From the Inbox - Help stop the slaughter of Madagascar's lemurs

An appalling assault on lemurs, and ultimately the local communities of Madagascar is underway. After Madagascar's coup earlier this year, many international bodies including the World Bank and the US government suspended conservation and development work in Madagascar weakening environmental governanace. Fringe criminal gangs are taking advantage of the absence of law and international support. Illegal logging is on the rise and recently reported is the illegal hunting and selling of lemurs to restaurant owners as bushmeat. More than anything else, these poachers are killing the goose that laid the golden egg, wiping out the very animals that people most want to see, and undercutting the country and especially local communities by robbing them of future ecotourism revenue. Russell Mittermeier, President, Conservation International A stable government is vital to the health and well-being of every country's people and ecosystems. Help support our work around the world. Make a gift today. Sadly, once the dust settles on these profiteers’ criminal actions, what is left will be an empty forest without the natural resilience necessary to continue delivering the water, climate and sustainable food sources on which all life in Madagascar depends. Lemurs are just one fragile piece of Madagascar's unique biodiversity. CI has been working with the people and government of Madagascar on conservation issues for 19 years. Now, we must do everything we can to put Madagascar’s people first and stop this exploitation at the hands of criminal profiteers. Act now—Support CI's work in critical areas around the world such as Madagascar.	Last week, CI released reports of massive illegal logging and hunting of lemurs in Madagascar. Removing lemurs and the forests of Madagascar will ultimately hurt the people of this country. Support our important conservation work around the world TODAY.
Photo credits:Malagasy children © CI/photo by Russell Mittermeier Lemurs © CI/photo by Haroldo Castro Deforestation in Madagascar © CI/photo by Haroldo Castro

Water crisis threatens Yemen's swelling population

Gentle showers temporarily damp the dust and cool the August heat of Sanaa, but cannot remedy a grim water outlook for the Yemeni capital's 2 million people.

Some residents receive piped city water only once every nine days and others get none at all. The sinking water table means the municipality can now operate only 80 of its 180 wells, said Naji Abu Hatim, a Yemeni expert at the World Bank.

"People don't believe the magnitude of the problem. They see a little cloud and say, 'oh, God is still there, he can give us water'," he added. "But water is Yemen's number one problem."

That might seem a startling claim given that the country is also grappling with a tribal revolt in the north, violent unrest in the south, al Qaeda militancy and widespread poverty.

But water shortages in the southern city of Aden are already fuelling violence. One person was shot dead and three were wounded, two of them police, during water protests on August 24.

And fast-depleting aquifers make Yemen's plight the starkest in a desperately water-scarce region. Local disputes over water rights may turn violent, especially in tribal areas. Competition for supplies between cities and the countryside may sharpen.

"Yemen's water share per capita is under 100 cubic meters a year, compared to the water poverty line of 1,000 cubic meters," said Hosny Khordagui, Cairo-based head of the U.N. Development Program's water governance program in Arab countries.

Arab states, except Egypt, Iraq and Lebanon, all fall short of the water poverty line and the regional trend, blamed on climate change, is toward consistently lower rainfall.

Unlike wealthy Gulf oil states, Yemen, the Arab world's poorest country, is ill-placed to fill the gap between supply and demand with desalination. "They are thinking of it, but economically I very much doubt they can do it," Khordagui said.

UNATTRACTIVE OPTIONS

Desalinating seawater and pumping it 2,000 meters uphill to the inland capital would be hugely expensive. Water could be transferred to Sanaa from another basin, but this might spark conflict with nearby provinces that are also parched.

"One idea, which is politically unacceptable, is to move the capital elsewhere. I don't see it happening," Khordagui said.

Sanaa, 50 years ago a sleepy, walled town of perhaps 50,000, is among the world's fastest-growing cities, with a population exploding at an estimated 8 percent a year, according to the World Bank, of which 5 percent is due to rural migration.

Water scarcity is forcing many poorer villagers to sell up and move to Yemen's cities, where few have the skills to thrive, even though they are expected to send money home to relatives.

