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FT.com / Partnership Publishing - Growing concerns
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Europe’s grocery basket
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below-average rainfall
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farmers across the world use 1.4bn hectares of land for crops – about 10 per cent of the total ice-free land – and another 2.5bn for pasture.
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more than 200m hectares of arable land is under irrigation, using about 75 per cent of fresh water resources withdrawn from aquifers, lakes and rivers by human activity.
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Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation: Challenges and Opportunities for Food Security
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farming is responsible for 25 per cent of carbon dioxide emissions, largely from deforestation; 50 per cent of methane emissions through rice and fermentation processes; and more than 75 per cent of nitrous oxides, mainly from fertiliser application, emitted annually by human activities.
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Africa will suffer acutely, with predictions of a more than 30 per cent decline in cereal output by 2050.
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Obama Transition Announces Rules for Lobbyists in Transition | Change.gov
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special interests
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Brookings Institution
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to serve the public interest
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American Enterprise Institute
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good people with deep experience
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a springboard to financial success
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An End to the “Revolving Door” | Change.gov
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Revolving Door
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ethics rules
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leaves them "out in the cold
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Foreign Policy: The Global Grand Bargain
Tags: USA, world, global grand bargain on 2008-11-13 -All Annotations (9) -About
more fromwww.foreignpolicy.com
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League of Democracies
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to provide a flexible forum for fashioning compromises and monitoring progress
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a revised European missile defense system
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Russia’s proposed European security treaty
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International Energy Agency
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U.S.-EU agreement to numerical reductions in carbon emissions
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emissions ceilings
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A global moratorium on construction of all fissile material production facilities
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the only alternative to continued gridlock
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Foreign Policy: The Global Grand Bargain
Tags: USA, world, grand bargain on 2008-11-13 -All Annotations (9) -About
more fromwww.foreignpolicy.com
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rally support around a larger, shared strategic vision of the future
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transcend entrenched positions
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piecemeal approach
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it puts us back in the same ruts where we’ve been stuck
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Global Grand Bargain
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a flexible set of reciprocal concessions
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a good-faith offer
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reforming global institutions
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creating a global fund for clean and renewable energy development
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Les personnes manipulant des nanomatériaux devraient bénéficier de mesures de protection - Planète - Le Monde.fr
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boîte à gants
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Commissariat à l'énergie atomique (CEA)
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nanopoudres
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nanoparticules
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De la toxicité potentielle de ces particules, les experts ne savent encore presque rien
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Nanosafe 2008
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programme européen Nanosafe
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nanotubes de carbone
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les nanoparticules sont capables, à partir des poumons, de franchir les barrières biologiques protégeant les vaisseaux sanguins, le système nerveux central, voire le placenta
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Agence française de sécurité sanitaire de l'environnement et du travail (Afsset)
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améliorer le rendement des capteurs solaires photovoltaïques, et des nanocatalyseurs en platine, afin de réduire le coût des piles à combustible
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nanofibres de silicium
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Laboratoire d'innovation pour les technologies des énergies nouvelles et les nanomatériaux.
8Expand
Ethanol will curb farm income until economy rebounds, economist says
Tags: ethanol, agriculture, prices on 2008-11-11 -All Annotations (8) -About
more fromwww.eurekalert.org
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economy rebounds
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record profits
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sharp price swings
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agriculture's fortunes are now tethered more to ethanol than food
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recessionary impacts
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global economic meltdown
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growers locked in prices
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at head-snapping speed
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'Arid aquaculture' among livelihoods promoted to relieve worsening pressure on world's drylands
Tags: agriculture, arid aquaculture on 2008-11-11 -All Annotations (25) -About
in list: Agriculture
more fromwww.eurekalert.org
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Arid aquaculture
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drylands
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International Centre on Agricultural Research in Dryland Areas (ICARDA),
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UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Program
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briny water
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brackish water
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dryland soaps
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sustainable drylands ecotourism
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People in Marginal Drylands: Managing Natural Resources to Improve Human Well-being
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Sustainable Management of Marginal Drylands (SUMAMAD) project
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dryland dwellers
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UNU's International Network on Water, Environment and Health
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They are home to nearly a third of the global population, about 2 billion in all, over 90% of whom live in developing countries.
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Drylands constitute more than 40% of the global land area
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Drylands degradation results from a combination of local drivers (droughts, inappropriate irrigation systems, deforestation, overgrazing, and poor land use practices), and global drivers (demography, agricultural policies or global climate change).
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Conservative estimates of the extent of desertified drylands range from 10 to 20 percent while a much larger area is at risk
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Management practices that build on the right mix of traditional knowledge, contemporary technology and innovative scientific research yield optimum results
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rainwater, floodwaters and groundwater resources
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water storage cisterns and ponds
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new desalination technologies using solar energy were successfully introduced
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well water
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the grassland ecosystem
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Dryland Science for Development (DSD) Consortium
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UN Convention to Combat Desertification
-
the doom and gloom scenarios
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Scientific Community Called upon to Resolve Debate on 'Net Energy' once and for all | Zangani
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Net energy
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Biofuels, Bioresources and Biorefining (Biofpr)
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Net energy is a metric by which some scientists attempt to assess the sustainability and ability of alternative fuels to displace fossil fuel but recent debate in Biofpr shows that scientists are undecided on its merits as a tool.
