Fire ravages conservation area; still out of control

A large rhododendron forest and the wildlife have been destroyed in the fire that broke out in Kaski´s tourist village of Chhomarong in the Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP) from Monday.

The fire broke out from marijuana stubs thrown by two hotel porters on Saturday. Though locals of Khuldighar in Ghandruk-9 brought the fire under control on Saturday, the fire that had remained inside the jungle has again spread from Monday, ACAP´s Ghandruk office chief Sudeep Adhikari said.
The villagers have been unable to bring the fire under control since it has spread from one hill to another. They have asked ACAP´s central office in Pokhara and the National Trust for Nature Conservation in Kathmandu for helicopter to douse the fire. These bodies say that such facility is not yet available in Nepal while the locals complain that the concerned bodies have not taken immediate steps to control the fire.

The fire broke out in the dense forest at an altitude of about 2,700 meters between Khuldighar and Bambu. The forest area lies on the trekking route to Annapurna and Machhapuchchhre base camps and is rich in wildlife."Though there have been no human casualties, forests of rhododendron and nigalo (arrow bamboo) worth millions of rupees have been destroyed in the fire," Adhikari said. "Many endangered species may have also died in the fire."

ACAP Project Director Lal Prasad Gurung, who is in Kathmandu, said he has not seen fire on such scale in his 25-year conservation career. He said the area is home to ratuwa (barking deer), thar, snow leopard, lophophorus, munal and pheasants.

Locals expressed fears that the fire may reach Chhomarong village if not controlled immediately. The fire can also be dangerous for tourists en route to Machhapuchchhre and Annapurna base camps. “The roots of plants go deep into the rocks and stones have been loosened due to the heat and started to fall down on the trekking route,” a local explained.

The area of fire is one day´s walk from Chhomarong and four hours from Ghandruk. Adhikari went toward the affected area with a few staff and officials of ACAP, after talking to myrepublica.com on the phone, but he said he could reach there only on Wednesday.

Likewise, a six-man police team led by assistant sub inspector Chandra Bahadur Bohara from Area Police Office, Ghandruk headed for the area Tuesday morning.The teenager porters who started the fire in Khuldighar, Ghandruk-9 on Saturday had been arrested but were released after a warning as the fire in village came under control the same day.

Source:http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=13968

Governments 'must tackle' roots of nature crisis

Governments must tackle the underlying causes of biodiversity loss if they are to stem the rate at which ecosystems and species are disappearing.
That was one of the conclusions of an inter-governmental workshop in London held in preparation for October's UN biodiversity summit in Nagoya, Japan.
Delegates agreed that protecting nature would bring economic benefits to nations and their citizens.
Representatives of 54 countries attended the UK-hosted meeting.
The organisers hope that securing agreement on fundamental issues now will keep the October summit of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) free from the kind of divisions that dogged last month's climate change summit in Copenhagen.

The UK's Marine and Natural Environment Minister Huw Irranca-Davies said that despite the weak Copenhagen outcome, there had been general agreement on the need for strong international action on biodiversity.
"One of the most important things was a strong feeling that we need to come out of Nagoya with something concrete on the table - something that works all the way down the local and community levels as well," he told BBC News.
"People are really focused on trying to stem the tide [of biodiversity loss] and reverse it."
The UN calculates that species are currently going extinct at about 1,000 times the "natural" rate; and economic analyses being prepared for the UN Environment Programme (Unep) show that ecosystems, such as coral reefs and rainforests, are worth far more intact than depleted.
Species at risk
In 2002, governments set a target of significantly reducing the rate of global biodiversity loss by 2010 - a target that is not going to be met.
Many observers now argue that it was not really achievable; global ambitions did not translate into local and regional action, and not enough attention was paid to the underlying factors causing depletion of the natural world.
New targets are likely to be set at the Nagoya meeting that are designed to be more scientifically valid and achievable.

