By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr. and AHMAD FADAM
Published: March 3, 2008
 
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/03/world/middleeast/03iraq.html?ref=world BAGHDAD — President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, arriving in Baghdad to open what he declared a "new chapter" in relations between Iraqand Iran, warned President Bush on Sunday that America's problems in the Middle East would worsen as long as he continued to accuse Iran of interfering in Iraq.

The visit, the first by an Iranian leader since the brutal Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, set off protests in Sunni Arab areas that seemed to underscore how growing Iranian influence could thwart hopes of mending the Iraqi government's sour relationship with Sunnis inside its own borders. Many of Iraq's Shiite leaders have ties to Iran.

"Today, by the grace of God, our two countries' leaders have agreed to cement their brotherly relations," Mr. Ahmadinejad said after meeting with the Iraqi president, Jalal Talabani. The Iranian leader plans to stay for two days and strike deals on energy and other investment projects.

Mr. Talabani, a Kurd, said that "economic, oil, political and security issues" are all on the table. He also reiterated previous vows by Iraqi officials to eliminate the Mujahedeen Khalq, a group of anti-Iranian guerrillas, some of whose members have taken shelter at an American-guarded compound in eastern Iraq.

Mr. Ahmadinejad later called for Iraq, Iran and Turkey to cooperate to drive Kurdish guerrillas from the Iraqi border areas they use to stage attacks into both countries. American officials say the guerrillas of the Kurdistan Workers Party, who attack Turkey, a NATO ally, are terrorists. But they do not condemn a closely linked group, the Party for Free Life in Kurdistan, which carries out deadly raids into Iran.

The visit made plain the determination of Iraqi leaders to move closer to Tehran despite American accusations that Iran supports militias in Iraq. Mr. Ahmadinejad received hugs from several dignitaries who greeted him, including Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi, a Shiite.

Ruth Fremson/The New York Times
By SOMINI SENGUPTA
Published: March 2, 2008GURGAON, India — It is Friday night in the mecca of new Indian ambition.
The New York TimesThe air is thick with the construction dust of new glass-fronted high-rise buildings. The traffic moves so slowly that commuters can gape all they want at the Burberry advertisement that lights up the facade of a shopping mall. In the din of car horns and cranes, Sucharita Rastogi, 27, a business school graduate, waits wearily for her office van to pull up and take her home; it will be at least a 90-minute crawl. "Mind-wise," she says, "we are exhausted, sitting, waiting."

A beacon of India's red-hot economy, this new suburb on the edge of the capital, New Delhi, is also a symbol of India's fast-growing hunger for energy. By the government's own estimates, energy consumption in this country of 1.1 billion is expected to quadruple over the next 25 years, inevitably expanding India's emissions of greenhouse gases.

At the moment, it is a mixed blessing that Gurgaon remains an island of air-conditioned malls and roaring, round-the-clock office towers, and that behind this brightly lighted boomtown lies a vast nation of darkness and cow-dung-fueled stoves.

Almost half of India's population has no access to the electricity grid, and many more people suffer hours without power. Nearly 700,000 Indians rely on animal waste and firewood as fuel for cooking. As a result, India's per capita carbon footprint remains a small fraction of that of the industrialized world — the average American produces 16 times the emissions of the average Indian — and in turn empowers the central Indian argument for its right to consume more, not less, energy in the future.

India has consistently bucked pressures to set targets for reducing emissions, arguing that it has neither been a significant polluter nor yet able to spread modern energy to millions of its poor. Instead, it has pledged to ensure that its per capita emissions never exceed those of the developed world.

From: UniversityofCalifornia - San Diego
Published March 2, 2008 08:30 AM

 http://www.enn.com/ecosystems/article/32104

Their study, published online February 28 in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, provides a guide for conservationists of the areas of our planet where conservation investments would have the most impact in the future to limit extinctions and damage to ecosystems due to rapid human-driven climate and land-use change.

The researchers found that many of the regions that face the greatest habitat change in relation to the amount of land currently protected such as Indonesia and Madagascar are in globally threatened and endemic species rich, developing nations that have the fest resources for conservation. Conversely, many of the temperate regions of the planet with an already expansive network of reserves are in countries such as Austria, Germany, and Switzerland with the greatest financial resources for conservation efforts, but comparatively less biodiversity under threat.

 ...

"While many details still have to be worked out, our study is a first baseline attempt on a global scale to quantitatively demonstrate the urgent need to plan reserves and other conservation efforts in view of future global change impacts," he added. "Reserves have often been set up haphazardly, following some national goal, such as to preserve 10 percent of a country's area, or in response to past threats. But little consideration has been given to the actual geography of future threats in relation to biodiversity. Yet it's those future threats that expose biodiversity to extinction."

