Experts on invertebrates have expressed “profound shock” over a government report showing a decline in zooplankton of more than 70% since the 1960s.

The tiny animals are an important food for fish, mammals and crustaceans.

Figures contained in the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) document, Marine Programme Plan, suggested a fall in abundance.

For full article, vist:
http://www.earthportal.org/news/?p=1385

Thanks to Gerry Silverstein for this article from the New York Times.
—————————

Global food shortages have placed the Middle East and North Africa in a quandary, as they are forced to choose between growing more crops to feed an expanding population or preserving their already scant supply of water.

For decades nations in this region have drained aquifers, sucked the salt from seawater and diverted the mighty Nile to make the deserts bloom. But those projects were so costly and used so much water that it remained far more practical to import food than to produce it. Today, some countries import 90 percent or more of their staples.

For full article, visit:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/21/business/worldbusiness

Thanks to Phil Dodd for this article from BBC News.
—————–

Demand for land to grow food, fuel crops and wood is set to outstrip supply, leading to the probable destruction of forests, a report warns.

The Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI) says only half of the extra land needed by 2030 is available without eating into tropical forested areas.

A companion report documents poor progress in reforming land ownership and governance in developing countries.

For full article, visit:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature

Thanks to Jack Alpert for this article.
—————

The soaring cost of food increased the number of hungry people in the world by 122 million in 2007 and now threatens to swell the malnourished population for a decade, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said.

According to the department’s annual Food Security Assessment, 982 million people were hungry last year, up 14% from a revised estimate of 860 million in 2006. The number of new hungry people — the biggest increase since the department started producing the report 16 years ago — is roughly the population of Japan.

For full article, visit:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121557317440338483.html

Thanks to Tyler LePard, Media Manager of Population Action International, for alerting me to the discussion on the RH Reality Check website, which just published PAI’s feature on population and climate change. There are four posts and places to comment on each one:

• “Taking on Population and Climate Change” by Carolyn Vogel, PAI’s VP of Programs
• “Combating Global Warming Brings Population Back to the Agenda” by Leiwen Jiang, PAI’s new Senior Demographer
• “Global Climate Change: What Does it Mean for the World’s Women?” by Malea Hoepf Young, Research Associate at PAI
• “Should We Be Talking About Population and Climate Change?” by Karen Hardee, PAI’s VP of Research

They are available at http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/blog/tag/population-and-climate-change

See Leiwen Jiang’s paper below.

Two landmark conferences of the 1990s really seemed to get the links between human population and the environment. The 1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development noted that “human beings are the centre of concern for sustainable development.” Building on this two years later, the Cairo Programme of Action included the objective “to reduce both unsustainable consumption and production patterns as well as negative impacts of demographic factors on the environment in order to meet the needs of current generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

For full article, visit:
http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/blog/2008

The Environmental Protection Agency, under fire for apparently discounting the impact of climate change, on Thursday said global warming poses real risk to human health and the American way of life.

Risks include more heat-related deaths, more heart and lung diseases due to increased ozone, and health problems related to hurricanes, extreme precipitation and wildfires, the agency said in a new report.

For full article, visit:
http://www.businessinsurance.com/cgi-bin/printStory.pl?news_id=13471

Many thanks to David Nicholson-Lord for this article from Food Magazine.

Must The Planet Go Hungry? (PDF, 271 KB)

Climate change, according to recent research, is leading to an increase in the spread of parasitic diseases.

On Monday, delegates at the 23rd International Congress of Entomology heard that viral and parasitic diseases have been shown to increase in case studies because of the effects of climate change.

“Today’s lifestyles are energy dependent and the increased demand is leading to an increased warming in the atmosphere,” said Dr John Githure of the African Insect Science for Food and Health based in Nairobi, Kenya.

For full article, visit:
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php

Plunging penguin populations are a signal that the world’s oceans are suffering the effects of climate change, fishing and oil and gas development, according to an analysis that could provide new ammunition for groups seeking federal and global protection for the birds.

The paper’s author, University of Washington conservation biologist P. Dee Boersma, has studied the birds for more than 30 years.

For full article, visit:
http://www.earthportal.org/news/?p=1347

Thanks to Raymond Reddy for sending me these letters which appeared in Worldwatch magazine in follow up to the population edition of September-October.
—————-

World Watch November/December 2008 www.worldwatch.org Page 2
FROM READERS
Population:
Get Serious about Numbers

Worldwatch has gone stale on population issues. It billed its September/October issue as being devoted to population, but it flopped: “totally bland, no message of urgency, no call to action, no directions to activist organizations, and virtually no discussion of the interplay of global population with climate, energy, food, and water.” Those words are part of an e-mail that I immediately fired off to Worldwatch after reading its “population” articles. What follows is only a portion of what was in my mind when I sent that harsh e-mail.
Read the rest of this entry »