From the 1970s, Yemenis turned swiftly from rain-fed farming to irrigation using water pumped from new tube wells, encouraged by the government and foreign donors keen to expand production.

"Finally they found irrigated agriculture was unsustainable because of the depletion of groundwater," Abu Hatim said.

Agriculture sucks up more than 90 percent of water used and a third of that goes to irrigate fields of qat, a mild narcotic intrinsic to the daily social life of most Yemenis.

Mismanagement of water resources is one reason why Yemen's plight is worse than that of neighbors such as Oman, argues Jac van der Gun, director of the International Groundwater Resources Assessment Center in The Netherlands.

Both countries have dwindling oil resources, but Oman's oil wealth is shared among only three million, compared to Yemen's population of 23 million, which is set to double in 20 years.

"Oman is a positive example of stability and charismatic leadership, so it is much easier for them to control their water problems. Yemen is not anarchic, but it comes close," he said.

Van der Gun cited the troubled northern province of Saada, the bastion of Shi'ite tribesmen whose intermittent rebellion against the government flared into fierce battles this month.

"Saada has a huge water problem, but they can't think about the future because they are thinking about today," he added.

Despite the afternoon downpours in Sanaa, Yemen's northern highlands have been suffering a two-year drought.

"The rains this year have been poor and late," said Ramon Scoble, a water expert for the German development agency GTZ who works in Amran province, just north of the capital.

"Rural sectors of north Yemen may face famine," he said, echoing a warning sounded in June by Abdul-Karim al-Iryani, senior political adviser to President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

"They won't be producing their own foodstuffs for another year and they won't have harvested enough seed to be able to grow again next year," Scoble said.

The government, backed by foreign donors, began applying a comprehensive strategy for water resources, irrigation, water supply, the environment and capacity building in 2005.

But experts describe implementation as patchy. The World Bank's Abu Hatim said the program was a palliative measure.

"It will not solve the problems, only alleviate them to buy time. The catastrophe is coming, but we don't know when."

Source:
Reuters, "Water crisis threatens Yemen's swelling population", accessed August 30, 2009

From the Inbox - Help save the bluefin tuna

August 27, 2009 Speak out to save the amazing western Atlantic bluefin tuna from extinction The Atlantic bluefin tuna is an amazing fish that can swim almost 45 miles per hour and weigh up to 1,500 pounds. But rampant overfishing has reduced the western Atlantic population of bluefin by 80 percent since 1970, and it is now in danger of extinction. The federal government, however, is actually proposing to allow more bluefin to be caught, including in the Gulf of Mexico, the only known spawning site this side of the Atlantic. In the late spring and early summer, fishermen in the Gulf of Mexico using "long-line" fishing gear with miles of baited hooks to catch yellowfin tuna and swordfish also catch bluefin tuna that are in the gulf to spawn. Bluefin tuna are not the only "bycatch" -- in 2007 the long-line fishing fleet in the gulf also caught and discarded almost 35,000 sharks, 1,400 blue and white marlin, and 300 turtles. Other, less wasteful fishing gear is available to catch yellowfin tuna and swordfish that will not jeopardize the future of the western Atlantic bluefin tuna. But instead of eliminating this harmful fishing practice and despite the western Atlantic bluefin tuna population being at its lowest level on record, the National Marine Fisheries Service is proposing to allow commercial fishermen to kill and sell more bluefin tuna. The National Marine Fisheries Service is accepting public comments on the proposed change through this Monday, August 31st. What to do Send a message, before the August 31st comment deadline, urging the not to increase the amount of western Atlantic bluefin National Marine Fisheries Service tuna that long-line fishermen can catch and sell, but rather to save this magnificent fish from extinction by stopping the use of this harmful and wasteful fishing gear in the Gulf of Mexico bluefin spawning area.

World's Last Great Forest Under Threat: New Study

The world's last remaining "pristine" forest -- the boreal forest across large stretches of Russia, Canada and other northern countries -- is under increasing threat, a team of international researchers has found.

The researchers from the University of Adelaide in Australia, Memorial University of Newfoundland in Canada and the National University of Singapore have called for the urgent preservation of existing boreal forests in order to secure biodiversity and prevent the loss of this major global carbon sink.

