Today is World Toilet Day.

Yes, that's right, there's a special day for toilets. But while it may be fodder for scatalogical jokes, for the many millions of people who do not have access to toilets it's no laughing matter.

Imagine what it would be like if we weren't able to flush away the vast amounts of human waste we generate in our cities. Apart from the stench and vermin, disease would flourish, as it does in many of the world's informal settlements.

Poor sanitation kills 1.8 million people a year--mostly children and primarily through diarrheal diseases, reports colleague Tasha Eichenseher today on National Geographic's Green Guide blog.

Read more about this intolerable situation and learn what a privilege it is to have access to a toilet.

Slowing deforestation is the most promising new strategy to protect the planet from disruptive climate change--but if it is not done carefully and sensibly biodiversity could be risk, an international group of scientists warned today.

"While it is clear that the massive destruction of tropical rainforests poses a serious threat to the incredibly rich biodiversity found on Earth, others hazards are not so explicit," the group says in an essay published in the November 16 issue of the journal Current Biology.

The group made their statement in anticipation of an international agreement that global warming can be slowed by reducing carbon emissions caused by deforestation.

NGS stock photo by James P. Blair

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) consists of 192 countries that seek to develop intergovernmental policies that address challenges posed by climate change. The UNFCCC will meet in Copenhagen in December of 2009 to complete an agreement on incentives to reduce deforestation.

"Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) proposes to compensate tropical forest countries if they reduce their rate of deforestation, thereby reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and includes strategies for conservation and enhancement of forest carbon stocks," the scientists say in a news statement.

"REDD should have multiple benefits. But, unfortunately, although the final rules might safeguard carbon stocks, they may fall short of their potential to protect biodiversity," says the author who organized the collaboration, Stuart L. Pimm from The Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University. Pimm is a regular blogger for NatGeo News Watch and a former member of the National Geographic Committee for Research and Exploration.

Pimm and colleagues explain in their essay how REDD policies might have a less than advantageous impact on biodiversity and suggest how careful policies might reduce carbon emissions and benefit biodiversity.

NGS stock photo by James P. Blair

The researchers point out that if REDD emphasizes reducing deforestation rates, governments are likely to focus on areas that are cheapest to protect and that areas with high biodiversity might not be cost-competitive.

"Further, forests with the greatest density of carbon might not be the most essential locations for biodiversity conservation. There is also concern that deforestation processes will not be effectively abated by REDD, but simply displaced to other areas," the scientists say in their statement.

"Implementing REDD might accelerate the conversion and degradation of high biodiversity areas where REDD or other conservation funding is not available."

"Implementing REDD might accelerate the conversion and degradation of high biodiversity areas where REDD or other conservation funding is not available," Pimm explained.

The authors make several suggestions for maximizing the positive biodiversity impacts of REDD policies.

They propose that rules to conserve, assess and perhaps even financially support biodiversity should be included in the text of the Copenhagen agreement.

"Biodiversity, itself, is essential to ecosystem adaptation. Ensuring that REDD policies not only reduce carbon emissions but conserve biodiversity will ensure that humanity and the biosphere can be as resilient as possible to climate disruptions," Pimm said.

Countries that invest in the management and restoration of ecosystems are likely to see far higher rates of return and stronger economic growth in the 21st century, according to a study by 100 experts from science, economics and policy from across the globe.

"Some countries have already made the link to a limited extent and are glimpsing benefits in terms of jobs, livelihoods and economic returns that outstrip those wedded to older economic models of the previous century," says a statement accompanying the release today of a report prepared by The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB).

NGS stock photo by Michael Nichols

TEEB was launched by Germany and the European Commission in response to a proposal by the G8+5 Environment Ministers (Potsdam, Germany 2007) to develop a global study on the economics of biodiversity loss. It is an independent study, hosted by the United Nations Environment Programme with financial support from European countries.

In its report released today, TEEB gave these examples of countries already reaping benefits from ecosystem projects:

• In Venezuela, investment in the national protected area system is preventing sedimentation that otherwise could reduce farm earnings by around U.S.$3.5 million a year.
• Planting and protecting nearly 12,000 hectares of mangroves in Vietnam costs just over $1 million but saved annual expenditures on dyke maintenance of well over $7 million.
• One in 40 jobs in Europe is now linked with the environment and ecosystem services ranging from clean tech "eco-industries" to organic agriculture, sustainable forestry and eco-tourism.
• Investment in the protection of Guatemala's Maya Biosphere Reserve is generating an annual of income of close to $50 million a year, createed 7,000 jobs, and boosted local family incomes.

"Accelerate, scale-up and embed investments in the management and restoration of ecosystems."

The TEEB report, The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity, calls on policy-makers to "accelerate, scale-up and embed investments in the management and restoration of ecosystems."

It also calls for more sophisticated cost-benefit analysis before policy decisions are made.

The report cites a study on mangroves in south Thailand on the conversion of mangroves into shrimp farms, an example of cost-benefit analysis that was perhaps not very well thought-through.

"Subsidized commercial shrimp farms can generate returns of around $1,220 per hectare by clearing mangrove forests. But this does not take into account the losses to local communities totaling over $12,000 a hectare linked with wood and non-wood forest products, fisheries and coastal protection services," TEEB said.

"Nor does the profit to the commercial operators take into account the costs of rehabilitating the abandoned sites after five years of exploitation---estimated at over $9,000 a hectare." 

Ecosystem-savvy economy

TEEB's report outlines a plan to catalyze a transition to more ecosystem-savvy economies able to meet the multiple challenges and deliver the multiple opportunities on a planet of six billion people, rising to nine billion by 2050.

Said Pavan Sukhdev, TEEB's study leader, "Nature's multiple and complex values have direct economic impacts on human wellbeing and public and private spending. Recognizing and rewarding the value delivered to society by the natural environment must become a policy priority.

"The economic invisibility of ecosystems and biodiversity is increased by our dominant economic model, which is consumption-led, production-driven, and GDP-measured. This model is in need of significant reform. The multiple crises we are experiencing--fuel, food, finance, and the economy--serve as reminders of the need for change.

"It is now up to governments to provide fiscal or other incentives to move us from short-term opportunism to long-term stewardship. The right policies can help us move toward a resource efficient economy."

The report comes in advance of the United Nations climate convention meeting in Copenhagen where governments are expected to give the green light to funding developing countries to maintain forests, the statement says.

"Close to 20 per cent of current global greenhouse gas emissions are linked with deforestation. Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) aims to counter this while also generating financial flows from North to South.

"REDD and REDD-Plus, which includes not only maintaining forests but planting and recovering forest systems, secured the backing of close 15 presidents and prime ministers at a special meeting hosted last month by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon." (Read about this on Stuart Pimm's blog Better REDD than dead when it comes to climate change.) 

NGS stock photo by James P. Blair

Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director, said: "Paying developing countries under REDD marks a fundamental step forward in terms of bringing the huge financial importance of ecosystems and biodiversity into the centre of economic activity."

"It could open the door to more creative and forward looking funds and mechanisms covering other nature-based infrastructure such as peatlands and wetlands en route to support for the services generated by coastal and marine ecosystems such as coral reefs to mangroves," he said.

Read on for the key recommendations of The Economics of Ecosystems and Biovidersity:

The 2009 update of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species shows that 17,291 species out of the 47,677 assessed species are threatened with extinction, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature said today.

Threatened with extinction are:

• 21 percent of all known mammals
• 30 percent of all known amphibians
• 12 percent of all known birds
• 28 percent of assessed reptiles
• 37 percent of assessed freshwater fishes
• 70 percent of assessed plants
• 35 percent of assessed invertebrates

"The scientific evidence of a serious extinction crisis is mounting," said Jane Smart, director of IUCN's Biodiversity Conservation Group, in a news statement accompanying the 2009 Red List.

This gorgeted puffleg (Eriocnemis isabellae) entered the IUCN Red List in 2009 as Critically Endangered. The species is known from southwest Colombia, where it occurs in a tiny area of the Serraníadel Pinche. The global population is not known but is presumably very small given that the area of suitable habitat available for this species is thought to be less than 2,500 acres, and it is suspected to be decreasing as elfin forest habitat is converted for agriculture and illegal coca plantations. The primary threat to this bird is the shifting of the agricultural border towards remaining primary forests, causing a loss of vegetation cover, contamination of watersheds and soil degradation. Illegal coca cultivation is a major threat due to the lack of governmental presence, with 8.3 percent of potentially suitable habitat reportedly damaged annually by coca cultivation.

Photo © Alex Cortes. Photo supplied by BirdLife International.

"It's time for governments to start getting serious about saving species and make sure it's high on their agendas for next year, as we're rapidly running out of time."

"January sees the launch of the International Year of Biodiversity," Jane Smart added in today's statement. "The latest analysis of the IUCN Red List shows the 2010 target to reduce biodiversity loss will not be met.

"It's time for governments to start getting serious about saving species and make sure it's high on their agendas for next year, as we're rapidly running out of time."

Tip of the iceberg

"This year's IUCN Red List makes for sobering reading," said Craig Hilton-Taylor, manager of the IUCN Red List Unit. "These results are just the tip of the iceberg. We have only managed to assess 47,663 species so far; there are many more millions out there which could be under serious threat. We do, however, know from experience that conservation action works so let's not wait until it's too late and start saving our species now."

