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Oxeye Events and productions Added 17 Jan 2008 - Last Edited 17 Jan 2008 http:/www.oxeye.org.uk
a new site set up to facilitiate the work of Oxeye, founded by Matthew Morton, Paul De'luce and Miriam Jangles to raise awareness of Oxford campaigns.
site administers by Tim
Out of My Tree -Bruce Heagerty Added 17 Jan 2008 - Last Edited 17 Jan 2008
I thought it might be interesting to any readers who have been following the Bonn Square and Westgate Centre tree saga last week to put down what happened from my point of view, seeing as it was me that spent 24 hours up the tree outside the Westgate and even good journalists, let alone readers, are bound to draw conclusions that are wide of the true mark.
On Wednesday 9th Jan, I received various invitations to come down and see what was happening around the Westgate Centre, where I was told that a number of trees were in imminent danger of being chopped down. I was a bit dubious about going, as I was about to head off job hunting - my last job having finished just before Christmas - but I attended with the simple intention of showing some sympathetic support for a while. All seemed pretty peaceful down at the Westgate and I felt that there wasn't much I could do as work appeared to have been stopped on the tree-felling front. I was about to leave when there was a flurry of activity round the corner from where we were standing, between the Westgate Centre and the multi-storey car park. They had fenced off Norfolk Square.
Workmen had begun chainsawing off the branches of one of the magnificent Plane trees next to the car park. Deborah Glass Woodin was visibly upset by this and was trying to prevent the workmen going any further. As a County Councillor she felt that she had been insufficiently informed that this was to happen. It was heart-wrenching to see a concerned five-foot female councillor being dragged off in tears by two carthorse-sized policemen who seemed completely unconcerned. Despite vociferous protestations explaining that Mrs Glass Woodin was going about her duty by questioning the work that was being carried out, she was dragged, tearful and wretched, into a police car while the police shoved the rest of us that were trying to help her out of the way.
Once this bit of excitement was over, a friend and I watched sadly as the first of three trees designated for the chop was sawn noisily up with chainsaws and then fed into a pulping machine. I stared at the next tree in the line, seeing it properly for the first time. It is a magnificent London Plane, probably around a hundred years old. Its branches soar up over the top of the four storey car park and brush against the top of the Westgate centre. Each branch forks repeatedly into lesser branches and at their ends are twin seeds that dangle down from straw-like strands like spiky chestnut baubles. There are thousands of them decorating the extremities and the tree's elegant, stretching branches clawing up into the sky are more natural and beautiful than any spire, a welcome relief to the grey surroundings of the concrete blocks it separates. A number of people who live and work in the area have told me that they find them very comforting and I can fully appreciate why now that I have spent a couple of days in one. To anyone content with replacing them with saplings, I would say that they are ignoring several decades of growth.
The first tree was removed in under half an hour and it was awful to think that this hundred-year-old example was about to follow it so efficiently into the pulping machine. There were policeman patrolling around the eight-foot fence in front of it and we watched as a ladder was rested up next to the tree, ready for the workmen to begin the job of sawing off its limbs. A little sunshine lit up the soft khaki colours of the patchwork bark in fawns, greens and browns. The policeman and policewoman in front of the fence ambled away and with the flash of a grin telling us we were doing the right thing, my friend and I sprinted spontaneously at the fence. Suddenly I was over it and running for the ladder before any of the workmen had looked round. Next thing I knew I was scrambling onto the lowest branch of the tree and looking down at the workmen who frustratedly removed the ladder from beneath me. I looked back in vain at my friend, who had sadly been pulled back off the fence by policemen. Unfortunately for me, he still had the backpack with a thermos of hot coffee in it on his back. Nothing, however, could deflate the triumphant sense of satisfaction I felt that, for a while at least, this exemplary Plane tree was free from the violent dismemberment that had just been visited on its neighbour.
Why have these trees been designated for hacking? The powers that be at Oxford City Council have seen fit to bless us with a brand new enormous extension to the perfectly adequate shopping centre we have already. The land itself is owned by the Council and is on a 150 year lease to Coal Pension Properties Ltd that started on March 3rd 1986. The original lease says that there should be “no more parking spaces” on the land than at present and somehow the planning department have interpreted this as to say that “it is incumbent upon the city council to provide at least the same number of parking spaces” there. Given that it is a residential area considered an 'Air Quality Management Action’ (AQMA) zone, due to the illegally high level of pollutants in the air, then surely less parking should be provided there and perhaps more stories added to the Park and Ride car parks so often full on the outskirts of the city. This solution would endanger the local residents' health a lot less and benefit us all by letting fresher air sweep throughout the city. Asthma levels are on the rise everywhere and providing further parking in the city will exacerbate the problem.
There is some doubt as to whether the development will happen at all. Capital Shopping have said that if they are to go ahead then they also require the land at Abbey Place across the road from the car park, which at present is home to 18 vulnerable people in 14 houses. This more drastic part of the plan is still under review and could scupper the whole project if it is deemed a bad idea. Are these poor people to be forceably relocated just so that Capital Shopping can build their massive multi-storey car park? As yet their relocation has yet to be agreed and already Capital Shopping are stomping around like some great beast demanding that the trees must go.
So why are these amazing Plane trees, whose variegated bark actually absorbs air pollutants, to be removed before it is sure that the development will go ahead? According to shopkeepers in the Westgate, some of whom have contracts for their businesses on the site until July 2010, Capital Shopping have given the Council half a million pounds to get on with the job and clear the way for their development. Could they have done this so that if the development comes up against any objections, then the developers will be able to say “..well the trees have all gone now so we have to get on with it anyway”? The very rushing of the job makes one suspicious.
Living in a tree is not a way of life I would recommend to anyone. Wedging oneself between two trunks so that one doesn't fall out at night is an exceedingly uncomfortable precursor to trying to get to sleep, particularly in winter. Our system of democracy is not perfect in that we only get to vote once every four years and are then obliged to hand over the decision making to a handful of people whose decisions we may often disagree with. What is known as 'protesting', with all its negative connotations, is simply exercising our endangered right to disagree with certain decisions and ask if there may not be a better answer to the question in hand. England has a proud history of protest that has brought about a number of great benefits to our society, including, of course, the emancipation of women. I am proud to have spent twenty-four hours in a tree and part of this noble tradition so often denigrated in the media.
The amount of support I received while up the tree from both friends and passers-by has been absolutely extraordinary. I have had more thumbs-up than Jenson Button in a formula-one race and it is heart-warming to witness the mostly invisible solidarity of the largely silent public be laid bare. The most magical event was on Wednesday evening when a group of 9 fairies skipped past in pink dresses and fairy wings. They looked no more than ten years old. They shouted up asking what I was doing and I answered simply that some people wanted to chop the tree down and I didn’t want them to. They waved their magic wands and skipped away chanting “Save the Tree! Save the Tree!” I can only hope their spell holds and our wish is granted.
If the development is planned on ‘council land’, it means that this is Oxford City land. That means that this is our land as residents and taxpayers and so decisions on cutting down trees should be decided by all of us. There are a number of aspects about the future Westgate development that have been unsatisfactorily concluded. To begin with, it does not even meet the council's own environmental requirements under the NRIA (Natural Resources Impact Analysis) which are part of the Local Plan. The proposed development meets only 4% of the 20% of renewable energy conditions and falls way short of water sustainability standards. It is inexplicable in the current climate that the Council should ignore their own rules in this way. Having signed up to the Nottingham Declaration on Climate Change last year, Oxford should be leading the way in sustainable development, not dragging its feet. This affects us all, as last year's flooding goes to show.
Personally I simply don't think we need any more shops in Oxford. This is a small city with only 140,000 inhabitants. With all the wonderful architecture we have here it seems foolish to try and turn it into a shopping haven when that would risk spoiling the beauty of the city we already have. Oxford is not an urban sprawl like Reading or Slough that can only attract visitors through offering ‘retail opportunities’. If we reduce the city’s attractive aesthetic then less people will want to visit here not more. It seems counter-productive, in more ways than one to give up precious city space and spend so much money expanding the Westgate Centre so that we can have more multinational high street chain stores that will drain money out of the local economy. An alternative view would be that we have enough shops already and do we really want to cut down 42 mature urban trees in order to make way for further retail outlets? How has it been established that new shops are needed? With the commonly accepted ‘credit crunch’ on the horizon, it would seem that what we need is not more dime stores for our credit cards but more social spaces, which is what these tree-graced areas could provide. The argument for an expanded shopping centre is based upon the already discredited assumption that infinite economic growth is both possible and necessary. It is pursuing this impossible dream that has led us to the calamitous situation that we find ourselves in today: a world of deteriorating social and environmental well-being.
My foolhardy gesture of spending 24 hours in a tree was a personal challenge, mostly made in order to ask a question that on further investigation appears to have an answer in the negative: Is it absolutely necessary to chop down these 42 magnificent Plane trees? Well is it?
Personally, while I am in awe of Gabs Chamberlain who has spent over a week defending the beautiful Sycamore tree in Bonn square by living up it – and sadly both he and the sycamore have been brought down to earth - I don't intend to follow suit. I feel that I have made my statement, asked my question and if anyone would like to take over the defence of the Westgate Planes then I would enthusiastically encourage them to do so. While I have great affection for them, they are not mine to defend, they are everybody's. I hope somebody else will. Meanwhile I will take the advice so kindly offered to me by the one unsympathetic passer-by and “go and get a job.” After all, if I didn’t I wouldn’t be able to afford any of the doubtless must-have products that the Westgate II will offer over the stumps of our much-undervalued Planes.
As this paper goes to press, the trees around the Westgate still stand; archaeological remains have been found out back of Abbey place and in the car park; there are rumours that Coal Pensions are now getting cold feet. But how long until the next developer demonstrates an interest in getting its teeth into Oxford? Only recently our town planners team were lambasted by the planning councillors one after the other when the developer Spring was only just denied its wish to build a four-storey monstrosity in Jericho where for centuries there's been a boatyard alongside our canal.
In a recent conversation with chief planner Mr. Michael Crofton-Briggs, local photographer Adrian Arbib asked him why the planning department appeared to be waging a destructive war upon the people of Oxford. “The problem is” came the reply “that central government requires progress.”
“And what do you define as progress?” asked Mr. Arbib. “Economic growth” he said and walked away.
In my simple tree-hugging, Oxford-loving way I see this whole debacle as a war about wonderland between the fairies and the goblins amongst us and can't help being reminded of a poem by Christina Rosetti: are we off to Goblin Market, Alice, are we off to Goblin Market?
Autumn on the hill Added 19 Nov 2007 - Last Edited 19 Nov 2007 Since getting married at the end of June, Anna and I have moved to the country. We now live on a hill just outside of Oxford with sweeping panoramic views and a backdrop of mature Oak woodland. As I sit at my desk I have been watching the Oaks turn a rusty hue and occasionally see the deer stop to take in the breeze.
Walks in the woods are rewarded by finds of unknown mushrooms, which however much I search the internet, scan the photos and consult my books have remained just beyond the kitchen chopping board.
I found magnolia fruit this autumn, never seen them before, collected a few dozen seeds and hope to germinate them before too
long, and raise some little trees for my Anna.
A world dying, but can we unite to save it? Added 19 Nov 2007 - Last Edited 19 Nov 2007
Pollution in the seas is now speeding global warming, says a devastating new climate report. 'IoS' Environment Editor Geoffrey Lean reports from Valencia
Published: 18 November 2007
Humanity is rapidly turning the seas acid through the same pollution that causes global warming, the world's governments and top scientists agreed yesterday. The process – thought to be the most profound change in the chemistry of the oceans for 20 million years – is expected both to disrupt the entire web of life of the oceans and to make climate change worse.
The warning is just one of a whole series of alarming conclusions in a new report published by the official Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which last month shared the Nobel Peace Prize with former US vice president Al Gore.
Drawn up by more than 2,500 of the world's top scientists and their governments, and agreed last week by representatives of all its national governments, the report also predicts that nearly a third of the world's species could be driven to extinction as the world warms up, and that harvests will be cut dramatically across the world.
United Nations Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon, who attended the launch of the report in this ancient Spanish city, told The Independent on Sunday that he found the "quickening pace" of global warming "very frightening".
And, with unusual outspokenness for a UN leader, he said he "looked forward" to both the United States and China – the world's two biggest polluters – "playing a more constructive role" in vital new negotiations on tackling climate change that open in Indonesia next month.
The new IPCC report, which is designed to give impetus to the negotiations, highlights the little-known acidification of the oceans, first reported in this newspaper more than three years ago. It concludes that emissions of carbon dioxide – the main cause of global warming – have already increased the acidity of ocean surface water by 30 per cent, and threaten to treble it by the end of the century.
Achim Steiner, the executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), said yesterday: "The report has put a spotlight on a threat to the marine environment that the world has hardly yet realised. The threat is immense as it can fundamentally alter the life of the seas, reducing the productivity of the oceans, while reinforcing global warming."
Scientists have found that the seas have already absorbed about half of all the carbon dioxide emitted by humanity since the start of the industrial revolution, a staggering 500 billion tons of it. This has so far helped slow global warming – which would have accelerated even faster if all this pollution had stayed in the atmosphere, already causing catastrophe – but at an increasingly severe cost.
The gas dissolves in the oceans to make dilute carbonic acid, which is increasingly souring the naturally alkali seawater. This, in turn, mops up calcium carbonate, a substance normally plentiful in the seas, which corals use to build their reefs, and marine creatures use to make the protective shells they need to survive. These include many of the plankton that form the base of the food chain on which all fish and other marine animals depend.
As the waters are growing more acid this process is decreasing, with incalculable consequences for the life of the seas, and for the fisheries on which a billion of the world's people depend for protein. Every single species that uses calcium in this way, that has so far been studied, has been found to be affected. And the seas are most acid near the surface, where most of their life is concentrated.
A report by the Royal Society, Britain's premier scientific body, concludes that, as a result, of the pollution, the world's oceans are probably now more acidic that they have ever been in "hundreds of millennia", and that even if emissions stopped now, the waters would take "tens of thousands of years to return to normal".
Professor Ulf Reibesell of the Leibnitz Institute of Marine Sciences in Kiel, Germany's leading expert on the process, concludes in an issue of UNEP's magazine Our Planet, to be published next month, that, if it continues to the levels predicted by yesterday's report for the end of the century, the seas will reach a condition unprecedented in the last 20 million years.
He recalls how something similar happened when a comet hit Mexico's Yucatan peninsula 65 million years ago, blasting massive amounts of calcium sulphate into the atmosphere to form sulphuric acid, which in turn caused the extinction of corals and virtually all shell-building species.
"Two million years went by before corals reappeared in the fossil record," he says, adding that it took "a further 20 million years" before the diversity of species that use calcium returned to its former levels.
Scientists add that, as the seas become more acidic, they will be less able to absorb carbon dioxide, causing more of it to stay in the atmosphere to speed up global warming. Research is already uncovering some signs that the oceans' ability to mop up the gas is diminishing. Environmentalists point out that the increasing acidification of the oceans would in itself provide ample reason to curb emissions of carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels and felling forests even if the dwindling band of sceptics were right and the gas was not warming up the planet.
But yesterday's cautiously worded report, which was agreed by the US government, also provides ample evidence that climate change is well under way, and is accelerating. It concludes that the warming is now "unequivocal" and "evident from observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising global average sea level".
It adds: "Eleven of the last 12 years rank among the 12 warmest years in the instrumental record of global surface temperature". It goes on: "Observational evidence from all continents and most oceans shows that many natural systems are being affected by regional climate changes, particularly temperature increases."
If humanity were not affecting the climate, it concludes, declines in the sun's activity and increased eruptions from volcanoes – which throw huge amounts of dust in the air that screen out sunlight – would have been likely to "have produced cooling" of the planet.
But emissions of all the "greenhouse gas" pollutants that cause global warming increased 70 per cent between 1970 and 2004 alone, it reports, adding that levels of carbon dioxide, the most important one, in the atmosphere now "exceed by far" anything that the Earth has experienced in the past 650,000 years. And it goes on to conclude that "continued greenhouse gas emissions at or above current rates would cause further warming and induce many changes in the global climate system during the 21st century."
It makes a host of specific predictions for every continent (for examples, see graphic) and warns that "impacts" could be "abrupt" or "irreversible". One example of an irreversible impact is an expected extinction of between 20 and 30 per cent of all the world's species of animals and plants even at relatively moderate levels of warming. If the climate heats further, it adds, extinctions could rise to 40 to 70 per cent of species.
The IPCC scientists and governments say that they are also more concerned about "increases in droughts, heatwaves and floods" as the climate warms. They believe that the damage to the world's economy would be even greater than they had previously predicted, and were even more certain that the poor and elderly in both rich and poor countries would suffer most.
Yet the report also concludes that, while some climate change is now inevitable, its worst effects could be avoided with straightforward measures at little cost if only governments would take action. It says that the job can be done by using "technologies that are either currently available or expected to be commercialised in coming decades". It could be done at a cost of slowing global growth by only a tenth of a percentage point a year, and might even increase it.
The missing element, virtually everyone agrees, is political will from governments. Next month they meet in Bali to start negotiations on a new treaty to replace the current provisions of the Kyoto Protocol, which run out in 2012.
The timetable is desperately tight; time lags in the process of getting a new treaty ratified by the world's governments means that it will have to be agreed by the end of 2009 – and there is no sign of anything on the horizon.
