Developing countries can buck the hunger trend with the right policies and investments, says a new UN Food and Agrcultural Organisation (FAO) report published ahead of next week's World Summit on Food Security. The report, published yesterday (11 November), notes that while global hunger figures are rising, 31 out of 79 countries monitored by the UN agency have registered "a significant decline in the number of undernourished people since the early nineties". Countries like Armenia, Brazil, Nigeria and Vietnam, for example, are said to be "on track" to achieve the UN Millenium Development Goal of eradicating extreme hunger by 2015. According to the UN, their success will stem from four common factors: * The creation of an enabling environment for economic growth and personal wellbeing; * investments in the rural poor and outreach to the most vulnerable; * ensuring achievements are maintained and gains protected against threats like recession, disease or natural disasters, and; * planning for a sustainable future by upgrading infrastructure and investing in rural development, for example.
The report, published yesterday (11 November), notes that while global hunger figures are rising, 31 out of 79 countries monitored by the UN agency have registered "a significant decline in the number of undernourished people since the early nineties".
Countries like Armenia, Brazil, Nigeria and Vietnam, for example, are said to be "on track" to achieve the UN Millenium Development Goal of eradicating extreme hunger by 2015.
According to the UN, their success will stem from four common factors:
* The creation of an enabling environment for economic growth and personal wellbeing; * investments in the rural poor and outreach to the most vulnerable; * ensuring achievements are maintained and gains protected against threats like recession, disease or natural disasters, and; * planning for a sustainable future by upgrading infrastructure and investing in rural development, for example.
RIO DE JANEIRO, Nov 13 (IPS) - Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon jungle was reduced more than expected between August 2008 and July 2009 - 45 percent compared to the previous 12 months, the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) reported.During that period, 7,008 square kilometres of forest were cleared, according to the Deforestation Monitoring Project, which uses satellite images. In the previous 12-month period, 12,911 square kilometres of jungle were lost. The results announced Thursday, which reflected the biggest annual decline since the government started monitoring deforestation in 1988, are a positive development that Brazil will present at the December global climate change summit in Copenhagen, said President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's chief of staff, Dilma Rousseff. At the summit, the government will present ambitious voluntary targets for curbing greenhouse gas emissions. With respect to deforestation, which is responsible for over half of Brazil's emissions, the rate will be cut by 80 percent by 2020, compared to the 1996-2005 average of 19,500 square kilometres. The figures presented Thursday reflect exemplary compliance with the government's targets for fighting deforestation, which has steadily declined since 2004, the year after Lula first took office.
SAO PAULO, Nov 14 (AFP) Nov 14, 2009 Brazil said Friday it would offer a "voluntary" cut of at least 36 percent in greenhouse gas emissions at the UN conference on climate change in Copenhagen next month.The goal could see carbon reductions of up to 39 percent and is set against Brazil's forecast level of emissions in 2020.The target was presented by Environment Minister Carlos Minc and government chief minister Dilma Rousseff at a news conference in Sao Paulo following talks with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.Brazil is the fourth-biggest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world, largely because of carbon released through deforestation of its vast Amazon forest by ranchers and farmers.Rousseff said the country's target is between 36.1 percent and 38.9 percent, with about half the projected cut would come from slowing deforestation of the Amazon.
The goal could see carbon reductions of up to 39 percent and is set against Brazil's forecast level of emissions in 2020.
The target was presented by Environment Minister Carlos Minc and government chief minister Dilma Rousseff at a news conference in Sao Paulo following talks with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Brazil is the fourth-biggest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world, largely because of carbon released through deforestation of its vast Amazon forest by ranchers and farmers.
Rousseff said the country's target is between 36.1 percent and 38.9 percent, with about half the projected cut would come from slowing deforestation of the Amazon.
PARIS, Nov 14 (AFP) Nov 14, 2009 France and Brazil adopted a common policy Saturday ahead of key UN global warming talks and vowed to launch a worldwide push to convince other powers to back their "climate bible".A joint text was unveiled after talks between French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, which gave an outline of an agreement they want at the December 7-18 Copenhagen summit."We are making public... a French-Brazilian text because Brazil and France, we want Copenhagen to be a success, not a cut-price agreement," Sarkozy said.Lula hailed it as a "climate bible" and a "historic document"."I hope that it will be a paradigm to frame the talks," he added. The document does not go into great detail, notably on figures, which have been a sticking point for the United States and China. It recalls only that the final objective is a "global reduction of at least 50 percent by 2050 compared with 1990" of damaging greenhouse gases worldwide.
