Methane gas oozing up from Siberian seabed: Swedish researcher

Methane, a potent greenhouse gas, is leaking from the permafrost under the Siberian seabed, a researcher on an international expedition in the region told Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter on Saturday.

"The permafrost now has small holes. We have found elevated levels of methane above the water surface and even more in the water just below. It is obvious that the source is the seabed," Oerjan Gustafsson, the Swedish leader of the International Siberian Shelf Study, told the newspaper.

The tests were carried out in the Laptev and east Siberian seas and used much more precise measuring equipment than previous studies, he said.

Methane is more than 20 times more efficient than carbon dioxide in trapping solar heat.

Scientists fear that global warming may cause Siberia's permafrost to thaw and thereby release vast amounts of methane into the atmosphere. The effects of global warming are already most visible in the Arctic region.

WMO expects 'normal' ozone hole over Antarctica in 2008

The World Meteorological Organisation said Friday it expects the ozone hole over Antarctica to be "normal" this year, two years after it reached record size.

"Looking at the preliminary data so far, it looks as if the Antarctica ozone hole of 2008 in size and severity will be something in-between the record 2006 and the much weaker one in 2007," WMO ozone expert Geir Braathen told journalists.

"We expect an 'average' or 'normal' ozone hole," he said.

The hole in the layer over the Antarctic was discovered in the 1980s. It regularly tends to form in August before it fills again in mid-December, but the size it reaches is dependent on weather conditions.

Braathen said there is still more than enough chlorine and bromine in the atmosphere to cause complete ozone destruction in a certain height region (an altitude of 14-20 kilometres, or 9-12 miles).

Stratospheric ozone provides a natural protective filter against harmful ultra-violet rays from the sun, which can cause sunburn, cataracts and skin cancer and damage vegetation.

Its depletion is caused by extreme cold temperatures at high altitude and a particular type of pollution, from chemicals often used in refrigeration, some plastic foams, or aerosol sprays, which have accumulated in the atmosphere.

Most of the chemicals, chloroflurocarbons (CFCs), are being phased out under the 1987 Montreal Protocol, but they linger in the atmosphere for many years.

North Pole ice cap melting faster than ever

The Arctic ice cap keeps melting under the effects of global warming and in August saw its second largest summer shrinkage since satellite observations began 30 years ago, US scientists said.

Measurements on August 26 showed an ice cap of 5.26 million square kilometers (2.03 million square miles), just below the 5.32 million square kilometers (2.05 million square miles) observed on 21 September 2005, making it the second biggest summer Arctic ice-cap melt in history, said the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC).

Since the start of August, the Boulder, Colorado-based center said, the Arctic polar cap shrank by 2.06 million square kilometers (0.8 million square miles).

The melting is so fast and extensive it could shrink the ice cap to below the 4.25 million square kilometers (1.64 million square miles) reached in the summer of 2007, the smallest it has ever been observed by satellites, the center said.

Since the end of the Arctic summer and the start of the freezing autumn is several weeks away, it said, the ice cap could dwindle even more than it did in 2007.

At the end of northern hemisphere summer 2007, the Arctic ice cap was 40 percent smaller than the average 7.23 million square kilometers (2.8 million square miles) observed in 1979-2000, the NSIDC said.

The North Pole melting season begins in mid-June. The ice cap shrinks to its smallest area by mid-September and grows the most in winter by mid-March.

"The bottom line, however, is that the strong negative trend in summertime ice extent characterizing the past decade continues," the Center said in a report.

The North Pole itself could even become free of ice by September for the first time in modern history, setting a new milestone in the effects of global warming on the Arctic ice shelf, NSIDC glaciologist Mark Serreze told AFP in late June.

"We could have no ice at the North Pole at the end of this summer. And the reason here is that the North Pole area right now is covered with very thin ice, and this ice we call 'first-year ice,' the ice that tends to melt out in the summer," he explained.

Serrreze said the possibility the ice cap could vanish stood at 50 percent.

If it does happen in September, he added, "it's possible that ships could sail from Alaska right to the North Pole".

The Arctic has been free of ice in the geologic history of the Earth, but never in modern history, Serreze said.

"Clearly, if you look over what we have seen in the past three years and where we were headed, we are in ... this long-term decline and we may have no ice at all in the Arctic Ocean in summer by 2030 or so," he added.

Not long ago, he said, the summer disappearance of the Arctic ice was predicted to happen between 2050 and 2100.

The NSIDC said the receding North Pole ice sheet was chiefly caused by the melting of ice in the Chukchi Sea, off the Alaskan coast, and the East Siberian Seas, off the coast of eastern Russia.

The Chukchi ice sheet is one of the natural habitats of the polar bear, where it hunts for seals, and its disappearance is a direct threat to the animal's survival.

The vanishing summer polar ice cap, however, also opens up the fabled Northwest Passage that winds through the northern Canadian islands and links the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Shipping routes using the Northwest Passage would spare very long detours through the Panama Canal and around South America's Cape Horn.

An ice-free North Pole would also expose untold wealth of natural resources, including oil and natural gas, locked up beneath the Arctic Ocean waters, which Canada and Russia are already eagerly preparing to exploit.

Arctic sea ice drops to 2nd lowest level on record

More ominous signs Wednesday have scientists saying that a global warming "tipping point" in the Arctic seems to be happening before their eyes: Sea ice in the Arctic Ocean is at its second lowest level in about 30 years.

The National Snow and Ice Data Center reported that sea ice in the Arctic now covers about 2.03 million square miles. The lowest point since satellite measurements began in 1979 was 1.65 million square miles set last September.

With about three weeks left in the Arctic summer, this year could wind up breaking that previous record, scientists said.

Arctic ice always melts in summer and refreezes in winter. But over the years, more of the ice is lost to the sea with less of it recovered in winter. While ice reflects the sun's heat, the open ocean absorbs more heat and the melting accelerates warming in other parts of the world.

Sea ice also serves as primary habitat for threatened polar bears.

"We could very well be in that quick slide downward in terms of passing a tipping point," said senior scientist Mark Serreze at the data center in Boulder, Colo. "It's tipping now. We're seeing it happen now."

Within "five to less than 10 years," the Arctic could be free of sea ice in the summer, said NASA ice scientist Jay Zwally.

"It also means that climate warming is also coming larger and faster than the models are predicting and nobody's really taken into account that change yet," he said.

Five climate scientists, four of them specialists on the Arctic, told The Associated Press that it is fair to call what is happening in the Arctic a "tipping point." NASA scientist James Hansen, who sounded the alarm about global warming 20 years ago before Congress, said the sea ice melt "is the best current example" of that.

Last year was an unusual year when wind currents and other weather conditions coincided with global warming to worsen sea ice melt, Serreze said. Scientists wondered if last year was an unusual event or the start of a new and disturbing trend.

