arsenic poisoning in Bangladesh/India

overexploitation of their populations and warming of their environments

Many scientific efforts have been made to link the decline of wild marine and terrestrial populations with human activities such as habitat fragmentation, overexploitation and global warming.

"Establishing the link between the loss of biodiversity and human-related threats is crucial to develop policies aimed at mitigating such threats", says Camilo Mora at Dalhousie University, leading author of the paper. "Unfortunately, in many cases several threats are operating simultaneously making it difficult to isolate their individual and combined effects through field observations,"Mora adds.
This new study used an experimental approach that has been broadly used in ecology to shed light into complex ecological processes. In this approach, populations of rotifers were maintained at equilibrium under laboratory conditions and then exposed to the simulated effect of exploitation, habitat loss and warming. Changes in population size were then quantified and compared to the changes occurred among populations that were not impacted.

"Our experiment clearly shows that exploitation, habitat loss ad warming are equally capable of causing significant population declines," Mora says. "More importantly, our results showed that the stress induced by any one threat impairs the ability of populations to resist or adapt to other threats. Populations exposed to more than one threat declined drastically. Population declines were up to 50 times faster when all threats operate at their maximum extent upon a given population."

"It is hard to think of a system that would not be exposed to several threats at once," says Nancy Knowlton, from the Scripps Institute of Oceanography. "Coral reefs, as an example, are being overexploited to satisfy food demands and the trade of ornamental species. They are also harmed by blast fishing, coastal development and pollution, all of which directly or indirectly kill the corals and leave them vulnerable to erosion and loss of their complex matrix. Habitat loss is also occurring in areas that are very important to the ecological functioning of coral reefs such as estuaries and mangroves. Finally, it, is the widespread effect of ocean warming, which is evident by the regional to global scale patterns of coral bleaching and mortality when temperature increases only few degrees (Mora C, Meztger R, Rollo A, Myers R. (2007) Experimental simulations about the effects of overexploitation and habitat fragmentation on populations facing environmental warming.).

If the goals of development of the developing countries remain the same as they are, or were, for the industrialised societies, then any new strategy of development, whether ecological or otherwise, might become no more than a mere modification of the present policies and trends rather than genuine trend. The developed countries fail to carry conviction because they do not seek seriously and systematically to change their own structures, and profound changes in attitudes, life styles, and approaches.
The definition of sustainability implies that, in our endeavour to build sustainable communities, we must understand the principles of organisation that ecosystems have developed to sustain the web of life. This understanding is what we call ‘ecological literacy’. In the coming decades the survival of humanity will depend on our ability to understand the basic principles of ecology and to live accordingly. We need to teach our children – and our political and corporate leaders! – the fundamental facts of life.

1. Environmental destruction by War and Peace

"Our world faces a crisis as yet unpreceived by those possesing power to make great decisions for good or evil..... a new type of thinking is essential if mankind is to survive."-- Einstein on Peace

Firing nuclear waste into the sun, placing it in Antarctic ice sheets so it sinks by its own heat to the bedrock, or putting it under Earth's crust so it is sucked to the molten core. These are three of the 14 options the government's advisers are considering to get rid of the UK's troublesome nuclear waste legacy. Martin Forwood, of Cumbrians Opposed to Radioactive Environment, dismissive of the 14 ideas: "We thought all these madcap schemes had been junked donkey's years ago. The only sensible solution is to store it where it rightfully belongs - in above ground custom built concrete stores at the site of origin." (Gurdian April 14, 2004).
The nuclear industry is simply trying to export a national problem Can we produce waste that does not have any safe disposal on this earth?

Humans are damaging the planet at an unprecedented rate and raising risks of abrupt collapses in nature that could spur disease, deforestation or 'dead zones' in the seas, an international report said on Wednesday. The study, by 1,360 experts in 95 nations, said a rising human population had polluted or over-exploited two thirds of the ecological systems on which life depends, ranging from clean air to fresh water, in the past 50 years. 'At the heart of this assessment is a stark warning,' said the 45-member board of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. 'Human activity is putting such strain on the natural functions of Earth that the ability of the planet's ecosystems to sustain future generations can no longer be taken for granted,' it said. Ten to 30 per cent of mammal, bird and amphibian species were already threatened with extinction, according to the assessment, the biggest review of the planet's life support systems.

'Over the past 50 years, humans have changed ecosystems more rapidly and extensively than in any comparable time in human history, largely to meet rapidly growing demands for food, fresh water, timber, fibre and fuel,' the report said. 'This has resulted in a substantial and largely irreversible loss in the diversity of life on earth,' it added. More land was changed to cropland since 1945, for instance, than in the 18th and 19th centuries combined. 'The harmful consequences of this degradation could grow significantly worse in the next 50 years,' it said. The report was compiled by experts, including from UN agencies and international scientific and development organisations. The UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, said the study 'shows how human activities are causing environmental damage on a massive scale throughout the world, and how biodiversity - the very basis for life on earth - is declining at an alarming rate'(Reuter. March 31, 2005).

"The world's greatest pharmaceutical laboratory and a flywheel of climate,"

"The Amazon is a library for life sciences, the world's greatest pharmaceutical laboratory and a flywheel of climate," says Thomas Lovejoy of the Smithsonian Institute. Such may be said of the Sunderbans or the hill forests of Chittagong as well. Many facts relating to our forest are unknown because of the lack of interest and research funding needed to make these discoveries. In the Brazilian part of the Amazon rain forest, one estimate by the U.S. Academy of National Sciences in 1982 states that a typical 4 square mile patch of forest may contain 750 species of trees, 125 kinds of mammals, 400 types of birds, 100 of reptiles and 60 of amphibians. Each type of tree may support more than 400 insect species. The forest region here, in our country, or in Brazil is a virtually untapped storehouse of evolutionary achievement that will prove increasingly valuable to mankind as it yields its secrets.

However, biologists who explore biodiversity see it vanishing before their eyes, amply demonstrated by the fact that they now live in a world of wounds and practice a scientific discipline with a deadline. The reason: deforestation. Further, deforestation has devastating impacts on climatic change and on natural processes upon which the Earth's delicate balance depends.

Brazil, home to about half the Amazonian basin, has shown reckless penchant for squandering resources that matter to all mankind. Says Al Gore, a conservationist and former US vice-president who visited the densely packed forest areas, "The devastation is just unbelievable. It's one of the great tragedies of all history."

"The devastation is just unbelievable. It's one of the great tragedies of all history,"(Al Gore).

Emissions trading cannot solve Amazon deforestation

Some say that emissions trading under the Kyoto Protocol should be used to preserve intact areas of the Amazon rainforest as well as to restore deforested regions. This is a commendable aim — but there are several reasons why it is unlikely to work in practice.

The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is a key function of the Kyoto Protocol and is already being used in the emissions trading markets. It allows companies in developed countries to invest in certain projects in developing countries in return for emissions credits. For a project to be eligible for CDM credits, it must result in a net reduction of greenhouse-gas emissions. Carbon capture projects, including reforestation, do qualify for CDM credits, but conservation projects that would avoid trees being cut down in the first place do not.

Some people say that projects that avoid deforestation should be eligible for CDM credits. They say that preventing deforestation would halt a root cause of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere. The conversion of forests to poorly managed agricultural land leads not only to the release of carbon from trees, but also from soils that subsequently erode away.

The problem is of particular concern in Brazil, where most of the Amazon rainforest lies. Data from the Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazônia, a research institute in northern Brazil, suggest that deforestation is responsible for emissions of an estimated 200 million tonnes of carbon each year. That is equivalent to two-thirds of Brazil’s emissions of greenhouse gases and about 2.5 per cent of global carbon emissions:

First, the problem of deforestation in Brazil is tightly linked to internal migration

Second, political disagreement on this issue between different groups in the country which has prevented Brazil from taking a united position in international negotiations.

Third, ‘perverse incentives’ encourage deforestation in Brazil. It is cheaper to clear new land areas for the international beef and soya bean markets than to invest in already deforested regions.

Fourth, influencing the activities of small-scale farmers will have little impact on the deforestation problem.

Finally, under the Kyoto Protocol, only one per cent of all CDM projects can relate to land use and forestry. It is also unlikely that the issue of deforestation will be resolved in climate negotiations as long as forums created to resolve the problem, such as the UN Forum on Forests, are unable to reach agreement (Source: New Age, August 09, 2006 ).

Green fuel vs hungry people

1.1 The big melt has begun

In the decades to come Asia, home to more than half the world's 6.3 billion people, will lurch from one climate extreme to another, with impoverished farmers battling droughts, floods, disease, food shortages and rising sea levels. "It's not a pretty picture," said Steve Sawyer, climate policy adviser with Greenpeace in Amsterdam. Global warming and changes to weather patterns are already occurring and there is enough excess carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere to drive climate change for decades to come.

Sawyer said India, with a population of just over one billion people, is one of the areas most threatened by climate change. "The threat to the agricultural base for the Indian subcontinent from drought and increased heat waves, the consequences to the burgeoning Indian economy and the very large number of people to feed are potentially very very substantial." Rising sea levels will also bring misery to millions in Asia, he said, causing sea water to inundate fertile rice-growing areas and fresh-water aquifers, making some areas uninhabitable. Sawyer said India and Bangladesh will have to draw up permanent relocation plans for millions of people.

Sawyer thinks rich countries, by far the biggest polluters, should look after the millions at risk from climate change or suffer the consequences that could include mass migration or trying to feed millions made homeless by droughts and floods in a world struggling to grow enough food.

Malcolm Duthie, WFP's country director in Laos, said even small changes in weather patterns, such as a delay in the monsoon of just a few weeks, is a threat to subsistence farmers. In Laos, he said rains seemed to have become shorter and sharper, meaning faster run-off and more erosion. Such changes are also threatening millions of farmers in Indonesia, where rapid industrialisation, slash-and-burn land clearing and illegal logging have caused extreme weather and pollution across the archipelago, experts say (New age, November 26, 2004).

Glaciers face threat of disappearing: UN

Scientists aren't certain about the rate of global warming or what exactly will happen in any one spot. Most agree that human technology contributes significantly to global warming through ozone-damaging emissions such as automobile exhaust, coal-fired electric plants, and pollution from industrial manufacturing. This week the National Wildlife Federation, a wildlife advocacy group, reported that climate change is emerging as a major threat to duck and goose populations prized by hunters. The report said the animals are threatened by the effects of climate change at its costal wintering grounds, its resting grounds in Nebraska, and even at its breeding grounds in the Arctic. "The science is telling us that we're in for some changes if we don't change what we're doing," said Duane Hovorka, executive director for the Nebraska Wildlife Federation, an affiliate of the national group. Bill Grant, associate director of the Midwest Region of the Izaak Walton League, another conservation group, noted that the Federation's report wasn't surprising. "The pace of change is already somewhat faster than we might have earlier expected," he said. "Should that continue, it would not be surprising if we notice significant changes in our lifetime."

