A report outlying the dangers posed by climate change was suppressed by U.S Government officials, in an effort to avoid having to sign-up to binding emissions reduction targets set out in the Kyoto protocol.

The Environmental Protection Agency made clear the severity of their findings in the report, stating that: “Risk (to human health, society and the environment) increases with increases in both the rate and magnitude of climate change,” making clear the unequivocal evidence for global warming and its human cause.

The report, unveiled in today’s Telegraph suggested that there would be an increase in human mortality through increased disease prevalence, drought, and worsened allergy reactions from increased pollen. The article made reference to potential conflict across the globe resulting from competition from increasingly scarce resources such as water. Because the Bush administration fear that the U.S economy would suffer as a result of reduced greenhouse gas emissions, the link between human health and climate change has been played down, despite the overwhelming scientific evidence.

The leaked 149-page report further adds to the current U.S Administration’s track-record of hindering progress towards curbing anthropogenic-induced climate change.

The UK Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology has recently released its latest publication on the theme of Biodiversity Indicators. The article is published at a time when the European-led target of halting the loss of UK Biodiversity by 2010 is widely perceived to be failing. As confirmed by the BES’s expert membership, in the BES Science Policy Team’s official response to the environmental audit committee’s enquiry.

The POSTnote examines the value of the biodiversity indicators identifying two key questions posed by an inquiry launched by the Environmental Audit Committee:

1. Are the indicators meaningful?
2. Are there enough data to assess progress and define targets?

1) The indicators have been good where knowledge has been available, in terms of their usefulness to policy-makers, whereas others have suffered as they more difficult to unravel in terms of biological meaningfulness.

2) For some groups, e.g. birds, there is more than enough biologically meaningful data to draw confident conclusions from about their status, whilst for other groups as found in the Red List Index, data are available for only a few species and even where found the resolution of the data is at too coarse a scale to make competent assessments. Many species are ‘data deficient’ making it almost impossible to assess their true status.

The BES offers the opportunity to third year PhD students to work in the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology on a relevant ecological topic. For further information go to: http://www.britishecologicalsociety.org/articles/publicaffairs/POST/

New research published in Biological Conservation suggests that strips of land alongside motorways play an important role in maintaining plant and spider diversity within intensive agricultural landscapes.

The research was conducted along one 50km stretch of Motorway near Paris, collecting data from 25 individual sites. Where possible, sites with hedgerows were selected within 1.5km from sites without hedgerows.

The researchers found that hedgerows were positively associated with plant diversity – being twice as rich as the grass verges (without hedgerows). Spider diversity was closely associated with proximity to natural woodland, with little significant difference in diversity between hedgerows and grassland. Spider community structure differed between habitat types; hunting and ballooning spiders were found more often in open grassland, whereas web-building and ‘non-ballooning’ spiders were most common in hedges.

Future research may benefit from looking at strips on different motorways in comparable landscapes rather than replicating along the same stretch of motorway. However, this preliminary research is important in that it has shown that the means in which motorway verges are planted and managed can increase plant and insect diversity in different ways.

After construction of future motorways, some restoration can be achieved by creating a mosaic of hedges and grassland, providing spatial and temporal refugia for biodiversity as well as increased ecological connectivity.

Full reference: Le Viol, I., Julliard, R., Kerbiriou, C., et al. (2008). Plant and spider communities benefit differently from the presence of planted hedgerows in highway verges. Biological Conservation. 141(6): 1581-1590.

EU ministers have admitted being ‘grossly confused’ over renewable energy targets. There has been widespread belief amongst European ministers that the EU renewable energy target stipulates all fuels must contain 10% biofuels by 2020.

However, it has recently come to light that the original policy documents have been woefully misunderstood by ministers.

At a recent meeting, the French energy and environment minister Jean-Louis Borloo pointed out that: “The member states realised that the commission’s plan specifies that 10 percent of transport needs must come from renewable energy, not 10 percent from biofuels.”

There has been widespread condemnation of the European policy position on biofuels from heavyweight non-government organisations (NGOs) such as the RSPB and the WWF. At this stage however, there may be a new opportunity for NGOs to influence EU renewable energy policy direction. Mr Borloo now believes that the policy could be interpreted to infer that renewable energy could come from fuel cell technology and electricity from renewable sources, rather than biofuels or other unsustainable sources.

Despite the political distancing from biofuel policy after the recent hiatus, there has been no official EU policy change towards biofuels. The Green MEP Claude Turmes has proposed a bilateral agreement with Brazil to import biofuels from sugarcane stocks – the only biofuel source he considers sustainable.

The BES invites members and readers of the blog to contribute to the Biofuels debate: does the EU renewables policy need a better focus? Might it be sensible to distinguish between ecologically unsound biofuels and more sustainable biofuels? Should the EU place stronger emphasis on energy efficiency in transport, housing and business?

The BES strongly welcome your views!

With the wealth of independent research institutes and bodies, and the host of acronyms, figures and predictions associated with climate change, it is little wonder that yet still doubt is cast by some sections of the media on the evidence for climate change, and effective mitigation strategies remain to be implemented.

