WHAT IF THE BEST KEPT SECRET TO OUR SPIRITUAL ASCENSION IS TO LOVE AND RESPECT ALL ANIMALS AND PLANT LIFE?

Extinctions proliferate one individual death at a time.

Wow!

THE 6TH MASS EXTINCTION

News Articles
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Humanity is the greatest challenge (11.05.2007)
We've outgrown the planet and need radical action to avert unspeakable consequences. This - by a huge margin - has become humanity's greatest challenge.

Gorillas head race to extinction (09.12.2007)
(BBC) Gorillas, orangutans, and corals are among the plants and animals which are sliding closer to extinction.

U.N.: World often 'slow' to help environment (10.25.2007)
(MSNBC/Associated Press) The U.N. agency said in a report that nations still fail to recognize the seriousness of environmental threats to the planet.

Species extinctions still rising, experts warn (09.12.2007)
(MSNBC) "The rate of biodiversity loss is increasing, and we need to act now to significantly reduce it and stave off this global extinction crisis," Julia Marton-Lefèvre, the group's director general, said in a statement.

1 in 6 European mammals face extinction (05.22.2007)
(Reuters/CNN) One in six European land mammals faces the threat of extinction, mainly through habitat loss and deforestation, a leading conservation group said on Tuesday. For marine mammals, the figure is higher at nearly one in four, but even this could be an underestimate because insufficient information is available on 44 percent of European marine mammal species, the World Conservation Union (IUCN) said.

U.N. estimates 3 extinctions an hour (05.22.2007)
(MSNBC) Human activities are wiping out three animal or plant species every hour and the world must do more to slow the worst spate of extinctions since the dinosaurs by 2010, the United Nations said on Tuesday.

'Mass Extinction' Theory: Life On Earth Threatened (02.21.2007)
(CBS) While global warming continues to gain widespread public awareness, a potentially more devastating environmental threat is only beginning to get noticed, reports Tony Russomanno with KPIX-TV, the CBS station in San Francisco.

Animal Extinction: The greatest threat to mankind (04.30.2007)
(The Independent) By the end of the century, half of all species will be extinct. Does that matter?

Draft of climate report maps out 'highway to extinction' (04.01.2007)
(CNN) A key element of the second major report on climate change being released Friday in Belgium is a chart that maps out the effects of global warming, most of them bad, with every degree of temperature rise.

Eco-overdraft sends earth into the red (10.10.2006)
(CNN) Barely a day goes by without some new scientific study or media headline adding to what is already a bleak picture of global environmental degradation.

'Heaven or Hell' (06.26.2006)
Heaven or Hell? In the second of a three-part series CNN hears how some scientists believe the future will be worse than our darkest nightmares.

Dire Warning of environmental collapse (03.29.2006)
(AFP) The cataclysmic consequences of unsustainable development pose a challenge to the world that will make the war on terror seem a mere distraction.

Stopping the next extinction wave (03.07.2006)
(BBC) A scientific study pinpoints 20 areas in the world where animals are not at immediate risk of extinction, but where risk is likely to arise soon.

Extinction alert for 800 species
(BBC) Researchers have compiled a global map of sites where animals and plants face imminent extinction. 12/12/2005

Study highlights global decline
(BBC) The most comprehensive survey ever into the state of the planet concludes that human activities threaten the Earth's ability to sustain future generations. 3/30/2005

Science counts species on brink
(BBC) The scale of the extinction threat facing animals and plants is made clear in the latest Red List from the IUCN-The World Conservation Union. 11/17/2004

Species disappearing at an alarming rate, report says
(MSNBC) The world's biodiversity is declining at an unprecedented rate, the recognized global watchdog on endangered species said Wednesday in announcing its annual list of most vulnerable wildlife. November 17, 2004

Earth faces sixth mass extinction
(NEW SCIENTIST) The Earth may be on the brink of a sixth mass extinction on a par with the five others that have punctuated its history, suggests the strongest evidence yet. 3/18/2004

Extinction Looms Over Larger Species
(MSNBC) WASHINGTON - Being the biggest dog may pay off at feeding time, but species that grow too large may be more vulnerable to extinction, new research suggests.

Study sees far deeper species extinction - Team estimates thousands more vulnerable due to dependency
(MSNBC) Conservationists concerned about the extinction of plants and animals are overlooking the danger to thousands of other species that depend on the threatened ones and could themselves go extinct, researchers reported in the new issue of the journal Science.

Conservation watchdog warns of extinctions -
Governments, business urged to do more
BANGKOK. Thailand - The world’s list of endangered species is growing at an alarming and unprecedented rate as governments pay less and less attention to green issues, the world's conservation watchdog said Tuesday.

Endangered species list growing, says green group
BANGKOK - The world's list of endangered species is growing at an alarming and unprecedented rate as governments pay less and less attention to green issues, a major global environmental body said on Tuesday.

Confirming the Global Extinction Crisis
A call for international action as the most authoritative global assessment of species loss is released

Scientists agree world faces mass extinction
(CNN) -- The complex web of life on Earth, what scientists call "biodiversity," is in serious trouble.

Planet faces mass extinction
Cape Town - The health of the planet must become as important as anything else with the environment seen as a basic human right, according to world renowned palaeontologist and conservationist Richard Leakey.

Wake-up call on extinction wave
UK scientists have issued a clarion call to the world to recognise the galloping rate of species extinction.

UN paints grim global picture
Time running out for ecology, report warns; new threat is found

Worldwatch Report:
Fastest mass extinction in Earth history

Evidence points to mass extinction
THE worst mass extinction in the history of the planet could be replicated in as little as a century if global warming continues, according to new evidence.

Human Impact Triggers Massive Extinctions
ST. LOUIS, Missouri, August 2, 1999 (ENS) - Humanity's impact on the earth has increased extinction rates to levels rivaling the five mass extinctions of past geologic history, transformed nearly half of Earth’s land and created 50 dead zones in the world’s oceans, according to research being presented this week at the 16th International Botanical Congress.

SPECIES: UNPRECEDENTED EXTINCTION RATE,
AND IT'S INCREASING
The world's species face an unprecedented crisis. The rate at which they are being lost is alarming, even when compared with the extinction episode of 70 million years ago when the dinosaurs disappeared.

The Current Mass Extinction:
Is the biosphere today on the verge of anything like the mass extinctions of the geological past? Could some equivalent of meteorite impacts or dramatic climate change be underway, as humankind's rapid destruction of natural habitats forces animals and plants out of existence?

The Sixth Extinction
"In pushing other species to extinction, humanity is busy sawing off the limb on which it is perched."

Wave of extinctions sweeping the planet
LONDON - Planet Earth is going through its sixth and probably its most devastating period of mass extinction with scores, and possibly hundreds of species of animals and plants dying out each year.

ANIMALS IN THE RED: Mounting Evidence of Jeopardy to World's Species
A quarter of all known mammal species are at risk of extinction, according to the new 1996 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals, the most comprehensive scientific assessment of threatened species ever produced.

WPC report paints grim picture of extinction
Many species are poised on the edge of extinction following a reduction by half over the past two decades of wild and natural areas outside parks and other reserves, according to the Durban Accord.

Special Event Millennium 2000: Environment
Aired January 2, 2000 - 11:23 a.m. ET
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Scientists say there has been five mass extinctions in history, they contend we're on the verge of another one, and humankind is mostly to blame.

NATIONAL SURVEY REVEALS BIODIVERSITY CRISIS -
SCIENTIFIC EXPERTS BELIEVE WE ARE IN MIDST OF
FASTEST MASS EXTINCTION IN EARTH'S HISTORY
Crisis Poses Major Threat to Human Survival; Public Unaware of Danger

Dying species 'endangering' Earth
A distinguished conservationist has rekindled the dispute about how many species are becoming extinct.

Islands of hope to challenge extinction
With the Earth approaching a wave of extinctions some scientists say bears comparison with the death of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, research suggests a radical approach could save many wild species from dying out.

World wildlife warning
Nearly a quarter of mammals face extinction, says report. A report by two international scientific groups says global wildlife faces the greatest extinction risk since the dinosaurs disappeared.

The Current Mass Extinction
The phrase mass extinction usually brings to mind events sparked by dramatic environmental change, such as the asteroid impact that led to the demise of the dinosaurs and many other species 65 million years ago.

A Global Picture of Death, Damage and Destruction
Atlas produced by the United Nations demonstrates how mankind is changing the world and driving thousands of species to extinction

Living Planet plundered of its natural resources in 25 years, says WWF
Humans have destroyed more than 30 per cent of the natural world since 1970, WWF has announced.

One world is not enough...
If every human alive today consumed natural resources and emitted carbon dioxide at the same rate as the average person in the developed world, we would need at least another two Planet Earths.

Wake-up call for Planet Earth as natural resources decline
Planet Earth is suffering such a rapid loss of its natural resources - its biodiversity - that we are now eating into its capital stocks of forest, fish and fertile soil.

Extinction threat 'needs action now'
THOUSANDS of Australia's birds, mammals and reptile species are said to be in danger of extinction before the end of the century according to a leaked Federal Government report.

SE Asia faces 'catastrophic' extinction rate
The rate of extinction threatening to engulf south-east Asia this century could be a "catastrophic" 20%, scientists say.

World 'losing battle against extinctions'
Humans have done too little to find sustainable ways of sharing the Earth's resources, a US scientist says.

Extinctions, Not Random, Threaten Thousands Of Species
A new study indicates that thousands of at-risk bird and mammal species world-wide could eventually become extinct due to the non-random nature of extinctions.

Human race is killing planet, says Meacher
Michael Meacher, the environment minister, believes there is a real question mark over the survival of the human race, and in a lecture today compares the species to a virus which is in danger of destroying the planet.

Relatively speaking, time is 'nearly up' for future of human race
The human race is set to vanish from the earth much sooner than it would naturally as a result of its destruction of other species and use of fossil fuels, a leading investigator into the history of extinction predicted yesterday.

Humans moving closer to extinction, study says
Standing at the brink of the new millennium, it looks like mankind is rapidly overtaking the Earth's capacity to support humans, and it's possible we are on a path toward extinction, according to a sweeping study to be published today.

What We Must Do To Counter The BIOTIC HOLOCAUST
A veteran conservation strategist looks at the world's cataclysmic loss of species and offers ways to minimize the disaster

Earth 'will expire by 2050'
Our planet is running out of room and resources. Modern man has plundered so much, a damning report claims this week, that outer space will have to be colonised

Disposable Planet?
The Earth's population is soaring, but its resources are finite. Can we provide food, water, energy – and televisions, cars and holidays - for everyone, and leave future generations more than a planet-sized rubbish tip?

Is Humanity Suicidal? Edward O. Wilson New York Times Magazine May 30 1993

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CLIMATE CHANGE

News Articles (to top)
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Climate threat to biodiversity (10.24.2007)
Global temperatures predicted for the coming centuries could trigger a mass extinction, UK scientists have warned.

Global warming effects will be on the level of nuclear war if left unchecked (09.12.2007)
(MSNBC/Reuters) Climate change could have global security implications on a par with nuclear war unless urgent action is taken, a report said on Wednesday.

Data confirm scientists' fears of sea ice loss (09.06.2007)
(MSNBC/Associated Press) 20 years of observations support drastic melting prediction, researchers say. An analysis of 20 years? worth of real-life observations supports recent U.N. computer predictions that by 2050, summer sea ice off Alaska?s north coast will probably shrink to nearly half the area it covered in the 1980s, federal scientists say.

Polar bears extinct by 2050? (09.08.2007)
(MSNBC/Associated Press) Two-thirds of the world's current polar bear population could be gone by midcentury if predictions of melting sea ice hold true, the U.S. Geological Survey reported on Friday.

Vanishing Himalayan glaciers threaten a billion (06.04.2007)
(Reuters) Himalayan glaciers could disappear within 50 years because of climate change, having far-reaching implications for more than a billion people living in the region, experts said on Monday.

China could lose western glaciers by 2100: Xinhua (06.04.2007)
(Reuters) China's western glaciers are melting so fast that they may have largely disappeared by the end of the century, drying up parts of the rivers they currently feed, the official Xinhua agency reported on Monday.

Global warming threatens New Zealand "dinosaurs" (06.04.2007)
(Reuters) It has survived ice ages, volcanic eruptions and the intrusion of humans on its South Pacific island home, but New Zealand's last survivor of the dinosaur age may become extinct due to global warming.

Earth near climate 'tipping points,' NASA says (05.31.2007)
(MSNBC) Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases emitted by humans have brought Earth?s climate close to "critical tipping points, with potentially dangerous consequences for the planet," NASA said Thursday in describing the findings of a new study.

Great apes 'facing climate peril' (05.30.2007)
Great apes are facing an "inevitable crisis" arising from climage change, a leading conservationist has warned.

Global Warming Is Forcing the American Pika up Mountains and Toward Extinction (05.09.2007)
(ABC News) Voted the second cutest animal in North America in a recent World Wildlife Fund survey, the American pika is now climbing mountains toward extinction, say scientists.

Migratory birds, whales confused by warming: U.N. (05.07.2007)
(Reuters) - Birds, whales and other migratory creatures are suffering from global warming that puts them in the wrong place at the wrong time, a U.N. official told 166-nation climate talks on Monday.