The National Wildlife Federation is made up of a variety of outdoor enthusiasts, ranging from hunters and fishermen to environmentalists and birders. The Izaak Walton League's membership is also varied, but mainly hunters and fishermen. The National Wildlife Federation's report is drawn from a number of scientific and government studies. Additional conclusions of the report are equally alarming. For example, some predict sea levels could rise anywhere from three to 34 inches over the next 95 years. If it does, the increase could inundate 45 percent of coastal wetlands in the continental United States, damaging wintering grounds of diving ducks such as pintails and canvasbacks, and those of snow geese. Others believe climate changes could diminish snow pack in the Rockies, resulting in droughts in the Plains and less water in other regional rivers. If this happens, it could affect the sandhill crane and the already endangered whooping crane. Both depend upon the waterways each spring for a place to rest and fatten up before heading north.

Even seasonal ponds in the northern Great Plains could lose water or dry up for short periods. This region is one of North America's most important breeding grounds for ducks. Calculations vary, but climate changes could lead to a population reduction anywhere between 9 and 69 percent. Species affected include mallards, teal, gadwall and others.

The Arctic, which serves as breeding habitat for 20 percent of America's waterfowl, is among the fastest-warming regions on earth. The permafrost is thawing and the tundra is disappearing. Some species may see breeding success improve because of an increase in wetlands in the Arctic, but others could be harmed by changes. For example, it may be harder for some waterfowl to find food if rising sea temperatures reduce the populations of some fish.

Scientists aren't certain about the rate of warming and what exactly will happen in any one spot. Human technology contributes to global warming through automobile exhaust, emissions from coal-fired electric plants and manufacturing. The National Wildlife Federation report calls for government intervention to curb global warming gases and to protect habitat (Source: Sci-Tech Today, 7 August, 2005).

Global warming is causing the Arctic ice-cap to melt at such an unprecedented rate that by the summer of 2070 it may have no ice at all, according to the most comprehensive study carried out on global climate change in the region. The icecap has shrunk by 15% to 20% in the past 30 years and the trend is set to accelerate, with the Arctic warming almost twice as fast as the rest of the planet, due to a build-up of heat-trapping gases.

Conducted by nearly 300 scientists, as well as elders from the native communities in the region, the report was commissioned in 2004 by the eight countries with Arctic territories –– including the US –– amid a growing sense of urgency about the effects of global warming on the region.

The report says that “while some historical changes in climate have resulted from natural causes and variations, the strength of the trends and the patterns of change that have emerged indicate that human influences, resulting primarily from increased emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, have now become the dominant factor”. The Arctic “is now experiencing some of the most rapid and severe climate change on Earth”, the report says, adding: “Over the next 100 years climate change is expected to accelerate, contributing to major physical, ecological, social and economic changes, many of which have already begun”(Jamie Wilson, 2004).

The WWF environmental group on November 2, 2004 accused the eight nations –– which account for 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions –– of hypocrisy in sponsoring the report while failing to take action. George Bush pulled the US out of the UN’s Kyoto protocol on global warming in 2001, arguing it was too expensive. “The big melt has begun,” Jennifer Morgan, director of the WWF’s global climate change campaign, said in a statement. “Life on Earth will change beyond recognition with the loss of the ice sheet at the north pole and higher sea levels threatening major global cities such as London”(The Guardian/UK, November 3, 2004).

An unexplained and unprecedented rise in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere two years running has raised fears that the world may be on the brink of runaway global warming. Scientists are baffled why the quantity of the main greenhouse gas has leapt in a two-year period and are concerned that the Earth’s natural systems are no longer able to absorb as much as in the past. The findings [were] discussed [on October 13] by the [British] government’s chief scientist, Dr David King, at the annual Greenpeace business lecture.

The fear held by some scientists is that the greater than normal rises in C0² emissions mean that instead of decades to bring global warming under control we may have only a few years. At worst, the figures could be the first sign of the breakdown in the Earth’s natural systems for absorbing the gas. That would herald the so-called “runaway greenhouse effect”, where the planet’s soaring temperature becomes impossible to contain. As the icecaps melt, less sunlight is reflected back into space from ice and snow, and bare rocks begin to absorb more heat. This is already happening.

One of the predictions made by climate scientists in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is that as the Earth warms, the absorption of carbon dioxide by vegetation –– known as “carbon sink” –– is reduced.

The heatwave of last year that is now believed to have claimed at least 30,000 lives across the world was so out of the ordinary that many scientists believe it could only have been caused by global warming.

Scholze says an important finding is the degree to which the effects get rapidly more pronounced with small increases in temperature. "Most importantly," he says, "we show the steeply increasing risks, and increasingly large areas affected, associated with higher warming levels."

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1.2 Global Warming Kills 150,000 People a Year

Global warming is killing about 150,000 people a year, mostly in deprived and tropical areas, and the toll could rise dramatically if efforts are not made to combat climate change, the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned yesterday. The United Nations agency said the health of millions of people was under threat as a consequence of rising temperatures and uncertain weather patterns, which many scientists claim are caused by greenhouse gas emissions. The WHO said climate change could cause increases in malaria and other insect-born diseases, malnutrition and pollution-related diseases, as well as deaths from extreme one-offs such as this summer's heatwave in Europe.

The report, which has been published this week to coincide with the UN conference in Milan on climate change, blamed global warming for 2.4 per cent of diarrhea cases and 2 per cent of all cases of malaria worldwide. It estimated that, by 2030, climate change could cause 300,000 deaths annually and that a further 5.5 million years of healthy living had been lost worldwide due to debilitating diseases caused by rising temperatures. The report said: "The 1990s were the hottest decade on record and the upward trend in the world's temperature does not look like it is abating. In Europe this past summer, for example, an estimated 20,000 people died due to extremely hot temperatures."

Kerstin Leitner, the WHO assistant director general, said: "There is growing evidence that changes in the global climate will have profound effects on the health and well-being of citizens in countries around the world." The report said that even a rise of a few degrees in average annual temperatures could expose millions more people to the threat from malaria. This would be by both extending the malaria season in countries, where it is already endemic, and also by allowing the malaria mosquito to live in countries where, at present, it cannot survive, such as Europe. Other diseases spread by mosquitoes, such as dengue fever, could also increase.

Hotter and wetter conditions are also likely to increase the spread of diarrhoeal disease, which is particularly dangerous to children. And people living in deprived conditions who cannot afford proper refrigeration are more likely to eat food tainted with increased bacterial contamination, caused by higher temperatures. Countries which are heavily dependent on a predictable monsoon season for the cultivation of rice crops - such as India, Bangladesh and Burma - are more likely to suffer increases in malnutrition if the changes affect the reliability of the rainy season. The report also said that increasing air pollution might lead to a rise in allergic conditions, such as asthma, and lung and respiratory complaints, Independent UK, 12 December, 2003 ).

Melting of glaciers in the Himalayas

Environmentalists are warning that the melting of glaciers in the Himalayas could spell disaster for millions of people living in the region. They claim the situation is not being adequately monitored; the last major studies having been done in the 1990s. Swelling glacial lakes would increase the risk of catastrophic flooding.

This is a lake that should not exist. It is 6,000 metres above sea level, a kilometre long and 100 metres deep. Twenty-five years ago it was a glacier. United Nations Environment Programme (Unep), shows anecdotal evidence that the Himalayas are changing. At an altitude of over 4,000m, the crew found a vast glacier lake, which according to their maps, had not been there a few decades before. But since then, temperatures in what is one of the world's largest ice fields have risen year after year. The lake is held in place by a wall of frozen rock known as its terminal moraine. The ice that binds it together is melting and it is inevitable that sooner or later this natural dam will burst, releasing a massive wall of water down the valley
There had, though, been a glacier. In the long term, the glaciers could disappear altogether, causing several rivers to shrink and threatening the survival of those who depend on them.

There are 3,300 glaciers in the Nepalese Himalayas and 2,300 of them contain glacial lakes. These lakes are quietly growing because of rising temperatures, but a sufficiently close eye is not being kept on them, campaigners say.

A burst lake would cause flash floods which could sweep away people, houses, roads and bridges in Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and India.

In the long term, researchers fear that global warming may switch the problem from too much water in the region to too little. Nearly 70% of discharge to the Ganges is from Nepalese rivers, which means that if Himalayan glaciers dry up so will the Ganges downstream in India (Richard Black, BBC, November 17, 2004).

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Global dimming

Scientists call it "global dimming," a little-known trend that may be making the world darker than it used to be. Thanks to thicker clouds and growing air pollution, much of the Earth's surface is receiving about 15 percent less sunlight than it did 50 years ago, according to Michael Roderick, a climate researcher at Australian National University in Canberra. "Global dimming means that the transmission of sunlight through the atmosphere is decreasing," Roderick said. "Just look out the window when you fly into New York or to California - it's dimmer," said Beate Liepert, a climatologist at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University in New York. Researchers say global dimming, also known as solar dimming, partially offsets the global warming .

Support for the theory comes from two types of data collected in recent decades:

Radiation meters - black metal plates that absorb the sun's rays - aren't heating up as rapidly as they previously did.
The rate at which water evaporates from special measuring pans placed in the sunlight has slowed over the years.

Global warming making hurricanes stronger

Is global warming making hurricanes more ferocious? New research suggests the answer is yes. Scientists call the findings both surprising and “alarming” because they suggest global warming is influencing storms now — rather than in the distant future, reports AP. However, the research doesn’t suggest global warming is generating more hurricanes and typhoons. The analysis by climatologist Kerry Emanuel of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology shows for the first time that major storms spinning in both the Atlantic and the Pacific since the 1970s have increased in duration and intensity by about 50 percent. These trends are closely linked to increases in the average temperatures of the ocean surface and also correspond to increases in global average atmospheric temperatures during the same period.

“When I look at these results at face value, they are rather alarming,” said research meteorologist Tom Knutson. “These are very big changes.” Knutson, who wasn’t involved in the study, works in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory in Princeton, N.J. Emanuel reached his conclusions by analyzing data collected from actual storms rather than using computer models to predict future storm behavior. Before this study, most researchers believed global warming’s contribution to powerful hurricanes was too slight to accurately measure. Most forecasts don’t have climate change making a real difference in tropical storms until 2050 or later.

