EU Nature fund to change: The LIFE Nature fund, the EU's only dedicated financial commitment to biodiversity, is in serious trouble according to a report in the current issue of Wings magazine.
The current LIFE regulations run until the end of 2006. It is proposed that from 2007 a generalised environment fund called LIFE+ will cover all EU environmental activites.
This, according to Oran O'Sullivan and Coilin MacLochlainn of BirdWatch Ireland, will include few of the elements of LIFE Nature, such as funds for species protection and the restoration of habitats. Instead, it will support projects to raise public awareness of ways to manage protected sites. In response to queries from Birdlife and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, the European Commission has said that while LIFE Nature would cease to exist, overall funds for nature conservation will increase to over €6 billion. However, Birdwatch Ireland fears the management of threatened habitats may not be prioritised.
"Biodiversity is an abbreviation for biological diversity and we could not surivive without it," says Elaine Keegan, biodiversity officer of Clare County Council. Keegan will give a talk entitled "Variety is the Spice of Life" in the Victoria Hotel, Eyre Square, Galway on Tuesday, November 30th, at 8 p.m.
Co Clare leads the way
The west of Ireland is home to many important habitats, from limestone pavement, turloughs and sea cliffs to wet meadows and blanket bogs. Co Clare was one of the first counties to develop a Local Biodiversty Action Plan, following the National Biodiversity Action Plan in 2002. Meanwhile, the Galway Naturalists Field Club is hosting its a.g.m. at the Anno Santo hotel in Salthill, Co Galway on Saturday, December 4th at 8 p.m. Tel: 091-527158.
Oil in trouble
"Is The World Running Out of Oil? - getting ready for the decline in global oil production" is the title of a free public talk on Monday at 8 p.m. in the MacNeill Theatre, Hamilton Building, Trinity College Dublin. Speakers will include oil expert Colin Campbell, and Chris Skrebowski, editor of the Petroleum Journal. Campbell and Skrebowski will present an analysis on global oil production to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Marine and Natural Resources on Tuesday morning. More details of the public talk from Green Party TD, Eamon Ryan on tel: 01-6183273. See also www.peakoil.net and www.energyinst.org.uk
Dublin's vanishing houses
"Dublin Villas and Country Houses: A Nostalgic Survey of a Vanishing Phenomenon" is the title of a lecture on Wednesday, December 1st, at 7.30 p.m. in the Helen Roe Theatre, Royal Society of Antiquaries, 63 Merrion Square, Dublin.
Christopher Moore, a lecturer in architectural history and decoration will give the talk. Tickets cost €10, and will be available at the door or in advance from the Irish Georgian Society. Tel: 01-6767053. The IGS is also holding a book sale in its offices at 74 Merrion Square, Dublin from December 6th to December 10th, 9.30 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day.