Crocodile lay eggs without mating

The country's only captive white crocodile, which had become famous for shunning mating habits, has laid eggs and that too without mating. Living in isolation and detached from males, the 33-year-old Gori laid about 30 eggs in the captivity of a pen in the crocodile research farm of Bhitarkanika Wildlife Sanctuary here. The eggs however lacked fertility contents and potency for procreation, officials said, adding that besides Gori another captive female crocodile also laid 'infertile' eggs last week. "Laying of eggs by isolated reptiles is a rare occurrence. The eggs have been preserved for research work," the officials said. Gori, acclaimed as the country's lone captive white crocodile, is famous for its typical behavioural instinct. In isolation since its birth in the sanctuary in 1975, the animal had avoided mating despite several attempts by forest officials. It had even attacked a male crocodile that had been released into the pen for mating. The enigmatic Gori has been keeping bad health since the past few years

US ecological award for Indian organisations

The Sierra Club, the oldest and largest grassroots environmental organisation in the US, has announced the winners of its first ever “Green Energy
& Green Livelihoods Achievement Award” for India. Two organisations share the award – Ecosphere Spiti from the mountainous Himachal Pradesh valley named Spiti in the trans-Himalayas, and Barefoot College in Rajasthan, led by social entrepreneur Bunker Roy. The only fully solar-electrified institution, Barefoot College has trained rural men and women as Barefoot Solar Engineers (BSEs). They have built and installed solar units in 10,000 households, covering 574 villages across 16 Indian states. Each award carries a prize money of Rs 20 lakh and a trophy to be presented at the awards ceremony in Mumbai on July 30. The award represents Sierra Club’s growing interest in building international partnerships to address climate change mitigation and adaptation. The award recognizes community initiatives to promote green economic development, adaptation of renewable energy alternatives and organizational leadership in a grassroots environmental campaign. Ecosphere Spiti has won the award for successfully creating sustainable livelihoods linked to conservation and eco-tourism, while Barefoot College has applied practical, traditional knowledge and community-owned sustainable technology to reach the poorest residents of the impoverished desert state. Sierra Club executive director Carl Pope said, “We set out on this path more than a century ago by promoting conservation awareness through mountain outings in the United States. We are delighted to recognise Ecosphere Spiti because it so clearly shares our own ideals for protecting a nation’s cultural and natural heritage for future generations.” Sierra Club International Programs director Stephen Mills had equally effusive praise for the Barefoot College: “As much as we are interested in sharing resources and supporting environmental leadership in India, we have also come to listen and learn,” Mills said. “We believe that much of the important energy and environmental work happening now in India has exciting applications in the US. Bunker Roy’s amazing record of teaching a community’s most disadvantaged members to become solar engineers is a prime example. We are not the first, and we will not be the last, to recognise this astonishingly scalable and replicable model for creating green livelihoods,” Mills added. Barefoot College is also the only fully solar-electrified college based in a village in India. Starting in 1989, barefoot solar engineers have installed a total of 40 kilowatts of solar panes and five battery banks, each containing 136 deep-cycle batteries. The solar components (inverters, charge controllers, battery boxes, stands) were all fabricated in the college itself. “We are delighted, honored and humbled by this award,” said Bunker Roy. “The recognition is to Mahatma Gandhi, ‘The Last Man’ who has shown the simple way of how to respect the Earth.”

Massive sea erosion in Karna, Kerala and Tamil Nadu: Govt

Government on Wednesday said a massive sea erosion has taken place in the coastal belt of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu due to various reasons including mining of beach sand. In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, Union Minister of State for Water Resources Vincent H Pala said a massive sea erosion has taken place in the coastline of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. "As per information available from the states, a length of 249.56 kilometre coastline in Karnataka, 478.14 km in Kerala and 641 km in Tamil Nadu has been reported effected by sea erosion due to sea waves, winds, tides, storms, mining of beach sand etc," he said when asked about the reason. The Minister also informed the House that governments of these three states have submitted "some project proposals" for consideration under National Coastal Protection Project for External Assistance. "These have been examined and forwarded to Asian Development Bank (ADB) for consideration," he said. Asian Development Bank has considered the "Project Preparatory Technical Assistance" with a grant of USD one million for preparing a sustainable coastal protection and management projects which include the states of Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra, the Minister added. Bureau Report

