[Follow #SOTWP on Twitter for live updates during the State of the World’s Plants Symposium (11-12 May 2016).] By Damian Carrington9 May 2016 (The Guardian) – One in five of the world’s plant species is threatened with extinction, according to the first global assessment of flora, putting supplies of food and medicines at risk. But […]
10 May 2016 (UN) – Millions of migratory birds are being lost each year as a result of illegal killing, taking and trade, United Nations officials warned on World Migratory Bird Day, calling for concerted action to end the threats to migratory birds and urging everyone to step outside and “listen to the birds chirping,” […]
5 May 2016 (Discovery News) – Worldwide, leopards have lost about 75 percent of their historic range, according to a new survey – the first to attempt to get a glimpse of the big cat’s remaining global paw print. The analysis was produced by a group of partner organizations, including the National Geographic Society’s Big […]
By Dale Nimmo, David Lindenmayer, John Woinarski, Ralph Mac Nally, Shaun Cunningham2 May 2016 (The Conversation) – Media reports around the world have brought the mass coral bleaching of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef into people’s offices and homes. With 93% of individual reefs showing bleaching, the devastation among researchers, celebrities and the public is palpable. […]
By Tom Odula30 April 2016 NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) – Kenya’s president set fire Saturday to 105 tons of elephant ivory and more than 1 ton of rhino horn, believed to be the largest stockpile ever destroyed, in a dramatic statement by this East African country against the trade in ivory and products from endangered species. […]
By Sara Malm25 April 2016 (Daily Mail) – A Swedish park manager was among five rangers shot by elephant poachers during a fatal firefight which claimed three lives in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Garamba wildlife park. Poachers entered the UNESCO world heritage site on Saturday, killing one ranger at the scene and injuring four, […]
By Elaine Kurtenbach20 April 2016 TOKYO (Associated Press) – The latest scientific assessment paints a likely bleak future for the Pacific bluefin tuna, a sushi lovers’ favorite whose population has dropped by more than 97 percent from its historic levels. A draft summary of a report by the International Scientific Committee for Tuna and Tuna-like […]
By Chris Mooney 20 April 2016 (Washington Post) – The conclusions are in from a series of scientific surveys of the Great Barrier Reef bleaching event — an environmental assault on the largest coral ecosystem on Earth — and scientists aren’t holding back about how devastating they find them. Australia’s National Coral Bleaching Task Force […]
By Mike Gaworecki 13 April 2016 (mongabay.com) – China’s demand for swim bladders from a giant Mexican fish called the totoaba is putting the species at risk. It’s also pushing a small porpoise known as the vaquita, one of the most endangered mammals in the world, to the brink of extinction. Vaquita or vaquita marina […]
By Rob Jordan5 April 2016 (Stanford Report) – Bustling cities, sprawling suburbs and blossoming agricultural regions might seem strong evidence that people have always dominated the environment. A Stanford study of South America’s colonization shows that human populations did not always grow unchecked, but were at one time limited by local resources – just like […]
