After two years of delays, governments had been scheduled to meet in Kunming, China, for COP15 in late April to negotiate this decade’s targets to halt and reverse the rampant destruction…Continue reading‘Sleeping through extinction’: China urged to end delays to COP15 summit
Tag: impact
Australia’s tropical rainforest trees have being dying at double the previous rate since the 1980s, seemingly because of global heating, according to new research that raises concerns tropical forests could start…Continue readingAustralia’s tropical rainforests have been dying faster for decades in ‘clear and stark climate warning’
Sandstorms across the Middle East have delayed flights, closed schools and hospitalised thousands—a phenomenon experts say could worsen as climate change warps regional weather patterns. The Middle East has always been…Continue readingMideast sandstorms snarl traffic, close schools, harm health
Jacobabad in Pakistan’s arid Sindh province is in the grip of the latest heatwave to hit South Asia—peaking at 51˚C (124˚F). Canals in the city—a vital source of irrigation for nearby…Continue readingExtreme temperatures compound poverty in Pakistan’s hottest city
Pakistan is in the grip of a blistering heatwave, with parts of the nation already scorched by temperatures of nearly 50˚C (122˚F) as officials warn of acute water shortages and a…Continue readingPakistan city hits nearly 50˚C (122˚F) as blistering heatwave grips nation
Humanity is “at a crossroads” when it comes to managing drought and accelerating mitigation must be done “urgently, using every tool we can,” says a new report from the United Nations…Continue readingWorld ‘at a crossroads’ in management of droughts, up 29% in a generation and worsening, reports the UN
Microplastics are being transported to some of the most remote places on Earth by the wind, according to new research involving the University of East Anglia. A new study published today…Continue readingHow microplastics in the air are polluting the most remote places on Earth
Since 2000, more than 71 million hectares of dry forest have been destroyed, an area about twice the size of Germany. Many hotspots of deforestation are concentrated in South America, such…Continue readingTropical dry forests disappearing rapidly around the globe
Spanning more than 179,000 km2 (69,000 square miles) in Brazil, Paraguay and Bolivia, the Pantanal boasts one of the highest concentration of flora and fauna in South America while serving as…Continue readingThe Pantanal, the world’s largest wetland, is at risk of collapse
The Reef snapshot: summer 2021-22, quietly published by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority on Tuesday night after weeks of delay, said above-average water temperatures in late summer had caused…Continue reading‘Devastating’: 91% of reefs surveyed on Great Barrier Reef affected by coral bleaching in 2022
The relentless dry spell that is withering the American West is steadily warping normal life. Major reservoirs have baked down to record lows and are still dropping, threatening the ability to…Continue readingFacing a new climate reality, Southern California lawns could wither
Satellite images show a total area of destroyed forest cover of 1,012.5 square kilometres (391 square miles) from April 1 to 29, with the last day of the month yet to…Continue readingBrazil deforestation shatters April record
The world’s birds, described as the planet’s “canaries in the coalmine”, are disappearing in large numbers as the colossal impact of humanity on the Earth grows, a global review has found.…Continue reading‘Canaries in the coalmine’: loss of birds signals changing planet
The number of flying insects in Great Britain has plunged by almost 60% since 2004, according to a survey that counted splats on car registration plates. The results from many thousands…Continue readingThe number of flying insects in Great Britain has plunged by almost 60% since 2004
Oyster fisheries in Australia and North America survived for up to 10,000 years prior to colonisation, sustaining First Nations communities even under intense harvest. Oyster fisheries have declined globally in modern…Continue readingPrecolonial First Nations oyster fisheries sustained millennia of intense harvests
In the Horn of Africa as a whole, in an area stretching from northern Kenya to Somalia and swaths of Ethiopia, up to 20 million people could go hungry this year…Continue readingHorn of Africa ravaged by worst drought in four decades
Just 9% of all plastic waste ever created has been recycled. Last year, the U.S. exported 74,000 shipping containers of plastic waste to low-income countries. For decades, China was the primary…Continue readingWhere your recycling actually goes
21% of reptile species are threatened with extinction, including more than half of turtles and crocodiles. More than 40% of amphibians, 25% of mammals and 13% of birds could face extinction.…Continue readingOver 21% of reptile species at risk of extinction
