Will growing interest in how the legal system deals with animals ultimately lead to changes for researchers?

At the Oregon National Primate Research Center in Beaverton, some 20 law students tour the outdoor enclosures that house breeding colonies of macaque and rhesus monkeys and talk with the veterinarian in charge of their care. "It's a very powerful trip for the students," says Kathy Hessler, who teaches a course on animal law at Lewis & Clark Law School in nearby Portland. "Some of them are really shaken." That's not because they see violations of the law, Hessler explains: "The primate center is working very hard to meet the requirements under the law, but there's a disconnect between what the law provides and what the students think the animals need."

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/332/6025/28.full

01/04/2011
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Want to know how many calories are in a serving from that box of cereal? Simply turn it over and you can read a wealth of information: calories, fat, fiber, nutrients. But what if you'd like to know how much carbon was emitted to produce your breakfast? Currently, you're out of luck. But an article in Nature Climate Change argues that labeling products-from food to household products-with their carbon footprint could reduce emissions over time as consumers and companies react to better environmental transparency. A 'carbon footprint' measures the total amount of greenhouse gases emitted to produce a product or service.

http://news.mongabay.com/2011/0331-hance_carbonlabeling.html

31/03/2011
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Rhett A. Butler

A new report from a World Growth International, a lobby group for industrial forestry interests, contains "false and misleading" information on the economic impact of reducing Indonesia's deforestation rate, says an Indonesian environmental group.

The report, released today, claims that reducing deforestation in Indonesia will cost the Indonesian jobs 3.5 million jobs annually by slowing growth of the forestry sector.

"This would cost the Indonesian economy up to 3.5 million jobs annually, cut growth to industries that make up 15 per cent of the economy, and cut revenues to the Indonesian government, hampering its ability to sustainably manage Indonesia's forest areas and continue poverty alleviation efforts," said Alan Oxley, a lobbyist who heads World Growth International.

http://news.mongabay.com/2011/0401-world_growth_international.html

31/03/2011
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31 March 2011 - A United Nations-backed meeting in Kigali, Rwanda, has concluded with a call for better enforcement of laws to protect endangered gorillas in 10 African countries.

The two-day meeting that ended yesterday, organized by the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals under the UN Environment Programme (UNEP/CMS), was the first ever gathering of UN agencies, governments in the region, local wildlife authorities, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and global experts to tackle wildlife crime that threatens gorillas.

Participants reviewed current conservation activities affecting the four sub-species of gorillas in East and Central Africa, and discussed solutions to address the major threat of commercial poaching for bushmeat and live trade in gorillas.

"Joint efforts to apply wildlife law are important because gorillas play a key role in the ecology of Africa's forests," said CMS Executive Secretary Elizabeth Maruma Mrema. "Their loss has an impact on the health of the whole ecosystem and, by extension, on everyone who lives in or benefits from these forests."

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=37961&Cr=wildlife&Cr1=

31/03/2011
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Banda Aceh. Four formerly-captive orangutans have been given the chance to resume a normal life after they were released into the Jalin Jantho nature reserve in Aceh on Monday.

This brings to six the number of orangutans released into the forest by the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program since last week.

http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/four-ex-captive-orangutans-set-free-in-aceh/432357

30/03/2011
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BY TOM ODULA

NAIROBI, Kenya -- A group of researchers said Wednesday they have found that
a virus causing deadly respiratory diseases in humans can be passed on to
mountain gorillas in Central Africa.

Researchers who spent time in Rwanda's Volcanoes National Park said they
found traces of Human Metapneumovirus during post-mortem examinations of two
gorillas that died in 2009. The two, a mother and a newborn, were in a group
of 12 infected gorillas. Researchers could not establish the source of the
virus that killed the two gorillas. Human Metapneumovirus can cause severe
colds and pneumonia.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/30/human-metapneumovirus-thr_n_842595.html

30/03/2011
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