A massive global study of the world’s reefs has found sharks are ‘functionally extinct’ on nearly one in five of the reefs surveyed. Professor Colin Simpfendorfer from James Cook University in Australia was one of the scientists who took part in the study, published today in Nature by the Global […]
The world’s five biggest pesticide manufacturers are making more than a third of their income from leading products selling chemicals that pose serious hazards to human health and the environment, a joint investigation by Unearthed and Public Eye has found. Analysis of a huge database of 2018’s top-selling “crop protection […]
Marine litter notoriously affects the ecosystems of our world’s waterways. As a result, industries such as fisheries and tourism, and even governments, continue to experience sustained economic impacts. To date, few studies have explored the topic of marine litter costs, which limits the ability of local governments to […]
Millions of hectares of land have burned in the bushfires in Australia, killing an estimated 1 billion animals. As the death toll climbs, many creatures have been orphaned or left without homes. In particular some unique ecosystems, like the one of Kangaroo Island are hit especially hard. Ecologists […]
The report concludes that permafrost ecosystems could be releasing as much as 1.1 to 2.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide per year — almost as much as the 2018 annual emissions of Japan and Russia, respectively The Arctic is undergoing a profound, rapid and unmitigated shift into a […]
There was a recent letter from Justin Trudeau to the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard. The following key priorities were shared: Lead, in consultation with provinces and territories, Indigenous Peoples and business stakeholders, in developing a comprehensive blue economy strategy to help guide future […]
A mass salmon die-off at a Newfoundland fish farm last month has highlighted environmental risks and transparency issues facing the region’s growing aquaculture industry as some Atlantic provinces pin economic hopes on its development. Northern Harvest Sea Farms, owned by the Norwegian company Mowi, attributed the deaths to […]
During the past few weeks, the top of the world has been burning. Vast swaths of the Arctic, from Alaska to Siberia, are on fire, with scientific agencies breaking out the term “unprecedented” to describe the situation. To the ecologists who work in the Arctic, this pyrotechnic summer is both […]
The image above reflects the nearly Endangered Narwhal, the unicorn of the sea, which is now losing some of its protection by the USA. The Trump administration unveiled final regulations that weaken the Endangered Species Act (ESA) on in August, just three months after the United Nations warned of the […]
Averting catastrophic warming requires rapid, global changes to land use and food production, the assessment says. Unsustainable land use and greenhouse gas emissions are delivering a one-two punch to natural ecosystems that are key to the fight against global climate change. And without sweeping emissions cuts and transformations to […]