(c) Ariel Brunner
On Monday 19 December the EU Environment Council in Brussels came out with conclusions on the EU 2020 Biodiversity Strategy, in which the interests of the farm lobby purveyed over biodiversity protection.
BirdLife Europe is deeply concerned by the long and painful efforts of certain EU Environment Ministers that were revealed in weakening biodiversity protection in the interest of EU farmers. The inclusion of references to specific biodiversity protection measures that should be integrated to the current CAP reform has been blocked due to Germany’s absolute refusal to refer to the CAP in any level of useful detail.
It is scary to consider that Environment Ministers had to compromise for hours to come out with weak outcomes for the protection of what should be the core of their political mandate, biodiversity. This is a dangerous preview of the fate of biodiversity left completely in the hands of Agriculture Ministers.
BirdLife Europe considers that biodiversity can’t be held hostage to agricultural interests – yet again. If farmers and their organisations know what is good for them, they would welcome protecting biodiversity as one of their strongest arguments for receiving public funds.
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This post was written by:
BirdLife Europe – who has written 71 posts on BirdLife Community.
The BirdLife Europe Partnership consists of 45 conservation organisations with almost 3,000 staff, 1.9 million members and more than 6,000 reserves covering over 300,000 hectares.
Tens of thousands face redundancy as solar deadline passes
Millions of birds face ‘glue trap’ deaths in Spain
Giles Tremlett in Madrid
Up to four million migrating birds will be killed by illegal Spanish hunters this year, with many dying a slow, sticky death in traps that literally glue the animals to the ground, according to campaigners.
Thrushes flying south for a warm Mediterranean winter this week will, as usual, run a gauntlet of illegal hunters who kill some two million birds in their peak hunting season: the six late autumn weeks in which Spanish skies fill with migrating birds.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of hunters in Castellón, eastern Spain, and neighbouring areas will have already set their so-called parany traps – copses filled with glue-covered twigs and spikes.
Most of the illegally trapped birds will end up as tapas in Spanish bars, fried tidbits that locals claim are part of a cultural heritage stretching back to Roman times. “There are pictures of parany traps in the mosaics of Pompeii,” said Miguel Angel Bayarri of the trappers’ Apaval association. “This is a tradition that has existed for centuries and that we will continue to fight for.”
Hunting of song and mistle thrushes and their cousin the redwing is not illegal, but the methods used are, despite attempts by legislators to introduce exceptions.
Campaigners say the painful deaths suffered by the birds, whose wings are glued together before their necks are broken or their heads squashed, contravene European wildlife laws.
“There have been sentences against this in the courts in Madrid and at the European court in Luxembourg,” said Mario Giménez, head of SEO/Birdlife in the eastern region of Valencia.
Up to two of every five birds that fall into the parany traps will not be thrushes. Hundreds of thousands of other migrating insectivores such as robins, blackcaps, chiffchaffs and black redstarts will die. Local birds, including warblers and owls, also fall prey to the parany trick.
“That only happens if the trap is badly operated,” said Bayarri. “Our members only catch thrushes. This is just banning for banning’s sake.”
But Giménez said few parany operators went through the laborious process of cleaning glue off birds that may not be hunted.
“Even those cleaned up with dissolvent often don’t survive,” he said.
Campaigners say it is time politicians, whose attempts at legalising the traps in Valencia’s regional parliament have been stymied by Spain’s higher courts, publicly disavow a tradition that contravenes EU law. But protecting local traditions wins votes in rural areas where setting and emptying traps may also involve evenings or weekends of food, drink and partying.
Hunting continues, even though Apaval has this year asked its members not to set the traps, where recordings of birdsong are used to lure passing birds into thickets of trees. Unable to use their glued wings, the birds fall to the ground and are killed by hand.
At least 340 functioning parany traps have been identified in the past few weeks, according to Spain’s Association of Environmental Officers. “They are only the first ones discovered so far this year,” said a spokesman. “In previous years we have found some 2,000 traps.”
