Chinese factories are notorious but farmers and ranchers even pollute more than they. So says the first official census of China on the pollution in the country, which was made public this week. The study also shows that water pollution is twice as severe than previously thought, since the figures available so far had been omitted from agricultural waste.
In preparing the report have been taken two years of work. 570,000 people have participated and have collected six million data sources, which include factories, farms, households and waste treatment facilities. The next census will not be available until 2020.
According to the report, land cultivated by farmers more water polluting emissions from its factories. According to some sources quoted by 'The Guardian', the publication of the census was postponed due to opposition from the Chinese Agriculture Ministry, which in the past had insisted that farmers were responsible for only a small part of the environmental problem.
Some environmental groups believe that this report represents a small step on the path to the transparency of the Chinese system.
Heavy reliance on fertilizers
During the presentation of the census, the Agriculture Ministry spokesman Wang Yangliang, acknowledged the problems arising from intensive farming methods, "Fertilizers and pesticides have been important for increasing productivity but its misuse has also had a serious impact on the environment, "he said. "The rapid development of animal husbandry and aquaculture has produced lots of food but are major sources of pollution in our lives."
While the high numbers of rural pollution is partly explained by the enormous size of China's agricultural sector also reflect the heavy dependence on artificial methods such as fertilizers.
The Government asserts claims that are necessary because China has only 7% of land area to feed 22% of world population. And a 'lobby' industry is pushing for more use of chemicals.
Another serious problem is the unreliability of the data. Many businesses and local governments offer emissions figures well below reality. It is not yet measure different forms of pollution and some data are not made public. The deputy minister of environmental protection, Zhang Lijun, said that over the coming years will increase the measurement systems.
Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta enviroment. Mostrar todas las entradas
Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta enviroment. Mostrar todas las entradas
jueves, 11 de febrero de 2010
miércoles, 21 de octubre de 2009
The U.S. military chooses Acciona major project for renewable
The Corps Army of the United States has selected a consortium of Acciona, through its subsidiary Acciona Solar Power, Energy and Clark, to develop a macro-solar.
The facility will have 500 MW and will entail an investment of 2,000 million dollars in the first phase. Will rise in a most emblematic military facilities from the U.S. military: the military complex of Fort Irwin in the Mojave Desert (California), where the largest field of training troops in the country, as well as space communication center NASA's Goldstone.
The Army and the companies just signed a memorandum of understanding that represents the beginning of the project, as reported by the own company Acciona.
The selection corresponds to a process of open competition in March by the Energy Council of the Army (Army Senior Energy Council), a body created in October 2008 to promote a sustainable energy strategy aimed at finding alternative sources for savings and security of supply facilities, crews, vehicles and other assets in the U.S. Army.
By federal mandate, the U.S. military should be reduced by 30% its energy consumption by 2015 (based on 2003) and 25% of demand must be met by renewable sources by 2025.
Different technologies
The joint proposal by Acciona Solar Power and Energy Clark sees the development of a 500 MW solar-expandable to 1,000 MW at a later stage, thermal and photovoltaic technologies, so it represents the largest solar project to date provided by the Department of Defense.
Well exceeds the 14 MW PV installed in 2007 at Nellis Air Force Base, also in Nevada, and 2 MW of Fort Carson, Colorado (the largest of the Army to date).
The facilities will be implemented in five locations previously identified by the military experts, numbering a total area of 5,600 hectares.
The project is in an early stage. By 2013 it expects to produce the first kilowatts in a 20 MW PV plant. The remaining plants will combine photovoltaic and solar thermal technology and would be completed by 2022.
The project of 500 MW will result in a significant boost to jobs in the area. Are estimated at 4,000 direct jobs generated by the project in its construction phase.
Previous experience
The Mojave Desert, which is Fort Irwin, is one of the areas with higher levels of insolation in the U.S.. The resort is situated midway between Los Angeles (California) and Las Vegas (Nevada), in an environment very similar to the host plant Nevada Solar One solar thermal power, 64 MW installed by Acciona Solar Power June aen 2007.
