Wanderlust

Tag: conservation

  • Pro-whaling nations block plan to create sanctuary

    A humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) jumps out of the Pacific Ocean's waters in Los Cabos, Baja California Sur, Mexico on March 14, 2018 Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Commercial whaling is banned from whale sanctuaries

    A proposal to create a whale sanctuary in the South Atlantic Ocean has been defeated at an International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting in Brazil.

    Japan and several other pro-whaling countries voted against the proposal, causing it to fall short of the two-thirds majority it needed to pass.

    Brazil’s Environment Minister, whose country proposed the creation of the sanctuary, said he was “disappointed”.

    Environmental campaigners are outraged at the outcome.

    The proposal was backed by 39 countries, with 25 countries voting against, including commercial whaling countries Iceland, Norway and Russia.

    Were Romans the first whale hunters? Whale spotted pushing dead calf for days

    But this is not the first time the proposal to build a whale sanctuary in the South Atlantic Ocean has failed.

    A similar proposal, tabled by Brazil, was defeated at an IWC meeting in Panama in 2012.

    Brazil’s Environment Minister Edson Duarte said he would not be deterred by the latest outcome.

    “We will work in other meetings of this commission this year to ensure that the sanctuary will finally be created,” he said.

    The IWC already recognises two whaling sanctuaries – one in the Indian Ocean and the other in the waters of the Southern Ocean around Antarctica.

    In 1986 it also agreed to a moratorium on hunting, which eventually became a quasi-permanent ban.

    But by using an exception in the ban that allows whaling for scientific purposes, Japan has still killed between 200 and 1,200 whales every year since, including young and pregnant animals.

    Could the ban on killing whales end? Why Japan keeps on whaling Japan and the whale

    And Japan is now looking to officially reinstate commercial whaling.

    The IWC will later this week give its verdict on whether it will overturn the ban on commercial whaling.

    Whaling in the 19th and early 20th Century brought the giant mammals to the brink of extinction.

  • Scallop row: London talks to find ‘amicable’ answer

    A video screengrab shows fishing boats colliding in the Channel Symbol copyright EVN/France Télévision Symbol caption French and British boats collided within the English Channel

    Talks might be held in London later in a bid to unravel tensions among French and British scallop fishermen.

    The British fish manufacturer company will meet with their French opposite numbers and Defra officers to check out and discover a solution.

    Around 40 French boats clashed with five UK craft last week in a row over scallop fishing off northern France.

    British crews said rocks, smoke bombs and other projectiles had been hurled at them through the confrontation.

    French agriculture minister Stephane Travert stated on Tuesday that France’s navy was once able to intrude to stop further clashes.

    The British crews say they had been surrounded and had rocks and steel shackles thrown at them, however French police stated UK boats answered in kind.

    A video printed by means of French media displays a Scottish scallop dredger, the Honeybourne 3, colliding with French vessels.

    (more…)

  • Palm oil: A NEW threat to Africa’s monkeys and apes?

    Chimp in Tanzania Image copyright Getty Images

    Endangered monkeys and apes will most definitely face new dangers if Africa turns into a big player in the palm oil industry.

    That is the message of a observe how massive-scale enlargement of the oil crop in Africa may affect the continent’s wealthy variety of natural world.

    Most spaces appropriate for growing palm oil are key habitats for primates, according to researchers.

    They say shoppers will help via choosing sustainably-grown palm oil.

    Ultimately, this may increasingly imply paying extra for food, cosmetics and cleaning merchandise that contain the oil, or restricting their use.

    Image copyright Getty Pictures Image caption 87% of primate species in Madagascar are threatened with extinction

    Environmentalists say the region’s forests have paid the fee, with local timber reduce to make way for palm bushes.

    Oil palm expansion is a big driver of deforestation, which in flip threatens wildlife, equivalent to the critically endangered orangutan of Borneo.

    Image copyright Getty Pictures Symbol caption Borneo orangutans are found in areas allotted to grease palm

    Then Again, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) says replacing palm oil with other oil plants isn’t an answer, as those crops have decrease yields and could absorb extra land.

    They say to cut back the impact on biodiversity, palm oil needs to be produced more sustainably by means of averting deforestation and by means of decreasing the use of palm oil in merchandise as opposed to food.

    Palm oil is present in many grocery store merchandise, including soaps and cosmetics. a huge quantity is now also being used in biofuel.

    Where is further expansion most probably?

    Many corporations growing palm oil are seeking to extend into Africa.

    that is a concern for conservationists, as attainable plantation sites are in areas of wealthy biodiversity.

    Symbol copyright Getty Photographs Image caption Palm oil plantation from the air

    they are particularly involved approximately Africa’s primates. Just About 2 HUNDRED primate species are present in Africa, lots of that are already beneath risk.

    Habitat destruction is certainly one of the principle reasons why all great apes are on the fringe of extinction. The introduction of palm oil plantations to Africa is expected to accelerate the habitat loss.

    The latest research is printed within the magazine Proceedings of the Nationwide Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

    The have a look at found that while oil palm cultivation represents crucial supply of source of revenue for many tropical international locations, there are few opportunities for compromise via growing palm oil in spaces which can be of low significance for primate conservation.

    “We discovered that such spaces of compromise are very uncommon inside the continent (0.13 million hectares), and that enormous-scale expansion of oil palm cultivation in Africa may have unavoidable, unintended effects on primates,” stated the analysis team.

    To put that determine into context, FIFTY THREE million hectares of land will probably be wanted by 2050 to develop palm oil in order to fulfill international demand.

    Dr Giovanni Strona of The Eu Commission Joint Research Centre in Ispra, Italy, worked at the observe.

    He said primates are already in steep decline in Africa because of habitat loss and poaching.

    “the principle message is that, as a result of the large overlap among spaces that are suitable to grow oil palm and areas that host many inclined primates, it shall be extraordinarily difficult to reconcile oil palm enlargement and African primate conservation,” he explained.

    What may also be done to take on the problem?

    The IUCN says effective insurance policies are had to prevent the clearing of native tropical forests for brand new oil palm plantations.

    In current oil palm plantations, firms will have to take care of their land to reduce impacts on biodiversity.

    Consumers can also assist by way of choosing products that use sustainable palm oil and cutting down on the amount of palm oil they buy.

    Follow Helen on Twitter.

  • Endangered black rhinos die in Kenya reserve

    A male black rhinoceros in a crate about to be transferred at Nairobi National Park, 26 June 2018 Image copyright AFP Symbol caption Estimates recommend there are fewer than FIVE,500 black rhinos in the world

    Seven endangered black rhinos have died whilst being transported to a brand new flora and fauna reserve in Kenya, studies say.

    Wildlife officers are still seeking to establish why the critically endangered animals did not live on the trip.

    The useless animals were among 14 black rhinos being transported to Kenya’s largest nationwide park, Tsavo East, AFP information company experiences.

    Estimates counsel there are fewer than FIVE,500 black rhinos in the world, all of them in Africa and a few 750 in Kenya.

    The deaths during the relocation process were showed by way of officers speaking anonymously to AFP, despite the fact that they said the explanation why the animals died was once no longer yet clear.

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