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Biodiversity is declining at an unprecedented rate, and conservation is needed in many places including human-dominated landscapes. Evaluation of conflict risk between biodiversity conservation and human activities is a prerequisite for countries to develop strategies to achieve better conservation outcomes. However, quantitative methods to measure the conflict risk in large-scale areas are still lacking. Here we put forward a quantitative model in large-scale areas and produce the first continuum map of conflict risk in China. Our results show that conflict risk hotspots take up 32.86 % of China's terrestrial area, which may affect 42.98 % of China's population and more than 98 % of threaten vertebrates. Although species richness is high in these hotspot regions, only 10.69 % of them are covered by protected areas. Therefore, alternative conservation measures and proactive spatial planning are needed, especially in regions along the coastlines and around the Sichuan Basin. Especially, extraordinary attentions should be paid to urban agglomerations such as the Pearl River Delta and Yangtze River Delta. Compared to previous studies, our study quantifies the conflict risk of every gird cell, enabling the comparison among any locations. The analysis of 500 times generations shows a low sensitivity of the model as the maximum standard deviation is only 0.017. Furthermore, our model can be applied in other countries or at global scale to provide strategies for conflict governance and biodiversity conservation.

ANTIMICROBIAL resistance is a global health problem of growing concern. In 2010, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that over the past 70 years the use and misuse of antimicrobials in human and animal medicine has led to a ‘relentless rise’ in the number and types of resistant micro-organisms. Every use of an antimicrobial can increase the risk of the development of microbial resistance, the consequences of which are severe for animals and people. An indication …

THE Kennel Club has announced that from January 2012 it will no longer register any puppies born by caesarean section from a bitch that has had two previous caesarean operations. Veterinary surgeons will be able to report the births of litters born by caesarean section from January 27, 2011 onwards

Small animal practitioner and BVA past-president, Harvey Locke, will join recent graduate Stephanie Massey to discuss practice support at this year9s BVA Careers Fair at the London Vet Show. Here he discusses what to look for

Harvey Locke, a former BVA President, chairs the BVA's CPD Group whose remit is to develop the BVA's CPD programme nationally. He was a founding partner of a small animal hospital practice in Cheshire, from which he recently retired. After three busy years on the BVA officer team and being recently retired from practice, perhaps the powers that be in the BVA felt that I should not find myself at a loose end! I was invited to take on the role of chairman of this new group for its first year. It was not a difficult decision to make; in fact, I was honoured and excited by the invitation. I have had plenty of practice at chairing meetings over the past few years and also gained a significant level of experience in the planning of CPD courses from my time on the BSAVA's …

FOLLOWING on from the letter from Mike Jessop concerning the disposal of medicinal products ( VR , January 21, 2012, vol 170, p 82), the BVA is pleased to announce the launch of the revised and updated good practice guide to handling veterinary waste in England and Wales, developed by the BVA's Hazardous Waste Group. We are all too aware of the anxiety that surrounds the safe and correct disposal of veterinary waste and, for most of our members, ploughing through …

DEFRA has announced that the UK will harmonise its pet movement rules with the rest of the European Union from January 1, 2012. The changes will mean a better, more proportionate way of managing the risk of rabies, bringing us into line with current science and ensuring that the risk to the UK remains very low. In recent years the incidence of rabies in domestic and wild animal populations in the EU and other countries has decreased due to the effective use of vaccine. No single case of rabies in the EU associated with the legal movement of pets under the EU pet travel scheme has been reported since its inception in 2004. The new rules will mean that all …

MANY colleagues will already be aware that evidence has emerged that a small number of farmers may have been illegally swapping cattle ear tags in order to retain highly productive TB reactors. As a result Defra Minister Jim Paice announced last week that from mid-April in England DNA tags will be inserted by Official Veterinarians (OVs) into the ears of cattle that test positive for TB at the time of disclosure. Although these arrangements will not apply in Scotland, there will of course be implications for members with clients that have cattle in England. At the time …

Harvey Locke, President of the BVA, and Grant Petrie, President of the BSAVA, comment: We are disappointed that the Kennel Club has made these comments regarding our position on the issue of limiting the registration of puppies born by caesarean section. Throughout the process we did make it clear