A joint text was unveiled after talks between French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, which gave an outline of an agreement they want at the December 7-18 Copenhagen summit.
"We are making public... a French-Brazilian text because Brazil and France, we want Copenhagen to be a success, not a cut-price agreement," Sarkozy said.
Lula hailed it as a "climate bible" and a "historic document".
"I hope that it will be a paradigm to frame the talks," he added.
The document does not go into great detail, notably on figures, which have been a sticking point for the United States and China.
It recalls only that the final objective is a "global reduction of at least 50 percent by 2050 compared with 1990" of damaging greenhouse gases worldwide.
Washington DC (SPX) Nov 12, 2009 Scientists in Washington, D.C. are reporting laboratory evidence supporting the possibility that some of Earth's oil and natural gas may have formed in a way much different than the traditional process described in science textbooks. Their study is for the ACS' Energy and Fuels, a bi-monthly publication. Anurag Sharma and colleagues note that the traditional process involves biology: Prehistoric plants died and changed into oil and gas while sandwiched between layers of rock in the hot, high-pressure environment deep below Earth's surface. Some scientists, however, believe that oil and gas originated in other ways, including chemical reactions between carbon dioxide and hydrogen below Earth' surface. The new study describes a test of that idea, which dates to at least 1877 and famous Russian chemist Dimitri Mendeelev. They combined ingredients for this so-called abiotic synthesis of methane, the main ingredient in natural gas, in a diamond-anvil cell and monitored in-situ the progress of the reaction.
Their study is for the ACS' Energy and Fuels, a bi-monthly publication. Anurag Sharma and colleagues note that the traditional process involves biology: Prehistoric plants died and changed into oil and gas while sandwiched between layers of rock in the hot, high-pressure environment deep below Earth's surface. Some scientists, however, believe that oil and gas originated in other ways, including chemical reactions between carbon dioxide and hydrogen below Earth' surface.
The new study describes a test of that idea, which dates to at least 1877 and famous Russian chemist Dimitri Mendeelev. They combined ingredients for this so-called abiotic synthesis of methane, the main ingredient in natural gas, in a diamond-anvil cell and monitored in-situ the progress of the reaction.
Thursday, 14 Democratic senators affirmed their allegiance to the profits of polluting industry at the expense of the health and jobs of their constituents. In a letter to Senate leaders, a bloc of senators with powerful coal interests in their states called for "fair emissions allowances in climate change legislation." Their definition of "fair," unfortunately, turns out to be full taxpayer subsidies for global warming polluters. They call for the free allocation of pollution permits to electric utilities to be distributed "fully based on emissions": We urge you to ensure that emission allowances allocated to the electricity sector--and thus, electricity consumers--be fully based on emissions as the appropriate and equitable way to provide transition assistance in a greenhouse gas-regulated economy. The signatories on the letter defending coal-heavy polluters are Senators Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Al Franken (D-Minn.), Roland Burris (D-Ill.), Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), Russell Feingold (D-Wis.), Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Mark Udall (D-Colo), Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), Carl Levin (D-Mich.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio).
Thursday, 14 Democratic senators affirmed their allegiance to the profits of polluting industry at the expense of the health and jobs of their constituents. In a letter to Senate leaders, a bloc of senators with powerful coal interests in their states called for "fair emissions allowances in climate change legislation." Their definition of "fair," unfortunately, turns out to be full taxpayer subsidies for global warming polluters. They call for the free allocation of pollution permits to electric utilities to be distributed "fully based on emissions":
We urge you to ensure that emission allowances allocated to the electricity sector--and thus, electricity consumers--be fully based on emissions as the appropriate and equitable way to provide transition assistance in a greenhouse gas-regulated economy.
The signatories on the letter defending coal-heavy polluters are Senators Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Al Franken (D-Minn.), Roland Burris (D-Ill.), Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), Russell Feingold (D-Wis.), Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Mark Udall (D-Colo), Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), Carl Levin (D-Mich.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio).
Nashville is one of a handful of cities in the U.S. targeted to become an early focal point for electric vehicles, as Nissan plans to start production of a battery-powered car in Smyrna by 2012 and a program is launched to build a network of recharging stations. But getting to the point where electric vehicles are common will take time and work, said Joe Hoagland, TVA's vice president for environmental policy, science and technology. "If every one of us had a car or two in the garage that was charging every night, could that be handled?" Hoagland said. "I'm not sure."A slow charge on a vehicle, referred to as trickle charging, wouldn't be a problem. But if people wanted to fast charge at the same time -- pulling more power than a house could handle -- transformers could blow.
