The time is ripe for climate adaptation in agriculture
By Janny Vos, Director of Strategic Partnerships at CABI I recently attended the launch of the Global Commission on Adaptation (GCA) in The Hague where the words of the CEO of the World Bank – Kristalina Georgieva – resonated strongly with my work as part of an organisation that aims to improve people’s lives worldwide…
Empowering more women in the fight against fruit flies in Pakistan
More women in the Gilgit Baltistan (GB) region of Pakistan are benefiting from a Phytosanitary Risk Management Programme (PRMP) aimed at using a range of biological controls to fight the fruit fly pest which can impact heavily on rice and horticultural crops. PRMP, which is funded by USAID via United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), was initiated in…
Navigating ABS measures is ‘work in progress’
In this guest blog special, Dan Leskien, Senior Liaison Officer at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), considers how much work still needs to be done to implement Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) measures in respect of genetic resources… I wish to commend CABI for its initiative to prepare and implement…
Trick or treat? The spooky species list
Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. It may seem like some of the species in this article are the making of horror films and scary stories but they’re all too real. Besides giving us the creeps, these spooky specimens offer up some surprising ‘tricks’ and ‘treats’ for humans and the environment.
Illegal wildlife trade, it’s not all rhinos and elephants
This month London hosted an international conference on Illegal Wildlife Trade, highlighting fresh commitments and funding to reduce international trade in threatened animal and plant species. October also saw the annual CITES meeting where compliance issues with trade regulations laid out by CITES are discussed and resolved.
New report calls for urgent action to tackle climate change
The world’s leading climate scientists have issued their most extensive warning yet on the risks associated with increasing global temperatures. The authors of the new report, published yesterday in Incheon, South Korea, by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), say that urgent, far-reaching and unprecedented actions are needed across society, in order to limit…
Loved and loathed: the bitter-sweet attraction of the world’s cacti in sharp focus
Depending on which side of the fence you sit, cacti, in all its various forms, are either loved or loathed as ornamental delights or prickly pests that can devastate ecosystems, wildlife, and livelihoods. The issue was in the spotlight recently when an article published on the BBC News Science & Environment website ‘Prickly cactus species…
Wasps – the good, the bad and the downright irritating
Whether trying to cajole one out of your office or running for cover after it seems a little too interested in your food we have likely all encountered the common wasp (Vespula vulgaris) more than once during this particularly wasp-heavy summer. But did you know that this is just one of 9000 species of wasp…
New Trial Eradicated 80% of a Disease-Carrying Mosquito Population
A new trial experiment undertaken in Australia has been shown to successfully eliminate 80% of the disease-bearing mosquito Aedes aegypti.
Back from the brink: how biocontrol saved St Helena’s national tree from extinction
By Wayne Coles At first sight the humble scale insect, Orthezia insignis doesn’t seem like it could pack much of a punch in a ‘fight’ against a range of native flora – but to make such an assumption would be very dangerous indeed. In fact Orthezia insignis is a genuine invasive menace which in Hawaii,…