This year's results suggest the latter because the ice had recovered a bit more than usual thanks to a somewhat cooler winter, Serreze said. Then this month, when the melting rate usually slows, it sped up instead, he said.

The most recent ice retreat primarily reflects melt in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska's northwest coast and the East Siberian Sea off the coast of eastern Russia, according to the center.

The Chukchi Sea is home to one of two populations of Alaska polar bears.

Federal observers flying for a whale survey on Aug. 16 spotted nine polar bears swimming in open ocean in the Chukchi. The bears were 15 to 65 miles off the Alaska shore. Some were swimming north, apparently trying to reach the polar ice edge, which on that day was 400 miles away.

Polar bears are powerful swimmers and have been recorded on swims of 100 miles but the ordeal can leave them exhausted and susceptible to drowning.

And the melt in sea ice has kicked in another effect, long predicted, called "Arctic amplification," Serreze said.

That's when the warming up north is increased in a feedback mechanism and the effects spill southward starting in autumn, he said. Over the last few years, the bigger melt has meant more warm water that releases more heat into the air during fall cooling, making the atmosphere warmer than normal.

On top of that, researchers were investigating "alarming" reports in the last few days of the release of methane from long frozen Arctic waters, possibly from the warming of the sea, said Greenpeace climate scientist Bill Hare, who was attending a climate conference in Ghana. Giant burps of methane, which is a potent greenhouse gas, is a long feared effect of warming in the Arctic that would accelerate warming even more, according to scientists.

Overall, the picture of what's happening in the Arctic is getting worse, said Bob Corell, who headed a multinational scientific assessment of Arctic conditions a few years ago: "We're moving beyond a point of no return."

___

Science Writer Seth Borenstein reported from Washington and Dan Joling reported from Anchorage, Alaska. AP writer Arthur Max contributed from Accra, Ghana.

___

On the Net:

National Snow and Ice Data Center image:

http://nsidc.org/data/seaice_index/images/daily_images/N_daily_extent_hires.

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Calif. county hit by '69 oil spill reconsiders

Officials from a Southern California county showed symbolic support Tuesday for offshore oil drilling along the same coast stained by a 1969 spill that spawned modern environmentalism.

The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors has no power to approve new drilling, but voted 3-2 to send a letter asking Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to change long-standing state policy and allow oil exploration and extraction in the county.

Proponents claim drilling would provide new revenue in lean times for the county and that modern advancements have made drilling safer. But opponents claimed the letter was based on faulty studies.

"Santa Barbara is a symbol for the country and the world on the dangers that can occur with offshore oil drilling," Assemblyman Pedro Nava told The Associated Press. The Democrat recently authored an anti-drilling resolution that passed in the State Assembly.

A federal drilling ban has protected the federal Outer Continental Shelf off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and the eastern Gulf of Mexico for nearly three decades. Record oil and gas prices have focused more attention on offshore drilling and energy production, though experts note lifting the ban wouldn't produce more oil for five to seven years.

Congress is stalemated on lifting the ban. Republican John McCain supports offshore drilling, and Democrat Barack Obama would consider a limited increase in drilling.

Offshore drilling has long been a touchy issue in Santa Barbara, a tony coastal community 100 miles north of Los Angeles.

The disaster at a Union Oil Co. platform coated miles of beaches with oil, killed thousands of birds and helped lead to the Clean Water Act and a moratorium on offshore drilling.

Representatives from conservation groups that formed after the oil spill, including Get Oil Out!, told supervisors the letter was embarrassing and shortsighted.

In April, GOO and others agreed not to oppose an oil company's offshore drilling in exchange for money, land and a promise to shut down operations in Santa Barbara County in 14 years.

"The problem is we're addicted to oil and this addiction is slowly poisoning us all ... more pollution, more global warming and more economic instability," said GOO! President John Abraham Powell. "More oil is not the answer. It is the problem."

Supervisor Brooks Firestone, who co-wrote the request for a letter, wanted assurances from oil industry representatives that such a spill would not occur again.

"I don't believe a spill of that magnitude could occur ..." answered John Deacon, who has worked for various oil companies and now represents Tracer Environmental Sciences and Technologies.

Companies bid millions to tap Western Gulf

Energy companies placed $487.3 million in winning bids for the right to drill in the western Gulf of Mexico, knowing they may get a chance later to explore in other areas that have been off limits for decades.

The lease sale Wednesday was the first since President Bush last month lifted an executive ban on oil drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Since then, politicians in both parties have signaled they are willing to expand offshore exploration, and the issue has become a hot topic in the presidential race.

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said the results were a step toward more domestic oil production. He acknowledged, however, that some of the purchased leases may not end up producing oil.

"Much more needs to be done to create the access necessary for the oil industry to do what it does best and develop this country's resources to secure our energy security," Kempthorne said at a news conference after the sale, which was held in a downtown New Orleans hotel.

A total of 53 companies offered $607 million for leases covering 1.8 million acres in federal waters off Texas. About 90 percent of the tracts the government auctioned off received no bids. The highest bid — $61 million — came from StatoilHydro USA, followed closely by Chevron USA Inc., which offered $52 million for a tract.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain made a campaign stop Tuesday on a Gulf of Mexico oil platform owned by Chevron, which is already a big player in the Gulf.

"This is where we have found success and we are the clear leader," said Chevron spokesman Mickey Driver. "We came here to win and we are leaving winners."

Once again, companies were most interested in deeper water. About 80 percent of the bids were for parcels in water 1,000 feet deep or more.

Offshore wells now provide 27 percent of the nation's domestic oil. Areas now off limits to drilling may contain much more than the 18 billion barrels of oil and 73 trillion cubic feet of natural gas now estimated to be there, Kempthorne said. Those estimates are based on exploration done over 25 years ago with now outdated technology.

Those present at the lease sale in New Orleans said there was excitement about other areas opening up, but that likely did not influence how companies bid Wednesday.

"Companies are recognizing a movement afoot, but I'm not sure this sale says much about that," said Tom Fry, president of the National Ocean Industries Association, which follows offshore drilling.

Third of U.S. Schools in 'Air Pollution Danger Zone'

As summer vacation ends and children head back to class, they might need a new school supply: face masks.

About one third of American schools are within an "air pollution danger zone" near major highways and the pollutants that stream from cars and trucks, a new study finds.

Previous research, including the UC Cincinnati Childhood Allergy and Air Pollution Study (CCAAPS), has shown that exposure of school-age children to traffic pollutants near main roads is associated with a greater risk of developing asthma and other respiratory problems later in life.

"This is a major public health concern that should be given serious consideration in future urban development, transportation planning and environmental policies," said study leader Sergey Grinshpun of the University of Cincinnati.

