Indian metro cities among those facing highest climate change risks: Maplecroft

Maplecroft's Climate Change Vulnerability Index (CCVI), which forms a central pillar of the Atlas, classifies seven cities at 'extreme risk', out of a list 50 that were chosen for their current and future importance to global business.

Multinational companies operating in the Asian growth economies will be exposed to spiraling environmental risks over the coming decades, according to Maplecroft's 5th annual Climate Change and Environmental Risk Atlas, which identifies Dhaka, Manila, Bangkok, Yangon, Jakarta, Ho Chi Minh City, Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai as the ten cities facing the maximum risk from the onset of climate change.

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Lower CO2 emissions on new cars: EU

New cars and vans in the European Union will produce one-third less carbon dioxide within eight years, under proposed new rules set out in Brussels. By 2020, the average emissions from new cars will have to be no more than 95g of carbon dioxide per kilometre driven, a cut of more than 40g from today's levels and of 35g/km compared with the 2015 target, if they proposed new regulations are accepted. Connie Hedegaard, climate chief of the European commission, said the goals were "ambitious but achievable" and would benefit consumers, through fuel cost savings, and help the EU's car making industry compete with overseas manufacturers. The proposals will now have to be accepted by member states and the European parliament, if they are to come into force. That process could be tricky as car companies are continuing to lobby politicians on the goals. According to the EU's estimates, as a result of the new goals the average driver of a new car in 2020 would save about 340 in the first year on fuel costs, and between about 2,900 and 3,800 over the car's average 13-year lifetime, compared with the 2015 target. This would equate to total savings of about 30bn a year in fuel costs, which could increase EU GDP by 12bn a year and create new jobs, as well as saving about 160m tonnes of imported oil.

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Power plants leading to rapid glacial meltdown in China

Experts say pollution caused by humans is the second leading cause in the melting of a glacier in the Tan Shan Mountains of Xinjiang. The number one glacier in the Tianshan Mountains in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous region has been retreating by more than four metres every year and its thickness has shrunk by more than 15 metres between 1958-2010, says one of the experts from the Tian Shan Mountains glacier observation station under the Chinese Academy of Sciences. However, Director of the International Center for integrated Mountain Development argues that climate change is the leading cause in the acceleration of the glacier thawing, with another major cause being Black carbon. The Black carbon refers to the particles including dust and ashes generated by incomplete combustion of carbon-containing material, such as the fossil and biomass material. Researchers at the Tian Shan Mountains glacier observation station under the Chinese Academy of Sciences said there are several power plants and building material factories, which have been operating for nearly 30 years near the glacier and the black carbon emissions from these plants have been accumulating on the surface of the glacier, and the black colour of the particles can absorb heat from the sun and intensify the thawing of the glacier. Additionally, the plants have also been polluting the water supply of the regional capital Urumqi, since the Urumqi Rive that runs through the city has originated from the glacier.

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Sound rather than sight can activate seeing for the blind, say researchers

Scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have tapped onto the visual cortex of the congenitally blind by using sensory substitution devices (SSDs), enabling the blind, in effect, to "see" and even describe objects. SSDs are noninvasive sensory aids that provide visual information to the blind via their existing senses. For example, using a visual-to-auditory SSD in a clinical or everyday setting, users wear a miniature video camera connected to a small computer (for smart phone) and stereo headphones.

The images are converted into "soundscapes", using a predictable algorithm, allowing the user to listen to and then interpret he visual information coming from the camera. Remarkably, proficient users who have had a dedicated training as part of a research protocol in the laboratory of Dr. Amir Amedi, of the Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences and the Institute for Medical Research Israel-Canada at the Hebrew University, are able to use SSDs to identify complex everyday objects, locate people and their postures, and read letter and words.

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Punjab may switch to non-paddy crops as water crisis sparks alarm

Punjab, the grain bowl of India, is in danger of losing the covered tag as depleting groundwater levels force the state to seriously consider reducing the planting of water-intensive paddy crop in the medium-to-long term to avoid a disaster. After a recent meeting with Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, the Planning Commission has decided to send a team of experts to the state to review the problem and suggests ways to tackle it. Punjab's shrinking rice production may spell trouble for food security as the state accounts for over 10% of the country's rice output, but contribute close to 25% to central grain reserves- thanks to a strong procurement network and high local taxes that discourage traders from purchasing from farmers.

