FEATURED ARTICLES   [Latest news updates]

Private equity firm buys rights to ecosystem services of Guyana rainforest

(03/28/2008) A private equity firm has purchased the rights to environmental services generated by a 371,000-hectare rainforest reserve in Guyana. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the agreement is precedent-setting in that a financial firm is betting that the services generated by a living rainforest — including rainfall generation, climate regulation, biodiversity maintenance and water storage — will eventually see compensation in international markets. In exchange for funding a "significant" part of the costs of maintaining Iwokrama rainforest reserve in Guyana, the agreement grants UK-based Canopy Capital the right to 16 percent profit from proceeds generated from environmental services payments. 80 percent of the income generated would go to local communities while the Global Canopy Programme, an alliance of 29 scientific institutions in 19 countries, would receive four percent.   [ Ecosystem services | Rainforests | Happy-upbeat environmental | Guyana]


Fire monitoring by satellite becomes key conservation tool:
An interview with GIS experts at Conservation International and the University of Maryland


(03/27/2008) Remote sensing is increasingly used as a tool for conservation management. Beyond traditional satellite imagery popularized by Google Earth, new sensing applications are allowing researchers located anywhere in the world to track fires, illegal logging and mining, and deforestation in some of Earth's most isolated regions using a computer or handheld device. The Fire Alert System is one example of an application that is harnessing the power of satellites to deliver key data to conservation managers. Developed by Madagascar's ministry of Environment, the International Resources Group, Conservation International using data from the University of Maryland and NASA, the Fire Alert System enables near real-time monitoring of fires anywhere on the island of Madagascar, a hotspot of biological diversity. The system, which sends subscribers regular email alerts on newly-detected burning, will eventually be expanded to include all the world's protected areas, allowing managers to detect not only fires but potentially related activities like road building, logging, and even hunting.   [ Remote sensing | Forest fires]


Markets could save forests: An interview with Dr. Tom Lovejoy

(03/20/2008) Market mechanisms are increasingly seen as a way to address environmental problems, including tropical deforestation. In particular, compensation for ecosystem services like carbon sequestration — a concept known by the acronym REDD for "reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation" — may someday make conservation a profitable enterprise in which carbon traders are effectively saving rainforests simply by their pursuit of profit. Protecting rainforests and their resident biodiversity would be an unintentional, but happy byproduct of money-making endeavors. While the idea may seem far-fetched at present, many people are working feverishly on the policy side to make the concept a reality. Few are more qualified to work on these issues than Dr. Thomas Lovejoy, a conservation biologist who has authored scores of articles and books and currently serves as president of the Heinz Center, an environmental policy group.   [ Ecosystem services | Interviews]


Amazon environmentalist gunned down in Peru

(03/14/2008) After reporting a truck loaded with mahogany illegally logged from the Amazon rainforest, Don Julio Garcia Agapito, a Peruvian authority who worked to protect forests, was gunned down by Amancion Jacinto Maque, an illegal timber operator, on February 26th, 2008. As Teniente Gobernador of the town of Alerta, Don Julio dedicated his life to conservation and building sustainable livelihoods for the people of southwestern Peru. A Brazil nut collector, whose livelihood depended on the health of the forest, Don Julio worked to understand the changes occurring in Madre de Dios, a region where development pressures are mounting due to the improvement of the Trans-Oceanic highway, which links the heart of the Amazon to the Pacific.   [ Amazon | Peru]


Industry-driven road-building to fuel Amazon deforestation

(03/13/2008) Unofficial road-building will be a major driver of deforestation and land-use change in the Amazon rainforest, according to an analysis published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. Improved governance, as exemplified by the innovative MAP Initiative in the southwestern Amazon, could help reduce the future impact of roads, without diminishing economic prospects in the region.   [ Amazon | Brazil | Deforestation]


