Photo gallery: Satellite views of smoke and fires in Indonesia, September-October 2015

9 October 2015 (Desdemona Despair) – 2015 is likely to be among the worst years for forest fires on record. A lot of this destruction is caused by fires that are intentionally set to clear forests for agriculture. In Sumatra and southern Borneo, rainforest and peatlands are burned to make room for palm oil plantations.  […]

Video: Indonesia forest fires on track to emit more CO2 than UK

By Damian Carrington  7 October 2015 (The Guardian) – Fires raging across the forests and peatlands of Indonesia are on track to pump out more carbon emissions than the UK’s entire annual output, Greenpeace has warned. As well as fuelling global warming, the thick smoke choking cities in the region is likely to cause the […]

Ebola has now killed a third of the world’s gorilla and chimpanzee populations – ‘This epidemic has reduced the population to a point where it can no longer sustain itself in the face of poaching and other pressures’

By Allison Jackson22 January 2015 (Global Post) – The human tragedy caused by the Ebola outbreak in West Africa has been well documented. […] But humans are not the only victims of this horrible disease, which is spread through contact with the blood, sweat and other bodily fluids of an infected person. Since the 1990s, […]

13 species we might have to say goodbye to in 2015

By Hyacinth Mascaren1 January 2015 (Global Post) – British broadcaster and naturalist Sir David Attenborough once asked: “Are we happy to suppose that our grandchildren may never be able to see an elephant except in a picture book?” This year marked the 100th anniversary of the death of the last passenger pigeon, Martha, who managed […]

The last best place no more: Massive deforestation destroying prime chimp habitat in Uganda

By Benon Herbert Oluka9 July 2014 (mongabay.com) – Uganda’s Kafu River, which is about 180 kilometers (110 miles) long, is part of a vast chimpanzee habitat that includes Budongo and Bugoma Forest Reserves, as well as several unofficial protected areas. However, this region is losing a significant portion of valuable chimpanzee habitat, with Global Forest […]

The palm oil diet: study finds displaced orangutans have little else to eat

By Ariel Mark 20 June 2014 (mongabay.com) – One of humans’ closest relatives, the charismatic orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus), has been listed as Endangered by the IUCN since 1986 and its status continues to remain critical. The orangutan population decline on the island Borneo can be attributed to extensive habitat loss caused by agricultural development, in […]

Graph of the Day: Annual species offtake rate for one bushmeat market in West Africa

Estimated annual offtake rates for Friday/Sunday bushmeat market days at the Daobly market in the Ivorian town of Taï along the Cavally River. The annual offtake was calculated by doubling the average of the observed Friday offtake, and doubling again to account for the similar volume of primates traded at Sunday markets. This value was […]

Over 9,000 primates killed each year for single bushmeat market in West Africa

By Ariel Mark 24 March 2014 (mongabay.com) – Over the past 25 years, West Africa’s primates have been put at risk due to an escalating bushmeat trade compounded with forest loss from expanding human populations. In fact, many endemic primates in the Upper Guinea forests of Liberia and Ivory Coast have been pushed to the […]

Lemurs could be extinct ‘very soon’ – ‘One cyclone or other natural event could wipe out the entire population. In fact, anybody who decides to go out lemur hunting could tip the species over the edge.’

By Kashmira Gander20 February 2014 (The Independent) – Lemurs could “very soon” be extinct, some of the world’s leading experts on the primates warned as they unveiled a three-year plan to save them, on Thursday. A combination of the destruction of their habitat and bush meat hunting by impoverished local people, means that Lemurs are […]

Actor Harrison Ford causes stir while investigating deforestation in Indonesia

By Rhett A. Butler10 September 2013 (mongabay.com) – Harrison Ford sparked a complaint from Indonesia’s top forest official after the actor asked a series of tough questions about ongoing rainforest destruction in the Southeast Asian nation, reports Indonesian state media. Ford is in Indonesia filming a segment for Years of Living Dangerously, a Showtime documentary […]

Social media & sharing icons powered by UltimatelySocial