Yet the treaty will have to go far beyond the protocol in order to put the whole world on track rapidly to reduce emissions if the world is to achieve the pollution cuts that the scientists say will be needed to avoid catastrophe. And it will have to ensure rapid action. Dr Rajendra Pachauri, the IPCC's chairman, yesterday repeated a consensus among experts that the world as a whole will have to start radical reductions within eight years if there is to be any hope of preventing dangerous climate change.
Stephanie Tunmore of Greenpeace International said: "It is clear from this report that we are gambling with the future of the planet – and the stakes are high. This document sets out a compelling case for early action on climate change."
The UN Secretary-General, agreed. The effects of climate change have become "so severe and so sweeping" he said "that only urgent, global action will do. There is no time to waste."
Mr Steiner called the report "the most essential reading for every person on the planet who cares about the future". He added: "The hard science has been distilled along with evidence of the social and economic consequences of global warming, but also the economic rationale and opportunities for action now. While the science will continue to evolve and be refined, we now have the compelling blueprint for action and, in many ways, the price tag for failure – from increasing acidification of the oceans to the likely extinction of economically important biodiversity."
And Yvo de Boer, the executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change – the parent treaty to the Kyoto Protocol – told the IoS that reaching agreement was "incredibly urgent".
He pointed out that the world would replace 40 per cent of its power generation capacity in the next five to 10 years and that China is already building one or two coal- fired power stations a week. Those installations would last for decades – and the nations that built them would be reluctant to demolish them any earlier – so that unless the world rapidly changed direction it would be all the more difficult to avoid climate change running out of control.
Sticking poin: It is crucial to get the US and China on board
Getting agreement on a new treaty to tackle climate change hangs on resolving an "after you, Claude" impasse between the United States and China, the two biggest emitters of carbon dioxide, the main cause of global warming.
China insists – with other key developing countries like India and South Africa – that the United States must move first to clean up. It points out that, because of the disparity in populations, every American is responsible for emitting much more of the gas than each Chinese. But the US refuses to join any new treaty unless China also accepts restrictions.
There is hope of breaking the logjam. Chinese leaders know their country would be severely affected by global warming, and have done more than is generally realised to tackle it, not least by rapidly expanding renewable energy. The US will have a new leader by the time negotiations are completed, and even President Bush is backtracking, at least rhetorically.
Yesterday UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said he was optimistic. "I look forward," he said, with a hint of steel, "to seeing the United States and China playing a more constructive role in the coming negotiations."
Arctic
Greenland ice sheet will virtually completely disappear, raising sea levels by over 30 feet, submerging coastal cities, entire island nations and vast areas of low-lying countries like Bangladesh
Latin America
The Amazon rainforest will become dry savannah as rising temperatures and falling water levels kill the trees, stoke forest fires and kill off wildlife
North America
California and the grain-producing Midwest will dry out as snows in the Rockies decrease, depriving these areas of summer water
Australia
The Great Barrier Reef will die. Species loss will occur by 2020 as corals fail to adapt to warmer waters. On land, drought will reduce harvests
Europe
Winter sports suffer as less snow falls in the Alps and other mountains; up to three-fifths of wildlife dies out. Drought in Mediterranean area hits tourism
Africa
Harvests could be cut by up to half in some countries by 2020, greatly increasing the threat of famine. Between 75 million and 250 million people are expected to be short of water within the next 30 years
To have your say on this or any other issue visit www.independent.co.uk/IoSblogs
surveying a pond Added 03 Oct 2007 - Last Edited 03 Oct 2007 Ponds: Surveying the Site
geography Added 16 Sep 2007 - Last Edited 16 Sep 2007 ecocentrus has been working in england and france. Oxford and London . headington, marston, east oxford, summertown, wooton, Wallingford.
getting noticed Added 16 Sep 2007 - Last Edited 16 Sep 2007 in order for this sight to reach more people I will list some key words
ecological wildlife gardening for environmental sustainability and preservation of biodiversity from wildflower meadows bird boxes ponds and organic gardening through to surveying species richness and wind turbine viability ecocentrus offers solutions to your questions.
smile now please
wedding bells ring Added 27 Jun 2007 - Last Edited 27 Jun 2007 Anna Read and I, Matthew Morton will be getting married this Saturday 30th June at St Barnabas Church Jericho Oxford.
Horray!!
ecoxentrus Added 21 May 2007 - Last Edited 21 May 2007 ecotsentrus ecozentrus ecosentrus ecopsentrus
ecosendrus eikozentrus eichocentrus iicopsendrus
ecoxentrus eco%trus equosentrus eccocentros
May Showers Added 15 May 2007 - Last Edited 15 May 2007 after a hot and sunny april with hardley any rain. work is slowed by persistant downpours in May.,
the reversal of months has been noted and a complaint will be lodged with the weather gods in due course
spring on hot wheels Added 21 Apr 2007 - Last Edited 21 Apr 2007 Persephony has hit town in a mini-skirt this year, Hades sits in bemused melancoly as he considers her partying farewell in responce to his 'you aint going out like that!' To Pinks back beat she sang 'Im coming up, so you better get the party started.' With that she hightailed it up to the surface of the earth bringing her explosion of blossom and bloom.
This I why I have had no time to write since febuary, to darn busy in the gardens. Pruning the espalier apple trees to create the finest avenue of blossum, building pergolas for the grape vines to tumble over. Planting a deep ericaceous bed and harvesting Borage to make liquid fertilisor.
And ' Look how all the grass has grown, grown grown , groan, now it all must be mown, mown moan'
And politics!!! Thats an entry in itself...
another busy day Added 15 Feb 2007 - Last Edited 15 Feb 2007 As I had mangaed with the help of my dad to get the Old JAP rotavator going I was determined to find a job for it.
But first we had to go to see Radley lakes where the bastards are cutting down the tree on the islands, to stop birds nesting there I am sure. We were served Court injunctions for witnessing what was happening.
Anger!!
So then it was time to go and prepare a new veggi bed with my new rotavator. It made it in the shape of the ARES symbol. looks so cool
xx
down on the canal Added 08 Feb 2007 - Last Edited 09 Feb 2007 Bruce Heagerty
writes to me at
2:24 pm (2½ hours ago)
The ducks aren't sure they like it; the terns have come sweeping down to play;
and punctuating the cheeps and chirps of tits and nuthatches you can clearly
hear the rattle of a nervous woodpecker. The melt water trickles off the roof
and down the window pane.
Periodically I hear a thump as fistfuls fall upon my wooden roof and look
outside and wait until I see a branch bend to the weight as more clumps tumble
and leave holes in the smoothe carpet on the ground or dissolve instantly into
the water to plop expanding water hoops in the canal. Thin patches of ice
float
half-beneath the surface and either bank displays each branch, each twig, each
dark-green bramble leaf now highlighted in white. Gentle flakes of
loose-bunched crystals continue floating down around a rouge-chested robin
which flicks them off and hops from water tap to twig, alert, marooned in
white and not
quite sure yet where she is to go.
SNOW Added 08 Feb 2007 - Last Edited 08 Feb 2007 as I cycled home last night, a few pints warmer, I knew that today it would snow. I awakened to a wolrd of white and as it was my birthday have been thougherly enjoying myself.
yesterday was well below zero but now the temperature has lifted and the snow is beggining to drip. there are many snow men and we went ice skating at the Oxford Castle.
keep it up Added 29 Jan 2007 - Last Edited 29 Jan 2007 3. Protection of birds and of certain species of wild flora and fauna could be already significantly improved if all the Member States adhere to the International Convention for the Protection of Birds, adopted in Paris in October 1950, and to the Convention on the Conservation of Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat, adopted at Ramsar in February 1971.
4. The International Convention for the Protection of Birds, adopted in Paris in 1950, replaces and extends the Convention for the Protection of Birds useful to Agriculture concluded in 1902, again in Paris, by 12 European States. In contradistinction to the 1902 Convention, the 1950 one is basically motivated by ecological considerations, although Article 5 introduces an ethical arguement by making it an offence to inflict wanton suffering on birds. This Convention applies without exception to all wild birds. It aims in particular at providing (1)OJ No C 112, 20.12.1973, p. 1.
strict protection for all species during reproduction and migration periods. Species threatened with extinction or which are of "particular interest" are given round-the-year protection. Exceptions to provisions of this Convention may be granted to acceding States in cases where some species through sheer numbers might be detrimental to agriculture. This Convention has been in force since 17 January 1963.
5. The Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat was adopted on 2 February 1971 by an international conference convened by the Iran Government in Ramsar. It will enter into force as soon as seven States notify it. Apart from the United Kingdom, four States, namely Finland, Iran, Switzerland and the Soviet Union have already deposited their instruments of ratification.
