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Small steps on climate
Letters– Fat is a fear issue From Louise Inkel While the authorities in the western world prepare to allocate fortunes in public funds to address a growing obesity problem in their populations, your article “Supersize surprise” eloquently shows how little we understand of the phenomenon (4 November, p 34). I would like to suggest an avenue of research that may not yet have been explored to explain such widespread obesity. You could call this the “impending doom factor”. Could the human animal be reacting to daily poundings of threats to its very survival? Be it cataclysmic climate change or Armageddon, such threats of impending doom can surely trigger behaviours meant to ensure survival. Just as other
animals make provision for winter (often in the form of body fat), couldn’t we be unconsciously taking measures to withstand the threatened hardships? There have been wars and famines throughout human history, but never before has there been such an abundance of available food. If there seems to be no hope of avoiding doom – if, for example, our leaders refuse to act on climate change or seem dead set on engaging in a new world conflict that promises to be a major slaughter – what can the individual human do but prepare for the worst? Even if some of these dangers are imagined rather than real, trying to curb behaviours that 20 | NewScientist | 16 December 2006
061216_R_Letters.indd 20
increase body fat may be useless, as they are mere symptoms of a will to survive in the face of a perceived peril. Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Small steps on climate From Jan-Erik Enestam, Minister of the Environment I find it hard to accept your criticism of what the European Union accomplished at the Nairobi climate conference (25 November, p 5). The EU set several goals which, perhaps surprisingly, were all reached. It is important to take even small steps forward when some in the crowd are still walking backwards. Of course it would have been great to agree upon a timetable and new limits for greenhouse gas emissions. However, when the governments are not ready, they will not act. It is for the politicians and the media to push them to take the necessary actions. I have learned to understand that the media likes high-profile declarations. These often undermine what can be accomplished with low-profile diplomacy. I sincerely think there is already too much hot air in the climate talks. Helsinki, Finland
Tiger farming From Sanjay Gubbi, Centre for Wildlife Studies You report that China is promoting tiger farming as a way of protecting tigers in the wild by providing a legitimate source of sought-after tiger body parts (18 November, p 16). Yet studies in India have clearly shown that the core cause for the decline of the tiger population is not the demand for parts, but activities such as habitat degradation and over-hunting of the tiger’s prey species. Several areas where tiger poaching is non-existent are bereft of the amber-eyed cat because its preferred prey have become rare
or have even vanished. Conservation of wild species and landscapes should be looked at in the same way as public health or primary education – as bringing long-term intangible benefits to society – and not as “commerce” as you report Barun Mitra to be suggesting. Proposed solutions must be not only pragmatic but also socially and culturally acceptable, and they need to be based on understanding of their long-term impacts. Bangalore, India From Barun Mitra, Liberty Institute I was recently present at a round table on tiger conservation, organised by the Competitive Enterprise Institute in Washington DC, and attended almost a who’s who of international tiger conservation groups based in the US capital. Even environmentalists now agree that tigers occupy 40 per cent less habitat area than they did 10 years ago. Habitat loss, not poaching, is contributing most to tigers’ decline in the wild. While it may seem counterintuitive, it is only when tigers become largely available and tradable products that the species will be spared extinction. In pragmatic terms, the animal is extremely valuable. Given the growing popularity of traditional Chinese medicines, the tiger can in effect pay for its own survival. New Delhi, India
possible elsewhere in Africa and across the globe. The farmers succeeded where millions of dollars invested in conventional tree planting failed. Through “farmer-managed natural regeneration”, as it has been called, they found that trees could regenerate profusely from re-sprouting stumps of native trees. Until recently, farmers slashed and burned these sprouts while preparing fields for crops. Now they select and prune shoots sprouting from the stumps instead. Moreover, the resource is free. This is a major reason for the practice spreading rapidly in Niger. For no extra cost, farmers could supplement their income by selling material from the trees, as well as doubling yields of crops grown in association with the trees, as reported in the article. This is a message that should be heeded throughout Africa, especially the parts slowly turning to desert. Governments, NGOs and international research organisations should re-examine their agroforestry practices in the light of this remarkable success. Burwood East, Victoria, Australia
How green is your roof?
● Our apologies to Barun Mitra for misspelling his name in the original article – Ed
Farmer-led forests From Tony Rinaudo, World Vision Australia I was delighted to see you report the success of farmer-led efforts in Niger to reclaim the desert by growing more trees (14 October, p 11). If farmers in Africa’s poorest nation, working in an extremely harsh and unforgiving climate, can win the fight against desertification, it should be
From Mike Garnham A green roof with plants growing in a soil or mineral substrate does offer a number of benefits, as Helen Bantock says (18 November, p 25). But it also has a fundamental problem: it typically weighs up to four times as much as a conventional roof, and so www.newscientist.com
8/12/06 3:54:34 pm
animals make provision for winter (often in the form of body fat), couldn’t we be unconsciously taking measures to withstand the threatened hardships? There have been wars and famines throughout human history, but never before has there been such an abundance of available food. If there seems to be no hope of avoiding doom – if, for example, our leaders refuse to act on climate change or seem dead set on engaging in a new world conflict that promises to be a major slaughter – what can the individual human do but prepare for the worst? Even if some of these dangers are imagined rather than real, trying to curb behaviours that 20 | NewScientist | 16 December 2006
061216_R_Letters.indd 20
increase body fat may be useless, as they are mere symptoms of a will to survive in the face of a perceived peril. Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Small steps on climate From Jan-Erik Enestam, Minister of the Environment I find it hard to accept your criticism of what the European Union accomplished at the Nairobi climate conference (25 November, p 5). The EU set several goals which, perhaps surprisingly, were all reached. It is important to take even small steps forward when some in the crowd are still walking backwards. Of course it would have been great to agree upon a timetable and new limits for greenhouse gas emissions. However, when the governments are not ready, they will not act. It is for the politicians and the media to push them to take the necessary actions. I have learned to understand that the media likes high-profile declarations. These often undermine what can be accomplished with low-profile diplomacy. I sincerely think there is already too much hot air in the climate talks. Helsinki, Finland
Tiger farming From Sanjay Gubbi, Centre for Wildlife Studies You report that China is promoting tiger farming as a way of protecting tigers in the wild by providing a legitimate source of sought-after tiger body parts (18 November, p 16). Yet studies in India have clearly shown that the core cause for the decline of the tiger population is not the demand for parts, but activities such as habitat degradation and over-hunting of the tiger’s prey species. Several areas where tiger poaching is non-existent are bereft of the amber-eyed cat because its preferred prey have become rare
or have even vanished. Conservation of wild species and landscapes should be looked at in the same way as public health or primary education – as bringing long-term intangible benefits to society – and not as “commerce” as you report Barun Mitra to be suggesting. Proposed solutions must be not only pragmatic but also socially and culturally acceptable, and they need to be based on understanding of their long-term impacts. Bangalore, India From Barun Mitra, Liberty Institute I was recently present at a round table on tiger conservation, organised by the Competitive Enterprise Institute in Washington DC, and attended almost a who’s who of international tiger conservation groups based in the US capital. Even environmentalists now agree that tigers occupy 40 per cent less habitat area than they did 10 years ago. Habitat loss, not poaching, is contributing most to tigers’ decline in the wild. While it may seem counterintuitive, it is only when tigers become largely available and tradable products that the species will be spared extinction. In pragmatic terms, the animal is extremely valuable. Given the growing popularity of traditional Chinese medicines, the tiger can in effect pay for its own survival. New Delhi, India
possible elsewhere in Africa and across the globe. The farmers succeeded where millions of dollars invested in conventional tree planting failed. Through “farmer-managed natural regeneration”, as it has been called, they found that trees could regenerate profusely from re-sprouting stumps of native trees. Until recently, farmers slashed and burned these sprouts while preparing fields for crops. Now they select and prune shoots sprouting from the stumps instead. Moreover, the resource is free. This is a major reason for the practice spreading rapidly in Niger. For no extra cost, farmers could supplement their income by selling material from the trees, as well as doubling yields of crops grown in association with the trees, as reported in the article. This is a message that should be heeded throughout Africa, especially the parts slowly turning to desert. Governments, NGOs and international research organisations should re-examine their agroforestry practices in the light of this remarkable success. Burwood East, Victoria, Australia
How green is your roof?
● Our apologies to Barun Mitra for misspelling his name in the original article – Ed
Farmer-led forests From Tony Rinaudo, World Vision Australia I was delighted to see you report the success of farmer-led efforts in Niger to reclaim the desert by growing more trees (14 October, p 11). If farmers in Africa’s poorest nation, working in an extremely harsh and unforgiving climate, can win the fight against desertification, it should be
From Mike Garnham A green roof with plants growing in a soil or mineral substrate does offer a number of benefits, as Helen Bantock says (18 November, p 25). But it also has a fundamental problem: it typically weighs up to four times as much as a conventional roof, and so www.newscientist.com
8/12/06 3:54:34 pm