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Exoskeleton 'Onesie' Gives Babies With Cerebral Palsy A Better Start In Life

Babies who are at risk of developing cerebral palsy could be helped by a robotic “onesie”, designed by a team at the University of Oklahoma, US.

The motorised exoskeleton, which is attached to the baby via a harness and skateboard-type-crawler, helps young children develop motor and cognitive skills and promotes early movement.

With power steering, the Self-Initiated Prone Progression Crawler (SIPPC) device gives babies a push towards early walking and crawling on the level of their peers.

Not only that, but it allows doctors to monitor the child's movement and brain activity on a 3D scanner.

SEE ALSO

Adorable Moment Six-Year-Old Keeps Pace With Friend Who Has Cerebral Palsy So He's Not Last On Sports Day

Boy With Cerebral Palsy Disappointed David Cameron Didn't Personally Receive NHS Treatment Funding Plea

Toddler Dedicated To Guiding His Twin Sister With Cerebral Palsy Through Childhood

Cerebral palsy affects movement and muscle coordination and is diagnosed in every two children in 1000 born in the UK, according to Cerebral Palsy UK.

Therapy to reverse the effects of the disease must start as early as possible, but most children are not diagnosed until they are at least one-year-old.

Trials are currently ongoing with 56 infants in America, and the scientists admit there is much more to be done before it is more widely available to patients.

The new technology is enabling detection in babies as young as two months old, giving them the best start in life.

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ALEC in Indianapolis: ExxonMobil and the #WebOfDenial
This month, nineteen United States Senators called attention to the Web of Denial, a network of front groups that oppose any productive action to combat climate change. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) led the charge, building upon his weekly "Time To Wake Up" speech series on global warming, flagging the front groups that peddle climate doubt for their clients in the oil, gas and coal industries.

One of the top groups obstructing any form of progress is the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC. ALEC convened its annual meeting in Indianapolis this week, where it hooks state politicians up with lobbyists from Koch Industries (and its many nonprofit tentacles), Peabody Energy, tobacco companies, pharmaceutical companies and other industries looking to put pro-business policies in the hands of state politicians.

"2016-07-29-1469811321-4141700-ALECIndianapolis2016sponsorslistfull.JPG"

Conference Cash from ExxonMobil and the #WebOfDenial

The Center for Media and Democracy revealed that ExxonMobil is a top sponsor of the conference. Several front groups in the Web of Denial have joined ExxonMobil in sponsoring ALEC's 2016 annual meeting:

"Chair's Level" Sponsors:

The State Policy Network (SPN)

Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF)

"Director's Level" sponsors:

Americans for Prosperity (AFP)

Exhibitors:

The Charles Koch Institute

The Heritage Foundation

The Heartland Institute

The Mercatus Center at George Mason University (GMU)

All of these groups are members of the State Policy Network, the coordinating body for "Stink Tanks" that exist in all 50 states, largely following the strategies of national affiliates like the Heritage Foundation and Americans for Prosperity.

Each of the SPN groups present at ALEC's meeting this week have received support from the industrial billionaire Charles Koch, and his brother David Koch, who together own and run Koch Industries. Nonprofit foundations controlled by the Kochs have distributed $23,445,693 to ALEC and the six other groups listed above, from 1997-2014, according to IRS 990 data compiled by Greenpeace USA. Koch Industries lobbyist Mike Morgan is on ALEC's corporate board of directors. Koch Industries has given over $14 million to politicians, PACs and initiatives at the state level over the last 21 years, according disclosures compiled by FollowTheMoney.org.

Believe it or not, $23.4 million in traceable Koch money is chump change compared to grants from the double-headed "Dark Money ATM," DonorsTrust and Donors Capital Fund. Since 2002, the DonorsTrust franchise dispersed $77,361,091 in anonymous funds to ALEC, AFP, Heritage, Heartland, Mercatus, SPN and TPPF. The Koch family is among the donors known to anonymize millions of dollars through DonorsTrust and Donors Capital Fund.