To conduct their study, the researchers examined the impact of climate and land use changes on networks of biological reserves around the world and contrasted them to four projections of future globalwarming, agricultural expansion and human population growth from the global Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. They discovered that past human impacts on the land poorly predicted the future impacts of climatechange, revealing the inadequacy of current global conservation plans.

From: Reuters
Published March 1, 2008 07:26 PM

http://www.enn.com/top_stories/article/32096

By Alistair Lyon, Special Correspondent

BEIT HUJAIRA, Yemen (Reuters) - Black-clad women trudge across a stony plateau in the Yemeni highlands to haul water in yellow plastic cans from wells that will soon dry up.

"We come here three or four times a day," says Adiba Sena, as another woman draws water six metres (20 feet) to the surface and pours it into jerry cans lashed to her grey donkey. "We use it to clean, cook, wash -- we have no pipes that reach us."

These women are at the sharp end of what Yemen's water and environment minister describes as a collapse of national water resources so severe it cannot be reversed, only delayed at best.

"This is almost inevitable because of the geography and climate of Yemen, coupled with uncontrolled population growth and very low capacity for managing resources," the minister, Abdul-Rahman al-Iryani, told Reuters in an interview.

...

Staving off disaster on this scale would challenge even a richer nation. For Yemen, where 45 percent of the population survives on less than $2 a day, the odds are much worse.

Nearly 75 percent of Yemenis still live in the countryside, but an accelerating drift to the cities has overwhelmed urban utilities, including water. Sanaa has mushroomed to more than 2 million people from just 60,000 in the 1940s.

Financial Times: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/860d590e-e8ac-11dc-913a-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1 

By Andrew Bounds in Brussels

Published: March 3 2008 01:33 | Last updated: March 3 2008 01:33

Climate change poses "serious security risks" and fighting it should be part of "preventive security policy", according to the European Union's top diplomats.

The warning is contained in a paper prepared for an EU summit this month by Javier Solana, the bloc's foreign policy chief, and Benita Ferrero-Waldner, external relations commissioner.

The paper, seen by Financial Times Deutschland and the FT, says increased natural disasters and shortages of water, food and other resources in the developing world could affect European security.

The threat of water wars is particularly grave in the Middle East. Two-thirds of the Arab world relies on external supplies.

"Existing tensions over access to water are almost certain to intensify in the region, leading to further political instability with detrimental implications for Europe's energy security and other interests. Water supply in Israel might fall by 60 per cent over this century," the paper says.

SIPA: The United Nations and Climate Change: New Divisions
Date: March 04, 2008 from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm EST
Location: Columbia University
Morningside Campus
International Affairs Building, Room 1501
420 West 118th Street, New York, NY
Contact: For further information regarding this event, please contact Steve Vigil by sending email to sdv2102@columbia.edu .
 
The United Nations Studies Program invites you to join the Ambassadors of Bangladesh, Grenada, India, Mexico and Switzerland for a discussion on climate change and the role of the United Nations. 
 Ambassador Angus Friday, Permanent Representative of Grenada to the United Nations

Ambassador Claude Heller, Permanent Representative of Mexico to the United Nations

Ambassador Ismat Jahan, Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations & Chairman of the Least Developed Countries (LDC)

Ambassador Ajai Malhotra, Deputy Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations

Ambassador Peter Maurer, Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the United Nations

Juanita Casteno, Director of UNEP Office in New York

Moderator: Elisabeth Lindenmayer, Acting Director, UN Studies Program, SIPA

Seating will be on a first come, first served basis.
Reception to follow

Co-sponsored by: United Nations Studies Working Group

We hope you will join us for our next meeting of the Environment-Security Cross-Cutting Initiative on "Conservation and Peacebuilding". The meeting will be held on Monday, March 10th from 12:00pm - 2:00 pm.

We will be joined by guest, Dr. Saleem Ali, who will explore the findings of his most recent edited volume, Peace Parks: Conservation and Conflict Resolution(MIT Press, September, 2007)

PLEASE RSVP to Jen Mulvey at jmulvey@ciesin.columbia.edu or 845-365-8988 by March 7, so we can order the right amount of food.

Event Description:

Saleem will be discussing his recent work on transboundary conservation zones and their role in peacebuilding and international cooperation.

We would also like to discuss the case study of the Virunga National Park by Patricia Kameri-Mbote from the University of Nairobi published
by UNEP and the Woodrow Wilson Center.  Please focus on pages 13-42. In addition, on February 28th, 2008, the governments of Rwanda, Congo,
and Uganda launched a strategic 10-year Transboundary Strategic Plan for the Central Albertine Rift Protected Area Network.

