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SOUTH AMERICA ENVIRONMENT, SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND HEALTH NEWSLETTER 215 th issue, January 9, 2012 Four Water Resolutions for a New Year Posted by Brian Richter of The Nature Conservancy and University of Virginia in Water Currents on January 2, 2013 Yes, it’s that time again – time to reflect on the year that has passed, and anticipate what could come of the year ahead. I’d like to share a few New Year’s thoughts about the water challenges that many communities and countries will be facing in coming years, and what we will need to do to secure our water future. First, a bit of context. At the global scale, we are in no danger of running out of water . We are presently using only about 4% of the water flowing through and into the rivers, lakes and aquifers of the planet. However, not all of that water is readily available to us , and from the perspective of any individual community, only a small portion is affordably within reach. That means that when thinking about water shortages, we need to view them as very localized in nature not a global water crisis but a “multi-local” crisis. Water shortages emerge when the users of a particular water source a local river, lake, or aquifer are consuming water at a rate faster than the source is being replenished . That explains the physical cause of water scarcity. Trying to explain why we don’t control our depletion of our water sources is much, much more complicated. The Promise of Water Democracy. In most regions of the world, governments have asserted the authority to regulate water use, and local communities have acquiesced. But most governments are failing miserably in their water duties. Water agencies at state and national levels have proven incapable or unwilling to expend the time, resources, and care required to effectively manage a resource that is inherently highly localized in its distribution and virtually impossible to regulate from any distance. Governments are absentee water owners. As a result, the water supermarkets of the world our watersheds and aquifers are being operated without any cashiers or stocking clerks. The store shelves are being emptied faster than they can be restocked. I am not yet giving up on the possibility that governments will someday provide adequate water governance. But that governance needs to be fundamentally restructured. We need to move from state-run technocracies to local community-based water democracies. Building Water Literacy. These community-based water democracy experiments are exciting and fresh. But it has already become quite clear that too many participants suffer from a basic water illiteracy. Just as with managing family bank accounts, local citizens need to understand the water budgets of their local water sources: the rate at which their water sources are being replenished, how much is being removed and not returned after use, who is responsible for the greatest depletions, and what measures will likely be most effective in reducing consumption or increasing supply. Many of us can make important contributions to advancing water literacy in our local communities. Here I’ll offer four ideas for your consideration, posed as suggested resolutions for the New Year. Resolution #1: If you are a teacher, please commit or redouble your efforts to advance learning about water cycles, watersheds and aquifers in your educational curriculum. (Continued on Page 2) The information contained herein was gathered from news sources from across the region, and the views expressed below do not necessarily reflect those of the Regional Environmental HUB Office or of our constituent posts. Addressees interested in sharing any ESTH-related events of USG interest are welcome to do so. For questions or comments, please contact us at [email protected]. * Free translation prepared by REO staff. Water: Four Resolutions for a New Year. Science: Climate Variability May Have Spurred Human Evolution. Ecuador: Will Have the First Eolic Park at High Altitude in the World. Climate Change: Does the U.S. Move to Address Climate Change Concerns. Bolivia: Implementing Pre- Incan Waru-Warus to Mitigate Climate Change. Colombia: Miners Looking to More Environmentally Friendly Gold Mining Process. Science: Some Animals Can Become “Zombies”. Health: Scientists Say Vaccine Temporarily Brakes HIV. February 1, 2013 REO S&T School Contest Launching February 4, 2013 World Cancer Day March 22, 2013 World Water Day March 23, 2013 Earth Hour April17-19, 2013 IFT Energy Santiago, Chile April 22, 2013 Earth Day June 5, 2013 World Environment Day Next events: In this issue: Photo by Stefan Ray (flickr user). Under Creative Commons License.
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Page 1: Newsletter 215

SOUTH AMERICA ENVIRONMENT, SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND HEALTH NEWSLETTER

215 t h issue, January 9, 2012 Four Water Resolutions for a New Year Posted by Brian Richter of The Nature Conservancy and University of Virginia in Water Currents on January 2, 2013

