Following are comments at a news conference with U.S. President Barack Obama and Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
OBAMA
"While we don't expect to solve this problem in one meeting or one summit. I believe we made some important strides forward as we move toward Copenhagen.
"Ice sheets are melting, sea levels are rising, our oceans are becoming more acidic and we have already seen its effects on weather patterns our food and water sources and our habitats.
"Every nation on this planet is at risk and just as no one nation is responsible for climate change, no one nation can address it alone.
"Developing nations have real and understandable concerns about the role they will play in these efforts. They want to make sure that they do not have to sacrifice their aspirations for development and higher living standards. Yet with most of the growth in projected emissions coming from these countries, their active participation is a prerequisite for a solution.
"We also agree that developed countries like my own have a historic responsibility to take the lead. We have a much larger carbon footprint per capita. I know that in the past the United States has sometimes fallen short of meeting our responsibilities. Let me be clear: those days are over.
"One of my highest priorities as president is to drive a clean energy transformation of our economy."
"...As I wrestle with these issues politically in my own country, I see that it is going to be absolutely critical that all of us go beyond what is expected if we are going to achieve our goals ... This week the G8 came to a historic consensus on concrete goals for reducing carbon emissions. We all agreed that by 2050 developed nations will reduce their emissions by 80 percent and that we will work with all nations to cut global emissions in half. This ambitious effort is consistent with limiting global warming to no more than 2 degrees Celsius, which ... is what the mainstream of the scientific community has called for."
"....We recognize that climate change is already happening so we are going to have to help those affected countries adapt, particularly those who are least able to deal with its consequences because of a lack of resources, so we are looking at providing significant financial assistance to help these countries."
"We have made a good start but I am the first person to say that progress on this issue will not be easy. One of the things we are going to have to do is fight the temptation toward cynicism. To feel the problem is so immense we cannot make significant strides.
"It is no small task for 17 leaders to bridge their differences on an issue like climate change ... it is even more difficult in the context of a global recession ... but ultimately we have a choice. Either we can shape our future or we can let events shape it for us ... It is clear from our progress today which path is preferable and which path we have chosen.
RUDD
"The practical challenge we face...is what do we do about the problem, the challenge, of coal...There are practically no large carbon capture and storage projects under construction now.
Australia in the last 12 months has decided to work with other major economies, and all the major energy companies, on the establishment of a Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute. That is what we are here launching today."
Friday, July 10, 2009
G8 Summit To Pledge $15 Billion To Boost Food Supply
Leaders from rich nations at the G8 summit in Italy will commit $15 billion over three years to spur agricultural investment in poorer countries and combat hunger, a final draft statement seen by Reuters said.
The text, to be issued after talks Friday, did not make clear whether it was all new funds, nor did it give details of individual countries' contributions, although the United States, Japan and the European Union (EU) are expected to step in with around $3 billion each.
It also made no mention of a trust fund for the contributions to be managed by the World Bank, a proposal put forward by Washington in previous drafts but opposed by the EU.
"We welcome the commitments made by countries represented at L'Aquila toward a goal of mobilizing at least $15 billion over three years," the statement said.
"We are committed to increase investments in short, medium and long-term agriculture development that directly benefits the poorest and makes best use of international institutions," it added.
It said the combined effect of longstanding underinvestment in agriculture, price volatility and the economic crisis had led to increased poverty and hunger in developing countries.
The United Nations says the number of malnourished people has risen over the past two years and is expected to top 1.02 billion this year, reversing a four-decade trend of declines.
The statement said the G8 summit kept a strong commitment to ensure adequate emergency food assistance, but its focus on agricultural investments reflects a U.S.-led shift toward longer-term strategies to fight hunger.
The United States is the world's largest aid donor of food -- mostly grown domestically and bought from U.S. farmers.
The leaders said their approach would target increased agriculture productivity, stimulus to harvest interventions, emphasis on private sector growth, women and smallholders, preservation of natural resources, job expansion, training and increased trade flows.
The announced $15 billion in funds over three years compares with $13.4 billion which the G8 says it disbursed between January 2008 and July 2009 for global food security.
"The tendency of decreasing ODA (official development assistance) and national financing to agriculture must be reversed," the draft statement said.
G8 summits have a history of making unkept aid promises. In a report last month, anti-poverty group ONE said the world's richest nations collectively were off course in delivering on promises to more than double aid to Africa made at a G8 summit in 2005.
ONE has calculated that sub-Saharan Africa alone needs $25 billion over three years.
"Investment in seeds, fertilizer, roads and other infrastructure is desperately needed," it said Thursday
The text, to be issued after talks Friday, did not make clear whether it was all new funds, nor did it give details of individual countries' contributions, although the United States, Japan and the European Union (EU) are expected to step in with around $3 billion each.
It also made no mention of a trust fund for the contributions to be managed by the World Bank, a proposal put forward by Washington in previous drafts but opposed by the EU.
"We welcome the commitments made by countries represented at L'Aquila toward a goal of mobilizing at least $15 billion over three years," the statement said.
"We are committed to increase investments in short, medium and long-term agriculture development that directly benefits the poorest and makes best use of international institutions," it added.
It said the combined effect of longstanding underinvestment in agriculture, price volatility and the economic crisis had led to increased poverty and hunger in developing countries.
The United Nations says the number of malnourished people has risen over the past two years and is expected to top 1.02 billion this year, reversing a four-decade trend of declines.
The statement said the G8 summit kept a strong commitment to ensure adequate emergency food assistance, but its focus on agricultural investments reflects a U.S.-led shift toward longer-term strategies to fight hunger.
The United States is the world's largest aid donor of food -- mostly grown domestically and bought from U.S. farmers.
The leaders said their approach would target increased agriculture productivity, stimulus to harvest interventions, emphasis on private sector growth, women and smallholders, preservation of natural resources, job expansion, training and increased trade flows.
The announced $15 billion in funds over three years compares with $13.4 billion which the G8 says it disbursed between January 2008 and July 2009 for global food security.
"The tendency of decreasing ODA (official development assistance) and national financing to agriculture must be reversed," the draft statement said.
G8 summits have a history of making unkept aid promises. In a report last month, anti-poverty group ONE said the world's richest nations collectively were off course in delivering on promises to more than double aid to Africa made at a G8 summit in 2005.
ONE has calculated that sub-Saharan Africa alone needs $25 billion over three years.
"Investment in seeds, fertilizer, roads and other infrastructure is desperately needed," it said Thursday
ENVIRONMENT: Around the Globe, Farmers Losing Ground
In 1938, Walter Lowdermilk, a senior official in the Soil Conservation Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, traveled abroad to look at lands that had been cultivated for thousands of years, seeking to learn how these older civilisations had coped with soil erosion.He found that some had managed their land well, maintaining its fertility over long stretches of history, and were thriving. Others had failed to do so and left only remnants of their illustrious pasts. In a section of his report entitled "The Hundred Dead Cities," he described a site in northern Syria, near Aleppo, where ancient buildings were still standing in stark isolated relief, but they were on bare rock. During the seventh century, the thriving region had been invaded, initially by a Persian army and later by nomads out of the Arabian Desert. In the process, soil and water conservation practices used for centuries were abandoned. Lowdermilk noted, "Here erosion had done its worst... if the soils had remained, even though the cities were destroyed and the populations dispersed, the area might be re-peopled again and the cities rebuilt, but now that the soils are gone, all is gone." Now fast forward to a trip in 2002 by a United Nations team to assess the food situation in Lesotho, a small country of 2 million people imbedded within South Africa. Their finding was straightforward: "Agriculture in Lesotho faces a catastrophic future; crop production is declining and could cease altogether over large tracts of the country if steps are not taken to reverse soil erosion, degradation, and the decline in soil