Jonathan Watts For anyone who cares about the Amazon rainforest, there will be an extra reason to celebrate the new year countdown in Brazil on 31 December because the first stroke of midnight will mark the last moment in power of Jair Bolsonaro. The defeat of the ultra-right former army captain, who unleashed a wave of… Read More Seven reasons to be cheerful about the Amazon in 2023 – and three to be terrified
A summer of extreme heat and drought around the world has been a reminder that water scarcity is a pressing issue and one that will only get worse with climate change. Already, more than two billion people worldwide lack easy access to clean water, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). For some countries, desalination plants offer… Read More How sunlight could turn seawater into freshwater for coastal communities
Graeme Green Imagine the privilege of smelling a wonderful perfume that no one else alive on Earth has smelled before,” says the conservation photographer Eladio Fernandez. This year, Fernandez had that pleasure. After a challenging search in the cloud forests of northern Haiti, he located several Magnolia emarginata, a critically endangered tree with white flowers that hadn’t… Read More Lost and found: how a photographer sniffed out the magnolia species not seen for a century
Rosemary Collard and Jessica Dempsey At the biodiversity Cop taking place in Montreal, much attention will focus on a policy proposal calling for 30% of the planet’s land and oceans to be protected by 2030, known as 30×30. Protected areas have their place in addressing the biodiversity crisis, but we also know that they are… Read More ‘Extractivism’ is destroying nature: to tackle it Cop15 must go beyond simple targets
Birdwatchers Mya, Arjun and Kabir have grown up seeing the effects of wildlife decline. They talk about what inspires them, their hopes for future action and how everyone can connect with the nature on their doorstep More than 300 young people from around the world are gathering in Montreal for a two-day youth summit ahead… Read More ‘We need to be braver’: young naturalists on the world beyond Cop15
George Monbiot In every conflict over the living world, something is being protected. And most of the time, it’s the wrong thing. The world’s most destructive industries are fiercely protected by governments. The three sectors that appear to be most responsible for the collapse of ecosystems and erasure of wildlife are fossil fuels, fisheries and farming.… Read More From the Amazon to Australia, why is your money funding Earth’s destruction?
Zoe Sottile, CNN A bird thought to be extinct for 140 years has been rediscovered in the forests of Papua New Guinea. https://ebird.org/species/phepig1 The black-naped pheasant-pigeon\ was documented by scientists for the first and last time in 1882, according to a news release from nonprofit Re:wild, which helped fund the search effort. Rediscovering the bird required… Read More Bird thought to be extinct for 140 years has been rediscovered in the forests of Papua New Guinea
A unique species on Socotra in Yemen, famed for its bright red resin and umbrella-shaped crown, has been in decline for years. Now islanders are leading efforts to save it by Jess Craig The dragon’s blood tree is classified as a vulnerable species on the IUCN red list. Photograph: Neil Lucas Just after 4am on the… Read More Saving the dragon’s blood: how an island refused to let a legendary tree die out
By Katie Hunt Four years ago, Morris J. Alexie had to move out of the house his father built in Alaska in 1969 because it was sinking into the ground and water was beginning to seep into his home. “The bogs are showing up in between houses, all over our community. There are currently seven… Read More How the climate crisis is transforming the Arctic permafrost
George Monbiot Budleigh Salterton, on the south coast of Devon, sits above the most frightening cliffs on Earth. They are not particularly high. Though you don’t want to stand beneath them, they are not especially prone to collapse. The horror takes another form. It is contained in the story they tell. For they capture the… Read More Fossil fuel burning once caused a mass extinction – now we’re risking another
After the truth-shower 