“The hunting continues, it is just not so flagrant,” said Giménez. “We have seen the traps and heard the birdsong recordings that they use. Now when they hear a car, they do at least turn the machine off.”
Those caught using the illegal parany method can be fined up to €200,000 (£170,000) and may also end up with a criminal record.
Previously, special whistles were used to attract the birds, but these were replaced by tape-recordings and, now, digital devices.
While the thrushes were once an important food source in the countryside of eastern Spain, birds are now mostly sold secretly to bars and restaurants. Many are stored in freezers to be sold later.
Campaigners fear that with a change in Spain’s government due after a general election on 20 November, authorities will once more turn a blind eye to illegal hunting of migratory birds.
“The People’s party is expected to win, and that is the same party that has tried to legalise this in Valencia,” said Giménez. “We don’t want a new government turning the clock back.”
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Environment news, comment and analysis from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk
Global Population Passes 7 Billion, Crowding Out Imperiled Animals, Plants; Species Face Mass Extinction
TUCSON, Ariz.— The world population hit 7 billion people Monday, accelerating the global extinction crisis for animals and plants imperiled by overpopulation’s effects on habitat, water, air and other natural resources. The Center for Biological Diversity launched a new national campaign, 7 Billion and Counting, highlighting this milestone and the connection between staggering human population growth and the massive extinction of plant and animal species.
“The conversation can’t be avoided any longer,” said Amy Harwood, coordinator of the 7 Billion and Counting campaign. “There’s never been a more pivotal time to talk about the devastating effects of the population crisis on plants and animals around the world.”
As part of the 7 Billion and Counting campaign, the Center is giving away 100,000 of its popular Endangered Species Condoms. It also launched a huge video ad in New York City’s Times Square, inspired activists around the country to host events highlighting this critical issue and unveiled a new interactive map that offers information on endangered species in every county in the United States.
The Center also just released a report on the top 10 U.S. species facing extinction from pressures directly related to overpopulation. Species like the Florida panther and Mississippi gopher frog are rapidly losing habitat as the human population expands, while others are seeing their habitat dangerously altered and are facing demise from consumption demand.
The Center is the only environmental group with a full-time campaign highlighting the connection between runaway human population growth and the ongoing extinction crisis. The world’s population has doubled since 1968; the United Nation predicts it will hit 10 billion by century’s end. Meanwhile, dozens of species go extinct every day.
“As the human population grows and the rich countries consume resources at voracious rates, we are crowding out, poisoning and eating all other species into extinction,” said Harwood. “If it isn’t stopped, we’ll find ourselves on a very lonely planet devoid of any sense of the wild world this place once was.”
Contact Info: Amy Harwood, (520) 623-5252 x 313
Website : Center for Biological Diversity
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ENN Network News – ENN
Environment Agency: 500,000 face lift for Fobney Island
Fobney Island, in Reading is being transformed into a wetland haven for nature thanks to a £500,000 facelift.
The project will see the island turned into a rich new wetland and wildflower hay-meadow habitat. The site is expected to attract a vast array of wildlife, including birds, bats, water voles, and otters. These works, together with river restoration on the River Kennet, will make the island a more enjoyable place for people to visit, especially for bird watchers and anglers.
The Environment Agency has joined forces with Reading Borough Council, Thames Water and the Thames Rivers Restoration Trust to carry out the work.
The river restoration works will include restoring 310 metres of the River Kennet and introducing new river gravels to the channel to create ‘riffles’. Gravel riffles provide the perfect breeding ground for fish, as well as an ideal habitat for invertebrate life to thrive. These are essential for fish spawning, in particular for chub, dace and barbel who lay their eggs in the gravel beds. Emerging fry find shelter amongst the gravel during early stages of their development. A new backwater will be created to provide vital refuge habitat for young fish fry.
A circular walk will also be created at the site, with views across the new wetland features, which will help to make the site more accessible and attractive to visitors. The scheme will also include two bird hides with views across the new wetlands. Information boards at the site entrance points will provide information about the Wetland Park and its wildlife.
