Marine experts and scientists from 20 countries attended the first meeting to discuss the establishment of a data and information network for the Indian Ocean, which was convened at the National Oceanography Center in Tehran, head of the National Center for Oceanography said.
Nasser Hajizadeh Zaker said the proposal put forth by Iran won the attention and admiration of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission.
"The details of the proposal discussed and amended at the meeting will be presented for final approval at the IOC's upcoming session," he stated.
"The plan's main objectives are to build expert capacity, train specialist manpower and supply software and hardware facilities in the covered countries. Such facilities are already existent in Iran, Sri Lanka and Australia, but need to be created in other countries.
He estimated the total project cost at $1.5 million, adding it will be sponsored by UNESCO and IOC.
National Oceanography Center is affiliated to the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology.

Director general of the Department of Environment's Office for Public Participation gave news of President Mohammad Khatami's consent to make a 10-billion-rial donation to environmental NGOs.
Akbar Majdeddin, in a news briefing, highlighted the importance of holding conferences by NGOs, adding, "Such events can help advance environmental care programs. The government is out to legalize NGO activities and to adopt a non-interfering supportive role toward them. These organizations also expect to be recognized so they know how to best interact with the state-run sector."
He recalled that the Presidential Office has called on the Management and Planning Organization to allocate the budget which will be channeled to the NGOs through the DoE. "Presently about 600 non-governmental organizations and 80 cooperatives are working on environmental preservation programs," Majdeddin said.
The Fourth Conference of Environmental NGOs is to be held in Kerman on Oct. 9 and 10 with representatives from more than 500 organizations in attendance, the Persian daily Iran wrote.
These NGOs are the main critics of the government's environmental programs. Issues such as excessive pollution on Caspian shores, deforestation especially in northern areas, dumping garbage in forests, extinction threats posed to several wildlife species and pollutions in the human environment have only been some of the criticisms these NGOs have raised toward the DoE--the government's representative in the field--in recent years.

United Nations Environment Program's first training workshop in Qeshm Island, Hormuzgan province, was launched on October 3, with a number of experts from Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Oman, Yemen, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and UAE in attendance.
IRNA reported that the workshop would bring out the latest international findings and achievements on preventing desertification, deforestation, soil erosion, destruction of wildlife habitats and subterranean water reserves.
The workshop's objectives have been specified as training specialists on sustainable management of the Earth, long-lasting pollutants and ways to win financial support from the Global Environment Facility.
The workshop ends on October 7th.

Locally manufactured automobiles emit 22 times more pollution than the amount specified by the Euro-2 standard, the criterion enforced in European countries during 1996-2000.
As reported by irangreenpen.org, the Light Vehicles Technology Group of the Optimization of Fuel Consumption Organization announced that the amount of exhaust fumes emitted by domestic cars is three times more than the ECE1504 standard devised in 2001.
Thanks to pollution standards imposed on auto manufacturers, domestically assembled cars have attained an 80-percent decline in nominal pollution. The real pollution emitted by cars should also decline by imposing stricter criteria, added the report.
Iran carmakers have stopped production of high-consumption and excessively pollutant cars such as the four-wheel drive Patrol since 2001. Also, the fuel injection system used in engines of new cars makes it possible to use catalyst converters and other less polluting technology in cars.

Tehran Municipality is resolved to close down a number of stations used for the transfer of garbage from 22 municipal districts to the suburban Kahrizak landfill.
"A total 13 midpoint stations are used for the purpose and the TM is determined to pull the plug on stations which are located in residential areas and cause nuisance for local residents," director general of TM Motoring Services Organization told ILNA.
Mostafa Salimi said the organization handles up to 70 percent of the municipality's transportation job. "The organization's major duty is to transfer more than 7,000 tons per day of garbage produced in the megacity. Its secondary responsibility is to transfer construction materials and soil out of the city," he mentioned.
Salimi explained that the garbage stations were established several years ago in uninhabited areas which have become residential zones today. "Not only is the closure of garbage transfer stations a costly process, but also the establishment of new stations would require sizeable budget. Moreover, the unavailability of barren lands has slowed down the process to a large extent," he stated.

DoE needs higher credits to boost its educational campaign.

Per capita budget for environment education in Iran is only 30 rials, director general for environment education of the Department of Environment said.
Dariush Karimi told IRNA that the DoE's direct and indirect credits in the field of education should increase, expressing hope that special attention would be paid to the issue in the fourth development plan.
Noting that implementation of environment education programs, especially for children, requires sufficient monetary resources, Karimi insisted that "only by allocating a sufficient budget can we embark on building culture and promoting public awareness."
He said Article 50 of the Constitution asserts that environment protection is a public duty. "Macro planning and monetary support is needed to promote public knowledge and support," he added.

There are about 100,000 koalas in Australia.

