postMigrator

Group Plans Suit Against Bush Administration for Ignoring Global Warming Threat to Coral Habitat

By postMigrator November 27, 2008 November 27, 2008 RT Newswire

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 25, 2008 4:41 PM

CONTACT: Center for Biological Diversity
Miyoko Sakashita, Center for Biological Diversity, (415) 436-9682 x 308 or (510) 845-6703 (cell)

Group Plans Suit Against Bush Administration for Ignoring Global Warming Threat to Coral Habitat
Federal Protection of Coral Habitat in Florida and the Caribbean Falls Short

SAN FRANCISCO-November 25. The Center for Biological Diversity on Wednesday will give the Bush administration official notice of its intent file a lawsuit for illegally excluding global warming and ocean acidification threats from a new rule protecting habitat for elkhorn and staghorn corals. The federal government announced today that it will designate almost 3,000 square miles of reef area off the coasts of Florida, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands as critical habitat under the Endangered Species Act for the threatened corals. The new rule, to be published in Wednesday’s Federal Register, was required by a court-approved settlement of a 2007 lawsuit brought by the Center.

Oceans Passing Critical CO2 Threshold, Acidifying

By postMigrator November 27, 2008 November 27, 2008 Uncategorized

Published on Tuesday, November 25, 2008 by Inter Press Service

Oceans Passing Critical CO2 Threshold
by Stephen Leahy

UXBRIDGE, Canada. An apparent rapid upswing in ocean acidity in recent years is wiping out coastal species like mussels, a new study has found.

Rising carbon dioxide levels in the world’s oceans due to climate change, combined with rising sea temperatures, could accelerate coral bleaching, destroying some reefs before 2050, said an Australian study in January 2002.

“We’re seeing dramatic changes,” said Timothy Wootton of the Department of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Chicago, lead author of the study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The study shows increases in ocean acidity that are more than 10 times faster than any prediction.

UN Forest “Protection” Plan Could Displace Millions

By postMigrator November 27, 2008 November 27, 2008 RT Newswire

Published on Tuesday, November 25, 2008 by The Guardian/UK

Forest Protection Plan Could Displace Millions, say Campaigners
Livelihoods of 60m indigenous people at risk from plans to tackle climate change by protecting forests, says Friends of the Earth

by Alok Jha

International proposals to protect forests to tackle climate change could displace millions of indigenous people and fail to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, according to environmentalists.

Friends of the Earth International (FoE) will argue in a report to be published on Thursday, that plans to slow the decline of forests, which would see rich countries pay for the protection of forests in tropical regions, are open to abuse by corrupt politicians or illegal logging companies.

Forests store a significant amount of carbon and cutting them down is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions – currently this accounts for around 20% of the world’s total.

Bureau of Land Management Pulls Auction Parcels on Oil-and-Gas Drilling Near National Parks

By postMigrator November 27, 2008 November 19, 2010 RT Newswire

Nov 25, 11:03 PM EST

Bureau of Land Management Pulls Auction Parcels on Oil-and-Gas Drilling Near National Parks
By PAUL FOY, Associated Press Writer

SALT LAKE CITY (AP)–Drilling leases on and near the border of Utah’s scenic national parks have been pulled from an auction block.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management announced its decision late Tuesday after negotiations with National Park Service officials who objected to noise, lights and air pollution near Arches National Park, Dinosaur National Monument and Canyonlands National Park, all in Utah.

Some of those parcels were within 1.3 miles of Delicate Arch, a freestanding span of 33 feet that is the signature landmark at Arches near Moab, Utah.