Beleid en debat

Although bee advocates have focused on farmers and their use of insecticides, homeowner use of chemicals also can affect bee populations. Many homeowners apply neonicotinoids, a widely used class of insecticides, when lawn weeds, such as dandelions and white clovers, are blooming; This practice can have a negative effect on native pollinator populations. Jonathan Larson, a University of Kentucky doctoral student, recently published the results of his homeowner research in the journal PLOS ONE. Declines in honeybee populations have captured media headlines. But other pollinators, such as bumblebees, also are on the decline due to diseases, pesticides and habitat loss. “With honeybee populations struggling, we need to rely on native bees, such as bumblebees, to pick up the slack on plant pollination,” Dan Potter, UK entomologist and Larson’s adviser, said in the release. “Many native bees are much more efficient at pollinating certain types of crops, like tomatoes, urban flowering plants and vegetables grown in home gardens.”

Last week, the first badgers were killed. Allegedly on ‘best scientific advice’. Even though the Krebs Report, in response to the trial culls nearly 30 years ago, said it would not work. Even though a top government scientist said the whole plan was ‘crazy’. Notwithstanding the outcry from wildlife NGOs and the public alike, DEFRA has appeared oblivious to other means of controlling bovine tuberculosis (bTB), and has gone ahead with the cull anyway. The argument about the badger cull is certainly the most noteworthy wildlife conflict within the UK in recent years – but there are also many other individual species that have received warrants for their extermination. While some are culled for ecological reasons – deer for example, where man has taken over from the wolves and lynx we made extinct in this country, many species seem to have become demonised with little justification. Wildlife management can usually be resolved without a trigger-happy approach. In the case of the badger cull, improving bio-security on cattle farms would be a good place to start. But the first response to rural problems never seems to be the improvement of current practice, and a disturbing trend has appeared, which shifts blame to the natural world rather than farming practice. Badgers, and many others on the hit list, have become ‘wild scapegoats’. If we don’t speak up for them, all the creatures below may soon be targeted like the badger.

In a 52-page report released Monday, the Government Accountability Office raises concerns about EPA’s method of granting conditional approval for new uses of pesticides in advance of receiving full reports from the manufacturers to support the safety of their use. The findings in the report come amid growing concern over the effects of pesticides on humans and the environment, which have been linked to neurological disorders and cancer, among other things.
EPA officials, in response to recommendations in GAO’s report, “EPA Should Take Steps To Improve Its Oversight Of Conditional Registrations,” have agreed to update their systems to allow for the easier tracking of conditional registrations and better monitor submission of the needed data. However, the agency in a July 18 letter to Alfredo Gomez, GAO’s acting director, also defends its conditional registration program. While EPA has “made mistakes in how it has identified the states of conditionally and unconditionally registered pesticides” and has limitations in tracking the submission of data, “all conditionally registered products meet applicable legal standards, and pesticides have not been allowed in the marketplace without adequate testing to ensure safety.

In its response, published today, the Government misrepresents its own science in deciding not to implement recommendations to save pollinators from neonicotinoid pesticides. In March, following extensive evidence gathering, the Environmental Audit Committee published its ‘Pollinators and Pesticides’ report, concluding that neonicotinoids are having an “especially deleterious impact on insect pollinators”. However, Government has decided that it:-
• Will not improve the transparency of the regulatory process so that studies done by pesticide companies are in the public domain, stating that “the cost of publishing this information, even on the internet, would be substantial”.
• Will not raise the UK’s environmental protection standards by including other pollinators in the national risk assessment process.
• Will not ban all amenity and garden use of neonicotinoids.
• Will not set up a pollinator monitoring scheme - although this is not ruled out for the future.

Litoria is a genus of Hylidae tree frogs native to Australia, the Bismarck Archipelago, the Solomon Islands, New Guinea, the Lesser Sunda Islands, the Moluccan Islands, and Timor. They are sometimes collectively referred to as Australasian treefrogs. In Australia, some of these species are either facing an extremely high risk of extinction, or have numbers which decreased (or will) by 80% within three generations, or may even be extinct. Examples are listed below.

