Rhino poaching worldwide is on the rise, according to a new report [pdf] by TRAFFIC and IUCN. The trade is being driven by Asian demand for horns and is made worse by increasingly sophisticated poachers, who now are using veterinary drugs, poison, cross bows and high caliber weapons to kill rhinos, the report states. Since […]
The Maasai Mau Forest has been impacted heavily by encroachment, especially on the western side. Analysis of 1973 and 2005 satellite images shows that about 8,214 hectares of forest cover was lost inside the Maasai Mau Forest, and about 31,755 hectares lost outside the forest boundaries. This totals 39,969 hectares – representing about 39% of […]
November 24, 2009 Southern Africa’s plains zebras and the asiatic wild ass have been identified among animals whose migratory habits have been left in tatters. A quarter of the world’s migrating species are suspected to no longer migrate at all because of human changes to the landscape, and all of the world’s large-scale terrestrial migrations […]
NEW YORK (November 24, 2009) — The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) announced today a report revealing that the last remaining population of Siberian tigers has likely declined significantly due to the rising tide of poaching and habitat loss. WCS says the report will help inform Russian officials of what needs to be done to protect […]
TARUNA JAYA, Indonesia – Across a patch of pineapples shrouded in smoke, Idris Hadrianyani battled a menace that has left his family sleepless and sick — and has wrought as much damage on the planet as has exhaust from all the cars and trucks in the United States. Against the advancing flames, he waved a […]
A severe drought believed to have been caused by the El Niño phenomenon has threatened water supplies in Bolivia, and has depleted the water level in Lake Titicaca. Lake Titicaca is very close to reaching its lowest level ever recorded since 2003. [Felix Trujillo, Employee, National Meteorology and Hydrology Service]: “…The lowest level in […]
By TOM ARUP ENVIRONMENT CORRESPONDENTNovember 13, 2009 AUSTRALIA and the world must make prevention of the rapid rate of species extinction a political priority or face an environmental catastrophe, the head of an international biodiversity convention has warned. In an interview with the Herald, the executive secretary of the United Nations Convention on Biological […]
Researchers Deborah Tabart and Hugh Possingham on the demise of koalas Australia’s koalas could be wiped out within 30 years unless urgent action is taken to halt a decline in population, according to researchers. They say development, climate change and bushfires have all combined to send the numbers of wild koalas plummeting. The Australian […]
By Rhett A. Butler, www.mongabay.comNovember 10, 2009 Forty percent of lowland forests in Sumatra and Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo) were cleared from 1990 to 2005, reports a high resolution assessment of land cover change in Indonesia. The research, conducted by Matthew Hansen of South Dakota State University, and colleagues, found that Indonesia lost 21.35 million hectares […]
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz.- A subsidiary of Massey Energy has begun mountaintop-removal coal-mining operations on Coal River Mountain in West Virginia, the only peak in Coal River Valley that hasn’t been blasted away for mining. Blasting for the mine is taking place 200 yards from the Brushy Fork coal slurry impoundment, which holds 8 billion gallons of […]
