Richard B. Alley is the recipient of RNRF’s 2011 Sustained Achievement Award. The Sustained Achievement Award recognizes a long-term contribution and commitment to the protection and conservation of natural resources by an individual. Alley has excelled as a climate scientist with a strong commitment to public communication. He has dedicated himself to advancing climate science in society and promoting a sustainable climate system.

After completing a BS in geology (with honors, with distinction, Summa cum Laude) from Ohio State University (1980), and a Master’s in geology from the same institution in 1983, he obtained a Ph.D. in geology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (1987). In 1988, he began to teach at Pennsylvania State University where he currently serves as the Evan Pugh Professor of Geology.

Alley has published more than 150 refereed scientific articles, including ground-breaking work in glaciology, paleoclimate, and abrupt climate change. He also has actively participated in public education by testifying at congressional hearings, participating in congressional briefings, giving public lectures, authoring popular articles and books, and appearing on television and radio, including PBS (Nova), BBC, and NPR (Earth and Sky). He chaired the National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council panel on Abrupt Climate Change, to advise the U.S. government on research activities to address the possibility of climate surprises (Abrupt Climate Change: Inevitable Surprises, National Academy Press, 2002), and then led effort to publish synopsis for wider audience in Science. He has provided advice on climate-change issues to OSTP, NSF, EPA, NOAA and IPCC. Alley has served as chair or member of numerous advisory bodies to improve national and international research, including the Ice Core Working Group, West Antarctic Ice Sheet and West Antarctic Ice Core Projects, NOAA Abrupt Climate Change Panel, and Polar Research Board.

Most recently, Alley has appeared on PBS as the host of Earth: The Operators' Manual, (http://www.earththeoperatorsmanual.com) a three-part mini-series on climate science and renewable energy, and is also author of the same-named companion book, published by W. W. Norton & Company (http://www.amazon.com/Earth-Operators-Richard-B-Alley/dp/0393081095). Alley will also be presenting his unique take on the twin stories of climate and energy in events at leading science centers across America in Fall 2011 and Spring 2012. Check out EVENTS on the ETOM website, and follow the project on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/EarthTheOperatorsManual.Page)

LEED for Neighborhood Development is Recipient of 2011 Outstanding Achievement Award

LEED for Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND) is the recipient of RNRF’s 2011 Outstanding Achievement Award. The award recognizes a project, publication, piece of legislation. or similar concrete accomplishment in the natural resources fields.

The LEED for Neighborhood Development green communities rating system, which launched in April 2010, is a benchmark for healthy green communities. It integrates green building into community development helping to reduce sprawl, increase transportation choices, decrease automobile dependence, encourage healthy living and protect threatened species.

LEED-ND was developed by the U.S. Green Building Council in partnership with the Congress for the New Urbanism and the Natural Resources Defense Council. The rating system acknowledges the correlation between transit-oriented development and proximity to services, amenities and jobs to human health benefits and economic capital as it has been found by numerous studies. Such development is advocated by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It also promotes an array of green building and green infrastructure practices, particularly more efficient energy and water use — especially important in urban areas where infrastructure is often overtaxed.

LEED for Neighborhood Development projects may constitute whole neighborhoods, portions of neighborhoods, or multiple neighborhoods. Projects are often mixed-use, though small single-use projects that complement existing neighborhood uses may also use the rating system. LEED-ND is not a replacement for comprehensive planning but can be a meaningful tool to help promote sustainable land development if incentivized or used as a guideline when revising local codes and regulations.

To date, there are 68 LEED certified neighborhood developments in the U.S. and abroad and each one of them is positively contributing to our collective environmental challenges on a daily basis. In addition to the technical and environmental aspects of the rating system, LEED-ND heightens the public's awareness of the benefits of green communities through its robust educational and professional credentialing programs. Learn more about LEED-ND by clicking on “Resources” at http://www.usgbc.org

The award was presented at a special ceremony on November 10, at the U.S. Green Building Council HQ in Washington, DC.

Growing Up WILD is Recipient of 2011 Excellence in Journalism Award

Growing Up WILD: Exploring Nature with Young Children Ages 3-7 is the recipient of RNRF’s 2011 Excellence in Journalism Award. The award honors and encourages excellence in print journalism about natural resources. RNRF seeks to advance public education and understanding of important natural resource issues through dissemination of accurate and scientifically-based information about the environment.