Cayman coral dies off as water warms (05.07.2007)
(MSNBC) The Cayman Islands have lost 50 percent of its hard corals in the last 10 years in spite of strong environmental laws, and scientists tie that to global warming.

Arctic melt worse than predictions (05.02.2007)
(CNN) Arctic sea ice is melting at a rate far quicker than predicted by climate change computer models and could disappear completely before the middle of the century, scientists have warned.

Global Warming effects swallow Thai villages (05.02.2007)
(MSNBC Video) Two villages in Thailand are being swallowed by rising waters due to global warming. MSNBC.com's Dara Brown reports.

Europe's move to biofuels threatens rainforest (04.26.2007)
(MSNBC) Europe's dash for biofuels could accelerate the destruction of tropical rainforests, the European Commission admitted on Thursday.

Frog, Lizard extinctions caused by climate, not fungus (04.17.2007)
(National Geographic) A changing climate may be responsible for the sharp drop in more than a dozen species of lizards and frogs in Central America, according to a new long-term study.

U.N.: Warming ruining society, nature (04.06.2007)
Top climate experts warned on Friday that global warming will cause faster and wider damage than previously forecast, ranging from hunger in Africa and Asia to extinctions and rising ocean levels.

Draft of climate report maps out 'highway to extinction' (04.01.2007)
(CNN) A key element of the second major report on climate change being released Friday in Belgium is a chart that maps out the effects of global warming, most of them bad, with every degree of temperature rise.

Climate report: Droughts, starvation, disease (03.10.2007)
(MSNBC) Terry Root of Stanford University said: “We truly are standing at the edge of mass extinction” of species.

U.S. in 2006 saw warmest year on record (01.09.2007)
(MSNBC) Last year was the warmest on record in the continental United States, the federal government reported Tuesday.

Fish species tries to evade warming seas (01.05.2007)
(MSNBC) Worldwide, warming waters can be expected to strain species that require lots of oxygen, forcing them to either relocate to cooler waters or face extinction, the authors write.

Ancient ice shelf breaks free in Canadian Arctic (12.29.2006)
(MSNBC) A giant ice shelf has snapped free from an island south of the North Pole, scientists said Thursday, citing climate change as a “major” reason for the event.

Rising oceans could threaten low-lying coasts (12.14.2006)
(MSNBC) The world's oceans may rise up to 140 cms (4 feet, 7 inches) by 2100 due to global warming, a faster-than-expected increase that could threaten low-lying coasts from Florida to Bangladesh, a researcher said on Thursday.

Study: Current that warms Europe weakening
(CNN) The Atlantic Ocean's flow between the tropics and cold, northern waters appears to be weakening, which could drastically alter the weather in Europe, a newly released study shows. 12/1/2005

Inuit say global warming violates their human rights
(CNN) OSLO, Norway (Reuters) -- Inuit hunters threatened by a melting of the Arctic ice plan to file a petition accusing Washington of violating their human rights by fueling global warming, an Inuit leader said on Wednesday. 6/15/2005

Experts unite to fight sea rises
(BBC) Researchers have joined forces in Devon to discover ways to tackle rising sea levels on UK coastlines. 6/15/2005

Business giants urge warming action
(MSNBC) Big business added its voice on Thursday to a growing crescendo of calls on the governments of the world’s richest nations to take urgent action to curb potentially catastrophic global warming. 6/9/2005

Millions 'hit by global warming'
(BBC) Millions of people in England and Wales are being seriously affected by pollution and global warming, the Environment Agency says. A major report by the agency praises air and water quality improvements but says we must plan for climate change. The "green health check" says flooding and extreme weather will be among Britain's biggest problems. 6/9/2005

Prime Minister Blair Calls for U.S. Action on Climate
(NOVA) Prime Minister Tony Blair said Wednesday he was hopeful of a deal on tackling climate change and lifting Africa out of poverty following talks in Washington on his G8 priorities. 6/8/2005

Report: U.S. official edited warming, emission link
(Reuters / CNN) A White House official, who previously worked for the American Petroleum Institute, has repeatedly edited government climate reports in a way that downplays links between greenhouse gas emissions and global warming, The New York Times reported Wednesday. 6/8/2005

World scientists urge CO2 action
(BBC) The science academies of the world's leading nations have urged their governments to take prompt action to combat possible climate change. 6/8/2005

Academies call for greenhouse gas reductions
(CNN) Science academies of the G-8 countries joined Tuesday in a call for prompt action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and warning that delays will be costly. 6/7/2005

Permafrost May Be Shrinking Arctic Lakes
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Associated Press) -- Arctic lakes are shrinking, and melting permafrost brought on by higher temperatures may be the reason, according to a research paper.... 6/3/2005 9:26 PM

Schwarzenegger defies Bush on warming
(MSNBC) Taking a much stronger stand than President Bush has, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger unveiled a plan to combat global warming by setting goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the state. 6/2/2005 9:32 AM

Japanese dress down to battle warming
(MSNBC) In a nationwide campaign to reduce gases tied to global warming by cutting down on air-conditioning, the government has asked public workers to leave their ties and jackets home for the summer. 5/31/2005 10:11 AM

Industry chiefs' environment plea
(BBC) Britain's leading industrialists write to the prime minister demanding long-term policies to combat climate change. 5/27/2005 2:29 AM

Changes in Gulf Stream could chill Europe
(CNN) One outcome of global warming could be a dramatic cooling of Britain and northern Europe. 5/10/2005

Greenhouse gases 'do warm oceans'
(BBC) Scientists say they have "compelling" evidence that ocean warming over the past 40 years can be linked to the industrial release of carbon dioxide. 2/17/2005

NASA: 2005 could be warmest year recorded
(CNN) -- A weak El Nino and human-made greenhouse gases could make 2005 the warmest year since records started being kept in the late 1800s, NASA scientists said this week.
February 11, 2005

Glaciers shrinking in a warming world
(CNN) -- Up and down the icy spine of South America, the glaciers are melting, the white mantle of the Andes Mountains washing away at an ever faster rate.
February 7, 2005

Antarctica's shifting ice
(CNN) -- Scientists looking southward from the tip of South America, over steel-gray waters toward icy Antarctica, see only questions on the horizon about the fate of the planet.
February 7, 2005

Report: Global warming near critical point
(MSNBC) -- Global warming is approaching they point of no return, after which widespread drought, crop failure and rising sea levels will be irreversible, an international climate change task force warned Monday.

'Sudden jump' in greenhouse gases
(CNN) -- A U.S. scientist is reported to have observed a surprising jump in the amount of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas.
October 11, 2004

Climate expert in war of words on warming
Chief U.N. scientist says 'no question' phenomenon is real and dangerous.

China in for Extreme Weather as Climate Change Felt
November 09, 2004 — By Reuters - BEIJING - China can expect more droughts, floods and other extreme weather as it struggles to balance rapid development with environmental concerns, a report on climate change released on Tuesday said.

Study: Arctic warming threatens people, wildlife
Eight-nation report faults fossil fuels for accelerated warming
Global warming is heating the Arctic almost twice as fast as the rest of the planet in a thaw that threatens the livelihoods of millions of people and could wipe out polar bears by 2100, according to an eight-nation report released on Monday.

By 2050 Warming to Doom Million Species, Study Says
By 2050, rising temperatures exacerbated by human-induced belches of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases could send more than a million of Earth's land-dwelling plants and animals down the road to extinction, according to a new study.

Global Warming 'Threatens Third of World Habitat'
LONDON (Reuters) - A third of the world's habitat is under threat from global warming and could either disappear or change beyond recognition by the end of this century, according to a World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF) report Wednesday.

Global Warming and Abrupt Climate Changes May Make Mass Extinction Unavoidable, Scientists Warn
San Francisco, Calif. – Worldwide efforts to protect plant and animal species may not be enough to avoid a mass extinction in the face of unexpected climate changes and global warming, says a University of Arizona geoscientist.

Global warming hits species all over world, says study
LONDON — From dying coral reefs to later autumns and endangered male painted turtles, global warming has started to affect plant and animal life across the planet, scientists said Wednesday.

Whale Population Devastated by Warming Oceans, Scientists Say
Global warming has caused an unexpected collapse in the numbers of the world's most hunted whale, scientists believe.

Climate change threatens blue whales
The Antarctic blue whale could become the next victim of climate change, warns a new report from WWF.

Most of our animals face extinction
Global warming could have a disastrous effect on most of the country's natural resources, says shock report

Climate 'will lead to hungry century'
Scientists say rising global temperatures will condemn millions to hunger this century.

Climate change threatens Africa's people and wildlife
Africa's food and water supply, as well as many of the plants and animals that make the continent unique, are under threat if climate change continues at its current rate.

Insurer issues global warming warning
GENEVA - Insurance giant Swiss Re warned on Wednesday that the costs of natural disasters, aggravated by global warming, threaten to spiral out of control, forcing the human race into a catastrophe of its own making.

New report reveals true threat from climate change
WWF is urging governments to take action to bring about significant reductions in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the light of a disturbing new report on climate change.

North Sea faces collapse of its ecosystem
Fish stocks and sea bird numbers plummet as soaring water temperatures kill off vital plankton

Antarctic ice crumbling rapidly
Two ice shelves on the Antarctic peninsula are crumbling far faster than anyone had predicted.

Climate change warning as ice shelf breaks up
WWF is urging governments to step up their fight against climate change, following news that a massive Antarctic ice shelf has broken apart in less than a month.

Arctic 'now adding to global warming'
Scientists say there are indications that climate change has begun to feed on itself. They say at least some parts of the Arctic appear to have changed as the region has warmed.

Arctic warming gathers pace
US researchers say they have found evidence of rapid warming in parts of the Arctic over the last 30 years.

Arctic wildlife feels the heat
A Greenpeace expedition to the Arctic says it has found new evidence to show that climate change appears to be affecting the region's wildlife.

Exotic Antarctic Species Face Climate Wipeout
LEICESTER, England (Reuters) - Thousands of the world's most exotic species of sea animals from spiders the size of dinner plates to giant woodlice face extinction if Antarctic sea temperatures rise as predicted, a scientist said Monday.

Penguin Decline in Antarctica Linked With Climate Change
Emperor penguins like it cold. Now, scientists have determined that the penguins' susceptibility to climate change accounts for a dramatic decline in their number over the past half century.

Greenland ice warning
The vast ice sheet covering Greenland is thinning by up to a metre a year, according to a paper in this week's edition of the journal Science.

Bering Sea changes baffle scientists
Marine biologists are puzzled by a series of abnormal conditions which have affected the Bering Sea, between Alaska and Siberia, during the last two summers

Kilimanjaro's white peak to disappear
The beautiful ice fields on the top of Mount Kilimanjaro in East Africa could completely melt away in the next 20 years if the Earth continues to warm at the rate many scientists now claim.

Mount Kilimanjaro's Glacier Is Crumbling
Last January, amateur adventurer Vince Keipper realized a long-time goal when he trekked to the top of Tanzania's Mount Kilimanjaro. But the view from Africa's 19,340-foot (5,895-meter) rooftop hardly compared to what he saw on the way up the mountain's Western Breach.

Everest Melting? High Signs of Climate Change
A team sponsored by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has found signs that the landscape of Mount Everest has changed significantly since Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay first conquered the peak in 1953. A primary cause is the warming global climate. But the growing impact of tourism is also taxing the world's highest mountain.

Melting Himalayan Glaciers May Doom Towns
Dozens of mountain lakes in Nepal and Bhutan are so swollen from melting glaciers that they could burst their seams in the next five years and devastate many Himalayan villages, warns a new report from the United Nations.

A Global Warming Report Predicts Doom for Many Species
LONDON, Aug. 31 -- Global warming could wipe out many species of plants and animals by the end of the 21st century.

World: Americas: The Thawing of Alaska
As Alaska's climate changes, its landscape is being transformed.

South African Desert Becomes Global-Warming Lab
About 900 miles (1,450 kilometers) northwest of Cape Town, South Africa, lies the Succulent Karoo, one of the world's most plentiful, and most threatened, desert ecosystems.

Carbon levels 'threaten coral'
Researchers in the US suspect rising carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in the atmosphere could reduce coral growth by almost half.

Global warming: Your questions answered
The world's governments have been trying to work out in Buenos Aires what can be done about the threat we face from climate change.

Early UK springs become 'normal'
The effects of climate change mean there is increasing acceptance by Britons of spring arriving early, scientists say.

Greenland ice warning
The vast ice sheet covering Greenland is thinning by up to a metre a year, according to a paper in this week's edition of the journal Science.

India's global warming fears
In India, weather-related natural disasters already cause annual chaos.

Scientist urges US climate help
The US will have to help combat climate change if extreme weather events are to be avoided, the UK government's chief scientist has warned.

Climate change outstrips forecasts
The world's leading climatologists say global warming is happening faster than previously predicted.

Climate change 'threatens Arctic birds'
A study of the impact of climate change on Arctic breeding water birds suggests that some species could be more than halved.

Climate change warning
A draft report on the probable impacts of climate change, written by the world's leading climate scientists, carries a stark warning - that the world may be in for some nasty shocks.

Climate claims the golden toad
The golden toad of Costa Rica may have been driven to extinction by climate change, scientists believe.

Climate threat to coral reefs
The world's coral reefs, already facing several threats to their health, are now thought to be in further jeopardy.

