Photograph by: Enric Sala, National Geographic
March 4, 2020
Tropical forests are taking up less carbon dioxide from the air, reducing their ability to act as “carbon sinks” and bringing closer the prospect of accelerating climate breakdown.
The Amazon could turn into a source of carbon in the atmosphere, instead of one of the biggest absorbers of the gas, as soon as the next decade, owing to the damage caused by loggers and farming interests and the impacts of the climate crisis, new research has found.
March 3, 2020
A study published Tuesday in Scientific Reports shows that stony corals, which provide food and shelter for almost a quarter of all ocean species, are preparing for a major extinction event.
The research team—which includes scientists from The Graduate Center, CUNY; Baruch College; Scripps Institution of Oceanography; University of Haifa; University of Leeds; and GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research—found that corals are currently exhibiting a suite of dynamic survival responses that correspond with their last major extinction 66 million years ago.
February 27, 2020
In the paper titled, ‘How to Halt the Global Decline of Lands,’ the lead authors of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) ‘Assessment of Land Degradation and Restoration’ present five systemic policy barriers to land restoration and propose 10 solutions for overcoming them.
February 18, 2020
Climate change could wipe out almost all coral reef habitats around the world by 2100, according to research released Monday.
The bleak outlook forecasts that warming oceans and rising seas could have a devastating impact on ocean ecosystems, suggesting that efforts to restore dying corals will likely encounter difficulties as global warming continues to wipe out habitats that could once support healthy reef systems.
February 15, 2020
In a country where there has always been more space than people, where the land and wildlife are cherished like a Picasso, nature is closing in. Fueled by climate change and the world’s refusal to address it, the fires that have burned across Australia are not just destroying lives, or turning forests as large as nations into ashen moonscapes.
January 2, 2020
Australia is in the grips of a massive wildfire disaster, intensified by record heat and drought. The military has been called in to evacuate thousands from their homes, and thick plumes of smoke have reached as far as New Zealand, more than 1,000 miles away. While bush fires are an annual occurrence in Australia and deadlier fires have occurred there, this fire season began unusually early and is projected to last for months. Australia just had its hottest and driest year on record, and December was one of the top two hottest months in the country’s history.
December 23, 2019
The critical tipping point for the Amazon rainforest has arrived, and an ecological disaster could be in the making if drastic actions aren't taken immediately.
September 25, 2019
Habitat destruction is one of the biggest threats facing plants and animal species throughout the world. The loss of habitat has far-reaching impacts on the planet’s ability to sustain life, but even with the challenges, there is hope for the future.
May 7, 2019
Akagera National Park was badly degraded by poachers and settlers, but thanks to an innovative conservation effort it is now home again to the Big Five and a growing tourism business.