But according to Simon Stuart, chair of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Species Survival Commission, setting targets is not the most important task facing governments.
"We have a chance of a much tougher target for 2020 than we had for 2010, which would be about having no net biodiversity loss," he said.
"I think the key thing is whether we'll see over the next few years concerted action on the drivers of biodiversity loss - if we don't see that in the next few years, then we certainly won't see good results by 2020."
All of those drivers, he noted, were related to the expansion of the human footprint - among them population growth, loss of habitat, climate change, ocean acidification, and growing demand for food.
Maria Cecilia Wey de Brito, secretary for biodiversity and forests with the Brazilian government, who co-chaired the meeting with Mr Irranca-Davies, acknowledged that these issues would be difficult to tackle, but said it could be done.
"Of course it's not easy; but it's possible, because what is at risk is our maintenance as a species on the planet," she said.
"We think that people will understand very well that if our ecosystem services get to a state where we won't have them anymore - the pollinators, for example - this is going to be disastrous.
"So I think this is something that is going to be possible, because it's totally necessary."
Richer harvests
Eighteen years after the biodiversity convention came into existence, one of its key aims - to agree a mechanism for fairly and sustainably profiting from nature exploitation - remains unrealised.
The UN would like to conclude an agreement on it this year; and Mr Irranca-Davis noted there had been some progress during the London talks. Delegates from developing countries - that have historically been suspicious of the notion - have been speaking of its potential benefits.
He said that some developing countries with rich biodiversity assets had expressed an interest establishing an agreement for good, sustainable exploitation of their own natural resources.
"[Some] developing nations expressed the view that, if we get those sort of agreements right, there is more potential to harvest from biodiversity," he said.
"So it's in our interests not only to protect, but to identify where those biodiversity riches are and to exploit them further, but in the right way, and making sure that these benefits are not just to developed countries, but to developing nations as well."
The meeting also discussed whether an expert panel should be set up to collate research on biodiversity - analogous to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - but there is as yet no consensus.

Source:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8470164.stm

Loss of Biodiversity and Bee decline

The decline of honeybees seen in many countries may be caused by reduced plant diversity, research suggests.
Bees fed pollen from a range of plants showed signs of having a healthier immune system than those eating pollen from a single type, scientists found.
Writing in the journal Biology Letters, the French team says that bees need a fully functional immune system in order to sterilise food for the colony. Other research has shown that bees and wild flowers are declining in step.
Two years ago, scientists in the UK and The Netherlands reported that the diversity of bees and other insects was falling alongside the diversity of plants they fed on and pollinated.
Now, Cedric Alaux and colleagues from the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) in Avignon have traced a possible link between the diversity of bee diets and the strength of their immune systems.
"We found that bees fed with a mix of five different pollens had higher levels of glucose oxidase compared to bees fed with pollen from one single type of flower, even if that single flower had a higher protein content," he told BBC News.

Bees make glucose oxidase (GOX) to preserve honey and food for larvae against infestation by microbes - which protects the hive against disease.
"So that would mean they have better antiseptic protection compared to other bees, and so would be more resistant to pathogen invasion," said Dr Alaux.
Bees fed the five-pollen diet also produced more fat than those eating only a single variety - again possibly indicating a more robust immune system, as the insects make anti-microbial chemicals in their fat bodies. Other new research, from the University of Reading, suggests that bee numbers are falling twice as fast in the UK as in the rest of Europe.
Forage fall
With the commercial value of bees' pollination estimated at £200m per year in the UK and $14bn in the US, governments have recently started investing resources in finding out what is behind the decline.
In various countries it has been blamed on diseases such as Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus (IAPV), infestation with varroa mite, pesticide use, loss of genetic diversity among commercial bee populations, and the changing climate.