Climate 'threat' to US water
Climate change during this century could seriously affect water resources in the US, a report warns.

Clinton's climate change warning
President Clinton has told Americans that climate change is a reality, and that the United States faces serious damage as a consequence.

Global warming could starve polar bears
Climate change is threatening polar bears with starvation by shortening their hunting season, according to a study by scientists from the Canadian Wildlife Service.

Grim climate warning
With another major international conference on climate change starting in Argentina on Monday, delegates will be pondering a sombre message from a panel of respected British climatologists.

Humanity blamed for ice loss
A new study says there is now very little doubt that human-induced warming is behind the rapid thinning of Arctic sea ice seen in recent years.

Severe loss to Arctic ozone
Ozone levels over the Arctic have fallen dramatically this winter, say scientists.

Walruses 'threatened by climate change'
The environmental campaign group Greenpeace says it has found evidence that walruses and other Arctic species are being affected by climate change.

Climate 'threatens third of forests'
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) says the world's changing climate poses a grave risk to one third of its forests.

Saving the world's climate
Representatives from 180 countries held two weeks of negotiations in Buenos Aires in November on how to tackle the urgent problems threatening our environment. BBC New Online's special coverage examines the outcome and the challenges they faced.

Alaskans face the thaw
As ministers gather in the Hague to discuss climate change, environment correspondent Robert Piggot visits West Alaska

2003 summer hottest in 500 years
European researchers say last summer was the hottest on the continent for at least five centuries.

Rising tides threaten Pacific islanders
Rising tides caused by global warming in the South Pacific are threatening to flood low-lying islands. Now some remote islands are in danger of disappearing altogether.

Belize Reef Die-Off Due to Climate Change?
Tim McClanahan, a conservation zoologist with the Bronx, New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society, has studied the coral barrier reefs of Belize for the past decade.

Scientific studies in Australia identify 90 animal species at risk from climate change.
The number of Australian species threatened by climate change could be far higher, but are yet to be studied because of extremely low levels of Government funding for climate impacts research.

Climate Studies Point to More Floods in This Century
Two separate teams of scientists are predicting more extreme rainfall and greater flooding in this century.

Decline in oceans' phytoplankton alarms scientists
Experts pondering whether reduction of marine plant life is linked to warming of the seas.

Climate changes may blot out SA as we know it
The build-up of greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere will produce alarming climate changes in South Africa in the next 50 years, causing massive die-offs of plant species, rising temperatures, increases in fires and lower rainfalls.

Senate committee OKs climate-shift study
WASHINGTON - A $60 million program for researching sudden or unexpected changes in the climate would be created under legislation that won approval Tuesday by a Senate committee.

Storm over Pentagon climate scenario
A report commissioned by a Pentagon think tank is creating a storm of controversy — not because of any military scenarios but because of what it has to say about climate change.

Netherlands Battens Its Ramparts Against Warming Climate
Petten in the Netherlands is a seaside village, but not one of its tidy homes, hotels, or restaurants has a view of the sea.

The world's leading scientists project that during our children's lifetimes, global warming will raise the average temperature of the planet by 2.7 to 11 degrees Fahrenheit.

Population and Global Warming
Life on Earth is dependent on carbon dioxide to regulate the temperature of our planet, but too much can create a heat-trapping blanket over our atmosphere

Report forecasts koala extinction
Koalas and gum trees will be extinct within decades unless greenhouse gas emissions were immediately reduced, a new report has found.

Climate Change
In addition to the press releases listed below, you can learn more about what WWF is doing in this area by accessing the Climate Change section, or click here to view a listing of WWF press releases from the last six months.

Climate change sounds death knell for rabbit's cousin
The American pika, a small mountain dwelling relative of the rabbit, could be one of the first mammals in the world to fall victim to climate change.

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BIODIVERSITY LOSS

News Articles (to top)
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Climate threat to biodiversity (10.24.2007)
Global temperatures predicted for the coming centuries could trigger a mass extinction, UK scientists have warned.

The real Madagascar is no comedy
(MSNBC) Time may be running out for the real-life counterparts of the lemurs, fossas and other endangered animals featured in the movie "Madagascar," Duke University experts are warning. 6/2/2005 12:11 PM

NATIONAL SURVEY REVEALS BIODIVERSITY CRISIS - SCIENTIFIC EXPERTS BELIEVE WE ARE IN MIDST OF FASTEST MASS EXTINCTION IN EARTH'S HISTORY
Crisis Poses Major Threat to Human Survival; Public Unaware of Danger

World's biodiversity becoming extinct at levels rivaling Earth's past 'mass extinctions'
International Botanical Congress President Calls for Seven-Point Plan To Reverse Alarming Rates of Plant Species Losses

Diversity summit is a failure, critics say
Diplomats from 182 countries wrangled over details of a statement on the future of the world's forests yesterday as the biodiversity convention meeting in the Hague ended in what critics described as abject failure.

'Grim future' for Europe's wildlife
Many European species are under threat across the continent, says UK conservation group the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

Growing threat to rare species
A quarter of the world's mammal species face a high risk of extinction very soon, a conservation group says.

Biodiversity under siege from Titicaca to Timbuktu
So maybe the old stories were wrong. Maybe the emperor Nero didn't set the fire that burned down half of ancient Rome. But if Nero played his fiddle while Rome burned, was he guilty nonetheless?

Singapore Extinctions Spell Doom For Asia?
According to one of the most robust studies of tropical extinctions yet attempted, more than one-fifth of Southeast Asia's total species could follow suit by the end of the century, if land degradation continues unabated.

Pacific Currents: Lush Hawaii is a zone of mass extinction
KAILUA KONA, Hawaii -- Tourists walking the beaches, streets and parks of resort towns like this one see an impressive array of lush vegetation and a kaleidoscope of birds.

Loggers threaten last stronghold of Philippine biodiversity
PALANAN, Philippines (CNN) -- In the Philippines, no wilderness equals the Sierra Madre, a vast and rare swath that stretches from the mountains to the ocean. But the wilderness, like the biological riches it contains, faces the risk of extinction, according to environmentalists.

HAWAII Hanging by a Thread
With all but a quarter of Hawaii's native birds extinction or endangered, and its other species drying off faster than the dinosaurs, some island ecologist are risking their lives to save what's left

Vanishing before our eyes.
Not since an asteroid smacked Earth 65 million years ago have animal and plant species died out so fast. We have no idea what we're losing.

Governments sound biodiversity alarm in Nairobi
In a meeting of minds in Nairobi, Kenya, representatives of 177 governments are meeting to discuss the world's dwindling biodiversity and man's impact on it.

Hall of Biodiversity: The Sixth Extinction
"In pushing other species to extinction, humanity is busy sawing off the limb on which it is perched."

WPC report paints grim picture of extinction
'Biological diversity is on the brink of mass extinction'

North America Facing a Biodiversity Crisis
Pollution and other ills threaten animal species survival, says a study. Losing those species would hurt humans.

Species face tough fight for survival
A central Asian antelope, a camel and the Iberian lynx all face a high risk of extinction, scientists say.

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THE WORLD'S FORESTS

News Articles (to top)
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Indonesia deforestation fastest in world (05.03.2007)
(Reuters) Indonesia had the fastest pace of deforestation in the world between 2000-2005, with an area of forest equivalent to 300 soccer pitches destroyed every hour.

Europe's move to biofuels threatens rainforest (04.26.2007)
(MSNBC) Europe's dash for biofuels could accelerate the destruction of tropical rainforests, the European Commission admitted on Thursday.

Amazon forest breathing uneasily
(CNN) -- The Amazon forest was burning, and it was more than a sign of human encroachment. It was also the sight and scent of a dangerous chemistry, of tons of carbon dioxide -- transformed from wood and leaf -- rising into an atmosphere already loaded with it.
February 7, 2005

Ehiopia's forests face extinction: Flora and fauna face total destruction in Ethiopia
Ethiopia could have no natural forests left by 2020, according to the author of a new UN report on forest fires in Ethiopia.

Amazon destruction surges: Up to 40% of the rainforest could be cleared within 20 years
The destruction of Brazil's Amazon rainforest jumped to a five-year high last year, alarming environmentalists and embarrassing the Brazilian Government.

Destruction of Amazon rainforests accelerating
Newly released satellite imaging data has revealed a 40 per cent jump in deforestation in Brazil's Amazon rainforests

Roads lead to Amazon 'destruction': "Illegal logging and land clearing are rampant"
the Amazon forest in Brazil, the world's largest remaining wilderness, could vanish within two decades, a new study reveals.

Amazon forest loss estimates double: Logging's damage is less obvious than forest clearance, but no less real
The true extent of rainforest damage in the Amazon is more than twice as great as present estimates suggest, researchers say.

Five years left for Sumatra forest
The richest forests on Earth - on the Sundra Shelf in Sumatra, Indonesia - will be totally destroyed in five years if the current "resource anarchy" in the country continues

Upsetting the balance
d eforestation threatens thousands of plant and animal species as well as the Earth's atmosphere. Studies show rain forests are declining at alarming rates.

No quick solution to deforestation in lush Chiapas
Mexico is losing nearly 3 million acres of forest and jungle each year, a study says.

The Last Chance to Save Indonesia's Forest Riches
Megawati Sukarnoputri, Indonesia's third president since the fall of Suharto in May 1998, has an opportunity to move the world's fourth largest country toward political, economic, and social stability.

FROM THE VANISHING FORESTS OF MADAGASCAR
Could a child's struggle to survive help to spark a wave of extinction that threatens humanity?

Mugabe's loggers to ravage rainforest
The army of Zimbabwe's despotic ruler will help to fell trees in 85m acres of Congo. But the people of both nations are unlikely to see any benefits from the £200m deal

Borneo Forest Faces Extinction
Illegal logging is destroying the equatorial rain forests of Indonesian Borneo, bringing the island, once known as the lungs of Asia, to the brink of an ecological disaster.

Forests
In addition to the press releases listed below, you can learn more about what WWF is doing in this area by accessing the Forests section, or click here to view a listing of WWF press releases from the last six months.

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THE WORLD'S FLORA

News Articles (to top)
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Half of magnolias face extinction (04.09.2007)
(CNN) Up to half of the world's magnolia species are in danger of extinction, according to a new study by conservationists.

Battle to save Himalayan plants
(BBC) Botanists trying to save critically endangered plants in the eastern Himalayas for more than two decades say tissue cultures have finally brought them success in reviving some species. 11/10/2005

Experts fear for Europe's plants
(BBC) Plants in Europe's last areas of wilderness are being threatened by agriculture, forestry and tourism. 6/2/2005 10:48 AM

The death of species
(BBC) ...almost a fifth of Britain's 1,756 plant species and subspecies are struggling to survive the threats posed by agriculture, overgrazing, herbicides and fertilisers. 5/10/2005

British flora may face extinction
(MSNBC) Native flora species in British fields are declining at rates that put them at risk of extinction. 5/9/2005

British plants fighting for space
(BBC) Britain has made good progress in trying to preserve some of its rarest wild plants, but it has largely failed to halt widespread species decline. 5/8/2005

A fifth of our wild plants could be lost forever
(NEWS.TELEGRAPH) One in five of Britain's wild plants are threatened with extinction, according to a list of endangered species published today. 9/5/2000

Bid to save England's plants
(BBC) English Nature, which advises the UK Government on wildlife conservation in England, is launching a programme to find out how many plant species are in danger of extinction. 2/16/2000

Uprooted: The Worldwide Plant Crisis is Accelerating
Janet Marinelli trekked more than 13 miles a day along the ocean beaches of Long Island in search of the wild amaranth, a plant everyone assumed had been extinct for 40 years until,

Heading for Extinction: Are Plants Going the Way of the Dinosaurs?
The world is hurtling toward a mass extinction of plants that could rival the climactic change that killed the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.

World 'not saving wild plants': Millennium seed bank: A botanical ark
The world must act far more urgently to save thousands of threatened wild plants, three British botanists say.

World's plants under pressure: Passiflora loxensis: Tropical plants are at risk
Almost half of all plant species could be facing extinction, according to new research by botanists in the United States.

Plant losses threaten world's food supplies
Conservationists in the US say the world is losing plant species at a rate which threatens its ability to grow enough food, and to exploit other plant-based products on which hundreds of millions of people depend.

Conserving Plants for Future Generations
It’s estimated that 29 percent of plant species in the United States are at risk of extinction, and similar threats exist in temperate zones throughout the world.

Cycads in peril
A new publication from IUCN (The World Conservation Union) cautions that the oldest seed plants on earth are facing an uncertain future. Cycads pre-date the dinosaurs in the fossil record but two species have already become extinct in the wild and the report suggests that more could follow.

Demand for herbal remedies threatens plants
study: Worldwide demand for herbal remedies is threatening natural habitats and endangering up to a fifth of wild medicinal plant species which are being harvested to extinction, a leading science magazine says.

SSC expertise called on for strategy to save Europe's plants
Gland, Switzerland (IUCN) 12.07.01. IUCN's Species Survival Commission (SSC) is playing a key role in developing a strategy to save Europe's diverse but highly threatened plant life.

Trees on the verge of mass extinction
Some 8750 tree species--one-tenth of the 80 000 to 100 000 known to science--are at risk of extinction, a new study has found. Only 12 per cent of those threatened grow in protected areas.