Developed by the Council for Environmental Education with the vision to make nature and outdoor education more accessible to urban and diverse audiences, Growing Up WILD is the first nationally distributed early childhood professional development program and activity guide that integrates environmental education into the early childhood curriculum. It is a program that builds on children's sense of wonder about nature and invites them to explore wildlife and the world around them. Through a wide range of activities and experiences, Growing Up WILD provides an early foundation for developing positive impressions about nature and lifelong social and academic skills.

Nearly 40,000 guides have been distributed since the program's launch in 2009. It is delivered by a national network of state wildlife, natural resource and education agencies, and 24 training partners in cities throughout the U.S. Learn more about Growing Up WILD by clicking http://www.projectwild.org/growingupwild.htm

The award was presented at the annual meeting of the RNRF Board of Directors on November 4, 2011, in Potomac, Md.

Cristián Samper, director of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History, hosted RNRF's Washington Round Table on Public Policy on June 16, 2011. Samper discussed the museum's resources, activities and challenges (for information about resources and activities go to http://www.mnh.si.edu/about.html). Among the challenges highlighted were: 1) managing the demographic changes that are affecting the museum's workforce, 2) managing the safety and storage of the museum's many collections, 3) digitizing the collections, 4) designing and using electronic public outreach optimally, 5) participating in development of the Encyclopedia of Life, and 6) assisting in saving the world's endangered languages.

Samper said that the museum collaborates with the scientific community to advance public knowledge and understanding. One of the avenues of outreach is to host forums on important science-based issues. Recently, the museum hosted a forum on the first anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico. (http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/aroundthemall/2011/04/one-year-later-deepwater-horizon/) Information about such events is posted at the museum's website.

Dr. Louis W. Uccellini, director of the National Weather Service (NWS), National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), spoke at RNRF's Washington Round Table on Public Policy on April 14, 2011. The event was held at the Washington office of the American Meteorological Society. Uccellini is responsible for directing and planning the science, technology and operations related to NCEP's Central Operation's and Environmental Modeling Centers as well as seven national centers that forecast specific weather phenomena. His presentation was entitled, "Advancing the Prediction of Extreme Weather Events."

Improvements in Weather Forecasting –

Uccellini provided a history of weather forecasting and explained that during the first half of the twentieth century, weather forecasting was based upon the subjective projections made using surface data. The NWS new receives 3.5 billion observations a day to feed numerical models that are run out to 16 days in advance – models which serve as a basis for weather forecasts. Significant technical advances have recently been made. He then showed how significant technical advances made during the last half of the twentieth century and the first decade of the twenty-first century have led to improved weather forecasts of extreme events, out to 7-8 days in advance in some cases. Examples of recent forecast successes that involve the prediction of extreme events inlcude forecast of West Coast storms out to ten days in advance, severe weather outbreaks in the central U.S. seven days in advance, and East Coast storms 5-7 days in advance. Uccellini also emphasized the need to improve communication to endangered regions to reduce fatalities and mitigate impacts related to these storms.

Developments in Data Analysis ­–

Early forecasting was based upon surface data and analysis from past experience. Today's modeling is based on observations that are multi-faceted, increasingly more remotely-sensed (from radars and satellites), with forecasts based on numerical models that involve the entire Earth System (atmosphere, land, ocean and cryosphere). Real-time operational models, that ingest the satellite and radar observations in real time, require some of the world's largest computers (over 73.1 trillion calculations/sec.).

Climate Change –

Uccellini noted the hypothesis that a warming atmosphere will allow it to hold more moisture resulting in storms producing heavier precepitation. He discussed extreme winter weather events since 1993 that have produced some of the largest snowfall amounts recorded since the 1880s. He noted that although the trend toward heavier snowfall may suggest an influence of global warming, the sample size is too small to draw any conclusions. Another aspect of the climate-weather linkage is the role that El Nino and La Nina based circulation patterns can play on the evolution of the major cyclones which affect the U.S. The evolution and predictability of the major storms in 2010 (El Nino year) and 2011 (La Nina year) were discussed in terms of the contrast in predictability of the storms which occurred in these two winter seasons. In response to a question about reports by popular news outlets that other severe-weather events are occurring more often, he responded that the sample sizes are too small to draw any such conclusions.

