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California Moves on Bill to Curb Sprawl and Emissions
Forests.org | Forest Conservation News 30 08 2008 New York Times: California, known for its far-ranging suburbs and jam-packed traffic, is close to adopting a law intended to slow the increase in emissions of heat-trapping gases by encouraging housing close to job sites, rail lines and bus stops to shorten the time people spend in their cars. The measure, which the State Assembly passed on Monday and awaits final approval by the Senate, would be the nation's most comprehensive effort to reduce sprawl. It would loosely tie tens of billions of dollars ...
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BIO-IPR Resource Pointer
GRAIN | News 29 08 2008 News, publications and links from the BIO-IPR email list
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Adding value to agriculture
Agricultural Biodiversity | Weblog 29 08 2008 DEFINITION: Agriculture, value added (% of GDP). Agriculture corresponds to ISIC divisions 1-5 and includes forestry, hunting, and fishing, as well as cultivation of crops and livestock production. Value added is the net output of a sector after adding up all outputs and subtracting intermediate inputs. It is calculated without making deductions for depreciation of [...]
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Nibbles: Amazon, Aquaculture, Bees, ICTs, Food prices, Dates, Cats, Taro
Agricultural Biodiversity | Weblog 29 08 2008 Not so pristine after all.Farming the sturgeon.Colony Collapse Disorder 101. And how floral scents affect pollinator behaviour.Presentation on how mobile phones are changing rural livelihoods.Urban food gardens to combat high food prices in South Africa. And a different approach in Madagascar.Getting dates in Saudi Arabia is becoming difficult.“Winged” cats.The importance of taro in Hawaii. Thanks, [...]
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From poachers to protectors: Young conservationist honoured
IUCN | Conservation news 29 08 2008 A Rwandan conservationist who helped turn mountain gorilla poachers into tourism guides has been given an award by the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas and the International Ranger Federation.
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Pre-Colombian Amazonians lived in sustainable 'urban' society
Mongabay.com | Biodiversity news 29 08 2008 Researchers have uncovered new evidence to support the controversial theory that parts of the Amazon were home to dense "urban" settlements prior to the arrival of Europeans in the 15th century. The study is published this Friday in the journal Science. Conducting archeological excavations and aerial imagery across a number of sites in the Upper Xingu region of the Brazilian Amazon, a team of researchers led by Michael Heckenberger found evidence of a grid-like pattern of 150-acre towns and smaller villages, connected by complex road networks and arranged around large plazas where public rituals would take place. The authors argue that the discoveries indicate parts of the Amazon supported "urban" societies based around agriculture, forest management, and fish farming.
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Nibbles: Amazon, Aquaculture, Bees, ICTs, Food prices, Dates
Agricultural Biodiversity | Weblog 29 08 2008 Not so pristine after all.Farming the sturgeon.Colony Collapse Disorder 101. And how floral scents affect pollinator behaviour.Presentation on how mobile phones are changing rural livelihoods.Urban food gardens to combat high food prices in South Africa. And a different approach in Madagascar.Getting dates in Saudi Arabia is becoming difficult.
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Lost in genebank database hell
Agricultural Biodiversity | Weblog 29 08 2008 Navigating around germplasm databases can be a frustrating experience. A posting on CropWildRelativesGroup alerted me to a Science Daily piece on tomato genomics which mentioned the wild relative Lycopersicon pennellii (or Solanum pennellii, but I’m not going there, at least not today). But how many accessions of this species are conserved ex situ? And where is [...]
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Australia: Gunns nearly out of ammo on pulp mill
Forests.org | Forest Conservation News 29 08 2008 Australian: THE long battle over the proposed Tasmanian pulp mill may soon be over, with proponent Gunns unable to give an assurance that the controversial project will proceed. In a marked change of tone, the timber company last night told the Australian Securities Exchange that it was no longer certain that it could obtain sufficient finance or a joint venture partner. It also told the market it could not meet a deadline for the start of construction of November 30, set by the Tasmanian ...
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As Biomass Power Rises, a Wood-Fired Plant Is Planned in Texas
Forests.org | Forest Conservation News 29 08 2008 New York Times: The city of Austin, Tex., approved plans on Thursday for a huge plant that will burn waste wood to make electricity, the latest sign of rising interest in a long-dormant form of renewable energy. When completed in 2012, the East Texas plant will be able to generate 100 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 75,000 homes. That is small by the standards of coal-fired power plants, but plants fueled by wood chips, straw and the like – organic materials collectively known as biomass – ...
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Gunns nearly out of ammo on pulp mill
Forests.org | Forest Conservation News 29 08 2008 Australian: THE long battle over the proposed Tasmanian pulp mill may soon be over, with proponent Gunns unable to give an assurance that the controversial project will proceed. In a marked change of tone, the timber company last night told the Australian Securities Exchange that it was no longer certain that it could obtain sufficient finance or a joint venture partner. It also told the market it could not meet a deadline for the start of construction of November 30, set by the Tasmanian ...
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ENVIRONMENT: Amazon Increasingly Oily
IPS | Biodiversity | News 29 08 2008 LIMA, Aug 28 (Tierramérica) - More than 180 oil and natural gas fields extend across the western Amazon, shared by five South American countries and threatening biodiversity and indigenous lands, warns a study by U.S.-based organisations.
