UN year of biodiversity

BBC reports on the UN year of biodiversity.

The UN says that as natural systems such as forests and wetlands disappear, humanity loses the services they currently provide for free.

These include purification of air and water, protection from extreme weather events, and the provision of materials for shelter and fire.

With species extinctions running at about 1,000 times the "natural" or "background" rate, some biologists contend that we are in the middle of the Earth's sixth great extinction - the previous five stemming from natural events such as asteroid impacts.

Read the full story: World's biodiversity 'crisis' needs action, says UN

Man-made noise is threat to animals; report

BBC Earth News reports on the study that shows how man-made noise torments animals.

Sounds produced by vehicles, oil and gas fields and urban sprawl interfere with the way animals communicate, mate and prey on one another.

The sounds are becoming so ubiquitous that they may threaten biodiversity, say the review's authors.

Even the animals living in protected National Parks in the US are being exposed to chronic levels of noise.

Writing in the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution, three scientists based in Fort Collins, Colorado, US detail the extent to which noise pollution is now harming wild animals.

Read the full story: Noise pollution threatens animals

Photo by Dietmar Nill / NPL

Hike in Swiss Alps, see climate change

BBC video reports on climate change hikes in the Swiss Alps.

A Swiss resort is offering climate change hiking trips to show the changes in the landscape scientists say are the result of global warming.

Mobile phones with GPS show the area as it once was, but melting and retreating glaciers have caused huge changes to the area - not least flooding and landslides.

Imogen Foulkes reports from the Swiss resort of Grindelwald.

Click to watch the video: Climate change hikes in Alps

Bangladesh rare leopard captured and released

There have been many news reports about a rare clouded leopard cub captured in Bangladesh last month.

The species was thought to be extinct in the wild with the last known sighting in 1992 and 2005 according to Agence France-Press.

The cub, along with its mother and another cub, was sighted eating a monkey by villagers in the Chittagong hill tracks region of Bangladesh near the Myanmar border. They captured the cub after the others ran away.

This news gives conservationists hopes for the survival of the clouded leopard of which only 100,000 remain.

The cub was released back into the wild after it was deemed that it could survive on its own.

Read more:
Bangladesh leopard renews hopes for species survival
Bangladesh rare leopard cub freed

Swimming deer related to whales

Yesterday's post was about a white whale; today's post is about the discovery of a swimming deer that could be related to whales.

The BBC Earth News reports on the swimming mouse deer that escapes predators by submerging itself in water for minutes at a time.

Two Asian mouse deer species and one African species have been found to swim.

[This] new discovery suggests all ruminants (cattle, goats, sheep, deer and antelope) may once have had an affinity with water.

It also lends support to the idea that whales evolved from water-loving creatures that looked like small deer.

Read the full story: Aquatic deer and ancient whales

African rainforest found via Google Earth

BBC video reports on an newly discovered rainforest in Mozambique found through Google Earth.

Watch the report below:

"Joke" say Australian climate protesters

BBC reports on the Australian climate change policy protesters who say it is inadequate.

"The new measures, announced on Monday, include cutting emissions by between between 5% and 15% by 2020, from 2000 levels, and introducing a carbon trading scheme in 2010.

But activists say the changes will not go far enough to prevent catastrophic change. Many have called for emissions to be cut by at least 25% by 2020 - as recommended by the UN's specialist Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change."

Read the full story: Australians condemn climate plan

Closer monitoring of gorillas against poaching

BBC online reports on the pledge taken by African countries against gorilla poaching.

"The gorilla action plan is designed to tackle the three main threats facing gorillas - loss of habitat, poaching and the Ebola virus - and all the 10 range states have signed up.

The plan commits them to securing good habitat for the animals, including the creation of reserves that cross national boundaries where that is appropriate.

They are supposed to clamp down on poaching and reduce the impact of conflict.

There was some good news this week from Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where rangers were able to return to the area where mountain gorillas roam, after having been forced away by armed men a few weeks ago."

Read the full story: Gorilla states in poaching pledge

Japan to import whale meat from Scandanavia

The BBC reports that Japan has been approved to an import license, for whale meat, from Iceland and Norway.

The 65 tons of whale meat sent to Japan in June, will most likely be approved for import soon.

