September 21, 2007

Climate change is accelerating the spread of dengue fever throughout the Americas and in tropical regions worldwide, researchers say.

More rainfall in certain areas and warmer temperatures overall are providing optimal conditions for mosquitos—which spread the virus that causes dengue—to breed and expand into new territories.

By 2085 climate change will put an estimated 3.5 billion people at risk of dengue fever, the United Nations’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said in March. (Related news: “Dengue Fever: Growing Threat Rivals Malaria, Ebola, Experts Say” [October 18, 2006].)

“Climate change is incurring lots of unintended consequences for health around the world,” said Paul Epstein, associate director of the Center for Health and the Global Environment at the Harvard Medical School. Epstein also worked on the IPCC report.

The upsurge in dengue, the world’s most widespread vector-borne virus, is part of this wider trend.

For instance, heat waves and heat-related illnesses and death, an increase in incidence of tropical diseases, and a rise in tick-borne Lyme disease are all becoming a reality, Epstein said.

Dengue in the Americas

Dengue—which is usually not fatal—is most commonly spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, a domestic, day-biting insect that favors human blood.

Dengue transmission is largely confined to tropical and subtropical regions, since freezing temperatures kill the mosquito‘s larvae and eggs.

Dengue’s burden may be most serious in the American continents, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The number of cases reported in the Americas increased from 66,000 in 1980 to 552,000 in 2006, according to the Pan American Health Organization. Brazil, Paraguay, and the Dominican Republic have all had serious epidemics in recent years.

And in Mexico dengue cases have increased by more than 600 percent since 2001, according to Mexico’s National Center for Epidemiology and Disease Control.

Mexican health officials have begun to acknowledge that climate change may be a factor in the uptick of dengue cases.

Pablo Kuri, director of the center of epidemiology, told reporters last week that he is seeking 1.8 million U.S. dollars (20 million Mexican pesos) to aid seven Mexican states with the highest incidence of dengue.

Andres Flores Montalvo is director of climate change studies at the National Institute of Ecology in Coyoacán.

“There are many factors that could explain the growth in the number of cases of dengue in Mexico, but surely increases in temperature and precipitation are influential,” Flores Montalvo said.

For example, a 2006 study published by both the National Institute of Ecology and the National Institute of Public Health found an increase in the incidence of vector-transmitted diseases—such as dengue and malaria—that were associated with rising temperatures and rainfall patterns. (Related news: “Warming May Spur Extinctions, Shortages, Conflicts, World Experts Warn” [April 6, 2007].)

New Niches

One of the most notable changes is that cases of dengue are now appearing in Mexican states outside the traditional range of the dengue-carrying mosquito, including the northern state of Chihuahua. (See a map of the region.)

Horacio Riojas is the head of the environmental health unit at the National Institute of Public Health and the lead author of the 2006 National Institute of Ecology study.

The combination of higher temperatures and greater humidity is allowing the dengue mosquito to flourish in its native habitat as well as in new regions of Mexico, he said.

“The vector [mosquito] … is generating more and better niches where it can thrive,” Riojas said.

The rise in natural disasters such as hurricanes in Mexico has also indirectly contributed to the spread of dengue, Riojas added.

After Hurricane Stan hit southern Mexico in 2005, public health researchers detected changes in the hydrology of rivers caused by the hurricane’s force—which created new reservoirs for the dengue mosquito to breed.

Both Riojas and Flores Montalvo agree that more research is needed to understand the relationship between dengue and climate change in Latin America

　　“更为滑稽的是，很多地方局长要通报当地的污染，居然只能给国家环保总局写匿名信”。潘岳告诉记者，“有一个资源大省的环保局长，他一边被省长骂为什么摆不平环保总局，一边被我骂为什么不能严格执法。3年以后，他终于不当局长，调到一个市当市长，他到北京来看我，喝醉了，3年憋的气终于迸发出来，指着我的鼻子骂了半个小时。”潘岳说，一个例子，道出了地方环保局所面临的尴尬和难处。

　　在呼吁环境执法需要垂直管理的同时，潘岳说，还应该设立一套对官员的环境考核和问责制度。潘岳认为，全世界很少有政府像中国政府这样在发展全局中行使着这么大的权能，肩负这么大的责任。为了起到“政绩示范效应”，对那些造成重大环境事故的官员，对那些无视污染排放的官员，不管当地经济发展多么快，都应该坚决予以责任追究。一套对官员的约束激励制度，是科学发展观制度建设的核心。

　　潘岳认为，目前的环境管理模式是分割的，“工业污染归环保局，农业污染归农业部，污水处理厂归建设部，水管理归水利部，海洋污染归海洋局，沙尘暴治理归林业局……如此等等。责、权、利不统一，互相牵制，行政成本极高”。潘岳说，他期望能够成立一个统一的高级别协调机制，组织统一的监测和执法。(郄建荣）

Waxing poetic about the impending environmental crisis is common enough in Hollywood and the political arena, but electronic music is rarely found in the same sentence as phrases like “global warming,” “green lifestyle,” and “carbon neutral.”

Enter techno icon and head of Minus and Plus 8 Records, Richie Hawtin. A quick peek at the label’s site reveals the following message from the DJ and producer:

For the past 17 years, Plus 8, Minus, and myself as a performer have been part of the continued development of electronic music, a music that prides itself in always looking towards the future. So in the spirit of this tradition, I urge us all to look towards the future of our planet and make the necessary steps in our lives to ensure a bright and safe future for our next generations.

Not one to blabber away without backing up his statements, Hawtin has announced Minus’ plan to become a carbon neutral company, with the initial focus resting on artist travel and manufacturing practices.

Hawtin, in a recent press release, cites offsetting CO2 emissions from plane travel as one solution, as well as seeking other means of traveling to gigs (bus, train, bike, etc.). Minus has also implemented the practice of packaging releases in recycled, plastic-free materials and utilizing the digital realm as much as possible.

While these aren’t necessarily revolutionary tactics, the mere fact that a prolific and much-respected figure has spoken out on a topic rarely broached by the electronic music community is pretty heartwarming. So if you see the likes of Matthew Dear, Ricardo Villalobos, and Lindstrom biking to their respective gigs, armed with CD promos packaged in paper, you’ll know electronic music is catching on to the trend. Let’s hope it does.

