The Chemical Industries Association (CIA) today applauded the Environment Agency on their draft Chemical Sector Plan. The Plan – to be viewed as work in progress – aims to improve environmental management and performance within the chemical industry and its immediate supply chain. It goes beyond what is currently achieved through regulation, recognizing the significant contribution made by voluntary initiatives.
Ten environmental Indicators of Performance have been selected to monitor th
A prototype service utilising satellites for mapping forests to aid compliance with the Kyoto Protocol has been endorsed by end users from European countries – one environmental ministry representative called the baseline carbon stock information provided a “goldmine”.
ESA’s Kyoto-Inventory service has been designed to produce information products on changing land use associated with carbon ’sinks’ or ’sources’ that can support national governments’ reporting requirements to the Kyo
The Dutch dune area has dried out at a number of locations as a result of water extraction and drainage of adjacent polder areas. Wildlife managers are searching for favourable locations to restore the natural environment to the original wet dune valleys. Chris Bakker has compiled a number of characteristics that a dune valley must satisfy for a successful restoration project to be carried out.
Chris Bakker investigated dune valleys in Zuid Kenemerland National Park. He discov
This week ESA has joined around a thousand participants from 146 countries at the main policy making forum of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands in Kampala, Uganda. Today sees the presentation of results from an Agency-led initiative to develop a global wetland information service using satellites.
National delegates along with representatives from international organisations and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have met in Uganda’s capital for the eight-day Ninth Meeting
A total of 882 Baltic Sea research projects were carried out in 2004 in the countries surrounding the Baltic Sea. A majority (71 %) of the projects were national, 25 % were multinational EU projects and 3 % Nordic cooperation projects. This was reported in the BONUS Publication Nr. 3 Baltic Sea Research and R&D Funding in 2004, published at the beginning of November.
Baltic Sea research is carried out in all countries surrounding the Sea in several research programmes, in dozens of
Fossil leaves buried 55 million years ago show, for the first time, that rapid warming not only changed animal communities, but plant communities as well; and that the ancient warm spell may be representative of global warming’s effects in Earth’s future, according to an international team of researchers.
“There has been an absence of fossil leaf sites dating to the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM),” says Dr. Francesca A. Smith, postdoctoral researcher in geosci
Palmettos in Pennsylvania? Magnolias in Minnesota? The migration of subtropical plants to northern climates may not be too far-fetched if future global warming patterns mirror a monumental shift that took place in the past, new research by an international team of scientists suggests.
The findings, which appear in this week’s issue of the journal Science, provide the first evidence that land plants changed drastically during a period of sudden global warming 55 million years
Abalone divers, who typically despise the California sea otter because of its voracious appetite for the largest and tastiest of the shellfish, may actually have otters to thank for the dinner-plate size of the prized delicacy.
Worldwide, abalones tend to be small, in the range of 2 to 4 inches across, according to evolutionary biologist David Lindberg, professor and chair of integrative biology at the University of California, Berkeley, and a former abalone diver himself. Along
Understanding how pollution effects the dynamics of Earth and the spread of disease in ancient times are two areas in which ASU’s new School of Human Evolution & Social Change can make a dramatic and immediate impact, said Sander van der Leeuw, director of the school.
By drawing from a wide range of expertise and considering several perspectives outside the traditional anthropology disciplines, researchers at the school will be well equipped to take on important problems of today
Wildly varying figures pose problems for tracking endangered species
Washington, DC– The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) is supposed to help governments conserve endangered species by regulating the international sale and transport of wildlife.
However, a new study by scientists from Conservation International and the World Wildlife Fund shows that in some cases, the figures for trade recorded by CITES vary wildly from
In searching for ways to counteract the greenhouse effect, some scientists have proposed capturing the culprit—carbon dioxide—as it is emitted from power plants, then liquefying the gas and injecting it into the ocean. But there are pitfalls in that plan.
The carbon dioxide can rise toward the surface, turn into gas bubbles and vent to the atmosphere, defeating the purpose of the whole grand scheme. Even worse, if the liquid-to-gas conversion happens suddenly, the gas can bubbl
The Marine Board of the European Science Foundation (ESF) has recently established a Working Group that will summarise current observations and identify possible future impacts of climate change in European marine waters. The Group will identify future needs for marine monitoring and R&D at both European and regional scales.
“It is becoming increasingly clear that effects of climate change (such as changes in water temperature, storm intensity, wave height, ocean currents and sea lev
Polluting carbon dioxide emissions generated by the food industry are the target of a new £800,000 research project involving The University of Nottingham.
Experts will look at new ways of cutting the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) created by the food processing industry — a major energy consumer through its reliance on cooking, refrigeration, freezing and air compressor systems.
The Carbon Vision project will be one of the biggest investigations ever undertaken into t
The new National Centre for Statistical Ecology (NCSE), a pioneering project which links research in the universities of Kent, Cambridge and St Andrews, has received a foundation grant of £1,101,447 from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).
The three partners in the new centre are the primary groups in the UK in the field of wildlife assessment, and all three are recognised internationally for their work on modelling population dynamics. By linking toget
Scientists at the University of Sussex are working with local communities in Ecuador to help save one of the world’s rarest species of monkey – and the endangered rainforest where it lives.
The Brown-headed Spider Monkey (Ateles fusciceps) is “critically endangered”, which means that without urgent action to protect the 50 known breeding pairs still in the wild, the species could become extinct. The spider monkey – unusual in that it is exclusively a fruit-eater – is under threat
If humans continue to use fossil fuels in a business as usual manner for the next several centuries, the polar ice caps will be depleted, ocean sea levels will rise by seven meters and median air temperatures will soar 14.5 degrees warmer than current day.
These are the stunning results of climate and carbon cycle model simulations conducted by scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. By using a coupled climate and carbon cycle model to look at global climate and
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