Issue Date: 8 Sep 2010
Local News
Everest Brown Haze Puzzles Scientists

By Kamal Raj Sigdel

Italian scientists have confirmed a “worrying” phenomenon in the world’s highest Mountain range in Nepal, especially around Mt. Everest.

A two-year-long research based on information received from a hi-tech lab placed at Mt. Everest has revealed that the level of pollutants in the region has reached an “alarming” high and their concentration has formed the Atmospheric Brown Cloud (ABC) over the mountains. The ABC, according to scientists, can cause solar radiation, greenhouse effect, increase the temperature and lead to faster melting of glaciers and snow. Nepali scientists, who were shocked to read the findings, say the government should take the claim seriously, find out the truth and make sure that it is not just another hoax created by eco-alarmists. The Italian research committee, known as EV-K2-CNR, has warned that the increasing haze of pollutants—which were so far found in urban areas only—in the mountain region can be dangerous. “It can influence regional and global climate, air quality, public health, agriculture and food security,” Ev-K2-CNR Project Manger Paolo Bonasoni told the Post from Italy. According to him, the ABC over the mountains warm the lower atmosphere just as much as greenhouse gases do, leading to a “major redistribution of solar radiation in the troposphere by dimming solar energy at the surface and enhancing the atmospheric heating rate.” The research was based on data sent by the “pyramid observatory” placed at 5,079 metres near Everest base camp by the Italian National Research Council in coordination with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST), ICIMOD and others.

The scientists are wondering whether the alarming rise of the brown haze in the region is due to the transport of pollution from China and India, two of the most rapidly developing nations in the world. EV-K2 members said they have started a new research to better understand the characteristics of atmospheric conditions and pollution in the Himalayas, considering its location between China and India. However, NAST scientists who are involved in the research from Nepal’s side said they were unaware of the new findings. “In the past 10 years after the lab was set up, over 1,040 reports have been prepared and Nepal was involved in hardy 100 of them,” said Dr. Dinesh Bhuju, a senior scientist coordinating an EV-K2 cell at NAST. NAST Academician Dr. Madan Lal Shrestha argues that if NAST has access to the data, it has to come up with its own version to find out what is right and what is wrong. “It is true that the brown haze has increased in the past 10-15 years due to growing pollution,” said Shrestha. “The pollution emitted by Nepal and to some extent India can travel up to the mountains and form the haze but it is very unlikely that pollution emitted by China can have such a role. Whatever the truth, the government must have a say.”

The EV-K2 researches say their report is based on a proven premise that the atmospheric conditions of the Himalayas can be influenced by the transport of polluted air masses coming from South Asia and Indo Gangetic Plain. Both Shrestha and Bonasoni agree that the brown cloud extends from the Indian Ocean to the Himalayan ridge.

Source: http://www.ekantipur.com September 1, 2010

Smugglers Turning Chure Barren

Deforestation has turned this district’s swathes of the Chure range, known for lush green forests, barren.

The District Forest Office statistics show 26,850 hectares of the Chure forest lies in Siraha, but the forest lies in paper only. With 75 percent of the district’s Chure forest gone due to rampant tree felling, what remains in the ‘forest’ is only bushes. In the past, 13 percent of the land in this area had dense forests. After clearing this area, timber smugglers have robbing Udaypur district’s Chure of its green cover. On an average, 50 trucks loaded with timber head to different destinations carrying timber from forests in northeast parts of Udaypur, including Beltar, according to Subarna Gautam, a saw-mill owner.

Ramsworup Mahato, chairman of the Lalpur Community Forest Consumers’ Group, notes deforestation started taking its toll on the Chure in Siraha after the phaseout of GTZ, a German project. Dinesh Yadav, a conservationist, says, “The nexus among forest employees, smugglers and community forest consumers’ committees is behind the deforestation. And to shift the blame, the District Forest Office has handed over half of the Chure stretch in the district to community forest users’ groups, according to Satya Narayan Yadav, president of the Democratic Youth Association. Few years ago, the Chure had a dense forest cover with sal and khayar trees teeming. These days, khayar and sal trees are hard to find.

