Carbon-Rich Mangroves Ripe for Conservation. By Janelle Weaver, Nature, 4/3/11. “Mangrove forests in tropical regions of the Indian and Pacific Oceans store more carbon than previously recognized, according to a study published today in Nature Geoscience. The findings indicate that much of the carbon in such forests is found in the surrounding soil, which is rich in organic material. Cutting down mangrove forests, which occupy less than 1% of tropical forest area, could therefore contribute up to 10% of global carbon emissions from deforestation. Although carbon reserves in other types of tropical wetland forest have been assessed, the amount of carbon in mangroves has been largely ignored, even though they are present in more than 100 countries.”

For Russia, Global Warming Benefits 'Outweigh' Negatives. By Natalya Krainova, Moscow Times, 12/2/10. “Even permafrost will retreat thanks to global warming, but not this week. Global warming in the next 40 years will allow Russian authorities to save on central heating, increase agricultural production and extend sea navigation in the north, a leading Russian climatologist told a Russian-German conference recently. But authorities will have to fork out money to reconstruct several big Siberian and Far Eastern cities to prevent them from collapsing as a result of a warmer climate, Vladimir Klimenko, head of Laboratory of Global Power Engineering Problems at the Moscow Power Engineering Institute told the conference co-organized by Alexander von Humbolt Foundation. However, ‘the reduction of heating alone outweighs all the negative results [of the global warming] by many times,’ Klimenko said. If the money saved through reducing heating ‘is spent sensibly, then something can be achieved,’ he said.”

Spate of Natural Disasters Spurs Record Relief Spending for U.N. By Nathanial Gronewold, Greenwire, 12/6/10. “The U.N. system will spend more than $3 billion this year responding to natural disasters… Most of the cash -- believed to be a record amount spent by the world body on natural disasters -- went to emergency efforts for floods in Pakistan and the earthquake in Haiti, but the United Nations mobilized relief in two dozen other countries whose miseries mostly went unnoticed in the international press… The funds were divided among multiple U.N. agencies, governments and private relief groups managing operations in at least 24 countries enduring earthquakes, floods, droughts and even heavy snowfall.”

Niger: Land of Hope. By Alex Perry, Time Magazine, 12/13/10. “The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization says that on the southern edge of the Sahara, an area the size of Somalia has become desert in the past 50 years... In a May 2008 report, the U.N. Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) said 46% of Africa is threatened by land degradation. UNCCD executive secretary Luc Gnacadja concluded that desertification is ‘the greatest environmental challenge of our times.’… The coming climate crisis will have a massive human cost… [But,] for University of Amsterdam environmental researcher Chris Reij, returning to Niger in 2004 after a decade's absence was ‘quite a surprise.’ In areas that used to be completely barren, where you could see villages miles away, ‘suddenly the view was blocked with green.’… Today Niger is one of the world's foremost examples of a green economy. Fighting climate change in Niger is development. Trees, soil and water have been reinstated as capital. Conflict between farmers and herders is down 80%, says Reij. And all this without dependence on schemes such as CDM or UN-REDD. Which means, as Reij says, ‘most of it didn't cost anything.’"

Antarctic Melting as Deep Ocean Heat Rises. By Larry O’Hanlon, Discovery News, 12/14/10. “Global warming is sneaky. For more than a century it has been hiding large amounts of excess heat in the world's deep seas. Now that heat is coming to the surface again in one of the worst possible places: Antarctica. New analyses of the heat content of the waters off Western Antarctic Peninsula are now showing a clear and exponential increase in warming waters undermining the sea ice, raising air temperatures, melting glaciers and wiping out entire penguin colonies. ‘In the area I work there is the highest increase in temperatures of anywhere on Earth,’ said physical oceanographer Doug Martinson of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. Martinson has been collecting ocean water heat content data for more than 18 years at Palmer Island, on the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula…

“Martinson and his colleagues looked not only at their very detailed and mapped water heat data from the last two decades, but compared them with sketchier data from the past and deep ocean heat content measurements worldwide. All show the same rising trend that is being seen in Antarctica. ‘When I saw that my jaw just dropped,’ said Martinson. The most dramatic rise has happened since 1960, he said. What the rising water heat means, he said, is that even if humanity got organized and soon stopped emitting greenhouse gases, there is already too much heat in the oceans to stop a lot of impacts -- like the melting of a huge amount of Antarctic ice.”

