There's quite a fashion now for creating enormous ocean nature reserves, write Peter J S Jones & Elizabeth De Santo. The UK kicked off the trend last year at Pitcairn Island, and now the US has followed up with a 1.5m sq.km reserve around Hawaii. But while these look like big conservation gains, the more serious task is to manage sustainably the intensely exploited seas close to home.
… Vast remote ‘marine protected areas’ - a diversion from the real … are set to become the world's largest marine protected area, US president Barack Obama … Pitcairn Islands, and it set up another huge protected area around Ascension Island in …
The US Fisheries Service has repeatedly failed to give highly endangered Right whales adequate protection. Now wildlife groups are suing the Agency to demand a more than tenfold expansion of 'critical habitat' to protect the species along the US's Atlantic coast.
… give highly endangered Right whales adequate protection. Now wildlife groups are suing the … tenfold expansion of 'critical habitat' to protect the species along the US's Atlantic … A coalition of environmental and animal protection groups has sued the federal …
Montana legislators have brushed off the attempts of farmers, ranchers and landowners to effect 'zoning' regulations to protect them, their land, their water and their livestock from the toxic impacts of fracking. Now they say: 'See you in Court!'.
… Montana's Carbon County farmers sue for protection from fracking The Ecologist | 22nd … landowners to effect 'zoning' regulations to protect them, their land, their water and … of their petition for land use regulations to protect their private properties from the …
Wilderness campaigners need to remember how great victories were won in the past - which was to aim high and hold steadfast, refusing easy compromises, writes George Wuerthner. Opposition must be overcome, never appeased.
… interests typically by agreeing to weakened protections or resource giveaways in order to … all cases where there have been effective protective measures enacted, it has been done … to propose compromises that offer far weaker protection for our public lands heritage than …
The new Commission may have dropped environmental protection from its 2015 work plan - but it's pressing ahead with a new Directive to protect corporate secrecy, threatening consumers, journalists, whistleblowers, researchers and workers.
… new Commission may have dropped environmental protection from its 2015 work plan - but it's pressing ahead with a new Directive to protect corporate secrecy, threatening … looked at by the European Parliament wants to protect companies' 'trade secrets'. But it …
In a rare 'summary judgment' a federal court has ruled that the devolution of gray wolf protection to the state of Wyoming was unlawful because it was based on non-binding assurances. Federal protection is restored - for now. But an even bigger battle lies ahead.
… Wyoming's Gray Wolves win back federal protection - for now The Ecologist | 29th … has ruled that the devolution of gray wolf protection to the state of Wyoming was … was based on non-binding assurances. Federal protection is restored - for now. But an even …
The US Supreme Court has denied organic and GMO-free farmers their day in Court against Monsanto - leaving them unable to challenge the company's patents or seek redress for GMO seed contamination.
… Supreme Court denies US farmers protection against Monsanto Food Democracy Now … right to argue their case in court and gain protection from potential abuse by the … non-GMO farmers the right to seek preemptive protection from Monsanto's patents at this …
With Monarch butterfly numbers down by 90% in 20 years - largely as a result of GMO crops in key feeding areas - the US Fish and Wildlife Service is reviewing the insect's status with a view to granting it legal protection under the Endangered Species Act.
… Monarchs may win 'endangered species' protection The Ecologist | 6th January 2015 … status with a view to granting it legal protection under the Endangered Species Act. Endangered Species Act protection may be warranted for Monarch …
As the movement to 'delist' Grizzly bears from protection under the Endangered Species Act gathers pace in US states and the Fish & Wildlife Service, two National Park superintendents have spoken out for the bears', writes Louisa Willcox. The hunters and the FWS may be furious, but the change of approach enjoys strong support from a public who have come to love their local bears.
… the movement to 'delist' Grizzly bears from protection under the Endangered Species Act … these bears lose Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections-prospectively as soon as this … Grizzlies, is pushing removal of ESA protections as hard and fast as it can and, …
The first law in the US to recognise the rights of an ecosystem is under threat.
… It should not come as a surprise that laws protecting elite profiteering come at the expense of laws that protect people and the planet. But we never … So we are taking back the law and using it to protect what is dear to us: our families, our …
Mexico is determined to restore populations of its largest native predator, the jaguar, to long term viability, writes Kent Paterson. That means creating millions of acres of ecological corridors across the country, and joining with US colleagues to secure large areas of habitat in southwestern states, where recent sightings give hope that jaguars are returning to their former range.
… In twists and turns, efforts are mounting to protect the Americas' biggest wild cat. A … classify the biological corridors as natural protected areas. An updated Mexican jaguar … City next May. Jaguar conservation means protecting the wider ecosystems In addition to …
A welt of anti-wildlife 'riders' have been attached to essential legislation in the US Congress, writes Caeleigh MacNeil - aimed at stripping protection from endangered species and so grease the skids for industrial exploitation of wildlands against the wishes of the great majority of Americans.
… Protecting endangered species - Congress says … writes Caeleigh MacNeil - aimed at stripping protection from endangered species and so … about which species should or should not be protected under the ESA should be made by US …
The stunning landscape of the Organ Mountains in New Mexico is now permanently protected as a National Monument following a Presidential Proclamation, reports Ted Zukosjy of Earthjustice.
