Keystone molecules manipulate all stages of life, from reproduction to dispersal and even to survival itself

PREGNANT women and their fetuses are not severely affected by air travel – but the same may not be true for space travel

Bathing milk and other liquids in ultraviolet light could replace pasteurisation and make for healthier drinks

Maps based on predictions of underwater noise pollution could give whales much-needed peace and quiet

A game that claims to reduce symptoms of schizophrenia will be put before the FDA – but would their approval be a boon or a burden for the industry?

A climbing robot that secretes a sticky fluid to help it cling to walls could take on the more famous gecko-bots

Evolution has been rewound to create a ‘snouted’ chicken. That means we might also be able to fast-forward evolution to create the animals of the future

In clearing vast tracts of land, the prolific loggers of the 18th and 19th-century released so much sand and dirt that open-water bays turned into seafood-rich wetlands

An army of ecologists is descending on Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Sujata Gupta, Peter Aldhous and Debora MacKenzie report

Mice lacking rods and cones are still able to navigate mazes using a third receptor previously thought to have no role in image formation

A pioneering series of experiments in California has an ambitious goal: to create a blueprint for sustainable fisheries

Extremophile microbes in mud from a frozen Alaskan lake can be harnessed to make biogas

A boat trip out to the Louisiana bayous shows prospects for recovery balanced on a knife edge

The peculiar rainfall pattern in Indiarenders the country highly vulnerable to floods. Forty million hectares of land, roughlyone-eighth of the country's geographical area, is prone to floods. Each year, floods cause extensive damage to life and property, losses being exacerbated by rapid population growth, unplanned development and unchecked environmental degradation. The country has been tackling the problem through structural and non-structural measures. While non-structural measures like flood forecasting aim at improving the preparedness to floods by seeking to keep people away from floodwaters, structural measures involve the construction of physical structures like embankments, dams, drainage channels, and reservoirs that prevent floodwaters from reaching potential damage centres. Almost 48% of the vulnerable area has been provided with reasonable protection, though floods continue to cause widespread losses year after year. This paper examines the incidence of floods and the trends in consequent losses in the eastern region of the country – one of the most vulnerable – with the objective of studying the efficacy of flood protection measures in the region. Based on a simple regression exercise for three highly vulnerable states in the region, the paper argues that flood protection measures have been inadequate in controlling losses and reducing vulnerability. Regressions for the three states over the period 1971 to 1996 indicate that the level of protection is an insignificant explanatory variable in explaining the number of people (adjusted for increases in density) affected by floods; while area affected, as an indicator of the intensity of floods remains the main loss-determining factor.

Four years after the Kyoto Protocol was agreed to, issues related to operationalising CDM are yet to be resolved. This paper presents the debate on key CDM issues, namely, those of baselines, additionality, supplementarity, application of the sustainable development criteria and the inclusion of sinks as CDM projects. CDM is compared with other flexible mechanisms defined in the Kyoto Protocol. Finally, the paper analyses and discusses the developments at COP-6 and their impacts on CDM and suggestions for proceeding beyond the current scenarios. This paper was written prior to the decisions and agreements reached in the Marrakech Accords.

China’s Returning Farmland to Forest Program (RFFP) aimed to transform rural landscapes and livelihoods by compensating households for planting trees on retired farmland. The program has been attributed a key role in an apparent forest transition. Studies uncover great local variation in its impacts, but the mechanisms behind them have received little attention. We examine such heterogeneity in 12 communities in northwest Yunnan, assessing the hypothesis that the RFFP catalyzed a state-led forest transition by evaluating the contributions of RFFP implementation and other processes to land cover change. Our dataset combines socioeconomic data from household surveys, focus groups, and intensive interviews with remote sensing data for a linked, cross-scale analysis. Results show no significant relationship between RFFP implementation and community-level vegetation cover change. Between 2000 and 2010, high-elevation communities had larger vegetation gains, while from 2010 to 2014, low-elevation communities had larger gains. Regression analyses and interview data show off-farm labor, tree crop planting, and changing energy sources influenced the rate of community-level vegetation change. This pattern, combining tree crop cultivation with labor outflows, may represent a distinct “policy plantation” pathway of forest gain. Meanwhile, new, high-elevation cash crops may be constraining forest expansion. This analysis suggests limited additionality for the RFFP in this region and highlights how heterogeneous, intersecting land use processes bring uneven forest transitions.

This document examines the claim that legally binding commitments undertaken by Annex I Parties to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions would result in adverse economic impacts on developing countries. This is examined through the case of the Indian economy. The impact of a range of carbon taxes on trade between India and the US (a major trading partner) is analysed, using a partial, static framework. This study reveals that impacts on India of commitments of Annex I countries to comply with emissions reduction targets prima facie are marginal. However, economies importing capital intensive products from Annex I countries are likely to have adverse second-order impacts. In such a scenario, there is a case for increased south–south trade with increased flows from countries with a large industrial base. Higher costs in Annex I countries will have a two-fold effect on developing economies in the long-term: more rapid evolution of their indigenous industrial base and positive environmental transitions that accompany development.