The UN is failing to accurately measure the global climate benefits of preserving forests. As well as providing homes for many species, trees store carbon dioxide that would otherwise warm the planet. With this in mind, the UN set up the REDD programme (Reducing
Many whales are now acutely sunburned, with cases escalating in recent years, according to new research.The study, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, is the first to demonstrate that sun damage to whale skin is on the rise and is likely tied to
Honeybee colonies in the United States reduced in number by 30 percent over the 2010-2011 winter, according to a recently released annual survey conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Apiary Inspectors of America (AIA).The loss was actually lower
Large swarms of locusts have laid waste to vast tracts of northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, with authorities expecting the plague to worsen as the weather heats up. The locust plague began in the pastureland of the Ili River Valley and Taer Basin in
Satellite images show deforestation increased from 103 sq km in March and April 2010 to 593 sq km (229 sq miles) in the same period of 2011, Brazil’s space research institute says. Much of the destruction has been in Mato Grosso state, the centre of soya farming in
On April 15 peruvian president Alan García signed a decree allowing the import and planting of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in the country. The official decree puts at risk the genetic diversity of the Peruvian Andes, including the tuberous crop we know as
Experts are trying to figure out why thousands of dead walleye fish have been washing up on a roughly 25-mile stretch of Lake Erie between the northern Ohio cities of Toledo and Port Clinton over the past few weeks. The mysterious deaths add to the millions of others
A team of scientists in the United Kingdom and the United States has warned that the native fauna and unique ecology of the Southern Ocean, the vast body of water that surrounds the Antarctic continent, is under threat from human activity. Their study is published
Scientists may have found the cause of the world’s sudden dwindling population of bees – and cell phones may be to blame. Research conducted in Lausanne, Switzerland has shown that the signal from cell phones not only confuses bees, but also may lead to their
Two small islands in South Asia’s first marine biosphere reserve have sunk into the sea primarily as a result of coral reef mining. The islets were in a group in the Gulf of Mannar, between India and Sri Lanka.The Indo-Pacific region is considered to contain some of
