The cost of nature conservation is by far outweighed by societal and economic benefits, argues a new report supported by the European Commission and published on Friday (13 November). The report urges international policymakers to scale-up investments in the management and restoration of ecosystems and to value the economic capital of nature in decision-making. It was prepared by the Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) initiative, which is hosted by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The report stresses that destruction of nature has direct economic repercussions which are systematically underestimated, and that valuing ecosystems makes "economic sense".
The report urges international policymakers to scale-up investments in the management and restoration of ecosystems and to value the economic capital of nature in decision-making.
It was prepared by the Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) initiative, which is hosted by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
The report stresses that destruction of nature has direct economic repercussions which are systematically underestimated, and that valuing ecosystems makes "economic sense".
[...] Connectivity is a message reverberating in multiple work sessions as the week-long 9th World Wilderness Congress in Mérida comes to a close. Conservation biologists have long understood that preserves and parks surrounded by developed land are essentially biological islands and so are more prone to species extinction and vulnerable to the invasion of destructive non-native species. By contrast, a chain of protected areas spanning the length of India and Nepal's boundary has already seen degraded lands reduced by about 4,400 acres after just a few years, and tigers are returning, said Ghana Gurung, conservation program director at World Wildlife Fund - Nepal.
Conservation biologists have long understood that preserves and parks surrounded by developed land are essentially biological islands and so are more prone to species extinction and vulnerable to the invasion of destructive non-native species.
By contrast, a chain of protected areas spanning the length of India and Nepal's boundary has already seen degraded lands reduced by about 4,400 acres after just a few years, and tigers are returning, said Ghana Gurung, conservation program director at World Wildlife Fund - Nepal.
Saving Wild Places Will Save the Planet
Balderdash!, I say. It's not about saving the planet, it's about saving the quality of life for you fucking worthless humans, who I hope go extinct in the very near future. I'm a bacterial/fungal organism myself, and we're doing just fine. (Fucking humans! Bah!) In the end, might makes right. Nothing has changed since the caveman.
You're a truffle.
After the last round of climate talks before the UN conference in Copenhagen ended with a sense of pessimism and pending defeat, the Danish ambassador to the EU, Poul Skytte Christoffersen, warns against the danger of postponing a deal until next year. Speaking to EurActiv, Christoffersen urged leaders to avoid falling into the trap of the Doha round at all costs. "I have been living the Doha round closely [...] The moment is never right and once you get in this logic, it is a slippery slope," he said. Over the last weeks and months, Denmark, hosting the UN climate conference, has engaged in intensive consultations with world leaders in order to break the deadlock over global climate negotiations to agree on a post-Kyoto treaty to reduce global emissions.
Speaking to EurActiv, Christoffersen urged leaders to avoid falling into the trap of the Doha round at all costs. "I have been living the Doha round closely [...] The moment is never right and once you get in this logic, it is a slippery slope," he said.
Over the last weeks and months, Denmark, hosting the UN climate conference, has engaged in intensive consultations with world leaders in order to break the deadlock over global climate negotiations to agree on a post-Kyoto treaty to reduce global emissions.
The United Nations and Denmark, the host of the Copenhagen U.N. climate change summit, on Monday suggested new deadlines next year for the conclusion of a binding treaty on greenhouse gas emissions. The top U.N. climate official said a treaty could be wrapped up by mid-2010, while Denmark said it might take until December. Negotiations on the deal, originally due to be reached at the December 7-18 summit, are badly bogged down. Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen on Sunday proposed to a group of world leaders that next month's conference aim for political agreements on emission cuts and financing, but delay the drafting of a legally binding treaty.
The top U.N. climate official said a treaty could be wrapped up by mid-2010, while Denmark said it might take until December. Negotiations on the deal, originally due to be reached at the December 7-18 summit, are badly bogged down.
Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen on Sunday proposed to a group of world leaders that next month's conference aim for political agreements on emission cuts and financing, but delay the drafting of a legally binding treaty.
Rather than an annual road tax for their cars, drivers in the Netherlands will soon pay a few cents for every kilometer on the road, in a plan aimed at eliminating chronic traffic jams and cutting carbon emissions. The GPS monitoring system could be a test case for other countries weighing options for easing crowded roads. Some cities like London have created congestion charges to control traffic in downtown areas, but only Singapore has a similar scheme for charging according to the amount of travel. When the plan takes effect in 2012, new car prices will drop as much as 25 percent with the abolition of a purchase tax and the road tax, which now totals more than 600 euros per year for a mid-sized car. Instead, an average passenger car will pay €0.03 per kilometer, with higher charges levied during rush hour and for travelling on congested roads. Trucks, commercial vehicles and bigger cars emitting more carbon dioxide will be assessed at a higher rate, the transport ministry said.