Other research has also shown that children are exposed to pollution on school buses and that one way to reduce their exposure is to stop idling the buses as they wait for their charges to board.

While past research on highway-related air pollution exposure has focused on residences, Grinshpun pointed out that children spend more than 30 percent of their day on school grounds.

For the new findings, Grinshpun's team conducted a survey of major metropolitan areas from every large geographic region of the United States, including Atlanta, Boston, Denver, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Minneapolis. More than 8,800 schools representing 6 million students were included.

The study's findings appear in the September issue of the Journal of Environmental Planning and Management. The survey was funded by the UC Center for Sustainable Urban Engineering and the National Institute of Environmental Sciences.

Urban sprawl has contributed to the problem, as rapid expansion of metropolitan areas seems to be associated with building schools near highways, the researchers said.

Grinshpun and his colleagues advocate revising urban planning practices so that schools are built further away from highways. California has already implemented such a law and New Jersey is currently considering legislation to move highway exit ramps further from schools.

In the meantime, "existing schools should be retrofitted with air filtration systems that will reduce students' exposure to traffic pollutants," Grinshpun said.

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Celebrations, controversies as Olympics enter final week

The pollution has lifted, roaring crowds have spurred China to the top of the medals table and athletes have offered warm praise over the near flawless organisation of the Beijing Olympics.

Michael Phelps' historic swimming campaign, the pure joy of Chinese athletes winning home-town gold and Usain Bolt's extraordinary victory in the 100m sprint have been just some of the many reasons to celebrate the Games.

But as the Olympics enter their final week, question marks remain over the spirit in which they have been held -- and whether controls enforced by China's Communist rulers will ultimately overshadow the nation's coming out party.

Wire fences and countless security personnel have sealed off the Olympics from the general public, while the atmosphere inside the secure zones has been often subdued from a lack of entertainment, souvenir shops and restaurants.

"I thought there might be Chinese fireworks, or Chinese food, but it's really lacking," said Australian tourist Andrew Mackenzie, as he stood surrounded by a sea of bare concrete inside the "Olympic Green".

The "Bird's Nest" National Stadium and the "Water Cube" swimming venue are inside the green, a vast domain in the north of the city where fans are meant to congregate and enjoy themselves when not watching the sport.

Instead, spectators are left with little to do but bake in the heat with few shaded areas to rest under, eat instant noodles or bags of chips from sparse food tents, and take photos of the stadia.

Rather than allow a flourish of freedom and fun, the Chinese government has sought to control everything at the green, an attitude that could prove important in defining how the Games in its entirety will be remembered.

Many had already dubbed the Olympics the "No-Fun" Games, as the Communist Party sought to sanitise Beijing.

Thousands of rural migrant workers who spent years building the stadia and many other dazzling new skyscrapers were ordered out of the city, while beggars and hawkers were swept off the streets.

During the first half of the Games, organisers also faced a barrage of media criticism over the faking of parts of the stunning opening ceremony, controversies that highlighted trust issues surrounding the Chinese government.

Meanwhile, the Communist Party refused to allow protests in designated zones as promised, continued to censor the Internet for foreign journalists despite pledging web freedoms, and kept dissidents under house arrest.

"It (the Chinese government) has failed by acting in this way. It has shown the world this is a country that does not respect human rights," prominent dissident lawyer Li Fangping told AFP.

Despite the overarching political concerns, athletes and high-profile visitors have praised the precise organisation of the Games, as well as the state-of-the-art venues, the helpful volunteers and friendly Beijingers.

"I've had a wonderful trip this week. I started off by having a chance to go to the Olympic Games' opening ceremony, and see a lot of those games, which were fantastically managed," Microsoft founder Bill Gates said.

Crowds at some of the events were disappointing in the first half of the Games, particularly after organisers said all tickets were sold out.

But the 91,000-seat Bird's Nest was packed for the start of the athletics competition on Friday and Saturday, promising a week of energy and excitement at the stadium for the highest-profile and most-watched events of the Games.

Athletes reported the Olympic Village being perfectly managed, with the exclusively Chinese-grown food in their kitchens safe and well-cooked.

And the huge concerns over Beijing's toxic air evaporated, thanks partly to last-ditch measures such as taking about one third of the city's 3.3 million vehicles off the road, but also to stormy weather that blew away pollution.

"It was a surprise for me. Where was all the pollution I have read about in the newspapers?" asked Ukrainian heptathlete Ganna Melnichenko. "The sky is blue. It couldn't be better."

Cockroach King reigns as pest-killers discuss climate change

More than 100 of Southeast Asia's hardiest bugs measured up this week in Bangkok, where experts met to discuss new ways of controlling the pests, which they say are a major contributor to global warming.

On the sidelines of this year's Pest Summit, insects vied for the title of King Cockroach and Termite Queen, with the winning owners winning a 10,000 baht (300 dollar) prize.

The American Cockroach competition was won by a 4.2 centimetre (1.65 inch) specimen, giving him the title of King, with a 7.1 centimetre termite queen winning her division.

But the chairman of the August 13-15 summit said the competition itself was an important exercise in pest control, while other highlighted the bugs' role in climate change.

"Each cockroach produces 600 babies in their lifetime and we have more than 100 entrants, so our success to date is that we are reducing 60,000 cockroaches without using any chemicals at all and that's the beauty of it," Suchart Leelayuthyotin, director of the Thailand Pest Management Association, told AFP.

"The termite queen is like an egg-laying machine... So with every queen we get rid of 100,000 termites immediately," he added.

The winning cockroach was a city slicker, found a week earlier in Kuala Lumpur by female resident Yeap Beng Keok, while the termite was dug up in a Thai army camp in southern Khao Lak.

"We went out with the soldiers and a lot of them helped us because we know them," 20-year-old Chaiamon Chantarapitak from pest management team Union of Unicor Group told AFP.

"I didn't think we had a winner because a lot of people brought big ones and there were many almost as big as this one.

"The prize money is fine but we spent quite a lot of money to get it," Chaiamon added.

More than 600 insect killers and entymologists from Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand convened in a Bangkok hotel for the biannual event to share their knowledge of the latest killer chemicals and techniques. The industry is worth an estimated 3.5 billion dollars this year to Thailand alone.

But this year's summit brought with it a global message -- insects cause climate change.

Suchart said bugs are one of the main contributors to global warming because of the CO2 they emit when passing wind.

"Every termite will emit CO2 from their gut because when they consume the wood and digest it they get wind," Suchart explained.

"With every degree the global temperature rises, the life cycle of each bug will be shorter. The quicker the life cycle, the higher the population of pests," Suchart said.

If the fight against climate change seems impossibly huge, Suchart admitted the war on bugs is at least as hard.

"We know very well we'll not be about to win the war against insects. They have been here much longer than us. Cockroaches were here 350 million years ago," he said, adding that the problem was increasing.