Yes, it’s that time again – time to reflect on the year that has passed, and anticipate what could come of the year ahead. I’d like to share a few New Year’s thoughts about the water challenges that many communities and countries will be facing in coming years, and what we will need to do to secure our water future. First, a bit of context. At the global scale, we are in no danger of running out of water. We are presently using only about 4% of the water flowing through and into the rivers, lakes and aquifers of the planet. However, not all of that water is readily available to us, and from the perspective of any individual community, only a small portion is affordably within reach. That means that when thinking about water shortages, we need to view them as very localized in nature – not a global water crisis but a “multi-local” crisis. Water shortages emerge when the users of a particular water source – a local river, lake, or aquifer – are consuming water at a rate faster than the source is being replenished. That explains the physical cause of water scarcity. Trying to explain why we don’t control our depletion of our water sources is much, much more complicated. The Promise of Water Democracy. In most regions of the world, governments have asserted the authority to regulate water use, and local communities have acquiesced. But most governments are failing miserably in their water duties. Water agencies at state and national levels have proven incapable or unwilling to expend the time, resources, and care required to effectively manage a resource that is inherently highly localized in its distribution and virtually impossible to regulate from any distance. Governments are absentee water owners. As a result, the water supermarkets of the world – our watersheds and aquifers – are being operated without any cashiers or stocking clerks. The store shelves are being emptied faster than they can be restocked. I am not yet giving up on the possibility that governments will someday provide adequate water governance. But that governance needs to be fundamentally restructured. We need to move from state-run technocracies to local community-based water democracies. Building Water Literacy. These community-based water democracy experiments are exciting and fresh. But it has already become quite clear that too many participants suffer from a basic water illiteracy. Just as with managing family bank accounts, local citizens need to understand the water budgets of their local water sources: the rate at which their water sources are being replenished, how much is being removed and not returned after use, who is responsible for the greatest depletions, and what measures will likely be most effective in reducing consumption or increasing supply. Many of us can make important contributions to advancing water literacy in our local communities. Here I’ll offer four ideas for your consideration, posed as suggested resolutions for the New Year. Resolution #1: If you are a teacher, please commit or redouble your efforts to advance learning about water cycles, watersheds and aquifers in your educational curriculum.

(Continued on Page 2)

The information contained herein was gathered from news sources from across the region, and the views expressed below do not necessarily reflect those of the Regional Environmental HUB Office or of our constituent posts.

Addressees interested in sharing any ESTH-related events of USG interest are welcome to do so.

For questions or comments, please contact us at [email protected].

* Free translation prepared by REO staff.

Water: Four Resolutions for

a New Year.

Science: Climate

Variability May Have Spurred Human Evolution.

Ecuador: Will Have the

First Eolic Park at High Altitude in the World.

Climate Change: Does the

U.S. Move to Address Climate Change Concerns.

Bolivia: Implementing Pre-

Incan Waru-Warus to Mitigate Climate Change.

Colombia: Miners Looking

to More Environmentally Friendly Gold Mining Process.

Science: Some Animals

Can Become “Zombies”.

Health: Scientists Say

Vaccine Temporarily Brakes HIV.

February 1, 2013

REO S&T School Contest Launching

February 4, 2013

World Cancer Day

March 22, 2013

World Water Day

March 23, 2013

Earth Hour

April17-19, 2013

IFT Energy Santiago, Chile

April 22, 2013

Earth Day

June 5, 2013

World Environment Day

Next events:

In this issue:

Photo by Stefan Ray (flickr user). Under Creative Commons

License.

Page 2: Newsletter 215

There are many excellent teaching resources now available. It’s never too early or too late to teach water, and we have a lot of catching up to do. A recent poll by The Nature Conservancy found that more than three-quarters of Americans cannot identify the natural source of the water that they use in their homes. More than half of those that thought they knew were wrong. We cannot even begin to help solve water problems if we don’t even know which water source(s) we rely upon! Resolution #2: If you are a media reporter, learn the difference between “water use” and “water consumption.” Trust me, it matters a great deal when discussing water shortages, and if you keep getting it wrong then you are perpetuating water illiteracy in our society. Water shortages are not caused simply by using (i.e., withdrawing) water from a river, lake or aquifer. Water shortages result from the fact that some portion of the water that is withdrawn and used is not returned to the original water source after use (i.e., water is consumed from the local water source, thereby depleting it). [...]Water use is not the cause of water scarcity, but water consumption is! [...] Resolution #3: If you are a government official, stop authorizing funding for large water storage reservoirs. We have been taught that building reservoirs is the answer to water shortages. [...] Reservoirs can be helpful in temporarily storing water to fa-cilitate its use in irrigation, or as urban water supply. But they should never be assumed as panaceas, and they should always be evaluated objectively against all other options, especially conservation measures. Reducing water consumption associated with irrigation – both on farms and in urban landscape areas – is by far and away the most cost-effective means of alleviating water shortages. The potential for wa-ter conservation in cities and farms is so huge that it will take most communities decades to exhaust the potential. Only in rare cases will it be economically – not to mention environmentally – justifiable to continue building large water storage reservoirs. [...] Resolution #4: If you own or work for a water-using corporation, commit to having a net positive water impact on the water sources you profit from. To become effective water managers, most communities will require considerable help in their efforts to reduce overall water consumption and set a course toward long-term water sustainability. If your company is operating in (or sourcing materials from) a water-short area, one of the most important ways to “give back” to your local community is to invest in local water education efforts, and to com-mit your company to a goal of being a “net positive” user of water. [...]For examples of corporate commitments to water, check out the goals that both Coca-Cola and PepsiCo have adopted.

