In 2024, the Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT) recorded 393 natural hazard-related disasters. These events caused 16,753 fatalities and affected 167.2 million people. Economic losses totaled US$241.95 billion. The year 2024 was marked by extreme temperature events in Asia that caused thousands of deaths, severe droughts in Africa affecting over 25 …
Plastics in the marine environment have become a major concern because of their persistence at sea, and adverse consequences to marine life and potentially human health. Implementing mitigation strategies requires an understanding and quantification of marine plastic sources, taking spatial and temporal variability into account. Here we present a global …
The UN Paris Agreement puts in place a legally binding mechanism to increase mitigation action over time. Countries put forward pledges called nationally determined contributions (NDC) whose impact is assessed in global stocktaking exercises. Subsequently, actions can then be strengthened in light of the Paris climate objective: limiting global mean …
Up to 2.5 billion people hold and use the world’s community lands, yet the tenure rights of women—who comprise more than half the population of the world’s Indigenous Peoples and local communities—are seldom acknowledged or protected by national laws. Although gender norms and women’s forest tenure security vary widely across …
The watchdog NGO Mighty Earth followed up its February investigation into deforestation for soybean production and found that companies are sourcing from farms in Brazil and Bolivia where clearance is still occurring. New soy-driven forest destruction exposed in South America Mighty Earth looked at updated satellite imagery from 28 sites …
Small but inevitable rises in sea level will double the frequency of severe coastal flooding in most of the world with dire consequences for major cities that sit on coastlines, according to scientists. The research takes in to account the large waves and storm surges that can tip gradually rising …
The spread of pests and pathogens that damage plant life could cost global agriculture $540 billion a year, according to a report published on Thursday. The report, released by the Royal Botanic Gardens (RBG) at Kew in London, said that an increase in international trade and travel had left flora …
Dengue is the most important arthropod-borne viral infection of humans, it is established in the tropics worldwide, and its geographical expansion is expected to increase due to factors such as modern dynamics of climate change, globalization, travel, trade, poverty, unplanned urbanization, and viral evolution. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates …
Government-administered adulticiding is frequently conducted in response to dengue transmission worldwide. Anecdotal evidence suggests that spraying may create a “false sense of security” for residents. Our objective was to determine if there was an association between residents’ reporting outdoor spatial insecticide spraying as way to prevent dengue transmission and both …
Deadly infectious pandemics will mark humanity's future, as they have shaped its past. Neither individual governments nor the global community can entirely prevent the emergence of infectious threats. But we can be much better prepared. This report by the International Working Group on Financing Preparedness (IWG) proposes ways in which …
Semipalmated Sandpiper (Calidris pusilla) populations have undergone significant declines at core nonbreeding sites in northeastern South America. Breeding populations have also declined in the eastern North American Arctic, but appear to be stable or increasing in the central and western Arctic. To identify vulnerable populations and sites, we documented the …
Rapid integration of global agricultural markets and subsequent cropland displacement in recent decades increased large-scale tropical deforestation in South America and Southeast Asia. Growing land scarcity and more stringent land use regulations in these regions could incentivize the offshoring of export-oriented commodity crops to sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). We assess the …
Zika is, and will continue to be, a disease of the urban poor. Slum-defining characteristics—poor water and sanitation infrastructure, crowding, and poor structural quality of housing—offer ample opportunities for mosquitoes to breed and spread the Zika virus. It was recently estimated that 1.6 million childbearing women and 93 million people …
We mapped the inferred long-distance migrations of four species of Amazonian goliath catfishes (Brachyplatystoma rousseauxii, B. platynemum, B. juruense and B. vaillantii) based on the presence of individuals with mature gonads and conducted statistical analysis of the expected long-distance downstream migrations of their larvae and juveniles. Original Source
A new study published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, locates hotspots of threats to wildlife and describes how they are related to consumers' demand in other parts of the world. Identifying hotspots of species threat has been a successful approach for setting conservation priorities. One important challenge in …
Kangaroo mother care (KMC) is a multifaceted intervention for preterm and low birth weight infants and their parents. Short- and mid-term benefits of KMC on survival, neurodevelopment, breastfeeding, and the quality of mother–infant bonding were documented in a randomized controlled trial (RCT) conducted in Colombia from 1993 to 1996. The …
Climate change will have serious repercussions for agriculture, ecosystems, and farmer livelihoods in Central America. Smallholder farmers are particularly vulnerable due to their reliance on agriculture and ecosystem services for their livelihoods. There is an urgent need to develop national and local adaptation responses to reduce these impacts, yet evidence …
In Brazil, more than one woman out of two may be postponing pregnancy in response to the Zika outbreak, researchers have said. With 1,845 cases of congenital Zika syndrome confirmed in babies up to July 2016, the country has been deeply affected by the epidemic, and many women are worried …
There is increasing concern about the fruit growth, development and quality of wax apple (Syzygium samarangense), a widely cultivated fruit tree in South East Asia. The growth and development of this fruit is sometimes very low due to low photosynthates supply at early growth stages. Growth regulators, hydrogen peroxide and …
Countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean urgently need financial support to green their power sectors and thereby implement their national climate action plans under the Paris Climate Change Agreement. This is a key finding of a survey conducted by the secretariat of the UN Framework Convention …
Smallholder farming is the most prevalent form of agriculture in the world, supports many of the planet’s most vulnerable populations, and coexists with some of its most diverse and threatened landscapes. However, there is little information about the location of small farms, making it difficult both to estimate their numbers …
