ScienceDaily — Researchers from Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) and CREAF have developed the Suitability Atlas of Woody Plants of the Iberian Peninsula, a series of digital maps available online which for the first time reveal the present and future degree of adaptation to climate conditions of the main plant species found in the forests throughout the Iberian Peninsula. Data shows the tendency of forests to move higher in altitude and migrate towards the north.
Today, territory and species conservation managers need to rely on data and empirical methods on which to base their protection policies. Within the context of Global Change, the maps offered can be useful to evaluate possible changes in the distribution of forests in the future, which could lead to an in depth study of mitigation and/or adaptation tools needed to face these changes.
Until now, a few maps had been drawn for specific woody plants or for partial areas of the peninsula. The Suitability Atlas of Woody Plants however offers a global view of the Iberian Peninsula. The series of maps were created to determine the degree of suitability to climate and/or topographic conditions of the forests' main woody plants. With the help of these maps one can verify, in an area of 200 metres, the topo-climatic suitability of the Iberian Peninsula. In addition, these values can be consulted for the current climatic scenario (1950-1998) and for future projections proposed by one of the foremost research centres dedicated to climate change, the Hadley Centre, located in Exeter, UK.
The Atlas combines advanced methodologies and technologies such as Geographic Information Systems, multivariate statistics and interoperable geoportals to offer both rigorous cartographic standards and information that can be consulted by the general public.
The Atlas was developed by a group of researchers from the UAB Department of Animal Biology, Plant Biology and Ecology, in collaboration with the Centre for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications (CREAF), under the framework of the R&D&I National Plan.
Main features of the Atlas
* Completeness: covering almost all woody species found in forests
* Quality initial data: both the Digital Climate Atlas of the Iberian Peninsula (ACDPI) and the third National Forest Inventory are cartography databases with high spatial resolution and with proven data quality.
* Detailed resolution: 200 m spatial resolution
* Objectivity: numerical quality (known level of error) calculated and documented for each map.
* Interoperability: format in which maps can be viewed allows users to contrast information with other map databases
* Accessibility: maps can be consulted online in GIS format without the need of additional installations.
First results
Researchers have already obtained the first scientific results with the help of Atlas data. They were able to verify that many species could be affected by the reduction in suitability in the regions they currently inhabit. They detected a tendency in forests to migrate towards higher altitudes and more northern latitudes. In this sense, mountain ranges such as the Pyrenees are seen as important protection areas of biodiversity within the context of Climate Change.
Nevertheless, not all species react the same when suffering the consequences of climate change. Species such as aleppo pine, stone pine, or holm oak are more resistant and may even occupy larger areas in the future. In contrast, species such as scots pine or beech are more affected by rising temperatures and longer dry periods and therefore the space they occupy may begin to decrease.
At these moments researchers are studying the total forest surface which could be lost or substituted by scrubs, as well as interactions between forest species when their area of distribution is modified. The fact that forest surfaces are decreasing is of great relevance, since this represents a reduction in CO2 consumption, an increase in the risk of land erosion and modifications in water cycles.
Showing posts with label latest news. Show all posts
Showing posts with label latest news. Show all posts
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Developing Countries Can Cut Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Help the Poor
ScienceDaily — In the developing world, reducing greenhouse gas emissions is often seen as being in conflict with alleviating poverty, since improving the standard of living is usually associated with increased energy use.
A clean energy development initiative in rural Nicaragua, however, demonstrates that there are cost effective steps developing nations can take to reduce carbon emissions and at the same time help the rural poor reduce their energy expenses, according to researchers from the University of California, Berkeley.
In a report in this week's issue of the journal Science, UC Berkeley graduate student Christian E. Casillas and professor Daniel M. Kammen analyze simple steps taken by Nicaragua's Ministry of Energy & Mines and the nonprofit blueEnergy to reduce the cost of energy while reducing carbon emissions for a community of 172 households on the country's Mosquito Coast.
