Author: postMigrator

Swiss Glaciers “In Full Retreat.”

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7770472.stm

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—————————- Original Message —————————-
Subject: Nicaragua: Government returns land title to Indigenous peoples
From:    “wsdp” <wsdp@igc.org>
Date:    Fri, December 19, 2008 9:49 am
To:      wsdp@igc.org
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—–Original Message—–
From: First Peoples Human Rights Coalition
[mailto:info@firstpeoplesrights.org]
Sent: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 10:54 AM
To: info@firstpeoplesrights.org
Subject: Nicaragua: Government returns land title to Indigenous peoples

[Forwarded by Don Bain–donb@ubcic.bc.ca]

UN News Centre–UN News service
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=29336&Cr=indigenous+rights& Cr1=
Nicaragua’s titling of native lands marks crucial step for indigenous rights – UN expert

17 December 2008. An independent United Nations human rights expert has praised the Nicaraguan Government for giving the indigenous Awas Tingni community the title to its traditional lands, marking the culmination of a decades-long struggle by the group to gain recognition and protection of its ancestral territory.
“This affirmative step by the Government of Nicaragua represents an important advancement in the rights of indigenous peoples worldwide,” said the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people, James Anaya.

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“Many scientists are now raising the possibility
that abrupt, catastrophic switches in natural
systems may punctuate the steady rise in global
temperatures now underway.”

“In the interior United States, a widespread
drought that began in the Southwest about 6 years
ago could be the leading edge of a new climate
regime for a wider region.”

“[There is an] urgent need for committed and
sustained monitoring of those components [that]
are particularly vulnerable.”
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Earth Institute News
Jeffrey Sachs, Director
2008-12-19

Abrupt Climate Shifts May Come Sooner, Not Later
Rising Seas, Severe Drought, Could Come in Decades, Says U.S. Report

To get the full report, go here:
http://www.climatescience.gov/Library/sap/sap3-4/final-report/default.htm.

San Francisco– The United States could suffer
the effects of abrupt climate changes within
decades-sooner than some previously thought–says
a new government report. It contends that seas
could rise rapidly if melting of polar ice
continues to outrun recent projections, and that
an ongoing drought in the U.S. west could be the
start of permanent drying for the region.
Commissioned by the U.S. Climate Change Science
Program, the report was authored by experts from
the U.S. Geological Survey, Columbia University’s
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and other
leading institutions. It was released at this
week’s meeting of the American Geophysical Union.

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