Five-fold rise in frequency of 'intense' cyclones: Study

The frequency of "intense" cyclones in Arabian Sea has increased five-fold over a period of 12 years due to sea warming, according to a new study. "Global warming has resulted in disruption of natural decadal cycle in the sea surface temperature (SST) of Arabian Sea after 1995," a research study by Goa-based National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) said. Due to this, there was a five-fold rise in frequency of intense cyclones between 1995 and 2007 when compared to the previous 25 years (1970-1995), the research paper said. The effects of this climate-shift are also perceptible over the adjacent landmass as it has led to warmer winters and decreased decadal monsoon rainfall, it said. "The Indian summer monsoon is driven by the land-ocean thermal contrast and a warmer ocean would weaken the summer monsoon," NIO's Prasanna, who contributed significantly to the research, said. "Hence, the negative decadal anomaly in the all-India summer monsoon rainfall during the late 1990s appears to be linked to weakening of land-ocean thermal-gradient under the secular warming of the Arabian Sea," he added. The study points out that it is not just the frequency but also the intensity of cyclones that has increased in the recent years.

Scientists can account for only half of global warming

Current climate change models prepared by scientists can explain only half the warming that took place on earth in the ancient past, says a new study. The study contains an analysis of published records from a period of rapid climatic warming about 55 million years ago known as the Palaeocene-Eocene thermal maximum (PETM). "In a nutshell, theoretical models cannot explain what we observe in the geological record," said oceanographer Gerald Dickens, study co-author from Rice University. "There appears to be something fundamentally wrong with the way temperature and carbon are linked in climate models," he added. During the PETM, for reasons that are still unknown, the amount of carbon in earth's atmosphere rose rapidly. For this reason, the PETM, which has been identified in hundreds of sediment core samples worldwide, is probably the best ancient climate analogue for present-day earth. But besides the rapidly rising levels of atmospheric carbon, global surface temperatures rose dramatically during the PETM, something that present models cannot predict or have taken into account. Average temperatures worldwide rose by about seven degrees Celsius -- about 13 degrees Fahrenheit -- in a short span of 10,000 years. Many of the findings come from studies of core samples drilled from the deep seafloor over the past two decades. When oceanographers study these samples, they can see changes in the carbon cycle during the PETM. "You go along a core and everything's the same, the same, the same, and then suddenly you pass this time line and the carbon chemistry is completely different," Dickens said. "This has been documented time and again at sites all over the world."


Based on findings related to oceanic acidity levels during the PETM and on calculations about the cycling of carbon among the oceans, air, plants and soil, Dickens and co-authors determined that carbon dioxide levels in the air went up by about 70 percent during the PETM.

Dirty air, lack of water threaten Ladakh

Ladakh is no longer pristine. Rising temperatures are drying up glaciers in this trans-Himalayan cold desert and generator smoke from the power -strapped twons across the rugged mountains in northernmost India are eating into the fragile ecosystem, destroying its sparse green cover.


The effect of climate change is very high in the mountains. More than 10 percent of the glaciers have melted and at the most I give Ladakh another 30-40 years, if measures are not taken to save the fragile ecosystem and conserve water," Sonam Gorjyes, director of the Ladakh Ecological Group, said. The signs of change are apparent in the topography. Barely 15 km from crowded Leh lies a desolate stretch of white sand dotted with nearly 50 small Buddhist shrines at the foot of a mountain, next to an ancient palace of the king of Ladakh. A decade ago, Bollywood badshah Shah Rukh Khan and actress Monisha Koirala smouldered on the exotic stretch in an emotionally-packed shot in Mani Ratnam's hit movie "Dil Se". Ten years on, the little bend along the river Indus is home to a settlement, shacks, a tourist spot and acute water scarcity. In the district headquarters, Leh, the scene is even more alarming. Depleting ground water, ghetto-like buildings, an explosion of hotels, guest houses, motels, eateries and bazaars that run on diesel generators from noon till dawn, and a profusion of SUVs and cars belching noxious fumes make for a visitors' nightmare. The pungent smoke of the diesel first hits the eyes and then the nose as one enters the town. Coupled with the thin oxygen cover at an altitude of over 3,500 metres, the process of breathing stabilisation and altitude acclimatisation takes longer than the mandatory 24 hours. "Do not move for at least 36 hours and roll up the windows of your vehicle," instructs the taxi driver with an anti-pollution shield covering his nose and mouth. At least 40 percent of people in the town working outside homes cover their faces to avoid the diesel smoke -- which does not dissipate easily in the thin air. The construction of flush toilets in hotels, army bases and modern apartments have added to the water woes because the water used cannot be recycled owing to the absence of recycling systems, eco-experts rued. "The water system in Ladakh is snow-fed. Precipitation is less than 40 mm a year. So, most of the villages and towns, including Leh, is dependent on the melting snow. Statistics compiled by the Indian Air Force shows that temperature of Ladakh has risen by one degree Celsius over the last 35 years which is alarming for the region," said Gorjyes, whose group has been working for the last 25 years to promote renewable energy in the area. The average humidity in Ladakh is below 40 percent. A group of green NGOs met here in April to discuss climate change. The report of their deliberations, published by the UN organisation for mountain ecology, ICIMOD, said 35 percent of the glaciers in the region will disappear by another 20 years and temperatures across the Tibetan and trans-Himalayan region will rise by 2.5 degrees Celsius by 2050. The Himalayas have around 45,000 glaciers. The boom in tourism, the lifeline of this ancient trading post spread across 97,000 square km along the Himalayan and Karakoram Silk Route, is accelerating degradation, local eco-tourist operators said. According to department of wildlife officials who met the operators for the first time June 30 in Leh to discuss curbs on tourism to save Ladakh's environment, "75,000 tourists visited the district in 2008 and the number would go up by 2009-end". Ladakh, said Jigmet Thakpa, chief conservator and wildlife warden of the district, "boasted of a wide biodiversity with 36 mammals, 309 species of birds, 370 species of butterflies, 11 reptiles and 22 types of fish found in the streams. "But they have to be protected. We are trying to change to the nature of tourism in the countryside by building 300 homestays in the state with women's self-help groups and have restricted indiscriminate use of water and littering." The district has just been brought under the purview of the Non-Biodegradable Material Management Handling and Disposal Act (2007) passed by the Jammu and Kashmir government. The notification was issued May 14. "Women's groups are monitoring the imposition of the ban on non-biodegradable material across the district. The situation is alarming. All the small glaciers are gone," said filmmaker Stanzin Dorjai Gya, whose movie on Ladakh, "Living With Climate Change", has been screened worldwide. Laments divisional forest officer of Leh B. Balaji: "The whole world is focussing on islands, while high altitude cold deserts like Ladakh are being ignored. The crops are in peril due to locust attacks from China. It might result in a famine-like situation any time."

Small islands want deeper emissions cuts

Greenhouse gas-cutting targets set by 16 leading nations in Italy this week will not protect island states from climate change, the chair of an alliance of small nations said.


The world has an obligation to ensure that 'no island is left behind,'" said Grenada's UN ambassador Dessima Williams, head of The Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS). "It is a cruel irony that without adequate global commitments, the countries contributing least to global warming will be the ones most affected by its consequences," she added. At a summit in L'Aquila, Italy, leaders of the Major Economies Forum (MEF) -- a combination of the Group of Eight (G8) countries and emerging economies such as China, India, Brazil and Indonesia -- agreed to cap the rise in the Earth's average temperature to two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above 18th-century levels. But AOSIS said it wants that cap set at 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above 18th-century levels. "Two degrees of temperature rise is still unacceptable, because it exceeds safe thresholds necessary for the protection and survival of small islands," according to Williams. "For the smallest and most vulnerable among us, climate change is already here, causing damage," she said. The alliance also rebuked the MEF for failing to provide details of how emissions will be curbed, and by how much. AOSIS called for several specific goals, including an 85 percent overall reduction in global emissions below 1990 levels by 2050. The grouping also wanted developed nations to commit to a 45 percent reduction in emissions from 1990 levels by 2020. "Given the decades-long time lags between accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and changes in average temperatures, a mere temperature goal is insufficient," Williams said. "Targets need to be specific, measurable, quantifiable and defined by reference to the 1990 baseline emissions agreed to under the Kyoto Protocol." At the L'Aquila summit, the MEF committed "to identify a global goal for substantially reducing global emissions" by 2050, but it did not say how the reductions would happen, or specify who would be reducing emmision.