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Today, the White House released a new report detailing the important benefits provided by the bipartisan Senate immigration reform bill for the domestic agriculture sector, its workforce, and rural American communities. As the report states, in recent years, the agriculture sector has seen strong growth, with farm income and agriculture exports both reaching historic highs. But there’s more work to do, and currently the agriculture industry is hampered by a broken immigration system that fails to support a predictable and stable workforce. Among all economic sectors, the U.S. agriculture sector is particularly reliant on foreign-born workers. Agricultural producers cite difficulty in locating qualified available authorized workers—both foreign and domestic—as one reason for the high rate of undocumented labor. Moreover, there continues to be insufficient U.S. workers to fill labor needs: of those crop workers surveyed between 2007 and 2009, 71 percent were foreign born.

As President Obama said in his State of the Union address, "If we’re truly committed to strengthening our middle class and providing more ladders of opportunity to those who are willing to work hard to make it into the middle class, we’ve got to fix the system. We have to bring this shadow economy into the light so that everybody is held accountable — businesses for who they hire, and immigrants for getting on the right side of the law. That’s common sense. And that’s why we need comprehensive immigration reform."

In June, the Senate passed historic legislation that is largely consistent with the President’s principles for commonsense immigration reform with a strong bipartisan vote. This bill would strengthen border security while providing an earned path to citizenship for undocumented farmworkers who are vital to our nation’s agriculture industry, and a new temporary worker program negotiated by major grower associations and farmworker groups. If enacted, the Senate bill would result in undocumented workers paying a fine, their full share of taxes and is estimated to allow an estimated 1.5 million agricultural workers and their dependents to earn legal status.

To learn more about how the Senate-passed bill and bipartisan commonsense immigration reform would benefit the agriculture sector and rural communities, check out this fact sheet or read the full report released today by the White House.

President Obama’s recent “climate action” speech includes an expansion of subsidies and mandates requiring additional energy efficiency. The president calls these policies a “great deal” for consumers, but they are anything but—energy efficiency mandates impose lawmakers’ and bureaucrats’ …

Mixing it up – a worker mixes cement for the foundations of a new housing block in Addis Ababa #Ethiopia #EverydayAfrica. Picture: Simon Davis/DFID

Part of my job as the picture editor for DFID is to always be looking out for creative ways to tell our story in images. From reports and publications to humanitarian emergencies and ministerial visits overseas, I think DFID has amazing stories to tell, and, increasingly, sharing our photography online is a big part of that. To this end, I set up DFID on the photo-sharing website Flickr back in 2008. Since then we’ve created an archive of nearly 3,000 photographs about development issues and some of the many people whose lives have been changed by British development aid.

My colleague Marisol has written more about Flickr and how we use it in another blog for this series. I continue to love it. But it was conceived and designed in the early days of what used to be called Web 2.0 – sometime around 2005/6, roughly when Facebook and YouTube also came into existence. People were just starting to talk about creative commons, open source, APIs and, yes, social media.

Then, in 2007, the iPhone came along, and everything changed. The internet became mobile, mobile phones became smart and the age of the app was born. Suddenly you could own a mobile phone that included a pretty good digital camera that was always connected to the internet. People started sharing photos taken on their phones in extraordinary numbers.

Fast-forward to 2011 and an app called Instagram was launched for the iPhone. A piece of software that would apply a retro-style filter to your digital photos (basically making them look like a 1970s-era polaroid photo) and upload them to the web directly from your phone.

People went crazy for Instagram in a way arguably not seen in photography since Kodak launched the Brownie camera at the start of the 20th century. In little more than 2 years, Instagram has amassed more than 130 million users worldwide, who between them are uploading some 40 million images every single day.

And now DFID is one of those 130 million Instagram users – take a look at http://instagram.com/dfid_uk. Why? Well, for us, telling our story has always been about going to where people are spending their time online and putting our stories there. We’re doing it with Facebook, with Twitter and YouTube, and now we’re going to try doing it with Instagram too. We just felt that Instagram has reached a tipping point in the last few months.

For me this realisation came during a visit to Lagos last October, when I met and tried to photograph some of Nigeria’s tech entrepreneurs. After a day or so of trying – and failing! – to make interesting images via my digital SLR, I realised all of the people I was trying to photograph were comfortable taking pictures of themselves and each other on their mobile phones. So I decided to do the same, and posted them to Instagram. You can see the results here.

It isn’t just about numbers though – it’s about the tool, the way people are using it, and the potential for how it might help show where UK taxpayers’ money is going. Many of our staff are based around the world in the countries that we work in. Many of them have smart phones, and many of them take pictures on them of the people and places that the UK is helping when they’re out and about monitoring and evaluating the work that we do.

So I’m interested to see if we can harness some of those photos, as instantly as possible. Can we get some of our staff to upload what they’re seeing directly from the field? And as those smart phones and mobile internet access become more widely available to the people in the countries we work in, can we use Instagram as a way to see what they see, from their perspective?

Global emerging markets equity funds have cut average weightings to Brazil and South Africa for the fourth straight quarter, according to the latest allocations data from fund research firm Lipper.

You can see a full interactive graphic of the allocations data here or by clicking on the snapshot below.

The average allocation to Brazil has fallen by 1.75 percentage points over the past year to stand at 11.6 percent of portfolios by the end of the April-June 2013 quarter. South Africa’s average weighting has fallen to 6.0 percent from 7.3 percent in the second quarter of 2012.

The data comes from about 400 GEM funds for which Lipper has recent allocations data. At the last count they held combined assets of $175 billion. GEM funds offer a useful gauge of investor sentiment around emerging markets as they can generally allocate money across the sector.