This Convention is generally regarded as being of vital importance for the protection of the ecological balance and an irreplaceable natural heritage ; in scope it goes far beyond the mere protection of waterfowl habitats.
6. The Commission, anxious to contribute to the protection and improvement of the environment and of the quality of life, and having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, recommends Member States, if they have not already done so, to accede as quickly as possible to both of the abovementioned Conventions.
Lovelock or Mollison part 1 Added 29 Jan 2007 - Last Edited 29 Jan 2007 Few potentila debates have entertained my mind as much as that between James Lovelock and Bill Mollison. The advocates of Gaia and Permaculture have both long held the imagination of the substribers of the Green Dream. But what would they say to each other if they were to meet today. Obviously there would a degree of profesional acknowlegment and a few stories to exchange, but what would they say about climate change, its causes and the remedies.
LOCAL VS GLOBAL
[please post comments to ed@ecocentrus.co.uk]
What is ecology all about anyway, part 1 Added 28 Jan 2007 - Last Edited 28 Jan 2007
What is ecology about anyway? For all the science and policy, for all the politics and finance, for all the data collected and all the models and designations, ecology is also about saving things.
Without the emotional need to protect the 'natural world' all the maths and descisions are arbitary. If we cannot use ecology to protect ecologies it is not worth studying. In many respects, if its not saving the world its not worth doing. And if its hurting the planet it must be stopped.
http://www.jcby.co.uk/
http://www.saveradleylakes.org.uk/index.htm
global warming Added 23 Jan 2007 - Last Edited 29 Jan 2007 Watching from the wings as I am, I think that there is so much news that I don't know where to begin. But as you all know global warming is big news, as it has been for many, for many years. What is new is that for the whole world it is big news, election issue news, festival news, local news. As an idea global warming has finally gone global and its permeating local life everywhere. As the ice caps melt, and we wonder how the polar bears are going to get through, people are beginning to see global warming entering our own life, with baby steps for now. A definate change in the timing of spring flowers, a double clutch of Swallows. But as global warming grows as an idea as much as a reality we will see profound changes to local planning, transport, tourism, agriculture and conservation policy and implementation. As global warming comes of age its steps will shake the foundations of society as much as that of our global ecology.
Politically global warming is now holding our leaders to account, and the trial of the political personalities involved has already begun in the media, and through the corridors of power. Green politics as a result is now more than ever leading the field in this doom laden paradigm shift. Unbelievers are equated with the Neanderthals who would seek to wage war rather than reduce fuel consumption and every political party is vying to become seen as more green.*
The weighting of foreign aid is now being couched in terms of sustainable energy grants and the problems anticipated for China and India, trying to limit fossil fuel consumption, are discussed by the British Politic. Not to mention the concerns about the displacement of coastal peoples by sea level rise and the parallel concerns about building on the flood plane. Global warming has hit Holywood.
In many respects there is no news, what we are witnessing around the world today in terms of the energy crisis is not new. There has long been voices' shouting in the wilderness. What is new is that now the world is coming out of denial and a race has begun to save the world. Environmentalism, in all its facets, is going mainstream. The RSPB, Green Peace, WWF, Friends of the Earth, CAT, COIN, The Wildlife Trust, English Nature, The Ecologist, Forum for the Future, Oxfam, Soil Association, The Green Party, and many many more are all a part of this new mainstream. And mainstreams move very differently to back waters or even mountain springs. The currents and eddies are hard to see and everything tends to flow as one.
For the Green Party this is should be a time of short introspection, consultation and collaboration before moving in a coordinated fashion into the driving seat. Then hopefully pulling the beast over and putting it into idle. From where I sit, there has never been a better time for the Green Party to be elected and never a stronger platform from which to perform.
Perhaps the time for campaigning is over, and the time for explaining has begun. Explaining how to slow the titanic before it hits the iceberg, how to bring down the dinosaur when it is starved of fossil fuels and how to live with the earth as things change. A coordinated effort by municipal planners, international negotiators, climatologist, and the legislative authorities could reorder the pattern of society to enable humanity to survive into the next era. The Green Party International can explain how.
Matthew Morton
[email ed@ecocentrus.co.uk]
Bright and Sunny Added 23 Jan 2007 - Last Edited 23 Jan 2007 Today is Bright and sunny, and I am off to mow a lawn again. I will also be cutting back an apple tree.
The weather has been cold but dry on the whole for the last few weeks. There is a lot of activity in the hedges of little birds.
MERRY XMAS Added 25 Dec 2006 - Last Edited 25 Dec 2006 MERRY XMAS TO YOU ALL. Ant thanks to the Mistletoe for helping make this Chrstmas the most Chrsitmassy in ages.
Mattx
the frost has hit Added 20 Dec 2006 - Last Edited 20 Dec 2006 last night as i cycled home my fingers began to freeze. I wish I had gloves on. I could no longer feel them as I cycled past the Radcliff camera, I tried to breath warmth into them, but to no avail, I could hardly use my brakes. When I got home they were to cold to use keys so I rang the bell, and entered the warmth of home to defrost. This morning I awoke to take Anna to her law exam, but when I got into the van, washed the ice of the windscreen, the engin was so cold that the battery was soon empty before I could get it started.
I had thought the winter would arrive late and puffing fog, thankfully all the gardens are put to bed. I just hope all the creatures have found their cosy beds for the winter. Some of the homeless humans out their will start to feel the misery today. Lets hope Xmas is generous and charitable this time around.
To all you out their
MERRY XMAS from ecocentrus
stormy winter Added 18 Dec 2006 - Last Edited 18 Dec 2006 As I write, winter is still relativly mild. Sure its cold cycling into Oxford to pick up some posters for the upcoming Boatyard Xmas party [www.jcby.co.uk], but not cold enough. Winter is late, its raining alot and work is getting thin on the ground. How I miss mowing, with the reliable chug of the motor and the steady rythym of back and forth. The Robins have been hanging around hoping for tipbits. any wway gotta go .........
photos of work Added 16 Oct 2006 - Last Edited 16 Oct 2006
Conkers and Acorns Added 20 Sep 2006 - Last Edited 06 Oct 2006 Today i picked up my first Conker of the season in downtown Oxford, yesterday I collected an Acorn from South parks
Guardian on conker disease
http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1886852,00.html
Conkers in danger Added 19 Sep 2006 - Last Edited 29 Jan 2007 Under threat: Britain's horse chestnut trees
Blight 'as bad as Dutch elm disease' is ravaging Britain's horse chestnut trees
Source: Copyright 2006, Independent
Date: August 24, 2006
Byline: Michael McCarthy and Sam Henderson
Britain's horse chestnut trees, providers of conkers for generations of schoolboys, are dying in their thousands in the worst case of tree blight since Dutch elm disease 30 years ago.
The horse chestnuts, which often stand in majestic rows in city streets, are being hit by a "triple whammy" of drought, pest attack and disease. On many, the leaves have already withered and shrunk, and conkers, the fruits of the tree, are not being produced at all.
Stands of horse chestnuts in the streets around the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, west London have no conkers this year. This time last year they had a carpet of conkers underneath them - as they have had for decades. For many boys, looking forward to the age-old game, 2006 will be the Autumn Of No Conkers - but the situation is far more serious than that.
The trees are being severely hit in many parts of Britain and according to the Forestry Commission between 40,000 and 50,000 of them may already be affected - about 10 per cent of all the horse chestnuts in Britain - and that figure may be even higher.
Since branches tend to drop off the weakened trees, thousands of them on the fringes of urban streets may have to be cut down for safety reasons, a situation likely to cause traffic chaos and play havoc with council budgets - as well as causing great sadness to people who for years have enjoyed their summer shade, and their beautiful "Roman candle" flowers in the spring. "I think you could compare this to Dutch elm disease," said Tony Kirkham, the head of the arboretum at the Royal Botanic Gardens. "The last thing we would want is another epidemic that wiped out a common British tree species."
The trees have already been stressed by three winters of drought. But now in their weakened state they are suffering from simultaneous attack by a pest, the leaf miner moth, whose larvae eats the leaves, and a disease known as bleeding canker.
This causes a dark liquid to ooze from spots on the trunk of a tree, which can quickly develop into large damaged patches, spreading all the way around the branch or trunk until limbs fall off, or the tree falls over.
Chris Howkins, a botanist and author of a recent book on the horse chestnut, said the public had not yet woken up to the extent of the disease.
"At the weekend, here in Runnymede in Surrey, we drove round looking, and we couldn't find a horse chestnut that wasn't infected, and there are thousands of them," he said.
"They've all gone brown, and they show up in the green landscape. All the roadside plantings, and what we think of as screening trees, are going to go. And we've adopted this tree to our hearts in England, and used it extensively for commemorative plantings, and that is going to go too. It's spreading like wildfire. I was speaking to a botanist in Norwich a couple of weeks ago and she said all the Norwich ones are going."