The Copenhagen Challenge project, which took place in Copenhagen last week (26 June) at the Public Communication of Science and Technology (PCST) conference, aimed to respond to this challenge. “The challenge comprised discussion topics, such as how to communicate climate change to communities without access to modern mass media”- Benita Marcussen

Despite unilateral agreement in the scientific community that climate change is a fact, the media, and subsequently the people remain to be convinced. One of the challenges elucidated by the conference was how to overcome the contradiction of supporting development whilst mitigating climate change. Recommendations made from the event will be considered by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The IUCN, the world conservation union, has today produced a publication examining the challenges facing the 28 overseas entities of the European Union. The release of “Climate Change and Biodiversity in the EU Overseas Entities” coincides with the start of a five day conference on Reunion Island, where delegates will discuss strategies to counter climate change and biodiversity loss.

EU overseas entities (including the UK’s overseas territories and crown dependencies) are, in the main, small tropical islands. Many depend on the integrity of their natural environment to provide employment in fishing, tourism or in the trade of natural products. Many are threatened by climate change and sea level rise, unsustainable development of infrastructure for recreation and leisure, unsustainable fishing practices and over exploitation of natural resources. These factors pose tremendous threats to the many endemic species which are found in these areas.

The BES is a member of the UK Overseas Territories Conservation Forum (UKOTCF) which exists to promote the conservation of the species and habitats of the UK’s Overseas Territories. It acts as a central point of liaison between NGOs and Government in the UK and in the Territories. The BES is present at the IUCN conference in Reunion as an observer.

View Live Webcast of IUCN Reunion Conference: 7 – 11 July 2008

The leaders of the Group of Eight (G8) most industrialised nations meet in Japan today to discuss the challenges posed to global development by climate change, rising food prices and escalating energy costs.

UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, has called on the US to take the lead on fighting climate change, stating in an interview with AFP that “it’s desirable for industrialised nations to lead by example”. Ban said that “political will” was lacking in the fight against climate change. In the same article it is reported that the chief of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, has said it’s unlikely that specific targets for emissions cuts will be agreed by leaders at the summit. However, he says he hopes for agreement to “a long-term commitment of a 50 per cent reduction by 2050 and a principle agreement for a mid term reduction [for each G8 nation]“.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown is expected to call on G8 leaders to accelerate efforts to tackle global warming, seeing this as integral to the development agenda.

Ths BES’s Science Policy Team yesterday attended a fascinating conference at New Hall College, Cambridge, organised by the Cambridge Conservation Forum. “Future Farming in the UK: Global Implications for Society and Biodiversity” was an opportunity to discuss and debate the impacts which farming methods and models of the future could have on biodiversity, and how such models could be affected by climate change.

Presentations ranged from a discussion of the potential for miscanthus and short-rotation-coppice willow to meet our future bioenergy needs, to the future of the Common Agricultural Policy and the future impacts of UK agriculture to peoples internationally. We heard too from a farmer, Nicholas Watts of Vine House Farm, who discussed his shift to organic farming and measures on the farm to encourage biodiversity. A presentation from the BTO outlined the measures which farmers could adopt to encourage late-breeding in the turtle dove (leaving fields as whole or part stubble following the harvest) and skylarks (in-field undrilled patches to create suitable nest sites).

During the day, participants were given the opportunity to suggest possible solutions to problems of food security, climate change and consequent pressures on biodiversity. Delegates voted for the ‘top’ solution as; recognising that population growth is part of the problem. Increased investment in education for girls, along with greater access to birth control for women, must be part of the solution.

Professor Bill Sutherland (University of Cambridge), a co-organiser of the conference, concluded the meeting, stressing the importance of horizon-scanning to ensure that the science community is prepared, with the results of relevant scientific research, when challenges emerge. There are serious challenges ahead, and the science community has to think about how it will address these; conservationists should be part of the dialogue and part of the solution.

Access the ‘top solutions’ to the challenges, as voted for by delegates, plus presentations from the day, at the website of the Cambridge Conservation Forum.

Were you there? Share your thoughts on the conference with us by leaving a comment on the Blog

The BBC has this morning reported that the Government has decided not to press ahead with the proposed cull of badgers in England. The formal policy announcement is due on Monday 7 July.

The NFU is disappointed by the decision and has accused the Government of lacking leadership. The organisation plans a demonstration outside Parliament next week. The NFU claim that, unchecked, bovine TB could cost the economy £1 billion in compensation and control measures.

Last year, the Independent Scientific Group looking at this issue published the results of their long-term study into the effectiveness of culling badgers to control the spread of TB to cattle. They concluded that whilst a long-term, large scale cull could be effective, the impact was inconclusive and culling was likely to be an uneconomical solution. Scientists have argued that better biosecurity is the way to keep the disease under control, along with the use of any vaccine which may be developed. The Government’s then chief scientific advisor, Sir David King, published a report following the ISG publication, arguing that a cull should go ahead.

The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform has launched a consultation on the future of Carbon Capture and Storage.

A burgeoning population and consequent increase in demand for energy means that meeting global, national and regional carbon emission reduction targets will become increasingly difficult. In response, the government has proposed to build additional coal-fired power stations to meet the growing demand for energy. However, these proposals have been met with fierce criticism from environmental campaigners and leading scientists such as the President of the Royal Society, as the government’s commitment to energy supply is not presently concomitant with appropriate measures to reduce carbon emissions using carbon capture and storage technology.

The consultation document seeks a range of perspectives on various components of the regulation of Carbon Capture and Storage. Specifically, the document will consult on aspects of the proposed EU Directive on the Geological Storage of Carbon Dioxide and welcomes views on the principle of ‘carbon capture readiness’ for combustion plants and the regulation of Carbon Dioxide storage.

BES members are invited to take part in the consultation response, and contributions are strongly welcomed from readers of the blog.