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Archive for February 24th, 2015
‘Invest more’ in protected areas
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 24th, 2015
BBC: The world's national parks and nature reserves receive eight billion tourist visits a year, generating around $600bn of spending, according to research.
The tourism income vastly outweighs the $10bn a year spent safeguarding them, says a Cambridge University team.
The study, published in PLOS Biology, highlights the need for more investment in protected areas, they say.
The idea of natural capital, the worth of natural assets, is increasingly being used in policy making.
It is based on...
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Obama’s Keystone XL Veto Not a Death Blow to Pipeline
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 24th, 2015
Climate Central: President Obama on Tuesday vetoed the bill Congress passed this month forcing approval of the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline. But the project isn't dead yet, and the U.S. State Department's long approval process for the Keystone XL continues.
The bill, an effort by Congress to override the State Department's protracted environmental review of the pipeline, would have authorized TransCanada to build the $8 billion Keystone XL along 875 miles of U.S. soil from the Canadian border in Montana to Steele...
Obama blocks Keystone pipeline in rare veto of Republican bill
Posted by Guardian: Dan Roberts on February 24th, 2015
Guardian: Barack Obama has blocked a Republican bill that would allow a contentious extension of the Keystone oil pipeline, in a rare veto that arrived in low-key fashion but leaves open a long road to the end of his presidency.
Though long expected and downplayed by the White House, the symbolic clash over a pipeline from Canadian tar sands to US refineries on the Gulf coast is the first time the president has refused to sign legislation in his second term, and only the third veto of his presidency.
Obama...
Keystone XL Bill Heads Obama Desk Today, Pipeline Opponents Urge Veto
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on February 24th, 2015
EcoWatch: Congress plans to send the Keystone XL pipeline bill to President Obama’s desk today. The president is “poised to reject” the GOP-backed legislation “with a swift veto,” according to The Hill.
“I would anticipate, as we’ve been saying for years, that the president will veto that legislation, and he will, so I would not anticipate a lot of drama or fanfare around it,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest told The Hill.
Republicans say a veto will not be the end. “The allure of appeasing environmental...
Report: UK will need to import half of food to meet 2040 demand
Posted by Blue and Green: Charlotte Malone on February 24th, 2015
Blue and Green: Farming leaders have warned that by 2040 the UK will need to import almost half of its food to meet demand as the population rises. A report from the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) warns of “serious implications” for the economy and food security if the country does not improve productivity. The union predicts that by 2040 there will be an extra 13 million people living in the UK, putting pressure on food resources. If farming continues at current rates, the UK will only produce enough food to meet...
UN climate panel head steps down amid sex claims
Posted by Agence France Press: Tristan McConnell With Mariette Le Roux on February 24th, 2015
Agence France Press: The head of the UN's climate science panel, Rajendra Pachauri, stepped down Tuesday in the wake of sexual harassment claims against him that have surfaced at a crucial time on the climate agenda.
Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) since 2002, has denied any wrongdoing, claiming his email account and mobile phone were hacked.
But the 74-year-old Indian tendered his resignation with immediate effect on Tuesday in a letter to UN chief Ban Ki-moon.
"The...