Meanwhile, the smugglers are having a swell time. They have been supplying the timber brought from the Chure range in Siraha and Udaypur and various other forests to Kathmandu and other cities. More than 50 saw mills at Siraha have loads of timber from the Chure, but the forest office has not bothered to inspect those mills.

Source: http://thehimalayantimes.com September 4, 2010

Dealers In Dark Over Euro III Fuel

The public does not need to pay more for the Euro III standard 91-octane petrol that Nepal Oil Corporation will be supplying throughout Nepal by October.

But petroleum dealers are completely unaware of NOC’s plan to introduce higher grade petrol to replace the current 88-octane petrol. “We are unable to comment on the pricing of the fuel officially,” said Saroj Pandey, president of Nepal Petroleum Dealers Association. “The state oil monopoly has not given us any information regarding the supply of new high-grade petrol or that of diesel. What we know is based on rumours and media reports,” he said, adding that NOC has to inform the petroleum dealers first regarding how to maintain storage – whether to store existing lower-grade petrol and the higher-grade variety separately or not. “We don’t know what we are supposed to do if NOC really supplies us with the said 91-octane petrol,” Pandey added.

But NOC is ready to supply the higher grade 91-octane petrol to replace the current 88-octane petrol in circulation at the same price. “There is no plan to hike the prices to cover the cost of the higher grade petrol,” said Mukunda Dhungel, spokesperson for NOC. “We have already started supplying 91-octane petrol from Dhangadhi depot,” he said, informing that Euro III standard petrol will be supplied throughout the nation before the beginning of the October. “Within a month NOC’s stock of 88-octane petrol will be emptied. Only high-grade petrol will be supplied thereafter,” he said, adding that NOC will be supplying only higher-grade fuel after a month to check unscrupulous elements from mixing low-grade and high-grade fuel. There have been instances of fuel adulteration in the past. “To check that we’ll supply only higher-grade petrol,” Dhungel added.

Nepal Oil Corporation, the state-owned entity responsible for the import and distribution of fuel, has been supplying 88-octane petrol. Petrol engines are supposed to perform best when run on 91-octane fuel. Moreover, western made luxury vehicles run better with higher grade fuels. Higher the octane value, lower the anti-ignition portion in fuel, meaning more mileage. The state-oil monopoly has, however, been supplying Euro III standard diesel since July.

Source: http://www.thehimalayantimes.com August 31, 2010

Report Confirms Rapid Glacier Melting

The United States Geological Survey in its report — published in collaboration with 39 international scientists — says that glaciers throughout the Asia region — Russia, China, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan — are retreating.

However, the report says the time period for the retreat is different among the glaciers. “In Bhutan, 66 glaciers have decreased by 8.1 per cent over the last 30 years. Rapid changes in the Himalaya has been seen in India where Chhota Shigri Glacier has retreated by 12 per cent over the last 13 years and Gangotri Glacier — that is considered to have originated in 1780 – witnessed 12 per cent shrinkage in the main stem in the last 16 years,” adds the report. The melting of the glaciers in the Himalayas ran into controversy after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change — a scientific body under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to look into the issues of climate change — apologized for the mistake in its fourth assessment report in 2007 that stated ‘the Himalayan glaciers will disappear by 2035 due to the impact of climate change’.

“This retreat impacts water supplies to millions of people, increases likelihood of outburst floods that threaten life and property in nearby areas, and contributes to sea-level rise,” states the USGS report. As glaciers become smaller, water runoff decreases, which is especially important during the dry season when other water sources are limited. Climate change also increases temperature and earlier water runoff from glaciers, and this combined with spring and summer rains, can result in flood conditions. “The overall glacier retreat and additional melt can increase the amount of water in the vicinity of a glacier, and the added pressure enhances likelihood of disastrous outburst flooding,” warns the report.

Tracing the history of glacier studies, the report has mentioned that glacier studies in each area started at different times depending on accessibility of the glaciers and scientific interest. According to USGS, the earliest description of glaciers in China has been traced back to 630 AD, while studies in the Caucasus area of Russia began in the mid 1800s and modern studies in Nepal started in the 1950s.

Source: http://www.thehimalayantimes.com September 2, 2010

Precipitation Pattern Undergoing Changes

The Valley recorded 70.1 mm rainfall, one of the highest, on Monday night.

Meteorological Forecasting Division (MFD) said although this volume is high, it’s not record-breaking. MFD recorded 84.3 mm rainfall on September 12, 2008. “Such site specific high rainfall occurs during monsoon and may repeat in the next couple of weeks,” said senior meteorologist Rajendra Kumar Shrestha. Meteorologists predict the monsoon may last longer this year than normal though they say it is not possible to predict the specific overstay time.

Monday’s rainfall was also not the highest for this year. On July 24, the Valley received 88 mm rainfall. “The precipitation trend has been changing in recent years with the frequency of short but heavy rainfall increasing and long and steady rainfall decreasing,” maintained Shrestha. Meteorologists suspect climate change is a factor, but argue the need for data covering a long period to confirm their suspicion. “Data of a few years is not sufficient to reach this conclusion,” said Shrestha.

Source: http://thehimalayantimes.com September 7, 2010

Koteswor Folks Rue ‘Illegal Parking’

By Nirjana Sharma

People living in and around Koteswor are elated as they will be using the country’s first six-lane road soon. However, rampant parking at the extended roads and footpaths has left them a worried lot. They actually doubt whether the extended road will solve the traffic congestion in the area.

Gita Shrestha owns a pharmacy at Koteswor Chowk. She is tired of requesting drivers not to park their vehicles in front of her shop. However, her requests have always fallen on deaf ears. “I pay Rs.20,000 a month for the shutter I am using for the shop. Illegal parking in front of my shop bars customers from easily reaching my medical store,” Shrestha said. Not only in front of shops, but dwellers near sidewalks are also equally disturbed by the parked taxis and trucks. “Vehicles parked along the sidewalks often lead to traffic snarls in the area,” a pedestrian at Koteswor said. Vehicle owners, however, say the local authorities have not arranged for an appropriate parking space in the Koteswor area. They say a local transport entrepreneurs’ association has already filed a complaint in the office of Ward-35 at the Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) asking to take action against owners and drivers of vehicles parked there.

The Ward Office admits that it has not allotted a specific space for vehicle parking. It says it is planning to arrange for a parking area near the Traffic Police Sector (TPC), Koteswor. “We have forwarded the complaint to the central office for action against the illegal parking,” said Uttam Uprety, Secretary at Ward-35. “The problem has occurred as there is no official parking space here. We are planning to develop an open area near the TPC for vehicle parking.” However, officials at the KMC say they will hold a meeting with different stakeholders to solve the problem and take strict action against offenders. “We are planning to remove all such vehicles from the ‘No-Parking’ area as the upcoming budget of the KMC will also focus on checking parking in prohibited areas,” said Dhana Pati Sapkota, an official at the KMC.

Source: http://www.ekantipur.com September 8, 2010

International News
Erratic Global Weather Threatens Food Security

By Nina Larson

The drought in Russia and floods in Pakistan are part of a global trend of unpredictable weather patterns and rainfall that threaten food security, experts gathered in Stockholm said.

"We are getting to a point where we are getting more water, more rainy days, but it's more variable, so it leads to droughts and it leads to floods," Sunita Narain, the head of the Centre for Science and Environment in India, told AFP on the sidelines of the World Water Week conference. "That is leading to huge amounts of stress on agriculture and livelihoods," she said, adding that "climate change is making rainfall even more variable." Narain was one of around 2,500 experts from 130 countries gathered in Stockholm for the 20th edition of the World Water Week, which opened Sunday and is set to run until Saturday. Her comments came as eight million people in Pakistan remain dependent on handouts for their survival after monsoons caused devastating floods throughout the country.
Russia is also still struggling with the aftermath of its hottest summer on record, during which drought and fires destroyed a quarter of the country's crops and prompted the government to slap a highly controversial ban on grain exports to protect domestic supplies. This contributed to soaring global wheat and overall food prices and sparked worries of a crisis in global food supplies. But it is not only in such extreme cases that changing weather patterns and unpredictable rainfall is causing problems. "Millions of farmers in communities dependent on rain-fed agriculture are at risk from decreasing and erratic availability of water," head of the Sri Lanka-based International Water Management Institute (IWMI) Colin Chartres said in a statement. IWMI published a report Monday stressing that the unpredictable weather required large investments in a diverse array of water storage options to counter the uncertainty.

Some 66 percent of total crops in Asia are not irrigated, while in Africa a full 94 percent is rain-fed, according to the institute, which estimates that around 500 million people in Africa and India would benefit from improved agricultural water management. World Water Week director Jens Berggren agreed that unpredictable rainfall was wreaking havoc. Farmers in Uganda for instance used to know when to sow to get the best crop, but now they can no longer predict when the rain will come, Berggren pointed out. While accepting that the world has recently experienced extreme weather shifts, Jan Lundqvist, who chairs the Stockholm International Water Institute's Scientific Programme Committee, is wary on blaming global warming. Pointing out that there have been periods of extreme weather patterns before, he said: "These kinds of fluctuations are part of human history, but climate change is probably making them more extreme."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com Sept 7, 2010

One Stop For Climate Change Info

By Marlene Cimons, National Science Foundation

The “Climate-1 Stop” aims to be just what its name implies: a single place where people easily can find all the reliable information, resources and tools about climate change that they need.

“There’s plenty of information out there, but it’s really difficult to find the one specific thing you need,” said Jessica Coughlin. “You can become overwhelmed.” Coughlin heads the Institute for the Application of Geospacial Technology, a nonprofit organization located in Auburn, N.Y. and affiliated with Cayuga Community College. The institute, which provides expertise in geographic information systems technology, including GPS, remote sensing, digital mapping, and geospatial data, among other things, has created a new single Web site on climate change. The goal is to help scientists, decision-makers, nonprofit workers, other officials, and even lay people, find the right climate change data they are seeking. The site will provide access to research papers and other documents, news articles, other Web sites and useful tools from other agencies.

The Web site, or geoportal, first unveiled last December at the climate conference in Copenhagen, is funded by a two-year $299,853 award as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. It is a collaboration of three federal agencies, the National Science Foundation, USAID (The United States Agency for International Development), and NASA (the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.) Others who are involved include experts from the University of Alabama at Huntsville, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, and the Water Center for the Humid Tropics of Latin America and the Caribbean (CATHALAC), in Panama. “It’s almost like an electronic table of contents to help you find the information,” Coughlin said. “For example, if you don’t know whether NOAA [National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration] has what you need, or NASA, or the World Bank, you would have to go to all those individual sites. This is very taxing and time-consuming. This is more of a filter that helps narrow down what you are looking for.

The new climate portal builds upon NASA’s existing SERVIR site, which uses satellite imagery and other data to rapidly map
locations where a flood, fire, hurricane, earthquake or other natural disaster has struck. With facilities in Central America and East Africa, SERVIR tries to help policymakers decide where to send aid in a hurry. The SERVIR team also monitors and delivers information on climate change and environmental threats, and, since its March 2005 introduction in Central America, has tracked more than 11 environmental threats and 25 natural disasters, according to NASA. Scientists and others will be able to add research and other data to the new climate site, “but we’re not allowing anybody to just type in any random thought,” Coughlin said. The site will have a moderator who will monitor entries.

Source: http://www.usnews.com Sept 7, 2010

Bees Stung By 'Climate Change-Linked' Early Pollination

Climate change may be causing flowers to open before bees emerge from hibernation leading to declines in pollination, new research suggests.

Climate change could be affecting pollination by disrupting the synchronised timing of flower opening and bee emergence from hibernation, suggests new US-based research. Declining numbers of bees and other pollinators have been causing growing concern in recent years, as scientists fear that decreased pollination could have major impacts on world food supplies. Previous studies have focused on pollinators and have linked falling populations to the use of pesticides, habitat loss and disease.
However, a 17-year analysis of the wild lily in Colorado by scientists from the University of Toronto, suggests other factors may be at play. The study revealed a long-term decline in pollination, which was particularly pronounced earlier in the season. Study author James Thomson said while bee numbers had declined at their research site he suspected that a ‘climate-driven mismatch between the times when flowers open and when bees emerge from hibernation is a more important factor’. ‘Early in the year, when bumble bee queens are still hibernating, the fruiting rates are especially low,’ he said. ‘This is sobering because it suggests that pollination is vulnerable even in a relatively pristine environment that is free of pesticides and human disturbance but still subject to climate change.’

Despite the findings, other experts remained cautious about the influence of climate change on bee pollination. 

Francis Ratnieks, professor of apiculture at the University of Sussex, said the downward trend of pollination observed in the study was not strong enough to extrapolate to any wider issues. The Bumblebee Conservation Trust said the most significant factors driving the decline in pollinators were still unclear. ‘It is probably a combination of climate change, habitat loss, pesticide use and disease. Unless we act swiftly, these declines threaten both human wellbeing and the survival of natural ecosystems as we know them,’ said director Dave Goulson. Study author Thomson admitted the evidence from the study was still weak but said the results were a warning that the phenomenon ‘might be widespread and needs more attention’.

Source: http://www.theecologist.org Sept 7, 2010

China Aims To Increase Hydropower 50 Per Cent By 2015

The Chinese government has reportedly pledged to increase its hydroelectric power capacity 50 per cent by 2015 as it continues to accelerate efforts to boost its low-carbon energy supplies.

According to local reports, officials said they were aiming to increase hydropower capacity from 200 million kilowatts currently to 300 million kW by 2015. The announcement came as China's largest hydropower station, the Xiaowan dam in Yunnan province, came online. State-backed news agency Xinhua said that the $5.86bn (£3.79bn) facility will be able to generate 19 billion kilowatt hours of electricity each year. China is already the world's largest producer of hydropower and the government reckons the hydroelectricity will play a critical role in it meeting its goal of reducing the economy's carbon intensity by 40 to 45 per cent by 2020. However, the country's dam building programme remains highly controversial and countries on the lower stretches of the Mekong River, such as Laos, Thailand and Vietnam, are said to be concerned about the impact dams have had on water levels downstream.

Source: http://www.businessgreen.com Sept 6, 2010

Indian Ocean Rising Faster Than Others

Newly detected rising sea levels in parts of the Indian Ocean have led Indian scientists to conclude that the Indian Ocean is rising faster than other oceans. Dr Satheesh C. Shenoi, director, Indian National Centre for Ocean Infor-mation Services, speaking at a workshop on “Coasts, Coastal Populations and their Concerns” organised by the Centre for Science and Environment, warned that sea surface measurements and satellite observations confirm that an anthropogenic climate warming is amplifying regional sea rise changes in the Indian Ocean .

This would have far-reaching impacts on the climate of vulnerable nations, including the coastlines on the Bay of Bengal, the Arabian Sea, Sri Lanka and parts of Indonesia as a result of human-induced increases in atmospheric greenhouse gases. Data collated by the National Institute of Oceanography provide city-wise statistics of sea-level rise. In Mumbai, from 1878- 2005, sea levels have risen by 0.77 millimetres while in Diamond Harbour, West Bengal, levels had risen by 5.16 mm. “Data from the Jason satellite, which measured ocean levels, has shown that global sea levels had been rising steadily till 2003 but then the rise became slower. In the case of the Indian Ocean, the sea level has, however, continued to rise between 2004 and 2009. While in the Indian Ocean thermal expansion is 40 per cent, the global average is 20 per cent,” Dr Shenoi pointed out.

Both these scientists warned that the sea-level rise would adversely impact 35 per cent of the world’s human population as they live in coastal regions. India has 3,325 coastal villages with a population of 3.5 million engaged in fishing and rising sea levels would make fishing communities immediately vulnerable. Tapas Paul, who heads the World Bank’s Integrated Coastal Zone Management Programme, warned that “a sea-level rise by one metre would affect 37.2 million people from East Asia and the Pacific zone. “South Asia’s current resistance to variability is low with a lot of people here dying and suffering because of floods,” said Mr Paul. Quoting from a survey conducted by the World Bank, he pointed out that “almost 5.9 million people from South Asia would be affected and Bangladesh would be the worst affected country.”

Source: http://www.asianage.com Sept 5, 2010