fertility." Michael Grunwald reports in the Washington Post that nearly half of the children under five in Lesotho are stunted physically. "Many," he says, "are too weak to walk to school." Whether the land is in northern Syria, Lesotho, or elsewhere, the health of the people living on it cannot be separated from the health of the land itself. A large share of the world's 852 million hungry people live on land with soils worn thin by erosion. The thin layer of topsoil that covers the planet's land surface is the foundation of civilisation. This soil, measured in inches over much of the earth, was formed over long stretches of geological time as new soil formation exceeded the natural rate of erosion. As soil accumulated over the eons, it provided a medium in which plants could grow. In turn, plants protect the soil from erosion. Human activity is disrupting this relationship. Sometime within the last century, soil erosion began to exceed new soil formation in large areas. Perhaps a third or more of all cropland is losing topsoil faster than new soil is forming, thereby reducing the land's inherent productivity. Today the foundation of civilisation is crumbling. The seeds of collapse of some early civilisations, such as the Mayans, may have originated in soil erosion that undermined the food supply. The accelerating soil erosion over the last century can be seen in the dust bowls that form as vegetation is destroyed and wind erosion soars out of control. Among those that stand out are the Dust Bowl in the U.S. Great Plains during the 1930s, the dust bowls in the Soviet Virgin Lands in the 1960s, the huge one that is forming today in northwest China, and the one taking shape in the Sahelian region of Africa. Each of these is associated with a familiar pattern of overgrazing, deforestation, and agricultural expansion onto marginal land, followed by retrenchment as the soil begins to disappear. Twentieth-century population growth pushed agriculture onto highly vulnerable land in many countries. The overplowing of the U.S. Great Plains during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, for example, led to the 1930s Dust Bowl. This was a tragic era in U.S. history, one that forced hundreds of thousands of farm families to leave the Great Plains. Many migrated to California in search of a new life, a move immortalised in John Steinbeck's novel "The Grapes of Wrath". Three decades later, history repeated itself in the Soviet Union. The Virgin Lands Project between 1954 and 1960 centred on plowing an area of grassland for wheat that was larger than the wheatland in Canada and Australia combined. Initially this resulted in an impressive expansion in Soviet grain production, but the success was short-lived as a dust bowl developed there as well. Kazakhstan, at the centre of this Virgin Lands Project, saw its grainland area peak at just over 25 million hectares (44 millions acres) around 1980, then shrink to 14 million hectares today. Even on the remaining land, however, the average wheat yield is scarcely one tonne per hectare, a far cry from the nearly eight tonnes per hectare that farmers get in France, Western Europe's leading wheat producer. A similar situation exists in Mongolia, where over the last 20 years half the wheatland has been abandoned and wheat yields have also fallen by half, shrinking the harvest by three fourths. Mongolia - a country almost three times the size of France with a population of 2.6 million - is now forced to import nearly 60 percent of its wheat. Dust storms originating in the new dust bowls are now faithfully recorded in satellite images. In early January 2005, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) released images of a vast dust storm moving westward out of central Africa. This vast cloud of tan-coloured dust stretched over some 5,300 kilometres. NASA noted that if the storm were relocated to the United States, it would cover the country and extend into the oceans on both coasts. Andrew Goudie, professor of geography at Oxford University, reports that Saharan dust storms - once rare - are now commonplace. He estimates they have increased 10-fold during the last half-century. Among the countries in the region most affected by topsoil loss from wind erosion are Niger, Chad, Mauritania, northern Nigeria, and Burkino Faso. In Mauritania, in Africa's far west, the number of dust storms jumped from two a year in the early 1960s to 80 a year today. The Bodélé Depression in Chad is the source of an estimated 1.3 billion tons of wind-borne soil a year, up 10-fold from 1947 when measurements began. The 2 to 3 billion tons of fine soil particles that leave Africa each year in dust storms are slowly draining the continent of its fertility and, hence, its biological productivity. In addition, dust storms leaving Africa travel westward across the Atlantic, depositing so much dust in the Caribbean that they cloud the water and damage coral reefs