Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | 139 countries have received money to fast-track efforts to conserve, protect and restore species and ecosystems. The new financing from the Global Environment Facility (GEF), totaling $43 million, will give developing countries including Uganda, Kenya, Zimbabwe, and Tanzania the means to quickly make headway …
Read More »Putin calls for closer global cooperation on conserving biodiversity
Kunming, China | Xinhua | Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday called for closer international cooperation on preserving biodiversity and providing related support to developing countries. “It is certainly important that national priorities and specificities of each state be taken into account, and special attention be given to the needs of …
Read More »Declining forest cover in spotlight as Uganda marks Day for Biological Diversity
Kampala, Uganda | PATRICIA AKANKWATSA | As the world celebrated the International Day for Biological Diversity (IDB) May 22, Ugandan experts have called for a new focus to address the negative impacts of infrastructure development on biodiversity particularly at ecosystem and species safety level. According to Francis Ogwal, the Head of …
Read More »UN: 1 million of Earth’s 8 million species face extinction
UN biodiversity meet wraps up, report due Monday Paris, France | AFP | Diplomats and scientists from 132 nations wrapped up six days of negotiations in Paris Saturday over the wording of a landmark report on the dire state of Nature and its impact on humanity, a UN official told …
Read More »Here we go again: Earth’s major ‘mass extinctions’
Paris, France | AFP | Most scientists agree that a “mass extinction” event is underway on Earth, with species disappearing hundreds of time quicker under the influence of human activity. But this is not the first: over the last half-billion years there have been five major wipeouts in which well …
Read More »Food, medicine, water: What has Nature done for us lately?
Paris, France | AFP | From the food we eat to the air that we breathe, Nature not only provides mankind with the means to live but also the services to thrive. Ahead of a major biodiversity summit in Paris expected to outline in the starkest terms yet the threat …
Read More »Mountain gorilla populations rise amid conservation action
Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | The fin whale and mountain gorilla populations grew significantly due to efforts by conservationists to halt their descent towards extinction, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) said Wednesday. In an update of its “Red List” of threatened species, the IUCN said that a …
Read More »Four rhinos die after Chad conservation effort
Libreville, Gabon | AFP | Four out of six South African rhinos that were transferred to a park in southeast Chad in a bid to revive the endangered species have died, but not from poaching, conservationists say. “An additional two black rhino carcasses have been discovered in Zakouma National Park …
Read More »Lake Victoria biodiversity being ‘decimated’
Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | Three quarters of freshwater species endemic to East Africa’s Lake Victoria basin face the threat of extinction, conservationists said Monday, warning the biodiversity there was being “decimated”. A fresh report backed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) assessed the extinction risk of …
Read More »COMMENT: Alarm on biodiversity loss
Why don’t many policymakers recognise loss of healthy, robust, and diverse ecosystems as serious threat? COMMENT | ROBERT WATSON | With the United Nations’ climate change conference underway recently in Bonn, Germany, rising global temperatures were once again at the top of the world’s agenda. But why care about the increase …
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