I'm pleased to hear that at the UN Biodiversity forum it has been agreed that lot of wildlife is under threat around the world, and that much more land is going to be put aside for conservation. Environmentalists are till unhappy according to the BBC website, but I think it's a big step forward, as more land is being put aside and there is going to be a new deep sea preserve (not quite sure how this works) and expand reserve land to a size that is around twice as big as Germany.

It seems like rel action to me which is great. I hope it is enough though.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7428819.stm

As long as the 'right' land is put aside! Unfortunately money and big business talk and if a piece of land is particularly valuable as a redevelopment site and for conservation then...guess which usually wins.

Maybe I'm being nieve but it sounds like a great step forward too. I'm just glad biodiversity and the problems we are facing are at least being taken seriously.

As Ausjen says, it has to be the right land, and it comes down to whether a country can put aside land for wildlife when it could be making a lot more money being used for something else.

My daughter went to Rwanda last year to see the Gorillas and said that nearly every piece of arable land was being cleared and used for farming and who can blame them. It's a case of farm or starve in such a lot of Africa. Fortunately in the UK, we are so comparatively rich that we can afford to and should insist that our wildlife is provided for and their habitats safeguarded.

It's when you discover that land rich in wildlife is being cleared all over the world to cater for our western lifestyles. Worth looking in the supermarket where lots of the fruit and veg is being grown. Sugar snap peas from ecuador anyone?

Trouble is that if everyone stops buying produce from such places, what happens to the farmers who grew them? There is no viable alternative income at the moment as I understand it - does anyone else know how they could survive. The World has to come up with some ideas or.......!!

I have to admit that I don't know enough about the issue to really comment on local impacts. I do know that things like sugar snap peas, babycorn, cut flowers, apples etc did not use to be grown half way round the globe when they were out of season here. The growing of biofuel crops in similar habitats is another worrying development.