ExxonMobil gave these same seven organizations a total $3,696,700 since 1998. ExxonMobil lobbyist Cynthia Bergman White is on ALEC's corporate board of directors, as were other Exxon executives before her. Exxon has poured $71.6 million into state-level candidates and ballot initiatives over the last 27 years.

Peabody Energy's recent bankruptcy filings list several of these groups on the company's payroll: ALEC, AFP Oklahoma, SPN and TPPF. Peabody lobbyist Michael Blank is on ALEC's corporate board, as were other Peabody executives before him. Peabody pushed $1.1 million into state-level elections in the last 19 years, before it went bankrupt.

And finally, another front group with Peabody roots is among ALEC's 2016 annual meeting sponsors: the Energy Policy Network, formed by the late Kelly Mader. Mr. Mader was a lobbyist for Peabody Energy, and he served on ALEC's corporate board of directors for many years. Peabody continued to give money to Mr. Mader after he left the company. It is unclear if those funds were for the Energy Policy Network, and what will become of it after Mr. Mader's unexpected passing.

#ExxonKnew the Science on Climate Change. Then it Lied. Then ALEC Helped.

Exxon is being investigated by several state attorneys general for covering up its own internal research on climate change, and then financing groups to run public relation campaigns aimed at discrediting such science. By hiding their own accurate assessment of the science and instead promoting doubt, these state AGs are asking if Exxon has committed fraud against its shareholders, the U.S. government, and the public.

ALEC politicians are treated to industry-sponsored education seminars (ALEC charges extra for that), and closed-door policy meetings, where ALEC's model bills are discussed and finalized. Legislators have received their climate science "education" at ALEC meetings, not by climate scientists, but by front groups in the coal- and oil-funded Web of Denial.

The other primary service ALEC provides to sponsors is getting model bills into the hands of willing legislators.

Aliya Haq at the Natural Resources Defense Council has observed ALEC politicians following Peabody's lead in attacking a wide variety regulations designed to limit pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.

Citizens of Kansas, Ohio, and North Carolina watched as ALEC politicians lined up behind Koch Industries' attacks on state laws boosting clean energy development.

And numerous states were duped by ALEC legislators helping ExxonMobil hide the chemicals used in fracking from the public (which ALEC spun as a "disclosure" bill). Not at the table to discuss these cut-and-paste state policies: the American voter.

As I've pointed out to various lobbyists attending ALEC's meeting, even if a citizen finds out about ALEC, it doesn't mean they can afford ALEC's registration fees, travel expenses, and time off of work to attend. Easy for a paid lobbyists to say, when it's their job to attend such conferences.

@AndrewNehring a common delusion: lobbyist at @ALEC_States forgets that most people don't have 6-7 figure income. #alecexposed #alecindy

-- Connor Gibson (@ClimateConnor) July 27, 2016

Having activism reframed as lobbying (by lobbyists) is one form of pushback groups like Greenpeace USA are accustomed to. Another is attempts to re-define the First Amendment, something that every American holds dear as a fundamental right.

Just as the tobacco industry did during its last stand against prosecutors in the 1990s, Exxon and its many #WebOfDenial mouthpieces have asserted this is a violation of their first amendment rights, even though fraud isn't protected by the first amendment. Many of these people and groups were actually involved in defending the tobacco industry, before climate science denial became the latest trend in corporate deceit.

Yesterday, ALEC hosted a discussion on this revisionist approach to the First Amendment. The conversation appears to be intended to coordinate defensive strategies for companies like Exxon--subject to government investigations--and groups like ALEC--which has been the subject of repeated complaints to the IRS over improper use of its nonprofit tax-exempt status.

And yesterday's lunch, sponsored by Americans For Prosperity, featured Texas Gov Greg Abbott, who attended remotely via video. Governor Abbott, who himself sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency many times as Texas' former Attorney General, is part of a coalition of states working with fossil fuel companies--and their front groups like ALEC and AFP--to oppose the EPA's new regulations on climate pollution.

