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Clinton in US-India climate plea

Sun, 19 Jul 2009 09:20:21 -0500

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has arrived in Delhi, with climate change set to top her agenda.

Mrs Clinton has sought to allay fears the US will press India on carbon emission cuts but will also argue they do not contradict economic development.

Mrs Clinton is on a five-day visit and spent the first two in Mumbai.

She will meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other officials, with relations with Pakistan also sure to be high on the agenda.

Mistakes

Carbon emissions remain a sensitive subject for developing countries such as India and China, and they have refused to commit to cuts in a new treaty.

They argue that the cuts restrict development and that countries like the US must do more themselves as they have been historically to blame for the emissions.

Mrs Clinton, however, will argue there is no contradiction between economic development and low carbon emissions.

The BBC's Kim Ghattas, who is travelling with Mrs Clinton, says the secretary of state accepts that developed countries made the mistakes that led to the current environmental problems, but that countries like India could lead in a different direction.

Our correspondent says the talks in Delhi promise to be spirited, although there is no indication of what outcome is expected.

But she notes that the belief in the travelling US team is that governments are often more willing to take action than publicly agree to proposals or requests.

The key date for climate change is December - when a summit in Copenhagen, Denmark will look to forge a new international treaty that will replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.

Another key issue on Mrs Clinton's agenda in Delhi will be India-Pakistan relations.

The BBC's Sanjoy Majumder in Delhi says that publicly Mrs Clinton has insisted that what Pakistan and India do is completely up to them.

However, he says that everyone in Delhi is clear that it was pressure from Washington that pushed the countries to hold talks in Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt last week.

Pakistan-India relations dominated Mrs Clinton's visit to Mumbai, in the wake of attacks on the city last November that left more than 170 people dead.

India blamed Pakistan-based militants for the attack.

Much of the US focus in the region has been on countering militancy in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Mrs Clinton will also be looking for other tangible agreements, mostly related to nuclear energy and weapons, deals that would pave the way for more business for American companies.

Are you in India What do you hope Hillary Clinton's visit will achieve Send us your comments using the form below.

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UK set to take back Brazil waste

Sun, 19 Jul 2009 06:22:29 -0500

The UK is working with Brazilian authorities to return more than 1,400 tonnes of toxic waste to Britain, the Environment Agency has said.

Head of waste Liz Parks said plans were being made to bring back the rubbish, but it could take a number of weeks.

An inquiry into how the waste, including syringes, condoms and bags of blood, was sent to three Brazilian ports has been launched by the UK.

The Environment Agency says those responsible could face prosecution.

Ms Parks told the BBC's Newshour she understood the waste, found in about 90 shipping containers, was currently being held by the Brazilian authorities.

"They haven't yet released it, as far as I'm aware. But arrangements are being made for that to happen. And it will take a number of weeks for the waste to be returned," she said.

'Unlimited fines'

She also warned the British courts took the dumping of hazardous waste very seriously.

"We do prosecute people. We've had a number of successful prosecutions in recent years.

"And in fact in the crown court, people can be fined unlimited amounts and prison sentences are imposed."

On Saturday, Brazil demanded the waste be sent back to Britain.

Roberto Messias, president of the Brazilian environment agency, Ibama, declared that Brazil was "not a big rubbish dump of the world".

The agency also said the arrival of the toxic cargo had violated the Basel Convention on the movement of hazardous waste, of which both the UK and Brazil are signatories, which came into force in 1992.

Ingrid Oberg, regional chief of Ibama, later told the BBC the cargo mainly consisted of domestic waste.

"It's a lot of food containers and cleaning product containers. We found old clothes, shoes, papers, a lot of old newspapers.

"In some of the containers recently found there were also some technological products, like DVDs, pieces of computers, plastic stuff. But mainly it's domestic garbage."

British companies

As well as the presence of syringes, condoms and bags of blood, the rubbish was deemed dangerous because the contents of the containers were going rotten.

"There were larvae and then there's a big risk of contamination," said Ms Oberg.

"We are taking care so that it's not taken out of the containers. So it doesn't bring any contamination to our soil," she added.

Reports in the UK media say the waste was sent from Felixstowe in England to the port of Santos, near Sao Paulo, and two other ports in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul.

It has also emerged that two companies named by Brazil as suspected exporters of the waste are owned by a Brazilian.

The director, who is based in England, told BBC Brazil the containers should have contained plastic for recycling and any other contents were the responsibility of his suppliers.

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Astronauts on ISS spacewalk

Sat, 18 Jul 2009 18:10:06 -0500

Astronauts have begun the first of five spacewalks to be performed by the crew of the shuttle Endeavour at the International Space Station (ISS).

American astronauts Tim Kopra and Dave Wolf are preparing Japan's space lab Kibo for the installation of its final piece - a large external platform.

It will be used in experiments requiring materials to be exposed to the harsh environment of space.

Endeavour docked on Friday, uniting a record 13 astronauts at the ISS.

Saturday's spacewalk was expected to last more than six hours.

The 1.9-tonne platform will be attached to Kibo's two pressurised modules that were delivered to the space station last year.

Once the pieces are ready, the astronauts will manoeuvre the robotic arms on the station and put the section into place with the help of the two spacewalkers.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

New images of Moon landing sites

Sat, 18 Jul 2009 10:51:45 -0500

A US spacecraft has captured images of Apollo landing sites on the Moon, revealing hardware and a trail of footprints left on the lunar surface.

The release of the images coincides with the 40th anniversary of the first manned mission to land on the Moon.

The descent stages from the lunar modules which carried astronauts to and from the Moon can clearly be seen.

The image of the Apollo 14 landing site shows scientific instruments and an astronaut footpath in the lunar dust.

It is the first time hardware left on the Moon by the Apollo missions has been seen from lunar orbit.

The pictures were taken by Nasa's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft, which launched on 18 June.

The spacecraft is carrying three cameras on board: one low-resolution wide-angle camera and two high-resolution narrow-angle cameras mounted side-by-side.

These are known collectively as the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) instrument.

"The LROC team anxiously awaited each image," said the instrument's principal investigator Mark Robinson of Arizona State University.

"We were very interested in getting our first peek at the lunar module descent stages just for the thrill - and to see how well the cameras had come into focus. Indeed, the images are fantastic and so is the focus."

Astronaut trail

The camera instrument was able to capture five of the six Apollo sites, with the remaining Apollo 12 site expected to be photographed in the coming weeks.

Future LROC images from these sites will have two to three times greater resolution.

Long shadows from a low sun angle make the locations of the lunar modules' descent stages particularly evident.

The image of the Apollo 14 landing site had a particularly desirable lighting condition that revealed additional details.

The Apollo Lunar Surface Experiment Package, a set of scientific instruments placed by the astronauts at the landing site, is discernable, as are the faint trails between the module and instrument package left by the astronauts' footprints.

The LRO satellite reached lunar orbit on June 23 and captured the Apollo sites between July 11 and 15.

Though it had been expected that LRO would be able to resolve the remnants of the Apollo mission, these first images were taken before the spacecraft reached its final mapping orbit.

"Not only do these images reveal the great accomplishments of Apollo, they also show us that lunar exploration continues," said LRO project scientist Richard Vondrak of Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, US.

"They demonstrate how LRO will be used to identify the best destinations for the next journeys to the Moon."

Although the pictures provide a reminder of past lunar exploration, LRO's primary focus is on paving the way for the future.

Data returned by the mission will help Nasa identify safe landing sites for future explorers, locate potential resources, describe the Moon's radiation environment and demonstrate new technologies.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Shipping emissions plan 'stalls'

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 11:38:19 -0500

By Roger Harrabin
BBC environment analyst

Plans to reduce rising emissions from global shipping have faltered at a key international meeting.

The International Maritime Organization delayed a decision to raise the cost of ships' fuel and use the money to help poor nations tackle climate change.

Delegates from developing countries complained that rich nations had reneged on other promises.

Environmental groups criticised the lack of progress, saying that the world could not afford to wait any longer.

When the Kyoto Protocol was agreed, the shipping and aviation sectors were left out because no-one could agree on how the emissions should be allocated.

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) was given the task of finding a way around the problem, but there has been little progress to date.

This week, the IMO's Marine Environment Protection Committee did agree draft technical measures to improve the efficiency of ships' designs.

It also agreed on ways to improve the efficiency of shipping operations.

However, the meeting did not make any progress on the idea of raising the cost of ships' fuel in order to help poorer nations deal with the consequences of climate change.

Environmental groups are frustrated over what they see as a lack of meaningful progress.

"The global shipping industry emits a billion tonnes of CO2 [per year], and that number is on course to double or even triple by 2050," said Peter Lockley, head of transport policy at WWF.

"So far, there is not a single policy in place in the world to limit those emissions," he told BBC News.

"This week, we have been trying to discuss ways in which we can.

"They have made some progress on technical measures but there is still going to be nothing that is compulsory for shipping owners."

Rich nations say they do want a deal that puts up the price of fuel, but some key developing countries are angry that the wealthy states have not delivered on their side of the bargain.

The issue of a fuel levy is likely to be discussed again in the autumn during the full meeting of the IMO.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Future headache

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 10:01:38 -0500

By Rob Broomby
BBC World Service

The UK government's strategy for dealing with deadly nuclear waste is in jeopardy three years after it accepted the idea of disposing of it deep underground.

Just two local councils in one region, west Cumbria, have shown any interest in hosting the £13.8bn underground facility.

Thirteen local councils who enquired decided not to go any further according to a new report being finalised by the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM) which advises the British government.

That raises questions over the policy of "voluntarism" which was designed to prevent a backlash with host communities feeling unfairly picked on.

'Lack of confidence'

Instead of politicians or experts choosing a location, local authorities were instead invited to volunteer to host the deep underground repository where some of the most dangerous materials known to man would be locked safely away from all living things for tens of centuries, if not millennia.

But to sweeten the nuclear waste pill there was to be a package of incentives.

"Clearly time has been lost"

Professor Robert Pickard, CoRWM Chairman

But now there is a "lack of confidence" in the process in some communities, according the to CoRWM Chairman Professor Robert Pickard and doubts have emerged amongst some local people about whether future Governments will deliver on promises made today.

The two local councils interested, Copeland and Allerdale are both on Cumbria's western rim.

Copeland has been in the frame before. It covers the area explored by the now defunct Nirex organisation which conducted test drilling aimed at creating a repository until work was abandoned in 1997.

In the 12 years since progress has been slow and now Professor Pickard, agrees that with just one region interested, the process would be in difficulty if they were to wobble in their commitment in the future: "That's true and there is no way round it", he says.

He admits the repository won't be ready before 2040 at the earliest and pessimists believe it could be much later than that.

"Clearly time has been lost", he told the BBC.

"If you started tomorrow it would still take a 120 years probably to move legacy waste (the waste from existing and past nuclear programmes) into deep geological disposal".

Question marks

Despite a system which was supposed to allow local authorities to back out if they were unhappy, the latest CoRWM documents suggest that the two local authorities still fear that they could be imposed upon to take the deadly waste against their will if the voluntary approach failed.

The CoRWM committee will call on the British government to restate its commitment to "voluntarism" in an attempt to regain lost trust.

Professor Pickard says the government needs to "clarify the process" to reassure people.

Most of the UK's radioactive waste is split between two broad locations, the sprawling Sellafield site in Cumbria and Dounraey in the far north of Scotland.

But since the Scottish National Party took over the government in Edinburgh, the administration there has gone cold on deep geological disposal and is developing its own distinct strategy leaving another question mark over the UK plans.

But in Finland progress is being made. They hope to have their repository site licensed by 2020 and work is already progressing rapidly.

The gaping tunnel mouth at the Onkalo site on country's Baltic coast leads to a three kilometre subterranean road network which will eventually spiral down to a depth of 420 metres to the place where the waste should be stored in principle until the end of the Earth.

Juhani Vira, the Vice-President for Research for Posiva the company building the repository, expects his site to take 130 tonnes of used uranium fuel rods for every year of Finland's nuclear programme.

He agrees it is an awesome responsibility but he is convinced that the bedrock "is very stable".

"In geology we talk about time scales of billions of years", he says.

That allows him to predict the stability of the rocks for centuries to come.

'Passive safety'

But what will human societies be doing in hundreds of thousands of years and will they be stable enough to care for this generation's toxic nuclear legacy

Because that question can't be answered he says, the repository must be "safe independent of the actions of future generations".

Finland's design relies on what he calls, "passive safety", meaning future civilisations should not need to worry about it.

But he says, if future societies really wanted to they could dig it up if they found a better solution. But he concludes, "there should be no need to".

Onkalo is just miles from the Olkiluoto nuclear power station complex with its two enormous reactors and a third Olkiluoto 3, under construction.

That will be the biggest reactor the world has ever seen but it is way over budget and three years behind schedule.

It is to be hoped Finland's waste repository won't face the same fate.

Even so construction in Finland is likely to be complete before the UK has even started.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Tiny lightweight lizard floats to the ground 'like a feather'

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 05:50:27 -0500

A minuscule species of lizard is so light that it falls to the ground like a feather, scientists have discovered.