China and India have seen the sharpest increase in average allocations during the year in percentage points terms, even as fears of a China slowdown have gathered momentum and stocks .MSCICN have barely eked out a gain. (Full Story)

Malaysia emerges as the top pick in terms of pure percentage gains. The average allocation here grew by more than 17 percent over the year to 3 percent of portfolios, compared to 2.6 percent in Q2 2012. Most of that increase came in the second quarter of this year.

(Graphic by Vincent Flasseur)

‘No nation can rise to the height of glory unless your women are side by side with you’, said Muhammad Ali Jinnah, founder of Pakistan. Unfortunately for the majority of Pakistani women, the notion of equality remains a dream, even now. But how can we ensure women play a part in decision making? And how can we break down the barriers that prevent women from becoming leaders? These are the questions that brought together Oxfam Great Britain and its partner The Aurat Foundation (AF) for the DFID funded Raising Her Voice (RHV) programme in Pakistan. DFID supports Oxfam’s RHV programme in 17 countries through its Governance and Transparency Fund.

Over the past 5 years, the RHV programme supported 1,500 women activists, living and working in their communities, in organizing themselves into 50 ‘Women Leaders Groups’ (WLGs) in 30 districts across Pakistan. Each WLG brings together women from a cross section of Pakistani society, to form a joint platform based on mutual trust, to strengthen the collective voice of local women.

WLG protesting against absence of women in Zakat Committees in Hafizabad District of Punjab (they managed to get women’s representation on the Zakat Committees in the district). Picture: Oxfam

As Razia Sultana, WLG member from Rawalpindi puts it: ‘I believe that men and women are created equal and therefore should be treated equally…The time is past when women couldn’t raise their voice against violence…I want to help local women influence local decision makers. Being a woman leader has helped me accomplish my goals and I will continue the struggle’

Through this programme 116,000 women received Computerised National Identity Cards giving them the ability to vote, travel and access loans. Ninety WLG members ran for political office in the recent elections, 5 of these women won provincial assembly seats and 1 took a National Assembly seat, a fantastic achievement.

RHV activity for WLG members in Karachi. Picture: Oxfam

The biggest achievements of the programme however, have been the dramatic changes that these women have brought about in their lives and the lives of the women around them. All 1,500 women we worked with had stories to tell.

For example, the WLG Secretary General of Abbottabad said “Initially I would be accompanied by my brother when I went to government offices, but now I have the confidence to interact with government officers alone”. On the voter registration day at Khamberanwala village in Punjab, few women turned out to vote. Women leaders went door to door encouraging women to vote. Through their efforts, 506 women registered.

There are also tales of women struggling collectively for their rights. For example a woman college teacher who had been harassed by a senior colleague, shared the matter with the WLG in Haripur. The WLG took the case to the college management, referring to the Harassment Act and the accused colleague was removed from his post.

Women were supported in getting Watan Cards (for Government supported cash transfers to flood affected families) by WLGs. Picture: Oxfam

The energy and commitment these women exhibit, despite the challenges that they face in their personal lives, is very humbling for me. Meeting them and hearing their stories of change has always been an energizing experience. In fact in one of their meetings that I attended, I couldn’t stop myself from remarking that “I wish I was a woman too, so I could join them!”

Despite all these achievements, the scale and complexity of challenges are immense and we have a long way to go, in achieving equity and equality for all the women and girls of Pakistan. The 1,500 women leaders of the RHV programme are however, enthusiastic and committed.  With support from DFID, Oxfam GB and Aurat Foundation, are now working on the next stage, which may include expanding the RHV programme to the rest of the country.

Oxfam GB has been working in Pakistan since 1973. Oxfam is currently supporting women and men in raising their incomes and achieving food security, supporting women’s groups in raising their voices and position, facilitating access to education especially for girls, supporting local communities in mitigating the effects of disasters and in the aftermath of a disaster, providing relief and recovery support to the affected communities.

In the year 2012-13, Oxfam GB supported 650,000 persons (mostly women) directly and more than 1.5 million people indirectly through our advocacy programmes. Oxfam also supports the government and civil society organizations in developing and implementing pro-poor policies and legal frameworks.

Visit our website for further information about Oxfam GB and the RHV programme around the world.

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Please note, this is a guest blog. Views expressed here do not necessarily represent the views of DFID or have the support of the British government.

Over the next few weeks we’ll be highlighting our development support to Pakistan and how we’re helping to push for change. We’ll be linking up with partners from across the British Pakistani community who are making a huge contribution to Pakistan’s development and promoting the positive voices for progress in country. To get the latest Pakistan development news straight to your inbox sign up for our quarterly newsletter.

Final Book Now Available

Within the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Airway Transportation System Specialists ATSS) maintain and certify the equipment in the National Airspace System (NAS).In fiscal year 2012, Technical Operations had a budget of $1.7B. Thus, Technical Operations includes approximately 19 percent of the total FAA employees and less than 12 percent of the $15.9 billion total FAA budget. Technical Operations comprises ATSS workers at five different types of Air Traffic Control (ATC) facilities: (1) Air Route Traffic Control Centers, also known as En Route Centers, track aircraft once they travel beyond the terminal airspace and reach cruising altitude; they include Service Operations Centers that coordinate work and monitor equipment. (2) Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) facilities control air traffic as aircraft ascend from and descend to airports, generally covering a radius of about 40 miles around the primary airport; a TRACON facility also includes a Service Operations Center. (3) Core Airports, also called Operational Evolution Partnership airports, are the nation’s busiest airports. (4) The General National Airspace System (GNAS) includes the facilities located outside the larger airport locations, including rural airports and equipment not based at any airport. (5) Operations Control Centers are the facilities that coordinate maintenance work and monitor equipment for a Service Area in the United States.

