The Human Imprint

Oil spill in Gulf of Mexico

This video shows the terrible impact of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The oil is heading to shore.

Agriculture and food security trust fund launched

The FAO has welcomed the launch of the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP). It is a new multidonor trust fund managed by the World Bank to improve food security and incomes in low-income countries through assistance to agriculture.

"The new mechanism is designed to address the underfunding of country and regional agriculture and food security investment plans, making aid more predictable in the fight against hunger and poverty. The fund’s founding donors, Canada, the Republic of Korea, Spain, the United States of America and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation pledged initial contributions totalling $880 million."

UK water system is 'unsustainable', says Severn Trent

Check out this article in The Telegraph about the current problems with water supply in the UK. very concerning.

Poor rains impact food production in Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso and Mali

The FAO Media Centre reports that the FAO is increasing aid to herders and pastoralists in Niger and Chad amid a growing food crisis caused by last year’s poor rains that have resulted in a steep decline in agricultural production and dried out livestock pastures.

"An estimated 9.8 million people are now vulnerable to severe hunger in the two countries, with thousands more under threat in the north of Burkina Faso and northeast Mali.  UN and government surveys in most of the east Sahelian countries indicate a prevalence of global acute malnutrition higher than 16 percent. These rates exceed the World Health Organization (WHO) critical threshold. 
In addition, food prices remain high, making it even harder for poor farmers and pastoralists to buy food."  Follow the link to find out more.   

World forests 'being flushed down the toilet'

This article title really caught my eye!

Euractive.com reports that the Worldwatch Institute states that "As global population grows and access to sanitation improves, the world's forests are "under assault" from paper companies competing to respond to growing consumer demand for toilet tissue, the only paper product that cannot be recycled after use. Steadily increasing demand for toilet paper in developing countries is a critical factor in the impact that toilet paper manufacturers have on forests around the world."

This is a factor I had never considered until now - 6 billion people - a lot of paper!

Volcanic flight ban hits Kenya farm workers

BBC News reports that thousands of farm workers in Kenya have been temporarily laid off because of the volcanic ash over Europe that has grounded flights.

"The head of the Kenya Flower Council has told the BBC that 3,000 tonnes of flowers have already been discarded. Other African industries, like Uganda's fish and flower export businesses, have also been affected by the grounding of planes .." Follow the link to find out more.

Toxic ash threatens Iceland animals

BBC News reports that farmers in southern Iceland have been trying to protect their animals from being poisoned by volcanic dust. "The animals are at risk of fluoride poisoning if they inhale or ingest the ash, leading to internal bleeding, long-term bone damage and teeth loss. Sheep, cattle and horses were rushed to shelter after they got lost in a fog of ash in areas near an erupting volcano. Areas south of the Eyjafjallajoekull volcano have been caked in a layer of grey ash some 10cm (four inches) thick." Follow the link to find out more. 

Water footprint report

BBC News reports that the Engineering the Future alliance of professional engineering bodies has said that the fact that the UK's water footprint is largely outside its national borders is unsustainable, given population growth and climate change. The report concludes that the "amount of water used to produce food and goods imported by developed countries is worsening water shortages in the developing world". The report, focusing on the UK, says two-thirds of the water used to make UK imports is used outside its borders (different figure from the one I quoted yesterday from 2007).

"If the water crisis becomes critical, it will pose a serious threat to the UK's future development because of the impact it would have on our access to vital resources." Check out this fascinating article.

Water footprint outside national borders

It is nearly three years now since my "Eureka" moment during my Nuffield when I contemplated water footprints. In my final presentation, I spoke about the fact that 80% of the UK's water footprint for the goods and food that it uses is outside our national boundaries i.e. we totally rely on water belonging to someone else for our food, our clothes, cars etc  etc.

Is this a good thing for the UK? Are global supply chains becoming more brittle? Volanic ash has demonstrated that they can be vulnerable to risks that we do not control within those supply chains but those risks are assessed, managed and where possible mitigated on a daily basis by many organisations.

In the developing world water is seen as key natural capital that can be used to create products that can be sold to create cash income and develop lives and communities and that is the juxtaposition that we face. Switching natural capital into financial capital whether it is water or forest is good in the short to medium term for an economy but natural capital can take generations to replenish if it can be replenished at all and is the ultimate foundation of our survival.

Who does water belong to will be the  mantra of the present and the future.

Chinese earthquake

The number of victims of the chinese earthquake continues to soar above 1100. There seems to have been continual plate movement causing earthquakea and volcanos these last few months. Check out this Times article which makes sobering reading.