OSLO (Reuters) – A new type of snub-nosed monkey has been found in a remote forested region of northern Myanmar which is under threat from logging and a Chinese dam project, scientists said Wednesday.

They said hunters in Myanmar’s Kachin state said the long-tailed black monkey, with white-tufted ears and a white beard, could often be tracked in the rain because its upturned nostrils made it prone to sneezing when water dripped in.

OSLO, Oct 21 (Reuters) – An index to judge the state of
Norway’s nature is a world first that may be a step towards
valuing “free” services such as insect pollination or forest
growth in a radical shift in economics, officials say.

The “Nature Index of Norway”, worked out this year and to be
presented at U.N. talks on biological diversity in Japan next
week, shows that seas, coastal waters, freshwater and mountains
are in a good state but forests and lowlands are suffering.

OSLO (Reuters) – Bangladesh and India are the countries most vulnerable to climate change, according to an index on Wednesday that rates the Nordic region least at risk.

British consultancy Maplecroft said its rankings showed that several “big economies of the future” in Asia were among those facing the biggest risks from global warming in the next 30 years as were large parts of Africa.

OSLO (Reuters) – Norway’s Prime Minister reaffirmed commitment on Tuesday to plans to capture and bury greenhouse gases despite delays and rising costs, saying he had no regrets about once likening Oslo’s ambitions to a “Moon landing.”

Jens Stoltenberg said Norway was investing heavily in technology to capture carbon dioxide emitted by power plants burning fossil fuels as part of a plan to combat climate change.

OSLO (Reuters) – Zoos and aquariums should do more to educate visitors about ways to slow extinctions and build on successes in breeding rare species from monkeys to toads, the head of the world’s zookeepers said on Monday.

“We have a huge opportunity for education, to explain the gravity of the situation,” Mark Penning, president of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA), told Reuters. “We get 700 million visitors a year.”

SINGAPORE/OSLO (Reuters) – The U.N. panel of climate scientists agreed on Thursday to change its practices in response to errors in a 2007 report, and its chairman, Rajendra Pachauri of India, dismissed suggestions he should step down.

At an October 11-14 meeting in Busan, South Korea, the 130-nation panel agreed to tighten fact-checking in reports that help guide the world’s climate and energy policies and to set up a “task force” to decide on wider reforms by mid-2011.

OSLO/LONDON (Reuters) – Rich nations must spell out their plans for cutting greenhouse gases more clearly to enable U.N. talks in Mexico to agree the cornerstone of a pact to slow global warming, the U.N.’s climate chief said.

Christiana Figueres said the annual November 29-December 10 meeting in Mexico would fall short of a U.N. treaty to combat climate change, saying countries learnt there was no “magic bullet” for a quick new U.N. accord at a Copenhagen summit last year.

OSLO/LONDON, Oct 13 (Reuters) – Rich nations must spell out
their plans for cutting greenhouse gases more clearly to enable
U.N. talks in Mexico to agree the cornerstone of a pact to slow
global warming, the U.N.’s climate chief said.

Christiana Figueres said the annual Nov. 29-Dec. 10 meeting
in Mexico would fall short of a U.N. treaty to combat climate
change, saying countries learnt there was no “magic bullet” for
a quick new U.N. accord at a Copenhagen summit last year.

OSLO (Reuters) – Hopes for U.N. climate talks in Mexico next month have faded, overshadowed by splits between the United States and China and by fears the 194-nation process is too unwieldy ever to work out a pact to slow global warming.

Experts told the Reuters Global Climate and Alternative Energy Summit the November 29-December 10 annual meeting of environment ministers in Cancun, Mexico, could agree steps to set up climate funds to help poor nations or ways to share green technology.