CLIMATE CHANGE conservation programs

Climate change is among the greatest threats to biodiversity today. As Earth's temperature rises, wildlife moves to more suitable habitat northward or perhaps to higher elevations. Some coral reef species cannot move, other species are not suited to new ecosystems, and some are simply running out of room to live. Meanwhile, glaciers are melting, ocean chemistry is changing, and entire populations of species are disappearing. If left unchecked, climate change could prompt the extinction of tens of thousands of species in as few as 50 years.

It is well known that human activity, especially the burning of fossil fuels, causes global warming. However, few people realize that deforestation and land-use changes – such as slash-and-burn farming, soil degradation and loss, road building, and urban sprawl – account for as much as 20 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Some 35.1 million acres of tropical forests are destroyed each year, releasing millions of tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. Not to mention the significant loss of biodiversity and habitat in each converted acre, or the cumulative loss of ecosystem services for local communities, including storm protection, non-timber forest products, ecotourism potential, and water purification.
Conservation International (CI) is working with partners in all sectors to better understand the impact of climate change on global biodiversity and to promote conservation as a strategy for mitigating global warming. By incorporating the science of climate change into conservation strategies, CI is demonstrating that CO2 emissions can be reduced not only by protecting and restoring forests that absorb the gas, but also by preventing release of the greenhouse gases when forests are cleared or burned.
Through its Center for Environmental Leadership in Business (CELB), CI engages industry in this effort and offers cost-effective options for businesses to offset their emissions. Conservatio Carbon projects are unique in that they are designed to deliver multiple benefits: mitigating climate change, conserving biodiversity, and promoting human welfare. Thus, a donation for offsetting carbon also prevents species extinctions, restores ecosystem services for communities, and fosters economic growth.

For example, CI has partnered with the Wildlife Conservation Society and Madagascar’s Ministry of the Environment, Water, and Forests to protect one of the largest remaining patches of rain forest on the island nation and thus prevent the release of tons of CO2 there. Madagasca is home to a wide array of species found nowhere else on Earth, but poverty, rapid population growth, and a lack of agricultural alternatives have resulted in extensive deforestation on the island.
With offset donations of various companies, however, CI and its partners are supporting Malagasy communities in managing a protected area and transforming slash-and-burn farming into sustainable agriculture across some 864,900 acres of land.

Document: Climate change remarks altered

Centers for Disease Control Director Dr. Julie Gerberding testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, in this June file photo. The White House severely edited congressional testimony given Tuesday by Gerberding on the impact of climate change on health, removing specific scientific references to potential health risks, according to two sources familiar with the documents.

WASHINGTON - The White House significantly edited testimony prepared for a Senate hearing on the impact of climate change on health, deleting key portions citing diseases that could flourish in a warmer climate, documents obtained by The Associated Press showed Wednesday.

The White House on Wednesday denied that it had "watered down" the congressional testimony that Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, had given the day before to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
But a draft of the testimony submitted for White House review shows that six pages of details about specific disease and other health problems that might flourish if the Earth warms were not delivered at the hearing.

Gerberding on Wednesday downplayed the significance of the changes made in her prepared text saying she never felt she was being censored and that she was free to go beyond her text — and did when testifying. "I was absolutely happy with my testimony in Congress. We finally had a chance to go and say what we though was important," she said at a luncheon appearance in Atlanta.

Later, she added, "I don't let people put words in my mouth and I stand for science."
The draft noted that "scientific evidence supports the view that the earth's climate is changing" and that many groups are working to address climate change. "Despite this extensive activity, the public health effects of climate change remain largely unaddressed. CDC considers climate change a serious public health concern," the draft declares.

That paragraph was not in Gerberding's text as approved by the White House.
The draft document was obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press from a source other than the CDC, the Atlanta-based agency considered the government's premier disease tracking and monitoring agency.

Two people familiar with the documents told the AP on Tuesday, after the Senate hearing, that the White House Office of Management and Budget edited the CDC director's congressional testimony, removing specific scientific references to potential health risks.
Gerberding told a Senate hearing on Tuesday that climate change "is anticipated to have a broad range of impacts on the health of Americans."

But her prepared testimony was devoted almost entirely to the CDC's preparation, with few details on what effects climate change could have on the spread of disease. The prepared remarks covered six pages. The draft submitted for OMB was twice as long.
Referring to the draft, one CDC official familiar with both versions, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the review process, said that "it was eviscerated."
White House press secretary Dana Perino said the prepared testimony went through an interagency review process and the Office of Science and Technology Policy did not believe that the science in the testimony matched the science that was in a report by the International Panel on Climate Change.

