| Environment ministers
agree on soil protection |
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EU Environment ministers at their
informal meeting in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, agreed to develop
a Community system of soil monitoring and to define objectives
and future action at their full meeting on 24 June. European
Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstroem said she was encouraged
by the action on soil monitoring. She promised the Commission
would continue its work on measures "related to air, sewage
sludge, compost and mining waste, each of which will contribute
to the protection of soils." She stressed the urgency of the
issue of soil protection, and said the EU had to start "tackling
erosion and the decline in organic matter - which are also linked
to water and air issues - as well as soil contamination which
may threaten both biodiversity and human health." |
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More information -
EUbusiness
Planet
Ark
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| Eden Project plans
£105 million expansion for deserts |
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The Eden Project is planning a £105
million expansion, including a new dome to house a desert landscape.
Land is set aside for a third 'biome', new hotel and an enlarged
concert bowl to be built over five years at the site of former
clay pits in St Austell, Cornwall. The third biome will feature
sandbanks and desert plants such as cacti and be climate controlled
to be hot in the day and cold at night. |
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More information - Ananova
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| Government ads will
‘soften up’ resistance to GM crops |
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Ministers are preparing a campaign
to soften up the public on the merits of widespread planting
of genetically modified crops, according to a leaked Downing
Street memo. The plan of action revealed in the briefing paper
may be approved this week by cabinet ministers, who have been
at odds over the programme. The campaign will involve television,
radio, posters, leaflets in supermarkets and public meetings
drawing the public’s attention to the pros and cons of full-scale
GM production. |
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More information - Times
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| GM debate highlights
"dearth" of safety research |
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"If it's in my corn, is it in my
cornflakes?," asked Michael Fernandez, director of science of
The Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology. His question,
posed here today to a panel of experts on agricultural biotechnology
at a meeting on nutrition and health, highlights the concern
over the safety of genetically-modified (GM) crops grown to
provide therapeutic agents. "The greatest possible risk is misconception
by the public of the risk [of GM crops]," emphasized Charles
J. Arntzen, founding director of the Arizona Biomedical Institute
at Arizona State University. |
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More information - BioMedNet
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| Silent protest in GM
fields |
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Protesters silently stood hand in
hand yesterday against genetically modified food during the
latest demonstration at a farm in the Black Isle. About 350
people stood in line in a field at Roskill Farm, Munlochy, among
a GM crop of oil seed rape, before marching off. The protest
organised by the Stand Quiet to be Heard Group, came a few days
after the Prime Minister mounted a robust defence of the scientists
who develop GM crops and condemned the activists who took direct
action against them. |
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More information - Scotsman
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| Why ‘a GM-free Scotland’
is an intellectual fraud |
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On Wednesday, the Scottish Parliament
will be in Aberdeen debating an anti-GM foods motion put down
by the Scottish National Party. The SNP wants to see "a GM-free
Scotland", no ifs, no buts. It is not alone. Opposition to even
testing the safety of human designed genetic modifications to
crops is rife in the north of Scotland, where trial plantings
are regularly trashed. The SNP’s position is an intellectual
fraud (and I say this as a nationalist). It is a transparently
populist move that sadly plays on natural fears for political
effect.opular worries by establishing rigorous testing methods.