The villages of Orinoco and Marshall Point are off the nation's electric grid and obtain their power from diesel generators, according to Casillas. Until last year, however, the homes had no electricity meters; homeowners were billed according to the appliances they owned. This, Casillas said, encouraged indiscriminate energy use, with lights, televisions and radios remaining on, even when not being used.
After the government installed meters, however, energy use dropped by 28 percent, and many people's electric bills also dropped.
The non-governmental organization blueEnergy, whose administrative office is in San Francisco, subsequently worked with the government to institute in Orinoco and Marshall Point a simple energy conservation campaign: Villagers were offered two efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL) in exchange for two incandescent bulbs. This program reduced household energy use by an additional 17 percent, on average.
The net result was less diesel burned, even allowing for the fact that the community's reduced energy needs allowed the local energy supplier to run its generators two extra hours each day, providing longer service to customers. In the month after the conservation campaign, electricity bills dropped in 37 percent of the households in Orinoco.
"What we are saying is, if you're thinking about some of the lowest hanging fruit to lower greenhouse gas emissions, rural communities should be one of the first places you look for making small but very cheap carbon reductions," said Casillas, who is an advisor to blueEnergy.
Microgrids like the one in Nicaragua, often powered by diesel generators, are found by the thousands around the world, particularly in India and China, Casillas added.
"They're dirty, have high emissions, high energy costs and questionable reliability, so targeting these microgrids has the potential for improving access to energy services for those communities while at the same time, for the dollars invested, getting greater reductions in carbon emissions than you might get investing in similar measures where the cost of energy is cheaper, such as in the cities," he said.
"We hope that this paper will spur a wave of efforts to build similar community level carbon abatement and energy service tools, so that communities often ignored or lumped together as 'those billions without modern energy' can create their own locally appropriate development goals, and groups working with them can develop energy solutions, not just efforts to disperse hardware," said Kammen, a Distinguished Professor of Energy at UC Berkeley who is currently serving as the chief technical specialist for renewable energy and energy efficiency for the World Bank. Kammen also is director of UC Berkeley's Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory and a professor in both the Energy and Resources Group and the Goldman School of Public Policy.
The researchers used an economic tool called a marginal abatement cost (MAC) curve to analyze energy use in the community and to pinpoint the areas where investments would save the most energy and the most money. The tool, popularized by the global management consulting firm McKinsey & Company, has typically been used on a global or country-wide scale to target areas for carbon abatement, but not for assessing small communities, Casillas said.
The cheapest investments for the impact turned out to be the ones taken by the government and blueEnergy, though the model predicts further energy and carbon savings from other simple measures, such as more effective public lighting and use of biogas and wind turbines.
"The advantage of this cost curve for local governments that may have as their mandate better energy services is that it can tell them what the cheapest investments are and how much emissions reductions they'll be able to get for their investments," Casillas said. "This allows them to see, with the limited funds available, how to get the most bang for the buck."
"This paper presents a theoretical and analytic framework that opens a vital new door to value the time, energy and opportunities for the rural poor and those on the outskirts of urban areas. It also recognizes the carbon and financial benefits of integrated strategies that combine energy efficiency with renewable energy to meet energy access, climate protection and economic development goals," Kammen said.
This work was supported by the Energy Foundation, the Karsten Family Foundation, and UC Berkeley's Class of 1935.
A clean energy development initiative in rural Nicaragua, however, demonstrates that there are cost effective steps developing nations can take to reduce carbon emissions and at the same time help the rural poor reduce their energy expenses, according to researchers from the University of California, Berkeley.
In a report in this week's issue of the journal Science, UC Berkeley graduate student Christian E. Casillas and professor Daniel M. Kammen analyze simple steps taken by Nicaragua's Ministry of Energy & Mines and the nonprofit blueEnergy to reduce the cost of energy while reducing carbon emissions for a community of 172 households on the country's Mosquito Coast.
