Nature congress calls for protecting 30% of Earth, 80% of Amazon

The world’s most influential conservation congress passed resolutions Friday calling for 80 percent of the Amazon and 30 percent of Earth’s surface — land and sea — to be designated “protected areas” to halt and reverse the loss of wildlife. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which is meeting in Marseille, does

Indigenous protest as Brazil high court hears land case

Thousands of indigenous protesters gathered in the Brazilian capital, bearing bows and arrows and traditional headdresses, as the Supreme Court prepared to take up a case Wednesday that could eliminate reservations on their ancestral lands. In what organizers say is the biggest indigenous protest ever in Brazil, an estimated 6,000 demonstrators prepared to march to

Worst June for Brazil Amazon forest fires since 2007

The Brazilian Amazon has suffered its worst June for forest fires since 2007, official data showed Thursday, indicating another devastating dry season for the world’s largest rainforest. The INPE research institute said its satellites detected 2,308 fires last month, an increase of 2.3 percent from June 2020. The previous record for the month of June

Let’s talk about Ecocide, a new proposed international law – Beau of the Fifth Column

‘Worst is yet to come’: Disastrous future ahead for millions worldwide due to climate change, report warns

The report, which is scheduled for official release next year, is the most comprehensive rundown to date of the impacts of climate change on our planet and our species. “The worst is yet to come, affecting our children’s and grandchildren’s lives much more than our own,” the report warns. Millions of people worldwide are in

Ship That Sunk Carrying 25 Tons of Chemicals Caused ‘Significant Damage’ to Planet

Acontainer ship that caught fire while carrying hazardous chemicals off the coast of Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo has caused “significant damage” to the planet by releasing the chemicals, a United Nations representative said. The Singapore-flagged X-Press Pearl finally sank on Thursday a month after it caught on fire, the Associated Press reported. Due to the material it

Arrests on Vancouver Island over old-growth logging blockades tally 33 on Saturday

Longtime activist Tzeporah Berman one of those arrested Saturday as RCMP continue enforcing court order More than 30 activists were arrested on Southern Vancouver Island on Saturday, including a prominent environmentalist, as RCMP continue to enforce a court order to allow logging in the area. This week B.C. RCMP began enforcing a court injunction that orders the removal

Destruction of Brazil’s Amazon rainforest speeds up for 2nd straight month

Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest rose 43% in April from the same month a year ago, preliminary government data showed on Friday, the second consecutive monthly rise as destruction picked up ahead of the annual burning season. In the first four months of 2021, deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon totaled 1,157 square kilometers, an area

‘Ecocide’ proposal aiming to make environmental destruction an international crime

A group of leading international law experts has defined a new super-crime. They’re calling it “ecocide”. They plan to submit a draft of their new law to the governing body of the International Criminal Court, in the hope that the ICC will adopt it for future prosecutions. If successful, ecocide will become the court’s fifth