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by Jeremie RICHARD Agence France-Presse STYKKISHOLMUR, Iceland (AFP) — On a remote island in Breidafjordur Bay off the west coast of Iceland, a thousand-year-old harvest takes place — the hunt for elusive eiderdown, used to make some of the world’s best duvets and quilts. The handpicked down sells for thousands of euros (dollars) a kilo, catering to those looking for exclusive products. Every summer, nearly 400 Icelandic farmers comb through hollow surfaces in the rock, on […]
JERUSALEM, Undefined (AFP) — Israel’s environmental protection ministry said Sunday it was delaying implementation of a proposed oil transport deal with the United Arab Emirates, freezing a project that has angered environmentalists. The agreement, which followed the UAE and Israel establishing diplomatic ties last year, would see Gulf oil brought to the Red Sea port of Eilat by tanker, than moved by pipeline through mainland Israel to the Mediterranean port of Ashkelon, from where it […]
SKOPJE, Republic of North Macedonia (AFP) — The Lake Ohrid region, shared by North Macedonia and Albania, avoided being listed as an endangered world heritage site by UN’s culture agency UNESCO on Sunday, despite concerns about urbanisation and pollution. UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee gave the two Balkan nations two more years to implement recommendations to improve the region’s conservation and welcomed efforts undertaken so far. Albania and North Macedonia should by February 2023 submit a report […]
by Sam KINGSLEY PUUMALA, United States (AFP) — The serene, icy waters of Finland’s Lake Saimaa are a boon to fishermen and tourists, but their presence also threatens one of the world’s rarest and most endangered seals. Despite seeing numbers recover in recent decades, the Saimaa ringed seal still faces extinction amid climate change and die-hard fishing habits. Out on Saimaa, a dark grey, whiskered creature pops its head up and breaks the surface in […]
NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — Two brothers pulled off a sweet escape from a leopard in India by throwing a birthday cake at the animal as it chased them while they rode a motorbike, officials said Thursday. “Your first instinct when you sense danger is to do whatever you can to save yourself. That’s what they did,” a forest official told AFP. “They had a cake with them and they threw it at the […]
by Robin MILLARD GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The United Nations on Thursday recognized a new record high temperature for the Antarctic continent, confirming a reading of 18.3 degrees Celsius (64.9 degrees Fahrenheit) made last year. The record heat was reached at Argentina’s Esperanza research station on the Antarctic Peninsula on February 6, 2020, the UN’s World Meteorological Organization said. “Verification of this maximum temperature record is important because it helps us to build up a […]
MANAS, India (AFP) — A dozen of the world’s smallest pigs have been released into the wild in northeastern India as part of a conservation programme to boost the population of a species once thought to have become extinct. The pygmy hog, which has the scientific name porcula salvania, lives in tall, wet grasslands and was once found along plains on the Himalayan foothills in India, Nepal and Bhutan. Its population declined in the 1960s, […]
PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA (AFP) — A critically endangered giant barking deer has been spotted in Cambodia for the first time, in a boost for the country’s wildlife preservation efforts, officials said Friday. The giant muntjac — known for its long antlers — was captured on a hidden camera in April in northeast Cambodia’s Virachey National Park in Ratanakiri province, environment ministry spokesman Neth Pheaktra said. But the discovery was only made recently after Cambodian authorities […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — A panda at Tokyo’s Ueno Zoo gave birth to twins on Wednesday, weeks after news of Shin Shin’s pregnancy sent stocks in nearby restaurants soaring. They were born in the early hours of Wednesday, the zoo said in a statement, adding that it had not yet confirmed the sex of the pair. Zoo director Yutaka Fukuda said the twin birth was a first for the Ueno facility. “When I heard the […]
The pandemic and climate change is testing as never before the delicate balance of human co-habitation with the natural world. As an Australian prison is evacuated after it was overrun by the plague of mice ravaging the east of the country, we look at some of the most spectacular recent examples. – Australia mice plague – Battling a massive plague of mice after the end of a three-year drought, eastern Australia is seeing crops […]
by Natsuko FUKUE Agence France-Presse TOKYO, Japan (AFP) – Kimiko Hirata has spent nearly half her life fighting to wean Japan off its dependence on coal, and now isn’t the time to slow down, the award-winning activist warns. “I’m hopeful, but we have no time to waste,” said Hirata, the international director of Japan’s Kiko Network NGO. “Our future will be gone if we don’t act now,” she told AFP. It’s a message that Hirata, […]
by Agnes ANYA JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — Alarmed by the mountains of plastic waste leaching into Indonesia’s waters, two best friends are taking on the environmental menace by turning crisp bags and shampoo packets into paving bricks. Ovy Sabrina and Novita Tan launched Rebricks after their country drew headlines as the second-biggest producer of marine waste in the world, behind China. Indonesia has pledged to reduce plastic waste by some 75 percent over the next […]
