(10/09/2008) The ten governors of Sumatra — along with four federal ministers — have signed an agreement to protect forests and other ecosystems on the Indonesian island, according to WWF. The announcement is significant because Sumatra is a biodiversity hotspot — home to rare and endemic wildlife — that is under great threat from logging and expansion oil palm plantations. The island has lost 48 percent of its forest cover since 1985.
[
Sumatra | Indonesia | Rainforests]
(10/08/2008) The Malaysian palm oil industry is relying on marketing tactics that mislead the public about its environmental performance rather than taking effective steps to become "greener" alleges a new report from the environmental group Friends of the Earth (FOE). "Malaysian Palm Oil: Green Gold or Green Wash?" [PDF] says that the Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC), an industry body, is putting considerable effort into advertising Malaysian palm oil as an eco-friendly alternative to fossil fuels and other oilseeds, while glossing over the negative impacts of the crop, including greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation, pollution, and social injustices. The report calls upon the Malaysian government — in particular the Sarawak state government — to address false claims by the industry and implement policies that "honor the rights and wishes of Sarawak's indigenous peoples and the need for a better protection of the environment."
[
Palm oil | Malaysia]
(10/06/2008) Madagascar has more than 100 types of lemurs, but the most famous species is the ringtailed lemur, a primate found widely in the southern part of the Indian Ocean island. The world's leading expert on ringtailed lemurs is Alison Jolly, presently a Visiting Scientist at the University of Sussex in the UK. Since arriving on the Indian Ocean island in 1963, Jolly has documented the behavior and population dynamics of ringtailed lemurs in Berenty, a small private reserve of gallery forest amid a sea of desert-like spiny forest in southern Madagascar.
[Madagascar | Lemurs]
(10/06/2008) Watching a Siberian tiger kill a grey squirrel for a half-hour proved to be one of my most enlightening experiences at a zoo. It was a weekday; I was alone, not even an employee passed by. The tiger pounced on the squirrel, flipped it into the air like a juggler's ball, pinned it and rolled it. A short reprieve from this unlikely encounter and the bloodied, half-crushed squirrel attempted an escape, dragging itself across the grass; the tiger watched curiously, let it go a few feet then pounced again. My whole self suffered over the squirrel's pain and torture while marveling in the same instance at the tiger's power, the ease with which it knocked the rodent along the ground. Here in an institution where nature is faked was a relatively truthful half-hour: nature's brutality, grace, ugliness, awe, beauty, and tragedy were reveled. I never could conclude whether the Asian terror was just playing or if it simply lacked the knowledge (as has been proven with many captive cats) to finish off the squirrel. Either way, it took a long time for the rodent to die.
[Wildlife | Conservation]
(10/12/2008) Chytridiomycosis — a fungal disease that is wiping out amphibians around the world — has jumped across the Panama Canal, report scientists writing in the journal EcoHealth. The news is a worrying development for Panama's rich biodiversity of amphibians east of the canal. Chytridiomycosis is caused by Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, a fungal pathogen that has been implicated in the extinction of more than 100 species of frogs and toads since the early 1980s. The fungus is highly transmissible and has spread to at least four continents, in some cases probably introduced unintentionally by humans in the treads of their shoes. As it spreads, the disease lays waste to more than 80 percent of amphibians across a wide range of habitats, including those that are undisturbed by humans. Now an international team of researchers report that Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis has been detected in three species east of the Panama Canal at Soberanía National Park, an area that was thought to have been free of the disease.
[
Amphibians | Panama]
(10/12/2008) Wildlife rangers are finding increasing numbers of Borneo Pygmy elephants injured or killed by snares set by poorly paid oil palm plantation workers, reports Malaysia's Sabah Wildlife Department. According to a statement released by the Sabah Wildlife Department, snares are usually set by oil palm plantation workers who are attempting to supplement their income by selling boar and deer meat to restaurants or eating it themselves. Elephants stumble into the traps and are snared. The resulting injury can lead to infection and even death. Young elephants are most at risk.
[
Elephants | Borneo | Poaching | Palm oil]
(10/10/2008) Paraguay announced it will implement a policy to cut net carbon emissions from land use change to zero by 2020, reports WWF.
[
Paraguay | Forests | Happy-upbeat environmental]
(10/10/2008) A rare species of deer has been rediscovered in Sumatra 78 years after it was last sighted, reports Fauna & Flora International.