The villages of Orinoco and Marshall Point are off the nation's electric grid and obtain their power from diesel generators, according to Casillas. Until last year, however, the homes had no electricity meters; homeowners were billed according to the appliances they owned. This, Casillas said, encouraged indiscriminate energy use, with lights, televisions and radios remaining on, even when not being used.
After the government installed meters, however, energy use dropped by 28 percent, and many people's electric bills also dropped.
The non-governmental organization blueEnergy, whose administrative office is in San Francisco, subsequently worked with the government to institute in Orinoco and Marshall Point a simple energy conservation campaign: Villagers were offered two efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL) in exchange for two incandescent bulbs. This program reduced household energy use by an additional 17 percent, on average.
The net result was less diesel burned, even allowing for the fact that the community's reduced energy needs allowed the local energy supplier to run its generators two extra hours each day, providing longer service to customers. In the month after the conservation campaign, electricity bills dropped in 37 percent of the households in Orinoco.
"What we are saying is, if you're thinking about some of the lowest hanging fruit to lower greenhouse gas emissions, rural communities should be one of the first places you look for making small but very cheap carbon reductions," said Casillas, who is an advisor to blueEnergy.
Microgrids like the one in Nicaragua, often powered by diesel generators, are found by the thousands around the world, particularly in India and China, Casillas added.
"They're dirty, have high emissions, high energy costs and questionable reliability, so targeting these microgrids has the potential for improving access to energy services for those communities while at the same time, for the dollars invested, getting greater reductions in carbon emissions than you might get investing in similar measures where the cost of energy is cheaper, such as in the cities," he said.
"We hope that this paper will spur a wave of efforts to build similar community level carbon abatement and energy service tools, so that communities often ignored or lumped together as 'those billions without modern energy' can create their own locally appropriate development goals, and groups working with them can develop energy solutions, not just efforts to disperse hardware," said Kammen, a Distinguished Professor of Energy at UC Berkeley who is currently serving as the chief technical specialist for renewable energy and energy efficiency for the World Bank. Kammen also is director of UC Berkeley's Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory and a professor in both the Energy and Resources Group and the Goldman School of Public Policy.
The researchers used an economic tool called a marginal abatement cost (MAC) curve to analyze energy use in the community and to pinpoint the areas where investments would save the most energy and the most money. The tool, popularized by the global management consulting firm McKinsey & Company, has typically been used on a global or country-wide scale to target areas for carbon abatement, but not for assessing small communities, Casillas said.
The cheapest investments for the impact turned out to be the ones taken by the government and blueEnergy, though the model predicts further energy and carbon savings from other simple measures, such as more effective public lighting and use of biogas and wind turbines.
"The advantage of this cost curve for local governments that may have as their mandate better energy services is that it can tell them what the cheapest investments are and how much emissions reductions they'll be able to get for their investments," Casillas said. "This allows them to see, with the limited funds available, how to get the most bang for the buck."
"This paper presents a theoretical and analytic framework that opens a vital new door to value the time, energy and opportunities for the rural poor and those on the outskirts of urban areas. It also recognizes the carbon and financial benefits of integrated strategies that combine energy efficiency with renewable energy to meet energy access, climate protection and economic development goals," Kammen said.
This work was supported by the Energy Foundation, the Karsten Family Foundation, and UC Berkeley's Class of 1935.
Nepali butler inherits New York fortune
By Salim Rizvi in New York
Until a few months ago, he was a butler in one of the more expensive residential buildings in Manhattan. But now, Nepal-born Indra Tamang is the owner of two multi-million dollar apartments in the same building.
The former owner - his former employer, Ruth Ford - died last year and left the apartments in the historic Dakota Building on the Upper West Side to Mr Tamang in her will, along with a valuable Russian surrealist art collection.
The estate is estimated to be worth nearly $10m (£6.8m).
Mr Tamang is happy but quickly points out that his good fortune did not come easily.
"I am happy and have been humbled by the generosity of the Ford family," he says. "I never expected that I will be given the ownership of these apartments.
"But I have been working for the family for the last 36 years, loyally, with honesty and dedication. So my hard work has been rewarded."
