A problem like ours, check it out!!!

With its picturesque waterfalls, tranquil waterways and a colony of the critically endangered Irrawaddy dolphins, the pristine beauty of the Mekong river flowing through Siphandone (Four Thousand Islands) in southern Laos, is a magnet for tourists and an important site for international conservation.

But this unique corner of the world is threatened by a government plan to build a hydroelectric dam only a few kilometres upstream — a plan that has triggered a cascade of protests from environmental organisations and international scientists. If the dam goes ahead it will have a major impact on the Irrawaddy dolphins and another endangered species, the giant catfish. It will also severely reduce the flow to the Khone Falls, Asia's largest waterfall.

Carl Middleton, the Bangkok spokesman of International Rivers, an environmental NGO said: "This stretch of the Mekong is globally renowned for its biodiversity. Building the dam would block the massive fish migrations that help feed millions of people within the region. The stakes are huge. This is one dam that must never be built."

On the Cambodian side of the border the Mekong river is recognised internationally as a conservation site by the UN's wetland conservation body, Ramsar. There are moves to do the same on the Laos side.

In March 2006, the the Lao Peoples Democratic Republic (LPDR) signed an agreement with Mega First Corporation Malaysia, to do a feasibility study to build a 240MW dam across the Mekong's Hou Sahong channel, bordering Cambodia. A Project Development Agreement was signed in 2008, but as yet no final decision has been made by the LPDR.

No construction has started on the dam yet. Tomorrow, International Rivers together with local NGO partners in Thailand and Cambodia will launch a campaign to stop the Don Sahong Dam project as part of a Save the Mekong Campaign. The launch coincides with the International Day of Action for Rivers. (the guardian's news)

Obama must pass climate laws ahead of Copenhagen, Danish minister warns

American leadership on climate change will be undermined if the Obama administration does not swiftly pass laws to reduce carbon pollution, according to Denmark's minister for climate and energy.

Connie Hedegaard said Obama must move from promises to action and push through global warming legislation ahead of the climate change summit in Copenhagen this December. Without that she said it would be hard for the US to exercise a credible leadership role at the summit.

"We can postpone anything but we have been postponing things for many years. We must come from this era where we talk about what to do and instead come to the era where we actually do things. We must come to that now," Hedegaard told the Guardian.

"The deadline set — 2009 — is actually set also by the former Bush administration. It is not just Denmark or Europe or somebody who set that deadline. It is set also by the United States. We must deliver on that deadline and I can see no better alternative than having cap and trade." (the whole article in this page http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/mar/04/climate-obama-denmark)

¡Stem cell breakthrough!

Scientists have found a way to make an almost limitless supply of stem cells that could safely be used in patients while avoiding the ethical dilemma of destroying embryos.

In a breakthrough that could have huge implications, British and Canadian scientists have found a way of reprogramming skin cells taken from adults, effectively winding the clock back on the cells until they were in an embryonic form.

The work has been hailed as a major step forward by scientists and welcomed by pro-life organisations, who called on researchers to halt other experiments which use stem cells collected from embryos made at IVF clinics.

Sir Ian Wilmut, who led the team that cloned Dolly the Sheep and heads the MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine at Edinburgh University where the work was done, said: "This is a significant step in the right direction. The team has made great progress and combining this work with that of other scientists working on stem cell differentiation, there is hope that the promise of regenerative medicine could soon be met."

Stem cells have the potential to be turned into any tissue in the body, an ability that has led researchers to believe they could be used to make "spare parts" to replace diseased and damaged organs and treat conditions as diverse as Parkinson's disease, diabetes and spinal cord injury.

Because the cells can be made from a patient's own skin, they carry the same DNA and so could be used without a risk of being rejected by the immune system.

Scientists showed they could make stem cells from adult cells more than a year ago, but the cells could never be used in patients because the procedure involved injecting viruses that could cause cancer. Overcoming the problem has been a major stumbling block in efforts to make stem cells fulfil their promise of transforming the future of medicine.

Now, scientists at the universities of Edinburgh and Toronto have found a way to achieve the same feat without using viruses, making so-called induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell therapies a realistic prospect for the first time. (from the guardian)