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by Jorge SVARTZMAN RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) — Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has unveiled a sweeping plan for the Amazon rainforest that would open indigenous lands to mining — a “dream” for the far-right leader, but a “nightmare” for environmentalists and tribal leaders. Bolsonaro proposed a new bill Wednesday that would allow mining, farming, and hydroelectric power projects on formerly protected land in the world’s largest rainforest, saying: “I hope this dream… comes true.” […]
by Marlowe HOOD Agence France-Presse Paris, France (AFP) — Overlapping environmental crises could tip the planet into “global systemic collapse,” more than 200 top scientists warned Wednesday. Climate change, extreme weather events from hurricanes to heatwaves, the decline of life-sustaining ecosystems, food security and dwindling stores of fresh water — each poses a monumental challenge to humanity in the 21st century. Out of 30 global-scale risks, these five topped the list both in terms of likelihood […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — British police arrested nine Greenpeace campaigners on Wednesday who blockaded BP’s London headquarters with solar panels and oil barrels to mark the new boss’s first day at the energy giant. The Metropolitan Police said the arrests were made outside the firm’s building in St James’ Square, central London, as part of a “proportionate policing plan”. They were detained for aggravated trespass, highway obstruction and conspiracy to commit a public nuisance. Around […]
By Michel COMTE Agence France-Presse Ottawa, Canada (AFP) — Canada’s federal court on Tuesday denied a bid by indigenous tribes to block a long-delayed expansion of an oil pipeline, dismissing their claim that they had not been adequately consulted on the project. The decision is a win for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose government in 2016 approved the project connecting the Alberta oil sands to the Pacific coast for crude shipment to new overseas markets. […]
By Alice RITCHIE Agence France-Presse London, United Kingdom (AFP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday called for urgent action to deal with global warming, after his ex-climate envoy warned his own plans for UN talks later this year were “miles off track”. In a speech ahead of the COP 26 talks in Glasgow in November, Johnson said the evidence of climate change was “overwhelming”. At an event with naturalist and broadcaster David Attenborough, he called […]
THIMPHU, Bhutan (AFP) — Bhutan is introducing a “sustainable development fee” for regional tourists following a spike in Indian visitors that has sparked worries for the unique Himalayan kingdom’s cherished ecology. The majority of tourists already cough up $250 per day in high season — including meals, transport, and accommodation — to visit the country of 750,000 people famous for putting happiness before economic growth and being carbon negative. But this “high value, low impact” […]
by Marlowe HOOD PARIS, France (AFP) — Fireflies are in deep trouble, with many species facing extinction due to habitat loss and exposure to pesticides, according to the first major review of their global status, published Monday. Adding irony to injury, one of Nature’s most entrancing spectacles is also being snuffed out by artificial light pollution, researchers reported in the journal BioScience. More than 2,000 species of fireflies — which are, in fact, beetles — […]
by Marlowe HOOD PARIS, France (AFP) — Permafrost in Canada, Alaska, and Siberia is abruptly crumbling in ways that could release large stores of greenhouse gases more quickly than anticipated, researchers have warned. Scientists have long fretted that climate change — which has heated the Arctic and subarctic regions at double the global rate — will release planet-warming CO2 and methane that has remained safely locked inside Earth’s frozen landscapes for millennia. It was assumed […]
by Pablo IZMIRLIAN Agence France-Presse PIRIÁPOLIS, Uruguay (AFP) — On a hot summer’s day in southern Uruguay, Graciela Martinez weighs her plastic waste before dropping it in a designated container by the beach. In return, she’ll receive some virtual money on her phone that she can use for discounts on purchases at restaurants or partnered shops. It’s part of a pilot environmental project called “Plasticoin” aimed at encouraging plastic recycling in the South American country. […]
by Amélie Bottollier-Depois Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — From the polar ice cap to the Mariana Trench 10 kilometres below the waves, synthetic microfibres spat out by household washing machines are polluting oceans everywhere. The world has woken up over the last year to the scourge of single-use plastics, from bottles and straws to ear swabs and throw-away bags, resulting in legislation to restrict or ban their use in dozens of countries. A lot of […]
QUITO, Ecuador (AFP) — A scientific expedition to the Galapagos Islands has discovered a tortoise with a “strong” genetic link to a presumed-extinct subspecies made famous by the popular Lonesome George, national park officials said Friday. George, the last known member of the Chelonoidis nigra abingdonii Pinta tortoise species, died in 2012 in captivity aged over 100 after refusing to provide any offspring. The Galapagos National Parks (PNG) said the expedition had discovered a young, […]
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AFP) — Dhaka is awash with millions of plastic-laminated campaign posters ahead of elections in the Bangladeshi capital, and environmentalists are up in arms. These posters — of which there are an estimated 304 million — will likely end up in sewers, rivers and canals, says activist Sharif Jamil. “If they are burnt, they will pollute the air,” he adds. The city’s air quality has been ranked one of the worst in the […]
