Mental Floss has a longish, well-informed post on kava in Vanuatu, accompanied by some nice photos. You may remember a post I did a couple of years ago now during the last attempt to clear the drink’s name in Europe. Seems like only yesterday. Anyway, this got me wondering whether kava exports to Europe from places like Vanuatu and, in particular, Fiji had indeed resumed. It seems not, but, according to a recent piece on Radio Australia, the prospects for the Fiji kava industry look reasonable. Or at least they did in January, before the latest round of political uncertainty.
Wild pig doing just fine
Professor John Fa, director of conservation science at the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, one of the partners in the Pygmy Hog Conservation Programme (PHCP), described the pigs as “enigmatic.”
Maybe they just don’t want to get swine flu. I mean, look what happened to Khanzir.
Wild fruit relatives threatened in Central Asia
Fauna & Flora International and Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) have published a Red List of Trees of Central Asia. This is part of the Global Trees Campaign.
The new report identifies 44 tree species in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan as globally threatened with extinction. Many of these species occur in the unique fruit and nut forests of Central Asia, an estimated 90% of which have been destroyed in the past 50 years.
One of the threatened fruit trees is the red-fleshed Malus niedzwetzkyana, from Kyrgyzstan.
Working with the Kyrgyz National Academy of Sciences, the Global Trees Campaign is identifying populations of this rare tree in Kyrgyzstan and taking measures to improve their conservation. With distinctive red-fleshed fruit, the Niedzwetzky apple is an excellent flagship for the conservation and sustainable management of this beleagured forest type.
The report is available online.
Policy advice for Europe
A modest proposal from the Network Semences Paysannes:
Levy a tax on the sale of seeds which cannot be freely reproduced, and earmark the money for the financing of seed houses and collaborative breeding programmes.
That’ll work.
Nibbles: Invasives, Climate change^2, Bananas, Fibres
- Songs raise awareness about aquatic invasive species. Jeremy says: Kill me now.
- Long, long post about climate change in Africa. Part 2 “coming soon”.
- Yemen prepares for climate change. Need a “strategy for the promotion of rain-fed agriculture”.
- Bananas from Iceland … Jeremy says: I don’t get it.
- New Agriculturist focuses on natural fibres.