there. In China, plowing excesses became common in several provinces as agriculture pushed northward and westward into the pastoral zone between 1987 and 1996. In Inner Mongolia (Nei Monggol), for example, the cultivated area increased by 1.1 million hectares, or 22 percent, during this period. Other provinces that expanded their cultivated area by 3 percent or more during this nine-year span include Heilongjiang, Hunan, Tibet (Xizang), Qinghai, and Xinjiang. Severe wind erosion of soil on this newly plowed land made it clear that its only sustainable use was controlled grazing. As a result, Chinese agriculture is now engaged in a strategic withdrawal in these provinces, pulling back to land that can sustain crop production. Water erosion also takes a toll on soils. This can be seen in the silting of reservoirs and in muddy, silt-laden rivers flowing into the sea. Pakistan's two large reservoirs, Mangla and Tarbela, which store Indus River water for the country's vast irrigation network, are losing roughly 1 percent of their storage capacity each year as they fill with silt from deforested watersheds. Ethiopia, a mountainous country with highly erodible soils on steeply sloping land, is losing an estimated 1 billion tons of topsoil a year, washed away by rain. This is one reason Ethiopia always seems to be on the verge of famine, never able to accumulate enough grain reserves to provide a meaningful measure of food security
Round-the-world solar plane debut
Swiss adventurer Bertrand Piccard has unveiled a prototype of the solar-powered plane he hopes eventually to fly around the world.
The vehicle, spanning 61m but weighing just 1,500kg, will undergo trials to prove it can fly through the night.
Dr Piccard, who made history in 1999 by circling the globe non-stop in a balloon, says he wants to demonstrate the potential of renewable energies.
The final version of the plane will try first to cross the Atlantic in 2012.
It will be a risky endeavour. Only now is solar and battery technology becoming mature enough to sustain flight through the night - and then only in unmanned planes.
But Dr Piccard's Solar Impulse team has invested tremendous energy - and no little money - in trying to find what it believes is a breakthrough design.
"I love this type of vision where you set the goal and then you try to find a way to reach it, because this is challenging," he told BBC News.
The HB-SIA has the look of a glider but is on the scale - in terms of its width - of a modern airliner.
The aeroplane incorporates composite materials to keep it extremely light and uses super-efficient solar cells, batteries, motors and propellers to get it through the dark hours.
Dr Piccard will begin testing with short runway flights in which the plane lifts just a few metres into the air.
As confidence in the machine develops, the team will move to a day-night circle. This has never been done before in a piloted solar-powered plane.
HB-SIA should be succeeded by HB-SIB. It is likely to be bigger, and will incorporate a pressurised capsule and better avionics. It is this vehicle which will attempt to circle the Earth (after first making an Atlantic crossing).
It is probable that Dr Piccard will follow a route similar to the one he took in the record-breaking Breitling Orbiter 3 balloon - travelling at a low latitude in the Northern Hemisphere. The flight could go from the United Arab Emirates, to China, to Hawaii, across the southern US, southern Europe, and back to the UAE.
Measuring success
Although the vehicle is expected to be capable of flying non-stop around the globe, Dr Piccard will in fact make five long hops, sharing flying duties with project partner Andre Borschberg.
"The aeroplane could do it theoretically non-stop - but not the pilot," said Dr Piccard.
"We should fly at roughly 25 knots and that would make it between 20 and 25 days to go around the world, which is too much for a pilot who has to steer the plane.
"In a balloon you can sleep, because it stays in the air even if you sleep. We believe the maximum for one pilot is five days."
The public unveiling on Friday of the HB-SIA took place at Dubendorf airfield near Zurich.
"The real success for Solar Impulse would be to have enough millions of people following the project, being enthusiastic about it, and saying 'if they managed to do it around the world with renewable energies and energy savings, then we should be able to do it in our daily life'."
The vehicle, spanning 61m but weighing just 1,500kg, will undergo trials to prove it can fly through the night.
Dr Piccard, who made history in 1999 by circling the globe non-stop in a balloon, says he wants to demonstrate the potential of renewable energies.
The final version of the plane will try first to cross the Atlantic in 2012.
It will be a risky endeavour. Only now is solar and battery technology becoming mature enough to sustain flight through the night - and then only in unmanned planes.