Graham Scholey, Conservation Technical Specialist, said: “This project will make a real difference to the diversity of wildlife at the site and I’m delighted we were able to start this week. Fobney Island is already very popular with local residents, and we hope the improvements will encourage even more people to enjoy this natural area.
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”Together with key partners we are striving to deliver the Government’s ambitious new plan for improving the national environment, and we are working to give communities more involvement in caring for their local environment and helping people realise the benefits of getting out and about in the great outdoors.”
Robert Oates, Executive Director of the Thames Rivers Restoration Trust said, “This project is a great example of how public, private and community partnerships benefit people and nature.”
Marian Livingston, Reading’s Lead Councillor for Culture and Sport, said: “I’m very pleased the council is playing a part in this excellent and exciting project. The transformation of Fobney Island into a haven for nature and wildlife will, I’m sure, attract more visitors to this vital green space in the borough. I will be taking a close interest in this fabulous project and very much look forward to visiting the site once the work is finished.”
The council will continue to manage and maintain the island after the work and will also be looking to volunteers to help with maintenance.
A Friends of Fobney Island volunteer group will be established with support from the project partners to help maintain the site and provide on-going educational opportunities. If you would like to get involved please call Reading Borough Council’s Parks department on 0800 626540.
Rosemary Waugh, Thames Water’s community investment manager, said: “We have been looking forward to this project for a long time now and it’s very exciting to think that people will be able to enjoy Fobney Island so soon. This is just one of the schemes Thames Water is involved with for the benefit of our customers as part of our Ten for Ten community fund.”
Site works started on September 7 where public notices have been erected to keep everyone informed.
Ends
Notes for editors
Thames Rivers Restoration Trust
TRRT works to improve the River Thames and its tributaries for people and wildlife. We help form partnerships of public, private and community organisations to deliver multiple benefits by combining all available resources into best value river restoration projects. See our website www.trrt.org.uk for more information.
Information on Thames Water
Thames Water, which serves London and the Thames Valley, is Britain’s biggest water and sewerage company.
Top-quality drinking water: We supply more than a tonne a week of water on average to each of our 8.8m of our drinking water customers. That’s 2,600m litres a day.
Recycling water back to the environment: We also recycle safely back to the environment 14m people’s wastewater. That’s 2,800m litres of sewage a day – 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Our region: Our service area stretches from eastern fringes of Gloucestershire and Wiltshire in the west, through to the western edges of Essex and Kent in the east.
Bills: Our bills are among the lowest in the UK water sector, with the average household bill currently 87p a day per household for water and sewerage services.
Ownership: Thames Water Utilities Ltd is owned by a group of pension and infrastructure funds from around the world, including Macquarie-managed funds, which have a 49% stake.
Regulators: All water firms in England and Wales are privately-owned and answerable to our regulators, who monitor all our activities.
- Ofwat is the economic regulator for the water industry: www.ofwat.gov.uk/
- The Environment Agency is the environmental regulator: www.environment-agency.gov.uk/
- The Drinking Water Inspectorate regulates the quality of water companies supply: www.dwi.gov.uk/
Renewable energy: As well as providing water and sewerage services, we are also the biggest non-commercial producer of electricity inside the M25. We burn methane derived from sewage to create heat from which we generate our own renewable electricity to help power our works. This saves us on average £15m a year in grid energy bills.
All media enquiries: 0118 953 5555
Please ask for the duty press officer
Environment Agency news releases, both national and regional, can be found on its web site: www.environment-agency.gov.uk
Jamaica may cease to be “the fairest isle that eyes ever beheld” in the face of climate change
Photo: Flickr (black.stilettos)
Data from climate models indicate that Jamaica is likely to experience significant changes in temperature, precipitation, sea-level rise and extreme weather events. If Jamaica fails to adapt, direct and substantial economic hits are likely to impact important industries such as tourism. These and other conclusions were suggested by Rob Munroe, Climate Change Officer at BirdLife International as he presented a poster on climate change impacts on ecosystem services in the Lower Martha Brae Watershed, part of the Cockpit Country Key Biodiversity Area, near Falmouth in north-west Jamaica, at the poster session of the Jamaica Institute of Environmental Professionals´ (JIEP) 5th Biennial Conference, last June in Kingston, Jamaica.
