Deep in rural Sussex at Wakehurst Place, in a large nature reserve of 500 acres of National Trust woodlands and lakes, stands the Kew Gardens Biological Research Centre. Sixty feet beneath is a nuclear bunker. This is the British National Doomsday vault, home to the UK’s Millennium Seed Bank (MSB). If apocalyptic disaster strikes, this bunker will hold key bio-scientists and all remaining plant life.
The World Bank has released a report encouraging the Indonesian government to create vast timber plantations that would damage local ecosystems and livelihood, in order to encourage economic growth.
How do we define ourselves in time and space? A new book England In Particular suggests it is the commonplace, the local and the distinctive that tells us where we are
What remains of the once mighty Caledonian Forest is fast being eroded by an ever-increasing population of deer. Without reintroducing their natural predator, the wolf, to the wilds of Scotland, the forest and its ecosystem is in danger of disappearing forever. By Jeremy Smith
A Cumbrian company’s wool insulation can help you cut your fuel bills, reduce your
contribution to climate change and help struggling hill farmers, too
This beautiful but deadly plant proliferates in lakes across Africa – choking everything in its path. Why, asks Tom Hargreaves, have all attempts to manage it failed?
Have you ever heard of – let alone tasted – the Rats Tail radish, the Crookneck squash or the Prince of Prussia pea? We report on what’s being done to save Britain’s rich agricultural heritage.
At Slow Food’s international fair in Turin last year, organic delicacies included Irish wild salmon and moon-like rounds of Somerset cheddar made to a 13th century recipe. But the star of the show was a cheese brought over illegally by shepherds from Poland’s Tatra Mountains. Hilary Davies reports
Russia’s zapovedniks are some of the world’s most pristine wildernesses. For 70 years they were protected ruthlessly by the Soviet system, but recently they have fallen prey to Putin, the World Bank and ecotourists. Paul Webster reports on their plight
Scientists have found that the UK’s common or garden earthworms are far more diverse than previously thought, a discovery with important consequences for agriculture.