Deforestation rates in the Brazilian Amazon dropped 45.7 percent from August 2008 to July 2009, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva announced yesterday during a meeting with state governors and mayors in Brasília.

Data based on analysis of satellite imagery by the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) suggests that 2,700 square miles (7,000 square kilometers) of forest were cleared in Brazil during the 12-month period, the lowest rate since the government started monitoring deforestation in 1988.

Photo of Amazon forest courtesy of Brazil's Ministry of Environment

"The new deforestation data represents an extraordinary and significant reduction for Brazil. Climate change is the most challenging issue that we face today," Lula said.

Photo of Brazil's President Lula at yesterday's event by Ricardo Stuckert/PR

The slowing deforestation levels are primarily a result of the Action Plan for Deforestation Control and Prevention in the Amazon, a set of cross-government policies and measures launched in 2004 to improve monitoring, strengthen enforcement, define conservation areas and foster sustainable activities in the region, said a statement from Brazil's Secretariat for Social Communication (SECOM).

"With the support of 13 government agencies, the plan played a major role in helping reduce deforestation in the Amazon by 74.8 percent from 2004 to 2009."

Deforestation rates in the Brazilian Amazon 

Surveillance and enforcement

The INPE data indicates that the projected 32 percent increase in government inspections over the last year inhibited illegal deforestation in the Amazon, the statement added.

"Satellite images from INPE's near real-time deforestation detection system enabled government inspectors to focus their efforts where deforestation is most critical and act quickly to prevent new areas from being cleared.

"As a result of this surveillance, the Brazilian Environment Institute apprehended around 230,000 cubic meters of wood, 414 trucks and tractors, and embargoed 502,000 hectares [1,240,000 acres] of land linked to illegal deforestation activities in the region over the period from August 2008 to July 2009, leading the government to issue over R$ 2.8 billion reais [U.S.$ 1.6 billion] in fines.

"In addition to fines, the government used other tools to financially constrain those whose activities contribute to the destruction of the forest. This includes a resolution enacted by the National Monetary Council in mid-2008 that requires farmers and ranchers in the Amazon to meet environmental criteria in order to obtain loans from public and private banks."

Brazil is home to 60 percent of the Amazon. The "Legal Brazilian Amazon" ("Amazonia Legal Brasileira") is an administrative region that spreads across the states of Acre, Amapá, Amazonas, Mato Grosso, Pará, Rondônia, Roraima and portions of Tocantins, Maranhão and Goiás. It represents 53 percent of Brazil's total land area (about 2 million square miles or 5 million square kilometers), has a population of 25 million people, and generates just under 8 percent of Brazil's total GDP.

Around 43 percent (800,000 square miles or 2.1 million square kilometers) of the Amazon land falls within Protected Areas or Indigenous Lands Around 21 percent of the Amazon are federal or state public lands outside Protected Areas and Indigenous Lands. There are about 400 identified and demarcated indigenous lands in the region, home to between 170,000 and 200,000 indigenous people.

Image and caption courtesy of Brazil's Ministry of Environment

Conservation and sustainable activities

Federal and state governments also worked to create around 50 million hectares [123 million acres] in new conservation units in the Amazon from 2004 to 2008, while another 10 million hectares [25 million acres] in indigenous lands were granted recognition in the same period, SECOM said. "Today, 43 percent of the Legal Amazon is federally protected."

The government also initiated a concession scheme for sustainable management in public forests. The first concessions were granted in August 2008, enabling three private groups to carry sustainable logging and extraction activities in 237,000 acres (96,000 hectares) of the Jamari Public Forest, in the state of Rondônia.

Deforestation and climate change

Deforestation in the Amazon region is the main source of Brazil's greenhouse gas emissions, SECOM said. According to the first National Inventory of Greenhouse Gases, up to 75 percent of Brazil's emissions come from deforestation and land-use change.

"For this reason, tackling deforestation is at the center of Brazil's strategy to combat global warming. Launched in December 2008, the National Plan on Climate Change sets targets to cut deforestation rates by 80 percent by 2020, which would avoid 4.8 billion tons in CO2 emissions during this period.

"To meet these goals, the plan sets out a number of actions and programs to combat illegal logging and provide sustainable economic alternatives to the people living in the Amazon, among other measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in different sectors," SECOM said.

Photo of Amazon forest courtesy of Brazil's Ministry of Environment

Further action required, conservationists say

Although it is essential to recognize the efforts made by the federal and state governments as well as Brazilian society in general, further action is required, said WWF-Brazil CEO Denise Hamú.

"Deforestation needs to continue falling in a sustainable manner and must take place in other Brazilian biomes in addition to the Amazon, such as the Cerrado," she said in a statement issued by the conservation organization in response to President Lula's announcement.

Hamú also said that the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, to be held in Copenhagen in December, will be a good opportunity for Brazil to defend the adoption of clear and ambitious emission reduction commitments by the participant countries.

"Deforestation numbers such as the ones showed today by President Lula strengthen Brazil's credentials to lead the climate negotiations and take the forefront in building a new development model for the world that respects the environment and the people."

"Deforestation numbers such as the ones showed today by President Lula strengthen Brazil's credentials to lead the climate negotiations and take the forefront in building a new development model for the world that respects the environment and the people", Hamú said.

"Among the other biomes, the most critical situation is found in the Cerrado," WWF-Brazil said. "While deforestation in the Amazon has finally fallen below 10,000 square kilometers, in the Cerrado it surpasses 20,000 square kilometers." The Cerrado is a vast tropical savanna region southeast of the Amazon.
 
36 football fields a minute

Despite conservation efforts, global deforestation continues at an alarming rate--13 million hectares per year, or 36 football fields a minute, WWF added. "It generates almost 20 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and halting forest loss has been identified as one of the most cost-effective ways to keep the world out of the danger zone of runaway climate change."

Apart from decreasing emissions caused by deforestation in the Amazon, Brazil needs to work on achieving reductions in the industry and transport sectors, and especially in energy generation and transmission processes, added Cláudio Maretti, WWF-Brazil's conservation director.

"After all, the planet urgently needs expressive greenhouse gas emission reductions", he said. 

By April Reese
Special contributor to NatGeo News Watch

MERIDA, Mexico--Protecting the world´s remaining wilderness areas should be a top priority at internationial climate change talks scheduled for next month in Copenhagen, conservation groups said yesterday in a formal statement aimed at influencing the negotiations.

While the burning of fossil fuels such as oil and coal is responsible for the majority of emissions of carbon dioxide, a major contributor to climate change, the clearing of forests, wetlands and other wildlands accounts for 30 percent of carbon releases into the atmosphere, the groups said in the statement.

Left intact, wildlands absorb carbon dioxide, helping to offset emissions from fossil fuels.

"Runaway carbon emissions are driving the climate towards irreversible tipping points," the groups´"Message from Merida" reads. "This situation is in stark contrast to the world we can have if wilderness and its contribution to natural life support systems are properly valued and protected."

About a dozen groups signed the statement yesterday during the WILD9 international wilderness conference, being held here this week. The signatories include Conservation International, the Wilderness Foundation Africa, Naturalia, Sanctuary Asia, and the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society.

Currently, only about 15 percent of the worlds´land area is protected, said Nik Lopoukine, chair of the World Commission on Protected Areas, speaking during the conference.

The most recent draft of the new climate change agreement does not acknowledge the importance of protecting the world's wildlands, those familiar with the negotiations said.

"If we don't address this problem in the negotiations, climate change will only get worse," said Brendan Mackey, an ecologist with Australian National University.

Keeping wildlands whole will also help buffer ecosystems from the worst effects of a warming world, he said, explaining that the larger the protected area, the more resiliency an ecosystem has.

Pay to preserve?

Many conservationists and government officials are pushing for the creation of a system in which countries with high emissions can pay countries with abundant, carbon-absorbing wildlands to preserve them.

That approach, initially championed by Mexico but now gaining support among other developing nations, would create a financial incentive for developing countries to keep their natural areas intact while allowing the most polluting countries to offset some of their emissions, said Ernesto Enkerlin-Hoeflich, head of the Commission for Natural Protected Areas for United Mexican States, a government agency.

"It´s a cheaper way of reducing their carbon footprint," he said in an interview. "It´s basically to create a market and use that market to achieve emission reduction goals."

Photo by Boyd Norton/via The WILD Foundation

Many developing countries contain tropical forests, which store about one-fourth of all the carbon sequestered in the world's trees. Consequently, these wilderness-rich but cash-poor nations could see significant economic benefits from such a market, Enkerlin-Hoeflich added.

Safeguards to prevent corruption and ensure that wildlands enrolled in the market stay intact still need to be worked out, supporters acknowledged. But with both developed and developing countries warming to the idea, momentum is building for a climate change agreement that includes wilderness, conservationists said.

"I think this will come through one way or the other," said Michael Sweatman, who sits on the WILD Foundation´s board.

The next round of climate change talks, which are conducted by the United Nations, will be held December 7-18 in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The National Geographic Society is a sponsor of WILD9.

Climate scientist Stephen H. Schneider could easily say "I told you so," now that data pour in on an almost daily basis to prove what he has been warning about for many years: Greenhouses gases we are pumping into the atmosphere are disrupting Earth's climate, threatening our way of life, if not our survival.

Instead, he remains hopeful that it's not too late to do something about it.

Schneider, along with his colleagues on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Al Gore, won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to enlighten the public about human-induced climate change and to inspire action to confront it. The Stanford University climatologist is also a National Geographic Fellow.

In SCIENCE AS A CONTACT SPORT: Inside the Battle to Save Earth's Climate (National Geographic Books; ISBN: 978-1-4262-0540-8; on-sale date Nov. 3, 2009; $28; hardcover), Schneider chronicles the infighting and backroom negotiations, the courage of some and the ignorance and duplicity of others, that have inhibited the world community from implementing solutions sooner to combat the dangers of a warming Earth.

Watch this video interview with Schneider, in which he discusses why it is difficult to follow the raging debate about climate change, where to get reliable information, his hopes for COP15 (the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen from December 7 to 18),and what steps governments and individuals can can take toward positive action.

Professor Schneider's Web site: climatechange.net

Video interview of Stephen Schneider by David Braun

Decades may have been lost and most of the early, dire predictions are happening--sea levels rising; glaciers melting; unprecedented heat waves and wildfires; intensification of hurricanes as they move over warmed oceans; and arctic sea ice rapidly thinning all year long and increasingly disappearing in summer.

Further delay may result in irreversible conditions, including melted ice sheets, redrawn coastlines and species driven to extinction.

Steps toward positive action

But Schneider remains hopeful, offering a realistic prescription for how governments and individuals can take steps toward positive action.

For governments, that means creating energy-efficiency standards for buildings and machines; investing in clean technology research; cap and trade or carbon taxes; geoengineering schemes to try to remove CO2 from the air and help prevent some of the large impacts of climate change; and smart growth planning.

Individuals can avoid unnecessary automobile use; conserve energy at home; buy energy-efficient cars and appliances; eat more local foodstuffs and less imported foods; show up at city council meetings to advocate for a greener town; and support local politicians who stand up for sustainability.

In addition to his collective share of a Nobel Peace Prize, Schneider is winner of a MacArthur "genius grant" and has been an expert adviser to officials in the Nixon, Carter, Reagan, Clinton, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush and Obama administrations. He is the Melvin and Joan Lane Professor for Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies, a professor in the Department of Biology, and a Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford University.

National Geographic Books provided a copy of SCIENCE AS A CONTACT SPORT: Inside the Battle to Save Earth's Climate for this entry.

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

Six hundred experts from seventy countries concluding a biodiversity conference today in Cape Town, South Africa, described preliminary research revealing "jaw-dropping" dollar values of the ecosystem services of forests and coral reefs, including food, pollution treatment, and climate regulation.

"Undertaken to help societies make better-informed choices, the economic research shows a single hectare [2.47 acres] of coral reef, for example, provides annual services to humans valued at U.S.$130,000 on average, rising to as much as $1.2 million," said a statement released by Diversitas, a Paris-based international partnership of inter-governmental and non-governmental organizations formed to promote and facilitate scientific research on biodiversity. Diversitas convened the conference.

NGS photo by Bates Littlehales

The research described in Cape Town today provides insights into the worth of ecosystems in human economic terms, says economist Pavan Sukhdev of the United Nations Environment Programme, head of a Cambridge, England-based project called The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB).