Rabb's fringe-limbed treefrog (Ecnomiohyla rabborum) entered the IUCN Red List as Critically Endangered in 2009.

It is known only from central Panama, where it occurs in tropical forest canopy. In 2006, the chytrid fungus was reported in the area where this species is known to occur. Since then, only one individual has been heard calling. There is also some ongoing forest clearing within the species' range for the development of luxury holiday homes, although this potential threat has not yet reached critical levels. This treefrog is one of several species collected for captive breeding efforts, however so far attempts at captive breeding have not produced positive results.

Photo © Brad Wilson

Switzerland-based IUCN is a global environment organization that works on biodiversity, climate change, energy, human livelihoods and greening the world economy by supporting research, managing field projects, and bringing governments, NGOs, the United Nations and corporations together to develop policy, laws and best practice.

The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species is a comprehensive information source on the global conservation status of plant and animal species. It is based on an objective system for assessing the risk of extinction of a species should no conservation action be taken. Species are assigned to one of eight categories of threat based on whether they meet criteria linked to population trend, population size and structure and geographic range. Species listed as Critically Endangered, Endangered or Vulnerable are collectively described as "Threatened."

Photo © Gerald Allen

Highlights from today's IUCN statement:

Mammals

Of the world's 5,490 mammals, 79 are Extinct or Extinct in the Wild, with 188 Critically Endangered, 449 Endangered and 505 Vulnerable.

The eastern voalavo (Voalavo antsahabensis) appears on the IUCN Red List for the first time in the Endangered category. This rodent, endemic to Madagascar, is confined to montane tropical forest and is under threat from slash-and-burn farming.

Reptiles

There are now 1,677 reptiles on the IUCN Red List, with 293 added this year. In total, 469 are threatened with extinction and 22 are already Extinct or Extinct in the Wild.

The 165 endemic Philippine species new to the IUCN Red List include the Panay monitor lizard (Varanus mabitang), which is Endangered. This highly-specialized monitor lizard is threatened by habitat loss due to agriculture and logging and is hunted by humans for food.

The rare Panay monitor lizard occurs in large trees in primary lowland tropical moist forest. The species is a highly specialized frugivorous monitor lizard (it feeds on fruit). The loss and degradation of lowland forest habitat through conversion of land for agricultural use and logging operations is a threat to this lizard. The species is also hunted by humans for food and overhunting is a serious threat to the remaining population.

Photo © Tim Laman 

The sail-fin water lizard (Hydrosaurus pustulatus) enters in the Vulnerable category and is also threatened by habitat loss. Hatchlings are heavily collected both for the pet trade and for local consumption.

"The world's reptiles are undoubtedly suffering, but the picture may be much worse than it currently looks," says Simon Stuart, chair of IUCN's Species Survival Commission. "We need an assessment of all reptiles to understand the severity of the situation, but we don't have the U.S.$2-3 million to carry it out."

Amphibians

The IUCN Red List shows that 1,895 of the planet's 6,285 amphibians are in danger of extinction, making them the most threatened group of species known to date. Of these, 39 are already Extinct or Extinct in the Wild, 484 are Critically Endangered, 754 are Endangered and 657 are Vulnerable.

Photo © Tim Herman

The fungus also affected the Rabb's fringe-limbed treefrog, which enters the Red List as Critically Endangered. (See photo and description higher on this page.)

Plants

Of the 12,151 plants on the IUCN Red List, 8,500 are threatened with extinction, with 114 already Extinct or Extinct in the Wild.

The Queen of the Andes (Puya raimondii) has been reassessed and remains in the Endangered category. Found in the Andes of Peru and Bolivia, it only produces seeds once in 80 years before dying. Climate change may already be impairing its ability to flower and cattle roam freely among many colonies, trampling or eating young plants. Other threats include young plants being eaten or trampled by livestock, fires, and removal of pith from trunks.

Photo © Antonio Lambe (Acción Ambiental)

Toussaintia patriciae is an Endangered shrub species native to Tanzania. It is known from less than 30 trees in the Udzwunga Mountains National Park and West Kilombero Nature Reserve, and occurs in very low numbers where found, though it is cryptic when not flowering and may be more common that is currently known. It is considered relatively secure at present, as the population is present in protected areas and occurs above the altitude to which firewood collectors are allowed to operate. However, this species could become more threatened very quickly if the impacts of human activities, especially wood collection, were to increase.

Photo © Quentin Luke

Invertebrates

There are now 7,615 invertebrates on the IUCN Red List this year, 2,639 of which are threatened with extinction. Scientists added 1,360 dragonflies and damselflies, bringing the total to 1,989, of which 261 are threatened.

The giant jewel (Chlorocypha centripunctata) is known from the Obudu Plateau, Nigeria and from Mount Kupe and the Bakossi Mountains Cameroon. The species occurs in and around rain forest streams above 700-meter altitude. Habitat loss through selective logging and forest destruction for agricultural expansion is the main threat to this species. The species entered the IUCN Red List as Vulnerable in 2009.

Photo © Kai Schütte

Molluscs

Scientists also added 94 molluscs, bringing the total number assessed to 2,306, of which 1,036 are threatened.

All seven freshwater snails from Lake Dianchi in Yunnan Province, China, are new to the IUCN Red List and all are threatened. These join 13 freshwater fishes from the same area, 12 of which are threatened. The main threats are pollution, introduced fish species and overharvesting.

Freshwater Fishes

There are now 3,120 freshwater fishes on the IUCN Red List, up 510 species from last year. Although there is still a long way to go before the status all the world's freshwater fishes is known, 1,147 of those assessed so far are threatened with extinction.

Photo © Chavalit Vidthayanon

The brown mudfish (Neochanna apoda), found only in New Zealand, has been moved from Near Threatened to Vulnerable as it has disappeared from many areas in its range. Approximately 85-90 percent of New Zealand's wetlands have been lost or degraded through drainage schemes, irrigation and land development.

The status of the Australian grayling (Prototroctes maraena), a freshwater fish, has improved as a result of conservation efforts. Now classed as Near Threatened as opposed to Vulnerable, the population has recovered thanks to fish ladders which have been constructed over dams to allow migration, enhanced riverside vegetation and the education of fishermen, who now face heavy penalties if found with this species

"Creatures living in freshwater have long been neglected."

"Creatures living in freshwater have long been neglected. This year we have again added a large number of them to the IUCN Red List and are confirming the high levels of threat to many freshwater animals and plants. This reflects the state of our precious water resources. There is now an urgency to pursue our effort but most importantly to start using this information to move towards a wise use of water resources," said Jean-Christophe Vié, deputy head of the IUCN Species Programme.

Downlisted bird species

The Mauritius fody (Foudia rubra) was downlisted from Critically Endangered to Endangered because its extremely small population has been stable since the early 1990s and is now increasing following an island translocation. The species is restricted to southwest Mauritius, and suffered rapid population declines between 1975 and 1993. However, since 1993 the population has been stable, and there is evidence that dispersing juveniles are now setting up new breeding territories, expanding the range of the species. Historically, clearance of upland forest, particularly for plantations in the 1970s, catastrophically affected this species. Introduced predators (e.g. black rat (Rattus rattus) and crab-eating macaque (Macaca fascicularis)) caused almost total breeding failure in most areas, and nest predation is still the major threat to the species.

Photo © Lucy Garrett (Rare Birds Yearbook). Photo supplied by BirdLife International.

Global figures for 2009 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species:
Total species assessed = 47,677
Total Extinct or Extinct in the Wild = 875 (2%) [Extinct = 809; Extinct in the Wild = 66].
Total threatened = 17,291 (36%) [Critically Endangered = 3,325; Endangered = 4,891; Vulnerable = 9,075].
Total Near Threatened = 3,650 (8%).
Total Lower Risk/conservation dependent = 281 (<1%) [this is an old category that is gradually being phased out of the Red List]
Total Data Deficient = 6,557 (14%)
Total Least Concern = 19,023 (40%)

Global figures for 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species:
Total assessed = 44,838
Total Extinct or Extinct in the Wild = 869 (2%) [Extinct = 804 ; Extinct in the Wild = 65]
Total threatened = 16,928 (38%) [Critically Endangered = 3,246; Endangered = 4,770; Vulnerable = 8,912]
Total Near Threatened = 3,513 (8%)
Total Lower Risk/conservation dependent = 283 (<1%) [this is an old category that is gradually being phased out of the Red List]
Total Data Deficient = 5,570 (12%)
Total Least Concern = 17,675 (39%)

Not all species on the IUCN Red List are threatened. There are now more species on the IUCN Red List. This means that the overall percentage of threatened species has gone down by two percent. This is not because the status of the world's biodiversity is improving, IUCN noted, but because we have assessed more species.

"In the past, Red List assessments often focused on species that were already thought to be threatened, but as the Red List grows to include more complete assessments across entire groups, we are beginning to have a better idea of the relative proportion of species which are threatened against those which are not threatened."

The global warming movement finally went global yesterday, said 350.org co-founder Bill McKibben, in reaction to the International Day of Climate Action, marked yesterday by more than 5,000 demonstrations in 181 countries.