But Dr Piccard's Solar Impulse team has invested tremendous energy - and no little money - in trying to find what it believes is a breakthrough design.
"I love this type of vision where you set the goal and then you try to find a way to reach it, because this is challenging," he told BBC News.
The HB-SIA has the look of a glider but is on the scale - in terms of its width - of a modern airliner.
The aeroplane incorporates composite materials to keep it extremely light and uses super-efficient solar cells, batteries, motors and propellers to get it through the dark hours.
Dr Piccard will begin testing with short runway flights in which the plane lifts just a few metres into the air.
As confidence in the machine develops, the team will move to a day-night circle. This has never been done before in a piloted solar-powered plane.
HB-SIA should be succeeded by HB-SIB. It is likely to be bigger, and will incorporate a pressurised capsule and better avionics. It is this vehicle which will attempt to circle the Earth (after first making an Atlantic crossing).
It is probable that Dr Piccard will follow a route similar to the one he took in the record-breaking Breitling Orbiter 3 balloon - travelling at a low latitude in the Northern Hemisphere. The flight could go from the United Arab Emirates, to China, to Hawaii, across the southern US, southern Europe, and back to the UAE.
Measuring success
Although the vehicle is expected to be capable of flying non-stop around the globe, Dr Piccard will in fact make five long hops, sharing flying duties with project partner Andre Borschberg.
"The aeroplane could do it theoretically non-stop - but not the pilot," said Dr Piccard.
"We should fly at roughly 25 knots and that would make it between 20 and 25 days to go around the world, which is too much for a pilot who has to steer the plane.
"In a balloon you can sleep, because it stays in the air even if you sleep. We believe the maximum for one pilot is five days."
The public unveiling on Friday of the HB-SIA took place at Dubendorf airfield near Zurich.
"The real success for Solar Impulse would be to have enough millions of people following the project, being enthusiastic about it, and saying 'if they managed to do it around the world with renewable energies and energy savings, then we should be able to do it in our daily life'."
In 150 years, Orissa will be a desert
In just 13 years, severely degraded land in Orissa increased by 136%, barren land by 69% and land converted to non-agricultural use by 34%
Water Initiatives Orissa (WIO), a civil society campaign, offers a stern warning in the latest issue of its bi-monthly newsletter Panira Dagara (Water Messenger). It says that India's poorest state Orissa will turn into a barren desert in just 150 years.
Desertification is a process of loss of land productivity. In most severe cases it can cause permanent damage to the land. Many parts of Orissa, specifically the western and southern uplands, are already displaying symptoms of desertification. They have degraded from drought-prone regions to desert-prone areas, states the report. "We have arrived at this conclusion by analysing various sets of government data, and we have substantiated it through a public perception survey conducted by the Sambalpur-based NGO Manav Adhikar Seva Samiti (MASS)," says Bimal Pandia of WIO.
The report claims that in just 13 years, from 1991-92 to 2004-05, severely degraded land in the state increased by 136%, barren land by 69% and land converted to non-agricultural use by 34%. This constitutes around 7% of Orissa's total geographical area. By 2004-05, as much as 17.5% of Orissa has turned barren, or been deemed unsuitable for agriculture. The report warns that the rate at which mineral and water-guzzling heavy industries are being pushed in the state, forest cover is thinning, climate is changing and soil degradation increasing, Orissa could soon turn into a desert.
In mining and industrial districts like Raygada and Jharsuguda, agricultural land is shrinking. In Raygada district, the percentage of unproductive land is nearly 174 points higher than cultivable land. Such land amounts to as much as two-thirds of Jharsuguda's total cultivable area. "The way land is rapidly becoming barren and degraded, desertification is a (definite) reality now," says WIO.
Desertification will impact the livelihoods of millions of people, as dependence on agriculture in the state is extremely high, the report continues. It is estimated that 29 lakh hectares of land have already become barren. According to state agriculture department statistics, around 4.33 million hectares of Orissa's 6.56 million hectares of agricultural land suffer severe erosion and declining fertility. That's as high as 66% of the state's total agricultural land.