Half of Madagascar's frogs may still await discovery

(03/12/2008) Madagascar is one of the most unique places on Earth for wildlife. When the public thinks of Madagascar's fauna most likely they think of one of the fifty species of lemur. Yet, Madagascar possesses a wealth of endemic wildlife outside of these unique prosimians. For example, to frog-lovers Madagascar is a paradise. The only amphibians living on Madagascar are frogs; the island is devoid of toads, salamanders, or newts. But what it lacks in other amphibians it makes up for in the number and beauty of its frogs. Currently, 240 frogs have been catalogued in Madagascar, 99 percent of which are endemic. Yet, amphibian expert Dr. Franco Andreone believes that, according to recent field studies, this may only be half of the frogs that actually live in Madagascar. Dr. Andreone believes the final tally could reach 500 species!   [ Madagascar | Interviews | Frogs]


Cellulosic energy may trigger dramatic collapse in the Amazon

(03/11/2008) Next generation biofuels may trigger the ecological collapse of the Amazon frontier and could have profoundly unexpected economic consequences for the region, warns a paper published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. Dr. Donald Sawyer writes that "interacting with climate change and land use, the upcoming stage of cellulosic energy could result in a collapse of the new frontier into vast degraded pasture." The shift could increase the incidence and severity of fires, reduce rainfall in key agricultural zones, exacerbate forest die-back and climate change, and worsen social instability. Sawyer says that while difficult to anticipate, the worst outcomes could likely be avoided be promoting "intensified and more sustainable use" of already cleared areas, minimizing new deforestation, and encouraging "sustainable use of natural resources by local communities."   [ Amazon | Brazil | Biofuels]


Emissions from deforestation offset by increased tree growth in the Amazon

(03/10/2008) An increase in carbon sequestration by trees in the Amazon has roughly offset total emissions from deforestation in the region since the 1980s. A new study, published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, this trend may slow in the future, causing the world's largest rainforest to become a net source of carbon emissions and therefore contributing to climate change.   [ Amazon | Brazil | Deforestation]


Why Europe torpedoed the REDD forests-for-carbon credits initiative

(03/05/2008) Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) has been widely lauded as a mechanism that could fund forest conservation and poverty alleviation efforts while fighting climate change. At the December U.N. climate meeting in Bali, delegates agreed to include REDD in future discussions on a new global warming treaty — a move that could eventually lead to the transfer of billions of dollars from industrialized countries to tropical nations for the purpose of slowing greenhouse gas emissions by reducing deforestation rates. Conservationists and scientists applauded the decision.   [ Rainforests | Avoided deforestation | REDD]


Tropical Conservation Science —mongabay.com's open-access peer-reviewed scientific journal — launches

(03/04/2008) Yesterday, Mongabay.com launched Tropical Conservation Science, an open-access, e-journal that publishes results of research relating to conservation of tropical forests and other tropical ecosystems. The quarterly peer-reviewed journal will accept and publish original research papers and state-of-the-art reviews in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Chinese. The first issue of Tropical Conservation Science includes papers on tropical rain forest biogeography in southern China, conservation issues in Belize, primate conservation in central Amazonia, the impact of habitat fragmentation on primate populations in southern Mexico and conservation of the tree hyrax in East Africa.   [ Tropical Conservation Science]


An interview with author Harry S. Pariser:
Tips for visiting the rainforest for the first time


(03/04/2008) Harry S. Pariser has been writing travel guides and articles for many years now. His most recent guide is Explore Costa Rica which has extensive information about the nation and its rainforests. In an interview with mongabay.com, Pariser offers tips and advice for visiting rainforests, including what to bring, where to go, and what to expect.   [ Rainforests | Interviews]




Humans, and global warming, responsible for extinction of mammoths

(03/31/2008) The combination of human hunting pressure and climate change was responsible for the extinction in woolly mammoths, claims new research published in the open-access journal PLoS Biology.   [ Extinction]


