Category: Animal_Bio_MN

Between a third and half of the world’s wild tree species are threatened with extinction, posing a risk of wider ecosystem collapse, the most comprehensive global stocktake to date warns. Forest clearance for farming is by far the biggest cause of the die-off, according to the State of the World’s Trees report, which was released on Wednesday along with a call for urgent action to reverse the decline.

Bees and other pollinators are essential to food production and the function of many ecological systems. The UN estimates that 75% of the world’s crops that produce fruits and seeds for human consumption rely on pollinators.1 There are some 20,000 species that aid in plant reproduction and form key links in healthy ecosystems.

Rapidly melting sea ice in the Arctic has notoriously decimated the habitats of the world’s beloved polar bears. Now, another polar species is staring down the barrel of extinction on the opposite side of the globe. 

Eliminating plastic pollution, reducing pesticide use by two-thirds, halving the rate of invasive species introduction and eliminating $500bn (£360bn) of harmful environmental government subsidies a year are among the targets in a new draft of a Paris-style UN agreement on biodiversity loss.

According to the most recent figures from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), 761 manatees have died so far this year.1

“This is more than double the amount of the total recorded deaths last year,” Ally Greco, Director of Communications and Outreach at conservation nonprofit Save the Manatee Club, explains to Treehugger.

North Atlantic right whales are struggling to survive, and it shows. Most of the 360 or so North Atlantic right whales alive today bear scars from entanglements in fishing gear and collisions with speeding ships and, according to a new study, they are much smaller than they should be.

Wildlife ranging from bluebells and bumblebees to snow leopards and emperor penguins is under threat from climate change, according to a new report. Even the coffee plants that produce one of the world’s favourite brews are at risk from rising temperatures, conservation charity WWF has warned.

Leave it to National Geographic to match Angelina Jolie with a delicate, but powerful supporting cast of honeybees. The actor and humanitarian, in partnership with photographer Dan Winters, was determined to create an image for World Bee Day (May 20) that could both draw attention to the plight of native bees and efforts underway to help support them. In the end, they decided that including the very thing they were trying to protect would offer the most artistic impact.

Seafood is one of the most globally traded food commodities, and demand for it continues to rise. As a result, levels of fishing in many areas of the world are becoming increasingly unsustainable, and the list of endangered marine and freshwater species grows ever longer. Companies within the seafood industry are increasingly willing to work with governments and conservation groups to shift the seafood market toward more sustainable and responsible sourcing. At the same time, though, some companies have yet to ban endangered species from their supply chains—a bare minimum requirement on the path to sustainability.