Ecology and Environment

Rome, 22 March – Urgent action is required to control a major outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease and prevent its spread throughout North Africa and the Middle East, which could have serious implications for food security in the region, FAO warned today.

On this the first anniversary of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster questions remain to be adequately and correctly answered on: is life in Japan back to normal? What lessons were learnt about the hugely funded nuclear industry? What do we really know about radiation and nuclear energy, what impacts do these have on our lives?

NAIROBI – Huge mirrors in space, petrifying carbon dioxide, algae farms, and lots of white paint – these are some of the ideas being proposed to offset global warming amid fears that temperatures might rise by more than two degrees Celsius by the end of this century.

So it turns that Monsanto, one of the world’s largest profiteers of genetically engineered (GE) food, has banned GE food from its own corporate canteens!

A fully bilingual press briefing will be held on March 3, 2012 in Fukushima City, co-sponsored by Green
Action, Peace Boat and FoE Japan.
The briefing will be an opportunity to hear directly from Fukushima citizens’ groups in the leadup to the
first anniversary of the disaster on March 11 about their activities to monitor and protect children and
citizens from radiation.

Tullow Oil plc announced that it has completed the farm-down of two thirds of its Ugandan licences to China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) Limited and French oil major Total for $2.9 billion earlier today. The news that British firm Tullow has finally brought in partners to develop its oil fields in Uganda paves the way for commercial oil production to begin in the country.

Bad news, very bad news, for the survival of planet earth. On the one hand, politicians attempt to gain votes by claiming a kind to and iron-and-steel, unwavering commitment commitment to save humankind, reduce destructive greenhouse gas emissions and produce “green energy”. On the other, governments spend 1.4 billion dollars… per day… to destabilize climate.

Criminal gangs are becoming a threat to the world’s glaciers, which are already receding as a result of climate change, the UN reported, citing a case in Chile where police are investigating the theft of some 5,000 kilograms of millennia-old ice from the Jorge Montt glacier.

At the dawn of the 21st century a new political regime has transformed Canada from global hero – once standing up for peace, people, and nature – to global criminal, plunging into war, eroding civil rights, and destroying environments, says journalist, ecologist and historian Rex Weyler.

Delhi Alliance for Safe Food represents a wide cross-section of people, including consumers, farmers, traders, civil society, trade union activists, scientists and academics, all from Delhi. This group held a press conference on GM foods at Gandhi Peace Foundation to address concerns on the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) Bill 2011.