Relaxed masters
Mr Tamang was 21 when he was brought from Nepal as a domestic help by Charles Ford, a writer and a photographer.
Mr Ford died in 2002; his sister, actress Ruth Ford, then took charge and told Mr Tamang that he was like a brother to her after Charles's death.
"Charles was like my father," recalls Mr Tamang. "And Ruth has also been very kind to me and I took very good care of her. She used to lovingly call me 'Tamang darling'."
"They were very relaxed masters who treated me like a member of the family. I travelled with them all over the world."
Mrs Ford died aged 98. During the last five years of her life, she lost her eyesight and also developed speech problems. Mr Tamang looked after her most of the time and took care of her medicines and food.
He also worked with Charles Ford on various photography projects, which he now wants to keep as the photographer's legacy. He hopes to organise exhibitions of Mr Ford's photographs and compile a book of his works.
With the story of Mr Tamang's inheritance doing the rounds, the Dakota Building has seen an increase in visitor numbers. It also has links with the Beatles star John Lennon, who died there.
A doorman at the gate to the mansion block said he had been busy since morning, answering questions from visitors.
Mr Tamang plans to sell the bigger, three-bedroom apartment to pay the taxes he owes to the government on his inheritance.
He has not yet asked the co-operative board of the Dakota building for permission to live in his apartments.
But, he says: "The rules of the co-op might be a problem, as they require a minimum monthly income to qualify to live as owner of apartments."
For now, he plans to live in his modest home in Queens. "I have my small house here but I am happy with it," Mr Tamang says.
'Hard worker'
He first got news of the windfall last August, when the family's lawyers told him about the apartments left in his name.
However, the biological daughter of Ruth Ford challenged the will in court and the case was not settled until April this year.
The story made it into the press only this week. Since then, Mr Tamang has been interviewed by several TV channels from the US and abroad.
The former butler, now 57, insists that he has not changed at all following the unexpected turn in his life.
"I am the same Tamang as I have been before all this happened and I will remain like this in future too."
Friends have been coming from all over the city to congratulate him.
Friend and neighbour Narbada says: "Indra Tamang is a very honest and good person, always ready to help others. I am so happy for him, he deserves every bit of it. He worked very hard for many decades."
'Safety fears'
But one Nepali community activist, who did not want to give her name, said that many members of the community had not treated Mr Tamang well before the news of the multi-million dollar legacy started making the rounds.
Mr Tamang's wife, Radhika, is also not entirely happy with the turn of events.
She says that they have not received any money as yet - but they are still being projected as millionaires. She fears for the safety of the family. The couple have a 10-year-old daughter, Zina, who is also trying to figure out what has suddenly changed in their lives.
Mr Tamang says that he will get much less than the estimated $10m value of the legacy after taxes and fees.
But looking forward to receiving a sizeable sum, he says: "When I get some money from the sale of the apartment, I will try and pay the mortgage of my home in Queens. But I will keep my other apartment and use it for exhibitions etc."
Memoir plans
Mr Tamang was born in a small village called Fahil, in the Makanpur district of Nepal.
He says that his mother, two children from his first marriage and his brothers and sisters who still live in his village have no idea about his multi-million dollar inheritance thousands of miles away in New York.
He now plans to visit his family, whom he has not seen for many years.
He also encourages other Nepalis living in America to work hard and be honest in their work.
One day, he plans to write an autobiography, with some help from others. But for now, Mr Tamang plans to take it easy and relax for a while.
He has learnt his lesson from the life of his employers and plans to use his money with great caution.
"I think one should save money for old age. That's when you need it the most to get care," he says.
Until a few months ago, he was a butler in one of the more expensive residential buildings in Manhattan. But now, Nepal-born Indra Tamang is the owner of two multi-million dollar apartments in the same building.
The former owner - his former employer, Ruth Ford - died last year and left the apartments in the historic Dakota Building on the Upper West Side to Mr Tamang in her will, along with a valuable Russian surrealist art collection.
