ScienceBlogs : The ScienceBlogs Newsletter: "Synthetic Biology
Some engineers use cranes and steel to make their designs reality, but synthetic biologists engineer using tools on a different scale: DNA and the other molecular components of living cells. Synthetic biology uses cellular systems and structures to produce artificial models based on natural order.
- Sent using Google Toolbar"
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Monday, September 27, 2010
Project 10 to the 100
Project 10 to the 100
We are pleased to announce the winners of Google’s Project 10100.
Thousands of people from more than 170 countries submitted over 150,000 ideas. From that group, we narrowed it to the final 16 ideas for public vote.
The following five ideas received the most votes and are the winners of Project 10100. Over the past 12 months, we have reviewed concrete proposals to tackle these ideas. We are pleased to give a total of $10 million to five inspiring organizations working on solutions to each of these global challenges:
We are pleased to announce the winners of Google’s Project 10100.
Thousands of people from more than 170 countries submitted over 150,000 ideas. From that group, we narrowed it to the final 16 ideas for public vote.
The following five ideas received the most votes and are the winners of Project 10100. Over the past 12 months, we have reviewed concrete proposals to tackle these ideas. We are pleased to give a total of $10 million to five inspiring organizations working on solutions to each of these global challenges:
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
The fourteenth session of the AWG-KP and the twelfth session of the AWG-LCA will take place from Monday, 4 to Saturday, 9 October 2010 at the Tianjin Meijiang Convention and Exhibition Center (MJCEC), Tianjin, China.
The above-mentioned sessions will be preceded by preparatory meetings of the Group of 77 and China, the African Group, the small islands developing States and the least developed countries from Tuesday, 28 September to Sunday, 3 October 2010.
The fourteenth session of the AWG-KP and the twelfth session of the AWG-LCA will take place from Monday, 4 to Saturday, 9 October 2010 at the Tianjin Meijiang Convention and Exhibition Center (MJCEC), Tianjin, China.
The above-mentioned sessions will be preceded by preparatory meetings of the Group of 77 and China, the African Group, the small islands developing States and the least developed countries from Tuesday, 28 September to Sunday, 3 October 2010.
Friday, September 24, 2010
National Geographic Magazine - NGM.com
National Geographic Magazine - NGM.com
Freshwater Crisis
By 2050 a third of the people on Earth may lack a clean, secure source of water. Learn more about challenges and solutions.
Freshwater Crisis
By 2050 a third of the people on Earth may lack a clean, secure source of water. Learn more about challenges and solutions.
Wednesday, September 08, 2010
Business - A journey of 1,300 km and 1.36 million trees for the Prius - INQUIRER.net
Business - A journey of 1,300 km and 1.36 million trees for the Prius - INQUIRER.net
A journey of 1,300 km and 1.36 million trees for the Prius
By Tessa Salazar
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 22:49:00 09/07/2010
Filed Under: Road Transport, Transport, Environmental Issues
CAN THE words “cars” and “environmentalism” coexist in one article?
We’ll sure give it a try. But we can’t blame the skeptics for raising their eyebrows on this, what with the accepted notion that cars—despite the modern conveniences they bring—have greatly contributed to the destruction of ecosystems. Hundreds of millions of these metal beasts in all forms, shapes and sizes, with their constant craving for fossil fuels and their climate change-inducing byproducts, have altered the complexion of this planet.
When the world’s number one carmaker registers a significant blip in the environment radar, right in this country, Inquirer Motoring can’t help but take notice; even if it happens way up in the far North in the Cagayan Valley.
It’s not just one blip. For the past three years, Toyota Motor Corp’s reforestation project in Peñablanca, on the foothills of the Sierra Madre mountain range in Cagayan Valley 24 kms from Tuguegarao City, has been slowly restoring the forest’s heartbeat.
The carmaker is now in the exact halfway point of the six-year, 2,500-hectare Philippine Peñablanca Sustainable Reforestation Project, which now enters the second phase of its $3 million project. The fund is the biggest an automotive company has invested in a reforestation project in the country, and Toyota’s second biggest reforestation project in the world after a similar project in Hebel Province in China.
The reforestation project has counted up to 1,360,000 trees planted in 1,772 hectares during phase 1 from September 2007 to July 2010. These trees-narra, molave, bignai, kalumpit, tindalo, dapdap, tuai, hauili, tibbig and alibangbang-are indigenous to the area.
For phase 2 of the project which runs from September 2010 to 2013, the project will target the rehabilitation of another 728 hectares of degraded lands through reforestation, enrichment planting and agro-forestry.
