The World Meteorological Organization’s State of the Climate in Asia 2024 report warns that the region is warming nearly twice as fast as the global average, driving more extreme weather and posing serious threats to lives, ecosystems, and economies. In 2024, Asia experienced its warmest or second warmest year on …
Tracking the snow leopard: The life and habits of the elusive snow leopard will no longer be a mystery. For the first time, a team has fitted a snow leopard with a global positioning system (GPS) collar to track its movements. The 35 kg female was captured on the Purdum …
discovery of a new phylum has revealed that human beings and other vertebrates had a common ancestor that did not have a brain. The genetic analysis of this half-inch long organism called Xenoturbulla, with no gonads, gut or brain, found deep in the North Atlantic, shows that it is a …
the Nuclear Power Corporation of India (npci) on November 20, named a site in east Midnapore district, close to West Bengal's Sunderbans region as a possible location for eastern India's first nuclear power plant, triggering protests by villagers in the area. The proposed Rs 10,000 crore plant in Haripur would …
A Swiss firm Xstrata's plan to establish a massive opencast lead and zinc mine near the Gulf of Carpentaria in Australia, is facing stiff resistance from the region's indigenous communities. The mine is located about 885 km southeast of Northern Territory's capital Darwin, where huge deposits of lead, zinc and …
yes, radio: On November 17, 2006 the government approved an expansion of community radio stations by non-profit organisations. Applicants need to have a standing of at least three years. Individuals, political parties or their affiliates and trade unions will not be allowed to operate stations. Stations should serve a well-defined …
cadmium, a heavy metal, reduces oysters' tolerance of warmer water temperatures and makes them more vulnerable during summer when temperatures rise, according to a study conducted jointly by the Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, Germany, and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Half the oysters exposed to cadmium in …
marine life stirs oceans enough to affect climate, says a study by scientists of the Florida State University. Movement of winds and water has a bearing on climate. Previously, it was thought that the difference in temperature resulted in the movement of water and hence different climatic conditions, but the …
Human-dominated marine ecosystems are experiencing accelerating loss of populations and species, with largely unknown consequences. We analyzed local experiments, long-term regional time series, and global fisheries data to test how biodiversity loss affects marine ecosystem services across temporal and spatial scales. Overall, rates of resource collapse increased and recovery potential, …
A research team from Conservation International, USA, claims to have found 52 new species in Papua New Guinea. They have found 24 new species of fish, 20 species of coral and eight species of shrimp. Among the curiosities are a shark that walks on its fins and a shrimp that …
Russian authorities have withdrawn a key permit to the world's largest liquefied natural gas (lng) project off the coast of Sakhalin Island on environmental grounds. Energy analysts, however, interpret the move as an attempt by Russia to wrest back control of its natural resources from large oil multinationals. Sakhalin's oil …
At a 31 October gathering of tsunami donors at the United Nations, the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and the U.N. Development Programme are planning to unveil a 6-year, $62 million initiative called Mangroves for the Future (MFF). It's goal is to rehabilitate ecosystems in 12 tsunami hit nations.
South Africa, Namibia and Angola have signed an agreement that enables them to utilise the marine and coastal resources of the Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem (bclme), along Africa's southwest coastline. The Benguela Current Commission Agreement, the first of its kind in the world, also facilitates the understanding, conservation and …
A team of scientists based in Japan and Germany has found an unusual lake of liquid co2 beneath the seabed, says a recent National Geographic report. The co2 lake, discovered by Fumio Inagaki of the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology in Yokosuka and colleagues, was first reported in …
british and Norwegian oil companies have announced plans to bury carbon dioxide under the bed of the North Sea. Though they claim they are trying to inhibit climate change, the actual purpose is more mundane: increased exploration of oil and gas reserves. Experts have expressed environmental concerns about such sequestering …
Five nations bordering the Caspian Sea have reached an agreement to safeguard the waterbody and also pave the way for an equitable sharing of its resources. The treaty, called the Framework Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea, came into force on August 12, 2006, …
global carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels are altering ocean chemistry and threatening marine organisms, including coral reefs, claims a us report released recently. Based on the data and experimental finding from various studies, the report says that oceans absorbed about 118 billion tonnes of carbon between 1800 and …
Scientists and policy-makers at a 10-day Antarctic Treaty consultative meeting, held in Edinburgh, have agreed upon new measures to reduce the risk of non-native species being introduced into both marine and terrestrial ecosystems in Antarctica. The meeting, which ended on June 23, decided not to allow ships operating in the …
The world's largest artificial diving reef and habitat for marine life was recently created by sinking a decommissioned us warship off the Florida coast. The 300-metre us Navy warship, the uss Oriskany, which served in the Korean and Vietnam wars, was commissioned in 1950. It took 226 kg of explosives …