[
Sumatra | Species discovery | Happy-upbeat environmental]
(10/10/2008) More than half Antarctica's penguin colonies are at risk by a 2-degree global rise in temperatures, according to a report released by the environmental group WWF.
[
Penguins]
(10/10/2008) Deforestation and degradation is costing the world economy $2 to $5 trillion per year — an amount greater than Wall Street losses during the current financial crisis — said the lead author of a study that estimated the cost of environmental damage in terms of services provided by healthy ecosystems.
[
Forests | Ecosystem services]
(10/10/2008) While the financial crisis is grabbing headlines and the attention of world leaders, the global food crisis is far from over and poses nutritional security of poor people around the world, warns the director of an agricultural think tank.
[
Poverty]
(10/09/2008) The Chocó, a region of humid tropical forest in western Colombia and northwestern Ecuador, is one of the world's biodiversity hotspots with high levels of endemic species but large-scale habitat loss. The situation is particularly dire in Ecuador where more than 90 percent of the Chocó has been cleared for agriculture. But hope is not lost. A dedicated team of researchers is working with local communities to ensure that Chocó will be around for future generations.
[
Ecuador | Interviews | Happy-upbeat environmental]
(10/09/2008) Ecuador's proposal to protect one of the world's most biodiverse rainforests from oil development has failed to secure any funding ahead at its December deadline, reports the Guardian Unlimited.
[
Ecuador | Amazon | Oil]
(10/09/2008) The government of Argentina has banned commercial fishing along Burdwood Bank, an 1,800 square kilometer (694 square mile) submerged island off its southern coast, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). Burdwood Bank is rich with endemic species and serves as an important feeding ground for sea lions, penguins, albatross and other marine life.
[
Argentina | Oceans | Wildlife]
(10/09/2008) With just over thirty individuals left, every photograph of an Amur leopard in the wild is news. But recently released photos are the first to show an Amur leopard at a livestock kill, making them even more important. According to an article from Wildlife Alliance, on September 8th a staff member of the Gamov sika deer farm contacted Eugene Stoma with news about an Amur leopard that had entered the farm and killed three deer. Stoma is the leader of an anti-poaching squad that protects the remaining leopards. After locating the leopard’s kill, Stoma and his team placed camera traps around the kill, hoping the leopard would return. The leopard did return yielding three photos from various angles.
[
Cats | Endangered species | Wildlife]
(10/09/2008) A national carbon price under a cap-and-trade system would have a limited impact on gasoline prices, reports a new study by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The report estimates that a carbon price of $28 per ton — a bit less than current carbon prices in the European market — would boost gas prices by 25 cents per gallon, while a $200 per ton tax would increase prices by less then $2. The findings suggest that the cost of climate change legislation may be lower than claimed by industry, but also indicate that efforts to curb Americans' driving habitats via a carbon tax or cap-and-trade scheme may be of limited effectiveness. A $2 increase in the price of gas would still leave U.S. fuel prices well below those in most of the world.
[
Oil | Energy]
(10/08/2008) The global financial crisis will likely slow forest clearing in the Amazon rainforest, said Brazil's environment minister. Falling commodity prices combined with tighter credit and increased aversion to risk will undermine the economics of activities — including logging and agricultural expansion — that are key drivers of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. Forest clearing in the region has shown an increasingly tight correlation to beef and soy prices in recent years. Both products are produced on cleared rainforest lands.
[
Amazon | Brazil | Deforestation]
(10/08/2008) They are everywhere: images of animals and nature to market large corporations’ products. There is the simply-sketched penguin on every Penguin Book; the leaping silver jaguar from the car company of the same name; the jumping helmet-wearing dolphin of the Miami Dolphins’ football team; and the ubiquitous talking gecko used in Geico auto insurance commercials. Such logos have always been free; however a new campaign, Save Your Logo, will encourage corporations with animal or nature logos to support endangered species and their dwindling habitats.
[
Conservation | Wildlife | Conservation finance]
(10/08/2008) Chevron lost its attempt to force arbitration in a case in which it could be liable for billions of dollars to pay for cleaning up damages to the Amazon rainforest in eastern Ecuador.