San Diego menaced by jumbo squid

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 05:23:21 -0500

Scuba divers off the Californian city of San Diego are being menaced by large numbers of jumbo squid.

The beaked Humboldt squid, which grow up to 5ft (1.5 metres) long, arrived off the city's shores last week.

Divers have reported unnerving encounters with the creatures, which are carnivorous and can be aggressive.

One diver described how one of the rust-coloured creatures ripped the buoyancy aid and light from her chest, and grabbed her with its tentacles.

"I just kicked like crazy," diver Shanda Magill told the Associated Press news agency.

"The first thing you think of is: 'Oh my gosh, I don't know if I'm going to survive this.' If that squid wanted to hurt me, it would have."

The creatures - also known as jumbo flying squid - do not affect swimmers because they remain deeper in the water.

But dozens have been washing up on beaches in the area.

"The ones that we are getting right now have a big beak on them, like a large parrot beak," San Diego's Union-Tribune quoted John Hyde of the National Marine Fisheries Service as saying earlier in the week.

"They could take a chunk of flesh off you."

'Ram you'

Diver and amateur underwater cameraman Roger Uzun said he swam with a group of squid for about 20 minutes.

They seemed curious about him, he said, and appeared to be touching him and his wetsuit with their tentacles to see if he was edible.

"As soon as we went underwater and turned on the video lights, there they were. They would ram into you, they kept hitting the back of my head," he told AP.

It is not the first time the squid, which can weigh up to 45kg (7 stone), have taken up residence off California's coast.

In January 2005 hundreds of them washed up off the coast of Orange County, to the north, and in 2002 a similar invasion was reported near San Diego.

Scientists say they do not know why the squid - which usually live in deep waters further south off Mexico and Central America - have come so close in.

But one expert, Nigella Hillgarth of the San Diego-based Scripps Institution of Oceanography, told AP it was possible that the squid had established a year-round population off California.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

India Moon probe 'malfunctions'

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 05:01:47 -0500

India's first mission to the Moon has experienced a technical problem, India's space research officials say.

A sensor of the unmanned Chandrayaan 1 spacecraft has "malfunctioned" and steps have been taken to ensure it is able to continue its work, they say.

It was reported the the spacecraft was no longer orbiting with high precision.

The mission, which launched last October, is regarded as a major step for India as it seeks to keep pace with other space-faring nations in Asia.

Scientists belonging to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said that the "vital star sensor" of the spacecraft had "malfunctioned".

"The mission is safe, but its lifespan may be affected," ISRO spokesman S Satish told the BBC.

The unmanned Chandrayaan 1 spacecraft was launched into space from a launch pad in southern Andhra Pradesh last October.

CHANDRAYAAN 1

1 - Chandrayaan Energetic Neutral Analyzer (CENA)
2 - Moon Impact Probe (MIP)
3 - Radiation Dose Monitor (RADOM)
4 - Terrain Mapping Camera (TMC)
5 - Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3)
6 - Chandrayaan 1 X-ray Spectrometer (C1XS)
7 - Solar Panel

India sets its sights on the Moon

In Pictures: India Moon mission

The spacecraft is on a two-year mission of exploration.

The robotic probe will orbit the Moon, compiling a 3-D atlas of the lunar surface and mapping the distribution of elements and minerals.

"We have already got useful information from the pictures beamed," said an ISRO official.

But he said the "quality of the pictures" had been affected because of the malfunction.

Powered by a single solar panel generating about 700 watts, the ISRO probe carries five Indian-built instruments and six constructed in other countries, including the US, Britain and Germany.

The mission is expected to cost 3.8bn rupees (£45m; $78m), considerably less than Japanese and Chinese probes sent to the Moon last year.

But the Indian government's space efforts have not been welcomed by all.

Some critics regard the space programme as a waste of resources in a country where millions still lack basic services.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Retailers miss plastic bag target

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 18:39:43 -0500

Efforts to reduce the number of plastic carrier bags given to supermarket customers by 50% have narrowly failed.

In 2008 seven supermarkets signed up to the voluntary scheme which aimed for a 50% cut in bags given out compared to figures recorded for 2006.

However figures suggest 346m fewer carrier bags are being used every month than they were in 2006.

Plastic bags harm the environment because they take a long time to decompose and can endanger wildlife.

In May 2006 718m bags were being given out but by May 2009 this had almost halved to 372m, which amounts to a reduction of 48%.

Further reductions

Environment Secretary Hilary Benn said: "This is a great achievement by the seven supermarkets and their customers and it shows that by working together, we really can change our bag habits."

He praised retailers for putting a lot into the scheme and said he was looking forward to further reductions in the months ahead.

Mr Benn added: "This means that several hundred million fewer carrier bags are going to landfill every month and we're using less raw materials to make them, which is great news."

The British Retail Consortium believes consumer behaviour has now changed, helped by supermarkets giving out free re-usable bags and awarding loyalty points to customers who bring their own bags.

As a result, some environmentalists are now calling for a charge of up to 15 pence for each disposable carrier bag.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Thalidomide lung cancer 'failure'

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 18:17:19 -0500

Controversial drug thalidomide does not improve survival for lung cancer patients, UK scientists say.

The drug, banned after its use 50 years ago for morning sickness led to major birth defects, is being investigated as a cancer treatment.

But the Journal of the National Cancer Institute reported this is not the case for small cell lung cancers and that it increases the risk of blood clots.

However, experts said the drug is showing promise on other cancers.

Thalidomide is an anti-angiogenic drug. This means it targets and suppresses the formation of new blood vessels, which tumours need to survive and grow.

Small cell lung cancers account for 15-20% of all lung cancers. Survival rates have barely changed in 25 years, with just 2% of those with extensive disease alive five years after diagnosis.

'Closes the door'

In the research by doctors at London's University College and Middlesex Hospitals, 724 patients with small cell lung cancer were studied.

The work is thought to be the first fully randomised advanced study into using thalidomide to treat this kind of cancer.

Half the patients were given chemotherapy plus a daily dose of 100-200 milligrams of thalidomide, while the rest had chemotherapy plus a dummy pill.

Patients were studied for up to two years.

But at the end of the study, researchers found no evidence of any difference in survival times between the two groups.

The average survival time for patients who received the dummy pill was 10.5 months, while for those who took thalidomide capsules, it was 10.1 months.

"While it's disappointing that thalidomide doesn't seem to help lung cancer patients, this trial still represents a step forward in understanding how to treat the disease"

Kate Law, of Cancer Research UK

However those who took thalidomide had double the risk of developing blood clots.

Writing in the journal, the researchers led by Dr Siow Ming Lee said: "Despite preliminary promising evidence and biological plausibility, thalidomide was not associated with any survival benefit."

In the same journal, Dr Curzio Rüegg and Dr Solange Peters of the University of Lausanne in Switzerland says this study, along with other negative findings from previous research, should lead scientists to carry out more studies into both small cell lung cancer and the use of thalidomide to prevent blood vessel development.

But they said it "definitely closes the door to using thalidomide in small cell lung cancer."

Kate Law, Cancer Research UK's director of clinical research, said: "While it's disappointing that thalidomide doesn't seem to help lung cancer patients, this trial still represents a step forward in understanding how to treat the disease.

"We need to know which drugs can help but we also need to be clear about which drugs don't help. And the only way to do this is to conduct large patient studies like this one."

She added: "Thalidomide continues to show promise in treating a cancer of the bone marrow called myeloma and it is being studied in a number of other cancers including mesothelioma [asbestos-related cancer] and prostate cancer."

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Steady hands

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 16:04:39 -0500

How do you dismantle a nuclear bomb And how do you verify another country is genuinely disarming without compromising sensitive national security material

BBC security correspondent Gordon Corera was given exclusive access to a unique exercise run by the UK and Norway to find out.

The nuclear weapon is carefully lifted out of a large container and moved onto the floor.

Two engineers use an electric screwdriver to open up a side compartment and remove the "physics package" containing the sensitive parts of the bomb.

A scientist with a radiation detector beckons me forward as he points his machine towards the box.

It begins to emit an accelerating beeping noise. "The measurement is approximately a hundred times normal background radiation," he tells me.

"But it is not dangerous, I promise," he adds with a smile.

NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT PROCESS

1: Nuclear weapon transported to disarmament facility
2: Weapon is hauled by crane into storeroom and dismantled
3: Physics package is removed and placed in separate container
4: Inspectors use device to confirm radioactive material is present in container
5: Container is then sealed in a side-room overnight with CCTV
6: Next day physics package is transported to a hot cell for dismantling
7: Radioactive material is removed safely and put into storage

The lack of danger is because the bomb is not real. To inject an element of realism into this experiment, a weak radioactive material - Cobalt 60 - is used.

The dismantlement experiment is a joint exercise between the UK and Norway - the first of its kind - and was held a few miles from Oslo.

The five-day exercise has been keenly anticipated internationally as a way of building trust between nuclear weapons states and non-nuclear weapons states.

It is designed to see if one country can verify the disarmament of another country's nuclear weapon, but without any sensitive information about national security and weapon design being compromised.

In a role reversal, the Norwegians play a nuclear weapons state (called Torland) and the UK team play inspectors from Luvania, a non-nuclear weapons state.

REDUCING WEAPONS

There is currently a new push for global nuclear disarmament. Russia and the US announced in Moscow in early July that they would reduce their stockpiles and the UK has said it might be willing to reduce further its nuclear deterrent as part of any global disarmament talks. The non-nuclear weapons states have been pressing for more active disarmament and if there were further moves then allowing non-nuclear states to verify the disarmament would help increase confidence between the two sides.

The 10 inspectors from UK/Luvania remain in character as soon as they enter the gates of the nuclear facility. During meal breaks they are kept separate from both the Norwegian/Torland team and the joint planning group.

A huge amount of work goes in to making the exercise as realistic as possible.

A large, white binder contains briefing packs with fake Torland letters inviting the team to verify dismantlement of one of their Odin gravity bombs.

Stamped "secret", the Torland brief states that all details about the size, shape, composition, etc, "must be kept outside the knowledge of inspectors at all costs".

To complicate matters, inspectors are given a printout from a fake website which features what is alleged to be leaked pictures of the weapon.

"The aim is to develop methodologies we could use in inspections of a real nuclear facility but in an environment in which can do trial and error," explains Andreas Persbo of Vertic, which helped organise the event.

It is not an exercise in which the nuclear state is trying to clandestinely divert nuclear material or the inspecting side search for a covert facility.

Paintball guards

The main aim instead is to try to look for practical lessons and solutions to build confidence between the haves and have-nots in the nuclear world.

Even so, the British/Luvania team push the boundaries during the long negotiating sessions that begin and end each day, at one point submitting 15 questions, some of which the Norway/Torland team refuse to answer.

There is even an early disagreement over the question of what type of warning - if any - the guards would give before firing their weapons.

The guards, who follow the inspectors everywhere, are real Norwegian soldiers but armed with non-lethal weapons, similar to paintball guns.

The key task for the inspectors is to establish a chain of custody and ensure that at no point is any sensitive material diverted.

But this has to be done without ever actually seeing the sensitive material itself.

Initially, a truck takes a container carrying the device to the disarmament facility.

"It is a very choreographed process, almost like a ballet"

Andreas Persbo

From the start inspectors watch, photograph, seal and tag key items. They cover entry and exit points to the disarmament chamber, sweeping all those going in and out to ensure no radioactive material is smuggled away.

"It is a very choreographed process, almost like a ballet," says Mr Persbo. "Timings are very precise."

The amount of fissile material in a nuclear bomb is itself classified, so a number of techniques have to be employed by the inspectors to ensure nothing is diverted when they are not able to measure it in detail themselves.

Each country's scientists have separately designed and built their own prototype devices known as "information barriers", which can confirm that an agreed amount of radioactive material is present in any container.

The machines provide a green light if the contents match the last reading but the actual contents are not revealed.

There is genuine relief from the scientists when both come out with an agreed result of what is inside the container.

The other means for assuring the chain of custody are tags and seals.

Tags and seals

A tag is any form of identifying label, while a seal is used to ensure a room or box is not tampered with during times inspectors are not physically watching it.

These are surprisingly low-tech. A purple strip of adhesive goes across a door hinge. If it is moved then the colour changes and a warning appears on it.

Additionally, the seal has a blob of glue with multi-coloured glitter inside. This is photographed close-up by the inspectors once it is in place and then again when inspectors return.

The unique pattern would be almost impossible to replicate perfectly in a relatively short space of time. More high-tech variants are available involving fibre-optics and the next stage of the project may involve looking at ways of designing the most effective seals.

After the "physics package" is removed from the bomb and placed in a container, the inspectors are allowed to return into the room and watch it being placed in a storage room for the night.

The next morning, in the pouring rain, inspectors follow the container as it is moved by a cart to another part of the facility where the radioactive material is - at least notionally - removed in a hot cell using robotics arms.

Finally it is moved to a storage site.

