Departing Chilean President to lead UN efforts advocating for Haitian women

The United Nations Women’s Fund (UNIFEM) has announced that the outgoing Chilean President will work closely with the agency to speak out on behalf of Haitian women suffering from the massive earthquake that devastated the Caribbean country on 12 January.

Haiti: UN helps pregnant women as risk to babies rises after quake

The United Nations Populations Fund (UNFPA) is providing medical kits to thousands of expectant mothers in Haiti in case they cannot get medical attention in time and give birth at home or on the streets where they are living after last month’s earthquake.

Blast Hits Pakistan Resulting in Three US Military Deaths

Wednesday, February 03, 2010
16:57 Mecca time, 13:57 GMT

Blast hits Pakistan school opening

The blast was reportedly caused by an improvised explosive device

A roadside bomb has killed at least eight people, including three US military personnel and four school girls, near a girls’ school in northwest Pakistan.

Local police said that Wednesday’s blast was caused by an improvised explosive device.

The US embassy in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, said the Americans were in the area to attend the opening ceremony of the girls’ school when the bomb exploded.

“Three Americans were killed and two injured in a terrorist bomb explosion at about 11:20am today in the Lower Dir district of Pakistan’s federally-administered tribal areas,” the embassy said in a statement.

“The Americans were US military personnel in Pakistan to conduct training at the invitation of the Pakistan Frontier Corps. They were in Lower Dir to attend the inauguration ceremony of a school for girls that had recently been renovated with US humanitarian assistance.”

Pakistani officials said an Frontier Corps soldier and four schoolgirls also died.

“We have four dead bodies (in this hospital). They are schoolgirls aged 10 to 15. We have received 65 injured, most of them are girls,” Mohammed Wakeel, chief doctor at the local Taimargara hospital, said.

Taliban claim

Pakistan’s Taliban claimed responsibility for the bombing and threatened more attacks.

“We claim responsibility for the blast,” Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman Azam Tariq said.

The school had been blown up in January 2009 and rebuilt with the help of a foreign aid organisation.

Foreign aid workers and journalists have been particularly interested in girls’ education in parts of northwest Pakistan, where Taliban fighters opposed to co-education have destroyed hundreds of schools.

On Tuesday, at least 29 people were killed and many more wounded in a suspected US drone attack in the North Waziristan region of Pakistan.

Officials said a series of missiles rained down on Dattakhel village in the Degan area of North Waziristan, part of Pakistan’s semi-autonomous tribal region near the Afghan border.

They said the missiles struck suspected fighters’ hideouts and a training centre.

‘Backlash fear’

Al Jazeera’s Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, said there were reports that up to 19 missiles had been fired.

“One thing is quite clear - this was perhaps one of the largest attacks carried out so far,” he said.

“There is expected to be a backlash because just recently the military had clearly said that they had not given any tacit approval for the Americans to conduct such a strike and there is tremendous opposition inside Pakistan. The military is aware of that.”

Tribesman in the area of the attack had claimed that they shot down at least two US drones in the past. Those reports have not been confirmed.

The US never confirms drone attacks, but its forces in neighbouring Afghanistan and the Central Intelligence Agency are the only ones known to use the unmanned aircraft capable of firing missiles.

The attacks have often resulted in civilian deaths, stirring anger among Pakistanis and even bolstering support for the Taliban and anti-US sentiment.

The US has increased drone attacks inside Pakistan since a suicide bomber crossed over the Pakistani border and killed seven CIA employees in an attack in eastern Afghanistan on December 30.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

Iran launches first animals into orbit

Iran has launched living organisms to low-Earth orbit - the aim is to to conduct scientific experiments, the nation claims

ICC pre-trial chamber ordered to rule again on genocide charge against Sudanese leader

The pre-trial chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) today was ordered to reconsider adding the charge of genocide to the arrest warrant for Sudanese President President Omar al-Bashir issued last year.

