UN Chief urges world leaders to invest in water security.
NEW YORK, June 7 (KUNA) — United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres urged late Tuesday world leaders to invest in water security, amid increasing demand and the burgeoning effects of climate change.
This was during Guterres’ participation in a Security Council meeting on preventive diplomacy and transboundary waters, which was chaired by Bolivian President Evo Morales, which holds the UNSC’s presidency for the month.
He stressed that the water serves as a catalyst for cooperation among nations, even those that are not on good terms.
He commended the UNSC meeting for highlighting how water is and should remain a reason for cooperation not conflict.
"With demand for fresh water projected to grow by more than 40 percent by the middle of the century, and with climate change having a growing impact, water scarcity is a growing concern," he said.
According to his speech, he told the Council that by 2050, at least one in four people will live in a country where the lack of fresh water is chronic or recurrent, although three-quarters of United Nations Member States share rivers or lake basins with their neighbors.
Speaking to the press prior to the meeting, British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said that in order to fulfill the Sustainable Development Goals, everyone on the planet needs access to clean water and sanitation, and in turn will involve resolving any transboundary water issues.
He strongly supported Guterre’s focus on prevention, preventative diplomacy, making sure that wherever there are disputes in relation to water that those are resolved before they spiral downwards into conflict.
(end) mao.hb

When a soil dries out, this has a negative impact on the activity of soil bacteria.
Using an innovative combination of state-of-the-art analysis and imaging techniques, researchers at UFZ have now discovered that fungi increase the activity of bacteria in dry and nutrient-poor habitats by supplying them with water and nutrients.
Once found, water and nutrients are absorbed and transported through the hyphae, allowing them to be supplied to parts of the fungal network in dry or nutrient-poor areas of the soil.
As part of their investigations, the researchers closely examined the transport of water, substrates and nutrients through the microscopically small hyphae of fungi.
The fungal hyphae had to pass through a dry, nutrient-free zone in order to grow through into a new area containing the culture medium.
In the experiment, these conditions were indeed improved by the growth of the fungi: "As the fungal hyphae grew through the dry zone, the bacterial spores germinated and we noticed clear microbial activity," says UFZ environmental microbiologist Dr. Lukas Y. Wick.
This study has given the UFZ researchers another important insight into fungi and their important function in soils.
This could be important specifically with regard to the impacts of climate change, if the ratio of dry to moist areas of soil dramatically increases," says Kästner.
"We want to carry out soil experiments under different environmental conditions and find out what influence fungal growth has on the breakdown of pollutants," says Wick.
Mycelium-mediated transfer of water and nutrients stimulates bacterial activity in dry and oligotrophic environments.

Security Council 7959th Meeting (PM) Spotlighting the scarcity of Earth’s most precious resource, the United Nations Secretary-General today urged world leaders to invest in water security, amid increasing demand and the burgeoning effects of climate change.
Council members must commit to investing in water security to ensure durable peace and security for all communities and nations.
Government agreements must underscore the need to sustainability manage transboundary water resources.
Beyond recognizing the link between water, peace and security and the need to prevent related conflicts, the goal should be sharing experiences of cooperation and success stories.
Water management could also serve as a building block for sustainable development, peace and security.
Water should be a tool for cooperation, development and security.
While there was no standard approach to resolving water disputes, increasing the capacity of Member States would help them engage better in the transboundary management of the resource.
Meanwhile, the United Nations and international community must continue to respect national sovereignty.
Riparian States had negotiated the Nile River Basin Cooperative Framework Agreement for almost 13 years, and it was now signed by six States and ratified by three others.
As conflicts were best resolved locally or regionally, river basin governance efforts should be supported.

Security Council 7959th Meeting (PM) Spotlighting the scarcity of Earth’s most precious resource, the United Nations Secretary-General today urged world leaders to invest in water security, amid increasing demand and the burgeoning effects of climate change.
Council members must commit to investing in water security to ensure durable peace and security for all communities and nations.
Government agreements must underscore the need to sustainability manage transboundary water resources.
Beyond recognizing the link between water, peace and security and the need to prevent related conflicts, the goal should be sharing experiences of cooperation and success stories.
Water management could also serve as a building block for sustainable development, peace and security.
Water should be a tool for cooperation, development and security.
While there was no standard approach to resolving water disputes, increasing the capacity of Member States would help them engage better in the transboundary management of the resource.
Meanwhile, the United Nations and international community must continue to respect national sovereignty.
Riparian States had negotiated the Nile River Basin Cooperative Framework Agreement for almost 13 years, and it was now signed by six States and ratified by three others.
As conflicts were best resolved locally or regionally, river basin governance efforts should be supported.

Security Council 7959th Meeting (PM) Spotlighting the scarcity of Earth’s most precious resource, the United Nations Secretary-General today urged world leaders to invest in water security, amid increasing demand and the burgeoning effects of climate change.
Council members must commit to investing in water security to ensure durable peace and security for all communities and nations.
Government agreements must underscore the need to sustainability manage transboundary water resources.
Beyond recognizing the link between water, peace and security and the need to prevent related conflicts, the goal should be sharing experiences of cooperation and success stories.
Water management could also serve as a building block for sustainable development, peace and security.
Water should be a tool for cooperation, development and security.
While there was no standard approach to resolving water disputes, increasing the capacity of Member States would help them engage better in the transboundary management of the resource.
Meanwhile, the United Nations and international community must continue to respect national sovereignty.
Riparian States had negotiated the Nile River Basin Cooperative Framework Agreement for almost 13 years, and it was now signed by six States and ratified by three others.
As conflicts were best resolved locally or regionally, river basin governance efforts should be supported.

