Geographical articles from April 2009

Geographical archives from April 2009

New GIS maps show pyroclastic flow danger zones.(geographic information system )(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A team of US volcanologists has developed a new software system that could help protect millions living in the blast zones of volcanoes by pinpointing the areas most at risk from pyroclastic flows--the fast-flowing...

Caterpillar plague creates national emergency in Liberia.(WORLD watch)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... Caterpillar plague creates national emergency in Liberia: An invasion of crop-eating caterpillars has devastated crops and pushed up the price of fresh produce in Liberia, pitching the West African nation into a state of emergency, according to...

Military technology to boost environmental research.(WORLD watch)
April 1, 2009... Military technology to boost environmental research: Environmental scientists in the USA are to deploy remote-controlled military aviation technology to advance studies into the atmosphere and climate change, according to reports from NASA. ...

Dams proejcts threatening Himalaya.(WORLD watch)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... A series of huge dam projects in the Himalaya will dramatically alter the appearance of the region's landscape, irreparably damage ecosystems and result in the destruction of numerous important historical sites, according to a major new report....

New soil map to boost productivity in Africa.(WORLD watch)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... New soil map to boost productivity in Africa: A new 12 million [pounds sterling], four-year project will see hundreds of researchers travel to the far reaches of 42 sub-Saharan countries in a bid to develop a digital map of soil health, as part...

A plastic malaria test kit developed by bioengineers at the University of Washington could bolster efforts to control the disease.(USA)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... A plastic malaria test kit developed by bioengineers at the University of Washington could bolster efforts to control the disease. The credit-card-sized kit is inexpensive to produce and doesn't need to be refrigerated, unlike previous kits,...

Efforts to reconstruct areas of Sichuan province that were devastated by last year's earthquake could be causing the fragmentation of neighbouring bamboo forests that support endangered wild pandas, according to conservation group Panda Mountain.(CHINA)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... Efforts to reconstruct areas of Sichuan province that were devastated by last year's earthquake could be causing the fragmentation of neighbouring bamboo forests that support endangered wild pandas, according to conservation group Panda...

The Indian government has backed an 85-million-rupee (1.2million [pounds sterling]) online agricultural encyclopaedia for farmers, students and researchers.(INDIA)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... The Indian government has backed an 85-million-rupee (1.2million [pounds sterling]) online agricultural encyclopaedia for farmers, students and researchers. The site, launched in January, already contains information for nine crops, but will...

A cloud-seeding attempt that saw 2,392 rockets and 409 shells loaded with chemicals fired skywards brought scant relief to areas of northern China gripped by the worst drought in 50 years.(CHINA)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... A cloud-seeding attempt that saw 2,392 rockets and 409 shells loaded with chemicals fired skywards brought scant relief to areas of northern China gripped by the worst drought in 50 years. The government has declared an emergency in the region,...

Bigger trees means bigger global carbon sink.(CLIMATE watch)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] By identifying, mapping and measuring the trunks of 70,000 trees across Africa, geographers from the University of Leeds Earth and Biosphere Institute have found that not only are tropical forest trees getting...

Engineers urged to start adapting to climate change.(CLIMATE watch)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Engineers urged to start adapting to climate change: In a new report, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IME) has called for immediate changes to the way in which Britain designs buildings, transport and energy...

UK homes set for green refit.(CLIMATE watch)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... UK homes Set for green refit: Every British house will be renovated to become more energy efficient and less carbon-intensive, under government proposals to reduce emissions. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The plans, which are due to come into...

Despite good conditions this year, snowfalls in the Scottish Highlands have been decreasing for the past 40 years and will be unable to sustain a winter sports industry within 50 years, according to the Met Office's chief government advisor.(SCOTLAND)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... Despite good conditions this year, snowfalls in the Scottish Highlands have been decreasing for the past 40 years and will be unable to sustain a winter sports industry within 50 years, according to the Met Office's chief government advisor....

Wind power was the fastest-growing energy sector across Europe last year, according to the European Wind Energy Association. (EUROPE).
April 1, 2009... Wind power was the fastest-growing energy sector across Europe last year, according to the European Wind Energy Association. Wind power accounted for 43 per cent of new energy capacity, followed by gas with 35 per cent, oil with 13 per cent,...

The bushfires that struck Victoria in February are estimated to have released several million tonnes of C[O.sub.2] into the atmosphere, equivalent to more than a third of Australia's total annual emissions.(AUSTRALIA)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... The bushfires that struck Victoria in February are estimated to have released several million tonnes of C[O.sub.2] into the atmosphere, equivalent to more than a third of Australia's total annual emissions. The emissions are expected to be...

Madagascar.(HOT spot)(Country overview)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Political demonstrations on the world's fourth-largest island in February have claimed at least 28 lives. In the capital, Antananarivo, police opened fire on protestors angry at the dismissal of the city mayor and...

Arnside and Silverdale: Olivia Edward dodges treacherous quicksand and keeps an ear out for booming birds in Britain's smallest AONB.(AREAS OF OUTSTANDING NATURAL BEAUTY)
April 1, 2009... IF YOU FIND YOURSELF ON QUICKSAND, you should lie down and roll off the area,' says local guide Cedric Robinson as we look out over a huge expanse of flat, grey sand. 'You might get wet and muddy, but at least you'll get out.' It's unusual...

Society grants following sea level rise.(IN society)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] CLIMATE CHANGE IS one of--if not the--key debates and challenges of the 21st century, as will be highlighted during Lord Nicholas Stern's lecture this month at the Society (see Event of the month, opposite). It's...

Selection of events: April 2009.(ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY (WITH IBG))(Calendar)
April 1, 2009... 8 APRIL, 7PM TIME TRAVELLING IN THE CANADIAN ROCKIES (Lecture, Truro) Writer Dr Helen Andrew and her photographer daughter Andrea Insoll talk about their trek on horseback through the Canadian Rockies, retracing the 1907 journey...

Event of the month.(IN society)(Calendar)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 1 APRIL, 6.30PM LORD NICHOLAS STERN: How to manage climate change and create a new era of progress and prosperity (Lecture, London) Join one of the world's leading authorities on climate change as he...

Samuel White Baker's rifle: part of the Victorian explorer, author and big game hunter's formidable arsenal.(FROM THE collection)
April 1, 2009... Samuel White Baker believed that a large gun was the best way to ensure that 'force, the great law of nature' was on his side. 'In every direction we see a struggle for existence,' the Victorian explorer and big game hunter wrote in his hunting...

Climate change: the smoking gun in Australia's firestorm: Ken Eastwood reports on the recent bushfires in Australia, the country's worst peacetime disaster and discovers why they were so devastating.(NEWS extra)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The mind numbs when it considers the firestorm that hit Victoria, in southeastern Australia, on 7 February. More than 200 people killed, more than 1,800 homes flattened, whole towns reduced to ashes, and an estimated...

Islands in the (seasonal) stream.(photostory: BANGLADESH HAORS)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] During the annual monsoon, around a third of Bangladesh disappears under water. In the northeast, hundreds of haors (natural dips in the ground created by tectonic activity) are inundated when nearby rivers break...

Comeback of the canal: Britain's historic man-made waterways--5,000 kilometres of canals and navigable rivers--are undergoing a remarkable renaissance.(heritage: BRITAIN'S WATERWAYS)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Take a walk along your local canal and you might notice a quiet revolution sweeping across the country--sailing along at six kilometres per hour. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Derelict and unloved in the latter...

Milking the planet dry: all over the world, demand for beef and milk is on the rise. But as production expands to meet this demand, it's becoming increasingly unsustainable, causing deforestation and desertification, and contributing to global climate change. Can the Earth cope with our long-running love affair with the cow?(DOSSIER: Cattle industry)(Cover story)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Every morning at dawn, Joseph gets up with the sun to draw six litres of milk from his cow before putting on his shirt and tie and going to work. His cow's name is Veronica, and her milk provides the main daily...

Written: long before the Spanish Colonists arrived, the scattered indigenous populations of the modern-day Philippine archipelago were using complex written languages. But as the influences of the modern world encroach on the isolated communities on islands such as Palawan, their palaeographical traditions are slowly dying out.(culture VANISHING SCRIPT)
April 1, 2009... On a quiet hillside on Palawan Island in the western Philippines, 71-year-old Antonita Bibas sits in the shade outside her bamboo house. Surrounded by her many grandchildren, she recounts how her husband, Sambring, proposed to her. 'He was 16...

Protecting the land of the Vikings: in August last year, Denmark's prime minister officially declared part of western Jutland the country's first national park. With four other areas across Denmark poised to follow suit, Natalie Hoare went to find out why the archipelago nation is the last EU country to establish a network of national parks.(travel: DENMARK)
April 1, 2009... On a freezing Tuesday evening in January 2004, a beach hotel in a remote part of Denmark was beginning to fill up with men, women and children from all over the surrounding area. As they took their seats, a sense of anticipation hung in the...

Missing, presumed dead.(Harold William Tilman, Alfred Wegener and Alexander Comyn Irvine)
April 1, 2009... In an effort to forge a greater understanding of the world around us, humans have travelled to the far reaches of the planet, pushing themselves to the very limits of endurance. This selection of images drawn from the archives of the Royal...

Islam's legacy of discovery.(Book review)
April 1, 2009... SCIENCE AND ISLAM: A History by Ehsan Masood ICON BOOKS, HB, 14.99 [pounds sterling] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In the modern era, we tend to think in terms of an obvious schism between faith and science: after all, the vast...

The Plant Hunters: The Adventures of the World's Greatest Botanical Explorers.(Brief article)(Book review)
April 1, 2009... The Plant Hunters: The Adventures of the World's Greatest Botanical Explorers by Carolyn Fry ANDRE DEUTSCH, HB, 30 [pounds sterling] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Columnists in gardening magazines and mud-deep pundits on television...