Corn planting to drop 8% in 2008

(03/31/2008) The UDSA's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) expects American farmers to plant 86 million acres of corn in 2008, down 8 percent from last year. The news comes amid record high prices for competitive crops including soybeans and wheat.   [ Agriculture | Soy]


Gore to spend $300 million on global warming ads

(03/31/2008) This week Al Gore will launch a three-year, $300 million campaign to mobilize support for reining in greenhouse gas emissions, reports The Washington Post.   [ Politics]


Asia Pulp & Paper road destroys rare Sumatra forest

(03/27/2008) Companies linked to timber giant Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) are illegally building a road that runs through highly endangered peatland forest on the island of Sumatra, according to an investigative report published by Eyes on the Forest, a coalition of NGOs in Indonesia. The road would allow APP and its affiliates to log forests for timber and drain peat soil for the establishment of oil palm plantations. The action would release large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere from one of the world's largest contiguous tropical peat swamp forests.   [ Deforestation | Logging | Indonesia | Roads | Sumatra]


Squid beaks may revolutionize engineering

(03/27/2008) When scientists dissect the stomachs of sperm whales, they find the super-hard beaks of squids, the only part of them that is indigestible. Scientists can tell the diet of a whale by the variety of beaks left behind, sometimes numbering in the thousands. But how does a squid, whose body is soft and supple, have a beak that is considered one of the hardest organic materials in natures? Scientists have long pondered this question.   [ Biomimicry | Oceans | Squid]


FSC has 'failed the world's forests' say critics

(03/26/2008) The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) has come under increasingly harsh criticisms from a variety of environmental organizations. The FSC is an international not-for-profit organization that certifies wood products: its stamp of approval is meant to create confidence that the wood was harvested in an environmentally-sustainable and socially-responsible manner. For years the FSC stamp has been imperative for concerned consumers in purchasing wood products. Yet amid growing troubles for the FSC, recent attacks from environmental organizations like World Rainforest Movement and Ecological Internet are putting the organization's credibility into question.   [ Logging | Deforestation]


Africa's lion population is falling
An interview with lion researcher Leela Hazzah


(03/25/2008) The lion is Africa's best known carnivore. Once widely abundant across the continent, recent surveys show that lion populations have plunged from over 100,000 individuals to around 23,000 over the past century. The reason? Lions are poisoned, shot, and speared by locals who see them as a threat to livestock. While lion populations in protected areas remain relatively healthy, conservationists say that without urgent measures, lions may disappear completely from unprotected areas. The Kilimanjaro Lion Conservation Project is working to avoid this fate by developing practical measures to encourage coexistence between people, livestock and predators. Leela Hazzah, a field researcher with the project, says the "Lion Guardians" program at Mbirikani Ranch in Kenya has proved remarkably successful: not a single lion has been killed since its inception in November 2006. The program employs Maasai warriors to monitor lions and help local communities prevent attacks on livestock.   [ Amazon | Brazil | Deforestation]


No global warming link to dying frogs?

(03/25/2008) Scientists have fired another salvo in the heated debate over the role of climate change in the global decline of amphibians. Writing in the March 25 issue of PLoS Biology, a team of researchers led by Karen Lips of Southern Illinois University-Carbondale report finding "no evidence to support the hypothesis that climate change has been driving outbreaks of amphibian chytridiomycosis" -- a disease blamed for large-scale die-offs of amphibians. Other researchers have argued that climate shifts are worsening the outbreak of the fungal disease.   [ Amphibians | Endangered species | Extinction]


Railroad could reduce Amazon deforestation relative to proposed highway

(03/24/2008) Building a railroad instead of improving a major highway could reduce deforestation and biodiversity loss in the heart of the Amazon rainforest says an Brazilian environmental group. The Institute for Conservation and Sustainable Development of Amazonas (IDESAM), together with the state of Amazonas, have teamed up to host a debate on the paving of BR-319, a highway that links the capital cities of Manaus and Porto-Velho, but is presently impassable. Environmentalists say that paving the road could increase deforestation pressures in Amazonas, a state where 98 percent of the forest is still intact. Instead, IDESAM and Amazon propose building a railway system between the cities.   [ Amazon | Brazil | Deforestation]


