Independent - Fears for unique wildlife of Galapagos as UN drops islands' protected status

Guardian - UN withdraws Galapagos from world heritage danger list
 

Location: Northern Ireland

Lagan Valley Regional Park is Northern Ireland’s first and only Regional Park, covering 4,200 acres of countryside and 11 miles of riverbank. As such a large and iconic space, the Laganscape project is keen to ensure that the community have some say in its management, as well as improving the park in general through a variety of partnerships with different organisations.
Laganscape is made up of a range of projects. These include planting over 2,000 oak trees, with the help of local schoolchildren, building and erecting over 100 bird boxes to make the area more attractive to a wide range of bird species, surveying wildflowers, training local people as heritage guides and restoring a lock chamber of the historic Lagan Canal, along with its Lock Keeper’s Cottage. Such projects hope to meet the three main aims of Laganscape: to maintain and enhance the landscape quality and environment of the park; to conserve the native flora and fauna, natural habitats and species and man-made heritage; and to provide opportunities for research, education and interpretation.
Lottery funding has been used to cover the running costs of various elements, including paying for staff, tools, materials and training costs. “Without funding from the Lottery, none of the achievements of the past year would have been possible,” says Project Manager Brendan O’Connor. Laganscape also benefits from having strong links with 25 other organisations, including three councils, The National Trust and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency, which help it achieve its aims.
The mixture of habitats and heritage conservation is attracting visitors in their thousands. Some come to enjoy the scenery, walk quietly along the towpath or to visit the restored lock and its cottage. “It’s a representation of living history,” says Brendan. Hundreds of others come to get involved with volunteering activities, including planting trees, installing pathways, picking up litter, collecting grass seeds and learning about bird conservation. Since January 2009, the project has benefited from over 800 days of volunteering. Laganscape also works closely with primary schools in the area, making their grounds more attractive to wildlife with minibeast mansions (structures that attract insects), bird boxes, ponds and trails.

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Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development: I note that the new Liberal-Conservative Coalition in Britain has announced that, as part of a package of measures, they will introduce a carefully-managed and science-led policy of badger control in areas with high and persistent levels of bovine TB. I have not had any discussions with my counterpart in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) in relation to a badger cull. I understand that decisions on the shape of the Defra package of measures have not yet been taken and that the Coalition wishes to consider all the issues carefully, including the scientific evidence, and to work out the detail of the package to ensure they get it right. They will be looking at vaccine and culling options as part of that package. They will also watch how Wales embarks on their planned badger cull whilst they finalise their own plans. I shall be very interested to see exactly what it is they propose and how it is to be funded.

My Department has a rigorous TB programme in place, approved by the EU, which includes a strand to address the wildlife factor. The ultimate aim of our TB strategy is to eradicate TB in cattle in the north of Ireland.

Interventions to address the wildlife issue may include improving biosecurity, as well as options for more direct intervention such as the vaccination of badgers, which may be the most feasible solution in the long-term though I recognise it could be some time before an effective oral badger vaccine becomes available. We plan to carry out a TB Biosecurity Study this year to assess what critical differences there are between infected and non-infected herds in a TB high incidence area in County Down.

Consideration of both selected cattle and wildlife factors will be key elements of this Study which will help inform new biosecurity advice for farmers. We are also seeking to see how other AFBI research and development projects can best contribute to the fight against TB.

To date, research involving badger culling elsewhere presents a mixed picture of its cost benefit and effectiveness in reducing disease levels in cattle. It would appear that the cost exceeds the benefit by 2-3 times. There are no plans for any cull of badgers here. As the badger is a protected species, any direct interventions in the badger population would be subject to the agreement of the Environment Minister, and also to the availability of the substantial additional funding that would be needed.

My officials will continue to maintain contact with the work that is on-going in the south of Ireland and in England to develop a viable vaccine for badgers, which can be deployed in a cost effective way. We will also track the progress of the Welsh cull as well as the delivery of the Defra package of measures in England.

Action to deal with cattle to cattle transmission of TB will also continue to be an important element of our TB strategy as we move forward.

This story is from the Guardian.  Read it in full here: Amazon deforestation in dramatic decline, official figures show.
 

• If made across the board cuts will amount to 8.4% over five years

• Ring-fencing health will mean cuts of 15% across other departments

• Ring-fencing health and education will mean 22% cuts on everything else.

Read the report in full at Cutting Carefully.