Loss of Wild Pollinators Serious Threat to Crop Yields, Study Finds

theguardian

                                                        Photo credit: Graham Powell photography.

Wild bees and other insects are twice as effective as honeybees in producing seeds and fruit on crops. Details here.

Manitobans Want a Pesticide Ban

Save Lake (Winnipeg) Or Live By 'Open-Air Sewer'

Winnipeg Free Press.

Author warns province of growing threat. Full story here.

Manitoba Bans Peat Mining In Parks

as well as the site nominated for the UNESCO world heritage site.

Government of Manitoba.

No New Peat Licences in the Province Until Peatland Stewardship Strategy in Place

Manitoba is banning peat mining in provincial parks and in the nominated UNESCO World Heritage Site on the east side of Lake Winnipeg as one of several new peatland protection initiatives through TomorrowNow - Manitoba's Green Plan, Conservation and Water Stewardship Minister Gord Mackintosh announced today.

Peat bogs (r.) provide habitat for rare plants. 
They also store vast amounts of carbon, which 
helps mitigate the impacts of climate change. 
Source: Wilderness Committee.  

"I am proud of our record on parks and protected areas.  Seven million hectares of land, which amounts to almost 11 per cent of the province, are already fully protected and we will continue our work on reducing industrial developments in parks," said Mackintosh.  "While I recognize the value of more jobs and continued economic growth in Manitoba, there will never be a peat mine in a provincial park."

The Green Party of Manitoba Calls for a Moratorium on Mining in Provincial Parks

GRANDVIEW:  The Green Party of Manitoba condemns the NDP government for allowing the Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting company to start construction of a mine in Grass River Provincial Park without approval or public consultation. “If allowed to proceed, the Reed Lake Mine will destroy the woodland Caribou herd which the Park was intended to protect,” says Kate Storey, Green Party councillor and former researcher of the Reed Lake woodland caribou herd.

Kate uses radio telemetry to track movements 

of woodland caribou at  Reed Lake

Grass River Provincial Park is a small park surrounding Reed Lake. This park is a rare area of ideal woodland caribou habitat. Woodland caribou depend on the islands of Reed Lake for protection of their young calves from wolves. Every spring the caribou mothers leave their wintering grounds in old growth forest and swim out to the many islands on Reed Lake where their calves are born in safety.

Kate examines a caribou calf. 

Editorial: Unmuzzle Our Scientists

Edmonton Journal

A bid by Ottawa to impose sweeping confidentiality rules on an Arctic science project is the latest in a disturbing trend that suggests federal environmental scientists are being systematically silenced from communicating their findings to the public. Details here.

Record Area of Biotech Crops Used in 2012 - Report

Reuters

U.S. farmers still lead world in planting GMO crops. Details here.

PLT: Unelected agrifood giants like Bayer and Monsanto continue to throw their weight around, dictating the shape of our world food system, while yellow-bellied, elected "lawmakers" sit back and say nothing. They are no better than those who hunker down while the school yard bully beats up on little kids.