U.S. furniture demand drives illegal logging in Laos

(03/24/2008) In Vietnam the illegal timber trade continues unabated, in many ways due to the Southeast Asian country's growing economy and wealthy nations' insatiable demand for cheap furniture. Since 2000 Vietnam has seem a ten-fold increase in their furniture industry, a rise that is leading to large-scale illegal deforestation in the Mekong region, according to a report by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and Telapak Indonesia.   [ Logging | Laos | Vietnam]


Why there is still hope for conservation in the Philippines

(03/19/2008) A big story came out on the loss of perennial ice in Arctic from NASA on Wednesday — and was mostly ignored by the media. Despite a colder winter than usual, the Arctic is losing its perennial ice (ice that lasts longer than a season) making the region even more susceptible to global warming. Perennial ice used to cover 50-60 percent of the Arctic. Results from this year's satellites show that perennial ice has decreased to less than 30 percent. In addition ice older than six years has declined from 20 percent in the eighties to six percent today.   [ Greenland-Arctic | Philippines]


Perennial ice disappears, media yawns

(03/19/2008) The Philippines has often been an example for the worst-case-scenario in environmental degradation. Some scientists have even concluded that environmental efforts should put elsewhere, claiming the Philippines to be a lost cause. In his book Requiem for Nature John Terborgh writes the "overpopulated... Philippines are already beyond the point of no return." However, a recent paper entitled "Hope for Threatened Tropical Biodiversity: Lessons from the Philippines" argues that there are enough positive environmental and conservation trends in the Philippines to have hope and continue working for a better tomorrow.   [ Conservation | Philippines]


Illegal wildlife trade worth $20B/yr, trailing only drugs and weapons trafficking

(03/19/2008) The illegal wildlife trade generates $5 to $20 billion annually, making it the largest illicit market after guns and drugs trafficking, reports a study released by the Congressional Research Service. The report, released at a hearing by the House Natural Resources Committee chaired by Congressman Nick Rahall, warns that the illegal wildlife trade "poses a variety of threats to the U.S. and around the world, ranging from loss of endangered wildlife to introduction of life-threatening diseases," according to a statement from the Wildlife Conservation Society, a group that provided scientific background on the issue.   [ Wildlife trafficking | Wildlife]


Rwanda launches reforestation project to protect chimps, drive ecotourism

(03/18/2008) Conservationists in Rwanda have launched an ambitious reforestation project that aims to create a forest corridor to link an isolated group of chimpanzees to larger areas of habitat in Nyungwe National Park. The initiative, called the Rwandan National Conservation Park, is backed by the Rwandan government, the Great Ape Trust of Iowa, and Earthpark, a group seeking to build an indoor rainforest in the U.S. Midwest.   [ Rwanda | Conservation | Apes]


Papua New Guinea to ban log exports by 2010

(03/18/2008) Papua New Guinea (PNG) will phase out log exports by 2010 said Forest Minister Belden Namah last month. The move comes as the country seeks to gain greater control over illegal logging and promote expansion of oil palm cultivation.   [ Papua New Guinea | Logging]


Mongabay-Brasil launches

(03/18/2008) I'm pleased to announce the official launch of Mongabay-Brasil, the Brazilian Portuguese version of mongabay.com. The site presently includes conservation news (updated weekly) and a section on tropical rainforests. The rainforest site for kids is still available as well. As with other non-English versions of mongabay.com, I can use translation help from native speakers to expand the number of articles available on the site. Mongabay is also available in Chinese, French, Japanese, and Spanish, while the children's site is available in about two dozen languages.   [ Mongabay-Brasil]


How falling a gecko lands on its feet

(03/17/2008) According to new research the gecko may have the most dynamic tail in the natural world. Two researchers from UC Berkley have discovered that the gecko uses its tail to keep itself from falling off slippery vertical surfaces and when falling to rapidly right itself. So, like a cat, it always lands on four feet.   [ Animal behavior | Herps]


Do parks worsen deforestation through 'leakage'?