Please see "Environmental Conflict and Cooperation in the African Great Lakes Region: A Case Study of the Virungas"

Saleem H. Ali Bio:

Associate Professor of Environmental  Studies at the University of Vermont's Rubenstein School of Natural  Resources, and  on the adjunct faculty of Brown  University's   Watson Institute for International StudiesFor the 2007-2008 academic year, he is  also serving as the Associate Dean for Graduate Education in Natural  Resources at the University of Vermont. His research focuses on the  causes and  consequences of environmental conflicts and how ecological factors can  promote  peace. He is also on the visting faculty for the United Nations mandated University for Peace(Costa  Rica), where he teaches a course on Indigenous Environment and  Development Conflicts. Much of his empirical research has focused on  environmental  conflicts in  the mineral sector and he is the author of  Mining, the Environment and Indigenous Development Conflicts (published the University  of Arizona Press,  fall 2003). His most recent edited volume isPeace Parks: Conservation and Conflict Resolution(MIT Press, September, 2007),  which has received cover endorsements from E.O.  Wilson, George Schaller and Achim Steiner, and a foreword by Julia  Marton-Lefevre.

Dr.  Ali is also a member  of the expert advisory group on  environmental conflicts for the United Nations Environment Programme  with a  specific interest in transboundary conservation zones. As part of this  effort, he is a member of the World Commission on Protected Areas and the IUCN Taskforce on Transboundary Conservation. He has also been involved  in promoting environmental education in  madrassahs (Islamic religious schools) and using techniques from  environmental  planning to study the rise of these institutions in his ethnic homeland  -- Pakistan,  under a grant from the United States Institute of Peace.

 Some  of his current research on environmental health perception in mining  areas and social resposibility in the mining sector is supported by the  Tiffany &Co. Foundation .
 

Prior  to embarking on an academic career, Dr. Ali has worked  as an environmental health and safety professional atGeneral Electric  (based at GE headquarters in Fairfield,  CT, and at silicone resin  manufacturing sites in New  York). He has served  as a consultant for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Serviceand Health Canada  as an Associate at the Boston-based consulting firm Industrial Economics Inc.   Pro bono projects include a mining impact prospectus for the Crowe  Tribe of Montana  and research assistance to Cultural Survival (an indigenous rights NGO).
 

He is  also a professional mediator and has conducted workshops on  consenus-building for private and public interests, as well as peer  review of research publications for the World Bank, the , The  Woodrow Wilson Center's Environmental Change and Security Program
, the Journal of Environmental Management, the Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, the Natural Resources Forum  and Yale University Press.
    
 Research appointments include a Public Policy Fellowship at Griffith University in Brisbane,  Australia, a Baker Foundation Research Fellowshipat Harvard Business  School and a parliamentary internship at the U.K. House of Commons. Teaching  experience includes courses on environmental planning, conflict  resolution,  industrial ecology, research methods and technical writing. Professor  Ali  received his doctorate in Environmental Planning from the  Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), an  M.E.S. in environmental law and policy from Yale  University, and his  Bachelors in  Chemistry from Tufts University (summa  cum laude). 

UNEP PRESS RELEASE

Early Recovery of Nature-Based Tourism Good for Kenya And Good for
Biodiversity, Says UNEP Head

Achim Steiner Backs Kenya Tourist Board and Kenya Wildlife Service Push at
Berlin Tourism Fair

BERLIN/NAIROBI, 6 March 2008 -- Tourism can play a key role in restoring
economic activity and employment in Kenya and in doing so play its part in
bringing peace and stability to the East African country, the head of the
UN Environment Programme (UNEP) said today.

Achim Steiner, UNEP's Executive Director, was speaking on the eve of his
departure to Berlin, Germany which this week is hosting one of the world's
biggest tourism fairs.

"Tourism, based in the main around Kenya's fabled wildlife and natural
landscapes, has historically been a centre-piece of the economy and for job
creation. The income generated is also vital for the country's conservation
effort and for maintaining Kenya's important network of National Parks and
other protected areas", said Mr. Steiner.

"Sadly, visitor numbers have crashed since the post-election instability of
late December 2007.  25,000 people directly employed in tourism-related
industries and countless more indirectly employed have been laid off and
revenues to parks and reserves have plummeted, putting at risk countless
conservation initiatives carried out by the Kenya Wildlife Service and
others", he said.

"The newly signed peace agreement, brokered by former UN Secretary-General
Kofi Annan and his team, now provides an opportunity to bring stability to
Kenya and its people. Tourism can play a central role in this. In doing so,
it can also play an important role in conserving important wildlife and
ecosystems -- from charismatic creatures like elephants and rhino to whale
sharks and some of the most dense and diverse birdlife on the planet", said
Mr. Steiner, also a UN Under-Secretary-General.

