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Half of Indonesia's species remain unknown
February 4, 2010 06:23 AM - Jeremy Hance, Mongabay
Incorporating 17,000 tropical islands, Indonesia is one of the world's richest areas of biodiversity. However, according to the Jakarta Post, over half of this biodiversity remains unrecorded with only 20 of the more than 400 regencies in the country recording species. Indonesia is one of the 17 largest biodiversity hotspots on the planet, but we have not recorded most of it," the deputy assistant of biodiversity conservation at the State Environment Ministry, Utami Andayani, told The Jakarta Post, adding that, "it is difficult for us to complain if other countries exploit our biodiversity for commercial purposes such as medicine because of the lack of data to prove the species are from Indonesia,"
In Indonesia Development of Cepu Oil Field Begins
August 10, 2009 06:34 AM - Ed Davies, Reuters
In Bojonegoro, Indonesia, development of a large oil field is likely to get the economy pumping. Oil production could start to flow from the huge Cepu field straddling East and Central Java later this month and eventually add millions of dollars to the coffers of local governments, as well as an influx of workers and a wave of new expectations.
Earthquake Deaths Lower in 2009
January 11, 2010 08:56 AM - Roger Greenway, ENN
The US Geological Survey reports that earthquake related deaths numbered 1783 worldwide, a big decrease from 2008 when more than 88,000 died, with more than 87,000 of the deaths occurring in the Eastern Sichuan, China earthquake in May 2008. In 2009, the worst earthquake was the September 30th earthquake in Southern Sumatra, Indonesia in which 1,117 people were killed.
"Extinct" Crocodile Claws Its Way Back to Survival
November 20, 2009 09:11 AM - Robert Carmichael, IPS
Conservationists searching for one of the world's most endangered crocodile species say they have found dozens of the reptiles lounging in plain sight at Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Center in Cambodia.
65 World leaders to join climate talks
November 22, 2009 08:35 AM - John Acher, Reuters
Sixty-five world leaders have confirmed they will attend a U.N. conference in Copenhagen in December that will try to clinch a new global climate deal, and many more are considering, Danish officials said on Sunday.
Space Agencies and Google Join Forces to Track Deforestation via Satellites
October 21, 2009 01:20 PM - Vanessa L. Bourler, ENN
Space agencies around the world are teaming up with Google Inc. and the conservation organization Group on Earth Observations (GEO) to annually monitor deforestation rates using satellite imagery. This data can be used to evaluate forest carbon stocks across the globe.
How Much Water Are You Really Using?
August 21, 2009 09:52 AM - Zachary Shahan , Matter Network
In the press release, titled "Wealthy world at woes from water risk elsewhere", the WWF examined Germany's "water footprint". They showed that only about half of the water Germany uses actually comes from Germany. Germany's water comes from all over the world. With climate change potentially (probably) drying up many areas of the world, it is not just sufficient to live in one of the places where that doesn’t accur.
Climate accord offers some grounds for hope
December 22, 2009 07:30 AM - T. V. Padma and Mohammed Yahia, Science and Development Network
The UN Climate Change Conference ended on Saturday (19 December) with frustration and verdicts of failure from many delegates because it did not reach a binding agreement on how to tackle climate change — or any agreement at all on targets for carbon emissions. But some commentators say that important principles behind fighting climate change have been established for the first time, and some action could start immediately even without the existence of a universal agreement.
US Pressured to Help Fight Tropical Deforestation
October 19, 2009 11:44 AM - Ben Block, Worldwatch Institute
As the U.S. Senate prepares to debate its own climate change legislation, a chorus of politicians, businesses, environmentalists, and scientists is uniting to request that U.S. climate policy help tropical nations in Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia protect their forests. Known as the Commission on Climate and Tropical Forests, the group suggests that U.S. cap-and-trade legislation raise an annual $5 billion and $9 billion in public and private investments, respectively. Without forestry offsets, comparable domestic emissions reductions would cost the U.S. economy an additional $50 billion by 2020, the group estimates.
A revolution to combat world hunger
September 24, 2009 10:50 AM - Yojana Sharma, Science and Development Network
Last week, the world mourned the loss of Norman Borlaug, the agronomist credited with saving as many as a billion people from starvation by introducing high-yield crop varieties.