To make the project sustainable for the local communities, and to veer them away from their destructive slash-and-burn farming techniques that caused the deforestation in the first place, the reforestation has focused on planting 40,000 mango trees (which now stand at a robust 3.5 meters high) and over 12,000 assorted fruit trees like citrus, coffee, cacao, langka, and 300,000 fuel wood species like ipil-ipil, anchoan and kakawate. In time, the communities can already literally start harvesting the fruits of their labors.
Even before the harvest, the reforestation has bestowed considerable benefits on those communities actively involved in the project. In the second year of the project, the average income of the 725 project beneficiary families ranged from P23,530 to P113,600 depending on their participation in different activities such as plantation establishments, seedling production, paid labor in the nurseries, protection activities and fireline establishments.
And as what Conservation International Philippines, Toyota’s project implementing partner, showed, an additional P12,000 average annual income per household for mango harvests may be expected starting as early as the fifth year of the project.
It wouldn’t be a surprise why the Japanese chose Peñablanca as one of its biggest environmental projects. The Peñablanca forest is home for up to 178 species of flora and fauna (birds, reptiles, bats and owls), including the endangered Philippine Eagle, and is the site to numerous natural attractions such as the more than 200 caves (including the ancient Callao Caves where a chapel has been built inside its cavernous mouth) and pristine river systems. The Peñablanca forest occupies 102,782 hectares of the northern region of the Sierra Madre Mountain Range in Peñablanca town. One of the Philippines’ last remaining old growth and mossy forest stands, the forest is where the rivers, which supply potable water to Tuguegarao City and irrigation to local farmers, originate.
When we first visited the Peñablanca Sustainable Reforestation Project in September last year, Conservation International’s Ed Angadol, protected area associate of the Sierra Madre Biodiversity Corridor of Conservation International Philippines, explained that even at the early stages, the project’s young forest has helped absorb excess rainwater and trapped soil sediments, preventing soil runoff and erosion (the prerequisite to landslides).
In that visit, Inquirer Motoring brought along the Prius to Tuguegarao City.
The ‘surprised’ Japanese
Last weekend, at the kickoff of the second phase of the Peñablanca Sustainable Reforestation Project, Inquirer Motoring was again invited. Once more, the hybrid gasoline-electric Prius was called into service to transport us from Manila to Tuguegarao. This time, however, we decided that it was high time that the car that symbolizes the carmaker’s vision for a sustainable motoring future meet the “elements” first-hand-which meant a little off-roading for this city driving designed sedan from Tuguegarao to Sitio Lalongan, Barangay Sisim, Penablanca, Cagayan.
Needless to say, the Japanese executives who visited the site (who included Toyota Motor Corp’s Nobuyori Kodaira, senior managing director; Toshinori Ogure, general manager for Biotechnology and Afforestation Division; and Toyota Motor Philippines Corp’s president Michinobu Sugata) were delightfully surprised to see the Prius in attendance, along with other Innovas, Fortuners and Hi-Aces that shuttled select guests, local and Japanese media.
At the press conference in Makati Shangrila on Friday, Yukitoshi Funo, executive vice president of TMC in Japan, told local and Japanese press that the project was awarded a gold rating last December with a third-party validation from the Rainforest Alliance under the standards of project scheme and design set by the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Project Design Standards Alliance.
Difficult road for the Prius
We couldn’t help but compare our 1,300-km trip from Manila to Tuguegarao and back on a Prius with the conservation efforts of not only Toyota and Conservation International but of all the rest of those fighting for the sustainability of the ecology of the planet.
The route from Manila to Tuguegarao via Nueva Ecija, Nueva Vizcaya and Isabela provinces comprised of 500 kms and 17 hours of bad roads and stormy Friday night and Saturday dawn weather, which forced us to take the return trip to Manila via the longer but better paved route via the picturesque Cagayan and Ilocos Norte and Sur provinces along the western coast of northern Luzon—a good 800 kms and relatively brighter Sunday weather. The return trip, though longer, took only just as much time and was a virtual feast for the eyes. Along the way, we even passed another reforestation project in in Nassiping, Cagayan. While the Prius quietly negotiated the well-maintained winding roads hugging the northern coastal mountain passes of Ilocos Norte, we were awed by the lush vegetation along the Kalbario-Patapat Natural Park in Sta Praxedes in Ilocos Norte, with peaks touching 2000 feet above sea level. A grounded ship, gathering rust, lay seemingly an arm’s length away from the Patapat Bridge, which made us think, quite pensively, did the wreck leak some bunker fuel?