Energy: The World's Race for Resources in the 21st Century.(Brief article)(Book review)
April 1, 2009... ENERGY: The World's Race for Resources in the 21st Century by Hermann-Josef Wagner HAUS PUBLISHING, PB, 9.99 [pounds sterling] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] This book is part of a 12-volume series published by Haus under the banner...

Mysteries of the Gobi: Searching for Wild Camels and Lost Cities in the Heart of Asia.(Brief article)(Book review)
April 1, 2009... MYSTERIES OF THE GOBI: Searching for Wild Camels and Lost Cities in the Heart of Asia by John Hare IB TAURIS, HB, 17.99 [pounds sterling] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 'The story has soul,' Matthew Parris's introduction concludes,...

Top ten writer's reads.(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... Michael McCarthy has been environment editor for the Independent for the past 11 years, having previously had a si+milar role at The Times. His latest book, Say Goodbye to the Cuckoo, is out now 1. MEMOIRS OF HADRIAN BY MARGUERITE YOURCENAR...

Say Goodbye to the Cuckoo.(Brief article)(Book review)
April 1, 2009... SAY GOODBYE TO THE CUCKOO by Michael McCarthy JOHN MURRAY, HB, 16.99 [pounds sterling] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Michael McCarthy is keen on reminding us that we experience migratory birds from a limited perspective; that the...

Mapping England.(Book review)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] MAPPING ENGLAND by Simon Foxell BLACK DOG PUBLISHING, HB, 40 [pounds sterling] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] There seems to be a steady flow of lavish books about maps,...

A Love of the Land: Selected Writings of John Fraser Hart.(Brief article)(Book review)
April 1, 2009... A LOVE OF THE LAND: Selected Writings of John Fraser Hart edited by John C Hudson THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS, PB US$27.50 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A Love of the Land showcases 13 of John Fraser Hart's essays written at...

That moment: the winner of the ice category is Gemma-Claire Ali of London.(COMPETITION)(Essay)
April 1, 2009... 'The glacier was here in...' That's what the signs said:' was'. There were ten of them in total; ten seemingly insignificant plaques, parading upwards through the abandoned valley. Dwarfed by the magnificence of the surrounding landscape, it...

Chocs away: in an attempt to make his vehicle-based expeditions carbon neutral, Andy Pag traversed the Sahara to reach the famous Malian outpost of Timbuktu in a truck powered solely by ... chocolate. Here, he describes the equipment that he employed during this astonishing journey.(ESSENTIAL gear)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] After 12 years of running vehicle-based overland expeditions, I drove across the Sahara in a chocolate-powered lorry in 2007. It was the start of a personal journey to reduce the environmental impact of my...

Ten of the best.(Buyers guide)
April 1, 2009... You'll need more than a family-sized bar of Dairy Milk to power your chocolate-fuelled vehicle. Here are some items essential for such a trip Don't forget... ... to carry all paperwork in a leather-bound briefcase. This formality...

It's not all beer and skittles: a foaming pint in your local may quench your thirst, but with some multinational breweries under fire for their practices, does your favourite beer also slake the demands of your conscience?(TRADE secrets)
April 1, 2009... For such a simple pleasure that's enjoyed daily by millions, the ethical issues surrounding the production and sale of beer are surprisingly complex. At its most extreme, certain brands have been associated with a trade in Cambodia, China...

Blue Britain: with more bluebells than any other country, the UK is privileged to host one of the world's most spectacular and appealing wildflower displays. But it's an ephemeral exhibition, and with spring's first buds bursting, now's the time to pack your camera bag and head out to see if nature has rolled out the blue carpet in your local wood.(GEO photo)
April 1, 2009... In meteorological terms, spring begins with the Equinox on 21 March, but March is such a fickle month, often marked by heavy snowfalls on higher ground, that for many people, spring won't have fully arrived until April. And April means the...

Exposing the ravages.(Letter of the month)(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2009... My 18-year-old daughter and I both share a strong sense of compassion for the Earth, which has led to her studying environmental science at university. She is also a keen photographer and has developed a style devoted to exposing the ravages of...

Championing the champions.(MAIL bag)(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2009... I was delighted by your reader Moira Broadhead's interest in the Geography Champions initiative (Mailbag, March 2009), but realised there was a need for clarification. The Primary Geography Champions (PCG) scheme forms part of the...

Saving history.(MAIL bag)(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2009... I enjoyed reading Marc Grainger's article on the preservation efforts being undertaken by the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) in Kabul and Herat (Rebuilding Afghanistan, March 2009). Having worked in Afghanistan in recent years, I've seen...

Time to get real on travel.(MAIL bag)(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2009... The opinion piece on travel in the February issue of Geographical by Pat Thomas, editor of the Ecologist (The trouble with travel), would not encourage me to read the magazine. Considering the bad reputation of the press these days, it's...

I'm a geographer.
April 1, 2009... Gary Foxcroft, 29, is the co-founder of Stepping Stones Nigeria, a charity that works in the Niger Delta to protect the rights of disadvantaged children, particularly those who've been accused of witchcraft. Once denounced, the children are...