protection

Is The World’s Largest Sea Turtle No Longer Endangered?

January 29, 2018 By EarthWise 3 Comments

The rapid disappearance of many plants and animals around the world has many scientists saying we are experiencing a sixth mass extinction – the first since the dinosaurs were wiped out some 66 million years ago. Despite all sorts of conservation efforts, living things are struggling as a result of climate change, habitat loss, and countless other natural and manmade pressures. Conservation success stories have been few and far between.

A Philippine Coral Reef Survives

January 2, 2018 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

One of the greatest coral reef ecosystems in the world, the Tubbataha Reef in the Philippines, continues to prosper. Undersea coral walls that plunge more than 300 feet deep are home to some 600 species of fish and 360 kinds of coral, about half of all known species. According to experts, the ocean wilderness of Tubbataha Reef is about the closest thing to a true natural state for any reef in the world.

Ozone Treaty And Greenhouse Gas Emissions

September 20, 2017 By EarthWise 1 Comment

The Montreal Protocol, the international treaty adopted to restore the earth’s protective ozone layer almost thirty years ago, turns out to also have had a major impact on climate-altering greenhouse gas emissions.

Genetic Engineering And Conservation

September 8, 2017 By EarthWise

Genetic engineering, or equivalently synthetic biology, is a multi-billion-dollar enterprise involved in pharmaceuticals, chemicals, biofuels and, of course, agriculture. In these fields, it is already the source of a great deal of controversy. But there is increasing interest in using synthetic biology (or synbio) technology as a tool for protecting the natural world, which is a prospect some find tantalizing and others find absolutely terrifying.

Restoring Sediment To Save Wetlands

August 25, 2017 By EarthWise

The world’s rivers carry billions of cubic yards of sediment – sand, silt and other material – and transport it to wetlands and coastal areas. Until fairly recently, this was viewed as a negative thing. But that has changed.

Palm Oil Progress

July 21, 2017 By EarthWise

According to the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil or RSPO, almost 12 million tons, or 21% of the global supply of palm oil, is now certified as responsible and sustainable. The massive expansion of palm oil plantations has been one of the primary causes of global deforestation. This has been especially the case in Borneo, where 85% of global palm oil production takes place.

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Mapping Risk

June 6, 2017 By EarthWise

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is the global authority for determining species’ vulnerability in the face of threats such as habitat loss and climate change. How widely a species can be found – its geographic range – is a key indicator used by the IUCN to assign an appropriate conservation status.

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A Threat to Rhinos

May 31, 2017 By EarthWise

A South African court recently overturned a national ban on the trade of rhinoceros horns – a decision that was celebrated by the country’s commercial rhino breeders but slammed by animal preservation groups. A moratorium on rhino horn trade had been in effect in South Africa since 2009.

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Deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest

May 30, 2017 By EarthWise

The Amazon rainforest is the biggest in the world, larger than the next two biggest combined. It covers over 3 million square miles, roughly the size of the lower 48 states. For this reason, it functions as a critical sink for carbon in the atmosphere.

Reviving Vaquitas

May 9, 2017 By EarthWise

The world’s smallest porpoise is in real trouble. According to scientists, there could be as few as 30 vaquitas remaining on the planet. We highlighted the plight facing this species in detail last month.

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NASA And Chimpanzees

March 9, 2017 By EarthWise

Increasingly, conservation organizations are increasingly relying on satellite imagery to help save wildlife. The Jane Goodall Institute, a nonprofit focused on chimpanzee conservation, uses NASA’s and the U.S. Geological Survey’s Landsat satellite images to guide their chimpanzee conservation strategies.

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Changing National Parks

January 12, 2017 By EarthWise

America’s National Parks are special places of incomparable beauty and fascination. When the National Park Service was first created 100 years ago, it was instructed to leave these places “unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.” We now live in a time when the changing climate is altering many aspects of the landscape including in many national parks. The parks are protected, but they are changing.

It is widely thought that we are in the midst of the 6th great mass extinction of species on Earth and, unlike the previous ones that were caused by things like asteroid impacts or ice ages, this one is caused by us. Our impact on the climate, on natural resources, on landscapes and habitats, and more, has wreaked havoc on ecosystems across the globe.

[Read more…] about Wildlife Corridors

Size Matters

August 10, 2016 By WAMC WEB

One of the crowning achievements for wildlife protection in the US was the establishment of the National Wildlife Refuge system in the 1930s, when the populations of waterfowl were perilously low. Refuges provided breeding and migratory habitat that has allowed a remarkable recovery of many species of ducks and geese.

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Hidden Costs of E-Waste

June 17, 2016 By WAMC WEB

Recycling is often a great thing. But, when you hear about the conditions under which electronic waste is disassembled by impoverished peoples of developing nations, it gives one pause. [Read more…] about Hidden Costs of E-Waste

The State Of The Birds

June 6, 2016 By WAMC WEB

The North American Bird Conservation Initiative recently released its annual “State of the Birds’ report, which is a comprehensive analysis of North American birds. And as with many other things these days, we’re not doing well.

Ending The Protection Of Grizzly Bears

March 28, 2016 By WAMC WEB

Grizzly bears, also known as North American brown bears, once roamed much of North America and symbolized the continent’s untamed wilderness. But hunters and trappers nearly wiped them out across most of the Lower 48 states by the late 1800s.

Coexisting With Dangerous Carnivores

February 16, 2016 By WAMC WEB

We come across many things that we don’t like but that are nonetheless good for us or good for the world in general. On some level, we all make cost-benefits analyses to decide what to do about various things that we might just as soon do without.

Crocodiles And Climate Change

January 25, 2016 By WAMC WEB

Crocodiles are large aquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Asia, Africa, the Americas, and Australia. The first crocodiles appeared approximately 240 million years ago – around the same time as dinosaurs. And while the resilient species did survive the last great extinction, crocodiles might not be climate change-proof after all.

The Complicated Case Of Cecil The Lion

August 27, 2015 By EarthWise

The recent killing of Zimbabwe’s Cecil the Lion sparked a world-wide reaction and has focused a great deal of attention on the ethics of trophy hunting. There is no question that trophy hunting is an extremely polarizing issue and there are demands around the world to curtail the practice.