Based on analysis of more than 80 coral reef valuation studies, TEEB calculated the worth of services per hectare of coral reef breaks down as follows: 

• Food, raw materials, ornamental resources: average $1,100 (up to $6,000);
• Climate regulation, moderation of extreme events, waste treatment / water purification, biological control: average $26,000 (up to $35,000);
• Cultural services (eg. recreation / tourism): average $88,700 (up to $1.1 million)
• Maintenance of genetic diversity: average $13,500 (up to $57,000)

Taken together, coral reef services worldwide have an average annual value estimated at $172 billion, Sukhdev said.

NGS photo by Paul Zahl

Sukhdev noted growing scientific agreement that coral reefs are unlikely to survive if atmospheric carbon dioxide levels exceed 350 parts per million. Negotiators of a new climate change deal in Copenhagen in December, however, "would be proud" to achieve an agreement that limits atmospheric carbon to 450 parts per million, he said, calling that "a death sentence on the world's coral reefs."

Halving deforestation worth trillions

"Halving the destruction of tropical forests, meanwhile, would allow them to continue absorbing roughly 4.8 gigatonnes of carbon per year, slow the rise of atmospheric carbon levels and forestall anticipated climate change damage, Diversitas said in its statement. "Halving deforestation has a net present value estimated at U.S.$3.7 trillion, according to research."

The economic choice of turning such forests into timber or clearing them to make way for agriculture is "not very clever," Sukhdev said.

"Stopping deforestation offers an excellent cost-benefit ratio. "Investment in protected areas holds exceptional high returns," he said.

"Investing $45 billion could secure nature-based services worth some $4.5 to 5.2 trillion annually."

Previous studies have shown that investing $45 billion "could secure nature-based services worth some $4.5 to 5.2 trillion annually," Diversitas added. "Among the specific examples cited: planting mangroves along a coastline in Vietnam cost $1.1 million but saved $7.3 million annually in dyke maintenance."

Diversitas released these examples of a rate of return on investments in ecosystem restoration:

• Coral reefs: 7%, (with a cost-benefit ratio of 2.8);
• Rivers: 27%, (cost-benefit ratio 15.5);
• Tropical forests: 50% (cost-benefit ratio 37.3);
• Mangroves: 40%, (cost-benefit ratio 26.4);
• Grasslands: 79%, (cost-benefit ratio 75.1).

Cape Town "Declaration" 

Scientists attending the conference issued a concluding statement confirming stating that "as we approach the 2010 Year of Biodiversity ... the fabric out of which the Earth system is woven is unravelling at an accelerating rate."

"At the same time, we are discovering ever more about biodiversity and the benefits it provides to people. It is clear that biodiversity loss erodes the integrity of ecosystems and their capacity to adapt in a changing world. It represents a serious risk to human wellbeing and a squandering of current assets and future opportunities.

"The biodiversity scientists gathered here commit themselves to finding practical solutions to this problem. They will do so by: increasing shared knowledge of biodiversity and its functions; helping to develop systems for monitoring the biodiversity of the planet; and being responsive to the knowledge needs of society with clear communication of findings.

"The proposed mechanism for the ongoing evaluation and communication of scientific evidence on these issues is an Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). We call on governments and non-governmental organisations to join us in establishing IPBES as soon as possible. We urge policy-makers to act swiftly and effectively on the already-established and future findings relating to ways of limiting further biodiversity loss and restoring ecosystem services."

"Meeting current and future human needs must make adequate provision for the complex web of life of which people are an integral part. People everywhere must give effect to their shared desire for a biologically-rich and productive planet through their individual decisions and political voices."

Dragonflies and damselflies are ancient insects that have been around since the age of the dinosaurs. But now the aerial predators may be in trouble as climate change and human development are drying up the freshwater habitat they need to survive.

One in five Mediterranean dragonflies and damselflies is threatened with extinction because of Increasing scarcity of freshwater in the region, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) said today.

Climate change and habitat degradation, due to the way land is managed, are also affecting the insects, says a report by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

Photo of Large White-faced Darter (Leucorrhinia pectoralis) by Fabio Pupin/IUCN

Dragonflies and damselflies belong to the order of insects called Odonata. They have been around in one form or another since the Jurassic era, well more than a hundred million years ago. Giant specimens with wingspans of more than two feet have been found in the fossil record. About 6,500 species survive today.

Aerial predators that hunt by sight, dragonflies and damselflies generally are found at or near fresh water. The larvae are predatory, aquatic and occur in all manner of inland waters, according to the Web of Life.

Common Pond Damsel  (Ceriagrion glabrum) photo by Elisa Riservato/IUCN

The Red List assessment of 163 Mediterranean dragonflies and damselflies shows five are Critically Endangered, 13 are Endangered, another 13 are Vulnerable, 27 are Near Threatened, 96 are Least Concern and six are Data Deficient, meaning there is not enough information to classify them, but they might also be threatened.

"It is likely things will only get worse for these unique species as climate change and increased water demand take their toll," says Jean Pierre Boudot, member of the IUCN Dragonfly Specialist Group and co-author of the report. "Lower levels of precipitation and drought will lead to degradation of the habitats where the majority of dragonflies and damselflies live."

Photo of Glittering Demoiselle (Calopteryx exul) by Jean-Pierre Boudot/IUCN

Four species are already listed as Extinct in the Mediterranean, including the Little Whisp (Agriocnemis exilis), the Common Pond Damsel (Ceriagrion glabrum), the Phantom Flutterer (Rhyothemis semihyalina) and the Darting Cruiser (Phyllomacromia africana).

"Dragonflies are generally known for being good indicators of water quality," IUCN says in a statement about the report. "Major threats for 67 percent of these Mediterranean species are habitat degradation and pollution. The Spotted Darter (Sympetrum depressiusculum), which used to be common in the Mediterranean, is now listed as Vulnerable and is declining due to the intensification of agricultural practices in rice fields."

Banded Darter (Sympetrum pedemontanum) photo by Fabio Pupin/IUCN

Fourteen percent of these insect species can be found only in Mediterranean freshwater ecosystems, some of the richest and most threatened habitats, among which nine have been assessed as Endangered or Vulnerable. According to the report, the highest numbers of endemic dragonflies are present in the South and West of the Mediterranean, with the Maghreb and the Levant areas being regional hotspots of endemism.

