Chris Mooney is a freelance writer and the author of two books, The Republican War on Science and Storm World.
For more information see his bio, events, articles, or visit him on Wikipedia and YouTube.
Sheril Kirshenbaum is a marine biologist at the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions at Duke. Sometimes she's a classicist, radio jock, or congressional staffer. Never sure what's next, she continues to enjoy the journey...
Chris & Sheril have a sound track and are currently working on ScienceDebate2008, which they just described in:
Website/Excerpt/WPost/LAT/BoGlo
Salon/Nature/C-SPAN/Sci-Fri/
Discovery Ch./Bloggingheads
Daily Show/Fresh Air/Sci-Fri
website/excerpt
Banner Credit: Andrew Binder
Stay abreast of your favorite bloggers' latest and greatest via e-mail, via a daily digest.
« Cyclone Nargis vs. the Junta | Main | War on Science Alive and Well, Thank You »
Category: Hurricanes
Posted on: May 7, 2008 9:32 AM, by Sheril R. Kirshenbaum
Myanmar ranks #4 in the world for annual forest area lost per year. Between 2000 and 2005, the country lost, on average, 466,000 hectares per year which puts their annual deforestation rate at 1.45% based on FAO statistics.
Given deforestation results in higher flooding and erosion rates and mangroves serve as important buffers against storm surges, I'm wondering to what degree Myanmar's serious deforestation played a role in the tremendous loss of life from Cyclone Nargis...
View the Technorati Link Cosmos for this entry
(TrackBack URL for this entry: )
Comments
Miss Sheril,
I think the loss of life in Burma is as related to deforrestation of the coasts as the destruction of New Orleans in Katrina is related to the loss of wetlands. If you just look at this picture of the Lousisana coast, you can clearly see the pnkish outlinf of New Orleans, with little green around it to offer protection from storm surge. One would hope that national level emergency managers would actually think about this stuff, and be as active in calling for change as the environmental community has. Sadly, one would be wrong.
http://www.esl.lsu.edu/demos/modis/modis-diversions-highres.jpg
Posted by: Philip H. | May 7, 2008 1:03 PM