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Syrian seedbank wins award for continuing work despite civil war
Syrian scientists who risked their lives preserving the region’s ancient farming heritage with nearly 150,000 seed samples are presented Gregor Mendel award in Berlin
The fields around Aleppo have sustained humanity for tens of thousands of years. Blood-torn now, they were among the first to produce wheat, barley and the crops that made this area part of the “fertile crescent” that Western civilisation sprang from.
There may be little sign of that left today, amid Syria’s bloody civil war, but the few remaining strands of the region’s farming heritage have been pulled together by a small group of scientists, whose achievement has just been recognised.
Continue reading...Amazon's trees removed nearly a third less carbon in last decade – study
Fall in amount of carbon absored by rainforest means even greater cuts to manmade emissions are needed to combat climate change, warn scientists
The amount of carbon the Amazon’s remaining trees removed from the atmosphere fell by almost a third last decade, leading scientists to warn that manmade carbon emissions would need to be cut more deeply to tackle climate change.
Trees in untouched areas of the forest have been dying off across the basin at an increasing rate, found the study, published in Nature on Wednesday. Meanwhile the tree growth produced by higher CO2 levels in recent decades levelled off.
Continue reading...Condition setting under assessment bilateral agreements
New threatened ecological community listings
Chairs’ Update March 2015 | Commonwealth Marine Reserves Review
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Continue reading...Pangolins: the world's most illegally traded mammal – in pictures
The endangered pangolin is being eaten out of existence before many people have even heard of it. Photographer Paul Hilton followed poachers in Indonesia to raise awareness of this gentle animal’s plight
Audio slideshow: See more of Paul Hilton’s work on the impact of deforestation on Indonesia’s wildlife
Continue reading...Don't feed the ducks bread, say conservationists
We feed six million loaves of bread a year to ducks in England and Wales causing damage to birds’ health and polluting waterways. Oats, corn and peas are safer for the birds
The seemingly innocent act of feeding ducks with bread is harming waterfowl and polluting waterways, conservationists warned on Monday as they urged people to use more benign alternatives.
A survey by the Canal and River Trust found nearly a quarter of English and Welsh people had together fed six million loaves of bread to ducks last year. Uneaten bread causes algal blooms, allows bacteria to breed and attracts rats and other vermin.
Continue reading...Why are organic farmers across Britain giving up?
Consumers still eat it up — but more and more farmers are deserting organic, complaining that it costs a fortune and rowing with the Soil Association. Susanna Rustin put on her wellies to find out why they’re down on the farm
Darren and Julia Quenault took their first delivery of non-organic cattle feed a few weeks ago. After nine years of organic dairy farming, they decided to convert back to conventional, and give up their organic status, at the end of last year.
The reason was simple. “Cattle feed costs were excruciatingly expensive and we just couldn’t absorb them,” says Julia. “We’re saving £1,800 a month. We couldn’t have continued, we would have had to put up prices significantly, and we didn’t feel we could burden consumers with an extra 12% on the price of milk.”
Continue reading...Updated maps to help protect our native species
Stricter domestic measure to regulate the import and export of African lion items
Interim report of the National Review of Environmental Regulation
Nearly 1m birds were killed on British military base in Cyprus, says RSPB
Poachers took 15,000 birds every day for two months last autumn on Dhekelia Sovereign Base Area as conservationists warn killing is at unprecedented levels
Almost a million birds were illegally killed in just two months on a British military base in Cyprus last year, according to the RSPB.
Dr Tim Stowe, the RSPB’s international director, called on the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to do more to stop local poachers, who reportedly took 15,000 birds every day during September and October from British Dhekelia Sovereign Base Area (SBA).
Continue reading...Climate Change Adaption - relocation of a Solomon Islands township to increase community resilience
Health costs of hormone disrupting chemicals over €150bn a year in Europe, says study
Lower IQ, adult obesity and 5% of autism cases are all linked to exposure to endocrine disruptors found in food containers, plastics, furniture, toys, carpeting and cosmetics, says new expert study
Europe is experiencing an explosion in health costs caused by endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) that is comparable to the cost of lead and mercury poisoning, according to the most comprehensive study of the subject yet published.
Endocrine disruptors are chemicals that interfere with the human hormone system, and can be found in food containers, plastics, furniture, toys, carpeting and cosmetics.
Continue reading...Weasel-riding-woodpecker picture prompts weighty Twitter debate
#WeaselPecker trends on Twitter as Photoshop fans have fun with apparently genuine image of weasel flying on bird’s back through London park
It’s that age-old story: weasel meets bird, weasel falls in love with bird, weasel won’t let bird go – even when it flies off.
This extraordinary picture taken by amateur wildlife photographer Martin Le-May has caused some chin-scratching among ornithologists everywhere. Is it possible for a woodpecker to carry a weasel on its back?
Report on the Threatened Species Commissioner’s first six months on the job now out
Lewis Pugh's Antarctic swim – in pictures
British endurance swimmer and United Nations Environment Programme patron of the oceans, completes most southerly swim in human history after swimming in the Bay of Whales, Ross Sea
Continue reading...Coo roo-c'too-coo! Enter the captivating world of pigeon fanciers
Raising and showing selectively bred birds is a world away from pigeons’ unjust image of ‘rats with wings’ – and it’s a hobby that helps forge lifelong friendships
Don’t feed the pigeons – unless you want to travel the world, forge life-long friendships and fall in love. These are just a few of the many perks of the pigeon hobby touted by fanciers from around the globe.
“Some people make art with paint and clay, we make art with pigeons,” said Leon Stephens, president of the Los Angeles Pigeon Club. Stephens studied genetics in college before starting his career as a health inspector.
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