, by Dr Chris Edwards and Jonna Meyhoff Fry, is still being peer reviewed. However it was submitted to the peer review process “more than a year ago”. Despite the long peer review the Environment Agency does not have a date for its publication, except to say that it will be soon.
The report set out to find out which of seven types of bags have the lowest environmental impact by assessing pollution caused by extraction of raw materials, production, transportation and disposal.
It found that an HDPE plastic bag would have a baseline global warming potential of 1.57 kg Co2 equivalent, falling to 1.4 kg Co2e if re-used once, the same as a paper bag used four times (1.38 kg Co2e).
A cotton bag would have to be re-used 171 times to emit a similar level, 1.57 kg Co2e.
The researchers concluded: “The HDPE bag had the lowest environmental impacts of the single use options in nine of the 10 impact categories. The bag performed well because it was the lightest single use bag considered.”
The 96-page report comes amid an ongoing controversy over plastic bags and plans by Wales to introduce a 5p plastic bag tax in October.
Six billion plastic bags are used across the UK annually and there is no doubt that they cause environmental problems such as litter and marine pollution as well as using up oil, and limiting their use and re-using them reduces their harm.
However the new report suggests that if shoppers to switch to alternatives, they have to use those time and time again to be greener.
Barry Turner, chief executive of the Packaging and Films Association, which represents plastic bag manufacturers, suggested the report had been “suppressed.” “They [the Environment Agency] have kept it fairly quiet and tried to suppress things,” he said.
“This [report] has dragged on and on. It was a report that could have been done relatively quickly, probably within 12 months but it has gone on for years.
“If these are the conclusions that [they] have arrived at it wouldn’t really surprise me. It was buried because it didn’t give the right answers. It doesn’t support the political thrust at the moment.”
etc...
http://www.independent.co.uk/environmen ... 20129.html
All my plastic bags are used as 'bin liners' in cardboard boxes (about the size that can hold six wine bottles). These I use for non-recyclable rubbish - when they're full, tie the handles together and lob them in the bin!
Plastic fantastic! Carrier bags 'not eco-villains after all'
Unpublished Environment Agency research shows polythene may be less harmful than cotton or paper
By Martin Hickman, Consumer Affairs Correspondent
Sunday, 20 February 2011
Unpublished Government research suggests the plastic carrier may not be an eco villain after all – but, whisper it, an unsung hero. Hated by environmentalists and shunned by shoppers, the disposable plastic bag is piling up in a shame-filled corner of retail history. But a draft report by the Environment Agency, obtained by the Independent on Sunday, has found that ordinary high density polythene (HDPE) bags used by shops are actually greener than supposedly low impact choices.
HDPE bags are, for each use, almost 200 times less damaging to the climate than cotton hold-alls favoured by environmentalists, and have less than one third of the Co2 emissions than paper bags which are given out by retailers such as Primark.
The findings suggest that, in order to balance out the tiny impact of each lightweight plastic bag, consumers would have to use the same cotton bag every working day for a year, or use paper bags at least thrice rather than sticking them in the bin or recycling.
Most paper bags are used only once and one study assumed cotton bags were used only 51 times before being discarded, making them – according to this new report – worse than single-use plastic bags.
However, despite being commissioned in 2005 and scheduled for publication in 2007, the research has not been released to the public.
Officially, the Environment Agency says the report, Life Cycle Assessment of Supermarket Carrier Bags, by Dr Chris Edwards and Jonna Meyhoff Fry, is still being peer reviewed. However it was submitted to the peer review process “more than a year ago”. Despite the long peer review the Environment Agency does not have a date for its publication, except to say that it will be soon.
The report set out to find out which of seven types of bags have the lowest environmental impact by assessing pollution caused by extraction of raw materials, production, transportation and disposal.
It found that an HDPE plastic bag would have a baseline global warming potential of 1.57 kg Co2 equivalent, falling to 1.4 kg Co2e if re-used once, the same as a paper bag used four times (1.38 kg Co2e).
A cotton bag would have to be re-used 171 times to emit a similar level, 1.57 kg Co2e.
The researchers concluded: “The HDPE bag had the lowest environmental impacts of the single use options in nine of the 10 impact categories. The bag performed well because it was the lightest single use bag considered.”
The 96-page report comes amid an ongoing controversy over plastic bags and plans by Wales to introduce a 5p plastic bag tax in October.
Six billion plastic bags are used across the UK annually and there is no doubt that they cause environmental problems such as litter and marine pollution as well as using up oil, and limiting their use and re-using them reduces their harm.
However the new report suggests that if shoppers to switch to alternatives, they have to use those time and time again to be greener.
Barry Turner, chief executive of the Packaging and Films Association, which represents plastic bag manufacturers, suggested the report had been “suppressed.” “They [the Environment Agency] have kept it fairly quiet and tried to suppress things,” he said.
“This [report] has dragged on and on. It was a report that could have been done relatively quickly, probably within 12 months but it has gone on for years.
