Welcome to the June 2006 issue of Sustainable. This issue contains plenty of recent news, notably on SUSG and other involvement in sustainable use matters at the CBD CoP8 in Curitiba, Brazil, in March and the European Bureau for Conservation & Development /European SUSG workshop in Scotland in late April on Sustainable Fisheries and the Ecosystem. We look forward to the Recreational Hunting Symposium organised by SUSG and the Zoological Society of London, in London, in October too. Web links to the programme and registration form are included in the announcements section and we also feature an account of different hunting traditions in Europe.

There is an expert update on and clarification of the current situation with avian flu from the Co-Chair of the SSC Veterinary Specialist Group. Biodiversity and its links with small business features both in a report of a European project which has broken new ground (see the report ‘Small Business Needs Biodiversity Too’), as well as in the reports from Curitiba where biotrade NGOs presented some of their work.

Finally there are also reviews and announcements, though not regrettably the usual digest of short news reports. This was due to your Editor running out of time before boarding ship for a cruise around some of Britain & Ireland’s offshore wildlife habitats, including the remote islands of St Kilda where harvesting gannets and puffins in incredibly dangerous conditions was an important element of people’s livelihoods until they decamped some 75 years ago. Many thanks to all contributors and to those who missed the boat, there is always next time.

Robin Sharp CB

Please contact Robin at robinsharpcb.freeserve.co.uk

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