ACRE Recruiting New Board Member

The UK's Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment (ACRE) is seeking a new board member with expertise in insect ecology. The closing date for applications is 18 June 2007.

EU consultation on Aquaculture development

The aquaculture industry is growing quickly with pressure from falling catches of wild fish and increasing global demands for seafood. The EU Commission has opened a public consultation to look at the opportunities in aquaculture and potential challenges for the environment and public health. The consultation closes 15 July 2007.

Rewilding: What would it mean for British wildlife?

Rewilding has recently and controversially been advocated as the optimal strategy to restore biodiversity in both Northern Europe and North America. It has become a divisive issue in conservation, involving prominent scientists, and attracting much media and political attention. Definitions about rewilding are often clouded by ambiguity and vagueness - but most references to rewilding describe either:

• Reduction or minimisation of active conservation management to allow the development of dynamic and unpredictable landscapes.

or

• Proposals to reintroduce large grazing and predatory animals, or similar species as proxies, with the intention of reinstating lost ecological processes and evolutionary potential.

Bold claims have been made for the potential biodiversity benefits of rewilding, such as enhanced ability for adaptation to climate change - so there is an urgent need for an ecological evaluation of the evidence for these assertions.

A BES Ecological Issues booklet is currently in preparation to give a critical overview of the various guises of rewilding. There is also a BES specialist meeting on the Ecological consequences of 'Wilding' on 12 July 2007.

International Whaling Commission

The International Whaling Commission (IWC) was set up under the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling in 1946. The purpose of the Convention is to provide for the proper conservation of whale stocks and development of the whaling industry. At their annual meeting the Commission passed a resolution condemning Japan's whaling programme for scientific research in the Antarctic, which catches nearly 1000 whales per year. The Commission has also been considering aboriginal subsistence whaling.

The Commission's report of the Scientific Committee on the status of a number of large whale stocks, received new information on Antarctic minke whales, North Pacific common minke whales, Southern Hemisphere humpback whales, Southern Hemisphere blue whales and a number of other small stocks of bowhead, right and gray whales. There was positive evidence of increases in abundance for several of the stocks of humpback, blue and right whales in the Southern Hemisphere, although they remain at reduced levels compared to their pre-whaling numbers. Information remains lacking for other stocks.

Countryside Survey

The UK's Countryside Survey 2007 has begun. The survey goes back to 1978 and has been instrumental in detecting changes to the countryside and helping to inform government land-use policies. The first results of the 2007 Survey are due at the end of 2008 and should provide a unique audit of the UK's environmental assets.

Climate Change and Biodiversity

A number of reports have been recently published in the UK on how biodiversity may be affected by climate change and options for supporting adaptation. The MONARCH programme published its report on how shifts in climate space may affect the distribution of selected UK species. Of the 32 species looked at in detail, 29 are projected to see signficant shifts in their climate space. This suggests that species dispersal will be important for many species survival. Defra published guidance on how conservationist can help biodiversity adapt to climate change. Its guiding principles are:

• Conserve existing biodiversity
• Reduce sources of harm not linked to climate change
• Develop ecologically resilient and varied landscapes
• Establish ecological networks through habitat protection, restoration and
  creation
• Make sound decisions based on analysis
• Integrate adaptation and mitigation measures into conservation management,
  planning and practice
  

Energy White Paper and Nuclear Consultation

The UK Government published its Energy White Paper today. The White Paper had a number of significant announcements, including a consultation on the Future of Nuclear Power.