"2016-07-29-1469811458-8876276-ALECIndianapolis2016AFPTXGregAbbottlunchsponsors.JPG"

Crossposted from Greenpeace USA.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

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International Tiger Day: 45 NGOs Call for End to Tiger Farming, Trade

On Global Tiger Day this year, 45 NGOs released a joint statement raising the alarm of increasing tiger poaching and call for ending all tiger farming and tiger trade:

Today on International Tiger Day we the undersigned 45 non-governmental organisations are urging countries with tiger farms to adopt urgent action to end tiger breeding for commercial purposes and phase out tiger farms.

The global wild tiger population is estimated to be less than 4,000. These last remaining wild tigers are each threatened by trade for nearly all of their body parts from skins and bones to teeth and claws traded by criminals for huge profit. These products are consumed largely as exotic luxury products for demonstrating social status, such as tiger skin rugs for luxury home décor or expensive tiger bone wine. Tiger bone is also consumed as traditional medicine. The main market for tiger products are consumers in China and Vietnam, followed by smaller consumer markets in Myanmar and Laos.

There are currently two primary sources for trade in tiger parts and products: wild tigers in ten range countries that are home to the last remaining wild tigers, and captive tigers largely found in four tiger farming countries China, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam.

Tiger farming and trade in captive tiger body parts from and through these countries undermines tiger conservation efforts across Asia. Indeed trade in captive tiger parts and products stimulates demand for tiger products be it from wild or captive tigers and undermines enforcement efforts by making it difficult to know whether seized tiger products come from wild or captive tigers.

Tiger farms have expanded rapidly over the last few decades. In the four tiger farming countries alone there are approximately 7,000 8,000 captive tigers in large tiger farms, zoos and smaller facilities that keep or breed tigers.

The wild tiger population has declined by over 95 percent over the last 100 years. 2016 has also marked a significant upsurge in tiger poaching and trade where in India more tigers were killed in the first five months of 2016 that in the whole of 2015.

The tiger range countries where tiger populations are beginning to show signs of recovery have high levels of political commitment, strong laws and enforcement and no tiger farms. Where tiger farms are present they only serve as an obstacle to recovery. In recent years China and Thailand have both delivered important new tiger conservation efforts on the ground. Despite this investment, the effects of tiger farms limit the potential gains from such work, as well as damaging those countries' reputation in the area of species conservation.

We commend the recent bold enforcement efforts of Thailand's Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP), which in June 2016 seized 137 live tigers thousands of tiger skin amulets, 70 preserved cubs and other tiger parts from the “Tiger Temple” in Kanchanaburi Province. The DNP has announced that it will investigate other captive tiger facilities implicated in tiger trade. This represents a significant opportunity for Thailand to end all tiger farming within its borders and to play a leadership role in the phase-out of tiger farms in the region.

Other countries should also take action to ensure that they are not implicated in the trade in captive tiger parts and products. For example, there appears to be a growing trade in tigers and their parts and products from South Africa. The United States also has a large number of captive tigers which may too become vulnerable to exploitation for illegal trade.

The world needs to wake up to the alarm bells ringing across the tiger's range. It is clear that tiger farming and trade in captive tiger parts have done nothing to end the pressure on and trade in wild tigers. In September this year, world governments will come together in South Africa to participate in the 17th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). The CITES conference offers a significant opportunity for governments to adopt and call for urgent implementation of concrete measures to phase out tiger farms.

If wild tiger populations are to be recovered and secured, the international community must provide support to end tiger farming and all trade in tiger parts and products from wild and captive tigers. We the undersigned, including those with technical expertise in managing captive tigers, stand ready to provide assistance to achieve the goals of Zero Demand for tiger parts and products and Zero Poaching of tigers.

