Conservation & Environment News - Week 15/01/08 - 21/01/08

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Weather 'a taste of things to come' - BBC News 17/01/08

2007 was the third warmest year ever recorded in Scotland, according to figures from the Met Office.

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Warning on rising Med Sea levels - BBC News 19/01/08

The level of the Mediterranean Sea is rising rapidly and could increase by up to half a metre in the next 50 years, scientists in Spain have warned.

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England’s neglected heathlands - Natural England 21/01/08

The poor condition of lowland heathland across England is putting stone curlews, nightjars and sand lizards and other endangered species of animals and plants in even greater danger of extinction, warns Natural England today (Monday 21 January).

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Europe's birds face crisis from climate change - RSPB Online 15/01/08

A landmark advance in our understanding of the potential impacts of human-induced climate change on wildlife has been published today.

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More protection needed for warming seas - RSPB Online 16/01/08

Further protection for marine wildlife is needed in the face of growing evidence that climate change is having an increasingly detrimental impact on our oceans, warns the RSPB.

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EDGE Amphibians – the world’s weirdest creatures just got weirder - ZSL London Zoo 21/01/08

A gigantic, ancient relative of the newt, a drawing-pin sized frog, a limbless, tentacled amphibian and a blind see-through salamander have all made it onto a list of the world’s weirdest and most endangered creatures.

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First community marine conservation area a welcome leap forward - RSPB Online 21/01/08

Stuart Housden, director of RSPB Scotland, commended the Scottish Government for today awarding statutory protection to a marine area.

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25 Years Of Pollution Monitoring In The UK Shows A Fall In The Presence Of Toxins In Ambient Air - Medical News Today 15/01/08

Air quality in the UK has improved significantly over the last 25 years according to a report published by the National Physical Laboratory (NPL). Monitoring at 17 testing sites around the UK shows a fall in the presence of harmful heavy metals such as lead, iron and copper in the air we breathe.

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Europe Should Adopt WHO Recommendations For Particulate Matter Cuts - Medical News Today 21/01/08

Europe must adopt the World Health Organization (WHO) standard on fine particulate matter pollution if it is to significantly curb needless premature deaths, concludes research in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.