"We used to live plain and simple -- a wall was a simple brick wall. But now we have decorated walls that insects hide behind," Suchart said, advising that the only way to fight bugs at home is through good sanitation and ventilation.

If Suchart's expertise on the insect world seems considerable, it was not always so.

He admitted his expert role came about more through accident than design.

"I am a professional bug killer by accident," he told AFP. "I applied for a job in the late 1960s and was given a choice between marketing and what my poor English thought was "press control". It turns out it was pest control, and here we are."

Swiss companies to build world's highest solar power station

Swiss companies are planning to build the world's highest solar power station in the country's southern Alpine region, one of the project developers, electricity group BKW FMB, said on Friday.

The installation will power a restaurant 3,800 metres (nearly 12,500 feet) up the Matterhorn glacier, which gives a view of Italy's Mount Cervino (4,478 metres), BKW FMB said in a statement.

The solar station will be constructed by Zermatt Bergbahnen, a Swiss aerial cable car company, and the BKW FMB affiliate Sol-E for 600,000 Swiss francs (370,000 euros, 550,000 dollars).

Some 40,000 kw/h will be available to the high altitude restaurant when the station it is scheduled to be up and running at the end of this year.

Little robin from Gabon is world's newest species

A red-breasted bird discovered by accident in the forests of Gabon is a new species, U.S. scientists said on Friday.

They have named the little bird the olive-backed forest robin, or Stiphrornis pyrrholaemus, but say they know little about it yet.

The Smithsonian Institution team found the bird while visiting the forest on a biodiversity project, said Brian Schmidt, a research ornithologist at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.

"I suspected something when I found the first bird in Gabon since it didn't exactly match any of the species descriptions in the field guides," Schmidt said in a statement.

"Once I was able to compare them side by side to other specimens in our collections, it was clear that these birds were special."

Genetic tests confirmed the bird, which measures 4.5 inches

in length and averages half an ounce (14 grams) in weight, was a unique species.

Writing in the journal Zootaxa, the Smithsonian team said the males have a fiery orange throat and breast, yellow belly, olive back and black feathers on the head. Females are similar, but less vibrant. A distinctive white dot in front of each eye helps distinguish the species.

"Although finding an unknown species like the olive-backed forest robin was not the goal of the ... project, it is definitely a reminder that the world still holds surprises for us," Schmidt said.

(Reporting by Maggie Fox, editing by Will Dunham and Xavier Briand)

Pollution killing 21,000 Canadians this year: report

Air pollution this year will kill more than 20,000 Canadians, the Canadian Medical Association said Wednesday in a report.

The research on the human costs of pollution and pollution-related diseases estimated that around 21,000 people in Canada will die from breathing in toxic substances drifting in the air this year.

By 2031, short term exposure to air pollution will claim close to 90,000 lives in Canada, while long-term exposure will kill more than 700,000, the report said.

"Ontario and Quebec residents are the worst hit Canadians, with 70 percent of the premature deaths occurring in Central Canada, even though these two provinces comprise only 62 percent of Canada's population," the report said.

Not all the blame for air pollution falls on Canada, however.

"Canada gets a fair bit of pollution from the American midwest, which drifts north, comes across through Ontario and continues right on through to Quebec," CMA legal advisor Ted Boadway told reporters at the report's presentation.

The national economy, air pollution will top eight billion dollars in 2008, and by 2031 it will go over 250 billion, the report said.

Can NY infrastructure handle floods, intense heat?

Flooded subways. Bridges deteriorating in the hot sun. Rising seas nipping at the edges of Manhattan. Those scenarios are up for review by a panel of scientists, government officials and private sector representatives studying how the city's infrastructure will hold up to climate change.

The Climate Change Adaptation Task Force met Tuesday for the first time as part of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's plan to address global warming in New York City, which already includes orders to switch the city's taxi fleet to hybrids by 2012 and to retrofit city buildings to meet greener standards.

Experts on the panel said the potential consequences of global warming could include more frequent storms, flooding throughout the city's coastal and lowland areas, repeated blackouts on a power grid stressed to its limits and bridges that deteriorate under the heat.

"We have to adapt to the environmental changes that have already taken place, or that we can reasonably expect will occur because of climate change," Bloomberg said.

The panel will begin its work by studying the city's infrastructure to better understand the city's preparedness for possibilities such as more catastrophic storms, hotter temperatures and a rising sea level.

"The city was built with an assumption of an environmental baseline, and climate change in many ways changes that baseline," said panel co-chair William Solecki, director of The Institute for Sustainable Cities at Hunter College.

"Some of these transformations can potentially be catastrophic as large storms; others might be more subtle and difficult to discern over the short term," Solecki said.

The mayor has asked the group to produce a report and inventory of existing at-risk infrastructure, plus plans to make those areas more secure, in one year.

The panel has also been asked to draft guidelines for new construction that take into account anticipated effects of climate change.

Elephant seals join fight against climate change

Elephant seals swimming under Antarctic ice and fitted with special sensors are providing scientists with crucial data on ice formation, ocean currents and climate change, a study released on Tuesday said.

The seals swimming under winter sea ice have overcome a "blind-spot" for scientists by allowing them to calculate how fast sea ice forms during winter.

Sea ice reflects sunlight back into space, so less sea ice means more energy is absorbed by the earth, causing more warming.

"They have made it possible for us to observe large areas of the ocean under the sea ice in winter for the first time," said co-author Steve Rintoul from Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO).

Conventional oceanographic monitoring from ships, satellites and drifting buoys, cannot provide observations under sea ice.

"Until now, our ability to represent the high-latitude oceans and sea ice in oceanographic and climate models has suffered as a result," said Rintoul, who also works with the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre in Hobart.

The elephant seals have provided scientists with a 30-fold increase in data recorded in parts of the Southern Ocean, said the study by a team of French, Australian, U.S. and British scientists and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Between 2004 and 2005, the seals swam up to 65 kilometers (40 miles) a day, supplying scientists with 16,500 ice profiles. The seals dived to a depth of more than 500 meters (1,500 feet) on average and to a maximum depth of nearly 2 km (a mile).

"If we want to understand what's going to happen to climate in the future we need to know what the sea ice is going to do. Will there be more or less and will it form more or less rapidly?" Rintoul told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.

The experiment involved 85 seals with sensors attached to their heads.

"They measure temperature and salinity as a function of depth as they dive down and up through the water column," he said.

"From that information we can determine what the ocean currents are doing and so they provide us with a very detailed record of how temperatures and salinity's changed," he added.

The polar regions play an important role in the earth's climate and are changing more rapidly than any other part of the world, with the Southern Ocean warming more rapidly than the global ocean average.

Sea ice not only affects the amount of energy reflected back into space, but also the amount of dense water around the Antarctic which drives ocean currents that transports heat around the globe.