But some scientists questioned Emanuel’s methods. For example, the MIT researcher did not consider wind speed information from some powerful storms in the 1950s and 1960s because the details of those storms are inconsistent. Researchers are using new methods to analyze those storms and others going back as far as 1851. If early storms turn out to be more powerful than originally thought, Emmanuel’s findings on global warming’s influence on recent tropical storms might not hold up, they said. “I’m not convinced that it’s happening,” said Christopher W. Landsea, another research meteorologist with NOAA, who works at a different lab, the Atlantic Oceanographic & Meteorological Laboratory in Miami. Landsea is a director of the historical hurricane reanalysis.

"His conclusions are contingent on a very large bias removal that is large or larger than the global warming signal itself,” Landsea said. Details of Emanuel’s study appear Sunday in the online version of the journal Nature. Theories and computer simulations indicate that global warming should generate an increase in storm intensity, in part because warmer temperatures would heat up the surface of the oceans. Especially in the Atlantic and Caribbean basins, pools of warming seawater provide energy for storms as they swirl and grow over the open oceans Source: The News Todays, 2 August, 2005).

Tragedy in the Himalays and Ganges-Brahmaputra Plain - Flood, drought, earthquake and cyclone
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Global warming will spell wildfires and drought

A three-degrees Celsius rise in temperature over the next century will increase the risk of drought, wildfires and forest loss in many parts of the developing world, say researchers. Marko Scholze of the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom led an assessment of the impact of climate change on key ecosystems. The results were published online by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences last week. The study says there is a considerable risk that wildfires will be more frequent in South America, Southern Africa and Central Asia even if temperatures rise by less than two degrees.

Yet research suggested last year that a rise of two degrees was fairly certain and that an 11-degree increase was possible. Even if greenhouse gas emissions were to cease now, temperatures would continue to rise as heat stored in the oceans will be released. Scholze's team warns that rising temperatures will greatly increase the risk of forest loss in Amazoni, Central America and eastern China. They say that if temperatures rise by more than three degrees, West Africa and Central America are likely to suffer a loss of freshwater and therefore more intense droughts.

At this level of warming, they add, the amount of carbon that trees and earth absorb is likely to be less than the amount they release into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. This would create a strong positive feedback loop that would further increase global warming.

The researchers drew their conclusions by running 52 simulations of world climate using 16 different computer models and then used the results to predict changes to global vegetation. They note that while they only looked at drastic changes in land-cover, from forested to non-forested and vice-versa, even more subtle changes would affect biodiversity.

Scholze says an important finding is the degree to which the effects get rapidly more pronounced with small increases in temperature. "Most importantly," he says, "we show the steeply increasing risks, and increasingly large areas affected, associated with higher warming levels."

The fact that human beings are affecting the global climate through the emission of greenhouse gases, primarily Carbon Dioxide from burning fossil fuels such as coal, petroleum and natural gas for energy and transport, has been known since the eighties. Since then, despite efforts to reduce these emissions the concentration of these gases in the atmosphere has continued to increase to a level where some degree of dangerous climate change is now inevitable and unavoidable, at least in the next couple of decades ecosystems and communities around the globe. Unfortunately, Bangladesh is one such country which is going to be vulnerable to the impact of such climate change, which will include both enhanced floods as well as droughts along with long-term salinity of the coastal regions and possibly more severe (but not necessarily more frequent) cyclones(Source: Holiday, September 01, 2006).

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1.3 Climate change: The big emitters

The future of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change is largely in the hands of the world's biggest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions.

The US emits more, absolutely and per head, than any other country - although it also produces more wealth. When Kyoto was agreed, the US signed and committed to reducing its emissions by 6%. But since then it has pulled out of the agreement and its carbon dioxide emissions have increased to more than 15% above 1990 levels. For the agreement to become a legally binding treaty, it had to be ratified by countries which together were responsible for at least 55% of the total 1990 emissions reported by the industrialised countries and emerging economies which made commitments to reduce their emissions under the protocol.

As the US accounted for 36.1% of those emissions, this 55% target was much harder to achieve without its participation. But 141 countries banded together and the protocol came into force in February 2005.

President George W Bush said in March 2001 that the US would not ratify Kyoto because he thought it would damage the US economy and because it did not yet require developing countries to cut their emissions. He says he backs improvements in energy efficiency through voluntary emissions reductions - rather than imposed targets - and through the development of cleaner technologies. European Union
All 15 European Union states ratified the Kyoto deal in May 2002. The protocol's most enthusiastic supporter, the EU has pressured countries such as Russia, Japan and Canada to ratify Kyoto so that it could come into force without the commitment of the US. The EU has continually argued for a rigorous application of Kyoto, wanting to limit the use of so-called "flexibility mechanisms" which allow countries to partially meet their emissions reduction targets by paying for improvements in other countries.

The EU has also opposed widespread use of forests and other carbon "sinks" to absorb pollution - but gave substantial ground on the issue at talks in Bonn in 2001. However, despite its tough stance on Kyoto, the EU is some way off its own target. It pledged to bring total greenhouse gas emissions to 8% below 1990s levels by 2008-2012, but by 2002 they had dropped only 2.9% - and CO2 emissions had risen slightly. Only four EU countries are on track to achieve their own targets.

China

China is the world's second biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, but as a developing country is not yet required to reduce its emissions. With China accounting for a fifth of the world's population, increases in its emissions could dwarf any cuts made by the industrialised countries.

The average Chinese person consumes only 10-15% of the energy an average US citizen uses, but with the economy developing at high speed many analysts expect China's total emissions to overtake America's by mid-century. Fossil fuels play a major role - China is the world's biggest coal producer and oil consumption has doubled in the last 20 years. The country faced power cuts in 2004 as soaring growth outstripped electricity generation.

However, although no UN figures are available, analysts say there is evidence to back up Chinese claims of a reduction in emissions during the late 1990s, largely due to increased efficiency and slower economic growth. China's leaders recognise that climate change could devastate their society and ratified the Kyoto Protocol in 2002. In 2004 Beijing announced plans to generate 10% of its power from renewable sources by 2010. But it is far from clear whether the country would ever agree to internationally-imposed emissions restrictions.

Russia

Russia ratified the Kyoto Protocol in November 2004 - the crucial moment making the treaty legally binding. Russia's entry was vital, because the protocol had to be ratified by nations accounting for at least 55% of greenhouse gas emissions to become valid. This target was only met after Russia joined.

Russia's economy has shrunk so drastically since 1990 that industrial activity has dropped, leaving emissions reduced by about 35% and well below the level allowed under Kyoto. In the short-term, Russia stands to gain billions of dollars through emissions trading - selling its unused emissions entitlement to developed countries which want to emit more than the protocol allows them to. It says the money would be used for energy efficiency projects. Committing to keep emissions low could, however, bring Russia economic costs in the longer term.

Japan

A major world economic power, Japan is a leading member of Kyoto, committed to cutting emissions. It was responsible for 8.5% of emissions in 1990 and its support for the agreement has been critical in the absence of US participation.

Although previously reluctant to ratify the protocol unless the US also committed, Japan ratified it in June 2002. It committed to reduce emissions by 6% from 1990 levels, but 2002 figures showed total greenhouse gas emissions had risen 11% above the baseline figure. The country recognises that its economy could benefit from the Kyoto agreement, as Japanese companies could capture markets for new, clean technology.

India

Developing countries like India are not obliged to make any cuts in greenhouse emissions under Kyoto. But as they raise living standards their emissions will increase. India's emissions are estimated to have risen by more than 50% in the 1990s, although the country has only submitted emissions figures to the UN for one year, 1994.

India recognises that many of its one billion people will be vulnerable to the effects of climate change and ratified the Kyoto Protocol in August 2002. But with India's economy and population, like China's, continuing to grow, it is clear that the thorny issue of developing country emissions commitments will have to be tackled soon in future rounds of negotiations.
(BBC News Online looks at how much they emit, what are they doing about it and where they stand on Kyoto, July 2005).

The fact that human beings are affecting the global climate through the emission of greenhouse gases, primarily Carbon Dioxide from burning fossil fuels such as coal, petroleum and natural gas for energy and transport, has been known since the eighties. Since then, despite efforts to reduce these emissions the concentration of these gases in the atmosphere has continued to increase to a level where some degree of dangerous climate change is now inevitable and unavoidable, at least in the next couple of decades ecosystems and communities around the globe.

World leaders have been urged to put more money into developing new energy technologies to tackle global warming. Royal Society president Martin Rees wants a publicly funded international research programme, he says in the US journal Science. Lord Rees says a pledge to increase governments' investments in energy technologies should have been made at the recent G8 summit in Russia. He describes a "worrisome lack of determination" among world leaders.

Lord Rees said: "Energy security was a key issue at the St Petersburg summit of G8 leaders last month. "Their joint communique included many important commitments, but it omitted one crucial pledge - a significant increase in their governments' investments in R&D (research and development) for energy technologies." He said an "urgent challenge" was to meet global demand for energy, while reducing the impact of greenhouse gas emissions on climate change. To do this, "more needs to be done to develop new energy technologies that are currently far from market", he said.

"If we look at what is happening worldwide, there is a greater and greater demand for energy, especially in the developing world, India and China in particular, and at the same time carbon dioxide is rising very fast and it's clear that unless we can control the carbon dioxide then we will run into a dangerous level of potential climate change 50 years from now. "And that's why there's urgency, because if you want to meet the expectations of the developing world, we need new kinds of energy. "None of the kinds of energy that we can produce now routinely are going to really be sustainable in the long run at the scale we need."
The International Energy Agency predicts that by 2030 global energy demand will increase by 50% (Source: BBC News, August 04, 2006).

Climate change: LDCs (Least Developing Countries) are double losers

Effects of climate change are not the same across regions and this makes it difficult to devise a global policy for implementation. The LDCs are likely to be the most affected group of countries. The ongoing market-led globalisation accentuates this vulnerability in some countries. Least developed countries (LDCs) with antecedent poverty suffer from global structural "omissions," as argued by Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen. This 'double exposure' makes the LDCs 'double losers.' Obviously, LDCs are particularly concerned about this skewed distributional impact of climate change. It needs to be kept in mind that climate change impacts threaten lifestyle in the Annex-1 countries, while they threaten life as such in the LDCs.

Climate change hitting Africa badly

Africa has contributed less than any other region to the greenhouse gas emissions that are widely held responsible for global warming. But the continent is also the most vulnerable to the consequences.

drought Even as global policymakers debate how to deal with anticipated climate change disasters of the future, the effects of climate change are already hitting the African region and many other parts of the developing world.

Climate change 'will set Kalahari dunes in motion': Researchers predict that warmer temperatures will make sand dunes in southern Africa unstable, with serious implications for farmers whose livestock graze there.

Climate change in Egypt 'to force millions to migrate': Egypt's environment ministry has warned in a report that climate change could force millions of it's citizens to migrate as the sea level rises and agriculture suffers.