Plants Face Rising Rate of Extinction
Public should be educated on the need to conserve rare and endangered species

Palm Plight
Assaulted by myriad threats to their survival, palm species around the world face the likelihood of extinction

Plant Survey Reveals Many Species Threatened With Extinction
At least one of every eight plant species in the world -- and nearly one of three in the United States -- is under threat of extinction, according to the first comprehensive worldwide assessment of plant endangerment.

Arctic fauna extinction fear
Up to 80 per cent of the Arctic will be taken over by industrial development in the next 50 years, pushing wildlife such as polar bears, reindeer and caribou, migratory birds and arctic foxes towards extinction, a UN-backed study said on Monday.

Intensive farming threatens wildflowers
QUAINTLY named flowers like weasel’s snout and shepherd’s needle, which grow among farm crops, now account for one fifth of wild plants being targeted for protection, conservationists have announced.

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PRIMATES

News Articles (to top)
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Gorillas head race to extinction (09.12.2007)
(BBC) Gorillas, orangutans, and corals are among the plants and animals which are sliding closer to extinction.

One third of primates under threat (10.26.07)
(BBC) Almost a third of the world's primates are in danger of extinction because of destruction of their habitats.

Gorillas, orangutans, and corals are among the plants and animals which are sliding closer to extinction (09.12.2007)
(BBC) "The rate of biodiversity loss is increasing, and we need to act now to significantly reduce it and stave off this global extinction crisis."

Indonesia's orangutans squeezed by biofuel boom (09.04.2007)
(MSNBC/Associated Press) Indonesia's biofuel boom is threatening the survival of animals like the endangered orangutan, conservationists warn.

Orangutans losing to logging (06.11.2007)
(MSNBC/Associated Press) Indonesia's tropical rain forests are disappearing 30 percent faster than previously estimated as illegal loggers raid large national parks, threatening the long-term survival of orangutans, according to a U.N. report released Monday.

Great apes 'facing climate peril' (05.30.2007)
Great apes are facing an "inevitable crisis" arising from climage change, a leading conservationist has warned.

Apes 'extinct in a generation' (09.01.2005)
Some of the great apes - chimps, gorillas, and orangutans - could be extinct in the wild within a human generation, a new assessment concludes.

Experts list 'most endangered' primates
(MSNBC) A report by leading primate scientists concludes that hunting and logging have driven nearly one quarter of the world’s primate species to the brink of extinction. 4/7/2005

Pygmy chimpanzee may be near extinction, experts say
(MSNBC) -- One of humanity's closest relatives, the pygmy chimpanzee, may be much closer to extinction than previously thought, a conservation group says.
December 8, 2004

Peace-Loving Primates' Population Plummets - Only Female-Led Primate Species, Bonobos Under Siege from Poachers
(ENN) -- Bonobos, or pygmy chimpanzees, arguably our closest relative, may have been hunted so extensively that the survival of the species is at risk, World Wildlife Fund warns.

Great apes fall victim in headlong drive to mass extinction
Every single species and subspecies of great ape on the planet now teeters on the edge of dying out, part of the acceleration of the dinosaur-style mass extinction now under way.

Grim future for gorillas and chimps
Two of man's closest relatives in the animal kingdom will be on the edge of extinction within a decade, unless drastic conservation measures are put in place immediately.

Third of primates 'risk extinction'
One-third of the world's primate species now face a serious risk of extinction, according to a report by an international group of conservationists.

Gorillas will be missed...March 30 2004 at 02:30PM
Paris - The population of Africa's eastern lowland gorilla has slumped by more than 70 percent in the past decade, from 17 000 animals in 1994 to fewer than 5 000 today, a conservation group said on Tuesday.

UN's clarion call for great apes
The clock now stands at one minute to midnight for the world's four great ape species, the United Nations says.

Ape alarm in West Africa
There are some estimates that chimpanzees as well as gorillas could disappear from the forests of large parts of Africa within the next 10 to 20 years.

After century of survival, many primates face extinction
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- After surviving the 20th century with no extinctions, dozens of primate species face the threat of disappearing forever, according to a report released Monday by Conservation International.

Primates in peril, except for one species
Nearly half of the 235 primates, including chimpanzees -- the human's closest evolutionary relative -- are threatened with extinction.

Last chance to save great apes from extinction
Conservationists launch desperate effort to stop humanity killing closest relatives

Ebola Spurs Fears of Looming Ape Extinction
For more than a year, conservationists in equatorial Africa have witnessed an Ebola epidemic burn a deadly trail through great apes at the heart of their range. The lethal virus has felled hundreds of endangered western gorillas and common chimpanzees from populations already devastated by commercial hunting and habitat loss elsewhere on the continent.

Extinction Risk for 1 in 3 Primates, Study Says
One in every three of the world's apes, monkeys, lemurs, and other primates is now endangered with extinction, according to a report released this week by Conservation International (CI) and the Primate Specialist Group of the World Conservation Union (IUCN).

Near Total Ape-Habitat Loss Foreseen By 2030
Less than 10 percent of the remaining habitat of the great apes of Africa will be left relatively undisturbed by 2030 if road building, mining camps, and other infrastructure developments continue at current levels, a new report suggests.

Wild Orangutans: Extinct by 2023?
Orangutans' days in the wild may be numbered unless something drastic occurs to halt the pace of illegal logging—and soon, according to researchers.

Orangutans Edging Closer to Brink of Extinction
Willie Smits is a man on a mission. He has just completed a cross-country speaking tour in the United States, and he has one message: It’s now or never when it comes to orangutan conservation.

World's great apes are disappearing
The world's great apes are hurtling toward extinction at a rate that is alarming scientists.

Poachers kill rare mountain gorillas in raid for rich collector
The endangered mountain gorillas of Africa have suffered a devastating lethal attack by poachers, believed to be acting on the orders of a wealthy Western collector.

Gorillas face doom at gunpoint
As rival militias swarm over a nature park in Congo, butchering and eating the animals, a rare primate is being brought to the edge of extinction.

Relative Scarcity: Apes on the Edge
While our own population is growing steadily, those of our closest biological relatives, the great apes–the non-human members of the family Hominidae – have slid precariously toward extinction.

Massive Destruction of Great Ape Habitats Likely Over the Next 30 Years Unless Current Trends Reversed
Less than 10 per cent of the remaining habitat of the great apes of Africa will be left relatively undisturbed by 2030 if road building, mining camps and other infrastructure developments continue at current levels a new report suggests.

Monkeys, Apes are Being Eaten to Extinction
The first wild monkey Anthony Rose ever saw in Cameroon was dead gutshot and still next to a porcupine and a pair of tiny red antelope. "A poor day's catch," his host apologized, gesturing with his gun. In two weeks of barnstorming rain forest boomtowns in central Africa, Rose, a conservationist from Los Angeles, counted more primates dead than alive.

Orangutan Numbers Plummeting Worldwide; Species May Vanish In Ten Years, Study Says
NEW YORK -- The orangutan - the only great ape found in Asia - may vanish from the wild within a decade, unless illegal logging of its habitat and poaching can be greatly reduced, according to research funded by the Bronx Zoo-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).

War and poaching threaten Congo apes
KINSHASA - War and poaching threaten to put the great apes of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a country torn apart by a four-year war, on the brink of extinction, say scientists.

Bonobos are in crisis.
Humankind's closest relatives are teetering on the brink of extinction.

Madagascar's Lemurs Cling to Survival
ANALAMAZAOTRA RESERVE, Madagascar (Reuters) - The sun burns through the hazy mist, revealing a brilliant blue sky above the forest and prompting a chorus of howls from the family of lemurs.

Acrobatic Ape in Java Is in High-Wire Survival
Experts estimate that in the last 25 years, the number of silvery gibbons has plummeted to fewer than 2,000 and perhaps fewer than 400 from 20,000.

Asia no longer a primate Eden
DEY AMBIL, Cambodia, June 14 — Within eyesight of a sign urging “Don’t sell wildlife,” a roadside vendor is peddling four slow lorises — little primates with sad luminous eyes — to be burned alive and churned into purported Chinese medicine.

Mobile phones 'fuel gorillas' plight'
A UK television film says users of mobile telephones and other electronic goods are endangering some African ape populations.

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WHALES & DOLPHINS

News Articles (to top)
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Pacific whale decline 'a mystery' (04.30.2007)
(BBC) Grew whales in the eastern Pacific appear to be in some trouble, with the casue far from clear, scientists say.

Search for rare dolphin ends in failure (12.13.2006)
Its disappearance is believed to be the first time in a half-century, since hunting killed off the Caribbean monk seal, that a large aquatic mammal has been driven to extinction.

Nets killing off 10 dolphin, porpoise species
(MSNBC) From Southeast Asia to the Black Sea, fishing nets have become deathtraps for thousands of dolphins and porpoises — and yet low-cost changes could save 10 species threatened with extinction, the World Wildlife Fund said Thursday. 6/9/2005

Whale deaths on East Coast trigger alarm
(MSNBC) -- Four right whales have been found dead off the East Coast in the past six weeks, including two just this week, alarming scientists given that the species has been on the brink of extinction. January 13, 2005

Dolphins 'face extinction in 10 years'
Britain's seas are dying because of lack of proper government management, with the extinction of key species such as the bottlenose dolphin likely in 10 years, the Wildlife Trusts predict in a report out today.

Dolphin 'carnage must stop'
Hundreds of dolphins have been washed ashore. The common dolphin could vanish from waters between England and France, MPs have been warned.

Extinction nears for whales and dolphins
Some whales, dolphins and porpoises are now so endangered they could vanish within a decade, scientists say.

Whale Population Devastated by Warming Oceans, Scientists Say
Global warming has caused an unexpected collapse in the numbers of the world's most hunted whale, scientists believe.

Northern right whales heading for extinction
A new WWF publication, Northern right whale: the most endangered great whale in the world, reveals that, despite a 1935 ban on hunting these whales, numbers are still falling each year. A decrease in birth rates is partially responsible for this decline, but more worrying is the extremely high rate of mortality from collisions with ships - it is estimated that around 90 per cent of all unnatural deaths occur in this way.

Nets 'kill 800 cetaceans a day'
About 800 whales, dolphins and porpoises, known collectively as cetaceans, are dying in fishing nets every day, researchers say.

Call to cut porpoise deaths
Conservationists say the number of harbour porpoises dying in fishing gear in the North Sea imperils the species' survival.

Porpoises under threat
The RSPCA is calling on the government to take immediate action to stop thousands of porpoises being killed in fishing nets.

Concern over death of rare dolphin
The death of a rare Maui's dolphin off the west coast of Auckland this week has taken the species closer to extinction, says the Forest and Bird society.

Time is running out for freshwater dolphins say experts
Gland, Switzerland 06.07.2000. IUCN - The World Conservation Union is calling on governments, conservation organisations and journalists to support urgent international efforts to save a number of species of river dolphins and a species of porpoise which are facing imminent extinction.

Northern right whale on path to extinction
The right whale population is currently estimated at about 300. The North Atlantic northern right whale is headed for extinction unless human intervention improves survival, according to a study published Wednesday in the "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences."

Risk of orca extinction underscored in analysis
Not according to a statistical analysis released yesterday saying that, after thousands of years in the waters of Western Washington, orcas here could disappear in a matter of a century or two.

308,000 Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises Killed in Fishing Gear Annually, New Study Shows
Washington - Nearly 1,000 whales dolphins and porpoises (classified scientifically as cetaceans) drown every day when they become entangled in fishing gear, according to a new study submitted to the International Whaling Commission (IWC).

New Threats Endanger Great Whales
Gland, Switzerland - At the dawn of the new millennium a series of emerging threats endanger the survival of the great whales according to a report released today by WWF, the conservation organization.

Climate change threatens blue whales
The Antarctic blue whale could become the next victim of climate change, warns a new report from WWF.

Fishing threatens world's rarest marine dolphin
WWF is deeply concerned at the threat posed by commercial fishing to New Zealand's North Island Hector's dolphin, the world's rarest and smallest marine dolphin.

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AMPHIBIANS / REPTILES

News Articles (to top)
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Six sea turtle species still in danger (09.11.2007)
(MSNBC/Associated Press) A U.S. study focusing on global sea turtle populations has found that half a dozen species are still endangered or threatened despite promising increases in the number of adult females and nests.

Frog, Lizard extinctions caused by climate, not fungus (04.17.2007)
(National Geographic) A changing climate may be responsible for the sharp drop in more than a dozen species of lizards and frogs in Central America, according to a new long-term study.

Turtles in race to beat extinction (04.23.2007)
(CNN) The tortoise famously beat the hare, but now conservationists are turning to racing turtles in a bid to raise awareness and learn more about the plight of one of the planet's oldest species.

Hunting threat to big amphibians
(BBC) Illegal hunting is bringing the Chinese giant salamander, the world's largest amphibian, to the brink of extinction. 9/9/2005

Climate culprit for frog deaths
(BBC) The dramatic decline of some frog populations is directly connected to global warming, a new study claims. 1/11/2006

Tsunami pushes leatherback turtles towards brink
(Reuters) NEW DELHI - They survived the dinosaurs, but leatherback turtles may have moved one step closer to extinction when last December's tsunami washed away some of their most important nesting beaches in India's Nicobar islands. 6/14/2005

Alert sounds for turtles and tortoises
(BBC) Growing human pressure means the survival of two-thirds of the world's tortoises and freshwater turtles is under threat, conservationists say.