Esther Conway, Manager, 21ST CENTURY TIGER
Bibhab Kumar Talukdar, Ph.D., Secretary General and CEO, AARANYAK
Toby Zhang, Executive Secretary-General, AITA FOUNDATION
Jo Cook, ALTA Coordinator, AMUR LEOPARD AND TIGER ALLIANCE (ALTA)
Jill Robinson MBE, Dr. med vet hc, Hon LLD, Founder & CEO, ANIMALS ASIA FOUNDATION
Susan Millward, Executive Director, ANIMAL WELFARE INSTITUTE
Rhishja Cota-Larson, President, ANNAMITICUS
Kris Vehrs, Interim President and CEO, ASSOCIATION OF ZOOS AND AQUARIUMS
Dr. R.S. Chundawat, President, BAAVAN BAGH AAP AUR VAN
Carole Baskin, CEO and Founder, BIG CAT RESCUE
Will Travers OBE, President & CEO, BORN FREE FOUNDATION
Adam Roberts, CEO, BORN FREE USA
Sybelle Foxcroft, Director, CEE4LIFE
Sally Case, CEO, DAVID SHEPHERD WILDLIFE FOUNDATION
Dung Nguyen, Vice Director, EDUCATION FOR NATURE VIETNAM (ENV)
Feng Yongfeng, Founder & CEO, ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVIST FUND
Debbie Banks, Campaign Leader, Tiger and Wildlife Crime, ENVIRONMENTAL INVESTIGATION AGENCY (EIA)
Ioana Dungler, Director of Wild Animals, FOUR PAWS INTERNATIONAL
Sulma Warne, Deputy Director, FREELAND FOUNDATION
Teresa M. Telecky, Ph.D., Director, Wildlife Department, HUMANE SOCIETY INTERNATIONAL
Nicole Paquette, Vice President, Wildlife, HUMANE SOCIETY OF THE UNITED STATES
Grace Ge Gabriel, Asia Regional Director, INTERNATIONAL FUND FOR ANIMAL WELFARE (IFAW)
Kumi Togawa, President, JAPAN TIGER AND ELEPHANT FUND
Prof. Nishikant Kale, President, NATURE CONSERVATION SOCIETY
Christoph Schmidt, Ph.D., Chair of the Board, PRO WILDLIFE
Sergei Bereznuk, Director, PHOENIX FUND
Adam Grogan, Head of Wildlife, ROYAL SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS (RSPCA)
Bittu Sahgal, Founder Editor, SANCTUARY ASIA
Simon Clinton, Founder & CEO, SAVE WILD TIGERS
Kedar Gore, Director, THE CORBETT FOUNDATION
Brian K. Weirum, Chairman, THE FUND FOR THE TIGER
Phil Davis, Founder, TIGER AWARENESS
Vicky Flynn, Manager, TIGERTIME CAMPAIGN
Julian Matthews, Chairman, TOFTIGERS
Mr. Prasanna Yonzon, CEO, WILDLIFE CONSERVATION NEPAL
Edwin Wiek, Founder and Director, WILDLIFE FRIENDS FOUNDATION THAILAND (WFFT)
Belinda Wright, OBE, Executive Director, WILDLIFE PROTECTION SOCIETY OF INDIA (WPSI)
Biswajit Mohanty, Ph.D., Secretary, WILDLIFE SOCIETY OF ORISSA
Kartick Satyanarayan, Co-founder and Chairman, WILDLIFE SOS
Dr. Md. Anwarul Islam, CEO, WILDTEAM
Jack Kinross, Coordinator, WILDTIGER CONSERVATION RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
Georgina Allen, Director, WILD WELFARE
Lena Aahlby, Interim Global Director of Programmes, WORLD ANIMAL PROTECTION
Michael Baltzer, Leader, WWF TIGERS ALIVE INITIATIVE
Jonathan Baillie, Director of Conservation Programmes, ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON (ZSL)

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International Tiger Day: Cause for Celebration or Alarm?

By Gabriel Fava, Born Free Foundation

Today, the 29th of July, is International Tiger Day. Does the day represent a cause for celebration, alarm, or both?

Celebrate, by all means the existence of magnificent creatures like the tiger seems barely credible, and our lives are certainly made richer by their presence in the world. But sadly their uniqueness and majesty makes their continued existence far from assured.