Pristine rainforests were once again destroyed at a relentless rate in 2021, according to new figures, prompting concerns governments will not meet a COP26 deal to halt and reverse deforestation by…Continue reading‘Relentless’ destruction of rainforest continuing despite Cop26 pledge
Coral reefs are rapidly declining due to local environmental degradation and global climate change. In particular, corals are vulnerable to ocean heating. Hotter oceans can kill corals via expulsion of their…Continue readingPast the precipice? Projected coral habitability under global heating
Half of all river basins across the world are now “severely affected” by water diversion projects, which can exacerbate drought conditions and lead to human conflict. About the same percentage of…Continue readingDead rivers, polluted oceans: Industry adds to world’s mounting water crisis
In this mysterious woodland the cloud drapes over mountain ridges and “the trees are dwarfed and wind-sculpted, gnarled and heavily laden with mosses,” said J Alan Pounds, an ecologist at the…Continue readingLost golden toad heralds climate’s massive extinction threat
As a punishing, record-breaking drought enters its 13th year, Chile has announced an unprecedented plan to ration water for the capital of Santiago, a city of nearly 6 million. The plan…Continue readingChile announces unprecedented plan to ration water as drought enters 13th year
As one of the world’s most famous game reserves, Murchison Falls National Park is home to some of the largest populations of elephants, giraffes, lions and leopards anywhere on the planet.…Continue readingThe oil giants drilling among the giraffes in Uganda
Scientists from the University of Illinois tracked species of birds in a protected forest reserve in central Panama to determine if and how populations had changed from 1977 to 2020. A…Continue readingBird populations in Panama rainforest in severe decline
Large quantities of plastic—transported by rivers, the air and shipping–can now be found in the Arctic Ocean. High concentrations of microplastic can be found in the water, on the seafloor, remote…Continue readingThe global ‘plastic flood’ reaches the Arctic
Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is experiencing its sixth massive bleaching event as climate change has warmed the ocean, raising concerns over whether one of the world’s natural wonders is nearing a…Continue readingClimate warming has dealt yet another blow to the Great Barrier Reef
Transocean Ltd. announced today that it has purchased a minority interest in Ocean Minerals Ltd., a company engaged in the exploration of seabed resources containing metals critical to the growing renewable energy market.…Continue readingTransocean Ltd. Invests in Exploration of Seabed Minerals to Support the Renewable Energy Supply Chain
15 years after its was first discovered in a New York cave, white-nose syndrome has decimated the nation’s population of northern long-eared bats, reducing their numbers to almost nothing. It evolved…Continue readingA disease more lethal than covid-19 has nearly wiped out northern US long-eared bats
Work published in Science Advances shows that large fires have not only become more common, they are also spreading into new areas, impacting land that previously did not burn. “Projected changes…Continue readingUS fires have become 4 times larger, 3 times more frequent since 2000
The study examined four possible scenarios for future carbon emissions, and found increased risk of El Niño events in all four. This means El Niño events and associated climate extremes are…Continue readingIncreasing frequency of El Niño events expected by 2040
The Amazon is approaching a tipping point, data shows, after which the rainforest would be lost with “profound” implications for the global climate and biodiversity. Novel statistical analysis shows that more…Continue readingAmazon rainforest tipping point is looming
Hundreds of residents in the US state of Florida were evacuated from their homes after a rash of wildfires that ignited dead vegetation swept through the area. Dry conditions in Florida…Continue readingFlorida wildfires force hundreds to evacuate their homes
Although Africa has contributed relatively little to the planet’s greenhouse gas emissions, the continent has suffered some of the world’s heaviest impacts of climate change. This will only get worse, according…Continue readingAfrica, already suffering from warming, will see worse
Carbon emissions from tropical deforestation this century are far higher than previously thought, doubling in just two decades and continuing to accelerate, according to a study. The world’s forests form an…Continue readingDeforestation emissions far higher than previously thought