At each facility, the ATSS execute both tasks that are scheduled and predictable and tasks that are stochastic and unpredictable in. These tasks are common across the five ATSS disciplines: (1) Communications, maintaining the systems that allow air traffic controllers and pilots to be in contact throughout the flight; (2) Surveillance and Radar, maintaining the systems that allow air traffic controllers to see the specific locations of all the aircraft in the airspace they are monitoring; (3) Automation, maintaining the systems that allow air traffic controllers to track each aircraft’s current and future position, speed, and altitude; (4) Navigation, maintaining the systems that allow pilots to take off, maintain their course, approach, and land their aircraft; and (5) Environmental, maintaining the power, lighting, and heating/air conditioning systems at the ATC facilities. Because the NAS needs to be available and reliable all the time, each of the different equipment systems includes redundancy so an outage can be fixed without disrupting the NAS.

Assessment of Staffing Needs of Systems Specialists in Aviation reviews the available information on: (A) the duties of employees in job series 2101 (Airways Transportation Systems Specialist) in the Technical Operations service unit; (B) the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists (PASS) union of the AFL-CIO; (C) the present-day staffing models employed by the FAA; (D) any materials already produced by the FAA including a recent gap analysis on staffing requirements; (E) current research on best staffing models for safety; and (F) non-US staffing standards for employees in similar roles.

[Read the full report]

Topics: Transportation | Industry and Labor

President Obama today paid tribute to the veterans of the Korean War, marking the 60th anniversary of the war’s end. "Perhaps the highest tribute we can offer our veterans of Korea is to do what should have been done the day you came home,” the President said during remarks at the Korean War Veterans Memorial on the National Mall. “In our hurried lives, let us pause. Let us listen. Let these veterans carry us back to the days of their youth, and let us be awed by their shining deeds."

You, our veterans of Korea, deserved better. And down the decades, our nation has worked to right that wrong, including here, with this eternal memorial, where the measure of your sacrifice is enshrined for all time.  Because here in America, no war should ever be forgotten, and no veteran should ever be overlooked.  And after the armistice, a reporter wrote, “When men talk in some distant time with faint remembrance of the Korean War, the shining deeds will live."  The shining deeds will live. 

A veteran salutes during the the ceremony to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Armistice that ended the Korean War, at the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., Saturday, July 27, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Amanda Lucidon)

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President Obama tells the American people about his speech at Knox College on Wednesday, where he discussed the cornerstones of what it means to be middle class, including having a good job, a home that is your own, quality education, a secure retirement, and affordable health care.

Transcript | Download mp4 | Download mp3

Learn more: 

• President Obama Lays Out a Better Bargain for the Middle Class
• Speak Out in Favor of a Better Bargain for the Middle Class

Watch West Wing Week here.

NCAA Champions: On Tuesday, President Obama welcomed the NCAA Champion Louisville Cardinals to the White House. President Obama, an avid basketball fan, celebrated the team’s accomplishments both on and off the court – praising their cumulative 3.3 grade-point-average, the thousands of dollars they helped raise for charity, and their determination, despite physical obstacles, to win the men’s NCAA title.

Vice President and Dr. Biden in India: The Vice President and Dr. Biden traveled to India and Singapore, as part of their six-day trip – meeting with leaders and visiting schools and aid workers to discuss the important opportunity to strengthen our partnerships within the region. The Vice President also reaffirmed our commitment to rebalancing U.S. foreign policy toward the Asia-Pacific. When they arrived in New Delhi on Monday, they visited Mahatma Gandhi’s granddaughter and toured the Gandhi Smriti museum.

On Tuesday, the Vice President met with Indian Prime Minist Dr. Manmohan Singh, President Pranab Mukherjee, and Vice President Hamid Ansair where they discussed the relationship between the United States and India. Later, Vice President Biden spoke at a dinner hosted by Indian Vice President Hamid Ansari, where provided remarks about the importance partnership between the two countries. During the day, Dr. Biden visited the settlement of Kachhpura, where USAID Health and the Urban Poor Program has been stationed since 2011.

Speaking from the Bombay Stock Exchange on Wednesday, the Vice President spoke about moving both the U.S. and Indian economies forward – noting that American interests were very similar to Indian interests. Dr. Biden hosted a roundtable discussion to hear more about how groups are working to improve nutrition in India and visited The Dilaasa Crisis Intervention Department for Women, a center for female survivors of domestic violence.

Women at the Indian Institute of Technology met with Vice President Biden on Thursday for a roundtable discussion. The Vice President spoke about the importance of engaging women in science, technology, and engineering and explained what the U.S. is doing to promote STEM in the United States. Dr. Biden visited an all-girls school, where she taught a grammar lesson. 

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In September 2009, the President announced that—for the first time in history—White House visitor records would be made available to the public on an ongoing basis. Today, the White House releases visitor records that were generated in April 2013. Today’s release also includes visitor records generated prior to September 16, 2009 that were requested by members of the public in June 2013 pursuant to the White House voluntary disclosure policy. This release brings the total number of records made public by this White House to more than 3.3 million—all of which can be viewed in our Disclosures section.

Ed. note: For more information, check out Ethics.gov.

Today marks the 23rd anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The ADA represents the culmination of a struggle for the most basic promise of equal opportunity and protection. For millions of Americans, the ADA recognizes the unique challenges that individuals with disabilities face, and provides the legal basis for fairer treatment. 