A 350 is mowed into a meadow 25 miles (40 kilometers) north of Copenhagen, where the United Nations Climate Change Conference will be held this December. This picture was taken as part of the 350.org International Day of Climate Action on October 24, 2009.

Photo courtesy of Henrik Jørgensen, Chairman of The Strøgårdsvang Mowers Association

Founded by McKibben, an American environmentalist and author, 350.org is an international campaign dedicated to building a movement to unite the world around solutions to the climate crisis. Its mission is "to inspire the world to rise to the challenge of the climate crisis--to create a new sense of urgency and of possibility for our planet."

Students in Cebu City, Philippines gather in a giant 350.

Photo by Vito Selma/courtesy of 350.org

350 parts per million is what many scientists, climate experts, and progressive national governments think is the safe upper limit for CO2 in the atmosphere, 350.0rg explained in a press release about yesterday's global demonstration.

"Scientists have concluded that we are already above the safe zone at our current 390ppm, and that unless we are able to rapidly return to 350 ppm this century, we risk reaching tipping points and irreversible impacts such as the melting of the Greenland ice sheet and major methane releases from increased permafrost melt."

More than 1,200 people took part in an event at the Sydney Opera House to call for climate action as part of the 350.org Global Day of Climate Action on October 24. Hundreds took part in spelling out 350 on the steps of Sydney's iconic Opera House.

Photo courtesy of 350.org

For yesterday's International Day of Climate Action, 350.org combining the Web and SMS networks, distributing Flip video cameras, and training young people in "climate workshops" on multiple continents.

"Event organizers filmed and photographed their actions and uploaded them immediately to the group's website and Flickr account, and organizers will displayed hundreds of them on the giant advertising screens of Times Square [in New York City] before hand-delivering shots to United Nations delegations on Monday," 350.org said.

Joseph Rotella and Aravinda Ananada hold a 350 sign at the melting glaciers of Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania.

Photo courtesy of 350.0rg

Thousands of photos from 5,248 rallies and protests spread across 181 countries flooded into the Web servers of 350.org over the last 36 hours--marking, 350.org said, "the most widespread day of political action in the planet's history."

"And there wasn't a rock star or movie actor in sight," McKibben said. "It was ordinary people rallying around a scientific data point to send the message that our leaders actually need to lead."

Fisheries Minister of the Maldives Ibrahim Didi signing the 350 declaration during the underwater cabinet meeting on October 17.

Photo courtesy of 350.org

"Parts per million CO2 sounds too obscure an idea to attract crowds on six continents, but there were thousands of people in the streets from Togo and Ethiopia and Paraguay to Seattle and London and Sydney," McKibben said.

The Wilderness Society made this statement in a logged portion of the forests of the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia (Just outside of Melbourne).

Photo by Andrew North, Cloud 9 (Aerial Photography)/courtesy of 350.0rg

Highlights of the day, 350.org said, included a "planet-scale game of Scrabble," with citizens in Wellington, New Zealand, and Sydney, Australia, forming giant human 3s, London, UK, and New Delhi, India, enormous human 5s, and Quito, Ecuador, and Copenhagen, Denmark, massive 0s.

"The point was you had to put them together across global borders if you wanted to solve the puzzle," said 350.org media coordinator Jamie Henn. "Just like the climate negotiations set for Copenhagen in December."

Women in Bangladesh

Photo courtesy of 350.org

Around the shore of the Dead Sea Israeli activists made a giant 3, Palestinians a huge 5, and Jordanians a 0. In South Africa, climbers with banners dangled beneath the cable cars on Table Mountain. In Canada, thousands thronged Parliament Hill in Ottawa, 350.org reported.

"People in almost all the nations of the earth are involved ," said 350.org honorary spokesman Desmond Tutu, the South African Anglican archbishop and Nobel Laureate. "It's the same kind of coalition that helped make the word apartheid known around the world."

Buena Vista, Colorado

Photo courtesy of 350.org

The International Day of Climate Action is the second key moment in the Tck Tck Tck campaign on the road to the next UN climate change meeting in Copenhagen this December, 350.0rg said. "Tck Tck Tck is an unprecedented global alliance of civil society organizations, trade unions, faith groups, and millions of individuals all calling for a fair, ambitious, and binding climate change agreement.

"The Day of Action is a part of an effort to build the world's biggest mandate for bold climate action."

Photo courtesy of 350.org

Photo courtesy of 350.org

Photo by R. Arul/courtesy of 350.org

Photo by Peter Solness/courtesy of 350.org

Food production must be increased 70 percent to provide for the extra 2.4 billion people expected to come aboard planet Earth by 2050. We have the technology and the knowhow to do this without using a lot more arable land than we farm now--but only if we act in a targeted and strategic way.

That's the message that came out of Rome today at the start of this week's High-Level Expert Forum on How to Feed the World in 2050, convened by the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.

The combined effect of population growth, strong income growth and urbanization is expected to result in almost the doubling of world demand for food, feed and fiber, FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf said at the start of today's session.

© FAO/Alessandra Benedetti

Opening the two-day forum, Diouf said that agriculture must become more productive if it is to feed a much larger world population while responding to the daunting environmental challenges ahead.

"Agriculture will have no choice but to be more productive."

"Agriculture will have no choice but to be more productive," Diouf said in remarks posted on the FAO Web site.

He also noted that "while organic agriculture contributes to hunger and poverty reduction and should be promoted, it cannot by itself feed the rapidly growing population."

World population is projected to rise to 9.1 billion in 2050 from a current 6.7 billion, requiring a 70-percent increase in farm production, says an FAO report "How to Feed the World 2050."

"In order to feed this larger, more urban and richer population, food production (net of food used for biofuels) must increase by 70 percent. Annual cereal production will need to rise to about 3 billion tonnes from 2.1 billion today and annual meat production will need to rise by over 200 million tonnes to reach 470 million tonnes."

NGS photo by Bobby Haas

The report argues that the required increase in food production can be achieved "if the necessary investment is undertaken and policies conducive to agricultural production are put in place. But increasing production is not sufficient to achieve food security. It must be complemented by policies to enhance access by fighting poverty, especially in rural areas, as well as effective safety net programs."

Climate change effects

In addition to a growing scarcity of natural resources such as land, water and biodiversity "global agriculture will have to cope with the effects of climate change, notably higher temperatures, greater rainfall variability and more frequent extreme weather events such as floods and droughts," Diouf warned today.

Climate change would reduce water availability and lead to an increase in plant and animal pests and diseases. "The combined effects of climate change could reduce potential output by up to 30 percent in Africa and up to 21 percent in Asia," he noted.

"The challenge is not only to increase global future production but to increase it where it is mostly needed and by those who need it most. There should be a special focus on smallholder farmers, women and rural households and their access to land, water and high quality seeds...and other modern inputs."

It is also important to bridge the technology gap between countries through knowledge transfer using North-South, South-South and triangular cooperation to achieve sustainable increases in agricultural production and productivity.

"A special challenge is posed by water as climate change will make rainfall increasingly unreliable."

A special challenge was posed by water as climate change would make rainfall increasingly unreliable, Diouf said. Investment in improved water control and water management should be considered a priority.

Competition from biofuel

Also being discussed at this week's forum is how food production would also face increasing competition from the biofuel market "which has the potential to change the fundamentals of agricultural market systems," according to Diouf.

Increased use of food crops for biofuel production could have serious implications for food security, according to the FAO report on how to feed the world. "A recent study estimates that continued rapid expansion of biofuel production up to 2050 would lead to the number of undernourished pre-school children in Africa and South Asia being 3 and 1.7 million higher than would have been otherwise the case. Therefore, policies promoting the use of foodbased biofuels need to be reconsidered with the aim of reducing the competition between food and fuel for scarce resources."

Pennsylvania farm photo by David Braun

At this week's Forum, about 300 experts from around the world will review and debate the investment needs, technologies and policy measures needed to secure the world's food supplies by 2050. "$44 billion a year of official development assistance will need to be invested in agriculture in developing countries--against the $7.9 billion that is being spent now," the FAO says. "Higher investments, including from national budgets, foreign direct investment and private sector resources, should be made for better access to modern inputs, more irrigation systems, machinery, storage, more roads and better rural infrastructures, as well as more skilled and better trained farmers."

Through its conclusions and recommendations the Forum will contribute to the debate and outcome of the World Summit on Food Security scheduled at FAO headquarters on November 16-18, to be attended by Heads of State and Government from FAO's 192 Member Nations.

"It is hoped the Summit will agree then on the complete and rapid eradication of hunger so that every human being on Earth can enjoy the most fundamental of all human rights--the "right to food" and thus to decent life," the FAO said.

©FAO/Giulio Napolitano

The problems to be resolved

On its Web site How to Feed the World 2050, trhe FAO says these are the problems that must be resolved:

• Will we be able to produce enough food at affordable prices or will rising food prices drive more of the world's population into poverty and hunger?
• How much spare capacity in terms of land and water do we have to feed the world in 2050?
• What are the new technologies that can help us use scarce resources more efficiently, increase and stabilize crop and livestock yields?
• Are we investing enough in research and development for breakthroughs to be available in time?
• Will new technologies be available to the people who will need them most - the poor?
• How much do we need to invest in order to help agriculture adapt to climate change, and how much can agriculture contribute to mitigating extreme weather events?