Ecosystem Prediction –

Modeling centers are now able to aid some regions with ecosystem prediction. Using the ocean models as a basis, several models for specific bays have been implemented at NCEP by the National Ocean Service; including models for the Chesapeake, Delaware and Tampa Bays. Chesapeake Bay scientists are using these models to predict the salinity and water temperature, with potential for predicting water quality and bay life itself. Today, forecast applications have already been applied to predicting the abundance of Sea Nettles (jellyfish). This particular analysis is valuable to a nuclear power plant in Maryland that draws large amounts of water from the bay for cooling purposes. Sea nettles can obstruct intake pipes. On a larger scale, ecosystem prediction will be important for water management, recreational purposes and, potentially, water quality/health related issues.

Summary –

* Tremendous advances in predicting extreme events have been enabled by the numerical-model revolution of the past 60 years – more accurate predictions out to 8-10 days are now possible.

* Change in the forecast process is linked to advances in observations, models/science and computing power.

* Climate-weather linkage is an important ingredient in extending predictive capabilities.

* Forces for change: expansion into multi-model ensemble prediction for extreme events and other forecast applications is the ongoing second revolution in numerical prediction.

RNRF thanks Associates Jason Fukumitsu (Valencia, CA), Robert Brown (Raleigh, NC), Kristen Krapf Campbell (Alexandria, Va.), and Larry Erickson (Manhattan, Kan.) for their financial support.

RNRF is a nonprofit, public, tax-exempt organization described in the Internal Revenue Code §501(c)(3). Contributions are tax deductible to the extent permitted by federal law. Contributions allow RNRF to foster more interdisciplinary programs for renewable natural resources professionals and scientists. Associates receive the Renewable Resources Journal and, in the initial year, a certificate worthy of framing. Levels of contribution are: Associate $50-99; Sustaining Associate $100-499; Sponsor Associate $500-999; Patron Associate $1,000 or more; and Institutional Associates $300 or more. Mail your contribution to RNRF, 5430 Grosvenor Lane, Bethesda, MD 20814-2142. You also may make a contribution using a major credit card via PayPal at this website's "subscriptions" link.

AMERICAN GEOPHYSICAL UNION

AGU Endorses Interior Department’s Scientific Integrity Plan

AGU has endorsed the U.S. Department of the Interior plan, released on February 1, 2011, to ensure scientific and scholarly integrity throughout the agency's research and program operations."DOI's new plan recognizes the importance of scientific and scholarly integrity in building trust in science that informs public policy," AGU president Michael J. McPhaden said. "Integrity of the scientific enterprise is essential for guiding the scientific community, policy makers, and the general public as we work together to meet global challenges related to climate change, natural hazards, and wise use of our natural resources."

AGU applauded DOI's policy for making clear that responsibility for scientific integrity includes all aspects of agency programs and applies to all agency employees and others who work with the agency in a variety of business relationships. In addition, the policy clearly outlines how DOI scientists and others may participate as officers or members of boards of directors of nonfederal organizations and professional societies. "This provides career development opportunities for DOI employees, enhances the credibility of government science, and enriches the diversity of expertise in organizations such as AGU," said McPhaden. "We urge other agencies to develop similar policies," said AGU executive director and CEO Christine McEntee. "They are 'win-win' for the federal government, the scientific community, and those we serve."

"AGU is committed to upholding the highest standards of scientific integrity in geophysics," McPhaden wrote in a November 23, 2010, editorial in Eos (91(47), 443). To accomplish that, AGU is forming a task force to review the Union's policies on scientific integrity, to establish a set of ethical principles for the conduct of our members, and to revise AGU's policies and practices to promote these principles. For more information, see http://www.agu.org/news/press/pr_archives/2011/2011-05.shtml

New AMS Publication

AMS announces its newest publication "Economic and Societal Impacts of Tornadoes." The book examines data on tornadoes and tornado casualties through the eyes of a pair of economists, Kevin Simmons and Daniel Sutter, whose personal experiences in the May 3-4, 1999 Oklahoma tornadoes led to a project that explored ways to minimize tornado casualties. They gathered U.S. tornado casualty data from sources such as NOAA and the U.S. Census and used an economic approach to evaluate the National Weather Service’s efforts to reduce those casualties. The communication theme is a significant aspect of their analysis, and their book discloses some interesting findings on the efficacy of tornado warnings in the United States.

The book culminates more than 10 years of research.

For more information contact AMS, 45 Beacon Street, Boston, MA 02018; (617) 227-2425. Website: http://www.ametsoc.org.

With funding provided by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) launched a series of educational, Google SketchUp animations designed to introduce some basic sustainable landscape design concepts to the general public. Metropolis magazine, in praising the effort, called one animation "Landscape Architecture for Dummies," but really the goal was to briefly, clearly illustrate the breadth and depth of a relatively unknown, yet important, field of design that actually affects all of us. The animations, created by Daniel Tal, ASLA, also presented ASLA with an opportunity to show people how landscape architects use sustainable design approaches to solve pressing social, environmental, and economic challenges.

The first animation, "From Industrial Wasteland to Community Park," explains how damaged landscapes can be restored through bioremediation and redesign. Bioremediation, which involves using
microbes and plants to restore soil health, remains a little known technique, but actually offers a highly cost-effective solution for dealing with those acres and acres of brownfields still polluting most American cities. 
 

"Leveraging the Landscape to Manage Water" focuses in on how green infrastructure systems – including green roofs, bio-retention systems, and permeable pavements – work together to manage stormwater. Again, many communities face increasingly expensive stormwater runoff and pollution problems, and this animation presents viable examples of how to use the landscape to solve these water infrastructure issues. The animation illustrates what happens below the ground as well. 
 

"Revitalizing Communities with Parks" exposes the inequalities in access to park space in many communities, but also presents a positive vision for how an asphalt parking lot can be easily turned into a green social gathering place. With so many communities left out by their park systems, this animation offers a way forward for communities seeking to build long-lasting assets for themselves. For this one, Allison Arieff, a noted design journalist, provided the narration. 
 

To address the critical health problems caused by our dysfunctional built environment -- obesity, diabetes, and depression -- "Designing for Active Living" presents some model design fixes that can together totally revamp the way people move through a community. Complex ideas like "transit-oriented development" and "complete streets," or streets for all users, come to life. The idea is to show how any car-centric community could make these design fixes and help reduce their expensive medical problems. Arieff also narrated this one. 
 

Lastly, "Building a Park Out of Waste," takes aim at the greenhouse gas emissions that come from building construction – some 5.5 percent of total emissions. Instead of sending demolition waste to the landfill and throwing out all that embedded energy, this animation suggests ways to maximize available resources and reuse building materials in a new park, lessening greenhouse gas emissions in the process. With a sustainable landscape, everything old can be made new again.

These animations and their supporting materials are meant to help the public get a sense of both sustainable landscape design and the type of work that landscape architects do. Each animation has a companion guide to sustainability education resources. Designed specifically for students from kindergarten to 12th grade, the resources include curricula, games, activity guides, and videos to help classrooms explore these ideas in greater depth. All these resources are at your disposal when you are discussing the profession in your communities.

For more information contact ASLA, 636 Eye Street, NW, Washington, DC 20001; (202) 898-2444. Website: http://www.asla.org.

AMERICAN WATER RESOURCES ASSOCIATION

Developing Transboundary Groundwater Policy

The western and southwestern United States include dozens of groundwater basins that cross political boundaries. Common among these shared groundwater basins is an overlay of differing legal structures and water development priorities, typically, with insufficient water supply for competing human uses, and often, a degraded ecosystem. Resolution of conflicts over ambiguously regulated groundwater has clarified transboundary groundwater policy in some interstate basins, while transboundary groundwater policy in international basins is less evolved.

The Journal of the American Water Resources Association addresses this topic in an article entitled Transboundary Groundwater Policy: Developing Approaches in the Western and Southwestern United States by Deborah L. Hathaway. This article identifies and contrasts approaches to transboundary groundwater policy, drawing from recent conflicts and cooperative efforts, including those associated with the interstate compacts on the Arkansas and Pecos Rivers; the Hueco and Lower Rio Grande Basins shared by New Mexico, Texas, and Mexico; and the Mexicali Basin in California and Mexico. Some efforts seek to fit groundwater policy into existing surface water allocation procedures; some strive for a better fit--incorporating scientific understanding of key differences between groundwater and surface water into policy frameworks. In some cases, neither policy nor precedent exists. The collective experience of these and other cases sets the stage for improved management of transboundary groundwater; as such, challenges and successes of these approaches, and those contemplated in several hypothetical model agreements, are examined.

For more information contact AWRA, P.O. Box 1626, Middleburg, VA 20118; (540) 687-8390. Website: http://www.awra.org.