President Barack Obama meets with leaders who work with the disability community, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, July 25, 2013. President Obama thanked the participants for their work within the disability community and recognized the partner organizations attending the meeting. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

To celebrate the anniversary of this historic civil rights legislation, yesterday, we held an ADA Anniversary Champions of Change event, in which we honored ordinary Americans who are doing extraordinary things for their communities. From advocating for youth with disabilities, to working on policy affecting the deaf and hard of hearing, from wheelchair racing, to helping people discover their potential, to empowering students of color with disabilities, these everyday heroes are incredibly inspiring, and help spread the word of just how important the ADA is for millions of Americans.

President Obama is committed to continuing the legacy set in place by President George H.W. Bush when the ADA was signed 23 years ago. President Obama has expanded educational, and employment opportunities for people living with disabilities, increased access to health care, and protected civil rights, and access to community living.

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An injection of carbon dioxide, or CO₂, has begun at a site in southeastern Washington to test deep geologic storage. Battelle researchers based at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory are injecting 1,000 tons of CO₂ one-half mile underground to see if the greenhouse gas can be stored safely and permanently in ancient basalt flows.

Boise Inc. teamed with Battelle, which operates PNNL for the U.S. Department of Energy, and Praxair, Inc. to conduct the CO₂ injection phase of the pilot project. Injection is occurring on Boise property in deep basalt — the same massive ancient lava flows that underlie major portions of Washington, Oregon and Idaho. The joint research is conducted under the Big Sky Carbon Sequestration Partnership, which is led by Montana State University and funded by DOE and a consortium of industrial partners. It is one of seven regional partnerships throughout the United States aimed at finding safe and economical ways to permanently store the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions.

“We have been conducting laboratory tests on basalts from the region for several years that have conclusively demonstrated the unique geochemical nature of basalts to quickly react with CO₂ and form carbonate minerals or solid rock, the safest and most permanent form for storage in the subsurface,” said Battelle project manager Pete McGrail. “However convincing the laboratory data may be, proving the same processes operate deep underground can only be done by conducting a successful field demonstration. We have taken the very first steps to do that here in Wallula.”

During the next two to three weeks, Battelle scientists will work with Praxair technicians to inject into porous layers of basalt CO₂ that has been compressed into a liquid-like state. Thick and impermeable layers of rock above these porous layers will act as barriers or seals to prevent the CO₂ from travelling vertically upward.

Over the next 14 months, fluid samples will be extracted from the injection well. Scientists will look for changes in chemical composition in comparison to baseline data compiled prior to injection. Scientists will also compare results to predictions made using PNNL’s supercomputer. At the end of the monitoring period, rock samples will be taken from the well. They are expected to exhibit the formation of limestone crystals as a result of CO₂ reacting with minerals in the basalt.

The Boise pulp and paper mill, located in the Columbia Basin between the Tri-Cities and Walla Walla, Wash., sits atop dozens of volcanic lava flows, extending down 8,000 feet or more. Like a stack of pancakes, these geologic layers were formed as volcanic lava flowed and cooled, one on top of the other.

In 2009, an injection well was drilled at the site confirming that basalt flows located immediately above and below the injection zone were nearly impermeable. Additional research conducted at the site in late 2012 indicated that the location is well suited for the pilot test.

“Boise is pleased to have worked with Battelle in recent years and to be a partner for this research that advances the science of geologic carbon sequestration,” said Rich Garber, Boise environmental director. “At Boise Inc. we believe wisely using energy and resources is good for business and for our environment. Through various other means, we’ve reduced our greenhouse gas emissions 27 percent since 2004 at our manufacturing facilities. This collaborative effort with Battelle is an additional opportunity for us to build on that progress and demonstrate our commitment toward continuous environmental improvement.”

According to recent DOE estimates, the United States and portions of Canada have enough potential capacity in geologic formations to store as much as 900 years of CO₂ emissions. If the Wallula demonstration is successful, basalt flows in many parts of the world may serve as storage locations to store CO₂ emissions from a variety of industrial facilities.

“Boise has been a fantastic partner and there is no question that this field research could not have been done without their unwavering support,” said McGrail.

The demonstration is approximately 80 percent funded through DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory. To date, approximately, $12 million has been committed to the pilot project. Other contributors include Schlumberger, Royal Dutch Shell, Boise Inc., and Portland General Electric.

Click here for more information on PNNL’s carbon storage research, field projects and capabilities.

Headquartered in Boise, Idaho, Boise Inc. manufactures a wide variety of packaging and paper products. Boise’s range of packaging products includes linerboard and corrugating medium, corrugated containers and sheets, and protective packaging products. Boise’s paper products include imaging papers for the office and home, printing and converting papers, and papers used in packaging, such as label and release papers. Our employees are committed to delivering excellent value while managing our businesses to sustain environmental resources for future generations. Boise Inc. has set voluntary goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, water use and energy use and uses the ISO 14001 international standard to establish targets for continuous improvement of environmental performance at its paper mills.

Led by Montana State University, the Big Sky Carbon Sequestration Partnership (BSCSP) is one of seven partnerships involved in the US Department of Energy’s Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership program. The BSCSP relies on existing technologies from the fields of engineering, geology, chemistry, biology, geographic information systems and economics to develop novel approaches for both geologic and terrestrial carbon storage in our region. The BSCSP region encompasses Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, South Dakota, eastern Washington and Oregon.

