By Jennifer Hattam, Istanbul, Turkey “The sea back in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s was thick with fish and we were the envy of the town. My pockets were always full and I traveled a lot,” says Mustapha Shaalan, 68. Now, like other Lebanese fishermen, he is lucky to make $200 a month, as daily […]
By Matt Walker, Editor, Earth News Lions in Cameroon are having their kills stolen from under their noses by hungry villagers, say conservationists. Incidences of such kleptoparasitism, the stealing of food from another, usually occur between top predators such as lion, hyena and cheetah. But people are increasingly getting in on the act, conservationists say. […]
The Sea Around Us Project investigates the impact of fisheries on the world’s marine ecosystems. This is achieved by using a Geographic Information System (GIS) to map global fisheries catches from 1950 to the present, under explicit consideration of major critical habitats of fish, marine invertebrates, marine mammals and other components of marine biodiversity. North […]
The Ganges River Dolphin faces a high risk of extinction in India’s Brahmaputra river system unless critical habitat is protected, report conservationists. Once abundant in the Ganges and Brahmaputra river systems in India and Bangladesh, the population of the Ganges River Dolphins has fallen sharply over the past century due to accidental bycatch by fishermen, […]
Malaysia is losing its battle to save its dwindling population of wild tigers, a conservation coalition warned Wednesday after a series of raids that netted tiger carcasses and bones. “It is clearly time to admit that we are fast losing the battle to save our tigers to an army of smugglers and poachers intent on […]
By Faisal Mohammad Ali, BBC News, Bhopal One of India’s main tiger parks – Panna National Park – has admitted it no longer has any tigers. The park, in the central state of Madhya Pradesh, was part of the country’s efforts to save the famous Royal Bengal Tiger from extinction. State Minister of Forests Rajendra […]
By Matt Walker, Editor, Earth News The world’s largest cat is down to an effective wild population of fewer than 35 individuals, new research has found. Although up to 500 of the big cats actually survive in the wild, the effective population is a measure of their genetic diversity. That in turn is a good […]
By Matt Walker, Editor, Earth News Hopes are dashed that some of the few remaining hirola antelope have managed to colonise new, safer territory. Fleeting sightings of the world’s rarest antelope, the hirola, in a new safe haven are cases of mistaken identity, a survey has found. That has dashed hopes that some of the […]
Nearly 17,000 plant and animal species are known to be threatened with extinction, while more than 800 have disappeared over the past 500 years, reports the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). While these numbers are substantial, they are likely “gross” underestimates since only 2.7 percent of 1.8 million described species have been assessed. […]
Extinction looms for amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds restricted to declining mangrove forests (American Institute of Biological Sciences) More than 40 percent of a sample of amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds that are restricted to mangrove ecosystems are globally threatened with extinction, according to an assessment published in the July/August issue of BioScience. The […]
