By Peter Michael, The Courier-MailFebruary 08, 2011 12:01AM WORLD Heritage rainforest and surviving populations of endangered southern cassowaries and dugong were hit hard by Cyclone Yasi, scientists warn. Some of Queensland’s top tropical experts met for the first time yesterday to assess the ecological impact of the Category 5 cyclone described as “far worse and […]
By Robert Mendick, Chief reporter 05 Feb 2011 Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman has scrapped plans to dispose of publicly-owned national nature reserves following the furious backlash over the forest sell-off. Officials in her department had been in talks with Natural England, the quango which looks after 140 reserves, about transferring ownership. But in an indication […]
February 01, 2011 (mongabay.com) – Indonesia’s Ministry of Forestry has approved conversion of some 3 million hectares of natural forest in Papua province, on the island of New Guinea, according to new analysis by Greenomics Indonesia, an environmental group. Data from Greenomics Indonesia indicates 17 companies have been granted concessions to clear natural forest in […]
By Jeremy Hance, www.mongabay.comFebruary 02, 2011 Growing populations, expanding agriculture, commodities such as palm oil and paper, logging, urban sprawl, mining, and other human impacts have pushed many of the world’s great forests to the brink. Yet scientists, environmentalists, and even some policymakers increasingly warn that forests are worth more standing than felled. They argue […]
Contact: Hannah Isom, h.isom@leeds.ac.uk, University of Leeds3 Feb 2011(University of Leeds) New research shows that the 2010 Amazon drought may have been even more devastating to the region’s rainforests than the unusual 2005 drought, which was previously billed as a one-in-100 year event. Analyses of rainfall across 5.3 million square kilometres of Amazonia during the […]
By Julian Labores, ManilaFebruary 1, 2011 The number of people affected by floods and landslides that hit parts of the southern Philippines in recent weeks breached the two-million mark on Monday, with 75 dead and 22 still missing, according to the country’s disaster prevention body. The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said the […]
ScienceDaily (Jan. 29, 2011) — Scientists from Stony Brook University are reporting new evidence that cultivating coca bushes, the source of cocaine, is speeding up destruction of rainforests in Colombia and threatening the region’s “hotspots” of plant and animal diversity. The findings, which they say underscore the need for establishing larger protected areas to help […]
NEW YORK, 24 Jan 2011 (AFP) – International accords on saving vulnerable forests are having little impact because they do not attack the core causes such as growing demand for biofuels and food crops, a new report said. With Africa and South American alone losing 7.4 million hectares (18.3 million acres) of forest a year, […]
By Kipchumba Kemei27 December 2010 A section of Narok County leaders want the government to clear the 146, 800 hectare Maasai Mau forest of settlers next month. “It will be our new year gift if the forest is going to be cleared of settlements next month. We are tired of waiting,” said the Narok South […]
By John PlattDec 21, 2010 04:50 PM When the Bornean clouded leopard (Neofelis diardi) was first identified as its own species in 2006, it was almost instantly added to the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species as “vulnerable” to extinction. Just four years later evidence out […]
