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☆ NASA’s only visit to Uranus happened during a rare cosmic occurrence
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-16 | by ( Katie Hunt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

This week, researchers shared fascinating new findings on Uranus, the seventh planet from the sun, and the far side of the moon. Other worldsIllustrations depict how Uranus' magnetosphere, or protective bubble, was behaving before Voyager 2's arrival (left) and during the spacecraft's flyby (right). An unusual cosmic occurrence during the Voyager 2 spacecraft’s 1986 flyby might have skewed how scientists characterized the ice giant, new research suggests. In particular, the spacecraft’s observations of Uranus’ protective magnetosphere were wildly different from astronomers’ expectations. Fortunately, sending a dedicated mission to study Uranus in the future is a priority for NASA, according to a 2022 report.

Persons: Jamie Jasinski, paleoanthropologist Don Johanson, what’s, Lucy, Johanson, ”, afarensis, doesn’t, Bathydevius, Bruce Robison, —, Marvel, Ashley Strickland, Katie Hunt, Jackie Wattles Organizations: CNN, NASA, JPL, Caltech, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Nature Reserve, WWF Tigers, Fund, Nature, Aquarium Research, CNN Space, Science Locations: Pasadena , California, Afar, Central Asia, Turkey, Russia, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Caspian, Netherlands, Kuma, Kazakhstan’s Ile, California, Mt, Everest, Monterey, what’s, Iraq

☆ Fires in Brazil’s Pantanal wetland break June record
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-14 | by ( Aditi Sangal | Mia Alberti | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Brazil’s Pantanal, the largest tropical wetland on earth, is ablaze, with fires in June breaking historical records for that month. Brazil’s National Institute of Space Research (INPE) has detected 733 fires in the Pantanal biome so far this month, with the previous record for fires in Pantanal for June being 435 registered in 2005. A view of a burnt monkey amongst the burnt vegetation in the Pantanal, the world's largest wetland, in Corumba, Mato Grosso do Sul state, Brazil, June 11, 2024. This seasonal flooding makes the Pantanal a unique biome where large swaths of land regularly turn from terrestrial into aquatic habitats and back again. In 2020, the fires destroyed unique habitats and wrecked the livelihoods of many of the Pantanal’s diverse indigenous communities.

Persons: Brazil’s Pantanal, Cynthia Santos, Ueslei Marcelino, ”, Andre Luiz Siqueira, It’s, ECOA, –, Ivana Kottasová, Henrik Pettersson, Krystina Organizations: Reuters, Brazil’s National Institute of Space Research, National Meteorological Institute, Wildlife Foundation, WWF Brazil, Fund, Nature, World Wildlife Fund, CNN Locations: Pantanal, Mato Grosso, Sul, Brazil, Corumba, Wetlands, Canada, South America, Brazilian

☆ Pacific Indigenous leaders have a new plan to protect whales. Treat them as people
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-14 | by ( Jared Formanek | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

Along with the Māori of New Zealand and groups from the Cook Islands, Indigenous leaders from Tahiti, Tonga, Hawaii, and Easter Island signed the He Whakaputanga Moana treaty. In the coming months, she plans to engage with various countries throughout the Pacific to discuss whale personhood legislation. The Cook Islands office said it had “yet to receive a formal submission” from indigenous leaders on the declaration’s implementation. Māori King Tūheitia Pōtatau and Tou Travel Ariki, Cook Islands President of the House of Ariki, at the signing of the He Whakaputanga Moana declaration in Rarotonga, Cook Islands. This came after a global ban on commercial whaling was instituted by the International Whaling Commission in 1986.

Persons: Mere, “, Tūheitia Pōtatau, Josh Baker, ” March’s, ”, Takoko, Britain’s King Charles III, Moana, Māori, Michelle Bender, ” Bender, Carlos Duarte, Ralph Chami, Chami, Miguel Medina, ” Chami, Duarte, Emily Charry Tissier, Charry Tissier, ” Duarte Organizations: Hong Kong CNN, Easter, Conservation, Fund, Nature, Conservation International Aotearoa, Ocean Initiative, New Zealand, Nations, New, Commonwealth, CNN, RNZ, New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Trade, ’ Office, International Whaling Commission, Ocean, King Abdullah University of Science, Technology, Bahia, Natural, Getty, “, International Monetary Fund, Initiative, United Nations Locations: Hong Kong, Rangitukia, New Zealand’s, Cook, New Zealand, Cook Islands, Tahiti, Tonga, Hawaii, Moana, Rarotonga, Atlantic, New, Te Whānau, Pacific, Samoa, Whanganui, “, Zealand, , New Zealand, Wellington, Seattle, Japan, Washington ,, Bahia Malaga, Colombia, AFP