Is the End In Sight for the World’s Coral Reefs? By J.E.N. Veron,YaleEnviro360, 12/6/10. “It is a difficult idea to fathom… [especially] for me, an Australian marine scientist who has spent the past 40 years working on reefs the world over… But the science is clear: Unless we change the way we live, the Earth's coral reefs will be utterly destroyed within our children's lifetimes… Great Barrier Reef -- the biggest structure ever made by life on Earth… will not be there for our children’s children to enjoy unless we drastically change our priorities and the way we live… As with temperature, the oceans act as a huge repository, absorbing and buffering any excess CO2 in the atmosphere… All organisms that produce calcium carbonate skeletons (including shells, crabs, sea urchins, corals, coralline algae, calcareous phytoplankton, and many others) depend on their ability to deposit calcium carbonate, and this process is largely controlled by the prevailing water chemistry. As alkalinity decreases, precipitation of calcium carbonate becomes more and more difficult until eventually it is inhibited altogether. The potential consequences of such acidification are nothing less than catastrophic…

“A particularly galling aspect of the past four mass extinction events (very little is known about the first) is that, following them, reefs disappeared -- not just for a few tens of thousands of years, but for millions of years -- long after adverse climatic conditions may have returned to benign levels. One of the characteristics of acidification is that while it can be initiated by high CO2 levels over relatively short periods, there are no short-term geochemical fixes to reverse the process. Reversal can take place only through the immensely slow weathering and dissolution processes of geological time, processes that take hundreds of thousands to millions of years…

“The greenhouse gases we produce today will take a number of decades (and sometimes more) to unleash their full fury, but their effects are unavoidable and unstoppable. We cannot afford to wait until the predictions of science can be totally verified, because by that time it will be too late. How many of us wish to explain to our children and children’s children that the predictions were there but we wanted confirmation?... Reefs are the ocean’s canaries and we must hear their call. This call is not just for themselves, for the other great ecosystems of the ocean stand behind reefs like a row of dominoes. If coral reefs fail, the rest will follow in rapid succession, and the Sixth Mass Extinction will be upon us -- and will be of our making.”

Subarctic Wildfires a 'Runaway Climate Change' Risk. ByMarlowe Hood, AFP, 12/5/12. “Global warming is driving forest fires in northern latitudes to burn more frequently and fiercely, contributing to the threat of runaway climate change, according to a study released Dec.5. Increased intensity of fires in Alaska's vast interior over the last decade has changed the region from a sink to a source of carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas most responsible for heating up the planet, the study found. On balance, in other words, boreal forests in the northern hemisphere may now soak up less of the heat-trapping gas than they give off. The bulk of the released CO2 comes not from the burning trees, but from what is in the ground. ‘Most of what fuels a boreal fire is plant litter, moss and organic matter in surface soils,’ said Merritt Turetsky, a professor at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada and lead author of the study. The findings are worrisome, he said, because about half of the world's soil carbon is trapped in northern permafrost and peatlands. ‘This is carbon that has accumulated in ecosystems a little bit at a time for thousands of years, but is being released very rapidly.’ While the study, published in Nature Geoscience, focused on Alaska's 18.5 million hectares (45 million acres) of forests, its conclusions likely apply to huge expanses of wilderness in Siberia, Canada and northern Europe as well.”

World Dangerously Close to Food Crisis, U.N. Says. By John Collins Rudolf, NYTimes, 11/24/10. “Global grain production will tumble by 63 million metric tons this year, or 2 percent over all, mainly because of weather-related calamities like the Russian heat wave and the floods in Pakistan, the United Nations estimates in its most recent report on the world food supply. The United Nations had previously projected that grain yields would grow 1.2 percent this year… In the long term, growing demand for food staples like corn and seed oil for use as biofuels will most likely continue to play a central role in tightening world food supplies, the United Nations warned. Roughly 7% of global yields of corn and other coarse grains is being used to make ethanol.”

Serengeti-Mara Wildebeest Migration Disrupted by Climate Change. By Adam Ihucha, EastAfrican, 10/25/10. “A change in the spectacular wildebeest migration schedule in the great Serengeti-Mara ecosystem has caught ecologists off guard. Ecologists speculate that last year’s drought might have disrupted the natural wildebeest movement… The wildebeest migration attracts thousands of tourists every year… Traditionally, the wildebeest spend three months in Maasai Mara and nine months in Serengeti but for this year it appears it was two and 10 months in Maasai Mara and Serengeti respectively.”

