Conservation, Politics, Pollution, Aug 12th, 2010,
Record summer temperatures and drought have caused around 800 wildfires, which in turn covered Moscow in a cloud of poisonous smoke. Now some 28 fires have reached parts of the Bryansk region of Russia, which is located near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Ukraine – site of the worst nuclear accident in history in 1986. This is raising concerns that the fires could release radioactivity left over from the Chernobyl disaster, which heavily contaminated parts of Bryansk. From a Spiegel article: Earlier this week, Greenpeace Russia published a map purporting to show the extent of the wildfires which,…
Tags: agricultural, bank, chernobyl, development, fire, fires, Moscow, peat, radioactivity, Russia, SEED, smoke, Wetlands International, wildfires
Climate Change, Dec 10th, 2009,
‘Made up of decomposed trees and plants, sometimes as deep as 50 feet, the waterlogged land stores billions of tons of carbon dioxide. But once drained or cleared, the peat land releases many times more carbon dioxide than the deforestation of rain forests. Most experts believe that, as with rain forests, the protection of peat swamp forests will be eligible for carbon credits under the United Nations program.’ –New York Times In Indonesia, the world’s third largest emitter of greenhouse gasses, the draining of peat swamps is perilously releasing CO2. Peat swamp forests trap CO2, but the building of canals…
Tags: carbon dioxide, carbon emissions, co2, cop15, deforestation, forest, greenhouse gas, Indonesia, Kampar Peninsula, peat, peat forest, peat swamp, REDD