… Mountains in New Mexico is now permanently protected as a National Monument following a … the pipes of an organ. The proclamation protects the iconic, jagged peaks of the Organ … and historical legacy of the area. Its protection was also championed by the state's …
In a potentially devastating blow to the Earth's climate, President Trump's new executive order ends the Interior Department's moratorium on coal mining on public land and begins a repeal of the landmark Clean Power Plan, writes Trip Van Noppen. But this reckless move will not pass unchallenged - the Supreme Court has ruled that the EPA must tackle climate pollution, and clean energy policies can still be defended and advanced at state level.
… line of billionaire polluters, rather than protecting our public health. Today, Trump … air, clean energy and climate action to protect the health of our communities and … responsibility under the Clean Air Act to protect the public from dangerous climate …
The US Environmental Protection Agency has just failed farm workers and their families by refusing to ban a neuro-toxic pesticide that causes severe brain damage in utero and to exposed children, writes Patti Goldman - imposing only weak, inadequate restrictions based on flawed science. It must do better!
… The US Environmental Protection Agency has just failed farm workers … and worker-rights advocates seeking stronger protections for the people who grow and … that it will do next to nothing to further protect farmworkers and their families from …
The well-founded idea that nuclear radiation is dangerous even at the lowest levels is under attack, writes Karl Grossman. Three determined nuclear enthusiasts have filed petitions to the NRC calling on it to apply the doctrine of 'radiation hormesis' - that low levels of radiation actually stimulate the immune system and promote better health. Disagree? You'd better act fast.
… No-Threshold' (LNT) basis of radiation protection that the US has used for decades … would throw the entire government's radiation protection rules into disarray, since other … and Fukushima" , notes Nuclear-News. "No protective measures or public safety warnings …
First corporations gained legal personhood, writes Don Fitz. Next they seized the right to force 'free trade' on unwilling populations. Now they are making sure that 'corporate rights' trump citizen rights - like the right to wholesome food and a healthy environment. That's where the 'Right to Farm' constitutional amendments come in ...
… from passing future laws for environmental protection, animal welfare or labeling of … 1868 in order to grant former slaves "equal protection under the law." As Jane Anne Morris … right to "privileges and immunities, equal protection, and due process." This flew in the …
For sheer guts, vision and results, a single organisation stands out among the US's environmental defenders - the Alliance for the Wild Rockies. Jeffrey St. Clair met its leader, Mike Garrity, winner of 2014's Grassroots Activist Award.
… siege on all fronts. The goal: permanent protection for 18m acres Garrity thinks big. He doesn't merely want to protect high-profile scenic parcels of the region. His goal is to secure permanent protection for all of the untrammelled spaces, …
The curse of Uranium has fallen once again on the Black Hills of South Dakota, ancestral home to the Lakota Indians - now fighting a massive mining project that threatens land, rivers and groundwater. But this time, writes Ben Whitford, the Lakota are not alone ...
… Protect our sacred water! Ben Whitford | 3rd … Indigenous Peoples USA Water Nuclear Power bh-protect-water.png The curse of Uranium has … a few boxes to tick, and the Environmental Protection Agency and South Dakota regulators …
If it wasn't climate change, was the real purpose of the Number 10 meeting of Theresa May's advisors and President Trump's environmental transition supremo Myron Ebell to plan the post-Brexit deregulation of UK farming, including pesticides? That's how it looks, writes Georgina Downs - and we had better begin now to fight for our health, wildlife and environment.
… Trump's transition team for the Environmental Protection Agency until the inauguration and … will be in filtered cabs and/or have personal protective equipment when using pesticides, rural residents have no protection at all. There are so many horrific …
Yellowstone's Grizzly bears are facing multiple threats, writes Anna Taylor - from proposals to remove their protection under the US Endangered Species Act, and shortages of key foods caused by climate change.
… Anna Taylor - from proposals to remove their protection under the US Endangered Species … if the proposal to remove the bears from the protection of the Endangered Species Act is … this year. The grizzlies would still be protected from hunting in the Park itself, …
The impending renewal of the license for a uranium mine in Nebraska has ignited a years long resistance among those - most of them women - for whom good health and safe, clean water in the Ogallala aquifer is as important as life itself, writes Suree Towfighnia. But for others, jobs and money come first. Now the Nuclear Regulatory Commission must reach its decision.
… all sides are joining forces in the effort to protect their water. The Crow Butte Resources … three neighboring sites. Pure water must be protected at all costs Cindy Meyers, a rancher … and a belief that pure water is worth protecting at all costs. Debra White Plume is …
The US is not enforcing a law which requires imported fish to comply with US standards for marine mammal protection - although non-US commercial fisheries are killing 650,000 marine mammals a year.
… to comply with US standards for marine mammal protection - although non-US commercial … is complicit in the deaths because a law to protect marine mammals is not being enforced. The Marine Mammal Protection Act requires countries exporting …
Monarch butterfly numbers are dwindling despite protection of their wintering forests in Mexico, and voluntary schemes to restore their food plant, milkweed, in US field margins, writes Eva Sirinathsinghji. These measures alone are insufficient: no less than an end to the mass spraying of glyphosate on crops, predicated by 'Roundup-ready' GM corn and soy, will do.
… butterfly numbers are dwindling despite protection of their wintering forests in … contributed. As explained below, if we are to protect this majestic species, we must address … Mexico and the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (CONANP) from the Secretariat …