GOLD NANOPARTICLES IN SOLAR STERILISERS GOOD FOR FAR HINTERLANDS

GOLD NANOPARTICLES IN SOLAR STERILISERS GOOD FOR FAR HINTERLANDS

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Another brightening news for developing countries, more so the poorer communities in far flung areas, is the innovation of solar grid devices that can sterilize medical equipment and human waste. The solar device, developed by experts from the Rice University in the USA, can produce steam which precisely is what is needed for spot sterilization.

To add luster to the brightening news, the innovation uses nanoparticles from gold which in turn get attached to the solar panel grid. The nanoparticles produce steam, as per result of experiments, yet they don’t get consumed or destroyed and thus get to be re-used again.

The great news could surely warm up the faces of social development teams who do health missions in far hinterlands. More so for the medical professionals in the teams, who no longer need to worry about where and how to sterilize their equipment when they do tough missions in very poor communities in far hinterlands.

Below is the reportorial about the gladdening news.

[Manila, 26 August 2013]

Source: http://www.scidev.net/global/energy/news/off-grid-solar-sterilisers-could-aid-remote-areas.html

Off-grid solar sterilisers could aid remote areas

U.S. Air Force/Tech. Sgt. Bennie J. Davis III

Speed read

·         The off-grid devices create steam using sunshine, water and nanoparticles

·         Both prototypes passed a standard test for steam-based sterilisation systems

·         But questions remain about their cost and what support will be provided

[CAIRO] A solar-powered steriliser could provide remote areas in the developing world with a portable, off-grid solution for sanitising medical instruments and equipment, according to a study.

In remote, resource-poor locations, the lack of readily available sterilisation processes for medical or dental tools increases the risk of disease propagation.

Now, researchers from Rice University in the United States have developed two prototype sterilisation devices that harness the sun's power: one to sanitise medical equipment and the other to sterilise human waste without the need for an external electricity source. Their work was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences last month (8 July).

Both devices are modified versions of the steam-based autoclave systems used in modern medical facilities to eradicate infectious microorganisms from surfaces and liquids with a blast of high-pressure steam.

"Although steam-based sterilization is the primary method of choice for the processing of medical waste in the developed world, the large energy requirement for operation is the fundamental limitation for its adoption in developing countries, with limited or nonexistent access to sources of electricity sufficient to power such systems," the study says.

The new devices consist of a vessel containing water and gold nanoparticles that is placed in sunshine collected using a solar dish. The nanoparticles absorb the sunlight and this heat produces steam.

The process does not damage the nanoparticles, so they can be reused.

The systems maintain temperatures between 115 and 132 degrees Celsius for the time period sufficient to sterilise the contents of a 14.2 litre volume, which is in accordance with US Food and Drug Administration sterilisation guidelines.

Both devices passed the standard test of killing a reference strain of the heat-resistant bacteria Geobacillus stearothermophilus — used to check the performance of standard steam-based autoclave systems — in a sample over 30 minutes.

The researchers say their prototypes could be altered to provide steam for direct use in water purification, cooking, or electricity generation. However, they declined to comment on whether the devices have been field-tested, who will produce them and how they will be made available to developing countries.

Lead researcher Naomi Halas, professor of biomedical engineering at the university, tells SciDev.Net: "We would prefer not to answer questions regarding our technology. Any information not disclosed in our paper is not for public knowledge at the present time."

Tony Collins, managing director of UK-based autoclave manufacturer Priorclave, says that the devices could have a significant impact in developing countries, but also suggests a modification.

"Some consideration should be given to a method of ensuring the items to be sterilised stay at or above the required temperature for the required time without having to watch the process," he says.

Hilmi Salem, a research professor and director-general of the Applied Sciences and Engineering Research Centres at Palestine Technical University, says that the use of gold nanoparticles raises questions about cost and whether the devices will be affordable to poor communities.

"It remains to be seen whether the apparatus and technical support will be available to them under manageable and suitable terms," Salem adds.

> Link to the paper

HIGH SCIENCE RESEARCH = FASTER ECONOMIC GROWTH

HIGH SCIENCE RESEARCH = FASTER ECONOMIC GROWTH

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Venezuelan science experts are of the contention that basic science is directly correlated to economic development. Though not necessarily the cause of economic development, conducting high levels of basic science research shows a correlation to economic development.

I’ve always been an advocate of ‘physical economy’ paradigm of economic growth. The good news from Venezuela practically supports the contention of pro-physical economy who had tirelessly cogitated that shoring up recessionary economies should be done by prioritizing investments and expenditures in agriculture, manufacturing, infrastructure, transportation & communications, and science & technology.

