European Parliament to vote on declaring climate emergency

BRUSSELS - The European Parliament is preparing to vote on Thursday, November 28 on a resolution to declare a climate emergency in Europe and on a global level, based on a proposal by the liberals of the Renew Europe (RE) group.

The Conference of Presidents has put the text on the agenda of its plenary session next week in Strasbourg.

"The next five years must be a game changer for our climate," said RE President Dacian Ciolos.

He said the first 100 days of the next European Commission led by Ursula von der Leyen "will be critical to deliver the right level of ambition for the Green Deal" of Europe. "Tabling this motion to declare a climate emergency in Europe, we send a clear signal: The Green Deal will not only be a list of regulations, it's a project for our generation, where Europe needs to show leadership and make a real difference to the health, environment and livelihoods of our citizens”.

Read the ANASMED story - “European Parliament to vote on declaring climate emergency.”

Invasive species threaten agriculture and food security

(Invasive species spread wider and quicker as the world become smaller and warmer. Unlike humans, that take decades if not centuries to evolve, many of the insect pests that trouble the world reproduce so quickly that they evolve to adapt to changes in their environment, be that weather or pesticides, in months or just few years. Also as we have played a key role in ensuring their freedom of travel, the human-induced warming is making many more places comfortable for their existence – Robert McLean.)

As the world becomes more connected, invasive species are spreading further. While these species pose threats to our ecosystems, they arguably pose an even greater threat to our agriculture and food security.

Insect pests such as silverleaf whitefly, Asian gypsy moth, and Khapra beetle, are all ranked as major threats and can have significant and far-reaching impacts on agriculture and forest industries around the world.

Many researchers have looked at individual pests to assess their potential threat to particular countries. But no one has ever looked at the invasive threat from a large number of invasive species on agricultural systems at the global level.

Read the piece on The Conversation by a research scientist at the CSIRO who specialises in invasive species, Dean Paini - “Global agriculture study finds developing countries most threatened by invasive pest species.”