A Pacific chorus frog (Pseudacris regilla) in a meadow located in Lassen Volcanic National Park. (High resolution image)

A Pacific chorus frog (Pseudacris regilla) in a meadow located in Point Reyes National Seashore. (High resolution image)

A Pacific chorus frog (Pseudacris regilla) in a meadow located in Yosemite National Park. (High resolution image)

USGS scientist collecting water samples for pesticide analysis. (High resolution image)

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A study on frogs in remote Sierra Nevada mountain habitats including Yosemite National Park and Giant Sequoia National Monument, detected concentrations of pesticides in frog tissue that potentially came from California’s Central Valley sources. 

“Our results show that current-use pesticides, particularly fungicides, are accumulating in the bodies of Pacific chorus frogs in the Sierra Nevada,” says Kelly Smalling, a research hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey and lead author of the study. “This is the first time we’ve detected many of these compounds, including fungicides, in the Sierra Nevada. The data generated by this study support past research on the potential of pesticides to be transported by wind or rain from the Central Valley to the Sierras.”

“Having experts such as hydrologists, chemists, and biologists working together on our staff is part of what USGS can uniquely bring to address complex environmental problems,” said USGS Pacific Region Director, Mark Sogge.

Researchers sampled seven sites across Lassen Volcanic National Park, Lake Tahoe, Yosemite National Park, Stanislaus National Forest and Giant Sequoia National Monument. They collected and analyzed water and sediment samples and frogs for more than 90 different types of pesticides. The Pacific chorus frog (Pseudacris regilla) was chosen because it is commonly found in water bodies across the Sierra Nevada, allowing researchers to compare results across locations.

Two fungicides, commonly used in agriculture, pyraclostrobin and tebuconazole, and one herbicide, simazine, were the most frequently detected compounds, and this is the first time these compounds have ever been reported in wild frog tissue. DDE, a byproduct of the pesticide DDT, was another compound frequently found in frogs collected — though this is not surprising since DDE is one of the most widely detected compounds globally, even decades after DDT was banned in the United States. 

 “One notable finding was that among sites where pesticides were detected in frog tissue, none of those compounds were detected in the water samples and only a few were detected in the sediment samples,” adds Smalling. “This suggests that frogs might be a more reliable indicator of environmental accumulation for these types of pesticides, than either water or soil.”

Pesticides continue to be a suspected factor in the decline of amphibian species across the U.S. and the world, but much remains to be learned about how pesticides impact amphibians, and whether pesticide exposure could influence other amphibian decline factors like the deadly chytrid fungus.

“Documenting the presence of environmental contaminants in amphibians found in our protected federal lands is an important first step in finding out whether the frogs are experiencing health consequences from such exposure,” says Patrick Kleeman, a USGS amphibian ecologist who collected the frog samples. “Unfortunately, these animals are often exposed to a cocktail of multiple contaminants, making it difficult to parse out the effects of individual contaminants.”

The research was conducted by the USGS California Water Science Center and USGS Western Ecological Research Center and was published today in the journal “Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry.” A PDF version of this report along with additional information on this and similar research is available online.

When people think of Sudan, they will often think of the conflict in Darfur and people living in IDP camps, without really understanding what life in an IDP camp is like. Since moving to Sudan almost 2 years ago, I’ve visited several IDP camps in North and South Darfur. I can still remember my first visit, the massive scale of the camp both in terms of area and number of people, the awful stories of people being forced from their homes, the children growing up with no clear future and the incredible individuals in the international community who were trying to support the residents. I was trying to explain this to a friend when I was at Glastonbury Festival, back to the UK on leave. There is obviously no real comparison between the camps I’ve visited in Darfur and Glastonbury, however I realised that for my friend being able to relate it to where we were might help them to understand the issues. I’ve used this blog to explain in more depth where the comparison works and where it doesn’t.

In some areas the comparison works quite well…

Tents at Glastonbury. Picture/Emily

Number of people – Last September I visited Zam Zam camp in North Darfur, which is the largest IDP camp (pdf 1.45mb) in Sudan with 160,000 residents. Glastonbury sells 135,000 tickets and there are about 38,000 staff passes which means about 173,000 people on site. This means that there are 13,000 people more at Glastonbury than at Zam Zam. However there are a total of 1.4 million IDP’s across Darfur this is about 8 times the number of people at Glastonbury, and about half the population of Wales.

Water – Glastonbury has built two on-site, underground reservoirs to provide the festival with 11 million litres of water over the 5 days of the festival. This is about 13 litres of water per person per day, which is the same as the people in Kalma get. However the average person in the UK uses 150 litres of water per day and the humanitarian guidelines are at least 15 litres per person per day for drinking, cooking and personal hygiene. Oxfam America also works on access to water in the camps, when I visited there were large problems with the water supply because of the fuel shortages, meaning that the water pumps, which normally ran for a few hours a day were not able to run every day and that there were often large queues for water.

Queuing for water at Glastonbury. Picture/Emily

Women queuing for water at Kalma Camp Picture/Emily

Sanitation (Toilets) – This can be a favourite subject of people at Glastonbury, Are there queues? Do they smell? One of the reasons Glastonbury took a year off last year was because there wasn’t enough portable toilets for both the Olympics and Glastonbury. According to the Glastonbury website there were 4800 toilets a mixture of compost toilets, portable toilets and long drops this is about 36 people per toilet. In Kalma camp in Darfur there are 8,000 toilets, which is about 11 people per toilet, although in some areas only about 20% of the toilets are in good condition.

The international community works hard to make sure that people in IDP camps get appropriate support. The humanitarian guidelines are ‘One toilet for a maximum of 20 people should be the target. Where there are no existing toilets, it is possible to start with one for 50 people and lowering the number of users to 20 as soon as possible.’ I visited Oxfam America who provide toilets for a third of the camp, they showed us the work they do with the community deciding where to put toilets and helping to maintain them. DFID is supporting them in this work through the Common Humanitarian Fund.

