Australia’s Great Barrier Reef suffers major coral bleaching
Sydney, Australia Reuters Australia’s Great Barrier Reef has been hit by a major coral bleaching event, with the results consistent with patterns of heat stress that have built up over summer at the biologically diverse site, a government agency said on Friday. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA), the agency tasked with monitoring […]
Monarch butterfly numbers in Mexico plummet to near record low
Mexico City Reuters The population of monarch butterflies in the Mexican forests where they spend the winter fell to the second-lowest figure on record this season, offering a grim snapshot of the already endangered orange-and-black insects. The iconic butterflies’ presence was only documented in 0.9 hectares of forest spanning a couple Mexican states where they […]
Global wildlife populations have sunk 69 per cent since 1970 – WWF report
London, UKReuters The world’s wildlife populations have declined by more than two-thirds since 1970 as forests have been cleared and oceans polluted, according to an assessment released on Thursday. This “serious drop…tells us that nature is unraveling and the natural world is emptying,” said Andrew Terry, director of conservation and policy at the Zoological Society […]
Rich nations urged to pay $US60 billion a year to protect developing-world nature
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Thomson Reuters Foundation As talks on a new global pact to protect nature ramp up this month, international green groups have called on the world’s richest nations to commit at least $US60 billion a year to protect and restore biodiversity in developing countries. Governments are working to finalise an agreement to safeguard the planet’s […]
World Environment Day 2021: Which animal and plant species are threatened by rising heat?
MICHAEL TAYLOR, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports on the findings of a new WWF report, ‘Feeling the Heat’…
Forests as big as France have grown back since 2000, research shows
Thomson Reuters Foundation From Mongolia to southern Brazil, forests big enough to cover France have grown back during the last 20 years, but the gains did not make up for losses elsewhere, a study found on Tuesday. An analysis of satellite data by a team of researchers led by the World Wide Fund for Nature, […]
WWF urges pandemic reset to stop forest loss for harmful food production
Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaThomson Reuters Foundation The world has lost tropical forest equivalent to the size of California over a 13-year period, green group WWF said this week, calling for COVID-19 recovery plans to revitalise conservation efforts. In a new report, WWF analysed 24 deforestation hotspots across Asia, Latin America and Africa, and found that more than 43 […]
Australia’s “black summer” bushfires killed or harmed more than 60,000 koalas – WWF
Sydney, AustraliaReuters More than 60,000 koalas were killed, injured or displaced in Australian bushfires last summer, the World Wide Fund for Nature has estimated, in what it called a deeply disturbing number for a species already in trouble. Last summer’s bushfires, which Prime Minister Scott Morrison has dubbed Australia’s “black summer”, also killed 33 people […]
In a thirsty world, information gaps dog a push to tap groundwater
London, UKThomson Reuters Foundation As growing populations and accelerating climate change worsen water scarcity around the world, pumping more from underground could help fill the gap in poorer nations – but only if supplies are better charted and they are used wisely, researchers said. “It’s a resource with a huge amount of potential,” said Jude Cobbing, who […]
Mars achieves “deforestation-free” palm oil – what about the rest?
Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaThomson Reuters Foundation Chocolate maker Mars needs to help more palm oil producers become sustainable rather than ditching those that do not meet its standards, environmentalists said, after the confectionery giant announced it had secured “deforestation-free” supplies. The maker of M&Ms and Snickers said this week it had simplified and reduced the number […]