Situation Report

thepigsite.com - August 8, 2012

ANALYSIS - The spread of African Swine Fever from the Caucasus to the east coast of the Crimean peninsula in Ukraine presents an alarming and concerning situation, writes Chris Harris.

The latest outbreak, discovered at the end of July and confirmed through PCR tests on samples taken from back yard pigs in the Zaporozhye region, is worrying because it represents not so much a gradual spread of the disease, but a dramatic jump.

The outbreak has occurred 170 kilometres from the Russian border.

(READ ARTICLE)

African Swine Fever in Ukraine

[DEFRA's International Disease Monitoring Preliminary Outbreak
Assessment "ASF in Ukraine" (Reference: VITT/1200 ASF) of 2 Aug 3012 ,
including a map and references, is available at
<http://www.defra.gov.uk/animal-diseases/files/poa-asf-ukraine-20120802.pdf>. - (3 page .PDF file)

submitted by Samuel Bendett

Homeland Security News Wire - August 10, 2012

The fate of water in China mirrors problems across the world: water is fouled, pushed far from its natural origins, squandered, and exploited; China’s crisis is daunting, though not unique: two-thirds of China’s 669 cities have water shortages, more than 40 percent of its rivers are severely polluted, 80 percent of its lakes suffer from eutrophication — an over abundance of nutrients — and about 300 million rural residents lack access to safe drinking water

In this week’s Science journal, Jianguo “Jack” Liu, director of Michigan State University’s Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability, and doctoral student Wu Yang look at lessons learned in China and management strategies that hold solutions for China — and across the world.

greenbiz.com - Bruce Kennedy - July 31st, 2012

The European Union’s new plan to shore up its Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) following a plunge in carbon prices underscores just how volatile – and vulnerable – the carbon emissions trading market has become.

Battered by global economic uncertainty, an overuse of allowances and political polarization, the ETS will probably remain in limbo until at least September. That’s when the EU’s climate change commission next meets.

(VIEW COMPLETE ARTICLE)

submitted by Albert Gomez

web.worldbank.org

As the world hurtles toward its urban future, the amount of municipal solid waste (MSW), one of the most important by-products of an urban lifestyle, is growing even faster than the rate of urbanization. Ten years ago there were 2.9 billion urban residents who generated about 0.64 kg of MSW per person per day (0.68 billion tonnes per year).

This report estimates that today these amounts have increased to about 3 billion residents generating 1.2 kg per person per day (1.3 billion tonnes per year). By 2025 this will likely increase to 4.3 billion urban residents generating about 1.42 kg/capita/day of municipal solid waste (2.2 billion tonnes per year).