"She testified yesterday. Her spokesperson said that she was able to say everything she wanted to say," Perino said. "It was not watered down in terms of its science. It wasn't watered down in terms of the concerns that climate change raises for public health."
The CDC official said that while it is customary for testimony to be changed in a White House review, these changes were particularly "heavy-handed."
The deleted sections of the draft, covering more than half of the original text, included a list of specific impacts on which "climate change is likely to have a significant impact on health." The list included the effect of more frequent hot spells on vulnerable populations, the impact of extreme weather, more air pollution in drought areas, and greater likelihood of vector-borne and waterborne diseases as well as mental health problems.
While these impacts would be expected to be less significant in the United States than in the developing world, one deleted section says, "nevertheless many Americans will likely experience difficult challenges."

"Climate change-driven ecological changes such as variations in rainfall and temperature could significantly alter the range, seasonality and human incident of many zoonotic and vector-borne diseases," the draft says in another section deleted.
At Tuesday's hearing, Gerberding addressed some of those issues during questioning from senators after she delivered her prepared remarks.
Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., committee chairman, produced a CDC chart, listing many of the same concerns — deleted from Gerberding's draft text — that could be exacerbated by global warming.

"These are the potential things you can expect," replied Gerberding when asked about the items by Boxer. "... In some of these areas its not a question of if, it's a question of who, what, how and when."

Indonesian president calls for more climate change action

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono delivers a speech to inaugurate a meeting of ministers and senior officials from around 40 countries at the Presidential Palace in Bogor. Yudhoyono urged developed nations to take the lead in fighting climate change as he opened international talks Wednesday on the issues.

Wed Oct 24, 12:14 PM
BOGOR, Indonesia (AFP) - Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono urged developed nations to take the lead in fighting climate change as he opened international talks Wednesday on the issue.

Ministers and senior officials from about 40 countries are holding two days of informal talks this week aimed at building a foundation for a major United Nations conference on global warming in December on the resort island of Bali.

"It is only logical that developed countries should continue taking the lead in significantly reducing carbon emissions," Yudhoyono said at the talks in this Indonesian hill town just outside the capital, Jakarta.

"Developed countries are also called upon to provide resources, environmentally-sound technologies and the necessary financial support for developing countries, many of which have scant resources for coping with and adapting to the impact of climate change," he said.
But developing nations should also try to reduce their national greenhouse gas emissions and step up their efforts to do more, he said.

"They would be well advised to formulate and carry out innovative and forward-looking national strategies by way of mitigation and adaptation," he said.
Yudhoyono told the ministers and officials -- from nations such as China, India, Malaysia, Sweden, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States -- that he expected they would be creating a basis for decisions to be made at the UN-backed Bali summit during their closed-door talks.

The Bali meeting would then "form the starting point for future concerted global action on climate change," he said.
The 11-day Bali summit, which begins December 3, is tasked with creating a plan for negotiations on a global climate change accord to come into force after the first stage of the UN's Kyoto Protocol ends in 2012.

Europe’s Dirty 30

Most of Europe's "dirtiest" power stations are located in Germany and the UK (10 plants each), followed by Poland (4 plants).

10 May 2007-Brussels, Belgium / Gland, Switzerland – A new ranking of Europe’s worst climate-polluting power stations reveals the least efficient power stations in Europe with the biggest emissions of carbon dioxide.

The WWF ranking — the Dirty Thirty — lists Greece’s Agios Dimitrios and Kardia (owned by DEH) as the dirtiest power stations, followed by Niederaußem in Germany (owned by RWE).

In 2006 the “Dirty Thirty” were responsible for 393 million tonnes of CO2, which is equal to 10 per cent of all EU CO2 emissions.

Europe’s dirtiest power stations are all coal-fired, with the worst ten running on particularly CO2-intense lignite. As CO2 emissions are considered the main cause for global warming and devastating climate impacts, it is essential to have a stronger EU Emissions Trading Scheme that delivers significant emissions reductions by encouraging investment in cleaner and more efficient plants.

“The facts are clear. The power sector needs to phase out dirty coal as soon as possible,” says Stephan Singer, Head of WWF’s European Climate and Energy Unit.