"This is about having an understanding of what it means to take some material from A to B without really knowing what it is," explains Norwegian official Ole Reistad.

"Under other verification arrangements, it might be special types of fuel, it might be commercial secrets or it might be other security interests that you have to protect in some way."

Dress rehearsal

In practice no nuclear weapons state has ever allowed a non-nuclear weapons state to verify disarmament. But if there was to be multilateral disarmament in the future, it may well be important to provide such states with confidence over its actions.

Officials on both sides hope that this and any future events will lead to better understanding between nuclear weapons states and non-nuclear weapons states and more collaborations, allowing trust and confidence to be increased.

"This project in a way shows our commitment to try and find good practical ways of making sure we have nuclear disarmament"

Gry Larsen, State Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Norway

"Norway is very much committed on the disarmament agenda," explains Gry Larsen, Norway's State Secretary for Foreign Affairs.

"This project in a way shows our commitment to try and find good practical ways of making sure we have nuclear disarmament."

UK inspectors and observers say they learnt about the challenges of being a non-nuclear weapons state and providing confidence, as well as ways of ensuring their own sensitive material is protected.

The Norwegians say they garnered a first-hand perspective of the sensitivities of nuclear states in protecting classified information.

The UK has talked of acting as a "disarmament laboratory" and being part of the process allows the UK to say that it is living up to its obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty for disarmament, although the emphasis is on developing the technical aspects of verification.

"It was lots of hard work but there's opportunity for more progress in the future," said one UK Ministry of Defence official.

Other countries are also said to have shown interest in the work, including the US, Canada, Russia, Australia and Japan.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Fuel-cell legacy

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 12:12:21 -0500

From the outside, it looks like just another vehicle

Richard Hollingham reports from California on how technology that took man to the Moon could soon take shoppers regularly to the mall.

It looks like an ordinary SUV (Sports Utility Vehicle), the sort of chunky 4X4 you'll find jamming American roads.

It's only when you take a drive that you realise that this is something very different.

I'm no motoring correspondent but, as we pull out of the parking lot, it's difficult not to be impressed by this car's smooth acceleration.

What's even more disconcerting is that the vehicle is almost totally silent - the only noise comes from the wind buffeting the windows and the squeal of the tyres as we bomb down the freeway.

"The car drives with electricity but - unlike a battery-electric car that you need to plug in to charge - the fuel cell vehicle makes electricity on-board from the hydrogen stored in a tank," explained Catherine Dunwoody, executive director of the California Fuel Cell Partnership.

"The fuel cell is a fuel conversion device that converts hydrogen to electricity," she told the BBC World Service's One Planet programme.

The only byproduct is water - the ultimate 'zero-emission' vehicle.

Drinking by-product

The partnership, based in the Californian state capital Sacramento, was set-up 10 years ago to promote fuel cell vehicles and involves carmakers, energy companies and government agencies.

And although "fuel conversion device" sounds terribly futuristic, the basic technology of the fuel cell has been around for more than 150 years.

Like a battery, a fuel cell uses a chemical process to generate electricity. Inside the fuel cell, a catalyst strips hydrogen into positively charged hydrogen ions and electrons. The positive ions pass across a special membrane and react with oxygen (from the air) to form water. The electrons have to take the long way round and flow through a circuit to generate electricity.

But with a world powered by coal and oil, no-one knew what to use these things for, until Nasa needed a way to power its spacecraft.

The agency turned to British engineer Francis Bacon.

During the Apollo 8 mission of 1968, Bacon told a BBC reporter how excited he was to see "a real genuine use for a fuel cell".

When it came to powering Apollo (and the previous Gemini missions), fuel cells were perfect. Less bulky than batteries and more efficient than 1960s solar panels, they even produced a useful by-product: water, which the astronauts could drink.

So, great if you want to go to the Moon but it's still been a struggle to apply the technology back on Earth.

Various US government initiatives have come and gone, fuel cell cars have remained as prototypes. There are hydrogen fuel cells around but they've proved to be a niche market. That could, finally, be about to change.

Just how clean

A quick scout through a list of California's hi-tech start-up companies and you'll find many of them devoted to the technology.

"There are a lot of people working on fuel cells in California," Fritz Prinz, the chair of mechanical engineering at Stanford University, said.

"They are trying to create new ideas, making fuel cells more cost effective, more efficient, for a variety of different applications from personal power to mobile applications such as cars."

The first hydrogen fuel cell cars are due to go on sale in the next five years and with governments keen to wean their nations off oil, they would seem to be a viable alternative.

But a number of issues remain. Hydrogen fuel cell cars need hydrogen and, even in California, there are only around 25 filling stations in the whole of the state. The other problem is even more fundamental: where does the hydrogen come from

"Most hydrogen today is made from natural gas," admits Ms Dunwoody.

So although the cars are technically zero emission, the process of making the hydrogen produces carbon dioxide.

Nevertheless, she says, it's still greener than burning it.

"When you make hydrogen from natural gas and use it in a fuel cell vehicle, you immediately cut your carbon emissions by 50%. But there's a lot of work going on in California on creating renewable hydrogen," and that includes using hydrogen produced from wastewater biogas.

The ultimate goal is to produce an efficient way of extracting hydrogen from water. Imagine that Cars powered by water.

What's certain is that without the effort that went into getting a spacecraft to the Moon, the development of efficient, useful hydrogen fuel cells would be nowhere near as advanced as it is today.

Said Dunwoody: "This is our future, this technology is tremendously efficient and clean and, most importantly, it's going to give customers the performance they expect from their vehicle."

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Ex-astronaut Bolden to lead Nasa

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 11:10:04 -0500

The US Senate has confirmed Charles Bolden as the new administrator of the American space agency (Nasa).

Mr Bolden is a former astronaut who flew on four space missions, including the shuttle flight in 1990 that launched the Hubble Space Telescope.

He becomes the 12th Nasa administrator since the agency was created in 1958.

The Senate also voted through the appointment of his deputy, Lori Garver, who acted as a space adviser to Barack Obama during his presidential campaign.

Major General Bolden's confirmation came just hours after the Endeavour orbiter successfully blasted off towards the International Space Station (ISS) on a mission to finish work on a Japanese research laboratory.

Charles Bolden described his selection as administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration was an "honour".

"Today, we have to choose. Either we can invest in building on our hard-earned world technological leadership or we can abandon this commitment, ceding it to other nations who are working diligently to push the frontiers of space," he said in a statement after his confirmation.

He called on the US to build on its investment in the International Space Station, and to accelerate development of its next-generation launch systems.

Maj Gen Bolden also underlined the need to enhance Earth observation programmes and to inspire young people to take up careers in science and technology.

A native of Columbia, South Carolina, he becomes only the second astronaut to run Nasa. Vice Adm Richard Truly was the first.

He succeeds Dr Mike Griffin who initiated the Constellation programme, a new space transportation system to replace the shuttle which is due to come out of service next year.

In May, President Obama ordered a review of Constellation and Nasa's human spaceflight plans. Norman Augustine, a former aerospace industry executive, is expected to deliver a report to the White House in August.

As with Maj Gen Bolden, Lori Garver's confirmation also marks the second time she has worked for Nasa. She was an official in policy and planning from 1996 to 2001.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Element 112 named in honour of Nicolaus Copernicus

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 09:17:16 -0500

Discovered 13 years ago, and officially added to the periodic table just weeks ago, element 112 finally has a name.

It will be called "copernicium", with the symbol Cp, in honour of the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus.

Copernicus deduced that the planets revolved around the Sun, and finally refuted the belief that the Earth was the centre of the Universe.

The team of scientists who discovered the element chose the name to honour the man who "changed our world view".

The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) will officially endorse the new element's name in six month's time in order to give the scientific community "time to discuss the suggestion".

Scientists from the Centre for Heavy Ion Research in Germany, led by Professor Sigurd Hofmann, discovered copernicium in fusion experiments in 1996.

"After IUPAC officially recognised our discovery, we agreed on proposing the name (because) we would like to honour an outstanding scientist," said Professor Hofmann.

Copernicus was born 1473 in Torun, Poland. His finding that the planets circle the sun underpins much of modern science. It was pivotal for the discovery of gravity, and led to the conclusion that the stars are incredibly far away and that the Universe is inconceivably large.

Under IUPAC rules, the team were not allowed to name the element after a living person. But when asked if, rules aside, he would have liked to have "hofmanium" added to the periodic table, Professor Hofmann told BBC News: "No, I think copernicium sounds much better."

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Spaceman

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 07:52:56 -0500

Proof the Apollo moment still resonates

False positive

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 06:21:58 -0500

GO FIGURE
Different ways of seeing stats

If a screening test is 90% accurate, and your result comes back positive, what are the chances it is a false positive, asks Michael Blastland in his regular column.

Browsing the web recently, I found a fascinating article about screening for terrorists and it's made me think about accuracy and uncertainty.

Imagine you've invented a machine to detect terrorists. It's good, about 90% accurate. You sit back with pride and think of the terrorists trembling.

Conventional lie-detector or polygraph accuracy has been claimed to be 90% but this is doubtful. Most independent experts think it's more like 60% - not much better than tossing a coin.

But your invention is the real deal, it really is 90% accurate. It's quick, light, portable and works by detecting patterns of brain activity and facial movement known to match terrorist intent.

You're in the Houses of Parliament demonstrating the device to MPs when you receive urgent information from MI5 that an potential attacker is in the building. Security teams seal every exit and all 3,000 people inside are rounded up to be tested.

The first 30 pass. Then, dramatically, a man in a mac fails. Police pounce, guns point.

How sure are you that this person is a terrorist
A. 90%
B. 10%
C. 0.3%

The answer is C, about 0.3%.

"Think about screening all the non-terrorists for innocence - and being wrong about 10 people in every 100"

If 3,000 people are tested, and the test is 90% accurate, it is also 10% wrong. So it will probably identify 301 terrorists - about 300 by mistake and 1 correctly. You won't know from the test which is the real terrorist. So the chance that our man in the mac is the real thing is 1 in 301.

That a good test can leave us so uncertain about any individual is a head-spinner to many. The problem is the false positives: tests that say you've found what you are looking for but are wrong, and which wreak particular havoc with the results when what you are looking for is rare. That means most of your mistakes apply to those you are not looking for.

Go Figure has been puzzling over how to make all this more intuitive and invites readers to send their own ideas, using the form at the bottom of this page.

Here are a couple of suggestions.

The first is to visualise the numbers. In the picture below, four pixels = 10,000 people. The whole area is the population of the United States - about 300m people. The dark blue area is roughly how many would be suspected of terrorism by a screening process with 90% accuracy - about 30m. On this scale, the area representing the number who are real terrorists - let's say 300 people, of whom 30 would be missed - is too small to see on screen so we've blown up one pixel to show the proportion.

The second suggestion is that whenever we discuss screening, be it of terrorists, HIV, cancer or anything else, we should try to refocus. Any mention of screening for terrorists causes all our attention immediately to zoom into those who really are terrorists. We think of the individuals and how a 90% accurate test would work on one of them. We zoom into the white area and forget the blue.

Refocus. Get into the habit of also thinking about screening the light blue area too.

How would this work in practice Whenever we hear what's being screened for, we should switch it around to think about the opposite. So, screening for terrorists with 90% accuracy Think about screening all the non-terrorists for innocence - and being wrong about 10 people in every 100. Imagine them all, virtually the whole population, 10% of whom might become suspects.

Screening for HIV with 99.9% accuracy Switch it around. Think also about screening the millions of non-HIV people and being wrong about one person in every 1,000.

For another, visually-captivating method, try the brilliant animations on theUnderstanding Uncertainty website- read the first page then click on "testing" - which encourages us to think of real people rather than percentages.

See too data-viz guruHoward Wainer's discussion of false positives.

• "We don't know."

It has become a refrain, the answer to almost every question. I'm discussing swine flu with someone who is looking at how it's spreading. Based at one of our leading medical institutions, highly experienced and capable, this is someone who might have been expected to know quite a lot.

"We don't know."

SWINE FLU SYMPTOMS

If you have a temperature and two or more of the following, it may be swine flu:
Cough
Sore throat
Body aches
Chills
Fatigue

I'm not asking for clairvoyance, this is not about what will happen in future. All I want to know - all this researcher wants to know but can't find out - is simple stuff: how many people who had swine flu in the first few months since it emerged are believed to have caught it abroad What proportion of people with reported swine flu have been hospitalised Do they tend to be younger or older How soon after the first symptoms do they start antiviral treatment

Someone, somewhere might have a slightly better idea of some of this, but my academic friend, whose job it is to try to understand the illness, is exasperated by the difficulty of finding out the basics.

Statistical models of the spread of disease are never perfect, but they can help. If they are to be remotely useful, they need some reasonable numbers to start with. Otherwise, as the old adage has it: rubbish in, rubbish out.

Although there's a rough total of reported cases, we don't know how many there have really been, and how often these are serious, because we have little idea how many people have sub-clinical symptoms. Little idea how many treat themselves without reference to the health service. Little idea what proportion of the total finish up in hospital. Little idea how accurate the diagnoses are now that diagnosis is no longer confirmed with a blood test.

