HORIZON SOLUTIONS SITE | Working to find and advance solutions to environment, health, poverty, and development problems


Assessing Biofuels Report Helps Give Greater Clarity to Burning Issue	The report, Towards Sustainable Production and Use of Resources: Assessing Biofuels, presented by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on 16 October 2009 is based on a detailed review of published research up to mid-2009 as well as the input of independent experts world-wide.
Hydro-electric Wave Energy Device “Oyster” Launched Off the Coast of Scotland	Scotland's potential renewables capacity is estimated to be around 60GW. Our waters hold around ten per cent of Europe’s wave power potential and as much as a quarter of its tidal power potential. The European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) provides world-leading test facilities for Aquamarine and other companies to develop the technology needed to harness this huge untapped potential.
UN-REDD Programme welcomes five new countries, Argentina, Cambodia, Ecuador, Nepal and Sri Lanka	Argentina, Cambodia, Ecuador, Nepal and Sri Lanka join the UN-REDD Programme, Denmark becomes a new donor and Panama gets approval of its UN-REDD national programme
Book, World Ocean Census: A Global Survey of Marine Life, Highlights Findings of Ten-year Census of Marine Life 2000-2010	Started in the year 2000, Census of Marine Life (CoML) is an international science research program uniting thousands of researchers worldwide with the goal of assessing and explaining the diversity, distribution and abundance of marine life - past, present and future - by 2010.
Healthy Oceans A Key to Combating Climate Change According to New Rapid Response Report	"Blue Carbon - The Role of Healthy Oceans in Binding Carbon," a new Rapid Response Report released on October 14, 2009 estimates that carbon emissions equal to half the annual emissions of the global transport sector are being captured and stored by marine ecosystems such as mangroves, salt marshes and seagrasses.
Deep-Sea Microbes May Answer Long-Standing Question About Earth's Nitrogen Cycle	Scientists have identified an unexpected metabolic ability in a symbiotic community of deep-sea microorganisms that may help solve a lingering mystery about the world's nitrogen cycle.
National Science Foundation Advisory Committee Offers New Vision for the Geosciences in Report "GEO Vision: Unraveling Earth's Complexities through the Geosciences"	Society stands at a crossroads. With growing problems such as resource depletion, energy sustainability, environmental degradation and climate change, can we protect the health of the planet while achieving widespread economic prosperity?
UN Environment Programme Waste Management Project in Southern Sudan Launched by UK Minister	The Waste Management Project is part of a £20 million UK-funded programme to improve the sustainable use of natural resources in Sudan, to be carried out by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) over the next three years.
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to Announce $120 Million in New Agriculture Grants: Bill Gates to Call for United Action to Support World's Poorest Farmers	Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, on Thursday, October 15, 2009 will urge governments, donors, researchers, farmer groups, environmentalists, and others to set aside old divisions and join forces to help millions of the world's poorest farming families boost their yields and incomes so they can lift themselves out of hunger and poverty.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Designates Critical Habitat for Threatened Population of Sea Otters	The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on October 8, 2009 announced the designation of critical habitat for the southwest Alaska Distinct Population Segment of the northern sea otter (Enhydra lutris kenyoni) under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended.