The UN selected 13 Spanish scientists to develop its weather report

Thirteen scientists from Spain have been selected for the preparation of the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which will be the key technical document for future decision-making at international level on climate change.

This was announced today the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) United Nations, which has been reported that thirteen Spanish form part of the 831 experts participating in the writing of this report, which is scheduled for 2014.

Of the thirteen Spanish scientists, eight have been selected as lead authors, and one of them, Professor, University of Cantabria Iñigo Losada, will be the coordinator of this group and the other four will be as editorial reviewers.

The Environment Ministry has opined in a statement that the selection of the Spanish specialists as authors for the preparation of the Fifth Assessment Report of the IPCC is a "significant step" in the progressive increase in the participation of Spain in the Assessment and Reporting IPCC activities.

On 15 January the IPCC opened the nomination process by the government, which ended on March 12. In total, the IPCC has received nearly 3,000 nominations and selected 831 experts.

In recent months, the IPCC has been criticized after some calculation errors detected in its latest report. Also, the 'hacking' and filtering emails British scientists at the University of East Anglia gave rise to the so-called 'Climategate'. The scientists were accused of manipulating climate data although research to clarify the facts concluded that they had committed "malpractice."
Three working groups

The Fifth Report will contain the Synthesis Report and the three volumes of the contributions of its three working groups.

Working Group I, "Climate Change 2014: The physical science basis of climate change 'as a leading authority be part Spanish scientists Fidel González-Rouco, Complutense University, Flex-Francisco Reyes, the Catalan Institute for Climate Science , and Prof. Manuel de Castro, University of Castilla-La Mancha.

Your contribution will focus on the chapters on paleoclimatic information, projections and predictability of short-term climate change and climate phenomena and their relevance for the future regional climate.

In Working Group II, "Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability", will be as a leading authority Gerardo Benito, Research Professor of National Research Council, Marta Rivera-Ferre, Autonomous University of Barcelona, and Anil Markandya, scientific director of the Climate Change Centre of the Basque Country.

These experts will participate in the preparation of chapters on water resources, rural areas and the economics of climate change adaptation.

In addition, three scientists will participate as Reviewers editorial, Professor Joan Grimalt Research Council for Scientific Research work in Chapter Europe and Dr. Ana Iglesias, Polytechnic University of Madrid, will in the chapter on economic aspects climate change adaptation.

Professor José Manuel Moreno, who is currently vice-president of the Bureau of Working Group II of the IPCC will also be editorial reviewer chapter on terrestrial ecosystems.

For its part, the Working Group III, "Climate Change 2014: mitigation of climate change 'will be as a leading authority two Spanish experts, Professor Luisa Cabezas, University of Lleida, in the chapter on building, and Professor Xavier Labandeira, University of Vigo, in the chapter on national policies, subnational and institutions.

Also participate as an editorial reviewer chapter on cross-cutting themes financial and investment, Professor Ignacio Pérez-Arriaga, of the Universidad Pontificia de Comillas.

Negotiations fail Whaling Commission on whale hunting

The International Whaling Commission (IWC) has been postponed until next year a decision on a possible lifting of the moratorium on commercial whaling in the absence of consensus expressed by member countries.

The decision was announced by the chairman of the CBI, Anthony Liverpool, having heard the views of the various national delegations, who requested a period of reflection to allow time to review the positions on the discrepancies.

"We believe the best solution would be to take a pause, a reflection period, and resume discussions next year," the delegation of New Zealand during his speech, endorsed by other countries like Mexico.

After two days of closed meetings, in which the 88 member countries were divided into groups of ten to facilitate the exchange of views, the 62nd annual meeting of the IWC meeting reopened conscious, according to the president, Anthony Liverpool, that "still needs more work."
Moratorium 25 years ago

The most important point on the negotiating table is a consensus proposal of the presidency, in which, although it calls for maintaining the moratorium for 25 years, supports the establishment of catch limits "significantly below current, "which critics interpreted as legitimizing commercial whaling.

Representatives of several countries, including Norway's whaling and showed on Tuesday, his pessimism about the negotiations, but tried to play down dramatically to the fact that the meeting of Agadir is closed without agreement, as happened in the previous summit held in Madeira (Portugal).

The appointment remains divided to the nations in favor of hunting, such as Norway, Russia, Denmark, Iceland and Japan, and conservationists, led by Latin America and Australia, and is being closely monitored by environmental groups, who complain they are hunted annually outside the control of the 1500 IWC whales.

Singapore subject to a public warning to those who throw garbage on the street

Singapore will give a warning to citizens that dump waste into the streets forcing them to work as scavengers in crowded areas wearing a bright orange jumpsuit.
The measure is part of a new campaign of the city-state against dirt including police patrols at points where there is usually more stools and installing new and larger containers.

"We will continue to be tough on incivility while improving container infrastructure," said the head of the National Agency for the Environment, Andrew Tan"Despite progress in recent years cleaning remains a problem," he added.

The measure will be applied against those who are caught twice or more throwing garbage in public areas.

The Government hopes that the embarrassment of being forced to clean public spaces as community centers or bus stations serve as an incentive for Singaporeans throw garbage where it belongs.
Higher finesAnother inducement is provided by the authorities increased the fines that could reach the $ 3,535 (2951 euros). To date the financial penalties were between 141 and $ 212 (117 and 176 euros).

The package is the result of a survey conducted last year over 4462 people reveals that the main causes of incivility are the difficulties to find paper, look for the laziness or lack of habit.Over 90% of those fined over the last five years were for throwing cigarette butts on the floor.

During the same period, the number of complaints increased from 3819-41392.

The oil spill has already cost BP more than 1,000 million euros

The British oil giant British Petroleum has already spent EUR 1.049 million trying to contain oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, not counting the 300 million pledged for reconstruction of artificial islands in Louisiana, as announced by the company.
This assessment responds to the expenditure on the tasks of containment of the spill, the drilling of wells, grants to the states of the Gulf of Mexico, claims paid and federal spending.
On Sunday, BP claimed that are taking significant strides in combating oil spill and that the group is picking up "most" of oil that comes out of the leak.
The container recently installed on the flight is leading more than 1,500 tonnes of crude per day on a boat on the surface safely, in his words.
Despite this initial assessment and containment efforts, the oil is cautious and says that it is still "early" to say with certainty the success of container installed last week.
In addition, the British oil announced in the same statement that he expects a second system of containment, which would increase the amount of oil captured from your well broken, will be available for operation in mid-June.
The system for capturing oil through a manifold, which was developed before the failed maneuver "top kill" to block the well, will add to an already deployed containment lid and could allow BP to capture almost all the oil.

Palm oil 'burn' the forests of Indonesia

Palm oil is not good news. Each year, millions of hectares of forest and forest are destroyed to cultivate oil palm, with terrible consequences for the environment. Furthermore, it is a little healthy oil because of its high content of saturated fatty acids.

Despite its bad reputation, the production of this plant is key to the economy of many tropical countries, who this week defended their crop during the International Environment Forum held in Bali.Indonesia is the world's largest producer of palm oil and also the country with the highest rate of deforestation of the planet. In the ranking of nations that emit greenhouse gases, the China ranks third, behind China and USA.

Thus, while some western countries their culture is perceived as one of the causes that contribute to climate change, this tropical plant in Indonesia is considered a "blessing of nature that employs three million people and contributes to the eradication of poverty ", as stated this week in Bali Gatot Irianto, one of the officials of the Ministry of Environment of the country.
Widely consumed in Europe

Its bad reputation contrasts with the high consumption of palm oil in many European countries, including Spain. Because, although you do not have in your pantry, probably consume many products that do contain it. Palm oil is used to make cosmetics (creams, soaps, shampoo, toothpaste) in the food sector (industrial pastries, chocolates, preserves, margarine, etc..) And other products such as candles, paint, detergents or shoe polish.

Renewable energy: a bet profitable

"You tend to think that sustainable development or social responsibility are not profitable. But they are if the commitments and incentives are real." These words by Georg Kell, executive director of Global Compact, a UN agency dedicated to helping the private sector to comply with the basic principles of social responsibility.

Kell said during a panel discussion on "Leadership in the path towards sustainability ', which took place on Monday at Columbia University in New York, only 20% of global companies are involved in activities to combat climate change including the renewable sector. The figure is small, "largely due to a lack of consensus on the vision" by companies and governments, said Kell. But it is twice what it was five years ago.

"Decades ago the talk of sustainable development. However, environmental measures have not only increased, but have been reduced. The only thing that has risen is that people use the term 'sustainable development'," lamented not without humor, Shahid Naeem, scientific director of the Center for Environmental Research and Conservation (CERC) of Columbia.

What is needed are real examples that show the viability of the sustainable model, the speakers agreed. And that example was Navarre.

The autonomous community intervened without complex at the meeting, organized by the Government itself and the aforementioned navarro college. Miguel Sanz Sesma, President of Navarre, spoke proudly of the bet that their community did two decades ago in renewable energy and how it is now reaping the harvest: currently, clean sources-this includes the hydro-met 65 % of regional electricity consumption, and in 2009 alone wind power 100% of domestic electricity demand for 92 days. "Not only that. Moreover, we have a lot of money to renewable energy," said Sesma. In fact, the renewable sector contributes navarro 5% of regional GDP.

The snail, a thermometer to measure the recovery of forests after a fire

Talking about forest fires when the thermometer below 0 º in half of Spain is rare. However, measures to prevent them should be carried out during most of the year and the autumn and winter they also serve to check how the forests have recovered after a fire.

And when assessing whether a forest is recovering from the devastating effects of fire, the presence of the snail is an indicator that things are going well. So says a team of researchers at the University of Barcelona, who has studied the changing structure of animal populations after a fire.

The researchers conducted a sampling in the area affected by fire in August 2003 that devastated 3,000 hectares of natural park of Sant Llorenç del Munt il'Obac. Three years later, compared the situation in the burned area with an area near the park that had not been affected by fire in order to analyze how varies malacological fauna (molluscs).
Difficult survival

"The terrestrial gastropods-snails, have a very limited capacity to reproduce in damaged areas. They are very slow when it comes to recolonize an area affected by a disturbance," says Vicenç Bros, gastropods specialist of the Technical Office of Natural Parks Barcelona Provincial Council. "Also, are much more affected than other agencies because, unlike other animals that can run, they need to have small shelters under rocks or in the trunks of trees to survive." They get to hide a small proportion of the population, which in future will be to repopulate the area.

One of the main conclusions of the study, published in the journal Biodiversity and Conservation "is that after the fire, the species typical of moist forests in Europe (as 'Pomatias elegans' or 'Acanthinula aculeata') are very concerned. In contrast, the predominate in drier environments, such as the Mediterranean ( 'Xerocrassa penchinati' or 'Cernuella virgata') spread more easily, according to Bros.

The researchers found that in areas near the edge of the fire has not been a significant increase of forest species. The drought that affected the area between 2004 and 2007 may have decreased the ability of snails to repopulate the burned area.

This research is part of a multidisciplinary study that analyzed the evolution of different bodies after fires, such as birds, reptiles and various types of arthropods (insects, arachnids, etc).

Future deserts on Earth

The Mediterranean is one of the areas most likely to become a desert, a danger ahead for 38% of the land surface. The alarming conclusion belongs to a Spanish research study published in International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment '.

The scientists measured the impact of human activity in their environment through a method known as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and a geographic information system (GIS, its acronym in English). For the first time, included indicators of desertification and classified 15 natural areas according to their degree of aridity.
Of the areas studied, eight were listed as areas at risk of desertification, which represents 38% of the Earth's surface.

"In the case of Spain, the Jucar basin, the Segura and the southeastern Ebro are some of the areas most at risk of desertification due to climatic conditions," said Montserrat Núñez, lead author of the study.
Overall, North Africa, Middle East, Australia, southwest China and western South America are the most threatened areas. On a scale of 1 to 10, these subtropical desert regions have a risk of desertification of 7.6, according to this research. In the case of the Mediterranean, the risk would be 6.3 out of 10. Marine areas and grasslands were a 4 on this scale.

The overexploitation of aquifers, aridity, erosion and fire risk are primarily responsible for desertification. "The unsustainable use can lead to soil degradation. If it occurs in arid, semiarid and dry sub-humid, like Spain, the degradation is called desertification and the effects may be irreversible, because they create totally unproductive areas," said Nunez.

The first part of the study, the scientists who worked at the Technological University of Mendoza (Argentina) and the Autonomous University of Barcelona, has focused on developing the research method, which can also compare the impact of a single human activity different places. Currently being implemented in Argentina and Spain.

The gorillas, forest guards against CO2

In the fight against climate change, any contribution is positive. Therefore, conservation experts have drawn the attention of the world authorities on the protection of great apes in support of reforestation programs, provides a simple and effective tool to combat CO2 emissions.

Gorillas eat fruit and plants, to be digested and redeposited in the soil, help seeds germinate. Although not yet fully known the importance of these apes in their ecosystems, the UN ambassador for the Year of the Gorilla, Ian Redmond, said that many species of trees and plants would not survive without them, the elephants and the other large mammals.

Currently, several industrialized countries work with different programs for the reforestation of forests in Africa, Southeast Asia and South America, as a measure to help contain the effects of global warming. In the same vein, several economists have said that the cheapest way to reduce emissions is to invest in the rehabilitation of large forest areas.

Redmond said that the major nations will meet in the forthcoming World Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen would commit a grave error if not commit to specific funds to protect the gorillas. "If we save the trees but not animals, we witness a long agony of forests," said Redmond told The Guardian. "I ask participants in Copenhagen that the gorillas do not consider a luxury item."
Natural sink for CO2

Forests are a natural sink for carbon, absorbing about 4,800 million tonnes each year. "That's what these animals are not mere decoration, or interesting objects of study. They are part of an ecosystem". As reported by the Endangered Species Fund, two gorillas in the Congo die each week and their bodies are sold for their meat consumption. Although most individuals live in National Parks, are rapidly losing their habitat.

The areas inhabited by gorillas are in many cases, the scene of civil wars. It is also an endangered species by poachers and habitat destruction caused by mining and illegal timber used by local guerrillas to finance itself. Nearly two decades of civil war in the Great Lakes area of Africa, which includes areas of Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania and Kenya, have had a serious impact on the population of these animals.

Drought could affect more the production of Colombian coffee

Drought and poor fertilization provoked an increase in pests of rust and drill the country's coffee crop, the government said, which could aggravate the already low grain harvest.

Colombia's coffee production fell 44 percent yoy in August to 397,000 bags of 60 kilos, while exports fell 26 percent year over year to 472,000 bags, according to latest statistics from the National Federation of Coffee Growers.

"The strong summer that is being registered in the country, especially in the coffee zone, added to problems in gathering the harvest and the failure of procedures for the renewal of coffee plantations are causing increased levels of infestation in field "said the general manager of the health authority ICA, Luis Fernando Caicedo.

Colombia is the third largest global supplier of coffee after Brazil and Vietnam, and his crop has been hit this year by the strong rainy season of 2008 that affected the flowering of trees, and by a facilities renovation plan to raise production in the next decade.

The country, which produced 11.4 million bags of 60 kilos of coffee in 2008, is also affected by intense sun season caused by El Nino, a warming of Pacific Ocean.

In a statement, Caicedo added that the aftermath of winter last year, coupled with poor fertilization, also caused a serious deterioration of the coffee planted with susceptible varieties to rust, a fungus that attacks the leaves of the plant, in areas of Caldas, Tolima and Antioquia.

The rust and the drill, the latter an insect that eats the coffee fruit, have been present in Colombia affecting coffee production, but have been controlled.

However, in recent years, the price of fertilizer and used to control insects have been increased by higher prices of oil, which has made it difficult for peasants to buy, so let down their guard in the combat pests.