Climate claims the golden toad
The golden toad of Costa Rica has croaked its last. The golden toad of Costa Rica may have been driven to extinction by climate change, scientists believe.

Last frog croaks
A giant leap into extinction for the British pool frog. The death has been announced of what scientists believe to be Britain's last surviving pool frog.

Turtles in the soup
The river cooter: Conservationists say some river-dwelling turtles are at particular risk. Conservationists say many of the world's turtle species, which have survived for millions of years, are now at risk of imminent extinction.

Vanishing reptiles prompt concern
The situation of many reptiles is now critical. Scientists say there is evidence that reptiles are undergoing a decline even more marked than that now affecting amphibians.

World's reptile populations running thin
Reptiles worldwide may be under greater environmental stress than their amphibian cousins, according to a report published in today's issue of the journal BioScience.

Turtle hurtles towards extinction
Species that swam seas 96m years before humans walked earth could be wiped out within 10 years

World amphibian populations plummet toward extinction
The decline of the species could be a signal that the health of planet Earth is being jeopardized, according to scientists

Pesticides, Parasite May Cause Frog Deformities
Frogs with extra legs or missing legs have been showing up with greater frequency over the past decade, and scientists have been baffled by the cause.

Amphibians endangered in Mexico, Central America
SAN JOSE - From Mexico to Panama, toads, frogs and salamanders are getting harder to find, and one wildlife advocacy group says it is because almost half the region's species are facing extinction.

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FISH

News Articles (to top)
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'Critical danger' warning on fish
(BBC) Deep sea fish species in the northern Atlantic are on the brink of extinction, new research suggests. 1/4/2006

Scientists Nudge Fish Closer to Extinction
(NOVA / AP) Scientists trying to study the endangered Devils Hole pupfish near Death Valley inadvertently nudged the endangered fish closer to extinction. 6/8/2005

Scientists to Breed 'Test Tube' Sharks
SYDNEY, Australia (Associated Press) -- Australian scientists will attempt to breed gray nurse sharks in artificial wombs under a plan to boost the critically endangered species' numbers, a state fisheries minister said Friday.... 6/3/2005 9:26 PM

Fish shrinkage threatens survival
(BBC) The shrinking size of fish due to their overexploitation has dire consequences for the recovery of depleted stocks, scientists have claimed. 2/20/2005

Study: Only 10 percent of big ocean fish remain
(CNN) -- A new global study concludes that 90 percent of all large fishes have disappeared from the world's oceans in the past half century, the devastating result of industrial fishing.

135 sea species in danger of extinction in Vietnam
Overfishing and pollution are threatening 135 species of Vietnamese sea life which are in danger of extinction, state-controlled media reported Monday.

Sharks Face Extinction in Many Areas of Globe
Conservationists say sharks are ecologically and commercially extinct in some areas of the world.

Shark's numbers 'fall by 99%'
The population of oceanic whitetip sharks has plummeted by 99% since the 1950s and the species is nearly extinct in the Gulf of Mexico, scientists reported yesterday.

Sharks suffer population crash
Species that once filled the oceans is on the verge of extinction.

Sharks Falling Prey To Humans' Appetites
Summer is around the corner, and soon beach lovers will flock to their favorite coastal areas to soak up the sun and plunge into the surf. Many of them, however, will be keeping a nervous lookout for one of Earth's most misunderstood predators—the shark.

Atlantic Sharks Decimated by Fishing, Report Finds
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Overfishing has driven several species of shark to near extinction in the North Atlantic, researchers in Canada reported on Thursday.

Eastern Atlantic fishing 'unsustainable'
Overfishing is a greater threat to the area than pollution. Two-thirds of the main commercial fish species caught in the north-east Atlantic are being depleted faster than they can replenish themselves.

Trawling puts deep-sea fish in danger of extinction
We have done for the cod and the herring and are eradicating stocks of whiting, haddock and mackerel at an alarming rate.

Deep sea fish heading towards commercial extinction
Commercial deep sea fish species such as the orange roughy are highly threatened by fast expanding and largely unregulated fisheries, and should be immediately protected from high seas fishing activities.

Overfished tuna 'near extinction' Special report: Global fishing in crisis
The price of tuna is soaring as the species itself seems destined for extinction.

Cod faces extinction threat
Cod and chips could be off the menu for good unless urgent action is taken to replenish falling stocks, environmentalists have warned.

Dying seas threaten extinction to cod
Global warming could be tearing apart the delicate marine food chain - spelling doom for everything from zooplankton to dolphins, reports Robin McKie

Fishery closure needed to save cod stocks
Cod stocks will collapse if Member States ignore the advice issued by the International Council in the Exploration of the Seas (ICES) to close the fishery for the cod stocks in the North Sea, Irish Sea and West of Scotland.

Atlantic salmon in short supply
Fish farming is not good news for wild salmon. The World Wide Fund for Nature says stocks of Atlantic salmon have reached their lowest-ever levels.

Governments Should Act to Save Wild Atlantic Salmon, Says New Report
Madrid, Spain - Wild Atlantic salmon have vanished from at least 309 river systems in Europe and North America and urgent action is needed to protect the species from the threat of extinction.

Salmon Farm Escapees Threaten Wild Salmon Stocks
A recent study in Norway suggests that wild salmon lose out to sexually precocious fish-farm invaders when breeding in rivers.

Sturgeon could face commercial extinction
WWF is warning that some species of sturgeon could be threatened with commercial extinction within a couple of years unless the illegal caviar trade is brought under control.

The Last Sturgeon
Can the economic forces driving the ancient source of caviar to extinction be stopped? It may already be too late

Extinction warning for freshwater species
The most endangered species in North America are those living in fresh water, according to a Canadian study.

Freshwater species in dramatic worldwide decline
Fifty-one per cent of freshwater species, from fish and frogs to river dolphins, are declining in numbers, according to the 1999 Living Planet Report released today by WWF.

Mass Extinction of Freshwater Creatures Forecast
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, Canada, October 4, 1999 (ENS) - The first estimate of extinction rates of North America's freshwater animals, just released, has found they are the most endangered species group on the continent. The Canadian study warns that the U.S. could lose most of its freshwater species in the next century if steps are not taken to protect them.

Big Trouble for Asia's Giant Catfish
This time of year, fishers along the banks of the Mekong River in the village of Chiang Khong in northern Thailand wait expectant, as they have for hundreds of years, for the arrival and harvest of giant catfish. But this year the catfish may never come.

Giant Catfish Critically Endangered, Group Says
The Mekong River's giant catfish (Pangasianodon Gigas) is on the path to extinction.

Europe's Eels Are Slipping Away, Scientists Warn
Although found throughout much of the world, eels are wriggling towards oblivion, European fisheries scientists say.

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BIG CATS

News Articles (to top)
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India survey finds far fewer tigers in the wild (05.23.2007)
(Associated Press/MSNBC) India's population of wild tigers, which wildlife experts have long warned is on the decline, is dramatically lower than previously believed, according to initial results from an exhaustive study of tiger habitats released Wednesday.

Amur leopard close to extinction (04.19.2007)
Logging, building, farming and poaching have virtually killed off the Amur Leopard, environmentalists said on Wednesday.

Initial steps taken to save African lion
(Reuters) Regional governments and conservationists have agreed on initial steps that need to be taken to save the African lion, which has been pushed to the brink of extinction throughout much of its range. 1/16/2006

Far Eastern leopard faces extinction
BEIJING: The Far Eastern leopard, which once roamed vast forests in Siberia and Manchuria, now numbers as few as 50 animals and faces extinction if quick action is not taken to save it, China's state media said on Sunday.

Extinction stalks the Asiatic lion
A regal subspecies now crowded into a single sanctuary in India’s Gir Forest.

Extinction threatens African lions
A major international conservation group has warned that lions could soon become extinct in large parts of Africa.

Where have all the tigers gone?
(BBC) The recent suspension of eight forestry officials for failing to protect tigers in India's Sariska National Park has highlighted the setbacks to Project Tiger, a major conservation effort established in the 1980s by the then prime minister, Indira Gandhi. What has gone wrong? 4/11/2005

Last stand for Russia's tigers
Conservationists say the unique taiga forest of Russia's far east is being destroyed by rapacious logging.

Lions 'close to extinction'
Lion populations have fallen by almost 90% in the past 20 years, leaving the animal close to extinction in Africa, a wildlife expert has warned.

Last chance for Europe's 'tiger'
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) says time is short if we are to save the Iberian lynx - sometime called Europe's 'tiger' - from extinction.

Battle on to save Caucasus big cat
There are between 20 and 23 Caucasus leopards left. A rare species of leopard found only in remote areas of the southern Caucasus Mountains faces extinction, the World Wildlife Fund warns.

Lions 'near extinction in Africa'
LONDON, England -- The lion is close to extinction in Africa, a wildlife expert has warned after numbers fell by 90 percent during the last 20 years.

Scents, science employed to get cheetahs in the mood
SAN DIEGO (CNN) -- Cheetahs, the fastest land animals, are once again on the brink of extinction

Myanmar's tigers face extinction
BANGKOK, Thailand — In the days of British rule, tigers were so numerous in Burma they were shot as pests — 1,382 of them between 1928 and 1932, according to historical records.

Extinction stalks world's tigers
Unless governments take significant measures to protect tigers, they may go extinct by 2010, the World Wildlife Fund said Thursday.

Groups threaten suit to protect rare cats
Operation Rio Grande, a construction project in the Rio Grande Valley aimed at better monitoring drug trafficking and illegal immigration, will ruin some of the last remaining habitat for ocelots and jaguarundis, two endangered cat species, according to three conservation groups.

Wwf: Sumatran Tiger Faces Extinction
JAKARTA (AP) - Illegal logging and poaching could wipe out the Sumatran tiger in the next 10 years, the World Wide Fund for Nature warned Friday.

Arabian leopard on verge of extinction
One of the Middle East's rarest predators, the Arabian leopard, is on the edge of extinction.

Snow leopard declines on whim of Westerners
Western aid workers and soldiers are pushing one of the world's rarest cats, the snow leopard, towards extinction by buying pelts for £1000 ($A2800) each in Afghanistan.

West's love of talc threatens India's tigers
Demand for cosmetics is being met by illegal mining in animal sanctuaries - and destruction of big cat's habitat

Wildcats losing ground in battle for survival in U.S.
According to a report from the National Wildlife Federation, the Florida panther is losing its battle for survival in the United States.

New evidence of growing threat to Asian leopards
WWF has launched a new publication that reveals evidence of the growing threats to the survival of Asian leopards, including the snow leopard - one of the most endangered big cats in the world.

Norwegian hunters have lynx extinction in their sights
WWF is concerned that Norway is continuing to hunt its domestic lynx population towards extinction. There are only 300 to 350 animals remaining in Norway and quotas for this year's hunt have been set at 85 animals - almost a third of the entire population.

Tigers still face an uncertain future
A WWF field study in Indonesia has found that at least 66 Sumatran tigers have been killed in the last two years. This figure represents an alarming 20 per cent of the wild Sumatran tiger population, and serves as a reminder that the threat from illegal tiger hunting remains critical.

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BIRDS

News Articles (to top)
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Spoon-billed sandpiper on brink of extinction (10/14/2007)
(MSNBC/Associated Press) Russians find 70 percent drop in breeding pairs; loss of feed sites blamed.

Egg hunters pushing Chinese seabird to extinction (09.21.2007)
(MSNBC/Associated Press) The Chinese crested tern, a rare sea bird whose eggs are prized by some as a delicacy, is likely to be extinct in five years if authorities do not step up protection efforts, a conservation group said Friday.

Halved: 20 U.S. bird species seen in decline (06.14.2007)
(MSNBC/Assoc. Press) The populations of nearly two dozen common American birds - the fencesitting meadowlark, the frenetic Rufous hummingbird and the whipporwill with its haunting call - are half what they were 40 years ago, a new analysis found.

Survey: Fifth of bird species face extinction
(MSNBC) More than a fifth of the planet’s bird species face extinction as humans venture further into their habitats and introduce alien predators, a conservation group said on Wednesday. 6/1/2005 9:53 AM

US red knot shore bird could be extinct in 5 years
(MSNBC) The latest count of red knot, a shore bird that migrates via New Jersey beaches, shows it is on course for extinction within five years, scientists said on Wednesday. 5/25/2005

Rare bird may have just gone extinct (12.01.2004)
One of Earth's rarest birds might have gone into extinction following the death of one of the last known po'ouli.

Farmland birds in crisis
(BBC) A team of British researchers is calling for reform of Europe's agricultural policy to allow birds and other wild creatures a greater chance of survival. 8/12/1999

1 in 10 bird species faces extinction by 2100
About 10 percent of all bird species face extinction by the end of the century and another 15 percent are on the brink, according to researchers who say such extinctions would have a widespread impact on the environment, agriculture and human society.
December 13, 2004

Humans Are Driving Birds to Extinction, Group Warns
Conservationists warn that many birds face the same fate as their prehistoric ancestors, the dinosaurs. But it isn't an asteroid or volcanic eruption that's threatening to finish them off. The culprit, they say, stares at us from the bathroom mirror every day.

