More than a fifth of the world's migrating species are at risk of going extinct as a result of climate change and human encroachment, according to this report by the United Nations. Migratory species globally are facing critical challenges, with nearly half in decline and over 20 per cent threatened …
Each year wildland fires kill and injure trees on millions of forested hectares globally, affecting plant and animal biodiversity, carbon storage, hydrologic processes, and ecosystem services. The underlying mechanisms of fire-caused tree mortality remain poorly understood, however, limiting the ability to accurately predict mortality and develop robust modeling applications, especially …
The Government’s top think tank, Niti Ayog has favoured imposing a “green cess” from tourists to arrest the environmental degradation caused by the rising footfalls in the Indian Himalayan region. The Niti Ayog proposal in its recent ‘Report of Working Group II Sustainable Tourism in the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR)’ …
This report examines three overlapping crises: climate change, biodiversity loss and the growing land and other rights abuses against Indigenous Peoples and local communities. It challenges the assumption that need to look to geoengineering solutions such as Bioenergy Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) to deal with the climate crisis and …
Current emission reduction pledges under the 2015 Paris Agreement are insufficient to keep global temperature “well below +2°C” in 2100 relative to pre-industrial levels and to reach targets of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Increased political ambition is therefore required, as well as enhanced efforts in terms of both …
For centuries, farmers, herders, fishers and foresters have developed diverse and locally adapted agricultural systems managed with time tested, ingenious techniques. These practices have resulted in a vital combination of social, cultural, ecological and economic services to humankind. “Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems” (GIAHS) are outstanding landscapes of aesthetic beauty …
The frequency, duration, and magnitude of extreme weather events such as droughts, floods, and variation in rainfall onset and cessation periods will continue to increase. Such stress may result in significant shifts in the functioning of ecosystems. As climate change affects the capacity of ecosystems to mitigate the effects of …
For the US, the cost is about $50 billion per tonne Carbon dioxide emissions are costing the Indian economy up to $210 billion every year, according to a global study which found that the country is likely to suffer highest economic damage from climate change after the US. Previous research …
NAMIBIA needs about N$3 billion to fully achieve the second national biodiversity strategy and action plan of 2013 to 2022. Speaking at the resource mobilisation for biodiversity conservation project stakeholders' dialogue in Windhoek yesterday, deputy minister of environment and tourism Bernadette Jagger said the current expenditure is slightly more than …
A landmark 13-year study published in Nature Climate Change has provided the first evidence that climate change is affecting terrestrial ecosystems in East Antarctica. While West Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula are among the most rapidly warming places on the planet, East Antarctica has not warmed in the same way …
Ashoka University’s Centre for Entrepreneurship hosted the inaugural edition of the Ashoka Pillar Award, to award young talent for their innovative solutions to tackle the worsening air quality in India, at its campus in Sonepat, near Delhi. Last week, Ashoka University’s Centre for Entrepreneurship hosted the inaugural edition of the …
PANJIM: The St Cruz residents raised their pitch to save Bondvol Lake from being lost to “unplanned development and land sharks” by holding a special meeting on Sunday evening near the church. The residents attended the meeting in a large numbers and discussed the reasons why this important water body …
Limiting global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial is feasible, and it is our best hope of achieving environmental and social justice, of containing the impacts of a global crisis that was born out of historical injustice and highly unequal responsibility. To do so will require a radical shift away from …
Expert says man-made causes mainly trigger disasters Disaster management expert Muralee Thummarukudy has stressed on the need for a mode of development that incorporated ecosystem-based approaches for disaster risk reduction. Dr. Thummarukudy, the chief of Disaster Risk Reduction at the United Nations Environment Programme, was leading a workshop on ‘Media …
This publication intends to inspire policy and decision makers by showcasing a selection of solutions, that have been applied in very different settings. It shows that ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) has ‘many faces’: It is being implemented successfully in a broad range of countries and ecosystems and it is being driven …
Govt initiates steps for rapid assessment of biodiversity loss The intense rainfall that unleashed widespread devastation throughout Kerala earlier this month could have extracted a heavy toll on the rich biodiversity and ecology of the Western Ghats region, according to experts. The government has initiated steps for a rapid assessment …
The Ecological Festival of Western Ghats will be held from November 30 to December 2 Preparations have begun for the Ecological Festival of Western Ghats, an international conference aimed at the protection of the UNESCO World Heritage Site, to be held from November 30 to December 2. The conference draws …
Nagpur: The Paper Traders Association on Monday dispelled the notion that manufacturing of paper was posing threat to trees and ecosystem as a whole, and claimed it was boosting the rural economy. Addressing a press conference at Tilak Patrakar Bhavan, association president Aseem Bordia said it was sad that messages …
The carbon and water cycles play an important role in ecosystem functioning and are linked to each other through different physical and biological processes. The hydroclimatic disturbances such as droughts affect both hydrological as well as the ecological processes. Increasing hydroclimatic disturbances under climate change will adversely affect the ecohydrological …
Diamond producer De Beers said on Monday it was relocating 200 elephants from its private reserve in South Africa to neighboring Mozambique, part of wider efforts to restore wildlife populations ravaged by conflict there.The Anglo American unit said its 32,000-hectare (80,000-acre) Venetia Limpopo Nature Reserve could support around 60 elephants …
The Great Barrier Reef has become a notorious victim of climate change. But it is not the only Australian ecosystem on the brink of collapse Our research, recently published in Nature Climate Change, describes a series of sudden and catastrophic ecosystem shifts that have occurred recently across Australia. These changes, …