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Swapping field clothes for a suit and tie, conservation biologist Stuart Pimm attended a United Nations event last week on forests and climate change. He was among world leaders and distinguished thinkers and activists invited to publicly express their commitment and support for the role of forests as an option to mitigate the emissions of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

The forest event followed the Summit on Climate Change, convened at the UN a day earlier "to mobilize political will and strengthen momentum for a fair, effective, and ambitious climate deal" in Copenhagen this December.

Officials from almost every country will gather in Copenhagen to try to agree a new climate treaty as a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, the first phase of which expires in 2012. The conference, also known as COP15, is widely regarded as a critical opportunity for humanity to try to get a grip on the problem of climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere.

The meeting on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (REDD) convened by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the United Nations, New York.

Photo courtesy United Nations

By Stuart L. Pimm
Special Contributor to NatGeo News Watch

United Nations, New York--September 23, 2009, 5 a.m. Another morning when the alarm goes off while it's still very dark. When I dress, it's not my boots and field khakis that I put on, but a white shirt, fumbling at this early hour with the cufflinks, and a charcoal grey suit.

The flight to New York is just over an hour. Then a taxi. It can't get me very close to my destination. First, I see what must be every policeman in the city, then the traffic slows to a crawl, then a standstill, and I continue my journey on foot.

Different kind of jungle

This morning I'm off to a different kind of "jungle" and it requires different field clothes. The United Nations General Assembly is in session and I have an invitation to watch a "high level event."

What happens here may decide whether the world's forests, their biodiversity, and their indigenous peoples, have a future.

The last few blocks have the feel of a street fair. Lots of noisy people waving posters, shouting slogans--and one, carrying a placard reading simply "Indict him!", nearly knocks me over.

I wonder who the "him" is, thinking there might be 192 national leaders to choose from, then remember that some would be "her," so that narrows the field just a bit.

Finally, I reach the right street corner, see someone holding a small sign "REDD," and, in short order, I am whisked through security into the relative tranquility of the UN building.

REDD is for "Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation." It is a UN program that seeks to generate income for countries that provide sustainable management of forests while also contributing to important reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

There's a lot of science involved and the world's forests are at stake. I worry: will this meeting of the world's top politicians--its presidents and prime ministers--have got the message?

Burning tropical forests, like this in southern Venezuela, contribute one fifth of all the greenhouse gasses to the atmosphere due to human activity--more that all the emissions from Europe.

Photo by Stuart L. Pimm

The United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, introduces the proceedings. He recognizes the commitment to the meeting--more than 85 governments are represented in the room, 18 of them by their heads of state.

Then he nails the key points:

• Deforestation causes 20 percent of the emissions of global greenhouse gases.
• Hundreds of million of mostly poor people live in forests and depend on the ecosystem services they provide.
• Forests harbor the greatest share of the planet's biodiversity.

Some background: A total of 183 countries have signed and ratified the Kyoto Protocol--an agreement to reduce the greenhouse gases that are disrupting the planet.

People often think that this is entirely a problem for industrial nations, such as the U.S., European countries, Japan, and so on. If so, the list of top emitters would surprise: after China and the U.S., come Brazil and Indonesia.

Brazil and Indonesia get to that position because of their high rates of deforestation.

Guyana in South America still has most of its forests and, with the areas of adjacent Venezuela (seen here) and northern Brazil constituting one of the largest remaining blocks of tropical forest.

Photo by Stuart L. Pimm

Under the Kyoto Protocol, developing countries cannot receive credit for the benefits their forests provide as the major stores of global carbon. REDD aims to change that.

Brazil's neighbor, Guyana, still has most of its forests. Its president, Bharrat Jagdeo, gave the event's most forceful presentation. "We all profess to know how important forests are," he started, then asked why REDD hadn't been given the attention of other solutions. "We need to correct that this afternoon."

Certainly, there were technical problems, he noted, but there are also technical problems with alternatives such as employing renewable energy. He felt that countries were focusing too much on REDD's difficulties. "This is the lowest-cost [greenhouse gas] abatement solution," he said. 

Indeed, studies done by the Union of Concerned Scientists show that about U.S. $25 billion in forest conservation would prevent a billion tons of carbon going into the atmosphere.

Stopping deforestation is a bargain compared to other solutions.

Amazon sunrise: tropical forests are home to 70 percent of the planet's biodiversity.

Photo by Stuart L. Pimm 

From the point of view of the developed world, Sweden's prime minister, Fredrik Reinfeldt, spoke on behalf of the European Union. He too started with the importance of forests--home to "70 percent of the world's biodiversity."

Deforestation was running at "13 million hectares [50,000 square miles] per year between 2000 and 2005," Reinfeldt said. Unless the world's nations could reduce that by half by 2020, there would be no way to keep the planet from warming at least two degrees, he warned.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did not attend. Neither did British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. But a British official read Brown's statement. Yes, public funding was vital, the British agreed, but so too was the private sector who could use carbon markets to offset their emissions. (Companies could compensate for their carbon emissions by investing in carbon-trapping opportunities like forests.) 

With colleagues, I have spent a career documenting forest-loss and the species extinctions it causes. Would this science get onto the political agenda? I need not have worried. It has.

But would the broad international agreements on the science be enough to effect real change?

"The core point is will there be adequate funds to do this?"

While president Jagdeo applauded Norway's financial commitments and Brazil's efforts to reduce deforestation, his main point was emphatic: "the core point is will there be adequate funds to do this?" Can enough money be raised through carbin markets and other global sources to make forest conservaton sustainable?

I knew from previous events, drinks and canapés would follow. From the windowless meeting chamber, we trouped into a lounge with an impressive view overlooking the river.

I wasn't just there for the snacks, for there were short talks by two women who I have long admired, but never met.

Wangari Maathai is a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, rewarded for her work in environmental conservation, women's rights and--so relevant to the day's events--planting trees.

Victoria Tauli-Corpuz chairs the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. She played a central role is getting the UN to adopt the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Photos by Stuart L. Pimm

Yes, REDD is about billions of tons of carbon. And about millions of species. Maathai and Tauli-Corpuz understood that. But their unique and powerful message is that REDD is about people--whose lives and whose homes are destroyed when we clear the world's forests.

Professor Stuart L. Pimm is a conservation biologist at Duke University, North Carolina. A former member of the National Geographic Committee for Research and Exploration, Pimm is the author of dozens of books and research papers, including the book "The World According to Pimm: A Scientist Audits the Earth."

Read earlier blog posts by Stuart Pimm>>

Olive groves with low production close to the Natural Park of the Sierra de Cardeña y Montoro, in Córdoba, are the most appropriate sites for restoring habitat suitable for reintroduction of the critically endangered Iberian lynx, Spanish scientists have determined.

This is also the the only place, along with Doñana National Park, where this species lives, FECYT (Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology) said in a statement this week.

Photo of Iberian lynx courtesy Miguel Rodríguez / SINC

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the Iberian lynx, or Spanish lynx, as "critically endangered," meaning it faces "an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild."

WWF says the Iberian lynx is the most endangered cat species on Earth. Only a few hundred individuals survive in isolated patches of mountain forest in southern and central Spain.

The Iberian lynx could be the first big cat to become extinct since the saber-toothed cat, says Fauna & Flora International. Watch this FFI video about the cat:

Video courtesy FFI.

The comprehensive study to find land suitable for habitat restoration for the cat had to weigh a range of factors, including optimal land use, the impact of human resettlement, and geographical features.

The process involves tough choices and illustrates how difficult it is to reverse human development.

"Researchers from the regional government of Andalusia's Institute for Agricultural and Fishing Research and Training (IFAPA) have studied the impact and risk of these mountain olive groves being abandoned, in order to come up with an appropriate management system for them (conventional, mixed or organic), or to suggest they should be reconverted to Mediterranean forest," FECYT said.

The risk of these olive groves being abandoned is "due to their location, which has serious socioeconomic implications (mainly in terms of the population leaving rural areas) and environmental ones (erosion and risk of fires)," said Manuel Arriaza, director of the study and a researcher at IFAPA.

"Although the olive groves have low production levels and high production costs, they are areas with great environmental value," Arriaza added.

The researchers used georaphical information systems (GIS), and also took into account experts' opinions about the commercial and noncommercial functions of the olive groves, as well as those of 480 people in the province of Córdoba about the importance that society places on these functions in agricultural areas, FECYT said.

"The scientists evaluated the socioeconomic functions (olive oil production and retention of the rural population), environmental ones (prevention of erosion and fires, conservation and improvement of biodiversity, with special focus on the habitat of the Iberian lynx), and cultural ones.

"The results suggest that the most highly-valued function of mountain olive groves is their ability to retain the rural population (24%), followed by production of olive oil (17%) and the prevention of erosion (16%).

"On the basis of the interviews and the geographical features of the area, the model's final proposal suggests that 36% of the land should be planted to conventional olive groves, 23% should be reconverted to Mediterranean forest, 22% should be mixed olives and forest, and 19% organic olive groves."