　　面对越来越明显的全球气候变暖，广东气象部门积极应对。8月28日下午，广东省气象局召开《广东气候变化评估报告》新闻发布会，正式对外发布我国首份省级气候变化评估报告。
　　《报告》以大量翔实的资料说明，广东省年平均气温自上世纪80年代后期开始振荡上升，90年代后期以来，升温更趋显著。近50年广东年平均气温的增温速率为0.21℃／10年，与全国平均水平相当。《报告》指出，广东近50年的增暖在很大程度上归因于温室气体浓度增加造成的温室效应，这种温室效应已经对增暖做出了实质性的贡献；城市化导致的热岛效应加剧了局部地区的气温上升。广东省气候中心研究员杜尧东博士认为，广东众多的外来人口对广东气候变暖也有“贡献”。他说，目前广东全省有户籍人口7900万，流动人口4200万。按2004年的标准计算，每一个人平均每年释放4吨二氧化碳，广东每年要为此多承纳1.68亿吨的二氧化碳，这简直是个天文数字。　
　　《报告》表示，广东气候变暖的后果必将引起极端天气频繁发生，突发灾害事件难以数计。一是夏季高温增多冬季暖冬突出。今年7月广东遭遇了历史同期高温日数最多的一个月，28天的高温酷暑让每一个广东人“每天处在火热之中”。事实上，广东夏季高温日数(日最高气温≥35℃)呈现出显著的上升趋势，上升幅度为2.7天／10年。高温日数在70年代最少，平均每年少于10天，1998年以后，高温日数显著上升，平均每年达到20天以上。在冬天，低温日数却在减少，冬季平均气温明显上升，暖冬突出，2000－2006年已出现了5个暖冬。二是极端降水频繁旱涝无常。今年8月，湛江市雷州半岛降了超百年一遇的特大暴雨。十年九旱的雷州顿成泽国。近年，广东几乎每年都遭遇大洪水， 2005年6月惠州市龙门县录得过程累积雨量1300.2mm，汕尾市海丰县、河源市、韶关市新丰县分别录得868.4mm、722.0mm、600.1mm过程累积雨量。2006年5月下旬至6月中旬广东的“龙舟水”累计达571.7mm，为1960年以来最重的一年。尽管如此，广东近50年平均年降水总量没有显著增减的趋势，只是存在较大的年际波动。虽然近些年广东强降水频繁出现，但2002—2004年遭遇的连年干旱人们记忆犹新。其中，广东全省大部分地区在2002年、2003年降水偏少1—5成的基础上，2004年又有65％以上的地区降水偏少3—4成，是1963年以来年降水量最少的一年。三是台风个数趋少强度趋强。近10年，有6年登陆广东的热带气旋不超过2个。台风移动路径偏北，造成了登陆和影响广东的热带气旋数量减少，易引起广东出现秋冬干旱和夏季高温。台风活动也发生了一些变化，如2006年台风“珍珠”登陆时间比常年初台登陆时间提早了40余天，并创下1949年以来5月份登陆我国台风强度最高纪录。1996年9615号台风重创湛江，陆地测得的最大风速达57米／秒，属超强台风。　　四是灰霾天气增多，日照时数减少。最近连续3年，广东省平均年灰霾天气日数都在70天以上，是上世纪八十年代初的3倍。
　　省气象局局长余勇指出，广东气候变暖将对广东沿海生态、农业生产、水资源利用、城市群等方面产生巨大影响。广东海平面上升速率为1.7mm／年，海平面上升会使海岸侵蚀加重，咸潮海水入侵加剧；温度上升可能使广东近海珊瑚礁生态系统退化，且变得更加脆弱；珠江口的咸潮上溯的现象可能更加频繁；广东沿海的赤潮可能更加频发；气候变暖将导致农业生产的不稳定性增加，产量波动大，农业成本和投资增加。
　　为积极应对和减缓气候变化的影响，广东省委、省政府在节能降耗方面作了大量工作：2005年广东的万元GDP能耗为0.79吨标准煤，仅相当于全国平均水平的65.8%，全国最低。广东省森林覆盖率达55.9%，位于全国前列。广东大力发展低碳能源和可再生能源，改善能源结构，使优质清洁能源的比重在逐年增加。
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 　（杨绮薇）

Established green funds, and new ones, are hot-footing around the city looking for money to invest in well-performing “green” or “clean tech” stocks, involved in low carbon energy like wind and solar, and other technologies in water and waste.

Impax Asset Management launched this week a 100 million pounds (US$203.1 million) fund-raising for its listed environmental fund, while Ludgate Investments on Thursday listed a new environmental fund for pre-IPO clean tech firms.

A listed fund called the Low Carbon Accelerator expects to come back for more money by the end of 2007.

Green sector stocks have generally performed well: Britain’s largest 100 environmentally-focused stocks grew 20 percent between last August and June, according to the EnviroDaq index.

Driven by policies meant to combat climate change, including favourable taxes and subsidies, investment in clean energy could reach some US$750 billion by 2016, versus US$100 billion last year, according to an Ernst & Young report published Thursday.

But is the money making any difference to climate change?

“It’s tip of the iceberg stuff in terms of climate impact because renewable energy worldwide is still around 2 to 3 percent of energy production, so not making a huge difference, but that’s double where it was five years ago so it’s a big increase in absolute terms,” said Bruce Jenkyn-Jones, director of investments at Impax.

“Relative to how far we’ve got to go to gain market share against fossil fuels there’s still a long way,” he said.
GOOD OPPORTUNITIES

“The most important thing is we and others have proved money can be made, so it’s easier for firms and funds to raise more in future,” said Jenkyn-Jones, whose fund floated at 100p in 2002 fell to 38p in March, 2003, and has since come back to stand at 127p on Thursday.

He expects annual earnings growth of 20 percent a year.

