Posted on 28 January 2009 by takecover08
The Democratic Republic of Congo government has cancelled nearly 60% of timber contracts in the world’s second-largest tropical rainforest, the BBC News website reports.
It follows a six-month review of 156 logging deals aimed at stamping out corruption in the sector and enforcing legal and environmental standards.
At the end of the World Bank-backed process, government ministers [...]
Filed under: conservation, deforestation, illegal logging | Tagged: bbc, bbc news website, biodiversity, dr congo, environment, greenpeace, illegal logging, logging, rainforest, world bank | Leave a Comment »
Posted on 15 January 2009 by takecover08
The recent finding that plants could be a major source of the atmosphere’s methane is challenged by new research, reports BBC News environment correspondent Richard Black.
A 2006 study suggested plants could account for almost half of the global production of the greenhouse gas.
But a UK-based team now reports that under normal conditions, plants just convey [...]
Filed under: climate change, research | Tagged: research, climate change, bbc, bbc news website, emissions, methane, vegetation, transpiration, royal society, univeristy of cambridge, university of south australia, manx planck institute for chemistry, frank keppler, ellen nisbet, news, plants | Leave a Comment »
Posted on 4 January 2009 by takecover08
A beaver that has been felling trees in south-west England after escaping from a farm is being hunted by conservationists, the BBC News website reports.
The beaver is one of three that broke out of the farm in Lifton, Devon, in October, owner Derek Gow said. The other two have since been re-captured.
The last six-stone (38kg) [...]
Filed under: animals | Tagged: bbc, bbc news website, beavers, derek gow, devon, lifton, tamar valley, trees. gnawing | Leave a Comment »
Posted on 15 December 2008 by takecover08
Hackers have helped logging firms in Brazil evade limits on tree felling, says a Greenpeace report.
The hi-tech criminals penetrated a computer system designed to monitor logging in the Brazilian state of Para, according to a report on the BBC News website.
Once inside the system, hackers issued fake permits so loggers could cut down far more [...]
Filed under: climate change | Tagged: bbc, Brazil, deforestation, greenpeace, hackers, illegal timber, prosecution, tropical forest | Leave a Comment »
Posted on 20 November 2008 by takecover08
The population of house sparrows in Britain has fallen by 68% in the past three decades, according to the RSPB.
A report by the charity said the paving over of front gardens and removal of trees had caused a big decline in insects which the birds eat.
It suggests that sparrows are now disappearing altogether from cities [...]
Filed under: conservation, research | Tagged: bbc, birds, conservation, de montfort university, natural england, rspb, trees, urban | Leave a Comment »
Posted on 6 October 2008 by takecover08
Hundreds of trees have been planted in Greater Manchester as part of the city’s first “tree-athlon” event, reports the BBC News website.
About 500 people took part in a 5km (three-mile) run in Heaton Park, before each was given a sapling as a prize.
Competitors could either plant the tree at home or in specially-created woodland in [...]
Filed under: urban trees | Tagged: bbc, bbc news website, tree-atlon, trees, trees for cities, urban trees | Leave a Comment »
