How did the well due on the biodiversity target set in 2010 – Targets might make good campaign slogans but without action they are just hot air

The 20 targets set back in 2010 wide-ranging and covered many different areas. Some examples of the the targets included cutting rates of habitat loss, managing fish stocks sustainably and preventing harmful pollution, among others. 

Of the 20 targets 6 thought to have been partially, met the rest were failed completely.

The UK government claim to have done well, having hit as many as a third of its targets. I would say this is an astoundingly low bar to clear,who in their right mind with sit a test get 33% and feel that they had done well? the more it seems that the government is mocking itself off in a way that doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. RSPB looked at how the government had done, they felt that the government had only met 3 of its targets, indeed in six of its areas it has actually gone backwards (the government rejected this critique).

3 of the most significant failures were insufficient funds for nature conservation, not enough space set aside for wildlife and declining wildlife populations.

Of the first, far from increasing funding the government has cut the funding on wildlife populations by £250 million. Given our rhetoric to other countries this is totally unacceptable.

In terms of space for wildlife,on paper the UK protects 28% of its land and 24% of its sea territory. Anyone with any sense can see this is rubbish, for instance the government claims all of the land in all national parks are being kept for wildlife,while there is nice areas of wildlife in the country’s national parks to say the whole area is wild is absolutely insane. 

Similarly on its claim to be protecting endangered species this is all so rubbish. 41% of the British wild species has declined in the last 10 years with 1-in 10 threatened with extinction.

A spokesman for the governmental department defra pointed to the fact of the UK is the first country in the world to legislate a legally binding rules requiring us to hit net zero carbon dioxide emissions.

“[We] are leading the world by setting ambitious goals for nature and biodiversity in our landmark environment bill as well as introducing new ways to reward farmers for protecting the environment, and investing £640m in the Nature for Climate fund,” the spokesperson said.

I personally think this is rubbish, in particular over the last decade the government has constantly said there is something else they need to be concentrating on, first recovery from the 2008 market crash, and now the pandemic. both of these are certainly urgent things that need to be taken care of, however these essential environmental requirements both in terms of biodiversity loss and climate change cannot wait for the UK to stop messing around with other things.

We must make our politicians act, they must act now not simply set targets to be met in 3 decades.

Trump administration has taped a long time climate change denier to run the noaa, believes climate change doesn’t threaten polar bears

The National oceanic and atmospheric administration is an important body whose job it is to produce the majority of the government’s climate change research. It is therefore highly concerning that they have recently chosen David Legates to run this organisation. He is a longtime climate change denier, indeed in 2007 was one of the authors of a paper that specifically questioned the previous findings about how climate change is destroying polar bear habitat.

Continue reading “Trump administration has taped a long time climate change denier to run the noaa, believes climate change doesn’t threaten polar bears”

In Melbourne far more snakes have been caught than normal, by snake catches and the lockdown is to blame

Why would coronavirus boost the snake population in Melbourne Australia? It would appear that it hasn’t, because of the lockdown people have spent far more of their time in the gardens and have therefore mowed their lawns and tidied up their flower beds.

As such it’s not that there are more snakes than in a normal year, but that people have spotted them.

Given the large number of highly deadly snakes that live in Australia care must be taken. However it is socially another strange boost that a wild population has had due to the coronavirus epidemic.

Orca, or killer whales, are the most effective hunters of the sea, but they’re not supposed to be dangerous to humans. So why are Orca now ramming sailing boats of the Spanish and Portuguese coast?

From two boats losing their rudders, to merely having passengers knocked around or bruised, this action seems to be intentional. The latest attack by an Orca on a boat ended with the Orca ramming the boat 15 times – that is not accidental. At the same time about 70 miles South another boat was attacked in a similar way.

Continue reading “Orca, or killer whales, are the most effective hunters of the sea, but they’re not supposed to be dangerous to humans. So why are Orca now ramming sailing boats of the Spanish and Portuguese coast?”

Rare albino ginger seal may need a new home as it’s been rejected by the herd

Different colouring of this extreme makes the pup at far greater risk from predators

Albino animals occur amongst most different species of animal. Albino animals are almost always far lighter white compared to the standard colour for their species. Generally this is caused by some sort of failure in the pigmentation. This young seal is living in the Siberian Sea of Okhotsk .

Continue reading “Rare albino ginger seal may need a new home as it’s been rejected by the herd”

Do we have a moral responsibility has humans to return wild animals that we have pushed to extinction back into former habitats

In most cases I would say that the answer to this is relatively simple. If we were the cause of an animal going locally extinct we should bring it back. Obviously if there is none of that species left this is impossible. In a number of species at the moment, we might not have reached complete extinction, we might have simply reached no more members of that species in the wild.

Continue reading “Do we have a moral responsibility has humans to return wild animals that we have pushed to extinction back into former habitats”

Astoundingly the US republican party has recycled their climate policies from 2016

Despite the urgency, Trump’s presidency has not been mosh with progress on the environmental front. He continues to talk about clean air and clean water,but doesn’t seem to understand the threat of global warming. Indeed the Trump presidency has been marked by the administration undoing many sensible moves made under previous presidents.

Continue reading “Astoundingly the US republican party has recycled their climate policies from 2016”

Wild giraffe numbers are collapsing, so why does the USA need another 5 years to decide whether they’re endangered or not?

The current wild population of giraffes is around 68,000 and has fallen by 40% in the last 35 years. For perspective, that means that there are roughly four elephants for every giraffe (and Elephants have been listed as endangered on the appendix 1 of the cites list back in 1976).

It is clear that this decision does not take a lot of study. As in other fields, science in the USA has become political, it is no longer possible to do a scientific study and then to do what it’s suggest is the right course of action.

It is an odd position for a party that considers itself conservative, to ignore science. Certainly in the past, presidents such as Ronald Reagan would have been horrified to see the scientific illiteracy, put forward by the party today.

Over the last 10 years, it found that 40000 giraffe parts were imported into the USA. Furthermore 3700 trophies where imported during the same period,-more than one a day on average. In America giraffes aware being turned into boots and pillow cases and even Bible covers (I find it hard to understand that one, how can someone who believes in God feel its reasonable to financial encourage its extinction).

It should also be noted that while we talk about 1 species of giraffe, there are actually four (with 5 subspecies recognized amongst these 4 species). Some of these giraffe species and subspecies are highly threatened with extinction.

In the time with tramp, the world has got used to America making scientific pronunciations that are utterly absurd. We must not stop calling attention to this, Americans of conscience and scientific understanding must stand up and make their voices heard.

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