CNN —A zookeeper in Austria has died and another has been seriously injured after being attacked by a rhino, Salzburg police said on Tuesday. The rhino attacked a 33-year-old female animal keeper while she attended to her early morning work in the animal’s enclosure at Salzburg Hellbrunn Zoo, police said in a press release. According to its website, the zoo is home to 150 species and 1,500 animals – including white rhinos. White rhinos are the second-largest land mammal and they can weigh between 3,080 and 7,920 pounds, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature. With fewer than 16,000 white rhinos left, their status is near-threatened.

Persons: zookeeper, Ulrike Ulmann, “, Ulmann Organizations: CNN, Salzburg Hellbrunn Zoo, Salzburg University Hospital, Fund, Nature Locations: Austria, Salzburg, Tamu, Athos

☆ Australia's Great Barrier Reef stays off UNESCO danger list, still under 'serious threat'
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] A colony of mushroom leather coral grows on the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Cairns, Australia October 25, 2019. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson/File PhotoSYDNEY, Aug 1 (Reuters) - A UNESCO heritage committee on Tuesday stopped short of listing Australia's Great Barrier Reef as a site that is "in danger" but warned the world's biggest coral reef ecosystem remained under "serious threat" from pollution and the warming of oceans. The UN panel has asked the government to submit a progress report by February 2024. The World Wide Fund for Nature-Australia said UNESCO could place the reef on the endangered list if the government failed to demonstrate progress on existing commitments. "There's an opportunity for Australia to lift its game before it is required to provide a progress report ... next year."

Persons: Lucas Jackson, Anthony Albanese, Richard Leck, Renju Jose, Lincoln Organizations: REUTERS, UNESCO, United Nations Educational, Cultural Organization, Labor, UN, Fund, Nature, Australia, Thomson Locations: Cairns, Australia, Queensland, Sydney

☆ These endangered leopards could be about to disappear in Cambodia
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-22 | by ( Kathleen Magramo | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Hong Kong CNN —The Indochinese leopard is dangerously close to becoming extinct in Cambodia, according to wild cat conservationists, who spent more than a decade looking for the creatures and found just 35. During that period, they only spotted 35 adult Indochinese leopards, and when they returned in 2021, not a single leopard could be seen. Historically, the Indochinese leopard was found throughout Indochina – spanning Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and parts of southwestern China – but almost all the territory they once roamed has disappeared due to human encroachment. Only 35 adult Indochinese leopards were seen between 2009 to 2021 in Cambodia, conservationist group Panthera found. While leopards are vanishing from Cambodia, their numbers in the wild along the Thailand-Myanmar border are likely less than 900, Rostro-García added.

Persons: Oxford University’s WildCRU, Hun Sen, ”, Susana Rostro, Gareth Mann Organizations: Hong Kong CNN, Oxford, Biological Conservation, WWF, FA Cambodia, Global Forest Watch, IUCN Locations: Hong Kong, Cambodia, Indochina, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, China, WWF Cambodia, Malaysia

☆ Half a Year After the COP Agreement on Nature, Companies Are Increasingly Looking at Their Biodiversity Impact
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-21 | by ( Joshua Kirby | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +8 min

While mandatory reporting on nature may still be a long way off, for some companies, measuring their impact on nature makes good business sense. “Not enough companies are actually measuring their corporate biodiversity impact,” said Steve Kennedy, associate professor in business sustainability at the Rotterdam School of Management. Biodiversity impact, on the other hand, remains a more nebulous concept, with widespread uncertainty about what to measure and how to measure it. While biodiversity impact remains difficult to assess, more complete data can help, said Zoe Balmforth, co-founder of biodiversity-data startup Pivotal. And companies will soon have a final framework on which to base their voluntary biodiversity reporting.