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issues such as greenhouse gas emissions, petroleum displacement and economic growth
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fuel efficiency
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Net energy: still a (mostly) irrelevant, misleading and dangerous metric, Bruce E. Dale; Net energy and strategic decision making: response to Professor Dale, Franzi Poldy; and Response to Dr. Poldy's questions in this issue
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land usage
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FT.com / World / US & Canada - Brown hopes relationship will remain special
Tags: politics, USA, Britain on 2008-11-11 -All Annotations (3) -About
in list: Current Affairs
more fromwww.ft.com
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The mood music between them has been excellent
-
The US are pragmatic and hard-nosed about their relationships
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a marriage made in heaven
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La forêt européenne, un précieux "puits de carbone" - Planète - Le Monde.fr
Tags: forêt, écologie, environnement on 2008-11-11 -All Annotations (14) -About
in list: Agriculture
more fromwww.lemonde.fr
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la forêt européenne se porte bien. Sa superficie (plus d'un milliard d'hectares, Russie comprise) s'est même accrue de 13 millions d'hectares - l'équivalent de la Grèce - au cours des quinze dernières années, du fait de l'extension des plantations et de son expansion naturelle sur d'anciens territoires agricoles.
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piège naturel pour cet élément chimique
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Groupe intergouvernemental sur l'évolution du climat (GIEC)
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puits de carbone
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émissions de carbone fossile
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groupement d'intérêt public Ecofor
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productivité primaire brute
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puits forestier
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coupes d'arbres dans un peuplement
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croissance forestière
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rôle des formations boisées sur le cycle du carbone
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association France Forêts
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sites forestiers pilotes
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améliorer le bilan carbone et d'optimiser l'utilisation du bois
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Language: the defining feature of human intelligence - Times Online
Tags: language, human intelligence on 2008-11-07 and saved by2 people -All Annotations (5) -About
more fromwww.timesonline.co.uk
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When the FOXP2 gene and its role in language was first identified in 2001,
therefore, it is hardly surprising that scientists immediately began to ask
questions about its role in evolution. Might this be a “language gene” that
sets humans apart, a passage of DNA that has evolved uniquely in one
species? -
DNA spelling
-
these changes occurred around 200,000
years ago -
Now FOXP2 research has moved on from investigating the past, to searching for
other genes that could improve diagnosis and management of common language
disorders. -
“blue skies” approach to
research
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Pig organs ‘available to patients in a decade’ - Times Online
Tags: transplants, pigs on 2008-11-07 and saved by3 people -All Annotations (8) -About
in list: animal cloning
more fromwww.timesonline.co.uk
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The first organs suitable for transplanting, most likely kidneys, are expected
to be ready within three years and, if tests are successful, their use could
be widespread by 2018. -
attempting to breed pigs that have been genetically modified so that
porcine organs are accepted by the human body instead of being immediately
rejected. -
they are close to modifying the genetic make-up of pigs
to “humanise” their organs and make animal-to-human transplants possible. -
Patients who received pig organs would have to take immune suppressant drugs
for the rest of their lives, but no more than those who received organ
transplants from other people. -
Pigs are regarded as ideal for animal-to-human transplants,
xenotransplantation, and other research because of the similarity in the
physiological make-up and because they get many of the same diseases, such
as diabetes. -
He expected the first “proof of principle” pigs to be bred next year.
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Under UK and EU rules, his team has been banned from mating and
producing offspring from the transgenic pigs. Research in developing
transgenic pigs is now likely to move to the US where the regulatory system
is more relaxed.
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The Challenge - No Time for Laurels; Now the Hard Part - NYTimes.com
Tags: obama, president-elect on 2008-11-05 -All Annotations (10) -About
in list: Current Affairs
more fromwww.nytimes.com
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seismic challenges
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stitching back together a shredded economy
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Make the decisions that involve pain and sacrifice up front.”
-
a style of governance that is extremely laid back
-
he should not overstep his bounds
-
a lame-duck session
-
Treasury Secretary
-
in this netherworld between administration
-
their power of the purse
-
a deep danger of letdown
1Expand
ABC News: Building the Perfect Banana
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Refrigerated transportation has been in use since the 1870s when Chicago's stockyards began shipping meat to the East Coast by dripping ice through the roof of railway cars — with frequent stops to replenish the ice.
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ABC News: Building the Perfect Banana
-
Science Council Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, an alliance of agricultural bodies worldwide.
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But in developing countries with poor infrastructure, as much as half of harvested fruits and vegetables rot in transit before they can be eaten, says food scientist Henry Boerrigter.
3Expand
Organic farmer warns of genetic contamination - Breaking News, Local News, Local Weather, Local Sports
Tags: seeds, contamination, GMO on 2008-11-05 -All Annotations (3) -About
in list: Agriculture
more fromwww.kmtr.com