(03/17/2008) The creation of protected reserves may be pushing development to neighboring areas, confounding overall conservation efforts in regions where development pressures are high. Such "leakage" -- as the displacement is called -- makes it difficult to assess the effectiveness of protected areas strategies. Reviewing the results of a study that found significant leakage near forest concessions in Peru, Robert M. Ewers of the Zoological Society of London and Ana S.L. Rodrigues of Cambridge University report on leakage concerns for conservation and methods for quantifying the effectiveness of nature reserves.   [ Deforestation | Parks]


Predator of the world's largest macaw key to its survival

(03/13/2008) In a bizarre biological twist, a new study shows that the Hyacinth Macaw depends on its greatest predator, the Toco Toucan, for continued survival. Living in Brazil's Pantanal the Hyacinth Macaw requires a very specific home: a pre-existing hole in the Manduvi tree. Such trees are in short supply. With the tree so important for Hyacinth Macaws's survival, the study focused on the species that disperse the seeds. To their surprise scientists discovered that the most effective disperser was the Toco Toucan, collecting 86.3 percent of the seeds. Ironically, this is the same toucan which has been shown to be the main predator of Hyacinth Macaw eggs.   [ India | Tigers]


Rare jewel-colored frog rediscovered in Colombia

(03/13/2008) A brilliantly-colored frog has been rediscovered 14 years after its last sighting in a remote mountainous region in Colombia. The critically endangered Carrikeri Harlequin frog (Atelopus carrikeri), a member of a family of amphibians that has been decimated by the outbreak of a deadly fungal disease, measures about 2 inches (5 cm) in length and lives at an altitude of 13,000 feet (4,000 m).   [ Amphibians | Frogs | Colombia | Species discovery]


India has 1400 tigers -- not 3500

(03/13/2008) A census of India's reserves found 1,411 tigers rather than the 3,508 estimated previously, according to the State Ministry of Environment and Forests.   [ India | Tigers]


Dams mask sea level rise

(03/13/2008) Water held in man-made reservoirs is masking the true extent of sea level rise from melting ice and thermal expansion, report scientists writing in the journal Science. The researchers, from the National Central University in Taiwan, calculate that sea levels would be 30 mm (1.2 inches) higher without water stored behind dams.   [ Sea levels]


Fast-growing coral may help reefs survive global warming

(03/13/2008) Two fast-growing coral species may hold the key to Caribbean reefs surviving global warming, report researchers writing in the journal Science   [ Coral reefs]


Secretive Pygmy Hippo caught on film is good news for war-torn Liberia

(03/13/2008) It's almost as though this normally shy mammal were posing for the camera. The black-and-white image of a pygmy hippopotamus half-facing the camera is the first ever of a pygmy hippopotamus in Liberia. Perhaps even more astonishing EDGE, the organization that accomplished the photo, believes the image to be only the second photographic evidence of the animal in the wild (the first was taken in 2006 in Sierra Leone). This incredibly secretive animal is usually known through its prints and dung.   [ Liberia | Happy-upbeat environmental | Wildlife]


Merrill Lynch invests $9M in rainforest conservation, expects profit

(03/12/2008) Merrill Lynch's investment in a rainforest conservation project in the Indonesian province of Aceh is worth $9 million over four years, reports Thomas Wright of The Wall Street Journal. The deal — announced with great fanfare last month — seeks to offset 3.4 million tons of carbon dioxide per year by reducing deforestation. The resulting carbon credits could be sold in international markets once the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012 and forestry-based credits are officially recognized.   [ Carbon finance | Happy-upbeat environmental | Indonesia]


