LONDON – Global warming is drying up mountain lakes and wetlands in the Andes and threatening water supplies to major South American cities such as La Paz, Bogota and Quito, World Bank research shows. Continue reading →

The last Sunday in July is International Bog Day, an annual event that celebrates the beauty of bogs and raises awareness of the need to conserve them. Although bogs take about 10,000 years to form, as much as 96% of them have been destroyed since 1945. Worse still, damaged bogs emit large quantities of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxides. As a bog’s peat decomposes, these gases are released. Conversely, healthy bogs absorb carbon, and as such can be an ally in the struggle to reduce carbon emissions. For all these reasons, one LIFE project is working hard to restore bogs in Wales.

The LIFE Active Blanket Bog project (LIFE06 NAT/UK/000134), launched last August, is to last five years restoring blanket bogs in the Berwyn and Migneint special areas of conservation (SAC). Blanket bogs are areas of wet peat-land that are fed exclusively by rainwater. Peat is a waterlogged soil that is composed of compacted, partially decomposed vegetable matter. Although large areas of blanket bog still occur in Wales, the majority have been seriously degraded through afforestation, encroachment by alien species, over grazing, drainage, and either deliberate or accidental burning.

The Berwyn South Clwyd Mountains and Migneint Arenig Dduallt are two of the most important SACs for blanket bog in the UK. Most of the former site and all of the latter site are also designated as SPAs for their breeding upland bird populations. However, in the 1920s and 1930s, farmers dug ditches in and around the blanket bog to improve the agricultural value of the land. Extensive areas of blanket bog and other habitats in the Berwyn and Migneint uplands were also planted with Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) in the 1970s and substantial areas have been invaded by rhododendron (Rhododendron ponticum) and Sitka spruce seedlings.

The Active Blanket Bog project will remove Sitka spruce and rhododendron bushes from the bogland areas and institute practical restoration and conservation actions. The restoration work will take place over a total area of more than 4,500 ha. Drainage ditches will be blocked in and around blanket bog on moorland within the Berwyn and South Clwyd Mountains SAC. In each year of the project, an estimated 18km of drains will be blocked, mainly by using heather bales to create dams.  Over the lifespan of the project, a total of 91km of drains will be blocked. Heather mowing will also take place to create firebreaks to help protect the blanket bog from fire.

This LIFE-funded project is a partnership between the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Countryside Council for Wales, Environment Agency Wales, and Forestry Commission Wales.

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Yesterday, thick among the gleeful, chanting, throngs of Live Earth, I had to make a decision; fight my way in and out of the crowds to my computer or listen to Ludacris. In the end, I let the music win.

Live Earth was literally captivating. What can I say? I do have some highlights for you now, though. Continue reading →

The Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC), with the financial assistance from Coca-Cola HBC Romania, launches its Training for Young Environmental Leaders programme for participants from Romania and Moldova. Continue reading →