Climate change will impact human health in South East Asia: WHO

 
Climate change will have a "serious and damaging" impact on human health in South East Asia, including India, as air quality will suffer and respiratory diseases will be exacerbated, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). At a press conference here on the World Health Day, Samlee Plianbangchang, Regional Director, WHO South East Asia, said the six diseases that would adversely impact human health are respiratory diseases, vector-borne diseases (malaria and dengue), water-borne diseases (diarrohea and cholera), malnutrition, injuries and psychosocial stress. Urgent action was needed to strengthen the existing health systems to deal with the potential increase in health risks due to climate change, he said. According to Dr. Plianbanchang, heat waves would be more intense and of longer duration, mainly affecting the most vulnerable populations in children and elderly through heat strokes and cardiovascular complications. In this context, the WHO was moving health to the centre of the climate change dialogue and had made the protection of health from the effects of climate change the theme of this year's World Health DayThe UN Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has said the Himalayas will experience a rapid glacier melt with a rate of recession higher than anywhere else in the world. Melting glaciers and disturbed rainfall patterns will trigger floods, landslips, debris flows and droughts. This will increase risks in Bhutan, India and Nepal, among other countries. In Bangladesh, rice and wheat production might drop by 8 per cent and 32 per cent respectively by the year 2050. For India, recent studies predict 2-5 per cent decrease in yield potential of wheat and maize for a temperature rise of 0.5 to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The net cereal production in the South East Asian countries is projected to decline by at least 4 to 10 per cent by the end of this century under the most conservative climate change scenario. The most vulnerable people in the region will be the poor because they have fewer resources to adapt to the rapid changes of the natural environment on which their livelihoods depend. In a message, IPCC Chairperson R. K. Pachauri has cautioned governments against taking the threat of climate change lightly.

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Global warming continues, says U.N.

 
The long-term trend of global warming is continuing, despite the current La Nina weather phenomenon that is bringing relatively cooler temperatures to parts of the Equatorial Pacific region, says the United Nations World Meteorological Organization. Worldwide temperatures this year are expected to be above the long-term average, though La Nina is also likely to persist through to the middle of 2008, WMO reported. WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud said while there would always be both cooler and warmer individual years, the overall trend in temperatures is still upwards.

Parts of the central and eastern Pacific Ocean have experienced significantly cooler sea-surface temperatures in recent months, WMO reported, and cooling has also been recorded over China and West Asia. But Australia, Russia, the western U.S., north-eastern Brazil and the southern part of South America have generally experienced higher-than-average temperatures since last December, it added.

The Hindu, April 6

World Health Day to focus on climate change

 
The World Health Organisation (WHO) is placing health at the centre of global dialogue by making it the theme of the World Health Day, April 7. This follows an overwhelming scientific consensus that climate change is happening and is human induced, making it one of the most critical challenges of our time. If the increase in greenhouse emissions continues at the current pace, air quality will suffer greatly and respiratory illnesses will worsen. Lack of safe water will most probably trigger outbreaks of diarrhoea and other food and water-borne diseases. Projecting the risks associated with climate change in 2030, the WHO estimates that the number of malnutrition cases will increase by more than 10 per cent. Climate-sensitive diseases such as dengue and malaria are estimated to increase in terms of geographical distribution and incidence. Higher minimum temperatures will allow many disease vectors to thrive, leading to new risks in regions where they were previously less significant.The people in the greatest danger include the very young, the elderly and the medically frail. Low-income countries and areas where malnutrition is widespread, education is poor and infrastructure weak will have the most difficulty adapting to climate change and related health hazards. The WHO estimates that warming and precipitation trends due to anthropogenic climate change currently claims over 1,60,000 lives a year.

The Hindu, April 5

State to recount its tigers

 
Shocked by the report of reduced tiger count in the State, the Kerala Forest Department is recounting its tiger population on its own.According to a recent tiger status report released by the National Tiger Conservation Authority, the tiger population in Kerala was around 40 as against the earlier figures of 75. The survey was conducted by the Wildlife Institute of India.According to V.S. Varghese, Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife), the survey was done in an unscientific manner and the Kerala figures were not correct. The department would write to the National Tiger Conservation Authority stating that the methodology employed by the Institute was not scientific in content, he said

The Forest Department had already completed camera trapping in some tiger habitats of the State. The exercise was progressing in other parts of the State, Mr. Varghese said. The Forest officials dispute the tiger figures of Periyar Tiger Reserve and Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary as reported in the status report. The tiger population of Wayanad is correctly reported as between 15 and 20. The report has estimated the tiger population in Periyar Tiger Reserve as 23 and 8 in Parambikulam. Going by the department figures, there should be around 40 tigers in the Periyar reserve and another 20 in Parambikulam. The total tiger population in the State should be between 75 and 80, he said.O.P. Kaler, Field Director of the Reserve, was of the view that the survey did not take into account the number of tiger cubs in the reserve. There were nearly 15 cubs when census was done last. These factors should have been correlated while finalising the report, Mr. Kaler said.