Invasive Species and Climate Change Make a ‘Deadly Duo’. By David Fogarty, Reuters, 10/22/10. “Climate change is set to drive the spread of invasive plant and animals species, threatening forests, fisheries and crops, in a double blow to nature and livelihoods, a World Bank-funded report [Invasive Species, Climate Change and Ecosystem-Based Adaptation, PDF, 56 pp.] said on Friday. The study by Nairobi-based Global Invasive Species Programme says a warmer world, more extreme weather and higher levels of planet-warming carbon dioxide will give some species an edge, devastating ecosystems at sea and on land. ‘The estimated damage from invasive species worldwide totals more than $1.4 trillion annually -- 5% of the global economy,’ says the report issued on the sidelines of a major U.N. meeting in Japan aimed at combating the destruction of nature.”

U.N. Study Puts Economic Value on Intact Ecosystems. By John M. Broder, NYTimes, 10/20/10. “Forests, fisheries, coral reefs, bee colonies and other natural assets carry large and unappreciated economic benefits as well as contributing to the diversity of the planet’s plant and animal life, according to a new study [The Economics of Biodiversity, PDF, 39 pp] from the United Nations Environment Program. The study, known as the Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB), is the result of three years of work led by the United Nations Environment Program and an effort to get governments and private businesses around the world to appreciate the value of nature and participate in efforts to preserve it. The report was released on Wednesday in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity, under way in Nagoya, Japan. The study found that forests, reefs and oceans account for 47 to 89 percent of the effective income of rural and poor households in many large developing countries. This source of income has generally been overlooked by many economists, who have focused on traditional sectors like manufacturing, mining, retailing, construction and energy generation.”

Are Pakistan Relief Efforts a Training Exercise for Climate Change Disasters? By Nathanial Gronewold, ClimateWire, 10/14/10. “Some 12 weeks since the onset of devastating flash floods left a half-million Pakistanis stranded, U.S. forces are still actively assisting the Pakistani military with delivering aid to populations in need… U.S. embassy officials say they expect troops to be here doing this work until at least November. The troops involved say they have all trained heavily in disaster relief work since enlisting, but many also admit that they never expected to actually be putting the training to work, expecting instead to be engaged in combat… In February, the U.S. Department of Defense released a Quadrennial Defense Review Report [PDF, 128 pp] that… calls climate change an ‘accelerant of instability’ that could increase the frequency and severity of natural disasters, taxing civilian disaster relief capabilities and requiring more regular military support. DOD has been among the first on scene responding to a string of mass-casualty disasters caused by earthquakes, including the devastating quake in northern Pakistan in 2005… Riding with and interviewing the men and women engaged in efforts here shows that, for most enlisted personnel, relief work in foreign lands is among the most welcome and rewarding parts of their service. It's also almost as exhausting and stressful as combat, and not without its own levels of danger and deadly threats, especially in northern Pakistan.”

Elephant Seals Fitted with Electronic Monitors in Southern Ocean. By David Fogarty, Reuters, 10/15/10. “Scientists are outfitting elephant seals and self-propelled water gliders with monitoring equipment to unlock the oceans' secrets and boost understanding of the impacts of climate change… But scientists say they need to ramp up a global monitoring network, with the Southern Ocean between Australia and Antarctica playing a key role. The Southern Ocean is a major ‘sink’ of mankind's carbon emissions and an engine of the world's climate.”

Extreme Drought Grips U.S. in South, Midwest. By Cameron McWhirter, WSJ, 10/20/10. “An extreme drought has taken hold in parts of nine states stretching from the Southeast to the lower Midwest, damaging crops, driving up the cost of keeping livestock and putting officials on alert for wildfires. Climatologists say the dry weather likely will continue at least until spring, raising the possibility of prolonged drought in some areas next summer.”

Severe Drought Afflicts Brazilian Amazon. BBC, 10/22/10. “The Brazilian government has announced $13.5 million in emergency aid for Amazon regions hit by the worst drought in decades… The River Amazon at Manaus has fallen to its lowest level since 1963. Scientists say the region is facing its worst drought since that year. In Amazonas state 27 municipalities have declared a state of emergency because of the dry spell. Several tributaries of the Amazon have almost completely dried up, paralyzing river transport and the fishing industry. The rainy season in the region usually begins in November. The Peruvian Amazon, 2,000km (1,240 miles) upstream has also been affected… Environmental groups say severe drought are likely to become more frequent in the Amazon as a result of global warming, putting further strain on the rainforest.”

