Category Archives: Conservation
Citizens across the globe call for greater protection of biodiversity
Results of an ambitious world-wide consultation gathering public opinions on biodiversity policy issues have been published this week. The World Wide Views on Biodiversity (WWViews on Biodiversity) initiative, detailed in a blog post in May, gathered 3,000 citizens from 25 … Continue reading
The Tipping Point – our not so Frozen Planet
It has been a year since Sir David Attenborough and the BBC set awed us with the fantastic delights and drastic plights of our ‘Frozen Plant’. Despite the attention given to global warming facts, the vital role of the poles … Continue reading
UK Special Areas of Conservation and Special Protected Areas Network is complete
The announcement last month by the Natural Environment Minister, Richard Benyon (Defra), that a 330km stretch of marine habitat between Studland and Portland in Dorset is to be designated a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) will complete the UK SAC … Continue reading
New POSTnote encapsulates land sharing vs land sparing debate
A POSTnote from the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology ‘Balancing Nature and Agriculture’ published online this week outlines the ongoing debate over land sparing versus land sharing in sustainable management of agricultural land for biodiversity conservation. Much biodiversity is … Continue reading
Investing in Peatlands – Demonstrating Success
This week ecologists from across the UK, Europe and from as far away as Tibet descended upon Bangor University to consider the major challenges and opportunities facing the restoration and conservation of the globe’s peatlands. The meeting was organised jointly … Continue reading
Sowing the Seeds of Biodiversity Conservation
The agriculture industry depends on about 150 crops grown on a significant scale worldwide. This, obviously, is not very many. Preserving them all, and more, is integral to a functioning ecosystem. Each crop plays a vital role in our delicate … Continue reading
Lessons for grassland restoration at a joint AAB/BGS/BES conference
What can be achieved in the restoration of diverse grasslands? And what will this habitat rehabilitation do for us? A series of presentations, field trips and poster displays at a conference jointly organised by the Association of Applied Biology, British … Continue reading
Water Friendly Farming, a landscape-scale research initiative for protecting water bodies
The BES Policy Team attended the launch of Water Friendly Farming, a new research initiative on sustainable water management in the Portcullis House today. The programme is run by the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust, Pond Conservation, Syngenta and other … Continue reading
The links between international trade and biodiversity loss
If you think of international trade and endangered species you most probably think of illegal trade of products made from wild animals and plants (e.g. ivory, leather, rhino horns). Although illegal trade is undoubtedly a significant threat to biodiversity, international … Continue reading
Tracking DNA to stop illegal fishing
Despite international policy regulations and ‘eco-labelling’, illegal, unreported or unregulated (IUU) fishing is still thriving worldwide. To tackle this problem a group of international researchers came up with a possible tool based on genetic testing. The results of their research … Continue reading