The most spectacular losses have been seen in the US where entire colonies have been wiped out, leading to the term colony collapse disorder.
However, the exact cause has remained elusive. A possible conclusion of the new research is that the insects need to eat a variety of proteins in order to synthesise their various chemical defences; without their varied diet, they are more open to disease.
David Aston, who chairs the British Beekeepers' Association technical committee, described the finding as "very interesting" - particularly as the diversity of food available to UK bees has declined.
"If you think about the amount of habitat destruction, the loss of biodiversity, that sort of thing, and the expansion of crops like oilseed rape, you've now got large areas of monoculture; and that's been a fairly major change in what pollinating insects can forage for."
As a consequence, he said, bees often do better in urban areas than in the countryside, because city parks and gardens contain a higher diversity of plant life.
Diverse message
While cautioning that laboratory research alone cannot prove the case, Dr Alaux said the finding tied in well with what is happening in the US.
There, collapse has been seen in hives that are transported around the country to pollinate commercially important crops.

"They move them for example to [a plantation of] almond trees, and there's just one pollen," he said.
"So it might be possible that the immune system is weakened... compared to wild bees that are much more diverse in what they eat." In the US, the problem may have been compounded by loss of genetic diversity among the bees themselves.
In the UK, where farmers are already rewarded financially for implementing wildlife-friendly measures, Dr Aston thinks there is some scope for turning the trend and giving some diversity back to the foraging bees.
"I'd like to see much greater awareness among land managers such as farmers about managing hedgerows in a more sympathetic way - hedgerows are a resource that's much neglected," he said.
"That makes landscapes much more attractive as well, so it's a win-win situation." The French government has just announced a project to sow nectar-bearing flowers by roadsides in an attempt to stem honeybee decline.

Source:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8467746.stm

Climate Change and Needs for Regional Cooperation

Climate scientists say regional governments need to include disaster management in their policies for coping with climate change. Governments are asking the scientific community to better advise them on reducing disaster risks.

The Asian Disaster Preparedness Center and the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are drawing together scientists in Asia to both assess the risk of extreme weather and to find ways to reduce the damage it can cause.

Scientists and officials from 10 countries have been meeting this week in Bangkok, as part of the lead up to a special report on managing extreme weather events. As the global climate warms, it is expected to contribute to weather disasters, such as floods, stronger tropical storms and severe droughts.

Anand Patwardhan, from the Indian Institute of Technology, and one of the authors of the report says it is essential for policy makers to link climate change and disaster management planning.

"It has become very clear in the IPCC that unless we are able to build these linkages, unless we are able to mainstream or integrate climate change concerns into ongoing disaster risk reduction, disaster management practices that adaptation agenda will not be advanced," Anand said.

Anand says governments now understand the risk of a warming climate. Most climate scientists think emissions of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, are contributing to climate change.

"If one looks at what governments are expecting from the IPCC, they're telling us that you have made the case for action as scientists, now tell us what we should do and how we should do it whether it is in regard to mitigation or is it in regard to adaption," Anand said.

But Anand says this has proven a challenge for the scientific community because it must draw in people able to implement policies that go beyond science - such as finance, engineering and community structures.

Some governments, such as Vietnam, now encourage different ministries to cooperate on the different problems caused by rising sea levels. But scientists at the meeting this week say other Asian countries lag far behind.

The IPCC has warned that several cities across Asia, including Dhaka, Bangkok and Manila, are at risk to rising sea levels and severe storms. In Bangkok, for instance, there are warnings that up to one-million people could be affected by serious flooding by 2050 unless steps are taken to reduce the problem.

Source:http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/environment/Scientists-Call-for-Greater-Regional-Cooperation-in-Efforts-to-Deal-With-Climate-Change-80902402.html

Climate deal cannot ignore rainforests

Delegates at the Copenhagen summit cannot afford to leave the world's rainforests outside of a global climate agreement, says Daniel Murdiyarso. In this week's Green Room, he sets out how plans to make the vital ecosystems worth more alive than dead are developing.