The boreal forest comprises about one-third of the world's forested area and one-third of the world's stored carbon, covering a large proportion of Russia, Canada (right), Alaska (right) and Scandinavia.

To date it has remained largely intact because of the typically sparse human populations in boreal regions. That is now changing says researchers and co-authors Associate Professor Corey Bradshaw, University of Adelaide, Associate Professor Ian Warkentin, Memorial University, and Professor Navjot Sodhi, National University of Singapore.

"Much world attention has focused on the loss and degradation of tropical forests over the past three decades, but now the boreal forest is poised to become the next Amazon," says Associate Professor Bradshaw, from the University of Adelaide's Environment Institute.

"Historically, fire and insects have driven the natural dynamics of boreal ecosystems," says Associate Professor Warkentin. "But with rising demand for resources, human disturbances caused by logging, mining and urban development have increased in these forests during recent years, with extensive forest loss for some regions and others facing heavy fragmentation and exploitation."

The findings have been published online in Trends in Ecology and Evolution in a paper called "Urgent preservation of boreal carbon stocks and biodiversity". The findings include:

• Fire is the main driver of change and increased human activity is leading to more fires. There is also evidence that climate change is increasing the frequency and possibly the extent of fires in the boreal zone.
  
• Few countries are reporting an overall change in the coverage by boreal forest but the degree of fragmentation is increasing with only about 40% of the total forested area remaining "intact".
• Russian boreal forest is the most degraded and least "intact" and has suffered the greatest decline in the last few decades.
• Countries with boreal forest are protecting less than 10% of their forests from timber exploitation, except for Sweden where the figure is about 20%.
  

Source:
Science Daily, "World's Last Great Forest Under Threat: New Study", accessed August 29, 2009

Earthjustice Seeks Supreme Court Review in Mountaintop Removal Mining Case

Earthjustice and the Appalachian Center for the Economy & the Environment have filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court that asks the Court to review a recent decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in a controversial mountaintop removal mining case. The case challenges the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' issuance of permits allowing companies to dump waste from mountaintop removal mining into streams without following basic requirements of the Clean Water Act designed to prevent irreversible harm to the nation's waters.

"This case is of great national importance," said Earthjustice attorney Steve Roady. "The Corps of Engineers is ripping the heart out of the Clean Water Act by granting permits that allow coal companies to permanently entomb vital streams in the rubble of exploded mountains. The destruction caused by mountaintop removal mining is enormous and the adverse impacts on local communities are profound. We're asking the Supreme Court to hold the Corps accountable."

Earthjustice and the Appalachian Center for the Economy & the Environment filed this lawsuit challenging several West Virginia mountaintop removal permits in September 2005 on behalf of the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, West Virginia Highlands Conservancy and Coal River Mountain Watch. The lawsuit challenged the Corps' violation of the Clean Water Act by authorizing the permits to fill 23 valleys and 13 miles of mountain streams in southern West Virginia without first performing even the most basic, legally required assessment of the harm that would occur when the streams are buried forever.

"The Supreme Court must intervene in a case that strives to provide essential protections for Appalachian mountain streams under the Clean Water Act," said Joe Lovett, executive director of the Appalachian Center for the Economy & the Environment. "The Corps has not adequately controlled mountaintop mining removal activity and has allowed for the wholesale destruction of our vital waterways."

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia in March 2007 found those permits violated the Clean Water Act. In February, a panel of federal judges in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled 2 to 1 in favor of the Corps in the case, with a strong dissent from one judge on the panel. Earthjustice then requested rehearing by the full court of appeals, but in late May, by a close vote of 4 to 3, with 4 additional judges abstaining from the vote, the court denied that petition.

However, two judges filed dissenting opinions, each of which Judge Diana Gribbon Motz joined.

In his dissent, Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson wrote that he voted for the full court of appeals to hear the case because of "the potentially irreversible effects that the permitted operations will have on the Appalachian ecosystem." He concluded: "The requirements of the Clean Water Act are important. . . . Once the ecologies of streams and rivers and bays and oceans turn, they cannot easily be reclaimed. More often than not, the waterway is simply gone for good."