The facility will have 500 MW and will entail an investment of 2,000 million dollars in the first phase. Will rise in a most emblematic military facilities from the U.S. military: the military complex of Fort Irwin in the Mojave Desert (California), where the largest field of training troops in the country, as well as space communication center NASA's Goldstone.
The Army and the companies just signed a memorandum of understanding that represents the beginning of the project, as reported by the own company Acciona.
The selection corresponds to a process of open competition in March by the Energy Council of the Army (Army Senior Energy Council), a body created in October 2008 to promote a sustainable energy strategy aimed at finding alternative sources for savings and security of supply facilities, crews, vehicles and other assets in the U.S. Army.
By federal mandate, the U.S. military should be reduced by 30% its energy consumption by 2015 (based on 2003) and 25% of demand must be met by renewable sources by 2025.
Different technologies
The joint proposal by Acciona Solar Power and Energy Clark sees the development of a 500 MW solar-expandable to 1,000 MW at a later stage, thermal and photovoltaic technologies, so it represents the largest solar project to date provided by the Department of Defense.
Well exceeds the 14 MW PV installed in 2007 at Nellis Air Force Base, also in Nevada, and 2 MW of Fort Carson, Colorado (the largest of the Army to date).
The facilities will be implemented in five locations previously identified by the military experts, numbering a total area of 5,600 hectares.
The project is in an early stage. By 2013 it expects to produce the first kilowatts in a 20 MW PV plant. The remaining plants will combine photovoltaic and solar thermal technology and would be completed by 2022.
The project of 500 MW will result in a significant boost to jobs in the area. Are estimated at 4,000 direct jobs generated by the project in its construction phase.
Previous experience
The Mojave Desert, which is Fort Irwin, is one of the areas with higher levels of insolation in the U.S.. The resort is situated midway between Los Angeles (California) and Las Vegas (Nevada), in an environment very similar to the host plant Nevada Solar One solar thermal power, 64 MW installed by Acciona Solar Power June aen 2007.
lunes, 5 de octubre de 2009
Eastern Africa is suffering its worst drought in decades
East Africa is suffering its worst drought in decades. Over 23 million people in seven countries can lose everything. All the experts point to the same culprit: the indiscriminate felling of trees in just 15 years has eroded the Mau forest (Kenya), the real drain of East Africa.
The illegal settlement of over 20,000 families since the 90s, and the resulting deforestation and land use for agriculture, is creating a truly "ecological disaster", according to experts. In just two decades, a quarter of the reserve of 100,000 hectares Mau-have been treeless and "invaded" by settlements.
Before the alarm about the current lack of rain, which has forced water restrictions and power never seen in the entire region, the Government has launched a campaign to relocate the occupants of the nature reserve. So far, efforts have fallen on deaf ears. Mau dwellers refuse to leave the land they say was given them in the past.
And in Africa is that many do not understand why blame deforestation and water shortages, hence the lack of food and the death of livestock. But the truth is that experts agree that deforestation has destroyed the "natural mechanism" that keeps the living ecosystem.
According to a UN report, the importance of the Mau forest for Kenya, Tanzania, Somalia, Uganda, Sudan, Djibouti and even Egypt is the "natural regulation makes the ecosystem of river flows, preventing floods, lack water and reduces soil erosion.
"It rains a lot in Kenya, but only in the rainy season. Then come four months in which not a drop falls," said Christian Lambrechts, the Program office of the UN Environment Program (UNEP) in Nairobi. "It is essential to have a buffer zone, a system for dispensing the water and gradually release into the rivers during the dry season. That buffer zone is the Mau forest," says the expert, who warns that "if it is removed this ecosystem, reducing the moisture in the reserve, resulting in the absence of water during the dry season.