Shocking figures reveal sad plight of birds
One out of every eight of the world's 10 000 different bird species are now threatened with extinction.

World's Wading Birds Are Vanishing Fast, Experts Warn
Waders are getting into deep water, in some cases to the point where there's no turning back. That's the conclusion of bird experts meeting recently in Cadiz, Spain, to assess the current status of waders around the world.

Tailspinning Bird Populations Highlight Biodiversity Crisis
Washington, D.C.—Bird populations around the world are plummeting faster than ever before, and human factors—from population growth to habitat destruction and climate change—are at the center of this demise, reports a new study from the Worldwatch Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based research organization.

Little help for 400 endangered bird species
Report: Third of all endangered bird species get few protections.

Quarter of U.S. Birds in Decline, Says Audubon
A quarter of all bird species in the United States have declined in population since the 1970s, according to a report issued by the National Audubon Society.

Kiwis 'freefall' to extinction
New Zealand's national symbol, the kiwi bird, could be almost extinct within five to 10 years, conservationists are warning.

Quarter of parrot species on brink
One parrot species in four is in danger of extinction, according to a study by two nature groups.

Taking a dive
A quarter of Asian bird species are of "conservation concern" and hundreds face extinction, bird conservationists warned on Tuesday

ASIA FACES BIRD EXTINCTION CRISIS
Tokyo, Japan, Tuesday 5th June, 2001 (UN World Environment Day). Hundreds of Asian bird species face extinction because of unsustainable human activities causing habitat loss and degradation, according to 'Threatened Birds of Asia: The BirdLife International Red Data Book'.

Alert for Asia's threatened birds
In a clarion call to save hundreds of Asian bird species from extinction, ornithologists have launched a crisis guide to the threats the animals face.

Climate change 'threatens Arctic birds'
A study of the impact of climate change on Arctic breeding water birds suggests that some species could be more than halved.

Farming 'threatens third of Europe's birds'
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds says the expansion of intensive farming threatens more than one third of Europe's most important areas for birds.

Many threatened birds 'need help'
A third of the world's most threatened bird species still need urgent action in order to survive, campaigners say.

Albatross faces extinction
The albatross - that soaring marvel of the southern seas - could be about to take its last dive. British birdlovers will gather tomorrow to campaign to save a genus that most of them will never see.

Pirate fishing menaces albatross
Conservationists are predicting tragedy for 19 albatross species Pirate fishermen are driving the albatross to extinction, wildlife campaigners have warned.

Mountain birdlife 'under threat'
The relentless growth in human exploitation of mountainous areas means more than half of Europe's mountain birds are in danger, say experts.

Giant Philippine eagle perched on edge of extinction
DAVAO, Philippines (CNN) -- In the Philippines, every creature surely fears the airborne predator at the top of the food chain, the Philippine eagle. But even the world's largest bird of prey faces the risk of extinction.

Penguins in Peril
BOSTON, Massachusetts, December 7, 1998 (ENS) - An "alarming" decline of many of the world's penguin populations was revealed at a forum focusing on these flightless birds held Friday at the New England Aquarium. Four new species of penguins are now seen to be at risk of extinction according to a scientific report two years in the making.

Penguin Decline in Antarctica Linked With Climate Change
Emperor penguins like it cold. Now, scientists have determined that the penguins' susceptibility to climate change accounts for a dramatic decline in their number over the past half century.

India's Black Market in Birds Threatening Rare Species
India is home to some 1,200 different species of birds. Despite measures designed to protect this rich array of bird life by banning the capture and trade of wild birds, records indicate that as many as 300 of these species are caught and traded with impunity.

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CATCH ALL

(Bears, Insects, Giraffes, Hippos, Walruses, Manatees, Bats, Rhino, Wolf, Etc.)
News Articles (to top)
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BEARS

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Concern grows for smallest bear (11.12.2007)
(BBC) The IUCN's bear expert groups warn that six out of the world's eight bear species are threatened with extinction.
Polar bears extinct by 2050? (09.08.2007)
Two-thirds of the world's current polar bear population could be gone by midcentury if predictions of melting sea ice hold true, the U.S. Geological Survey reported on Friday.

Italian bears 'almost extinct' (05.26.2007)
(BBC Video) Italy's brown Marsican bears have been rendered almost extinct, with fewer than 50 left in the wild.

Polar bears, hippos on extinction short list (05.02.2006)
(MSNBC) Polar bears and hippos have joined the ranks of species threatened with extinction from climate change, unregulated hunting, habitat destruction and other man-made dangers, leading researchers said Tuesday in a listing of the world’s wildlife.

Europe's bears battle to survive
Bears are retreating almost everywhere, with western Europe's at greatest risk. Bears in many parts of the world are facing increasing threats to their long-term survival, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature-UK.

Group issues bear survival warning
It is possible that the sun bear is extinct in India, according to a WWF report
(ENN) -- The world's bears are under increasing threat of extinction according to a report issued July 27 by World Wide Fund for Nature.

Polar bears 'facing extinction'
Global warming will wipe out wild polar bears within 60 years, a report will predict this week.

Global warming could starve polar bears
Climate change is threatening polar bears with starvation by shortening their hunting season, according to a study by scientists from the Canadian Wildlife Service.

Study: China failing to protect panda preserve
While U.S. and Chinese government officials square off over an incident involving a U.S. spy plane and a Chinese jet fighter, a joint U.S.-Chinese research team is faulting China's efforts to save the giant panda from possible extinction.

Giant panda now critical, says new report
The world's most enduring symbol of conservation, the giant panda, has reached a critical point, according to a new report by WWF.

Polar bears living on borrowed time
Climate change is having a dramatic effect on the Arctic and the polar bears that live there, warns a new report by WWF.





INSECTS & BUGS

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U.S. Bumblebee species may be extinct (10.15.2007)
(Associated Press) Looking high and low, Robbin Thorp can no longer find a species of bumblebee that just five years ago was plentiful in northwestern California and southwestern Oregon.

UK moths 'in serious decline' (02.20.2006)
(BBC) The British moth population is in rapid decline, according to the most comprehensive study of its kind.

Experts: Monarch butterfly population in jeopardy
(CNN) Monarchs are dying in Mexico. No, not kings and queens, but creatures that are just as majestic -- in the butterfly world. 4/20/2005

Butterflies facing extinction threat
Scientists say 26 species of Australian butterflies are at risk of becoming extinct.

British butterflies 'face extinction'
British butterflies are in serious decline. The British butterfly population has dropped so drastically, some species are threatened with extinction, conservationists say.

UK butterfly decline steepens
Almost all the UK's most endangered butterfly species are continuing to decline, government advisers say.

Scientists set out to discover if insects are disappearing from Britain
Experts believe falling insect numbers explain a decline in some bird species - and they have developed a device to prove their case

INSECT EXTINCTIONS THREATEN HUMAN LIFE
An 8-8-00 report by English Nature, a quasi-governmental agency, concludes that 7% of England’s insect species have become extinct in the past 100 years

Bumblebees could face extinction
Bumblebees' normal habitats are dwindling. Bumblebees are disappearing at such an alarming rate in Britain that scientists are warning they could be wiped out within a few years.

MILLIONS OF BEES DYING, SIGNALLING WOE FOR ENVIRONMENT
Rome, August 6 - Italian bees are been killed off by the millions and environmentalists and honey producers warned today this was a sign of a worrisome turn for the environment.

Conserving our bees
The title of this article, and the similar title of the IBRA conference held in London, reflects a growing awareness and interest in the demise of the world's wild bees, and the impact this may have on other wildlife, ecosystems (including agroecosystems) and the world's economy.





GIRAFFES

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Niger giraffes face extinction
The authorities in Niger say the number of giraffes in the country has dramatically decreased from around three thousand to only forty over the past few decades.





HIPPOS

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DR Congo hippos 'face extinction' (10.19.2006)
(BBC) Poaching has brought the hippopotamus population in Democratic Republic of Congo to within a few months of extinction, wildlife experts say.

Polar bears, hippos on extinction short list (05.02.2006)
(MSNBC) Polar bears and hippos have joined the ranks of species threatened with extinction from climate change, unregulated hunting, habitat destruction and other man-made dangers, leading researchers said Tuesday in a listing of the world’s wildlife.

World's biggest hippo population decimated
A shocking new census shows a 95 per cent decline in hippo populations in Virunga National Park, formerly home to the world's biggest population.

WWF warns of threat to hippo
The international conservation body, the WWF, has called for urgent action to protect the hippopotamus. Hippos have been threatened by civil warfare in the country A survey conducted in one of the animals' former strongholds, the Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo, found that only 1,300 of the animals remain in the area, a drop of 95% in 30 years.





WALRUSES

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Walruses 'threatened by climate change'
Arctic Walrus threatened by retreating and thinning ice. The environmental campaign group Greenpeace says it has found evidence that walruses and other Arctic species are being affected by climate change.





MANATEES

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Manatees In Peril
(AP) Manatees in Florida face a bleak future, if not outright extinction, unless regulators crack down on watercraft, according to a report by the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center.

" Mermaids": Urgent Action Needed to Save them from Habitat Destruction, Pollution and Entanglement in Fishing Nets
Global Report on the Plight of the Dugong Underscores Increasing Threats to the Marine Environment Upon which Billions of People and Wildlife Depend





BATS

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New help for threatened bats
Scientists say almost half the world's bat species face some degree of threat to their survival.





RHINOS

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Horn trade pressures some rhinos (06.06.2007)
(BBC) A rise in poaching has put some rhino populations at risk of extinction.

Extinction fear for black rhino (07.10.2006)
(BBC) The West African black rhino appears to have become extinct, according to the IUCN. A mission to their last known habitat in northern Cameroon failed to find any rhinos or signs of their existence.

Poachers said pushing Asian rhinos to extinction
GENEVA - The already endangered Asian rhino is being pushed towards extinction by a boom in poaching to feed the trade in so-called traditional medicines, the conservation organisation WWF-International said yesterday.

Rare white rhinos could be extinct 'in months'
Congo rebels have hunted one of the world's rarest rhinos almost to extinction. Only 22 northern white rhinos are alive in their last remaining wild refuge - down from 30 last year.

Horn of Darkness: Rhinos on the Edge.
Africa's black rhinos are in trouble. With an estimated population of 100 000 at the beginning of this century, their numbers have declined precipitously to below 2500 today.

Danger to rhino dramatically increased
The recent civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo - formerly Zaire - has dramatically increased the threat to survival of the world's most endangered large mammal, says WWF.

Spate of poaching places rhino's future in the balance
An upsurge in poaching for the illegal wildlife trade is once again a major threat to the Asian rhino, says WWF.





ELEPHANTS

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Elephants Attack as Humans Turn Up the Pressure
(NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC) Some 500 people are killed by elephants each year—and attacks are increasing as humans push the animals into smaller spaces. 6/3/2005 9:30 PM

On the Brink of Extinction
N E W D E L H I, India, June 5 — India’s elephant population is teetering on the brink of extinction because of rampant poaching and brutal training methods.

Elephants on the brink in Asia
About 20 percent of the world's human population lives within the present range of the Asian elephant, a percentage that is growing by nearly 3 percent a year.

Vietnam's wild elephants
Trinh Viet Cuong is in a desperate race against time to do what he can to save Vietnam’s wild elephants from extinction.





WOLVES

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No Norwegian wolf packs left
Less than a year after the Norwegian government's wolf cull, the country's wolf population has been more than halved, and none of its packs remain intact.





SQUIRRELS

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Red squirrel extinction warning (02.27.2006)
(BBC) Scotland's red squirrel population could be extinct by the ned of the century, unless urgent action is taken, a conference has heard.

New push to protect red squirrels
(BBC) Ministers have launched a campaign to save the red squirrel from extinction in Scotland. 1/11/2006

Virus 'threatening red squirrels'
(BBC) A virus is placing Scotland's dwindling red squirrel population under threat, conservationists have warned. 6/15/2005





PIKA

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Global Warming Is Forcing the American Pika up Mountains and Toward Extinction (05.09.2007)
(ABC News) Voted the second cutest animal in North America in a recent World Wildlife Fund survey, the American pika is now climbing mountains toward extinction, say scientists.

American pika seen headed toward extinction
(Reuters) Human activity and climate change may be pushing the tiny American pika toward extinction in the mountains of western North America, according to research published Thursday.



OTTER

(to top)

Otter on the brink of extinction
(BBC) The otter could disappear forever within the next 20 years.

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HABITAT LOSS

News Articles (to top)
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Logging threatens Borneo species
Conservationists are warning that the south-east Asian island of Borneo could lose almost all its lowland forest within a decade. 6/11/2005

Changing planet revealed in atlas
(BBC) An atlas of environmental change compiled by the UN reveals some of the dramatic transformations affecting our planet. 6/3/2005 8:26 PM

Eye on Earth: Satellite atlas shows changes
(MSNBC) A photo atlas released by the United Nations Environment Program shows mankind's impact on the planet, from major deforestation to urban sprawl. 6/3/2005 8:00 PM

Urban sprawl threatens species
(MSNBC) -- 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. 1/11/2005

Cloud Forests Fading in the Mist, Their Treasures Little Known
They are nature's "water towers," providing billions of gallons of fresh, clean, filtered water. They are home to thousands of indigenous peoples, and storehouses of biodiversity, at least 80 percent of which has not yet been catalogued.