Koalas in southern Australia are going to be put on the pill to stop them breeding too quickly and putting too much strain on their eucalyptus-forest home, Reuters reported.
Up to 2,000 female koalas in Victoria state's Mount Eccles National Park are going to be implanted with a slow-release hormone that acts as a contraceptive.
"It is the same type of contraceptive that is used by human females around the world," said project manager Ian Walker. "But the tricky part about this program is catching the koalas and getting them out of the trees."
The hormone is contained in a tube the size of a matchstick and is inserted beneath the koala's skin, between its shoulders.
The furry marsupials can live for up to 18 years and may produce up to 11 offspring. A symbol of Australia, Koalas are protected but the eucalyptus trees they depend on for food are not.
"Victoria has the largest number of wild koalas of all states in Australia, so that means we need a plan that protects the species as well as the environment it depends on," said Victoria Environment Minister John Thwaites.
There are about 100,000 koalas in Australia, down from seven to 10 million at the time of European settlement in 1788.
In the 1920s three million were shot for their fur.
Trials have shown the hormone implants, an alternative to relocation or surgical sterilization, have prevented conception for six years.

The wolves play an integral part in the Canadian ecosystem.

From the inland fjords to the windswept outer islands, the north and central archipelago of British Columbia in Canada has been largely untouched by time. In the thick temperate rain forest, wolves reign supreme, just like they have for millennia, National Geographic News reported.
To Chris Darimont, a University of Victoria Ph.D. student, the rugged and remote islands are "the home of the truly wild." Since 2000 he has been studying, among other things, the foraging behavior of wolves in the Great Bear Rainforest to learn more about the little-known ecology of the islands.
The wolves play an integral part in the ecosystem in the archipelago, and their diet can offer scientists important clues about the dynamics between predator and prey.
Investigating the feces of the elusive wolves, Darimont found that their diets consist to a large extent of black-tailed deer. But he also found that their diets vary greatly depending on location. On the outer islands, for example, wolves are far less likely to have a deer for lunch than on the inner islands.
These findings suggest that wolves can deplete resources in isolated areas, making the link between the predators and their prey more delicate there.
The information is important for understanding not only island ecosystems, but also for conservation efforts. If scientists can understand how species behave on isolated islands, they may be able to figure out how the species will behave in other places that are becoming more fragmented.
"Our planet is turning out to be a series of islands for wildlife and nature," said Darimont.
"Instead of oceans and waterways separating habitable landmasses, we have highways, farms, and cities. The more we learn about island ecology, the more we can apply this information to the rest of the world."

Nature reserves, forest parks, geo-parks or scenic areas can be found almost everywhere in China nowadays. They are the last sanctuary of the country's wildlife, China Daily reported.
Through establishing these protected areas, improving the management on them and amending relevant laws and regulations, scientists and conservationists are saving many of the country's endangered species from extinction.
More than 90 percent of giant pandas, China's national treasure, are protected in nature reserves in Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces.
Latest figures from the State Forestry Administration claim the number of wild pandas has increased from 1,100 in 1988 to more than 1,590 today, and that does not include those aged under 18 months.
Scientists are also starting to reintroduce pandas born in captivity to the wild. A special protected area has been given to the project in Southwest China's Sichuan province. But the giant panda is not the only species under the shelter of the country's nature reserves.
In more than 1,500 natural reserves, covering at least 12.3 percent of the country's land territory, or 118 million hectares, more than 300 species of wild animals are being protected.
There are more than 1,600 forest parks, 85 national geo-parks and at least 600 scenic and historic interest areas all protecting endangered wildlife.
More than 250 wild fauna rescue and breeding bases have been set up, effectively saving yet more species from extinction.

In a world first, German scientists have successfully artificially inseminated a white rhinoceros, a highly endangered species, the Berlin-based Leibniz Institute of Zoology and Research for Wild Animals announced Monday, AFP reported.
Lulu, a 24-year-old white rhinoceros housed at Budapest Zoo, is now five months pregnant. The gestation period for a rhinoceros is 18 months, twice that of a human.
"We are confident that her baby will be born in good health in 2005," said Robert Hermes, a zoologist at the institute.
The northern white rhino lives only in the Democratic Republic of Congo's Garamba National Park, according to the World Wildlife Fund.
WWF said there are currently only 30 rhinos like Lulu left in the world, with 10 of them in zoos where they have been unable to reproduce.
The Leibniz Institute added that it was preparing for a second insemination of a white rhinoceros in a zoo in Dvur Kralove in the Czech Republic.
The white rhinoceros' main threat is man, who for years has slaughtered the animal, primarily for the horns which are considered by some as an aphrodisiac.
Next to the elephant, the white rhinos is the world's largest land mammal. An adult can measure up to two meters high and weigh as much as 3.5 tons.

Pigeon towers are found in vast numbers around Isfahan, and date back to the time of Safavids. They were built with brick overlaid with plaster and lime, to attract pigeons so farmers would collect their dung and use it to fertilize their lands.