However, once the best areas for restoration of Iberian lynx habitat have been generically identified, "other aspects not covered by the initial land analysis should also be looked at before any action is taken, such as the size of the rabbit population present, or fragmentation of certain areas," Arriaza said.

The mechanism that takes place during sleep that causes learning and memory formation has been pinpointed for the first time, an international research team announced today.

"It's been known for more than a century that sleep somehow is important for learning and memory," Rutgers University said in a statement about the research.

"Sigmund Freud further suspected that what we learned during the day was 'rehearsed' by the brain during dreaming, allowing memories to form.

"And while much recent research has focused on the correlative links between the hippocampus and memory consolidation, what had not been identified was the specific processes that cause long-term memories to form," Rutgers said.

NGS photo by B. Anthony Stewart

The researchers determined that short transient brain events, called "sharp wave ripples," are responsible for consolidating memory and transferring the learned information from the hippocampus to the neocortex, where long-term memories are stored, the university added.

llustration from "Grays Anatomy," 1918

The study, posted online on September 11 by Nature Neuroscience,was done by György Buzsaki, professor at the Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience, Rutgers University, Newark, and his co-researchers, Gabrielle Girardeau, Karim Benchenane, Sidney I. Wiener and Michaël B. Zugaro of the Collége de France, Paris.

Sharp wave ripples are intense, compressed oscillations that occur in the hippocampus when the hippocampus is working "off-line," most often during stage four sleep, which, along with stage three, is the deepest level of sleep, Rutgers said.

NGS photo by Ted V. Tamburo

During stage four sleep, Buzsaki explained, "it's as if many instruments and members of the orchestra come together to generate a loud sound, a sound so loud that it is heard by wide areas of the neocortex. These sharp, 'loud' transient events occur hundreds to thousands of times during sleep and 'teach' the neocortex to form a long-term form of the memory, a process referred to as memory consolidation."

"Those ripples also explain why certain events may only take place once in the waking state and yet can be remembered for a lifetime."

The intensity and multiple occurrence of those ripples also explain why certain events may only take place once in the waking state and yet can be remembered for a lifetime, Buzsaki said.

The researchers were able to pinpoint that sharp wave ripples are the cause behind memory formation by eliminating those ripple events in rats during sleep.

"The rats were trained in a spatial navigation task and then allowed to sleep after each session," Rutgers said. "Those rats that selectively had all ripple events eliminated by electrical stimulation were impeded in their ability to learn from the training, as compressed information was unable to leave the hippocampus and transfer to the neocortex."

NGS photo by James L. Stanfield 

Identification of a specific brain pattern responsible for strengthening learned information could facilitate applied research for more effective treatment of memory disorders.

"This is the first example that if a well-defined pattern of activity in the brain is reliably and selectively eliminated, it results in memory deficit; a demonstration that this specific brain pattern is the cause behind long-term memory formation," Buzsaki said.

The research also represents a move toward a new direction in neuroscience research, Rutgers added.

"While previous research largely has focused on correlating behavior with specific brain events through electroencephalogram, neuronal spiking and functional magnetic resonance imaging studies, increasingly researchers are challenging those correlations as they seek to identify the specific process or processes that cause certain events and behaviors to take place."

The research was performed at the Collége de France, Paris where Buzsaki worked as a distinguished visiting professor in 2008.

Rutgers Board of Governors Professor of Neuroscience Gyorgy Buzsaki is recognized worldwide for his work in expanding the boundaries of scientific understanding about the brain's ability to process and store information, according to the university. At the Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience at Rutgers University in Newark, he has focused on the hippocampus and the role of neurons located there in maintaining long-term memory, as well as related research into epilepsy, depression, schizophrenia and Parkinsons disease.

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Autumn leaves of trees in North America often turn red. But in Europe the leaves mostly go yellow. Scientists think that the regional difference can be explained by the geographic orientation of each continent's mountains.

NGS photo by Robert Sisson

A new theory provided by Simcha Lev-Yadun of the Department of Science Education-Biology at the University of Haifa-Oranim in Israel and Jarmo Holopainen of the University of Kuopio in Finland proposes taking a step 35 million years back to solve the color mystery, says a news statement by the University of Haifa.

"According to the theory provided by Prof. Lev-Yadun and Prof. Holopainen, until 35 million years ago, large areas of the globe were covered with evergreen jungles or forests composed of tropical trees," the university said.

"Trees also began an evolutionary process of producing red deciduous leaves in order to ward off insects."

"During this phase, a series of ice ages and dry spells transpired and many tree species evolved to become deciduous. Many of these trees also began an evolutionary process of producing red deciduous leaves in order to ward off insects."

Scientists have determined that leaves turn yellow when the green pigment, chlorophyll, recedes prior to the onset of winter, as trees prepare to shed their leaves for the cold weather. Leaves that turn red are the result of trees producing anthocyanin, a red pigment, which some scientists think is an evolutionary response that deters insects from laying their eggs in the trees.

Whatever the reason for leaves turning red, it occurs a lot more commonly in North America than in Europe. Could it have something to do with the physical geography of the continents?

North-South Mountain Chains

"In North America, as in East Asia, north-to-south mountain chains enabled plant and animal 'migration' to the south or north with the advance and retreat of the ice according to the climatic fluctuations," said the University of Haifa. "And, of course, along with them migrated their insect 'enemies' too.

"Thus the war for survival continued there uninterrupted.

"In Europe, on the other hand, the mountains--the Alps and their lateral branches--reach from east to west, and therefore no protected areas were created. Many tree species that did not survive the severe cold died, and with them the insects that depended on them for survival.

"At the end of the repeated ice ages, most tree species that had survived in Europe had no need to cope with many of the insects that had become extinct, and therefore no longer had to expend efforts on producing red warning leaves."

According to the scientists, evidence supporting this theory can be found in the dwarf shrubs that grow in Scandinavia, which still color their leaves red in autumn.

NGS illustration by Walter A. Weber

"Unlike trees, dwarf shrubs have managed to survive the ice ages under a layer of snow that covered them and protected them from the extreme condition above. Under the blanket of snow, the insects that fed off the shrubs were also protected--so the battle with insects continued in these plants, making it necessary for them to color their leaves red."

The research was published in the journal New Phytologist.

President Nicolas Sarkozy of France today announced his country's support for a ban of international trade in endangered Atlantic and Mediterranean bluefin tuna, joining a growing call to list the overexploited fish under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), WWF reports.

NGS illustration of bluefin tuna by Stanley Meltzoff

"Speaking at the close of a national stakeholder consultation on France's future sustainable fisheries and maritime policy, the 'Grenelle de la Mer,' President Sarkozy said, 'France supports listing bluefin tuna on the CITES convention to ban international trade,'" WWF said in a statement.

"Ours is the last generation with the ability to take action before it's too late--we must protect marine resources now, in order to fish better in future."

-- Nicolas Sarkozy, President of France

"Sarkozy put this in the context of France's support for a broader sustainable fisheries policy. 'Ours is the last generation with the ability to take action before it's too late--we must protect marine resources now, in order to fish better in future. We owe this to fishermen, and we owe it to future generations,'"

The Principality of Monaco was first to communicate its willingness to sponsor a proposal to ban international trade in Atlantic bluefin tuna, and has this week launched a formal CITES consultation process to seek the support of other range states--countries through whose waters the species swims, WWF added.

"WWF welcomes the Monaco initiative and the position of France, whose fleets have traditionally caught more bluefin tuna than any other country," said Sergi Tudela, Head of Fisheries at WWF Mediterranean.

"We now urge France to put its words into action and be the first country to formally sign up to Monaco's proposal for CITES Appendix I, which would ban international trade.

"WWF also appeals to other range states to follow this lead and support the proposal to list Atlantic bluefin on the CITES convention--if they want to give bluefin tuna a break and see a healthy fishery again in years to come. This iconic species is simply at the end of its tether."

CITES contracting parties meet again in Doha, Qatar in March 2010, but proposals need to be submitted by October 17 to be eligible for consideration at the Conference of the Parties.

Atlantic and Mediterranean bluefin tuna is in big trouble, and the fishery is insufficiently policed, WWF said.

"Contributing to the species' dramatic decline are the huge overcapacity of fishing fleets, catches that far exceed legal quotas, pirate fishing, the use of illegal spotting planes to chase tuna, under-reporting of catch, fishing during the closed season, management measures that disregard scientific advice - all driven by the insatiable appetite of the world's luxury seafood markets where bluefin tuna fetches record prices."

"In terms of eligibility for a listing on CITES Appendix I, Atlantic bluefin tuna ticks every box--and then some," said Susan Lieberman, Director of WWF's Global Species Programme.

"CITES contracting parties would surely regret failing to protect this commercially overexploited species, and an icon of the oceans, from collapse on their watch - while they have this historic chance."

"Fisheries managers have failed to get to grips with the complex fiasco of the Mediterranean bluefin tuna fishery," added Tudela, the Head of Fisheries at WWF Mediterranean.

"WWF hopes to see a sustainably managed and thriving fishery in future, but to enable this recovery the species must be given a breather--if the world does not put the brakes on its voracious appetite now, an amazing species and fishery could be lost forever."

Relax guys, the British scientist who led the team that created human sperm from stem cells in a laboratory does not believe that the technique makes men redundant.