Sea ice also provides a critical habitat for krill, penguins and seals.

(Additional reporting by David Fogarty; Editing by David Fogarty)

Yao becomes UN environment campaigner

Chinese superstar Yao Ming on Saturday became the UN Environment Program's (UNEP) first ever Environmental Champion, tasked with raising awareness of climate change and energy efficiency.

Yao, China's flag bearer in Friday's Olympic opening ceremony, said he wanted do his part in protecting the world.

"As a sportsman, I believe sport has a major role to play in promoting environmental issues," the Houston Rockets center said in a statement.

"So I will work with young people across the world and try to inspire them to plant trees, use energy efficient light bulbs, harvest rain water and to become environmental champions in their own communities.

"As the world celebrates the Beijing Olympic Games, I would also like to call upon the organizers of all major sports events in the world to make sure they use public transport facilities, build proper waste management systems and use greener forms for energy.

"Please join me in this global team effort."

China is holding what it has dubbed the "Green Olympics" although air quality has been a top concern among the 10,500 athletes, with heavy smog blanketing Beijing this week.

UNEP executive director Achim Steiner said Yao's popularity made him the best choice to become their first Environmental Champion.

"As one of the most high profile athletes in these Games and with a fan base of millions across the world, I am sure he can help us raise public awareness on the environment and climate change issues," he said.

Yao becomes UN environment campaigner

Chinese superstar Yao Ming on Saturday became the UN Environment Program's (UNEP) first ever Environmental Champion, tasked with raising awareness of climate change and energy efficiency.

Yao, China's flag bearer in Friday's Olympic opening ceremony, said he wanted do his part in protecting the world.

"As a sportsman, I believe sport has a major role to play in promoting environmental issues," the Houston Rockets center said in a statement.

"So I will work with young people across the world and try to inspire them to plant trees, use energy efficient light bulbs, harvest rain water and to become environmental champions in their own communities.

"As the world celebrates the Beijing Olympic Games, I would also like to call upon the organizers of all major sports events in the world to make sure they use public transport facilities, build proper waste management systems and use greener forms for energy.

"Please join me in this global team effort."

China is holding what it has dubbed the "Green Olympics" although air quality has been a top concern among the 10,500 athletes, with heavy smog blanketing Beijing this week.

UNEP executive director Achim Steiner said Yao's popularity made him the best choice to become their first Environmental Champion.

"As one of the most high profile athletes in these Games and with a fan base of millions across the world, I am sure he can help us raise public awareness on the environment and climate change issues," he said.

Global warming threatens indigenous peoples: FAO

Global warming and limited access to land and other resources threaten many indigenous peoples, the UN food agency warned Friday.

"Indigenous peoples are among the first to suffer from increasingly harsh and erratic weather conditions, and a generalised lack of empowerment to claim goods and services," said indigenous peoples expert Regina Laub of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Many indigenous groups live in vulnerable environments such as mountainous areas, the Arctic, jungles or dry lands, added the FAO statement released on the eve of the International Day for the World's Indigenous Peoples.

The FAO noted that native populations also played a critical role in adapting to climate change.

Indigenous communities are often the custodians of unique knowledge and skills, the Rome-based agency noted, adding that some 80 percent of the world's remaining biodiversity "that may be vital in adapting to climate change" is found within their territories.

The world's indigenous peoples population is estimated at 370 million, representing at least 5,000 different groups in more than 70 countries.

"Defending the recovery of ancestral lands, the self-determination of indigenous peoples and their human rights is at the core of their claims," the statement added.

Global warming threatens indigenous peoples: FAO

Global warming and limited access to land and other resources threaten many indigenous peoples, the UN food agency warned Friday.

"Indigenous peoples are among the first to suffer from increasingly harsh and erratic weather conditions, and a generalised lack of empowerment to claim goods and services," said indigenous peoples expert Regina Laub of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Many indigenous groups live in vulnerable environments such as mountainous areas, the Arctic, jungles or dry lands, added the FAO statement released on the eve of the International Day for the World's Indigenous Peoples.

The FAO noted that native populations also played a critical role in adapting to climate change.

Indigenous communities are often the custodians of unique knowledge and skills, the Rome-based agency noted, adding that some 80 percent of the world's remaining biodiversity "that may be vital in adapting to climate change" is found within their territories.

The world's indigenous peoples population is estimated at 370 million, representing at least 5,000 different groups in more than 70 countries.

"Defending the recovery of ancestral lands, the self-determination of indigenous peoples and their human rights is at the core of their claims," the statement added.

Ethical coffee helps save Peruvian rainforest

Once bleak and lifeless places degraded by years of high-impact farming, Peruvian coffee farms are being transformed by a growing trend for certification schemes offering ethical and environmental guarantees to western consumers.

One scheme run by the Rainforest Alliance has helped farmers in eastern Peru return to traditional ways of farming, finally laying to rest the damaging maximum production techniques of the 1970s.

"My parents systematically deforested in order to plant more coffee plants. Now we know that this was a mistake," said Evangelino Condori Rojas who has a small plantation near Quillabamba in the east of the country.

The plantation was one of the first to be certified by the New York-based organisation.

Its seal of approval gives consumers an assurance that the coffee they buy has been produced according to a range of criteria that balance ecological, economic and social considerations.

Coffee certified by the Rainforest Alliance is guaranteed to have been produced on farms where rivers, soil and wildlife are protected.

"The certification is a mechanism to avoid the slide towards deforestation," said Gerardo Medina of the Rainforest Alliance in Peru.

Such schemes are increasingly popular worldwide as a way of bolstering consumer concerns.

They typically offer guarantees on issues ranging from ethically-manufactured diamonds, pesticide-free food or the preservation of bird habitats.

Farm owners certified by the Rainforest Alliance are also required to meet specific standards on payment and treatment of workers.

The majority of Peru's coffee plantations are found in the eastern foothills of the Andes.

Here coffee was grown in the shade of rainforest for some 150 years until the 1970s when a new system promoted by agronomists saw the clearing of trees, according to the Rainforest Alliance.

As a result coffee bushes were packed into hedgerows and treated with agrochemicals, decimating wildlife and causing soil erosion and pollution of streams.

In addition to the environmental benefit that certification brings, farmers also find that the coffee sells for 15 to 20 percent more and part of the profits are used for developing infrastructure, according to Raul Del Aguila, head of the central agricultural cooperative Cocla.

The Rainforest Alliance, which is on good terms with manufacturers, started certifying coffee in Peru, Brasil, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador in 2004.

"The marketing strategy is to persuade the big certified coffee purchasing groups that this corresponds to demand from consumers sensitized to the question of sustainable development," said Medina.

US food group Kraft Foods is the main purchaser of certified coffee from Peru.