According to official statistics, to be presented in Berlin this week by
the Kenya delegation, 2007 saw a record number of over a million
international tourists arrive in the country by air and by sea---a rise of 10
per cent over 2006.

But since the disputed election result in December 2007, numbers have
fallen precipitously and it is forecast that an average of 9,000 visitors
will come each month over the first quarter of 2008---a drop of over 90 per
cent and an expected loss of 5.5 billion Kenya shillings.

Conservation Challenges from Revenue Declines
The Kenya Wildlife Service, which last year posted record revenues of $28
million, is also suffering and an order for over 200 vehicles needed for
anti-poaching patrols and other important conservation work has just been
shelved.

The decline in tourism-related revenues may also damage important
conservation work, according to experts.

These include a captive black rhino breeding programme launched six months
ago aimed at boosting the number of animals to 700 in five years, up from
540 now.

Widespread poaching reduced the country's rhino population from an
estimated 20,000 in the 1970s to below 350. But anti-poaching and other
initiatives including rhino sanctuaries have brought the number back up to
around 540.

Other pioneering initiatives that may be at risk include community
projects, species translocation schemes and one to test new ideas to reduce
human-animal conflicts in and around the Amboseli National Park, home to
some 1,500 elephants.

These include chili tobacco ropes which can help deter elephants from
spoiling farmland, simple but ingenious alarm systems for farmers using
trip wires that ring bicycle bells in the farm house and fireworks that can
scare animals away.

Mr. Steiner said: "Indeed it is an overall measure of KWS's success that
elephant populations in Kenya have risen recently by four per cent
following years of successful anti-poaching and other management. This rise
comes at the very moment when revenues are suddenly suffering as a result
of the post-election crisis."

Wider Environmental Impacts
The African Wildlife Foundation is also concerned about the impact of
falling tourist numbers on a string of recently established conservancies.

The case of the Ol Pejata Conservancy in Laikipia underlines the challenge.
Established in 2004, it is the largest private-run conservation project for
the black rhino in Africa with 77 animals.

Richard Vigne, the Conservancy's chief executive officer, said the project
employed 600 people many of whom are drawn from the local community.

He said running a conservancy with rhino cost 2.5 times the cost of
managing the same area of land without the animals.

Mr. Vigne said the decline in tourism was affecting some 60 per cent of the
not-for-profit conservancy's revenue, alongside important community
outreach.

Ol Pejata has raised over $1 million for local community work over the past
three years from donors and there is concern that future support may now be
at risk.

Notes to Editors
Around 8% of Kenya's land area is held in protected areas. Nairobi National
Park (117 square km) was the first to be established in 1947.

Kenya Wildlife Service is a State agency mandated to preserve Kenya's
wildlife and its habitat and display it in its natural form. Kenya depends
on non-consumptive uses of wildlife resources, especially in the form of
tourism.

In the financial year 2006/2007, tourism accounted for 20 per cent of
government income. Under Kenya's Vision 2030 economic blueprint to make the
county a middle-level economy, tourism will play a central role.
Wildlife-based tourism accounts for about 75 per cent of all tourist
visitors to Kenya.

Kenya's wildlife plays a central role in the economy, especially in the
support of livelihoods. KWS manages four of the country's five major water
towers, the sources of hydroelectric power, protects fish breeding sites,
protects forests which are a source of rain for agriculture, protects
invaluable biodiversity in protected areas

Tourism is also the main source of revenue for Kenya Wildlife Service.The
revenue is used to manage wildlife, its habitat, wildlife research, support
community projects, among other activities.

Recently, the general election dispute in Kenya caused a sudden drop in
tourism activities in national parks and reserves by about 80 per cent.

UNEP's work on tourism is carried out through its Sustainable Production
and Consumption Branch, see http://www.unep.fr/pc/tourism/home.htm

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/09/drugstrade

t is the world's fifth poorest nation with no prisons and few police. Now this small west African failed state has been targeted by Colombian drug cartels, turning it into a transit hub for the cocaine trade out of Latin America and into Europe. Grant Ferrett and Ed Vulliamy tell the remarkable story of how the cocaine cavalry arrived three years ago and transformed the life of Guinea-Bissau

Ed Vulliamy
The Observer,Sunday March 9 2008

The roads outside the X Club nightspot in Bissau, capital of the world's fifth poorest country, are cracked and pot-holed. They have not been repaired since they were torn up by the tracks of military vehicles during Guinea-Bissau's civil war of the late 1990s. But the cars that are parked outside - Porsche and Audi four-wheel drives - wouldn't look out of place in the wealthiest quarters of London.