Read full article at: http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2013/01/02/four-water-resolutions-for-a-new-year

An ancient lake whose shores vacillated between lush forests and dry savannahs shows how the changing climate may have shaped humanity's dawn in eastern Africa, according to new research. Scientists studying organic remains dating back 2 million years in Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania tracked how plant life adapted to the regional climate as it shifted from regular monsoons to scorching dry spells. The researchers published their findings last week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The gorge was home to some of humanity's earliest hominid ancestors, and the surrounding landscape provides some of the best glimpses of the conditions they lived in from fossil remains, tools, artifacts and plant residues. "It's an unusual and almost extreme situation," said Gail Ashley a co-author and a professor of earth and planetary sciences at Rutgers University. "[The Olduvai Gorge is] like a perfect environment because it was a closed basin and it filled up with sediment, and those sediments recorded everything around it, just like a book." It was in these sediments that Ashley and her collaborators found waxes from prehistoric plants and algae, collected in samples over a decade from Olduvai. The team examined residues from 2 million years ago spanning a 200,000-year time frame, around the dawn of Homo erectus. Clayton Magill, a geochemistry graduate student at Penn State University and a co-author, explained that by measuring isotopes in these waxes, the team painted a picture of what kinds of plants grew in the gorge and what environments they lived in. "With car-bon, we can delineate between grasses and trees," Magill said, noting that different plants have different carbon signatures. Hy-drogen isotopes, on the other hand, measure aridity. "Heavier [hydrogen] isotopes are associated with drier conditions," he said. Water with lighter hydrogen isotopes tends to evaporate faster, so plants end up accumulating heavier hydrogen when the ground dries up. Read full article at: http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2013/01/02/5

WATER: Four Water Resolutions for a New Year ( C o n t i n u e d f r o m p a g e 1 )

Photo by Sergio Bertolini (flickr user). Under Creative Commons License.

SCIENCE: Climate Variability May Have Spurred Human Evolution By Umair Irfan

Photo by Jason Kong (flickr user). Under Creative Commons License.

Page 3: Newsletter 215

The first eolic park at high altitude is working as of January 2, 2013, generates 16.5 megawatts and will serve 23.4% of energy demand of the regions of Loja and Zamora Chinchipe. Villonaco Eolic Park is located at 1,720 meters over sea level and counts on 11 generators. These generators will help reduce greenhouse gases. The eolic energy generated by this park will substitute thermal energy, which consumes 4.5 million diesel gallons per year, saving about 13 million dollars per year for Ecuador. Read more: http://globedia.com/ecuador-dispondra-parque-energia-eolica-altura-mundo

The richer world is no longer in charge, says Richard Muller. And the issue is not blame; it is to find a practical solution. In the US Presidential debates, zero minutes were spent discussing climate change and global warming. The issue is no longer a high concern among the US population; per-haps not surprising, given the lack of media coverage. I expect no change in US govern-ment policy in the coming four years. There will be a general push to help develop green technologies, but no significant treaties will be signed or ratified. Yet, projections of the expected warming in the future are deeply worrisome: Changes of 2 to 5 degrees Celsius in the coming decades due to increases in greenhouse gases

in the atmosphere that trap heat and raise the temperature of the Earth’s surface. So why has the US and much of the wealthier world apparently lost interest? The fundamental reason is that it is no longer in charge. The developing world has taken control of global warming. Deep under the Western disinterest is a key fact: The expected rise in temperature is going to come from the burning of fossi l fuel in rapidly emerging economies. In 2006, China surpassed the US in carbon dioxide emissions. With its 10 percent annual growth, it is now annually emitting twice the carbon dioxide of the US. Meanwhile, US emissions are at the lowest they have been in 20 years.

Reat more about this topic at: http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/features/will-us-move-to-address-climate-change-concerns-_801052.html

Due to negative effects of climate change in Bolivia, the Environmental Defense League (LIDEMA in Spanish) implemented pre-Incan “waru-warus” in coordination with local gov-ernments of San Ignacio de Moxos, La Paz and Tarija, among others, in order to optimize agricultural production and mitigate adverse effects such as droughts and flooding, reported LIDEMA’s Secretary of Communication, Edwin Alvarado.

