HOW ECO-TOURISM IS MAJOR THREAT FOR
ANTACTIC.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
560 Indian species declared endangered
New Delhi (PTI): A total of 560 species of animals and plants in the country has been declared critically endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), the Lok Sabha was informed on Wednesday.
"The IUCN has reported in their red data list that 560 species stand threatened in India. Of these, a total of 313 species including vultures are animals while 247 are plant species," S Reghupathy, minister of state for environment and forests, said in a written reply.
Quoting the IUCN list, the minister said mammals (89) tops the list of endangered species followed by birds (75) amphibians (63), fishes (39) and reptiles (25).
The minister attributed the decline in the number of fauna and floral species to loss of habitat.
"The other reasons include anthropogenic pressures and incorporation of poisonous substances in the food chain due to intensive agriculture, horticulture, dairying among others," he added.
Legal protection to the endangered animals, amendment of Wildlife Protection Act, creation of protected areas all over the country covering the important habitats and setting up of Wildlife Control Crime Bureau are some of the steps the government has taken to protect these species, the minister said.
News cllected by me
New Delhi (PTI): A total of 560 species of animals and plants in the country has been declared critically endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), the Lok Sabha was informed on Wednesday.
"The IUCN has reported in their red data list that 560 species stand threatened in India. Of these, a total of 313 species including vultures are animals while 247 are plant species," S Reghupathy, minister of state for environment and forests, said in a written reply.
Quoting the IUCN list, the minister said mammals (89) tops the list of endangered species followed by birds (75) amphibians (63), fishes (39) and reptiles (25).
The minister attributed the decline in the number of fauna and floral species to loss of habitat.
"The other reasons include anthropogenic pressures and incorporation of poisonous substances in the food chain due to intensive agriculture, horticulture, dairying among others," he added.
Legal protection to the endangered animals, amendment of Wildlife Protection Act, creation of protected areas all over the country covering the important habitats and setting up of Wildlife Control Crime Bureau are some of the steps the government has taken to protect these species, the minister said.
News cllected by me
Climate Change Brings Health Risks
By H. JOSEF HEBERT
WASHINGTON (AP) — A top government health official said Wednesday that climate change is expected to have a significant impact on health in the next few decades, with certain regions of the country — and the elderly and children — most vulnerable to increased health problems.
Howard Frumkin, a senior official of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, gave a detailed summary on the likely health impacts of global warming at a congressional hearing. But he refrained from giving an opinion on whether carbon dioxide, a leading greenhouse gas, should be regulated as a danger to public health.
"The CDC doesn't have a position on ... EPA's regulatory decisions," said Frumkin, determined to avoid getting embroiled in the contentious issue over whether the Environmental Protection Agency should regulate CO2 under the federal Clean Air Act.
The Supreme Court a year ago declared CO2 a pollutant under the federal air quality law and told the EPA it must determine whether CO2's link to climate change endangers public health or welfare. If it does, it must be regulated, said the court. But the EPA has been slow to respond to the court directive, saying it must review such a regulation's broad impact on emissions from everything from cars and power plants to schools.
"To the science, there is strong evidence the carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas ... and that there is strong evidence that climate change affects public health in many ways," responded Frumkin, carefully gauging his words, when pressed by Rep. Hilda Solis, D-Calif., on the issue.
Frumkin, director of CDC's National Center for Environmental Health, outlined the range of "major anticipated health" issues as a result of climate change.
Among them, the prospects of more heat waves that are of special danger to the elderly and the poor; more incidents of extreme weather posing a danger of drought in some areas and flooding in others; increase of food-borne and waterborne infectious diseases; more air pollution because of higher temperatures; and the migration into new areas of vector-borne and zoonotic diseases such as Lyme disease, West Nile virus, malaria or dengue fever as seasonal patterns change.
"Over the next few decades in the United States, climate change is likely to have a significant impact on health," Frumkin told the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming.
The Atlanta-based CDC is considered the government's premier disease tracking and monitoring agency.
Frumkin's testimony focused in greater detail and more directly on the likely human health risk of global warming than testimony given last October by the agency's director, Julie Gerberding, before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
It was later learned that the White House had heavily edited Gerberding's testimony, deleting whole sections of the prepared remarks including one entitled "Climate Change is a Public Concern."
"CDC considers climate change a serious public health concern," Frumkin told the House committee Wednesday.
Frumkin said he recognized the issue of global warming and public health "remains controversial, and some of my testimony may not necessarily reflect broad consensus across the administration."
But Solis, who chaired the hearing, said she suspected that "a layer of screening" continues to limit what CDC officials are allowed to say, particularly regarding the agency's ability to deal with the health risks.
