Category Archives: Conservation
Governments ‘Red Tape Challenge’ threatens green laws
All 278 of Britain’s green laws, originally put in place to safeguard the natural environment, have been included on the list of red tape regulations to be considered for the axe by the public as part of the ‘Red Tape … Continue reading
Big success for BES ‘Forests and Global Change’ Symposium
Last week the University of Cambridge hosted the BES Annual Symposium, this year titled ‘Forests and Global Change’. The event was a huge success with 370 delegates attending the three day symposium which was called “the best symposium yet” by … Continue reading
Historic Day for the South Downs National Park
The South Downs National Park, Britain’s newest National Park, is celebrating its first anniversary today, with bell-ringing, a celebratory walk and morris dancing. The National Park stretches from Winchester in Hampshire to Eastbourne in East Sussex and is the fourth … Continue reading
Climate smart farming at the Royal Society
The 2008 Climate Change Act commits the UK to 80% statutory greenhouse gases emissions (GHG) reduction by 2050. The agricultural industry is responsible for approximately 25%, 50%, and 80% of global anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and … Continue reading
Climate change set to re-shape tropical forests
A paper published in the Journal of Global Change Biology this week indicates that climate change is already having an impact on tropical forests in Costa Rica. The study, which was conducted over 20 years, indicates that if current warming … Continue reading
Making Space for Nature – with the Conservation SIG
The British Ecological Society’s Conservation Ecology Special Interest Group (SIG) is organising a meeting on 19th April 2011, exploring the implications of Prof. Sir John Lawton’s review of England’s protected areas (‘Making Space for Nature‘). The meeting will consider the … Continue reading
Selling England’s forests: A cut too far?
At present, England’s forests are managed by the Forestry Commission on behalf of the Secretary of State for Environment Food and Rural Affairs. Ministers however, are now proposing to reform ownership and management of the estate by selling off large … Continue reading
Biodiversity offsetting: making nature economically visible
Biodiversity offsetting is a method intended to help compensate for the detrimental impacts of development on biodiversity. Such an approach is designed to work by creating a credit based market that developers could use to offset actions deemed harmful to … Continue reading
The Big Fish Fight is on
Half of all fish caught in the North Sea are thrown back dead. This is due to strict fishing quotas set out by the EU Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) that limit the number of fish landed each day. Although these … Continue reading
‘Adapting conservation to a changing climate’ conference makes headway at the BES
Climate change is cited as one of the major future threats to biodiversity conservation and ecosystem function. As a result, the need to adapt practical conservation measures to cope with the pressures of a changing climate have become increasingly relevant … Continue reading