Polar bears 'at risk' in Canada

Polar bears in Canada are at risk from climate change but not threatened with extinction, a panel of experts has advised the Canadian government.

The government should develop a plan to protect the country's estimated 15,000 polar bears, the panel said.

The plight of the polar bear has long concerned environmentalists.

The animals face loss of habitat on two fronts, the panel said - hunting, and melting ice in the Arctic, which is widely blamed on climate change.

While recognising both problems, the panel found that Canada's polar bear population was not declining enough to place it in the most serious category as an endangered species.

Instead, it has been classified as a species of special concern.

'At risk'

"Based on the best available information at hand, there was insufficient reason to think that the polar bear was at imminent risk of extinction," said Jeff Hutchings, the panel's chairman.

"That's not to say that it's not in trouble. A special concern species is a species at risk in Canada and requires legislative action."

Canada's environment minister, John Baird, is obliged to accept the government-commissioned report's findings and address threats to the animal's survival, including climate change.

But a management plan for Canada's polar bears will not be required until 2014 - by which time some scientists believe the summer sea ice in the Arctic may have completely disappeared.

Canada's polar bears are at risk from hunting and melting ice in the Arctic

Africa plans biggest dam project

A plan to build the largest and most powerful hydroelectric dam in the world is being discussed in London.

Financiers and African politicians will look at how to finance the $80bn (£40bn) cost of the Grand Inga project.

The plant in the Democratic Republic of Congo would generate twice as much energy as China's Three Gorges dam.

It is hoped it will boost Africa's electricity supply by a third, but opponents doubt it will help the poorest Africans without electricity.

The World Energy Council, (WEC) which is hosting the two-day meeting in London, says the Grand Inga project will help the estimated 500 million Africans without access to electricity.

"We have to raise the level of access to commercial energy all through Africa and other parts of the world, where this poverty is faced," WEC secretary general Gerald Doucet told the BBC.

"We can't do it without building these projects, but of course, on a sustainable basis that takes into account the social, civil and environmental issues.

"And I can say that in the past, mistakes have been made, but WEC is here to make sure those mistakes are not repeated," Mr Doucet said.

New grid

Power would be transmitted to other countries via a giant new distribution system to Egypt in the north, Nigeria in the west and to South Africa.

In order that construction can start as planned in 2014, the World Energy Council is calling for finance for a feasibility study to be done as soon as possible.

The Grand Inga project would be built on the Congo river alongside two existing hydroelectric plants and is expected to begin operating between 2020 and 2025.

The plans include a 205m-high dam, 15km-long reservoir and a plant with a capacity to produce 320 terawatt hours of electricity annually.

The idea for the project was first conceived in the 1980s, but political turmoil in the DR Congo meant that the plans could not proceed.

Dutch bill to ban magic mushrooms

The Dutch cabinet has proposed a bill to ban the sale of hallucinogenic or so-called "magic mushrooms".

A majority of MPs is expected to back the proposal, which comes after a number of accidents, mostly involving tourists.

The health ministry said the number of incidents linked with the use of magic mushrooms had almost doubled in the last four years, mainly in Amsterdam.

But owners of the shops that sell them say the ban is unnecessary.

"The use of mushrooms can produce hallucinogenic effects which can lead to extreme or life-threatening behaviour," the health ministry said in a statement late on Friday after the cabinet decision.

But the association of owners of so-called "Smart Shops" where the hallucinogenic fungi are sold say that magic mushrooms, which contain the hallucinogenic ingredient psilocybin, are only dangerous when they are taken together with alcohol or other drugs.

Compromise proposal

The BBC's Geraldine Coughlan in The Hague says the government's decision was prompted by the death of a 17-year-old French girl last year, who jumped from a bridge in Amsterdam.

But no formal link was established between her death and the use of mushrooms.

Other incidents involving the drug have included an Icelandic tourist jumping from a balcony and breaking both legs and a Danish tourist driving his car wildly through a camping ground, narrowly missing sleeping campers.

The ban on the cultivation and use of the mushrooms means most of Smart Shops will have to close.

The shop owners argue that users will now buy dried mushrooms, which are already illegal.

The Mayor of Amsterdam, Job Cohen, has proposed as a compromise, a three-day cooling-off period between getting the information on magic mushrooms in the Smart Shops and actually buying them.

Under the suggested scheme, if an informed tourist decides to go ahead with a mushroom trip, he can pick up his pack of paddos in the Smart Shop, three days later.

Users of fresh mushrooms experience effects ranging from giggling fits and intensification of colours, lights and sounds to, more rarely, hallucinations. Negative effects can include vomiting, and anxiety.