Desertification 'a threat to two billion people': A major international study reports that the health and livelihoods of billions are at risk from spreading degradation in the world's drylands.

Decades of drought predicted for southern Africa: Researchers say that global warming will lead to persistent droughts in southern Africa and floods in the Sahel region.

Climate change 'will reduce African and Asian harvests':Researchers warn that climate change will threaten food security in developing countries — especially in Africa and Asia.

Burning wood for fuel could kill 10 million Africans: Using wood as a household fuel could cause ten million premature deaths in sub-Saharan Africa by 2030, according to a study out this week.

A report published on 29 October 2006 by a coalition of leading development and environment NGOs in the United Kingdom says that climate change is already having serious impacts on peoples' lives across Africa. The problems will get much worse without urgent action now.

The report, "Africa Up in Smoke 2", is based on the latest scientific research and as well as evidence from the ground. The report is published by The Working Group on Climate Change and Development whose members include ActionAid International, CAFOD, Christian Aid, Columban Faith and Justice, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, Institute for Development Studies, International Institute for Environment and Development, MedAct, New Economics Foundation, Oxfam GB, Panos, World Vision and WWF.

It says that Africa is already warmer by 0.5 degrees centigrade than it was 100 years ago. According to the Hadley Centre, a leading climate research body in the UK, temperature increases over many areas of Africa will be double the global average increase, and drought patterns stand to worsen catastrophically. The coalition stressed that Africa is the continent probably most vulnerable of all to the negative effects of climate change, and the one that faces the greatest challenges to adapt. An example given is that for millions of people in the Horn and East Africa, the success or failure of rains due over the next two months will be critical. Whether the rains fall will determine if in 2007 there can be recovery from the serious drought of 2005-2006, or there will be another disastrous year.

Africa is undergoing big environmental changes. Although the climates of Africa have always been erratic, the latest scientific research, and the agencies' on-the-ground experience indicates new and dangerous extremes, continual warming and more unpredictable weather patterns.

The success or failure of one rainy season, or even several, cannot be attributed to global warming. But, says the report, Africa is steadily warming and the climate is changing. Quoting the experience of ordinary African people and aid agency partners, the report catalogues the impact of rising temperatures, more frequent and severe droughts in some places, more torrential rains in others and greater climatic uncertainty for the continent's farmers.

Climatic unpredictability increases the pressure on people's lives and livelihoods from poverty, HIV/AIDS and government neglect. Women and rural societies, especially pastoralists, are under the greatest stresses. While local conditions vary, across sub-Saharan Africa as a whole, 33 per cent of people are under-nourished, compared with 17 per cent of people in all developing countries. This rises to 55 per cent in Central Africa. The average number of food emergencies in Africa per year almost tripled since the mid 1980s. Climate change poses a new and unprecedented threat to food security.

The report says that the international community is failing to meet even the limited commitments it has made to help the world's poorest people adapt to the impact of climate change.

hunger africa People who speak about hunger and environmental crises are viewed as muddle-headed moralists, as opposed to the hard-headed realists who deal with war and peace. Our political systems and global politics are largely unequipped for the real challenges of today’s world. Global economic growth and rising populations are putting unprecedented stresses on the physical environment, and these stresses in turn are causing unprecedented challenges for our societies. Yet politicians are largely ignorant of these trends. Governments are not organised to meet them. And crises that are fundamentally ecological in nature are managed by outdated strategies of war and diplomacy.

Contributions to the two funds specifically designed to help poor countries adapt stand at just $43 million in 2005-2006, around one tenth of the amount pledged, whilst the overall annual costs to adapt to projected climate change are likely to be between $10 billion and $40 billion per year. The majority of the continent's poorest and most undernourished people live in rural areas - especially small-holders, nomadic pastoralists, and women.

The need to give more support to small-scale farming is critical, yet aid for agricultural production in sub-Saharan Africa dropped by 43 percent between 1990-92 and 2000-02. The coalition concludes that Africa urgently needs a new model for human development that is "climate proof and climate friendly and gives everyone a fair share of the natural resources on which we all depend." It warns that unless the international community takes urgent action to reduce emissions, their efforts to end poverty in Africa will "go up in smoke." (Martin Khor ,Third World Network Features , Holiday, November 17, 2006)

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1.4. Climate victims are refugees

People affected by rising temperatures should be given a special status as "environmental refugees". In a report, Environmental Refugees: The Case For Recognition, the London-based foundation says there is a growing interdependency in a world where environmental problems have no respect for borders, so this new status is an essential response to a growing and unavoidable crisis. About $80bn is going in subsidies to fossil fuel industries in rich countries, against $0.4bn pledged to help poor ones to adapt to climate change

It says the number of people around the world uprooted for environmental reasons probably totals 25 million, compared with 22 million displaced by civil wars and persecution. By 2050, it suggests, there could be 150 million people worldwide "displaced by a cocktail of ecological 'push factors'".

Polluters to pay

Apart from amending or replacing the Geneva Convention, NEF suggests there should be compensation for ecological debts "to clarify the financial and environmental obligations of 'over-polluting' countries... " One of the report's co-authors, Andrew Simms, said: "Hysteria and hypocrisy walk in the footsteps of refugees and migrants. The paranoia of wealthy countries is deeply ironic.

"Their carbon-intensive lifestyles are driving global warming, which is likely to become the largest single factor forcing people to flee their homes around the world... People in poor, vulnerable countries pay with their homes for our lifestyles." NEF says the refugee convention lacks an explicit clause acknowledging the plight of people like these. If such a clause were added, it believes, there would then be an enforceable international duty to help them.

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees says it is already overburdened and underfunded, and could not take on the extra work. But Andrew Simms told BBC News Online: "Just because UNHCR's hands are full, that doesn't mean the problem will simply go away.

Unequal shares

"Unless you create a proper legal status for the people affected and put the responsibility for helping them on the developed world, it will go on being the poor countries who are left to pick up the tab. "We have a pretty watertight ability to pin the responsibility for climate change where it belongs.
"We know, for instance, that when it sits down to dinner on 2 January, a US family will already have consumed as much fossil fuel since the stroke of midnight on New Year's Day as a Tanzanian family will survive on for the entire year.

"What I find most outrageous is that - very conservatively - about $80bn is going in subsidies to fossil fuel industries in rich countries, against $0.4bn pledged to help poor ones to adapt to climate change." NEF says other causes besides climate change are creating environmental refugees: they include dam-building, the spread of deserts, and the loss of forests (BBC, October 1, 2003).

Floods swept away Masuma's home, and her sister's baby Masuma's home is a bamboo and polythene shack in one of the hundreds of slums colonising every square metre of unbuilt land in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh.
Masuma is an environmental refugee, fleeing from the floods which have always beset her homeland but which are predicted to strike more severely with climate change. She has found her way to the city from the rural district of Bogra - a low-lying area originally formed from Himalayan silt where the landscape is still being shaped by the mighty Brahmaputra river as it snakes and carves through the soft sandy soil. "In Bogra we had a straw-made house that was nice. When the flood came there was a big sucking of water and everything went down," Masuma says. "Water was rising in the house and my sister left her baby upon the bed. When she came back in, the baby was gone. The baby had been washed away and later on we found the body," she recalls.

Sir Nicholas' approach is criticised by some economists who argue that as climate change is beyond human control we should continue to maximise economic growth so we will be able to afford to pay for adaptation in the future. In a recent article for the Spectator magazine, former chancellor Lord Lawson argued: "Far and away the most cost-effective policy for the world to adopt is to identify the most harmful consequences that may flow from global warming and, if they start to occur, to take action to counter them." (BBC, September, 2006)

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rising water In pictures:

Your changing world

Biodiversity: The sixth great wave

Energy: Meeting soaring demand

Can the planet feed us?

Pollution: A life and death issue

Climate change: Uncharted waters?

1.5. Bangladesh: The Worst Victims of Global Warming

Bangladesh: The Worst Victims of Global Warming

Low-lying Bangladesh is predicted to be one of the worst victims of global warming. Latest climate models indicate its devastating impact on the country. For example, flooding, which affects roughly a fifth of the country each year, will go up by up to 40 percent this century as sea levels rise, monsoons become wetter and more intense cyclones lead to higher tidal surges.

To make things worse, experts say, heavier rainfall triggered by global warming will swamp the country's riverbanks, a previously unforeseen effect, flooding between 20-40 percent more land than today. As a result, the land available to grow rice, vegetables, lentil, onion and mustard crops will be significantly reduced, placing an intolerable pressure on farmers.

A recent New York Times article indicated that the expected change in sea levels from Antarctic glacial melting "already constitutes a slow-motion catastrophe for places like Bangladesh..."

There is every indication that the climate is undergoing a change for the worse. In Bangladesh, we now experience unprecedented intense heat waves in summer and unusually cold spells in the shorter winters, not to speak of the ever-worsening floods that destroys life and property each year. The weather pattern is getting increasingly erratic, so much so that forecasters at the Met office are often at a loss. The monsoon floods this year lingered unusually long and took and exceptionally catastrophic turn, submerging almost two-thirds of the country. The lowest temperature recorded during the cold wave that swept the country in January last year hit a 34-year low of 3.4 degrees Celsius in Rajshahi. During last year's heat wave, the temperature soared to 43.4 degrees Celsius in Satkhira. This year again, the country faced severe heat waves in May and June.
Though it usually rains hard around July 2004, last month's rains broke a 50-year record of 341 mm in 24 hours due to a depression in the Bay. Met officials said the depression took an abnormal twisting path not seen in 100 years.

Climate researchers in reports prepared for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) had already predicted crop loss to floods in countries like Bangladesh, an increase in diseases like malaria and dengue fever, asthma and other respiratory diseases, shifting ecosystems resulting in total disappearance of some forests, desertification, etc.

Bangladesh to lose 17 pc land

Asia's largest rivers, the Ganges and the Bramaputra, join in the world's most extensive delta and flow into the Bay of Bengal. About 115 million people - nearly 816 per square kilometer - live in the low-lying delta of three major rivers, the Ganges, the Brahmaputra and the Meghna. The effects of a one-meter relative sea level rise predicts that 17.5 per cent of the country will be inundated, displacing 13 million people, about 11 per cent of the population.

A million people every year are displaced by loss of land along rivers, and indications are this is increasing. The Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forest in the world, would probably be destroyed. This unique habitat for plant and wildlife is already threatened by salt intrusion.

"The direct and indirect effects of climate change will displace people, threaten food security in the region, increase the scarcity of fresh water and lead to loss of life and property," Rising sea levels will lead to 150 million environmental refugees by 2050, 17 per cent of Bangladesh could be permanently lost. Extreme natural disasters like cyclones, droughts and floods would become more frequent, and the incidence of respiratory, cardiovascular and infectious diseases may increase.