The Venezuelan scientific report reveals that high investments in basic science shows a great deal of rationality among planners and decision-makers, which in turn yields good decisions that sustain economic development. The scientists went on to caution that skipping on basic science would do harm to a developing economy.

There just may be too few quarters in the world that would raise howls about such an argument, which is shown in the report below.

[Manila, 20 August 2013]

Source: http://www.scidev.net/global/r-d/news/basic-science-linked-to-faster-economic-growth.html

Basic science linked to faster economic growth

O. Usher (UCL Mathematical and Physical Sciences)

Speed read

·         Productivity in basic sciences correlates with economic growth, but does not directly cause it

·         Scientific productivity is a better wealth growth predictor than many other competitiveness indices

·         But benefits of investment in science should be weighed against investment in other development projects

Middle-income countries that focus on basic sciences, such as physics and chemistry, grow their economies faster than nations that invest in applied sciences, such as medicine or psychology, according to a paper by Venezuelan researchers.

They say that "investing in basic scientific research seem[s] to be the best way a middle-income country can foment fast economic growth", although they found no direct cause and effect between basic science and economic development.

Instead, they believe that investment in basic sciences — as indicated by the proportion of published articles in these fields — reveals a rational, decision-making atmosphere within a country and among its leaders, as well as promoting economic growth.

Klaus Jaffe, lead author of the paper and coordinator of the Centre for Strategic Studies of Simón Bolívar University in Venezuela, tells SciDev.Net that the correlation between scientific productivity and economic growth "has always been suspected, but there has been very little evidence that supports this idea.

"We had been observing that poor or middle-income countries were growing at a different pace than the developed ones and we wanted to know why."

The study, published in PLOS One last month (12 June), set out to investigate if some areas of science promote development more than others, and if applied sciences are better at advancing economic development than basic sciences.

The researchers examined the correlation between World Bank data on the growth of GDP (gross domestic product) per capita and the proportion of scientific publications in different scientific fields.

They found scientific productivity in basic science, including physics, chemistry and material sciences, correlated strongly with countries' economic growth over the following five years.
 

“The most important thing is to invest in basic sciences. Those who try to skip this step fail.”

Klaus Jaffe

And preferential investment in technology, without investment in basic sciences, achieved little economic development, the say. "Thus, technology without science is unlikely to be sustainable."

They also discovered that scientific productivity was a much better predictor of economic wealth and the Human Development Index — a composite of life expectancy, education and income indices used to rank countries' development — than other commonly used indices, such as indices of competitiveness or globalisation.

"The results of our paper demonstrate that the most important thing [for sustainable development] is to invest in basic sciences. Those who try to skip this step fail," says Jaffe.

Looking ahead, the ranking of scientific productivity in 2010 showed that countries with the greatest focus on physics were "among the fastest growing economies in 2012. Regrettably, no country from Africa or Latin America is on this list."

Jaffe says that "the situation is different in every nation. Most countries of Africa, for example, are trying to build the infrastructure they need to be able to do proper research. In addition, this competes with trying to find solutions to everyday problems to guarantee people's subsistence."

Douglas Gollin, professor of development economics at the University of Oxford, United Kingdom, says research is needed to analyse what type of investment brings the greatest benefits.

"You would want to compare the returns from basic science research with the returns from more applied research on agriculture or health," he says.

"You should also compare the returns with other investments in public goods: in infrastructure, primary healthcare, primary and secondary education and so on. Of all the things that the government can invest in, is this one that generates the greatest improvement in public welfare?"

Link to full study

References

PLOS One doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0066239 (2013)

RICE VARIETY FOR DROUGHT YIELDS 3.5 TIMES HIGHER

RICE VARIETY FOR DROUGHT YIELDS 3.5 TIMES HIGHER

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Gracious day to you, fellow global citizens!

A very gladdening news was recently released by the International Rice Research Institute (Laguna, Philippines) about a new rice varieties that will adapt to very dry & drought climate situation. The core variety being bred grows its roots downwards rather than sideways, thereby allowing the plant to take on more nutrients deeper down under.

What amazes an observer about the rice variety is that it even yields much higher during a drought situation than during normal climate. As per assessment by the IRRI, growing a lot of the same drought-prone rice varieties can be factor to keeping rice prices at affordable $300 per tonne across the world.

Below is an attachment of the reportage about the amazing rice variety.

[Manila, 15 August 2013]

Source: http://www.scidev.net/global/farming/news/rice-gene-digs-deep-to-triple-yields-in-drought.html

Rice gene digs deep to triple yields in drought

IRRI

Speed read

·         Severe drought can cause as much as 40 per cent yield loss

·         The gene causes the roots to grow further down towards water and nutrients

·         This produces grains during drought, raising hopes for better rice crops

A gene that gives rice plants deeper roots can triple yields during droughts, according to Japanese researchers writing in Nature Genetics this week (4 August).

