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Outlook
John Vidal on the failure of privatisation to
improve access to a vital resource
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UN pleads for aid as
millions of Kenyans face starvation
By Inigo Gilmore and Anthony Mitchell
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Outlook
A current tax could be the best way to raise cash for
developement, says Larry Elliot
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Environment - White
elephant made of cotton
By Maria Kagkelidou
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International News - UK
News - Comment & Analysis
By Derek Brown and other journalists
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Kyoto wins key vote in
Russian Parliament
By Steven Lee Myers
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Climate fear as CO2
soars
By Paul Brown
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Bangladesh suffers in
silence
By Lucy Ward
Read the article Putin clears the way for Russia to ratify Kyoto By Paul Brown Politicians, industry leaders and environment groups across the world welcomed the news last week that Russia had rejuvenated international efforts to combat climate change by moving towards ratification of the Kyoto protocol. President Vladimir Putin's decision isolates the United States, and brings Russia closer economic and political ties with the EU. The treaty, which commits 30 industrialised countries to legally binding greenhouse gas reduction targets, will kickstart a multibillion-dollar carbon trading market, boost the transfer of clean technologies to developing nations and promote joint ventures with countries in the former Soviet bloc. It is a blow to President George Bush, who repudiated the treaty on taking office and tried to persuade Mr Putin to do the same. Russia's move means that US business will be cut out of the new carbon trading markets set up in London. Countries and companies in the scheme have targets to cut carbon dioxide emissions. If they exceed their targets, they can sell the extra carbon "saved" to other countries or companies that have failed to do so. The market is expected to be worth tens of billions a year. Carbon trading and incentives to install renewables and other clean technologies in the treaty give European companies a financial advantage in joint trading agreements with former eastern bloc and developing countries. Because of the collapse of Russia's economy in the early 1990s, London traders estimated that Mr Putin's government has $10bn of carbon credits to sell on the international markets to countries that cannot meet their own targets. International excitement about Kyoto began after the Russian cabinet announced that it had prepared the papers to ratify the treaty and was forwarding them to the Russian parliament, or Duma, for ratification. Since Mr Putin's United Russia party controls two-thirds of the Duma, and he directed the cabinet to act, ratification is seen as a virtual certainty.
Outlook article High and Dry
Reviewed by Elizabeth Grossman
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Too darn hot as the water
leaks away
By Oliver Burkeman
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Nuclear power used to tap
water from the oceans
By Jane Burgermeister
Read the article Greenhouse gas funds
"misused"
By Paul Brown
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Water of Strife
By John Vidal
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HEAVY SNOWFALL IN EASTERN GREECE January 2002 Heavy snow covered most parts of Eastern Greece over the period of 3 – 5 January 2002. The depth of snow exceeded 1m even in the northern suburbs of Athens. The city of Athens was covered by snow creating lots of problems in communications. The event is characterized as an extreme event for the area. Regarding its intensity and duration the recurrence interval of the phenomenon is estimated to be thirty to fifty years. The water equivalent of snow for Viotia and Attica is estimated to be between 50 and 100 m. Normal life in Athens was interrupted for three days. Schools and
Universities remained closed for at least three days. EXTREME WEATHER CONDITIONS IN GREECE December 2001 Greece has been suffering from extreme weather conditions over the period 15th - 20th of December. Low temperatures reaching –18oC in some areas, heavy snowfall in most of the country (Central and Northern Greece) and floods in eastern Greece are some of the extreme weather conditions which occurred during the last days. Many villages have been isolated and two trains were blocked for hours on the trucks. In the floods of the stream Diakoniaris, which crosses Patras, two people were reported lost. High damages in houses and shops in the central part of Patras have been reported. The northern airports of the country remained closed for at least 2 days and ships remained in ports due to high wind over Aegean. EXTREME WEATHER PHENOMENA OVER GREECEDecember 2001 The long lasting persistent Ω - blocking system in the upper atmosphere ( 500 HPA ) over Europe caused intense weather phenomena in Greece, as heavy rainfall, thunderstorms mainly over sea, snowfall over mainland as well as extremely low temperatures. Here are some data :
Height of snow reported at north Greece : ( About 2,00 meters). NOTICE : The water snow equivalent is: 1cm fresh snow =1 mm water A. NIANIOS FLOODS IN AEGEAN ISLANDS (GREECE)December 2001 Extreme weather conditions have been reported in the area of Aegean over the period 28, 29 and 30 of November. Samos, Ikaria, Naxos, Rhodes and other islands were hit by heavy rainfall events. Significant Rainfall Amount Over Samos Island A low pressure system in the upper atmosphere from W parts of Greece moving rapidly eastwards (28, 29 November 2001) caused serious amount of rainfall over east Aegean Greek islands, mainly Samos island. Probably due to orographic effect (Kerketefs mountain, halt. 1450 m) high rainfall amount has been recorded in the met. station at Samos airport.
Serious havoc has been reported regarding livestock and olive trees. Is to be taken into account the one week before rainfall in the island causing the earth saturation which may have reduced the infiltration rate NOTICE: Generally the most wet month over Greece is November A. NIANIOS
Greek Daily Kathimerini's report on Floods in Samos island Schools remained close on Samos on Friday in the aftermath of the worst
floods to have hit the eastern Aegean island in decades. Hundreds of houses and shops were
flooded on Thursday, following torrential rain. Opposition leader Costas Karamanlis
visited the island, as well as Aegean Minister Nikos Sifounakis, who promised financial
aid for flood victims. FLOODS IN ATTICA (GREECE)December 2001 Extreme rainfall depth (more than 220 mm in some areas) within the period of three consecutive days 2, 3 and 4 November (about 72 hours) was recorded in Attica (greece) causing floods in many parts of the region. Two people died and severe losses of property were reported mainly in the eastern part of the region. The main causes of these damaging floods are due to the extreme total rainfall depth with return period well above 50 years. The maximum rainfall depth for 24 hour duration was more than 80 mm corresponding to a return period of about 30 years. According to scientists, the damages were kept rather low due to the small uniform intensity of rainfall and the high infiltrability of the soil resulting from a long lasting drought. The flood risk in various areas of
Attica is rather high due to the high inperviousness of large parts (urbanisation) of the
area. On top of that some severe fires destroyed substantial parts of forests on the
mountains around Athens during the last decade. |