Inside, the music is thumping Europop, a beer costs more than twice the average daily income of a dollar a day. Many of the clubbers, though, are knocking back the imported whisky, which costs up to $80 a bottle. One of the regulars points out the people who represent the various stages of the cocaine supply chain from South America via Guinea-Bissau in West Africa to the UK and the rest of Europe. 'He's a pretty big dealer, and that's one of his security guys. That guy there thinks he's big news but he's just small-time. That woman is a mule. She's been to Europe a couple of times.

Down a street of elaborate colonial-style buildings is Ana's restaurant. Beneath red-tiled roofs, giant candles flicker in the gentle, humid evening breeze - it could be mistaken for an exotic tourist destination. But 'the only visitors we get are the Colombians', sighs Ana, 'this country is being destroyed by drugs. They're everywhere. A few weeks ago, the man who used to be my gardener knocked at the door and offered to sell me 7kg of cocaine.'

Among the destitute locals are scores of wealthy, gaudy Colombian drug barons in their immodest cars, flaunting their hi-tech luxury lifestyle, with beautiful women on their arms. Outside Bissau city are exclusive Hispanic-style haciendas with wide verandahs, turquoise swimming pools and gates patrolled by armed guards.

By day, Guinea-Bissau looks like the impoverished country it is. Most people cannot afford a bus fare, never mind a four-wheel drive. There is no mains electricity. Water supplies are restricted to the wealthy few, and landmark buildings such as the presidential palace remain wrecked nine years after the end of the war. But this wreck of a country is what the UN - which declared war last week on celebrity cocaine culture - calls the continent's 'first narco-state'. West Africa has become the hub of a flow of cocaine from South America into Europe, now that other routes have become tough for the traffickers.

...

Nigerian drug gangs have always been an energetic presence on the global trafficking scene, but the target of the South American traffickers have been the 'failed states' along the Gold Coast, where poverty is extreme, where society has been ravaged by war and the institutions of state can be easily bought off - so that instead of enforcement, there is collusion. And no more so than Guinea-Bissau, whose weakness makes it a trafficker's dream prey.

Kandil accuses Siniora of sending water to Israel via Cyprus, a decision equal to war-and-peace
March 10, 2008

http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=34079

Former MP Nasser Kandil accused Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora of planning to send water to Israel through Cyprus.

Last week, drought-ridden Cyprus announced it was examining the feasibility of shipping large quantities of water from Lebanon, with a final decision expected within 10 days.

The Ministry of Agriculture in Cyprus said Lebanon was willing to give Cyprus large quantities of water free of charge.

Siniora, Kandil said, was attempting a "new version of poison" against the Lebanese people and the Arab public opinion "under the title of water to Cyprus."

"The Lebanese will not allow him (Siniora) to pass agreements under the table with Israel and tamper with Lebanon's fate," Kandil said.

He noted that Israeli had signed an agreement to receive 300 thousand cubic meters of water daily from Turkey. This agreement was annulled in the July War due to Turkey's desire to reconcile with Syria and Iran over a common wish to preserve Iraq, Kandil added.

"Now there is an understanding between Terje Roed Larsen and Fouad Siniora that Lebanon will supply 300 thousand cubic meters to Israel through Cyprus, while we are thirsty, in search of a single drop," the former MP commented. He said the agreement was a five-year ordeal.

Kandil warned the Siniora government that a decision of this magnitude was equal to the decision of war-and-peace. "What Israel could not steal from the Wazzani, Hasbani, and Litani (rivers) Siniora will give to them through Cyprus."

-NOW Staff

African Union troops have arrived in the Comoros to help its military regain control of an island where a renegade leader has declared himself president.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7289318.stm 

The Comoran army chief said France had helped transport Tanzanian forces to the Comoros to prepare an amphibious assault on Anjouan island.

Lt-Col Mohamed Salimou said Anjouan's renegade leader, Mohamed Bacar, only understood the language of violence.

Mr Bacar unilaterally declared himself president of Anjouan island last year.

Earlier, AU special envoy Francesco Madeira told the BBC that time had run out for Mr Bacar and urged him to step down or be overwhelmed by its troops.

...

Col Salimou said the time for negotiation was over.

"We have negotiated over and over and now this idea is no longer in fashion," he told Focus on Africa. "We have come to understand that the only language that Mohamed Bacar will understand is the language of weapons."

...

A history of political violence has left the tiny Comoros archipelago in the Indian Ocean desperately poor since independence from France in 1975.

At times, the country has teetered on the brink of disintegration, amid tensions between the semi-autonomous islands and the central government.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/7288959.stm 

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has said he is deeply concerned about the sharp rise in global food prices.