Rice is a staple food for nearly half of the world's population, but is also particularly susceptible to drought owing to its shallow roots, researchers say.

“If rice adapts to or avoids drought conditions using deeper roots, it can get water and nutrients from the deep soil layers.”

Yusaku Uga

The new study shows that by pointing roots down instead of sideways, the Deeper Rooting 1 (DRO1) gene results in roots that are nearly twice as deep as those of standard rice varieties.

"If rice adapts to or avoids drought conditions using deeper roots, it can get water and nutrients from the deep soil layers," says the study's lead author Yusaku Uga, a researcher with Japan's National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences.

Uga and his team found that in moderate drought conditions, the yield of rice with DRO1 was double that of the shallow-rooted rice variety. Under severe drought conditions, this increased to 3.6 times greater.

"The most important point is that we had rice grains produced under drought conditions," says Uga. "When rice crops just tolerate drought, they cannot get water and nutrients, resulting in a kind of survival mode."

The DRO1 gene occurs naturally in more than 60 rice varieties. For the study, the research team crossbred a rice variety carrying DRO1 with a shallow-rooted variety and then bred the offspring together to produce a rice crop in which DRO1 was uniformly present.

The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) estimates that an additional 8-10 million tonnes of rice will be needed each year to keep rice prices affordable at around US$300 per tonne. Finding a drought-resistant variety of rice may be key to attaining this goal, according to researchers.

"Drought is the most widespread and damaging of all environmental stresses," says Sophie Clayton, head of communications at IRRI. "In some states in India, severe drought can cause as much as 40 per cent yield loss [in rice crops]. Moreover, with the onset of climate change, droughts may become more frequent and more severe."

Link to full study in Nature Genetics

References

Nature Genetics doi:10.1038/ng.2725 (2013)

GRAVITY-POWERED LAMP BRIGHTENS HOMES

GRAVITY-POWERED LAMP BRIGHTENS HOMES

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

A very brightening innovation concerns the usage of gravity to power lamps. The innovation just came out of the lab tests and will be tested very soon in Asia and Africa.

Called the GravityLight, the innovation utilizes a specially designed LED lamp for the purpose. If found to be practicable in commercial usage, then the technology will redound to another milestone in the Renewable Energy field, the future implications of which could be staggering.

I am definitely supportive of such an innovation which borders what ‘macro-innovation’. The use of lamps date back to the mid-point of modern industry yet, circa 2 centuries ago, but the utilization of gravity for lighting up lamps is authentically new.

In the long run, the use of gravity to power machines and engines will be the forecast spin off from the GravityLight. To recall, the chemist turned scifi writer Isaac Asimov articulated on the practical usage of gravitic technology to run space ships (see his Empire vs Federation novels) which I find very sound enough.

The GravityLight report is shared below.

[Manila, 06 August 2013]

Source: http://www.scidev.net/global/technology/news/gravity-powered-lamp-to-enter-field-tests.html

Gravity-powered lamp to enter field tests

EEP Energy and Environment Partnership

Speed read

·         The lamp converts energy from a descending weight into light

·         Trials in Africa and Asia will test its performance in everyday use

·         A US$55,000 crowd-funding project for the lamps raised US$400,000

A cheap new light that could provide an alternative to kerosene and solar lamps in rural areas will enter field testing in Africa and Asia this year.

The device, a gravity-powered LED lamp called 'GravityLight', works by attaching a weighted bag below it from a cord. As the bag slowly descends, gears convert the weight into energy — providing users with up to 30 minutes of light, depending on the weight of the bag. There are also settings to provide brighter light for a shorter period.

Each device comes with an empty bag, which can be filled with up to 12 kilograms of material such as earth, rocks and sand. It needs no battery.

The idea behind GravityLight was to overcome the limitations of options such as solar lamps, which need sunlight and have a limited battery life, and kerosene lamps, which cause indoor pollution and are expensive to refuel, says co-designer Jim Reeves, associate director at Therefore Product Design in London.

After four years of development, the device is now ready for field testing.

Around 7,000 GravityLights are being manufactured, paid for by a 40-day crowd-funding project which raised around US$400,000 against a target of US$55,000.

One thousand lights will be sent predominantly to Asia and Africa for testing in the coming months. The remaining units will be distributed to those who helped crowd-fund the GravityLight trial.
"These contributors will also be feeding back on the performance of the product," Reeves tells SciDev.Net.

The field tests will examine the performance of the device over time — including the effects of varying weather conditions on its internal components — with help from local partners such as NGOs.

Once the tests have been conducted, production will be scaled-up early next year, says Reeves. Each device is expected to cost between US$5 and US$10.

“It doesn't have any pollution disadvantages.”

