Category Archives: environment

Lost Louisiana: the race to reclaim vanished land back from the sea | Environment | The Guardian

Left unchecked, the state is projected to lose an additional 1,750 sq m in the next 50 years.

The land began vanishing from southern Louisiana about 80 years ago when the authorities began penning in the Mississippi after catastrophic floods.

The system of levees cut off the river from the delta, choking off the sediment needed to shore up the coast.

A decade later, oil drilling took off in coastal areas of Louisiana. Industry canals tore up the coastal wetlands.

Rising seas under climate change accelerated the land loss, exposing New Orleans and the valuable oil, shipping and seafood industries on the coast to hurricanes and storm surge.

Sea level rise is now the leading cause of land loss, said Virginia Burkett, chief scientist for climate and land use change at the US Geological Survey, leading a recent tour of the restoration projects organised by the Society of Environmental Journalists.

“If sea level rise doubles as we expect over the next century, can you imagine what is going to happen to this landscape?” she asked. “Without the barrier islands and marshes to attenuate the storm surge, the people of New Orleans are basically surrounded by an earthen levee.”

via Lost Louisiana: the race to reclaim vanished land back from the sea | Environment | The Guardian.

Illegal loggers remain hidden in Peru’s forest but timber finds global buyers | Environment | The Guardian

In this remote part of Peru’s 700,000 sq km of Amazon rainforest, there is not much beyond subsistence fishing and farming as a way to earn a living. Other options are mostly illegal: logging Amazonian hardwoods, growing coca, hunting and selling bushmeat. These activities are all prohibited, but in a region larger than Germany, the state is virtually absent. Levels of poverty and illiteracy are far above the national average. Organised crime and evangelical sects fill the vacuum. As in the Rudyard Kipling poem, here the “law of the jungle” is “as old and as true as the sky”.

The murder of forest campaigner Edwin Chota with three fellow Ashaninka leaders – Jorge Rios, Leonicio Quintisima and Francisco Piñedo – at the beginning of last month briefly drew the world’s attention to Peru’s rainforest. The remains of just three men, shot dead in the forest, have been found. DNA profiling using relatives’ hair samples are being used to identify the bodies. The authorities arrested the alleged killers, illegal loggers Adeuzo and Eurico Mapes, a father-and-son pair who are reported to have threatened Chota when he informed officials of their activities. These complaints fell on deaf ears, say members of his community, Alto-Tamaya Saweto.

via Illegal loggers remain hidden in Peru’s forest but timber finds global buyers | Environment | The Guardian.

Chile Becomes First South American Nation to Tax Carbon | The Beacon: Oceana’s Blog

Late last month, Chile became the first nation in South America to tax carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The new tax—$5 per ton of CO2 emitted—targets 50 megawatt or higher fossil fuel-emitting power plants, while smaller plants and those fueled by renewable sources will remain exempt. Most of the funds will go into Chile’s education system, says Blue and Green tomorrow.

About 80 percent of Chile’s energy comes from fossil fuel resources, so the move comes in an effort to force power plants to use cleaner energy resources as Chile works towards a voluntary goal to cut greenhouse gases by 20 percent from their 2007 levels by 2020. Four companies—Endesa, AES Gener, Colbún, and E.CL—are expected to contribute the most to the tax, estimated to bring in about $160 million in revenue as part of a larger tax reform, says Reuters.

via Chile Becomes First South American Nation to Tax Carbon | The Beacon: Oceana’s Blog.

Airline Passenger With Ebola Is Under Treatment in Dallas – NYTimes.com

A man who took a commercial flight from Liberia that landed in Dallas on Sept. 20 has been found to have the Ebola virus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Tuesday. He is the first traveler to have brought the virus to the United States on a passenger plane. {and will not be the last since people do not seem to have the good sense to get checked before exposing hundreds}

He was not ill during the flight, health officials said. Symptoms developed several days after he arrived, and he is being treated at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas.

via Airline Passenger With Ebola Is Under Treatment in Dallas – NYTimes.com.

Ebola Virus Disease Outbreak — Nigeria, July–September 2014

Nigeria’s decision to use EOC/IMS to respond to Ebola resulted in a rapid, effective, and coordinated outbreak response. As of September 24, the Nigeria response had successfully limited the outbreak to 20 laboratory confirmed and probable cases (in two states) with the last cases occurring on August 18 and August 31 in Lagos and Port Harcourt, respectively. This limited spread and the rapid scale-up against the backdrop of the large, dense, urban environments of Lagos and Port Harcourt suggest early response efforts were successful; this is likely directly attributable to the Nigerian government’s strategic use of its public health institutions and the EOC/IMS structure to manage the response. The EOC/IMS approach should be a central part of national and subnational preparedness efforts for public health threats. EOC/IMS is a key component of the global health security agenda, along with Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response/International Health Regulations (IHR 2005).

via Ebola Virus Disease Outbreak — Nigeria, July–September 2014.

Human resistance to malaria varies depending on location, study finds – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Humans have evolved different defences against malaria depending on where they live, scientists have found.

About half the world’s population is exposed to the disease, which kills more than 500,000 people each year.

A study, conducted over 10 years across 11 countries, looked for specific mutations known as markers in genes that result in resistance against malaria in almost 12,000 people.

Laboratory head at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Melbourne, Dr Ivo Mueller, said the study found there is a close evolutionary interplay between malaria and human populations.

“It is a complex interaction between the parasite and the human genome,” he said.

“Part of this study was done in Papua New Guinea, but most of these mutations that we found are actually not found in Papua New Guinea because people there never acquired these mutations.

via Human resistance to malaria varies depending on location, study finds – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation).

Liberia’s Chief Medical Officer Goes Under Ebola Quarantine

“Of course we made the rule, so I am home for 21 days,” Dahn said Saturday. “I did it on my own. I told my office staff to stay at home for the 21 days. That’s what we need to do.”

Health officials, especially front-line doctors and nurses, are particularly vulnerable to Ebola, which is spread via the bodily fluids of infected patients. Earlier this month, WHO said more than 300 health workers had contracted Ebola in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the three most-affected countries. Nearly half of them had died

via Liberia’s Chief Medical Officer Goes Under Ebola Quarantine.

FAO – News Article: Increased concern over latest strain of avian influenza in Southeast Asia

(Nature sees threat of over-population – balances with new form of influenza – “industrialized” poultry farming is the cause of ills, not answer to economic ills.)

Chinese authorities first reported the influenza A(H5N6) virus in poultry in April 2014. Since then, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Viet Nam have also detected the H5N6 virus in poultry.

“Influenza viruses are constantly mixing and recombining to form new threats,” said FAO’s Chief Veterinary Officer, Juan Lubroth. “However, H5N6 is particularly worrisome, since it has been detected in several places so far from one another, and because it is so highly pathogenic, meaning infected poultry quickly become sick and, within 72 hours, death rates are very high.”

The fact that the virus is highly virulent in chickens and geese and potentially spread across a large part of Southeast Asia translates into a real threat to poultry-related livelihoods. Poultry contributes to the incomes of hundreds of millions of people throughout the subregion.

via FAO – News Article: Increased concern over latest strain of avian influenza in Southeast Asia.