The gang-gang cockatoo, the animal emblem of the Australian Capital Territory, will be officially listed as a threatened species after a large decline in its numbers due to the climate crisis…Continue readingGang-gang cockatoo threatened species
The Mekong dolphin population has long been IUCN red-listed as Critically Endangered. The last known river dolphin in the transboundary pool on the Cambodia-Laos border was found dead on February 15,…Continue readingDeath of the last known river dolphin in the transboundary pool in the Mekong between Laos and Cambodia
The remote continent is becoming increasingly accessible—during the 2019-20 season, the number of sightseeing visitors reached 74,000, with the vast majority travelling by ship. All activity in Antarctica—be it powered drills…Continue readingEach Antarctic tourist effectively melts 83 metric tons of snow
The area is known for its leafy streets, stately homes, imperial palace – today a museum – and the natural beauty of the surrounding mountains. Tuesday’s storms dumped 258 millimetres (10…Continue reading‘Like a war zone’: Deaths in Brazil floods, mudslides top 100
Research prompts warnings humanity is ‘financing its own extinction’ through subsidies damaging to the climate and wildlife. From tax breaks for beef production in the Amazon to financial support for unsustainable…Continue readingWorld spends $US1.8 trillion a year on subsidies that harm environment
The American West’s megadrought deepened so much last year that it is now the driest in at least 1,200 years and is a worst-case climate change scenario playing out live. A…Continue readingUS west megadrought worsens to driest in at least 1,200 years
The Australian government has officially listed thekoala as endangered after a decline in its numbers due to land clearing and catastrophic bushfires shrinking its habitat. The environment minister, Sussan Ley, accepted…Continue readingKoala listed as endangered after Australian governments fail to halt its decline
The ubiquitous dams around the world are built to guard against extreme flooding, meet steadily increasing water demands and provide hydroelectric power. They also alter river ecosystems — such as by…Continue readingDams alter river temperatures and endanger fish, yet 3,700 more will be built
Container ship accidents at sea should be considered the “oil spills of our time”, warned environmental organisations that found a toxic mix of metals, carcinogenic and other harmful chemicals on plastic…Continue reading‘Oil spills of our time’: experts sound alarm about plastic lost in cargo ship disasters
Plastic pollution at sea is reaching worrying levels and will continue to grow even if significant action is taken now to stop such waste from reaching the world’s oceans, according to…Continue readingPlastic pollution in oceans on track to rise for decades
Plastic has infiltrated all parts of the ocean and is now found “in the smallest plankton up to the largest whale” wildlife group WWF said. Tiny fragments of plastic have reached…Continue readingWorld must work together to tackle plastic ocean threat: WWF
Healthy-looking ochre sea stars have minimal genetic difference from those displaying symptoms of sea star wasting syndrome, say Oregon State University researchers who examined whether genetic variation was the reason some…Continue readingThe largest marine wildlife disease event in history
Just 15.5% of the world’s coastal regions remain ecologically intact, according to new research that calls for urgent conservation measures to protect what remains and restore sites that are degraded. It…Continue readingBarely 15% of the world’s coastal regions remain ecologically intact
By 2080, around 70% of the world’s oceans could be suffocating from a lack of oxygen as a result of climate change, potentially impacting marine ecosystems worldwide. The new models find…Continue readingClimate change has likely begun to suffocate the world’s fisheries
Coral reefs support a quarter of all marine life, including more than 4,000 species of fish. They also provide a source of income or food to half a billion people. One way that…Continue readingLast refuges for coral reefs to disappear above 1.5˚C of global warming
The Pope, Smith and Kohler glaciers, in the Amundsen Sea Embayment of West Antarctica, have experienced enhanced ocean-induced ice-shelf melt, glacier acceleration, ice thinning and grounding-line retreat in the past 30…Continue readingStudy – Rapid glacier retreat rates observed in West Antarctica
The research published in Nature Communications is the first of its kind and combines analysis of previous forest fire sites with eight drivers of fire activity including climate, fuel accumulation, ignition…Continue readingNew research links Australia’s forest fires to climate change