Also extremely worrying is the rate at which Orissa's climate is changing. A study by meteorologist Professor U C Mohanty shows that the number of rainfall days in the state has been dropping by one day, every five years. Rainfall patterns too have altered. Information gathered from government records show that rainfall in the coastal districts of Baleshwar, Puri and Ganjam has increased, while in western and southern parts of Orissa it has decreased drastically. Recent rainfall averages in Balangir and Nuapada districts hover around threatening levels of 1,000 mm.
Weather department statistics indicate that while global mean temperatures rose by 0.5 degree Celsius over the past 50 years, in Orissa it rose by 1 degree Celsius. The weather here is becoming alarmingly extreme. In 10 years, the highest recorded temperature average has increased by 4.4-6.6 degrees Celsius, and the average of lowest recorded temperatures has decreased by 3-5.1 degrees Celsius in various parts of the state.
"The development emphasis of the state government has been narrowed down to industrialisation only, without any attention given to land and agriculture that sustains close to 90% of the rural population," the WIO report concludes. The concentration of polluting and water- and mineral-consuming industries will further aggravate land degradation in the state.
Conservative estimates show that if all the proposed steel plants were to begin functioning they would emit 392 million tonnes of carbon dioxide by 2010. Further, these industrial units would require at least 527 million litres of clean water, which will later be released as pollutants. The Washington-based Institute of Policy Studies has warned that by 2010 Orissa alone will emit 7-10% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Two major rivers in the state, the Mahanadi and the Brahmani, are already water-stressed as far as irrigation and riparian use is concerned. Although the government claims to have created irrigation potential for 41% of cultivable land, the fact that agricultural production still fluctuates wildly, in line with rainfall, and that agriculture sector growth in the state has plummeted, are cause for serious concern. Water-guzzling industries will only make the situation worse, the report warns.
According to 'State of Forests Reports', published by the forest and environment department, between 1986 and 2003 actual forest cover shrank by 4,797 sq km, although areas classified as forestland by the state government increased by 2,351 sq km in the same period. Soil erosion due to forest degradation is a serious issue in 52% of the state's total geographical area
Water Initiatives Orissa (WIO), a civil society campaign, offers a stern warning in the latest issue of its bi-monthly newsletter Panira Dagara (Water Messenger). It says that India's poorest state Orissa will turn into a barren desert in just 150 years.
Desertification is a process of loss of land productivity. In most severe cases it can cause permanent damage to the land. Many parts of Orissa, specifically the western and southern uplands, are already displaying symptoms of desertification. They have degraded from drought-prone regions to desert-prone areas, states the report. "We have arrived at this conclusion by analysing various sets of government data, and we have substantiated it through a public perception survey conducted by the Sambalpur-based NGO Manav Adhikar Seva Samiti (MASS)," says Bimal Pandia of WIO.
The report claims that in just 13 years, from 1991-92 to 2004-05, severely degraded land in the state increased by 136%, barren land by 69% and land converted to non-agricultural use by 34%. This constitutes around 7% of Orissa's total geographical area. By 2004-05, as much as 17.5% of Orissa has turned barren, or been deemed unsuitable for agriculture. The report warns that the rate at which mineral and water-guzzling heavy industries are being pushed in the state, forest cover is thinning, climate is changing and soil degradation increasing, Orissa could soon turn into a desert.
In mining and industrial districts like Raygada and Jharsuguda, agricultural land is shrinking. In Raygada district, the percentage of unproductive land is nearly 174 points higher than cultivable land. Such land amounts to as much as two-thirds of Jharsuguda's total cultivable area. "The way land is rapidly becoming barren and degraded, desertification is a (definite) reality now," says WIO.
Desertification will impact the livelihoods of millions of people, as dependence on agriculture in the state is extremely high, the report continues. It is estimated that 29 lakh hectares of land have already become barren. According to state agriculture department statistics, around 4.33 million hectares of Orissa's 6.56 million hectares of agricultural land suffer severe erosion and declining fertility. That's as high as 66% of the state's total agricultural land.