The GPS monitoring system could be a test case for other countries weighing options for easing crowded roads. Some cities like London have created congestion charges to control traffic in downtown areas, but only Singapore has a similar scheme for charging according to the amount of travel.
When the plan takes effect in 2012, new car prices will drop as much as 25 percent with the abolition of a purchase tax and the road tax, which now totals more than 600 euros per year for a mid-sized car. Instead, an average passenger car will pay €0.03 per kilometer, with higher charges levied during rush hour and for travelling on congested roads. Trucks, commercial vehicles and bigger cars emitting more carbon dioxide will be assessed at a higher rate, the transport ministry said.
However, the Dutch people have seen this circus before and will probably presume that it won't go anywhere.
When the flu scare tapers off, I´m sure the paranoid will seize the next excuse for their spotlight. Could be Pay-As-You-Go. Can't say; I've not even the faintest idea how the minds of these people tick.
London, which has some of Europe's worst air pollution, may have to ban cars and reschedule events during the 2012 Olympics to ensure optimum conditions for athletes, a leading air-quality scientist said. The U.K. capital is in a "new era" of air pollution, mostly caused by emissions from diesel-powered cars, vans and buses, said Professor Frank Kelly, director of the King's College Environmental Research Group. The city of 7.5 million residents has the worst record for nitrogen dioxide pollutants among European capitals and one of the worst for dangerous airborne particles. Politicians including Mayor Boris Johnson aren't doing enough to cleanse the air, Kelly said. Beijing last year and Athens in 2004 struggled with air pollution during the games.
The U.K. capital is in a "new era" of air pollution, mostly caused by emissions from diesel-powered cars, vans and buses, said Professor Frank Kelly, director of the King's College Environmental Research Group.
The city of 7.5 million residents has the worst record for nitrogen dioxide pollutants among European capitals and one of the worst for dangerous airborne particles. Politicians including Mayor Boris Johnson aren't doing enough to cleanse the air, Kelly said. Beijing last year and Athens in 2004 struggled with air pollution during the games.
Politicians including Mayor Boris Johnson aren't doing enough to cleanse the air, Kelly said. Beijing last year and Athens in 2004 struggled with air pollution during the games
Err, British politicians don't do things, they make speeches saying they will be done and then move on. Actually getting things done is just so proletarian. After all, their peer group isn't impressed by such things, only by the quality of the speech and the quality of the sponsors who support you.
and if they were worried about air quality why didn't they demand it be fixed BEFORE they gave it to a shithole like london ? keep to the Fen Causeway
A United Nations summit on food security opened with leaders slamming rich nations for worsening world hunger by allowing speculation in agricultural markets and using subsidies that hurt production in developing nations. Pope Benedict XVI cited "greed which causes speculation to rear its head even in the marketing of cereals, as if food were to be treated just like any other commodity." Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who called hunger "the most terrible weapon of mass destruction," urged rich nations to meet their commitments to boost investment in agricultural in poor nations and to end "shameful" farming subsidies. "They sabotage emerging agriculture in the poorer countries, wiping out their hope to create a bridge to development," Lula said.
Pope Benedict XVI cited "greed which causes speculation to rear its head even in the marketing of cereals, as if food were to be treated just like any other commodity."
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who called hunger "the most terrible weapon of mass destruction," urged rich nations to meet their commitments to boost investment in agricultural in poor nations and to end "shameful" farming subsidies.
"They sabotage emerging agriculture in the poorer countries, wiping out their hope to create a bridge to development," Lula said.
Rice prices have nowhere to go but up as drought in India and cyclones in the Philippines cripple harvests, according to the world's biggest importer and the top exporter. Rice may double to more than $1,000 a metric ton as dry El Nino weather shrinks output and the Philippines and India boost imports, said Sarunyu Jeamsinkul, the deputy managing director at Asia Golden Rice Ltd. in Thailand, the largest exporting nation. Prices won't peak until March, said Rex Estoperez, a spokesman for the National Food Authority of the Philippines, the biggest importer. The agency issued a record tender for 600,000 tons last week and today called for bids for the same volume on Dec. 8 to secure grain before prices rise. Global rice supplies are likely to be tighter than last year, when food shortages sparked riots from Haiti to Egypt, said Jeremy Zwinger, president of The Rice Trader, a brokerage and consulting company in Chico, California. Escalating food prices threaten to spark unrest in developing nations while increasing costs for beer brewer Anheuser-Busch Cos., the biggest U.S. rice buyer, and cereal maker Kellogg Co.