Mr Howkins added: "It's tragic. People don't realise the scale of it yet. They see these trees turning brown and they just think autumn is coming early. A lot of people won't have realised that this is actually death."
According to the Forestry Commission, of those trees which are seriously affected, having already developed large open cankers, about around half will die.
But the threat is exacerbated by the fact that many of the nation's 400,000 to 500,000 conker trees are planted in public places. "Even if it doesn't kill the tree, it can make it dangerous and require that the tree is cut down," said David Rose, a scientist from Forest Research, the Forestry Commission's research arm. "If you look at the number of cases and the likelihood of tree death, certainly it's a significant tree disease."
What is making the problem worse is that the majority of new cases of bleeding canker are not related to the fungus that was originally thought to be the cause of the problem. "We and the Dutch have isolated a bacterium which seems to be suddenly causing the damage," Mr Rose said. "We have our prime suspect, we now have to do our own version of an identity parade. We hope to know by the end of the year whether we've identified the causal agent."
If it is eventually proven that the bacterium is the cause, there will then be a long process of finding an effective treatment and then getting it approved for use.
Again, this will be made more difficult because so many horse chestnuts stand in parks or on residential streets, meaning the use of potentially dangerous chemicals is problematic. The disease appears to be having its strongest effect in southern England. Organisers of the World Conker Championships, which take place on Sunday 8 October in Ashton, Northamptonshire, are watching the situation closely.
"At the moment we're all right, because we haven't had the moth up here, or the canker, as far as I'm aware," said John Hadman, the secretary of the Ashton Conker Club, the championship organisers. "But if we do go short of conkers, we will have to get them in from elsewhere."
Tree killers
Dutch Elm Disease
The UK is still blighted by this devastating disease caused by two related species of fungi in the genus Ophiostoma, which are disseminated by various elm-bark beetles. They block the tree's water-conducting vessels so that leaves wither on the upper branches. It was first recorded in the UK in the 1920s and by the 1940s had caused the loss of 10 to 40 per cent of elms in Europe. There was a major outbreak in the late 1960s and within a decade about 20 million elms out of an estimated UK population of 30 million were dead. In the mid-1990s many young trees were infected. All our four main native elms are susceptible.
Sudden Oak Death (Phytophthora ramorum)
This fungal disease, first seen in the UK in 2002, is most commonly found in potted shrubs such as rhododendrons, viburnums, lilac and camellia. Hundreds of garden centres have been affected and many were forced to destroy their stocks when the outbreak was at its greatest. The disease is named after damage done to Californian oaks. It has appeared in only a few trees so far, including American oaks and European holm oaks. The most vulnerable native tree is thought to be the beech, and trees on three sites in southern England have been infected. British oaks seem resistant.
Gypsy Moth (Lymantria dispar)
A serious pest of trees and shrubs, their caterpillars are active from April to July and feed on a wide range of deciduous and coniferous trees but prefer the leaves of oak (Quercus) and poplar (Populus). They grow up to three inches long and are hairy with coloured "warts" on the back. The UK does not have a resident population of the moth but the south is often visited by migrants. There was an outbreak in London in the late-1990s, when forests in north-west London were affected, probably by eggs transported from continental Europe.
Originally posted at: http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article1221302.ece
[email ed@ecocentrus.co.uk]
Seed saving Added 31 Jul 2006 - Last Edited 11 Aug 2006 I have taken to collecting the seed of the wildflowers and other annuals which appear in the gardens i visit. I now have a grand collection of foxglove, love in the mist, several poppy varieties, hog weed, Aquilegia and others.
I am using small brown envelopes and writting the name, locations and date on each. i would suggest you do the same , then we can build upa large seed bank. If you have any ideas regarding the storage of seeds please email me on mjdmorton@ecocentrus.co.uk
Camp for Climate Action Added 24 Jul 2006 - Last Edited 24 Jul 2006 The future is not yet written, inaction is the tragedy.
The Camp will take place in Megawatt Valley, near Leeds, home of Drax power station, the largest single emitter of carbon dioxide in the UK. August 26th to September 4th - Book your holidays now!
You can help!
Can you supply anything on our wish list? Or there are lots of other ways you can help out!
Next Meeting
Our next meeting is on 12-13 August at The Common Place social centre, Leeds.
Announcements
Join our announcements email list.
Climate change activists occupy Didcot power station
Climate change is happening now and is set to get much worse. Governments and corporations dream of growth without end, economy without limits. When nuclear power is hailed as the solution to ecological crisis you know there's a problem. There is a growing grassroots movement that fundamentally challenges the fossil fuel economy.
The camp will be a place for this movement to get together. It will be a place for new people, people who have never been 'political' before but who want move beyond concern into activity. It will be a place for experienced activists: old and young, cynical and hopeful. We all need courage, the guts to step beyond the comfort of our concern or the borders of our group. Climate change casts a long shadow over the future. But we believe this time can be an opportunity, a moment when people come together and say 'enough'.
August 26th to September 4th - Book your holidays now!
Are you wondering why it's so hot today? Added 20 Jul 2006 - Last Edited 20 Jul 2006 Are you wondering why it's so hot today?
Is it just a freak summer? Or proof of global warming? As temperatures hit record highs, what's fuelling the heatwave?
Published: 19 July 2006
Cars
Soaring emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), an inevitable waste product of burning coal, oil and gas, are causing the atmosphere to retain more of the sun's heat and change the climate, with potentially catastrophic results. Britain's road transport emissions grew by 8 per cent between 1990 and 2000 and without any further policy measures to combat this, scientists predict emissions in 2010 will be 15.6 per cent higher than in 1990. This means cars and lorries in five years' time will be pumping out 46.5 million tons of carbon a year compared with 40.2 million tons in 1990.
Electricity generation
Power generation accounts for the biggest single source of carbon dioxide and equivalent greenhouse gases, with 61 million tons being released into the atmosphere in Britain in 2004. This was about 40 per cent of our total greenhouse gas emissions. A switch from power generation using coal and oil to gas, nuclear energy and renewables has led to a fall in annual emissions since 1990. However, growing energy demands - and the closure of many nuclear power plants over the next decade - makes it by no means certain that this decline will continue.
Aviation
Carbon emissions from jet aircraft represent one of the fastest-growing sources of greenhouse gases. Scientists forecast that by 2030 the amount of CO2 or equivalent greenhouse gases released by UK aviation could produce 16 to 18 million tons of carbon annually; it is also thought that the effect on the climate of releasing greenhouse gases at high altitude could be between two and four times greater than releasing CO2 at ground level. Cheap air travel does not take into account the cost to the environment.
Cars
Soaring emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), an inevitable waste product of burning coal, oil and gas, are causing the atmosphere to retain more of the sun's heat and change the climate, with potentially catastrophic results. Britain's road transport emissions grew by 8 per cent between 1990 and 2000 and without any further policy measures to combat this, scientists predict emissions in 2010 will be 15.6 per cent higher than in 1990. This means cars and lorries in five years' time will be pumping out 46.5 million tons of carbon a year compared with 40.2 million tons in 1990.
Electricity generation
Power generation accounts for the biggest single source of carbon dioxide and equivalent greenhouse gases, with 61 million tons being released into the atmosphere in Britain in 2004. This was about 40 per cent of our total greenhouse gas emissions. A switch from power generation using coal and oil to gas, nuclear energy and renewables has led to a fall in annual emissions since 1990. However, growing energy demands - and the closure of many nuclear power plants over the next decade - makes it by no means certain that this decline will continue.
Aviation
Carbon emissions from jet aircraft represent one of the fastest-growing sources of greenhouse gases. Scientists forecast that by 2030 the amount of CO2 or equivalent greenhouse gases released by UK aviation could produce 16 to 18 million tons of carbon annually; it is also thought that the effect on the climate of releasing greenhouse gases at high altitude could be between two and four times greater than releasing CO2 at ground level. Cheap air travel does not take into account the cost to the environment.
http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article1185354.ece
Earth faces 'catastrophic loss of species' Added 20 Jul 2006 - Last Edited 20 Jul 2006 Earth faces 'catastrophic loss of species'
By Steve Connor, Science Editor
Published: 20 July 2006
Life on earth is facing a major crisis with thousands of species threatened with imminent extinction - a global emergency demanding urgent action. This is the view of 19 of the world's most eminent biodiversity specialists, who have called on governments to establish a political framework to save the planet.
The planet is losing species faster than at any time since 65 million years ago, when the earth was hit by an enormous asteroid that wiped out thousands of animals and plants, including the dinosaurs. Scientists estimate that the current rate at which species are becoming extinct is between 100 and 1,000 times greater than the normal "background" extinction rate - and say this is all due to human activity.