A hundred years ago there were an estimated 100,000 tigers spread across parts of central Asia and from the eastern coast of Russia down through most of east, southeast and south Asia. Since then a catastrophic loss of range and multiple threats have led to a precipitous decline in tiger populations. Now, less than 4,000 remain, predominantly in India. Sadly, despite this well-documented decline and our universal awe of tigers, we continue to persecute them in tourist attractions; breed them in captivity for the wealth generated by their body parts and products; push them out of their habitats by building roads, railways, settlements, mines and dams; encroach on their forest homes with settlements and palm oil plantations; poach their prey; kill them in retaliation for livestock and human deaths; and of course hunt them for the perceived value in their skins, claws, teeth and bones.

Tiger poaching for the illegal trade in tiger parts and products is widely recognised as a primary threat to the species' future, yet this threat shows no sign of being substantially addressed: between January and March 2016, the highest level of tiger killing in India for 15 years took place, with at least 25 tigers killed.

Simultaneously, a key threat to tigers continues to be largely unrecognised. This comes from tiger ‘farms' and similar facilities in countries such as China, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand, which keep and breed some 7,000 captive tigers. The skins from these animals are taxidermied and turned into rugs for ‘luxury' home décor, and their skeletons are soaked in vats of wine to make tiger bone ‘health tonic'. These facilities not only present serious animal welfare problems, but also undermine wild tiger conservation efforts through the increased availability of tiger parts and products, which in turn actively stimulates the demand for their more ‘potent' and often cheaper counterparts from the wild.

Today, on International Tiger Day, a number of wildlife charities are raising the profile of this threat and asking you to do the same, for a future with tigers.

More information from Born Free: Tigers, International Tiger Day

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AbstractRadio session - july 2016

Like the veritable bad penny, we're back once again, diving into another stack of delectable danceable delights.

Tons of tremendous toe-tappers here, from smooth vocals to big summer tunes, including Liem's great reworking of a Sydney Youngblood classic, F. Rizardo's re-jig of Joyce Sims, DJ Dan and Purple Disco's cracking contributions, and then there's the filthy bass running through The Swiss' disco-drenched Elouisa…

Enjoy, and as ever, thanks for listening.

The Abrad team.

[any feedback, much appreciated]

select mixes
by genre:

House

Deep

Funky

Tracklist

Start	Artist	Track Title	Label
000:00	jean claude gavri	nightfly	ebo
005:10	kaiserdisco	que ritmo	stylerockets
009:59	james winter	deeper love	city soul
014:06	winnie deep	new day	afrikamotion
018:27	life less ordinary	new day	club sweat
025:06	disclosure	holding on	caracal
029:32	todd terry	leaving me again	phoenix
033:45	alfred azzetto	funkasso	minimarket
037:02	djoon experience	baptise me	djoon
044:22	teddy douglas	check it out	nervous
047:51	liem	if only I could	white
053:21	the swiss	elouisa	kitsune
058:16	purple disco	love	defected
061:47	vhyce	hard to find	no brainer
067:46	dj dan	I got a man	instereo
071:09	noisy bears	u got my love	abcdeep
074:48	franky rizardo	come into my life	simma black
078:24	mr moon	freaky	mr moon
081:49	knee deep	all about love	kneedeep
090:38	siege	yeah	brobot
095:45	gabriel and castellon	harlem	inhouse
099:08	kenny summit	like a moth to the flame	guesthouse
103:27	sugarstarr	hey sunshine	enormous
109:00	claptone	ghost	exploited
114:21	damian lazarus	vermillion reprise	crosstown rebels

-- Total running time 119.54 --

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Peru's New President Gets Wealth of Environmental Tools
This story has been adapted from Ecosystem Marketplace
By Kelli Barrett

When Peru's new president, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, took office yesterday, he inherited a powerful set of tools that outgoing President Ollanta Humala approved for funneling money into conservation and sustainable agriculture. Nearly all were approved in the last two weeks of the month.

First, the Ministry of Environment released formal regulations for the country's groundbreaking Mecanismos de Retribución por Servicios Ecosistémicos (MRSEs), or "Mechanisms of Compensation for Ecosystem Services" law, which legislators approved in 2014. The law created a legal framework for conservation activities that harness public and private capital, and the new regulations offer clear guidance on how to implement them. In a related move, the government approved its National Forestry and Climate Change Strategy and issued guidance on biodiversity offsets, primarily for Andean ecosystems.

