Environment

Acid spill damages nature reserve in southern Israel

SOUTHERN Israel, Israel (Reuters) — Potash and fertilizer producer Israel Chemicals (ICL) said on Sunday (July 2) it cannot estimate the level of damage caused to the company or the environment by a spill at its fertilizer plant in Israel’s Negev desert. Large amounts of highly acidic wastewater poured into the desert on Friday (June 30) when a wall of an evaporation pool partially collapsed at the Rotem Amfert facility, according to Israel’s Ministry of […]

UNESCO to court controversy with World Heritage picks

by Joëlle Garrus Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — The Old City of Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and a rare collection of futuristic buildings in Eritrea are among sites hoping to gain protected status from UNESCO when it meets in Poland from Sunday. The meeting of the World Heritage Committee of the United Nations’ scientific and cultural body in Krakow will also examine concerns about high-rise buildings that threaten the historic center of […]

New study links common pesticide to bee deaths

by Jean-Louis Santini Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON DC, United States (AFP) – Two of the most extensive field studies conducted to date in Europe and Canada have confirmed the hypothesis that neonicotinoid insecticides are harmful to bees and other pollinating species. The results, published Thursday in the United States journal Science, also reveal that local environments can mitigate the impact of the pesticide, which is widely used in farming despite being dubbed a “bee killer.” The chemical […]

Rare Siamese crocodile eggs found in Cambodia

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AFP) — Conservationists in Cambodia have found a nest with 19 eggs from one of the world’s most endangered crocodiles, boosting hopes for a rare species threatened by poachers and habitat loss. The clutch of fist-sized eggs was discovered this week by environmental officers and local villagers near a pond in southwestern Koh Kong province, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), which assisted with the discovery. The group had been searching […]

Great Barrier Reef a $42 billion asset ‘too big to fail’: study

  by Martin Parry Agence France Presse SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australia’s under-pressure Great Barrier Reef is an asset worth Aus$56 billion (US$42 billion) and as an ecosystem and economic driver is “too big to fail”, a study said Monday. The World Heritage-listed reef is the largest living structure on Earth and its economic and social value was calculated for the first time in the Deloitte Access Economics report commissioned by the Great Barrier Reef […]

World population to reach 9.8 billion in 2050, UN says

  UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — The world’s current population of 7.6 billion will balloon to 9.8 billion in 2050, with India’s numbers to surpass China’s in just seven years, a United Nations report said Wednesday. Nigeria will overtake the United States by 2050 to become the third most populous country in the world, according to the figures by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs. “With roughly 83 million people being added […]

Antarctic researchers take icy plunge to mark solstice

SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) – Antarctic researchers welcomed the winter solstice with an exhilarating plunge into icy waters Wednesday as they look forward to brighter days after weeks of darkness. Expeditioners stationed at Australia’s Davis station marked midwinter’s day by taking a chainsaw to the ice, cutting a small pool and taking a dip in the water with a temperature of -1.8 degrees Celsius (28.76 Fahrenheit). Davis station leader Kirsten le Mar said it was the […]

In the Red Sea, coral reefs can take the heat of climate change

ELIAT, Israel (AFP) — In the azure waters of the Red Sea, Maoz Fine and his team dive to study what may be the planet’s most unique coral: one that can survive global warming, at least for now. The corals, striking in their red, orange and green colors, grow on tables some eight meters (26 feet) underwater, put there by the Israeli scientists to unlock their secrets to survival. They are of the same species […]

Even 2C warming means more killer heatwaves: study

by Marlowe HOOD Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Climate change will sharply boost the frequency of lethal heatwaves even if humanity caps global warming at two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), the core goal of the Paris Agreement, scientists said Monday. Fulfilling that 196-nation pledge would, by 2100, still leave nearly half the world’s population exposed at least once a year to bouts of heat and humidity that have proven deadly in the […]

Japan zoo releases new images of new born baby panda

TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) – Tokyo Ueno Zoo on Sunday (June 18) released new images of a panda cub which was born on June 12. The mother, Shin Shin, 11, had the cub five years after her first cub was found dead just days after it was born. The new cub has yet to be named and the sex of the cub has yet to be determined, but its weight was estimated at around 180 grams, […]