The call for action comes from some of the most distinguished scientists in the field, such as Georgina Mace of the UK Institute of Zoology; Peter Raven, the head of the Missouri Botanical Garden in St Louis, and Robert Watson, chief scientist at the World Bank. "For the sake of the planet, the biodiversity science community had to create a way to get organised, to co-ordinate its work across disciplines and together, with one clear voice, advise governments on steps to halt the potentially catastrophic loss of species already occurring," Dr Watson said.
In a joint declaration, published today in Nature, the scientists say that the earth is on the verge of a biodiversity catastrophe and that only a global political initiative stands a chance of stemming the loss. They say: "There is growing recognition that the diversity of life on earth, including the variety of genes, species and ecosystems, is an irreplaceable natural heritage crucial to human well-being and sustainable development. There is also clear scientific evidence that we are on the verge of a major biodiversity crisis. Virtually all aspects of biodiversity are in steep decline and a large number of populations and species are likely to become extinct this century.
"Despite this evidence, biodiversity is still consistently undervalued and given inadequate weight in both private and public decisions. There is an urgent need to bridge the gap between science and policy by creating an international body of biodiversity experts," they say.
More than a decade ago, Edward O Wilson, the Harvard naturalist, first estimated that about 30,000 species were going extinct each year - an extinction rate of about three an hour. Further research has confirmed that just about every group of animals and plants - from mosses and ferns to palm trees, frogs, and monkeys - is experiencing an unprecedented loss of diversity.
Scientists estimate that 12 per cent of all birds, 23 per cent of mammals, a quarter of conifers, a third of amphibians and more than half of all palm trees are threatened with imminent extinction. Climate change alone could lead to the further extinction of between 15 and 37 per cent of all species by the end of the century, the scientists say: "Because biodiversity loss is essentially irreversible, it poses serious threats to sustainable development and the quality of life of future generations."
There have been five previous mass extinctions in the 3.5 billion-year history of life on earth. All are believed to have been caused by major geophysical events that halted photosynthesis, such as an asteroid collision or the mass eruption of supervolcanoes. The present "sixth wave" of extinction began with the migration of modern humans out of Africa about 100,000 years ago. It accelerated with the invention of agriculture 10,000 years ago and began to worsen with the development of industry in the 18th century.
Anne Larigauderie, executive director of Diversitas, a Paris-based conservation group, said that the situation was now so grave that an international body with direct links with global leaders was essential. "The point is to establish an international mechanism that will provide regular and independent scientific advice on biodiversity," Dr Larigauderie said. "We know that extinction is a natural phenomenon but the rate of extinction is now between 100 and 1,000 times higher than the background rate. It is an unprecedented loss."
The scientists believe that a body similar to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change could help governments to tackle the continuing loss of species. "Biodiversity is much more than counting species. It's crucial to the functioning of the planet and the loss of species is extremely serious," Dr Larigauderie said. "Everywhere we look, we are losing the fabric of life. It's a major crisis."
Species under threat
Land mammals
The first comprehensive inventory of land mammals in 1996 found a quarter, including the Iberian lynx were in danger of extinction. The situation has worsened since.
Reptiles & amphibians
The Chinese alligator is the most endangered crocodilian - a survey in 1999 found just 150. Frogs, toads, newts and salamanders are the most threatened land vertebrates.
Birds
One in five species are believed to be in danger of extinction; that amounts to about 2,000 of the 9,775 named species. Most are at risk from logging, intensive agriculture, trapping and habitat encroachment. Many experts believe the Philippine eagle and wandering albatross could become extinct this century.
Marine life
The oceans were thought to be immune from the activities of man on land, but this is no longer true. Pollution, overfishing, loss of marine habitats and global warming have a dramatic impact on biological diversity. More than 100 species of fish, including the basking shark are on the red list of threatened species.
Plants
Many plants have yet to be formally described, classified and named - and some are being lost before they have been discovered by scientists. Plants of every type are being lost.
Insects & invertebrates
Many insects are wiped out by pesticide-reliant intensive agriculture. Others, such as the partula tree snails of Tahiti are menaced by invasive species.
Life on earth is facing a major crisis with thousands of species threatened with imminent extinction - a global emergency demanding urgent action. This is the view of 19 of the world's most eminent biodiversity specialists, who have called on governments to establish a political framework to save the planet.
The planet is losing species faster than at any time since 65 million years ago, when the earth was hit by an enormous asteroid that wiped out thousands of animals and plants, including the dinosaurs. Scientists estimate that the current rate at which species are becoming extinct is between 100 and 1,000 times greater than the normal "background" extinction rate - and say this is all due to human activity.
The call for action comes from some of the most distinguished scientists in the field, such as Georgina Mace of the UK Institute of Zoology; Peter Raven, the head of the Missouri Botanical Garden in St Louis, and Robert Watson, chief scientist at the World Bank. "For the sake of the planet, the biodiversity science community had to create a way to get organised, to co-ordinate its work across disciplines and together, with one clear voice, advise governments on steps to halt the potentially catastrophic loss of species already occurring," Dr Watson said.
In a joint declaration, published today in Nature, the scientists say that the earth is on the verge of a biodiversity catastrophe and that only a global political initiative stands a chance of stemming the loss. They say: "There is growing recognition that the diversity of life on earth, including the variety of genes, species and ecosystems, is an irreplaceable natural heritage crucial to human well-being and sustainable development. There is also clear scientific evidence that we are on the verge of a major biodiversity crisis. Virtually all aspects of biodiversity are in steep decline and a large number of populations and species are likely to become extinct this century.
"Despite this evidence, biodiversity is still consistently undervalued and given inadequate weight in both private and public decisions. There is an urgent need to bridge the gap between science and policy by creating an international body of biodiversity experts," they say.
More than a decade ago, Edward O Wilson, the Harvard naturalist, first estimated that about 30,000 species were going extinct each year - an extinction rate of about three an hour. Further research has confirmed that just about every group of animals and plants - from mosses and ferns to palm trees, frogs, and monkeys - is experiencing an unprecedented loss of diversity.
Scientists estimate that 12 per cent of all birds, 23 per cent of mammals, a quarter of conifers, a third of amphibians and more than half of all palm trees are threatened with imminent extinction. Climate change alone could lead to the further extinction of between 15 and 37 per cent of all species by the end of the century, the scientists say: "Because biodiversity loss is essentially irreversible, it poses serious threats to sustainable development and the quality of life of future generations."
There have been five previous mass extinctions in the 3.5 billion-year history of life on earth. All are believed to have been caused by major geophysical events that halted photosynthesis, such as an asteroid collision or the mass eruption of supervolcanoes. The present "sixth wave" of extinction began with the migration of modern humans out of Africa about 100,000 years ago. It accelerated with the invention of agriculture 10,000 years ago and began to worsen with the development of industry in the 18th century.
Anne Larigauderie, executive director of Diversitas, a Paris-based conservation group, said that the situation was now so grave that an international body with direct links with global leaders was essential. "The point is to establish an international mechanism that will provide regular and independent scientific advice on biodiversity," Dr Larigauderie said. "We know that extinction is a natural phenomenon but the rate of extinction is now between 100 and 1,000 times higher than the background rate. It is an unprecedented loss."
The scientists believe that a body similar to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change could help governments to tackle the continuing loss of species. "Biodiversity is much more than counting species. It's crucial to the functioning of the planet and the loss of species is extremely serious," Dr Larigauderie said. "Everywhere we look, we are losing the fabric of life. It's a major crisis."
Species under threat
Land mammals
The first comprehensive inventory of land mammals in 1996 found a quarter, including the Iberian lynx were in danger of extinction. The situation has worsened since.
Reptiles & amphibians
The Chinese alligator is the most endangered crocodilian - a survey in 1999 found just 150. Frogs, toads, newts and salamanders are the most threatened land vertebrates.
Birds
One in five species are believed to be in danger of extinction; that amounts to about 2,000 of the 9,775 named species. Most are at risk from logging, intensive agriculture, trapping and habitat encroachment. Many experts believe the Philippine eagle and wandering albatross could become extinct this century.
Marine life
The oceans were thought to be immune from the activities of man on land, but this is no longer true. Pollution, overfishing, loss of marine habitats and global warming have a dramatic impact on biological diversity. More than 100 species of fish, including the basking shark are on the red list of threatened species.
Plants
Many plants have yet to be formally described, classified and named - and some are being lost before they have been discovered by scientists. Plants of every type are being lost.
Insects & invertebrates
Many insects are wiped out by pesticide-reliant intensive agriculture. Others, such as the partula tree snails of Tahiti are menaced by invasive species.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/article1187003.ece
BBC on Ponds Added 04 Jul 2006 - Last Edited 04 Jul 2006 Even though they are small and usually too fertile, our garden ponds can be reservoirs for common animal and plant species and provide 'stepping stones' for species migrating through the country. There is evidence that 75 per cent of our frog population now lives in gardens.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/animals/features/346feature1.shtml
Summer heat wave Added 04 Jul 2006 - Last Edited 04 Jul 2006 The sun has hit hard now, the hose pipe ban is showing effect across oxfordshire and the country. Took a canoe trip through oxford yesterday, and as we can under Magdalen Bridge we saw young ducks with the mother.