Rice may double to more than $1,000 a metric ton as dry El Nino weather shrinks output and the Philippines and India boost imports, said Sarunyu Jeamsinkul, the deputy managing director at Asia Golden Rice Ltd. in Thailand, the largest exporting nation. Prices won't peak until March, said Rex Estoperez, a spokesman for the National Food Authority of the Philippines, the biggest importer. The agency issued a record tender for 600,000 tons last week and today called for bids for the same volume on Dec. 8 to secure grain before prices rise.
Global rice supplies are likely to be tighter than last year, when food shortages sparked riots from Haiti to Egypt, said Jeremy Zwinger, president of The Rice Trader, a brokerage and consulting company in Chico, California. Escalating food prices threaten to spark unrest in developing nations while increasing costs for beer brewer Anheuser-Busch Cos., the biggest U.S. rice buyer, and cereal maker Kellogg Co.
WASHINGTON -- The number of Americans who lacked reliable access to sufficient food shot up last year to its highest point since the government began surveying in 1995, the Agriculture Department reported on Monday. In its annual report on hunger, the department said that 17 million American households, or 14.6 percent of the total, "had difficulty putting enough food on the table at times during the year." That was an increase from 13 million households, or 11.1 percent, the previous year.The results provided a more human sense of the costs of a recession that has officially ended but continues to take a daily toll on households; it describes the plight not of a faceless General Motors or A.I.G. but of families with too little food on their children's plates.Indeed, while children are usually shielded from the worst effects of deprivation, many more were affected last year than the year before. The number of households in which both adults and children experienced "very low food security" rose by more than half, to 506,000 in 2008 from 323,000 in 2007, according to the report.
WASHINGTON -- The number of Americans who lacked reliable access to sufficient food shot up last year to its highest point since the government began surveying in 1995, the Agriculture Department reported on Monday.
In its annual report on hunger, the department said that 17 million American households, or 14.6 percent of the total, "had difficulty putting enough food on the table at times during the year." That was an increase from 13 million households, or 11.1 percent, the previous year.
The results provided a more human sense of the costs of a recession that has officially ended but continues to take a daily toll on households; it describes the plight not of a faceless General Motors or A.I.G. but of families with too little food on their children's plates.
Indeed, while children are usually shielded from the worst effects of deprivation, many more were affected last year than the year before. The number of households in which both adults and children experienced "very low food security" rose by more than half, to 506,000 in 2008 from 323,000 in 2007, according to the report.
China from the Inside "Beware of the man who does not talk, and the dog that does not bark." Cheyenne
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Adding a pharmaceutical form of the B vitamin niacin -- but not the drug ezetimibe -- to a cholesterol-lowering statin drug appears to reduce artery plaque buildup in patients with coronary artery disease, according to much-anticipated results announced at a press conference November 15. The results were from a study that was relatively small -- only 208 patients -- but provided a head-to-head comparison of niacin and ezetimibe, known by the brand name Zetia. Despite studies last year that questioned its effectiveness, Zetia remains a blockbuster drug for Merck & Co. Inc. The form of niacin used in the study is an extended-release, prescription-only formulation of niacin called Niaspan, made by Abbott, which funded the new trial. The new findings were simultaneously published online by the New England Journal of Medicine and presented during the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2009. Niacin has been shown to raise levels of HDL, the type of cholesterol that protects against heart disease. Zetia is designed to work differently, by lowering levels of LDL, the cholesterol that contributes to heart disease. Niacin also lowers LDL, but is better known for raising HDL. Zetia's performance fell flat in two recent trials, leading many doctors to question its usefulness.
The results were from a study that was relatively small -- only 208 patients -- but provided a head-to-head comparison of niacin and ezetimibe, known by the brand name Zetia. Despite studies last year that questioned its effectiveness, Zetia remains a blockbuster drug for Merck & Co. Inc. The form of niacin used in the study is an extended-release, prescription-only formulation of niacin called Niaspan, made by Abbott, which funded the new trial.
The new findings were simultaneously published online by the New England Journal of Medicine and presented during the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2009. Niacin has been shown to raise levels of HDL, the type of cholesterol that protects against heart disease. Zetia is designed to work differently, by lowering levels of LDL, the cholesterol that contributes to heart disease. Niacin also lowers LDL, but is better known for raising HDL. Zetia's performance fell flat in two recent trials, leading many doctors to question its usefulness.
A lot more pictures if you follow that link. Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.
I am amazed that the Chinese leadership havne't woken up to what they're doing to the country. The evidence is becoming pretty obvious to anyone who looks. What do they need ot happen to convince them ? they're gonna lose 10s of millions in population within a few years if they don't stop. keep to the Fen Causeway
The Rhine looked like that shitriver 100 years ago. It doesn't any longer. And not because everything was sent to China but because we could afford to spend the money to clean up the environment. Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.
The world is full of these stories of shitholes that actually were cleaned up, and the environment here in Sweden hasn't been as clean in a 100 years as it is today. Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.
