Tiempo Climate Newswatch

World Water Day, on March 22nd 2006, was marked by the Fourth World Water Forum, an international meeting in Mexico City on management of the world's fresh water resources. Over one billion people do not have access to safe drinking water and four out of every ten people lack access to sanitation. In a keynote speech, Nobel Prize Winner Mario Molina warned that climate change and inappropriate water management might intensify global warming, creating "an intolerable risk." There was disappointment that the Forum declaration did not declare water a human right, referring only to its critical importance.

Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Koïchiro Matsuura, stressed the importance of the theme, Water and Culture. "Traditional knowledge alerts us to the fact that water is not merely a commodity," he said. "Since the dawn of humanity, water has inspired us, giving life spiritually, materially, intellectually and emotionally. Sharing and applying the rich contents of our knowledge systems, including those of traditional and indigenous societies, as well as lessons learned from our historical interactions with water, may greatly contribute to finding solutions for today’s water challenges."

More information

• ENS
• Xinhua
• noticias.info
• New York Times
• Press release, UN News Centre
• Press release, WMO

• Ministerial Declaration
• Daily coverage and summary, ENB
• Water for Life Decade
• On the Web: Water management

The European Union (EU) has launched a new initiative, the CASTOR Project, to develop the capture of greenhouse gases as they are produced by power stations and their storage underground. The aim is to cut Europe's emissions of carbon dioxide by ten per cent (or 30 per cent of the emissions of large industrial facilities, mainly power stations). It is also intended that the cost of carbon capture and storage be reduced from the current 60 euros a tonne to around 20 euros a tonne. "By developing technologies for carbon capture and storage, we can reduce emissions in the medium-term as we move to large-scale use of renewable, carbon-free energy sources," commented EU science commissioner Janez Potocnik.

The CASTOR Project will operate the world's largest carbon capture installation at Esbjerg in Denmark to test new carbon separation technologies. Four carbon storage sites will provide case studies representative of the range of geological conditions across Europe. Carbon capture and storage is seen as a possible "medium-term solution to the current dichotomy of our dependence on fossil fuel technology and the fact that alternative sources of energy aren't yet ready to satisfy the global demand for energy," according to EU spokeswoman Antonia Mochan.

More information

• Terra Daily
• Press release, IFP

• On the Web: Carbon dioxide capture and storage

Climate change may be contributing to the resurgence of malaria in the highlands of East Africa, according to an international team of scientists. Contradicting previous work, the researchers found a half a degree Celsius rise in regional temperature, which could result in enhanced abundance of mosquitoes. "We showed that a small increase in temperature can lead to a much larger increase in the abundance of mosquitoes," said team member Mercedes Pascual of the University of Michigan. "And because mosquito abundance is generally quite low in these highland regions, any increase in abundance can be an important factor in transmission of the disease."

The scientists are cautious in attributing climate change as a causal factor as other processes, such as drug and pesticide resistance, changing land use patterns and human migration, may be playing a part. "Our results do not mean that temperature is the only or the main factor driving the increase in malaria, but that it is one of many factors that should be considered," Pascual said. She added that "this is a very polarized field, in terms of supporting or not supporting the role of climate versus other factors. We don't want to contribute to the polarization, which I think is very unproductive in terms of the science. I hope we can move from this sort of debate into a more constructive one about interactions and relative roles of all the factors that may be contributing to the resurgence of malaria."

More information

• Science Daily

• SciDev.Net