The New Year greeting to England’s cattle farming
industry could be an even bigger bill than they expect for badger
culling in attempts to eradicate bovine tuberculosis (bTB).
It's Britain’s most persecuted bird, yet one
of its most beautiful. The hen harrier, once the pride of the Peak
District winter, no longer soars over the peat and heather of Derbyshire’s
moorland.
The Cairngorm creepy crawlies that may threaten 1,500
homes plan
New species of wildlife, and rare specimens, including
the gallows spider, have been found on sites earmarked for development
in the Cairngorms National Park ...
Broads anglers may regard the year 2011 as rather special.
For, as flood relief work along the tidal embankments progressed,
new stretches of free fishing became available along the rivers Ant,
Bure, Thurne and Yare.
UK populations of the little known, and endangered
Fairy shrimp (Chirocephalus diaphanous) are under threat
after 2011's unusually dry autumn affected the ponds in which they
live according to the wildlife charity, Pond Conservation.
One of Scotland's best wild landscapes lost on Lewis
The John Muir Trust is dismayed by the Scottish Government's
mid-festive season announcement that the East extension to the Muaitheabhal
wind farm in South Lewis has been approved.
Controversial genetically modified food crops could
help to massively increase food production to meet growing populations
and consumption, politicians from both major parties said on Wednesday.
In the summer and autumn of 2011 a novel fund-raising
partnership between the regimental Colonel’s fund and research
charity, the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) culminated
in a fascinating countrywide lecture tour by officers from the 1st
Battalion of the Grenadier Guards ...
RWE npower will start commercial operations at Britain's
biggest biomass power station at Tilbury in Essex at the end of
January, a spokeswoman said on Thursday.
RSPB and farmers launch new
landscape-scale conservation project
An ambitious new landscape-scale conservation project
aimed at tailor-managing arable farmland across a large area is
being launched today (3 January 2012) at the Oxford Farming Conference.
China, India And Myanmar collaborate to manage Brahmaputra-Salween
Landscape
Representatives from China, India and Myanmar gathered
in Myanmar from December 21 to 23 last year to plan the transboundary
management of the Brahmaputra-Salween Landscape, a biologically rich
ecosystem shared by the three countries.
Five environmental organizations ... have welcomed
and appreciated the State Government’s “well-meaning gesture
of holding discussions with the groups participating in protest movement
against the Subansiri Lower Hydro Electric Project (SLHEP) as well
as with experts and civil society as a whole.”
An amazing conservation success story in Seychelles
In the 1960s, Seychelles Warbler Acrocephalus sechellensis
became one of the world’s rarest birds when the population
slumped to just 26 individuals, all on tiny Cousin island in the Seychelles,
in the Indian Ocean.
An environmental physician says the State Government
is afraid to say what is killing and causing sick marine life near
Gladstone in Central Queensland.
The EU Environment Council in Brussels has shown its
true colours by favouring the short term interests of farm lobbyists
over long-term biodiversity gains.
Spanish government urged to renounce plans to rubbish
EU fishing reforms
The incoming Spanish government is coming under intense
diplomatic pressure to fall in line with EU proposals to ban wasteful
fishing practices, after a leaked document showed that the previous
administration was planning to derail the plans.
Florida wildlife experts say 2011 was a bad year for
the state's manatees, blaming cold weather for the second-deadliest
year on record for the marine mammals.
Nature's game of intimidation and imitation comes full
circle in the waters of Indonesia, where scientists have recorded
for the first time an association between the black-marble jawfish
(Stalix cf. histrio) and the mimic octopus (Thaumoctopus
mimicus).
Warming oceans and melting sea ice may have a major
impact on harp seals, the doe-eyed animals that are the prime target
for Canada's annual seal hunt.
Is Canada burning? Climate change will increase size
and number of wildfires
Large forest regions in Canada are about to experience
increased risks of wildfires due to climate change according to
new models that show there are threshold values for wildfires just
as there are for epidemics.
Climate change will boost U.S. demand for imported
drought- and heat-tolerant plants, at the risk of raising imports
of more invasive species, researchers say.
Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney are both bad news for
climate change fight
Rick Santorum, who surged at the last minute to give
Mitt Romney a real run for his money in Tuesday's Iowa caucuses,
is less green than his rival, and decidedly nuttier when it comes
to climate change.
U.S. scientists say they've found an improved way
to remove carbon dioxide, the major global warming greenhouse gas,
from smokestacks and other sources.
Germany reports record 60 per cent surge in solar
generation
Germany saw solar output rise a record 60 per cent
last year to more than 18 billion kilowatt hours of electricity,
according to new figures from the German Solar Industry Association
(BSW-Solar).
China denounces EU airline carbon law, seeks talks
China reiterated its opposition on Thursday to a
European Union plan to limit airline carbon dioxide emissions and
called for talks to resolve the issue a day after its major airlines
refused to pay any carbon costs under the new law.
Government appeals against ruling that solar subsidy
cuts were illegal
The government lodged an appeal on Wednesday against
a judge's ruling that its cuts to solar power subsidies were illegal,
arguing that the cuts were essential to encourage as many homeowners
as possible to install renewable energy.
Major report: climate change could help British farmers
compete globally
Farm productivity must improve considerably over
the next decade, and beyond – a major challenge to British
farming, according to a major report published today.
Can we rely on computer models to predict future
climate change?
Computer models are one of the tools that scientists
use to understand the climate and make projections about how it
will respond to changes such as rising greenhouse gas levels.
