By BRIDIE SMITHMarch 25, 2010 THE world’s southernmost coral reef is on a knife edge, according to scientists who say this summer’s above-average water temperatures have left Lord Howe Island’s unique reef stressed and bleached. In parts of the reef, especially areas around the island’s lagoon, up to 95 per cent of corals have been […]
By Jeremy Hance, www.mongabay.comMarch 23, 2010 The Jakarta Post reports that, according to the local NGO People’s Coalition for Justice in Fisheries (Kiara), Indonesia’s has lost 2.2 million hectares of mangroves in less than thirty years, going from covering 4.2 million hectares in 1982 to just 2 million hectares today. Kiara’s Secretary General M. […]
Nearly 30% of the Earth’s terrestrial ice-free surface is devoted to livestock production, while 8% is devoted to production of crops that are directly consumed by people. As livestock production shifts to more intensive systems, it will place more pressure on arable land for the production of feed. Over-grazing has resulted in loss of biodiversity […]
By Alister Doyle in Oslo (Reuters) – A U.N. conference rejected on Sunday trade restrictions on red and pink corals used in jewelry in what environmentalists called a new setback for endangered marine species. Delegates at the 175-nation meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in Doha failed to back a […]
By Navin Singh KhadkaEnvironment reporter, BBC News An invasive plant is emerging as a major problem in a Nepalese national park renowned for protecting endangered wildlife species, say scientists. The Chitwan National Park is listed as a Unesco world heritage site and is a major tourist attraction. It has been a huge conservation success story, […]
By Ken Ward Jr., Staff writerMarch 15, 2010 CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Water quality downstream from surface coal-mining operations in West Virginia and Kentucky greatly exceeds recommended toxicity limits, according to previously unreleased sampling data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. EPA scientists found toxicity levels as high as 50 times the federal guidelines in water […]
By BILL HANNA, billhanna@star-telegram.com Monarch butterflies, hit hard by strong storms at their winter home in Mexico, have dwindled to their lowest population levels in decades as they begin to return to Texas on their springtime flight back to the United States and Canada. The monarch loss is estimated at 50 to 60 percent and […]
Employee accuses bosses of making drink from bones of endangered animal By Clifford Coonan in Beijing Thursday, 18 March 2010 It is the Chinese Year of the Tiger but it has been far from auspicious. China’s Shenyang Zoo has closed after 11 Siberian tigers died of starvation or were shot this year amid murky tales […]
By John Platt Mammals, birds and fish living in the High Arctic experienced an average 26 percent drop in their populations between 1970 and 2004 due to the loss of sea ice, according to a new report from The Arctic Species Trend Index (ASTI), Tracking Trends in Arctic Wildlife [pdf]. The 2010 report, commissioned and […]
Longtime doomspotters ‘Doc Jim and ‘Doc Michael have published their compendium of unhappy tidings in Converging Emergencies, 2010-2020. It’s 60 pages of face-slapping wake-up call, which begins with a quick summary of Elizabeth Kübler-Ross’s five stages of grief[*], and then dives into an overview of their big themes: Species Collapse, Resource Depletion, Biology Breach, Climate […]