The Low Carbon Accelerator takes significant stakes in small, unlisted firms, raised 45 million pounds last October and now wants more to double its number of investments to around 30, its chief investment officer said.

“There are more good opportunities than we can handle… there’s room for more funds in this area,” said Chief Investment Officer Steve Mahon.

Britain’s Carbon Trust gets around 100 million pounds a year from government to advise companies on how to cut their greenhouse gas emissions. Last year it withdrew a 75 million pounds fund raising after it failed to get enough interest.

“I don’t think it is a bubble like the dot com one,” said partner Adam Workman. “The appetite for investments is there but the quality threshold has gone up and investors are looking more closely than in 2004 when there was a dearth of stocks.”

Other funds which have recently raised money include Jupiter Asset Management, which raised 25 million pounds for its Green Investment Trust in July, taking the total to almost 60 million pounds.

In May boutique investment firm London-based Nevastar Finance said it had raised US$100 million for a fund focused on climate change.

Story by Chris Wills

Story Date: 3/8/2007

Here are five facts on India and climate change.

(For related story see INDIA-CLIMATE/ROADMAP)

* India is the world’s fourth biggest greenhouse gas emitter and produces about 4 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions. The 1,884 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent it emitted in 2000 rank after the US (6,928), China (4,938) and Russia (1,952). * Emissions are said to be growing by 2 to 3 percent annually. Its 2000 emissions were 41 percent higher than its 1990 emissions, according to the World Resources Institute. The main contributor is the energy sector, which the government wants to grow significantly by 2012, to link up the half a billion people living without electricity.

* Per capita emissions are small. At around a tonne per person per year in 1998, they were a quarter of the global average of 4 tonnes per year, and way below the US’s 20 tonnes.

* India ratified the world’s only global agreement on emissions reductions, the Kyoto Protocol, in August 2002. As a developing country it is not required to set the specific reductions targets required for developed countries.

* Rising temperatures could provoke more frequent floods and droughts, spur disease and increase water scarcity in India because of the disappearance of Himalayan glaciers. By 2030, glaciers could shrink from 500,000 sq km to 100,000 sq km if current rates of warming continue, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said in April.

Sources: Reuters, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) (http://unfccc.int/parties_and_observers/parties/items/2109.php) , World Resources Institute (http://earthtrends.wri.org/text/climate-atmosphere/country-prof ile-85.html), International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) (www.iaea.org/inisnkm/nkm/aws/eedrb/data/IN-enemc.html)

Story Date: 16/7/2007 Reuters

Separately, a Chinese court reduced the jail sentence on a dissident by 17 months and he could be paroled before the 2008 Beijing Olympics, a rights group said.

A Beijing worker was released after serving 18 years for his role in the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests, another group said.

China’s human rights record has come under fire from international press and rights watchdogs this month in the run-up to the one-year countdown for the Olympics.

Environment activist Wu Lihong, 39, a candidate in a 2005 national campaign to name 10 people who “moved China” with their service to society, pleaded not guilty to fraud and extortion and will appeal against the verdict meted out by the Yixing People’s Court on Friday.

“The court did not summon any witnesses and ignored the defence’s argument,” his wife Xu Jiehua told Reuters on Saturday.

Wu was accused of extorting 15,000 yuan ($1,900) from a businesswoman, but he argued the money was a commission for selling anti-pollution facilities to factories, his wife said.

Wu was arrested in April after reporting worsening pollution at Taihu lake, which has an area of 2,420 square km (934 square miles) and a shoreline of 400 km (250 miles). It straddles the border of Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces and is home to more than 60 kinds of fish.

In late May and early June, the lake was covered in a thick foul-smelling canopy of green algae that left tap water undrinkable for more than 2.3 million residents of Wuxi city in Jiangsu province and prompted a run on bottled water for days.

Tap water in Wuxi has been back to normal after the government took out 6,000 tonnes of algae, closed some chemical factories and diverted water from the Yangtze river, but experts said it did not solve key problems.

The court put off Wu’s trial in June to investigate accusations interrogators tortured him to extract a confession.