The numbers you see quoted in the media are bound to be crude. How crude, we don't know.

As so often with data, it is the simple business of counting things and keeping consistent, accurate records that turns out to be where the glitches occur. That's just a lot harder than it seems. Not only do we not know where we are going to be with swine flu in a few months time, we don't really know where we are.

But there's also a perverse comfort in some of this. If there is a huge amount of mild swine flu we don't know about, the proportion of cases that are serious is correspondingly reduced.

Add your comments on this story, using the form below.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

'Extinct' tiny shrew rediscovered

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 05:09:17 -0500

The Nelson's small-eared shrew has been rediscovered in Mexico, more than a century after first being described.

Cave record of Britain's pioneers

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 05:02:52 -0500

By Paul Rincon
Science reporter, BBC News

The Cheddar Gorge in Somerset was one of the first sites inhabited by humans when they returned to Britain towards the end of the last Ice Age.

New radiocarbon dates on bones from Gough's Cave show people were living there some 14,700 years ago.

The results confirm the site's great antiquity and suggest human hunters re-colonised Britain at a time of rapid climate warming.

From 24,000 years ago, an ice sheet extended over much of Britain.

Beyond that ice sheet, in southern Britain and much of northern France, the environment resembled a polar desert. Evidence suggests these inhospitable conditions kept people out of north-west Europe for more than 9,000 years.

But human groups were able to retreat to ice-free areas (refugia) in southern France, Iberia and elsewhere. After the Ice Age peaked, humans bounced back, expanding from southern refugia to re-colonise northern Europe.

Gough's Cave is situated in the Cheddar Gorge, a deep canyon on the southern edge of Somerset's Mendip Hills.

Dates re-visited

Interest in the site was stimulated by the discovery in 1903 of "Cheddar Man", the complete skeleton of a male individual dating to about 9,000 years ago.

In the 1980s, excavations uncovered accumulations of human and animal bones and artefacts that appeared to be much older even than Cheddar Man. The discoveries caused a sensation when it was realised many human remains bore a pattern of cut marks compatible with cannibalism.

However, researchers were perplexed by the radiocarbon dating results. Although the remains seemed to represent a single occupation level in the sediments, the remains appeared to be a thousand years different in age.

"We had these apparently cannibalised human bones and artefacts and animal remains with signs of butchery. They all looked like they should be part of a consistent population pattern," said Chris Stringer, head of human origins at London's Natural History Museum.

"Even some re-fits of bones which seemed to be from the same individual were giving different ages."

Since those tests were carried out, there have been significant advances in radiocarbon dating technology, particularly to reduce contamination in the samples. This allows more accurate dating of archaeological materials.

When the bones were sent to be re-tested at the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, the remains fell into a much narrower age range, converging on 14,700 years ago.

The latest results were a much better fit with the archaeological findings. Members of the Ancient Human Occupation of Britain (AHOB) project now think the bones from Gough's Cave could have accumulated over just two or three human generations.

Smashed remains

The possible evidence of cannibalism at Gough's Cave led to lurid newspaper headlines at the time of the excavations, with some seizing on the fact that a number of the modified bones belonged to children.

"There are large numbers of cut marks on them and they are almost entirely smashed. And that smashing looks remarkably like the patterns of breakage you get on the animal bones in the cave - which we have assumed to be for bone marrow extraction," co-author Roger Jacobi told BBC News.

But Dr Jacobi said this was not the only possible interpretation: "Another might be that the people were dying away from the cave," he posited.

"Other people are then making the human bones small and compact enough to bring them back to the cave where they are deposited. They cut off the flesh and smashed the long bones to make them more portable."

The new dates correspond precisely to a period of very rapid climate warming which could have occurred over as little as three years: "[The occupation] really is right on the cusp of this warming which we can see in Greenland ice cores," Professor Stringer told BBC News.

"Europe starts to defrost and the animals move; the humans are right there with them."

They appear to have been hunting horses: "One of the puzzles from the previous radiocarbon dating was that some of the evidence for human occupation seemed to be divorced from the evidence for horse butchery," said Chris Stringer.

"Now they are right there together, so these people were probably following herds of horses across Doggerland (an ancient landmass once linking Britain to the rest of Europe) because of a large river system blocking the way from France."

Professor Stringer believes humans expanding out of southern France may have circumvented this river system by taking a detour into Belgium, moving into south-east Britain across land that is now submerged under the North Sea.

However, after the warm period which attracted people back to Britain for the first time in nearly 10,000 years, the climate deteriorated again. Horses disappear from the archaeological record and so, apparently do humans.

Cheddar Man, who lived in the cave 9,000 years ago, belongs to an entirely new population which arrived from the continent after conditions once again improved.

Paul.Rincon-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

UN tackles 'climate harm' ships

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 22:22:40 -0500

By Roger Harrabin
BBC Environment analyst

The United Nations is discussing rules to cut the soaring emission of greenhouse gases from shipping.

The environment committee of the International Maritime Organisation is drawing up recommendations for design standards to make ships more efficient.

It includes working on operating standards so that ships save fuel.

But great progress is not expected on a demand involving a levy on fuel used by ships - something environmentalists have been calling for.

Shipping now accounts for more than 3% of annual global emissions.

That is more than the entire UK economy.

But, like aviation, it has no controls on its greenhouse gases.

With international emissions from ships rising 85% since 1990, there's a will to include the industry in the global deal on climate change at the UN's climate summit in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December.

The IMO environment committee hopes to draw up recommendations on mandatory improvements in ship design.

It also aims to frame rules on the way ships are operated, getting them to sail more slowly or more directly, for instance.

But the committee is not expected to make huge progress on a key demand from environmentalists for a levy on ships' fuel, with the proceeds going to help developing countries adapt to climate change.

This contentious issue will probably have to wait until the full meeting of the IMO in the autumn.

Observers of the shipping industry's record on protecting the environment may not be optimistic about the outcome.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Killer parasites' genes decoded

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 22:19:20 -0500

Scientists have decoded the genetic blueprint of two parasitic flatworms responsible for thousands of deaths worldwide every year.

Schistosoma mansoni and Schistosoma japonicum both cause the debilitating disease schistomiasis.

The work has already uncovered possible targets for new treatments to combat the disease, which causes symptoms such as fever and fatigue.

The international study features in the journal Nature.

Schistosomiasis cases top 200 million every year, with 20 million people are seriously disabled by severe anaemia, chronic diarrhoea, internal bleeding and organ damage caused by the worms and their eggs, or the immune system reactions they provoke.

In sub-Saharan Africa alone it kills 280,000 people each year.

SCHISTOMIASIS

People become infected with Schistosoma when they wade or bathe in water inhabited by tiny snails that host the parasites
The parasites are released into the water, and use fork tails to burrow into the skin
They travel to blood vessels that supply urinary and intestinal organs, including the liver, where they mature
Female worms, which live inside the thicker males, release many thousands of eggs each day
Eggs shed in urine and faeces may make their way into snail-inhabited water, where they hatch to release parasites that seek out snails to begin the cycle again

Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said: "Chronic infection with Schistosoma parasites makes life miserable for millions of people in tropical countries around the globe, and can lead to death.

"New drugs and other interventions are badly needed to reduce the impact of a disease that lowers quality of life and slows economic development."

Since the 1980s, a cheap drug, praziquantel has been widely distributed to areas where the disease is common.

However, although the drug is effective, it does not prevent a person becoming re-infected. There is also a risk that the parasites will become resistant to it.

Therefore, developing new drug targets is important.

Enzyme targets

Researchers working on the genetic blueprint of S. masoni, the most widespread of the schistomiasis parasites, found that it was made up of 11,809 genes - about 10 times the size of the malaria parasite genome.

In particular, they identified a large number of genes which produce enzymes that break down proteins, giving the parasite its ability bore through tissue.

Subsequent analysis revealed 120 enzymes that could potentially be targeted with drugs to disrupt the worm's metabolism.

The researchers also identified 66 drugs already on the market which might also be effective against schistomiasis.

The analysis also found that S. mansoni lacks a key enzyme needed to make essential fats, and must rely on its host to provide these - revealing a potential Achilles' heel that could be exploited for drug development.

Researcher Dr Matthew Berriman, of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, said: "This genome sequence catapults schistosomiasis research into a new era.

"It provides a foundation for understanding aspects of the parasite's complex biology as well as a vehicle to immediately identify new targets for drug treatment."

Fellow researcher Dr Najib El-Sayed, of the University of Maryland, said: "The genome sequence has given us, for the first time, a comprehensive view of the engines that drive the parasite, the strategies that allow it to survive in us, its human host.

"It is a catalogue of opportunities."

In a separate study, scientists discovered that S. japonicum, which is largely confined to Asia, had even more genes.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Low carbon way 'to reshape lives'

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 10:10:49 -0500

By Richard Black
Environment correspondent, BBC News website

A huge expansion of wind power, home insulation and "smart" electricity meters are among measures being planned to build the UK's low-carbon future.

Ministers hope their Carbon Transition Plan will help them meet 2020 targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions and expanding renewable energy.

Campaigners say the plan is a chance for the UK to lead on climate change.

The government admits consumers will pay more for energy, but believes that overall the economy can benefit.

The plan is due to be published later on Wednesday.

Current government figures say emissions have already fallen by 22% from 1990.

"Seizing the green initiative will create exciting new jobs and business opportunities"

Andy Atkins, Friends of the Earth

The Low Carbon Transition Plan and its associated measures will plot a path towards the 34% target by 2020.

They will also aim to point the economy towards EU targets for 2020 of a 15% share of energy from renewables and a 20% increase in energy efficiency.

Beyond that, the government has set a goal of slashing emissions by 80% by 2050.

As well as tackling climate change, the government believes changing to a low-carbon economy will help create jobs and industries.

Writing in Sunday's Observer newspaper, Gordon Brown declared that "within a decade, 1.2 million people in the UK will be employed in the green sector as a result of the investment decisions we are making".

Countries that develop green technologies and services first will, he said, "reap the richest rewards".

In the wind

In April, Chancellor Alistair Darling formally announced that the UK would live within "carbon budgets" - limits on emissions - just as it attempts to live within financial budgets.

The budgets were recommended by the government's advisory body, the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), in December; and the key figure - which the government has accepted - is a 34% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by 2020.

EXPECTED MEASURES

Smart meters in every home
Easier, more flexible loan schemes for home insulation
Better financial incentives for home electricity generation
Measures to facilitate up to 7,000 new wind turbines
Incentives for cycling and electric vehicles

However, many observers say that the renewables sector is currently growing far too slowly to meet the 15% target, and want ministers to be specific about how they will encourage green businesses.

"We will be looking for hard policy content and rapid delivery timetables from Wednesday's documents," said Gaynor Hartnell, policy director of the Renewable Energy Association (REA)

"The encouraging rhetoric we are now hearing from (Energy and Climate Secretary) Ed Miliband and the Prime Minister on the vital importance of our industry must translate into practical and rapid measures."

The Low Carbon Transition Plan - a white paper - will be accompanied by:

a Low Carbon Industrial Strategy, focussing on "green growth" in industry and business
a Renewable Energy Strategy detailing how the UK will meet its 15% target
Low Carbon Transport: a Greener Future, outlining the transport sector's contribution to greenhouse gas reductions

'Vast potential'

Environmental campaigners have long criticised the government as being long on international rhetoric but short on action.

But the low-carbon strategy, many believe, is a chance for the UK to show the rest of the world that it is serious about cutting emissions, and that economic benefits can accrue.

Governments are currently discussing elements of a prospective major new deal on combating climate change, which is supposed to be finalised at a UN climate summit in Copenhagen at the end of the year.

"The government has a unique opportunity to... show bold international leadership ahead of crucial UN climate negotiations by setting out a detailed route map for slashing UK emissions," said Andy Atkins, executive director of Friends of the Earth UK.

"Seizing the green initiative will create exciting new jobs and business opportunities through ambitious measures to cut energy waste and develop the UK's vast green energy potential."

Richard.Black-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Fergus On Flu

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 04:21:13 -0500

Time for concern, not panic, on swine flu

Gibbon's 'door-slamming' tune

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 03:57:29 -0500

A female gibbon is seen enhancing her territorial song with a percussive door-slamming routine.

Tagging technology to track trash

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 17:42:59 -0500

By Jonathan Fildes
Science and technology reporter, BBC News

The ebb and flow of thousands of pieces of household rubbish are to be tracked using sophisticated mobile tags.

It is hoped that making people confront the final journey of their waste will make them reduce what they throw away.

Initially, 3,000 pieces of rubbish, donated by volunteers, will be tagged in New York, Seattle and London.

"Trash is almost an invisible system today," Assaf Biderman, one of the project leaders at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told BBC News.

"You throw something into the garbage and a lot of us forget about it. It gets buried, it gets burned, it gets shipped overseas."

