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 …
Timely and accurate information about various habitats of a wetland ecosystem is necessary for the assessment, monitoring and management of a wetland. In this article, the state-of-the-art Polarimetric Synthetic Aperture Radar (PolSAR) data have been analysed to characterize various components of a wetland ecosystem. SAR polarimetry has received negligible attention …
IF climate change and population growth progress at their current pace, in roughly 50 years farming as we know it will no longer exist. This means that the majority of people could soon be without enough food or water. But there is a solution that is surprisingly within reach: Move …
US Ambassador James F Moriarty has said forests in Bangladesh will be depleted in less than 15 years if the current rate of destruction continues unabated. He called for immediate interventions by the government, otherwise millions of people who are dependent on forests, will lose their livelihoods. The ambassador was …
This publication documents the findings of the second phase of the study, which was completed in May 2006. The aim of this phase was to accomplish a wider, continental, coverage of river/lake/ groundwater basins (i.e., building upon the first phase), and expanding the network of researchers. Regional groups of researchers …
The Secretariat of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) has invited comments on a draft Water Policy Advocacy Framework, which seeks to provide a framework for the Secretariat to advocate for the development of water resource management policies at country level. The Framework was developed on the understanding that, …
This report takes another look at the costs of adapting to climate change. The estimates for 2030 used by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change are likely to be substantial under-estimates. This report look at the estimates from a range of perspectives, and conclude that: the current cost assessments …
This report takes another look at the costs of adapting to climate change. The estimates for 2030 used by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change are likely to be substantial under-estimates. This report look at the estimates from a range of perspectives, and conclude that: the current cost assessments …
The operational guidelines for "scheme on intensification of forest management". This scheme addresses both the general problems of forest protection and the area specific requirements for management intervention. It is aimed at modernizing the forestry sector and improving the working conditions at the cutting edge level. plays a crucial role …
Microorganisms have critical roles in the functioning of soil in nutrient cycling, structural formation, and plant interactions, both positive and negative. These roles are important in reestablishing function and biodiversity in ecosystem restoration. Measurement of the community indicates the status of the system in relation to restoration targets and the …
After centuries of colonization and trade, South Africa is now home to alien species from Australia, Europe, Asia, and the Americas. As an antidote, a pioneering program called Working for Water (WfW) has cleared about 1 million hectares of invasive species in the past 15 years. WfW has restored ecosystems …
Species invasions impose key biotic thresholds limiting the success of ecological restoration projects. These thresholds may be difficult to reverse and will have long-term consequences for restoration because of invasion legacies such as extinctions; because most invasive species cannot be eliminated given current technology and resources; and because even when …
Ecological restoration is an activity that ideally results in the return of an ecosystem to an undisturbed state. Ecosystem services are the benefits humans derive from ecosystems. The two have been joined to support growing environmental markets with the goal of creating restoration-based credits that can be bought and sold. …
Ecological history plays many roles in ecological restoration, most notably as a tool to identify and characterize appropriate targets for restoration efforts. However, ecological history also reveals deep human imprints on many ecological systems and indicates that secular climate change has kept many targets moving at centennial to millennial time …
The world's commercial fisheries, pressured by overfishing and threatened with possible collapse by mid-century, could be rebuilt with careful management, researchers reported on Thursday. In fact, a fisheries expert who in 2006 predicted total global collapse of fish and seafood populations by 2048 is more optimistic of recovery, based on …
Booker Prize winning writer Arundhati Roy and British human rights campaigner Bianca Jagger were among a group of high-profile figures who lent their support to a protest held here outside the offices of the mining company, Vedanta Resources, demanding that it withdraw its plans to construct a massive bauxite mine …
Across the United States, researchers are firing up experiments to determine how rising temperatures could reshape the nation's forests. The studies encompass the pines and maples of eastern forests in Massachusetts and North Carolina, the spruce and fir of northern Minnesota, and the alpine tundra ecosystem above the treeline in …
Admitting that there are some "knowledgeable gaps" when it comes to the issue of climate change and its effect on ecosystem including marine ecosystem, earth sciences minister Prithviraj Chavan, clarified that country's development cannot be capped in the name of reducing greenhouse gases. Mr Chavan said climate change is the …
The maximum quantity of water on earth belongs to oceans - 96.5 per cent of the total. Only 0.2972 per cent of the total is freshwater, which is needed for meeting human needs, and it comes mainly from lakes, river flows and groundwater aquifers. These water systems perform numerous ecosystem …