"Elements intrusive"
The UNEP has joined the Government's efforts to save it as "the largest ecosystem in the world of dense foliage. In a few years, UN complaint that has lost more than 25% of its natural species "because of intrusive elements.
Bigger than the reserve of Mount Kenya and the Aberdare Park, the Mau forest feeds six lakes (Lake Victoria, one of the sources of the Nile, Nakuru, Natron, Baringo and Magadi). Furthermore, water is the source of eight wildlife reserves, including the famous Masai Mara and Serengeti, on the border between Kenya and Tanzania. In total, an estimated 10 million people depend directly on the water it contains.
The impact of many seemingly innocent African coal used for cooking and boiling water (source of disease) is chilling, as recalled by Wangari Maathai, Nobel Peace Prize and one of the most respected voices in Kenya. "I keep telling people that if they continue destroying the forests, the rivers will dry up and die of hunger and thirst," said recently the leader of the Green Belt Movement, which calls for the resettlement of African forests
But many critics who blame everything on the poorest Africans, those who are in the coal its largest single source of power generation. And is that only 7.5% of the rural population in sub-Saharan Africa have access to electricity. Unless action is radically and immediately, the wood from the trees will remain the largest single source of energy for many African families.
The illegal settlement of over 20,000 families since the 90s, and the resulting deforestation and land use for agriculture, is creating a truly "ecological disaster", according to experts. In just two decades, a quarter of the reserve of 100,000 hectares Mau-have been treeless and "invaded" by settlements.
Before the alarm about the current lack of rain, which has forced water restrictions and power never seen in the entire region, the Government has launched a campaign to relocate the occupants of the nature reserve. So far, efforts have fallen on deaf ears. Mau dwellers refuse to leave the land they say was given them in the past.
And in Africa is that many do not understand why blame deforestation and water shortages, hence the lack of food and the death of livestock. But the truth is that experts agree that deforestation has destroyed the "natural mechanism" that keeps the living ecosystem.
According to a UN report, the importance of the Mau forest for Kenya, Tanzania, Somalia, Uganda, Sudan, Djibouti and even Egypt is the "natural regulation makes the ecosystem of river flows, preventing floods, lack water and reduces soil erosion.
"It rains a lot in Kenya, but only in the rainy season. Then come four months in which not a drop falls," said Christian Lambrechts, the Program office of the UN Environment Program (UNEP) in Nairobi. "It is essential to have a buffer zone, a system for dispensing the water and gradually release into the rivers during the dry season. That buffer zone is the Mau forest," says the expert, who warns that "if it is removed this ecosystem, reducing the moisture in the reserve, resulting in the absence of water during the dry season.
"Elements intrusive"
The UNEP has joined the Government's efforts to save it as "the largest ecosystem in the world of dense foliage. In a few years, UN complaint that has lost more than 25% of its natural species "because of intrusive elements.
Bigger than the reserve of Mount Kenya and the Aberdare Park, the Mau forest feeds six lakes (Lake Victoria, one of the sources of the Nile, Nakuru, Natron, Baringo and Magadi). Furthermore, water is the source of eight wildlife reserves, including the famous Masai Mara and Serengeti, on the border between Kenya and Tanzania. In total, an estimated 10 million people depend directly on the water it contains.
The impact of many seemingly innocent African coal used for cooking and boiling water (source of disease) is chilling, as recalled by Wangari Maathai, Nobel Peace Prize and one of the most respected voices in Kenya. "I keep telling people that if they continue destroying the forests, the rivers will dry up and die of hunger and thirst," said recently the leader of the Green Belt Movement, which calls for the resettlement of African forests
But many critics who blame everything on the poorest Africans, those who are in the coal its largest single source of power generation. And is that only 7.5% of the rural population in sub-Saharan Africa have access to electricity. Unless action is radically and immediately, the wood from the trees will remain the largest single source of energy for many African families.
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