Also extremely worrying is the rate at which Orissa's climate is changing. A study by meteorologist Professor U C Mohanty shows that the number of rainfall days in the state has been dropping by one day, every five years. Rainfall patterns too have altered. Information gathered from government records show that rainfall in the coastal districts of Baleshwar, Puri and Ganjam has increased, while in western and southern parts of Orissa it has decreased drastically. Recent rainfall averages in Balangir and Nuapada districts hover around threatening levels of 1,000 mm.
Weather department statistics indicate that while global mean temperatures rose by 0.5 degree Celsius over the past 50 years, in Orissa it rose by 1 degree Celsius. The weather here is becoming alarmingly extreme. In 10 years, the highest recorded temperature average has increased by 4.4-6.6 degrees Celsius, and the average of lowest recorded temperatures has decreased by 3-5.1 degrees Celsius in various parts of the state.
"The development emphasis of the state government has been narrowed down to industrialisation only, without any attention given to land and agriculture that sustains close to 90% of the rural population," the WIO report concludes. The concentration of polluting and water- and mineral-consuming industries will further aggravate land degradation in the state.
Conservative estimates show that if all the proposed steel plants were to begin functioning they would emit 392 million tonnes of carbon dioxide by 2010. Further, these industrial units would require at least 527 million litres of clean water, which will later be released as pollutants. The Washington-based Institute of Policy Studies has warned that by 2010 Orissa alone will emit 7-10% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Two major rivers in the state, the Mahanadi and the Brahmani, are already water-stressed as far as irrigation and riparian use is concerned. Although the government claims to have created irrigation potential for 41% of cultivable land, the fact that agricultural production still fluctuates wildly, in line with rainfall, and that agriculture sector growth in the state has plummeted, are cause for serious concern. Water-guzzling industries will only make the situation worse, the report warns.
According to 'State of Forests Reports', published by the forest and environment department, between 1986 and 2003 actual forest cover shrank by 4,797 sq km, although areas classified as forestland by the state government increased by 2,351 sq km in the same period. Soil erosion due to forest degradation is a serious issue in 52% of the state's total geographical area
Global warming could rain on India's growth parade: Stern report
'The Economics of Climate Change' a landmark report by Sir Nicholas Stern has some dire predictions about the impact global warming will have on India's economic prospects. For instance, an estimated 100 cm rise in sea level could lead to a loss of US$ 1,259 million or the equivalent of 0.36% of India's GNP
Global warming and subsequent changes in climate could severely hamper India's robust growth unless steps are taken to address the effects of increased surface temperature and its effect on monsoon patterns and river flow, according to the recently released Stern review on the economic impact of climate change.
Some of the key predictions for India, over the next 100 years, in the 700-page British government-commissioned report are:
Regional climate models suggest a 2.5-5 degree Celsius rise in mean surface temperature. Within India, northern India will become warmer.
A 20% increase in summer monsoon rainfall. Instances of extreme temperature and precipitation are expected to rise.
All Indian states will experience increased rainfall, except Punjab, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu where rainfall will decrease. Extreme precipitation will increase, particularly along the western coast and west central India.
The country's hydrological cycle will most likely be altered. Drought and flood intensity will increase. The Krishna, Narmada, Cauvery and Tapi river basins will experience severe water stress and drought conditions, and the Mahanadi, Godavari and Brahmani will experience enhanced flooding.
Crop yields will decrease with increases in temperature and precipitation. It is predicted that wheat crop losses will be greater, especially rabi crops. This will threaten the country's food security.
Coastal agriculture will suffer the most -- Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh will face yield reductions; West Bengal, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh will gain marginally.
A 100 cm rise in sea level could lead to a loss of US$ 1,259 million -- the equivalent of 0.36% of India's GNP.
There will be an increase in the frequency and intensity of tropical cyclones in the Bay of Bengal, particularly in the post-monsoon period. Flooding will increase in low-lying coastal areas.
