Posts

The exceptional value of intact forest ecosystems

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Nature Ecology & Evolution Riding Mountain National Park, Manitoba. PinP photo. As the terrestrial human footprint continues to expand, the amount of native forest that is free from significant damaging human activities is in precipitous decline. There is emerging evidence that the remaining intact forest supports an exceptional confluence of globally significant environmental values relative to degraded forests, including imperilled biodiversity, carbon sequestration and storage, water provision, indigenous culture and the maintenance of human health. Here we argue that maintaining and, where possible, restoring the integrity of dwindling intact forests is an urgent priority for current global efforts to halt the ongoing biodiversity crisis, slow rapid climate change and achieve sustainability goals. Retaining the integrity of intact forest ecosystems should be a central component of proactive global and national environmental strategies, alongside current efforts

'Dirty meat':Shocking hygiene failings discovered in US pig and chicken plants

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   The Guardian Previously unseen government records detail 'deeply worrying' incidents in pork and poultry plants, raising fears of 'dirty meat' entering the UK under a post-Brexit trade deal.  Story here. Photo-Erdei Catalin RELATED:  "In Hogs We Trust"     The Manitoba Story. Part #1   Antibiotics. Part #2 Government subsidies. Part#3 Animal diseases.   

The global footprint of fisheries

ScienceDaily Fishing activity now covers at least 55 percent of the world's oceans -- four times the land area covered by agriculture -- and can now be monitored, in near real time, to the level of individual vessels. More here.

Europe's key animals 'making a comeback'

BBC News Some of Europe's key animals have made a comeback over the past 50 years, a report suggests. More here.

Study confirmed plastic beach debris a danger to wildlife.

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SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY At current rates of plastic production, by 2050 the total mass of plastics in our oceans will outweigh the biomass of fish.  — World Economic Forum. More here. Pieces of plastic that washed ashore after a storm.  Pacific Ocean beach in San Francisco. Source:  Plastic Oceans. Author: Kevin Krejci.

Illegal global trade of pangolins

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Science News A baby pangolin. Pinterest photo - author unknown. Animal traffickers are taking advantage of remote ivory trade routes to smuggle pangolins – one of the world’s most endangered animals – out of Central Africa, a new study has found. Story here.