New threat

We also know that as the world becomes warm, the weather patterns are likely to become much more variable around the world and people are going to be exposed to an increased frequency and increased intensity of extreme weather. Regions including Africa and South Asia - home to most of the 1.1 billion people who live without clean water - will be among the hardest hit by changing weather patterns, experts at the 4th World Water Forum. They blamed the threats largely on changes in the global climate. Bangladesh is a low-lying country in the world. There are salinity intrusions into larger areas due to climate change, and a rise in sea-water levels.

The Stern Report commissioned by the British Government concluded that between 150 million and 200 million people could be displaced by climate change by 2050. The report concluded that unmitigated climate change could cost the global economy more than the ‘combined cost of the two world wars and the Great Depression’.

1.Dengue menace lurking in the wings
2. Malaria strikes capital Dhaka Bangladesh
3. Mysterious Disease, killer virus - ‘Nipah' in Bangladesh
4. Bangladesh - On the climate change frontline
5. Bangladesh boat diary: Tigers and dolphins - debate climate change. - BBC Nov. 2007

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Sunderbans (The largest mangrove forest of the world) suffers global warming impact

Climate change is taking its toll on the Sunderbans tiger reserve with rising sea level and erosion threatening its fragile ecosystem. The rise of seawater in the Sunderbans, a world heritage site, is about 3.14 mm annually as against the global average of 2.2 mm. As one moves eastwards towards Bangladesh the rise is even higher at almost 5mm in the centre and at Khulna in Bangladesh the rise annually is 10mm. Expers say global warming raises atmospheric temperatures, which in turn, warms the world's oceans. Heat makes water molecules expand-called thermal expansion-causing sea levels to rise.

Over the past three decades, the world's oceans have warmed by .3 degrees Celsius on average. The inter-governmental panel on climate change expects sea levels to rise by almost a metre by 2100.

South Asia has been identified as one of the most vulnerable areas to sea level rise. The Sunderbans are at the greatest risk as not only is it home to some of the world's most endangered species including the tiger, it is also home to 4.5 million people. In the last two decades 6000 families have been left homeless by the rising sea, which has swallowed low lying islands. Cyclones, tidal waves and tidal surge are increasing also both in frequency and intensity accelerating erosion along the 225 km coastal line. "Earlier we have seen this happening but now it is more frequent. Just during the rainy season due to the Norwester the entire east coast was very badly affected, many embankments were broken aggravating erosion," said Professor Ananda Deb Mukhopadhyay, Chairman, Digha Sankarpur Devl Authority.

From the old pictures one can see that parts of the original boundary of the coastline are already under the sea. And the state's tourist sites at Digha and Sankarpur are getting affected. "Complete beach earlier sand dunes are here. Here is intervention by fishery market. This is the backwater region and due to the high tide backwater region will go through and low tide it will come out. But if you intervene here the erosion will increase," said Professor Mukhopadhyay. The rising sea levels have also caused an increase in the salinity levels, which in turn has caused a species migration inwards away from the sea.

Mangrove species like the sundari from which the Sunderbans gets its name is also slowly disappearing. "Particularly the sundari cannot stand high salinity so it is suffering the most along with that the fishing cat and the deer population. There has been a migration along the area of the tiger. They also don't like a lot of salinity so they are also migrating," said Professor Pranabes S Sanyal, member National Coastal Zone Management. This precious eco system is Kolkata's last barrier against the sea its loss will lead to disaster (Source: NDTV, September 29, 2006).

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1.6.Flooded future looms for Bangladesh

If climate change pushes sea levels higher, people in coastal areas in countries like Bangladesh could be forced from their homes. As part of the BBC’s Planet Under Pressure series, Roland Buerk visits a family living in the Ganges River delta Most experts agree that global warming is a reality and that it will bring further rises in sea levels. In the last century the world heated up by 0.6C, according to the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Sea levels rose by between 9 and 20cm and scientists predict further increases of 9 to 88cm by the year 2100. The South Asian country of Bangladesh stands to be the worst affected.

It is situated in the low-lying Ganges River delta and is also one of the most densely populated countries on earth. Char Bangla is one of thousands of islands in the mouths of the Ganges. The land comes and goes with the tides and seasons as the silt is washed away and deposited by the river and sea.

Staying afloat The people who live on Char Bangla are among the most vulnerable anywhere to a rise in sea level. ‘I have to work hard because of my misfortune,’ said Abdul Razzak. ‘There’s lots of suffering here. Sometimes the tide is four or five feet high. Then I can’t sleep because I have to stay standing up.’ The villagers have built up platforms of mud for their straw huts to try to keep them out of the water.

They have planted trees hoping the roots will bind the soil to stop it being washed away. But over the long term their efforts will almost certainly be in vain.

Some estimate that the rise in sea level at the top end of the IPCC forecast is predicting will leave at least a fifth of Bangladesh under water. And it is not just coastal areas that are under threat. Bangladesh’s rivers are expected to flood even more frequently.

‘It’s a flat, flat, flat country,’ said Dr Atik Rahman of the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies who has investigated how climate change will affect the country. ‘The flow of water coming from the Himalayas - which is huge - depends on the differential of height.

‘When the sea level is higher, the flow of that water will be restricted. So when you hear now of Bangladesh being a flood-prone country - it will be a much more flood-prone country in future.’ Dr Rahman adds that after sea levels rise, salt in the ground water will become a major problem, with fields up to 40km from the new coastline rendered useless for growing crops.

International tensions

The irony is that Bangladeshis have contributed little to the pollution blamed for enhancing climate change, and which threatens to bring so much destruction to their country. Like most people here, Abdul Razzak’s wife cooks on a wood-burning stove made out of clay. But apart from that, the family consumes little energy.

They have no electricity and use candles for light. They get about by walking or in a boat powered by a single oar at the stern. The people on Char Bangla are acutely aware that the ‘sins of the rich’ could be visited on them.

‘We are angry with the people who are doing this,’ said Abdul Razzak. ‘We are angry with the people building these factories that will make us sink into the sea.’ ‘We have heard these kinds of things, the danger that is going to come. We are going to be washed away. But we are living by relying on Allah,’ said his wife Rabea Khatun.

‘What can we do?’, asked their neighbour Abdus Salaam Taluikdar. ‘We are angry but we’re trying to get on with our lives. We can do nothing, but everyone is angry.’ Dr Atik Rahman believes the richer countries have an obligation to help countries like Bangladesh which will suffer disproportionately from global warming.

‘No contribution, highest impact - that makes it a huge case of moral inequality against which the global citizenry, the global nation states, must take action. If not we’ll be calling it climatic genocide. That’s where we’re heading.’ Some predict that in the future millions of people in low-lying countries like Bangladesh will be forced to migrate. But a movement of people on that scale will create its own international tensions. The world will have to learn to cope with refugees from climate change (Source: New Age, 3 August, 2005)

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1.7. Climate change fight 'can't wait'

The world cannot afford to wait before tackling climate change, the UK prime minister has warned. A report by economist Sir Nicholas Stern suggests that global warming could shrink the global economy by 20%. But taking action now would cost just 1% of global gross domestic product, the 700-page study says. Tony Blair said the Stern Review showed that scientific evidence of global warming was "overwhelming" and its consequences "disastrous.

International response

Environment Secretary David Miliband said the Queen's Speech would now feature a climate bill to establish an independent Carbon Committee to "work with government to reduce emissions over time and across the economy". The report says that without action, up to 200 million people could become refugees as their homes are hit by drought or flood. "Whilst there is much more we need to understand - both in science and economics - we know enough now to be clear about the magnitude of the risks, the timescale for action and how to act effectively," Sir Nicholas said.

Mr Blair said the consequences for the planet of inaction were "literally disastrous". "This disaster is not set to happen in some science fiction future many years ahead, but in our lifetime," he said. "Investment now will pay us back many times in the future, not just environmentally but economically as well." "For every £1 invested now we can save £5, or possibly more, by acting now. "We can't wait the five years it took to negotiate Kyoto - we simply don't have the time. We accept we have to go further (than Kyoto)."

Sir Nicholas, a former chief economist of the World Bank warns that if no action is taken:

Floods from rising sea levels could displace up to 100 million people

Melting glaciers could cause water shortages for 1 in 6 of the world's population

Wildlife will be harmed; at worst up to 40% of species could become extinct

Droughts may create tens or even hundreds of millions of "climate refugees"

Objectives are:

Reducing European-wide emissions by 30% by 2020, and at least 60% by 2050

By 2010, having 5% of all UK vehicles running on biofuels

Creating an independent environmental authority to work with the government

Establishing trade links with Brazil, Papua New Guinea and Costa Rica to ensure sustainable forestry

Working with China on clean coal technologies(BBC,Monday, 30 October 2006).

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1.8.Global fish stocks could be almost eliminated within 50 years

Global fish stocks could be almost eliminated within 50 years if current trends continue, says a major scientific study.

An international team of scientists, writing in US journal Science, said stocks could collapse within 50 years if commercial fishing is not curbed.

The report backs up what scientists round the world have known for years - that the majority of targeted fish stocks are in decline.

The ecosystem, of course, is all the life in the sea and its environment interacting. It's a web, the web of life, the food web. And when you take away one part of that, the whole thing gets seriously distorted or can collapse. And so it's not just whether there's going to be enough fish, although that's terribly important because 20% of the world's population depend on fish for protein, but also other things - recreation, tourist industry, but also things like sea defences, that depend on mangrove swamps and coral in parts of the world.

Experiments show that reducing the diversity of an ecosystem lowers the abundance of fish
Historical records show extensive loss of biodiversity along coasts since 1800, with the collapse of about 40% of species. About one-third of once viable coastal fisheries are now useless
Catch records from the open ocean show widespread decline of fisheries since 1950 with the rate of decline increasing. In 2003, 29% of fisheries were collapsed. Biodiverse regions' stocks fare better
. Marine reserves and no-catch zones bring an average 23% improvement in biodiversity and an increase in fish stocks around the protected area

padma -less fish, bangladesh A warming climate and not local fishermen is to blame for the falling fish harvests in Lake Tanganyika, according to new research findings published in the British journal Nature.

Has 18% of the world's fresh water Yields 200,000 tonnes of fish annually Sardines down by about 50% since 1970s

The shortfall threatens the diets of the lake's shoreline countries of Burundi, Tanzania, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The study was carried out by a team of researchers led by Catherine O'Reilly of New York's Vassar College.