"The whale meat trade is banned under UN rules but the three countries involved hold opt-outs, making it legal.

As well as establishing the legality of the consignment, Japanese authorities have also been assessing the meat on health and safety grounds, and it is believed that this process has not quite finished."

Read the full story: Japan approves whalemeat import

Demise of Norway's lemmings, global warming blamed

BBC reports on the demise of Norway's lemmings due to global warming.

Researchers writing for the science journal Nature found that Norway's warmer winters (starting about 10 years ago) have negatively affected the survival rate of the native lemmings.

Lemmings need a snow layer in order to survive through the winter and dry winters would allow more than enough lemmings to flourish and be prey.

The furry mammals are a vital part of the Norwegian wildlife food chain, and the disappearance of the lemmings has also negatively affected predatory animals such as fox and owls.

Because the warmer winters are now more humid, the researchers believe the "wrong type of snow" is causing the lemmings to die off.

Read the full story: Climate pushing lemmings to a cliff

Rare okapi spotted in African park

The BBC reports on sightings of the rare wild okapi in the Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) Virunga National Park.

The shy animals - that mythical unicorns have been based on - are "under threat from the bush meat trade."

The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) set up hidden camera triggers through out VNP and captured photos of the okapi:

"The latest pictures were taken by traps set by ZSL in conjunction with the Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation (ICCN).

Thierry Lusenge, a member of ZSL's DRC survey team, said: 'We have already identified three individuals, and further survey work will enable us to estimate population numbers and distribution in and around the Virunga Park, which is a critical first step in targeting conservation efforts.'"

Read the full story: Rare African okapi seen in wild

For previously reported stories from Ecotravel News on wildlife protection in the DRC's Virunga NP:
click here to read about elephant poaching
click here to read about conservationists attacked

Environmentalists killed in DRC gorilla park

The BBC reports on an attack to a World Wildlife Fund (WWF) vehicle carrying 11 environmental workers in the Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) Virunga National Park, home to endangered mountain gorillas.

Of the 11, two were killed and three injured when their vehicle was ambushed by Moi Moi rebels according to officials interviewed by Radio Okapi - a United Nations-supported station.

Virunga NP is "in a volatile region in eastern DR Congo where rebels have set up a base. Armed groups frequently carry out attacks in the park, home to at least 380 endangered mountain gorillas."

The endangered gorillas make their home in the parks and mountains that border Rwanda, Uganda and the DRC. More than half the population of the gorillas live in the DRC.

The rebel groups have taken over Virunga NP since September and have threatened to kill conservationists who enter the area. Last July five gorillas were shot "at point-blank range."

According to a park ranger, tourists have been led over the borders illegally by rebel "guides" to view the DRC gorillas. He urges tourists not to take this path because 1) the illegal guides do not follow proper procedure to stay a certain distance from the animals to not transmit disease and 2) it gives money to the same rebels that kill and eat the gorillas.

Read the full story: Attack in DR Congo gorilla park
Read about two gorilla conservationists: Diary: protecting mountain gorillas

Tiger bone wine - illegal but still for sale

The BBC reports that tiger bone wine - made with endangered tiger carcasses - is still being sold illegally at animal parks in China.

The wine, sold in tiger-shaped vessels like the one pictured above, is made by soaking dead tiger bodies in rice wine. Benefits to the drinker's health are the reasons for drinking the brew.

The British Environmental Investigation Agency said advertisements for the illegal drink were shown blatantly in the parks and visitors were openly solicited to buy it.

Read the full story: Chinese parks sell 'tiger wine'

Camp protesting London’s Heathrow airport expansion

BBC online has an excellent series on the Camp for Climate Action whose week-long protest demands stopping an expansion to London’s Heathrow airport. The protestors claim the expansion and growing air travel in general generate the majority of greenhouse gases that contribute to the earth’s changing climate.

Greenpeace campaigner Emily Armistead said in a radio station interview:

"Aviation emissions aren't even part of our climate budget - they don't fall within Kyoto [Protocol, the treaty for climate change]- and for that reason the government has just given the aviation industry a green light to expand when the rest of us are being told we have to reduce our emissions."

International flights leaving the UK constitute 7% of all national carbon dioxide emissions.

Read the full story: Hundreds due at airport protest