"However, researchers believe that the issue does need to be debated and legislated for," says Professor Karim Nayernia at Newcastle University and the North East England Stem Cell Institute (NESCI).

"As work progresses and results improve at Newcastle and elsewhere, it may, in theory, be possible to develop IVD [in vitro derived] sperm from embryonic stem lines which have been stored," he says on the NESCI Web site.

Illustration courtesy NIH

NESCI announced today that human sperm has been created using embryonic stem cells for the first time in a scientific development. The tecnique "will lead researchers to a better understanding of the causes of infertility," the Institute said in a statement.

The work is published today (July 8, 2009) in the academic journal Stem Cells and Development.

"It will also allow scientists to study how cells involved in reproduction are affected by toxins, for example, why young boys with leukaemia who undergo chemotherapy can become infertile for life--and possibly lead us to a solution."

The team also believe that studying the process of forming sperm could lead to a better understanding of how genetic diseases are passed on.

In the technique developed at Newcastle, stem cells with XY chromosomes (male) were developed into germline stem cells which were then prompted to complete meiosis--cell division with halving of the chromosome set. These were shown to produce fully mature sperm, called scientifically in vitro derived sperm (IVD sperm), NESCI said.

"In contrast, stem cells with XX chromosomes (female) were prompted to form early stage sperm, spermatagonia, but did not progress further. This demonstrates to researchers that the genes on a Y chromosome are essential for meiosis and for sperm maturation."

The IVD sperm will not and cannot be used for fertility treatment, NESCI added. "As well as being prohibited by UK law, the research team say fertilization of human eggs and implantation of embryos would hold no scientific merit for them as they want to study the process as a model for research."

The ability to make sperm in a lab does not mean an end to men, Nayernia says. "In this technique IVD sperm could only be produced from an embryo containing a male (Y) chromosome."

"This does not mean that humans can be produced 'in a dish' and we have no intention of doing this."

"While we can understand that some people may have concerns, this does not mean that humans can be produced 'in a dish' and we have no intention of doing this. This work is a way of investigating why some people are infertile and the reasons behind it. If we have a better understanding of what's going on it could lead to new ways of treating infertility," Nayernia said.

In theory it might be possible to make a baby from IVD sperm, Nayernia says on the NESCI Web site, as the IVD sperm show all the characteristics of sperm--that is they act and look like sperm. "However, this work is not being done to make a baby which is prohibited by law."

Illustration courtesy NIH

The work is in early stages and much more investigation needs to be done on understanding the process and for testing the suitability and safety of IVD sperm as a possible fertility treatment.

"Nayernia believes that in 10 years this could be a treatment offered for example, to young boys who have to undergo chemotherapy which currently often leaves them infertile," NESCI says.

"When combined with other pioneering stem cell techniques, specifically somatic cell nuclear transfer, it could also allow men who are currently infertile the chance to have a child which is genetically their own but again, this will be many years away--at least a decade."

The North East England Stem Cell Institute is a collaboration between Newcastle and Durham Universities, Newcastle NHS Foundation Trust and other partners.

All 800 surviving pages from Codex Sinaiticus, the earliest surviving Christian bible, are now freely available for viewing on the Internet.

Bound copy of Codex Sinaiticus picture courtesy British Library

"For the first time, people around the world will be able to explore high resolution digital images of all the extant pages of the fourth-century book, which was written in Greek on parchment leaves by several scribes and had its text revised and corrected over the course of the following centuries," the British Library said in a statement.

Codex Sinaiticus is the world's oldest Bible and regarded as the most important Biblical manuscript. It was written by hand in the mid-fourth century around the time of Constantine the Great. Though it originally contained the whole of the Old and New Testaments and the Apocrypha in Greek, half of the Old Testament has since been lost, according to the British Library.

Codex Sinaiticus is named after the Monastery of St Catherine in Sinai, Egypt, where it was found in the 19th Century.

Built at the foot of Mount Moses, Sinai, on the traditional site of Moses' Burning Bush, it is one of the oldest, continuously active, Christian monastic communities in the world and traces its origins back to the fourth century.

Codex Sinaiticus picture courtesy British Library

The Monastery was as constructed by order of the Emperor Justinian between 527 and 565 to house the bones of the Christian martyr St Catherine. It is a Greek Orthodox holy place connected with the Prophet Moses and the exodus of the Jews from Egypt, the British Library said.

The virtual reunification of Codex Sinaiticus is the culmination of a four-year collaboration between the British Library, Leipzig University Library, the Monastery of St Catherine (Mount Sinai, Egypt), and the National Library of Russia (St Petersburg), each of which hold different parts of the physical manuscript.

 

The world's oldest surviving Christian Bible was found at St. Catherine's Monastery, at the foot of Mount Sinai on the traditional site of Moses's Burning Bush.

NGS photo of St Catherine's Monastery by Robert Sisson

"By bringing together the digitised pages online, the project will enable scholars worldwide to research in depth the Greek text, which is fully transcribed and cross-referenced, including the transcription of numerous revisions and corrections," the British Library said.

NGS photo of St Catherine's Monastery by Robert Sisson

"The Codex Sinaiticus is one of the world's greatest written treasures," said Scot McKendrick, head of Western Manuscripts at the British Library. "This 1600-year-old manuscript offers a window into the development of early Christianity and first-hand evidence of how the text of the bible was transmitted from generation to generation.

"The project has uncovered evidence that a fourth scribe--along with the three already recognised--worked on the text; the availability of the virtual manuscript for study by scholars around the world creates opportunities for collaborative research that would not have been possible just a few years ago."

Norway's fisheries regulators have cut the 2009 catch quota for the endangered European eel by 80 percent and banned fishing of the eel completely starting next year, WWF announced today.

Will the endangered European eel be able to slip through the net of extinction, thanks to Norway's ban on catching it?

Photo copyright WWF-Canon/Rudolf Svensen.

The Ministry of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs also announced that all recreational fishing of European eels would stop tomorrow, July 1, as stock of the eels hit historically low levels and continue to decline. "The decision represents a major conservation decision that is a model for proper fisheries management," WWF-Norway said.

"This protection should have been implemented many years ago, and we are hoping that the long-overdue protection is not too late."

"A total fishing ban is the strongest measure the fisheries management can use, and when a species is critically endangered one must use the strongest and most efficient measures. This protection should have been implemented many years ago, and we are hoping that the long-overdue protection is not too late," said Norway-WWF CEO Rasmus Hansson.

Staff from Slapton Ley Field Centre & National Nature Reserve in the UK check the elver traps to see how many 'glass' eels have survived the two-year migration across the Atlantic from the Sargasso Sea.

As early as 1999, the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES) stated that the eel stock was outside safe biological limits, and that the fishery was unsustainable. Yet, fishing has been ongoing for decades, despite scientific advice, WWF said in a statement.

"A successful rebuilding strategy for the eel, both in Norway and the EU, will have a substantial impact on eel numbers in Norwegian waters.

"Consequently, Norway has a great responsibility in influencing both the management and the research that is being undertaken in Europe. In Europe, fishing for eel continues, despite the very severe and depleted state of the stock," the statement added.

"WWF urges Ms Pedersen to fight for the EU taking similar bold measures in their fisheries management, and WWF will fight to stop the eel fishery in the EU," Hansson said.

Related National Geographic News stories:

Europe's Eels Are Slipping Away, Scientists Warn

One in Three European Freshwater Fish Face Extinction

Additional information:

Eel stocks dangerously close to collapse (ICES)

European Eel (USGS)

"Please don't turn away. Refugees are the most vulnerable people on Earth. Every day, they are fighting to survive. They deserve our respect. Please do not forget them. Remember them on this day. World Refugee Day." -- Angelina Jolie

This video is a public service announcement by Angelina Jolie for World Refugee Day 2009

Movie star Angelina Jolie and NBC news anchor Ann Curry joined hands with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres and others at National Geographic headquarters in Washington, D.C. today, to mark World Refugee Day 2009.

Hosting this event has become something of a tradition for National Geographic. The Society has also backed the production of films, books, and articles that illustrate the sometines tragic, sometimes triumphant stories of refugees.

Jolie and Curry are among a number of high-profile celebrities who have lent their names to draw attention to refugees. They have traveled to refugee camps in a number of countries to see and hear firsthand the stories of people who have lost families, jobs, homes, and countries.

NGS photo of Angelina Jolie at National Geographic by Rebecca Hale

"Refugees have profoundly changed my life," Jolie told the gathering at National Geographic today. "They have taught me what it is to be brave ... to be a mother ... to have strength of character."

This next video is of Angelina Jolie at today's event:

Jolie has been a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN High Commisioner for Refugees since 2001. Over the years she has visited nearly 30 refugee camps.

"There are millions of desperate families, so cut off from civilization that they don't even know [World Refugee Day] exists," Jolie told us.

We waved at the children in Chad; they responded immediately with a big wave back. Two groups of humanity separated by an unfathomable gulf of distance and circumstances. 

A 13-year-old boy who spoke for the group told us across cyberspace of his wishes for a change of government and the opportunity to leave Djabal and go home.

NGS photo of Ann Curry by Rebecca Hale

Ann Curry told us that the Djabal children had named their school after President Obama because they hoped and believed that the American leader was going to rescue them and enable them to go home.