The effects of global warming on species conservation has been hitting the news lately woth call for more wildlife gardening as refuge for species with shifting ranges.
where is the sun Added 27 May 2006 - Last Edited 27 May 2006 So another week washed out and work is delayed. We have been laying indian sandstone which looks great but with the rain coming over and over its been slow going.
The hawthorn is still in flower, it came late and i have noticed a lot of pink hawthorn about.
Our garden is progressing, I have cleared out the shed at hoe and have started raising seedlings, at last.
I have just taken on an allotment in East Oxford at Elder Stubs.The main weed there is strawberries!! So I have weived a path through the patch and will be training raspberries and errecting bean poles.It will be wonderfull.
Otherwise life is busy, check www.portmeadow.org for updates on the boatyard. We were on Channel 4 on tuesday, very sympathetic.
I will be updateing the site over the next 2 weeks with Ali, incorporating a pond conservation survey.
Matt
The Rush is on Added 21 Apr 2006 - Last Edited 21 Apr 2006
4 weeks ago I saw frog spawn in the the stream running through on of the gardens I attend to, now these spawn have wiggled free and are eatin into the remains of the jelly. The dafodils had all but passed, the Blackthorn has been brightening up the heagerows with its stark brillient white flowers and the Hawthorn has been pushing out its green tips.
Most of the blue bells in Oxfordshire have yet to burst free, though I have seen a few ahead of the rest, this is late by all accounts.
The crows and rooks have passed their busiest patch and now must be sitting on eggs or something as the noise has abaited.
Forsythia is still present with its bright yellow, which was the first real colour.
All over town the blossom has been waking up the hearts of romantics and we have gotten engaged. The blooms outside St Mary's Church have been attracting visiters to sit in the arms of the cherry for photos in the cloud of pink.
The Sword of Damacles is still hanging over the head of the boatyard see www.portmeadow.org and I am running as a Green for the City council for Holywell Ward, one of the most beautiful in the country.
May the Forth be with you
Daffodils Added 28 Mar 2006 - Last Edited 28 Mar 2006 The daffodils have started opening all over Oxford and the west country.
Spring Added 23 Mar 2006 - Last Edited 28 Mar 2006 Spring has sprung
After a whole lot of deliberation and pacing back and forth spring has sprung. This I know from the shoots of the ground elder expanding and opening up.The roots of the comfrey sending out shoots and the soil being warm enough to be able to attempt deep weeding by hand.
Spring equinox has passed and now we have more day that night.
Horray
Autumnwatch Results 2005 Added 25 Nov 2005 - Last Edited 25 Nov 2005
These results must be seen as provisional given the timing of writing. For some events records may be largely in, but others such as oak leaf first tint may be incomplete.
See also the Woodland Trust press release, Early autumn after warm summer spells trouble for nature
UKPN UK-wide averages
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Blackberry fruit ripe 30/08/2000 27/08/2001 25/08/2002 14/08/2003 14/08/2004
Swift departure 26/08/2000 26/08/2001 20/08/2002 20/08/2003 18/08/2004
Hawthorn fruit ripe 16/09/2000 20/09/2001 12/09/2002 07/09/2003 07/09/2004
Horse chestnut fruit ripe 27/09/2000 26/09/2001 23/09/2002 19/09/2003 19/09/2004
Ivy flowering 29/09/2000 30/09/2001 27/09/2002 24/09/2003 23/09/2004
Oak first tint 08/10/2000 06/10/2001 03/10/2002 29/09/2003 03/10/2004
Taken from :
http://www.phenology.org.uk/standard/home/why/autumnwatch2005.htm
Save the boatyard Added 21 Aug 2005 - Last Edited 21 Aug 2005 This part of the summer has been taken up with resisting an attempt by British waterways to sell of Jericho's Castlemill Boatyard. We have occupied the site and are keeping it running as a boatyard,
Check www.portmeadow.org for details.
Anyone interested in helping to edit the survey site please email matt mjdmorton@gmail.com
Rose Bay Willow Herb Added 07 Jul 2005 - Last Edited 07 Jul 2005 Three days ago I noticed the arrival of the rose bay willow herb, as I drive across the country I see clumps of it besided the road.
Matt
IT IS HOT NOW Added 20 Jun 2005 - Last Edited 20 Jun 2005 Everybody knows it, it is hot. Open up your greenhouse and let in the breeze. The more you water the better you feel as you watch your plants reach for the sky. The moles are busy digging complex drainage under my veggie plots, which is the last thing i need. Tommorrow is the summer solstice and a trip to the stones is in order. Its festival season and the busy time for all theose gardener out there. Dont you wish you had a big water butt full of spring rain, next time eh!!
bioimages Added 10 May 2005 - Last Edited 10 May 2005 I have just found a great site for sourcing images of species. Have a look
Matt
BioImages - Virtual Field-Guide (UK)
http://www.bioimages.org.uk/
Welcome to BioImages, the Virtual Field-Guide for UK Bio-diversity.
Content: This site offers a large selection of pictures of Natural History objects, mostly British in origin.
Purpose: The images are presented to illustrate biodiversity and as an aid to identification. While pictures alone are generally NOT sufficient for identification, by showing different stages, states and views of the organisms more information can be offered than is available in field-guides.
How to find your way around: BioImages is arranged in the normal biological classification (or at least my interpretation of it.) This is a hierarchical system with species grouped in genera, genera in families, families in orders and so on up to kingdoms and superkingdoms. Living Things takes you to the top of the classification tree.
Searching: BioImages is indexed by Google (you can enter English or Latin names)
Cheryls news Added 10 May 2005 - Last Edited 10 May 2005 
Dear Matt,
the first batch of Great Tits left the box near my kitchen door this
morning, their timimg perfect.
Tomorrow the builders arrive and make terrible noises digging up concrete
and drilling walls a few feet from the nest.
This has been causing me a great deal of anxiety, so I went to the fishing
tackle shop to get a supply of nutritious food in the form of maggots.
This, I felt sure would have the same effect as on Bernard Mathews
over-stuffed Turkeys, except, of course, these little birds would have their
freedom and they lived in a comfortable place. The quicker they grew, the
quicker they would leave was my thought.
I was relieved of my anxiety in two ways, having been an attentive guard
dog for them in the last few weeks, shooing away Jays, Magpies and cats: the
fishing tackle shop was closed and the birds flew the next morning.
Now they are more vulnerable than ever and their parents will be
frantically trying to shield them not only from the predators mentioned
above but also Hawks( a Hobby and Kestral) which are frequently seen around
these gardens.
It was, however, cheering to see the number of grubs caterpillars and
spiders that they were easily available in the trees and shrubs in these
well-tended gardens.
I'm glad a dish of maggots wasn't added unnecessarily to the menu.
Is this the sort of thing that you want Matt, for your website? Let me know.
I hope all is going wel with your new job,
Much love CherylXX
flowers on decline Added 10 May 2005 - Last Edited 10 May 2005 On the endangered list
* Corn buttercup Ranunculus arvensis
Red Data List status: Critically endangered
An attractive annual buttercup with small yellow flowers, a weed of crop fields, which has undergone an astonishing decline of 81 per cent, mostly in the past 30 years. Introduced into Britain by Roman farmers, along with opium poppies, peas and beans.
* Purple milk-vetch Astragalus danicus
Red Data List status: Endangered
A small perennial herb of short, unimproved turf on well-drained calcareous soils, mostly on chalk and limestone, and also on sand dunes. Down by 51 per cent. It has declined largely because of agricultural improvement or lack of grazing.
* Lesser butterfly orchid Platanthera bifolia
Red Data List status: Vulnerable
A well-loved orchid that grows in a wide range of usually poor soils, including heathy pastures, grassland, open scrub, woodland edges and rides, and on moorland. It has disappeared from 64 per cent of grid squares in recent decades.
* English eyebright Euphrasia anglica
Red Data List status: Endangered
Eyebrights are small annuals of unimproved grassy habitats, with 23 species in Britain. This particular one grows in tightly grazed acidic grassland, heath-land and moors and is down by 62 per cent. Compresses from eyebrights were once used to treat eye disorders.
* Prickly Poppy Papaver argemone
Red Data List status: Vulnerable
A small, brightly coloured poppy which often has black marks at the base of its petals. It has declined by 61 per cent. A species of traditional arable fields that has not yet made the jump to waysides and road verges as the common poppy has.
