Call for cooperation to contain damage by Chile's salmon farms
The proposed Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) (Nature 465, 525; 2010) should be part of a broader complementary system of scientific input. This would help to coordinate data that fall under the remit of multiple international environmental agencies and agreements. And it would minimize the risks of duplication in scientific review and reporting. A global consultation of scientists and others, coordinated by DesertNet International and the United Nations Institute for Water, Environment and Health (www.desertnet-international. org), has suggested that an equivalent intergovernmental science-policy panel for land and water issues is needed. Otherwise, important independent questions are likely to be absorbed by the scientific bodies that advise on climate change and biodiversity loss. Crucial matters may not receive the policy attention they deserve if solely addressed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the proposed IPBES. Examples are the impacts of trends in population growth and demographic bulges; food and energy insecurity; migration; and ‘land and water grabbing’ by wealthy foreign companies in developing nations. Lindsay C. Stringer School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Woodhouse Lane, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK e-mail: l.stringer@leeds.ac.uk Call for cooperation to contain damage by Chile’s salmon farms
Public database for HIV drug resistance in southern Africa
The Opinion article by S. Karim and Q. Karim laments the lack of an effective conduit between South Africa’s AIDS research and its prevention and treatment policies and programmes (Nature 463, 733–734; 2010). We would like to draw attention to an HIV-1 drug-resistance database, a scientific resource for regional and global HIV research that will enhance surveillance programmes in southern Africa.
Natural history and long‐term evolution in families with autosomal dominant cortical tremor, myoclonus, and epilepsy
Purpose:  To investigate for the first time the natural history and long‐term evolution of “familial cortical tremor, myoclonus, and epilepsy.”