Mary Willcox

He is currently exploring two ways of approaching the market — manufacturing the devices centrally and distributing them globally, or manufacturing the components centrally and distributing them for local assembly, which would provide jobs.

He also plans to fine-tune the light for Western markets to help subsidise the main activity of the GravityLight project — to provide much larger quantities to developing countries.

Mary Willcox, principal energy consultant at Practical Action, a UK-based international development charity, says developing countries need a variety of lighting options and that GravityLight will make a huge contribution to this.

"It doesn't have any pollution disadvantages and given that it uses LED it should provide better lighting."

She adds that it is important to undertake field testing as, "that's the only way to understanding whether something is really robust in use".

22/07/13

Richa Malhotra

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DEVELOPMENT COSTS OUTWEIGH BENEFITS!

DEVELOPMENT COSTS OUTWEIGH BENEFITS!

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Gracious day, fellow global citizens!

Environmental economists have an alarming news to report to us all: development costs outweigh the benefits. The ‘benefit’ side of the equation comprise of both the people welfare (human ecology) and the natural ecology benefits.

While the GDP (gross domestic product) is still an acceptable measure of true growth, it has become anathema a yardstick to indicate the overall situation of social and ecological benefits. As an alternative, the experts are proposing a Growth Progress Indicator or GPI that could show better the results of development using a typical cost:benefit analysis.

The environmental economists found out that the GPI used to grow alongside the GDP but only until 1978, after which the gap widened. Such a gap is still widening, as indicated for instance by the gap between the rich and poor.

Incidentally, the alarming news came out at a time when the issue of equitable income distribution has been the most sonorous issue in my own country the Philippines. Accordingly, GDP has been growing at very high rates recently, yet jobs can’t be created enough aside from the observed developmental benefits accruing more to the already filthy rich magnates at the expense of poor families.

Below is the reportage about the highly intriguing phenomenon.

[Manila, 01 August 2013]

Source: http://www.scidev.net/global/enterprise/news/costs-of-economic-growth-have-outweighed-benefits.html

Costs of economic growth have ‘outweighed benefits’

Speed read

·         Despite rising GDP, a measure of global wellbeing has dropped since 1978

·         This is mainly due to falls in income equality and environmental degradation

·         Development policies should target economic welfare rather than production

[BUENOS AIRES] Development policies should urgently shift from trying to maximise production and consumption towards attempts to improve real welfare, which — unlike growth in GDP (gross domestic product) — has not improved since the late 1970s, according to a study.

The study, which examined 17 countries from 1950 to 2003, found that, although GDP has on average more than tripled in these countries, overall social wellbeing has decreased since 1978.

To reach this conclusion, researchers used the global 'Genuine Progress Indicator' (GPI). Among the things it considers are income distribution for each country, along with household and volunteer work (activities that enhance welfare but do not involve monetary transactions), and, for example, the cost of environmental degradation.
 

“GDP and GPI began to go in different directions when global per capita earnings hit this amount. After that, GDP kept growing, but GPI levelled off.”

Ida Kubiszewski

The countries for which GPI has been estimated comprise more than half the world's population, over five continents, as well as representing nearly 60 per cent of global GDP. They are: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Chile, China, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Sweden, Thailand, United Kingdom, the United States and Vietnam.

"We got some pretty interesting results showing that global GPI per capita peaked in 1978. This means that, globally, the external costs of economic growth have outweighed the benefits since this year," Robert Costanza, professor of public policy at the Australian National University and co-author of the study, published in the latest issue of Ecological Economics, tells SciDev.Net.

The researchers also found that GPI does not increase once GDP per person reaches around US$6,500 a year.

Ida Kubiszewski, a senior lecturer at the Australian National University and the study leader, says: "GDP and GPI began to go in different directions when global per capita earnings hit this amount. After that, GDP kept growing, but GPI levelled off — or even decreased.

"This divergence occurs because the gains we have made over the past few decades are outweighed by the costs, most notably environmental degradation and [rise in] income equality."

Even though GDP was not designed to measure social or economic welfare, it is still the most commonly used indicator of a country's overall performance. In contrast, the study says that, "while GPI is not the perfect economic welfare indicator, it is a far better approximation than GDP".

The study also highlights the need to take a more considered approach to measuring success in societies, the authors say.

Walter Pengue, an ecological economics expert at the National University of General Sarmiento, Argentina, who was not involved in the study, says that "bringing together a lot of information which can be easily understood, not only by scientists but especially by decision-makers, is the main challenge" to building a unique indicator to assess development progress.

Pengue says that the study makes a valuable contribution as it evaluates GPI as an indicator that tries to integrate a number of issues that GDP does not capture.

