Pollution, over-exploitation and the spread of non-native
species are causing a decline in Ireland's biodiversity comparable
to the major extinctions in history, according to a new study.
Following the success of last year’s pilot project,
Inland Fisheries Ireland has extended the Salmon Conservation Scheme
for a second term and applications for funding are now invited for
2012.
The wet weather has been bad news for Christmas shoppers,
but couldn't have come at a better time for salmon and sea trout returning
to the region's rivers.
Whale, dolphin and porpoise strandings fall in the
UK
Strandings of whales, dolphins and porpoises around
the UK have fallen in the last 6 years, according to a report by the
UK Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme (CSIP) published this
week.
Revealed: The true scale of Britain's woodland sell-off
Thousands of hectares of Britain's forests have been
sold off by the Forestry Commission as it struggles to meet financial
targets imposed by successive governments.
The campaign against controversial planning reforms
is set to embarrass the Government by targeting constituencies where
the National Trust has more supporters than the sitting MP.
The River Kennet, celebrated in the verse of former
poet laureate Sir John Betjeman, has been reduced to a mere trickle
after months of below-average rainfall.
With seven months to go before the London Olympics,
the British government has admitted in court that it violated European
Union air quality laws by missing deadlines to address high levels
of urban pollution.
Buglife partner with the RSPB to help advise farmers
The RSPB in the East this week announce a new partnership
with the Invertebrate Conservation Trust, Buglife, to enable both
organisations to provide more advice on wildlife friendly farming
in the region.
Europe economic crisis a chance to go green: Denmark
Denmark said Europe's financial crisis was the chance
to transform the region into a much greener economy as it set out
priorities Monday for its forthcoming European Union presidency beginning
in January.
Conservation fund for the Mediterranean Basin gives
key role to the BirdLife Partnership
A partnership led by Doga Dernegi/BirdLife in Turkey
that also includes the BirdLife International Global Secretariat and
Middle East Division and La Ligue pour la Protection des Oiseaux (BirdLife
in France) will implement the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund
(CEPF) investment in the Mediterranean Basin.
Nitrogen from humans pollutes remote lakes for more
than a century
Nitrogen derived from human activities has polluted
lakes throughout the Northern Hemisphere for more than a century and
the fingerprint of these changes is evident even in remote lakes located
thousands of miles from the nearest city, industrial area or farm.
Japan says nuclear power cost may be 50% higher than
estimated
Nuclear power generation in Japan is about 50 percent
more expensive than estimated after factoring in the cost of paying
for an accident like the Fukushima disaster, a government panel said.
Wildlife trade and uncontrolled deforestation threaten
Africa’s parrots…
Africa’s parrots are a unique assemblage of lovebirds,
Poicephalus parrots, grey parrots, and Rose-ringed parakeets that
have managed to find a home in the forests and savanna of this wild
and primordial continent.
New research has found that a protein associated with
learning and memory plays an integral role in changing the behaviour
of locusts from that of harmless grasshoppers into swarming pests.
A central Queensland nature reserve may be swallowed
by Australia's biggest coal mine because an endangered species cannot
be included on an environmental impact submission.
Brazil's environmental authorities said they have discovered
a 10,000 liter leak at an oil platform in the pristine Bay of Ilha
Grande, the second such mishap to threaten this country's shorelines
in recent weeks.
High Court allows challenge over UK solar subsidy cuts
The UK High Court has given permission to Friends
of the Earth and the solar companies Solarcentury and HomeSun, to
challenge Government plans to slash subsidies for solar electricity
in the UK.
Global warming threatens France's precious truffle
Truffle farmers have never had to worry about demand.
It is the supply side that is worrying, with global warming an ever
more present threats to their success.
By 2100, global climate change will modify plant
communities covering almost half of Earth's land surface and will
drive the conversion of nearly 40 percent of land-based ecosystems
from one major ecological community type -- such as forest, grassland
or tundra -- toward another, according to a new NASA and university
computer modeling study.
European politicians are expected on Tuesday to vote
through an amendment that could pave the way for direct intervention
in the EU carbon market, which has sunk to record lows.
Brazil’s forest policy could undermine its
climate goals
Brazil, caretaker of the world’s largest rain
forest, is about to enact broad new regulations that opponents say
could loosen restrictions on Amazon deforestation and increase the
country’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Trees throughout Africa's Sahel region — vital
to peoples' livelihoods — are dying as a result of long-term
drought linked to climate change, according to a study.
A commitment by Minister for the Environment Phil
Hogan that the heads of a Climate Change Bill would be introduced
before the end of next year has been welcomed by the Oireachtas
Committee on Environment, Transport, Culture and the Gaeltacht.
Scientists are working in Alaska to ascertain the
potential impact of greenhouse gases being released into the atmosphere
from the arctic's permafrost.