UK carbon emissions fell by 2% in 2008, figures show

The UK exceeded its Kyoto target to cut emissions by 12.5% on 1990 levels, but will not meet the goal of 20% by 2010
Press Association
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 2 February 2010 15.53 GMT
The UK’s greenhouse gas emissions fell by almost 2% in 2008, official figures showed today.
The final estimates for the year showed a fall of 1.9% in the group of six greenhouse gases and a drop of 2% for the most common of them, carbon dioxide.
According to the Department of Energy and Climate Change, the decrease is the result of continuing to switch from coal to natural gas for making electricity, combined with lower consumption of fossil fuels in industry and transport.
But emissions from households rose by more than 3%, as people used more fossil fuels to heat their homes.
Overall, the six greenhouse gases declined from 640.5m tonnes in 2007 to 628.3m tonnes in 2008, while CO2 emissions dropped from 543.6m tonnes to 532.8m tonnes.
There were decreases in emissions from energy supply, transport, businesses and industrial processes, but greenhouse gases from homes – which includes heating but not electricity generation – rose by 3.1% and CO2 increased by 3.2%.
Overall, the figures are slightly better than the results for 2007, which saw carbon dioxide emissions fall by 1.5% and output of greenhouse gases, including methane and nitrous oxides, down by 1.7% in 2007.
The UK has exceeded its target to cut emissions by 12.5% on 1990 levels as part of the Kyoto climate treaty, but is set to miss the government’s long-held goal to reduce CO2 by 20% by 2010.
The 2008 figures showed a 10% reduction in carbon dioxide on 1990 levels without carbon trading, and 13% if trading was counted.
The minister for energy and climate change, Joan Ruddock, said: “Today’s greenhouse gas emissions statistics are encouraging and show a continued decline in greenhouse gas emissions of nearly 2% during 2008.
“We are now clearly exceeding our Kyoto target of 12.5% below 1990 levels. UK emissions are now 19.4% below 1990 levels without emissions trading or 22% including emissions trading.
“The UK is demonstrating the kind of year-on-year reductions that set an example in the world community.”
And she said: “We are determined to strengthen and sustain the momentum behind the low-carbon transition in the UK, supporting investment in low-carbon technology, creating green jobs and providing a healthier future for everyone.”
The provisional figures for emissions in 2009, which are likely to have been affected by the recession, are published next month.

£9m grants to develop wave and tidal projects

Published Date: 03 February 2010
By PERRY GOURLEY
SCOTLAND’s marine energy sector has been awarded £9 million in public funding to develop wave and tidal devices.
Edinburgh-based Aquamarine Power was awarded £5.1m to support the manufacture of its second generation Oyster wave energy device.Norwegian tidal power developer Hammerfest Strøm’s UK subsidiary, which is working with ScottishPower Renewables, also received a £3.9m grant.The grants were made by the UK government’s Marine Renewables Proving Fund, which is managed by the Carbon Trust.Edinburgh-based Aquamarine Power’s first Oyster device is currently undergoing sea trials at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney. The Oyster 2 will be manufactured later this year before testing is expected to start in 2011.Aquamarine, whose backers include Scottish & Southern Energy and Scottish Enterprise, earlier this week named renewables industry veteran Richard Round as its first chief financial officer. Last September the company raised £10m in first-round funding.Hammerfest Strøm UK also expects to have its one-megawatt (MW) tidal power device operating at EMEC by 2011. Design and pre-engineering have already been completed and the firm is currently tendering for fabrication and installation work. The company will work with ScottishPower Renewables which plans to install the device as part of a 10MW tidal power array in the Sound of Islay by 2012. The project will be the largest demonstration tidal power project in the world

Coral Can Recover from Climate Change Damage, New Research Suggests

A study by the University of Exeter provides the first evidence that coral reefs can recover from the devastating effects of climate change. Published Jan. 11, 2010 in the journal PLoS ONE, the research shows for the first time that coral reefs located in marine reserves can recover from the impacts of global warming.

Scientists and environmentalists have warned that coral reefs may not be able to recover from the damage caused by climate change and that these unique environments could soon be lost forever. Now, this research adds weight to the argument that reducing levels of fishing is a viable way of protecting the world’s most delicate aquatic ecosystems.

Increases in ocean surface water temperatures subject coral reefs to stresses that lead quickly to mass bleaching. The problem is intensified by ocean acidification, which is also caused by increased CO2. This decreases the ability of corals to produce calcium carbonate (chalk), which is the material that reefs are made of.

Approximately 2% of the world’s coral reefs are located within marine reserves, areas of the sea that are protected against potentially-damaging human activity, like dredging and fishing.

The researchers conducted surveys of ten sites inside and outside marine reserves of the Bahamas over 2.5 years. These reefs have been severely damaged by bleaching and then by hurricane Frances in the summer of 2004. At the beginning of the study, the reefs had an average of 7% coral cover. By the end of the project, coral cover in marine protected areas had increased by an average of 19%, while reefs in non-reserve sites showed no recovery.

Professor Peter Mumby of the University of Exeter said: “Coral reefs are the largest living structures on Earth and are home to the highest biodiversity on the planet. As a result of climate change, the environment that has enabled coral reefs to thrive for hundreds of thousands of years is changing too quickly for reefs to adapt.

“In order to protect reefs in the long-term we need radical action to reduce CO2 emissions. However, our research shows that local action to reduce the effects of fishing can contribute meaningfully to the fate of reefs. The reserve allowed the number of parrotfishes to increase and because parrotfish eat seaweeds, the corals could grow freely without being swamped by weeds. As a result, reefs inside the park were showing recovery whereas those with more seaweed were not. This sort of evidence may help persuade governments to reduce the fishing of key herbivores like parrotfishes and help reefs cope with the inevitable threats posed by climate change.”

Professor Mumby’s research was funded by National Environment Research Council (NERC) and the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation.

Reef facts

• A coral reef is made up of thin layers of calcium carbonate (limestone) secreted over thousands of years by billions of tiny soft bodied animals called coral polyps.

• Coral reefs are the world’s most diverse marine ecosystems and are home to twenty-five percent of known marine species, including 4,000 species of fish, 700 species of coral and thousands of other plants and animals.