The Colorado River Runs Dry. By Sarah Zielinski, Smithsonian magazine, 10/10 issue. “From its source high in the Rocky Mountains, the Colorado River channels water south nearly 1,500 miles, over falls, through deserts and canyons, to the lush wetlands of a vast delta in Mexico and into the Gulf of California. That is, it did so for six million years. Then, beginning in the 1920s, Western states began divvying up the Colorado’s water, building dams and diverting the flow hundreds of miles, to Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix and other fast-growing cities. The river now serves 30 million people in seven U.S. states and Mexico, with 70% or more of its water siphoned off to irrigate 3.5 million acres of cropland. The damming and diverting of the Colorado, the nation’s seventh-longest river, may be seen by some as a triumph of engineering and by others as a crime against nature, but there are ominous new twists. The river has been running especially low for the past decade, as drought has gripped the Southwest… some 130 feet lower, as it happens, since 2000. Water resource officials say some of the reservoirs fed by the river will never be full again. Climate change will likely decrease the river’s flow by 5 to 20% in the next 40 years, says geoscientist Brad Udall, director of the University of Colorado Western Water Assessment. Less precipitation in the Rocky Mountains will yield less water to begin with. Droughts will last longer. Higher overall air temperatures will mean more water lost to evaporation.” Note water levels of Lake Mead.

Forests Soak up Carbon, But for How Long? By Douglas Fischer, DailyClimate, 10/18/10. “U.S. forests offset roughly 11% of the nation's industrial greenhouse gas emissions, storing ‘significant amounts’ of carbon that would otherwise pollute the atmosphere, according to new government data. The findings, released last week, estimate the nation's expanding forests sequester an additional 192 million metric tons of carbon annually due to increases in both the total area of forest land and the amount of carbon stored per acre... But as emissions increase and the planet warms, that storage capacity could be compromised. Warmer summers, changing precipitation patterns and a thinning snow pack are already ‘aridifying’ [said] Montana Professor Steve Running… Forests in the western United States store a greater proportion of carbon in the trees; other areas, such as the Great Lakes, have larger concentrations of peat in the soil, storing more carbon there. Understanding those differences -- and corresponding climate-induced changes -- could have important ramifications as the agency assesses the carbon sequestration potential of the nation's forests, agency officials said.”

Back From the Brink: Otters Return to U.K. Rivers. By Terri Judd, Independent (UK), 10/18/10. “For the past 40 years or more, the sight of otters playing in England's rivers has been a desperately rare treat. Now, at last, it seems the tide is turning in favor of the country's favorite water dwelling animal, which has been brought back from the brink of extinction against the odds. A report [PDF, 12 pp] by the Environment Agency published today reveals that numbers of the once elusive animal are at their highest for decades. Poisoned by toxic pesticides in rivers, the animals had almost disappeared by the 1970s… But a concerted effort to protect the otter, including the introduction of legislation which made it an offence to intentionally kill or harm the animals, has brought about a dramatic resurgence.”

African Development Forum Meets in Addis Ababa, Warned that Climate Change is Already Causing Human Migrations. Afrique en ligne, 10/16/10. “Climate change is causing growing internal population migrations and displacements in Africa, a top official of the U.N. High Commission for Refugees [UNHCR], Chrysantus Ache, said Friday [10/15/10]. Ache, the UNHCR representative at the Africa Union and the U.N. Economic Commission for Africa [UNECA], said more and more people were on the move, escaping climate change-induced disasters such as droughts and flooding. Ache warned, at the Seventh African Development Forum [meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia], that the situation would become critical in coming years as the impact of global warming worsens…

“’Climate change is already undermining the livelihoods and security of many people, exacerbating income differentials and deepening inequalities. Over the last two decades, the number of recorded natural disasters has doubled from some 200 to over 400 per year. Nine out of every ten natural disasters today are climate-related,' Ache said. He warned that as temperatures rose further and land became increasingly less productive, urbanization in Africa will also accelerate, generating additional competition for scarce resources and public services in cities. Other experts at the forum also warned that incidences of vector-borne diseases will increase as a result of climate change, as will the cost of food and energy. In the end, this will cause increased social and political conflicts, which on the surface will be difficult to trace to climate change, they said.”

Antarctic Krill at Risk from CO2. ABC News (AU), 10/13/10. “Tasmanian scientists have released ground-breaking research which shows increasing ocean acidification is deadly for Antarctica's main food source. The team at the Antarctic Division has studied the impacts of increased levels of carbon dioxide on the shrimp-like krill. Scientists exposed the laboratory krill embryos to varying levels of carbon dioxide, from as little as 380 parts per million, which is the current surface level, to 2,000 parts per million. The embryos exposed to the highest level did not survive. Krill Biologist Rob King says with carbon dioxide levels predicted to double by the end of the century, the next step is to find the exact tipping point. ‘No one had done this before, especially for Antarctic krill, and we really were shooting in the dark a bit to find and guess what levels to try,’ he said.”