[
Oil | Ecuador]
(10/08/2008) Indigenous leaders renewed their call for greater say in how tropical forests are managed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to AFP. Discussions laying the groundwork for proposed forest conservation financing schemes like REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) have largely excluded indigenous leaders, despite plenty of lip-service paid to their cause by environmental NGOs. As a result, while such mechanisms could ultimately benefit forest-dwellers, many indigenous groups strongly oppose measures to use forests as giant carbon offsets. Their opposition will likely continue until they play a greater part in determining policy.
[
Indigenous people | Avoided deforestation | REDD]
(10/08/2008) The Forests Dialogue — a coalition consisting of more than 250 representatives of governments, forestry companies, trade unions, environmental and social groups, international organizations, forest owners, indigenous peoples and forest-community groups — has issued guiding principles for including forests in climate change negotiations.
[
Avoided deforestation | REDD]
(10/08/2008) 52 percent of the amphibians, 35 percent of birds and 71 percent of reef-building coral are "particularly susceptible" to climate change, warns an IUCN report.
[
Biodiversity | Impact of climate change]
(10/08/2008) Accusations against foreign environmental groups operating in the Brazilian Amazon are "exaggerated" to deflect criticism on high deforestation rates in the region said Brazil's environment minister at a summit in Brasilia.
[
Brazil | Amazon]
(10/08/2008) Democratic Republic of Congo will cancel more than two-thirds of its logging contracts due to under a World Bank-back initiative to reduce corruption in the forestry sector, according to the Central African country's environment minister.
[
Congo | Logging]
(10/07/2008) Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) experts have released a report warning of 12 "zoonotic" or animal-linked diseases that are likely to spread due to climate change. Released today at the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Barcelona the report, entitled "The Deadly Dozen: Wildlife Diseases in the Age of Climate Change", argues for preliminary action and research to keep ahead of spreading disease.
[
Wildlife | Health]
(10/07/2008) Alta Floresta, a region in the Brazilian Amazon state of Mato Grosso, has experienced one of the highest deforestation rates on the planet since the mid-1980s due to the influx of colonists and ranchers who converted nearly half the region's forest land to pasture and agricultural plots. The change has had significant ecological impacts, including reducing the availability of water, increasing the incidence of forest fires, fragmenting remaining forest cover, and diminishing the quality of habitat for wildlife. Dr. Fernanda Michalski, a biologist with the University of São Paulo and Pró-Carnívoros, a Brazilian wildlife NGO, is studying the impact of this transformation on mammals in Alta Florest in order to determine how to best maintain the region's remaining biodiversity.
[
Wildlife | Amazon | Interviews | Brazil]
(10/07/2008) The U.S. Department of the Interior will designate two Arctic reserves in areas considered critical habitat for polar bears as part of a legal settlement with environmental groups, reports Reuters. The reserves will be off-limits of oil development and must be established by June 30, 2010.
[
Wildlife | Polar bears | Endangered species]
(10/07/2008) The bulk of glaciers in every mountain range and island group in Alaska are retreating, thinning, or stagnating, according to a new book by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
[
Impact of climate change | Glaciers]
(10/06/2008) One in four of the world's land mammal species and one in three marine mammal species is threatened with extinction, according to an update of the IUCN Red List, the gold standard for the conservation status of global biodiversity. The five-year assessment by more than 1700 experts in 130 countries compiled detailed information on taxonomy, distribution, habitats, population trends, and conservation status of, as well as threats to, the world's 5,487 mammal species. The results show that 21 to 36 percent of mammals are at risk of extinction, while 76 mammals species are known to have gone extinct since 1500 and another two species have disappeared in the wild. [update]
[
Wildlife | Mammals | Endangered species]
(10/05/2008) 'Children of the Amazon', a new documentary by Denise Zmekhol, looks at the cultural transformation of the Surui and Negarote tribes following the development and improvement of a highway that penetrates deep into the Amazon rainforest of western Brazil.
[
Amazon | Indigenous people]
(10/05/2008) Indigenous forest dwellers in Sarawak, in the Malaysian part of Borneo, have rejected a proposal to turn 80,000 hectares (250,000 acres) of the land into an oil palm plantation, reports the Malaysian Star.
[
Borneo | Indigenous people]
(10/03/2008) Shade-grown coffee plantations will be more resistant to climate change than conventional plantations, report researchers writing in the journal Bioscience. Shade grown coffee is already lauded for its environmental benefits including supporting high levels of biodiversity and requiring less fertilizers and pesticides.
