[Top News] from [REUTERS]
[Environment News][Science | Green Business | COP15]
Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent
OSLO
Fri May 21, 2010 1:03pm EDT
Africa revives hardy, local rice vs Asian cousin
｛アフリカの米が耐候性で蘇る、アフリカ米とアジア米で｝
(Reuters) - Scientists are reviving long-ignored African rice to cut dependence on Asian varieties that may be less able to withstand the impact of climate change on the poorest continent, a report said on Friday.
Historically, scientists have focused on breeding useful traits such as disease resistance from African rice into Asian rice. Now the focus is on the reverse -- using African rice as the basic crop and improving it with Asian genes. "African rice was initially ignored by mainstream research," said Koichi Futakuchi, a scientist at Africa Rice Center (AfricaRice) in a statement.
"Now for the first time, we're reversing the gene flow."
Asian and African rice are the only two cultivated species of the crop in the world but the usually higher-yielding Asian type, introduced to Africa by the Portuguese in the 16th century, has become the dominant type to meet surging demand.
Africa imports 40 percent of its rice with import bills estimated at $3.6 billion in 2008.
"With climate change a reality, the work of developing crop varieties adapted to the changing environment is going to keep plant breeders busy for decades," AfricaRice said in a study coinciding with U.N. International Biodiversity Day on May 22.
Better breeding will help to raise yields of the African species, formally known as Oryza glaberrima, which has pear-shaped grains and a nutty flavor and was domesticated about 3,500 years ago in West Africa.
It often grows better in harsh conditions than its Asian cousin, Oryza sativa, but yields less in good soils. "Overall it is grown only in scattered pockets, near the brink of extinction," the Benin-based AfricaRice said.
WEEDS, DISEASE
"African rice species are known for their hardiness -- their strong ability to compete with weeds, pests and diseases, volatile weather, infertile soils (including toxic levels of iron), and even human neglect," it said.
Scientists say they are overcoming problems with African rice -- the plants often fall over near maturity or scatter their seeds before harvest -- and foresee yields of 5-6 metric tones per hectare (2.471 acres) in favorable, rainfed soils.
"Farmers will only change to new varieties if they are at least as good as what they already have," AfricaRice's Semon Mande, a rice breeder, told Reuters.
The panel of U.N. climate scientists has projected that between 75 and 250 million people in Africa may face extra stress on water supplies by 2020 with everything from desertification to floods. And crop yields may fall sharply.
Countries including Nigeria, Burkina Faso and Ethiopia have already used African rice varieties developed since the 1990s. In Uganda, farmers grew 35,000 hectares (86,490 acres) of African rice in 2007 and halved rice imports from 2002-07.
(Editing by Louise Ireland)
[Environment News][U.S. | Green Business | Gulf Oil Spill]
WASHINGTON
Fri May 21, 2010 4:53pm EDT
Scenarios: Limits to government on plugging Gulf oil leak
｛シナリオ： メキシコ湾原油流出事故処理対策での米政府の限界｝
(Reuters) - A month-old gusher of oil into the Gulf of Mexico off the U.S. coast has resisted efforts by BP Plc to plug it up, and the Obama administration is under increasing pressure to do something about it.
President Barack Obama has sought to respond actively to the disaster and limit the environmental and economic impact in the Gulf.
Here are some potential scenarios for what might happen next.
WHITE HOUSE PUSHES BP
The federal government, not in the oil well business, is limited by what direct impact it can have on stopping the leak. The U.S. military does not have skills in the oil sector and officials have stressed the Pentagon is already providing whatever support it can to assist the U.S. response to the disaster.
The Obama administration has piled heavy pressure on BP to speed up its efforts to plug it up. "We are continuing to push BP to do everything that it can," said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs.
LEGAL ACTION
In terms of potential legal action, the Obama administration's Justice Department eventually could charge BP with violating U.S. environmental laws. So far, the Justice Department has not launched an investigation. Officials there say they are monitoring the situation to ensure BP pays for the cleanup as promised.
Reparations for the last major oil spill, the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster, were tied up in court for years as the company appealed an Anchorage, Alaska jury's award of $5 billion in punitive damages and it was reduced to $2.5 billion. The U.S. Congress has talked of raising a liability cap of $75 million to $10 billion for such disasters.
PAYING THE BILL
The federal government will pile heavy pressure on BP to foot the complete bill, with Americans in no mood to use taxpayer dollars for the disaster after the billions of dollars spent to bail out banks and auto companies.
ProPublica is reporting that that the Environmental Protection Agency is considering whether to bar BP from receiving U.S. government contracts, a move it said would cost the company billions of dollars in revenues and could end its drilling in federally controlled oil fields.
Obama is creating a commission to investigate the cause of the spill, evaluate industry practices and study government oversight. One likely scenario is that Obama will put off his plans to expand offshore oil drilling, making it unlikely that Republicans would join in energy legislation.
The president, whose Democrats face congressional elections in November, is getting modest marks from the public on his handling of the spill.
A Pew Research Center poll on May 11 found 38 percent of Americans approved of his handling of the oil leak and 36 percent disapproved. Opinion about Obama's performance is not as negative as opinion about former President George W. Bush's response to the flooding caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
WORST-CASE SCENARIO
The worst-case scenario is that it takes BP two more months to complete drilling a relief well that the company has said would provide the ultimate solution to halt the oil flow. A better solution: BP is working on attempting a "top kill" -- pumping heavy fluids, and then cement, into the well to stop the flow in the next few days.
"I think the best-case scenario is actually either late Sunday or early Monday as this top kill procedure works and the flow stops. ... I think worst case is it takes us until the relief well gets down which is probably early August," BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles said on CBS's "The Early Show."