In his dissent from the denial of rehearing, Judge M. Blane Michael, who also had dissented from the panel's decision, explained that: "The ecological impact of filling headwater streams with mining overburden is both profound and irreversible. No permit should issue until the Corps fulfills each distinct obligation under the controlling regulations. And this court should not defer to the Corps until the agency has done its job."

"We're constantly hearing about the decreasing amounts of clean water within our nation as well as 'water wars' between states," said Janet Keating executive director of the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition. "Yet the coal industry is recklessly burying and polluting our headwater streams under millions of tons of mining waste in central Appalachia. We hope that the Court realizes how vital, urgent and necessary their input is on this matter."

"Scientific studies show time and time again that mountaintop removal does horrible damage to our nation's water supplies," said Vernon Haltom, co-director of Coal River Mountain Watch. "It's now time for the nation's high court to uphold the laws intended to protect our communities from polluting industries that care only for their profit margin."

"In allowing high mountain headwater streams to be filled with waste rock, the Corps has allowed total disruption of the hydrology of hundreds of square miles of ancient mountains and the natural and human lives those ground and surface waters have supported for centuries," said Cindy Rank, chair of the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy Mining Committee. "The future well-being of the region depends on stricter adherence to the nation's environmental laws."

Mountaintop removal mining is a method of strip mining in which coal companies use explosives to blast as much as 800 to 1000 feet off the tops of mountains to reach coal seams underneath. The result is millions of tons of waste rock, dirt, and vegetation dumped into surrounding valleys, burying miles and miles of streams under piles of rubble hundreds of feet deep. Mountaintop removal mining harms not only aquatic ecosystems and water quality, but also destroys hundreds of acres of healthy forests and fish and wildlife habitat, including habitat of threatened and endangered species, when the tops of mountains are blasted away. As of 2002, the Appalachian region had already lost 1,200 miles of mountain streams to this destructive process—and the Environmental Protection Agency has predicted that this could rise as high as 2,400 miles by the year 2013 if current practices continue. (Right: top picture after mountain top removal mining; bottom is mostly before)

This practice also devastates Appalachian communities -- in West Virginia, Kentucky, southern Virginia and eastern Tennessee -- and cultures that have existed in these mountains for hundreds of years. Residents of the surrounding communities are threatened by rock slides, catastrophic floods, poisoned water supplies, constant blasting and destroyed property.

Source:
EarthJustice, "Earthjustice Seeks Supreme Court Review in Mountaintop Removal Mining Case", accessed August 27, 2009

From the Inbox - Help protect Florida Panther

Protect Habitat for the Flordia Panther! Forward to friends A deer hunter sitting in a tree shot and killed a panther in Troup County, Georgia, last year. Because there are no wild panthers in Georgia, authorities weren't too concerned. After all, they thought, a nonexistent wild animal can't be endangered or protected. They thought wrong. Take action for America's wild cats This month, DNA testing revealed that the animal was actually a federally protected Florida panther that had wandered hundreds of miles north of his namesake state. (Florida panthers once ranged throughout the southeastern U.S., but now survive in just 5 percent of their original territory.) Fewer than 100 Florida panthers remain in the wild. So far this year, eight have been killed by cars or trucks. What the panthers need (besides the endangered-species designation they've had since 1967) is habitat. The animal killed in Georgia was healthy and well-nourished -- he just needed a place to live. Ask the Department of the Interior to designate the big cat's remaining habitat as critical >> Thank you, LiAnna Care2 and ThePetitionSite Team Take action link: http://www.care2.com/go/z/e/AFpvQ/zJo5/147Z

Recession speeds coal's long-term decline

Declining industrial electricity demand and an abundance of cheap natural gas will threaten coal's status as the dominant U.S. fuel to generate electric power, even after the economic recession ends.

Power companies are reducing use of coal plants because of declining demand from heavy industry, the economic sector hardest hit by the recession. The loss of industrial "baseload" looks long term, analysts and executives say.