Solis said she was perturbed that the administration did not give the committee Frumkin's testimony in advance, as is customary, and that he did not have more to say "on how we could empower the CDC. I don't think we heard that."
Jonathan Patz, professor of environmental and health sciences at the University of Wisconsin, told the committee the CDC doesn't have the money "to support the efforts to protect us from climate change."
"I think their hands are tied," said Patz.
The president has asked Congress for $8.8 billion for the CDC during the 2009 fiscal year, $412 million less than Congress provided this year.
Pressed on the budget issue by several lawmakers, Frumkin replied: "We're doing everything we can with existing resources now. ... With further resources we would be able to do more."
By H. JOSEF HEBERT
WASHINGTON (AP) — A top government health official said Wednesday that climate change is expected to have a significant impact on health in the next few decades, with certain regions of the country — and the elderly and children — most vulnerable to increased health problems.
Howard Frumkin, a senior official of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, gave a detailed summary on the likely health impacts of global warming at a congressional hearing. But he refrained from giving an opinion on whether carbon dioxide, a leading greenhouse gas, should be regulated as a danger to public health.
"The CDC doesn't have a position on ... EPA's regulatory decisions," said Frumkin, determined to avoid getting embroiled in the contentious issue over whether the Environmental Protection Agency should regulate CO2 under the federal Clean Air Act.
The Supreme Court a year ago declared CO2 a pollutant under the federal air quality law and told the EPA it must determine whether CO2's link to climate change endangers public health or welfare. If it does, it must be regulated, said the court. But the EPA has been slow to respond to the court directive, saying it must review such a regulation's broad impact on emissions from everything from cars and power plants to schools.
"To the science, there is strong evidence the carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas ... and that there is strong evidence that climate change affects public health in many ways," responded Frumkin, carefully gauging his words, when pressed by Rep. Hilda Solis, D-Calif., on the issue.
Frumkin, director of CDC's National Center for Environmental Health, outlined the range of "major anticipated health" issues as a result of climate change.
Among them, the prospects of more heat waves that are of special danger to the elderly and the poor; more incidents of extreme weather posing a danger of drought in some areas and flooding in others; increase of food-borne and waterborne infectious diseases; more air pollution because of higher temperatures; and the migration into new areas of vector-borne and zoonotic diseases such as Lyme disease, West Nile virus, malaria or dengue fever as seasonal patterns change.
"Over the next few decades in the United States, climate change is likely to have a significant impact on health," Frumkin told the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming.
The Atlanta-based CDC is considered the government's premier disease tracking and monitoring agency.
Frumkin's testimony focused in greater detail and more directly on the likely human health risk of global warming than testimony given last October by the agency's director, Julie Gerberding, before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
It was later learned that the White House had heavily edited Gerberding's testimony, deleting whole sections of the prepared remarks including one entitled "Climate Change is a Public Concern."
"CDC considers climate change a serious public health concern," Frumkin told the House committee Wednesday.
Frumkin said he recognized the issue of global warming and public health "remains controversial, and some of my testimony may not necessarily reflect broad consensus across the administration."
But Solis, who chaired the hearing, said she suspected that "a layer of screening" continues to limit what CDC officials are allowed to say, particularly regarding the agency's ability to deal with the health risks.
Solis said she was perturbed that the administration did not give the committee Frumkin's testimony in advance, as is customary, and that he did not have more to say "on how we could empower the CDC. I don't think we heard that."
Jonathan Patz, professor of environmental and health sciences at the University of Wisconsin, told the committee the CDC doesn't have the money "to support the efforts to protect us from climate change."
"I think their hands are tied," said Patz.
The president has asked Congress for $8.8 billion for the CDC during the 2009 fiscal year, $412 million less than Congress provided this year.
Pressed on the budget issue by several lawmakers, Frumkin replied: "We're doing everything we can with existing resources now. ... With further resources we would be able to do more."
Global warming to wreak havoc on U.S. crops and forests, report says
A report predicts global warming's march in the U.S. over the next 25 to 50 years.