More on the Forest Trends Blog

Ecosystem Marketplace publisher Forest Trends has been participating in the development of Peru's green infrastructure through a number of programs, including the Peru Ecosystem Services Project Incubator, a collaboration of Forest Trends with regional NGOs and the Peruvian Ministry of Environment. For an insider perspective on the new developments, check out the latest entry in the Forest Trends Blog.

The Ecosystem Services Regime

This new regulation highlights that Peru has been working on this issue of recognizing ecosystems services as an important tool for environmental management, social inclusion and wealth distribution, Gabriel Quijandria, Peru's Deputy Minister of Strategic Development of Natural Resources said in a statement.

The National Congress passed its MRSE law in 2014 after six years of negotiation. Essentially, the law provides the regulatory certainty MRSE project developers need to operate and create more projects, according to an earlier Ecosystem Marketplace article. According to Peru's Environment Ministry, environmental services under the MRSE umbrella include water regulation, biodiversity conservation, carbon storage, pollination and recreation among others.

The city of Lima made headlines last year when it began tapping its water fees to fund projects like the restoration of ancient, pre-Incan water management systems high in the Andes - a very visible manifestation of a nation-wide move to develop "green" (as opposed to gray) infrastructure that can better withstand the realities of climate change.

The True Value of an Ecosystem Services Law

Gena Gammie, Associate Director of the Forest Trends' Water Initiative, points out that Peru, like many Latin American countries, follows civil law, which requires more prescriptive statutes and ordinances than does the common law practiced in the United States, especially when it comes to the use of public funds.

If the terms of the projects aren't specifically allowed and promoted by the law, government officials run the risk of consequences for misuse of public funds, Gammie explains. The MRSE law and the new regulations eliminate many grey areas, creating more clarity for financial flows.

Connecting Conservation and Forests

Carbon sequestration is a common link between the MRSE regulation and the National Forestry and Climate Change Strategy. The MRSE law and regulation provide guidance and the overall structure regarding Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD) projects. Meanwhile, the National Forestry and Climate Change Strategy functions as Peru's national REDD strategy. The two share a REDD component and influence one another, Gammie explains.

According to the Forest Trends blog post that summarizes the recent policymaking, the National Forestry and Climate Change Strategy represents an inclusive approach to land-use that brings together national and regional governments, indigenous groups and civil society to identify the major drivers of deforestation and then offer solutions.

Gustavo Suarez de Freitas, the Head of Peru's National Forest Conservation Program, agrees that this strategy can have a significant impact on curbing forest loss. He highlights the "production-protection" part, which aims to increase productivity on the landscape while maintaining and recognizing the benefits of conserved forests. "I am convinced that the production-protection will make the difference, and that with this as our foundation we will be able to begin to reverse deforestation in Peru," Suarez de Freitas told Forest Trends.

A Budding Biodiversity Offset Program

The newly released biodiversity offset guidance is separate from the MRSE regulation, though its impact will likely be large. Its focus is on protecting the biodiversity of Andean ecosystems where the biggest development projects are required to compensate for their adverse impacts on biodiversity, while offsetting remains voluntary for medium and small size development activities.

Protecting biodiversity in Peru is critical as the nation is one of the most biologically diverse places on Earth. And much of that is rare, endangered or both. Peru's Manu National Park is considered to be the richest biodiversity hotspot in the world.

However, as all of these policy announcements appear to have come in the nick of time, before a potential political wind-shift, Gammie says it will be interesting to see how the incoming government will move forward with them.

"Will the new administration implement these policies and continue to strengthen capacity around them or will they just let these go," she asks.

Be sure to follow us on the Bionic Planet podcast, which is available on iTunes, TuneIn, Stitcher, and wherever you access your podcasts.