Mr Ban said the trend would hinder progress towards the millennium development goals (MDGs), which aim to halve extreme poverty by 2015.

The UN World Food Program (WFP) and other agencies may be forced to ration food aid, he said in a BBC interview.

He said shortages might be eased by a "green revolution" to transform farming methods in Africa.

Global food prices have risen by 40% in nine months and food reserves are at their lowest for 30 years.

The WFP is facing a $500m (£248m) shortfall in its attempts to feed 73 million people this year.

'Political challenge'

Mr Ban said that "many countries in particular in Africa they now have to pay double or triple the price for their bread," and warned that this would lead to increased malnutrition.

"This will all affect our MDG programmes - I am very much seriously concerned about this," he said.

The change has been blamed on poor harvests, population growth, rising energy and grain prices, the effects of climate change, and a shift to biofuel crops.

Although one UN official has called the increasing use of crops for fuel rather than food a crime against humanity, Mr Ban said there was a need to balance the positive and negative aspects of biofuels.

Among possible solutions, he said that "there is broad consensus that more resources should be provided to help an African green revolution".

But he cautioned that transforming commitments into action would be a "huge political challenge".

"We need to rededicate and commit ourselves by galvanising political will, by mobilising necessary recourses."

Invention could be used by army and aid agencies
- Military technology goes on show in London

James Randerson, science correspondent

The Guardian, Wednesday March 12 2008

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/mar/12/sciencenews.military 
This article appeared in the Guardian on Wednesday March 12 2008 on p16 of the UK news section. It was last updated at 00:05 on March 12 2008.
The water in Michael Pritchard's fishtank came straight from his garden pond and it showed. The greenish gunk looked and smelled like it ought not to go anywhere near a human digestive system. "It's got fish poo and everything in there," said Pritchard. But after pumping it through his lightweight, handheld device it came out crystal clear and he even persuaded some onlookers to taste it.

The Lifesaver bottle was one of several inventions at a show of military technology hosted by the National Army Museum in Chelsea, central London, yesterday. Many, such as Pritchard's invention and a newly developed acoustic cat's eye, should have numerous civilian applications as well.

"The main reason I invented [the Lifesaver bottle] was for the aid market, the disaster market," he said. Once a hurricane or earthquake hits, one of the most pressing logistical needs is to provide clean drinking water to the victims.

"The old thinking has been we ship them water, particularly in the first days and weeks. Well that's very expensive and a logistical nightmare, but it has been the only way we've been able to do it," he said. A transport plane can typically hold enough bottled water for 800 people for a month. The same plane can carry 125,000 Lifesaver bottles. At one bottle per family, that's enough to keep half a million people in drinking water for 16 months.

Submitted by Lisa Raffensperger on Mon, 2008-03-10 03:28.

http://earthtrends.wri.org/updates/node/291
 
Illegal animal trade, once a high-profile environmental concern, has largely taken a back seat to climate change, habitat destruction, and pollution as a threat to biodiversity. Despite being out of the spotlight, however, so-called wildlife trafficking is a big business. The U.S. Department of State estimatesthat black-market trade in illegal ivory, snake skins and venoms, live birds, primates, tiger parts, rhino horns, and other wildlife and wildlife products generates between 10 and 20 billion dollars per year.China is the number one destination for such products; the U.S. is number two.

The targeted animals are increasingly threatened by poaching, and many are critically endangered in the wild. But species conservation isn't the only reason that wildlife trafficking has been drawing increased attention recently. Rather, the alarm is of a relatively new sort: national security.

The black market trade in endangered animals, once a crime committed by small groups of local poachers, has become dominated by organized crime syndicates. Like the conflict diamond trade that has funded brutal wars in Sierra Leone, trade in wildlife provides a steady stream of unreported money--some of which, it seems clear, is supporting civil war and terrorist organizations.

Wildlife trafficking by organized crime rings has generated enough attention that the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources held a hearing last week to examine the subject.

http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/47486/story.htm

• Richard Norton-Taylor
• The Guardian,
• Monday March 17 2008
• http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/mar/17/uksecurity.climatechange
  Gordon Brown this week is expected to reveal a long-delayed national security strategy setting out a wide range of threats facing Britain and how the government intends to tackle them.

His proposals will include a national security council on which security, intelligence, and military chiefs could sit as well as senior ministers and top civil servants, Whitehall officials said yesterday.

A national security document, due to be published on Wednesday, will warn that threats to Britain go beyond that of terrorism fuelled by extreme Islamism. It says they include those posed by climate change, increasing competition for natural resources, migration, and potential pandemics.

It is also expected to warn of new weapons, such as cyber attacks, already in the hands of hostile powers and potentially in those of terrorist groups.

