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[Environment] from [guardian.co.uk]

[Environment]
Brazil's former environment minister leaves ruling party over 'destruction of natural resources'
Marina Silva is expected to make a 2010 presidential bid and put the environment back on the agenda
Tom Phillips in Rio de Janeiro
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 19 August 2009 17.36 BST Article history

Brazil's former environment minister, the rainforest defender Marina Silva, has resigned from the ruling Workers' party, paving the way for a 2010 presidential bid, which supporters hope will put the environment back on the political agenda of South America's largest country.

For weeks speculation has been growing that Silva, who resigned from government last May after a dispute over the development of the Amazon region, would defect to the Green party in order to dispute the presidential elections next October.

Speaking at a press conference in Brasilia earlier today, Silva, who has been a Workers' party member for over 30 years, said politicians had failed to give sufficient attention to the environmental cause.

In her resignation letter to the president of the Workers' party, Silva said her decision was an attempt to break with the idea of "development based on material growth at any cost, with huge gains for a few and perverse results for the majority" including "the destruction of natural resources".

She added that "political conditions" had meant that "environmental concerns had not been able to take route at the heart of the government."

Silva, 51, stopped short of formally announcing a presidential bid but few doubt that she will now front the Green Party's 2010 election campaign.

The Brazilian media has been overtaken with Marina mania since earlier this month when rumours about a possible bid for the presidency began spreading. This week one major news magazine stamped Silva's photograph onto its front-page alongside the headline: "President Marina?"

Writing in the O Globo newspaper yesterday, the influential columnist Zuenir Ventura said Silva could bring a touch of Barack Obama to the Brazilian elections.

"Marina excites young people, those who are disenchanted with the current situation [and] with the Workers' Party … in such a way that she could create a spontaneous and contagious movement within society … as innovative as that which occurred in the US with Obama," he wrote.

Born in an impoverished community of rubber tappers in the remote Amazon state of Acre, Silva was orphaned at 16 and was illiterate until her early teens.

In 1994, aged 35, she was elected as Brazil's youngest ever female senator and subsequently became renowned for her staunch defence of the Amazon rainforest and its inhabitants, winning a succession of international awards for her work. The president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has not so far commented on her resignation.


[Environment > Insects]
Butterfly lovers hail Duke of Burgundy's second coming
Patrick Barkham
The Guardian, Wednesday 19 August 2009 Article history

One of the most endangered butterflies in Britain has reappeared for a second generation this summer for only the third time in more than a century.

The short-lived Duke of Burgundy usually appears only in spring but a second brood is now flying at Rodborough Common, Gloucestershire, the furthest north a second generation has ever been recorded.

The appearance is a rare conservation success for the delicate butterfly which has endured a catastrophic decline in recent decades.

According to Matthew Oates, conservation adviser for the National Trust, which owns and manages Rodborough Common especially for the butterfly, a second brood of Duke of Burgundies may become more common in the future with global warming.

"This is a really significant moment for one of the Duke of Burgundy strongholds. Second broods for this splendid butterfly are fairly common in southern Europe but extremely rare in the UK," Oates said.

"The flight season for the Duke of Burgundy butterflies has gradually been getting earlier every year. This means that it's becoming increasingly likely that we'll see more second broods in the coming years as our climate gradually gets warmer, providing conservation efforts to keep this little gem in the UK are successful."

There had been no second broods recorded in the UK since the "exceptional" summer of 1893 until the last four years, with butterflies recorded in late summer in Selbourne, Hampshire, in 2005 and again at the same site in 2007.

Originally called Mr Vernon's Small Fritillary, the Duke of Burgundy was driven to extinction in most of Britain's native woodlands, the loss of traditional grazing accelerated its decline.

The species managed to survive in rough downland that was not well grazed and benefited from the impact of myxomatosis on rabbits, but declined as rabbit numbers bounced back.

The second brood now poses a challenge for conservationists, who have to ensure grassland is grazed at precisely the right time to ensure the survival of this fussy butterfly and its caterpillars, which feed on cowslips.

The insect's second generation might have some unexpected consequences in the natural world as the small butterfly is a "little spitfire" with strongly territorial males flying at anything that enters their airspace, Oates said.

Its surprise appearance demonstrated its adaptability, which is encouraging, he added. "We are forever underestimating butterflies."