“The tourism sector is highly climate-sensitive given its reliance on environmental assets/ ecosystem services. Beach assets and healthy coral reefs are big drivers of tourist numbers and expenditure, and these are likely to be impacted significantly by climate change impacts such as sea-level rise and sea-surface temperature rise”, said Rob Munroe. Such comments were reiterated at the conference by the results from a new analysis entitled Coastal Capital: Jamaica – The Economic Contribution of Jamaica’s Coral Reefs, presented by the World Resources Institute (WRI) (on behalf of the project team of WRI, the University of the West Indies’ (UWI) Marine Geology Unit (MGU), the Mona GeoInformatics Institute (MGI), and the Nature Conservancy (TNC). The study revealed that beach erosion due to the loss of coral reefs could result in $ 23 million (USD) in lost tourism revenue per year.
[More information on Coastal Capital: Jamaica]
BirdLife and the Windsor Research Centre , a centre dedicated to providing research to ensure the best-possible protection and management of Cockpit Country, are engaged in a MacArthur Foundation-funded project that aims to improve the integration of ecosystem and climate change adaptation considerations into development planning in the Lower Martha Brae Watershed (LMBW) area, near Falmouth, so that the vital role that ecosystems play in mitigating climate change risk, such as mangroves and coral reefs’ role in wave attenuation, and, therefore, in protecting human infrastructure, is not negated.
The degradation of nearshore ecosystems is likely to increase the vulnerability of coastal tourist and residential developments and to increase rates of beach and shoreline erosion during storm surges caused by tropical storms and hurricanes (projected to increase in intensity with climate change).
“The positive role that coastal ecosystems can play in climate change adaptation is not adequately taken into account in Environmental Impact Assessments in Jamaica, leading to poorly-sited urban and commercial development”, Rob Munroe commented. “There is an urgent need for data collection and investment to facilitate more accurate evaluations of impacts of climate change and cost-benefit analysis of different adaptation options that should include appropriately valuing the role of ecosystems in climate change adaptation.”
The first step of this project was to host a workshop for Jamaican insurers on this issue and this was well received by the Association of Jamaican Insurers.
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This post was written by:
BirdLife Caribbean Program – who has written 29 posts on BirdLife Community.
Our aim is to develop a coherent, integrated Caribbean-wide bird conservation program based around empowering partners and people to protect key sites, conserve priority habitats and save threatened species. The program is actively engaged in saving globally threatened species and Important Bird Area protection in the Bahamas, Barbados, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico and Trinidad. BirdLife Partners in the UK, France, the Netherlands and the US are also engaged with the program through conservation actions in the overseas territories.
Companies in Vermont and Massachusetts face sanctions for failing to prevent oil spills (MA, VT)
Release date: 07/08/2011
Contact Information: David Deegan, (617) 918-1017
(Boston, Mass. – July 8, 2011) – A Massachusetts and a Vermont company that each store significant amounts of oil are facing EPA penalties of up to $ 177,500 for failing to take adequate precautions meant to prevent and contain oil spills.
Specifically, EPA’s New England office alleged in a complaint filed recently that Knight Oil of Salisbury, Mass., and Rowley Fuels of Allburgh, Vt., failed to adequately prepare and maintain Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure plans, known as SPCC plans. Both complaints were based on inspections by EPA staff.
The complaint against Knight Oil alleged the violations took place at its facilities at 49 Congress St. and 91 Congress St. in Amesbury. Among other things, SPCC plans require adequate containment to prevent spilled oil from reaching surface waters. Several surface waters, including the Back River, Clarks Pond and the Powwow River, could be affected if oil were spilled from either facility.
