Environment

• Monday, August 20th 2012 - 21:14 UTC

  Insufficient harvests and soaring prices anticipate another world food crisis

  

  With droughts parching farms in the United States and near the Black Sea, weak monsoon rains in India and persistent hunger in Africa's Sahel region, the world could be headed towards another food crisis, experts say.

• Monday, August 20th 2012 - 20:55 UTC

  Falklands appoint landscape impact assessment consultant for new harbour development

  

  The Falkland Islands government has appointed Macclesfield based consultancy Tyler Grange to undertake a landscape and visual impact assessment for a new harbour development near the capital Stanley.

• Saturday, August 18th 2012 - 05:32 UTC

  Tropical fish moving south because of climate change says Australian report

  

  Australia’s Marine Climate Change 2012, released on Friday, provides evidence of a large-scale redistribution of marine species in ecosystems around Australia. Dr Elvira Poloczanska, who led the study, says there's a lot of uncertainty about the long-term impacts.

• Wednesday, August 15th 2012 - 08:54 UTC

  Brazilian court listens to natives claims and suspends work on Belo Monte dam

  

  A Brazilian federal court has ordered the immediate suspension of work on the controversial Belo Monte hydroelectric plant, ruling that indigenous communities were not consulted. It was set to be the world's third-largest dam.

• Tuesday, August 14th 2012 - 07:31 UTC

  Obama announces 170m dollars emergency support for scorched farms

  

  President Barack Obama announced an emergency purchase of up to 170 million dollars of meat and fish on Monday on a campaign trip to drought-hit Iowa, and accused Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan of blocking disaster aid to farmers.

• Monday, August 13th 2012 - 21:57 UTC

  UN launches new initiative to protect oceans on 30th anniversary of Law of the Sea

  

  United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon launched on Monday a new initiative to protect the oceans and the people whose livelihoods depend on it, and called on countries to work together to achieve a more sustainable management of this precious resource and address the threats it is currently facing.

• Monday, August 13th 2012 - 05:11 UTC

  Aid for US farmers stalled in Senate; proposal to reduce bio-fuel mix in gasoline

  

  The US House of Representatives passed a 383 million dollars disaster relief bill that provides political shelter for lawmakers during the worst drought in half a century, but may not release the aid for months to come.

• Saturday, August 11th 2012 - 11:17 UTC

  US consumers face dearer pork, chicken and beef because of the drought

  

  Pork and chicken will join beef on the menu of expensive meats as drought and US ethanol policy combine in a corn “disaster”, the head of the world’s largest pork producer has said.

• Saturday, August 11th 2012 - 11:11 UTC

  UK minister swims in tank of sharks to highlight campaign against ‘finning’

  

  UK Fisheries minister Richard Benyon has been swimming with sharks to highlight his desire to tighten the European ban on “finning”. Mr Benyon took the plunge into a tank of sharks at Sealife London Aquarium to launch a Shark Trust initiative calling for support to close loopholes in the EU ban on slicing off shark fins and discarding the bodies at sea.

• Friday, August 10th 2012 - 22:37 UTC

  Ice patrol HMS Protector crew to visit the affiliated city of Cambridge

  

  The university city of Cambridge might be more used to punts, but it is about to welcome the crew of a Royal Navy ship. HMS Protector, the Navy's 5.000-ton Antarctic patrol vessel is to visit the region on Monday, marking her first visit to her affiliated city of Cambridge since the formal link was established a year ago.