Loss of Amazon Rain Forest May Come Sooner Than Expected
EDINBURGH, Scotland—While many environmental issues today are highly contentious, there's one cause that seems to unite nearly everyone: pleas to save the world's rapidly disappearing rain forests. Yet a new mathematical model suggests we may not be acting fast enough.

Mountain Ecosystems in Danger Worldwide, UN Says
People have long fled to the mountains in search of fresh air and tranquility. But a "health check-up" of the world's mountains by the United Nations has found that many mountain ranges themselves are in dire need of relief from modern activities that are causing lasting environmental damage.

Opinion: The Last Chance to Save Indonesia's Forest Riches
Megawati Sukarnoputri, Indonesia's third president since the fall of Suharto in May 1998, has an opportunity to move the world's fourth largest country toward political, economic, and social stability.

Massive Destruction of Great Ape Habitats Likely Over the Next 30 Years Unless Current Trends Reversed
Less than 10 per cent of the remaining habitat of the great apes of Africa will be left relatively undisturbed by 2030 if road building, mining camps and other infrastructure developments continue at current levels a new report suggests.

Near Total Ape-Habitat Loss Foreseen By 2030
Less than 10 percent of the remaining habitat of the great apes of Africa will be left relatively undisturbed by 2030 if road building, mining camps, and other infrastructure developments continue at current levels, a new report suggests.

Trees on the verge of mass extinction
some 8750 tree species--one-tenth of the 80 000 to 100 000 known to science--are at risk of extinction, a new study has found. Only 12 per cent of those threatened grow in protected areas.

West's love of talc threatens India's tigers
Demand for cosmetics is being met by illegal mining in animal sanctuaries - and destruction of big cat's habitat

Last stand for Russia's tigers
Conservationists say the unique taiga forest of Russia's far east is being destroyed by rapacious logging.

Giant Philippine eagle perched on edge of extinction
DAVAO, Philippines (CNN) -- In the Philippines, every creature surely fears the airborne predator at the top of the food chain, the Philippine eagle. But even the world's largest bird of prey faces the risk of extinction.

Elephants on the brink in Asia
An icon in Vietnamese culture, the Asian elephant is rarely spotted in that part of the world anymore.

Forests Face Global Extinction, Study Says
'Miraculous Transformation' in Attitudes Necessary or the World Stands to Lose Most Closed-Canopy Ecosystems, UN Report Finds

High Demand for Tequila Puts Mexico's Dry Forests at Risk
Since the late 1990s, tequila has moved to the front of the shelf as one of the world's most popular alcoholic drinks. Behind the scenes, however, the trend is threatening tropical dry forests of Mexico.

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HUNTING & POACHING

News Articles (to top)
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Horn trade pressures some rhinos (06.06.2007)
(BBC) A rise in poaching has put some rhino populations at risk of extinction.

Hunting threat to big amphibians
(BBC) Illegal hunting is bringing the Chinese giant salamander, the world's largest amphibian, to the brink of extinction. 9/9/2005

On the Brink of Extinction
N E W D E L H I, India, June 5 — India’s elephant population is teetering on the brink of extinction because of rampant poaching and brutal training methods

'Last chance' for Southern Ocean
Rewards for fish pirates far outweigh the risk of fines. Scientists in Australia have warned that fish piracy is damaging the Southern Ocean to such an extent that time is running out to save it.

Hunting to extinction
A wildlife crisis is forcing conservationists to rethink their tactics

The cost of bushmeat
Five gorillas died, four escaped: The trade is unsustainable. As much as 10 tonnes of African bushmeat may be reaching London every day, according to a British film on the trade.

Trade in animal parts biggest threat to wildlife in Asia, says study
BANGKOK, Thailand — A rampant trade in animal parts such as rhino horns and bear paws for use in medicines and gourmet food is the single greatest threat to wildlife in Asia, an international conservation group warned Tuesday.

Unfair Game
The bushmeat trade is wiping out large African mammals

War and poaching threaten Congo apes
KINSHASA - War and poaching threaten to put the great apes of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a country torn apart by a four-year war, on the brink of extinction, say scientists.

Bonobos' threat: hungry humans
Though illegal, the trade in bush meat thrives in Congo and is pushing bonobos apes to extinction.

Gorillas face doom at gunpoint
As rival militias swarm over a nature park in Congo, butchering and eating the animals, a rare primate is being brought to the edge of extinction

Poachers kill rare mountain gorillas in raid for rich collector
The endangered mountain gorillas of Africa have suffered a devastating lethal attack by poachers, believed to be acting on the orders of a wealthy Western collector.

Monkeys, Apes are Being Eaten to Extinction
The first wild monkey Anthony Rose ever saw in Cameroon was dead gutshot and still next to a porcupine and a pair of tiny red antelope. "A poor day's catch," his host apologized, gesturing with his gun. In two weeks of barnstorming rain forest boomtowns in central Africa, Rose, a conservationist from Los Angeles, counted more primates dead than alive.

Occasionally someone would tear off a monkey's arm to make a bit of soup
It may not be to everybody's taste, but endangered species are back on an underground menu near you. You can literally have anything you want from rhino's horn, to tiger penis, to Virgin's nipples.

A monkey species was eaten into extinction last year - the gorilla could be next
Hunters are slaughtering African wildlife to supply the UK meat trade, reports Anthony Browne. A horrific trade in apes and monkeys being sold as meat in Britain is threatening chimpanzees and gorillas with extinction, an Observer investigation reveals.

European logging companies fuel trade in ape meat
The great apes of Africa are under renewed threat as a result of an explosion in the bushmeat trade fuelled by the logging practice of European companies

Lions face new threat: they're rich, American and they've got guns
Schwarzkopf and Bush Snr mobilise opposition as Botswana moves to save its big cats

Tighter controls needed to halt snow leopard trade in its tracks
The snow leopard is being severely threatened by illegal killing and trade according to a recently released report. The snow leopard is one of the most endangered big cats in the world with an estimated population of only 4000 - 7000.

Spate of poaching places rhino's future in the balance
An upsurge in poaching for the illegal wildlife trade is once again a major threat to the Asian rhino, says WWF.

Rescuing Seahorses: Amazing Creatures Threatened By Overfishing
L O N D O N, June 8 — Think of a fish that looks like a horse, with a tail like a monkey, a snout like an anteater and a pouch like a kangaroo and you’ll have one of the most beautiful underwater creatures — the seahorse.

Poaching, Smuggling Threaten Abalone Colonies in South Africa
South Africa's law-enforcement authorities are engaged in an armed battle to save the country's abalone stocks from extinction at the hands of poachers and international smuggling syndicates.

Asia no longer a primate Eden: Many species face extinction this century
DEY AMBIL, Cambodia, June 14 — Within eyesight of a sign urging “Don’t sell wildlife,” a roadside vendor is peddling four slow lorises — little primates with sad luminous eyes — to be burned alive and churned into purported Chinese medicine.

Dolphins face death in nets
Thousands of dolphins could be illegally killed off the coasts of France and the West Country this winter, a leading campaigner has warned.

Animal trade thrives amid crackdown
Despite much-publicized raids on numerous animal markets, the trade of protected species continues to flourish across the archipelago, pushing rare animals into extinction and threatening the country's biodiversity, the third richest in the world.

"Wonder Drug" Snails Face Threats, Experts Warn
A new report warns that a group of tropical sea snails, famous for yielding new wonder drugs to treat chronic pain, cancer, and many other afflictions, could rapidly become extinct if measures are not taken to protect them.

A new campaign to combat the wildlife trade
WWF and the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR) are launching Souvenir Alert, a new campaign to stop holidaymakers buying souvenirs made from endangered species.

Tackling the trade towards extinction
The year 1973 was a memorable one. The Watergate scandal was upon us, Picasso died, Britain embarked on a three-day week and France tested an H-bomb in the South Pacific.

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INVASIVE SPECIES

News Articles (to top)
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Brazilian weed clogging U.S. lakes, rivers
(MSNBC) Texas is among areas trying to control fern since it can't root it out. One biologist compares the persistent green weed to “The Blob,” the title character in the 1950s sci-fi classic flick that grows and grows and consumes everything in its path. July 3, 2005

Montana to Fight Spread of Noxious Weeds
(NOVA) They infest a portion of Montana the size of Florida and Arkansas combined, and go by names like tansy ragwort, yellow toadflax and houndstongue. One species, knapweed, takes an estimated $42 million economic toll on the state every year. 6/8/2005

Predators in paradise
(CNN) A dangerous intruder has invaded Everglades National Park, and it's putting the native wildlife at risk. 10/22/2004

Exotic Worms Killing Off N. American Plants
While most earthworms are credited for their beneficial effects on soil, recent research suggests that several invasive European earthworm species could be causing a decline in some North American plants.

Maryland Suffers Setback in War on Invasive Walking Fish
The news keeps getting worse for Maryland wildlife officials. Biologists sampling the lake captured more than 100 juvenile northern snakeheads, confirming their worst fears: The air-breathing, land-crawling, voracious predator found in a pond in Crofton, Maryland, is multiplying.

Ocean Litter Gives Alien Species an Easy Ride
Alien species are using trash in the ocean to raft their way to new territory, where they can colonize and possibly overwhelm local marine ecosystems, reports a British marine biologist.

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THE WORLD'S OCEANS

News Articles (to top)
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Europe's seas face 'bleak future' (06/07/2007)
(BBC) Europe's seas are in a "serious state of decline" as a result of coastal development, overfishing and pollution from agriculture, warn scientists.

Cayman coral dies off as water warms (.05.07.2007)
(MSNBC) The Cayman Islands have lost 50 percent of its hard corals in the last 10 years in spite of strong environmental laws, and scientists tie that to global warming.

Fish species tries to evade warming seas (01.05.2007)
(MSNBC) Worldwide, warming waters can be expected to strain species that require lots of oxygen, forcing them to either relocate to cooler waters or face extinction, the authors write.

Protection plea for deep-sea fish
(Reuters) Protected ocean areas are needed to save deep-sea fish which have been driven to near extinction by commercial fishing, scientists said on Wednesday. 1/4/2006

Population numbers may doom salmon; Scientists, analysts believe wild Pacific fish could become extinct (09.07.2005)
(MSNBC) Too many people using too much energy and natural resources make it inevitable that wild Pacific salmon will become extinct over the next century...

Scientists Discover Warning Signs of Coral Bleaching on Great Barrier Reef
SYDNEY, Australia — Scientists have identified early warning signs of rising ocean temperatures which threaten to drain Australia's Great Barrier Reef of its vibrant colors.

Presidential panel urges measures to protect oceans
More research funding sought to tackle exploitation, pollution
WASHINGTON - Citing a "critical" need to protect ocean resources from exploitation and pollution, a presidential commission on Tuesday urged President Bush and Congress to double spending on ocean research, create a National Ocean Council at the White House, and earmark billions in offshore oil and gas drilling royalties to a federal oceans trust fund.

Red Sea corals near extinction?
Expert says nitrogen from fish farms is killing them
EILAT, Israel - In their heyday, the corals along the shores of the Israeli Red Sea resort of Eilat were a mecca for divers drawn by one of the most spectacular and biologically diverse reefs in the world.

Big-Fish Stocks Fall 90 Percent Since 1950, Study Says
Only 10 percent of all large fish—both open ocean species including tuna, swordfish, marlin and the large groundfish such as cod, halibut, skates and flounder—are left in the sea, according to research published in today's issue of the scientific journal Nature.

Study: Only 10 percent of big ocean fish remain
CNN) -- A new global study concludes that 90 percent of all large fishes have disappeared from the world's oceans in the past half century, the devastating result of industrial fishing.

Complete collapse of North Atlantic fishing predicted
The entire North Atlantic is being so severely overfished that it may completely collapse by 2010, reveals the first comprehensive survey of the entire ocean's fishery.

North Sea faces collapse of its ecosystem
Fish stocks and sea bird numbers plummet as soaring water temperatures kill off vital plankton

Dead zones in the oceans and a rate of extinction 1,000 times faster than evolution
Humans have created at least 50 dead zones in the sea with little or no oxygen - and altered almost half of the land surface of the planet.

Decline in oceans' phytoplankton alarms scientists
Experts pondering whether reduction of marine plant life is linked to warming of the seas

Whale Population Devastated by Warming Oceans, Scientists Say
Global warming has caused an unexpected collapse in the numbers of the world's most hunted whale, scientists believe.

Extinction nears for whales and dolphins
Some whales, dolphins and porpoises are now so endangered they could vanish within a decade, scientists say.

New Threats Endanger Great Whales
Gland, Switzerland - At the dawn of the new millennium a series of emerging threats endanger the survival of the great whales according to a report released today by WWF, the conservation organization.

High-Tech Fishing Is Emptying Deep Seas, Scientists Warn
The demand for fresh fish in homes and restaurants around the world is soaring at a time when well-established fisheries are becoming exhausted. To meet the demand, fishing boats are venturing into farther reaches of the ocean, guided by high-tech devices that include technologies originally developed for the Cold War.

"Dirty Fishing" Emptying Oceans, Experts Say
In June, along the shoreline of Mauritania, in northwest Africa, scientists made a gruesome discovery: the carcasses of 230 dolphins, a pilot whale, and 15 endangered hawksbill and leatherback sea turtles.

