LUCKNOW: India's most populous state planted more than 10 million trees in a single day on Tuesday as part of an environmental awareness drive, authorities said. Farmers and students were mobilised to plant the record number of trees across the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, home to 160 million people.
Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull will seek to promote his own global climate initiative at a meeting of officials from 70 countries in Sydney next week. The international conference, which will run for three days from Monday, is the first opportunity for countries to signal their support for Mr Turnbull's Global Initiative on Forests and Climate Change. Australia committed $200 million to the initiative when it was announced by Mr Turnbull in March.
News Story by James Kilner MOSCOW - Russia will use satellites to catch loggers felling its vast Siberian forests known as the "green lungs of the planet", the state forestry agency said on Wednesday. Ancient taiga woodlands which cover much of Siberia are protected by Russian law, but since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union illegal loggers have cut down millions of trees, mainly for sale in neighbouring China.
News By Kipchumba Kemei The first group of hundreds of wildebeests crossed Mara River from Tanzania to Kenya at the weekend as a number of tourists flocked the area to witness the annual migration. More wild animals are also expected to cross the crocodile infested river from Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park in the next three weeks.
BELGRADE - A heatwave that has roasted much of the Balkans for a week abated in the north on Wednesday but sizzled on in Greece and left scores of wildfires throughout the region. An Ilyushin water bomber aircraft borrowed from Russia was doing its best to put out forest fires in Serbia, while Albania waited for whatever help it could get.
The Kyoto Forestry Association (KFA) says it is considering defying the government's proposed ban on election-year advertising by lobby groups, set to be announced by Justice Minister Mark Burton this week. KFA spokesman Roger Dickie says according to Forestry Minister Jim Anderton's own calculations, the government has "stolen" $1.25 billion of carbon credits from foresters who have planted trees from 1990 to the present day.
Research Story by Julia Hayley Nosema ceranae MADRID - A parasite common in Asian bees has spread to Europe and the Americas and is behind the mass disappearance of honeybees in many countries, says a Spanish scientist who has been studying the phenomenon for years.
News A new scheme aimed at putting the squeeze on criminals and making the south Wales forest a safer place for everyone to enjoy was launched at the Forestry Commission Wales outdoor theatre in Afan Forest Park on Tuesday, July 17. First there was Neighbourhood Watch, then came Pub Watch. Now, FC Wales is launching Forest Watch - a community crime prevention initiative targeting crime and anti-social behaviour in the woods of South Wales.
News SALT LAKE CITY — A hybrid scrub oak that looks like a tall, overgrown shrub in a Salt Lake City historical park is a rare and ancient tree from a time when Utah and the Great Basin were warmer and wetter. The branches of the 15-foot-high tree cover nearly an acre a few feet east of the Mary Fielding Smith house at This is the Place Heritage Park.
News Nairobi - Kenyan wildlife authorities have warned beach hotels to keep watch for nine elephants, which have strayed from their home and may wander onto Indian Ocean shores, said an official on Friday. The family group meandered into a forested area, three kilometres from Kenya's coast, but officials were not sure where exactly they had come from.
News It was recently noted by the commission that the water situation in Europe would continue to deteriorate if temperatures keep rising and no clear strategy is adopted. With water shortages and droughts on the rise, EU pushes for sustainable, continent-wide approach to this key commodity. Summer has arrived in earnest in some parts of Europe.
23rd International Leadership Workshop for Rural Youth from 11 July to 26 July 2007 in Germany The International Workshop is aimed at qualifying leaders from all around the world, on a regional and national level, for a responsible and sustainable rural development and thus at improving the quality of life of young people in rural areas.
BY JESSE BOYETT ANDERSON For the first time, scientists have used satellite images to demonstrate a link between rapid city growth and rainfall patterns, as well as to assess compliance with an international treaty to protect wetlands. The results have been published in two studies co-authored by Karen Seto, assistant professor of geological and environmental sciences and a fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford University.
News Legislation for new taxation arrangements for forestry managed investment schemes (MIS) has been passed by both houses of parliament After a two year process, including a comprehensive Federal Government review of the taxation arrangements for investment in plantation forestry, the legislation for new taxation arrangements for forestry managed investment schemes (MIS) has been passed by both houses of parliament.
Sports VILNIUS - A former Lithuanian triathlete said on Saturday he planned to become the first person to swim across the Baltic Sea to call attention to its environmental problems. Vidmantas Urbonas, the 1998 world ultra-triathlon champion, is to start on July 22 from Kalmar in southeast Sweden and head for Pavilosta in southwest Latvia, about 209 km (130 miles) away.
A group of Greenpeace activists from the 'Rainbow Warrior' landed on Carboneras Beach in Almería this morning to demand the demolition of the El Algarrobico hotel complex. The environmentalists made their point by painting 'HOTEL ILLEGAL' in three-storey high letters across the frontage of the partially constructed building.
News GRAND RAPIDS – Some tiny, parasitic wasps from China no larger than a sesame seed may help halt the destruction of Michigan's dwindling population of ash trees. The wasps lay eggs inside the larvae and eggs of emerald ash borers. The baby wasps that hatch feed on their hosts before emerging three weeks later, flying off and repeating the cycle.
News Athens - Firefighters and panicked residents struggled to control a forest fire on Monday that broke out on the edge of Greece's capital and forced the closure of a major highway into the city. Plumes of smoke enveloped eastern suburbs of Athens as six planes, three helicopters and about 100 firefighters battled the flames on the lower slopes of Mount Hymettus, about five kilometres east of the city centre.