Natural gas-fired plants (right), easier to stop and start, have remained busy serving commercial and household power demand, which varies hour by hour and has been less affected by the recession.

"The recession's impact on our industrial customers has been significant," said Lonnie Carter, chief executive of Santee Cooper, South Carolina's state-owned power and water utility. "We anticipate that as the economy recovers from this economic downturn, long-term power needs will be lower."

Meanwhile, generators' reasons for preferring coal for baseload -- lower cost and more reliable supply -- weaken with every shale gas discovery, which drives gas prices down and suggests gas will be plentiful for years to come.

"We may be in a situation where we are redefining how much coal-fired generation we need," added Nick Akins, executive vice president of American Electric Power Co, one of the country's biggest coal burners.

Coal's share of U.S. power generation has fallen from 49 percent in 2007 to 45 percent this year, said Luther Lu of FBR Capital Markets.

Coal-fired generation fell 12.7 percent from June 2008 to June 2009, while gas-fired power remained steady, down only 0.3 percent, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration figures.

LAGGARD INDUSTRIAL DEMAND

The decline occurred despite the fact that coal remains cheaper than natural gas. Average gas prices have fallen to $3.83 per MMBtu in second quarter 2009 from $11.73 in the year-ago quarter, according to EIA data.

Coal prices soared last year, but year-over-year have held steady at $2.24 per MMBtu in the second quarter of 2009 versus $2.04 in the second quarter of 2008, according to the EIA.

Total electricity sales in June were 7.3 percent below the same month last year, but industrial consumption fell 14.6 percent, U.S. government data show.

And industrial electricity demand growth will be the laggard out to 2030 in a generally slow-growth period for U.S. power, EIA data show.

U.S. demand is expected to grow 26 percent between 2007 and 2030, while industrial demand should grow 7 percent. In the same period, commercial demand will grow 38 percent and residential 20 percent, according to government estimates.(Left: Carbon powered electric plant)

Beyond the fundamentals of supply and demand, power company executives face government action to slow global warming, which will discourage use of coal in favor of gas. Gas emits about 50 percent less greenhouse gas than coal.

"In a carbon-constrained world, there will be a fairly major shift toward gas," Matt Preston, senior coal analyst at Hill & Associates, said in an email.

This array of factors has caused Santee Cooper, American Electric Power and other power companies to trim plans to expand coal-fired generation, and some companies, such as Progress Energy, are replacing coal plants with gas units.

Coal may enjoy a brief curtain call, if the economy and industry rebound quickly, overwhelming the ability of natural gas, nuclear power and alternate energy sources to quickly respond to a demand surge, said Brian Gamble of Simmons & Co.

But long term, coal's share will be eroded by cleaner energy sources, Gamble predicted.

Coal executives and many analysts say low gas prices are temporary and President Barack Obama's commitment to America's most plentiful fuel, and the technology to burn it cleanly, guarantee coal's future.

"We firmly believe the stage is set for coal to outperform other fuels, once manufacturing activity begins even a slightly sustained increase," said Steve Leer, CEO of Arch Coal Inc, a leading U.S. coal producer.

But gas can serve industrial baseload, too, and utility executives increasingly are exploring it along with expanded nuclear, solar and wind power, Lu said.

"My sources tell me some utilities have actually gone out and spoken to gas producers to gain comfort whether this long-term supply picture is reliable," Lu said.

Many say it will be. Electric Power Research Institute recently forecast coal's share of the power market will shrink to 38 percent by 2030, with gas and alternatives' shares growing. That's considerably less than the latest EIA forecast, which puts coal-fired generation at 45.7 percent in 2030.

"Nothing is going to dominate like coal does today," said Revis James, director of EPRI's Energy Technology Assessment Center.

Source:
Reuters, "Recession speeds coal's long-term decline", accessed August 27, 2009

Mountaintop mining protests take to W.Va. trees

Two activists trying to stop mountaintop removal mining are roosting in trees within 300 feet of a Massey Energy blasting zone in southern West Virginia, and two others have been cited for trespassing. The tree roosters are vowing to stay put until the coal company stops blasting and compensates residents for health care and home repair.

