WHERE'S RACHEL CARSON WHEN YOU NEED HER?:

Hunters 'threaten Vietnam birds' (Alex Kirby, 3/13/03, BBC News)

Almost nine-tenths of Vietnam's most important sites for bird conservation are at risk from hunting and trapping, experts say.

The warning comes from BirdLife International, a global alliance of ornithologists working in more than 100 countries.

It says the danger comes mainly from a huge rise in the trade in wildlife, and from agricultural pressure.

But BirdLife praises the Vietnamese Government's work to establish protected areas for wildlife.

With the Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources, Hanoi, BirdLife has published a guide, Key Sites for Conservation in Vietnam.

It says 56 of 63 of the most critically important places for bird and biodiversity conservation (88%) are affected by illegal hunting and trapping.

When the same thing happened here, Ms Carson blamed it on DDT and gave birth to modern environmentalism. Posted by Orrin Judd at March 13, 2003 9:08 PM