Link to paper abstract 

References

Ecological Economics doi: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2013.04.019 (2013)

RICE HUSK FOR BATTERY FUEL, IT’S GOT NANO PARTICLES

RICE HUSK FOR BATTERY FUEL, IT’S GOT NANO PARTICLES

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Fellow global citizens, the lithium battery of your laptops and cellphones could most likely be powered by rice husk byproducts in the near future. The new byproduct alone could bring down the cost of the said batteries, thus bring down further their retail prices in the open market.

Yes, folks, rice husk has silicon nano particles. And the good news for everyone is that the said nano particles are easy to extract, as the production cost is low. Which of course brings more sunny smiles on rice producing farmers who, at the end of the day, will be selling their rice husks en toto to silicon nano particle manufacturers.

China alone produces 120 million tons of rice husks every year. India also has several millions of tons of the same off-harvest rice wastage. ASEAN countries likewise produce a huge aggregate of the material. So, anticipate that the East-to-South Asia corridor will be up for a very exciting development on the new innovation.

The new development directly links up grain crop producers specializing in rice to the high technology sector, thus bringing new life to the value chain. This, aside from the fact that rice production itself has benefited from hybridization and high knowledge over the last 5 decades, which raised its status to a high tech production in the primary sector.

For your browsing, the interesting article on the subject is shown below.

[Manila, 11 July 2013]

Source: http://www.scidev.net/global/technology/news/nanoparticles-from-rice-husks-set-for-use-in-batteries.html

Nano Particles from Rice Husk Set For Use in Batteries

Rice farmers may soon have a more lucrative use for a common low-value byproduct: rice husks, the hard, protective coverings around the edible grains.

The husks contain natural silicon nanoparticles that can easily be extracted and used in battery manufacture, a study shows.

The simple and low-cost process for recovering the nanoparticles and using them in the lithium-ion batteries, which are commonly found in portable electronics, was published in Scientific Reports last month (29 May).

Silicon nanomaterials have various industrial applications but they are complicated, costly and energy-intensive to produce.

"China plays an important role in battery manufacturing, so the rice nano-silicon could be locally integrated into battery manufacturing."

Yi Cui

Meanwhile, 120 million tonnes of rice husks are produced as byproducts of rice agriculture worldwide each year.

"The novelty of this paper is the high-yield and low-cost recovery of nano-structured silicon from an agricultural byproduct. And the morphology of the recovered silicon is ideal for direct application in high-energy, lithium-ion batteries," Yi Cui, study coauthor and associate professor at Stanford University, United States, tells SciDev.Net.

"A lot of developing countries, such as China and India, produce a huge amount of rice husks each year. Currently, the rice husks only have some low added-value applications," he says.

The new procedure, Cui says, could allow these countries to use the husks to build batteries, and his team is trying to establish links with battery companies to achieve this.

"China plays an important role in battery manufacturing, so the rice nano-silicon could be locally integrated into battery manufacturing," he adds.

  Jie Xiao, a senior scientist at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, United States, says the "approach is interesting and promising" but warns that "more research needs to take place before this method would be useful on a broad scale".

Farmers will probably be unable to directly sell rice husks to battery companies since most of these firms do not make their own raw materials, she says. "However, companies that supply [battery] electrode materials, or chemical factories, could build [production] lines to process husks and harvest [their] silicon for battery use," she adds.

Cary Hayner, chief technology officer of SiNode Systems — a materials venture based out of Northwestern University that is commercialising novel silicon-based battery anode technology — says the study demonstrates what could be a tremendous opportunity to make use of an abundant agricultural byproduct.

"Farmers would be best served by selling their rice husks to a company that will transform the husks into the useful silicon," he says.

Link to full paper in Scientific Reports

LANDGRABBING BY FOREIGN INVESTORS ON THE RISE GLOBALLY

LANDGRABBING BY FOREIGN INVESTORS ON THE RISE GLOBALLY

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Landgrabbing by foreign investors has been rising anomalously since the year 2000, and it seems that the grabbing includes freshwater areas as well. The phenomenon is alarming, which makes it a new factor input in the development game.

Consider the following: as of end of 2013, the total landgrabbed area was already estimated at 32.8 million hectares, up from the previous year’s 26.2 million hectares. That’s a whopping 6 million+ of hectares gobbled up within a 12-month period, as the pattern seems to be pointing to an exponential rise of the grabbing.

So huge is the aggregate landgrab that the figure is a country as huge as Poland or the Philippines. The estimates could in fact be very conservative, as the estimators—from the Land Matrix—admit to the limitations of data gathering methods.

The African continent is the most badly affected by the rising landgrabbing, as per latest reports. Being an observer of international development for decades, I would expect this to happen, as the European financier oligarchic families have the agenda of competing for a grab of the entire continent to take advantage of the “half man half ape” mindset of Africans as perceived by the former.

