FAO assists Laos
A conservation NGO in China
New magazine about acidification
Peru opens conservation data centre
Protecting the flamingo in Chile
FAO is assisting the Lao People's Democratic Republic in determining conservation priorities and in selecting potential areas for protection. Laos did not have a national nature conservation programme until 1983, when it established a National Environmental Protection Office and a National Hunting and Fishing Office. The Government has already proposed to establish a national park at Houei Nhang in Vientiane province.
Tigerpaper, 10 (3)
China's first voluntary conservation organization, the China Wildlife Conservation Association (CWCA), is currently raising money to prevent the starvation of giant pandas, who are suffering because their primary food, bamboo, is dying off in massive quantities.
The new organization will also be involved in conservation, education and research, as well as fundraising to preserve China's 100 endangered species, 20 of which are near extinction.
World Wildlife Fund News (27)
The National Swedish Environment Protection Board has begun publication (in English) of Acid Magazine, a twice-a-year journal whose purpose is "to share Sweden's experience of acidification and air pollution effects on man and the environment". The first issue contains articles on forest damage in Sweden, the new EEC proposal that member countries agree to reduce their sulphur discharges by 30 percent, and a controversial £5 million sterling donation from UK power companies to Norway and Sweden for a research project on surface water acidification.
Subscriptions are available free of charge from: National Swedish Environment Protection Board, Information Section, Box 1302, S-171 25 Solna, Sweden.
Peru has established its own national conservation data centre at the University of La Molina, with support from the Nature Conservancy of Peru. The centre will assemble a programme of monitoring of the Peruvian natural heritage and is seeking bibliographic help from other organizations that have catalogued literature on natural resources research in Peru. If you can help, please contact the Director, Centro de Datos pare la Conservación, Departamento de Manejo Forestal, Universidad Agraria, Apartado 456, La Molina, Lima, Peru.
A programme for conservation of the flamingo has been set in motion by an agreement signed between the Chilean national forest corporation (CONAF) and the New York Zoological Society. The Society has contributed US$26 000 and valuable observation equipment to CONAF, which will study at close quarters the nesting habits of the flamingo in the salt-lake areas of Surire and Atacama. The flamingo in this area is considered extremely vulnerable, particularly to attacks by the large fox (Canis culpaeus) and the mountain cat (Felis jacobita).
Chilean Forestry News, February 1984
CAN ACID RAIN BE CURTAILED? New Swedish magazine tries to find out