Kelli Barrett is a freelance writer and Editorial Assistant at Ecosystem Marketplace. She can be reached at kbarrett@ecosystemmarketplace.com.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

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As Clouds Head for the Poles, Time to Prepare for Food and Water Shocks
Co-authored with Betsy Otto and Richard Waite

A changing climate means less rain and lower water supplies in regions where many people live and much of the planet's food is produced: the mid-latitudes of the Northern and Southern hemispheres, including the U.S. Southwest, southern Europe and parts of the Middle East, southern Africa, Australia and Chile. As WRI-Aqueduct's future scenarios for water supply show, diminished water supplies will be apparent in these areas by 2020 -- less than four years away -- and are expected to grow worse by 2030 and 2040.

Now a new study in the journal Nature provides some of the first evidence that this widely-predicted phenomenon -- the movement of clouds and rainfall from the mid-latitudes towards the North and South poles -- is already taking place. Just like the retreat of glaciers and polar sea ice, now clouds and rain are retreating poleward.

This will have huge implications for agricultural production, industrial and energy output, and municipal water provisioning. Many irrigated agricultural areas are already facing water stress. The climate-driven shift of clouds and rain -- known as Hadley Cell expansion -- will put those areas under even greater stress in the future. Rain-fed agriculture, which many poor people depend upon, will also suffer as a result of reduced rainfall in the mid-latitude regions.

A recent WRI study finds that sub-Saharan Africa will need to more than triple crop production by 2050 in order to feed its growing population. This hard-to-reach target will become more difficult in places like southern Africa and the western Sahel, where water supply is projected to fall.

In addition to worsening water stress and undermining food security, decreasing water supply in the world's mid-latitudes may also help destabilize nations in these regions, adding to pre-existing political tensions, and helping contribute to armed conflict and migration, as we have seen in places like Syria.

What can we do now to prepare for these future climate change threats? First, we need to better understand the nexus of water risk and food security. WRI-Aqueduct, with support from Danida (the Danish development aid agency) and the Skoll Global Threats Fund, is developing an online tool that will help policymakers identify global water risk and food security hot spots. The risks are not always obvious. A country can be relatively water-secure within its own borders, but still be highly dependent on food imports, some of which come from countries whose agricultural production systems face very high levels of water risk. In poor countries, price spikes can put food out of the reach of many citizens. The new WRI Aqueduct tool aims to shed light on these types of threats.

Vulnerable countries also need to take steps now to make their food production systems more productive and resilient in the face of climate change. By improving land and water management practices, for example, farmers in Africa have been able to restore soil fertility, capture rainfall before it runs off farm fields, and sustainably increase yields on their farms. A recent WRI study estimates that improving land and water management on just 25 percent of sub-Saharan Africa's 300 million hectares (more than 740 million acres) of prime cropland would result in an additional 22 million tons of food.

Tools and mechanisms can help vulnerable countries cope with drought and famine. The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET), for example, is a leading provider of early warning and analysis on food insecurity. Also important are insurance and subsidy systems that can help support farmers when crops fail.

The shifting of cloud and rainfall patterns around the globe are just one more visible sign of the effects of climate change. What we need to begin doing in response is to anticipate the location and magnitude of these effects, and build resilience into the lives and livelihoods of those who will be most vulnerable.

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CF002198 by Michael Salisbury

Conference Cash from ExxonMobil and the #WebOfDenial

"Chair's Level" Sponsors:

"Director's Level" sponsors:

Exhibitors:

#ExxonKnew the Science on Climate Change. Then it Lied. Then ALEC Helped.

Platform No. 7-6 by Anuchit Sundarakiti

Bangkok Railway Station stories 2016

004A0217.jpg by jingyou guo

DEGR1834-2.jpg by Stefano Montigiani

Ladybug by Luca Moriconi

Red Burning Portal by Gunnar Heilmann

I was with some friends in Belgrade .. on the way we found this Red Burning Portal in the mist of the Kosmaj Mountains .... its actually a monument to the partisan division from WWII see more of it on www.facebook.com/GunnarsPhotos http://www.gunnarheilmann.com/home/lightpainting/lightpainting/

Ferris wheel by Руслан Акаев

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