Great Green Wall gets go ahead
Spanning the entire continent of Africa, including 11 nations, the Great Green Wall (GGW) is an ambitious plan to halt desertification at the Sahara's southern fringe by employing the low-tech…
Video: camera trap proves world’s rarest rhino is breeding
A Javan rhino (Rhinoceros sondaicus) captured on a camera trap browses for food. Javan rhinos are herbivores and eat around 110 lbs of food daily. Photo courtesy of WWF. There…
Photo: slaughtered great hornbill by soldiers raises ire [warning: graphic image]
A photo of an illegally killed great pied hornbill (Buceros bicornis) by what appears to be Malaysian soldiers has angered environmentalists in Malaysia, according to the New Strait Times. The…
Treasure chest of wildlife camera trap photos made public
Golden snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus roxellana) in China caught by camera trap. This species is listed as Endangered by the IUCN Red List. Photo credit: Smithsonian. Photos taken by camera traps…
Judge suspends Brazil’s monster dam: contractor ‘imposing’ its interests
Construction on Brazil's planned mega-dam, the Belo Monte, has been ordered suspended by a federal judge, citing unmet environmental and social conditions. Just last month, the hugely controversial dam, was…
India commits $10 billion to expand forests
The Indian government has approved a bold plan to expand and improve the quality of its forests as a part of the nation's National Action Plan on Climate Change. The…
Parks key to saving India’s great mammals from extinction
Tigress photo captured at Nagarahole National park by camera trap. Copyright: K Ullas Karanth/WCS. An interview with Krithi Karanth, a part of our Interviews with Young Scientists series. Krithi Karanth…
Image: new bird discovered in Madagascar
Artist's view of the Mentocrex beankaensis. Illustration by: Velizar A. Simeonovski. CITATION: Steve M. Goodman, Marie Jeanne Raherilalao, and Nicholas L. Block. Patterns of morphological and genetic variation in the…
First International Serengeti Day hopes to halt road project
Migrating wildebeest and zebra. Photo by: Jan Martin McGuire. On March 19th the conservation organization, Serengeti Watch, is planning the world's first International Serengeti Day to celebrate one of the…
Coral crisis: 75% of the world’s coral reefs in danger
Marine scientists have been warning for years that coral reefs, the most biodiverse ecosystems in the ocean, are facing grave peril. But a new comprehensive analysis by the World Resources…
Top 25 most endangered turtles: Asian species in crisis
Surviving hundreds of millions of years on Earth have not saved turtles from facing extinction at human hands. A new report by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the Turtle…
Photo gallery: Borneo paradise saved from beachside coal plant
The beachside site of the now canceled coal-fired power plant in Kampung Sinakut, Lahad Datu, Sabah. Photo courtesy of Green SURF. Note: many of these photos were published in a…
2% GDP could turn global economy green
Investing around $1.3 trillion, which represents about 2% of the world's gross domestic product (GDP), into ten sectors could move the world economy from fossil-fuel dependent toward a low carbon…
Gulf of Mexico bottom still coated in oil, recovery long way off
Samantha Joye of the University of Georgia has seen the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico and the view wasn't pretty. Speaking at the American Association for the Advancement of…
First strike against illegal gold mining in Peru: military destroys miners’ boats
Around a thousand Peruvian soldiers and police officers destroyed seven and seized thirteen boats used by illegal gold miners in the Peruvian Amazon, reports the AFP. The move is seen…
Oil company charged after allegedly forcing entry into Virunga National Park
The Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) national parks authority, ICCN, has filed a suit against oil company, SOCO International, for allegedly forcing entry into Virunga National Park. The legal row…
Coal’s true cost in the US: up to half a trillion
According to the global market coal is cheap, yet a new study in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences finds that the hidden costs of coal are…
Complaint lodged at FSC for plantations killing baboons
The African environmental group, GeaSphere, has lodged a complaint with the Forest Stewardship Council's (FSC) for certifying tree plantations as sustainable that are culling baboons in South Africa, as first…
British government throws out plan to sell forests, apologizes
The British government, headed by Tory Prime Minister David Cameron, has tossed out a controversial proposal to sell off significant sections of its forest to the private sector. The plan…
Saving Madagascar’s largest carnivorous mammal: the fossa
The fossa. Photo © Nick Garbutt . An interview with Mia-Lana Lührs, a part of our Interviews with Young Scientists series. Madagascar is a land of wonders: dancing lemurs, thumbnail-sized…
Researchers rediscover one of the world’s most sought-after lost frogs
The rediscovered Rio Pescado Stubfoot Toad (Atelopus balios) was number 6 in the 100 Lost Frogs. Photo: © Eduardo Toral-Contreras. The Search for Lost Frogs, a global expedition to uncover…
Worldwide search for ‘lost frogs’ ends with 4% success, but some surprises
Unprecedented search evidence of 'Sixth Great Extinction'. Last August, a group of conservation agencies launched the Search for Lost Frogs, which employed 126 researchers to scour 21 countries for 100…
California proposes ban on selling shark fin
Last year Hawaii banned the sale of shark fins; California may be next. Bill 376, introduced by two Democrats, would outlaw the sale of shark fins, including the popular Asian…
Environmentalists and locals win fight against coal plant in Borneo
Environmentalists, scientists, and locals have won the battle against a controversial coal plant in the Malaysian state of Sabah in northern Borneo. The State and Federal government announced today that…
Cambodia approves titanium mine in world’s ‘most threatened forest’
Asian elephants in Cambodia. Photo courtesy of Wildlife Alliance. The Cambodian government has approved a mine that environmentalists and locals fear will harm wildlife, pollute rivers, and put an end…
Chevron found guilty, ordered to pay $8.2 billion in epic oil contamination fight
It was the environmental legal battle that some believed would never end (and they may still be right). But today in Lago Agrio, Ecuador, after 18 years of an often-dramatic…
India pledges to protect cat-crazy rainforest
The Jeypore-Dehing lowland rainforest in Assam, India is home to a record seven wild cat species, more than any other ecosystem on Earth. While it took wildlife biologist Kashmira Kakati…
Not enough data on world’s tropical plants to predict impact of warming world
How many tropical plant species are threatened by climate change? Which plants have big enough ranges to survive a warming world, not to mention deforestation? How likely is it that…
Vines rising in the Amazon and other American rainforests
For years tropical scientists have anecdotally reported an increase in vines in the Amazon and other American tropical forests, but now a number of studies have confirmed such reports: vines…
A lion’s story, an interview with the filmmakers of The Last Lions
Male lion in the Okavango Delta. © National Geographic Entertainment. Photo by: Beverly Joubert . The new theatrical film, The Last Lions does not open, as one would expect, with…