April 28, 2010

A global environmental update

Major economies are pushing for substantial increases in water prices around the world as concern grows about dwindling supplies and rising population, The Guardian reported. Some experts argue that as long as most countries provide huge subsidies for water it will not be possible to change wasteful habits.

Indonesia – reliant on coal-fired power plants -- has launched a plan to tap the power of its volcanoes and become a leader in geothermal energy, Agence France-Presse said. The country’s hundreds of volcanoes are estimated to hold around 40% of the world’s geothermal energy potential.

Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd has postponed his carbon-trading plan until at least 2013, according to Reuters, saying the government would assess its options in late 2012 when other countries would be clarifying post-Kyoto agreements to curb emissions.

Niger is threatened with total crop failure in some areas and the situation is worse than the country’s 2005 crisis, the UN humanitarian chief, John Holmes, told the BBC. Nearly eight million people are affected by drought.

Swarms of locusts continue to sweep across the Australian states of New South Wales and Victoria, threatening crops, the BBC said. Media reports suggest some 10,000 hectares of barley and wheat already have been destroyed in part of New South Wales, with one farmer losing 25 million carrots.

To save rapidly depleting tuna stocks, a group of eight Pacific island countries has agreed to push ahead with plans to close off 4.5 million square kilometres of the high seas to fishing, Agence France-Presse said. Known as the Parties to the Nauru Agreement, the group controls areas responsible for a quarter of the world’s tuna supply.

Countries in the Caribbean Sea agreed to bar the dumping of all garbage at sea, which can entangle sea creatures and damage water quality, the Associated Press reported. Further out in the Atlantic Ocean, The Washington Post said, researchers have documented a large swirl of plastic debris, similar to one found in the Pacific.

The marine reserve at Glover’s Reef, in Belize, offers a test case for the viability of similar reserves around the world, The New York Times said. In the zone, where all fishing is prohibited, even shark populations – in severe decline around the world -- have remained stable.

Near Antarctica, scientists have discovered a fast-moving deep-ocean current with the volume of 40 Amazon Rivers that will help researchers monitor the impacts of climate change on oceans, Reuters reported, citing a study in Nature Geoscience.

.