April 30, 2010 - World Association of Soil and Water Conservation

▲ Charles Darwin, Earthquake Predictorhttp://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2010/02/did-darwin-predict-chilean-quake.html▲ Invitation to visit updated website and featured mining reclamation projectWe would like to invite you to visit our updated website http://www.terraerosion.com/ where you can viewa diversity of soil and water bioengineering project types including our new feature project;http://www.terraerosion.com/projects/IndustrialReclamation-SyncrudeCanadaAlphaSwaleW1Project.htm showing the rehabilitationof a re-constructed waterway on an overburden mine dump in the Alberta oil sand.Also featured is our new vegetated riprap design for streambank protection developed in 2005 and applied tolarge rivers in British Columbia and Alberta Canada http://www.terraerosion.com/VegetatedRiprap.htm In mostcases this approach will negate the need for regulator's to require habitat alteration compensation.Pierre Raymond, PresidentTerra Erosion Control Ltd. www.terraerosion.comTel: 250 352 2757, 250 352 2757, Fax: 250 352 2756NOTE: You may see several powerpoint files as well as videos that we have sent to include in the LANDCON e-LIBRARY. Contact admin@terraerosion.com for more information.▲ McDonald's launches major study to cut cows emissions in the UKFast-food chain McDonald’s has launched a three-year project that would explore ways to cut greenhouse gasemissions from cows. The burger giant, which uses beef from 350,000 cattle a year, will study methaneemissions from cattle across 350 UK farms.▲ CARE-WWF payments for watershed services projects with small farmers progress in Tanzaniaand Kenya In early 2008, CARE International and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) initiated a project in theUluguru Mountains of Tanzania to bring watershed services payments to farmers. Now in its implementationphase, the Equitable Payments for Watershed Services program has enrolled 450 farmers to implement landuse projects including reforestation and soil conservation. The Dar es Salaam Water and Sewage Corporation(DAWASCO) and Coca Cola Kwanza Limited will pay between US$30 and $280 per hectare per year to thefarmers, depending on project type, rewarding them for improving their land use practices and ensuring acleaner water supply. Following the recent signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between buyers andsellers, the first payments are expected shortly. CARE and WWF are also working on a similar project in theLake Naivasha basin in Kenya to compensate upstream farmers for improving water quality for downstreamwater users.▲ New initiative aims to save the Papagayo river in MexicoEcoLogic and the Regional Council of Sierra de Guerrero (CRESIG) have brought together a wide range ofstakeholders, from academics to community leaders to government representative, to protect the PapagayoRiver. The group considers a watershed payments scheme to be a promising idea for the river, but a majorchallenge facing them is how to get the more affluent residents of Acapulco to pay the poorer communities ofthe Sierra de Guerrero for ensuring that the quantity and quality of water that reaches their city will remainhigh. They are now defining who exactly will be providing the watershed service and in what form it wouldcome. They are also developing the institutional support structure for the providers to implement thenecessary land management changes. Read more about it here .▲ Carbon emissions begin to appear on food labels in SwedenNew labels listing the carbon dioxide emissions associated with the production of foods, from whole wheatpasta to fast food burgers, are appearing on some grocery items and restaurant menus around Sweden.Some of the proposed new dietary guidelines, released over the summer, may seem startling to theuninitiated. They recommend that Swedes favor carrots over cucumbers and tomatoes, for example. (Unlikecarrots, the latter two must be grown in heated greenhouses in Sweden, consuming energy.) They are notcounseled to eat more fish, despite the health benefits, because Europe’s stocks are depleted. And somewhatless surprisingly, they are advised to substitute beans or chicken for red meat, in view of the heavygreenhouse gas emissions associated with raising cattle. If the food guidelines were religiously heeded, someexperts say, Sweden could cut its emissions from food production by 20 to 50%. Read more here from theNew York Times▲ Kraft foods to purchase 30,000 tons of Rainforest Alliance-certified cocoa by 2012Kraft Foods has launched the first mainstream chocolate products in Europe to carry the Rainforest AllianceCertified seal. The global food company has also committed to increase its current purchases of cocoa beansfrom Rainforest Alliance-certified farms ten-fold by the end of 2012, to 30,000 tons. Since 2005, Kraft Foodshas been working with the Rainforest Alliance, together with leading development organizations in Germany20