“Wu Lihong told the court he was physically tormented for five days and five nights… He showed scars from cigarette burns on his hands,” his wife said.

But the court ruled there was no evidence of torture.

Wu’s wife has sued the cabinet’s State Environmental Protection Administration for naming Yixing a model city, but the court refused to take up the case.
PAROLE

The San Francisco-based watchdog Dui Hua Foundation said in an e-mailed statement Hu Shigen, sentenced in 1995 to 20 years in prison for subversion, was given a 17-month sentence reduction this year and may be released before the 2008 Olympics.

Hu was convicted of setting up an opposition party in defiance of a ban, establishing an independent labour union and commemorating the Tiananmen massacre. His sentence was reduced by seven months in 2005.

The Hong Kong-based Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy said in a faxed statement Xi Haoliang, a Beijing worker convicted of arson, was released from prison on Aug. 7 after his sentence was commuted.

Xi was originally meted a death sentence suspended for two years for trying to stop troops tanks from entering the capital at the height of the 1989 Tiananmen protests.

Story by Benjamin Kang Lim

Story Date: 13/8/2007

How much some of the tax provisions will raise or cost over a 10-year period are:
REVENUE PROVISIONS:

* Excludes from lower tax rates company income earned from the sale of oil and gas (raises $11.4 billion)

* Limits foreign tax credits for overseas oil and gas extraction income (raises $3.6 billion)

* Companies must take seven years, instead of five years, to write off certain energy exploration costs (raises $103 million)
PRODUCTION INCENTIVES:

* Extends by four years through 2012, tax credit for producing electricity from solar, wind and other renewable sources (costs $6.6 billion)

* Authorizes bonds for public power provides and electric cooperatives to pay for project that generate power from renewable (costs $550 million)

* Removes the cap on the tax credit for installing residential solar panels and fuel cells (costs $89 million)
CONSERVATION:

* Creates tax credits for bonds for green community programs that reduce greenhouse gas emissions (costs $1.5 billion)

* Provides $4,000 tax credit for each plug-in hybrid vehicle purchased (costs $1.2 billion)

* Ends tax loophole that allows businesses to expense heavy vehicles that guzzle more gasoline (costs $786 million)

* Extends for two years through 2010 the $1 a gallon tax credit for biodiesel production (costs $279 million)

* Extends through 2010 and increases to $50,000 the tax credit for service stations to install pumps that dispense fuel made from 85 percent ethanol (costs $184 million)

* Extends the energy-efficient commercial buildings deduction for five years through 2013 (costs $901 million)

* Creates tax credit bonds so states can fund programs to provide consumers with loans and grants to buy energy efficient homes or improve existing ones (costs $903 million)

* Modifies and extends tax credit for energy-efficient appliances for three years through 2010 (costs $351 million)

* Employers can offset cost of providing workers that bike to work storage for their bicycles (costs $10 million)

Story Date: 13/8/2007 Reuters

(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-07-24 13:56 BEIJING – Beijing has started work on a 580 million yuan ($76.69 million) project to build 33 windmills to supply clean energy in time for the 2008 Olympic Games, Xinhua said on Tuesday.The new power plants, which would sit on the outskirts of Beijing, were expected to produce an estimated 100 million kwh of electricity a year and help reduce the city’s reliance on polluting coal-fired generators, the China Daily said.

“Beijing has never had any large windmills before, much less wind-power stations,” it quoted an official as saying.

“Wind power could arouse people’s awareness of energy conservation and environment protection,” the official added.

The project, which the paper said was the 10th largest in the world, would also cut carbon dioxide emissions by at least 10 million tonnes per year, it said.

The Chinese Olympic Committee wanted at least 20 percent of the Olympic venues to be powered by wind-generated electricity, the report added.

The government was considering subsidies to encourage people to use wind power, which would cost 0.3 yuan per kwh more than getting electricity from a coal-fired plant, it said. “China has the greatest wind power reserves in the world, but the high cost and China’s reliance on imports of equipment has slowed down the development of wind power,” an energy official was quoted as saying.