In other ways there is no real comparison ….

Glastonbury is only for 5 days every year and it takes about every 4th year off to let the land recover. Visiting IDP camps I met people who had been there for 8 or 9 years as well as people who had arrived in the last few days or weeks because of the increase of conflict in Darfur this year. OCHA estimates that 280,000 people have been displaced by this recent conflict. The new arrivals I spoke to had all travelled for several days and sometimes weeks to get to the IDP camps, often on foot. Most hadn’t managed to bring anything with them from their homes and had clearly been through an incomprehensible experience. People arriving at Glastonbury have either driven themselves or arrived on public transport, in the first few days there are people streaming onto the site with all of their belongings for the week, including tents and food, often doing several trips to their cars for more belongings. Having adequate shelter was one of the main concerns of new arrivals at Kalma, the people we met had makeshift shelters built of anything they could find and were worried about how it would hold up during the rainy season.

Arrivals at Glastonbury. Picture/Emily

Things to do – Glastonbury Festival for Contemporary and Performing Arts to give it its full name is renowned for the diversity of their acts. You could watch bestselling bands, dance the night away to DJ sets, participate in political discussions, watch theatre or cabaret, or much more. At Glastonbury there are lots of things for children to do, some of my friend’s volunteered running fun and educational activities in the Kids field. I visited Zam Zam last year with Plan and visited some of the schools and child friendly spaces that they run in Zam Zam. These are makeshift classrooms but where the dedication of the teachers is providing the children in the camp with a valuable education. However once the children finish school there are limited opportunities for them to find jobs in the camp.

Girls class in a school at Zam Zam Camp. Picture/Emily

Food – There are over 250 food facilities on site at Glastonbury, with a wide array of excellent foods to enjoy, with most meals costing about £5 – £8. Some camps run a food ration scheme, where each household is given a set amount of food each month with no choice over what they receive. In Ottash Camp in South Darfur, they have moved to a voucher scheme. This means IDPs are given 30SDG per month, about £4, which can be exchanged for 20 different commodities. The World Food Programmewho run the scheme has worked with traders to establish markets in camps. The people we met were pleased with the ability to have choice but also concerned at the value of the voucher is less than the value of a full food ration. When you would struggle to buy a full meal at Glastonbury for the amount of money people in IDP camps have for food for a month it puts our food choices in perspective.

Market to purchase food in Ottash Camp. Picture/Emily

Medical Facilities – There was news at Glastonbury this year when a couple gave birth to a baby girl during the festival and there is a high level of medical facilities offered including x-ray, physiotherapy and emergency dental services. Whilst a birth at Glastonbury is considered News, babies are born every day in IDP camps. Visiting the Merlin health clinic in Kalma camp we met a woman who had given birth earlier that day, supported by the excellent Merlin midwives. However the conditions that she gave birth in were different from those in the UK or even the facilities at Glastonbury. Merlin also offers health clinics, feeding programmes for malnourished children and ante-natal clinics. The work that Merlin delivers is well needed but isn’t enough to support everyone in the camp and for complex cases they have to send people to Nyala town.

Birthing room at Merlin Clinic in Kalma Camp. Picture/Emily

Glastonbury 2013 was an amazing experience, and I’m already making plans to go again next year. By the end I was ready to go home, 6 days of not showering, not using a flushing toilet, being outside every day at the mercy of the weather and being constantly surrounded by people with no space of my own had taken their toll. I was pleased to get back to my parents’ house for a shower, flushing toilet and food not on a paper plate. The work the international community does, in Darfur supporting those who live in camps, is saving people’s lives and improving people’s quality of life. However without an end to conflict in Darfur the people I met will continue to struggle to rebuild their lives. Writing this in Khartoum, I can’t imagine having stayed at Glastonbury for the three weeks since Glastonbury ended. For the people of Darfur some of whom have been in camps since before my first Glastonbury in 2006 and who will be probably still be there next year, life with limited water, shelter, food, and medical facilities is their lives for the foreseeable future.

Balancing personal and professional lives is difficult for most of us, but our BlackBerry Fan of the Month, Chantal, leads more than a double life – she’s also a student finishing her degree in HR!

BlackBerry is Chantal’s secret weapon. Chantal tells us that organization is the key to success in all three parts of her life. And she finds her BlackBerry Q10 smartphone is the perfect tool to keep her affairs in order.

Chantal loves using the Hub on the BlackBerry Q10 to keep her work, school, and personal emails in order. She even “plays” on her BlackBerry in her down time, listening to music and surfing the web. In her own words, Chantal can really “rock it” with her BlackBerry:

1. How many years have each of you been on Team BlackBerry?
Since 2010

2. How many BlackBerry devices have you both had in total? Could you list them all out for us?
3 – BlackBerry Curve 9300, BlackBerry Bold 9900 and now a BlackBerry Q10 (also have a BlackBerry PlayBook 16GB)

3. How many BBM contacts does each of you currently have?
17 – I know it does not seem like a lot but I am also beta testing BBM Channels. I love social media and I am on Twitter all the time as well as LinkedIn. So the idea of the BBM Channels and being able to broadcast short tidbits of information really appeals to me.

4. What are your favorite BBM emoticons?
I love anything with smilies. Reflects my personality and positive outlook.

5. What is the best BBM either of you ever received?
During a chat where we were discussing ‘branding’ and I was given the following compliment; ‘So far, I would say your brand is smart, erudite and penetrating.’

6. If you could BBM your BlackBerry, what would you say?
You are my personal assistant and I’d be lost without you!

How do you think your BlackBerry would respond?
Thanks …you have a meeting coming up and need to prepare ‘x’ for it and don’t forget to send out that email.

7. Chantal, we know that you’ve already gotten the BlackBerry Q10 – how are you liking it so far?
I LOVE IT!! I love the HUB and how I can separate work emails, personal emails, my Twitter feed and LinkedIn feed. I also love the multi-tasking functionality of it. Having up to 4 apps running at once is great! I switch back and forth between Blaq (Twitter app), LinkedIn, Crackberry and the Web browser effortlessly.  The camera takes great photos too. The screen resolution is awesome! The gestures are easy and fast. I can definitely rock it with my BlackBerry Q10!

8. As a business woman, how does BlackBerry keep you organized with your work, and make you more productive?
My life is definitely busy. Between my family, working full time and also going to school part time (currently taking 3 courses) I need to be organized. My BlackBerry Q10 and the BlackBerry Hub keeps my emails organized and separated by work, personal and school (plus I sneak in my social media feeds too.)  I love how I can easily take notes with my phone while at the same time have a conversation on the phone. I can easily add reminders and little sticky notes for work or school assignments. When I am having fun with the family I can take great pictures to capture special moments.  I also use it to check weather in the morning before leaving the house and to get updates on traffic. My  BlackBerry Q10 is always by my side.

9. And finally: Are you prepared to handle the fame that comes with being our Fan of the Month?
‘We’re constantly striving for success, fame and comfort when all we really need to be happy is someone or some thing to be enthusiastic about.’  (quote by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.)  My ‘someone’ is my family and my ‘some thing’ is my  BlackBerry Q10.

… [And] here is a little bit more of a background about me and my love of all things BlackBerry.
I have been a fan of BlackBerry for a long time…way before I got my first BlackBerry. Since owning my first BlackBerry in 2010 I would never switch. I go around work talking about my BlackBerry and about how much I love it. I even help other co-workers with their BlackBerry related questions. I also own a BlackBerry PlayBook (which I love as well). I mentioned above I have a family, work full time and I am also back in school after ….well…after a long time working on completing my HR degree. My life is hectic and organization is key! I love being organized. My BlackBerry is key in keeping me organized and knowing with the where, what, who and how.

I take a commuter bus to work daily and use that time to ‘play’ on my Q10. From the moment I sit down until I get off I have my BlackBerry Q10 in my hands mostly reading and updating my social media feeds. I also read news headlines, blogs, and listen to music. This ‘me’ time is rejuvenating and keeps me inspired.

Be sure to check out the other awesome members of the BlackBerry Fan of the Month (FOTM) club:

January – Brian (@newshutr)
February – Ivan (@IvanSHarris)
March – Jane (@photosfromabb)
April – Josh (@BBbrodyBB)
May – Mark (@AllAboutMyBB)
June – JT (@jt_teran)
July – Kimberly (@kmcooley)
August – Mike (@flash0p)
September – Jon (@nerdologist_jon)
October – Guido (@FuriousGuido)
November – Ange (@Afl2277)
December – Zalman (@Zalman5K)
January 2013 – Arisham (@arisham2003)
February 2013 – Julie and Andrew
March 2013 – Gino (@eugenbaban)
April 2013 – Sergio (@icemanswimmer)
June 2013 – Heather (@heatherwight)

Keep sharing your FOTM suggestions with us, either by leaving a comment below, tweeting to us @BlackBerry on Twitter, or posting on our Facebook page. Stay tuned – our August FOTM could be YOU!

ARCATA, Calif. — Climate change is expected to amplify both droughts and wildfires across the western United States. A new study shows that the effects of drought and fire work in combination, such that forests experiencing drought will see more dead trees in the aftermath of wildfires.

“There is a lot of research showing that climate change is already increasing wildfire frequency and fire spread,” says forest ecologist Phillip van Mantgem of the U.S. Geological Survey and lead author of the study. “But what this study shows is that there is an additional risk to warming trends — namely that trees already stressed by drought may be more likely to die from fires.”

The study was published this week in the journal Ecology Letters, and was a collaborative effort of U.S. Geological Survey, National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service.

Researchers studied conifer forests in areas that had recently experienced prescribed fire across Arizona, California, Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, and Utah, examining data from 1984 to 2005 for more than 7,000 individual coniferous trees, including familiar species such as ponderosa pine, white fir, and Douglas fir.

They used this information to estimate the risk factors involved in tree mortality, and they found more trees dying at sites where high temperatures were lengthening the duration of summer drought.

“Our results imply that if current warming trends continue, we can expect to see more frequent tree deaths following fire, which can lead to substantial changes in forests,” says van Mantgem. “Such changes could ultimately affect habitat suitability for wildlife species, aggravate erosion and increase the amounts of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere from fires.”

The analysis did not consider other factors that could also exacerbate climatic warming effects on tree deaths. For example, warmer temperatures may increase the activity of tree pathogens and insect pests. Also, the forest data were solely drawn from prescribed fire events. Researchers hope to address these factors in future research, and include data from unplanned wildfires.

Nevertheless, the new study offers some valuable insights for forest managers.

“Understanding the relationship between climatic water deficit and tree mortality from fires adds some important wrinkles to how we manage forests,” says Eric Knapp, a research ecologist with U.S. Forest Service’s Pacific Southwest Research Station and a study co-author. “If the goal is to minimize tree mortality while removing accumulated fuels, managers may wish to conduct prescribed burns at times when trees are not already under stress from drought or other problems. However, if the objective is to reduce the density of an overstocked forest, prescribed burning might actually be more effective when done during dryer than normal periods.”

The study was conducted by researchers from the USGS Western Ecological Research Center, NPS National Interagency Fire Center, USFS Pacific Southwest Research Station and the USGS California Water Science Center, with support from the U.S. Joint Fire Science Program.

Pakistan has the highest out of school population in the world. Learning levels are low. Successive governments have not allocated sufficient resources in the right places and have struggled to take many of the tough political decisions required to tackle a range of barriers to reform.

Even in Punjab where indicators are more positive than other parts of Pakistan, there are significant variations between districts, with children, especially girls, in southern districts much more likely to suffer educational deprivation than elsewhere in the province.

Yet there are also some hopeful signs. Across Pakistan, and in Punjab in particular, the low cost private sector is burgeoning, stimulated by demand for better quality education. Education activists are finding innovative ways to reach children in rural areas. The Government of Punjab has demonstrated a long term commitment to reform, working consistently with DFID, the World Bank and Canadian Internation Development Agency (CIDA) to strengthen institutions and address issues such as the way teachers are recruited. For all these reasons DFID has committed up to £350 million between 2013 and 2018 to support the transformation of education in Punjab.

Photo: DFID

Education Reform Roadmap

The Chief Minister’s Education Reform Roadmap, launched in 2011, is an important element of DFID’s work alongside direct financial aid to government in partnership with the World Bank, and substantial investment in the low cost private sector with an emphasis on reaching the poorest and most marginalised children.

The Roadmap is based on monthly data for core indicators such as teacher presence and student attendance, collected through the Programme Management & Implementation Unit, an institution built with the World Bank, DFID and other donor support over the past decade.

The strength of the Roadmap lies in securing political leadership at the most senior levels for delivering free, quality education to all children in Punjab, in line with the 2010 18th Amendment of the Constitution of Pakistan. The Chief Minister has met with us and our partners every 2 months for the last 2 years to review progress and set direction, and education has moved up the political agenda in the province. Early signs following this year’s election are that this commitment will not only continue, but that the new government is prepared to take the tough political decisions required to transform Punjab’s schools.

While top down commitment to identifying and tackling binding constraints to reform is crucial, it is essential that this approach is complemented not only by technical assistance and support to implement reform, but also by developing bottom up demand for change. This is why the next phase of the Roadmap work will include new indicators on learning outcomes with the aim not only of tracking improvements in the quality of education offered in Punjab’s schools, but also of equipping parents with information to make informed decisions about their children’s education.

Improving student participation and enrolment

In its first 2 years, the Roadmap has focused strongly on improving student participation and enrolment. The Programme Management & Implementation Unit has produced monthly data by district for the Roadmap which indicates that participation has increased from a baseline of 82.8% to 92.1% in December 2012.

On enrolment, newly released Pakistan Social & Living Standards Measurement (PSLM) data indicates that while net enrolment at primary level remained static between 2007 and 2011, there was a 4% point increase between 2010 and 2011. It is difficult to make firm statements about attribution for the increase, although more enrolments in the private sector are likely to be a major factor, as well as the government’s own reform programme, including the Roadmap.

PSLM is conducted annually and currently the government is not able to release data at pace. For this reason, DFID has commissioned a bi-annual household survey to track enrolment on a more regular basis and produce information more quickly. It is important to note that this survey does not measure net enrolment but does provide regular snapshots on how many more children are attending school and pre-school. It therefore reports how many children are in school, regardless of grade (around 86% of 6-10 year olds) as opposed to the net enrolment rate (NER), which excludes children in preschool and is around 74%. Estimates indicate that gross enrolment in Punjab has increased by between 1,000,000 and 1,500,000 children since the survey began in December 2011.

While this increase, for which attribution is also complex, does not translate directly to progress towards meeting the Millennium Development Goal which is measured using NER, it does indicate that many more children are enrolled in school than before. The challenge now for the government will be to help those children enrolling late to catch up with their peers, and to ensure that preschool, where all are required to enrol when starting school for the first time, provides an excellent foundation for future learning.

Push for progress

At the same time, the Roadmap has helped secure real progress in some important areas. For example, teacher absenteeism in Punjab has declined from a baseline of 19.3% to less than 9% in December 2012. Unauthorised leave has been squeezed to less than 1%, while the difficulties some districts are facing in ensuring teachers are in the classroom every day has opened up a policy discussion with government on the complex and political issue of teacher pay and incentives.

Progress in providing toilets, drinking water, electricity and boundary walls to schools accelerated greatly, with the proportion of these facilities available and functioning increasing from 69% to 88% during the first year of the Roadmap. The Roadmap has also made significant progress in improving some of the inputs to learning, particularly textbooks and teacher guides, though as yet there has been no measured impact on learning itself.

DFID is deeply committed to the transformation of education in Punjab. Our range of interventions including the Roadmap is designed to progress this. Our close collaboration with the World Bank and other partners is crucial to achieving our ambitions for the province’s children, teachers and schools. And we remain keen to work closely with our international colleagues to make effective use of the political opportunities that the Roadmap offers to deliver better education for current and future students across Punjab.

Moazzam Malik is Director, West Asia and Stabilisation Division at the Department for International Development and Sir Michael Barber is DFID’s Special Representative for Education in Pakistan. This is a joint blog on education reform in the province of Punjab, where DFID, the World Bank and Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) work together to support the Government of Punjab.

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Over the next few weeks we’ll be highlighting our development support to Pakistan and how we’re helping to push for change. We’ll be linking up with partners from across the British Pakistani community who are making a huge contribution to Pakistan’s development and promoting the positive voices for progress in country.

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