The heavy Prius held its own against the forces of momentum on the mostly zig-zag roads of the North, considering that it was designed not as a sports car. We actually asked a lot from the Prius this weekend—making it go off-road in Peñablanca when it actually had low ground clearance and unsuitable tires, and forcing it to hold on to its side of the road on relatively high-speed cornering on mountain passes. Admirably, the sedan did what it had to under the circumstances.
Interestingly, the route back to Manila provided us with a couple of environment-themed sights, such as the Bangui Wind Farm—which harnesses wind power to generate electricity using the 15 or so gigantic white windmills situated along the windy coast to selected communities in Bangui town in Ilocos Norte, and the Cape Bojeador lighthouse which uses solar power to charge its batteries during the day, which in turn powers the lighthouse at night.
On Power Mode (which we used for most of the trip), the Prius hauled metal like a 2.4-liter sedan in the body of a 1.8-liter Altis. Its seat cushion, scuff plates and other interior components are made of ecological plastic. Its dashboard is dominated by green indicators, the better to remind its occupants of its environmental leanings. The seamless interplay between the electric and gasoline engine is managed by the breakthrough Hybrid Synergy Drive and its intelligent energy management system. In terms of amenities, there are plenty of compartments: two glove compartments, another two compartments in the middle, six cupholders, four cubby holes and one huge trunk. Perhaps these spaces encourage Prius owners and occupants to keep their trash in the car instead of throwing them out somewhere.
The Prius, however, did what it was designed to do, save on fuel and help save the environment in the process. The gasoline-electric combination showed an interesting pattern in our thousand-kilometer trip: The more we actually went slower, the less fuel it consumed. The fuel consumption reading was 24 kilometers to a liter (combined highway and city) when we were running at an average speed of 38 kph. Then, when our average speed went up to 45 at the highways, the fuel consumption went down to 16 km/liter and 12.416 km/liter when we hit the 65 kph average.
Using the cruise controls along the 130-km stretch of SCTex (Tarlac to Mabalacat) and NLEX at a set speed of 100 kph and at Eco Mode, the fuel consumption improved to 18 km/liter.
Notwithstanding the rut Toyota’s battered image is in at its North American front, its Prius may as well represent a constant that guides it in its future as a carmaker, a future planned with some human warmth in this cold-hearted business of automobile manufacturing. Toyota, after all, is human. Its fate, like everyone else’s, begins and ends on the earth.
A journey of 1,300 km and 1.36 million trees for the Prius
By Tessa Salazar
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 22:49:00 09/07/2010
Filed Under: Road Transport, Transport, Environmental Issues
CAN THE words “cars” and “environmentalism” coexist in one article?
We’ll sure give it a try. But we can’t blame the skeptics for raising their eyebrows on this, what with the accepted notion that cars—despite the modern conveniences they bring—have greatly contributed to the destruction of ecosystems. Hundreds of millions of these metal beasts in all forms, shapes and sizes, with their constant craving for fossil fuels and their climate change-inducing byproducts, have altered the complexion of this planet.
When the world’s number one carmaker registers a significant blip in the environment radar, right in this country, Inquirer Motoring can’t help but take notice; even if it happens way up in the far North in the Cagayan Valley.
It’s not just one blip. For the past three years, Toyota Motor Corp’s reforestation project in Peñablanca, on the foothills of the Sierra Madre mountain range in Cagayan Valley 24 kms from Tuguegarao City, has been slowly restoring the forest’s heartbeat.
The carmaker is now in the exact halfway point of the six-year, 2,500-hectare Philippine Peñablanca Sustainable Reforestation Project, which now enters the second phase of its $3 million project. The fund is the biggest an automotive company has invested in a reforestation project in the country, and Toyota’s second biggest reforestation project in the world after a similar project in Hebel Province in China.
The reforestation project has counted up to 1,360,000 trees planted in 1,772 hectares during phase 1 from September 2007 to July 2010. These trees-narra, molave, bignai, kalumpit, tindalo, dapdap, tuai, hauili, tibbig and alibangbang-are indigenous to the area.
For phase 2 of the project which runs from September 2010 to 2013, the project will target the rehabilitation of another 728 hectares of degraded lands through reforestation, enrichment planting and agro-forestry.
To make the project sustainable for the local communities, and to veer them away from their destructive slash-and-burn farming techniques that caused the deforestation in the first place, the reforestation has focused on planting 40,000 mango trees (which now stand at a robust 3.5 meters high) and over 12,000 assorted fruit trees like citrus, coffee, cacao, langka, and 300,000 fuel wood species like ipil-ipil, anchoan and kakawate. In time, the communities can already literally start harvesting the fruits of their labors.
Even before the harvest, the reforestation has bestowed considerable benefits on those communities actively involved in the project. In the second year of the project, the average income of the 725 project beneficiary families ranged from P23,530 to P113,600 depending on their participation in different activities such as plantation establishments, seedling production, paid labor in the nurseries, protection activities and fireline establishments.
And as what Conservation International Philippines, Toyota’s project implementing partner, showed, an additional P12,000 average annual income per household for mango harvests may be expected starting as early as the fifth year of the project.
It wouldn’t be a surprise why the Japanese chose Peñablanca as one of its biggest environmental projects. The Peñablanca forest is home for up to 178 species of flora and fauna (birds, reptiles, bats and owls), including the endangered Philippine Eagle, and is the site to numerous natural attractions such as the more than 200 caves (including the ancient Callao Caves where a chapel has been built inside its cavernous mouth) and pristine river systems. The Peñablanca forest occupies 102,782 hectares of the northern region of the Sierra Madre Mountain Range in Peñablanca town. One of the Philippines’ last remaining old growth and mossy forest stands, the forest is where the rivers, which supply potable water to Tuguegarao City and irrigation to local farmers, originate.
When we first visited the Peñablanca Sustainable Reforestation Project in September last year, Conservation International’s Ed Angadol, protected area associate of the Sierra Madre Biodiversity Corridor of Conservation International Philippines, explained that even at the early stages, the project’s young forest has helped absorb excess rainwater and trapped soil sediments, preventing soil runoff and erosion (the prerequisite to landslides).
In that visit, Inquirer Motoring brought along the Prius to Tuguegarao City.
The ‘surprised’ Japanese
Last weekend, at the kickoff of the second phase of the Peñablanca Sustainable Reforestation Project, Inquirer Motoring was again invited. Once more, the hybrid gasoline-electric Prius was called into service to transport us from Manila to Tuguegarao. This time, however, we decided that it was high time that the car that symbolizes the carmaker’s vision for a sustainable motoring future meet the “elements” first-hand-which meant a little off-roading for this city driving designed sedan from Tuguegarao to Sitio Lalongan, Barangay Sisim, Penablanca, Cagayan.
Needless to say, the Japanese executives who visited the site (who included Toyota Motor Corp’s Nobuyori Kodaira, senior managing director; Toshinori Ogure, general manager for Biotechnology and Afforestation Division; and Toyota Motor Philippines Corp’s president Michinobu Sugata) were delightfully surprised to see the Prius in attendance, along with other Innovas, Fortuners and Hi-Aces that shuttled select guests, local and Japanese media.
At the press conference in Makati Shangrila on Friday, Yukitoshi Funo, executive vice president of TMC in Japan, told local and Japanese press that the project was awarded a gold rating last December with a third-party validation from the Rainforest Alliance under the standards of project scheme and design set by the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Project Design Standards Alliance.
Difficult road for the Prius
We couldn’t help but compare our 1,300-km trip from Manila to Tuguegarao and back on a Prius with the conservation efforts of not only Toyota and Conservation International but of all the rest of those fighting for the sustainability of the ecology of the planet.
The route from Manila to Tuguegarao via Nueva Ecija, Nueva Vizcaya and Isabela provinces comprised of 500 kms and 17 hours of bad roads and stormy Friday night and Saturday dawn weather, which forced us to take the return trip to Manila via the longer but better paved route via the picturesque Cagayan and Ilocos Norte and Sur provinces along the western coast of northern Luzon—a good 800 kms and relatively brighter Sunday weather. The return trip, though longer, took only just as much time and was a virtual feast for the eyes. Along the way, we even passed another reforestation project in in Nassiping, Cagayan. While the Prius quietly negotiated the well-maintained winding roads hugging the northern coastal mountain passes of Ilocos Norte, we were awed by the lush vegetation along the Kalbario-Patapat Natural Park in Sta Praxedes in Ilocos Norte, with peaks touching 2000 feet above sea level. A grounded ship, gathering rust, lay seemingly an arm’s length away from the Patapat Bridge, which made us think, quite pensively, did the wreck leak some bunker fuel?
The heavy Prius held its own against the forces of momentum on the mostly zig-zag roads of the North, considering that it was designed not as a sports car. We actually asked a lot from the Prius this weekend—making it go off-road in Peñablanca when it actually had low ground clearance and unsuitable tires, and forcing it to hold on to its side of the road on relatively high-speed cornering on mountain passes. Admirably, the sedan did what it had to under the circumstances.
