Environment

Australia set for more heatwaves amid climate change: study

SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australia is set to experience more heatwaves, with record-breaking hot weather becoming “normal” across the continent as climate change pushes up land and sea temperatures, a government report warned Thursday. The biannual State of the Climate report from the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) and national science body CSIRO said Australia was already experiencing more extremely hot days and severe fire seasons, and projections showed temperatures would likely keep rising. “Australian temperatures […]

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Antarctic glacier thinning more rapidly than thought: study

by Marlowe HOOD PARIS, France (AFP) — A large glacier in West Antarctica lost up to half a kilometer in thickness in seven years, thinning more quickly than scientists thought possible, according to a study released Tuesday. The Smith Glacier, spilling into the Amundsen Sea, shed up to 70 meters (230 feet) per year between 2002 and 2009, according to the study, based on NASA data collected during aerial flyovers. “If I had been using […]

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‘Many more’ corals die in Great Barrier Reef bleaching

SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — More corals are dying and others are succumbing to disease and predators after the worst-ever bleaching on Australia’s iconic Great Barrier Reef, scientists said Wednesday. A swathe of corals bleached in the northern third of the 2,300-kilometre (1,429-mile) long biodiverse site off the Queensland state coast died after an unprecedented bleaching earlier this year as sea temperatures rose. And researchers who returned to the region to survey the area this month said […]

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Air pollution can affect blood pressure: study

by Marlowe HOOD PARIS, France (AFP) — Long-term exposure to urban air pollution incrementally increases the risk of high blood pressure, according to a study released Tuesday of more than 41,000 European city-dwellers. Constant noise pollution — especially traffic — also boosts the likelihood of hypertension, researchers reported in the European Heart Journal. High blood pressure is the most important risk factor for premature illness and death. The study found that one extra adult per […]

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Endangered lowland gorilla born at the San Diego Zoo

  (Reuters) — A western lowland gorilla, part of a critically endangered species, was born at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, zoo officials announced Thursday (October 20). The female, weighing about four pounds, is the second offspring for mother Kokomo and father Winston. It’s the sixth birth overall for Kokomo. “The baby was born overnight, and the keepers found her in her mother’s arms when they came in (Wednesday) morning,” said San Diego lead […]

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Barrier Reef report card paints bleak picture

SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australia Thursday admitted more needs to be done to protect the Great Barrier Reef from pollution after a government-backed report painted a bleak picture of the natural wonder. The giant ecosystem is under pressure from farming run-off, development, the coral-eating crown-of-thorns starfish and the impacts of climate change, which saw mass a bleaching event this year that killed swathes of coral. Canberra insists it is doing more than ever before to […]

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Cuddles and Kalashnikovs: protecting DR Congo’s gorillas

The world’s largest gorillas have been pushed to the brink of extinction by a surge of illegal hunting in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and are now critically endangered. In a park in the east of the country, the rangers are confronted daily by armed poachers trying to steal baby gorillas to sell as pets. https://youtu.be/6dGwAeaZUbE

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Indonesia police seize tiger skin

Indonesia (AFP) — Three Indonesian men have been arrested for allegedly trading in protected species, with police seizing animal parts including a tiger skin, deer genitalia and pangolin scales, an official says.   https://youtu.be/PCHEmDZNNVM

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Sharks are beautiful, diver says despite narrow escape

SHANGHAI, China (AFP) — A diver whose near miss with a great white shark became a viral video sensation, viewed more than 15 million times on Youtube, says the ocean’s apex predator is “beautiful”. Chan Ming was on a shark-watching excursion off the Mexican coast when the animal broke into the metal cage protecting him. Despite their fearsome reputation, sharks do not normally feed on humans, and have to be drawn in with bait. The […]

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Ocean warning for Pacific’s Melanesia

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AFP) — Marine ecosystems in one of the Pacific’s most vulnerable regions face decline unless they are better managed, a WWF report warned Tuesday. The report described the ocean as the lifeblood of Melanesia — a vast Pacific swathe comprising Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, Vanuatu and Fiji. But it said a range of factors including overfishing, population growth and climate change were damaging the oceans and could have a […]

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Indonesia turtles find new freedom as they scurry into sea

PARAIMAN, Indonesia (AFP) — A group of turtles scurried down a beach and glided into the sea, enjoying their newfound freedom after being cared for at an Indonesian conservation centre. The sea turtles were released by local tourists in Pariaman city, on western Sumatra island, in front of the Turtle Conservation Technical Operating Unit. Turtles, which are under threat due to poaching and habitat destruction, are protected under Indonesian law and the government-run facility mainly […]

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Global deal reached to phase out super greenhouse gases

  by Dave Clark and Stephanie Aglietti KIGALI, Rwanda | AFP | — In a major step toward curbing global warming, the world community agreed on Saturday to phase out a category of dangerous greenhouse gases widely used in refrigerators and air conditioners. Nearly 200 countries agreed to end production and consumption of so-called hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) under an amendment to the 1987 Montreal Protocol on protecting the ozone layer. HFCs stoke climate change because they […]

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