FAO have just published a report Aspects determining the risk of pesticides to wild bees: risk profiles for focal crops on three continents, adding to the range of pollinator resources on its AGP - Pollination pages. This contributes to the International Pollinator Initiative, a network of activities stemming from a CBD decision.
House of Commons Library briefing on UK context and policy development on Shale Gas and Fracking
The UK parliament's House of Commons Select Committee on International Development has published the report of an inquiry on Global Food Security, linked to the G8-linked UK/Brazil event on 8 June - Nutrition for Growth. The inquiry report is a high level review covering: more.../
with some reference to climate change. A low emphasis on genetic resources, ecosystem approaches - passing reference to GMOs and ground waters but nothing significant on new crops or wild relatives, pests, disease resistance, soils or more complex views of water security.
The EU JRC Soil Portal makes soil datasets and atlases available. A new Soil Atlas of Africa has just been published to add to atlases for Europe, Latin America, soil biodiversity and circumpolar regions. Other data and more detailed mapping resources are also available.
Paper in Nature on world distribution, prevalence and risks for dengue: suggests 390 million infections yearly, with 95 million showing symptoms to some degree - around three times higher than WHO estimates. Bhatt, S. et al. (2013) The global distribution and burden of dengue. Nature 496 504-507 doi 10.1038/nature12060
NERC have developed a website supporting knowledge transfer for sustainable food production, promoting science that informs environmental sustainability.
The FAO Commission for Genetic Resources in Food and Agriculture (CGRFA) held a special information seminar on 13 April 2013 entitled Taking Stock for the Future, with a focus on biodiversity loss and the importance of genetic resources for agriculture. Presentations and Agenda are on the FAO website and summaries and reports on the IISD reporting services.
The EU has just banned the use of neonicotinoids. A feature summary in Nature of research and policy developments relating to the impacts of neonicotinoid insecticides on bees and other pollinators gives a good overview. The European Environment Agency issued the second report on the precautionary principle and impacts from various substances - Late Lessons from Early Warnings: Science, Precaution, Innovation. This follows the earlier review of the history of the precautionary principle Late Lessons from Early Warnings: the Precautionary Principle 1896-2000, produced in 2001.
The UK House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee in April 2013 published the report of its inquiry on Pollinators and Pesticides, with a particular focus on neonicotinoids, which have been causing concern because of reported impacts on both honeybees and wild pollinators. Selected recommendations to the UK government are:
