COSTA RICA Horquetas -- Farmer Vincente Paniagua with some of his cattle on his farm. Unlike most farmers who clear cut and annually burn their land, Mr. Paniagua instead planted trees. "It was the only way I could save the soil," he says. The trees he planted -- a range of 18 different native and alien species -- provide shade for his cows. While the practice of keeping cows in tree covered meadows to protect soils, is popular on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, it is rare among Atlantic lowland farmers, according to local NGO FUNDECORE. They also say farmers like Paniagua will recieve funds from so-called "carbon bonds" (the logic being that supporting reforestation and protecting primary rainforest guarantees a certain absorbtion of carbon) that Costa Rica is currently offering. Certified Tradeable Offsets or CTOs, as the bonds are officially known have been criticised by environmentalists as an unfeasible system to protect Costa Rica's rapidily diminishing forests or those of other countries -- 04/1998 -- Picture © Jon Mitchell / Lightroom Photos

Warwick Bar Conservation Area was designated on 25 June 1987 and extended on 31 May 2000. It lies to the east of the city centre. The conservation area contains the most complete canalside quarter in Birmingham. Its significance derives from a concentration of surviving canal structures, including basins, locks and wharves, together with a wide range of historic canal related warehousing and works. The area reflects the importance of the canal system in the growth and development of Birmingham trade and industry from the late eighteenth to the mid-twentieth century and the city history as a focus of the waterways.