"The Glittering Demoiselle (Calopteryx exul), for example, is listed as Endangered and is in decline. It inhabits the aquatic habitats of the Maghreb, whose ecosystems are under pressure due to water-harnessing for human use, water pollution, irrigation and drought," IUCN says.

"Long-term coordinated actions are needed at regional, national and international level, and the results of this report highlight the responsibility that Mediterranean countries have to protect the global populations.

"Though some species are already receiving some conservation attention thanks to international laws, such as the Ornate Bluet (Coenagrion ornatum) which is included in the European Habitat Directive, others are not protected at all, despite their high risk of extinction."

Banded Demoiselle (Calopteryx splendens) photo by Jean-Pierre Boudot/IUCN

"The selection and protection of key sites are essential to ensure the survival of these species," says IUCN's Annabelle Cuttelod, co-author of the report. "Their ecological requirements need to be taken into account in the planning and management of water use, especially for agriculture purposes or infrastructure development. IUCN Red List data can inform both processes."

In addition to the Mediterranean odonata assessment, 1,912 species of amphibians, birds, cartilaginous fishes, endemic freshwater fishes, crabs and crayfish, mammals, and reptiles have been assessed to date in the Mediterranean region. About 19 percent of these species are threatened with extinction: 5 percent Critically Endangered, 7 percent Endangered and 7 percent Vulnerable, IUCN says.

Spotted Darter (Sympetrum depressiusculum) photo by Jean-Pierre Boudot/IUCN.

The assessment was carried out with the support of relevant scientists from the countries bordering the Mediterranean Basin in collaboration with the IUCN Dragonfly Specialist Group, to which they contributed with their expertise to gather the data, and to assess the conservation status that would be the basis for future conservation action.

Beautiful Demoiselle (Calopteryx virgo meridionalis) photo by Jean Pierre Boudot/IUCN

This project was funded by the European Commission, the Mava Foundation and the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation and Development (AECID).

Ornate Bluet (Coenagrion ornatum) photo by Jean-Pierre Boudot/IUCN

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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>>

Recent flooding in parts of Turkey has underscored the need to focus on ecologically sound flood management practices to shield urban areas from extreme weather events, particularly those caused by climate change, WWF-Turkey said today.

"The presence of deadly floods right in the heart of Istanbul first of all points at the insufficient infrastructure of the city," said Filiz Demirayak, the CEO of WWF-Turkey. "Unregulated urban development and infrastructure have become barriers preventing rain water to reach the sea via its natural path."

Turkey's Thracian region and the capital Istanbul this week received a month's worth of rainfall during two days--or four times the total amount of average precipitation for this entire month--causing massive flooding that led to the death of 30 people and widespread damage estimated at U.S.$90 million dollars, WWF said in a statement.

The floods follow flash floods in July that killed at least six people in the north-eastern province of Artvin, and inundated more than 100 homes and businesses in the Black Sea province of Giresun.

Flooding occurred mostly because natural irrigation channels had been damaged and unplanned developments blocked the rain water from dissipating into the sea, WWF said.

"The insufficiency of water absorbing green areas and forests in the heart of the city is another factor that blocks water in the midst of concrete," Demirayak said.

"In the periphery of Istanbul and Tekirdağ river beds have been narrowed down, filled up by residential and industrial areas, thus blocking natural flood control mechanisms. The local municipalities and the government need to resolve the infrastructural problems of the city and prepare climate adaptation plan immediately."

Weather-related problems such as floods could worsen because of climate change unless ecological flood prevention techniques are adopted, WWF warned. "These consist of river delta conservation and forest conservation. In addition, urban settlements along river beds must be closely monitored.

"Ecological flood management is the safest and most cost-effective solution," Demirayak said. "If future damage is to be prevented, the climate change adaptation process has to start immediately.

"The current infrastructure in Turkey cannot handle the consequences of climate change. WWF-Turkey calls upon the government and the municipalities to take immediate action for adaptation to climate change."

The future of the Earth could rest on potentially dangerous and unproven geoengineering technologies unless emissions of carbon dioxide can be greatly reduced, the Royal Society, the UK's national academy of science, said today.

Photo courtesy NASA

"Unless future efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are much more successful than they have been so far, additional action in the form of geoengineering will be necessary if we are to cool the planet," the Royal Society says in a report, "Geoengineering the Climate: Science, Governance and Uncertainty."

"Geoengineering and its consequences are the price we may have to pay for failure to act on climate change."

"It is an unpalatable truth that unless we can succeed in greatly reducing CO2 emissions we are headed for a very uncomfortable and challenging climate future, and geoengineering will be the only option left to limit further temperature increases," says Professor John Shepherd, who chaired the geoengineering study.

"Our research found that some geoengineering techniques could have serious unintended and detrimental effects on many people and ecosystems--yet we are still failing to take the only action that will prevent us from having to rely on them.

"Geoengineering and its consequences are the price we may have to pay for failure to act on climate change."

Carbon Dioxide Removal vs. Solar Radiation Management

The report assesses the two main kinds of geoengineering techniques--Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) and Solar Radiation Management (SRM).

"CDR techniques address the root of the problem--rising CO2--and so have fewer uncertainties and risks, as they work to return the Earth to a more normal state," the Royal Society says in a news release about the report. "They are therefore considered preferable to SRM techniques, but none has yet been demonstrated to be effective at an affordable cost, with acceptable environmental impacts, and they only work to reduce temperatures over very long timescales.

"SRM techniques act by reflecting the sun's energy away from Earth, meaning they lower temperatures rapidly, but do not affect CO2 levels.

"They therefore fail to address the wider effects of rising CO2, such as ocean acidification, and would need to be deployed for a very long time.

"Although they are relatively cheap to deploy, there are considerable uncertainties about their regional consequences, and they only reduce some, but not all, of the effects of climate change, while possibly creating other problems."

The report concludes that SRM techniques could be useful if a threshold is reached where action to reduce temperatures must be taken rapidly, but that they are not an alternative to emissions reductions or CDR techniques.

Plan B: No Magic Bullet

"None of the geoengineering technologies so far suggested is a magic bullet, and all have risks and uncertainties associated with them," Professor Shepherd said,

"It is essential that we strive to cut emissions now, but we must also face the very real possibility that we will fail. If Plan B is to be an option in the future, considerable research and development of the different methods, their environmental impacts and governance issues must be undertaken now.

