Tiempo Climate Newswatch

Malaysia is felling an average of two per cent a year of Sarawak's rainforest, a report from Wetlands International finds. Most of the land is being converted to palm oil plantations. The analysis of satellite imagery shows that Malaysia is destroying forests three time faster than all of Asia combined. "We never knew exactly what was happening in Malaysia and Borneo," said Alex Kaat from Wetlands International. "Now we see there is a huge expansion [of deforestation] with annual rates that are beyond imagination."

Indonesia has admitted that a large number of mine and plantation companies are operating illegally on the island of Borneo. A presidential task force has found that violations of forest protection laws had "become widespread in a number of regions, especially in Central Kalimantan province." A University of Indonesia study concluded last year that the Indonesian military acted as coordinator, financier and facilitator for illegal loggers in Borneo. The forestry ministry has promised to cooperate with the Corruption Eradication Commission to enforce the law. A two-year moratorium on the clearing of natural forest and peatland was due to begin January 1st.

A new study by American scientists suggests that the higher frequency of drought over East Africa experienced over the past two decades is likely to persist as global warming develops. "Global temperatures are predicted to continue increasing, and we anticipate that average precipitation totals in Kenya and Ethiopia will continue decreasing or remain below the historical average," said contributor Chris Funk from the United States Geological Survey.

The proposed mechanism linking drought to global warming is that warmer air and increased humidity over the Indian Ocean is generating more frequent rainfall locally as the warm air rises. Having lost its moisture, the dry air then travels westward, descending over east Africa and causing drought conditions in Ethiopia and Kenya. "The decreased rainfall in Eastern Africa is most pronounced in the March to June season, when substantial rainfall usually occurs," Funk said. "Although drought is one reason for food shortages, it is exacerbated by stagnating agricultural development and continued population growth."

Global investment in solar photovoltaic (PV) technology could double by 2015 if governments put in place financial incentives and policies to achieve grid parity, according to a report from the European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA) and Greenpeace International.

"Solar photovoltaic technology has, for many years now, shown increased power efficiencies and cost reductions," EPIA president Ingmar Wilhelm said. "Today's cost predictions, driven also by economies of scale in light of global photovoltaic capacity, totalling 40,000MW in 2010, show that the technology is on the brink of an economic breakthrough." To achieve grid parity, when the cost of PV becomes at least as cheap as conventional power, the report concludes that governments must, amongst other things, establish appropriate and flexible feed-in-tariffs.