The Trash Track aims to make that process - termed the "removal chain" - more transparent.

Friends of the Earth's Senior Waste Campaigner Michael Warhurst said the project could be a "useful tool" for highlighting the impact of rubbish.

"[Waste] doesn't simply disappear when we throw it away, and all too often it ends up causing damage when it could be recycled instead.

"People must have much better information on - and control over - where their rubbish and recycling ends up."

Global waste

In order to monitor how the pieces of rubbish move around the cities and beyond, the MIT team has developed a small mobile sensor that can be attached to individual pieces of waste.

"It's like a miniature cell phone with limited functionality," said Carlo Ratti, another member of the project.

Each tag - encased in a protective resin - continuously broadcasts its location to a central server. The results can then be collected and plotted on a map in real time.

"It's like putting tracers in your blood and seeing where it moves around your body," said Mr Biderman.

Because cell phone technology is cheap and - importantly - ubiquitous, the system should be able to track rubbish around the globe.

This could be important when tracking computers and electronic waste, which is often disposed of incorrectly, according to Mr Ratti.

"Some of them are shipped to Africa to pollute," he said.

The team aims to tag different types of waste from computers and cell phones to bags of garden waste.

The group is currently looking for volunteers to donate their trash.

The results of the US studies will be shown at two exhibitions in Seattle and New York during September.

'Zero waste'

The team stresses that it has tried to limit the impact of its study and of the technology, and limit the amount of extra waste it contributes to the "removal chain".

"We are adhering to the highest standards in terms of environmental impact," said Mr Biderman.

"The impact this could have on waste management and removal… could be significant, so these kinds of experiments could be much more useful than harmful for the environment."

The MIT team has previously revealed the movements of people around cities, such as Rome and Copenhagen, by analysing mobile phone signals.

They used a similar method to show how crowds moved around Washington during the inauguration of US President Barack Obama.

The tags used to track the rubbish are a departure from these more passive studies of city movements.

Ultimately, the team hopes that the technology can be miniaturised and made cheap enough that the tags could one day be attached to everything.

"Think about a future where thanks to smart tags we will not have waste anymore," said Mr Ratti. "Everything will be traceable."

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Men emerge from Mars test

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 10:31:18 -0500

By Rupert Wingfield-Hayes
BBC News, Moscow

Six European volunteers have emerged from a simulated space capsule in Moscow after spending more than three months locked inside.

They were part of an experiment into how astronauts might deal with the very cramped conditions and prolonged isolation of a journey to Mars.

The four Russians, a German and a Frenchman seemed none the worse for wear after their "trip".

The capsule, without windows, had never left the ground during the 105 days.

It was designed to make them feel as isolated as they would be on a real trip to Mars, including very cramped accommodation and radio communication delayed by up to 20 minutes.

Just before coming out on Tuesday, the German member of the group admitted that he had completely lost all track of time.

However, 105 days is not nearly long enough to get to Mars and back.

So next year another group of volunteers will enter the same cramped capsule and be sealed inside for a daunting 520 days - nearly a year and a half.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Longest insect migration revealed

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 07:59:22 -0500

Millions of dragonflies cross the Indian Ocean in an epic migration.

Probe hints at past Venus ocean

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 06:37:26 -0500

By Jonathan Amos
Science reporter, BBC News

A European probe orbiting Venus has new data that indicates the planet may once had a lot of water on its surface and even had a system of plate tectonics.

The Venus Express craft has returned infrared maps that show heat variations among the surface rocks.

Scientists say some highland areas are slightly cooler, suggesting they have a different composition.

The German researchers working on the mission say these rocks could be akin to the continental rocks seen on Earth.

Such rocks would be granitic in nature.

On our own planet, granites are made during the process of rock recycling that goes on at the edges of the great geologic plates that cover the Earth. At the boundaries of these plates, ancient rock is pulled deep into the planet, reworked with water and then re-surfaced at volcanoes.

Critically, then, if there is granite on Venus, there must also have been an ocean and a process of plate movement in the past, say the team which publishes its map data in the Journal of Geophysical Research.

Future landers

The new evidence has been obtained by the Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer (VIRTIS) instrument on Venus Express. The instrument's data has been combined with previously obtained maps of surface elevation.

VIRTIS can see through the thick clouds that shroud the surface and detail the variations in the amount of heat energy coming off the rocks.

Different geological compositions will radiate at slightly different wavelengths.

The new maps of Venus' southern hemisphere show that the rocks on the Phoebe and Alpha Regio plateaus are lighter in colour and look old compared with the majority of the planet. On Earth, such light-coloured rocks are usually granites.

This contrasts with basaltic rocks - characteristic of oceanic basins - seen by the Russian landers of the 1970s and 1980s which touched down away from the highlands.

"We know from modelling what the temperature of the surface should be and we compare that to what we measure, and then get an idea of what is the different heat emissivity of different types of rocks we see on the surface," said Joern Helbert from the German Aerospace Centre's (DLR) Institute of Planetary Research.

"We see some of the highlands, especially the very young volcanic areas, look different. It's not all highlands that are different; it's mainly very young volcanic areas that look different," he told BBC News.

The observations fit neatly with the theory that the highland plateaus of Venus are ancient continents, once surrounded by ocean and produced by past volcanic activity.

The only way to tell for sure whether the plateaus were made from granites would be to send landers to those locations.

Ongoing search

Venus Express was despatched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in November 2005.

It was sent to the planet to try to understand why Earth's near neighbour has evolved into a very different world.

In size, mass and composition, Earth and Venus are remarkably similar. Venus is closer to the Sun, but this alone does not explain the differences with Earth.

It has undergone runaway greenhouse warming, where trapped solar radiation has heated the surface to an average temperature of 467C (872F).

The scientists think that Venus may once have held copious amounts of water on its surface. But it is likely the solar wind removed most of it during the first billion years or so after the formation of the Solar System.

The question remains open as to whether volcanoes are still active on Venus. They would need to be small, though, otherwise their presence would have been detected by now.

"I don't expect nowadays on Venus the 100s of km of lava flows we had in the past, but I would not be surprised if there was still some small volcanic activity going on," said Dr Helbert.

"We look from day to day for differences. You look for something that is warm and then gets cold again. It's just a matter of statistics; you just have to observe long enough."

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Amphibians mate under full Moon

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 03:44:28 -0500

Frogs and toads synchronise mating behaviour with the lunar cycle.

Home energy saving pays its way

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 06:44:14 -0500

VIEWPOINT
Paul King

Despite almost universal awareness of the threat posed by climate change, households are still left feeling powerless to act, says Paul King. In this week's Green Room, he sets out his vision that he believes would kick-start a "refurbishment revolution".

"Tell Gordon Brown you'd like to go green, and can he please get that insulation out of his ears"

A searing summer heatwave might not seem the most obvious time to talk about how we keep our homes warm during the winter; but the two things are closely related.

Recent temperatures in the UK and elsewhere give an indication of what life will be like much more frequently unless we get to grips with the greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change.

Shrinking ice sheets and images of polar bears might attract the headlines.

But it will be premature deaths through heat stroke and respiratory problems, failed harvests, wildfires, social disorder and mass migration that will make climate change a reality for people across the globe.

People have started to get this message. But it is a pretty depressing one, which is not a great spur to action.

Most of us think there is very little we can do; climate change is a global problem, and starting a revolution in our living room is not going to change the world, right

Wrong.

Home front

In the UK, 27% of carbon dioxide emissions come from the energy we use to heat (and light) our homes.

It is not only carbon that's going out of the window - and for that matter the roof, walls and floor - it is our hard earned money.

But imagine if we could transform our homes from leaky, draughty places that guzzle energy, into more comfortable, brighter, places - warmer in winter and cooler in summer - with smaller bills.

Imagine if we could do that without it costing consumers a penny, or landing a hefty bill at the government's door.

And in the process, also create thousands of new jobs in green home refurbishment.

"If we don't start a revolution in our living rooms soon, we're all going to cook"

Building sector sets green goals

Unrealistic Not necessarily.

The UK Green Building Council is demanding that the government - either this one or the next - should introduce a scheme that will kick-start this refurbishment revolution.

It is called "Pay As You Save". It's based on a simple premise: that the cost of installing energy efficiency measures be funded through the future savings made on that household's energy bills.

So how does it work The majority of home energy efficiency measures pay for themselves over a period of time.

Some are quite cheap, such as loft and cavity wall insulation or low-energy lighting.

But others are more expensive, such as suspended wooden floor insulation, new A-rated boilers and particularly solid wall insulation.

Most of us put off installing these measures, particularly the more expensive ones, because we do not think we will get the benefit. It just costs too much upfront; and given we move house, on average, every seven years, why bother

Pay As You Save is designed to address this problem. Firstly, the upfront cost of measures, for example £10,000, is put up by a third party (such as a bank, retailer or local authority), not the consumer.

Next, your home gets its makeover, carried out by trained and accredited builders, and as a result energy usage is slashed by around half.

Then, from the savings on energy bills, a "standing charge" is repaid, every month, until the original lump sum (plus some interest) has been paid off.

Double digits

The trick is to structure the scheme so the householder, or tenant for that matter, starts saving money from day one, and always saves more each month than they pay back.

The other key part of the package that enables this to work is that the monthly charge is attached not to the person, but to the property itself and would be paid off over a period of 25 years.

So when the householder moves on, the home's new occupant continues to repay the charge - and recoups more than that in savings.

Of course, this won't happen overnight.

It will take time to scale up the scheme, to ensure that we have enough trained builders that people can have confidence in, and to establish a network of trusted information providers who can help people access finance and guide them through the process.

But our research shows you could refurbish 50,000 homes next year, double that the year after that, double again the year after that and keep on going until we have refurbished seven million homes by 2020.

We know government is interested - they said this was an "option" in a recent consultation document. We know the opposition parties support the principles of such a scheme.

All that is needed is to get on with it!

Design for life

If you don't believe me, hear it from Mr Grand Designs himself, Kevin McCloud.

The tsar of the designer home reckons this is the next big thing to get worked up about. That's why he is leading the Great British Refurb campaign.

So go to the campaign's website and tell Gordon Brown you'd like to go green, and can he please get that insulation out of his ears.

A few tweaks to legislation are all that is needed; the market will then kick in, supply the money, the workforce and the products - all of which already exist.

We just need a bit of leadership. One thing's for sure; if we don't start a revolution in our living rooms soon, we're all going to cook.

Paul King is chief executive of the UK Green Building Council

The Green Room is a series of opinion articles on environmental topics running weekly on the BBC News website

Do you agree with Paul King Would a "pay as you save" scheme kick-start a refurbishment revolution Will this sort of scheme improve the energy efficiency of our existing housing stock Or are there more pressing issues than worrying about the size of homes' carbon footprints

Carbon emissions reduction is a must as soon as possible . The many solutions being suggested face problems like:- 1. Carbon sequestration - Unproven technology .

2. Building Nuclear power stations - Handling nuclear waste .

3. Using renewable energy - Costs , lack of feed stock for alcohol and biodiesel and availability in some areas - (wind and Solar) .

4. Stopping Or reducing deforestation - education of the masses and finding a substitute to wood fuel stock in the near term .

Refurbishing the housing stock faces no technological obstacle apart from the deployment of heat pumps in case they are adapted as part of the refurbishing program and at the end pays for it self . We in the Sudan are faced with such a harsh climate nowadays I can not wait to hear Mr. King's suggestion implemented In the UK and adapted for all countries North and South of the equator that must heat homes during winter and air condition them during summer.
Mr. F. W. Ssenkungo, Khartoum - Sudan

change of mind, let climate change happen, we are not 'saving the earth' the earth will survive, it can cope with a 95% loss of all life and still regenerate, we are just worried about our own 'lifestyles' so let it happen, maybe whats left will be less selfish and less reliant on 'instant gratifcation of one's own needs'
bobi.fraser, bangor

Ground-source heat pumps could solve many of the fuel cost issues and address some of the historic building issues also. A ground-source heat pump transfers heat from the ground in the same way an air conditioner works but much more efficiently.

Where buildings are placed tightly together or are historic monuments district piping could separate the ground loop from the building(s) by whatever distance is needed. The in-house unit is about the size of a small desk and typically goes in the basement.