• Coral reefs have been on the planet for over 400 million years.

• The largest coral reef is the Great Barrier Reef, which stretches along the northeast coast of Australia, from the northern tip of Queensland, to just north of Bundaberg. At 2,300km long, it is the largest natural feature on Earth.

• Coral reefs occupy less than one quarter of one percent of the Earth’s marine environment, yet they are home to more than a quarter of all known fish species.

• As well as supporting huge tourist industries, coral reefs protect shorelines from erosion and storm damage.

High quality reef videos by Professor Peter Mumby can be viewed at: www.reefvid.org

The main funding for the research came from Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation and the Natural Environment Research Council.

Source:
University of Exeter (2010, January 10).
Coral can recover from climate change damage, new research suggests.ScienceDaily. Retrieved February 1, 2010.

Phil Jones, scientist in climate data row, promises to be more open

Ben Webster, Environment Editor

The scientist at the centre of the climate change row over stolen e-mails has admitted that he and his colleagues need to be more open with their data.
Professor Phil Jones, of the University of East Anglia, has been accused of blocking requests for data under the Freedom of Information Act.
He said: “We are facing more and more public scrutiny and any future work we do is going to have much greater scrutiny by our peers and by the public. We do need to make more of the data available, I fully accept that.
“We need to work differently, making more data available and making our assumptions clear. Everything needs to be more and more open and we will be striving to do that in the future.”

Professor Jones has stood down from his post as director of the University’s Climatic Research Unit while an inquiry takes place into allegations that he manipulated and suppressed data concerning global temperature changes.
In one e-mail, he asked a colleague to delete e-mails relating to the 2007 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
A climate sceptic had asked the university to publish correspondence between Professor Jones and other climate scientists because he believed an attempt had been made to discredit scientists who questioned the link between manmade emissions and global warming.
In an interview with the Press Association, Professor Jones said: “I feel tremendously pressurised by all this but I’m trying to continue my work in the science. I think it’s very important and it’s potentially very serious for the future of mankind in decades to come.”
He said he “wholeheartedly” stood by the part of the IPCC’s report to which he had contributed.
He added: “The work we do at the University of East Anglia is only a small part of [climate science], there’s thousands of climate scientists around the world supporting our results.”
He said he was concerned that scepticism about climate change appeared to be growing.
“It makes me quite worried people are beginning to doubt the climate has warmed up.”
Last November, shortly after the e-mails were leaked, Professor Jones said: “Some of the e-mails probably had poorly chosen words and were sent in the heat of the moment, when I was frustrated. I do regret sending some of them.
“We’ve not deleted any e-mails or data here at CRU.”

Tesco opens its first zero carbon store

• New store cost 30% more to build but uses 50% less energy• Tesco to spend £100m among green technology businesses
Julia Finch
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 2 February 2010 18.22 GMT
Supermarket group Tesco, which pumps out some four million tonnes of carbon a year, today opened its first zero carbon store as part of its bid to be a carbon ­neutral company by 2050.
The shop, in Ramsey, Cambridgeshire, is timber-framed rather than steel, and uses skylights and sun pipes to cut lighting costs. It also has a combined heat and power plant powered by renewable bio-fuels, exporting extra electricity back to the national grid. In addition the refrigerators – one of the biggest blackspots for food retailers trumpeting their green credentials – have doors to save energy and harmful HFC refrigerant gases have been replaced.
Tesco chief executive Sir Terry Leahy said: “It shows that you can dramatically alter how much carbon you use and life can go on”.
The new store, he said, “cost 30% more to build, but it uses 50% less energy, and with oil at $70 a barrel it is a business case in itself”.
To coincide with the Ramsey opening, the supermarket chain said it intended to spend more than £100m with green technology companies, although Leahy was unsure of the level of supermarket’s current spend on this.
Tesco has been at the forefront of the grocers’ race to be green. The UK’s biggest supermarket has provided £25m of funding for the University of Manchester to set up a sustainable consumption institute, and has a 10-point community plan, with pledges to increase local sourcing and to consult local communities in an attempt to be viewed as a good neighbour.
Separately, new market research data released today showed that Tesco’s bid to lure back shoppers with double clubcard points and a surprise pre-Christmas mail-out of money-off vouchers has paid dividends and put pressure on Asda.
The Kantar Worldpanel data, formerly known as TNS, shows Tesco’s market share climbed from 30.4% to 30.5% in the 12 weeks to 24 January compared to the same period a year ago. Asda meanwhile, has slipped from 17% to 16.9% over the same period. Last weekend Asda broke with tradition and offered discount vouchers in a bid to entice lost shoppers.
Morrisons recorded a more than 10% sales improvement, resulting in a market share of 12.5%, up from 11.8% a year ago. Waitrose is the biggest winner, with growth of 17.5%, taking the upmarket grocer to a market share of 4.1%, compared to 3.5% a year ago.
At the other end of the scale the discounters – led by Aldi and Lidl – are now losing market share after a boom at the start of the recession.