Field Gentian Gentianella campestris
Red Data List status: Vulnerable
A biennial or annual herb with attractive purply blue flowers, found in pastures, hill grassland, grassy heaths, sand dunes, machair and road verges. Locally common in northern England and Scotland, but absent from most of south and central Britain. Gone from 57 per cent of grid squares in recent decades.
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/environment/story.jsp?story=636855
More interesting photo's Added 07 May 2005 - Last Edited 07 May 2005 We are in need of more photographic material for our achives. Please post up your sighings.
My favorite so far was posted by Paul
The common darter of Skeena Hill
The rush is on Added 07 May 2005 - Last Edited 07 May 2005 Now we are moving into summer. The buttercups are all over town, the last of the Daffodils have past, the greenhouse is full of seedlings eager to be planted out now the threat of frost has past.
Look how all the grass has grown, groan groan groan
Now it all must be mown, moan, moan moan.
Lords and Ladies are growing in the shade of the woods.
photos Added 03 May 2005 - Last Edited 03 May 2005 
Photographs Added 03 May 2005 - Last Edited 03 May 2005 Dont forget that now is a great time to photograph your garden and its visitors. Its easy to add them to your page. From Home, find Garden Details in the left hand column (under my garden), from there click on EDIT/UPLOAD IMAGES and follow instructions. You can upload general shots of the garden, details of special feature or shots of species plant and animal (or fungus).
Matt
Beltane Added 03 May 2005 - Last Edited 03 May 2005 
http://www.mythinglinks.org/Wheel.html
Beltane passed on the meadow with fire and music. Oxford is now in full bloom, i have noticed the Lilac all over town, the Horse Chestnut is heavey with fat conical pink and white clusters. The Hawthorn is out everywhere of course. The many birds flit from copse to copse.
Matt
Hawthorn Added 28 Apr 2005 - Last Edited 03 May 2005 
Mayday is upon us, beltane,
walpurgisnacht,
roodmas
When the Hawthorn is in flower and folk gather on the meadow to dance around the fire and greet the morning sun. Now the horse chestnut is in leaf and the the flowers are in bud, the city streets are filled with green as the last of the april showers blow through the trees. The frosts have passed and its now safe to plant out your veggies.
Matt
Black thorn Added 15 Apr 2005 - Last Edited 03 May 2005 
As I drive along the roads of Oxfordshire I keep a keen eye out for anything that is in bloom. I am trying to train myself to see the seasons arrive and to be able to recognise the cues of the natural systems. The hedgerow cousins Blackthorn and Hawthorn have a different approach to spring. The blackthorn has flowered, the white bloom stark againsts the black leafless limbs, where as the Ha`wthorn is now covered in soft saladlike leaves as not bloom untill May. So we await the return of the Mayflower.
I have seen numerouse bumble bees and also Bombus rufus. In the soil the grubs of beetles are at work breaking down the humus. The starlings have been about no longer flocking but perhaps they are going solo looking for a mate. The daffodils have now passed, and the Tulips are the pride of the seasoned gardener. Daisyes and dandylions are still filling out lawns everywhere. The april showers have been breif in these parts so far, with the cloads which hang seeming more interested in gathering rising water vapouir than refilling the low water resevoirs. A hose pipe ban could be in store if we dont see some seriouse downpours soon.
The moon has been beautiful in a clear sky with a bright star facing ( jupiter perhaps)
Looking forward to Beltane and May morning
Matt
Spring Equinox Added 23 Mar 2005 - Last Edited 23 Mar 2005 Now the days are longer and the nights are growing in the southern hemisphere, the land will begin to warm in earest. The bumble bees and the daisys are already prevelent. What other new arrivals can you spot in your garden?
Matt
Looking for a home Added 06 Mar 2005 - Last Edited 06 Mar 2005 Across the garden landscape you will see birds trying out bushes and areas of climbers as suitable nesting spots. If you are planning any major clearance work on your garden, such as replacing fencing which is covered in climbers, be aware of the danger of disturbing the nest builders. In the coming weeks try not to disturb parts of the garden where you think nexts are being established. If you want to increase the nesting potential of your garden its not too late to instal bird boxes.
Matt
Snow drops Added 02 Feb 2005 - Last Edited 03 May 2005 
Imolc, the first pagan festival after the winter solstice is upon us and we can now see signs of the coming spring with the Snow drops popping up. Have a look in your garden and see if they are there.
imbolc
(celtic),
Candlemas
(Catholic)
Also:
Lupercus (Strega),
Thryphon Zarezan(Bulgarian),
Disting (Teutonic, Feb 14th)
Matt
Photos of gardens Added 05 Jan 2005 - Last Edited 05 Jan 2005 If you would like to add photos and don't know how, send a message to Matt for the process. It is rather nice to look at other gardens, don't you think?
Regards, Roger
New Sub-categories Added 06 Dec 2004 - Last Edited 05 Jan 2005 Adding to Butterflies and Moths, we now have 2 futher sub-categories of Invertebrates namely 'Bees and Wasps' and 'Beetles'. The invertebrates lists still contains these species but they can now be found faster in the short lists.
Regards, Matt
new birds Added 22 Nov 2004 - Last Edited 03 May 2005 new birds
Collared Dove
Crested Tit
Crossbill
Feral Pigeon
grey wagtail
SHELDUCK
just added
THANKS FOR REGISTERING Added 22 Nov 2004 - Last Edited 22 Nov 2004 NOW I HAVE HANDED IN MY PROJECT
I would like to thank you all for registering your gardens, we have over 90 now. The data which we have collected so far has been useful in describing garden ecology and showing how this website is designed to work. From here we will extend the species lists, improve the reporting system and tidy up the features. When we find some funding we can look at upgrading the whole system, intergrating mapping inside the site and promoting the site nationally through wildlfie and gardening networks.
Thanks again
Matt
New features online Added 16 Nov 2004 - Last Edited 17 Nov 2004 Ali has now programmed a list of species ranked in order of most common
go to the top of the reports page. You can also see ranks for the major groups.
Enjoy
Matt
Numbers surge Added 16 Nov 2004 - Last Edited 16 Nov 2004 As the numbers of registered gardens surges upwards, 50 the 60 then here comes 70, the amount of useful data we can feed back to you also increases, so now you can see by clicking on species in the log which species have been most reported, in the reports page there is also an option to:
"View The Growth Rate of Numbers of Species against gardens and sightings"
This shows how we are nationally reaching a plateaux for species numbers as new log ins dont add to the total number of species sighted. However every new garden does add to the local lists, the more your neighbours get involved the more detailed the species lists for your area become.
Watch this space !
Matt
Horray for Holly! Added 14 Nov 2004 - Last Edited 03 May 2005 
Due to demand we have added Holly to the list, it can also be found under Common holly.
Both are Ilex aquifolium
Righto !
Matt
BIRD FEEDER Added 14 Nov 2004 - Last Edited 14 Nov 2004 We have added a BIRD FEEDER to the list of Extras, so please EDIT GARDEN DETAILS to include one if you have one.
Cheers Matt
Building up the bird list Added 09 Nov 2004 - Last Edited 10 Nov 2004 I have been comparing the species list from garden-birds.co.uk with the one we have used from ArKive. I have added the following species so far, more to come
Blackcap
Black Redstart
Brambling
Bullfinch
Buzzard
Chiffchaff
Coal Tit
Have you seen any of these birds in your garden ?
Garden Lists Added Added 09 Nov 2004 - Last Edited 09 Nov 2004 Now you can click on the Gardens Online link in the stats on the left to view a list of all gardens online. They are listed with the most recently added at the top.
Gardens that have reported sightings have a sightings icon (magnifying glass) and gardens that have uploaded images have an image icon (camera), at all times gardens only show the street and postcode and NEVER house number and NEVER owner names and email addresses.
You must be logged in to browse gardens.
Sparrow Hawk Added 09 Nov 2004 - Last Edited 03 May 2005 
Sparrow hawk has been added to the list with a link to www.garden-birds.co.uk, have a look, its a great site.
Thanks Matt
Amphibians Added 09 Nov 2004 - Last Edited 09 Nov 2004 We have been having a bit of bother with the amphibians, but not to worry all fixed now, so please input your toad sightings.
Cheers Matt
Species list extended Added 08 Nov 2004 - Last Edited 08 Nov 2004 The lists of species will now be extended by myself and Ali as species and groups of species are identified. Any new species that YOU see that is not on our list, please let us know and we will remedy that as soon as possible.
Regards Matt
Messaging System Up and Running Added 31 Oct 2004 - Last Edited 31 Oct 2004 Users of the site are now able to send and receive messages from other users via an internal messaging system.
To send a message to a user log in and visit the My Messages section, click on Compose and you will be presented with a blank message form with a drop down list of potential recipients (other users). When you receive a message you will be alerted via email to your email address that a message awaits you on the site.
Whilst browsing other users gardens there also appears a link to message them directly.
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