Jumbo-gardeners: How elephants affect weather

The tropical forests of Congo help create downpours many miles away. What’s a key element in this forest flourishing? 
The elephant!

The tropical rainforests of Africa and Asia play a crucial role in keeping our planet healthy. They moderate our climate, absorb the carbon we produce, and act as a major source of atmospheric moisture – which can fall as rain many miles away.

One of the biggest tropical forests in the world is in Congo. Its huge size and incredible biodiversity is partly thanks to an unlikely ally – the elephant.

In this film, The Nature Conservancy’s lead scientist Dr M Sanjayan, Dr Valerie Kapos of the UN Environment Programme, and tropical field biologist and conservationist Dr Ian Redmond reveal the crucial role that elephants play in keeping these forests strong and resilient, and how elephants are the most important player when it comes to the diversity of tree species in the rainforest. 

From BBC-Future

My other children, the orphan gorillas of Virunga

Park ranger Andre Bauma has been taking care of orphaned mountain gorillas at Virunga, Africa's oldest national park, for the past seven years, and he says he loves them as if they were his own children.

One gorilla, Ndakasi, is particularly close to Bauma. She sees him as her mother, and despite being a man - and a human to boot - he has taken on that role. "We shared the same bed, I played with her, I fed her… I can say I am her mother," he says.

They met in terrible circumstances. Ndakasi was a two-month-old infant when her mother was shot at close range through the back of the head - the park describes it as an "execution". Ndakasi was still clinging to her dead mother when they found her. "She was tiny, she only weighed a couple of kilos," says Bauma. Ever since he picked her up from the forest floor, he has dedicated his life to saving hers.

Kalonge another orphan gorilla rescued by the Virunda Park rangers

"Every single individual gorilla is crucial because it's an endangered species - so we had to take care of it, we took her in," he says.

Ndakasi was born into a renowned group of mountain gorillas called the Rugendo family, seven of whose members were slaughtered in the attack in 2007 that orphaned Ndakasi.

Illegal charcoal traders, engaged in a constant struggle with park rangers, are thought to have been behind the shootings.

The law says no human activity of any kind is allowed inside the park - located in the Democratic Republic of Congo - and the rangers are there to prevent it. It's a dangerous job - since 1996, more than 130 rangers have been killed. "We are constantly threatened, not only by the militias inside the park but also in general by the population," says Bauma. "There is a lot of poverty, so people try to survive. They will try to use the natural resources of the park, whether it be wood to make charcoal, fields for agriculture or illegal fishing."

Bauma now heads the gorilla orphanage, located at the park headquarters in Rumangabo. Ndakasi was the first to be housed there, but she was soon joined by Ndeze, another member of the Rugendo family. In 2010 the two females were joined by Maisha, another female, and Kaboko, a male - both had been seized by poachers, and Kaboko had lost his hand in a snare. Kaboko died in 2012, but since then another orphan has joined the gang - Matabishi, a young male found abandoned outside the park.

No-one believed Ndakasi would survive, but she has grown to be a healthy 65kg. She still behaves like a baby, though. "Whenever she sees me she climbs on my back like she would with her mother," says Bauma. "But she's a big and strong girl and I'm not capable of playing with her like I used to. When she climbs on my back, every time I'm worried that I'm going to hurt myself - in fact at the end of the day I have real backache."

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From BBC News

Plan bee: New measures to protect pollinators

The British government has made an agreement with landowners including Network Rail and the Highways Agency to restore bee-friendly habitat throughout England.

Honeybees and other pollinating insects have been in decline for decades

It is part of a 10-year National Pollinator Strategy.

But some conservation groups say the plan does not go far enough.

It includes countryside stewardship schemes, worth a total of £900m, to provide financial incentives for farmers to plant pollinator-friendly crops and let meadows grow.

The plan is to be announced on Tuesday by Environment Secretary Elizabeth Truss.

It will be the key policy announcement of her first major speech as environment secretary.

The coalition has been criticised for some of its actions on the natural environment, including the controversial badger cull and a plan to sell off forests, which was ultimately scrapped. So Ms Truss will look to move the debate forward.

She will say in her keynote speech that "our health, our jobs and our future prosperity and security depend on nature in this country".

Policy for pollinators

Ms Truss told BBC News that the new strategy was "all about helping our pollinators survive and thrive". Farmland, which covers most of England's land area, is the main focus.

"Pollinators are really important for food and farming - for our rural economy, which is worth £210bn per year," she told BBC News.

"The most important part of the strategy is the stewardship scheme, which has a specific pollinator element incentivising farmers to plant wild flowers, have pollinator friendly crops, and to carry out their activities in a pollinator-friendly way."

The charity Buglife and Friends of the Earth both broadly welcomed the plan, but said that it did not go far enough on the regulation of pesticides.

Referring to a 2013 decision by the European Commission to restrict the use of a group of neonicotinoid pesticides that were found to be harmful to honeybees, Buglife chief executive Matt Shardlow said it was time for the government to bring in new regulations to govern the testing of new chemicals.

"We're not against pesticides entirely," he told BBC News. "But we're keen that there's better testing, so the ones that are ultimately used aren't damaging to bees."

Public help sought

                                

Buglife's Matt Shardlow shows the BBC's Victoria Gill around a rooftop in the heart of Manchester that has been designed specifically to attract urban bees.

To make space across an increasingly urban landscape for insects, the government has secured commitments from landowners including Network Rail and the Highways Agency, which has agreed to undertake work to "enhance the grassland" on its verges.

Mr Shardlow pointed out that these pollinator-friendly urban spaces were vital and he encouraged the public to help.

"It is time now for everyone to come together around this national strategy; for government to deliver tens of thousands of hectares of restored wildflower habitats in the countryside, creating a network of B-Lines so that pollinators can move across the landscape effectively.

"And for local authorities to transform roadside verges and public spaces into buzzing, colourful wildlife havens; and for the public to find space in their lawns to let the flowers bloom."

From BBC Sci/Environment