Most of Florida is in a drought A spokeswoman for Gore said that he was citing the United States Drought Monitor, a weekly map published on Thursdays showing drought conditions.
While that was the highest this year, there have been multiple other weeks that it reached similarly high levels since 2000.
During two weeks in April 2012, 99.96 percent of Florida was in a drought.
This event will be similar.
"Since the Florida wet season has returned with a vengeance over the past week, and is forecast to continue over the next few weeks, the amount of Florida in drought two to four weeks from now should be substantially less than what it is today."
Experts told us that Florida is prone to periodic droughts, but rising temperatures as a result of climate change can make droughts worse.
This year the Florida Peninsula only received half of its normal rainfall during the dry season, leading to the most active wildfire season since 2011.
"There is an increasing temperature trend, and warmer temperatures lead to greater evapotranspiration rates, which can exacerbate these periods of drought," Zierden said.
While Gore’s numerical statement about the drought is correct, David Nolan, chair of the University of Miami’s Department of Atmospheric Sciences, cautioned against pointing to any particular weather event as proof of climate change.
Gore correctly cited the United States Drought Monitor which showed that 71.66 percent of Florida was experiencing a drought for the week ending May 30.

READ: How Prisons Are Affected By Climate Change.
It states: [T]he toxic impact of prisons extends far beyond any individual prison, or any specific region in the United States.
Across the country, federal environmental violations are abundant state by state.
Another spill occurred in 2008, again in 2014—and yet again in 2015 and in January of this year.
Or the water they drink is contaminated with arsenic or lead.
In the Southwest, where summer temperatures can be extreme, a metal bedframe can become dangerous if a facility lacks proper air conditioning.
As in California, 2011 was a deadly year in Texas prisons.
We lay in the water, put the sheet over us while blowing the fan under the sheet, to keep the body temps down.” The Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s solution during periods of extreme heat was to tell Pack Unit prisoners to simply drink more water, recommending up to two gallons of water a day on extremely hot days.
The prisoners drank thousands of gallons of the arsenic-tainted water for more than 10 years before a federal judge ordered TDCJ to truck in clean water for the prisoners last year.
The report takes the reader into the lives of several prisoners and the various health impacts these conditions have had on their lives.

No provincial action coming for Muskrat Lake.
With the provincial government offering no concrete action to address the water quality problems in Muskrat Lake, Whitewater Region is planning to raise money for an eventual clean-up of the troubled body of water.
Renfrew County council reviewed a letter from Ontario environment minister Glen Murray who was responding to correspondence sent by Warden Jennifer Murphy in which she requested the province provide funding and collaborate with other ministries to undertake the studies required to confirm the nature and extent of the issues and to identify, develop and fund the remediation measures necessary to improve the water quality in Muskrat Lake.
In his April letter, Murray noted that the Cobden Water Pollution Control Plant had received $3.1 million through the Canada-Ontario Small Communities Fund and that the Muskrat Watershed Council continues to receive support from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.
Murray added that, “Our scientists continue to do research to better understand the underlying causes of blue-green algae blooms.” However, Murray did not indicate if the province will pay for the remediation that will need to be taken to clean up the lake.
One of Ontario’s highly sensitive lakes, the Muskrat suffers from phosphorus loading over the past 30 years due to high concentrations of bacteria and toxic blue-green algae blooms.
The poor quality of water not only affects those who currently live there, in terms of property values and public health, but could adversely affect future development.
“We’re not even on their radar,” Millar told County council during their May session.
But Millar said the municipality is embarking on a fundraising initiative beginning with their Canada Day Street Party set for July 1 in Cobden.
“We hope that in time governments will change and situations will change and that money will come into play.” SChase@postmedia.com

Climate change to worsen in cities, Sainsbury’s launches own Fairly Traded label, The Body Shop asks UN to end animal testing, and Tesco slashes carbon footprint with new refrigerant The Body Shop launches ‘ambitious’ campaign to end animal testing The Body Shop has launched a new campaign for a global ban on animal testing on cosmetic products and ingredients by 2020 in a new partnership with non-profit organisation Cruelty Free International.
The Body Shop plans to take the campaign to the United Nations and request an international convention banning cosmetics testing on animals.
The new research estimated that changing a fifth of a city’s roofs and half the pavements to cooler versions would reduce city air temperatures by 0.8°C (1.4F).
As part of its new sustainability standards, the retailer is piloting a sustainability sourcing approach for its tea range, which Sainsbury’s says will provide more direct support to its farmers.
Under the Fairly Traded pilot, tea farmers supplying Sainsbury’s Red Label and Gold Label ranges will continue to receive a guaranteed minimum price for their crop along with a social premium, as they did under the Fairtrade agreement.
Fairtrade’s chief executive Michael Gidney has said that the Fairly Traded approach falls below the core principles offered by Fairtrade, and will take control away from producers.
We see the proposed approach as an attempt to replace the autonomous role which Fairtrade brings and replace it with a model which no longer balances the power between producers and buyers.” Sainsbury’s has insisted the group’s farmers have been fully supportive of the new approach and Fairtrade are the only people who will lose out through the move.
The new range of Fairly Traded teas will be in Sainsbury’s stores this month.
The retailer has maintained its Fairtrade commitments to its premium ranges of own-brand teas, Fairtrade bananas, coffee, chocolate, and flowers.
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Artificial Glaciers To Save WaterPosted by Scroll28,231 ViewsShareArtificial Glaciers To Save WaterPosted by Scroll28,231 ViewsVideo UnavailableSorry, this video could not be played.Learn More Global warming is rapidly melting the glaciers in Ladakh. The climate change is so radical that by 2100 it may reduce the volume of glaciers in the Everest region by 70%. Ladakh receives a meagre 100 mm of rainfall annually and has extremely low temperatures. But, increasingly, warmer temperatures are causing floods in winter owing to the premature melting of ice. This causes water scarcity in spring, making…