“This must be done through an improved EU Emissions Trading System, helping the EU achieve its target of up to 30 per cent reduction in emissions by 2020.”

The WWF ranking results from the analysis of 2006’s data included in the European Emissions Registry, managed by the European Commission. The global conservation organization looked at the absolute CO2 emissions of power stations in EU countries (million tonnes of CO2 per year) and ranked the 30 biggest emitters according to their level of efficiency (grams of CO2 per Kilowatt hour).

Most of the “Dirty Thirty” are located in Germany and the UK (10 plants each), followed by Poland (4 plants). Just four companies account for most of Europe’s dirtiest power stations. More than half of the 30 plants analysed are run by RWE (Germany), Vattenfall (Sweden), EDF (France) and EON (Germany). RWE and Vattenfall are also the EU’s largest corporate climate polluters.

“We cannot tolerate a power sector where the dirtier get richer,” adds Singer. “The EU must ensure that only those who clean up their power stations reap monetary rewards.”

2006 was the 6th warmest year on record

According to scientists, the ten warmest years since climate data started being collected on a global scale in 1861 have occurred since 1995. Since the start of the 20th century, the global average surface temperature has risen approximately 0.7°C. However, warming has accelerated dramatically since 1976 and is now at a rate that is approximately three times higher than that of the century-scale trend.

Through the burning of fossil fuels and other activities, humans have pumped large amounts of the greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere, trapping heat at the Earth’s surface and causing widespread warming worldwide. This is profoundly changing the Earth’s climate.


Atmospheric concentrations of CO2 are now 35 per cent higher than at pre-industrial times. Deep ice cores in Antarctica show that the atmosphere now holds more CO2 than at any other time in the past 650,000 years. The link between elevated concentrations of CO2 and global warming is indisputable. Extreme weather events and publication of compelling scientific research in 2006 reinforce that global warming is real and that urgent action is needed to avoid extremely dangerous climate change.

A hot 4 months!

Parts of the northern hemisphere are still on holiday, others are just back - and whoever returns to their desk and email finds that we are facing a really hot autumn for the fight against climate change.

We are facing an unprecedented barrage of high level meetings during the next four months: let me give you a few highlights here only.

Beginning September, regional leaders meet at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting. APEC will be held in Sydney, Australia, and in characteristic style, the Howard government has given NO ACCESS whatsoever to NGOs. Australia will have elections a few weeks later and Howard does not want to face more criticism of his climate policies - our fear is that he will join forces with US's George Bush in diluting and watering down any concrete action in the region. Bush is certain to try to use this venue as it is the only one where the Europeans are not.

On 24 September, the UN holds a climate change session of its General Assembly in New York, with three Special envoys reporting back from their meetings with heads of state around the world. This will be a crucial assessment for knowing how far the key countries want to go to protect the climate.

Right after that, President Bush invites the 15 or 20 biggest emitting nations to Washington to discuss climate saving strategies. Of course we would like to believe that George W. has made the transformation from Saulus to Paulus... but I cannot help to think that all that Bush really wants to achieve is to set the climate talks in the UN onto a course from which they cannot recover... beyond his farewell and of 2008.

In October, climate change is likely to appear on the agendas of the EU (their new version of the Emission Trading Systems), in a key science conference by CSIRO in Australia, a Commonwealth finance ministers meeting, and a pre-meeting for the large scale UN Climate conference in December.

That one will happen in December from 3 to 17. If you are an activist then you should already mark the Saturday 8 Dec as there will be global demonstrations and actions on that day.

This UN conference will be crucial in that it will need to set the start for serious and timed talks to limit emissions of industrialized countries by 30% by 2020. This is much - but more than needed and possible, as we and others have shown.

And in November? You think we are going to be lazy then, and take off? Think again: the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change releases its synthesis report on 16 November in Spain, at the same time as the environment ministers of the 20 biggest emitters meet in South Africa. On 20 or 21 Nov, the ASEAN leaders (now without the US) meet in Singapore which is already preparing for serious climate talks. The heads f state of the Commonwealth countries meet in Uganda, and the European Union finalizes its energy task force outcome.