Dramatic Reduction of Pulses, Oil Seed and Fish

Lake Tanganyika, the second largest lake in the world, yields 200,000 tonnes of fish a year, an important source of food and revenue for the shoreline nations. The scientists found out that the harvest of sardines, the lake's main commercial fish, has declined by as much as 50% since the 1970s The UK Government is considering its response to the report, published in the journal Science, but it has ruled out a ban on cod.

At the moment, this is one of the most comprehensive studies that's been undertaken so this is really a reasonable estimate of what we think will happen if we continue our current action. We need to have a series of measures. We need to think about marine reserves, or marine protected areas, because they been shown to really turn things around. In addition to this, it's not just fishing that's impacting [on] the marine environment. It's also pollution, it's climate change, it's ocean acidification, destruction of our marine habitats. So just focusing on the fisheries industry is not the way forward.

'Only 50 years left' for sea fish

There will be virtually nothing left to fish from the seas by the middle of the century if current trends continue, according to a major scientific study. Stocks have collapsed in nearly one-third of sea fisheries, and the rate of decline is accelerating. Writing in the journal Science, the international team of researchers says fishery decline is closely tied to a broader loss of marine biodiversity. But a greater use of protected areas could safeguard existing stocks.

"The way we use the oceans is that we hope and assume there will always be another species to exploit after we've completely gone through the last one," said research leader Boris Worm, from Dalhousie University in Canada.

"What we're highlighting is there is a finite number of stocks; we have gone through one-third, and we are going to get through the rest," he told the BBC News website.

Steve Palumbi, from Stanford University in California, one of the other scientists on the project, added: "Unless we fundamentally change the way we manage all the ocean species together, as working ecosystems, then this century is the last century of wild seafood."

We should protect biodiversity, and it does pay off through fisheries yield

Experiments performed in small, relatively contained ecosystems show that reductions in diversity tend to bring reductions in the size and robustness of local fish stocks. This implies that loss of biodiversity is driving the declines in fish stocks seen in the large-scale studies. The final part of the jigsaw is data from areas where fishing has been banned or heavily restricted. These show that protection brings back biodiversity within the zone, and restores populations of fish just outside. "The image I use to explain why biodiversity is so important is that marine life is a bit like a house of cards," said Dr Worm.

"All parts of it are integral to the structure; if you remove parts, particularly at the bottom, it's detrimental to everything on top and threatens the whole structure. "And we're learning that in the oceans, species are very strongly linked to each other - probably more so than on land."

What the study does not do is attribute damage to individual activities such as over-fishing, pollution or habitat loss; instead it paints a picture of the cumulative harm done across the board. Even so, a key implication of the research is that more of the oceans should be protected.

But the extent of protection is not the only issue, according to Carl Gustaf Lundin, head of the global marine programme at IUCN, the World Conservation Union. "The benefits of marine-protected areas are quite clear in a few cases; there's no doubt that protecting areas leads to a lot more fish and larger fish, and less vulnerability," he said.

"But you also have to have good management of marine parks and good management of fisheries. Clearly, fishing should not wreck the ecosystem, bottom trawling being a good example of something which does wreck the ecosystem." But, he said, the concept of protecting fish stocks by protecting biodiversity does make sense.

"This is a good compelling case; we should protect biodiversity, and it does pay off even in simple monetary terms through fisheries yield." Protecting stocks demands the political will to act on scientific advice - something which Boris Worm finds lacking in Europe, where politicians have ignored recommendations to halt the iconic North Sea cod fishery year after year.
Source, R. Black, BBC, November 2, 2006)

Climate change is destroying tropical marine ecosystems

Fire coral -bleached out Climate change is destroying tropical marine ecosystems through sea temperature increase and ocean acidification. Scientists say 20 percent of the world's coral reefs have already been ruined and a further 50 percent are facing immediate or long term danger of collapse. Yet, one of the reports published today shows that saving the world's coral reefs may still be possible. By fighting other stress factors such as pollution or overfishing impacting coral reefs, the reefs will be able to better adapt to climate change impacts, according to the report, "Coral Reef Resilience and Resistance to Bleaching." Another report by the two organizations, "Managing Mangroves for Resilience to Climate Change" follows a similar strategy. To help mangroves and corals survive in the face of climate change, the two reports publish a series of strategies and tools to fight the other stress factors impacting on them

Rapid sea level rise, more violent tropical storms and changes in rainfall and salinity occurring as the planet warms are also affecting coral reefs and mangroves. "We need to minimize human impacts such as pollution, overfishing or unsustainable coastal development. Then the coral reefs have a bigger chance of coming back after bleaching and of adapting to rising sea temperatures or more acid waters," said Gabriel Grimsditch of the IUCN Global Marine Program, one of two authors of the publication on coral reefs. Other measures include protecting areas of particularly healthy sites that are resilient in the face of climate change. These sites may be able to help regenerate degraded coral reefs and mangroves in the future.

Monitoring of coral reefs before, during and after a bleaching event will help to raise awareness amongst managers and politicians, the reef report suggests. Coral reefs only cover 0.2 percent of the ocean floor, but contain 25 percent of marine species globally. Coral reefs provide livelihoods to 100 million people and provide the basis for industries such as tourism and fishing, worth an annual net benefit of US$30 billion, the report states. One hectare of mangroves is estimated to deliver products and services worth up to $900,000. Examples of these products and services include timber and wood chips, an environment for fish spawning, and habitat for economically important species. But climate change is compromising these ecosystems' ability to deliver benefits to plants, animals and humans in the future.

"Rising temperatures and sea levels challenge reef managers to be flexible and adapt their approaches to make the reefs and mangroves under their care more resilient to climate change as new science and understanding emerges," says Rodney Salm, director of the Transforming Coastal Marine Conservation Program at the Nature Conservancy, and the other co-author of the coral reef resilience publication

mangrove, eastern brazil Contingency plans must be developed according to the nature of coastal areas which will provide for proper coordination at the regional, national and local level before, during and after a disaster, the delegates advised. Tropical nearshore and coral reef fisheries are generally not well managed, the delegates said. They recommend supporting reform of fishery governance at multiple levels to harmonize policies to ensure consistency, sustainability and integration of fisheries management with other elements of tropical marine ecosystem management. Long-term financial planning and monitoring for revenue generation, funds management, and expenditure should be fundamental to all coastal management activities, the delegates said. "It is high time for action," says Lundin. "That is the clear message expressed by scientists at this symposium and around the world. IUCN therefore works to identify the best science and offer practical solutions to policymakers and conservation managers, which is the goal of these manuals." Source: ENS, October 31, 2006).

East Asian coasts face ecological disaster

Growing populations and booming economies are threatening fragile coastal areas in East Asia, and the region’s coral reefs could face total collapse within 20 years, according to a new United Nations study. Although millions of people have been lifted out of poverty by economic development over the last 15 years, the impact of rapid growth on the environment has been severe, said the policy brief from the United Nations Environment Program, a copy of which was seen by Reuters on Monday. “Growing populations and their migration to coastal areas, dynamic economic growth, and rising global demands for fishery and aquatic products ... have combined to exert tremendous pressure on East Asia’s marine environment and coastal resources,” it said. Fisheries, mangrove swamps, reefs, coastal wetlands and sea grass beds are all threatened, the report said. “Studies warn that at the current rates of degradation, the region”s coral reefs face total collapse within 20 years, while mangroves could be gone within 30 years,” it added.

Large areas of mangrove in Indonesia and Vietnam have been removed to make way for shrimp farms or to convert into farmland, the report said. “Decades of advocacy, political commitments and conservation efforts at the national and regional levels have not prevented the East Asian seas from degrading at an ever-increasing pace.” Some of the main causes of marine pollution in the region are from untreated sewage, and from rubbish and fertilisers—problems also faced around the world, an official said. “Despite international agreements, we keep pumping raw sewage into the sea,” Veerle Vandeweerd, coordinator of the UN’s Global Program of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-Based Activities, told a news conference (Source:Reuters, The Financial Express, October 17, 2006).

Marine Environment Plagued by Pollution

manila bay An estimated 80 per cent of marine pollution originates from the land and this could rise significantly by 2050 if, as expected, coastal populations double in just over 40 years time and action to combat pollution is not accelerated," said UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner. "We have a long way to go politically, technically and financially if we are to hand over healthy and productive seas and oceans to the next generation." UNEP's State of the Marine Environment report also notes rising concern over the increasing damage and destruction of essential and economically important coastal ecosystems, including mangrove forests, coral reefs and seagrass beds. In many developing countries more than 80 percent of sewage entering the coastal zones is estimated to be raw and untreated, the report said.

Increasing coastal populations, inadequate treatment infrastructure and waste handling facilities are all contributing to the sewage problem, the report said. Fixing the global sewage problem could cost at least $56 billion, UNEP warned. The report finds the number of coastal dead zones has doubled every decade since 1960. This rise is directly linked to the rise in nitrogen and phosphorous from agricultural runoff, sewage and fossil fuel burning. The problem was once largely confined to developed countries but is now spreading to developing ones, the report said.

National and international efforts to control marine litter - much of which is not biodegradable - have been implemented, the report said, but the problem "has steadily grown worse." Marine litter comes from an array of sources, including municipal, industrial, medial, fishing boats and shipping discharges.

Close to 90 percent of coral reefs in Southeast Asia are threatened by human activity and the region's mangroves - important for coastal defense and fisheries - are under assault from aquaculture ponds and agriculture. Wetlands are being filled in across the world. Close to a third of North America's wetlands have been lost to urban development with agriculture claiming a further quarter, and some 50 percent of wetlands in southern and western Africa have been destroyed. There is some good news in the report, which cites progress on cutting radioactive waste dumping as well as oil and chemical pollution.

The amount of oil entering the marine environment has fallen more than 60 percent since the mid-1980s, the report said. Progress is mixed on controlling heavy metals, the report said, and sediment mobilization.

Some coastlines, once fed by regular amounts of sediments by rivers, are shrinking because the soils are being trapped by barrages upstream, UNEP said, while others are suffering for the opposite reason, as artificially high amounts of sediments are choking seagrass beds, silting up coral reefs and clogging up other important habitats and coastal ecosystems The report notes several areas in need of "urgent attention," including the continued impact of dams, new streams of chemicals and the state of coastal and freshwater wetlands. It warns that global warming could cause sea levels to rise, increase the acidification of the oceans and bring a slew of other changes to the marine environment, particularly the Arctic. The report also suggests efforts to improve monitoring and data collection on continents like Africa where the level of hard facts and figures on marine pollution "remains fragmented and woefully low." (Source: ENS, October 04, 2006).