"Used irresponsibly or without regard for possible side effects, geoengineering could have catastrophic consequences similar to those of climate change itself."

"Used irresponsibly or without regard for possible side effects, geoengineering could have catastrophic consequences similar to those of climate change itself. We must ensure that a governance framework is in place to prevent this."

Of the CDR techniques assessed, the Royal Society said, the following were considered to have most useful potential:

• CO2 capture from ambient air: This would be the preferred method of geoengineering, as it effectively reverses the cause of climate change. At this stage no cost-effective methods have yet been demonstrated and much more research and development is needed.
• Enhanced weathering: This technique, which utilizes naturally occurring reactions of CO2 from the air with rocks and minerals, was identified as a prospective longer-term option. "However more research is needed to find cost-effective methods and to understand the wider environmental implications."
• Land use and afforestation: The report found that land use management could and should play a small but significant role in reducing the growth of atmospheric CO2 concentrations. However the scope for applying this technique would be limited by land use conflicts, and all the competing demands for land must be considered when assessing the potential for afforestation and reforestation.

Should temperatures rise to such a level where more rapid action needs to be taken, the Royal Society report says, the following SRM techniques are considered to have most potential:

• Stratospheric aerosols: These were found to be feasible, and previous volcanic eruptions have effectively provided short-term preliminary case studies of the potential effectiveness of this method. "The cost was assessed as likely to be relatively low and the timescale of action short. However, there are some serious questions over adverse effects, particularly depletion of stratospheric ozone."
• Space-based methods: These were considered to be a potential SRM technique for long-term use, if the major problems of implementation and maintenance could be solved. At present the techniques remain prohibitively expensive, complex and would be slow to implement.
• Cloud albedo approaches (eg. cloud ships): The effects would be localised and the impacts on regional weather patterns and ocean currents are of considerable concern but are not well understood. The feasibility and effectiveness of the technique is uncertain. A great deal more research would be needed before this technique could be seriously considered.

The following techniques were considered to have lower potential:

• Biochar (CDR technique): The report identified significant doubts relating to the potential scope, effectiveness and safety of this technique and recommended that substantial research would be required before it could be considered for eligibility for UN carbon credits.
• Ocean fertiliization (CDR technique): The report found that this technique had not been proved to be effective and had high potential for unintended and undesirable ecological side effects.
• Surface albedo approaches (SRM technique, including white roof methods, reflective crops and desert reflectors): These were found to be ineffective, expensive and, in some cases, likely to have serious impacts on local and regional weather patterns.

Mangrove forests thrive in the salty tidal zone between ocean and land. They play an immensely important role in stabilizing the coastline against erosion, moderating storm surges, and as a nursery and sanctuary for hundreds of species of fish, birds, and other animals.

It's too bad then that in many parts of the world mangrove forests are disappearing faster than they can be surveyed and appreciated for the life-giving services they provide.

Mangroves in Africa have been particularly impacted by human development and many countries may be in danger of losing these vital shoreline woodlands completely, which could threaten food security and expose coastal communities to natural disasters.

"Impoverished fishermen along the coast of tropical African countries like Mozambique and Madagascar may have only a few more years to eke out a profit from one of their nations' biggest agricultural exports," says NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in a recent news release.

"Within a few decades, they may no longer have a livelihood at all."

"Mangrove forests--essential breeding grounds for fish and shellfish in these countries--are being destroyed by worsening pollution, encroaching real estate development, and deforestation necessary to sustain large-scale commercial shrimp farming."

That's because swampy mangrove forests--essential breeding grounds for fish and shellfish in these countries--are being destroyed by worsening pollution, encroaching real estate development, and deforestation necessary to sustain large-scale commercial shrimp farming, NASA explains.

"The decline of these forests threatens much of Africa's coastal food supply and economy. The destruction of mangroves--one of Earth's richest natural resources - also has implications for everything from climate change to biodiversity to the quality of life on Earth."

But help may be on the way.

Lola Fatoyinbo, an evironmental scientist with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), has helped develop a tool that will help African countries manage their dwindling mangroves.

Growing up in Cotonou, Benin, West Africa, Fatoyinbo passed polluted mangroves daily, NASA says. "Inspired to help save the forests, she began a mission as a graduate student in the United States to gain more insight about African mangroves."

Her studies have brought Fatoyinbo back to Africa, where she has journeyed along the coastlines to test a new satellite technique for measuring the area, height, and biomass of mangrove forests.

"She developed and employed a method that can be used across the continent, overcoming expensive, ad hoc, and inconsistent modes of ground-based measurement," NASA says.

Fatoyinbo's approach recently produced what she believes is the first full assessment of the continent's mangrove forests.

"We've lost more than 50 percent of the world's mangrove forests in a little over half a century; a third of them have disappeared in the last 20 years alone," said Fatoyinbo, whose earlier study of Mozambique's coastal forests laid the groundwork for the continent-wide study.

"Hopefully this technique will offer scientists and officials a method of estimating change in this special type of forest."

Photo courtesy NASA/Temilola Fatoyinbo

Mangroves are the most common ecosystem in coastal areas of the tropics and sub-tropics, NASA says. "The swampy forests are essential--especially in densely-populated developing countries--for rice farming, fishing and aquaculture (freshwater and saltwater farming), timber, and firewood. Some governments also increasingly depend on them for ecotourism."

The large, dense root systems are a natural obstacle that helps protect shorelines against debris and erosion, NASA explains. "Mangroves are often the first line of defense against severe storms, tempering the impact of strong winds and floods."

Mangroves also have a direct link to climate, sequestering carbon from the atmosphere at a rate of about 100 pounds per acre per day--comparable to the per acre intake by tropical rainforests (though rainforests cover more of Earth's surface), NASA adds.

"To my knowledge, this study is the first complete mapping of Africa's mangroves, a comprehensive, historic baseline enabling us to truly begin monitoring the welfare of these forests," said Assaf Anyamba, a University of Maryland expert on vegetation mapping, based at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Fatoyinbo's research combines multiple satellite observations of tree height and land cover, mathematical formulas, and ground-truthing data from the field to measure the full expanse and makeup of the coastal forests.

Her measurements yielded three new kinds of maps of mangroves: continental maps of how much land the mangroves cover; a three-dimensional map of the height of forest canopies across the continent; and biomass maps that allow researchers to assess how much carbon the forests store.