2011 is the International Year of Forests

The United Nations launch the International Year of Forests—a year-long celebration of the vital role that forests play in people's lives.

Global observance of the year comes amid growing recognition of the role that sustainably managed forests play in everything from mitigating climate change to providing wood, medicines and livelihoods for people.

Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon observed that "the United Nations General Assembly has created an important platform to educate the global community about the great value of forests—and the extreme social, economic and environmental costs of losing them."

The year will raise awareness of the sustainable management, conservation and development of all types of forests. By showcasing success stories on humanity's central role in tackling the challenges facing many forests, the year provides a platform to bring people's voices together and galvanize action for forests around the world.

Forests cover about 31 percent of total land area, amounting to approximately ten billion acres, according to data from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). At the same time, the agency estimates that over 32 million acres of forest are lost annually, due mainly to deforestation resulting from the conversion of forest land to other uses.

At least 1.6 billion people depend on forests for their daily livelihoods and subsistence needs. Forests are home to more than 60 million people, mainly members of indigenous and local communities.

First Census of Marine Life

After a decade of joint work and scientific adventure, marine explorers from more than 80 countries delivered a historic first global Census of Marine Life. In one of the largest scientific collaborations ever conducted, more than 2,700 census scientists spent over 9,000 days at sea on more than 540 expeditions, plus countless days in labs and archives.

The census has released three landmark books, and a highlights summary that crown a decade of discovery. The now-completed documentation in books and journals, plus the accumulating databases and established websites, videos, and photo galleries, report and conclude the first census. Over the decade  more than 2,600 academic papers were published—one, on average, every 1.5 days.

Presented is an unprecedented picture of the diversity, distribution, and abundance of all kinds of marine life in Planet Ocean—from microbes to whales, from the icy poles to the warm tropics, from tidal near shores to the deepest dark depths.

Oceanic diversity is demonstrated by nearly 30 million observations of 120,000 species organized in the global marine life database of the census, the Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS). The migrations tracked across seas and up and down in the water column, plus the revealed ubiquities of many species, demonstrate connections among oceans. Comparisons of the present ocean with the bountiful ocean life portrayed in old archives document changes. The census established declines—and some recoveries—of marine abundance. The OBIS directory of names and addresses of known ocean species establishes a reference against which humanity can monitor 21st century change. It also delineates the vast areas of ocean that have never been explored.

"We prevailed over early doubts that a census was possible, as well as daunting extremes of nature," says Australian Ian Poiner, chair of the Census Steering Committee, "The Age of Discovery continues." "This cooperative international 21st century voyage has systematically defined for the first time both the known and the vast unknown, unexplored ocean."

According to Poiner, the beauty, wonder, and importance of marine life are hard to overstate. "All surface life depends on life inside and beneath the oceans. Sea life provides half of our oxygen and a lot of our food and regulates climate. We are all citizens of the sea. While much remains unknown, including at least 750,000 undiscovered species and their roles, we are better acquainted now with our fellow travelers and their vast habitat on this globe."

Bushmeat Hunting Driving Tanzanian Forests to Crisis

The populations of several animal species in southern Tanzania are suffering alarming declines due to bushmeat hunting and habitat degradation. Urgent action is needed to prevent the collapse of local biodiversity, a new report by Tanzanian and international scientists and conservation organizations revealed.

The report describes the results of three separate research projects focused on the threats to biodiversity in Uzungwa Scarp Forest Reserve in southern Tanzania since 2004. Although biodiversity is critical to the health of the ecosystem—which many Tanzanians rely on for water, soil fertility and other services—the report shows that Tanzania's wildlife has been hugely impacted by human activities and recommends that action be taken urgently to protect it.

"Some species in this region are on the brink of extinction from one of their last remaining strongholds, especially the Udzungwa red colobus, a monkey species found only in these mountains and nowhere else in the world," said Arafat Mtui, coordinator of the Udzungwa Ecological Monitoring Centre.

"The declining trend is so sharp that without urgent action Tanzania will lose a biodiversity treasure," states Francesco Rovero of Italy's Trento Museum of Natural Sciences, who led the preparation of the report.

"Similar declining trends were also detected for the small forest antelopes such as the duikers, and wildlife abundance is generally lower than in forests that are better protected," added Trevor Jones, a biologist of the team affiliated to Anglia Ruskin University, UK.

"Human threats, especially hunting for bushmeat, but also forest degradation through selective removal of trees, are behind these declining trends," continues Amani Kitegile, a lecturer at Tanzania's Sokoine University of Agriculture and Ph.D. student with Anglia Ruskin University.

Martin Nielsen of the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, contributed with a study on bushmeat hunting in the Udzungwa forests. "From interviews with hunters living in the villages bordering the reserve it emerged that hunting is common, representing the main extractive use and threat to the area's unique biodiversity," he stated.

The report highlights the need for greater attention to be paid to the impact of bushmeat hunting in Tanzania's forest reserves. "The Udzungwas are the pearl of the Eastern Arc Mountains because they contain the largest forests and have extraordinary numbers of plant and animal species found nowhere else on earth, including two species of monkeys," stated Rovero. "Unfortunately, while some of the forests are protected by the Udzungwa Mountains National Park, there are important forests such as Uzungwa Scarp Forest Reserve that have not been granted adequate protection."

The scientists and conservation organizations associated with the report are calling for urgent action to be taken to halt bushmeat hunting in the reserve and to boost the management of the forest. While recognizing the government's efforts to upgrade the Uzungwa Scarp Forest Reserve to become a nature reserve, the report highlights the need to invest more resources and effort into the forest’s protection and into community development projects and environmental awareness among adjacent communities.

"The government needs to allocate the resources that are required to manage this national treasure and to address the needs of the adjacent communities," said Charles Meshack, executive director of the Tanzania Forest Conservation Group, Tanzania’s leading NGO in forest conservation.

The research behind the report was funded in part by the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF). Also supporting the report are the Trento Autonomous Province through Trento Museum, Wildlife Conservation Society, Zoological Society of London, and Anglia Ruskin University. The launch of the report was supported by the Tanzania Forest Conservation Group.

The report "Uzungwa Scarp Forest Reserve in Crisis: An Urgent Call to Protect one of Tanzania’s Most Important Forests" can be accessed at www.cepf.net

Groundwater Depletion Rate Accelerating Worldwide

In recent decades, the rate at which humans worldwide are pumping dry the vast underground stores of water that billions depend on has more than doubled, say scientists who have conducted an unusual, global assessment of groundwater use.

These fast-shrinking subterranean reservoirs are essential to daily life and agriculture in many regions, while also sustaining streams, wetlands, and ecosystems and resisting land subsidence and salt water intrusion into fresh water supplies. Today, people are drawing so much water from below that they are adding enough of it to the oceans (mainly by evaporation, then precipitation) to account for about 25 percent of the annual sea level rise across the planet, the researchers find.

Soaring global groundwater depletion bodes a potential disaster for an increasingly globalized agricultural system, says Marc Bierkens of Utrecht University in Utrecht, the Netherlands, leader of the new study.

"If you let the population grow by extending the irrigated areas using groundwater that is not being recharged, then you will run into a wall at a certain point in time, and you will have hunger and social unrest to go with it," Bierkens warns. "That is something that you can see coming for miles." He and his colleagues will publish their new findings in an upcoming issue of Geophysical Research Letters, a journal of the American Geophysical Union.

In the new study, which compares estimates of groundwater added by rain and other sources to the amounts being removed for agriculture and other uses, the team taps a database of global groundwater information including maps of groundwater regions and water demand. The researchers also use models to estimate the rates at which groundwater is both added to aquifers and withdrawn. For instance, to determine groundwater recharging rates, they simulate a groundwater layer beneath two soil layers, exposed at the top to rainfall, evaporation, and other effects, and use
44 years worth of precipitation, temperature, and evaporation data (1958-2001) to drive the model.

Applying these techniques worldwide to regions ranging from arid areas to those with the wetness of grasslands, the team finds that the rate at which global groundwater stocks are shrinking has more than doubled between 1960 and 2000, increasing the amount lost from 126 to 283 cubic kilometers (30 to 68 cubic miles) of water per year. Because the total amount of groundwater in the world is unknown, it's hard to say how fast the global supply would vanish at this rate. But, if water was siphoned as rapidly from the Great Lakes, they would go bone-dry in around 80 years.
   
Groundwater represents about 30 percent of the available fresh water on the planet, with surface water accounting for only one percent. The rest of the potable, agriculture friendly supply is locked up in glaciers or the polar ice caps. This means that any reduction in the availability of groundwater supplies could have profound effects for a growing human population.
   
The new assessment shows the highest rates of depletion in some of the world's major agricultural centers, including northwest India, northeastern China, northeast Pakistan, California's central valley, and the midwestern United States.
   
"The rate of depletion increased almost linearly from the 1960s to the early 1990s," says Bierkens. "But then you see a sharp increase which is related to the increase of upcoming economies and population numbers; mainly in India and China."
   
As groundwater is increasingly withdrawn, the remaining water "will eventually be at a level so low that a regular farmer with his technology cannot reach it anymore," says Bierkens. He adds that some nations will be able to use expensive technologies to get fresh water for food production through alternative means like desalinization plants or artificial groundwater recharge, but many won't.
   
Most water extracted from underground stocks ends up in the ocean, the researchers note. The team estimates the contribution of groundwater depletion to sea level rise to be 0.8 millimeters per year, which is about a quarter of the current total rate of sea level rise of 3.1 millimeters per year. That's about as much sea-level rise as caused by the melting of glaciers and icecaps outside of Greenland and Antarctica, and it exceeds or falls into the high end of previous estimates of groundwater depletion's contribution to sea level rise, the researchers add.

Half of the Fish Consumed Globally is Now Raised on Farms

Aquaculture, once a fledgling industry, now accounts for 50 percent of the fish consumed globally, according to a new report by an international team of researchers. And while the industry is more efficient than ever, it is also putting a significant strain on marine resources by consuming large amounts of feed made from wild fish harvested from the sea, the authors conclude. Their findings are published in the Sept. 7 online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

"Aquaculture is set to reach a landmark in 2009, supplying half of the total fish and shellfish for human consumption," the authors wrote. Between 1995 and 2007, global production of farmed fish nearly tripled in volume, in part because of rising consumer demand for long-chain omega-3 fatty acids. Oily fish, such as salmon, are a major source of these omega-3s, which are effective in reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease, according to the National Institutes of Health.

"The huge expansion is being driven by demand," said lead author Rosamond Naylor, a professor of environmental Earth system science at Stanford University and director of the Stanford Program on Food Security and the Environment. "As long as we are a health-conscious population trying to get our most healthy oils from fish, we are going to be demanding more of aquaculture and putting a lot of pressure on marine fisheries to meet that need."

Fishmeal and fish oil

To maximize growth and enhance flavor, aquaculture farms use large quantities of fishmeal and fish oil made from less valuable wild-caught species, including anchoveta and sardine. “With the production of farmed fish eclipsing that of wild fish, another major transition is also underway: Aquaculture's share of global fishmeal and fish oil consumption more than doubled over the past decade to 68 percent and 88 percent, respectively," the authors wrote.

In 2006, aquaculture production was 51.7 million metric tons, and about 20 million metric tons of wild fish were harvested for the production of fishmeal. "It can take up to five pounds of wild fish to produce one pound of salmon, and we eat a lot of salmon,” said Naylor, the William Wrigley Senior Fellow at Stanford’s Woods Institute for the Environment and Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.

One way to make salmon farming more environmentally sustainable is to simply lower the amount of fish oil in the salmon's diet. According to the authors, a mere four percent reduction in fish oil would significantly reduce the amount of wild-caught fish needed to produce a pound of salmon—from 5 pounds of wild fish to just 3.9 pounds. In contrast, reducing fishmeal use by four percent would have very little environmental impact, they said.

"Reducing the amount of fish oil in the salmon's diet definitely gets you a lot more bang for the buck than reducing the amount of fishmeal," Naylor said. "Our thirst for long-chain omega-3 oils will continue to put a lot of strain on marine ecosystems, unless we develop commercially viable alternatives soon."

Naylor and her co-authors pointed to several fish-feed substitutes currently being investigated, including protein made from grain and livestock byproducts, and long-chain omega-3 oils extracted from single-cell microorganisms and genetically modified land plants. "With appropriate economic and regulatory incentives, the transition toward alternative feedstuffs could accelerate, paving the way for a consensus that aquaculture is aiding the ocean, not depleting it," the authors wrote.

Vegetarian fish

Fishmeal and fish oil are important staples at farms that produce carnivorous fish, including salmon, trout and tuna. But vegetarian species, such as Chinese carp and tilapia, can be raised on feed made from plants instead of wild-caught fish. That's one reason why farm-raised vegetarian fish have long been considered environmentally friendly.

In the early 1990s, vegetarian fish farms began adding small amounts of fishmeal in their feed to increase yields. However, between 1995 and 2007, farmers actually reduced the share of fishmeal in carp diets by 50 percent and in tilapia diets by nearly two-thirds, according to the PNAS report. Nevertheless, in 2007, tilapia and carp farms together consumed more than 12 million metric tons of fishmeal—more than 1.5 times the amount used by shrimp and salmon farms combined.

"Our assumption about farmed tilapia and carp being environmentally friendly turns out to be wrong in aggregate, because the sheer volume is driving up the demand," Naylor said. "Even the small amounts of fishmeal used to raise vegetarian fish add up to a lot on a global scale." Removing fishmeal from the diet of tilapia and carp would have a very positive impact on the marine environment, she added.

Regulating fisheries

Reaction Statement from Conservation International World Leaders Must Adopt Japan's Proposal of Decade of Biodiversity
 
The Government of Japan on September 22, 2010, proposed to declare 2011-2020 the "UN Decade of Biodiversity" in an attempt to increase global efforts to stop the current environmental crisis. The proposal came during the UN General Assembly's first ever day dedicated to discussing biodiversity.

Conservation International's Director of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Policy, Lina Barrera, said: "We strongly support this proposal as consistent conservation work is needed over the next decades if we want to stop biodiversity loss and alleviate poverty. It is time to be ambitious and work together – governments, NGOs, individuals and businesses – to address the biggest challenges facing our planet." The pressures on nature are growing too fast and the responses have clearly not been strong enough, so we urge world leaders to adopt Japan's proposal and put the environmental crisis at the top of their agendas."

Governments across the globe have failed to deliver on targets agreed in 2002 to slow the loss of biodiversity by this year. In about a month, Japan will host the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD), when representatives from 193 countries will agree on new targets for the next decade.

Barrerra added: "As politicians make decisions based only on short term needs, our planet loses the capacity to renew itself and continue to provide us with the stocks of food, water, protection against extreme weather, and a host of incalculable cultural values that are vital for people and entire nations."

“Biodiversity is being lost at alarming rates and is affecting mainly those who are already the most vulnerable – the rural poor who directly depend on forests and the oceans for income generating activities, like fishing, craft making and tourism. Policymakers need to recognize that the environment is key for poverty alleviation and focus on long term solutions for our immediate problems.”

For more information contact: Patricia Yakabe Malentaqui, International Media Manager, Conservation International. Tel. (703) 341-2471. Email: pmalentaqui@conservation.org

Despite increasing water challenges exacerbated by climate change, draft plans developed so far by Member States are generally putting off major and necessary decisions, providing few mechanisms and little funding to achieve good status for water bodies. "These plans don’t create an impression that we are finally departing from the unsustainable practices that led us to the current water crisis," said Pieter de Pous, EEB Water Policy Officer. "For example, it is in the interests of agriculture and industry to become less vulnerable to increasingly insecure water supplies but there is very little in the plans when it comes to reducing their water consumption." There is particular concern about increasing water scarcity in Italy and Greece where it is unclear whether they are actually planning to finalize strategies that are even remotely comparable to what the rest of Europe is doing.

Some countries like the Netherlands that have lost much of their natural rivers and waters in the past, are now starting initiatives to give rivers more space for flooding and thus improving their ability to face future climate change impacts. The Netherlands also managed to secure funding for river restoration, although the amounts are still inadequate. "Worries about diverging trends now emerge from Eastern and Southern Europe, like in Czech Republic and Portugal, where rivers continue to be poured into concrete straightjackets for the purpose of navigation, flood defense, or hydropower," said de Pous. In Portugal up to 10 new hydropower dams are currently proposed for construction without any adequate consideration of the likelihood that there may not be enough water to run them.

Water pollution remains a serious issue also not sufficiently addressed in the majority of plans and large portions of Europe’s waters remain at risk of becoming unavailable or in need of expensive treatment. Water efficiency measures were particularly poor in most draft plans. A partial exception was Frances Loire Bretagne basin where a water efficiency objective is proposed for the drinking water supply for rural and urban areas. “To tackle Europe’s water challenges, Member States’ plans need to be visionary, abandoning a minimalist approach to implementation and becoming the central plank of efforts to tackle lasting food and energy security, public health, and climate challenges,” said Moroz.

For more information and to view the full report visit: http://www.panda.org/wwf_news/news/?165701/River-managers-plan-a-bleak-water-future-for-Europe

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