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2. INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION - Poor Suffers

a slum in dhaka Pollution and human induced hazards are particularly serious in the developing countries because industrial production is heavily concentrated in one or two city regions or 'core regions' within each nation. The industrial areas in Bangladesh are situated in the midst of densely populated regions. There are many hazardous and potentially dangerous polluting industries situated in the cities of Bangladesh. In Dhaka at Tejgaon area, food processing industries are situated along the chemical and heavy metal processing industries. In Tongi a pharmaceutical industry is situated near a pesticides producing industry. Tannery industries of Hazaribagh are also situated in a heavily populated residential area. These examples are repeated in the cities of Chittagong, Khulna and other small cities of Bangladesh. The Government of Bangladesh has not shown much interest in environmental impact created by the industries, whereas government's concern to create jobs usually meant that when a new factory is proposed - by local, national or international business or agency - little attention is given to the likely environmental impacts.

There are many disasters which have an impact which goes far beyond a particular house or neighbourhood, as a result of industrial or other accidents. Bhopal shows an example, when an industrial accident in 1984 released methyl iso-cyanate, caused the death over 3000 with perhaps 100,000 or more seriously injured or poisoned. The situation like Bhopal threatens many places in Bangladesh.

Many urban dwellers live on sites prone to hazards - rarely the government trys to help reduce risks or to respond rapidly and effectively, if a disaster happens. Hazardous sites are often occupied illegally; the risk of eviction from such sites is small because of any commercial value or because they are publicly owned and the government shall not force their eviction for political reasons.

It is almost always poorer groups who suffer most after a natural or man-made disaster. They have lost their homes and may lose their source of income because they are relocated, usually under the direction of public or international agency, to a place distant from their job. And in some cases, they are forced to move to a new site, which means a large disruption to family, friends and contacts important to finding paid work.

The Ministry of Environment and Forest, Government of Bangladesh (1991) reveals that industrial plants are usually located along large rivers which dispose untreated wastes directly into the rivers, although the effluents contain 10 to 100 times the allowable levels permissible for human health. Organometallic compounds have been increasing in commercial use over the past decade. Prime examples of this involvement of organometallic come from the use of pesticides (organomercury and organotin compunds), gasoline additives (methyl- and ethylleads) and polymers (organosilicon) etc. Runoff from agricultural lands and urban areas continues to produce pollution making most of the nation’s waterways unacceptable for fishing and swimming. Bacteria, siltation, metals and the nutrients phosphorous and nitrogen are the leading pollutants caused by runoff.

riverside industrial works

The worst environment-related omissions and commissions are taking place, surprisingly, not among ignoramuses but in perfectly knowledgeable circles. These are the handiwork of leaders in organised sectors whose ranks are growing thanks to the sidelining of environmental concerns before commercial considerations. The latest to figure on the list of major polluters are some 75 industries in Savar disgorging untreated waste into nearby water-bodies, and the omniscient brick-kilns -- 4000 in and around the capital -- which are belching sulfur for the people to breathe instead of required amounts of oxygen.

The offending industries are located in the Savar Export Processing Zone, ironically, the most high-profile industrial area. They were mandated by the licensing authority to be treating the effluents as a public health precaution before releasing these into Bongshi river and the adjoining Dholai beel and canal. The worst part of the tale is that such industries do have waste treatment plants but they are not using them to save money, or let's say, make extra money at the expense of public health involving well-being of some two lakh people. Whose responsibility it is to enforce the relevant environmental laws -- the ministry of industries, the department of environment or the EPZ authority? We would like to know. Can the EPZ authority absolve itself of the responsibility for not holding the industries accountable by merely pointing at the prospect of a central effluent treatment plant scheduled to be set up with World Bank assistance in a year's time?

Simultaneously, we voice our concern over the lethal air pollution issuing from a few thousand brick kilns in the suburbs of Dhaka. The raising of their chimneys has hardly helped matters, given the dangerous fuel mix the kilns use. The basic question is: why the kilns have been allowed to operate within one kilometre of human habitation when the relevant Act specifically debars establishing them within three kilometres of the habitat? The air pollution has had such a telling effect on life that not merely diseases have been spawned, even the livelihood pattern is changing.

Environmental pollution and the immune system

The immune system protects the body against external attacks, i.e. pathogens such as bacteria, viruses and para- sites and also offers protection against internal attack particularly by tumour cells. The first line of defence of (he system against pathogens (which have penetrated the skin and mucous membranes) is the aspecific response Secondly, lymphocytes may develop a specific response against an antigen (foreign material).

Suppression of the immune system (immune suppression)

Substances which exhibit immunotoxicity in laboratory animals at high concentrations include: dioxins, PCBs. lead. cadmium methyl mercury organotin compounds, diethylstibestrol (DES), benzene toluene. xylene. nitrogen dioxide and ozone. UV radiation may also affect the human immune system For some of these substances clinical effects were found in humans which suggest a reduced resistance to infectious diseases (e.g. infections of the respiratory system in people exposed to PCBs and polychlorodibenzofurans after consumption of contaminated rice oil). In other cases immunotoxicity was indicated by changed immunological indicators.

As the immune system of children is still developing white that of the eldely is deteriorating these groups have a higher sensitivity to immunotoxic substances

The immune system is closely linked to the hormonal system and the nervous system. For this reason in addition to the direct effects of substances on the immune system there may also be indirect effects e.g. due to the stress related to pollution problems A psycho-neurological aspect is also known in connection with some allergic responses (eczema and stress).

The hazardous substances used and expelled to nature by the industries are as follows:

arsenic - agriculture, phosphate manufacture, fertilizer production, leather tanning;
cadmium - leather tanning, metal plating, phosphate manufacture, stell works, fertilizer production;
chromium - pulp and paper mills, fertilisers, leather tanning, cement works, steel works, glass works;
copper - pulp and paper mills, fertiliser manufacture, chemical works;
cyanide - iron and steel manufacture, electroplating;
lead - paint manufacture, battery manufacture, chemical manufacture, pulp and paper mills, fertiliser manufacture, petroleum refining;
mercury - paint and chemical manufacture, plastic and pharmaceutical manufacture, electrical goods manufacture;
manganese - fertilisers;
nickel - pulp and paper mills, petroleum refining;
titanium - paint manufacture, textile and paper production;
zinc - pulp and paper mills, fertiliser production, leather tanning.

"All the industries have effluent treatment plants (EPZ), but they do not use them as we do not monitor regularly"

About 2 lakh people of 12 villages around the Savar Export Processing Zone (EPZ) face serious health risks due to tremendous pollution, as industries here dump their untreated liquid waste into surrounding water bodies, ignoring the government's environmental law. Two decades ago, the villagers of this area used local water bodies, such as the Dholai beel, for drinking, cleaning and irrigation purposes. Today, however, that water has turned pitch-black, thoroughly poisoned from the liquid waste of the industries. At present, about 75 different industries are freely discharging their untreated waste into the Dholai beel, Bongshi river and Dholai canal in Savar. These industries include electric supplies and electronics, footwear and leather goods, garment, dyeing, metal, paper goods, plastic goods and hardware. EPZ authorities sources admitted the alleged discharging of untreated waste and said they would take measures to prevent it as early as possible. The most affected villages are Modhupur, Santaki, Kanda, Kaika Bari, Basak Bari, Dagortali, Sukandi, Bashbari, Majibari, Namopara, Nayapara and Nalam, where as a result of the polluted water the cultivation of boro in winter gets hampered and fishing by the villagers in other seasons has came to an end.

Abu Reza Khan, a member of the engineering board of EPZ, said, "All the industries have effluent treatment plants, but they do not use them as we do not monitor regularly." The operation cost of the plant is high. "It is mandatory for the industries to use the treatment plants and buyers quiz us sometimes about it," he added. "The World Bank is supporting the EPZ authorities to set up a central effluent treatment plant within one year, to divert sewage discharge from the affected water bodies," he said. In the meantime, the untreated sewage discharge has dramatically altered some of the traditional means of livelihood in the villages, preventing crop cultivation, harming cattle and forcing villagers to adopt new sources of income (The Daily Star, March 04, 2005).

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2. INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION - Poor Suffers

Toxic chemicals we're not aware of

Scientists have already linked artificial chemicals to a wide range of severe health disorders in wildlife as diverse as polar bears, fish, birds, and caiman. These problems include cancer, damage to the immune system, behavioural problems, hormone disruption and even sex-reversal. In humans, the last few decades have seen decreased fertility rates and sperm counts, as well as sharply increased rates of several allergies and diseases.

These chemicals are rarely labeled on a product. We cannot see whether they are present or not, let alone whether they are dangerous. In many cases, we don't even know how they might affect our health. A study by the European Chemicals Bureau showed there is insufficient public toxicity data on 86 per cent of the 2,500 chemicals used in the largest volumes in Europe. And the 100,000 chemicals on the European market before 1981 are not subject to the testing and labeling laws covering new substances.

Jill Evans, a member of the European Parliament who sits on the committee on the environment, public health, and consumer policy, describes (WWF Newsroom, April 21, 2004):

I have been involved in the current overhaul of European Union chemicals legislation. So I know the dangers we face from toxic artificial chemicals and that our planet is widely contaminated with them.

Nevertheless, I was horrified by the results of a test looking for known toxic chemicals in my blood. It's not just that I now know for sure that I am contaminated. What shocked me was the number of chemicals inside my body - and where they came from.

Seventy-one toxic chemicals were tested for. I am contaminated with 33 of them, more than anyone else tested in Wales. Some, like DTT and PCBs, have been banned for decades. Others come from things I'd never imagined might be hazardous, like my TV, sofa, and curtains.

There doesn't seem to be any particular reason why I am more contaminated than other people in Wales. And, although I had above-average levels of some chemicals, my results were not particularly unusual. This is the most worrying thing. We are all walking around with many different artificial chemicals in our bodies, and we have no idea what their long-term health effects might be.

I have a particular interest in the 33 chemicals in my blood. I've been unable to have children, and it's hard not to wonder whether chemicals in the environment are to blame.

These problems have coincided with a huge change in lifestyle that has seen us use ever more products containing artificial chemicals. Modern cleaning products, deodorants, computers, mobile phones, nonstick frying pans, canned food, soft furnishings - nearly every household item contains artificial chemicals, many of which can escape the product and are increasingly contaminating people and wildlife.

Synthetic chemicals - toxic to people and the environment.

It’s hard to imagine cleaning without an arsenal of sprays, concentrates and detergents standing at the ready. By and large these products work and work well, but they come with a hidden price tag in the synthetic chemicals that are often toxic to people and the environment.

Strong acids or bases – used as solvents in many cleaning products, including tile cleaners, rust remover and oven cleaner – can be corrosive to the skin, eyes and mucous membranes. They can also aggravate respiratory problems and allergies.

