Saving Guyana rainforests, cars banned by 2050 and other green stories of the week

(Mikael Damkier)

Some of the major green and environmental stories of the past week (March 28- April 1) including an EU proposal to ban petrol cars, are rounded up below.

2050 - the European government put forward proposals to ban petrol- and diesel-fuelled vehicles from Europe's roads by the year 2050. ( BBC news)

Fukushima - farmers in the region of Fukushima are facing up to a future without their livelihoods after much of the farmland has been contaminated. ( NPR)

Godaddy - the chief behind web hosting firm Godaddy has drawn fire from environmentalists after shooting an elephant in Zimbabwe, and posting a video of it on his blog. ( Inquirer) 

Guyana rainforests - Northern European country of Norway and Guyana in South America are closer to signing a historic deal in which Norway would pay Guyana to conserve its rainforests. ( Guardian)

Living key chains - animal rights activists and environmentalists around the world are outraged by the recent craze in China of selling live animals, such as turtles, sealed in miniature bags of fluid as key chains.  ( Treehugger)

Lynx - and other species could be ‘rescued and moved to Britain' in an elaborate plan to protect animals whose habitat could be under threat from climate change. ( Independent)

Noise - the health of a large number of Western Europeans suffers due to noise pollution, which is the second environmental cause, behind air pollution, for poor health.  ( New Scientist)

South Africa - despite recent events in Japan and a general re-thinking of nuclear policy by much of the world, South Africa intends to proceed with plans to produce electricity via solar, wind and nuclear sources.  ( New York Times)

Third - the United States has dropped one place to third position in clean-energy investment rankings according to a new report. In the top two spots were China and Germany respectively. ( Reuters)

Temperature - early results from a study into global temperatures confirm the warming trend that has been reported by scientists around the world for decades - silencing sceptics. ( New York Times)