Tiempo Climate Newswatch

The first Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project has been formally registered, marking the latest phase in the implementation of this market mechanism aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The project will cut landfill emissions of methane in the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Methane from rotting rubbish will be burned to generate electricity, rather than escaping to the atmosphere. Project partners are S A Paulista, EcoSecurities and the World Bank Netherlands Clean Development Facility.

Under the CDM, companies in industrialized nations or the nations themselves can undertake a clean-development project in a developing country, with the dual aims of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and meeting sustainable development goals. The company or nation can claim 'credit' for the emissions saving and sell them on or else set them against their own emissions target. The lower cost of reducing emissions in the developing world compared to the home country makes the investment attractive.

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• Terra Daily
• World Bank

The beleaguered people of the Darfur region of the Sudan face drought and the loss of much of the year’s harvest. Andrew Natsios, head of the US Agency for International Development, warns that farmers who have not fled the two-year conflict "have enough production from this crop to last perhaps until March, but certainly not until the end of December 2005" when the next harvest is due. The International Committee of the Red Cross estimates that 85 per cent of the crop will be lost.

United Nations targets for food distribution will not be met this month because of the security situation. A government ban on trade across the border with Chad means that farmers cannot sell their livestock, a traditional coping strategy. The market closure is a "very dangerous thing," according to Natsios. The government-backed militia have, it is reported, been stealing livestock from the local farmers and this has aggravated the conflict with the rebel groups.

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• Yahoo
• CNN

• Background, Human Rights Watch

Some coral reefs are recovering from the "bleaching" of the 1998 El Niño, despite warmer oceans and pollution, concludes the 2004 Status of the Coral Reefs of the World. "Recovery should continue provided there are no major climate shifts in the next few decades," according to the World Conservation Union (IUCN) assessment.

Natural threats, such as the crown of thorns starfish, has eased in recent years, but human pressure continues to stress the world's coral reefs. Reefs in South and Southeast Asia are most at risk. "As long as poverty, population growth and lack of alternative livelihoods keep people dependent on already depleted reef resources, the coral reefs of South Asia will continue to degrade," said Jerker Tamelander of IUCN.

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• ENN
• BBC