Nick Stocks and Laura Steepleton, both of Rock Creek, are on platforms at the edge of the Edwight mine site above Pettry Bottom and Peachtree in Raleigh County

The protesters unfurled two banners, one urging an end to the particularly destructive form of strip mining. The other was directed at the state Department of Environmental Protection, which they contend is not adequately safeguarding residents or the environment: "Don't Expect Protection.''

Mountaintop removal mining is a process in which companies remove vast areas to expose coal. While they are required to restore much of the land, the removal creates many tons of debris that's used to fill nearby valleys. The blasting can damage homes by shifting foundations, cracking walls and throwing rock from the mine site.

Nick Stocks and Laura Steepleton, both of Rock Creek, are at the edge of the Edwight mine site in Raleigh County, about 80 feet above the ground and 30 feet from the mine. They are also within 300 feet of the blasting area. State law prohibits blasting when people are that close.

Stocks and Steepleton said they'll remain in the trees until Virginia-based Massey stops blasting, which they said occurs daily around 4 p.m. But State Police Sgt. M.A. Smith said the mine superintendent told him that Massey had no immediate plans to blast there.

Massey officials did not comment, but Smith said the protesters are on the coal company's land. He cited two activists who were on the ground, Louisiana resident Kim Ellis and Zoe Beavers of Hurricane, with trespassing. Both were later released.

Beavers, an Army veteran, said in a press release that she had served in the military "so that we can all live in a country that does not exploit and destroy its land and people.''

All of the protesters are affiliated with Climate Ground Zero and Mountain Justice. Smith said none of them would speak to him when he went to the site.

"I understand their purpose and what they're doing, but it's not safe,'' he said, expressing concern the protesters might fall from the trees. "It's unnecessarily dangerous.''

Massey security guards were assigned to stand by about 75 yards away, Smith said, "watching in case they need anything.''

The superintendent was at the site, too.

"He knows what's going on,'' Smith said, "and he's not going to do anything to endanger those kids.''

The Department of Environmental Protection did not immediately comment on the protest. The federal Office of Surface Mining considers it a state matter, said agency spokeswoman Cynthia Johnson. She declined further comment.

The protest is the 13th in the Coal River Valley this year.

Source:
Charleston Daily Mail,"Mountaintop mining protests take to W.Va. trees", accessed August 27, 2009
WSAZ News, "2 Cited at Mountaintop Mining Protests in Trees", accessed August 27, 2009
GreenMuze, "Tree-Sitters Protest Mountaintop Removal Mining", accessed August 27, 2009

From the Inbox - What is Good Fresh Water Worth to You?

Dear Friend, A global fresh water crisis is imminent. Without free-flowing fresh water, we lose power, sanitation and essential ecosystem services. Demand for fresh water is outpacing supply and climate change poses a formidable threat to our existing freshwater resources. How does fresh water affect you? 13 gallons—amount of water in a human body* 15 gallons—amount of water a person drinks each month* 50 gallons—amount of water used indoors by one American every day* 2-3 days—the amount of time the average human can live without water* What is fresh water worth to you? The impacts of climate change on freshwater resources pose an enormous challenge for sustaining life everywhere on Earth. What is lost there is truly felt here. In many places—such as those where glaciers are melting quickly and rainfall patterns are changing—water may no longer be available when it is needed, worsening existing problems of water scarcity and decreased agricultural productivity. In other places, there will be too much water, increasing incidences of water-borne diseases and floods. So what is fresh water worth to you? Make a gift to support CI’s work protecting nature—including freshwater ecosystems—so that people can thrive. Right now, CI is identifying vulnerabilities in freshwater resources and developing strategies for helping people and ecosystems adapt to different climate change scenarios. We simply cannot afford to devalue our most important resource—fresh water—any longer. Make a gift today. Sincerely, Beth Wallace VP, Digital Marketing v* Figures are all averages Photo credits: Girl © CI/Photo by Haroldo CastroWaterfall © CI/Photo by Marco EhrlichWaterfall © CI/Photo by Sterling Zumbrunn What is fresh water worth to you? Help CI stop the global freshwater crisis. Make a donation today.