[
Agroforestry | Agriculture]
(10/03/2008) Fifteen critically-endangered black rhinos have been released at an undisclosed location in Kenya with hopes that this pioneer group will breed naturally, repopulating an area they once roamed abundantly. The release is the first time in 25 years that captive rhinos have been returned to the wild.
[
Rhinos | Wildlife]
(10/03/2008) The volume of sea ice in the Arctic has likely hit its lowest level since satellite measurements began in 1979, report researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder's National Snow and Ice Data Center, who confirmed that Arctic sea ice extent was the second-lowest on record this year.
[
Sea ice]
(10/02/2008) The U.S. lacks criteria to ensure that cellulosic ethanol production will not harm the environment, warn scientists writing in the journal Science. The researchers say that with proper safeguards, cellulosic ethanol can help the U.S. meet its energy needs sustainably.
[
Cellulosic Ethanol | Ethanol | Biofuels]
(10/02/2008) Researchers have discovered a previously unknown migratory route for the northern bluefin tuna, proving for the first time that the species' Mediterranean and North American subpopulations interact. According to the paper published in Science the two groups meet as juveniles then return to their birthplace to spawn. For a critically-endangered species that is still heavily fished, the new finding has large conservation and management implications.
[
Fish | Oceans]
(10/02/2008) The U.N. has added 20 species of migratory waterbird to the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) giving them greater international protection in Africa, Europe, and Asia.
[
Birds | Conservation]
(10/01/2008) Amphibians have received a lot of bleak news recently. Last week a report from the Zoological Society of London and EDGE stated that 50 percent of Europe’s amphibians will go extinct by 2050 unless more is done for their conservation. Meanwhile a report published in August found that one in three amphibians worldwide are threatened with extinction, while 200 species have already been lost since the 1980s. Therefore the discovery of three new frog species and the rediscovery of one thought to be extinct provide a little respite from such bad tidings.
[
Wildlife | Species discovery]
(10/01/2008) Some random photos from the Bronx Zoo. The zoo is run by the Wildlife Conservation Society, a group that has some 660 field projects around the world.
[
Zoo photos]
(09/30/2008) Viewing the world's fastest land animal as a threat to their livestock, in the 1980s farmers killed half of Namibia's cheetah population. The trend continued into the early 1990s, when the population was diminished again by nearly half, leaving less than 2,500 cheetah in the southern African country. Today cheetah populations have stabilized due, in large part, to the efforts of the Cheetah Conservation Fund, an organization founded by Dr. Laurie Marker.
[
Interviews | Cats | Wildlife | Conservation]
(09/30/2008) The planet's fastest land animal is falling behind in its race for survival against habitat encroachment, loss of prey, the illegal wildlife trade, and disease. Once found widely across the African continent to Kazakhstan in the north to Burma in the East, the cheetah has seen a dramatic reduction of its range and numbers in recent centuries as livestock holders have relentlessly killed off the cat as a threat to their livelihoods. Today the cheetah clings to strongholds in only a few African nations. Among these is the southern African country of Botswana, which harbors large expanses of prime cheetah habitat. Cheetah Conservation Botswana (CCB) is working to preserve the country's cheetah population through scientific research and community outreach and education. In an interview ahead of an upcoming appearance in the U.S., CCB co-founder Rebecca Klein spoke about her organization's work and its efforts to conserve cheetahs while delivering benefits to local communities.
[
Interviews | Cats | Wildlife | Conservation]
(09/30/2008) Wildlife experts from around the world are arriving in San Francisco ahead of a conservation expo that gives the public the opportunity to meet, in person, the people who are saving endangered wildlife. The event — put on by the Wildlife Conservation Network, an innovative group that uses a "venture capital" model to support promising conservation projects — will showcase the efforts of 18 conservationists on Saturday, October 4th at the Mission Bay Conference Center in San Francisco
[
Wildlife | Conservation]
(09/30/2008) A Brazilian government agency changed with land distribution to the poor is the largest driver of deforestation since 2005, according to the country's environmental ministry. Speaking Monday, Environment Minister Carlos Minc said that the Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform (Incra) was responsible for the clearing of 220,000 hectares (550,000 acres) of rainforest on six Amazon properties. The six properties are the largest deforested areas in the entire Brazilian Amazon since 2005.