In 2009, an international team of researchers identified nine planetary boundaries that demarcate the remarkably stable state Earth has remained within for 10,000 years—since the dawn of civilization. These boundaries include…Continue readingSafe planetary boundary for pollutants, including plastics, exceeded
Deforestation last year rose to the highest level since 2015 in Brazil’s Cerrado, prompting scientists on Monday to raise alarm over the state of the world’s most species-rich savanna and a…Continue readingBrazil: deforestation jumps in world’s largest savanna as scientists raise alarm
Queensland landholders are clearing the equivalent of about 1,000 Melbourne Cricket Grounds a day, including endangered ecological regions, according to state government data that raises new doubts about the accuracy of…Continue reading‘Carbon bomb’: Queensland, Australia, reveals big jump in land clearing
A few days before Christmas, Super-typhoon Rai – known locally as Odette – ravaged the Philippines. Lost lives continue to climb two weeks on. Vast numbers of buildings were destroyed –…Continue readingFilipinos count cost of climate crisis as typhoons get ever more destructive
The last time carbon dioxide levels were where they are today, at more than 415 parts per million, was 4 million years ago, and the result of the associated warming due…Continue readingScientist says time is running out for West Antarctic ice sheet
Land-clearing for crops in the Murray-Darling basin, the main winter breeding ground for the moths, Severe drought in the breeding grounds, Increased use of pesticides such as neonicotinoids in Australia (some…Continue reading‘A 99.5% decline’: what caused Australia’s bogong moth catastrophe?
While driving an electric car has fewer environmental impacts than gasoline-powered cars, the production of the parts necessary for these green technologies can have dire effects on human well-being. After studying…Continue readingCobalt’s human cost: Social consequences of green energy must be assessed in addition to environmental impacts
Concurrent heatwaves the size of Mongolia or Iran were 7x more frequent in 2010s than 1980s. And their intensity rose 17%, and geographic extent increased 46%.Continue readingConcurrent heatwaves seven times more frequent than 1980s
Scientists estimate that 16.9 million vertebrates were killed by fires in the Pantanal wetlands, Brazil, between Jan & Nov 2020. Sampling likely excluded species incl. jaguars, pumas & tapirs, & doesn’t…Continue readingAlmost 17 million vertebrates killed in the 2020 wildfires in Brazil
The Arctic continues to warm more than twice as fast as the rest of the globe. Summer 2021 saw the second-lowest amount of older, multi-year ice since 1985, and the post-winter…Continue readingHumanity continues to degrade the Arctic
Scientists have discovered a series of worrying weaknesses in the ice shelf holding back one of Antarctica’s most dangerous glaciers, suggesting that this important buttress against sea level rise could shatter…Continue readingButressing of Thwaites glacier in Antarctica expected to fail within 10 years
Almost two-thirds of the hundreds of mollusc species that live in the deep sea are at risk of extinction, according to a new study that rings another alarm bell over the…Continue readingDeep-sea mining may push hundreds of species to extinction
Among the species listed is the bogong moth. Scientists have detected steady declines in numbers of bogong moths since the 1980s. But in 2017 and 2018 that crashed to numbers so…Continue reading124 Australian species added to endangered species list
A record manatee die-off in Florida this year has become so dire that federal officials are taking a once unthinkable step — feeding the wild marine mammals to help them survive…Continue reading15% of Florida’s manatee population has died this year due to human activity
While southern Australia experienced a wet winter and a soggy spring, northern Australia has seen the opposite. Extreme fire weather in October and November led to bushfires across 120,000 square kilometers…Continue readingWe are professional fire watchers, and we’re astounded by the scale of fires in remote Australia right now
The warming of the planet is taking a deadly toll on seabirds that are suffering population declines from starvation, inability to reproduce, heat waves and extreme weather. One estimate by researchers…Continue readingHuman greenhouse gas emissions kill seabirds
The drought and heatwaves that seared eastern Australia in the lead-up to the 2019-20 black summer bushfires killed as much as 60% of the trees in some areas that escaped the…Continue readingDrought and heatwaves in Australia cause widespread tree death
Climate scientists say the floods in 2019 and 2020 were driven in part by global warming-linked changes in a weather pattern called the Indian Ocean Dipole. In East Africa, this led to extreme…Continue readingRecord floods linked to climate change have left the people of South Sudan in crisis
