By Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 11.12.09 A couple weeks ago we learned that at present poaching rates Africa’s elephants will all be extinct in just fifteen years. Well, here’s so more on that: The wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC brings word that the illegal ivory trade has increased markedly in the latest analysis, […]
By Terry Macalisterwww.guardian.co.uk, Monday 9 November 2009 21.30 GMT The world is much closer to running out of oil than official estimates admit, according to a whistleblower at the International Energy Agency who claims it has been deliberately underplaying a looming shortage for fear of triggering panic buying. The senior official claims the US has […]
By ROBERT F. WORTHPublished: October 31, 2009 JAHILIYA, Yemen — More than half of this country’s scarce water is used to feed an addiction. Even as drought kills off Yemen’s crops, farmers in villages like this one are turning increasingly to a thirsty plant called qat, the leaves of which are chewed every day by […]
By Burton Frierson NEW YORK (Reuters) – Twelve of the worst pollution problems in the developing world are being cleaned up, demonstrating that tens of thousands of others also could be improved, according to a report [pdf] released on Wednesday. The clean-up sites, ranging from Ukraine’s Chernobyl nuclear disaster area to the polluted streets of […]
By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS, Oct 22 (IPS) – As African leaders meet in Ethiopia to discuss the devastating impacts of climate change, the United Nations has released a report warning that the economically-troubled continent will be one of the hardest hit by the ravages of global warming. “Projected climatic changes for Africa suggest a […]
By Emma Graham-Harrison and Lucy Hornby BEIJING, Oct 13 (Reuters) – Nearly 1,000 children living in a major Chinese lead smelting base have excessive levels of the heavy metal in their blood, state media said on Tuesday, as environmentalists called on firms to detail their pollution. The country’s biggest smelter has acknowledged some responsibility in […]
Antananarivo (AFP) Oct 9, 2009 – Environmental groups are protesting the resumption of exports of precious woods from Madagascar, arguing that the wood is logged illegally and that the island’s forests are being destroyed. On September 21 a government decree “temporarily” legalised the export of “certain stocks” of precious woods, citing the need to “evacuate […]
PARIS (Reuters) – Waste from French power stations was being deposited in the open air in Russia, French newspaper Liberation said on Monday. The paper said 13 percent of French radioactive waste produced by power group EDF could be found in the open air in a town in Siberia to which access is forbidden. The […]
Cameras sent down to investigate vessel appear to show human remains By Michael Day in Milan Pressure is growing on the Italian government to act over revelations that 30 or more ships with radioactive cargoes, deliberately sunk by the Mafia, may be polluting the Mediterranean. The Calabrian region in the south of the country last […]
Pictures of hundreds of cow carcasses being tipped into a mass grave near Nairobi highlight the scale of the natural disaster By Xan Rice in Nairobi guardian.co.uk, Thursday 17 September 2009 The devastating drought sweeping across Kenya is causing widespread hunger, thirst and, in the case of cattle, death. Pictures of hundreds of cow carcasses […]