Fatoyinbo and colleague Marc Simard of JPL used satellite images from the NASA-built Landsat and a complex software-based color classification system to distinguish areas of coastal forests from other types of forests, urban areas or agricultural fields.

They also integrated data from NASA's Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) to create relief maps of the height of the forest canopy.

Finally, they merged the broad radar maps with high-accuracy observations from a light detection and ranging (commonly called lidar) instrument aboard NASA's Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) to obtain accurate height estimates.

"Fatoyinbo double-checked the accuracy of her satellite measurements at the ground level in the only way possible: She went to Africa to measure tree heights and trunk diameters in person," NASA says.

Two types of mosquitoes capable of transmitting the dengue fever virus are invading Southern and Mid-Atlantic states, creating conditions more favorable for an outbreak, according to a report released today by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).

"Areas of the United States previously inhospitable to the disease now support populations of mosquitoes capable of carrying the virus--a problem that may worsen with global warming," NRDC said in a statement.

"An estimated 173.5 million Americans live in counties that now contain one or both of the mosquito species."

Dengue vulnerability in the United States

Among the social and environmental factors that increase community vulnerability to dengue and other infectious diseases are poor municipal infrastructure and frequent storm damage to homes. Red areas of the map show U.S. counties that have reported the presence of one or both of the mosquito species (Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus) that can potentially transmit dengue fever; blue regions highlight the area encompassing most of the positive counties.

Map courtesy NRDC

"Milder winters, hotter, wetter summers and even droughts can bring this insect-borne threat closer to home," said Kim Knowlton, NRDC senior scientist. "Usually relegated to tropical and exotic locales, dengue fever has rarely been an issue in the United States outside of the Texas-Mexico border region. But a changing climate may allow certain species of dengue-spreading-mosquitoes to flourish in nearly half of the United States."

NRDC's report, "Fever Pitch: Mosquito-Borne Threat Spreading in the Americas," finds that mosquitoes capable of transmitting dengue have spread into at least 28 US states, including Texas, Florida, Arizona, and even states as far north as New York and New Hampshire.

"In the United States, the number of physician-reported cases of the disease has more than doubled in the past decade. Nearly 4,000 cases of imported and locally-transmitted dengue were reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) between 1995 and 2005, and when the Texas-Mexico border region is included, the number jumps to 10,000 during that time.

"International rates of dengue infection have increased 30-fold in the last 50 years, to an estimated 50 to 100 million infections, a half-million hospitalizations, and 22,000 deaths annually in more than 100 countries."

"International rates of dengue infection have increased 30-fold in the last 50 years, to an estimated 50 to 100 million infections, a half-million hospitalizations, and 22,000 deaths annually in more than 100 countries. In Mexico, Central and South America more than 900,000 dengue fever cases were reported in 2007."

Factors Contributing to Rise in Dengue

Many factors may be contributing to the rise in dengue fever, including increasing international travel and trade, densely-populated communities living in poverty in many countries including the United States, and the effects of global warming, NRDC said.

"Researchers project that because of global warming, in the next 75 years 3 billion additional people will become at risk for the disease across the globe."

Known as "Breakbone Fever" because of its classic symptoms, dengue is characterized by agonizing aching in the bones, joints and muscles, a pounding headache, pain behind the eyes, a high fever and a classic rash.

There is no cure or vaccine against the virus, only preventative and supportive care.

Actions Can Reduce Spread

Both large-scale and individual actions can reduce the spread of dengue fever, NRDC said.

"Individuals can protect themselves and their families from mosquito-borne illnesses by wearing loose-fitting long sleeves and pants when outdoors and using DEET (not more than 30%) on exposed skin when the bugs are biting.

"Individuals can also make sure windows and doors have tight fitting screens and that they don't leave open containers of water in or near their homes. Further precautions should also be taken while traveling to countries where dengue fever is already established.

"At a national and international level, strong climate legislation is needed to slow global warming.

"The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) should require reporting of dengue fever so the spread of the disease within the US can be accurately tracked."

NRDC's report recommends that local and national governments train clinicians, share surveillance data, enhance lab capacity, and coordinate with international partners to prevent future outbreaks and reduce the threat to public health.

The National Resources Defense Council is a nonprofit environmental action group based in New York.

Are pollutants causing a surge in cancers in wildlife, threatening the conservation and even survival of some species? And is their fate a flashing light for the health of humans?"

"Cancer is one of the leading health concerns for humans, accounting for more than 10 percent of human deaths," said Denise McAloose, chief pathologist for the Wildlife Conservation Society's Global Health Program.

"But we now understand that cancer can kill wild animals at similar rates."

Photo by Sharon Deem

McAloose is the lead author of an article published in the July issue the journal Nature Reviews Cancer, which makes the point that some wild animal species suffer from cancer at the same rates that humans and some species serve as early-warning sentinels for animal and human health.

Many species living within polluted aquatic environments suffer high rates of cancerous tumors, and studies strongly suggest links between wildlife cancers and human pollutants, says the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society, in a statement about the research.

"These whales have an extraordinarily high rate of intestinal cancer, which is their second leading cause of death.

"One type of pollutant in these waters--polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (or PAHs)--is a well-known carcinogen in humans, and PAHs are suspected carcinogens for beluga whales as well."

A beluga whale in New York Aquarium. Wild belugas in the nearby St. Lawrence River system suffer from intestinal cancer.

NGS photo by Winfield Parks

Fish in other industrialized waterways, including brown bullhead catfish and English sole, also exhibit high levels of cancer.

Virus-induced cancers can affect the ability of some wildlife populations to reproduce.

"Genital tumors in California sea lions on North America's western coast occur at much higher rates than previously documented. Oceanic dolphin species, such as the dusky dolphin and Burmeister's porpoise (both found in the coastal waters of South America), are also showing higher rates of genital carcinomas."

Other virus-induced cancers can affect the feeding ability or eyesight of wildlife.

"Green sea turtles--a migratory species in oceans across the globe--suffer from fibropapillomatosis, a disease that causes skin and internal organ tumors. A virus is suspected as the cause these tumors, and environmental factors such as human-manufactured carcinogens might exacerbate their severity or prevalence."

Green turtle with a tumor.

Photo by Cynthia Lagueux

In certain situations, cancer threatens the survival of entire species.