Antarctic Wildlife at Risk From Overfishing, Experts Say
Scientists say urgent international action is needed to safeguard the Southern Ocean's unique wildlife. The warning came last month when Antarctic researchers gathered in London to discuss threats to the region's ecology. Concern focused on commercial fishing, and its potential impact on albatrosses, penguins, seals, and whales.

Group Urges National Effort to Save U.S. Ocean Areas
Overfishing at sea, over-development along the coasts, and increasing pollution from cities and fields are leading to decline of ocean wildlife and the collapse of ocean ecosystems, according to a report released today by scientists, fishermen, conservationists, business leaders, and elected officials.

North Atlantic Sharks on Sharp Decline, Experts Say
North Atlantic sharks are in serious trouble. Scientists searching through fifteen years of fishing logbooks have spotted a precipitous drop in shark populations.

Overfishing Is Drying Up Livelihood of Ports in Western Europe
Vincente Virue wanted to be a fisherman so badly he used his older brother's ID to start working on a ship when he was 12, two years younger than the legal minimum age.

Salmon Farm Escapees Threaten Wild Salmon Stocks
A recent study in Norway suggests that wild salmon lose out to sexually precocious fish-farm invaders when breeding in rivers.

Sharks Falling Prey To Humans' Appetites
Summer is around the corner, and soon beach lovers will flock to their favorite coastal areas to soak up the sun and plunge into the surf. Many of them, however, will be keeping a nervous lookout for one of Earth's most misunderstood predators—the shark.

A Taste for Shark-Fin
Sharks Face Extinction in Many Areas of Globe

Scientists demand 'fish parks'
A hundred and fifty of the world's leading marine scientists are calling for a ban on fishing in vast areas of the world's oceans.

'Last chance' for Southern Ocean
Rewards for fish pirates far outweigh the risk of fines. Scientists in Australia have warned that fish piracy is damaging the Southern Ocean to such an extent that time is running out to save it.

North Sea in crisis as skate dies out
Ban placed on large areas to stave off risk of species being destroyed

Dying seas threaten extinction to cod
Global warming could be tearing apart the delicate marine food chain - spelling doom for everything from zooplankton to dolphins, reports Robin McKie

The North Sea Fishing Crisis

Oceans in crisis, will Bush step up?
President Bush's oceans advisory panel is about to issue a report calling for a completely new approach to protecting marine life, but already the feeling among some experts is that the president won't have much of an appetite for heeding the advice.

TROUBLED WATERS: A Call for Action
more than 1,600 marine scientists and conservation biologists from 65 countries have issued an unprecedented warning to the world's governments and citizens that the sea is in trouble.

Deep sea organisms threatened by fishing
BOSTON, Feb. 15 (UPI) -- Deep ocean biodiversity is being devastated as the fishing industry, using improved technology, seeks to increase its catch, biologist Callum Roberts of York University said Friday at the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

A declaration for the recovery of our seas
Tuesday 23 October 2001 At a conference hosted by WWF, representatives of all those involved in the marine environment have signed the historic Edinburgh Declaration for Oceans Recovery.

The UK's fish stocks are on the verge of collapse
threatening fishermen, coastal communities and marine wildlife - according to a new WWF report.

Deep sea fish heading towards commercial extinction
Friday 28 November 2003 Commercial deep sea fish species such as the orange roughy are highly threatened by fast expanding and largely unregulated fisheries, and should be immediately protected from high seas fishing activities.

Oceans in crisis - world governments must take action
Wednesday 30 October 2002 A new WWF online leaflet reveals that some of the world's most precious marine species are particularly threatened by unregulated international trade and pirate fishing.

UK sea life on red alert
Wednesday 20 September 2000 The health of the UK's marine environment is in serious decline as a result of decades of pollution, neglect and over-exploitation, according to a new WWF report.

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POLLUTION

News Articles (to top)
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Head of Russia's New Green Party Outlines Tasks, Problems
(NOVA) Yablokov began by saying that the party was set up "out of desperation" because the ecological situation in Russia is very bad. He said he has no political ambitions and his main concern is Russia's future. He said his party intends to hold "a tough dialogue" with the authorities on ecological issues. 6/8/2005

Azeri Experts Warn of Ecological Disaster After Russian Oil Spill in Caspian
(NOVA) Text of report by Azerbaijani TV station ANS on 2 June [Presenter] The Caspian Sea is polluted as there is an oil slick in the sea. The Azerbaijani Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources has sent an inquiry to the relevant ministry in Russia about the incident. 6/3/2005 5:00 AM

China Faces 'Severe' Environmental Problems
(NOVA) BEIJING -- China is facing "severe" environmental problems, including pollution in most of its rivers and lakes and worsening acid rain, the government said, blaming the booming economy and urban growth. 6/2/2005 1:54 PM

Challenges ahead for a changing Earth
(CNN) In 1969, the Cuyahoga River flowing past Cleveland, Ohio, caught fire and burned noxious sludge from steel mills, paint factories and sewage plants. In California, an offshore drilling rig stained the coast of Santa Barbara with more than 3 million gallons of crude oil. The skies of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, home to the nation's steel industry, were so dark with soot that drivers sometimes had to turn on their headlights during the day. 4/8/2005

NASA Photographs Huge Clouds of Pollution Over Earth
The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has assembled the most comprehensive view of air pollution in the Earth's atmosphere to date.

Pollution Cloud Over South Asia Threatens Economies
This story aired on our U.S. cable television program National Geographic Today. A vast blanket of pollution stretching across South Asia is damaging agriculture, modifying rainfall patterns, and putting hundreds of thousands of people at risk, a new study suggests.

Asian Pollution Cloud Changing Climate, Study Says
When factories, power plants or automobiles spew pollutants into the air, these emissions take to the wind and travel wherever it blows. A toxic blend of soot, ash, acids and other airborne particles crosses borders and oceans—polluting faraway places and affecting climate, rainfall and causing acid rain.

Asian cloud threatens Mideast
DUBAI (Reuters) -- A body of pollution which has been identified in the skies across Asia is now threatening to engulf the Middle East and make the planet a drier place, a leading environmental scientist said on Tuesday.

Arctic Life Threatened by Toxic Chemicals, Groups Say
There's something seriously wrong in the Great White North. Polar bears are birthing fewer cubs. Seals that swim in northern seas carry high levels of mercury and cadmium in the body fat that insulates them from the cold—and animals from reindeer to whales to sea birds also carry industrial chemicals in their bodies. Some Inuit newborns are born with high blood pressure that persists into elementary school.

Europe: Norway's androgynous polar bears
Bear cubs: Poisoned by their mother's milk. Scientists in the Arctic region of Norway have warned that polar bears are at risk because of high levels of chemical pollution from the rest of Europe and East Asia.

"Fossil Trout" Faces Extinction in Balkans, Experts Warn
The Ohrid trout, an ancient fish living in Europe's oldest lake, faces extinction due to pollution and overfishing. The warning comes from Balkan scientists who say even a proposed five-year commercial fishing ban won't be enough to save the species.

Are Plastic Grocery Bags Sacking the Environment?
The "paper or plastic" conundrum that vexed earnest shoppers throughout the 1980s and 90s is largely moot today.

Human waste attacks coral
Coral reefs are important parts of marine ecosystems. A disease which has devastated one type of Caribbean coral has been traced back to bacteria found in human faeces.

Raw Human Waste Killing Off Coral Reefs?
In many parts of the world where sewage treatment is lacking, raw human waste spills into the open sea. Now, research suggests that certain microbes in the human gut are responsible for two coral diseases that have devastated large patches of reef.

Light Pollution Taking Toll on Wildlife, Eco-Groups Say
Turning off the lights saves energy—and it can help save wildlife as well.

Rocky Mountain high — if you like smog
National park suffers haze days from Denver ozone

Mysterious Kenya Flamingo Die-Offs Tied to Toxins, Study Says
Kenya's vast Lake Nakuru is dotted with noisy colonies of brilliant pink lesser flamingos, a sight mirrored at Lake Begoria and other lakes across the East African Rift Valley.

Pesticides, Parasite May Cause Frog Deformities
Frogs with extra legs or missing legs have been showing up with greater frequency over the past decade, and scientists have been baffled by the cause.

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POPULATION

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Challenges ahead for a changing Earth
(CNN) Struggle to balance human growth, environment remains. 10/13/2005

Earth on edge of a precipice - UN report
LONDON - The human race is plundering Earth at an unsustainable rate, but the growing power of women over their own futures could save the planet from destruction, the United Nations said yesterday.

The Global Challenge
As the century begins, natural resources are under increasing pressure, threatening public health and development. Water shortages, soil exhaustion, loss of forests, air and water pollution, and degradation of coastlines afflict many areas. As the world's population grows, improving living standards without destroying the environment is a global challenge.

UN warns of population surge
Countries like India will continue to be the most heavily populated. The United Nations has published new predictions on the size and age of the world's population 300 years from now.

Population and Global Warming
Life on Earth is dependent on carbon dioxide to regulate the temperature of our planet, but too much can create a heat-trapping blanket over our atmosphere.

India losing population battle
The population in India is still rising rapidly

Hopkins Report: Time Running Out for The Environment
As world population continues to grow, natural resources are under increasing pressure, threatening public health and social and economic development, warns a new report from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.

Report: No U.S. Streams Unpolluted
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The United States may have no streams left that are free from chemical contamination, and about one-fifth of animal species and one-sixth of plant types are at risk of extinction, says a private report on the nation's ecosystems.

Red alert over rare species
The well-known "Red List" that details which species are threatened with extinction is inaccurate, according to a new assessment. It concludes the list fails to reflect the true threat to species, by not taking full account of the threat posed by people.

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THE PENDING WATER CRISIS

News Articles (to top)
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Planet at a crucial crossroads, warns new report
More than half the people in the world could be living in severely water-stressed areas within the next 30 years ...

WRI report reveals world's freshwater systems in peril
EAST LANSING, MI, Oct. 21, 2000 - A report released today by the World Resources Institute (WRI) reveals that the world's freshwater systems are so degraded that its ability to support human, plant and animal life is greatly in peril.

Action needed to prevent freshwater crisis
A new WWF report reveals that the Earth's most vital resource, water, is being squandered, and warns that the world will face a freshwater crisis in the future unless urgent action is taken.

Water tables 'receeding' in developing countries
UNEP warns of deepening water cirsis. A report issued by the UN's Environment Programme (UNEP) conveys harsh warnings about the rate at which freshwater resources are being depleted on a global scale.

UN Highlights World Water Crisis
To more than two billion people, fresh, pure water is more valuable than gold.

UK wetlands threatened by water extraction
A new report commissioned by WWF reveals that taking too much water to supply homes and businesses risks parching over 500 wetlands in England and Wales. This threatens to destroy some of our most precious wetland habitats such as the Norfolk Broads and Lake Windermere.

Climate 'threat' to US water:The Alaskan permafrost is set to retreat further
Climate change during this century could seriously affect water resources in the US, a report warns.

Dead Sea on death bed
DEAD SEA (CNN) -- If you are planning to go for a float on the Dead Sea, do it soon -- because scientists predict in the next 50 to 100 years you will be seeing a lot less of it.

Dirty water
Nearly half the world's population does not have proper sanitation, and almost two billion people do not have easy access to clean water.

Living in a Water-Scarce World
Water is essential to all life on Earth. There is no substitute for this finite resource that links human society to nature...

WHAT IF THE BEST KEPT SECRET TO OUR SPIRITUAL ASCENSION IS TO LOVE AND RESPECT ALL ANIMALS AND PLANT LIFE?

Its not a secret. Like other things, we just refuse to open our eyes and open our minds. We'd rather eat meat than believe that animals count...

The least true thing I've heard all day. Conditional love, only loving things you judge as "worthy", is what dilutes the real meaning and feelings of love. The world practices your type of love all day long, and I see very few who understand the real meaning of love or truly feel it.

So obviously you're more inclined to kill puppies and rainbowsas it would be easier than loving all things.

Hmmm, yep you're probably right.

I'm with the OP - there is nothing out there at all that focuses on giving upmost care to other living species over ourselves. No teachings of following this way of life - except maybe Jainism.

The literature on the sensitivities of other species and plants also is astounding. No matter ones beliefs, you would be awed to learn that plants are able to identify a human 'attacker' for instance?

Anyway how arrogant of the human race to 'take over' in the way it has. Who the fuck said it was our planet?

Speciesism is the sickest discrimination in existence. It's the root of all man's troubles too.

lets teach others

[link to www.godlikeproductions.com]


"The Earth lifts its glass to the sun
And light–light is poured.
A bird comes and sits on a crystal rim
And from my forest cove I hear singing.
….An emerald bird rises from inside me
And now sits upon the Beloved’s glass.
I have left that dark cave forever.
My body has blended with His.
I lay my wing as a bridge to you
So that you can join us singing."

this is what its all about ...
the suffering has to stop, thats what the creator wants, all suffering to stop

Can we do this? will we do this and avert the "doom"? thats imo the price the Creator wants

And, "WHAT IF THE BEST KEPT SECRET TO OUR SPIRITUAL ASCENSION IS TO LOVE AND RESPECT ALL HUMAN LIFE? " ??

Wait, it is.

No, we cannot do this in our present "natural" fallen nature state.