GLOBAL WARMING WARNING FOR SOUTH ASIA [World Bank, February 14, 2007] From the Himalayas, which feed water to a billion people, to the coastal areas of Bangladesh, South Asian countries must prepare for the effects of global warming, even as they work to combat the human causes of climate change. In Washington for a two day legislators conference on climate change, Sir Nicholas Stern said even a moderate rise in temperatures could cause serious changes to the environment in South Asia. Stern led the eponymous Stern Review, which last year examined the economic impact of climate change. “You have to give examples from around the world for people to really understand what’s going on. In India and China, I think people understand the rising water stress, and how vulnerable they are to melting glaciers and snows from the Himalayas,” Stern said. He used the analogy of the Himalayas as a sponge, moderating the impact of precipitation as seasons change. “Precipitation comes, and it’s held there. That’s how you get water in the rivers. That effect will not be there if the glaciers and snow are not there. Which means you’ll get torrents during the wet season and dry rivers in the dry season. So you’ll get a combination of flood and drought,” Stern said. “We also don’t know what effect that will have on the monsoon, and it could have quite a strong effect. That kind of thing is being studied now,” he added. The Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology supplies climate change data to SAARC nations, and is engaged in its largest recruitment drive in a decade. Agriculture represents a fourth of India’s national income, and that sector could be seriously disrupted by changes to the monsoon. Mitigation strategies are needed to deal with the risks. “We have to adapt how we handle water extraction, and irrigation. Water management is involved in all of this. Work has to be done on what crops would be resilient,” Stern said. Urban areas throughout the region are also at risk, as water supplies could be disrupted over time. Infrastructure must be upgraded for sanitation and drinking water, as well as for adequate storm drainage in areas prone to flooding.

LOSS OF FOREST TREES CAUSES CRITICAL SITUATION IN SENEGAL [Inter Press Service (IPS) Cotonou, Senegal, April 3, 2007] Where does a four-fold increase in a country's population over half a century make itself felt most acutely? Concerning Senegal, the answer to this might well be: in the forests. At the time of independence in 1960, the West African country was home to three million people. By 1976, the figure had increased to seven million, while in July 2006 it stood at some 11.9 million. This quadrupling of the population in 47 years has led to an increase in the amount of land under cultivation, rising demand for firewood and charcoal, and accelerated urbanisation. The result: Senegal loses about 350,000 hectares of its forests annually to fires that are frequently started to clear land for farming, and more than 80,000 hectares for agricultural needs, according to the Centre for Environmental Preservation (Centre pour la sauvegarde de l'environnement, CSE). The average number of trees per hectare in the country, estimated at more than 250 during the colonial era, dropped to less than 20 trees per hectare by 1995, says the CSE -- this in a study titled 'Phenomena of Drought and Desertification in Senegal' ('Phénomènes de la sécheresse et de la désertification au Sénégal'), commissioned in 2006. "Senegal has long since passed the threshold of the sustainable exploitation of its forest resources," observes Mansour Fall, an agricultural scientist. This situation can spell disaster in a country already at a disadvantage because of scarce, sporadic rains -- and where drought, as Swedish geographer Tod Nicholson has written, "is a permanent threat." Senegal forms part of the Sahel, which extends from the Sahara to Equatorial areas. The region has only one rainy season, which rarely exceeds four months. Slight irregularities in rainfall can have serious consequences for crops, vegetation and animals. The serious drought that took place between 1971 and 1990, one of the worst in Senegal's history, quickly saw early signs of desertification, such as soil erosion. Across the length and breadth of the country, thousands of hectares of forests withered, particularly in the Senegal River valley and the Lingère region in the north. Expanses of oil palms, such as those at Niayes in the Thiès region in the centre-west of the country, disappeared almost completely. Various governments grasped the dangers posed by desertification and initiated programs to protect and restore forests, often through planting trees to meet timber and firewood needs. Planting also took place around marshy areas to provide a buffer against sandstorms. According to the CES, similar efforts were made around the Senegalese capital, Dakar, and to shield crops -- such as those in Niayes. But, it has sometimes been a case of two steps forward, three steps back. While 213 wooded areas covering millions of hectares currently exist in Senegal, a number of these have now been severely compromised by human activity, says the CSE -- prompting a renewed drive for reforestation, supported by the international community. Projects are planned with a view to involving communities living alongside forests, to ensure that progress is maintained. At the same time, the Senegalese government has tried to limit forest exploitation for domestic needs through initiatives to improve household energy use and to promote the use of gas -- as well as through raising the price of firewood and charcoal. According to Fall, firewood and charcoal provide for 63 percent of the country's energy requirements, while petrol imports cover the remaining 37 percent. Map courtesy of SITES ATLAS