Waru-waru is a pre-Incan technology which alternates belts of elevated fields and ditches. Planting is done on the elevated belts, avoiding floods in rainy years. In dry years water held in the ditches is used for irrigation. Heat absorbed by ditch water during the day helps to counteract cold nights.

Alvarado pointed out that LIDEMA prepared an environmental diagnosis in 51 communities all over the country, and has strengthened municipalities and communities in 16 localities, as

a way to mitigate the negative impact of climate change, in addition to the big falls posted by mining pollution and hydrocarbon exploitation, affecting water from rivers and lakes and in consequence land productivity.

The municipal strengthening program will last four years and includes infrastructure works, such as well recovery and construction of waru-warus.

Read more at: http://www.fmbolivia.com.bo/noticia104853-implementan-camellones-preincaicos-para-mitigar-efectos-del-cambio-climatico.html

CLIMATE CHANGE: Does the U.S. Move to Address Climate Change Concerns? By Richard Muller

ECUADOR: Will Have the First Eolic Park at High Altitude in the World*

Photo by Dirk-Jan Kraan (flickr user). Under Creative Commons License.

Photo by tadolo (flickr user). Under Creative Commons License.

BOLIVIA: Pre-Incan “Waru-Warus” Are Being Implemented to Mitigate Climate Change*

Source: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EkedLdlC_tU/Tmy8lQ7vP9I/AAAAAAAAJqA/UDr3-GxGA0w/s1600/Tiahuanaco+waru+waru.jpg

Page 4: Newsletter 215

Colombia is a relatively large producer of gold on the global scale, but it has an out-sized role in the amount of pollution it produces. But a new group of miners, small now, is turning to a more earth-friendly, even historic, way of separating gold from ore. In the northern Colombian department of Choco, gold buyer Alfredo Hurtado walks across a bulldozed stretch of jungle the size of a football field. It’s a former gold mining site, and it’s littered with slag heaps and pits of contaminated water. The miners who worked here just wanted the gold, Hurtado says. “They don’t care if the land is turned upside down,” he lamented. Hurtado says this kind of wasteland is a common sight in Colombia. With gold demand booming around the world, production is booming in Latin American. Colombia ranks

among the world’s top 15 producers. About half of its production is extracted by small-scale miners and illegal prospectors — who often leave behind a ravaged and badly polluted landscape. One of the biggest problems is mercury. Many miners use the toxic metal to separate the gold from the ore in which it’s found . But exposure to mercury can cause serious and permanent health problems, including brain damage and birth defects. And Colombians are exposed to huge amounts of it. A recent United Nations report found that Colombian mining is the world’s largest mercury pol-luter, per capita. But these days, the country is also ground zero for a new movement to clean up small-scale mining. It’s called Oro Verde, or Green Gold. One project is on display right here in Choco. Alongside a small mountain river, Miner Luis Palomino picks a few leaves from a balsa tree and stirs them in a wooden bowl filled with water and sediment from the river. The leaves create a soapy film that at-taches to the lighter minerals and can be washed away, leaving behind heavier flecks of gold. They do basically the same thing as mercury, but without the health risk. The technique was passed down by Palomino’s ancestors, former African slaves. Palomino says it’s slower and extracts less gold, but he has no interest in using mercury. “We’ve mined gold like this all our lives,” he said. And because the technique is chemical-free, Palomino earns a 15 percent premium over the world price for gold through a UK-based outfit called Fairtrade and Fairmined. Green Gold project director Felipe Arango says Fairtrade and Fairmined gold costs more, but he believes there’s a market for it. “Our bet is that if we can attach a value to it and if we can get consumers to recognize it, it should be enough,” Arango said. “The forests and the ecosystems that are around these mines should be more valuable than the gold itself.” The idea behind these and other efforts is to do for gold mining what the organic and fair trade movements are doing for food pro-duction. “This is a sector that can transform itself,” says Lina Villa, who heads the Alliance for Responsible Mining in Medellín. Her organization promotes techniques that cut back on mercury use, but don’t eliminate it altogether. Things like better storage and handling techniques can reduce accidents and toxic emissions, and miners who adopt them are eligible for a 10 percent bonus from Fairtrade and Fairmined. “Miners are willing to change and to do things in a different way,” Villa said. “Once you have that evidence that change is possible, not embracing change doesn’t make sense.” Fairtrade and Fairmined hopes to sign up legions of miners across Latin America, Africa and Asia. Small-scale prospectors like these make up 90 percent of the world’s gold mining la-bor force. But so-called responsible mining has been slow to catch on. Mining with less mercury takes longer and is less profitable, even with the premiums. That may be why just 1,400 miners in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia have so far joined the Fairtrade and Fairmined movement. Supporters aren’t discouraged, though. Arango points out that campaigns for fair-trade coffee and chocolate also started slowly and are now booming. “This is the beginning,” Arango says. “Right now the volumes are small, but we are starting to see consum-ers and the mining industry paying attention to a different way of doing things.” Read more at: http://www.pri.org/stories/science/environment/colombian-miners-looking-to-more-environmentally-friendly-gold-mining-process-12520.html