Built on a fragile balance of predators and prey, Australia's various ecosystems are highly susceptible to change. When human intervention consistently alters an ecosystem, this balance can be upset, seriously threatening the biodiversity. While all species are important to an ecosystem, 'keystone' species are particularly vital. These are often top predators such as crocodiles, because of the role they play in controlling prey. The southern cassowary, however, is also a keystone species as it spreads the seeds of as many as 238 species of plants in northern Queensland. "Importantly, research clearly shows that biodiversity contributes significantly to our survival, well-being and enjoyment of life, so when we lose species at the rates that we're currently witnessing, we should be gravely concerned," says Dr Euan Ritchie an ecologist at Deakin University in Melbourne. "Losing any one species is a tragedy, but what is even more concerning is the loss of a species' ecological role following its extinction," says Euan. "If we were to lose dingoes, as an example, we also lose their ability to control pest species such as foxes and cats, and overabundant herbivores, [like] pigs, goats and kangaroos, which has widespread and often negative impacts across the whole system."

The orange-bellied parrot (Neophema chrysogaster) has a history as colourful as its feathers. The bird was first described by ornithologist John Latham in 1790. He gave it the specific name, chrysogaster, Ancient Greek for 'golden belly'. It has previously been known as the Orange-breasted Parrot - a name given to the Orange-bellied Parrot in 1926 by the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union or RAOU (now Birdlife Australia) when the word 'belly' was considered inelegant. The orange-bellied parrot is also one of Australia's most endangered birds, listed as ''critically endangered'' - one step above ''extinct''. There are fewer than 50 in the wild. Every summer the birds breed in south-west Tasmania. There they are met by a recovery team which monitors them, provides feed and maintains nest boxes. In colder months the parrots, one of only two species of parrot which migrate , go to the saltmarshes of Victoria and South Australia. The diet consists of seeds and berries of small coastal grasses and shrubs. Australia has one of the worst extinction records in the world. When a plant or animal is put on the national threatened species list a recovery plan is supposed to be drawn up. Often one is not, nor is there a guarantee funding will exist to enact any plan. Conservation biology expert at the Northern Territory's Charles Darwin University, professor John Woinarski, says it is almost impossible to work out what is spent on recovering threatened species each year. ''But the likelihood is that it has been decreasing in the last one to two decades, whereas the problem is becoming greater,'' he said.

Rachel Carson described her fears about the use of systemic insecticides like neonicotinoids 50 years ago when she wrote Silent Spring. Now, we are witnessing first-hand as her predictions become a reality: “The world of systemic insecticides is a weird world, surpassing the imaginings of the brothers Grimm… It is a world where the enchanted forest of the fairy tales has become the poisonous forest in which an insect that chews a leaf or sucks the sap of a plant is doomed. It is a world where a flea bites a dog, and dies because the dog’s blood has been made poisonous, where an insect may die from vapors emanating from a plant it has never touched, where a bee may carry poisonous nectar back to its hive and presently produce poisonous honey.” Compounding the problem is a shift away from integrated pest management (IPM) and agroecological practices, systems that, to varying degrees, mitigate the indiscriminate use of toxic chemicals. Industrial agriculture practices rely on pesticides whether they are needed or not, thus putting an unsustainable load of chemicals into the environment and adding weight to Carson’s frightening predictions. As one report notes, “Over the last 20 years or so, the shift in pest management has moved away from reactive to prophylactic. Now many fungicides, pesticides and herbicides are applied to the seeds before sowing. Application of the chemical before pest damage has occurred often involves routine spraying and pre-emptive treatments.”

All around him, even in a place as beautiful as the Little Qualicum River estuary, his office for 30 years as a biologist for the Canadian Wildlife Service, he sees the unravelling of "the web of life." "It's happening very quickly," he says. Registered Professional Biologist Neil Dawe has written over 80 papers on birds, ecology and the environment. He received Environment Canada's Regional Citation of Excellence Award for his work in co-founding and co-chairing the Brant Wildlife Festival. He received the Outstanding Service Award from the Federation of B.C. Naturalists and the Ian McTaggart-Cowan Award of Excellence in Biology from the Association of Professional Biologists of B.C. In 2006, he retired from the Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment Canada, after 31 years of managing National Wildlife Areas and Migratory Bird Sanctuaries on Vancouver Island. He is President of the Qualicum Institute: www.qualicuminstitute.ca.