New
laws to help endangered eels swim against the tide
New laws could help save critically endangered eels in English
and Welsh rivers, the Environment Agency said today. The legislation will require
eel passes and screens to be installed in rivers as barriers may prevent from
going up or downstream.
£740-a-bird cull of ruddy ducks
'a waste of money'
A controversial
UK cull of ruddy ducks, a US native that has been compared to a "feathered lager
lout" for its displays of thuggish and amorous behaviour, has cost the British
taxpayer more than £740 for each dead bird.
Releasing sea eagles threatens other
birds - and even pet dogs - as conservation goes PC
It is already one of the more insidious aspects of modern Britain.
But sadly political correctness has now crept into the world of conservation and
is helping to kill the countryside.
Scientists
have confirmed a deadly link between a toxic Black Country lake and the deaths
of hundreds of animals over the last decade, the Sunday Mercury can reveal.
Scottish forests
should be replanted with Lebanon cedars, Italian elders and Macedonian pines and
not native species, according to a leading expert in a Forestry Commission study.
Pike anglers are warning
that Broads Authority plans to dredge Heigham Sound on the Upper Thurne could
cause an ecological "catastrophe" by triggering a bloom of killer algae.
Campaigners pledged yesterday to put the decision to approve
the £350 million Beauly-Denny power line at the heart of the General Election
in Scotland.
China
marks year of tiger with drive to save biggest cat
Taking turns to act as human ploughs, Liang Jianmin and his tiger
survey team forge through mile after mile of knee-deep snow in the mountain forests
near China's frozen mountain border with Siberia.
The biggest causes of deforestation in tropical countries are
population growth in cities and agricultural exports, a finding that should shape
decisions on preventing forest loss, experts said Sunday.
Academic co-ordinator for the University of the West Indies Port
Royal Marine Laboratory, Dr Mona Webber, has called on Government and other stakeholders
to place greater emphasis on protecting the island’s wetlands.
Invasive species thriving in period
of climate change
According to a
study by Harvard University scientists, invasive species appear to thrive during
times of climate change, meaning the species could become more prevalent and more
destructive.
Anti-whalers claim hull pierced in
Antarctic clash
Anti-whaling activists
Saturday accused Japanese harpooners of intentionally ramming one of their ships
and piercing its hull in a further escalation of hostilities in Antarctic waters.
The main
impact of climate change will be on water supplies and the world needs to learn
from past cooperation such as over the Indus or Mekong Rivers to help avert future
conflicts, experts said on Sunday.
Despite the sceptics, climate change must remain a priority
In trying to avert dangerous climate change, governments are
aiming for something extraordinary. They want to transform the global economy
because of a hypothesis for which the evidence is mostly inaccessible to the layman.
Climate change is transforming
the Arctic environment faster than expected and accelerating the disappearance
of sea ice, scientists said on Friday in giving their early findings from the
biggest-ever study of Canada's changing north.