"The Tasmanian devil, the world's largest carnivorous marsupial, is at risk of extinction due to a cancer known as devil facial tumor disease. This form of contagious cancer spreads between individual Tasmanian devils through direct contact (primarily fighting and biting).

The authors highlight the critical need to protect both animals and people through increased health monitoring.

"Monitoring the health of wildlife can illuminate the causes of cancer in animal populations; thereby, better safeguarding animals and humans against possible disease.

"Evaluating cancer threats in wildlife populations requires the collaborative efforts of biologists, veterinarians, and pathologists as well as the earnest engagement of governments and international agencies."

The paper concludes that more resources are necessary to support wildlife health monitoring.

"Examining the impact of cancer in wildlife, in particular those instances when human activities are identified as the cause, can contribute to more effective conservation and fits within the One World-One Health approach of reducing threats to both human and animal health," said William Karesh, vice president and director of WCS's Global Health Program.

Read the full story >>

Photograph by Tom Uhlman/AP

"On January 17, 1971, I witnessed a crude oil spill of nearly a half-million gallons in the waters near the Golden Gate Bridge," he writes in his book "Planetwalker."

"The oil spill was my first experience with a major environmental insult.

"As I drove my car over the Golden Gate I felt some responsibility for the mess washing up on the shore. It was nearly a year afterwards, still feeling this responsibility, that I gave up the use of motorized vehicles and started walking."

Months after he started walking everywhere, Francis took a vow of silence to demonstrate his conviction. For the next two decades he walked ... and walked.

First he hiked across America from the Pacific to the Atlantic, then across Cuba and Brazil. "Planetwalker," (National Geographic Books, $16.95), released today in softcover, describes the experience of his silent crusade, how it expanded into a quest to improve how humans treat each other, and how people can better communicate and work together to benefit the planet.

"I had begun a pilgrimage, an outer and inner journey, as part of my education dedicated to raise environmental consciousness, promote earth stewardship and world peace," Francis writes.

The Importance of Listening

Walking in silence, Francis says, he learned the importance of listening. He ended his silence on Earth Day 1990, but not his pilgrimage.

I spoke to Francis on the phone earlier today. He is in the middle of retracing his epic walk around the United States, but in the reverse direction. "On this walk I can speak to people," he told me. "I am retracing my steps to see what is different from my first journey--and to form a partnership with people and organizations on environmental issues."

Each organization will provide $24 million over five years to support a competitive awards program for science research projects that address drought, pests, disease and other serious problems facing small farmers and their families who rely on their crops for their food and income, the NSF said in a news release.

The award program will be called BREAD--Basic Research to Enable Agricultural Development--and will support a competitive award program for science research projects that develop innovative approaches and technologies to boost agricultural productivity in developing countries.

NGS photo of Nigerian woman carrying cassava by Lynn Johnson

Earth at Night picture courtesy NOAA

By Archbishop Desmond Tutu & James Leape, Director General, WWF International

This coming Saturday, hundreds of millions of people around the world will join together in what's being described as a vote for the planet. From New York to Beijing, from Cape Town to Paris, citizens will turn their lights off for sixty minutes to demand action on climate change.

Earth Hour is a unique opportunity for us all to send a message to the world's leaders that 2009 is the year for a global deal to tackle global warming.

We are used to seeing climate change discussed in both environmental and economic terms. The impacts on the planet are all too obvious -- melting polar ice caps, drought and rising sea levels have become the depressing staple of our daily news for several years.

Sand-fleas such as Hyperoche capucinus, are common predators swimming in polar waters. This specimen is about the width of a finger.

Russ Hopcroft, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Census of Marine Life.

Earth's unique, forbidding ice oceans of the Arctic and Antarctic have revealed secrets to explorers, who were especially surprised to find at least 235 species live in both polar seas despite a distance of more than 7,000-mile (13,000-kilometer) distance in between, the Census of Marine Life (CoML) project announced today.

DNA analysis is underway to confirm whether the species are indeed identical.

Among many other findings, the scientists also documented evidence of cold water-loving species shifting towards both poles to escape rising ocean temperatures.

The discoveries are the result of a series of voyages conducted during International Polar Year, 2007-2008.

The studies by a global network of polar researchers have added substantially to human knowledge about the diversity, distribution and abundance of marine life, with results to be fully detailed in the world's first Census report, to be released in London October 4, 2010.

"The polar seas, far from being biological deserts, teem with an amazing quantity and variety of life," said Ian Poiner, chair of the Census Scientific Steering Committee. "Only through the co-operation of 500 people from more than 25 countries could the daunting environmental challenges be overcome to produce research of such unprecedented scale and importance. And humanity is only starting to understand the nature of these regions."

Census researchers last year established that several octopus types have repeatedly colonized the deep sea, each migration coinciding with retreating Antarctic ice over 30 million years.

Russ Hopcroft, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Census of Marine Life.

"Today they theorize that the Antarctic also regularly refreshes the world's oceans with new varieties of sea spiders, isopods (crustaceans related to shrimp and crabs), and others as well. They believe the new species evolve when expansions of ice cloister Antarctica; when the ice retreats, they radiate northward along the same pathways followed by the octopuses," the CoML release said.

Russ Hopcroft, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Census of Marine Life.

More from National Geographic News:

PHOTOS: Odd, Identical Species Found at Both Poles

PHOTOS: New Deep-Sea Species Revealed by Marine Census

Ocean Life Survey Reveals World of Deep-Sea Creatures

NASA

We hear a lot about how carbon dioxide emissions are warming the atmosphere and changing climate in ways that are damaging, if not catastrophic, for life on Earth.

Increasingly we are also learning about the impact of carbon dioxide on the oceans. As the sea absorbs carbon from the air its chemistry is changing, becoming more acidic. This also is likely to have a profound impact on life, experts warn.

Ocean acidification could affect marine food webs and lead to substantial changes in commercial fish stocks, threatening protein supply and food security for millions of people as well as the multi-billion dollar fishing industry, the Monaco Declaration says.

"Coral reefs provide fish habitat, generate billions of dollars annually in tourism, protect shorelines from erosion and flooding, and provide the foundation for tremendous biodiversity, equivalent to that found in tropical rain forests," the Declaration says.

"Yet by mid-century, ocean acidification may render most regions chemically inhospitable to coral reefs. These and other acidification related changes could affect a wealth of marine goods and services, such as our ability to use the ocean to manage waste, to provide chemicals to make new medicines, and to benefit from its natural capacity to regulate climate.

"For instance, ocean acidification will reduce the ocean's capacity to absorb anthropogenic CO2, which will exacerbate climate change."

Now physicists at the University of Texas at Austin have designed a system that, when fully developed, would use fusion to relatively inexpensively destroy the waste from nuclear fission in nuclear power plants.

"Our waste destruction system, we believe, will allow nuclear power -- a low carbon source of energy -- to take its place in helping us combat global warming," said Mike Kotschenreuther, senior research scientist with the Institute for Fusion Studies (IFS) and Department of Physics.

There are more than 100 fission reactors, called "light water reactors" (LWRs), producing power in the United States, the release explained. "The nuclear waste from these reactors is stored and not reprocessed. Some other countries, such as France and Japan, do reprocess the waste."

"The physicists' new invention could drastically decrease the need for any additional or expanded geological repositories," UT said.

NASA

Climate scientists have long believed that while most of the rest of the globe has been getting steadily warmer, a large part of Antarctica -- the East Antarctic Ice Sheet -- has been getting colder.

But new research, depicted in this illustration released by NASA today, shows that for the last 50 years, much of Antarctica has been warming at a rate comparable to the rest of the world.

"In fact, the warming in West Antarctica is greater than the cooling in East Antarctica, meaning that on average the continent has gotten warmer," said Eric Steig, a University of Washington professor of Earth and space sciences and director of the Quaternary Research Center at the UW.

"West Antarctica is a very different place than East Antarctica, and there is a physical barrier, the Transantarctic Mountains, that separates the two," said Steig, lead author of a paper documenting the warming published in the January 22 edition of the journal Nature.

The West Antarctic Ice Sheet, with an average elevation of about 6,000 feet above sea level, is substantially lower than East Antarctica, which has an average elevation of more than 10,000 feet. While the entire continent is essentially a desert, West Antarctica is subject to relatively warm, moist storms and receives much greater snowfall than East Antarctica.

This NASA/JPL image from space on the right shows that giant, snow-covered swaths of Antarctica melted in January 2005.

The researchers determined the temperature changes by devising a statistical technique that uses data from satellites and from Antarctic weather stations to make a new estimate of temperature trends.

"The thing you hear all the time is that Antarctica is cooling and that's not the case," Steig said. "If anything it's the reverse, but it's more complex than that. Antarctica isn't warming at the same rate everywhere, and while some areas have been cooling for a long time the evidence shows the continent as a whole is getting warmer."

A major reason most of Antarctica was thought to be cooling is because of a hole in the Earth's protective ozone layer that appears during the spring months in the Southern Hemisphere's polar region. Steig noted that it is well established that the ozone hole has contributed to cooling in East Antarctica.

"However, it seems to have been assumed that the ozone hole was affecting the entire continent when there wasn't any evidence to support that idea, or even any theory to support it," he said.

"In any case, efforts to repair the ozone layer eventually will begin taking effect and the hole could be eliminated by the middle of this century. If that happens, all of Antarctica could begin warming on a par with the rest of the world."

Related National Geographic News story: Antarctica Heating Up, "Ignored" Satellite Data Shows

Photo by L.S. Vors/WCS

Caribou could soon become endangered by threats such as oil exploration and climate change, according to a new book by authors from the Wildlife Conservation Society and the World Wildlife Fund.

"Many children who grow up in North America and Europe are familiar with caribou as symbols of holiday myths and legends," says Justina Ray, Executive Director of WCS-Canada and a co-author of the book.

Caribou is the name given to wild reindeer in North America. They are a familiar sight on holiday cards at this time of the year. Reindeer famously draw Santa's toy-laden sleigh through the starry Christmas sky.

"It's important to remember that reindeer play an important role in the rich ecosystems of the Northern Hemisphere that we all rely on." Ray said in a WCS news release about her book. "Protecting calving areas and other habitats needed to satisfy their enormous needs can help us conserve the caribou for the benefit of both the natural world and human culture."

All photos by Cagan Sekercioglu

Why do some bird species lay only one egg in their nest, and others ten?

The substantial variation in number of eggs in the nest (clutch size) between bird species has long puzzled behavioral, ecological, and evolutionary biologists. One method to explain it focused on the biology of species, such as body weight. Another approach looked at the environment, such as seasonality.

By using data on clutch size for 5,290 species, and combining it with a wealth of information on the biology and the environment of these species, scientists believe they may have some answers.

Photo by Leslie Babonis/UF Department of Zoology

Some species of sea snake need freshwater to survive, a University of Florida zoologist has discovered.

Harvey Lillywhite says it has been the "long-standing dogma" that the roughly 60 species of venomous sea snakes worldwide slake their thirst by drinking seawater, with internal salt glands filtering and excreting the salt.

"Experiments with three species of captive sea kraits captured near Taiwan, however, found that the snakes refused to drink saltwater even if thirsty -- and then would drink only freshwater or heavily diluted saltwater," he says.

Illustration courtesy National Snow and Ice Data Center

The giant ice cube bobbing on the top of the planet just got smaller.

Warming sea and air probably caused the Arctic sea ice to melt to its lowest volume on record this summer, the University of Colorado at Boulder's National Snow and Ice Data Center reported today. 

While looking for whales in Alaska's Chukchi Sea last week, U.S. government officials noticed an unusually high number of polar bears swimming in the open sea. Some were apparently heading for shore and some were heading toward ice. Several of them were 15 to 20 miles from either destination.

Polar bears are good swimmers, of course, and they do cross water to get out to the ice, which they use as a platform to hunt marine life.

Biologists have predicted that polar bears might be in trouble as global warming causes the Arctic ice to retreat.

Giant snakes may not be about to invade much of the United States, after all. 

One of the more dire predictions of the consequences of climate change came from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) a few months ago: The giant Burmese python currently wreaking havoc in the Florida Everglades could find itself "comfortable" in as much as a third of the nation once temperatures rise as projected.

A new study using a different computer model released this week suggests otherwise. Climate change will actually seriously impact the current range of the reptile in the U.S., confining it to the swampy southern fringe of Florida.

Read more and see a snake "climate match" map and pictures in the extended entry.