Organic chemicals, including those in some polishes, mineral spirits, paint thinner and spot remover, can cause central nervous system damage.

Phenols and alcohols that are active ingredients in most disinfectant products are poisonous and flammable.

The perfumes, dyes, fillers and aerosol propellants, in addition to the other chemicals found in many cleaners don’t disappear when they go down the kitchen sink drain. Often those chemicals find their way into septic systems, ground water and other places.

Organic chemicals, including those in some polishes, mineral spirits, paint thinner and spot remover, can cause central nervous system damage. Alone in the USA approximately 500,000 tons of liquid cleaners are washed down drains annually and most of these products rely on petroleum-based chemicals. Some cleaning chemicals are known to be acutely toxic in large doses and others have been linked to reproductive illness, cancer, neurotoxicity and central nervous system depression. Chemical contamination can poison drinking water and kill wildlife. Phosphorous in detergents can disturb the chemical balance in sensitive wetlands. And the manufacturing process of many chemical products can create even more contaminants.

Natural cleaning recipes:

Lemon juice – A good whitener, and cuts through grease on aluminum and porcelain.

White vinegar – The must-have cleaning product, a good whitener, disinfectant and polisher. Use with water for cleaning glass, metal and other hard surfaces. Removes mildew, water stains and grease and wax.

Baking soda – Cleans, deodorizes, polishes and removes stains. Use mixed with salt as a scouring paste or mixed with water for all-purpose cleaning.

Ketchup – Use to clean copper. Or, try scrubbing copper with vinegar and salt.

Pure soap – Made with animal fat or vegetable oil, as opposed to detergent, which is a chemical cleaner. Look for the word “soap” on the label, and use to clean just about anything. Available in flakes or liquid.

Window cleaner: Mix 2 cups water, 3 tablespoons vinegar and 1/2 teaspoon liquid soap in a spray bottle.

All-purpose household cleaner: Add 1 teaspoon TSP (tri-sodium phosphate) to a quart of water. This solution works well on countertops, walls and other surfaces.
Floor cleaner: For vinyl floors, use a gallon of water mixed with 1/2 cup vinegar. For wood floors, damp map with mild liquid soap.
Oven cleaner: Put warm water in a warm oven overnight to loosen burned on food. Scrub with steel wool after using water mixed with baking soda or TSP.
Sink scrubber: Mix baking soda and salt in equal amounts and use as a paste to scrub.
Furniture polish: Rub toothpaste on wood furniture to remove water marks. Mix two parts olive oil to one part lemon juice. After rubbing the mixture in, let stand for several hours, then polish with a soft, dry cloth
Drain cleaner: Pour 1/2 cup each vinegar and baking soda down the drain. Let sit for 10 minutes, then flush with half a gallon boiling water.
Silver cleaner: Soak silver in bath of warm water, 2 tablespoons of baking soda, 1 tablespoon of salt and a piece of aluminum foil. Wash normally after an hour. The tarnish will transfer to the aluminum foil.
(Montana Forum, Montana, September 19, 2003). But more easy method is to brush with any kind of toothpaste.

Natural Glue: Every one knows Tajmahal but do you know the secret of natural glue that held marble stones since hundreds of years?
Ingredients and method: Add honey, suger, rice powder, beans, wheat flower, egg shells and marble dust and heat it until it becomes a glue.

Soapnut-tree (English) Sapindus mukorossi, Sapindus emarginatus, Sapindus trifoliatus , Bara rita, Ritha (Bengali), Phenila, Arishta (India). The secret of the soapnut is as simple as it is effective: The nut shell contains saponin, which acts like soap as soon as it gets in contact with water. In fact the skin of the fruit is highly valued by the rural folks as a natural produced shampoo for washing their hair. They also use these for washing woolen clothes. This is why some botanists have named the species as Sapindus detergens.

war

To day we face environmental degradation all over the world. For centuries, war has involved not only human conflict but also environmental degradation in the forms of both 'collateral damage' and deliberate destruction. Environmental destruction has been used as a war-winning strategy and as a punishment for defeated opponents. The Romans routinely destroyed the crops of their enemies to ensure their future dependence on Rome and the Russians have twice destroyed their own crops and homes in a "scorched earth " policy to prevent those resources from being useful to either Napoleon or Hitler.

The world The near extinction of America's once vast herds of buffalo was, in part, linked to man assault against Indian tribes through their resource base. As war has become increasingly technologically advanced so its impacts on the environment have become more severe and longer-lasting. as the technology of weapons has advanced, so too has the technological level of the targets which are selected. This has increased not only civilian causalities but also the incidence of environmental destruction through the release of industrial chemicals. Perhaps more disturbing than the sheer destructive power of modern weapons is the long-lasting nature of their effects. Munitions such as Depleted Uranium (DU) shells used by anti-tank cannons and land mines have long-term effects on everything that comes into contact with them.

According to the UNESCO, in 1971 the world spent 7.2 per cent of its gross national product on arms, compared to 5 per cent on education and 2.5 per cent on health. Two days of global military spending (approx. $4.8 billion) is equal to the annual cost of the UN Action Plan to halt Third World desertification over 20 years.

The unparalleled destruction created in a short time span by toxic munitions, unexploded weapons, the physical and biological effects of damage to soil and landscape; and the human suffering resulting from the disruption of social systems turn today's war zones into ecological disaster areas. (B. I. Ahmed, 2003)

The world is now facing destruction of natural resources and ecosytem only by a few interested group, where as the vast majority want to live in peace and harmony to nature. We can do something, if we want!

Diesel Motor Vehicles - Mutagenic Chemicals

Diesel run motor vehicles, trucks and buses are rapidly increasing in Bangladesh. Particulate carbon in diesel exhaust is the most abundant component of atmospheric particulate matter that can cause visibility reduction, promote chemical reaction, and work as a carrier of mutagenic/or carcinogenic compounds. The organic matter extrable from diesel soot particles was first reported to be mutagenic in bacteria in 1978The diesel engine exhaust contains high concentrations of particles. These particles are of a readily repairable size and consist of carbonaceous soot and adsorbed organic compounds -.such as carcinogenic benzo(a)pyrene. It contains highly mutagenic chemicals including 1-nitropyrene (1-NP), nitroacetoxypyrenes, nitrohydroxpyrenes and other nitropolycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (1-3).

EPA's publication of the annual U.S. fuel use by category estimates that 44% of mutagenicity emitted into the air was derived from diesel vehicles, 22% from gasoline vehicles, and 32% from residental heating (Lewtas and Williams, 1986). A Swedish Government official report (Motor Vehicles and Cleaner Air) describes, "In diesel engine alternative, carbon monoxide, hydrocarbon and nitrogen oxide are relatively low in comparison with an equivalent gasoline-engine alternative. In contrast polyaromatic hydrocarbon levels were the highest measured during the tests, while those of methyl nitrite were also high. The diesel emissions also proved to be of a higher mutagenicity than any other alternative tested.."

Air Quality

The most famous air pollution episodes in the past occurred in London; Donora, New York, Meuse Valley, Belgium. But unfortunately the cities of the developing countries from almost negligible air pollution have become now most polluted cities of the world. According to Asian Development Report 1998, Dhaka is the most polluted cities of the world, ambient air pollution of Dhaka city has made a world record, abominably, as a number one pollutant breaking earlier record of Mexico city. "Outburst of airborne disease", a medical study claims , "has swept the city dwellers in mass". It ranges from skin diseases to cancer. Numerous ailments as eye irritant, severe headache, amonexia, disruption of blood circulation, respiratory problem and even death are being seen as a result of present environmental disorder (Rahman, 1998).

The impact of air pollution on people in Kolkata and Delhi investigated by Twisha Lahiri, Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute in Kolkata, India . Her results should worry us: 56 per cent of people in Kolkata and 46 per cent in Delhi she studied, suffered from impaired lung function. These were non-smokers. When she compared these results to a "control" population -- from rural and suburban areas, not so exposed -- she found a palpable difference. This isn't surprising. We know that the air in our cities is foul. But what we also know is we are doing too little, too late, to tackle this problem (CSI, 2004).

1. Air pollution costs Tk 124 billion Dollars(60 Tk = 1 US dollar) a year in Dhaka, Bangladesh
2. Dhaka, the most Polluted Cities of the World
3. Toxic fumes from brick kilns a threat to health
4. BANNING RICKSHAW: Rich Blaming Rickshaws for Traffic Congestion: The World Bank for Withdraw of Rickshaw
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3. Ship Wrecking in Bangladesh

Sitakunda is the second largest ship breaking facility in the world, located about 10 km north of the port city of Chittagong in southeast Bangladesh. The ship breaking yards of Bangladesh supply 80-90% of the nation's steel. Ship breaking is a vital link in an eternal cycle of destruction and creation, the inevitable destiny of wood and metal after a lifetime of service. Here, these mighty ships are dissected and stripped of all valuable parts. The harvested scrap metal is then melted down and remolded into its various reincarnations. In its greatest resurrection, it is used to produce the strong corrugated iron rods that support the massive steel and concrete towers that have come to symbolize Bangladesh's steady economic expansion, an emergence of a new age.

Sitakund Map — Satellite Images of Sitakund

Environmental pollution and the immune system

"All the industries have effluent treatment plants (EPZ), but they do not use them as we do not monitor regularly"

2. INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION - Poor Suffers

Toxic chemicals we're not aware of

Synthetic chemicals - toxic to people and the environment.

SOS-arsenic.net

ENVIRONMENT/POLLUTION

Dirty water 'kills 1.5m children'

CONTENT

1. Environmental destruction by War and Peace

"The world's greatest pharmaceutical laboratory and a flywheel of climate,"

Emissions trading cannot solve Amazon deforestation

1.1 The big melt has begun

Glaciers face threat of disappearing: UN

1.2 Global Warming Kills 150,000 People a Year

Global dimming

Global warming making hurricanes stronger

Global warming will spell wildfires and drought

1.3 Climate change: The big emitters

Climate change: LDCs (Least Developing Countries) are double losers

Climate change hitting Africa badly

1.4. Climate victims are refugees

1.5. Bangladesh: The Worst Victims of Global Warming

Bangladesh: The Worst Victims of Global Warming

Sunderbans (The largest mangrove forest of the world) suffers global warming impact

1.6.Flooded future looms for Bangladesh

1.7. Climate change fight 'can't wait'

1.8.Global fish stocks could be almost eliminated within 50 years

Climate change is destroying tropical marine ecosystems

East Asian coasts face ecological disaster

Marine Environment Plagued by Pollution

2. INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION - Poor Suffers

Diesel Motor Vehicles - Mutagenic Chemicals

Air Quality

3. Ship Wrecking in Bangladesh