After an Indonesian district deployed the military and police to enforce a controversial program to dismantle fish farms in a Lake Toba village, chief security minister Luhut Pandjaitan said that…
From the shore, the fish farmers looked on as soldiers dismantled their floating cages. These community-owned tilapia farms had been the main source of income in Sualan — a village…
When the sun rose over Indonesia's giant Lake Toba on Wednesday last week, fish farmers saw that death in the night had visited their floating cages, and taken everything. By…
This weekend saw the designation of 20 new UNESCO biosphere reserves around the world. Included in these is the brand new Tsá Túé International Biosphere Reserve, the first in northern…
or the past ten years Kenya and Uganda have been engaged in a fierce tussle over Migingo Island in Lake Victoria. A low slab of rocky land less than the…
“We're no longer the men of the lake. If the lake goes, we will too.” With these words, Simiano Valero expresses his sadness over the disappearance of Poopó Lake, the second…
Fishing gear stands ready next to the day's catch on the shore of Lake Victoria. Photo credit: Isaiah Esipisu. Lake Victoria, Africa's largest fresh water body and the world's second…
Aerial view of Egypt's drylands. Research has linked a changing climate with the downfall of Egypt's Old Kingdom 4,200 years ago. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Look at most climate…
Experts say canal plans and impacts remain shrouded in mystery A volcanic island rises from Lake Nicaragua. Photo by Aaron Escobar/Creative Commons 2.0 "A big Christmas present"—that is how Paul…
ATBC warns about canal's impact on water security and indigenous people A volcanic island rises from Lake Nicaragua. Photo by Aaron Escobar/Creative Commons 2.0 The Association for Tropical Biology and…
A giant river otter with a fish in its mouth. Photo by: Frank Hajek. Lobo de río, or river wolf, is the very evocative Spanish name for one of the…
Chinese consortium pushes new canal through Nicaragua, threatening indigenous people, environment. A stealthy jaguar moves across a camera trap in Bankukuk, Nicaragua along the path of the Gran Canal. Conservationists…
Mali elephant family group which consist of females and their offspring. They are headed by a matriarch who has decades of experience and memories to depend on, including where to…
On a Friday afternoon in June, the Plaza de Armas in Cajamarca is pulsing with life. It's winter here, and although thick white clouds hover low in the distance, the…
Nicaragua's plans for a canal linking the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans could trigger an environmental disaster through habitat destruction and alteration, introduction of non-native species, pollution, and sedimentation, warns a…
Landlocked in the navel of South America, the forests, wetlands and savannahs of Paraguay boast rich biodiversity and endemic species, yet the unique landscapes of Paraguay also face increasing threats,…
The majority of the 9 billion people on Earth will live with severe pressure on fresh water within the space of two generations as climate change, pollution and over-use of…
After a final sighting in 1991, the Madagascar pochard was thought to have vanished for good. But this diving duck was rediscovered in 2006 when a flock of 22 individuals…
A survey late last year found that the Yangtze finless porpoise (Neophocaena asiaeorientalis asiaeorientalis) population has been cut in half in just six years. During a 44-day survey, experts estimated…
Cambodia lost more than half of its seasonally flooded grasslands in ten years due to industrial agricultural conversion, abandonment of traditional farming, and illegal drainage, putting several endangered bird species…
Lesser flamingoes in Kenya. One third of the world's lesser flamingoes nest in Tanzania's Lake Natron. Photo by: Steve Garvie. In a choice between flamingoes and a soda ash plant,…
The Turkana people fear their ecosystem will be gravely impacted by the Gibe III dam on the Omo River. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Originally refusing to provide funding to…
The Peruvian government is looking into making large-scale changes to its Environment Impact Assessments (EIA) after a review found significant problems with the vast majority of past reviews, reports the…
The giant river otter. Photo by: Frank Hajek. Behavior and conservation of the Amazon's giant river otter. Charismatic, vocal, unpredictable, domestic, and playful are all adjectives that aptly describe the…
Fearing water contamination and pollution, over ten thousand people in Cajamarca, Peru are taking part in protests against mining plans by US-company Newmont Mining Corporation. In its sixth day, the…
The Hula painted frog (Discoglossus nigriventer) was last seen in 1955. Photo by Professor Heinrich Mendelssohn/Conservation International. After its marshland was drained, researchers thought the Hula painted frog (Discoglossus nigriventer)…
Thousands of lesser flamingoes (Phoenicopterus minor) crowd in Lake Bogoria in Kenya. Nearly all of these flamingoes will breed in Tanzania's Lake Natron, now a proposed site for soda ash…
New study shows how greater biodiversity more efficiently scrubs pollutants from freshwater. A new landmark study not only proves that adding more species to a freshwater stream linearly increases the…
Heliotrygon gomesi in dorsal view. Photo taken by Ken Jones, University of Toronto at Scarborough Staff Photographer. Few people probably realize that in the rivers and lakes of the Amazon…
Surviving hundreds of millions of years on Earth have not saved turtles from facing extinction at human hands. A new report by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the Turtle…