Royal Society for the Protection of Birds http://www.rspb.org.uk/ourwork/science/stateofnature/index.aspx Scientists working side-by-side from 25 wildlife organisations have compiled a stock take of our native species – the first of its kind in the UK. The report reveals that 60% of the species studied have declined over recent decades. More than one in ten of all the … Continue reading »
Filed under The Natural World …
2012 Risk Assessment for Potentially Polluting Wrecks in U.S. Waters
US NOAA http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2013/20130520_shipwrecks.html [From Press Release] NOAA presented to the U.S. Coast Guard today a new report that finds that 36 sunken vessels scattered across the U.S. seafloor could pose an oil pollution threat to the nation’s coastal marine resources. Of those, 17 were recommended for further assessment and potential removal of both fuel oil and … Continue reading »
Groundwater Depletion in the United States (1900-2008)
US Geological Survey / by Leonard F. Konikow http://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2013/5079/ [Green Car Congress] A new US Geological Survey study finds that US aquifers are being drawn down at an accelerating rate. Groundwater Depletion in the United States (1900-2008) comprehensively evaluates long-term cumulative depletion volumes in 40 separate aquifers (distinct underground water storage areas) in the United States, … Continue reading »
Ecosystem Service and Farm Management Interactions
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (May 21, 2013 vol. 110 no. 21 8387-8392; doi: 10.1073/pnas.1210590110) / byVirginie Boreux, Cheppudira G. Kushalappa, Philippe Vaast, and Jaboury Ghazoula http://www.pnas.org/content/110/21/8387.short Crop productivity is improved by ecosystem services, including pollination, but this should be set in the context of trade-offs among multiple management practices. We investigated the impact … Continue reading »
Draft US Bureau of Land Management Rules for Fracking on Public Lands
US Dept. of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management http://on.doi.gov/10TauUv [PDF of Draft Rules] http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/info/newsroom/2013/may/nr_05_16_2013.html [BLM Press Release] [InsideEPA.com, sub. req'd] …DOI Secretary Sally Jewell May 16 unveiled the long-awaited proposed rule governing fracking operations on public land overseen by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and tribal lands. The proposal would update decades-old requirements … Continue reading »
The Arctic Resilience Report
Swedish Environment Institute / by Katarina Axelsson, Marcus Carson and Annika E. Nilsson http://sei-international.org/publications?pid=2315 This report presents the findings of the first half of an international collaboration to examine the resilience of Arctic social and ecological systems amid rapid change… In some contexts, social, political, economic and ecological drivers may be of greater significance than … Continue reading »
The 2013 Resource Governance Index — Comparing Accountability and Transparency in Natural Resources Policies
Revenue Watch Institute (RWI) http://www.revenuewatch.org/rgi [Oil and Gas Journal] The lives of more than 1 billion people worldwide could be transformed if their governments managed their countries’ oil, gas, and mineral resources in a more open and accountable manner, a new Revenue Watch Institute analysis concluded. RWI’s 2013 Resource Governance Index measured oil, gas, and … Continue reading »
Regulatory Red Herring: The Role of Job Impact Analyses in Environmental Policy Debates
Institute for Policy Integrity /Contributing Authors: Michael A. Livermore, Elizabeth Piennar, and Jason A Schwart http://policyintegrity.org/publications/detail/regulatory-red-herring/ The current debate on jobs and environmental regulation too often relies on thinly-supported forecasts about jobs “killed” or “created” by public protections. In this debate, the larger costs and benefits of protections for clean air or water can get … Continue reading »
Dependence of Hydropower Energy Generation on Forests in the Amazon Basin at Local and Regional Scales
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (Published online before print: May 13, 2013, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1215331110 / by Claudia M. Sticklera, Michael T. Coeb, Marcos H. Costac, Daniel C. Nepstada, David G. McGrathb, Livia C. P. Dias, Hermann O. Rodriguesf, and Britaldo S. Soares-Filhof http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/05/09/1215331110 Tropical rainforest regions have large hydropower generation potential that figures … Continue reading »
National Strategy for the Arctic Region
The White House http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/nat_arctic_strategy.pdf [The White House blog] …Today, we are releasing the National Strategy for the Artic Region. Through this strategy, we are setting the United States Government’s strategic priorities for the Arctic region. These priorities are intended to position the United States to respond effectively to emerging opportunities – while simultaneously pursuing efforts … Continue reading »