The reportage on the alarming development is shown below.

[Manila, 07 July 2013]

Source: http://www.scidev.net/global/data/news/open-data-land-grabbing.html

Open Data Reveal Extend of Landgrabbing

[Oxfam Italy]

The total area of land controlled by foreign investors globally is similar to the size of Poland, according to the most up to date estimates contained in an online database that aims to document large-scale land acquisitions or 'land grabs'.

The database, called the Global Observatory, reveals that investors have acquired 32.8 million hectares since 2000 — up from its 2012 estimates of 26.2 million hectares.

Land grabs are often not conducted openly, which has made them difficult to monitor. However, the revamped online tool, revealed this month (10 June), allows for the crowdsourcing and visualisation of data as well as the verification of sources of such data, to promote transparency and accountability in land and investment decisions.

Most of that land has been acquired in Sub-Saharan Africa, with the top three investor countries being the United States, Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates.

Land grabbing has recently moved to the forefront of the international development agenda.

"This amount of information, as imperfect as it may be, is still greatly preferable to totally missing or unreliable data because there were wild swings in estimates before this database."

Ruth Meinzen-Dick

Following the global rise in food prices in 2008, investors and some foreign governments bought land in the global South — often parcels totalling thousands of hectares — to try to cash in on agricultural commodities and secure food supplies.

Advocacy groups claimed that these deals dispossessed traditional land users, often smallholder farmers or pastoralists who relied on the land for their livelihood. Critics also pointed out that investors' promises to increase economic activity by developing related large-scale agricultural or biofuel projects have often come to nothing. And a recent study found that, along with land, significant amounts of fresh water are also being grabbed.

The consortium of research institutions behind the Land Matrix, a global land monitoring initiative that developed the Global Observatory, hopes that having reliable data on deals will increase accountability.

"The aim of the Land Matrix is to create more transparency about this issue by highlighting the facts," says Markus Giger, head of the Global Change Cluster at the University of Bern, Switzerland, who is working on the database.

While the latest figures from the Global Observatory show an increase in land acquisitions, Giger says this reflects the database's new methodologies and verification of data more than real-world changes.

Giger admits that the estimates may not be completely accurate as they rely on information from stakeholders themselves.

"It is quite a task to have factual and precise information about each land deal," he says. "We try our best to provide correct information, but there is always a degree of uncertainty involved."

Nonetheless, these numbers represent the first real data set on the global scale of land grabbing, according to Ruth Meinzen-Dick, a senior researcher at the International Food Policy Research Institute, United States.

"This amount of information, as imperfect as it may be, is still greatly preferable to totally missing or unreliable data because there were wild swings in estimates before this database," she says. "Now at least there is something a bit more rational to look at."

Link to Land Matrix

BIOFUELS ACCELERATE TROPICAL WARMING, BEWARE!

BIOFUELS ACCELERATE TROPICAL WARMING, BEWARE!

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Gracious Day to all ye fellow Planetary Citizens!

There has been a mad scramble for lands for biofuels production in developing countries most recently. Accordingly, biofuels emit less carbon on the atmosphere, thus contributing to ecological balance in the long run.

What the experts from the global S&T community found out, through their latest analytic models, is that indeed biofuels production and usage on massive scales do not at all harm the global environmental community so as to induce global warming. There is validity to the thesis of less carbon emissions coming from the end-product of biofuels production, true.

However, the regions where biofuels are most highly sought for massive production, domestic usage and importations will suffer immeasurably from warming. As the analytic models indicate, the tropics will be affected the most toward a new round of warming.

Needless to say, the new round of warming for any region concerned will redound to more disturbances of a less predictable geo-atmospheric condition. Coming at a time of climate change patterns on the said region, massive biofuels production and usage will immeasurably factor on even more hellish hot days during dry season and super-storms during the wet season.

For the policy makers and development stakeholders in the tropics, better rethink the biofuels option. The discussion on the subject is enclosed below, for your very own added insight.

[Manila, 02 July 2013]

Source: http://www.scidev.net/global/biofuels/news/biofuel-boom-could-accelerate-warming-in-tropics.html

Biofuels Boom Could Accelerate Warming in Tropics

CAIRO] The large-scale conversion of land for biofuel farming could make some tropical regions even warmer, according to a study.

Researchers from the US-based Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), assessed the impact on the climate of increased biofuel production by modelling two scenarios: one where trees are chopped down to plant biofuel crops and one where forests are maintained and fertilisers and irrigation are used to intensify the production of biofuel crops.

They found that both scenarios have a negligible impact on global warming. For example, in the first scenario the additional cropland reflects more sunlight, counterbalancing the warming associated with fewer trees and higher greenhouse gas concentrations. Also, in both scenarios, increasing the proportion of biofuels used would reduce warming by using fewer fossil fuel-based energy sources.

