Rescued by the Pound

ECOLOGY

Explaining the effects of devaluation to Parliament, Prime Minister Harold Wilson included in a list of defense cutbacks one item that brought unrestrained joy to British ecologists. "In overseas terms," he said, "we have decided not to proceed with the Aldabra project." Thus, through fiscal fallout, sanctuary was preserved for Aldabra's flightless rails, red-footed boobies and other unique wildlife that had been threatened by plans to build an airbase on the tiny Indian Ocean atoll (TIME, Oct. 20). Biologist David Stoddart, who led a scientific expedition to Aldabra last summer, was relieved, but not wholly satisfied. "It is a little sad," he said, "that it was a sterling crisis and not scientific opinion that made the government change its mind."

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