Persons: Jennifer Motles, Philip Morris, Motles, Katie Critchlow, Rémy Cointreau, Eric Vallat, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, ”, Steve Kennedy, Kennedy, “ It’s, “, ” Philip Morris International’s, Nicolo Filippo Rosso, Zoe Balmforth, Balmforth, Cameron Frayling, Frayling, U.N, JULIAN HABER, Kering, PMI’s Motles, Joshua Kirby Organizations: Philip Morris International, Data, Sustainable Business, Fund, Nature, PMI, Rotterdam School of Management . Companies, SAS, Bloomberg, World Bank, REUTERS Governments, United Nations ’, pharma, GSK, Gucci Locations: Montreal, American, of Mexico, Lake Erie, Colombia, Kunming, Canada, joshua.kirby

☆ Vodafone and Nestlé Created Panels to Avoid ‘Greenwashing’ Allegations
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-23 | by ( Dieter Holger | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +4 min

Vodafone Group and Nestlé have set up panels of experts to double check environmental claims before they appear on products and marketing, a move by the multinationals to avoid allegations of so-called greenwashing. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is updating its environmental marketing guidelines and the EU has proposed that businesses need to offer scientific evidence. The panels at Nestlé and Vodafone are examples of how companies are stepping up their due diligence of green claims in response to mounting scrutiny, tighter regulation, shifting consumer preferences and the threat of lawsuits. So far, that hasn’t happened, Mr. Reiter said. The packaged-foods company’s panels are staffed by employees from marketing, regulatory, scientific affairs, sustainability, legal and communications.

The cause of death was not immediately known and authorities will perform a post-mortem to find out more, the outlet reported. Uday – who was named by Indian citizens in a contest – was among 20 cheetahs airlifted to India over the past few months from Africa. The news of the deceased 6-year-old cheetah came just three weeks after his fellow feline, Sasha, died from a kidney infection. Laurie Marker, founder of the Namibia-based Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF), which also helped with transferring the animals, said re-establishing a population is very difficult. In late March, the country welcomed four newborn cheetahs for the first time since the species disappeared from India more than 70 years ago.

☆ Travel companies are ‘greenwashing’ — here are 3 ways to find ones that aren't
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-29 | by ( Monica Pitrelli | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

But finding companies that are serious about sustainability isn't easy, said James Thornton, CEO of tour company Intrepid Travel. "You see hotels saying they're sustainable, and then you're using these little travel bottles for shampoos and shower gels," he said. "The honest truth is that every travel company is ultimately contributing towards the climate crisis," he said. "So the best thing any travel company can start to do is measure the greenhouse gas emissions it creates." Other companies with B Corp status include Seventh Generation, Ben & Jerry's, Aesop — and Patagonia, which Thornton called "arguably the most famous B Corp in the world."

☆ Abalone and Dugongs threatened with extinction, warns IUCN Red List
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —The effects of human activity from climate change to pollution are “devastating” marine life, with nearly a tenth of underwater plants and animals assessed so far threatened with extinction, the latest Red List of Threatened Species showed on Friday. “It shows that we are having quite a devastating impact on marine species,” Craig Hilton-Taylor, head of the IUCN Red List, said. Linda Lombardi/AP/FILEHilton-Taylor said the portion of marine species facing extinction was likely much higher than current data shows because those analyzed so far have tended to be widespread fish species, not currently under threat. The latest list reviews abalone species, a type of mollusc sold as a luxury seafood item, for the first time and found that around 44% of them face extinction. “The awful status of these species should shock us and engage us for urgent action,” said Amanda Vincent, chair of the IUCN Species Survival Commission Marine Conservation Committee.

"There's now a big push to get nature into sovereign debt markets," said Simon Zadek, executive director at NatureFinance, which advises governments on debt-for-nature swaps and other types of climate-focused finance. At that level, it would be the biggest debt-for-nature swap struck to date. The combined value of swap deals to date is $3.7 billion, according to the data. Securing the buy-in of development banks is usually key for the economics of a deal. The WWF has projects in Central and South America where they are monitoring deforestation by tracking jaguars, said Brenes, who has worked on debt-for-nature swaps for the last 25 years.

