Tiempo Climate Newswatch

Raising cattle contributes more to global warming than transportation, according to a report from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). "Livestock are one of the most significant contributors to today’s most serious environmental problems," commented lead author Henning Steinfeld. "Urgent action is required to remedy the situation." The study estimates that cattle production generates 9 per cent of anthropogenic global carbon dioxide emissions, 65 per cent of nitrous oxide emissions and 37 per cent of methane emissions. Global meat production is expected to double by 2050.

The report concludes that "this high level of emissions opens up large opportunities for climate change mitigation through livestock actions." Proposals include increasing efficiency in livestock and feedcrop production, which would reduce emissions from deforestation and pasture degradation, restoring historical losses of soil carbon through conservation tillage, cover crops, agroforestry and other measures including restoration of desertified pastures, improved diets to reduce enteric fermentation, improved manure management and biogas production. It is suggested that the Clean Development Mechanism be used to finance the spread of biogas and silvopastoral initiatives and, as methodologies emerge, other livestock-related options such as soil carbon sequestration through rehabilitation of degraded pastures.

Atmospheric levels of methane have stabilized, according to an analysis from the University of California at Irvine, in the United States. After rising by over one per cent a year through 1978 to 1987, growth rates slowed over subsequent years, averaging close to zero over the period December 1998 to December 2005. "What we are seeing now is spurts of methane with very little net change," says Sherwood Rowland of the University of California. The variability from year to year appears related to short-lived events that perturb the atmospheric chemistry, such as volcanic eruptions or large fires .

"The scientific community agrees that the pause is source-driven rather than sink-driven, that is, caused by decreasing emissions of methane," says research leader Isobel Simpson, but "I don't believe we have reached a consensus on which sources have decreased and by how much." The halt in the trend may be related to the economic slow-down in the nations of the former Soviet Union, which has reduced energy use. Repair of leaky oil and gas lines and storage units or a decrease in emissions from coal mining and rice paddies may have played a part. Rowland says that the development is unexpected "because there isn’t much in the way of programmes to reduce methane emissions." "We will gain some ground on global warming if methane is not as large a contributor in the future as it has been in the past century,", he says. But he goes on to warns against complacency given limited understanding of just what has caused the trend to halt.

Typhoon Durian struck the Philippines Thursday November 30th, with winds gusting up to 265km per hour. More than 830,000 people were affected as floodwater engulfed towns and triggered mudslides. Over 1000 lives were lost. The province of Albay was worst hit. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo declared a state of national calamity, which permits funds to be released more quickly to support rescue efforts. "We are trying as much as possible to broaden our reach," she said.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) sent emergency health supplies for 10,000 people for three months in Albay province, with additional medicines, food and shelter supplies to follow. UNICEF is appealing for US$310,000 to address the health needs of evacuees, improve damaged water and sanitation facilities, provide "school in a box" kits and establish child-friendly spaces for traumatized children.