It may not be long before al-Qaida-inspired groups - well aware of the potential impact of disrupting global and national computer networks - will be involved in cyber warfare, officials and independent analysts say.

Brown first mooted his proposal for a national security strategy shortly after he became prime minister last summer. The task of drawing it up was given to Sir Gus O'Donnell, the cabinet secretary. It was due to be published before the end of last year and has been postponed more than once since.

Officials were divided about how broad they should paint the security threats facing Britain, and whether they should include such issues as social cohesion, for example. One issue is how far the military should have a bigger role not only in combating threats abroad, but working with the security and intelligence agencies at home. Traditionally, the armed forces have been deployed strictly at the request of civilian authorities - to deal with floods, or foot and mouth - and military chiefs have wanted it that way.

A national security council is not expected to take the place of the Cobra system, named after the cabinet office briefing room in Whitehall where it meets.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=77359\\

NAIROBI, 19 March 2008 (IRIN) - The political crisis in Kenya caused major population movements that may require a repeat of cartographic mapping in some areas before the 2009 census, but plans for the official count are on track, a government official told IRIN.

"We are revising our work plan and looking at areas where we might have to repeat cartographic mapping but we expect to hold the census on 25 August 2009 as planned," said Chris Omolo, the census manager and principal economist at the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS).

"We expect to be through with cartographic mapping countrywide by March 2009, May at the latest."

With the support of the UN Population Fund(UNFPA) and other stakeholders, the development of all instruments for the exercise - manuals, questionnaires, etc - is expected to be ready in time.

Kemal Mustafa, UNFPA representative in Kenya, said early preparation was crucial. "Logistical mobilisation will not be easy as we head up to the census," Mustafa said. "Lack of census data slows down the process through which the government can plan for the numbers of people requiring services."

The January-February post-election violence had affected settlement patterns in parts of the country, Omolo said, but the statistics bureau had yet to assess the extent of this disruption.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=77415

 JERUSALEM, 23 March 2008 (IRIN) - With the rainy season in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory nearly over, water experts are concerned that after the dry summer months there may be a serious water shortage, especially if conservation efforts are not stepped up.

Population growth, rising levels of consumption and below average rainfall in some areas in recent years threaten to cause increasing problems, experts say.

According to Eli Ronen of Israel's national water company Mekorot, this winter was the fifth relatively dry year in a row, with only about 60 percent of the expected amount of rain in certain parts of the country so far.

The company sells to the Palestinians about 55 percent of the water consumed in the West Bank and also exports water to Jordan. It is unclear if these services will be affected.

Ayman Rabi from the Palestinian Hydrology Group, a non-governmental organisation, said certain West Bank areas like Hebron had been hard hit by lack of rainfall. "Already the Palestinians receive less water than is needed," Rabi told IRIN. "In the best case scenarios, in urban areas, we receive 50 litres per capita per day."

According to the Israeli non-governmental organisation Btselem there is a huge gulf in water consumption levels between Israelis and Palestinians.

Gib Clarke, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars on March 4, 2008 - 8:02am

http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/blog/2008/03/04/demography-is-not-destiny

The connections between security and demographic trends-including migration patterns, age distribution, and population growth rates-have become increasingly prominent in academic and policy circles, as well as in the mainstream media. While researchers have been studying these links for decades, they are worth a deeper look-not only because of their newfound attention, but also because we now have more evidence to evaluate them.

No reasonable scholar or practitioner would argue that there is a simple causal relationship between demography and security-i.e., that a total fertility rate of 5.0 children per woman indicates that civil war will break out 20 years from now, or that a country cannot remain stable unless its age distribution resembles a bell curve. However, many argue that demographic trends can interact with other factors such as poverty, poor governance, competition for natural resources, and environmental degradationto exacerbate tensions and contribute to conflict. All of these factors influence each other-for example, high population density can accelerate environmental degradation, or poor governance can lead to inequitable access to natural resources.

http://www.enn.com/top_stories/article/33516

From: , Next Billion, More from this Affiliate
Published March 25, 2008 09:29 AM

Yakalakshmi lives in Nekkunda village, part of the Telengana region of Andhra Pradesh, with her husband and two children. Though she has water piped to her house by the village panchayat, her entire family fell ill for a month last monsoon season by drinking water directly from the tap. "We all got high fever and severe diarrhea," and as a result, "we had to spend around Rs. 4000 ($100) on healthcare, which was very difficult for us." So, when Yakalakshmi got the opportunity this past January to buy an effective water purifier through her Self Help Group (SHG) on an installment basis, she was one of the first to sign up.

