http://www.optimumpopulation.org/blog Best online news service - Population Institute global media awards Wed, 08 Sep 2010 16:17:23 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Schools should be forced to give sex and relationship education lessons to pupils, a Labour MP has said. Chris Bryant (Rhondda) said the UK had a "terrible" problem with teenage pregnancy in comparison to other European countries. But Tory Therese Coffey said it should be for parents to decide how to ... http://www.optimumpopulation.org/blog/?p=2875 Climate change could be affecting pollination by disrupting the synchronised timing of flower opening and bee emergence from hibernation, suggests new US-based research. Declining numbers of bees and other pollinators have been causing growing concern in recent years, as scientists fear that decreased pollination could have major impacts on world ... http://www.optimumpopulation.org/blog/?p=2874 The University of Stirling study found that isolated populations of a rare bumblebee on a remote Scottish island are more susceptible to disease because of a lack of genetic diversity. The research could have implications for other rare insects and animals struggling to survive in nature reserves or zoos.   Conservationists said ... http://www.optimumpopulation.org/blog/?p=2873 With competition on the rise between humans and other species for the world’s limited water supplies, governments must take environmental issues into consideration when drafting laws on the use of water to avert an impending water crisis, cautions a new United Nations report.Although more than two-thirds of the planet is ... http://www.optimumpopulation.org/blog/?p=2872 Over the past 2000 years, population increase has been four times more significant than climate change in the rise of water shortage. That’s according to researchers from Finland and The Netherlands, who have analysed population growth, climate data and water-resource availability. “Moderate water shortage first appeared around 1800, but it commenced ... http://www.optimumpopulation.org/blog/?p=2871 India's grain warehouses are bursting at the seams and sacks of rice and wheat lie rotting in the open for lack of storage space. These government-managed stocks are for offsetting a fall in agricultural production in the event of drought or floods, but are also meant for sale to the ... http://www.optimumpopulation.org/blog/?p=2870 They are some of the most myusterious apes on the planet that according to local legend, kill lions, catch fish and even howl at the moon. But according to an 18-month study of remote human settlements deep in the Congolese jungle, chimpanzees are being subjected to a "wave of killing" ... http://www.optimumpopulation.org/blog/?p=2869 Rainforests may store much less carbon than we thought. It could be time to dramatically revise our estimates following the discovery that apparently similar forests hold vastly different amounts of the stuff. The finding is important because there are plans for governments worldwide to compensate tropical countries for rotecting their ... http://www.optimumpopulation.org/blog/?p=2868 Climate change is not responsible for civil wars in Africa, a study suggests. It challenges previous assumptions that environmental disasters, such as drought and prolonged heat waves, had played a part in triggering unrest. Instead, it says, traditional factors - such as poverty and social tensions - were often the ... http://www.optimumpopulation.org/blog/?p=2867 A new, highly detailed map of part of Peru's Amazon shows how much climate-warming carbon is stored there, and where cutting down vegetation has sent this greenhouse gas into the atmosphere, scientists said on Monday. The three-dimensional map could help clear the way for an international agreement to curb deforestation ... http://www.optimumpopulation.org/blog/?p=2866