EPA’s New England office also alleged in a separate complaint that Rowley Fuels failed to adequately maintain and implement an SPCC plan at its facility at 10 Industrial Park Road. Because of the facility’s proximity to surface waters and a municipal stormwater drain system, which both drain into Lake Champlain, a fuel-oil spill at the facility could result in fuel-oil being discharged into Lake Champlain.
In addition to facing penalties that could be as high as $ 177,500, the companies must take steps to bring the facilities into immediate compliance with the federal spill prevention and response planning requirements. Both companies have taken steps to bring the facilities into compliance with federal SPCC requirements.
Every year, thousands of gallons of oil are spilled from oil storage facilities, polluting New England waters. Even small oil spills can cumulatively have an adverse effect on aquatic life and on public and private property. Because discharges from these facilities are often to small streams and rivers that have little to no dilution capabilities, the harm can be great. SPCC plans are critical to ensuring that such spills are prevented and, if they do occur, are adequately addressed.
Federal law requires facilities that have the potential for spills take every step possible to prevent, before they occur, oil discharges to the nation’s rivers, lakes and oceans through putting in place SPCC plans. Any facility with more than 1,320 gallons of aboveground oil storage capacity and meeting certain other criteria must develop and put in place SPCC plans to prevent and contain spills, including installing non-porous containment around storage tanks.
The law recognizes that it is equally important that facilities know how to minimize environmental damage when spills do occur, and therefore requires response planning and spill preparation. To ensure that a facility can adequately respond to a spill, it must have adequate employee training and spill response equipment.
More information: SPCC Requirements (http://www.epa.gov/emergencies/content/spcc/index.htm)
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Faire face aux risques côtiers en Afrique de l’Ouest
En vue de réduire les risques liés à l’érosion côtière, onze pays côtiers d’Afrique de l’Ouest se sont dotés d’un schéma directeur d’aménagement du littoral, avec le soutien de l’Union économique et monétaire ouest-africaine (UEMOA).
Weather and Climate in the Face of the “Snowpocalypse”
While Washington was buried under several feet of snow, we all needed some entertainment. Fortunately, leaders of the anti-science movement were happy to provide it. Sen. DeMint (R-SC) said: "It's going to keep snowing in DC until Al Gore cries 'uncle,'" while Sen Inhofe (R-OK) built an igloo dubbed "Al Gore's New Home." Sean Hannity reported "it's the most severe winter storm in years, which would seem to contradict Al Gore's hysterical global warming theories."
I suppose it doesn't matter to them that the National Academy of Science and all major scientific organizations who have studied the question have concluded that pollution is causing changes to our climate. Or that there is some evidence that climate change could make blizzards like this more common, even as the world continues to warm. According to TIME:
"Hotter air can hold more moisture, so when a storm gathers it can unleash massive amounts of snow. Colder air, by contrast, is drier; if we were in a truly vicious cold snap, like the one that occurred over much of the East Coast during parts of January, we would be unlikely to see heavy snowfall."
One day's weather does not define our climate. It's one slide in the filmstrip — meaningful when strung together, but relatively uninformative on its own. (See our previous post on this.) That is why it is so important to follow the scientists unearthing past weather, recording present weather and modeling future weather — a theme The Colbert Report and the Daily Show picked up in their shows last week.
Unfortunately, some people are attempting to exploit the recent snow to mislead the public about a carbon cap. There's an ad attacking Congressmen Boucher (D-VA) and Perriello (D-VA) for voting for the House climate bill. Far from "kill[ing] tens of thousands of Virginia jobs," this bill would bolster the Virginian and American economies. LessCarbonMoreJobs.org shows just shy of 100 Virginian companies — already employing over 16,000 — are poised to grow under a carbon cap. That's just one snapshot of the United States could achieve with climate legislation.
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Real leaders face Christmas jail time while polticians flee climate crime scene
Four of our activists face the prospect of Christmas in jail this year over charges relating to our crashing of the Head of State dinner at the Copenhagen climate summit, while the leaders who did practically nothing about the greatest threat to our planet got away scott free.
Further information: