Alert issued for high tides
along the Pacific coast


Bathers and boat operators in the Pacific will be facing high seas through Friday, said the Instituto Meteorológico Nacional, which has issued an alert.

The highest seas will be today and Wednesday, the weather institute said. A caution covers small boats up to 21 feet in length, the institute said.

For bathers, the alert runs until Friday. Seas of at least three meters, about 10 feet, are expected in the Puntarenas Centro area. The last time high seas came there, parts of the community were flooded.

The first period of high tide was today at 1:45 a.m. A second high is at 2:09 p.m. today and at 2:35 a.m. and 2:57 p.m. Wednesday, said the institute.

Peak tides Thursday will be at 3:22 a.m. and 3:43 p.m., the institute said. Thursday the high tides are at 4:09 a.m.  and 4:27 p.m.  Friday the high tide is at 4:54 a.m. and at 5:12 p.m.

Communities north and south of Puntarenas Centro will have high tides at slightly different times.


Forest protection cited
as key carbon strategy


A new study involving scientists from 13 different organizations, universities and research institutions states that forest protection offers one of the most effective, practical, and immediate strategies to combat climate change. The study, “Indigenous Lands, Protected Areas, and Slowing Climate Change,” was published in PLoS Biology, a peer-reviewed scientific journal, and makes specific recommendations for incorporating protected areas into overall strategies to reduce emissions of greenhouse gasses from deforestation and degradation.

“Deforestation leads to about 15 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, more than all the cars, trucks, trains, ships, and planes on earth.  If we fail to reduce it, we’ll fail to stabilize our climate,” said Taylor Ricketts, director of World Wildlife Fund’s science program and lead author of the study.  “Our paper emphasizes that creating and strengthening indigenous lands and other protected areas can offer an effective means to cut emissions while garnering numerous additional benefits for local people and wildlife.”

The authors highlight analyses showing that since 2002, deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has been seven to 11 times lower inside of tribal lands and other protected areas than elsewhere. Simulation models suggest that protected areas established between 2003 and 2007 could prevent an estimated area of 100,000 square miles of deforestation through 2050.  That is roughly the size of the state of Colorado, representing enough carbon to equal a third of the world’s annual carbon dioxide emissions.  Within these efforts, location matters, said the authors, adding that protected areas in regions that face deforestation pressures would be most effective at truly reducing emissions.

International policies for compensating forest nations for this strategy are under negotiation.  To access the resulting funds, developing countries will need to develop programs and institutions to reduce forest emissions, said the World Wildlife Fund.