Climate Witness : Tara Dillard

Tara Dillard12 Sep 2007My name is Tara Dillard. I am 47 years old and I work as a garden designer and horticultural author. I grew up in Nassau Bay, Texas but have lived in the Atlanta, Georgia area since 1982. Gardening and working with plants has been a life-long passion for me. I began working professionally in the field 23 years ago.Change of SeasonsI grew up in a region of Texas with a semi-tropical climate, which meant we basically had one season all year long. One aspect that I love about Georgia, and partly why I moved here, is the distinction between the four seasons. As a gardener I really appreciate all of the changes that each season brings.One of the main changes I have noticed here is that the winters have been much warmer in recent years than in the past. The winter season is not as long as it used to be, and the cold is not as intense. In addition, the drought situation here has been intensifying. When I first came to Atlanta, we had some very cold winters, but it seems as though it’s been getting milder and warmer ever since.As an example of these warmer winter temperatures, early last November I spied a tiny bud by my front door. This was a big deal to me because it was a Shasta daisy (not something that normally comes out during winter). Over the next few weeks it slowly swelled and on Christmas day it opened up. It was beautiful…but very unusual.It is difficult for gardeners when it warms up so early in the year. It was like we had two springs this year. In January, the temperatures soared and this caused the hydrangeas to leaf out very early. This was problematic because we had a late cold spell around Easter. This lead to a great deal of damage to the plants that had leafed out thinking spring had begun—even some of the oaks were in bad shape. Plants can recover from damage like this. The problem is that we are in a drought cycle as well which puts a huge stress on them. Droughts here are part of a natural cycle, but recently they have been intensifying. Combine this with an early bud break followed by a cold spell and recovery for plants is uncertain. All of these factors lead to greater stress on the plants which can then increase the occurrence of disease and insect problems.A Change in Plant SpeciesIn Atlanta we are at the southern range of the Canadian hemlock. I used to use these trees in my planting designs regularly, but I no longer do because they undergo too much stress during the dry, hot summers and will likely die.On the flip side, there are several plant species thriving now which did not necessarily do so in the past. Plants like Todosporum, dwarf Indian hawthorn (Rhaphiolepis species), and gardenia (Gardenia jasminoides ‘Radicans’) were once considered ‘tender shrubs’, and would usually not make it through a season. Now they appear to be growing well year round. In general, plants do not need to be as hearty in terms of surviving through the winter months anymore.Tough times for Gardeners and LandscapersI think that the biggest impact on my business comes from the water restrictions imposed here in Atlanta. Business dropped off last summer and fall, and this spring I am less busy than normal. It has been quite noticeable across this sector because, overall, the economy has been in an upswing. It is very hard to make a living at gardening alone — it is hard to imagine someone wanting to start out in this profession at this time.For people like me, we are faced not only with the challenges related to global warming and drought, but also to a population of people less in-tune with their environment. People want and expect less and less out of their garden spaces, and there is less of a do-it-yourself mentality. People want decks, patios and outdoor kitchens instead of living gardens. The water restrictions that our region now faces nearly every season also plays a role in this because it makes gardening more difficult.

TIME RUNNING OUT FOR POLAR BEAR

10 Sep 2007Oslo, Norway – A new report on the fate of polar bears in a world of climate change predicts disaster for one of the world's most charismatic species, says WWF.

The report by the US Geological Survey predicts that changes in sea ice will result in the loss of about two-thirds of the world’s polar bear population by 2050.

Scientists estimate that there are 20,000–25,000 polar bears living in the Arctic, including Canada, the United States (Alaska), Russia, Norway (Svalbard) and Greenland (Denmark). Many scientists characterise the report’s conclusions as conservative because even the best available models are believed to underestimate the actual decline in arctic sea ice.

“We now have official confirmation that the largest living land predator is going to go extinct in our lifetime,” said Dr Neil Hamilton, Director of the WWF Arctic Programme.

During a six-month period of intensive analysis of both existing and new data, the USGS team, consisting of US and Canadian researchers, documented the direct relationship between the presence of arctic sea ice and the survival and health of polar bears.

Models used by the USGS team project a 42% loss of optimal polar bear habitat from the Polar Basin during summer, a vital hunting and breeding period, by mid-century.

Polar bears depend on sea ice as a platform to hunt seals, their primary food. But sea ice is decreasing throughout their arctic range due to climate change.

“The world is still discussing whether or not to take rapid action against climate change," added Dr Hamilton. “Politicians are fiddling at the edges while the Arctic wilderness succumbs to global warming; but in the meantime, they are sending one of the world’s greatest species on its way to extinction.”