“If these are the conclusions that [they] have arrived at it wouldn’t really surprise me. It was buried because it didn’t give the right answers. It doesn’t support the political thrust at the moment.”
etc...
http://www.independent.co.uk/environmen ... 20129.html
All my plastic bags are used as 'bin liners' in cardboard boxes (about the size that can hold six wine bottles). These I use for non-recyclable rubbish - when they're full, tie the handles together and lob them in the bin!
Mythopoeika
I am a meat popsicle
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- Inside a starship, watching puny humans from afar
I remember reading an article about 30 years ago which put forward the idea that wars would be fought over the supply of water, rather than the supply of oil.
I forget who wrote it - it may well have been the wise and prophetic Isaac Asimov...
I forget who wrote it - it may well have been the wise and prophetic Isaac Asimov...
ramonmercado
CyberPunk
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- Eblana
Mythopoeika said:
Wouldn't be surprised. Asimov was a great popular science writer. Might even have been in one of his stories?
Mythopoeika
I am a meat popsicle
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- Inside a starship, watching puny humans from afar
ramonmercado said:
I think it may have been one of his science items, rather than fiction.
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J.G.Ballard wrote this
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Drought
which I remember reading decades ago. No wars that I remember, but there may have been - small groups of survivors were competing aggressively for water.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Drought
which I remember reading decades ago. No wars that I remember, but there may have been - small groups of survivors were competing aggressively for water.
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Toxins from South African mines threaten city
Reuters
Wednesday, 23 February 2011
Toxic liquids building up in defunct gold mines beneath Johannesburg could reach environmentally dangerous levels by June 2012, officials and scientists said yesterday.
Work is to begin immediately on a chain of pumping stations and treatment plants.
Water has already started leaking from abandoned mines west of Johannesburg in the so-called Western Basin.
Water accumulating in shafts dug more than a century ago has been reacting with rocks to produce sulphuric acid, heavy metals, toxins and radiation.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/scien ... 22636.html
This is something we experienced in Cornwall too - see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheal_Jane
Reuters
Wednesday, 23 February 2011
Toxic liquids building up in defunct gold mines beneath Johannesburg could reach environmentally dangerous levels by June 2012, officials and scientists said yesterday.
Work is to begin immediately on a chain of pumping stations and treatment plants.
Water has already started leaking from abandoned mines west of Johannesburg in the so-called Western Basin.
Water accumulating in shafts dug more than a century ago has been reacting with rocks to produce sulphuric acid, heavy metals, toxins and radiation.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/scien ... 22636.html
This is something we experienced in Cornwall too - see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheal_Jane
- Joined
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- Messages
- 54,631
Lost at sea: On the trail of Moby-Duck
The fate of a shipment of bath toys missing since 1992 has led to greater knowledge of the world's oceans
By Guy Adams
Sunday, 27 February 2011
They are small, yellow and designed to endure nothing more stressful than a quick journey around a bathtub. But after almost 20 years lost at sea, a flotilla of plastic ducks has been hailed for revolutionising mankind's knowledge of ocean science.
The humble toys are part of a shipment of 29,000 packaged ducks, frogs, turtles and beavers made in China for a US firm called First Years Inc. They were in a crate that fell off the deck of a container ship during a journey across the Pacific from Hong Kong in January 1992.
Since that moment, they have bobbed tens of thousands of miles. Some washed up on the shores of Hawaii and Alaska; others have been stuck in Arctic ice. A few crossed the site near Newfoundland where the Titanic sank, and at least one is believed to have been found on a beach in Scotland.
Now the creatures, nicknamed the "Friendly Floatees" by various broadcasters who have followed their progress over the years, have been immortalised in a book titled Moby-Duck. It not only chronicles their extraordinary odyssey, and what it has taught us about currents, but also lays bare a largely ignored threat to the marine environment: the vast numbers of containers that fall off the world's cargo ships.
No one knows exactly how often containers are lost at sea, due to the secretive nature of the international shipping industry. But Donovan Hohn, the book's author, says that oceanographers put the figure at anything from several hundred to 10,000 a year. While some sink, others burst open, throwing their contents into the upper layer of the ocean where they often pose a threat to wildlife. Plastic debris can be particularly hazardous, since it eventually breaks into small particles, which are eaten by fish and mammals.
"I've heard tales of containers getting lost that are full of those big plastic bags that dry cleaners use," says Mr Hohn. "I've also heard of crates full of cigarettes going overboard, which of course end up having their butts ingested by marine animals. In fact, one of the endnotes in my book lists the contents of a dead whale's belly: it was full of trash. Plastic pollution is a real problem. It's far from the greatest environmental danger to the ocean, but it is one of the most visible, and that means it can be important as a symbol of less visible damage, such as overfishing, agricultural run-off and the warming of the oceans."
The fate of the ducks has been studied by a small but devoted band of enthusiasts since roughly six months after the accident, when the ducks began to wash up in large numbers on the beaches of Alaska, Canada, and America's Pacific north-west.
Curtis Ebbesmeyer, a retired oceanographer and enthusiastic beachcomber who lives in Seattle, used records held by First Years Inc to trace the ship they had been carried on. By interviewing its captain, he was able to locate the exact point at which their journey began. He was able to track their rate of progress on the constantly circulating current, or "gyre", which runs between Japan, south-east Alaska, Kodiak and the Aleutian Islands.