It may not be possible for Obama to do that, but America, it turns out, does a fair amount for refugees, who, by the broadest definition of refugee, now number 42 million worldwide.

Generous as this is, it's clearly not enough to deal with the world's refugee crisis. Many people remain penned up in refugee camps more or less indefinitely. Even more chilling is the growing number of people displaced within their own countries, where they remain at the mercies of their governments and essentially out of reach of international assistance.

The Geography of Swine Flu and Other Pandemics

The United Kingdom is the country most at risk to the spread of a swine flu epidemic, reports Maplecroft, a research organization that focuses on global risks to business.

The UK-based company released three maps and indices revealing the countries most at risk from an influenza pandemic, including swine flu and bird (avian) flu.

Maplecroft also created the Influenza Pandemic Risk Index (IPRI), which consists of three categories: Risk of Emergence, Risk of Spread, and Capacity to Contain. "Each index generates a list of countries most at risk and that require a tailored policy response on the part of government and business," Maplecroft said in a statement.

The map of Risk of Spread shows the United Kingdom most at risk to the spread of an influenza pandemic, ranking number 1 out of 213 countries. The Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Russia, Canada and Japan are also categorized as extreme risk because of their high population density, urbanization and busy airports.

Sub-Saharan Africa stands out as the area least able to contain pandemic influenza with 27 out of the 30 most extreme risk countries.

"The capacity of a country to contain the spread of human influenza depends on factors of wealth, health infrastructure, education resources, information and communication networks, and governance."

Countries most prone to risk of emergence of swine or avian flu in humans are poorer countries that have dense rural populations, with living quarters in close proximity to livestock, Maplecroft said. This is compounded by poor hygiene, lack of access to clean water and sanitation and poor public health education.

Newly Emerging Set of Global Risks

"It is important to see a newly emerging set of global risks--whether pandemics, conflict and terrorism, resource security including water stress, or climate change as inter-related," said Alyson Warhurst, Chair of Strategy and International Development at Warwick Business School and one of the founding directors of Maplecroft.

"Climate change is causing drought and flooding which in turn leads to crop failures and the destruction of livelihoods which in turn lead to poverty and the conditions that we see increase vulnerability to pandemic flu."

Sources used to compile the Influenza Pandemic Risk Index include: WHO, UNESCO, FAO, World Organisation for Animal Health, World Bank, Environmental Research Group Oxford, World Resources Institute and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).

The three IPRI maps and risk categories may be accessed on the Maplecroft Web site.

Image courtesy Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems

"The data eyeglasses can read from the engineer's eyes which details he needs to see on the building plans. A CMOS chip with an eye tracker in the microdisplay makes this possible. The eyeglasses are connected to a PDA, display information and respond to commands," says a statement released by the Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems (IPMS) in Dresden.

For car designers, secret agents in the movies and jet fighter pilots, data eyeglasses--also called head-mounted displays, or HMDs for short--are everyday objects. They transport the wearer into virtual worlds or provide the user with data from the real environment, IPMS said.

Birdirectional and Interactive

At present head-mounted display devices can only display information. "We want to make the eyeglasses bidirectional and interactive so that new areas of application can be opened up," says Michael Scholles, business unit manager at IPMS.

A group of scientists at IPMS is working on a device which incorporates eye-tracking--users can influence the content presented by moving their eyes or fixing on certain points in the image. "Without having to use any other devices to enter instructions, the wearer can display new content, scroll through the menu or shift picture elements."

Scholles believes that the bidirectional data eyeglasses will yield advantages wherever people need to consult additional information but do not have their hands free to operate a keyboard or mouse.

The researchers have integrated their system's eye tracker and image reproduction on a chip measuring about three-quarters of an inch square, that is fitted behind the prototype eyeglasses hinge on the wearer's temple. This makes the device small, light, easy to manufacture and inexpensive, IPMS said.

Images Projected Onto Retina

The image on the microdisplay is projected onto the retina of the user so that it appears to be viewed from a distance of about three feet (one meter). "The image has to outshine the ambient light to ensure that it can be seen clearly against changing and highly contrasting backgrounds. For this reason the research scientists use OLEDs, organic light-emitting diodes, to produce microdisplays of particularly high luminance," IPMS said.

In industry and in the medical field, the interactive data eyeglasses could enable numerous tasks to be performed more simply, efficiently and precisely, IPMS believes.

"Many scenarios are possible, including patients' vital functions, MRT and x-ray images for the operating surgeon, construction drawings for erection engineers and installation instructions for service technicians."

Some users have already tried out conventional head-mounted displays, but the results were not very impressive, IPMS said. In most cases they were found to be too expensive, too heavy, too bulky and not very ergonomic.

"We have now overcome these hurdles," says Scholles. With his team and colleagues from other Fraunhofer institutes he is already working on the next development stage of the bidirectional eyeglasses.

More than a century after being transported to New Zealand to pollinate crops of red clover, the short-haired bumblebee is set to make a return to its mother country, England, where it has been extinct for 20 years.

Photo of short-haired bumblebee by Dave Goulson, courtesy Natural England

The short-haired bumblebee was last seen in England in 1988--and declared officially extinct 12 years later when it could not be found in an intensive search.

But for over a century a small number of the original English population has clung on in New Zealand. The bee was transported to the Pacific Ocean island country in the late Nineteenth Century to pollinate crops of red clover. New Zealand had no native species of bumblebees to help propagate crops introduced from England.

A project to reintroduce the short-haired bumblebee to England, from the New Zealand population, was announced earlier this week by a consortium of conservation organizations: Natural England, the  Bumblebee Conservation Trust, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), and Hymettus, a charity that promotes conservation of bees, wasps and ants in the UK.

Natural England is an independent public body whose purpose is to protect and improve England's natural environment and encourage people to enjoy and get involved in their surroundings.

The consortium's bumblebee repatriation plan is to air-freight hibernating bees to England some time next year and release them in sites where their natural habitat of wild flowers has been restored in Kent County, in the southeast part of the country.

Farmers Maintain Bumblebee Habitat

Local farmers have been recruited to help create and maintain the appropriate habitat. Gardeners are encouraged to pitch in by growing wild flowers preferred by the bumblebees.

Unlike their cousins who became extinct in England, the New Zealand settlers are thought to have been able to survive because introduced English flowers have continued to grow in some abundance on South Island. Over the last 70 years the UK has lost 98 percent of its wild flowers meadows, causing a serious decline in the numbers of bumblebees.

The reintroduction project aims to develop a captive breeding program through which populations could be re-introduced onto selected sites in southern England, Natural England said.

Photo courtesy Scottish Wildlife Trust

Beavers are a familiar sight to millions of people across North America. The tree-felling rodent is a common resident (some would say nuisance) in wetlands, ponds, and waterways.

But in the UK, beavers have not been seen in the wild since they were extirpated four centuries ago, about the time King Henry VIII of England was still married to the first of his eight wives. Scotland was a separate state, under its own monarch.

After four long event-filled centuries, all that may be changing. In what has been described as the first formal reintroduction of a mammal to the UK, the first beavers to live in Scotland for over 400 years were released into the wild last Friday.

The Scottish Beaver Trial (SBT), a partnership project run by Scottish Wildlife Trust (SWT), the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS), and host partner Forestry Commission Scotland (FCS), launched officially on May 29.

Three European beaver families of eleven animals were released at carefully selected sites in Scotland's Knapdale Forest. The beavers, originally from Norway, were chosen because they are considered to be the closest type to those once found in the UK and have all completed a six-month statutory quarantine period, according to a news statement published on the Scottish Beaver Trial Web site.

Photo of beaver waiting for release courtesy Scottish Wildlife Trust

"Welcoming beavers back to Scotland marks a historic day for conservation," said Scotland's Minister for the Environment, Roseanna Cunningham. "These charismatic creatures are not only likely to create interest in Scotland from further afield but crucially can play a key role in providing good habitat for a wide range of wetland species.

"And while a great deal of research has already gone into the reintroduction this work is far from over. Observations and data collection over the next five years will play a crucial role in assessing the long-term future for beavers in the Scottish landscape."

The release is for a limited trial period and comes after years of lobbying by ecologists and conservation experts who believe that the beaver has been a missing part of Scotland's wetland ecosystems since being hunted to extinction in the 16th Century, the news statement said.

The project, funded mostly by private donations and grants, has popular support. Public consultation showed that 73 percent of respondents were in favour of the trial.

"Our critics worry that beavers might pose a risk to migratory fish numbers, including salmon. This has not been found to be the case anywhere else in Europe."

-- Allan Bantick, chairman of the Scottish Beaver Trial partnership

But not everyone is happy about the reintroduction of beavers.

"Our critics worry that beavers might pose a risk to migratory fish numbers, including salmon," said Allan Bantick, chairman of both SWT of the Scottish Beaver Trial partnership. "This has not been found to be the case anywhere else in Europe.

"However, the notion cannot be tested with this trial because there is no Atlantic salmon present in the trial site. Our beavers will be released within a designated trial area, which should be large enough to sustain the natural expansion of their population over the next five years."