The red list of Britain’s most endangered birds has increased to 70 species. Birds are placed on the red list either because their populations have severely declined in Britain, or because…Continue readingBritain wildlife is in freefall with 70 of 245 bird species now seriously at risk
216 out of 1,299 species are threatened – up from 195 in 2011 – with the climate crisis pushing more birds on to the list or increasing the threat status of those in…Continue readingOne in six Australian birds are now threatened
The Black Summer forest fires of 2019–2020 in Australia burned more than 24 million hectares (59 million acres), directly causing 33 deaths and almost 450 more from smoke inhalation. Nearly 3 billion animals…Continue readingForest fires in Australia are worsening
Climate change and warming waters are pushing black-browed albatross break-up rates higher. Typically after choosing a partner, only 1-3% would separate in search of greener romantic pastures. But in the years…Continue readingHuman emissions causing increasing rates of albatross break-ups
After the natural warming that followed the last Ice Age, there were repeated periods when masses of icebergs broke off from Antarctica into the Southern Ocean. A new data-model study led…Continue readingAntarctic ice sheet destabilized within a decade
The 13,235 square kilometers (5,110 square miles) of forest lost from August 2020 to July 2021 was the largest swath since 14,286 square kilometers were cleared in 2005-06. The rate of…Continue readingBrazil Amazon deforestation up 22% in a year; a 15 year record
Sequoias are the largest trees by volume and are native in only about 70 groves scattered along the western side of the Sierra Nevada range. They were once considered nearly fire-proof.…Continue readingUS wildfires have killed nearly 20% of world’s giant sequoias in 2 years
Three of British Columbia’s worst wildfire years have taken place in the last four years, and the widespread floods and mudslides last week took place after roughly a month’s worth of…Continue readingFloods and wildfires are now normal life in small-town Canada
From a study published in 2019: Biodiversity of insects is threatened worldwide. Our work reveals dramatic rates of decline that may lead to the extinction of 40% of the world’s insect…Continue readingOver 40% of insect species are threatened with extinction
Las Tablas de Daimiel is a unique wetland in the vast, almost treeless plains of Castilla-La Mancha in central Spain, but the park has had the life sucked out of it…Continue readingThe true cost of growing food in Spain’s arid south
One of every six birds – a net loss of 600 million breeding birds in total – have disappeared over less than four decades. The study by scientists from the RSPB,…Continue readingHumans kill off 1 in 6 birds in the EU and UK
The US and Canada have lost more than one in four birds – a total of three billion – between 1970 and 2019, culminating in what scientists who published a new…Continue readingHumans kill off 1 in 4 birds in the US and Canada
If global warming is kept to 1.5˚C, the mix of corals on the Barrier Reef will change but it could still thrive, said the study’s lead author Professor Terry Hughes, of…Continue readingAustralia’s Great Barrier Reef will survive if warming kept to 1.5˚C
Where civilization emerged between the Tigris and Euphrates, climate change is poisoning the land and emptying the villages.Continue readingAcross Iraq’s south, there is a sense of an ending
Global warming has pushed what would’ve been a moderate drought in southwestern North America into megadrought territory. 2000–2018 was the driest 19 year period since the late 1500s. Climate model trends…Continue readingLarge contribution from anthropogenic warming to an emerging North American megadrought
Earth now faces a global extinction crisis never witnessed by humankind. Scientists predict that more than 1 million species are on track for extinction in the coming decades. Every taxon is…Continue readingThe Extinction Crisis
The death toll from days of flooding and landslides in India and Nepal crossed 100 on Wednesday, including several families swept away or crushed in their homes by avalanches of mud…Continue readingFloods, landslides kill 116 in India and Nepal
After Venice suffered the second-worst flood in its history in November 2019, it was inundated with four more exceptional tides within six weeks, shocking Venetians and triggering fears about the worsening…Continue readingFlooding in Venice worsens off-season amid climate change
In the largest city of Nicaragua’s sugar cane-growing region, agricultural workers – who have scant labour protection and usually come from poor families – see little option but to risk their…Continue readingGlobal heating is having a deadly impact on Nicaragua’s sugar cane workers, who toil in temperatures of up to 45˚C