Greenpeace expressed outrage today at Japan's decision to vote against a proposal to protect the critically endangered Western North Pacific Gray Whale - of which there are believed to be less than 100 left.
Japan was the only country to vote against a proposal at the International Whaling Conference (IWC) to 'safeguard' the remaining whales which are listed as 'critically endangered' by the World Conservation Union - putting them in the same bracket as the black rhinoceros and mountain gorilla.
Melting polar ice is threatening the main food source for Antarctic blue whales and could lead to their extinction, an international environmental group said yesterday. The whales feed on small sea creatures known as krill, which in turn eat microscopic marine algae. These live in sea ice and are released in the summer when the ice melts.
A combination of pesticide-resistant mites and wet weather has devastated bee populations in parts of the US, wiping out more than half of Maryland's bees this winter and devastating hives in many regions of the country. Beekeepers are now struggling to rebuild their colonies, while farmers who rely on the insects to pollinate their crops have had difficulty finding available hives to place in their fields.
Posted by bex — 18 September 1999 at 8:00am
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St. Kilda's precipitous cliffs, crystal clear water and massive seabird colonies have continued to attract generations of divers, sailors and nature-lovers to its shores. It ranks alongside the Taj Mahal, the Grand Canyon and the Great Barrier Reef as a World Heritage Site.
The islands once again find themselves on the edge of a change at least as big as that of the loss of its people. The industrial world is finally encroaching on the wild seas around St Kilda - oil companies are being offered thousands of square miles of the sea-bed of Britain's Atlantic Frontier including areas only 25 miles from St Kilda. In July 1999 the UK Government gave the green light for an oil rig to start drilling west of the Outer Hebrides, just 75 miles from St Kilda.
The IUCN, nature conservation advisors to the UN, have concluded that St Kilda is at high risk from oil developments.
