Independent.co.uk
Nature reserve surrendered to rising seas
By Michael McCarthy
Monday, 25 August 2008
A major nature reserve is to become one of the
first casualties of the rising seas around
Britain.
Part of Titchwell Marsh, a favourite spot for
birdwatchers on the north Norfolk coast, is to be
sacrificed to the waves to save the rest of the
site from destruction.
Peru: indigenous uprising claims victory — for now
Submitted by WW4 Report http://ww4report.com/node/5925
Indigenous groups in Peru ended more than a week of militant protests Aug. 20 at key
energy sites after lawmakers agreed to overturn a new land law issued by President
Alan García, which sought to ease corporate access to communal territories. García
had issued the law by decree earlier under special powers Congress granted him to
bring Peruvian law into compliance with a new free-trade deal with the US. A
congressional commission voted to revoke the law Aug. 19, and floor vote is expected
later this week. “We have lifted the strike,” said Alberto Pizango, head of Amazon
indigenous alliance AIDESEP. “We have faith and expect Congress to follow through.”
(Reuters, Aug. 20)
New forest to follow £1.6m deal
Wood ants
The area that has been bought is home to wood ants
Hundreds of thousands of trees are to be planted following a charity’s purchase of
Dundreggan Estate in Glen Moriston in the Highlands.
Trees for Life, which is based in Findhorn, Forres, has taken over 10,000 acres in a
£1.6m deal.
It plans to plant 500,000 native trees and re-connect the forest between Glen
Moriston and Glen Affric.
The organisation said the move would help protect declining numbers of wood ants and
black grouse.
The purchase is Trees for Life’s most important project to date and followed more
than two years of negotiations.
Founder and executive director, Alan Watson Featherstone, said: “This is a massive
step forward in achieving our vision of a renewed Caledonian Forest.
“It is a huge milestone for us, and we look forward to restoring
Dundreggan into a wild landscape that the UK and Scotland can be proud of.”
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“Slowing economic growth in many nations, along
with high food and fuel prices, makes it harder
to find cash for forest protection.
“Friends of the Earth environmental group said
there were risks that an inflow of funds would
push up the value of forests and lead to a land
grab by foreign investors that could threaten the
rights of indigenous peoples on the land.”
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Reuters
Fri Aug 22, 2008 10:18pm BST
U.N. climate talks split over deforestation funds
By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent
ACCRA (Reuters) – A 160-nation U.N. climate
conference in Ghana split on Friday over ways to
pay poor countries to slow deforestation, blamed
for producing up to 20 percent of the greenhouse
gases caused by human activities.