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Nibbles: Poppies, Gardening, Milk, Grapes, Genebanks, Meat, Biotech, IK, Plant health
Agricultural Biodiversity | Weblog 28 08 2008 Dropping the poppy.Gardening on windowsills and along roadsides.Cooling camel milk. Via.Fingerprinting grapes.“The seed banks that are run by agribusiness corporations would be a costly pursuit for the government and farmers.” Where to start responding to this? Thanks, Jeff.Further evidence of food price crisis.“What does biodiversity mean to Syngenta?“Traditional healer goes online. Via.Videos from Global Plant [...]
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Almost Half of Australia Untouched by Humans: Study
Forests.org | Forest Conservation News 28 08 2008 Reuters: More than 40 percent of Australia, an area the size of India, remains untouched by humans, making the country as critical to the world's environment as the Amazon rainforests, a study said on Wednesday. Australia has some of the last great wilderness, with three million square kilometres (1.1 million square miles) largely unchanged by industrial civilisation, a report for international conservation watchdogs the Pew Environment Group and Nature Conservancy said. "It's rare on ...
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Exxon Agrees to Pay Out 75 Pct of Valdez Damages
Forests.org | Forest Conservation News 28 08 2008 Reuters: Exxon Mobil agreed to pay out 75 percent of a US$507.5 million damages ruling to settle the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill off Alaska, the Anchorage Daily News reported on Tuesday. Citing both Exxon and the plaintiff's lawyer, the Anchorage Daily News said the oil giant will release about US$383 million for distribution to the nearly 33,000 commercial fishermen and others who sued Exxon after the worst tanker crash in US history. Exxon Mobile took a US$290 million charge in the ...
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Inquiry into Murray water crisis
Forests.org | Forest Conservation News 28 08 2008 Canberra Times: The Senate will hold an urgent inquiry into the immediate availability of water for the Murray River, the Coorong and lower lakes in South Australia. Greens leader Bob Brown said he believed the inquiry would be better able to determine water storages than the independent audit of the Murray-Darling Basin promised two weeks ago by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. The motion was moved by new Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young and supported by the Government, the Opposition and South ...
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Nibbles: Poppies, Gardening, Milk, Grapes, Genebanks, Meat, Biotech, IK
Agricultural Biodiversity | Weblog 28 08 2008 Dropping the poppy.Gardening on windowsills and along roadsides.Cooling camel milk. Via.Fingerprinting grapes.“The seed banks that are run by agribusiness corporations would be a costly pursuit for the government and farmers.” Where to start responding to this? Thanks, Jeff.Further evidence of food price crisis.“What does biodiversity mean to Syngenta?“Traditional healer goes online. Via.
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SINGER maps crop wild relatives
Agricultural Biodiversity | Weblog 28 08 2008 Putting the new SINGER interface through its paces, I find that it can do something interesting that GRIN cannot. Or at least I can’t see a way of doing it, let me know if you can. Below is a screenshot from SINGER showing a Google Map of the distribution of all wild Arachis accessions that [...]
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Tangled Bank 112
Agricultural Biodiversity | Weblog 28 08 2008 There was a bit of a mix up over the blog carnival Tangled Bank, which was supposed to appear last week, while its organizer was swanning around the Galapagos, presumably with other things on his mind. Well it is up now, with a couple of treats. One, alas, is broken. Tangled Banks says that “insects [...]
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Fishy business
Agricultural Biodiversity | Weblog 28 08 2008 I missed this when it came out a couple of days ago, but a study by Daniel Pauly at the University of British Columbia shows how small-scale fishers are short changed by “well-intentioned eco-labelling initiatives and ill-conceived fuel subsidies”. I’d expect no less from Pauly, who has always been a champion of artisanal fisheries. Industrial [...]
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Nibbles: Small kine, Cedar, Coffee, Cows (again), Niger, Citrus disease
Agricultural Biodiversity | Weblog 28 08 2008 Mini-cows: Cheaper by the pound, but more expensive by the head.Lebanese icon imperilled.Birds protect coffee from coffee berry borer.Cows (m)aligned. Via.Jessica discovers millet and a grain bank (food, not seed).A new disease threatens citrus in Florida. Yay!
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: Almost Half of Australia Untouched by Humans: Study
Forests.org | Forest Conservation News 28 08 2008 Reuters: More than 40 percent of Australia, an area the size of India, remains untouched by humans, making the country as critical to the world's environment as the Amazon rainforests, a study said on Wednesday. Australia has some of the last great wilderness, with three million square kilometres (1.1 million square miles) largely unchanged by industrial civilisation, a report for international conservation watchdogs the Pew Environment Group and Nature Conservancy said. "It's rare on ...
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Scientists condemn Bush plan for endangered species
Mongabay.com | Biodiversity news 28 08 2008 The Ecological Society of America has come down handily against the Bush Administration's proposed changes to the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The changes would eliminate the requirement for independent scientific review of federal projects, such as roads, dams, and mines, instead allowing federal agencies to conduct internal evaluations and then proceed as they see fit.
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Saving oceans from acidification requires addressing climate policy
Mongabay.com | Biodiversity news 28 08 2008 Ocean acidification driven by rising carbon dioxide emissions is a great threat to marine ecosystems and needs be addressed through climate policy and conservation measures, said top marine scientists meeting in Hawaii.
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: Inquiry into Murray water crisis
Forests.org | Forest Conservation News 28 08 2008 Canberra Times: The Senate will hold an urgent inquiry into the immediate availability of water for the Murray River, the Coorong and lower lakes in South Australia. Greens leader Bob Brown said he believed the inquiry would be better able to determine water storages than the independent audit of the Murray-Darling Basin promised two weeks ago by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. The motion was moved by new Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young and supported by the Government, the Opposition and South ...
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