Currently 5.7 percent of Peruvian coffee production is certified by the Rainforest Alliance. It aims to reach 14 percent by 2013.

The country currently has some 24,700 hectares (61,000 acres) on 7,200 farms used for producing certified coffee compared to 7,100 hectares (17,000 acres) and 1,600 farms in 2005, added Medina.

With uncertainty over global warming, farmers have become increasingly aware of the importance of farming that is ecologically friendly.

"One is already seeing the effects of climate change here. This year it has not rained very much and if that continues, we are going to have problems," said small plantation owner Isaias Zuniga.

Toucans are coming back to nest in the trees but "you no longer see monkeys or pumas," added his elderly mother Irene Paz Santacruz.

China declares it is ready to stage greatest Games

China declared Thursday it was ready to stage one of the greatest Olympics ever, even as pollution concerns and human rights controversies hung over the final day of preparations for the opening ceremony.

As the world's best athletes poured into Beijing and the Olympic flame passed over the Great Wall, Games organisers sought to shift global attention on to what they promised would be a spectacular celebration of sport.

"We have prepared for the Beijing Olympics for seven years and now we are ready... we are very confident indeed that we will stage a successful Olympics," organising committee spokesman Sun Weide told AFP.

"Of course we hope that these will be a great Games, even the greatest."

For China, the Games are an opportunity to show the world how far it has come since the communists came to power in 1949 following a brutal civil war, and particularly the past three decades of phenomenal economic development.

The Olympics offer a promise of becoming an historic moment showing China's social as well as economic transformation, similar to the 1964 Games for Japan and the 1988 event for South Korea.

"China is a nation in transition, with a great future, tremendous potential and some challenges," International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge said after arriving in Beijing.

"I believe history will view the 2008 Olympics as a significant milestone in China's remarkable transformation."

Nevertheless, the vast array of controversies that have swirled around the Olympics this year continued Thursday to bedevil the Chinese leadership, from the smog that has stubbornly hung over Beijing to human rights storms.

A mixture of pollution and fog again cut visibility across Beijing to a few hundred metres (yards) despite much publicised emergency measures to improve air quality.

The pollution issue has been particularly embarrassing for China because it has highlighted to the world one of the worst side-effects of its historic modernisation drive -- massive environmental degradation.

Meanwhile, China's human rights record remained under a fierce Olympic spotlight with over 40 athletes who are due to compete in Beijing sending a letter to Chinese President Hu Jintao expressing their concern over the issue.

US President George W. Bush was also due to arrive in Beijing on Thursday evening after delivering a speech in which he raised "deep concerns" about China's respect for human rights.

"The United States believes the people of China deserve the fundamental liberty that is the natural right of all human beings," Bush said in Thailand, triggering a familiarly indignant response from Beijing.

"We firmly oppose any words and deeds that use human rights and religion to interfere in other countries' internal affairs," foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said.

More than 100 heads of state and other senior national leaders are expected to attend the Games, ensuring a current of political tensions will flow through the event despite China's leaders repeated efforts to dam the issue.

However that is all expected to be at least briefly swept aside during the much anticipated opening ceremony that will kick off on Friday, August 8 at 8:00pm (1200 GMT).

The date and time of the ceremony is no coincidence as, for many Chinese, the number eight is particularly auspicious because it represents prosperity.

And sporting glory will undoubtedly be the main focus for the 10,000 athletes, with US basketball star Kobe Bryant reflecting those passions as he declared that winning gold in Beijing was more important than an NBA title.

"You're playing for your country, there's more at stake," he said as the "Redeem Team" prepared in Shanghai this week.

Equally, enthusiasm for the Games among China's more than 1.3 billion people has been so strong that tickets have sold out for the first time in Olympic history.

"The Olympic Games is the most important sporting event in the world," said Hu Xiang, 35, who travelled from his home in central China's Hunan province after securing soccer and volleyball tickets.

The suffocating security precautions China has employed for the Olympics has dampened some of the excitement in the lead-up, with a few critics already dubbing the event the "No-Fun Games".

More than 100,000 security personnel are patrolling Beijing, anti-missile barriers have been set up near the "Bird's Nest" stadium, and the military and police are on guard around the country for any signs of trouble.

China has made no apologies for its crackdown, warning that terrorists from home and abroad are posing a massive threat to the Games.

But critics have accused Chinese authorities of exaggerating or fabricating threats so they have an excuse to silence their many critics.

Obama, McCain clash in oil, nuclear power play

Democratic White House hopeful Barack Obama Tuesday charged that oil giants were betting their record profits on John McCain and accused his Republican foes of "lying" about his own energy plan.

Senator Obama and fellow Democrats painted McCain as a puppet of "Big Oil," seeking to leverage public anger over high gasoline prices and bind him to the economic legacy of President George W. Bush.

"Under Senator McCain's plan, the oil companies get billions more, we don't pay any less at the pump, and we stay in the same cycle of dependence on oil that got us into this crisis," Obama said in Ohio.

"The oil companies have placed their bet on Senator McCain, and if he wins, they will continue to cash in while our families and our economy suffer and our future is put in jeopardy."

Obama chose to press home his attack in the heart of Ohio, a midwestern state hammered by the loss of heavy industry jobs which is a perennial bellwether in US presidential elections.

The Illinois senator argued that though McCain was right to argue America had grown addicted to foreign oil over the past 30 years, he was a part of the problem, as he served in Congress for most of that time.

And Obama fought back after being ridiculed by McCain for urging drivers to properly inflate their tires, which even the US government says could reduce national oil consumption by at least three percent a year.

"They know they're lying about what my energy plan is," he said after Republican aides mockingly handed out tire gauges to reporters to sum up Obama's policies.

"Instead of running ads about Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, they should go talk to some energy experts and actually make a difference," the Democrat added, battling back against a McCain offensive on his celebrity status.

The Democratic National Committee backed up Obama's attack with a new web video, showing McCain as a puppet being manipulated by oil industry lobbyists.

The McCain campaign, however, pointed out that Obama voted for a Senate energy bill in 2005, which included huge handouts for oil firms.

McCain voted against the legislation, slamming its oil industry giveaways and arguing it would not solve the energy crisis.

On Tuesday, the Republican presumptive nominee used a visit to a nuclear power plant in the battleground state of Michigan to argue for an expansion of the industry.

"Senator Obama has said that expanding our nuclear power plants 'doesn't make sense for America'," McCain said in remarks released by his campaign.

"If we want to enable the technologies of tomorrow like plug-in electric cars, we need electricity to plug into."

Obama's aides accused McCain of misrepresenting his position, saying the Democrat was open to more nuclear plants, but only when such issues as security of nuclear fuel and disposal of waste were resolved.

Republicans are also hammering Obama for his opposition to expanding offshore drilling, which Democrats oppose arguing that new supplies would not swell US oil stocks for around a decade and even then would barely cut prices.

