Canada’s boreal woodland caribou at continued risk: CPAWS annual review finds limited progress in 2015
Ottawa – In its third annual review of government action to conserve Canada's boreal woodland caribou, the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) finds there has been spotted progress – with too few of jurisdictions showing leadership in protecting the species that has long graced our 25-cent piece.
Under the federal Species-at-Risk Act, all provinces and territories are required to...
China’s biodiversity declines as human demands grow
Beijing, China – Since 1970, China’s terrestrial vertebrates have declined by half, while the nation’s Ecological Footprint has more than doubled, reveals WWF’s Living Planet Report China, 2015, a flagship research report on the country’s demand on nature.
The fourth issue of the report, themed “development, species and ecological civilization”, tracked 2,419 representative populations of 682 vertebrates’ species in China...
UAV footage of massive forest fires as Indonesia’s carbon bomb explodes
Jakarta, 7 October 2015 - Shocking UAV footage captured by Greenpeace Southeast Asia field researchers shows the massive underground peat fires burning across Indonesia.
The footage was shot around the edge of the Gunung Palung National Park, a major reservoir of biodiversity in West Kalimantan, Indonesia. It shows fires burning in the deep peat surrounding the National Park and in...
Sumatran rhino likely to go extinct unless action is taken urgently, warns IUCN
With fewer than 100 Sumatran rhinos surviving in the wild, the species will likely become extinct unless the Indonesian Government urgently implements the Sumatran rhino recovery plan, warns IUCN on World Rhino Day. The remaining 100 Sumatran rhinos represent less than half of the population size estimated during the last IUCN Red List assessment of the species in 2008.
Listed...
New study: Emissions from thawing permafrost add trillions in economic impacts
Greenhouse gas emissions from thawing Arctic permafrost could result in an additional $43 trillion in economic impacts by the end of the twenty-second century, according to a new study by researchers from the University of Cambridge and the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). These extra impacts justify the need for urgent action to reduce emissions from thawing...
Where does water go when it doesn’t flow?
Study shows how much enters air from plants, soil, surface water
More than a quarter of the rain and snow that falls on continents reaches the oceans as runoff. Where does the rest go?
Now results of a new study help answer that question: two-thirds of the remaining water comes from plants, more than a quarter lands on leaves and evaporates,...
Coral bleaching threat increasing in western Atlantic and Pacific oceans
Rising ocean temperatures threaten spread of major heat stress to Hawaiian reefs
As unusually warm ocean temperatures cover the north Pacific, equatorial Pacific, and western Atlantic oceans, NOAA scientists expect greater bleaching of corals on Northern Hemisphere reefs through October, potentially leading to the death of corals over a wide area and affecting the long-term supply of fish and shellfish.
While...
It’s Official: New York Fracking Ban Made Final With Release of 43-Page Document
On eve of one-year anniversary of local fracking ban court win, NY finalizes statewide ban
Albany, NY —Nearly a year to the day after communities won the right to ban oil and gas development locally, a statewide ban on high-volume hydraulic fracturing (or “fracking”) was made official with the release of a 43-page findings statement that outlines the specific parameters...
Ice shelf at double risk
New study shows Antarctic ice shelf is thinning from above and below.
A decade-long scientific debate about what’s causing the thinning of one of Antarctica’s largest ice shelves is settled this week (Wednesday 13 May) with the publication of an international study in the journal The Cryosphere.
The Larsen C Ice Shelf — whose neighbours Larsen A and B, collapsed in...
Mekong River dolphin death reduces Lao population to five
The discovery of a deceased female Irrawaddy river dolphin on Cheutal Touch Island, Cambodia – close to the border with Laos – is yet another reminder of the plight of this critically endangered cetacean in the Mekong River, WWF said on Tuesday. With just five animals remaining in Laos, WWF urged Laos and Cambodia to work together on common...
Hidden oceanic gateway may be melting Totten Glacier
A previously hidden gateway to the ocean underneath the largest glacier in East Antarctica could allow warm seawater to reach the base of the glacier, causing melt and potentially raising sea levels.
The new research, published in the journal Nature Geoscience today, shows a five kilometer-wide sub-glacial trough which forms a gateway extending from beneath the Totten Glacier to the...
Dumping ban must extend to entire Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Site
WWF today reaffirmed its call for a full ban on waste dumping in the entire reef World Heritage Site after the Australian government’s release of draft legislation to ban the dumping of dredge spoil in the smaller Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.
“WWF has always called for a ban in the entire World Heritage Site,” WWF-Australia CEO Dermot O’Gorman said....