There is a growing realisation that the world's tropical and sub-tropical forests need to become an integral part of the new global climate regime. But why is it so important that it plays a role in the international effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions?
When the Kyoto Protocol was adopted in 1997, it failed to recognise the vast amount of carbon locked in the vital ecosystems. This meant that the opportunity for developing countries with rainforests to participate in the international treaty were lost.
Five years later, when the Marrakesh Accord was adopted, a tiny amount of forest sector was accepted under the Kyoto mechanism, known as A/R CDM (Afforestation and Reforestation under the Clean Development Mechanism).
But as a result of a number of tough restrictions, including a 1% cap on eligible land, it was estimated that the scheme would only curb some 0.03% of global emissions.
Almost at the same time, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) Third Assessment Report revealed the fact that land-use change, especially deforestation in developing countries, contributed about 20% of the total emissions from human activities.
Dead or alive?
If avoiding deforestation was to be part of the solution, the rainforest nations found the idea of being unable to harvest the natural resource a bit scary as it would hit their incomes.

As a result, the idea of reducing, rather than avoiding, emissions was put forward as an alternative. It was deemed that Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (Redd) was more attractive. It was also considered to be a relatively cheap option by Lord Stern's Review, which was commissioned by the UK government.
He concluded that the ecological services provided by the rainforests were more valuable than the revenue generated by harvesting the trees. In short, they were worth more alive than dead.
But is it really cheap? Unless the host countries are supported, Redd projects will not effectively reduce emissions, nor generate finances.
However, if the Redd scheme was up and running quickly, this may give buyers and sellers of the programme's carbon credits a head start. Under the current climate negotiations in Copenhagen, rich nations are expected to commit to deep cuts in their national emissions.
Redd credits obtained from developing countries could potentially buy the time needed for developed nations to decarbonise their economies. Provided that the capacity of developing countries is in place, Redd can be implemented relatively quickly.
'New opportunity'
Bringing forests in to the new global climate agreement, carbon that is stored in various compartments of the ecosystems, will be a new asset.
However, issues regarding land ownership and rights - which had never been properly resolved in many developing countries - will create a new challenge related to carbon rights.
Even if there was no such complication, the governance of the forests has been problematic, especially regarding efficiency and transparency when one looks at the allocation of revenues generated by the scheme.
Redd may offer a new opportunity for rainforest nations to demonstrate good governance. Forests should be managed more openly involving broader stakeholder participation.
Rights and responsibility that are associated with the benefits will eventually be shared across the stakeholders, from indigenous communities to logging companies.
Copenhagen is sending out a mixed message on whether or not forests will be in the next climate regime. The first week of long and seemingly endless negotiations will need a strong endorsement from high-level officials this week.
A deadlock that was experienced in Kyoto 12 years ago can be avoided. COP15 - which looks like a summit - is being supported by more than 100 head of states and governments.
They are coming with the aim of celebrating a success, not a failure. There is no reason why a meaningful and forward looking agreement will not be achieved here. After a one-day extension, a small step of a 5% cut in global emissions from 1990 level was finally agreed in Kyoto.
As time has gone by, we have learnt a lot of lessons. Copenhagen should do it better. A deeper cut is needed. We have to remind ourselves that the atmosphere cannot afford to leave forests behind for the second time.

Source:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8413737.stm

Nepal Tourism Year 2011 to be launched in February

The Nepal Tourism Year (NTY) 2011 secretariat has announced that official launch of NTY 2011 will take place on February 26 at Tundikhel.

During the formal declaration, leaders of all political parties, government and the private sector and professionals will gather at Tundikhel, Kathmandu, to express their commitment to make the tourism year a success.

The day will also see a peace torch being taken from Lumbini to Kathmandu and the NTY 2011 secretariat head will pass the torch to a high-profile personality while rallies from six different places in the valley will be also organised.

The NTY 2011 Secretariat on Sunday began its four-day briefing for the launch of the campaign. Various private sector organisations and travel trade entrepreneurs were briefed on Sunday by the Secretariat.

Representatives of the private sector and tourism entrepreneurs asked the Secretariat to launch the campaign in other parts of the country in order to further bolster the NTY 2011.

Kush Kumar Joshi, president of Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), expressed commitment that FNCCI would be promoting NTY through some 30 expos being held in various districts.
Prachanda Man Shrestha, Chief Executive Officer of Nepal Tourism Board, urged the 25 political parties represented in the Constitution Assembly (CA) to translate their commitment towards tourism into reality.

Source: nepalnews.com