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Climate change could influence the Colorado Mountain hail to disappear in a warmer future

Summertime hail could all but disappear from the eastern flank of Colorado's Rocky Mountains by 2070, says a new study by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the University of Colorado Boulder's Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, and the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Less hail damage could be good news for gardeners and farmers, said lead author Kelly Mahoney, a research scientist at CIRES, but a shift from hail to rain can also mean more runoff, which could raise the risk of flash floods. "In this region of elevated terrain, hail may lessen the risk of flooding because it takes a while to melt," Mahoney said. "Decision makers may not want to count on that in the future". For the new study, published in the journal Natural Climate Change, Mahoney and her colleagues used "downscaling" techniques to try to understand how climate change might affect hail-producing weather patterns across Colorado.

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New study led by University of Miami to help scientists identify regions at high risk from earthquakes

A ground-breaking study led by University of Miami (UM) scientist Shimon Wdowinski shows that earthquakes, including the recent 2010 temblors in Haiti and Taiwan, may be triggered by tropical cyclones (hurricanes and typhoons), according to a presentation of the findings at the 2011 AGU Fail Meeting in San Francisco.

"Very well rain events are the trigger," said Wdowinski, associate research professor of marine geology and geophysics at the UM Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. "The heavy rain induces thousands of landslides and severe erosion, which removes ground material from the Earth's surface, releasing the stress load and encouraging movement along faults.”Wdowinski and a colleague from Florida international university analyzed data from quakes magnitude- 6 and above in Taiwan and Haiti and found a strong temporal relationship between the two natural hazards, where large earthquakes occurred within four years after a very wet tropical cyclone season.

During the last 50 years, three very wet tropical cyclone events- Typhoons Morakot, herb and Flossie- were followed within four years by major earthquakes in Taiwan's mountainous regions. The 2009 Morakot typhoon was followed by an M-6.2 in 2009 and M-6.4 in 2010. The 1996 Typhoon Herb was followed by M-6.2 in 1998 and M-7.6 in 1999 and the 1969 Typhoon Flossie was followed by an M-6.2 in 1972. The 2010 M-7 earthquakes in Haiti occurred in the mountainous region one and a half years after two hurricanes and two tropical storms drenched the island nation within 25 days.

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Aalto University in Finland develops a method to convert chemicals and biofuel from wood biomass

A method developed at Aalto University in Finland makes it possible to use microbes to produce butanol suitable for bio fuel and other industrial chemicals from wood biomass. Butanol is particularly suited as a transport fuel because it is not water soluble and has higher energy content than ethanol. Most commonly used raw materials in butanol production have so far been starch and cane sugar. In contrast to this, the starting point in the Aalto University study was to use only lignocellulose, otherwise known as wood biomass, which does not compete with food production. Another new breakthrough in the study is to successfully combine modern pulp- and biotechnology. Finland's advanced forest industry provides particularly good opportunities to develop this type of bioprocesses. Wood biomass is made up of three primary substances: cellulose, hemicelluloses, and lignin. Of these three, cellulose and hemicelluloses can be used as a source of nutrition for microbes in bioprocesses. Along with cellulose, the Kraft process that is currently used in pulping produces black liquor, which can already be used as a source of energy. It is not, however, suitable for microbes. In the study, the pulping process was altered so that, in addition to cellulose, the other sugars remain unharmed and can, there fore, be used as raw material for microbes.

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Malayan Tiger under pressure by poaching

A Malaysian government plan to double its population of endangered Malayan tigers to 1,000 through tighter protection is under threat due to persistent poaching, a conservation group has said in a report. Illegal hunting, fuelled by continued demand for tiger parts remains a serious threat to the animal and other endangered wildlife, said MYCAT Tracks, an alliance of conservation groups. The Malayan tiger is a subspecies of the great cat and is found in central and southern parts of the Malayan peninsula. In 200

9, the government announces a plan to double the wild Malayan tiger population- now estimated at just 500- by the year 2020. Conservationists say factors behind the fall in numbers include poaching, declines in prey, such as deer and wild boars, and habitat loss due to agricultural development.

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