Malaria will continue to be endemic in traditionally malaria-prone states (Orissa, West Bengal, southern parts of Assam and north West Bengal). It may also shift from the central Indian region to the southwestern coastal states of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala. New regions -- Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram -- will become malaria-prone; the disease's transmission duration window will widen in northern and western states and shorten in southern states.
India's economic losses due to increases in temperature are estimated to be between 9-25%. GDP loss may amount to 0.67% annually.
Global warming and subsequent changes in climate could severely hamper India's robust growth unless steps are taken to address the effects of increased surface temperature and its effect on monsoon patterns and river flow, according to the recently released Stern review on the economic impact of climate change.
Some of the key predictions for India, over the next 100 years, in the 700-page British government-commissioned report are:
Regional climate models suggest a 2.5-5 degree Celsius rise in mean surface temperature. Within India, northern India will become warmer.
A 20% increase in summer monsoon rainfall. Instances of extreme temperature and precipitation are expected to rise.
All Indian states will experience increased rainfall, except Punjab, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu where rainfall will decrease. Extreme precipitation will increase, particularly along the western coast and west central India.
The country's hydrological cycle will most likely be altered. Drought and flood intensity will increase. The Krishna, Narmada, Cauvery and Tapi river basins will experience severe water stress and drought conditions, and the Mahanadi, Godavari and Brahmani will experience enhanced flooding.
Crop yields will decrease with increases in temperature and precipitation. It is predicted that wheat crop losses will be greater, especially rabi crops. This will threaten the country's food security.
Coastal agriculture will suffer the most -- Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh will face yield reductions; West Bengal, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh will gain marginally.
A 100 cm rise in sea level could lead to a loss of US$ 1,259 million -- the equivalent of 0.36% of India's GNP.
There will be an increase in the frequency and intensity of tropical cyclones in the Bay of Bengal, particularly in the post-monsoon period. Flooding will increase in low-lying coastal areas.
Malaria will continue to be endemic in traditionally malaria-prone states (Orissa, West Bengal, southern parts of Assam and north West Bengal). It may also shift from the central Indian region to the southwestern coastal states of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala. New regions -- Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram -- will become malaria-prone; the disease's transmission duration window will widen in northern and western states and shorten in southern states.
India's economic losses due to increases in temperature are estimated to be between 9-25%. GDP loss may amount to 0.67% annually.
Dockside Green's Heating Plant comes on line *NEW*
Dockside Green’s biomass heat generation plant was officially unveiled this morning. The on site plant will be used to heat all of dockside’s buildings using biomass gasification. Jonathan Rhone, president and CEO of Nexterra, the company that developed the technology says the company is now building biomass plants across North America, but dockside green is unique. "The dockside plant is the first one at a neighbourhood community, so it’s a real milestone for our company." The process generates heat and hot water using biofuels --- a combination of ground-up wood waste like construction debris and pallets. The fuel is converted into a synthetic gas used to provide heat and domestic hot water. A local fuel supplier will provide two or three truckloads of wood waste a week for the housing development.
Nexterra gasifier system at Dockside Green.
In a release, representatives for the housing development say Dockside Green is working toward climate positive certification that will reduce the amount of on site carbon emissions to below zero.
"Nexterra’s gasification system is perfect for an urban environment. It is a proven, simple, ultra-clean technology that sets a new standard for converting biomass into useful heat energy. We looked around the world for the right technology and found Nexterra in our own backyard," said Joe Van Belleghem of Windmill Developments, Co-developer of Dockside Green along with Vancity Capital.
Source: Nexterra Energy .
Nexterra gasifier system at Dockside Green.
In a release, representatives for the housing development say Dockside Green is working toward climate positive certification that will reduce the amount of on site carbon emissions to below zero.
"Nexterra’s gasification system is perfect for an urban environment. It is a proven, simple, ultra-clean technology that sets a new standard for converting biomass into useful heat energy. We looked around the world for the right technology and found Nexterra in our own backyard," said Joe Van Belleghem of Windmill Developments, Co-developer of Dockside Green along with Vancity Capital.
Source: Nexterra Energy .
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