(Writing by Steve Holland; Editing by Will Dunham)
[Environment News][Science | Green Business | COP15]
Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent
OSLO
Fri May 21, 2010 1:03pm EDT
Africa revives hardy, local rice vs Asian cousin
｛アフリカの米が耐候性で蘇る、アフリカ米とアジア米で｝
(Reuters) - Scientists are reviving long-ignored African rice to cut dependence on Asian varieties that may be less able to withstand the impact of climate change on the poorest continent, a report said on Friday.
Historically, scientists have focused on breeding useful traits such as disease resistance from African rice into Asian rice. Now the focus is on the reverse -- using African rice as the basic crop and improving it with Asian genes. "African rice was initially ignored by mainstream research," said Koichi Futakuchi, a scientist at Africa Rice Center (AfricaRice) in a statement.
"Now for the first time, we're reversing the gene flow."
Asian and African rice are the only two cultivated species of the crop in the world but the usually higher-yielding Asian type, introduced to Africa by the Portuguese in the 16th century, has become the dominant type to meet surging demand.
Africa imports 40 percent of its rice with import bills estimated at $3.6 billion in 2008.
"With climate change a reality, the work of developing crop varieties adapted to the changing environment is going to keep plant breeders busy for decades," AfricaRice said in a study coinciding with U.N. International Biodiversity Day on May 22.
Better breeding will help to raise yields of the African species, formally known as Oryza glaberrima, which has pear-shaped grains and a nutty flavor and was domesticated about 3,500 years ago in West Africa.
It often grows better in harsh conditions than its Asian cousin, Oryza sativa, but yields less in good soils. "Overall it is grown only in scattered pockets, near the brink of extinction," the Benin-based AfricaRice said.
WEEDS, DISEASE
"African rice species are known for their hardiness -- their strong ability to compete with weeds, pests and diseases, volatile weather, infertile soils (including toxic levels of iron), and even human neglect," it said.
Scientists say they are overcoming problems with African rice -- the plants often fall over near maturity or scatter their seeds before harvest -- and foresee yields of 5-6 metric tones per hectare (2.471 acres) in favorable, rainfed soils.
"Farmers will only change to new varieties if they are at least as good as what they already have," AfricaRice's Semon Mande, a rice breeder, told Reuters.
The panel of U.N. climate scientists has projected that between 75 and 250 million people in Africa may face extra stress on water supplies by 2020 with everything from desertification to floods. And crop yields may fall sharply.
Countries including Nigeria, Burkina Faso and Ethiopia have already used African rice varieties developed since the 1990s. In Uganda, farmers grew 35,000 hectares (86,490 acres) of African rice in 2007 and halved rice imports from 2002-07.
(Editing by Louise Ireland)
[Environment News][U.S. | Green Business | Gulf Oil Spill]
WASHINGTON
Fri May 21, 2010 4:53pm EDT
Scenarios: Limits to government on plugging Gulf oil leak
｛シナリオ： メキシコ湾原油流出事故処理対策での米政府の限界｝
(Reuters) - A month-old gusher of oil into the Gulf of Mexico off the U.S. coast has resisted efforts by BP Plc to plug it up, and the Obama administration is under increasing pressure to do something about it.
President Barack Obama has sought to respond actively to the disaster and limit the environmental and economic impact in the Gulf.
Here are some potential scenarios for what might happen next.
WHITE HOUSE PUSHES BP
The federal government, not in the oil well business, is limited by what direct impact it can have on stopping the leak. The U.S. military does not have skills in the oil sector and officials have stressed the Pentagon is already providing whatever support it can to assist the U.S. response to the disaster.
The Obama administration has piled heavy pressure on BP to speed up its efforts to plug it up. "We are continuing to push BP to do everything that it can," said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs.
LEGAL ACTION
In terms of potential legal action, the Obama administration's Justice Department eventually could charge BP with violating U.S. environmental laws. So far, the Justice Department has not launched an investigation. Officials there say they are monitoring the situation to ensure BP pays for the cleanup as promised.
Reparations for the last major oil spill, the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster, were tied up in court for years as the company appealed an Anchorage, Alaska jury's award of $5 billion in punitive damages and it was reduced to $2.5 billion. The U.S. Congress has talked of raising a liability cap of $75 million to $10 billion for such disasters.
PAYING THE BILL
The federal government will pile heavy pressure on BP to foot the complete bill, with Americans in no mood to use taxpayer dollars for the disaster after the billions of dollars spent to bail out banks and auto companies.
ProPublica is reporting that that the Environmental Protection Agency is considering whether to bar BP from receiving U.S. government contracts, a move it said would cost the company billions of dollars in revenues and could end its drilling in federally controlled oil fields.
Obama is creating a commission to investigate the cause of the spill, evaluate industry practices and study government oversight. One likely scenario is that Obama will put off his plans to expand offshore oil drilling, making it unlikely that Republicans would join in energy legislation.
The president, whose Democrats face congressional elections in November, is getting modest marks from the public on his handling of the spill.
A Pew Research Center poll on May 11 found 38 percent of Americans approved of his handling of the oil leak and 36 percent disapproved. Opinion about Obama's performance is not as negative as opinion about former President George W. Bush's response to the flooding caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
WORST-CASE SCENARIO
The worst-case scenario is that it takes BP two more months to complete drilling a relief well that the company has said would provide the ultimate solution to halt the oil flow. A better solution: BP is working on attempting a "top kill" -- pumping heavy fluids, and then cement, into the well to stop the flow in the next few days.
"I think the best-case scenario is actually either late Sunday or early Monday as this top kill procedure works and the flow stops. ... I think worst case is it takes us until the relief well gets down which is probably early August," BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles said on CBS's "The Early Show."
(Writing by Steve Holland; Editing by Will Dunham)
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