Beleid en debat

There is growing evidence that a new class of pesticides -- nerve toxins called neonicotinoids, which are used on most US crops including almost all corn -- may be toxic to bees. The Environmental Protection Agency allowed neonicotinoids on the market without adequate tests to determine their toxicity to bees. Environmentalists want neonicotinoids banned until needed safety tests are done. While the US government is slow to act and neonicotinoid sales reap billions for the chemical industry, bees continue to die. Earth Focus reports: http://www.linktv.org/video/8123/killing-bees-are-government-and-indust…

Innerhalb kürzester Zeit sorgt der wahrscheinlich aus Südafrika stammende Chytrid-Pilz Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis in ganzen Landstrichen für das Aussterben aller oder fast aller Amphibien – über alle Artgrenzen hinweg. Bis zu 170 Arten sind dem Parasiten bereits zum Opfer gefallen, weitere 1900 sind Schätzungen zufolge von der Ausrottung bedroht. Grund: Ihr Immunsystem wird geschwächt und der Chytridpilz entfaltet leichter sein tödliches Spiel. Zehn Froscharten sterben nach Ansicht von Wissenschaftlern pro Jahr durch den Chytridpilz aus. Ein solches Massensterben gab es zuletzt bei den Dinosauriern vor über 60 Millionen Jahren.

Greater than 70% of the world's amphibian species are in decline. We propose that there is probably not a single cause for global amphibian declines and present a three-tiered hierarchical approach that addresses interactions among and between ultimate and proximate factors that contribute to amphibian declines. There are two immediate (proximate) causes of amphibian declines: death and decreased recruitment (reproductive failure). Although much attention has focused on death, few studies have addressed factors that contribute to declines as a result of failed recruitment. Further, a great deal of attention has focused on the role of pathogens in inducing diseases that cause death, but we suggest that pathogen success is profoundly affected by four other ultimate factors: atmospheric change, environmental pollutants, habitat modification and invasive species. Environmental pollutants arise as likely important factors in amphibian declines because they have realized potential to affect recruitment. Further, many studies have documented immunosuppressive effects of pesticides, suggesting a role for environmental contaminants in increased pathogen virulence and disease rates. Increased attention to recruitment and ultimate factors that interact with pathogens is important in addressing this global crisis.

Native populations of the sand lizard (Lacerta agilis) have been lost from the English counties of Berkshire, Cheshire, Cornwall, Devon, East Sussex, Hampshire, Kent, West Sussex and Wiltshire, and this species also became extinct in Wales. Sand lizards now only occur in significant numbers on the lowland heathlands (and one dune system) of Dorset, in southern England, which now support over 90% of the UK population. Small numbers of sand lizards also survive on heathlands in Surrey, about 100 km northeast of Dorset, plus the coastal dunes of Merseyside in northwest England. There were estimated to be around 6500 adult lizards surviving in the United Kingdom in 1997, with all but a few hundred animals occurring on Dorset heathland.

Dies ist das zentrale Ergebnis einer Studie des NABU zur Situation von artenreichem Grünland im süddeutschen Raum (Beilage). Extensiv genutztes, artenreiches Grünland ist ein aus Naturschutzsicht prioritärer Lebensraum von besonderer Bedeutung. Etwa 50 Prozent aller in Deutschland vorkommenden Pflanzenarten sind diesen Flächen zuzuordnen. Zudem ist artenreiches Grünland von hohem landschaftskulturellem und ästhetischem Wert und prägend für zahlreiche Tourismusregionen. Trotzdem findet die schleichende Entwertung dieser Wiesen und Weiden bislang wenig Beachtung. Der hohe Intensivierungsdruck ergibt sich aus niedrigen Preisen für Milch und Rindfleisch sowie zunehmend auch aus der Förderung der Biogaserzeugung. „Erhebliche Verschlechterungen des Erhaltungszustands von europäisch streng geschütztem FFH-Grünland sind rechtlich nicht vertretbar“, so Tschimpke. Der NABU prüfe daher juristische Schritte gegen diese politisch subventionierte Naturzerstörung. „Die Ergebnisse machen deutlich, dass eine Neuausrichtung der EU-Agrarpolitik nach dem Prinzip ‚Geld gegen Leistung‘ überfällig ist, damit die Pflege und Nutzung von artenreichem Grünland für Landwirte wieder eine attraktive Perspektive bietet“, sagte NABU-Agrarexperte Florian Schöne.

In an impassioned speech to the Oxford Farming Conference (OFC), the Prince said the only way to protect Britain's rural landscape is to support the farmers responsible for maintaining fields, buildings and businesses - especially small family farms struggling to survive. “It is the people and what they do that creates the beating heart of our countryside – the vitality that comes from the busy village shop and pub, a thriving school, from the Church and W.I," he said. "This is why everything must be focused on making sure that farmers are able to keep on farming in a way that provides them with a decent living, and that they do it while working with nature and not against her.” The Prince agreed farmers need to take more account of wildlife and the environment when producing food. “For too long in the West, I am afraid, we have enjoyed something of a consumer's holiday. Food above all else has been seen as a cheap commodity to which little value is attached," he said.

Neonicotinoid insecticides were first used commercially for Colorado potato beetle control in the United States in 1995. Field populations from the northeastern and midwestern United States were tested from 1998 to 2010 for susceptibility to imidacloprid and thiamethoxam using standard topical dose assays with adults. From 1998 to 2001, imidacloprid resistance was present in only a few locations in the eastern United States. By 2003, imidacloprid resistance was common in the northeastern Unites States. In 2004, imidacloprid resistance in Colorado potato beetle was detected for the first time in the midwestern United States. In 2003, the first case of resistance to thiamethoxam was found in a population from Massachusetts. Neonicotinoid resistance in summer-generation adults was higher than in overwintered adults from the same locations. By 2009, 95% of the populations tested from the northeastern and midwestern United States had significantly higher LD50 values for imidacloprid than the susceptible population.

Bats are intriguing animals – the world’s only true flying mammals and one of the most diverse mammal groups on Earth – second only to the rodents in number of species, they occur on every continent except Antarctica. Throughout Great Britain and Northern Ireland – as elsewhere in western Europe – bat populations have declined dramatically in recent years. Several species of bats are now seriously threatened, and in the last decade one species – the greater mouse-eared bat – became extinct as a UK breeding species. Even the more common bats have suffered dramatic declines. Pipistrelle numbers, for example, are estimated to have dropped by about 70% during the 15-year period 1978-1993. In the UK, bats eat only insects and changes in agricultural practices appear to be an important factor in declining bat numbers. Herbicides and insecticides can both affect the abundance of insect prey available to bats. Hedgerows and ponds, both widely used by bats, have been lost from the countryside at an alarming rate – even in recent years. For example 23% of hedgerows and 75% of ponds were lost during the period 1984 to 1990. Woodland habitats, including old trees, have declined also.