[
Amazon | Brazil | Deforestation]
(09/29/2008) The painted dog, or African wild dog, was once found widely across Africa but relentless persecution by humans, coupled with habitat loss and spread of disease from domestic dogs, has driven the population down from 500,000 to less than 5,000 over the past century. The species is now listed as endangered by the IUCN. While the outlook is not good in many countries, there are emerging signs of hope, particularly in Zimbabwe where the efforts of a community-based conservation project has nearly doubled the population of the dog to 700 individuals.
[
Interviews | Colombia | Monkeys | Conservation]
(09/29/2008) One of the world's rarest cats is also one of its least known. The Andean mountain cat, sometimes called the "snow leopard" of the Andes, is an elusive species found only at high elevations of the Andean region in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and Peru. Little is known about its ecology and behavior. While the species is known to be rare, no one knows how many individuals survive in the wild. Mauro Lucherini and his colleagues at the Andean Cat Alliance(AGA) are working to change this.
[
Interviews | Colombia | Monkeys | Conservation]
(09/28/2008) Researchers with the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) said over half of European amphibians face extinction in less than fifty years due to a perfect storm of threats: climate change, habitat loss, and disease. The announcement came at an event titled 'Amphibians in a climate of change' hosted by Sir. David Attenborough, one of the world's most well-known wildlife enthusiasts due to his long career making nature documentaries.
[
Amphibians | Extinction]
(09/28/2008) Former Vice President and Nobel Prize winner, Al Gore, told the audience at the Clinton Global Initiative that the moment had arrived for civil disobedience against new coal plants.
Gore called the fight against global warming a "rout", saying "we are losing badly". Currently the U.S. has 28 new coal plants under construction.
[
Environmental politics | Activism | Energy | Coal]
(09/28/2008) United Plantations, a Malaysia-based palm oil producer, has become the first oil palm plantation firm to be certified for adopting the strictest standards of sustainability for palm oil production, according to Bernama.
[
Palm oil | Certification]
(09/26/2008) Malaysian palm oil firms are looking to aggressively expand operations in Papua, the Indonesian part of New Guinea, reports Bernama.
[
Palm oil | New Guinea]
(09/26/2008) Brazil aims to cut net deforestation to zero by 2015 according to a plan that will be released by the government next week. The plan will apparently rely both on reforestation and reductions in deforestation, although it is presently unclear to the extent that industrial plantations will count toward its goal. An emphasis on plantations in the plan would be significant in that they are deficient in terms of biodiversity and carbon storage relative to natural forests.
[
Amazon | Brazil | Rainforests]
(09/26/2008) In a poll conducted by Gallup asking voters to state their top two reasons for choosing a candidate, one percent said the environment or climate change. The environment was tied with education for being the least given reason.
[
Energy]
(09/26/2008) Brazil has temporarily suspended the paving of a major Amazon road pending demarcation of 13 neighboring protected areas, reports the Associated Press. Wednesday Environment minister Carlos Minc said the government will delay construction contracts for BR-319, a highway that connects Manaus (Amazonas) and Porto Velho (Rondonia), until 13 conservation areas are established. The road, which is nearly impassable during the rainy season, will be transformed into an all-weather highway to enable soy farmers and ranchers to get their products to markets faster and at a lower cost. Environmentalists fear the road improvements will drive logging and agricultural expansion in the region as has been the case with other infrastructure development projects in the country.
[
Amazon | Brazil | Roads]
(09/26/2008) Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels rose at a record clip in 2007, according to the Global Carbon Project's annual overview of the greenhouse gas.
[
Carbon dioxide]
(09/26/2008) Research on long-vanished mammals in the Siwalik region of Northern Pakistan has yielded results relevant for today. In the span of two-and-a-half million years climate change caused a shift in Siwalik habitat from wet monsoon forest to savannah, dooming over half the mammal species to local extinction. The research was published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
[
Extinction]
(09/25/2008) A small, but charismatic primate has become the symbol for conservation efforts in an area of threatened forest in northwestern Colombia, says a conservationist who helped pioneer a successful community development program that turns trash into attractive handbags. Rosamira Guillen, Executive Director of the Fundación Proyecto Tití, is working with local communities to protect the endangered Cotton-top tamarin and its tropical dry forest habitat in northwestern Colombia. The effort relies heavily on creating alternative livelihoods for local people who would otherwise collect the squirrel-sized primate for the pet trade or raze its habitat for agriculture. In the process, Fundación Proyecto Tití has created a thriving business that converts plastic bags — a source or mortality among cotton-top tamarins — into fashionable "eco-mochilas" that are now sent all over the world.