From the Associated Press
May 28, 2008
DENVER -- Climate change is increasing the risk of U.S. crop failures, depleting the nation's water resources and contributing to outbreaks of invasive species and insects, the Department of Agriculture said in a report released Tuesday.Those and other problems for the U.S. livestock and forestry industries will persist for at least the next 25 to 50 years, said the report compiled by 38 scientists for use by water and land managers."I think what's really eye-opening is the depth and breadth of the impacts and consequences going on right now," said Anthony C. Janetos, a study author and director of the Joint Global Change Research Institute at the University of Maryland.Less than a year ago, the Bush administration submitted a report to the United Nations that did not mention how global warming could affect wildfires, heat waves, agriculture or snowpack.Scientists reviewed and synthesized research from more than 1,000 publications to produce the report, which is part of a federal assessment of global warming for the U.S. Climate Change Science Program, sponsored by 13 federal agencies."Just to see it all there like that and to realize the impacts are pervasive right now is a little bit scary," said Peter Backlund, director of research relations at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo.Drought-strained forests in the West and Southeast are easy prey for tree-killing insects such as bark beetles. Snow in the Western mountains melts earlier, making it more difficult for managers overseeing a long-established system of reservoirs and irrigation ditches that serves Western states.The Southeast doesn't have the same kind of storage system because rain historically has been more consistent there. Current weather disruptions, however, have the region struggling with drought, Janetos said.Rising carbon dioxide levels are changing the metabolism of grasses and shrubs on rangeland, decreasing the protein levels in plants eaten by cattle. Joshua trees and saguaro cacti could dwindle or face extinction.Warmer, drier weather is altering the biodiversity of Southwest deserts and the high, colder deserts of Nevada, Utah and Washington, said Steven Archer of the University of Arizona. Plants and animals living in extreme conditions face threats from wildfires and nonnative species, he said."These areas historically support a large ranching industry, wildlife habitat," Archer said. "They are major watersheds and airsheds."The researchers said that of 1,598 animal species examined in more than 800 studies, nearly 60% had been affected by climate change.The scientists said longer growing seasons provided by higher temperatures did not necessarily translate into bigger crop yields because plants had certain growth patterns.Their report focuses on the next 25 to 50 years, rather than the next 100 years as other studies have done."Sometimes it's so far out that people just don't grasp that it's a problem," said Jerry Hatfield, lab director of the National Soil Tilth Research Laboratory in Ames, Iowa. "This really brings it home."
Collected by me from LOSANGILS TIMES
ZAKI
A report predicts global warming's march in the U.S. over the next 25 to 50 years.
From the Associated Press
May 28, 2008
DENVER -- Climate change is increasing the risk of U.S. crop failures, depleting the nation's water resources and contributing to outbreaks of invasive species and insects, the Department of Agriculture said in a report released Tuesday.Those and other problems for the U.S. livestock and forestry industries will persist for at least the next 25 to 50 years, said the report compiled by 38 scientists for use by water and land managers."I think what's really eye-opening is the depth and breadth of the impacts and consequences going on right now," said Anthony C. Janetos, a study author and director of the Joint Global Change Research Institute at the University of Maryland.Less than a year ago, the Bush administration submitted a report to the United Nations that did not mention how global warming could affect wildfires, heat waves, agriculture or snowpack.Scientists reviewed and synthesized research from more than 1,000 publications to produce the report, which is part of a federal assessment of global warming for the U.S. Climate Change Science Program, sponsored by 13 federal agencies."Just to see it all there like that and to realize the impacts are pervasive right now is a little bit scary," said Peter Backlund, director of research relations at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo.Drought-strained forests in the West and Southeast are easy prey for tree-killing insects such as bark beetles. Snow in the Western mountains melts earlier, making it more difficult for managers overseeing a long-established system of reservoirs and irrigation ditches that serves Western states.The Southeast doesn't have the same kind of storage system because rain historically has been more consistent there. Current weather disruptions, however, have the region struggling with drought, Janetos said.Rising carbon dioxide levels are changing the metabolism of grasses and shrubs on rangeland, decreasing the protein levels in plants eaten by cattle. Joshua trees and saguaro cacti could dwindle or face extinction.Warmer, drier weather is altering the biodiversity of Southwest deserts and the high, colder deserts of Nevada, Utah and Washington, said Steven Archer of the University of Arizona. Plants and animals living in extreme conditions face threats from wildfires and nonnative species, he said."These areas historically support a large ranching industry, wildlife habitat," Archer said. "They are major watersheds and airsheds."The researchers said that of 1,598 animal species examined in more than 800 studies, nearly 60% had been affected by climate change.The scientists said longer growing seasons provided by higher temperatures did not necessarily translate into bigger crop yields because plants had certain growth patterns.Their report focuses on the next 25 to 50 years, rather than the next 100 years as other studies have done."Sometimes it's so far out that people just don't grasp that it's a problem," said Jerry Hatfield, lab director of the National Soil Tilth Research Laboratory in Ames, Iowa. "This really brings it home."
Collected by me from LOSANGILS TIMES
ZAKI
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