World Peatland Day honors a crucial ecosystem in the fight against climate change
Peatlands are boggy wet ecosystems found from boreal forests in the Russian Arctic to the tropics of central Africa. Typically, when vegetation decomposes it releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. However, when that same organic matter falls in a bog and is covered with water, carbon gets trapped and becomes sequestered there, sometimes for millennia. […]
Australia has the money to protect nature. It just isn’t spending it, expert says
“I think the international community really does need to put more pressure on Australia to do better,” says Euan Ritchie, a professor of wildlife ecology and conservation at Deakin University in Australia, in a recent episode of Mongabay’s Newscast. From animals like kangaroos, koalas and platypuses, to plants like waratah, kangaroo paw and climbing heath, […]
Conservationists wary of Nepal’s plan to relocate blackbucks
Nepal is preparing to relocate 18 blackbucks from the country’s west to its south central region, near the popular Chitwan National Park. Officials say the translocation will help establish a population of the antelope in a new habitat and safeguard the species against localized disasters or disease, but conservationists question the choice of habitat and […]
In Java, a women’s collective is helping save gibbons through forest-inspired textiles
BOGOR, Indonesia — In a village bordering Gunung Halimun-Salak National Park on the Indonesian island of Java, local people browse a row of fabrics carrying impressions of plants and the silhouette of the forest’s silvery gibbon. They are made by the women-led Ambu Halimun collective, whose name translates to “mothers of Halimun” in the local […]
Methane 101: Understanding the Second Most Important Greenhouse Gas
By Olivia Rosane and Cristen Hemingway Jaynes Methane is the second most important greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide and is responsible for around one-third of current global heating. Atmospheric methane concentrations have increased by 256 percent since pre-industrial times. Methane is a more powerful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide but lasts for far less time […]
New York Finalizes Rule for New Buildings to Be Electric
Dozens of large housing construction projects along the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, New York City on Dec. 24, 2024. Andrew Lichtenstein / Corbis via Getty Images Why you can trust us Founded in 2005 as an Ohio-based environmental newspaper, EcoWatch is a digital platform dedicated to publishing quality, science-based content on environmental issues, causes, and […]
Mass Die-Off of Western Monarch Butterflies Linked to Pesticides, Study Finds
A monarch butterfly in the butterfly pavilion at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County in Los Angeles, California on June 1, 2022. David Crane / MediaNews Group / Los Angeles Daily News via Getty Images Why you can trust us Founded in 2005 as an Ohio-based environmental newspaper, EcoWatch is a digital platform […]
Deepest-Known Animal Communities Found Almost Six Miles Below Sea Level
Researchers created this composite image of their submersible deep in the Mariana Trench. Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering / Chinese Academy of Sciences Why you can trust us Founded in 2005 as an Ohio-based environmental newspaper, EcoWatch is a digital platform dedicated to publishing quality, science-based content on environmental issues, causes, and solutions. Thousands […]