Chinnar was shown in the report as a part of Tamil Nadu and any tiger found in the area would go to their account. Moreover, there were inaccuracies in the report regarding the presence of deer like Chital and Sambur in the core area of the reserve. It was reported that chital was present in the core of the reserve whereas their presence was not reported from there for the past few decades, he said.Counting of the tigers using camera traps was progressing at Wayanad, Silent Valley, Peechi and Parambikulam, said W.S. Vincent Suting, Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife), Palakkad. These areas were known tiger habitats. There was also the presence of good prey base indicating that there would be sustainable tiger population, Mr. Suting said.

The Hindu, April 3

Australia on a project to bury carbon dioxide

 
Australia began pumping carbon dioxide underground using an experimental technology that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by locking dangerous gases deep in the earth.

Australia is one of only a handful of places trying the technology, and environmentalists immediately criticised the project as a token gesture that distracts from the bigger goal of getting industry to slash emissions. Officials opened a plant in southern Victoria state on Wednesday, which they said would capture and compress 1,00,000 tonne of carbon dioxide and then inject it two km underground into a depleted natural gas reservoir. The process is known a geosequestration.

"The project has a very important role in demonstrating the technical and environmental feasibility of geosequestration to Australia and the world and preparing the way for its widespread application," Peter Cook, the project's chief executive, said in a statement. The Australian scheme was developed with federal and state government support and is much smaller than similar systems overseas. Since 1996, about one million tonne of carbon dioxide a year has been injected under the North Sea and about the same amount trapped under Algeria's In Salah gas fields for the past two years. The process uses technology similar to that used at about 144 sites in the U.S. where carbon dioxide is injected underground to help recover oil reserves.

The Hindu, April 3

‘Kochi in climate change zone’

 
'Climate change zone ahead,' warned the blue hazard signs put at many points at Marine Drive, Kochi. Uniformed Greenpeace activists explained: these areas could go under water, or face other extreme consequences, as a result of the climate change in the decades to come.Greenpeace activists, as part of their 'Blue Alert' climate change campaign, put up several such hazard signs at three places in the city on Sunday—on the foreshore close to Vasco Da Gama Square at Fort Kochi; on Jews Street, Mattancherry and at Marine Drive.

Greenpeace reckons that Kochi would be among India's coastal cities which would be worst-hit by climate change caused by global warming. The international environmental NGO has launched the climate change campaign in six cities in the country, including Kochi, to drive home the need to take effective mitigation steps against global warming and climate change. Coast cities would be affected worst as a major manifestation of global warming would be a rise in the sea level. Even a marginal increase in the level of the Arabian Sea would lead to inundation and erosion of land areas. It could lick away substantial sections of foreshore.The Greenpeace campaign intends to educate people on the fallout of climate change and to encourage them to take mitigation steps.Greenpeace officials said that next week they would put up 'eviction 2050' notices at buildings on the Kochi foreshore. This is to warn the residents that those building would not survive in the year 2050 as the surging sea water caused by global warming would have washed them out.

The Hindu, March 31

Rare birds signify Kattampally’s importance

 
The recent sightings of rare and threatened species of birds in the Kattampally wetland area here have strengthened the concern of environmental activists about potentially large-scale reclamation this entire ecologically sensitive area is going to face in the near future. As many as seven globally threatened species of birds have been sighted at Kattampally including the three recent recordings such as Bristled Grassbird, Eurasian Wigeon and Grey-necked Bunting. An abode of migratory birds including the two vulnerable species of birds of prey, Greater Spotted Eagle and Indian Spotted Eagle, Kattampally, according to birdwatchers and ornithologists, is the only place in the State where these birds are regularly found. The area, identified as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by the Indian Bird Conservation Network (IBCN) and Birdlife International, is also place where four species considered globally near-threatened by the IBCN are seen, they said.
In a recent memorandum to Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan, the environmental activists said that Kattampally also acts as a staging ground for more than one per cent of the global population of Garganey Teals. This is considered as an important criterion for a wetland to have the status of international importance. Kattampally is also the only place in the West Coast where the rare Oriental Pratincoles are known to be breeding, according to them.Once a large swamp on the floodplains of the Valapattanam river with reed beds and mangrove vegetation, Kattampally has been facing ecological problems after the commissioning of the Kattampally Irrigation Project in 1966 which has wrought havoc on the traditional paddy cultivation in saline water. The mangroves in the area have almost disappeared, while reed beds and aquatic vegetation such as water lilies are still present as is considerable stretch of waterlogged area.
"Out of the 75 sites censused in North Kerala, Kattampally is the most important in species diversity as well as in the number of birds, as more than 18,000 birds have been seen in this wetland area," said C. Sashikumar, ornithologist involved in the census.Kattampally is also the feeding ground of the vast number of waterbirds nesting at the various heronries in Kannur district, he says.Major threats the area is facing include filling up of marshland and paddy fields for construction activities, construction of bridges and approach roads without proper facilities for drainage, garbage dumping and poaching, according Mr. Sashikumar.

