Climate impacts in northern forests
Northern forests hold around 54% of the world’s total terrestrial carbon stock and contribute more than one-third to our global terrestrial carbon sink. This report reviews the impact of human induced
Northern forests hold around 54% of the world’s total terrestrial carbon stock and contribute more than one-third to our global terrestrial carbon sink. This report reviews the impact of human induced
Global food shortages have taken everyone by surprise. What is to be done? Reuters SAMAKE BAKARY sells rice from wooden basins at Abobote market in the northern suburbs of Abidjan in C
Japan's environment minister yesterday criticised George W. Bush's plan to minimise greenhouse emissions, saying the US president's ambitions "fell far short" of expectations. Reacting to Mr Bush's pledge to halt the growth of US carbon emissions by 2025, Ichiro Kamoshita said: "Truthfully, I want the US to tackle the issue of global warming more proactively." Japan, which hosts the Group of Eight summit in Hokkaido in July, wants to forge a compromise between the US and Europe on the one hand and big developing countries, particularly China and India, on the other.
Urgent action to help the world's poorest farmers help themselves would make a significant contribution to tackling the global food crisis in a single growing season, according to Jeffrey Sachs, United Nations development adviser. "In much of the poorest parts of the world, the potential for significant increases in food production is very real," said Mr Sachs, director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University and adviser to Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general.
The EU's top trade official said on Thursday that rising world prices for food must be tackled with trade deals that encourage developing nations, particularly in Africa, to boost food output. E.U. Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said the world's agricultural producers should shy away from export restrictions or bans that would not help deal with "a longer term structural trend ... as population grows, as demand for food grows.' He was speaking to the European Parliament's trade committee. Trade deal
Russia's Gazprom took further steps to strengthen its hold on natural gas supplies to Europe on Thursday, signing a joint venture with Libya and saying it was in preliminary talks on a multibillion dollar project to pipe Nigerian gas to Europe across the Sahara. News of the two projects came as Vladimir Putin, Russian president, became the first Russian leader since 1985 to visit Libya. According to the country's official news agency, Libyan leader Muammer Gaddafi said during talks with Mr Putin he supported the idea of forming an Opec-style group of gas-exporting countries.
The idea of turning farms into fuel plants seemed, for a time, like one of the answers to high global oil prices and supply worries. That strategy seemed to reach a high point last year when Congress mandated a fivefold increase in the use of biofuels.
New car registrations fell nearly 10 per cent in Europe in March in a troubling sign for both the industry and broader consumer confidence on the continent. In an indication that more European consumers are deferring big-ticket purchases in the credit crunch, mass-market manufacturers all reported lower sales for the month. Most - including Volkswagen, Peugeot, Fiat, General Motors and Ford Motor - reported lower sales for the quarter.
The Doha round of global trade negotiations has been stalled since 2001 because developing nations have refused to lower import tariffs that protect their farmers and rich countries won't give up farm-price supports. Now, import duties are being slashed from Brazil to Burkina Faso in response to prices that the World Bank says have risen 83 per cent the past three years; subsidies in the US and Europe are falling.
Europe's Food Supply Not At Risk From Biofuels
Five years ago Russia's rapidly growing oil exports were seen as the cure for the US and Europe's addiction to Middle East oil, international oil companies' most exciting potential source of revenue and the only thing that could quench China's insatiable new thirst.