Latest Habitat destruction Stories
New strategy can identify hotspots within hotspots, focusing effort and moneyWith limited funding and an inadequate number of scientists, governments in countries containing "hotspots" of threatened biodiversity are wrestling with how to protect plants and animals in disappearing habitats.But a new strategy developed by University of California, Berkeley, biologists could help scientists, governments and private organizations worldwide to identify the areas within hotspots where...
Economists use leading indicators "” the drivers of economic performance "“ to take the temperature of the economy and predict the future.Now, in a new study, scientists take a page from the social science handbook and use leading indicators of the environment to presage the potential collapse of ecosystems. The study, published yesterday (Jan. 5) in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by two ecologists and an economist, suggests it may be possible to use nature's leading...
Threats to marine ecosystems from overfishing, pollution and climate change must be addressed to halt downward trendsHuman activities are cumulatively driving the health of the world's oceans down a rapid spiral, and only prompt and wholesale changes will slow or perhaps ultimately reverse the catastrophic problems they are facing.Such is the prognosis of Jeremy Jackson, a professor of oceanography at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, in a bold new assessment of the oceans...
By Donatantonio, Domenic Biodiversity has seen minimal improvement through planning policy guidance and is a bureaucratic burden for councils, a select committee has been told. The RSPB warned the Commons environmental audit committee this week that there is a lack of ecological expertise in local authority planning departments. Head of planning and regional policy Simon Marsh claimed: "PPS9 is supposed to encourage biodiversity but it is often seen as not adding value. We would like more...
By Marsh, Simon Watt, Olly While protecting wildlife habitats is a key part of planners' approach to climate change adaptation creating new ones also has a vital role to play, report Simon Marsh and Olly Watt What links the golden toad of Costa Rica with your local development plan? The answer is that if planners do not take measures to allow wildlife to adapt to climate change, some species may be heading the same way as the golden toad already extinct because of climate change. Planners...
By Mainka, Susan A McNeely, Jeffrey A; Jackson, William J A new paradigm is emerging in the world of environmental conservation. Conservationists have traditionally spoken of conserving the building blocks of nature-genes, species, and ecosystems, along with the air, water, and land with which these interact. But this approach has not captured the interest of those who influence the activities that degrade these building blocks. The drivers of degradation-including habitat loss and...
Biologists at the University of California, San Diego have developed a series of global maps that show where projected habitat loss and climate change are expected to drive the need for future reserves to prevent biodiversity loss.Their study, published online today in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, provides a guide for conservationists of the areas of our planet where conservation investments would have the most impact in the future to limit extinctions and damage to...
By Ed Stoddard ANTANANARIVO (Reuters) - Conservationists called for urgent action to protect Africa's fragile environment on Saturday, saying it was crucial to many people's survival. Endorsed by 350 scientists, policy makers and environmentalists, the "Madagascar Declaration" said Africa's natural wealth had so far failed to improve the lives of most people on the world's poorest continent. "Ecosystem services that function as the foundation for human welfare -- clear air, fresh...
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Urban sprawl is gobbling up open spaces in fast-growing metropolitan areas so quickly that it could spell extinction for nearly 1,200 species of plants and animals, environmental groups say. The National Wildlife Federation, Smart Growth America and NatureServe projected that over the next 25 years, more than 22,000 acres of natural resources and habitat will be lost to development in 35 of the largest and most rapidly growing metropolitan areas. According to the groups, as...
