Food Waste in the Supply Chain
A one-day conference held at the Dutch Embassy in London last week focussed on a topic which is emerging in response to the need to increase food production by at least 50% to feed a population of 9 billion in 2050. The topic is food waste reduction and encompasses food waste across the whole of…
European Antibiotic Awareness Day Highlights Threat of Antibiotic Resistance
By Miroslav Djuric European Antibiotic Awareness Day is an annual initiative that aims to raise awareness of the threat of antibiotic resistance to public health and animal health as well as the importance of prudent use of antibiotics. On the occasion of the 5th European Antibiotic Awareness Day, which was marked on 18 November 2012, the…
Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) Targeted for Eradication
The FAO and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) have developed a detailed strategy for Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) control under the umbrella of their Global Framework for the Progressive Control of Transboundary Animal Diseases (GF-TADs). However, it is clear that only a massive commitment of national and international resources would make FMD eradication possible as surveillance and monitoring over a long period is required. FMD is a highly infectious disease caused by a picornavirus, which affects cloven-hoofed animals, in particular cattle, sheep, goats, pigs and deer. Other animals including camelids and elephants can also be affected. The disease is notifiable, which means that the local veterinary services must be notified immediately if FMD is suspected.Although FMD does not pose a direct threat to human health, and is rarely fatal in animals, it can cause reduced milk yield, weight loss and lower fertility. The global annual cost of FMD in…
The pet-owner bond – why dogs and cats don’t perceive it the same way
By John Bradshaw Much has been written about the human-animal bond, and the benefits it brings to owners of companion animals. Sometimes pets are portrayed as more-or-less interchangeable, as if it made little difference to the relationship whether the pet happens to be a cat, a dog, or a rabbit. The emotional ties that owners…
The many challenges of wildlife tourism
Earlier this week I got to visit the World Travel Market in London: primarily a trade show in travel and tourism, there are also many seminars, presentations and panel discussions which were my reason for attending. Having recently come back from Namibia where the main tourism draw is wildlife, I was interested to attend a…
Will climate change win Obama the US election?
Image from Google Images As an editor for the CABI internet resource Environmental Impact, I often read articles, books and reports that suggest the USA is by far the largest historical emitter of greenhouse gases (GHG), second only to China in total tons of GHG emitted, and that the US has one of the worst…
Climate change – will it affect spread of vector borne diseases?
Climate change is going to mean mosquito-borne diseases spread north out of the tropics right? That seems to be the story the news media are giving us. But it is really the case? Do we really need to start thinking about buying bednets to protect against mozzy bites? As editor of Global Health database I…
Ash dieback hits British countryside
Image: EPPO A disease of ash trees, first found in Poland in the 1990s (most reports suggest around 1992) but which has since spread through much of northern and central Europe, has been reported in the British countryside for the first time. The ash dieback disease was first reported in the UK in February 2012…
EU signals policy shift on biofuels
Climate change, high oil prices, and worries over dependence on imported fossil fuels, are just some of the reasons why governments have introduced policies to promote use of biofuels and other renewable energy sources in recent years. In the USA, the Renewable Fuel Standard requires a proportion of the corn harvest to be used for…
New clue to aid the understanding of the breakdown and melting of glaciers
Glaciers image from destination360.com Glaciers and ice caps play an important role on earth’s climate; they reflect 80-90% of incoming solar radiation; and they’re a major carbon sink, especially in the Arctic, which accounts for up to 15% of the earth’s carbon sink. As I reported in my previous blog, scientists alerted that the contribution…