New review system helps companies adapt to ecosystem degradation

(03/12/2008) A new accountability initiative will help companies factor ecosystem degradation into their business decisions.   [ Green business | Sustainability]


Skoll Foundation puts $1M toward indigenous groups, conservation in the Amazon

(03/11/2008) The Skoll Foundation has awarded the Amazon Conservation Team, an innovative organization the promotes biocultural conservation among indigenous groups in the Amazon, $1,015,000 to map, manage, and protect 100 million acres of rainforest. The award is one of 11 Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship presented by the Skoll Foundation in 2008.   [ Amazon | Happy-upbeat environmental | Indigenous people]


China's emissions growth 2-4 times greater than expected

(03/11/2008) China's carbon dioxide emissions are growing far faster than anticipated according to according to a new analysis by economists at the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of California, San Diego. The study, published in the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, estimates China will see an 11 percent annual growth rate in CO2 emissions between 2004 and 2010, two to four times the 2.5 to 5 percent growth rate estimated by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.   [ China | Carbon dioxide]


Scientists target safe-climate future

(03/11/2008) Friends of the Earth, Australia, working in conjunction with many of the world's foremost climate scientists recently published a report which should have quickly pervaded into mainstream media. It is a detailed, 100-plus page manifesto imploring immediate, radical action beyond not only the proposed climate change responses by the IPCC, mainstream environmental agencies, and world governments but outside the procedures and proceedings of our national and international authorities. Coverage of the ground-breaking report, however, remains mostly in the realm of climate sites and blogs, absent not only from major sources such as Reuters and Associated Press, but even from major conservation and environmental new sites.   [ Climate Change]


Corn ethanol is worsening the Gulf dead zone

(03/10/2008) Proposed legislation that will expand corn-ethanol production in the United States will worsen the growing "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico and hurt marine fisheries, report researchers writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The dead zone, an expanse of water so devoid of oxygen that sea life cannot live in it, partly results from the use of nitrogen-based fertilizers for corn crop.   [ Ethanol | United States | Pollution]


The biochar revolution begins

(03/10/2008) Biopact, a leading bioenergy web site, has announced the creation of a "Biochar Fund" to help poor farmers improve their quality of life without hurting the environment. Biochar -- a farming technique that adds charcoal obtained from the pyrolysis of biomass to poor, acidic soils -- has been hailed as a way to simultaneously sequester atmospheric carbon and improve soil fertility. By intensifying agricultural productivity, biochar could help reduce the need to clear forests and ecosystems for cropland while offering farmers diversified income through carbon credits.   [ Terra preta | Agriculture | Carbon sequestration | B.A.D. ideas that may save the world]


New rule grants rainforest to mining firms in Indonesia for $80/acre

(03/10/2008) A new Indonesian rule will grant concessions to mining companies operating in rainforests for as little as $200 per hectare ($80/acre) according to Mining Advocacy Network, a conservation group. Reuters reports the new rule also applies to companies involved in oil and gas development, power transmission, hydro and geothermal power, and toll roads.   [ Indonesia | Mining | Deforestation]


Madagascar's deforestation rate drops 8-fold in parks

(03/10/2008) Madagascar's deforestation rate in protected areas has fallen by eight-fold since the 1990s according to Conservation International and the Malagasy government.   [ Madagascar | Happy-upbeat environmental]


Brazil fails to implement deforestation plan - Amazon destruction jumps

(03/06/2008) Faced with a spike in forest clearing due to high commodity prices, the Brazilian government has failed to enact reforms designed to slow deforestation in the Amazon rainforest says Greenpeace, an environmental group. Analyzing Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's 2004 forest protection 'Action Plan', Greenpeace found that 60 percent of the 162 'activities' under 32 strategic directions in the plan have not been enacted. Less than a third of the strategic directions were completed by the end of last year.   [ Amazon | Brazil]


Can snow leopards be saved?

