Coral cause

News 360° - Briefs

OIL PALM PLANT INVASION Philippines is promoting agrofuels as a way to lower greenhouse gas emissions. Thousands of hectares have been set aside in the Palawan Island, a part of UNESCO’s recognised biosphere reserve, for oil palm and jatropha. A project by Agumil Philippines Inc., a joint venture between Filipino and Malaysian investors, has already started cultivating oil palms. The state-owned LandBank is backing it.

News 360°- Briefs

deforestation Kenya evicts settlers Three decades after allotting land to the hunter-gatherer community of Ogiek in Mau forest, the Kenyan government has asked them to leave. The 2,500 Ogiek families have been asked to surrender their title deeds by October.

News 360° - Briefs

global warming Maldives seeks new homeland As rise in the sea level caused by global warming threatens low-lying islands across the world, Maldives is looking for a new territory to relocate to.

In court

Clemenceau stranded again: Citizens groups can now go to court against the French warship Le Clemenceau docking in the UK water for dismantling in the country. UK's Court of Appeal has reversed an earlier decision by the UK High Court and granted the Friends of Hartlepool, a citizens' group, permission to apply for judicial review. The group had filed a case against UK's Health and Safety Executive for "unlawfully" allowing the entry of the ship for dismantling.

Stop endosulfan

Philippines House threatens zero budget for pesticides THE lower chamber of the Philippines' Congress has threatened to block funds to the agency that controls pesticide use in the country if it did not stop importing endosulfan. Endosulfan, a highly toxic chemical and a persistent organochlorine pesticide, is widely used in banana and pineapple farms in the archipelago.

In Court

Side effects of banana: A legal battle between banana farmers and environmentalists has reached the Philippines Supreme Court. Residents from Davao city have filed a petition to uphold a March 2007 ban on aerial spraying of fungicide on banana plantations. The group claims the spraying has led to various health problems and poisoned the water table in areas adjoining the plantations, like contract growers for multinationals Dole and Del Monte. The Philippines is the largest banana exporter in Asia.

Half-baked

on july 3,50 Filipino ngos demanded that endosulfan should be banned. This came after a passenger ship "illegally" carrying 9 tonnes of the insecticide capsized off the central Philippines in a typhoon on June 21. Rescue operation on board the Princess of Stars was stopped after the decision to refloat the ship. Activists have expressed fear of a disaster if the tank carrying endosulfan leaks. The Philippines government for the time being has put a ban on consumption of seafood caught in the area.

Bytes

rat find: A team of scientists has rediscovered the greater dwarf cloud rat (Carpomys melanurus), last seen 112 years ago. It was in the canopy of a large tree, on a large horizontal branch covered by a thick layer of moss, orchids, and ferns, about five metres above ground at Mt Pulag in the Philippines. Finding the animal gives hope for the conservation of one of the most diverse and threatened mammal faunas of the world.

In Court

power of the big Banana: A court of appeals in the Philippines recently sided with the banana growers and exporters of the country and allowed the continuation of aerial spraying of pesticides. The city government of Davao had banned aerial spraying of pesticides saying aerial spraying of toxic chemicals harms environment and people's health. The ban was to force the country's multi-billion dollar banana industry to follow sustainable agriculture and environment-friendly farming practices.