Deforestation, climate crisis could crash Amazon tree diversity: study
Combined impacts of escalating climate change and rising deforestation could result in an up to 58 percent reduction in Amazon tree species richness by 2050.
Environmental headlines
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![Wild male saiga antelope (Saiga tatarica) visiting a waterhole at the Stepnoi Sanctuary, Astrakhan Oblast, Russia. Photo credit: Andrey Giljov [CC BY-SA 4.0]](https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/08/16183224/Saiga_antelope_at_the_Stepnoi_Sanctuary-768x512.jpg)
CITES 2019: What’s Conservation Got To Do With It? (commentary)
From August 17-28, the global community convenes in Geneva for the meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP) to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild…
![Wild male saiga antelope (Saiga tatarica) visiting a waterhole at the Stepnoi Sanctuary, Astrakhan Oblast, Russia. Photo credit: Andrey Giljov [CC BY-SA 4.0]](https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/08/16183224/Saiga_antelope_at_the_Stepnoi_Sanctuary-100x100.jpg)
Bid for greater protection of star tortoise, a trafficking mainstay
In March 2019, custom officials open abandoned luggage in the halls of Manila’s international airport. In June, law enforcement agents stop a car to check four trolley bags that passengers…
Madagascar: What’s good for the forest is good for the native silk industry
AMORON’I MANIA REGION, Madagascar — People in the highlands of central Madagascar have long buried their loved ones in shrouds of thick wild silk. After several years, they exhume the dead…
Norway freezes support for Amazon Fund; EU/Brazil trade deal at risk?
Unilateral changes made to the Amazon Fund by Jair Bolsonaro have caused Norway to freeze US$33.2 million slated to reduce Amazon deforestation.
In other news: Environmental stories from around the web, August 16, 2019
Tropical forests A free-trade deal between the United States and Brazil could be disastrous for the Amazon and forest communities, one commentator argues (The Hill). The continent of Africa emitted…
Asian elephant footprints serve as safe spaces for frog nurseries
While wandering through northwestern Myanmar in 2016, a group of scientists stumbled on hundreds of huge tracks in the ground. According to a new paper in the journal Mammalia, these…
Newly described giant extinct penguin and parrot once lived in New Zealand
Millions of years ago, giant birds roamed ancient New Zealand. There was the moa, an extinct flightless bird, thought to weigh up to 230 kilogram (510 pounds). Then there was…
Ekuri Initiative: Inside a Nigerian community’s battle to keep its forest
LAGOS, NIGERIA -- Surrounded by smoke-capped dense forest thick with tall, evergreen trees and wildlife, the Ekuri people in southeastern Nigeria’s Cross River state treasure the forest near their homes.…
Precision conservation: High tech to the rescue in the Peruvian Amazon
Conservation leaders join successfully with technologists to thwart artisanal gold mining and illegal logging by creating early warning systems and transparency.
Nigeria finds itself at the heart of the illegal pangolin trade
EPE, LAGOS – A babel of voices hangs in the misty air over the Oluwo bushmeat market in Epe, in Nigeria's southwestern Lagos state. Smoke curls toward women selling live…
Europe-bred rhinos join South African cousins to repopulate Rwanda park
Five eastern black rhinos translocated from European zoos to Rwanda's Akagera National Park have successfully completed an initial period of acclimatization and been moved into larger, 1-hectare (2.5-acre) enclosures. They…
From science to reporting (Insider)
When I was growing up, I always thought I would become a writer. I loved reading and writing, and excelled at both from a young age. But when I was…
Indonesia forest-clearing ban is made permanent, but labeled ‘propaganda’
JAKARTA — Indonesia’s president has made permanent a temporary moratorium on forest-clearing permits for plantations and logging. It’s a policy the government says has proven effective in curtailing deforestation, but…
Rainforest destruction accelerates in Honduras UNESCO site
Powerful drug-traffickers and landless farmers continue to push cattle ranching and illegal logging operations deeper into the Río Plátano Biosphere Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage site, in eastern Honduras. The…
Germany cuts $39.5 million in environmental funding to Brazil
Displeased with rising deforestation rates and the anti-environmental policies of Pres. Jair Bolsonaro, Germany has cut funding for projects in the Brazilian Amazon, Atlantic Forest and Cerrado biomes.
Sea Around Us: Global fisheries data and the goose that laid the golden egg (commentary)
The end of the 2010s will be remembered as the time when the world realized that we are in the midst of a global biodiversity crisis, as illustrated by the…
Big cat trade driven by demand for traditional Asian medicine, according to report
Traditional Asian medicine is driving the growing international trade in big cat products and leading to the mistreatment of thousands of animals, according to a recent report. Bones, blood, and…
World’s largest frog moves heavy rocks to build nests, study finds
The world’s largest known living frog species doesn’t build ordinary nests. It does a lot of heavy lifting, sometimes moving large stones and rocks weighing more than half its weight…
Campaigners push for reform of outdated CITES wildlife trade system
Groundbreaking reforms to the $320 billion legal wildlife trade are being put up for discussion at a major international conference this month as campaigners seek to modernize a system they…
Special series
Endangered environmentalists
- Peru: Invaders claim their first victim at the Macuya Forest Investigation Center
- Forests and forest communities critical to climate change solutions
- Environmental defenders in Peru’s Madre de Dios face double jeopardy
Indonesias forest guardians
- Indigenous Iban community defends rainforests, but awaits lands rights recognition
- On the island of Java, a social forestry scheme creates jobs at home
- In Indonesia, bigger catches for a fishing village protecting its mangroves
Amazon infrastructure
- Yanomami Amazon reserve invaded by 20,000 miners; Bolsonaro fails to act
- Amazon infrastructure puts 68% of indigenous lands / protected areas at risk: report
- Amazon fish kill at Sinop spotlights risk from 80+ Tapajós basin dams
Asian rhinos
- Is the rhino horn trade a cartel? Economic analysis suggests it works like one
- Indonesia agrees to attempt Sumatran rhino IVF with eggs from Malaysia
- When it comes to captive breeding, not all Sumatran rhinos are equal
