Feed aggregator

Islamist militancy in Nigeria is being strengthened by western and regional fossil fuel interests

The kidnapping of over 200 Nigerian school girls, and the massacre of as many as 300 civilians in the town of Gamboru Ngala, by the militant al-Qaeda affiliated group, Boko Haram, has shocked the world.

But while condemnations have rightly been forthcoming from a whole range of senior figures from celebrities to government officials, less attention has been paid to the roots of the crisis.

Continue reading...

The Emissions Reduction Fund exposure draft legislation is now open for public comment. Comments close 23 May 2014.

The Emissions Reduction Fund exposure draft legislation is now open for public comment. Comments close 23 May 2014.

Wind Power, and Australian Water Accounting - 2 co-badged seminars in May 2014

The Threatened Species Scientific Committee is seeking comments on the assessment of six species. The public consultation period closes 20 June 2014.

A fisherman trawling for shrimps off the coast of Florida has become one of the … err … lucky few people to have come face to face with this monster of the deep

Name: The goblin shark.

Age: You'd have to ask it.

Continue reading...

ASC NEPM ERRATA update and Frequently asked questions

Soaring numbers of albino California king snakes prompts warning that they could take over 70% of Spanish island

Invasive species experts will gather in Gran Canaria this week to offer their advice on how best to control an albino variety of a popular pet snake whose population has exploded across the island in recent years, decimating local bird and lizard species.

Originally brought to the island as pets, the albino California king snakes were set loose or escaped decades ago, said Ramón Gallo, a biologist who is spearheading the effort to control the population through a project called LIFE+Lampropeltis.

Continue reading...

The island is the EU's last outpost of licensed spring shooting. The TV naturalist explains why it's time to stop the barbarity

When it comes to life and death I'm probably more stoic than most. But last week I cried in front of more than 20,000 viewers on YouTube. Like all our team, I was close to exhaustion – we'd been on four hours sleep a night for days. I was also clearly depressed by the daily slaughter we had been witness to and the relentless attrition that had been mounting with every dead bird I'd seen blasted from the Maltese skies. But in truth from the moment I reached into the cardboard box that held a shot Montagu's harrier and gently felt its badly broken wing, as soon as I saw the blood of this beautiful and rare raptor on my fingers and looked at the defiance and confusion in its brilliant yellow eyes, it was a predictable reaction.

I like birds, and this was a very special bird. That morning I had been out with a team of observers from BirdLife Malta, patrolling the dry fields of this tiny island where about 10,000 hunters wander and wait to shoot at turtle doves and quail. It's their highly controversial spring hunting season, the only such in the European Union, of which Malta has been a member since 2004.

Continue reading...

SENG SA News and Events - May 2014

Interested parties are invited to make submissions on the exposure draft of the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Amendment Regulation 2014 (the draft regulation) by 2 May 2014.

The Minister has approved the listing of a new threatened ecological community: Kangaroo Island Narrow-leaved Mallee (Eucalyptus cneorifolia) Woodland

The National Environment Protection Council (NEPC) Annual Report for 2012-13 is now available.

Environment ministers from across Australia met today in Canberra to progress key environment issues of national significance. Following the Council of Australian Governments’ (COAG) decision in December 2013 to streamline and refocus its...

The BBC presenter talks of confrontations with hunters and police while making films to highlight the cruelty of the annual bird shoot

When Chris Packham announced he was heading to Malta to report on the island's annual spring bird shoot as if he was a war correspondent covering a conflict, even his admirers probably thought he was guilty of hyperbole.

But after a week in which the naturalist has detained by police for five hours, shoved to the ground by gunmen and witnessed the illegal killing of dozens of endangered birds, his mission to raise awareness of the annual slaughter of migratory birds has been more like a battle than he imagined.

Continue reading...

Iceberg that calved from the Pine Island glacier last year is headed for the open ocean, scientists say

An enormous iceberg half the size of Greater London that broke off an Antarctic glacier last year is headed for the open ocean, scientists said on Wednesday.

B31, which calved from Pine Island glacier last November, is large enough at 33km long and 20km wide to lead Nasa to monitor its movements via satellite. It is up to 500 metres thick.

Continue reading...

The White Paper sets out the Government’s final positions on the design, implementation and ongoing development of the Emissions Reduction Fund.

The White Paper sets out the Government’s final positions on the design, implementation and ongoing development of the Emissions Reduction Fund.

Proposal to grant permits for export of plants harvested in Queensland under exceptional circumstances public comment period closed 5pm Friday 2 May 2014.

Researchers say the large, smelly fruit grown could be a replacement for staple crops under threat from climate change

• Climate change 'already affecting food supply' – UN
• Teff poised to become next big super grain

It's big and bumpy with a gooey interior and a powerful smell of decay – but it could help keep millions of people from hunger.

Researchers say jackfruit – a large ungainly fruit grown across south and south-east Asia – could be a replacement for wheat, corn and other staple crops under threat from climate change.

Continue reading...