New Report Discovers Carbon Trading to Be Win-Win Proposition for Poor Villagers, Big Business, and for Slowing Climate Change
As the next major meeting on global climate change opens in New Delhi next week, a potentially controversial report concludes that deals to counteract the carbon emissions of the smokestack industry could benefit more than the environment. It reveals that carbon-trading deals in forestry could sharply reduce poverty among the rural poor, while also providing
Are European forests, soil and grass part of the solution for dealing with carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions? Today the European Commission presented the CarboEurope research initiative in Valencia (Spain). It is a cluster of 15 research projects supported by the European Commission with a budget of €25 million. The project brings together around 160 research institutions from over 20 countries. It looks at whether the biosphere, and above all forests, can reduce the concentration of carbon dioxide i
New results from experiments at a unique ecology facility show that plant communities are dramatically altered by changes to the type of animal species living among their roots, but that key ecosystem measurements such as overall agricultural yield or the amount of soil carbon stored are unaffected.
According to the results of a three year study into the processes of experimental grassland ecosystems published in the journal Science today, changes to the makeup of soil communities from small
The treatment of BSE residues through anaerobic digestion is, according to Quercus, the most efficient and fruitful way of resolving this environmental question.
This is a biological process successfully put into practice in a national company, ITS Marques, and consists of the degradation of organic matter by microorganisms in the absence of oxygen.
After being put in a closed receptacle (called a “digester”), the organic matter is transformed into gas by the existing microorganisms. M
A Londoner who is greenhouse gas (GHG) aware could save up to £80,000 over a lifetime by making basic lifestyle changes. Significant reductions in GHG emissions are possible at no net cost to the US economy. These are two of the conclusions made by Dr David Reay of the Institute of Ecology and Resource Management at the University of Edinburgh, in his paper `Costing Climate Change`, to be published in the special, triennial Christmas issue of Philosophical Transactions A*, a learned journal published
Penn State engineers have shown that adding specially treated cooking oils, such as soybean, canola or sunflower oil, to mandated low sulfur diesel fuels and engine lubricants reduces friction and wear.
Dr. Joseph Perez, adjunct professor of chemical engineering and leader of the project, said, “Low sulfur diesel fuels mandated in California will soon be required in all states to enable diesel engines to meet the 2004 emission regulations. Removal of sulfur from the fuel causes severe wear p
Both air pollution and global warming could be reduced by controlling emissions of methane gas, according to a new study by scientists at Harvard University, the Argonne National Laboratory, and the Environmental Protection Agency. The reason, they say, is that methane is directly linked to the production of ozone in the troposphere, the lowest part of Earth’s atmosphere, extending from the surface to around 12 kilometers [7 miles] altitude. Ozone is the primary constituent of smog and both meth
New technology used to analyse dissolved organic matter in river water could also help scientists detect and monitor pollution, according to a new research published in the journal Hydrological Processes.
Dissolved organic matter is found in all river water, and can come from both a natural source such as the soil, as well as human sources such as organic pollutants. It can produce natural fluorescence which can be seen using high-tech equipment.
Researchers from Newcastle Univers
New Report on 25 Most Endangered Primates Documents Increased Pressures on Mankind’s Closest Living Relative
New evidence of the peril facing the world’s apes, monkeys, lemurs and other primates, with one in every three now endangered with extinction, is revealed in a new report – The World’s Top 25 Most Endangered Primates-2002 released today by Conservation International (CI) and the Primate Specialist Group of IUCN-The World Conservation Union. Primate species and su
The plant Bizkaiko Txin-Txor Berziklategia (BTB), located in La Orkonera, Ortuella (Bizkaia, Basque Country) is the first plant of the Basque Autonomous Region dedicated to the assessment of waste derived from construction and demolition. Its set up, after an investment of 2,6 million euros, is going to prolong the average life of dumping sites.
The construction company Pavisa and the public corporation Garbiker, dependent on the Regional Council of Bizkaia, have designed the plant BTB for
University of Georgia scientist leads team
A team of researchers, led by a University of Georgia scientist, has developed the first transgenic system for removing arsenic from the soil by using genetically modified plants. The new system could have a major impact on arsenic pollution, which is a dramatic and growing threat to the environment and to human and animal health worldwide.
The scientists were able to insert two genes from the common bacterium Escherichia coli that allow
Harmful algal blooms, or HABs, can harm fish, birds and even people who are exposed to the toxic algae. HABs come in many forms, including a red tide that regularly affects Florida waters, a brown tide organism, and Pfiestera piscicida, an algae associated with fish kills. Scientists are unsure of exactly what causes the blooms, but a Woods Hole Sea Grant research team may have come up with a way to treat the increasingly common occurrences. Don Anderson and Mario Sengco are testing the use of clay t
While many scientists and policy makers have focused only on how heat-trapping gases like carbon dioxide are altering our global climate, a new NASA-funded study points to the importance of also including human-caused land-use changes as a major factor contributing to climate change.
Land surface changes, like urban sprawl, deforestation and reforestation, and agricultural and irrigation practices strongly affect regional surface temperatures, precipitation and larger-scale atmospheric cir
Downstream from mining sites, a suffocating gel forms in the water of creeks and rivers. A new study by an international team of researchers details the processes that make that gel and should advance our understanding of the damaging environmental effects of mine drainage and acid rain.
“This new nanoscale level of understanding of trace metal pollution of streams opens new doors for addressing the problem of contaminated waters in affected areas,” says Sonia Esperanca, program director in
Microbial communities can adapt to and colonize all kinds of habitat, owing to their metabolic versatility. They occur in abyssal oceanic situations, in polar ice caps, also in thermal springs, lakes, rivers, deserts and on carbonate (karst) platform systems.
Under favourable conditions, the microbial communities can proliferate and contribute to the construction of monumental edifices, termed microbialites 2 . They can do this in marine environments or in terrestrial setti
A new method of measuring rainfall accurately could help to improve flood control. Following a study in the Bolton area, the method, devised by the University of Essex and using dual-frequency microwave links, will now be tested in Italy and Germany.
The recent devastating floods in central Europe have demonstrated the need for accurate rainfall forecasting. To do so, it is essential to be able to measure the amount of rain falling along a particular path, particularly in situations where tr
Feedback
