Wildlife areas in Venezuela to be farmland

Global Post reports that Venezuela is converting wildlife areas that are popular ecotourist spots into farms.

Los Llanos — home to hundreds of birds and animal species — is shrinking. Over the past two years, President Hugo Chavez has ordered the nationalization of three of Venezuela’s largest ecotourism ranches: Hato Pinero, Hato El Cedral and Hato El Frio.

Authorities now plan to convert a small portion of their combined area — roughly 2,000 square kilometers — into farmland. Chavez announced the move as part of a sweeping government land reform that has, since 2005, aimed to boost food production and reduce reliance on imports.

Read the full story: Venezuela converts tourist destinations into farmland

Photo by Rachel Jones / Global Post

Record decline in international air travel for 2009

USA Today reports that less people flew internationally last year, the sharpest decline in history.

[This will pave] the way for more losses and belt tightening in the months ahead, an industry trade organization said Wednesday.

Traffic declined 3.5% in 2009, with the average plane flying 75.6% full, the International Air Transport Association reported.

Read the full story: International air travel dropped most ever in 2009

Photo of Heathrow plane from Transport Crucible

Asian countries come together to save tigers

Treehugger reports on 13 Asian countries who met to try to save the dwindling tiger population.

The global tiger population has dipped below 3,200 individuals, making it one of the most critically endangered animals on the planet. Facing threats from habitat destruction, climate change, and poaching—encouraged by the animal's value in illegal wildlife trade—the outlook for the tiger is not good.

In response, representatives from 13 Asian nations have gathered for the first Ministerial Conference on Tiger Conservation. The goal of the meeting is to convince members to invest more time and money toward protecting tigers and to establish targets for increasing their numbers.

Read the full story: 13 countries meet to save endangered tigers

Picture from flickr

Bad weather leaves thousands stuck in Machu Picchu

The Seattle Times reports on the 2,000 stranded visitors in Peru's Machu Picchu ruins.

Heavy rains and mudslides this week blocked the critical train track in Machu Picchu Puebla (the village near the ruins) to nearby town Cuzco.

Perurail spokeswoman Soledad Caparo told the AP that train company crews were working nonstop to clear rock and mud covering the tracks, but she said flooding of the adjacent Urubamba River had slowed the cleanup.

Rains stopped Monday night and Perurail said in a statement that service could resume Tuesday, "weather permitting." It added that military helicopters delivered food and water to the village and would return Tuesday to continue evacuations.

Read the full story: Rains strand 2,000 tourists at Machu Picchu ruins

Photo by Danny Catt

Great Smoky Mountains saw more visitors in 2009

USA Today reports that the Great Smoky Mountains had a 5 percent increase in visitors last year; which was also its 75 year anniversary.

[Park Superintendent Dale Ditmanson] attributed much of the increase to the anniversary celebration, but said the Smokies also benefited from a massive rock slide on Interstate 40 at the Tennessee-North Carolina state line. Many drivers used U.S. 441 through the park as an alternative route.

Read the full story: Great Smoky Mountains had 5% increase in visitors

Photo from destination 360

Winter fun in Lapland

Stars and Stripes reports on the winter paradise of Lapland.

[The] region offers more than the usual high-adrenalin ski and snowboard experiences. For something a little more sedate, day and night illuminated cross-country skiing tracks stretch a total of nearly 150 miles and offer a choice of easy and challenging routes.

The locals also conduct safaris by reindeer through the stunning local wilderness, including herding and lassoing in the experience before sled rides through the snowy forests. Driving a team of four to six huskies through the still, soundless landscapes is also an option, as is ice fishing and some steamy “rest and relaxation” time in that great Finnish invention, the sauna.

Read the full story: With huskies, skiing, reindeer and a snow hotel

Photo by David Cawley

UK cold temps bring bird-watching opportunity

The Guardian UK reports on the wildlife viewing during the country's big freeze.

Feeding birds have to hunt harder for food now that the ground is covered in six-feet of snow. But this promotes more opportunity for spotting them.

[All] sorts of unusual visitors are turning up in gardens, including redwings and fieldfares from Scandinavia, and reed buntings and yellowhammers from local farmland. There has even been a sighting of an escaped ­Senegal parrot feeding on apples in a Bristol suburb. Away from our homes, usually shy species such as snipe, woodcock, bittern and water rail are coming right out into the open to feed – ­making them vulnerable to attack by predators.

Read the full story: How the big freeze has brought some unusual visitors

Photo by David Boag / PIN

UN year of biodiversity

BBC reports on the UN year of biodiversity.

The UN says that as natural systems such as forests and wetlands disappear, humanity loses the services they currently provide for free.

These include purification of air and water, protection from extreme weather events, and the provision of materials for shelter and fire.

With species extinctions running at about 1,000 times the "natural" or "background" rate, some biologists contend that we are in the middle of the Earth's sixth great extinction - the previous five stemming from natural events such as asteroid impacts.

Read the full story: World's biodiversity 'crisis' needs action, says UN

Slowly kayaking down the Mississippi

The New York Times reports on the father and son boat trip down the Mississippi.

Paul Schneider and his 15-year-old son took to the river near St. Louis and kayaked down its slow waters.

The truth is, my 15-year-old son and I didn’t have specific destinations in mind on this kayaking trip in June. We hadn’t come to the Mississippi to prove or conquer anything. We just came to see what the most storied river in America had to offer a couple of supplicants with plastic boats and a week and a half with which to play.

Read the full story: Peacefully adrift as the Mississippi rolls by

Photo by Evelyn Hockstein for The New York Times

Norwegian electric car, made in Indiana

The New York Times reports on Norwegian electric car maker named Think, who will manufacture in an Indiana plant.

The Think City, a battery-powered, two-seat hatchback, is set to begin rolling off the Indiana assembly line in early 2011, ramping up to a potential annual production of 20,000 cars by 2013. Think said it will spend more than $43 million to upgrade the Elkhart factory, which is expected to eventually employ more than 400 workers.

Read the full story: Indiana chosen for electric-car plant

Photo by PR Newswire

BYOB to DC

Mother Nature Network reports that Washington D.C. is now taxing consumers for once free grocery bags.

Implemented on January 1 the tax now requires businesses that sell food or liquor to charge customers 5 cents for each paper or plastic bag used. All proceeds go into the Anacostia River Cleanup and Protection fund. Lawmakers estimate that $3.6 million will be raised this year.

Read the full story: New year brings bag fee to D.C.

Photo by teddave / Flickr

Be environmental says Pope

Mother Nature Network reports on Pope Benedict XVI's environmental decree for 2010:

"An objective shared by all, an indispensable condition for peace, is that of overseeing the earth's natural resources with justice and wisdom," [he said]

The Vatican has a mixed history of environmentalism that Ecotravel News has previously written about. It has created its own airline, gone carbon neutral, had the Pope declare people need to be more environmental from the plane, and made toys out of old Christmas trees.

Read the full story: Pope urges lifestyle changes to save environment

Photo by Franco Origlia / Getty Images