Tim Pawlenty, the Minnesota governor tipped as a possible running mate for McCain, rejected Obama's energy plan on a Republican National Committee conference call.

"I believe Senator Obama has just misunderstood and under-appreciated this crisis. It is going to need to be dealt with boldly and aggressively," he said.

Pawlenty said he welcomed Obama's recent policy reversals on the issue of energy, but said they did not go far enough.

"He is obviously thrashing about, trying to grab on to the idea and catch up to the idea for the week. It is obviously belated, it is obviously haphazard."

Demands for more drilling seem to be striking a chord with the public, and Obama has shifted his position slightly, saying he would agree to some drilling as a way to unpick a political deadlock over comprehensive energy reform.

A CNN/Opinion Research survey last week found 69 percent of respondents backed offshore drilling, the latest of a string of public polls on the issue which are giving Democrats pause.

A Rasmussen tracking poll Tuesday had Obama and McCain tied at 44 percent while the Democrat led 47 to 43 percent in Gallup's newest survey.

Alaska sues over listing polar bear as threatened

The state of Alaska sued Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne on Monday, seeking to reverse his decision to list polar bears as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.

Gov. Sarah Palin and other state officials fear a listing will cripple offshore oil and gas development in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas in Alaska's northern waters, which provide prime habitat for the only polar bears under U.S. jurisdiction.

"We believe that the Service's decision to list the polar bear was not based on the best scientific and commercial data available," Palin said in announcing the lawsuit.

Kassie Siegel of the Center for Biological Diversity, the lead author of the petition that led to the listing, said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service scientists addressed skeptics' objections during the listing process. She called the lawsuit "completely ridiculous and a waste of the court's time."

"This lawsuit and her head-in-the-sand approach to global warming only helps oil companies, certainly not Alaska or the polar bear," Siegel said. "Gov. Palin should be working for sustainable, clean energy development in Alaska instead of extinction for the polar bear."

Kempthorne announced the listing May 14. The process started with the filing of the petition in 2005, a yearlong initial review, another year of public comment and additional studies, and court action to force a final decision.

Kempthorne concluded that sea ice was vital to polar bear survival, that sea ice had dramatically melted in recent decades and that computer models suggest sea ice likely will further recede in the future.

Summer sea ice last year shrank to a record low, about 1.65 million square miles, nearly 40 percent less than the long-term average between 1979 and 2000.

The lawsuit, filed in Washington, D.C., claims the federal analysis did not adequately consider polar bear survival through earlier warming periods centuries ago.

Alaska objects to the conclusion that polar bears could be endangered within the "foreseeable future," a timeline the Fish and Wildlife Service put at 45 years, or three generations of polar bears. The state called that number arbitrary.

The state contends there are no real differences between the bears in the 19 subpopulations identified in Kempthorne's decision, and that the population as a whole is healthy. That would undermine the argument that ice loss off Alaska would affect world polar bear population.

The lawsuit contends federal officials did not consider the best scientific evidence demonstrating bears' ability to survive and adapt to changing climate conditions.

That view is rejected by most polar bear experts, who say the animals need ice to hunt seals and will not win a territory fight with grizzly bears that already inhabit northern Alaska.

China will start to monitor new pollutants

China will begin monitoring additional air pollutants after the Olympic Games, a state news agency reported.

The two pollutants, ozone and small particulate matter known as PM2.5, are not included in current air quality reports. The Ministry of Environmental Protection was making technical preparations to monitor the two pollutants, Xinhua News Agency said late Sunday.

"We should be able to start regular monitoring of ozone and PM2.5 next year, which would lead to measures to deal with them," Fan Yuansheng, director general of the department of pollution control at the Ministry of Environmental Protection, was quoted as saying.

The Environment Ministry releases an air pollution rating each day for Beijing, called an Air Pollution Index, but this does not include ozone and tiny particulate matter.

The ultra-fine dust particles, at 2.5 micrometers, are considered especially harmful to health because they are small enough to penetrate the lungs and create respiratory problems. Ozone, a colorless gas, can also cause respiratory problems.

The host city's polluted air has been one of the biggest worries for Olympic organizers and prompted drastic measures earlier this month that included pulling half the city's 3.3 million vehicles off the roads, halting most construction and closing some factories in the capital and surrounding provinces.

"These measures have been effective so far," Fan said.

Fan said measures to reduce pollution in Beijing for the games would stay in force afterward. For example, government cars will be kept off the road for one day each week, according to their license plate numbers, he said.

Whether Beijing's efforts actually result in clear skies for the games remains to be seen. Since the factory closures and traffic restrictions kicked in on July 20, Beijing's air pollution levels have gone up and down, though the general trend is decreasing.

Last Friday marked the clearest change visually, with the persistent haze giving way to clear skies and the lowest recorded air pollution levels.

Weather officials said Sunday the forecast for this Friday's Olympic opening ceremony may include overcast skies or rain. The heavy haze that had cleared up over the weekend returned on Monday, blanketing the city in thick white layers.

China will start to monitor new pollutants

China will begin monitoring additional air pollutants after the Olympic Games, a state news agency reported.

The two pollutants, ozone and small particulate matter known as PM2.5, are not included in current air quality reports. The Ministry of Environmental Protection was making technical preparations to monitor the two pollutants, Xinhua News Agency said late Sunday.

"We should be able to start regular monitoring of ozone and PM2.5 next year, which would lead to measures to deal with them," Fan Yuansheng, director general of the department of pollution control at the Ministry of Environmental Protection, was quoted as saying.

The Environment Ministry releases an air pollution rating each day for Beijing, called an Air Pollution Index, but this does not include ozone and tiny particulate matter.

The ultra-fine dust particles, at 2.5 micrometers, are considered especially harmful to health because they are small enough to penetrate the lungs and create respiratory problems. Ozone, a colorless gas, can also cause respiratory problems.

The host city's polluted air has been one of the biggest worries for Olympic organizers and prompted drastic measures earlier this month that included pulling half the city's 3.3 million vehicles off the roads, halting most construction and closing some factories in the capital and surrounding provinces.

"These measures have been effective so far," Fan said.

Fan said measures to reduce pollution in Beijing for the games would stay in force afterward. For example, government cars will be kept off the road for one day each week, according to their license plate numbers, he said.

Whether Beijing's efforts actually result in clear skies for the games remains to be seen. Since the factory closures and traffic restrictions kicked in on July 20, Beijing's air pollution levels have gone up and down, though the general trend is decreasing.

Last Friday marked the clearest change visually, with the persistent haze giving way to clear skies and the lowest recorded air pollution levels.

Weather officials said Sunday the forecast for this Friday's Olympic opening ceremony may include overcast skies or rain. The heavy haze that had cleared up over the weekend returned on Monday, blanketing the city in thick white layers.