"We always knew that this gyre existed. But until the ducks came along, we didn't know how long it took to complete a circuit," he says. "It was like knowing that a planet is in the solar system but not being able to say how long it takes to orbit. Well, now we know exactly how long it takes: about three years."
Mr Ebbesmeyer estimates that a couple of thousand of the ducks are still in the gyre, and have completed half a dozen circuits. Others went south towards Hawaii or north to the Bering Sea, through which they are thought to have reached Europe. "I have a website that people use to send me pictures of the ducks they find on beaches all over the world," he says. "I'm able to tell quickly if they are from this batch. I've had one from the UK which I believe is genuine. A photograph of it was sent to me by a woman judge in Scotland."
Understanding the 11 major gyres that move water around the world's oceans is thought to be highly important, says Mr Ebbesmeyer, who has also tracked lost shipments of 51,000 Nike shoes. It will help climatologists to predict the effects of climate change on the marine environment.
The fate of the ducks also tells us about the longevity of plastic, he adds. "The ones washing up in Alaska after 19 years are still in pretty good shape."
http://www.independent.co.uk/environmen ... 26788.html
The fate of a shipment of bath toys missing since 1992 has led to greater knowledge of the world's oceans
By Guy Adams
Sunday, 27 February 2011
They are small, yellow and designed to endure nothing more stressful than a quick journey around a bathtub. But after almost 20 years lost at sea, a flotilla of plastic ducks has been hailed for revolutionising mankind's knowledge of ocean science.
The humble toys are part of a shipment of 29,000 packaged ducks, frogs, turtles and beavers made in China for a US firm called First Years Inc. They were in a crate that fell off the deck of a container ship during a journey across the Pacific from Hong Kong in January 1992.
Since that moment, they have bobbed tens of thousands of miles. Some washed up on the shores of Hawaii and Alaska; others have been stuck in Arctic ice. A few crossed the site near Newfoundland where the Titanic sank, and at least one is believed to have been found on a beach in Scotland.
Now the creatures, nicknamed the "Friendly Floatees" by various broadcasters who have followed their progress over the years, have been immortalised in a book titled Moby-Duck. It not only chronicles their extraordinary odyssey, and what it has taught us about currents, but also lays bare a largely ignored threat to the marine environment: the vast numbers of containers that fall off the world's cargo ships.
No one knows exactly how often containers are lost at sea, due to the secretive nature of the international shipping industry. But Donovan Hohn, the book's author, says that oceanographers put the figure at anything from several hundred to 10,000 a year. While some sink, others burst open, throwing their contents into the upper layer of the ocean where they often pose a threat to wildlife. Plastic debris can be particularly hazardous, since it eventually breaks into small particles, which are eaten by fish and mammals.
"I've heard tales of containers getting lost that are full of those big plastic bags that dry cleaners use," says Mr Hohn. "I've also heard of crates full of cigarettes going overboard, which of course end up having their butts ingested by marine animals. In fact, one of the endnotes in my book lists the contents of a dead whale's belly: it was full of trash. Plastic pollution is a real problem. It's far from the greatest environmental danger to the ocean, but it is one of the most visible, and that means it can be important as a symbol of less visible damage, such as overfishing, agricultural run-off and the warming of the oceans."
The fate of the ducks has been studied by a small but devoted band of enthusiasts since roughly six months after the accident, when the ducks began to wash up in large numbers on the beaches of Alaska, Canada, and America's Pacific north-west.
Curtis Ebbesmeyer, a retired oceanographer and enthusiastic beachcomber who lives in Seattle, used records held by First Years Inc to trace the ship they had been carried on. By interviewing its captain, he was able to locate the exact point at which their journey began. He was able to track their rate of progress on the constantly circulating current, or "gyre", which runs between Japan, south-east Alaska, Kodiak and the Aleutian Islands.
"We always knew that this gyre existed. But until the ducks came along, we didn't know how long it took to complete a circuit," he says. "It was like knowing that a planet is in the solar system but not being able to say how long it takes to orbit. Well, now we know exactly how long it takes: about three years."
Mr Ebbesmeyer estimates that a couple of thousand of the ducks are still in the gyre, and have completed half a dozen circuits. Others went south towards Hawaii or north to the Bering Sea, through which they are thought to have reached Europe. "I have a website that people use to send me pictures of the ducks they find on beaches all over the world," he says. "I'm able to tell quickly if they are from this batch. I've had one from the UK which I believe is genuine. A photograph of it was sent to me by a woman judge in Scotland."
Understanding the 11 major gyres that move water around the world's oceans is thought to be highly important, says Mr Ebbesmeyer, who has also tracked lost shipments of 51,000 Nike shoes. It will help climatologists to predict the effects of climate change on the marine environment.
The fate of the ducks also tells us about the longevity of plastic, he adds. "The ones washing up in Alaska after 19 years are still in pretty good shape."
http://www.independent.co.uk/environmen ... 26788.html