COLOMBIA: M iners Looking to More Environmentally Friendly Gold Mining Process

Photo by Rodrigo Ruiz(flickr user). Under Creative Commons License.

Page 5: Newsletter 215

Zombies are not exclusive to horror movies. They also exist in real life, although they are not present among humans but among animals. This was the conclusion reached by a study performed by biologists of the University of Pennsylvania, who analyzed a zombie scenario in a colony of ants. “Each organism has its own parasite, but only a small part of them has evolved to the point that are able to manipulate the behavior of the host body” said David Hughes, one of the biologists in charge of the research. These parasites live in the brain or muscle tis-sues, and this can lead to weird behaviors.

Hughes studies the ophiocordyceps, a fungus originally from Thailand that releases spores which attack carpenter ants. As the ant is infected, it abandons its nest and starts walking erratically in the woods for a cou-ple of hours. Then, the ant goes to a leaf and hangs upside down to die. From ant’s head more fungus are released, issuing spores and infecting more ants.

It is worth noticing that ants are not the only animal that can suffer this. A similar behavior was detected in gordians worms and in rats infected by toxoplasm parasite. Same as rats, toxoplasm infects humans, although we do not know if it could modify humans‘ behavior.

Read more at: http://elcomercio.pe/actualidad/1517554/noticia-algunos-animales-pueden-transformarse-especieszombies

A team of Spanish researchers say they have developed a therapeutic vaccine that can temporar-ily brake growth of the HIV virus in infected patients. The vaccine, based on immune cells ex-posed to HIV that had been inactivated with heat, was tested on a group of 36 people carrying the virus and the results were the best yet recorded for such a treatment, the team said. "What we did was give instructions to the immune system so it could learn to destroy the virus, which it does not do naturally," said Felipe Garcia, one of the scientists in the team at Barcelona Univer-sity's Hospital Clinic. The therapeutic vaccine, a shot that treats an existing disease rather than preventing it, was safe and led to a dramatic drop in the amount of HIV virus detected in some patients, said the study, published Wednesday in Science Translation Medicine. After 12 weeks of the trial, the HIV viral load dropped by more than 90 percent among 12 of the 22 patients who received the vaccine. Only one among the 11 patients who received a control injection without the vaccine experienced a similar result. After 24 weeks, the effectiveness had begun to decline, however, with seven of the 20 remaining patients receiving the vaccine enjoying a similar 90-percent slump in viral load. No-one in the control group of 10 patients experienced such a decline in the virus. The vaccine lost its effectiveness after a year, when the patients had to return to their regular combination therapy of anti-retroviral drugs. Researchers said the results were similar to those achieved with a single anti-retroviral drug, used to block the growth of HIV. "It is the most solid demonstration in the scientific literature that a therapeutic vaccine is possible," they said in a statement. The vac-cine allowed patients temporarily to live without taking multiple medicines on a daily basis, which created hardship for patients, could have toxic side-effects over the long term and had a high financial price, the team said. "This investigation opens the path to additional studies with the final goal of achieving a functional cure -- the control of HIV replication for long periods or an entire life without anti-retroviral treatment," the researchers said in a statement. "Although we still have not got a functional cure, the re-sults published today open the possibility of achieving an optimal therapeutic vaccine, or a combination of strategies that includes a therapeutic vaccine, and could help to reach that goal," they said. According to latest UN figures, the number of people infected by HIV worldwide rose to 34 million in 2011 from 33.5 million in 2010.

Read more: http://www.france24.com/en/20130103-scientists-say-vaccine-temporarily-brakes-hiv

SCIENCE: Some A nimals Can Become "Zombies"*

Photo by Binu K S (flickr user). Under Creative Commons License.

HEALTH: Scientists Say Vaccine Temporarily Brakes HIV

Photo by AJ Cann (flickr user). Under Creative Commons License.