As fierce public debate rages over how to manage the Somerset Levels, a Task Force of farmers, wildlife groups, official Agencies and Councils has agreed a new 'Vision 2030' for the Levels - one the mainstream media have entirely missed ...
… regularly exceeding 130,000 birds. Wetland species such as Crane, Bittern and pollinator …
California's drought is a harbinger of things to come around the world, writes Maude Barlow. Because of global warming, yes - but also because the Golden State is an exemplar of the 'water as property for corporate profit' neoliberal paradigm that's taking over the world. It's now essential to assert water as a Commons - to be both justly shared, and fiercely protected!
… laws to protect the environment and other species only regulate the amount of damage …
Thanks to massive deforestation along Brazil's Atlantic coast and the Amazon, São Paulo's reservoirs are at just 6% of their capacity and water rationing is in place. But this is just the beginning of a long term drying process that could be recreated around the world as forests are laid waste and hydrology disrupted.
… maintain remarkable panoply of life with species not found anywhere else and provide …
The key to reducing the risk of more floods like those in Carlisle is to realise that conventional 'flood defence' can never provide security against the ever more extreme weather events that global warming will bring. We must embrace natural solutions to holding back flood waters: more trees; and bring back the beavers!
… We should therefore select water-loving species that are palatable to beavers - like …
Dam builders have a new mantra, writes Tom Fawthrop: 'sustainable hydropower'. Repeated at every opportunity, it is based on the unproven idea that large dams can be made 'sustainable' by promising future 'mitigation'. And so it is at the Don Sahong dam in Laos which is about to devastate the mighty Mekong and the 60 million people who depend on it for food and livelihood.
… teeming with a vastly greater variety of fish species than in the rivers of colder …
One unintended consequence of China's spectacular economic growth is a growing water shortage, reports Joshua Bateman. As rivers run dry, aquifers sink, climate harshens and pollution spreads, he asks: can China solve its water crisis?
… risk of extinction of certain animal species, such as the Chinese alligator, as …
Orcas from Puget Sound and the Strait of Georgia are under threat,in large part due to toxic organic compounds in the marine food chain, writes Sierra Rayne. To give them a fighting chance, the nearby community of Victoria, British Columbia must install advanced sewage treatment - rather than just dump its wastewater largely untreated into the orcas' ocean home.
… known as the Salish Sea) are a sentinel species, which means their health is a …
Eifion Rees talks to the Compassion in World Farming veteran and co-editor of The Meat Crisis - a shocking new book that exposes the range of environmental and health threats facing us if we don't kick our addiction to meat
… some of the country's most enigmatic monkey species COMMENT The water footprint: the …
After beavers' reintroduction to Scotland, landowners have accused the native rodents of damaging the environment, causing floods, and worse, writes Louise Ramsay. But the public have rallied to the cause of these charming, beneficial creatures, leaving conservative landowners isolated. Could the shift in sentiment trigger long overdue change in the Scottish countryside?
… could then provide habitat for, amongst other species, beavers , which would then help to …