Interestingly, the route back to Manila provided us with a couple of environment-themed sights, such as the Bangui Wind Farm—which harnesses wind power to generate electricity using the 15 or so gigantic white windmills situated along the windy coast to selected communities in Bangui town in Ilocos Norte, and the Cape Bojeador lighthouse which uses solar power to charge its batteries during the day, which in turn powers the lighthouse at night.
On Power Mode (which we used for most of the trip), the Prius hauled metal like a 2.4-liter sedan in the body of a 1.8-liter Altis. Its seat cushion, scuff plates and other interior components are made of ecological plastic. Its dashboard is dominated by green indicators, the better to remind its occupants of its environmental leanings. The seamless interplay between the electric and gasoline engine is managed by the breakthrough Hybrid Synergy Drive and its intelligent energy management system. In terms of amenities, there are plenty of compartments: two glove compartments, another two compartments in the middle, six cupholders, four cubby holes and one huge trunk. Perhaps these spaces encourage Prius owners and occupants to keep their trash in the car instead of throwing them out somewhere.
The Prius, however, did what it was designed to do, save on fuel and help save the environment in the process. The gasoline-electric combination showed an interesting pattern in our thousand-kilometer trip: The more we actually went slower, the less fuel it consumed. The fuel consumption reading was 24 kilometers to a liter (combined highway and city) when we were running at an average speed of 38 kph. Then, when our average speed went up to 45 at the highways, the fuel consumption went down to 16 km/liter and 12.416 km/liter when we hit the 65 kph average.
Using the cruise controls along the 130-km stretch of SCTex (Tarlac to Mabalacat) and NLEX at a set speed of 100 kph and at Eco Mode, the fuel consumption improved to 18 km/liter.
Notwithstanding the rut Toyota’s battered image is in at its North American front, its Prius may as well represent a constant that guides it in its future as a carmaker, a future planned with some human warmth in this cold-hearted business of automobile manufacturing. Toyota, after all, is human. Its fate, like everyone else’s, begins and ends on the earth.
UN-Water at World Water Week 2010
UN-Water at World Water Week 2010
© J.Morgan
The 2010 World Water Week will take place from September 5-11 at Stockholm and once again UN-Water will have an ever-growing presence throughout the week, with its organization and participation in several key seminars, and also at its booth which will contain UN-Water materials and publications, and others by UN-Water members and partners. The theme for 2010 will be "The Water Quality Challenge – Prevention, Wise Use and Abatement". It will be the second year under the niche “Water: Responding to Global Changes”.
Full rundown of UN-Water Events at World Water Week o
World Water Week 2010 Website o
General Assembly declares access to clean water and sanitation is a human right
.
Safe and clean drinking water and sanitation is a human right essential to the full enjoyment of life and all other human rights, the General Assembly declared today, voicing deep concern that almost 900 million people worldwide do not have access to clean water. The text of the resolution expresses deep concern that an estimated 884 million people lack access to safe drinking water and a total of more than 2.6 billion people do not have access to basic sanitation. Studies also indicate about 1.5 million children under the age of five die each year and 443 million school days are lost because of water- and sanitation-related diseases.
Read the full article o
More on drinking water and sanitation o
World Water Day 2010 website o
.
Vacancy Announcement: Communications Officer UN World Water Assessment Programme
.
UN World Water Assessment Programme, located in Perugia, Italy, is advertising for the position of Communications Officer. Deadline for applications is 14 September 2010.
View / Download the vacancy announcement (PDF 196 KB)o
.
Water for sustainable urban human settlements
.
WWAP reportWWAP and UN-Habitat have released a joint Briefing Note 'Water for sustainable urban human settlements' highlighting critical water challenges related to today's unprecedented urban expansion – from providing access to basic services to ensuring environmental and human security. The paper, produced 16 June 2010, provides urban mayors, leaders and high-level decision makers with concrete policy options to meet these challenges, protect against potential water-related disasters and ensure the development of sustainable urban settlements.
Read more
View / Download the Brief
.
UN-Water GLAAS Report 2010 released
.
GLAAS The Global Annual Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking-Water (GLAAS) is a UN-Water initiative implemented by the World Health Organization (WHO). The objective of UN-Water GLAAS is to provide policy makers at all levels with a reliable, easily accessible, comprehensive and global analysis of the evidence to make informed decisions in sanitation and drinking-water.
Read more
.
JMP Report: progress on sanitation and drinking-water 2010
.
New WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) report titled: "Progress on Sanitation and Drinking- Water: 2010 Update Report".
Read more
Read DFID press-release o
Sanitation and Water for All o
.
UN-Water at the IWA Congress and Exhibition
.
