Tiempo Climate Newswatch

The Aletsch glacier in Switzerland, the longest in Europe, lost 66m last year. Swiss scientists claim this reduction to be an effect of global warming. In total, 84 of the 91 glaciers surveyed in a Swiss Academy of Sciences study shrank. A previous study from the University of Zurich reported that Switzerland's glaciers had shrunk by about a fifth over the previous 15 years. Andreas Bauder of ETH Zürich, warns, though, that predicting the impact of climate change is difficult because, as well as temperature, glaciers respond to rain and snowfall and these parameters are hard to forecast.

A reduction in the Rocky Mountain snowpack has slowed down the release of carbon dioxide from forest soils, according to scientists from the University of Colorado and other American institutions. The effect occurs as the reduction in insulation cools the soil and retards the metabolism of the microbes responsible for the release of the greenhouse gas. "I view this as a small amount of good news in a large cloud of bad news," said Russell Monson, who led the research.

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• Terra Daily
• Press release, Swiss Academy of Sciences

• EurekAlert
• ABC

The possibility of a binding International Agreement on Forests is being debated at the United Nations Forum on Forests, which opened February 13th in New York. Opinions differ, with some nations, such as China, supporting the proposal while others, for example, Brazil, are strongly opposed. China's representative, Qu Guilin, considers the negotiations "critical... to the future management, conservation and sustainable development of forests at the global level." Brazil argues that the adoption of quantifiable targets is not an appropriate response to the threats facing the world's forests.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil announced the opening of two new national parks and the expansion of an existing reserve as the Forum opened. A further four national forests, where sustainable logging will be permitted, and an environmental protection zone, within which development is strictly constrained, have also been created. One aim of the creation of these protected areas is to limit development along the new BR-163 highway from Cuiabá to Santarém.

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• ENS

• Newsday
• ENS

The United Nations is relying on Canada's new government to respect its obligations under the climate treaty. John Hay, communications director for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, warned that "there is a compliance regime... which foresees that countries do need to meet their commitments, and if they don't there will be implications." Canada currently exceeds its Kyoto target by around 25 per cent.

Canadian immigration minister, Monte Solberg, has described the nation's Kyoto target as "insane". "If we decide to ban all planes, trains and automobiles in Canada and entirely abandon all manufacturing, stop all construction and shut every mine we would still fall short" of the target, he claims. "In order to reach our Kyoto targets we will have to get to work by bicycle, foot or oxen," he continued. "Excuse me, I've got an appointment downtown. When does the next express oxen come by?" It appears, though, that the new government may have changed its pre-election line. Environment minister Rona Ambrose says that the government will "move on very quickly" with a new climate action plan. "I think we not only have the political will from the prime minister, and from myself and my colleagues, on this issue, we also have the public will on our side."

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