Tug warned repeatedly before Miss. River collision

The pilot of a massive tanker involved in a collision on the Mississippi River repeatedly warns a tug boat pushing a barge to get out of the way, but no one on the smaller boat responds, according to radio transmissions released Saturday by the Coast Guard.

The July 23 wreck caused thousands of gallons of fuel to spill and shut down part of the nation's busiest inland waterway for several days. The newly released audio recordings and radar from that day show the tug boat, Mel Oliver, crossing the river in front of the tanker, Tintamara.

"Mel Oliver, come in cap, you're crossing the bottom of a ship coming at you," a Coast Guard traffic controller says.

As the pilot of the tanker becomes increasingly distressed, he calls out to the captain of the Mel Oliver again and again.

"This ain't good, man," the pilot says. Then, as the two dots on a radar intersect, he says, "We just took his tow. The barge is right in front of us and we're running it over."

The pilot of the tanker was not identified.

Also Saturday, the Coast Guard released the results of its preliminary investigation. The Coast Guard found that the person operating the Mel Oliver boat had an apprentice mate's license, but no one on the vessel was properly documented to guide it. The Coast Guard said the captain of the tug was not aboard at the time of the collision.

"We can say he was on land," Chief Petty Officer Mike O'Berry said of the captain, declining further comment.

The tug's captain and steersman apprentice, and the pilot of the tanker have been summoned to a hearing in New Orleans on Aug. 12, the Coast Guard said.

There were no mechanical or electrical problems with the massive Tintamara, or questions about the pilot's competency, said Coast Guard, which would not comment further on the findings of the preliminary investigation.

Normal shipping traffic was continuing on the Mississippi on Saturday, though ships were running slower than normal to avoid creating a wake that could hamper cleanup efforts.

The barge was carrying about 419,000 gallons of heavy oil, though the Coast Guard has not determined exactly how much was spilled. About 139,000 gallons of an oil-water mix has been recovered.

Crews were trying to remove oil from another tanker protruding from the river's surface, and hoped to remove a tanker, believed to be intact, from the bottom of the river.

The tugboat is currently being inspected for mechanical or electrical problems, authorities said.

Brazil launches international fund to preserve Amazon

Brazil on Friday created an international fund to fight deforestation of the Amazon and is accepting contributions to help preserve the world's largest rainforest.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva signed a decree here creating the Amazon Fund, designed to receive up to 21 billion dollars in contributions over the next 13 years.

Donations will be administered and projects monitored by a state bank, the National Economic and Social Development Banks (BNDES).

The fund will also finance conservation and durable development projects proposed by the environment ministry, officials said.

The limit for contributions in the first year has been set at one billion dollars.

Norway will be the first donor to step up, pledging 100 million dollars in September, Environment Minister Carlos Minc said.

BNDES environment director Eduardo de Mello told reporters donors would not receive any benefits in return for their contributions such as tax exemptions or carbon credits.

"Donations are voluntary and donors have no say over the use of the resources," he said.

That comment reflected Brazil's stance that it is best-placed to manage conservation of the Amazon, despite criticism from some environmental groups that its efforts are falling short and foreign involvement might help.

De Mello added that other countries, companies and banks have shown interest in the fund.

Up to 20 percent of the fund's cash can go to preserving Brazilian ecosystems outside the Amazon, and even in other tropical countries.

British Energy, EDF takeover talks stall

British Energy faced an uncertain future on Friday after French utility giant EDF walked away from a multi-billion-dollar takeover of the nuclear power generator.

The breakdown of takeover talks is a blow to the British government's plans to fund new nuclear reactors by selling its sizeable stake in British Energy.

In Paris on Friday, the head of Electricite de France, the biggest nuclear power generator in the world, said that "financial conditions" had not yet been met for acquisition of British Energy.

A source told Dow Jones Newswires that the two companies may decide to restart talks but added that EDF did not intend to increase its offer.

The BBC reported that major shareholders in British Energy, Invesco and Prudential, were holding out for a higher price owing to the surging cost of fuels.

Meanwhile Britain's Business Secretary John Hutton told the public broadcaster that the government was "disappointed" at the failure to reach a deal. Britain's Labour government owns more than a third of British Energy.

"We are disappointed by the failure to reach an agreement overnight," Hutton told BBC radio. "I think it would have been a good fit."

He added: "It's up to the board now and EDF to see if there is any way that this gap can be bridged."

British Energy said in a statement that "advanced discussions with a party have continued but without agreement to date," leading to a sharp drop in its share price on Friday.

Speaking at a press conference in Paris, EDF chairman and chief executive Pierre Gadonneix said that talks had ended overnight without an agreement on a takeover by the group, in which the French state is the majority shareholder.

"Following in-depth discussions, and after hearing the demands of all sides, we deem that the financial conditions allowing a major development in Britain by EDF have not currently been met," he said.

Gadonneix added that, in light of a trend towards nuclear power in several markets, EDF -- which Friday declared a 12.2-percent drop in half-year profits to 3.08 billion euros -- intended to play a leading role.

EDF, also Europe's number one electricity producer, had been widely expected to confirm that a deal had been struck to buy British Energy, which has a market value of 12 billion pounds (15.5 billion euros, 24 billion dollars).

A source close to talks with British Energy told AFP on Thursday that the French group's directors had backed a takeover.

The bid was said to have been in the form of either a cash-only deal worth 765 pence per share or a cash option worth 700 pence a share plus shares.

The offer was aimed at the British government's 35.2 percent stake in British Energy. Under takeover rules, any bid for the government stake would trigger an offer for the rest of group.

British Energy's share price sank 4.04 percent on Friday to close at 700 pence on London's FTSE 100, which ended 1.06 percent down.

EDF dropped 3.13 percent to finish at 54.20 euros on the Paris CAC 40, which closed 1.78 percent lower.

British Energy provides almost one fifth of Britain's electricity and owns and operates eight nuclear power stations.

The government wants to see a renewal of its nuclear-power generating capacity and the assets owned by the group are seen as a springboard for any such effort.

"The future of new nuclear in the UK doesn't depend on this particular (EDF) deal," Hutton said in his interview with the BBC.

"I think we are absolutely committed to new nuclear power and if this deal is not able to go through for whatever reason, we will be looking at plans to make sure we can continue with our foot on the floor because Britain needs these new nuclear power stations."

Britain's governing Labour Party called nuclear power an "unattractive" option as late as 2003, but has changed its mind as energy costs soar, initiatives against climate change intensify and North Sea oil and gas stocks dwindle.

It also follows an increasing global trend towards atomic power, which currently provides about 16 percent of the world's electricity.

An EDF-British Energy tie-up would strengthen EDF's presence in Europe, where it now wants to focus its operations after withdrawing from Brazil and Argentina in 2007.