Reuters: Canada’s environmental watchdog warned on Thursday that the government was not following through on its past promises to improve protection of the environment. A lack of funding and commitment by top officials has resulted in an unsatisfactory job in areas such as wildlife protection and restoring heavily polluted areas of the Great Lakes, according to the report to Parliament. The report by the Commissioner of Environment and Sustainable Development complained that Ottawa had …

TAKE ACTION: Outrageous support by big environmental groups for first-time industrial logging of primary and old-growth rainforest wildernesses based upon vague claims that FSC certification makes it sustainable, well-managed and now even “carbon positive” is a big lie and must end.

Many of the world’s largest environmental groups continue to support Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) “certified” industrial logging [search] of the world’s last primary and old-growth forests. They have fallen for, and now espouse, the big lie that first time logging of ancient forests containing centuries old trees can be done in an ecologically well-managed and sustainable manner. These otherwise well-regarded organizations should know better, yet there is no chance ancient forest logging will ever end when they continue their misguided greenwashing of “certified” ancient forest destruction.

Daily Star: An integrated approach is needed to face the challenges of human and animal diseases, as climate change contributes to emergence of new infectious diseases, experts told a seminar yesterday. The British Council organised the seminar titled ‘Infectious diseases: A vision for future detection, identification and monitoring’ as part of a campaign for having a universal action plan to tackle veterinary infectious diseases. The seminar was also designed to raise the level of …

Reuters: The United States will not meet Congress’ mandate to produce more ethanol from waste products over the next 15 years, resulting in an overall shortfall in ethanol production requirements contained in a new energy law, a government forecaster said Tuesday. The new energy law requires the United States to produce 36 billion gallons of biofuels a year by 2022 to help stretch gasoline supplies and reduce oil imports. But only 32.5 billion gallons of the renewable fuels standard …

BBC: The UK Treasury has "continually demonstrated a lack of ambition and imagination" when it comes to green taxes, a report by MPs has concluded. The Commons Environmental Audit Committee says there is little sign that ministers have acted on the recommendations of the Stern Review. They also call for a rise in air taxes, especially on long-haul flights. Failure to act would undermine the government’s environmental credibility, warned the MPs. The …

Australian Broadcasting Corporation: The farming lobby says producers must be involved in the development of new drought management policies based on climate change. Yesterday the Federal Government announced a $130 million package to assist farmers in difficulty. The Prime Minister Kevin Rudd wants the farmers to help reduce emissions and increase farming productivity by looking at ways to increase carbon levels in soil. Trevor DeLandgrafft from the WA Farmers Federation says the science is largely …

Sydney Morning Herald: FEDERAL drought relief is keeping inefficient farmers on the land and it is time to stop the handouts, the Government’s top agricultural forecaster declared yesterday. Phillip Glyde, executive director of the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics, said farmers had to increase their productivity to stay viable in the face of climate change, but drought assistance was allowing struggling farmers to stay when they would otherwise have been forced to leave the …

Guardian: Energy companies last night launched a pre-emptive strike on the government ahead of next week’s budget, warning that any windfall tax on the industry would undermine investment in green power projects and other measures to combat climate change. The companies fear ministers are considering a windfall tax on the industry after a public outcry greeted moves to raise household bills by as much as 15% in recent weeks. British Gas, whose Centrica parent group is behind a number of …

Age: FEDERAL drought aid is being wasted on inefficient farmers and the Government should think about cutting back on future handouts, Canberra’s top agriculture forecaster has said. In a candid assessment before an audience that included many farmers, Phillip Glyde suggested some drought aid was doing more harm than good by encouraging inefficient operators to stay on the land and accumulate debt, while discouraging necessary rationalisation of the farming sector. Mr Glyde, head of …

Independent: It is the Great Green Betrayal. With environmental issues becoming ever more critical, the green policies of Gordon Brown’s government are standing still or even going backwards, it became clear last night. On the day of a major warning that time is running out to solve the problems caused by climate change, it emerged that Britain’s own green policies are stalled or backsliding in three crucial areas. First, environmental taxation, which could help curb greenhouse gas emissions and …