In the U.S. payback times for these systems are under five years. Many UK providers are installing them on your side of the pond also. One UK company is even pulling heat from the tarmac in front of buildings; heat the house with the parking lot.
Pangolin, Chico, CA, USA

The Mumbaiites and the rest of India is sufferingf from an acute shortage of enegy and power. I would very much welcome that some such energy efficiency scheme is introduced experimentally in India at least in metropolitan cities.
Bal Patil, Mumbai, India

It is in my view quite feasable to hit a 70% reduction in heating energy use by householders reducing the heat levels in their homes, zoning houses, ensuring the basics like effiecient boilers, zoning and cavity and loft insulation. People have to realise that they also need to adapt their behaviour- technology alone does not provide all the answers and the belief it can lets people off the hook. Somehow there needs to be better education it is unclear who is supposed to be leading on this, central governement, Energy saving trust, local govt their should be a network of energy advice centres where people can go and touch and feel the products. London has circa 7million and no one place to go to see the answers. Instead you have to trek to the CAT on the edge of Wales
James Young, london

Some of the worst housing stock in terms of energy efficiency is that owned by Local Councils. If the councils were required to raise all of its stock to at least an F rating and in 20 years E rating and so on it would make a marked improvement due to the size of the housing stock councils own.
Doug, London

I agree with the comments made by Jason Rose. It isn't the general consensus amongst the scientific community that climate change is affected by human beings. Open your eyes people,scientific research funded by Energy Companies and megalomaniac Politicians will undoubtedly produce the 'desired' results. Would a study by Tobacco Industry funded scientists conclude that smoking was a health hazard

This is not an enviromental issue but a political agenda to raise funds through another stealth tax. If Co2 emmissions cause climate change then how do we explain the reduction in overall global temperatures during post-WWII mass production Individuals like Mr King use powerful words to instill fear into the general populace in a never-ending cycle of control and coercion.
Alan Doherty, Warrington,UK

Excellent idea! I just talked to my dad today about what we could do to insulate the house, he'd do it tomorrow if we could afford it. We just don't have the "capital". The carbon trust have been doing this for years, and we'd be streight on the list if we could.

One weird side effect, as a source of investment that is pretty much guaranteed, what effect would opening this up have on the financial markets and the broader economy Apart from linking the savings people and builders closer together.
Josh W, Swansea, Wales

From what I have read above, it seems to me to qualify for a grant you have to use an approved contractor who charges inflated prices. Why not allow anyone (including the homeowner to do the work) and then employ inspectors who come to inspect the work to ensure that it is up to standard and if it is, then the homeowner gets the grant, if not, then they don't
Amanda Wilson, Suwanee, Georgia, USA

i am agree with the idea of pay as you save and i think about the mill or fan by storm that could create electric curents. that is will be interstring and save
hany kamal, cairo

The bottom line here is that efficiency is the most cost-effective way to save money on energy. With energy prices skyrocketing over the last decade, helping people cut their home energy bills will save consumers money, create local jobs that can't be exported, and reduce dependence on foreign oil. Retrofitting millions of drafty, leaky homes is a worthy challenge that will require government leadership, utility cooperation, and private contractors. I like the "Pay-As-You-Save" program, because it removes those initial cost barriers, and helps people see the cost benefits of investing in energy efficiency.
Andy Mannle, California

Let me see now - how long would it take to pay off a loan of, say, £10,000, with savings of, say, £200 pa

50 years

I really can't see too many takers for this scheme.
Peter, Bristol, UK

Even if global warming isn't happening then we should still reduce our energy consumption. Why Because there are better things to do with land than build power stations.
John, Southampton

The closest strategy to spot-on I am yet to find.

The key to tackling climate change is global cooperation. And that is precisely the reason the problem is not being dealt with sufficiently -because a very small minority in the planet are actively participating in fighting it.

The barrier to global cooperation is the fact that people cannot relate to the matter. the vast majority feel that yes, it´s all very shocking how the ice caps are diminishing etc., but cannot see how it directly affects them. However, in any case, if money is up for grabs, it is funny how people can immediately relate to an issue.
Xanthe Hayes, Valencia, Spain

It all starts at street level. What surprises me the most is that in China there are solar water heaters everywhere. This in a country long scorned by the west for being dead set against protecting the environment.

Also at most traffic lights in the big cities there are count down clocks so that people who drive are less stressed and don't burn uneccesary fuel like in the west because there is no surprise when it turns green.

Small things do make a difference, too bad we don't know that in the west. Especially when we are still the biggest culprits.
Allistair Neil, Almaty, Kazakhstan

As one of the many people whom rent their propery, I definately feel that if this was given the go ahead it would make a serious impact. I have always had the desirre to be as green as possible but like many people, I do not want to invest in such expensive measures only to move flats a year later and leave behind such an investment that will then only profit the landlord and next tenant. When it comes to energy saving I do try but with drafty tenements to compete with this can only go so far before the investment overcomes the savings on a years lease. Purely from a tenants side this would be perfect.
Claire, Glasgow

I would be interested, I've just never had the money to invest in my property and all schemes involve a larg up front cost which takes many years to recover.
Kerry Penver, York, United Kingdom

Yet again it's home owners.

I dearly want to cut my bills and save the planet while I'm at it... But a few years ago I decided against taking out a mortgage I thought I couldn't afford. Now everyone's helping those who made the wrong decision, yet here I am, stuck, getting poorer and unable to make a change.

More and more people in this country can only afford to rent, and this isn't going to help. No landlord will pay for this, nor does it make a wise investment for a tennant.
Chris, Cheltenham

We need all the help we can get to save energy in our homes. I installed solar panels to heat water for my house. I saved some money by installing it my self, but i had to take a week off work - not everyones cup of tea!

Michael Kohout in Atlanta, C02 in the atmosphere has increased 40% since the industrial age began. Those three tenths of a percent you talk about do eventually add up. Its not credible to think that 40% would not make a difference to the way our atmosphere works.
Lee, Keighley

Jason Rose wrote, "50 years ago respected scientists would have told us we would be living on mars by now! You cannot trust all these 'scientists'. The issue isn't whether people like me or you should be acting, it is a question of technology."

Lack of progress with space exploration has little to do with whether scientists were wrong: it has been the result of the lack of political will from President Nixon onwards.

Similarly, much low carbon technology is already available or is well developed: whether it is deployed is again mainly a matter of will.
Paul, Horsham

I am with the author on this. We need to stop thinking about the appearance of properties. ditch the need for planning permission for green related changes and go for it. As a species we spend to much time talking and filling in forms and not enough time in action.
Christopher Thomas, Weston super Mare United Kingdom

How about replacing gas-fired boilers with ones that don't use a pilot light - that little flame in my boiler uses 1 unit of gas every 7 days; that's 50 million units per year per million households.
David, Cheshire

I really like the white roof suggestion - i once lived in Bermuda where the white roof is standard(and all collect rain water). If every house had a white roof, might it at least partially make up for the effects of shrinking polar ice sheets You would of course need to get local planning committees to change some of their opinions though.
JillD, Oxford

I've been saying for a while now that one thing the government could do is when you buy a new house to give you a voucher for the amount of stamp duty that you paid on the house which you can then spend on solar panels or a new boiler etc. When we bought our house we paid £2500 stamp duty and now can't afford to replace the boiler which is over 30 years old. That £2500 would come in very handy.
Sarah, Chester

Payback on energy saving projects such as these is determined by the cost of electricity. Governments are in a big fix at the moment when it comes to money. How do they speed up the time that these projects pay back. Put tax on electricity. Poor people suffer. Rich people feel virtuous whilst saving money. And of course landlords do nothing to improve their properties because they don't have to pay energy costs. Who loses well poor people and the environment but the government get to pay lip service to the environment and raise taxes to pay back the cost of bailing the banks out. This applies to government whatever ideology. Be careful what you wish for.
Oilybird, Ayr, Scotland

What an excellent idea.

Shame the article had to start with the usual attempts to create a climate of fear - do what I say or you will all burn in hell!!! The fact that these type of measures make perfect sense for energy/money saving is a much better motivation than panic mongering.

Pity more 'environmentalists' can't come up with workable alternatives like this.
John, England

All of the activities of mankind put together produce three tenths of one percent of the CO2 produced in the entire world. Other far more important sources of atmospheric CO2 are volcanos, seismic activities, decay of vegetation, and the respiration of insects, animals and sea life.

It is simply not credible to think that any change in such a miniscule portion of the CO2 produced in the world can possible have a profound effect on the climate.
Michael Kohout, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

I have been researching the possibilities of uprating my house with solar water heating, increased insulation and possibly P.V. electrics. There are small grants available, but when I dig deeper or apply for quotes for work, I find that the grant is only available if I use an 'approved contractor'. AND guess what , the quotes are always somewhat inflated, normally by the amount of the grants. I had a quote for solar water heating that amounted to a payback time of over 50 years, not even counting alternative interest earnings.
Barry P, Havant England

Im sorry, but who honestly believes this drivel the media continues to splurge out about how we're all going to die in a mass heat wave in a few years.

50 years ago respected scientists would have told us we would be living on mars by now! You cannot trust all these 'scientists'. The issue isnt whether people like me or you should be acting, it is a question of technology.

More money in the long run needs to be invested in alternate fuels, in fact, we already have the technology to implement it, but energy companies, and the government knows that these new sources are hundreds of times cheaper and they will lose money on us punters.

In my view, this scaremongering is merely to create rationing of remaining oil reserves, instead of the development of new technology, so the oil companies (which often buy out patents to renewable sources) can squeeze every last penny out of the finite supply.

Who can actually prove global warming is caused by humans In particular, our energy usage. The worlds cows for instance produce far more Co2 than cars do, but you dont see hippy types slaughtering cows in the same way theyd like to slaughter a Hummer or Hilux...

A little look back in history will reveal that both in the times that Stonehenge was built, and in Medieval times, that it was indeed warmer than it is now. Alas, the media fails to highlight these small points.

And my biggest gripe with all this is that what do we need to absorb this "Co2" Trees... What are we cutting down everywhere across the world Trees! In the 90's the big environmental issue was deforestation, but apparently people have forgotten that this is still happening. Without trees indeed we will all die, but it wont be because I dont use public transport, it will be because environmentalists and concerned people read this codswallop.
Jason Rose, Hockley, Essex

Another idea is solar warming of water: much of our heating needs is from needing hot water to wash and bathe in. In summer, we don't need the heating for anything else. In winter, every little helps (tm).
Mark, Exeter, UK

Mike, how would you feel if, say, your local MP got his brother to contract the work to upgrade his second home paid for out of taxes THAT is why you can't get large payments. However, what you CAN do is if you're replacing the roof tiles, get white roof tiles. It would be nice if you could get roof panels that are solar cells and a guarantee that they will be bought back by the council to be replaced in 10 years (to ensure you upgrade when the technology has seriously advanced). Heck, even just using a light colour for the roof helps: in winter less air through the soffits and therefore less heat from the attic lost, in summer, a cooler attic and less heat island effect (if widespread).
Mark, Exeter, UK

Measures like 'Pay As You Save' and 'Cap-and -Trade' are definitely healthy steps in new direction which is going to pave the road for 'low carbon' or 'carbon free' technologies. 'Ability to pay' is an important criterion when some body wants to promote eco friendly equipments. Eco friendly technologies get defeated in the market due to availability of other cheaper options. Till eco friendly equipments and technologies become profitable in the market, these measures are going to play a significant role. In my opinion, twenty five years is supposed to be a long period in a fast changing world.
Sanjay Singh Thakur, Indore,India

I have the worst of all worlds -Old house, and there are millions, don't have cavity walls to insulate like millions. We are in a National Park (hundreds of thousands and more destined to be included if CPRE get their way) so forget wind turbines. We are grade II listed so forget solar panels and air source heat exchangers, our planners would say no. The roof is lagged as best can be done, the oil (no gas) fired boiler is 90%+ efficient. There must be hundreds of thousands with some or all of these problems who are getting fed up with the ideal solution that will never help us! Abandon planning rules in National parks Relax listed building changes to allow double glazing Allow external stuff like solar panels - get real it ain't going to happen
John Loader, Leyburn UK

Whether one believes in Global warming or not, one thing is clear - we only have one planet to live on and is is pretty stupid to pollute it by any means. But, why is it always all stick and no carrot Many householders are competent DIYers, but you don't get a look in for Grants if you don't get an expensive 'Professional' in to do the job. Obviously, work done needs to be checked, but if we could save SOME money on the installation, more people would do it.
Mike Randall, Worcester England

We certainly agree with Paul King about the need to improve the chronic energy inefficiency of the country's existing homes. If anything he understates the carbon gas emissions from homes; our research puts the figure at nearer 40 per cent. We also agree with the cost and benefits of measures to improve that efficiency resting with the home rather than the owner to get round the problem of the long time before that investment can be recouped. In the present economic circumstances, however, it is unlikely that sufficient initial resources for the sort of schemes Mr King suggests will be forthcoming. That being the case, the most promising way to deal with the problem in practical terms is surely by promoting behaviour change among householders. The government claims the general introduction of "smart" gas and electricity meters will do that, by inducing consumers to save money and reduce their carbon emissions. This is not true. Smart meters provide greater accuracy and frequency of billing but on their own do not provide any more information to consumers, or incentive to change their behaviour, than the present generation of meters does. Reducing energy usage and cutting carbon emissions requires effective consumer engagement. Research shows that real-time energy monitoring displays in the home are the most effective tool for bringing about a reduction in energy use. They can cause a fall of some 14 per cent if used fully. There are also other mechanisms, some of which are even more cost effective; these include websites and printed reports, and messages sent to mobile telephones. All these mechanisms may not yet be accessible by all, but as they are complementary it is likely that a combination of them will indeed bear fruit. Rather than demanding investment that is just not going to materialise in the short to medium term, commentators should accept reality and concentrate on promoting more practical ways of meeting the aim of cutting energy use in the home.
Robert Clark, London, United Kingdom

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Do tiger farms earn their stripes?