☆ O suprafață de pădure de dimensiunea Franței s-a regenerat în ultimii 20 de ani
▼ + stars: | 2021-05-11 | by ( Onixmedia Srl | ) diez.md time to read: +2 min

O suprafață de pădure de dimensiunea Franței s-a regenerat în ultimii 20 de aniO suprafață de pădure de dimensiunea Franței s-a regenerat natural la nivel mondial în ultimii 20 de ani, arată un studiu citat de BBCPădurile regenerate ar putea absorbi echivalentul a 5,9 gigatone de dioxid de carbon – mai mult decât cantitatea anuală de emisii produsă de SUA, potrivit grupurilor de conservare. William Baldwin-Cantello de la WWF a spus că regenerarea naturală a pădurilor este deseori mai „ieftină, productivă și favorabilă biodiversității decât plantarea activă de păduri”. În același timp, el spune că regenerarea pădurilor trebuie apreciată la adevărata valoare. O suprafață de mărimea Olandei s-a regenerat acolo în ultimii 20 de ani. Totodată, în pădurile din nordul Mongoliei 1,2 milioane de hectare de pădure s-au regenerat în ultimii 20 de ani.

Persons: William Baldwin Organizations: BBC, World Wide, WWF Locations: Franței, SUA, Atlanticului, Brazilia, Olandei, Africa Centrală, Canada, Braziliei

☆ (studiu) World Wide Fund for Nature – arată impactul reducerii consumului de carne asupra mediului
▼ + stars: | 2021-04-07 | by ( Onixmedia Srl | ) diez.md time to read: +1 min

Studiul a analizat aşa-numita dietă flexitariană, ai cărei adepți consumă în medie 470 de grame de carne pe săptămână, prin comparație cu un german obișnuit care consumă 817 grame de carne săptămânal. Împreună cu produsele lactate, aceasta reprezintă 70% din emisiile de carbon provenite din producția de hrană. Reducerea consumului de carne la jumătate ar putea reduce emisiile de carbon ale Germaniei cu 27 %, echivalentul a 56 de milioane de tone, potrivit WWF. Per ansamblu, Germania produce circa 210 milioane de tone de emisii de carbon din producția de alimente în fiecare an. WWF a îndemnat publicul să-şi reconsidere dietele și a făcut un apel la guvernul german să ia în calcul introducerea unei taxe pe produsele de origine animală.

Organizations: WWF, Agerpres Locations: Germaniei, Germania

☆ Monumentele și clădirile emblematice din lume și-au stins luminile pentru a marca Ora Pământului
▼ + stars: | 2021-03-28 | by ( Onixmedia Srl | ) diez.md time to read: +2 min

A venit apoi rândul monumentelor din America să intre în întuneric, de la Obeliscul din centrul Buenos Aires la Museu do Amanha (Muzeul de Mâine) din Rio de Janeiro sau zgârie-norul BBVA din Mexico City. Această mobilizare anuală pentru Ora Pământului, iniţiativă demarată de World Wide Fund (WWF), are drept obiectiv mobilizarea în vederea demarării unor iniţiative în domeniul schimbărilor climatice şi al protecţiei mediului. Anul acesta, organizatorii au dorit să scoată în evidenţă legătura dintre distrugerea naturii şi incidenţa în creştere a cazurilor de COVID-19. „Fie că este vorba despre declinul polenizatorilor, scăderea numărului de peşti din oceane şi râuri, dispariţia pădurilor sau pierderi generale din domeniul biodiversităţii, indiciile potrivit cărora natura este în pericol se înmulţesc”, a spus Marco Lambertini, directorul general WWF, organizaţie care a demarat Earth Hour în anul 2007. „Protejarea naturii este responsabilitatea noastră morală, iar prejudiciile ne cresc totodată vulnerabilitatea în faţa pandemiei, accelerează schimbările climatice şi ne pun în pericol siguranţa alimentară„, a mai spus el.

Persons: Antoni Gaudi, Marco Organizations: Evenimentul, World Wide Fund, WWF Locations: Singapore, Hong Kong, Sydney, Roma, Piaţa, Moscova, Poarta Brandenburg, Berlin, Palatul Westminster, Londra, Paris, Barcelona, Spaniei, Vienna, America, Buenos Aires, do, Rio de Janeiro, Mexico City

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