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More information - Scotsman
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| The environment - does
corporate Britain really care? |
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At the ET2002 environment tradeshow
at the NEC in Birmingham Barbara Young, Chief Executive of the
Environment Agency; Jonathon Porrit, Chair of the UK Sustainable
Development Commission and Programme Director of Forum for the
Future; Environment Minister Michael Meacher; Policy Director
of the Soil Association, Lord Peter Melchett; and Janet Asherson,
Head of Environment at the CBI discussed whether British companies
really care about the environment. The consensus was that whilst
the majority of companies do not care there are many that do,
particularly amongst the most successful companies. “I’d really
urge companies to see this as something that can benefit them,”
she said. |
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More information - edie
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| Call for greenbelt
housing |
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Parts of the British countryside
will die unless houses are built on greenbelt land, rural businesses
and landowners have warned. The Country Land and Business Association
said greenbelt planning restrictions were stifling Britain's
countryside to benefit urban areas. The warning came on the
eve of the publication of the Countryside Agency's latest State
of the Countryside report due to be released on Tuesday (28
May). The report is expected to say that house prices in some
rural areas are so high that many people can not afford to buy
their own properties. |
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More information - FWi
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| Conservation triumph
for black grouse |
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Careful land management has seen
one of Britain's most endangered bird species, the black grouse,
make a dramatic comeback in the North Pennines. And the scourge
of foot-and-mouth disease may even have done a little unexpected
good by helping the rare game bird's recovery. There had been
fears that the annual spectacle of the black grouse mating ritual
would vanish from English uplands. |
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More information - Yorkshire
Post
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| Unnatural habitats
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The road banks near Cirencester were
bright with flowers this spring. But they were not the ones
you would expect to find on a Cotswold hillside. These were
a vivid purple-red, and their seeds had been sprayed on by a
lorry, complete with a dollop of fertiliser and mulch. In all
probability, they came from a consignment of seeds labelled
"wild flowers" – maybe even "Cotswold mix" – and, like most
such seeds, they originate not from natural meadows, but from
the plant breeder's laboratory. Nevertheless, this project,
and countless others like it, is considered to be a contribution
to Britain's natural diversity, and is funded on that basis.
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More information - Independent
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| First sighting of otters
in London for decades |
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Otters have been spotted in London
for the first time in decades. The animals were close to extinction
30 years ago and experts are amazed they are now being seen
so close to the centre of London. One has been spotted on the
Thames near Hampton Court and there is evidence of another in
Wanstead Park, north east London. Otter Trust director Philip
Wayre told the Daily Express: "It is amazing that otters are
now so close to the centre of the capital. But I think this
was part of their range years ago before they suffered a severe
population crash in the 1970s and 1980s. "In time, you might
get otters swimming past Parliament, but they only do it at
night so no-one will know. But they don't mind cities at night
time. We know they go right through Norwich at night." |
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More information - Ananova
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| Otters and roads report
published |
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The impact of roads and traffic on
otter populations has been examined in a specially commissioned
report published today by the Highways Agency. As otters move
into new locations, it is widely recognised the species is increasingly
threatened by traffic-related deaths. This report investigates
the potential effects of the trunk road network on the species
and assesses the measures available for minimising the impact.
The research was carried out by Oxford University's Wildlife
Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU) and confirms the number
of recorded otter road casualties has increased since 1986.
This reflects growth in otter population density and in traffic
flow. |
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More information - Highways
Agency
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| Flipper expert in dolphin
rescue |
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Plans to rescue a dolphin which has
set up home in Weymouth harbour, Dorset, are being outlined
today . Ric O’Barry, the former trainer of TV dolphin Flipper,
was today giving details of a rescue mission to return the mammal
to his home waters off France. |
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More information - Edinburgh
Evening News
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| Keeping a close watch
on life in the Solway |
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This summer, Cumbrians with a passion
for aquatic wildlife may want to pause before booking their
whale watching holiday to Alaska or New Zealand. Instead, they
could nip down to the Solway coast, itself the sometime home
of numerous sharks and marine mammals and one of Cumbria's best-kept
secrets. So little is known about these sea creatures that,
with some species, as with the basking shark, nobody is certain
how many of them are left in the world or what their migration
patterns are around the earth's waters. Killer whales, sei whales
and fin whales, thresher and porbeagle sharks, grey seals, harbour
porpoises and leather-back turtles are just a few of the species
which have been spotted in the Solway Firth. |
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More information - Cumberland
News
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| First study of rare
Killarney charr aims to protect species |
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The Killarney charr is to be studied
scientifically for the first time. It is a small, salmon-like
fish with a blunt nose, and it is a separate strain to other
Irish charr. The research is part of a nationwide effort by
the Irish Char Conservation Group which aims to protect the
threatened species. Up to 40 per cent of charr populations in
Ireland are extinct and in the last hundred years have disappeared
from at least seven lakes including Loughs Conn and Corrib.
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More information - Irish
Times
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Naturenet
Countryside
management and nature conservation
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here
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