The estate is estimated to be worth nearly $10m (£6.8m).
Mr Tamang is happy but quickly points out that his good fortune did not come easily.
"I am happy and have been humbled by the generosity of the Ford family," he says. "I never expected that I will be given the ownership of these apartments.
"But I have been working for the family for the last 36 years, loyally, with honesty and dedication. So my hard work has been rewarded."
Relaxed masters
Mr Tamang was 21 when he was brought from Nepal as a domestic help by Charles Ford, a writer and a photographer.
Mr Ford died in 2002; his sister, actress Ruth Ford, then took charge and told Mr Tamang that he was like a brother to her after Charles's death.
"Charles was like my father," recalls Mr Tamang. "And Ruth has also been very kind to me and I took very good care of her. She used to lovingly call me 'Tamang darling'."
"They were very relaxed masters who treated me like a member of the family. I travelled with them all over the world."
Mrs Ford died aged 98. During the last five years of her life, she lost her eyesight and also developed speech problems. Mr Tamang looked after her most of the time and took care of her medicines and food.
He also worked with Charles Ford on various photography projects, which he now wants to keep as the photographer's legacy. He hopes to organise exhibitions of Mr Ford's photographs and compile a book of his works.
With the story of Mr Tamang's inheritance doing the rounds, the Dakota Building has seen an increase in visitor numbers. It also has links with the Beatles star John Lennon, who died there.
A doorman at the gate to the mansion block said he had been busy since morning, answering questions from visitors.
Mr Tamang plans to sell the bigger, three-bedroom apartment to pay the taxes he owes to the government on his inheritance.
He has not yet asked the co-operative board of the Dakota building for permission to live in his apartments.
But, he says: "The rules of the co-op might be a problem, as they require a minimum monthly income to qualify to live as owner of apartments."
For now, he plans to live in his modest home in Queens. "I have my small house here but I am happy with it," Mr Tamang says.
'Hard worker'
He first got news of the windfall last August, when the family's lawyers told him about the apartments left in his name.
However, the biological daughter of Ruth Ford challenged the will in court and the case was not settled until April this year.
The story made it into the press only this week. Since then, Mr Tamang has been interviewed by several TV channels from the US and abroad.
The former butler, now 57, insists that he has not changed at all following the unexpected turn in his life.
"I am the same Tamang as I have been before all this happened and I will remain like this in future too."
Friends have been coming from all over the city to congratulate him.
Friend and neighbour Narbada says: "Indra Tamang is a very honest and good person, always ready to help others. I am so happy for him, he deserves every bit of it. He worked very hard for many decades."
'Safety fears'
But one Nepali community activist, who did not want to give her name, said that many members of the community had not treated Mr Tamang well before the news of the multi-million dollar legacy started making the rounds.
Mr Tamang's wife, Radhika, is also not entirely happy with the turn of events.
She says that they have not received any money as yet - but they are still being projected as millionaires. She fears for the safety of the family. The couple have a 10-year-old daughter, Zina, who is also trying to figure out what has suddenly changed in their lives.
Mr Tamang says that he will get much less than the estimated $10m value of the legacy after taxes and fees.
But looking forward to receiving a sizeable sum, he says: "When I get some money from the sale of the apartment, I will try and pay the mortgage of my home in Queens. But I will keep my other apartment and use it for exhibitions etc."
Memoir plans
Mr Tamang was born in a small village called Fahil, in the Makanpur district of Nepal.
He says that his mother, two children from his first marriage and his brothers and sisters who still live in his village have no idea about his multi-million dollar inheritance thousands of miles away in New York.
He now plans to visit his family, whom he has not seen for many years.
He also encourages other Nepalis living in America to work hard and be honest in their work.
One day, he plans to write an autobiography, with some help from others. But for now, Mr Tamang plans to take it easy and relax for a while.
He has learnt his lesson from the life of his employers and plans to use his money with great caution.
"I think one should save money for old age. That's when you need it the most to get care," he says.
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