Agricultural ‘Research for Development’
Last week I posted a blog article reporting the UK's publication of a new science strategy designed to help improve food security and sustainability. One bit of the Food and Innovation Research Strategy announcement which caught my eye was the statement that research investment in agriculture by the UK's DFID (Department for International Development) was…
UK launches new food security strategy
Earlier this week, the UK's Chief Scientific Adviser, Professor John Beddington, launched a new science strategy to help improve the security and sustainability of Britain's food system. It quickly disappeared from the news agenda here as the UK ground to a halt in the snow, but at CABI improving food security is one of the…
Are controls needed for Antarctic tourism?
Photo: IAATO To celebrate a milestone birthday this month, I went to Patagonia and travelled down to the world's southernmost city, Ushuaia. Flying back from Ushuaia to Buenos Aires last Saturday, the plane was largely filled with excited travellers who had come off an Antarctic cruise ship that morning (Ushuaia, which bills itself as the…
Will London Olympics be bad for tourism?
It has been a recurring theme at many Olympic Games. A city spends several years and millions of pounds putting its bid document together, which to satisfy both the IOC and the host population has to include demonstrations of popular support, and projections of lasting economic, social and sporting benefits. But after the euphoria of…
Australia tries to look on the bright side after Ashes defeat
Outside a few parts of the world (largely those once colonies of Great Britain) the game of cricket remains largely a mystery. Even more so, the enigmatically named Ashes, the prize competed for in a Test series between England and Australia. But the Ashes epitomise a sporting rivalry, and often a clash of cultures, between England and…
Water reform needed to feed Asia
Image: IWMI. Groundwater irrigation in West Bengal Last night, I watched a new BBC documentary on the challenges to food production in a world of changing climate and increasing population. The programme featured growing water shortages in parts of India (where drought has hit again this year), and how Western countries importing food from India…
Forest destruction threatens Kenya’s economy
Photo from Landcoalition.org East Africa's wildebeest migration, which crosses the River Mara and brings vast herds of animals into the Maasai Mara game reserve, is one of the great wildlife spectacles of the world. But the migration, and other iconic wildlife attractions including the millions of flamingos that Lake Nakuru in Kenya is famous for, are…
Pandemic influenza: the worst economic scenario
The threat of an influenza pandemic has disappeared from headlines again lately, at least in the UK where a political scandal around MPs expenses has driven everything else off the news. But that doesn't mean that the outbreak has died down yet. In fact, just over 1000 new cases have been confirmed worldwide in the…
‘Swine flu’ travel response: pandering to stupidity?
We have been featuring H1N1 influenza heavily here on 'Hand picked' lately, in line with the worldwide headlines the virus has been making since the emergence of an outbreak in Mexico. From the daily travel news alerts which hit my inbox, the virus has not only hit tourism in Mexico severely, but has also raised…
Swine flu: can it be stopped at the border?
Anyone looking at the news in the last couple of days can be of no doubt as to the leading story of the moment (well, at least it makes a change from the credit crunch). Over 100 deaths from swine flu in Mexico, confirmed cases in the USA, Canada and now Spain, and suspected cases…