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 10:36:55 -0500

VIEWPOINT
Debbie Banks

Next week in Geneva, a prime issue for a UN endangered species committee called Cites will be illegal trade in wild tigers. In this week's Green Room, Debbie Banks argues that a handful of businessmen want to reduce the tigers to nothing more than a luxury commodity.

"Business interests have continued to breed tigers speculating that the ban would one day be lifted and that they would be sitting on a valuable stockpile of body parts"

"Bagh Bachao, Jungle Bachao, Bharat Bachao" is the rallying cry of NGOs and activists across India, and they're right: Save the Tiger, Save the Forest, Save India.

The future of the tiger and its jungle home are inextricably linked to the survival of all of us, not just the people who live in tiger country.

The forests that are protected in the name of the tiger are vital to mitigate climate change and to secure water resources.

The tiger is an indicator of the health of the ecosystem and thus a symbol of good governance and political commitment to an equitable and sustainable future.

It is also a cultural and religious icon, venerated, feared and revered by communities across Asia and the world.

The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) has been investigating and exposing the illegal trade in tigers and other Asian big cats for over 10 years. We have documented the changes in the markets and the increasing role of organised criminal networks.

We have campaigned for more effective enforcement initiatives to disrupt their operations, and know there is so much more that governments could do if they wanted to.

Hijacked conservation

Looking to the future, it is essential to plug some of the gaps in conservation strategies.

Many people living alongside tigers have yet to benefit from the millions of tourist dollars that the "world's favourite animal" generates; but in India, home to the largest remaining population of wild tigers, investment, policy and practice are at least moving in the right direction.

The same cannot be said for other countries, where business interests are hijacking the tiger conservation agenda, calling for the relaxation of trade bans so they can flood the market with farmed tiger parts.

The logic behind such a move is that since tigers breed well in captivity, farming them is an economical solution to satisfying demand whilst alleviating pressure on wild populations.

It's a simplistic logic that rests on critical assumptions about the complex nature and dynamics of the illegal trade in tigers and other Asian big cats.

Assumptions about the motivations of those involved in the trade, the costs of the trade, the scale and type of consumer demand: all plugged in to economic models and squirted out the other side as gospel.

What the followers of this faith have failed to acknowledge is that their version of events does not hold true in the real world. The risk of proceeding with this as an experiment is enormous, and the stake is no less than the extinction of the wild tiger.

So who are these disciples and what is their motivation There are tiger farms in Thailand but by far the biggest ones are in China, where there are reportedly around 5,000 animals in captivity.

Despite a 1993 ban prohibiting the sale and use of tigers in China, business interests have continued to breed them, speculating that the ban would one day be lifted and that they would be sitting on a valuable stockpile of body parts.

'Conflict of interest'

Some argue that they want to sell tiger bone to save lives. Yet the Chinese medicinal community has long since promoted alternatives to tiger bone, which was never considered a life-saving ingredient in the first place.

Others just want to sell tiger bone wine. In fact, some businessmen are so keen they have already been found in breach of Chinese law, illegally selling the wine in tiger-shaped bottles and in one case, selling tiger meat.

EIA and others have found tiger bone wine being marketed as a general tonic and packaged as the gift that wins promotions and seals deals. Call it a conflict of interest, but there has been no meaningful enforcement action by the relevant authorities to stop this trade.

The very existence of these farms, and the persistent lobbying of the business community, is a distraction which deflates and undermines real tiger conservation efforts.

We're being asked to believe that those who have already dabbled in illegal trade have a real interest in limiting their market, and that the enforcement authorities who have failed to stop them so far will be able to regulate a legal trade to prevent the laundering of poached tiger parts.

In June 2007, the international community spoke with one voice; it declared that tigers should not be bred for any trade in their parts and derivatives.

Delegates at the 14th meeting of the Conference of Parties to Cites voted by consensus on a decision to phase out commercial tiger farms.

The move was championed by the governments of tiger range states such as India, Nepal, Russia and Bhutan, all desperately appealing to the international community to remove the farm threat once and for all.

Two years on however, those countries with tiger farms have failed to provide any evidence of progress.

In fact, China's response to a notification from Cites seeking information on what steps they have taken to fulfil the agreed decision was met with a curt and derisive response that told us nothing. All eyes will be on China once again during the Cites meeting in Geneva next week.

EIA firmly believes that if China is truly committed to saving the wild tiger, it should close down the tiger farms and invest in more effective and meaningful enforcement co-operation with range states.

Changes in attitudes and markets show that consumers are responsive to targeted education and outreach, and indeed several markets in China have declined dramatically in the last few years.

Now is not the time to abandon efforts but to reinvest, financially and politically, in their continued success.

In so doing, we bring far greater benefits - not just to the survival of the wild tiger, but also to other endangered species, to the fight against corruption and organised crime and to a better world for all of us. Who doesn't want that

Debbie Banks is a senior tiger investigator with the EIA.

The Green Room is a series of opinion articles on environmental topics running weekly on the BBC News website.

Do you agree with Debbie Banks Is the international community making headway into protection of endangered species in spite of a thriving black market trade Does farming of the animals ameliorate the pressure they would otherwise face in the wild, or continue to feed a public appetite for the animals dead, rather than alive

WE farm cows,horses,pigs,chickens,ect. Why not tigers
John J. High, Prescott, Az.,U.S.A

Tiger farming is not the solution to the plight of wild tigers. If demand for tiger parts and products is the cause of their current demise, then farming them and reopening of the tiger trade will do nothing but exacerbate the problem. We are talking about 1.3 billion potential consumers, not 10 million or even 100 million! Moreover, Chinese consumers value 'wild' products more than 'man-made' (farmed) ones. So, if the ban on tiger product sale is lifted and 'farmed' tiger products were introduced into the market, it will inevitably trigger a surge in demand for wild tigers.
Wu Weide, Shanghai, China

Farming tigers cannot in any way be likened to farming salmon. Salmon is a foodstuff, not a cultural symbol, and is eaten for enjoyment, not to gain strength, cure diseases or any of the other ridiculous things it is claimed that tiger parts & tiger meat can deliver. Tiger farms will NEVER serve to protect wild tigers, because the demand for WILD tigers among the rich is simply too great. It will in fact make it worse - if tiger farming is legalised, who will fund the system for tracing all the worlds' supply of tiger parts To farm a tiger costs thousands - a bullet in the head of a wild tiger costs next to nothing. Legalising tiger will devastate the few remaining wild tiger populations. And frankly, the loss of any animal species, any where in the world, brings the ultimate shame on the so-called "civilised" species. That's utterly and blindingly obvious.
Jessica Reeves, The Hague, Netherlands

Thomas Goodey : Yes, tigers reproduce well in farms. But no, farmed tigers can never displace wild tigers in the tiger product market, because it costs well over US$ 2,000 to raise a tiger in a farm to optimal size, whereas it costs less than US$ 25 to have one killed in the wild. Closing that gap sounds possible theoretically, but is unlikely to ever happen in practise. Also, consumers prefer wild tiger parts to farmed tigers, for obvious reasons, so wild tigers would actually be at a premium - destroying the pricing logic. More importantly, the logic cited for allowing parts from farmed tigers into the market, is that the free market will then find its equilibrium and price out the illegal market (ie there is some notion of ''justice'' built in to the free market). Well all know how bad the free market is now, at being self-regulatory and just; it is free marketeers who have plunged the world into recession and ruined tens of thousands of lives! The idea that we can rely on market forces to balance each other out and ensure some sort of equilibrium combined with justice, is now thoroughly obsolete.
Nirmal Ghosh, Bangkok, Thailand

I think those that breed tigers in captivity should be given a taste of their own medicine. They should be kept in cages and bred for a period of time until they understand the magnitude of their crimes against this animal. Maybe then they will stop breeding tigers in captivity. This is an animal that most certainly does not belong in a cage for its life. The ecosystem is, in fact, a carefully balanced system. The loss, or even decrease in population, of any species effects all species. The greed of man is the poison that corrupts our existence. It is this same greed that seeks to control and dominate all living things that needs to be eradicated from mankind. This is a most unfortunate situation. There are many ways to make money without destroying the beauty of the planet. It's a shame that people are limited in their beliefs to think otherwise.
Arjun Kaul, New York, NY

Tiger habitat has shrunk to the point that whether we talk of tigers in parks or tigers in farms, we are only debating the size of the cage. The increasing loss of habitat means that over the next century we will be managing the populations of all at-risk animal species. Keeping tigers in naturalistic surroundings may be more pleasing for us and the tigers, but tiger farming is ultimately no more or less immoral than any other animal based agro-biz. If the aurochs had been farmed it would still be around today, and we would be the better for it.
Mark Johnsen, Burke, VA

On the surface it seems like a good idea: Grow tigers domestically, so there's no incentive to kill those in the wild. This is one of the main arguments for dropping the ban on the sale of tiger parts. But this is a specious argument for the following reasons: oIt's 10 times cheaper to kill a tiger in India and smuggle its parts to China than to raise one on a farm. oThere is no way to distinguish between the bones - or the skin, heart or penis - of a wild tiger and those of a farm-raised tiger. oThe international trade of endangered species -- from tigers and rhinos to birds and butterflies -- is second only to drug trafficking as the biggest source of illicit money worldwide. Wildlife crime syndicates operate all over Asia. The skin of the tiger a poacher was paid less than $1,000 to kill will fetch up to $10,000 in Lhasa, Tibet. These syndicates will not shut down their business networks and close their bank accounts because farms are breeding tigers in China. oUnleashing the market for tiger parts perpetuates a myth. Tiger claws are worn as an amulet for courage and good luck. Eyeballs rolled into pills are believed to cure epilepsy. The tail, when mixed with soup, is thought to cure diseases of the skin. Tiger penis soup is prized as an aphrodisiac. Bones are thought to cure rheumatism and prolong life. oThere is no medical or scientific proof of the efficacy of tiger medicines, but centuries of beliefs and customs empowered by this myth die hard. To ingest the tiger, it is believed, is to gain some of its mythical strength and powers. To the true believer, therefore, wouldn't wild tigers always be preferable to farmed tigers Concern over this issue prompted the 171-nation Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), led by India, Nepal, Bhutan, Russia and the United States, to adopt a resolution in June opposing the resumption of trade in tigers and mandated that China phase out their tiger farms. Anyone who has ever experienced a tiger in the wild would argue that farming one for medicine could not possibly be God's intended fate for this magnificent animal. No animal has been graced with a greater aura of power and majesty, both in myth and reality, than the tiger. Ironically, it is this prodigious mantle of respect that is threatening to lead it down an inexorable path to extinction. Brian K. Weirum Chairman The Fund For The Tiger
Brian K. Weirum, Woodacre, CA. USA

why is this such a hard question. isnt looking at that image of a baby cub enough to convince even the hardest soul, that tigers must live and not be killed for whimsical or even serious consumption. are we that inhumane , that this needs to be debated. what a shame. the chinese better change theri eating habits. this is ridiculous. why must this become a stupid debate.
animesh nayak, new york

The Chinese Tiger, P.t. amoyensis, was exterminated during the Great Leap Forward (1950-1975), about 3000-4000 individuals. The Panda project is mainly a PR device, see the withering critique of the project by George Schaller; the biodiversity of South China has been utterly depleted. The existence of Tiger farms is an abomination. Failure to close them will result in extinction of Tigers in the wild, and reintrocuction og Tigers in suitable habitats is practically impossible. Tigers learn hunting techniques from the mother and once such transmitted learning disappers it disappers for ever. The policy of the Chinese administration must be seen in relation to the Tibet question, the Spratly Islands controversy, the independence of Taiwan etc. etc. If the farms are not closed I propose a boycott of China and of Chinese goods. N. Hammer, Copenhagen, Denmark
Niels Hammer, Horby, Sweden

The Chinese people should not be allowed to keep animals at all - wild or tame. They have no alligiance to them, they eat them, mutilate them, and discard them. Put the Chinese people in a cage, and let the animals go free. The world would be a better place.
Sue Morley, Cape Town . South Africa

The arguments for a market-based strategy for saving tigers focus only on shallow theory. When you dig deeper, you find that the logic behind the calls for farming are fundamentally flawed. It costs thousands of dollars to raise a tiger in captivity, yet it only costs a couple dollars to kill one in the wild. Will tiger farming matter to people living with the tiger No. If the tiger is considered worth more dead than alive, people will continue to kill wild tigers to supply the demand that exists. Moreover, legalizing trade in tigers would simply create a legal market into which wild tigers could be laundered. As a dead wild tiger is indistinguishable from a dead farmed tiger, enforcement would be impossible. Lastly, those who consume tiger products overwhelmingly favor products from wild tigers. When you tell billions of people that eating tigers is okay, those that remain in the wild will be quickly swept away by the tsunami of demand that would follow. Those protecting tigers now have enough problems as it is without having to worry about enforcing the distinction between wild and farmed tiger. Studies HAVE shown that the ban has worked considerably well and that the steps China has taken to reduced demand and enforce the ban has been relatively successful. The failures we have seen come not from inherent inadequacies in the legal framework conservation has implemented, but in the failure of governments to fully implement such frameworks and commit to enforcement. We CAN save the tiger without resorting to "out-of-the-box", short-sighted strategies like tiger farming. We have more than enough evidence to suggest conservation knows what it's doing and that the governments of the world have more than enough resources to save the tiger. It is just a matter of will. For more information...I suggest visiting Http://endtigertrade.org, which I've found to have taken a more comprehensive look at the issues. -Eric A
Eirc Ash, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Yes, I most definitely agree with Debbie Banks. The tiger desperately needs new and additional action by governments and organisations, working collaboratively, to ensure the effective enforcement of conservation laws, to stop illegal trade in tiger parts and products and, crucially, eliminate the demand for these products - anything less will see the extinction of these magnificent beasts in the wild within our lifetimes. The few businesses that now seek to start a legal trade are guided exclusively by their commercial interests and, as Debbie Banks points out, they seek to commodify the tiger in order to make a profit and not, as they seek to claim, for the benefit of conservation. The crisis now facing the tiger reminds me of a statement made by Martin Luther King: "Human progress is neither auotomatic nor inevitable. We are faced now with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history there is such a thing as being too late....Over the bleached bones and jumbled residues of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words: Too late. We are not yet too late, but very nearly. We need to work together and make sure that there is a complete and lasting end to the trade in tigers and that the few surving wild populations are kept safe in their last remaining habitat. This needs to happen now. I for one call on my government and all in the international community to rise to this challenge.
Steve Trent, London

I live at close proximity with these majestic animals. It is not uncommon for the tiger to lift domestic cattles from our area. For a poor villager in these remote parts of north east India, losing a cow is a very rude shock. Yet because of his religious beliefs, he is afraid of hurting the tiger. And he knows killing the tiger is going to bring the wrath of gods to him or his family. But for the Chinese these beliefs hold no value; they are too sophisticated. For this reason, the Chinese govt. should embark on a massive campaign to educate the masses that killing/harming the tiger is going to bring problems for the mankind. Being an authoritian regime, China can really do things if it really wants to.
Babul Bora, Digboi, Assam, India

People that hunt tigers for profit, should be shot!! They are an international treasure that will soon be extinct due to ineffective rules and regulations that mean that the local people that make the least money are not scared by killing these wonderful animals. I appreciate that people need to make a living, and that human / tiger conflict is horrific, but they are only protecting what is theirs. People should be educated to a decent standard about medicine, and the environment so that they understand the need for all life to live symbiotically. How are we supposed to feel about this when they are extinct in the wild, and we are no longer able to see them running free. I am not an activist by any stretch of the imagination, and I am a meat eater, but I do not comprehend the callousness of a people that will destroy this creature from the face of the earth, so they can feel powerful. I suggest a change in their thinking, or a harsh punishment, not a fine but lengthy jail terms. This is worse than killing a human, there will be some of them left at least.
chris warburton, Harrogate

Farming tigers I couldn't believe I was seeing what I was reading when I came across this article. It is disgusting, reprehensible, callous, and utterly beyond the pale. Is there anything China doesn't want to consume or exploit What next human flesh This only serves to emphasise the threat we are all under from those whose motives are heartless, amoral and nothing less than evil.
M. Atkins, Brighton, UK

Debbie Banks has it right and, I am afraid Thomas Goodey from Cuxton-upon-Medway has it blindingly wrong. Here is why. It costs thousands of dollars to feed a tiger and look after it till it is ready to be harvested in a farm. It costs less than a dollar to buy a bullet to kill it. Every tiger in the wild will become a target if the farms start stimulating global demand for tiger skins and parts. By the way Thomas, there are more than a few ways to skin a cat -- deforestation is probably the most effective way. So, when we want to prevent the extinction of the tiger, we include the protection of its forests. Now if we lose those, trust me, the carbon such forest store will end up in the atmosphere... and that will indeed have a very "practical effect on everyone in the developed world too."
Bittu Sahgal, Mumbai

I agree with Thomas Goodey. Its obvious conserving tigers in their natural habitat will fail eventually so why not farm them,domesticating them will more likely ensure their survival...as have dogs, and other domesticated animals over thousand of years
Anthony Leong, Canberra, Australia

Thomas Goodey show's his understanding of this situation with this comment "no practical effect whatever upon anybody in the developed countries". Well, without tigers India's remaining forests will be lost, reducing the draw down of CO2 and adding fuel to climate change. Without the forests water resources in India will be badly affected, populations will be put under pressure, conflicts over water will develop, all that in a region with two nuclear powers that already dislike one another!! That scenario will affect developed countries be it the affects of war (possibly nuclear) of mass population migration from a devastated environment. Regarding tiger farms: Well commercial farming of tigers is not just abhorrent; it will not protect wild tigers. In captivity tigers cost a lot to raise due to feeding costs. Wild tigers are fed and mature at no cost thanks to nature. Therefore there will always be a strong commercial reason to poach from the wild as the profit margins will be massive compared to farmed and it will be next to impossible to tell the difference between wild and farmed tiger products. I'm afraid the solution is hard and complex. The governments of the tiger countries must, with assistance from developed countries, preserve and defend the forests and tiger habitats. There must be increased enforcement efforts against the illegal tiger trade, increased protection for tigers, local populations must see the benefits of the tourist trade, and finally every effort must be made to chance the habits and beliefs of tiger consumers. While there are many hard working individuals on the front line of this war to save the tiger, governments can and must do more, and the Chinese government has a massive role to play in this. I'm amazed that it this age of so called enlightenment that anyone still thinks that environment destruction in one part of the world has no implications for the rest of the planet.
Mike Curtis, Cambridge, UK

Debbie Banks has raised a very sensitive issue. The tigers and other wild animals should not be kept in the cages or in the zoos. Forest is their natural home and they should be allowed to live in the forest only with minimum human interference. With the density and area of forest shrinking rapidly, arguments have started that we do not have enough forest to hold the tiger population. It's unfortunate that tigers are being viewed as 'problem animals' and 'men eaters'. This kind of perception may further weaken the position of wild animals. Big effort is needed to check the encroachment of the urban lands in to the forest and to enhance the forest land. The 'market' which deals products of the wild animals must be banned effectively.
Sanjay Singh Thakur, Indore

Tiger farming will NOT stop tiger poaching in the wild. Farmed tigers are fed chickens. CHICKENS!There a massively growing population of rich but unsophisticated people in China, a proportion of who, will insist for, and pay big money for wild tigers. Those ones that eat natural prey. These animals will be considered the premium quality ones. With the remains of one of these WILD animals "on the table", a tasteless Chinese merchant can really demonstrate power, which is his reason for living. I am familiar with the tiger population in Cambodia and there, reading between the lines and the hype, the tiger seems to be already gone. The overwhelming demands of the Chinese economic engine will probably wipe out any remnants of South East Asia's tiger population (At least the tigers disappearance makes more room for leopards!). But saving the Indian tiger and keep the Siberian one going may be realistic.
Tony, Kununurra West Australia

India had 40 000 tigers at the beginning of the 19th century. Today we have about 1400. Which means more or less every day in the last 108 years we have lost one tiger a day. Poaching, man animal conflict...everyone knows the reasons. Why cant we then stop killing of the national animal. The answer seem to be paper tigers. We have covered lots of such wild animals going extinct in our interviews and everywhere the answer reamins unfortunately so common.
Sanjay Bapat, Mumbai

I do agree that more money needs to be invested to educate people wanting to use the parts of the Tiger for so called "Heath Benefits" and that this would be better spent educating the next generation as they will be the ones that will have the power to do something as they enter the business world. We also need to see more heads of state, people in the public eye and people that have influence on others to take a stand against the distruction of the Tiger, they should not sit on the fence and state their opinion clearly.
Sandra Roberts, Warrington, Cheshire England

It's difficult to say whether the international community is making headway into protection of endangered species despite a thriving black market trade. Farming has the danger of opening up new customers and demands which would rather deplete instead of augmenting or preserving the wild species. Improvement of the lot of the poor and marginalized people in the vicinity of as well as within protected areas may serve to make poaching difficult and to that extent help save endangered species. Addressing their needs may need to be prioritised in the larger interest of endangered species conservation.
K. Jude Sekar, Bhubaneswar, India

Nowhere do I see any headway being made by the international or any community towards the EFFECTIVE on-going protection of wild tigers or wildlife, of forests or oceans, of the planet's climate or ecosystems or of civilization itself--since Man cannot survive where Nature and wildlife dies. I see the absence of will. The failure of intelligence and of leadership. The dearth of vision. Eating the cake is what I see us doing; the appearance of safeguarding is what I see us seeking. What was true of many an ancient civilization, from the Sumerians through the Romans and Mayans, remains true today: we are blinded by the status quo, by wants, needs, interests and petty concerns. But there is more. We're hemmed in by helplessness and FEAR. There are too many of us, and we're at a loss to reduce our numbers and take ourselves out of the mess we're in. Yet, as long as humans continue to breed out of control, as long as human activities continue to expand out of control, no space, species, habitat or ecosystem will remain whole or healthy, safe or protected. For wildlife or for humans. Rats in a crowded pestilential cage, we're already at each other's throats! Plunging towards suicide, as others before us have been, we remain as blinded as they. Thus, we too will reach the end of the road we travel.
A.Cristina, Windsor, CA., USA

I think the real problem is not the conservation of wild tigers and the effects that tiger farms have on such conservation but rather the conservation of tiger habitat. The greatest threat to most endangered wildlife is not illegal hunting but the protection of habitat that is under pressure from local farming, development and subsequent pollutions. The farms can have clear benefits for conservation efforts by providing a ready source of animals for wild release programs so long as there is suitable and protected habitat available to release them into. Just saying that the farms must close will create nothing but anger unless a suitable and attractive exit solution is provided to the people who have invested so much in them. The ideal solution would be to just slowly buy out the farms for conservation purposes and convert them into tiger sanctuaries producing animals for wild release programs.
Scott Barnden, Adelaide, Australia

China does great things for the panda, but I've never seen much that indicates that they're as respectful to the rest of the animal kingdom. Farming tigers and bears for medicinal purposes, skinning dogs, cats and other animals while still alive for the fur trade, cruel 'entertainment'...the list goes on. People, like me, who dream of a better world where the natural world is cherished rather than destroyed, hope that the likes of EIA can succeed in their missions. There will always be the ignorant, the apathetic and the uncaring, but the hope that compassion and conservation can triumph in the end is the only hope we have.
Cate, Dubai, UAE

We need open space and forests in the world for tigers to be free. The thought of tiger farms make me ill. These beautiful animals need our respect and love. And must not be breed in captivity for weak-minded people to use them for profit in potions and whatever. We all need to respect each other on the planet - human, animal and plant...China needs to understand this the same as the rest of us.
Helena Faith Miel, NYC - US

I have no knowledge about headway being made but if there is a thriving black market, that indicates demand exists. If the demand exists what does that mean in terms of international community's success protecting the tiger. I believe that if tigers are farmed for body parts that greed will acclerate the supply side. One day, with most wildlife in the world extinct, there will perhaps be a market for humans as in the novel and movie, "Soylent Green". I am and will continue to be an active financial supporter of "Save the Tiger Fund".
Roy Lorenz, Tucson, AZ, USA

The use of tiger derivatives should be outlawed. To me, tiger farms encourage the use of tiger parts and derivatives. The efforts and money should be put into maintaining a healthy tiger population in the wild. The world without the wild tigers is unthinkable and utterly sad.
Dagmar Felber, Nelson, New Zealand

The tiger is one of the last remaining animals on Earth that has the power to inspire that primeval awe in mankind that inspires us to want to be more powerful, more courageous, more noble.

To let this animal go extinct would be to lose a very old friend, as a species. To farm the cats is almost more insulting to them than letting them go extinct. China's lack of action against the interests farming them is disgraceful and highly disappointing. Those still in captivity should be seized and gradually introduced into conservation areas in whatever is left of their natural habitat. In China if possible. If not, then in India, Nepal, and other south asian nations.
Michael Doyle, Vancouver, Canada

I do not agree. (1)it is not true that "the future of the tiger and its jungle home are inextricably linked to the survival of all of us". The reality is that if the tiger became extinct in the wild, that would have no practical effect whatever upon anybody in the developed countries. Moreover (2), the sensible solution to the idiotic Chinese demand for tiger parts, is to farm tigers; that's utterly and blindly obvious. Just as farmed salmon displaces wild-caught salmon, so farmed tiger will naturally displace wild tiger. The important point, is that the tiger does breed well in captivity. You will never change the Chinese desire for traditional medicine quack nostrums, but you can find a sustainable source for the materials. More power to the breeders' elbows!
Thomas Goodey, Cuxton-upon-Medway, England

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