The midwinter waterbird census 2008 carried out at Kattampally found 33,349 birds belonging to 62 species. This, according to Mr. Sashikumar, is probably the highest number of birds counted in this wetland. In 2006, 18,622 birds belonging to 51 species and in 2007, 8,538 birds of 50 species were recorded here, he said adding that after Vembanad and Kole, this wetland holds the maximum number of birds in the State.
The Wetlands International, he says, has estimated the population of almost all waterbird species analysing the results of the Waterbird Census being carried out since 1987. From the estimated population, one per cent of the bio-geographic population of each waterbird species has been estimated. "This threshold number is considered as important and any wetland holding this number of any species of waterbird is considered as an IBA and it fulfils Criterion 6 of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, under which a site qualifies as a Ramsar site with high priority for conservation," he says adding that two species found at Kattampally qualify this criteria: Garganey and Brown-headed Gull.

The Hindu, March 31

‘Cut fossil fuel, tap the sun’

 

Irrational use of energy resources not only causes their depletion but also results in environmental pollution and climate change, according to winner of the Swarup Bhatnagar award and scientist from the National Institute of Interdisciplinary Science and Technology A. Ajayaghosh.The main contribution to emission of carbon dioxide is from automotive emissions. The way out is to use solar electricity or hydrogen fuel.
"Today the best renewable energy source available is solar energy. Therefore conversion of solar light to electrical energy is at the centre of research," he said. Organic photo voltaics which absorb photons from the solar spectrum transfer the energy to an acceptor. The absorbed photons knock electrons to a higher stage of energy creating a charge and creating electricity. Organic photo voltaics are flexible and cheaper than silicon or cadmium-based solar cells. However the efficiency and life of these devices need to be enhanced, he added.

The Hindu, March 29

26 cities brace for ‘Earth Hour’

 

Twenty-six major cities around the world are expected to turn off the lights on major landmarks, plunging millions of people into darkness to raise awareness about global warming, organisers said.'Earth Hour' founder Andy Ridley said 371 cities, towns or local governments from Australia to Canada and even Fiji had signed up for the 60-minute shutdown at 0900 GMT on March 29.Cities officially signed on include Chicago and San Francisco, Dublin, Manila, Bangkok, Copenhagen and Toronto, all of which will switch off lights on major landmarks and encourage businesses and homeowners to follow suit.
Ridley said it was also likely that other major European cities such as Rome and London, and the South Korean capital Seoul, although not officially taking part, would turn off lights on some attractions or landmarks.The initiative began in Sydney last year and has become a global event, sweeping across 35 countries this year.While no cities from China or India are involved this year, Stevens said it was hoped that the movement would expand in 2009, which he said would be a particularly significant year given that it is the deadline for United Nations talks to determine future action on climate change after the Kyoto Protocol.

Ridley, who began 'Earth Hour' last year while working with WWF Australia, said the initiative was about individuals and global companies joining together to own a shared problem - climate change.

www.thetimes.co.za

First centre to monitor climate change comes up in Chennai

 
India's first centre dedicated to monitoring climate change and finding country-specific solutions was opened at Anna University by R.K. Pachauri, Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. "The impacts of climate change are serious. India is very vulnerable and Tamil Nadu is perhaps one of the more vulnerable States," he said. India,  needed to plan to adapt. This implied revamping drainage systems and rethinking hydroelectric power in the light of encroaching seas and changes in rainfall; preparing fisherfolk for changes in marine life as migration patterns changed; educating the country's people about the growth of vector-borne diseases and the regular cycle of heat waves, changing cropping patterns and agricultural practices to prevent hunger and investing in research and development for crops suitable for the new conditions. To reduce India's environmental footprint, buildings should be energy efficient, public transport should be improved and biofuels should be harnessed. The centre's new director A. Ramachandran said it would bring government agencies and universities together for integrated research to generate local data to understand the impact of climate change in the country. Faculty members would be trained in the latest climate-modelling techniques in the U.S., Canada and Japan and the centre aimed to get the latest technologies such as carbon monitoring towers. A further Rs. 12 crore was expected from a combination of Central and State funds.

The Hindu, Saturday, Mar 29, 2008