Nashville is one of a handful of cities in the U.S. targeted to become an early focal point for electric vehicles, as Nissan plans to start production of a battery-powered car in Smyrna by 2012 and a program is launched to build a network of recharging stations. But getting to the point where electric vehicles are common will take time and work, said Joe Hoagland, TVA's vice president for environmental policy, science and technology.
"If every one of us had a car or two in the garage that was charging every night, could that be handled?" Hoagland said. "I'm not sure."
A slow charge on a vehicle, referred to as trickle charging, wouldn't be a problem. But if people wanted to fast charge at the same time -- pulling more power than a house could handle -- transformers could blow.
Writers and photographers gather around the electric Nissan Leaf outside Dodger Stadium. Industry estimates of its sticker price range from $25,000 to $33,000. The 551-pound lithium-ion battery will be leased separately. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times / November 13, 2009) The Nissan Leaf, a five-seat, zero-emission hatchback, will start filtering into select markets in the U.S., Europe and Japan next year and will go global in 2012 at a price just 1% to 2% higher than similar-size vehicles, the carmaker said. Industry estimates range from $25,000 to $33,000 for the car, which runs on a lithium-ion battery pack placed under the floor and has a 100-mile range after an eight-hour charge. "There is an appetite, a spontaneous demand for something that would represent a break from the past," said Nissan Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn, who also heads car manufacturer Renault. "This is not a golf cart -- it's a real car," he added. .... So far, Nissan has cut 33 deals around the world, with stations set for San Diego; Sonoma County; Portland, Ore.; Seattle; Tucson; Phoenix; Washington, D.C.; Raleigh, N.C.; and in Tennessee. On Friday, Nissan announced an agreement to develop a charging infrastructure in Texas with Houston-based Reliant Energy, a subsidiary of electricity giant NRG Energy Inc. The deal could involve Reliant home charging packages offered through Nissan, said NRG Chief Executive David Crane. The Leaf battery, which can be quick-charged to 80% capacity in 30 minutes at special charging stations or fully charged overnight using a 220-volt socket, will be leased separately at a rate that Ghosn said would be less than the cost of gasoline.
Writers and photographers gather around the electric Nissan Leaf outside Dodger Stadium. Industry estimates of its sticker price range from $25,000 to $33,000. The 551-pound lithium-ion battery will be leased separately. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times / November 13, 2009)
The Nissan Leaf, a five-seat, zero-emission hatchback, will start filtering into select markets in the U.S., Europe and Japan next year and will go global in 2012 at a price just 1% to 2% higher than similar-size vehicles, the carmaker said. Industry estimates range from $25,000 to $33,000 for the car, which runs on a lithium-ion battery pack placed under the floor and has a 100-mile range after an eight-hour charge.
"There is an appetite, a spontaneous demand for something that would represent a break from the past," said Nissan Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn, who also heads car manufacturer Renault. "This is not a golf cart -- it's a real car," he added.
....
So far, Nissan has cut 33 deals around the world, with stations set for San Diego; Sonoma County; Portland, Ore.; Seattle; Tucson; Phoenix; Washington, D.C.; Raleigh, N.C.; and in Tennessee. On Friday, Nissan announced an agreement to develop a charging infrastructure in Texas with Houston-based Reliant Energy, a subsidiary of electricity giant NRG Energy Inc. The deal could involve Reliant home charging packages offered through Nissan, said NRG Chief Executive David Crane.
The Leaf battery, which can be quick-charged to 80% capacity in 30 minutes at special charging stations or fully charged overnight using a 220-volt socket, will be leased separately at a rate that Ghosn said would be less than the cost of gasoline.
Los Angeles County's latest light-rail line -- the $898-million Gold Line extension through the Eastside -- was dedicated Saturday morning at Union Station and a sparkling silver train full of dignitaries rolled out for the inaugural ride. The six-mile extension of the line from downtown L.A. through Boyle Heights and into East Los Angeles opens to the public on Sunday, when passengers will be able to ride the entire length of the line to Pasadena for free. The Saturday event gave elected and transportation officials a chance to give speeches and laud the newest public transportation offering in the county.
Los Angeles County's latest light-rail line -- the $898-million Gold Line extension through the Eastside -- was dedicated Saturday morning at Union Station and a sparkling silver train full of dignitaries rolled out for the inaugural ride.
The six-mile extension of the line from downtown L.A. through Boyle Heights and into East Los Angeles opens to the public on Sunday, when passengers will be able to ride the entire length of the line to Pasadena for free. The Saturday event gave elected and transportation officials a chance to give speeches and laud the newest public transportation offering in the county.
