Are seed-sowing drones the answer to global deforestation? | Environment News

Are seed-sowing drones the answer to global deforestation? | Environment News

Santa Cruz Cabralia, Bahia, Brazil – With a loud whir, the drone takes flight. Minutes later, the humming sound gives way to a distinctive rattling as the machine, hovering about 20 metres above the ground, begins unloading its precious cargo and a cocktail of seeds rains down onto the land…

Evacuation orders issued as wildfire grows near Canada’s Alberta oil patch | Environment News

Evacuation orders issued as wildfire grows near Canada’s Alberta oil patch | Environment News

Authorities say firefighters are facing a ‘challenging day’ as a huge blaze nears Fort McMurray in the Alberta tar sands. Authorities in the Canadian province of Alberta have issued evacuation orders for neighbourhoods in Fort McMurray, as a growing wildfire nears the community at the heart of Canada’s tar sands…

Energy summit seeks to curb cooking habits that kill millions every year | Arts and Culture News

Energy summit seeks to curb cooking habits that kill millions every year | Arts and Culture News

Harmful cooking practices result in the deaths of 3.7 million people every year with children and women most at risk. An energy summit that seeks to reduce millions of premature deaths around the world, most notably in Africa, is set to open in Paris and aims to raise billons of…

Guardians of the glaciers – life alongside Pakistan’s vanishing ice | Environment

Guardians of the glaciers – life alongside Pakistan’s vanishing ice | Environment

Skardu, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan – As we make our way towards Pakistan’s first organic village, an intense one-hour trek along the rugged, steep and unfenced mountainside pathway from Mindoq-Khar, near Kharpocho Fort, my legs are shaking with a mix of fear and strain. The sharp mountain edges stick out threateningly, and…

The sanctuaries trying to save birds of prey from extinction in Kenya | Wildlife

The sanctuaries trying to save birds of prey from extinction in Kenya | Wildlife

Simon Thomsett tentatively removes a pink bandage from the wing of an injured bateleur, a short-tailed eagle from the African savannah, where birds of prey are increasingly at risk of extinction. “There is still a long way to go before healing,” Thomsett explains as he lifts up the bird’s dark…

Malaysia plans ‘orangutan diplomacy’ in palm oil pitch | Environment News

Malaysia plans ‘orangutan diplomacy’ in palm oil pitch | Environment News

Commodities minister says critically endangered animals could be given to countries that buy Malaysia’s palm oil. Malaysia has said it plans to start an “orangutan diplomacy” programme for countries that buy its palm oil. The Southeast Asian nation is the world’s second biggest producer of the edible oil after Indonesia,…

Invisible plastic: Why banning plastic bags will never be enough | Environment News

Invisible plastic: Why banning plastic bags will never be enough | Environment News

This week, the fourth round of treaty talks by the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution concluded in Ottawa, Canada. A major bone of contention between negotiators from 175 countries is whether or not to limit the production of plastic, most of which is made from fossil fuels and chemicals…

‘Don’t be afraid for the marshes’: The battle to save Iraq’s waterways | Climate Crisis

‘Don’t be afraid for the marshes’: The battle to save Iraq’s waterways | Climate Crisis

Abu Abbas knew more about the Iraqi Marshes than most, having lived there his entire life. So when the Iraqi government of former dictator Saddam Hussein drained the wetlands of southern Iraq in the early 1990s, Abu Abbas witnessed the devastation. Then a decade later, as young men with picks…

Why has the flooding in Kenya been so devastating? | Weather News

Why has the flooding in Kenya been so devastating? | Weather News

Torrential rains have caused devastating floods in Kenya, where more than 200 people have died, thousands have been displaced and nearly 2,000 schools have been destroyed. All remaining schools have been shut down until further notice. Rains have been ravaging Kenya since March during some of the most catastrophic weather…