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The UK Statistics Authority has released the latest national statistics for Land Use Change.
The release provides the first estimates for 2009 of changes on previously-developed land and the average density of new dwellings.
It shows that in 2008, on a provisional estimate:
The European Commission has published an atlas of all the world's soils above 50° N, which for the first time brings together data for an area that stores half of the world's carbon.
The 144 page Soil Atlas of the Northern Circumpolar Region is the result of a three-year collaborative project between the EC's Commission Joint Research Centre for Environment and Sustainability (IES) and partners from northern EU countries, Norway, Iceland, Greenland, Canada, the USA and Russia.
The EU is investigating whether artificial noises should be added to'near silent'electric cars to reduce risks to cyclists and pedestrians, with a view to imposing legal requirements by 2012.
According to an article in the Times, manufacturers are already testing noises that could be added to electric and hybrid cars, with white noise, computer noise and the Star Wars theme tune some sounds already considered.
Organic farms may be seen as wildlife friendly, but the benefits to birds, bees and butterflies don’t compensate for the lower yields produced, according to new research from the University of Leeds.
In the most detailed, like-for-like comparisons of organic and conventional farming to date, researchers from Leeds’ Faculty of Biological Science found that the benefits to wildlife and increases in biodiversity from organic farming are much lower than previously thought – averaging just over 12 percent more than conventional farming.
The organic farms in the study produced less than half of the yield of their conventional counterparts, so the research – published online today in Ecology Letters – raises serious questions about how we can use agricultural land to maximise food production and still protect our wildlife.