Water for Life Decade logoUN-Water will also be present at the forthcoming IWA World Water Congress and Exhibition, to be held in Montréal, Canada from 19–24 September 2010. As well as its stand, UN-Water is also organizing, with the support of the GWOPA and UNW-DPAC, a development corner dialogue session on “Sharing social tools: building a water operators’ community of practice” (21 September). There will be a discussion of best practices in communication and social awareness campaigns of water operators.
More on UN-Water participation
at the IWA Congress and Exhibition o
IWA World Water Congress
and Exhibition Website o
.
Contribute to the
UN World Water Development Report
.
In an ongoing effort to make the United Nations World Water Development Report more relevant to all of its target audiences, the World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) is carrying out regular consultations with stakeholders from all fields to identify specific needs or issues and emerging challenge areas.
WWAP have now opened registration to anyone who may be interested in the consultation process. Those who register will be invited to participate in short, targeted surveys during preparation of the fourth edition of the World Water Development Report.
Register for the Policy Consultations o
.
Climate change adaptation
UN-Water policy brief
.
WWAP reportWater is the primary medium through whichclimate change influences Earth’s ecosystem and thus the livelihood and well-being of societies. Higher temperatures and changes in extreme weather conditions are projected to affect availability and distribution of rainfall, snowmelt, river flows and groundwater, and further deteriorate water quality. Adaptation to climate change is urgent. Water plays a pivotal role in it, but the political world has yet to recognize this notion.
View / Download the Policy Brief o
.
New UNEP / UN-Habitat Report
.
“Sick water? The central role of wastewater management in sustainable development” not only identifies the threats to human and ecological health and the consequences of inaction, but also presents opportunities, where appropriate policy and management responses over the short and longer term can trigger employment, support livelihoods, boost public and ecosystem health and contribute to more intelligent water management.
Find out more about the Report
View / Download the Report
.
about
discover unwater
UN Water Donors
secure
A Guide to UN-Water
4-page colour brochure explains the key areas and objectives of UN-Water.
View / Download brochure (PDF file) in:
Arabic (1.9 MB)
Chinese (2.3 MB)
English (496 KB)
French (404 KB)
Russian (1.6 MB)
Spanish (388 UN-Water Brochure
Factsheet on UN-Water Reports
All of UN-Water's regular reports are outlined in this 2 page factsheet
View / Download the factsheet (PDF 880 KB)UN-Water Reports
© J.Morgan
The 2010 World Water Week will take place from September 5-11 at Stockholm and once again UN-Water will have an ever-growing presence throughout the week, with its organization and participation in several key seminars, and also at its booth which will contain UN-Water materials and publications, and others by UN-Water members and partners. The theme for 2010 will be "The Water Quality Challenge – Prevention, Wise Use and Abatement". It will be the second year under the niche “Water: Responding to Global Changes”.
Full rundown of UN-Water Events at World Water Week o
World Water Week 2010 Website o
General Assembly declares access to clean water and sanitation is a human right
.
Safe and clean drinking water and sanitation is a human right essential to the full enjoyment of life and all other human rights, the General Assembly declared today, voicing deep concern that almost 900 million people worldwide do not have access to clean water. The text of the resolution expresses deep concern that an estimated 884 million people lack access to safe drinking water and a total of more than 2.6 billion people do not have access to basic sanitation. Studies also indicate about 1.5 million children under the age of five die each year and 443 million school days are lost because of water- and sanitation-related diseases.
Read the full article o
More on drinking water and sanitation o
World Water Day 2010 website o
.
Vacancy Announcement: Communications Officer UN World Water Assessment Programme
.
UN World Water Assessment Programme, located in Perugia, Italy, is advertising for the position of Communications Officer. Deadline for applications is 14 September 2010.
View / Download the vacancy announcement (PDF 196 KB)o
.
Water for sustainable urban human settlements
.
WWAP reportWWAP and UN-Habitat have released a joint Briefing Note 'Water for sustainable urban human settlements' highlighting critical water challenges related to today's unprecedented urban expansion – from providing access to basic services to ensuring environmental and human security. The paper, produced 16 June 2010, provides urban mayors, leaders and high-level decision makers with concrete policy options to meet these challenges, protect against potential water-related disasters and ensure the development of sustainable urban settlements.
Read more
View / Download the Brief
.
UN-Water GLAAS Report 2010 released
.
GLAAS The Global Annual Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking-Water (GLAAS) is a UN-Water initiative implemented by the World Health Organization (WHO). The objective of UN-Water GLAAS is to provide policy makers at all levels with a reliable, easily accessible, comprehensive and global analysis of the evidence to make informed decisions in sanitation and drinking-water.
Read more
.
JMP Report: progress on sanitation and drinking-water 2010
.
New WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) report titled: "Progress on Sanitation and Drinking- Water: 2010 Update Report".
Read more
Read DFID press-release o
Sanitation and Water for All o
.
UN-Water at the IWA Congress and Exhibition
.
Water for Life Decade logoUN-Water will also be present at the forthcoming IWA World Water Congress and Exhibition, to be held in Montréal, Canada from 19–24 September 2010. As well as its stand, UN-Water is also organizing, with the support of the GWOPA and UNW-DPAC, a development corner dialogue session on “Sharing social tools: building a water operators’ community of practice” (21 September). There will be a discussion of best practices in communication and social awareness campaigns of water operators.
More on UN-Water participation
at the IWA Congress and Exhibition o
IWA World Water Congress
and Exhibition Website o
.
Contribute to the
UN World Water Development Report
.
In an ongoing effort to make the United Nations World Water Development Report more relevant to all of its target audiences, the World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) is carrying out regular consultations with stakeholders from all fields to identify specific needs or issues and emerging challenge areas.
WWAP have now opened registration to anyone who may be interested in the consultation process. Those who register will be invited to participate in short, targeted surveys during preparation of the fourth edition of the World Water Development Report.
Register for the Policy Consultations o
.
Climate change adaptation
UN-Water policy brief
.
WWAP reportWater is the primary medium through whichclimate change influences Earth’s ecosystem and thus the livelihood and well-being of societies. Higher temperatures and changes in extreme weather conditions are projected to affect availability and distribution of rainfall, snowmelt, river flows and groundwater, and further deteriorate water quality. Adaptation to climate change is urgent. Water plays a pivotal role in it, but the political world has yet to recognize this notion.
View / Download the Policy Brief o
.
New UNEP / UN-Habitat Report
.
“Sick water? The central role of wastewater management in sustainable development” not only identifies the threats to human and ecological health and the consequences of inaction, but also presents opportunities, where appropriate policy and management responses over the short and longer term can trigger employment, support livelihoods, boost public and ecosystem health and contribute to more intelligent water management.
Find out more about the Report
View / Download the Report
.
about
discover unwater
UN Water Donors
secure
A Guide to UN-Water
4-page colour brochure explains the key areas and objectives of UN-Water.
View / Download brochure (PDF file) in:
Arabic (1.9 MB)
Chinese (2.3 MB)
English (496 KB)
French (404 KB)
Russian (1.6 MB)
Spanish (388 UN-Water Brochure
Factsheet on UN-Water Reports
All of UN-Water's regular reports are outlined in this 2 page factsheet
View / Download the factsheet (PDF 880 KB)UN-Water Reports
Monday, September 06, 2010
Healing Music Radio - Welcome
Continuous Relaxing Broadcast
This webstation diffuse a program carried out according to the principles of the music therapy. The musical sequences are intended to calm, to relieved and finally to bring back to the ordinary but positive conscience.
The vocation of these pages is to give information on the techniques of greater comfort and more particularly the techniques related to the use of the music. The writers of these data work on a purely voluntary basis. They do not have absolutely the claim to be exhaustive nor to claim with an unspecified officiality. They are based in France, in Belgium....
Michel Pépé - Immensité
This webstation diffuse a program carried out according to the principles of the music therapy. The musical sequences are intended to calm, to relieved and finally to bring back to the ordinary but positive conscience.
The vocation of these pages is to give information on the techniques of greater comfort and more particularly the techniques related to the use of the music. The writers of these data work on a purely voluntary basis. They do not have absolutely the claim to be exhaustive nor to claim with an unspecified officiality. They are based in France, in Belgium....
Michel Pépé - Immensité
Friday, September 03, 2010
UNEP - LIST OF PLANTED TREES (PHILIPPINES)
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UNEP Billion Tree Campaign
The Plant for the Planet: Billion Tree Campaign is a worldwide tree planting initiative facilitated by the United Nations Environment Programme. People, communities, businesses, industry, civil society organizations and governments are encouraged to enter tree planting pledges on-line . The campaign strongly encourages the planting of indigenous trees and trees that are appropriate to the local environment.
By the end of 2009, more than 7.4 billion trees had been planted under this campaign – far in excess of the year-end target of 7 billion – by participants in 170 countries. With this success continuing into 2010, the Billion Tree Campaign will make a substantial contribution to the 2010 International Year of Biodiversity, raising awareness of the importance of biodiversity for our well-being. Trees play a crucial role as fundamental components of the biodiversity that forms the foundation of the living networks and systems that provide us all with health, wealth, food, fuel and vital ecosystem services our lives depend on. They help provide breathable air, drinkable water, fertile soils and a stable climate. The billions of trees planted by the collective efforts of participants of the Billion Tree Campaign from all parts of society will contribute to biodiversity across the planet.
Ants Repay Acacia Hospitality by Repelling Elephants
Ants Repay Acacia Hospitality by Repelling Elephants
In a classic case of David versus Goliath, a certain type of ants has recently been shown capable of deterring elephants from eating Acacia drepanolobium trees.
At first, very few people believe that the small insects can have any possible influence on a creature countless times larger than they are. However, this indeed appears to be the case.
According to a group of researchers, it would appear that ants purposefully swarm inside the nostrils and trunk of elephants, biting and nibbling around until the aggressor gives up trying to eat the plant.
This leads to the creation of a very peculiar sight in the savanna, where most of the vegetation is exterminated when elephants roll by. The only trees that remain are Acacia drepanolobium.
Experts say that this happens because the vegetation has developed a close and personal relationship with ants, creating a symbiosis that is mutually beneficial, LiveScience reports.
While the trees provide the ants with shelter and sweet nectar, the ant colonies make sure that no predator destroys the plant and its leafs.
Whenever elephants approach, the ants begin swarming on their bodies, and then head directly for the most sensitive parts of the beast's snout. While the trunk is harsh on the outside, it is very sensitive on the inside.
It contains a lot of nerve endings, which are very sensitive to ant bites. As such, no elephant can withstand the torture for too long, and prefer to walk away than be subjected to such harsh treatment.
“Ants swarming onto an herbivore's face often tend to head for the sensitive parts such as the nostrils before hunkering down and taking a bite out of the offending animal,” expert Todd Palmer says.
“While the outside of an elephant's trunk is very tough, the inside of the trunk is very sensitive and full of” nerve endings,” explains the researcher, who is a professor of biology at the University of Florida.
“It seems that elephants simply do not like ants swarming up the insides of their trunks,” adds Palmer, who was also a researcher on the new study.
He conducted the research alongside University of Wyoming colleague Jacob Goheen. Details of the work appear in the latest issue of the esteemed scientific journal Current Biology.
“The ants protect the tree in exchange for both housing that the tree produces in the form of bulbous hollow thorns, as well as food in the form of a sugary nectar that is secreted at the base of the leaves,” explains Palmer.
“We found the elephants like to eat the 'ant plant' trees just as much as they like to eat their favorite tree species, and that when either tree species had ants on them, the elephants avoided those trees like a kid avoids broccoli," he concludes.
At first, very few people believe that the small insects can have any possible influence on a creature countless times larger than they are. However, this indeed appears to be the case.
According to a group of researchers, it would appear that ants purposefully swarm inside the nostrils and trunk of elephants, biting and nibbling around until the aggressor gives up trying to eat the plant.
This leads to the creation of a very peculiar sight in the savanna, where most of the vegetation is exterminated when elephants roll by. The only trees that remain are Acacia drepanolobium.
Experts say that this happens because the vegetation has developed a close and personal relationship with ants, creating a symbiosis that is mutually beneficial, LiveScience reports.
While the trees provide the ants with shelter and sweet nectar, the ant colonies make sure that no predator destroys the plant and its leafs.
Whenever elephants approach, the ants begin swarming on their bodies, and then head directly for the most sensitive parts of the beast's snout. While the trunk is harsh on the outside, it is very sensitive on the inside.
It contains a lot of nerve endings, which are very sensitive to ant bites. As such, no elephant can withstand the torture for too long, and prefer to walk away than be subjected to such harsh treatment.
“Ants swarming onto an herbivore's face often tend to head for the sensitive parts such as the nostrils before hunkering down and taking a bite out of the offending animal,” expert Todd Palmer says.
“While the outside of an elephant's trunk is very tough, the inside of the trunk is very sensitive and full of” nerve endings,” explains the researcher, who is a professor of biology at the University of Florida.
“It seems that elephants simply do not like ants swarming up the insides of their trunks,” adds Palmer, who was also a researcher on the new study.
He conducted the research alongside University of Wyoming colleague Jacob Goheen. Details of the work appear in the latest issue of the esteemed scientific journal Current Biology.
“The ants protect the tree in exchange for both housing that the tree produces in the form of bulbous hollow thorns, as well as food in the form of a sugary nectar that is secreted at the base of the leaves,” explains Palmer.
“We found the elephants like to eat the 'ant plant' trees just as much as they like to eat their favorite tree species, and that when either tree species had ants on them, the elephants avoided those trees like a kid avoids broccoli," he concludes.
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