Vera Barbosa

Dr Vera Barbosa Content Editor, Environmental Science Team I’ve just re-joined CABI, having worked here previously, as a Scientific Information Officer in the Crop Protection Team, using my agricultural science background, from 1989-90, when I left to start a family. I continued working for CABI for many years as a freelance abstractor of the Spanish…
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Convention on Biological Diversity

Thanks to Luigi over at Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog for this quick note. The COP9 meeting is currently in session in Bonn, Germany from 19 to 30 May 2008. Among the topics on the agenda is agricultural biodiversity and plant conservation. You can watch some of the sessions online if you can not get to the…
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English wildlife “under siege”!

I was a bit surprised this morning to hear on the radio that England’s wildlife is "under siege" – this seemed a little melodramatic straight after news stories of China’s earthquake victims. Still, it did catch my attention. They were talking about the results of Natural England’s State of the Natural Environment report published today.…
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Be KIND to nettles

AS an avid reader of fairytales in my youth, I was always intrigued by the story of the seven ravens. Seven princely brothers condemned to be ravens by day can only be rescued if their beautiful sister is prepared to pick nettles, barehanded, spin them into thread and weave the lot into seven shirts. Unfortunately…
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Biodiversity suffers as resource use increases

More than a quarter of the world’s biodiversity has been lost in the last 35 years according to a World Wildlife Fund (WWF) report, compiled by the Zoological Society London (ZSL).
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A little hope for orangutans

There’s a little glimmer of hope for the orangutans living in the rainforests of Indonesia. Back in February 2007 Vicki told us about the critical situation of these animals in Borneo and Sumatra: “their habitat is under constant attack from illegal logging, forest fires and mining… not to mention the ever-encroaching oil palms and the…
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Climate change – good news for agricultural research?

The agricultural research drought – in need of a little climate change? This morning, office banter here at CABI turned to the post 9/11 affliction that affected newspaper and magazine columnists for many months, if not several years, after the event. For quite some time it seemed almost impossible to read a  Sunday supplement without…
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Isn’t it about time we start running our cars on ethanol like they do in Brazil?

After reading the news on the end of the 48-hour strike by employees at the Grangemouth oil refinery in Scotland last month, I was quite relieved. I have to use my car to go to work and didn’t want to see another increase in petrol prices, or worse still no petrol in the pumps. I’ve…
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No, your car won’t glow in the dark

‘But will your car glow in the dark’ was the headline of an Irish newspaper article a few months ago describing a joint project between Irish-based company Greenfield Project Management, the Belarussian government and Swedish-based Chematur Engineering. The aim is to produce fuel ethanol from grain crops and sugarbeet grown on land contaminated by the…
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Have you noticed an increase in your supermarket bill?

In the past couple of years the world price of field crops such as wheat, rice, soya beans, rice and palm oil has risen dramatically (doubling, tripling and more..). But, what is causing this upward movement?  Well…a multitude of market forces!
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