Watch this Scottish Government video about the reintroduction of beavers to Scotland:

Beavers are a species worth having in any ecosystem as their presence is known to bring a vast number of benefits to other native Scottish wildlife as well as wetland and waterside habitats, Bantick elaborated. "Our reintroduction follows in the footsteps of 24 other European countries, who have already reintroduced beavers to over 150 different sites."

It is vital that the project is recognised as a time-limited trial with the purpose of assessing the effect beavers have on the local environment and how well they settle into their new habitat here in Scotland, Bantick stressed.

Release Went "Extremely Well"

The release of the beaver families went extremely well, said Scottish Beaver Trial Project Manager Simon Jones. "They were placed into purpose-built artificial lodges at carefully selected points around the trial site. They will now gradually gnaw their way out of the lodge at a pace that is comfortable for them before exploring their new surroundings.

"Now that our beavers have been released into the wild, the real work of our trial can begin. First and foremost, this is a scientific study of how the beavers cope naturally in the Scottish environment and what effect they have upon it. We will be closely tracking the beavers' activities and collecting data over the next five years to help inform the independent scientific monitoring, co-ordinated by Scottish Natural Heritage. This will help the Scottish Government in making any final decisions on the future of beavers in Knapdale Forest or elsewhere in Scotland.

"We will also be continuing to engage with the local community as well as trying to inspire Scots to support this exciting conservation project. We hope to see many people visiting the trial site over time, but the beavers do need time to settle in before meeting the neighbours."

NGS photo by George F. Mobley

"The fish oil affects the methane-producing bacteria in the rumen part of the cow's gut, leading to reduced emissions," says Lorraine Lillis, one of the University College Dublin researchers, in a news release issued today by the Society for General Microbiology. "Understanding which microbial species are particularly influenced by changes in diet and relating them to methane production could bring about a more targeted approach to reducing methane emissions in animals."

More than a third of all methane emissions, around 900 billion tonnes every year, are produced by methanogen bacteria that live in the digestive systems of ruminants such as cattle, sheep and goats, according to the release. "By volume, methane is 20 times more powerful at trapping solar energy than carbon dioxide, making it a potent greenhouse gas."

Approximately half of Irish agricultural methane emissions result from farm animals. There have been suggestions that, to help combat global warming, a cap be placed on the number of animals in animal production due to their methane production, the release added. "But with a reduction in methane levels through diet this may not be as necessary."

Other benefits to animals of omega 3 fatty acids in fish oils have been well documented: helping the heart and circulatory system, and improving meat quality.

Related National Geographic News stories:

California Cows Fail Latest Emissions Test

New Zealand Tries to Cap Gaseous Sheep Burps

NGS Video by Tasha Eichenseher

Istanbul, Turkey -- Rose George, British author of the 2008 book "The Big Necessity: The Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why It Matters," tells National Geographic Digital Media Science Editor Tasha Eichenseher why people should care about the 2.5 billion people around the globe who do not have access to a safe, clean place to do their business.

She explains that the lack of sanitation facilities--sophisticated or primitive--in developing countries is "a fundamental health crisis."

Nearly 20 percent of those without facilities practice open defecation, according to Clarissa Brocklehurst, chief of water, sanitation and hygiene at UNICEF, who spoke during a panel discussion at the 5th World Water Forum yesterday. In India alone, there are approximately 665 million people who have no other options.

This is undignified and dangerous, especially for women, who risk rape and snakebite, George says. The resulting water pollution and fecal contamination also carry an enormous health risk, particularly for children, George adds.

"It is scandalous that  in 2009 [the diarrhea death toll] is like four jumbo jets of children crashing every day. Human waste is a fabulous weapon of mass destruction."

Brocklehurst called the lack of adequate sanitation for more than a third of the Earth's population "one of the biggest scandals in the last 50 years."

Related National Geographic News story: Sexy Ads Aim to Boost Toilet Use

Earlier blog posting from the World Water Forum: Nuggets of Hope in the Face of Bleak Outlook for Freshwater

 

Tasha Eichenseher's attendance at the 5th World Water Forum is sponsored by Media21 -- a Switzerland-based journalism foundation that brings reporters and producers from around the globe to work together on coverage of major issues such as human rights, climate change, and health.

He contemplated geology, physics, aeronautics, hydrodynamics, meteorology, and physiology hundreds of years before such disciplines were imagined. His designs included a helicopter, submarine, and a telescope -- centuries before anyone else thought of them.

"He invented the future," says Bulent Atalay, co-author of a new book about Da Vinci. "Unfortunately, he didn't publish, so he wasn't influencing the future," Atalay told me in an interview in my office (watch the series of videos below).

"If he had published and his notes had gotten into the right hands, other gifted scientists within his own time, we could have been at this juncture two hundred years ago.

"Late in the 18th Century, I think, we would have had this level of technology [that we have today] and this level of science, if indeed he had published."

Watch a four-part video interview with Bulent Atalay about his book:

The specimen, named Schinderhannes bartelsi, was found fossilized in slate from a quarry near Bundenbach in Germany, a site that yields spectacularly durable pyrite-preserved fossils -- findings collectively known as the Hunsrück Slate, said a news release about the finding.

"With a head like the giant Cambrian aquatic predator Anomalocaris and a body like a modern arthropod, the specimen is the only known example of this unusual creature," said Derek Briggs, director of Yale's Peabody Museum of Natural History and an author of the paper appearing in today's issue of the journal Science.

The fossil's head section has large bulbous eyes, a circular mouth opening and a pair of segmented, opposable appendages with spines projecting inward along their length. The trunk section is made up of 12 segments, each with small appendages, and a long tail spine. Between the head and trunk, there is a pair of large triangular wing-like limbs -- that likely propelled the creature like a swimming penguin, according to Derek Briggs.  

Reconstruction by Elke Groening
Photo courtesy Steinmann Institute/University of Bonn

"Scientists have puzzled over the origins of the paired grasping appendages found on the heads of scorpions and horseshoe crabs," the news statement said. "The researchers suggest that Schinderhannes gives a hint. Their appendages may be an equivalent to those found in the ancient predatory ancestor, Anomalocaris -- even though creatures with those head structures were thought to have become extinct by the middle of the Cambrian Period, 100 million years before Schinderhannes lived."

The Hunsrück Slate has previously produced some of the most valuable clues to understanding the evolution of arthropods - including early shrimp-like forms, a scorpion and sea spiders as well as the ancient arthropods trilobites, Yale said.

This finding caps almost 20 years of study by Briggs on the Hunsrück Slate. "Sadly, the quarry from which this fabulous material comes has closed for economic reasons, so the only additional specimens that are going to appear now are items that are already in collectors' hands and that may not have been fully prepared or realized for what they are," Briggs said.

2008 Adventurers of the Year James Hooper (left) and Rob Gauntlett

Photograph by Martin Hartley

Sad news posted by National Geographic Adventure Blog today:

"It is with heavy hearts that we pass along the worst kind of news: The BBC reported Saturday that Rob Gauntlett, who shared the 2008 Adventurers of the Year award with James Hooper, was in a fatal accident while climbing the dangerous east face of the 13,937-foot Tacul peak in the Mont Blanc mountain range in the French Alps.

"Rob and James won the Adventurer of the Year award for completing a 26,000-mile journey from geomagnetic pole to geomagnetic pole (read the feature article or watch a video about their remarkable feat). Rob was the youngest Briton to summit Everest at the age of 19.

"'We were extremely saddened to learn of Rob's death,' said National Geographic Adventure Editor in Chief John Rasmus. 'Many of us at Adventure got to know him over the course of a few days for our Adventurer of the Year event [at the National Geographic headquarters] in November, and he was a great guy -- full of life and confidence and good humor. He would have had an amazing life ahead, I'm sure, but the one consolation I can extract is that he was really enjoying the present, and how he was living his life, and he appreciated every aspect of it. I'm sure he'll be missed by many -- especially his parents and great friend James -- for a long time.'"

Read my blog entry Adventurers of the Year Named by National Geographic Adventure Magazine (November 21, 2008)

Photos by Ferry van Stralen/Courtesy ZSL London Zoo

British engineers and other experts are hoping to build a rocket-powered vehicle capable of reaching more than 1,000 mph, faster than a bullet fired from a handgun.

The Bloodhound supersonic car (SSC ) will be driven by Andy Green, who set the current land speed record of 763 mph on October 15, 1997.

The vehicle that will attempt to break the 1,000 mph barrier will have the first ever mixed power plant of a hybrid rocket motor and a jet engine that is currently used on the Eurofighter Typhoon. It is hoped that the car will be ready for testing in 2011.

Image courtesy of Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum

An ancient relative of modern ducks and geese that skimmed the swampy wetlands of what is today England had a 16-foot wingspan and a beak full of crocodile-like teeth, scientists said on Friday.

Announced in the journal Palaeontology, the findings were based on a skull that belonged to Dasornis, a bony-toothed bird, or pelagornithid. It was discovered in the London Clay, a marine geological formation that lies under much of  of southeast England.

Science merging with rap posted on YouTube--it's a mashup for the zeitgeist.

The latest version of this phenomenon is the popular "Large Hadron Rap," viewed on YouTube 1,200,000 times.

The video was produced by Kate McAlpine, 23-year-old Michigan State University graduate and science writer.