Tag: Biodiversity

Oil Spill in Mauritius Calls for More Efforts to Safeguard Coral Reef Ecosystems

On July 25, 2020, a Japanese cargo ship struck a reef on the southeast coast of Mauritius, leaking tons of oil into coral reefs, pristine turquoise water lagoons and unique ecosystems of...

Video Game Industry to Rally 250 Million Players to Protect the Planet

Some of the biggest names in mobile gaming today – with a combined active user base of 250 million players – unveiled a series of environmental activations they will be integrating into...

Plants – You Owe Them Your Life

Protecting plants is vital for the future of our planet – that’s why 2020 is the International Year of Plant Health.Plants aren’t just a nice addition to your windowsill: they are the...

Cities – Where the Fight for a Green Recovery Will Be Won or Lost

Cities are home to 55 per cent of the world’s population, all jammed together cheek-by-jowl. Little wonder, then, that cities are being hit hardest by COVID-19: an estimated 90 per cent of...

Beyond Tourism – Investing in Local Communities to Protect Africa’s Wild Spaces

For ten years, Dixon Parmuya has guided tourists on bush walks around Amboseli National Park in Southern Kenya. But since COVID-19 swept through Kenya in mid-March, the country’s tourism industry has dwindled,...

Connecting Protected Areas With Green Infrastructure Would Strengthen Europe’s Ecosystems

The European Union’s (EU) network of protected sites, Natura 2000, could be further connected with green infrastructure to create a trans-European nature network. According to a European Environment Agency (EEA) briefing highways...

The African Country That Inspired More and More Countries to Plant Billions of Trees

In the past 50 years, Ethiopia has lost 98% of its forested areas. To mediate this, it planted an estimated 350 million trees in just a single day in 2019. Their...

Coral Reefs Are ‘Glowing’ in a Desperate Bid to Survive Warmer Seas

A global study has revealed exactly why corals glow during ocean heatwaves: to try and survive. The research by the University of Southampton’s Coral Reef Laboratory shows that some corals exhibit a dazzling...

Protection of Seagrasses Key to Building Resilience to Climate Change, Disasters

Seagrass meadows can be a powerful nature-based climate solution and help sustain communities hard-hit by stressors such as the COVID-19 pandemic, but these important ecosystems continue to decline. The importance of seagrasses...

The State of the World’s Forests: Forests, Biodiversity and People

As the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity 2011–2020 comes to a close and countries prepare to adopt a post-2020 global biodiversity framework, this edition of The State of the World’s Forests (SOFO)...

Honey Bees Feel Sting of Viral Disease

There’s nothing new in nature. Viruses have been around for as long as plants and animals, if not longer. Most viruses are benign to humans and other animals and in fact are...

Harnessing Tech to Employ Last-Mile Tree Planters in a COVID-19 World

The year 2020 started with such optimism and hope for nature-based solutions and environmental sustainability.Environmental, social and governance investments were high on the agenda at Davos; the World Economic Forum launched the 1...

There Are No Winners in the Illegal Trade in Wildlife

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES, is an international treaty with 183 Parties–182 states plus the European Union.  It is one of the...

Pakistan’s ‘Green Stimulus’ Scheme Is a Win-Win for the Environment and the Unemployed

Pakistan's government are offering labourers, who are out of work due to the coronavirus lockdown, a chance to earn money by planting trees. The project is part of Pakistan's existing initiative...

The Delicate Relationship Between People, Wildlife and the Pathogens

In the past, coronaviruses that circulated in humans caused only mild infections. This changed in 2002, when the SARS-CoV virus presented itself in humans as the disease we now know as SARS....

Why Earth Day 2020 Is More Important Than Ever?

22 April is Earth Day. While the coronavirus (COVID-19) has been spreading around the world and dominating news headlines, thoughts and attention, the need to take climate action has remained as urgent...

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