Climate change causes unprecedented coral bleaching.
According to a team of scientists from Australia’s Southern Cross University, warming ocean waters have imperiled coral reefs in Lord Howe Island Lagoon, the world’s southernmost such ecosystem, This year has seen the hottest, driest, most cloudless January in recorded history, and Dr. Peter Harrison, who
led a survey of the reefs east of Sydney said that the two degree Celsius rise in temperature since 1993 has endangered the reefs as well as a sea anemone that is home to a rare type of fish.

As such overheating causes the coral to expel crucial algae that give them their color, a soon return to normal temperatures could allow the reefs to survive but only after decades of recovery.

Dr. Harrison explained that global warming is behind these changes as he stated. “It's exactly what you predict from warming seas. This is a warning of likely future increases of stress on this world's southernmost reef.”

Dr. Harrison and colleagues at Southern Cross University, we appreciate your detailed observations of the imperiled coral reefs. Our prayers that all are motivated to speedily adopt sustainable lifestyles that preserve the delicately interconnected life on our planet.

During a November 2008 interview with Ireland’s East Coast Radio FM, Supreme Master Ching Hai reiterated a concern she has often expressed about the preciousness of coral reefs as part of the biosphere affected by global warming.


http://www.france24.com/en/20100324-climate-change-puts-australian-reef-knife-edge
http://www.scu.edu.au/research/whales/index.php/14/
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/pacbeat/stories/201003/s2855135.htm
http://www.sciencealert.com.au/news/20102603-20767-2.html

European Union seeks further forest preservation.
The Conference on the Protection of Forests, organized jointly by the European Commission and Spain’s Ministry of Environment and Rural and Marine Affairs, was held on April 6 and 7 in Valsaín, Spain.

Attended by ministers and other concerned parties from the 27 member states, the meeting focused on a European Union Green Paper on Forest Protection and Information, from which discussions emerged about updating existing policies.

With forests that cover 176 million hectares, or more than 42% of the European Union’s territory, goals included finding ways to better sustain these ecosystems that both mitigate climate change and also offer socio-economic benefits to the two million people employed in forest-related activities.

The conference culminated in a consensus approval of the Valsaín Declaration, which recommends increased coordination among member states to promote better information exchange as well as further measures to prevent wildfires, deforestation and desertification.

European Commission, Spain and all attendees, we laud your diligent efforts to protect the vital lungs of our Earth. May our respect and care for the verdant trees lead to actions that preserve all life on our shared planetary home.

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/317542,eu-to-coordinate-forest-protection-policies.html
http://www.balkans.com/open-news.php?uniquenumber=53465
http://english.cri.cn/6966/2010/04/07/1721s561552.htm
http://www.nieuwsbank.nl/en/2010/04/07/Q011.htm
http://euroalert.net/en/news.aspx?idn=9724

Extra News
Speaking at a global warming meeting in Ethiopia, US researchers call for increased foreign investment to assist in adaptation measures that will lessen Africa’s food shortages and help mitigate climate-related diseases such as malaria and meningitis.  
http://www.kbc.co.ke/story.asp?ID=63038

Israel’s Ministry of Agriculture announces a two-year ban on fishing in the Sea of Galilee to help restore the ancient waters and its devastated populations of fish.
http://www.pakistannews.net/story/619603
http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2010/04/03/Fishing-banned-at-Sea-of-Galilee/UPI-56681270325608/

Leading experts at China's National Climate Center confirm that the drought currently affecting 18 million residents in the nation’s southwest is due to the global warming effects of reduced rain and higher temperatures.
http://english.cri.cn/6909/2010/03/28/189s559753.htm

An article in the peer-reviewed journal “Oceanography” concludes that the 2007 UN assessment of climate change is now considered an underestimate, as even conservative calculations now forecast a dangerous 2.4 degree Celsius minimum rise in global temperatures.
http://carbon-based-ghg.blogspot.com/2010/03/world-policymakers-have-underestimated.html
http://www.tos.org/oceanography/issues/issue_archive/issue_pdfs/23_1/23-1_greene.pdf