By Sara Reardon and Rowan Hooper 1 October 2012 It’s not as glamorous as chercocaine or diamonds, but the illegal logging industry has become very attractive to criminal organisations over the past decade. A new report finds that up to 90 per cent of tropical deforestation can be attributed to organised crime, which controls up […]
By Matt Walker, Editor, BBC Nature28 September 2012 Great apes, such as gorillas, chimps, and bonobos, are running out of places to live, say scientists. They have recorded a dramatic decline in the amount of habitat suitable for great apes, according to the first such survey across the African continent. Eastern gorillas, the largest living […]
By Ben Tavener, Senior Contributing Reporter25 September 2012 RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Brazilian government is planning to build at least 23 new hydroelectric dams in the country’s Amazon region, of which seven are set to be installed in the heart of the region, in previously untouched areas of one of the most biodiverse […]
26 September 2012 (University of Bristol) – Speaking at the Third International Symposium on the Ocean in a High-CO2 World this week in Monterey, California, Dr Daniela Schmidt, a geologist from the University of Bristol, warned that current rates of ocean acidification are unparalleled in Earth history. Dr Schmidt of Bristol’s School of Earth Sciences […]
Contact: Chris Edgar, Forest Resource Analyst, cedgar@tfs.tamu.edu, 979-458-663025 September 2012 COLLEGE STATION, Texas, 25 September 2012 – A Texas A&M Forest Service survey of hundreds of forested plots scattered across the state shows 301 million trees were killed as a result of the devastating 2011 drought. The number was determined by a study of both […]
19 September 2012 (NSIDC) – On 16 September 2012, sea ice extent dropped to 3.41 million square kilometers (1.32 million square miles). This appears to have been the lowest extent of the year. In response to the setting sun and falling temperatures, ice extent will now climb through autumn and winter. However, a shift in […]
18 September 2012 (CBS NEWS) ASPEN, Colorado – Colorado wildlife officials predicted drought conditions this spring indicated a deadly summer for bears. Now it’s known just how bad the year has been, CBS station KCNC reports. Colorado Parks and Wildlife had to kill more than 30 bears this summer after animals foraging for food ventured […]
18 September 2012 (Climate Central) – The 2012 wildfire season isn’t over yet, but already this year is shaping up to be the one of the worst on record in the American West. According to the National Interagency Fire Center, with nearly two months still to go in the fire season, the total area already […]
By Nina Chestney; Editing by Rosalind Russell16 September 2012 LONDON (Reuters) – The chance to save the world’s coral reefs from damage caused by climate change is dwindling as man-made greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, scientists said in a study released on Sunday. Around 70 percent of corals are expected to suffer from long-term […]
By John Vidal, Arctic Sunrise, www.guardian.co.uk17 September 2012 One of the world’s leading ice experts has predicted the final collapse of Arctic sea ice in summer months within four years. In what he calls a “global disaster” now unfolding in northern latitudes as the sea area that freezes and melts each year shrinks to its […]
