Environment

• Friday, March 19th 2010 - 03:42 UTC

  King Penguin with avian pox; “one in zillion” black KP in South Georgia

  

  A small percentage of King Penguins in a variety of locations around the South Georgia Island are suffering from disease, possibly avian pox, reports the latest edition of the South Georgia Newsletter.

• Friday, March 19th 2010 - 03:40 UTC

  Haiti reconstruction bill estimated in 11.5 billion USD

  

  Haiti will need 11.5 billion US dollars to rebuild after the devastating earthquake in January, the country's government estimates. The amount is a rough estimate of money required for a complete overhaul of the impoverished country, officials say.

• Friday, March 19th 2010 - 01:27 UTC

  Relatives of quake victims suing Chile for absence of tsunami warning

  

  Relatives of two sisters who died in the Feb. 27 tsunami are suing Chilean government agencies they claim are responsible for the absence of an adequate tsunami warning.

• Thursday, March 18th 2010 - 21:43 UTC

  Policies to protect tigers have “failed miserably…and are continuing to fail”

  

  Governments across the world have “failed miserably and… are continuing to fail” to halt the growth of illegal poaching and trade in tiger body parts, said Willem Wijnstekers, Secretary-General, Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

• Thursday, March 18th 2010 - 21:36 UTC

  Total ban on polar bears’ products trade rejected at UN wildlife meeting

  

  Polar bears have lost out on increased protection under international law after a US led bid for a total ban on trade in products made from the animals, such as furs and rugs, was rejected at a UN wildlife meeting in Doha, Qatar, Thursday.

• Thursday, March 18th 2010 - 02:15 UTC

  Faklands implements second plan to reduce seabird mortality in trawling fishery

  

  The Falkland Islands recently adopted their second Plan of Action to reduce seabird mortality due to trawling activity. The first plan of action was approved in 2004 following the work of SAST (Seabird at Sea Team), a collaborative project between Falklands Conservation and RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds).

• Friday, March 12th 2010 - 23:30 UTC

  Environment degradation threatens Haiti’s recovery process warns UN

  

  The United Nations Environment Program warns Haiti's recovery process will be greatly constrained if the environmental degradation suffered during the catastrophic earthquake is not adequately taken care of.

• Tuesday, March 9th 2010 - 19:03 UTC

  Immediate infrastructure reconstruction cost for Chile, 1.2 billion USD

  

  Chilean Public Works Minister Sergio Bitar estimated that the reconstruction and reparation of sidewalks, airports, canals, and other infrastructure works will cost around 1.2 billion US dollars, after the earthquake that devastated the nation. The quake was an 8.8 on the Richter scale.

• Tuesday, March 9th 2010 - 07:27 UTC

  FAO calls on politicians not to confuse bio-technology with “transgenic”

  

  The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization called for greater global support and funds to be invested in biotechnology research and regretted that so many politicians “do not understand that biotechnology is far more that Genetically Modified Organisms, OGM”.

• Tuesday, March 9th 2010 - 07:22 UTC

  Massive Chilean quake shifted whole cities including Santiago and Buenos Aires

  

  The massive magnitude 8.8 earthquake that struck the west coast of Chile last month moved the entire city of Concepcion at least 10 feet to the west, and shifted other parts of South America as far apart as the Falkland Islands and Fortaleza, Brazil according to a publication from the University of Ohio.