But their findings also point to significant regional differences.

Willow Hallgren, a researcher at MIT's Center for Global Change Science, tells SciDev.Net that the real significance of the study is that it reveals that energy policies promoting large-scale biofuel plantations as a way of cutting carbon emissions will exacerbate existing warming trends in the tropics.

Hallgren says that the study differs from others looking at the climate impacts of biofuels because it incorporates "numerous 'real world' determinants of where and how much biofuel crops are grown".

The areas where this regional warming would occur are located in the Amazon basin and in central and western Africa, she says.

"It would be more logical to link the increase in warming to deforestation rather than to [expanded] biofuel production."

Balgis Osman Elasha

The policy in which the biofuel expansion is embedded determines how much the local climate will warm, says Hallgren. "If you protect tropical forests, you greatly lessen this regional warming, which would likely have significant ecological, economic and social impact on people living in those regions," she says.

Hallgren's team is looking more closely into biofuel-related climate change in the tropics, as previous research has found that cutting down tropical forests for agriculture could cause climate change and then reduced agricultural yields.

The authors also found that the Arctic regions may experience an overall cooling due to an increase in reflectivity caused by deforestation.

Balgis Osman Elasha, a climate change expert at the Tunisia-based African Development Bank, says the relationship between global warming and biofuels is unclear.

"Deforestation could happen in any part of the world for different reasons including the need for biomass energy, timber production, land use changes, agricultural expansion, fodder production and so on," says Elasha.

"It would therefore be more logical to link the increase in warming to deforestation rather than to [expanded] biofuel production."

The study was published online in Geophysical Research Letters in April.

Link to abstract in Geophysical Research Letters

QUAKES & TSUNAMI DANGER ZONE: ARABIAN SEA

QUAKES & TSUNAMI DANGER ZONE: ARABIAN SEA

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Earth quake of magnitude 9.2 on Reichter! Tsunami that could result to hundreds of thousands of dead bodies!

Such are the possible outcomes of the geological reality surrounding the Arabian sea, a heretofore unexpected reality of previous studies that were largely flawed. New modeling of quake & tsunami forecasting for the Arabian sea, with focus on the Makran rupture zone, indicate a gigantic magnitude quake that could occur in the zone any time soon.

A big quake in the zone could easily heap up tsunami that could threaten the coasts of Pakistan, Oman, India, Iran, and further. As seismology and geological updates indicated, seismic activities have been occurring in the zone in more recent times, activities that were largely absent previously.

Below is a reportage from the scidev.net about the subject matter.

[Manila, 26 June 2013]

Source: http://www.scidev.net/en/agriculture-and-environment/news/arabian-sea-at-high-risk-of-quakes-and-tsunamis.html

Arabian Sea at high risk of quakes and tsunamis

Dilrukshi Handunnetti

17 June 2013 | EN

[COLOMBO, SRI LANKA] Countries surrounding the Arabian Sea may be at a much higher risk of a major earthquake and tsunami than previously thought, say researchers.

A tsunami in this area of the Western Indian Ocean could threaten the coastlines of India, Iran, Oman, Pakistan and further afield. The scientists say further investigation should feed into hazard assessments and planning for such events in the region.

The Makran subduction zone, which lies along the southwestern coast of Pakistan, has low levels of seismic activity, so people assumed it was incapable of generating major earthquakes.

·                       New modelling shows the Makran rupture zone is longer and wider than previously thought

·                       This makes it capable of earthquakes of up to 9.2 magnitude

·                       Previous risk assessments for the Arabian Sea have underestimated risk: more research is needed

But a new analysis published recently in Geophysical Research Letters (30 April) used thermal modelling to show that the rupture zone may be longer and wider than previously thought. This, in combination with thick sediments on the plate being pushed under, makes an earthquake more likely.

The models indicate that earthquakes similar in magnitude to the earthquake in Sumatra, Indonesia, in 2004 that triggered a tsunami, killing more than 230,000 people, could occur in the region.

"Past assumptions may have significantly underestimated the earthquake and tsunami hazard in this region," says the study's lead author, Gemma Smith, who is based at the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom.

The Makran subduction zone has previously recorded an earthquake in 1945 of 8.1 magnitude and another in 1947, of 7.3 magnitude.

"The Makran may be capable of significantly higher magnitude earthquakes — of up to 8.5-9.2 magnitude, due to the unusually wide potential rupture zone and thick sediment on the subducting plate," Smith tells SciDev.Net.

Kapila Dahanayake, a geologist based at the University of Peradeniya in Sri Lanka, who studies tsunamis in the Indian Ocean, says: "We were caught unawares in 2004. Further studies could reveal underestimated vulnerabilities".

