Endangered Madagascar lemur nears extinction from forest destruction

By Josia Razafindramanana, special to mongabay.com A small group of crowned sifaka lemurs Propithecus coronatus have been located in the corridor d’Amboloando-Dabolava, Miandrivazo district-Madagascar, but are immediately threatened with local extinction. The small, fragmented, and isolated forest shelters a group of only six adults and one baby. Interviews with local people revealed that once several […]

Coral reefs: ‘absolute guarantee of their annihilation’

Destroyed by rising carbon levels, acidity, pollution, algae, bleaching and El Niño, coral reefs require a dramatic change in our carbon policy to have any chance of survival, report warns By David Adam Animal, vegetable and mineral, a pristine tropical coral reef is one of the natural wonders of the world. Bathed in clear, warm […]

Kenya drought ‘passed emergency levels months ago’

As one devastating drought follows another, the future is bleak for millions in east Africa. John Vidal reports from Moyale, Kenya By John Vidal We met Isaac and Abdi, Alima and Muslima last week in the bone-dry, stony land close to the Ethiopia-Kenya border. They were with five nomad families who have watched all their […]

Climate change and overfishing are altering the Atlantic ocean ecosystem

By CLARKE CANFIELD, Associated Press Writer PORTLAND, Maine – The basic makeup of the ocean waters off the Northeast and the mid-Atlantic region has fundamentally changed in the past 40 years because of climate change, commercial fishing pressures and growing coastal populations, according to a new report. The 2009 Ecosystem Status Report says fish populations […]

Graph of the Day: Forest Types in Vietnam, 1990-2005

Meyfroidt, P., & Lambin, E.F. (2009). Forest transition in Vietnam and displacement of deforestation abroad. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0904942106 Vietnam outsources deforestation to neighboring countries Technorati Tags: deforestation,habitat loss,agriculture

Vietnam outsources deforestation to neighboring countries

In conserving its forests while its growing export-oriented wood products industry, Vietnam outsources deforestation to Laos, Cambodia, and China.   By Rhett A. Butler, mongabay.com Taking a cue from its much larger neighbor to the north, Vietnam has outsourced deforestation to neighboring countries, according to a new study that quantified the amount of displacement resulting […]

Outlook poor for Great Barrier Reef

By Rob Taylor CANBERRA (Reuters) – Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, the world’s largest living organism, is under grave threat from climate warming and coastal development, and its prospects of survival are “poor,” a major new report found on Wednesday. While the World Heritage-protected site, which sprawls for more than 345,000 square km (133,000 sq miles) […]

Bird mutations in the Chernobyl exclusion zone

By Sanjida O’Connell …According to a UN report in 2005, long-term cancers caused by Chernobyl will eventually kill about 4,000 people: an alarming total, but less than predicted. In fact, in an age of “dirty bombs” and nuclear proliferation, Chernobyl functions as a grim experiment into the consequences of extensive nuclear fallout. Although radiation levels […]

Exxon Valdez oil spill source of lethal contaminants, not natural coal deposits

Contaminants from natural coal deposits in the Gulf of Alaska are not easily bioavailable, unlike the crude oil from the Exxon Valdez tanker catastrophe, according to a new study. The findings challenge the theory that natural coal deposits were the cause of observed environmental damage. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) pollutants were blamed for the continuing […]

Borneo tribesmen block roads to stop palm oil plantations

  By Matthew McDermott, New York, NY Here’s a very concrete example of how roads into rainforests can bring indigenous people into the firing line: TimesOnline reports that hundreds of men from Borneo’s Penan people are blockading roads, armed with blowpipes and dressed in traditional costumes, in protest over what palm oil companies are doing […]

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