(03/06/2008) Conservationists and officials from twelve Asian countries are meeting in Beijing next week to discuss the fate of the endangered snow leopard. Less than 7,000 snow leopard remain in the wild. The 2008 International Snow Leopard Conference, hosted by the Chinese Institute of Zoology in partnership with Panthera Foundation, will bring together for the first time representatives from all snow leopard range nations: China, Afghanistan, Bhutan, India, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.   [ Endangered species | Conservation]


Feds flood the Grand Canyon to save endangered fish

(03/05/2008) Federal government officials unleashed a flood of water from Glen Canyon Dam in northern Arizona to help restore the Grand Canyon's ecosystem which has suffered as a result of changes caused by the dam.   [ Rivers]


How accurate is long-term climatology data from the Amazon?

(03/04/2008) With some models forecasting significant change in the Amazon rainforest over the next century, it has been unclear whether the temperature and precipitation data upon which the projections are made is accurate. Now, new research by Rafael Rosolem of the University of Arizona, shows that data associated with the Large-scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in Amazon (LBA) — an international research initiative focusing on how changes in land use and climate will affect the biological, physical, and chemical functioning of Amazonia — is representative of normal climatology for the region. In other words, during most of the LBA data collection period, the data was not taken during severe drought or extreme wet periods.   [ Amazon]


New 'red list' seeks to stave off global seafood collapse

(03/03/2008) Over-fishing and destructive fishing practices have had a considerable effect on oceanic ecosystems. In 2006 a highly-reported study found that without drastic measures all wild seafood will disappear from the oceans in 50 years. Greenpeace, working against such a crash, has started a campaign that highlights 'red fish'. The twenty-two 'red' species are seafood that consumers and suppliers (including supermarkets) should avoid due to their plummeting populations and/or the damage caused by harvesting them.   [ Oceans | Overfishing]


Screaming elephant-cousin threatened by logging

(03/03/2008) A small screaming mammal that may be the closest living relative of the elephant is threatened by logging and bushmeat hunting in East Africa, according to a study published in the inaugural issue of the open access e-journal Tropical Conservation Science.   [ Tropical Conservation Science | Conservation | Tanzania]


Belize's world famous coral reefs and rainforests at risk

(03/03/2008) Belize's world famous coral reefs and tropical forests are increasingly vulnerable to environmental problems which could impact its tourism-dependent economy, argues a Belizean ecologist writing in the inaugural issue of the open access e-journal Tropical Conservation Science.   [ Tropical Conservation Science | Conservation | Belize]


Fragmentation puts Mexican howlers at risk

(03/03/2008) Belize's world famous coral reefs and tropical forests are increasingly vulnerable to environmental problems which could impact its tourism-dependent economy, argues a Belizean ecologist writing in the inaugural issue of the open access e-journal Tropical Conservation Science.   [ Tropical Conservation Science | Conservation | Mexico]


China's tropical rainforests decline 67% in 30 years

(03/03/2008) Tropical rainforest cover in southern Yunnan decreased 67 percent in the past 30 years, mostly due to the establishment of rubber plantations, according to a new assessment of tropical forests in southwestern China. The study, published in the inaugural issue of the open access e-journal Tropical Conservation Science, reviewed species composition in China's only tropical rainforest.   [ Tropical Conservation Science | Deforestation | China]


Human impacts on primate conservation in central Amazonia

(03/03/2008) Deforestation in the Amazon is a serious concern. In the Brazilian Amazon, forests are cleared for cattle ranches, soybean cultivation, and selective logging practices. A new plan to settle approximately 180 families north of Manaus, the capital city of the state of Amazonas, has created widespread controversy.   [ Tropical Conservation Science | Amazon | Brazil]


Global warming to worsen crop damage from frost

(03/03/2008) Global warming could worsen frost damage in the United States according to a new study published in the journal Bioscience.   [ Impact of climate change]