Yakalakshmi is just one of the beneficiaries of a unique tie-up between ACCESS Development Services, an Indian microfinance technical services non-profit organization, and Hindustan Unilever Limited, one of the country's largest producers of fast-moving consumer goods, to provide safe drinking water to rural poor. "Most of these villages have piped water or boreholes," according to Padma, Project Coordinator at a local NGO; "the problem is that tests by UNICEF in this district show that up to 70 percent of these sources are contaminated." The contamination gets even worse during the rainy season, especially due to poor sanitation and waste-management practices.

Though local bodies have been working to raise community awareness on the importance of safe drinking water, the major penalties of affordability and access remained. Enter the innovative partnership between ACCESS and HUL. HUL has designed a household water-purifier, PureIt, which uses a four-stage filtration process to remove all bacteria, viruses, dirt, and pesticides resulting in water that is 'as safe as boiled water.' It does not require electricity or running water. ACCESS facilitates loans for rural women to be able to afford these water purifiers through its partner microfinance institutions (MFIs).

"ACCESS's involvement has helped poor, rural households overcome the affordability barrier," says Yuri Jain, General Manager - Water in HUL. PureIt costs Rs. 1800 ($45). Through their SHGs, women can pay installments of Rs. 100 to 200 ($2.50 to $5.00) every month plus interest. In the three short months of this pilot project, 1500 SHG members have purchased the filter. To date, the loanrepayment rate has been 100 percent.

Based on a public-private partnership model, this exciting tie-up is financially sustainable. The project has already been extended to 11 of ACCESS's partner MFIs in Andhra Pradesh. HUL and ACCESS are now looking at expanding the initiative countrywide through the ACCESS Microfinance Alliance, which has a 110 partner MFIs across India, potentially bringing safe drinking water to a large proportion of the 2.4 million clients served by these MFIs.

According to ACCESS CEO Vipin Sharma, "This is a huge step forward in ensuring access to safe drinking water for our microfinance clients, and it is part of our vision to alleviate different aspects of poverty." Clients will save money on health care and reduce absenteeism from work and school due to water-related illnesses. "It is also an innovative use of existing MFI distribution systems to deliver products, besidesfinancialproducts, that have a social value and to target micro-loans for specific health initiatives," he adds.

In a country where around 150 million people are estimated to lack access to safe drinking water (unofficial estimates are much higher), diseases like jaundice, cholera and severe diarrhea abound. Every year, 500,000 children under 5 years die from diarrhea alone, according to a report by the Planning Commission. Women like Yakalakshmi are thus more than willing to make an investment in clean water; "we are very concerned about the health of our families, especially our children, that is why we have opted to buy the purifier through these loans" summarizes one of her peers.

In addition to convening the pan-India ACCESS Microfinance Alliance, ACCESS is also the anchor agency for organizing the second largest microfinance event in the world, "Microfinance India Summit," and publishes the annual "State of the Sector" Report that has established itself as one of the most important reference documents in the Indian sector. ACCESS also works in the sustainable livelihoods sector. By 2011, ACCESS hopes to support over 3 million poor through its initiatives in both microfinance and livelihoods.

  Tomorrow at 1130 Andrew Morton from the UNEP Post-conflict and Disaster Management Branch will
speak on "The Sudan Conflict ­ environmental drivers and consequences"

     This talk is part of a new partnership between the Earth Institute of Columbia University and the UNEP to encourage research
and practice in the study of environmental factors surrounding disasters, conflict and development.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0327/p01s02-woap.htmlBy Daniel Ten Kate| Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitorfrom the March 27, 2008 edition

Bangkok, Thailand - - Rice farmers here are staying awake in shifts at night to guard their fields from thieves. In Peru, shortages of wheat flour are prompting the military to make bread with potato flour, a native crop. In Egypt, Cameroon, and Burkina Faso food riots have broken out in the past week.

Around the world, governments and aid groups are grappling with the escalating cost of basic grains. In December, 37 countries faced a food crisis, reports the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), and 20 nations had imposed some form of food-price controls.

In Asia, where rice is on every plate, prices are shooting up almost daily. Premium Thai fragrant rice now costs $900 per ton, a nearly 30 percent rise from a month ago.

Exporters say the price could eclipse $1,000 per ton by June. Similarly, prices of white rice have climbed about 50 percent since January to $600 per ton and are projected to jump another 40 percent to $800 per ton in April.

The skyrocketing prices have prompted millers to default on rice supply contracts and bandits to steal rice as they aim to hoard the crop, and sell it later, as prices continue to rise.

"The farmers are afraid as their fields have been robbed in the nighttime," says Sarayouth Phumithon, an official at the Thai government's Bureau of Rice Strategy and Supply. "This is just the beginning. The problem will get worse if the price keeps increasing."