[
Interviews | Colombia | Monkeys | Conservation]
(09/25/2008) Industrial logging, large-scale forest conversion for oil palm plantations, and the illegal wildlife trade have left sun bears the rarest species of bear on the planet. Recognizing their dire status, Siew Te Wong, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Montana, is working in Malaysia to save the species from extinction. Known as "Sun Bear Man" in some circles, Siew Te Wong is setting up the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre (BSBCC) in Sabah, a Malaysian state on the island of Borneo. The project aims to save sun bears, which have largely overlooked by conservationists, through research, education, rehabilitation, and habitat conservation.
[
Malaysia | Interviews | Endangered species | Conservation]
(09/24/2008) Tuesday the U.S. Senate passed a bill that will extend tax credits on solar power installations through 2016. The House approved the measure Wednesday.
(09/24/2008) Forest conservation can play a critical role in efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and alleviate poverty, said a prominent group of politicians, development experts, and environmental NGOs meeting in New York City to discuss U.S. climate policy. Organized by Avoided Deforestation Partners, an international policy group, the meeting sought to establish a strategy to highlight the global impact of deforestation and push for the inclusion of tropical forests in domestic climate policy. Attendees included leaders of WWF, the Nature Conservancy, Conservation International, World Vision, Oxfam, Mercy Corps, Care International, and the Union of Concerned Scientists; former Vice President Al Gore; Wangari Maathai, a Nobel Prize-winning activist from Kenya; Bharrat Jagdeo, president of the South American country of Guyana; and executives from a number of carbon-trading and financial firms. The event was hosted by veteran journalist Dan Rather.
[
Avoided deforestation | Carbon finance | Rainforests]
(09/24/2008) WWF, one of the world's largest environmental groups, says it will now support policy mechanisms that would compensate tropical countries for reducing carbon dioxide emissions generated by deforestation and forest degradation, according to remarks by the group's president and CEO at an "avoided deforestation" meeting in New York.
[
Avoided deforestation | Carbon finance | Rainforests]
(09/24/2008) Turkey has lost twelve species of fish to pollution in Lake Sapanca. Lake Sapanca used to be one of Turkey's most bio-diverse lakes. A decade ago the lake's water was pristine enough to be pumped directly to Istanbul for citizen use, but due to rising pollution it no longer serves as a source for the city water.
[
Pollution | Fish]
(09/24/2008) Maverick conservationist, Richard Leakey, writes that "commercial bushmeat hunting has become the most significant immediate threat to the future of wildlife in Africa and around the world" in an article on Wildlife Direct. Founded by Leakey, Wildlife Direct is a nonprofit allowing researchers and wildlife organizations in Africa and Asia to connect directly with supporters through blogs.
[
Bushmeat | Hunting]
(09/23/2008) An atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration of 450 parts-per-million (ppm) — a target level deemed safe by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) — would be devastating to marine ecosystems warn scientists writing in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
[
Ocean acidification]
(09/22/2008) Lake Bogoria is a fascinating nature reserve in Kenya’s Rift Valley. Set in a strange arid landscape, the lake attracts tens of thousands of flamingos. The multitudes of bright pink birds contrast with the grayish-blue landscape. The lake itself is shallow and saline; boiling hot springs and geysers can be found along its western shore. Fish eagles and marabou storks haunt the waters, seeking out flamingo for dinner. Antelope, even the greater kudu, can sometimes be seen, while hyraxes make their homes in the surrounding bare rock. However, the strange beauty of this reserve comes with a grim reality not shown to tourists.
[
Kenya | Conservation]
(09/19/2008) The new California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco's Golden Park will open its doors to the general public for the first time on the weekend of September 27-28. The new facility was designed and constructed to minimize its impact on the environment, employing wide range of energy-saving materials and technologies. The building features a 2.5-acre living roof which captures rainwater that is filtered through the Academy's state-of-the-art living rainforest exhibit. Other exhibits include a planetarium, an aquarium, and a natural history museum. The also facility houses the Academy's renowned research institution.
[
California]
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Mongabay.com seeks to raise interest in and appreciation of wild lands and wildlife, while examining the impact of emerging trends in climate, technology, economics, and finance on conservation and development (more)