She adds that recent earthquakes in areas considered less vulnerable — such as the magnitude 7.8 earthquake in Iran in April 2013 — coupled with increased seismic activity in the Indian Ocean, show more research is needed.

"Sri Lanka, too, should look for more science and safeguards," Dahanayake says.

Kumar Arulalanthan, a Sri Lankan oceanographer and vice president of the Regional Committee for the Central Indian Ocean for UNESCO's Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, tells SciDev.Net: "We are experiencing seismic changes that were at one time considered not possible. Seismic activity in the Arabian Sea is likely to impact more territories — the indicators may have just begun to come."

DISABLED PERSONS IN DEVELOPMENT: ADDRESS DATA GAPS!

DISABLED PERSONS IN DEVELOPMENT: ADDRESS DATA GAPS!

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

A movement to include the disabled persons is now rolling across the globe. The goal is to include those with disabilities in the development game. This is a most welcome development for the disabled persons, which includes me as my eyes are now badly near-sighted (w/ -700 diagnosis on each eye) complicated by blurred vision and color blindness.

There is a problem though in the gathering of data for the disabled, and also in the accessibility to data. The problem has created a data gap that has served as quite a barrier to effective policy-making and executory interventions for those with disabilities.

In the Philippines, there has been a rough estimation of the frequency of the disabled, with the thumb rule fixed at 10% of the total population. Legislators, with the aid of social research experts, better review the social policies that address the Disabled Persons, as the total of disabled persons could be much higher.

The Philippine country case validates the observation that there has been an underreporting of the frequency of disabled persons. Which now implies that the legislation enabling policy interventions for the disabled ones is largely a mish mash of politicized guesswork.

Below is a discussion on the subject culled from scidev.net.

[Manila, 20 June 2013]

Source: http://www.scidev.net/en/science-and-innovation-policy/opinions/focus-on-disability-policymakers-need-accurate-data.html

Focus on Disability: Policymakers need accurate data

Sue Coe

12 June 2013 | EN

Data gaps on disability need to be filled if future development goals are to be robustly monitored, says Sue Coe.

A UN panel's report last month on the post-2015 development agenda called for a 'data revolution' to monitor the impact of new global development goals and ensure the world's poorest people get the support they need. The report says that large data gaps and data inaccessibility lead to unreliable baseline data against which to judge progress.

The global disability movement will applaud this finding. Lack of investment in accurate data capture on disability has hindered the advancement of disability inclusion in development work for decades.

·                       Data gaps hinder the advancement of disability inclusion in development work

·                       National surveys often hugely under-report disability

·                       New methods could ensure data collection considers disability accessibility and inclusion

Robust research has established that the true proportion of people with impairments in developing countries is in the ten to 20 per cent range. Yet national census data tend to report rates of one to three per cent. [1]

A key reason for statistical under-reporting on disability is that most surveys do not seek to capture information on impairments. Another widespread — but generally unacknowledged — issue is that people with disabilities are often not regarded as worthy of declaration for data inclusion. Disabled children in particular are sometimes regarded as almost 'subhuman'. Such stigma also leads families and communities to hide disabled children and adults when data surveyors visit homes to ask questions on the household and the community.

Future data collection on disability must be based on the human-rights principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Since its advent in 2008, 131 countries have ratified the convention. Article 31 obliges these states to collect disaggregated data to inform policies, while still ensuring confidentiality and respect for the privacy of disabled people. [2]

A relatively new approach to data collection on disability is emerging from the UN-convened Washington Group on Disability Statistics. It provides highly practical approaches to statistical data collection based on a short set of simple questions on functionality, rather than interviewees self-declaring whether or not they have a "disability". Examples include "Do you have difficulty seeing, even if wearing glasses" and "Do you have difficulty walking or climbing steps".

And 2013 is yielding new, exciting developments in data-collection approaches, building upon the Washington Group questions. The Model Disability Survey, sponsored by the World Health Organization and the World Bank, is seeking to develop standardised questions to monitor the CRPD's implementation. [3]

Approaches such as these could help ensure that the collection of up-to-date development data to monitor the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals fully takes disability accessibility and inclusion into account.

Sue Coe has worked in international development for 25 years across Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. Now a development and disability inclusion consultant, she previously worked for World Vision, Practical Action (formerly ITDG), VSO and Action on Hearing Loss (formerly RNID). Coe can be contacted at suecoe2603@gmail.com.

References

[1] Samman, E. and Rodriguez-Takeuchi, L.K. Old age, disability and mental health: data issues for a post-2015 framework (Overseas Development Institute, May 2013)

[2] UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN, 2006)

[3] Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München ModelDisabilitySurvey (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, retrieved 11 June 2013)