Every spring and autumn billions of animals cross borders without passports, navigating oceans, skies and continents along routes older than human civilization. Millions of birds fly from Africa to Europe along the Great Syrian Rift and risk getting shot by owl hunters in Jordan who see them as superstitious and negative omans. Or songbirds turn into a pickled dish Cyprus. Sea turtles, dolphins and sharks are getting eaten in Gaza. Can you blame them?

With larger, land-bound animals human encroachment and Middle East warns make it more troubling for the survival of migratory animals on land, air and at sea. A new United Nations report released this week warns that the situation is getting worse, not better. Some of the causes for concern are poisonings, illegal fishing, and wind turbines.

Over the years we have reported on a Kuwaiti posing with dead wolves, the massacre of 12 flamingoes as well as thousands of endangered fruit bats which were gunned down in Lebanon. Whats more, despite laws to ban the ownership of exotic animals in the Gulf, we wouldn’t be surprised to see more pet cheetahs being paraded around.

According to the interim update to the State of the World’s Migratory Species, prepared under the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), 49 percent of migratory species populations protected under the treaty are now declining, up from 44 percent only two years ago. At the same time, 24 percent of listed migratory species now face extinction risk, a two-percent increase since the last assessment.

The findings arrive just weeks before governments gather in Brazil for the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the treaty, where conservation policies for migratory wildlife will be debated. The numbers matter, say UN officials, because migratory animals do more than travel. They also swoop in and pollinate plants, transport nutrients between ecosystems, regulate pests which are local and seasonal, and help store carbon in forests and oceans.

“The first global report was a wake-up call,” said Amy Fraenkel, Executive Secretary of CMS. “This interim update shows that the alarm is still sounding. Some species are responding to concerted conservation action, but too many continue to face mounting pressures across their migratory routes.”

Twenty-six species protected under the treaty have moved into higher extinction risk categories since the previous report. Among them are 18 migratory shorebird species, which rely on fragile coastal habitats that are increasingly lost to development, climate change and pollution.

Is there hope? Seven CMS-listed species have improved in conservation status thanks to coordinated international protection efforts, including the saiga antelope, the scimitar-horned oryx, and the Mediterranean monk seal, a marine mammal that once hovered near extinction.

Scientists have also made progress mapping the invisible highways animals follow across the planet. And some countries like Canada and Israel have built land bridges over highways so migratory species such as deer and moose can cross dangerous roads. We crossed under such bridges last summer in Canada.

Initiatives such as the Global Initiative on Ungulate Migration, the Migratory Connectivity in the Ocean (MiCO) system, and BirdLife International’s work identifying six major marine bird flyways are helping conservation planners understand how species move across landscapes and oceans. The report can be found here.

Still, many of the places these animals depend on remain unprotected. Researchers identified 9,372 Key Biodiversity Areas important for migratory species, yet 47 percent of the area they cover lies outside protected or conserved zones.

Two threats dominate the global picture: overexploitation of wildlife and the loss or fragmentation of habitats, which disrupt migration routes that may span thousands of miles.

“If we intervene only at the point of crisis, we risk acting too late,” Fraenkel said. “By strengthening governance, monitoring, legislation and community engagement upstream, we can reduce pressure on these remarkable animals and put them on the path to lasting recovery.”

Mediterranean and Middle East waters are a hotspot for threatened sharks

The report confirms that extinction risk for sharks and rays has risen sharply in several regions including the Mediterranean Sea and the Northern Indian Ocean.

• Populations of sharks and rays have declined by roughly 50% globally since 1970.

• Overfishing and bycatch are the main causes.

• Species such as the Oceanic Whitetip Shark (Carcharhinus longimanus) are now Critically Endangered.

• The Angelshark (Squatina squatina), once widespread in the Mediterranean, is now fragmented due to overexploitation.

These trends matter for countries around the Mediterranean basin including Israel, Turkey, Egypt, Lebanon and Greece, where coastal habitat loss and fishing pressure are major issues.

Migratory birds in the Middle East

According to the report:

• 53% of raptor species monitored in the African-Eurasian region are declining.

• Major threats include:

  • habitat loss

  • illegal hunting

  • poisoning

  • collisions with power lines and energy infrastructure.

The Steppe Eagle (Aquila nipalensis), which migrates through the Middle East from Central Asia to Africa, is now globally Endangered. The report notes that energy infrastructure — power lines and wind installations — is a significant cause of mortality for migratory raptors.

The upcoming COP15 meeting in Campo Grande, Brazil will test whether governments are ready to respond. Have the report ready to send to your local: “We have a baseline. We have better tools. And we have growing public awareness,” Fraenkel said. “The question before governments at COP15 is straightforward: will we match this knowledge with the political will and investment needed to secure the future of the world’s migratory species?”

For more on animal rights abuses in the Middle East see:

Kuwaiti Man Kills Wolf and Then Shows Off

Gulf Country Completely Bans Ownership of Wild Animals

Kuwaitis Use Shotgun to Kill 12 Flamingoes

Jordan’s Gray Wolves Are Hunted, Poisoned and Run Over

The post Nearly the half the world’s migratory species are declining, in new UN report for COP15 appeared first on Green Prophet.

The latest OECD Environmental Outlook focusses on the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution.

The OECD, or the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, is a global policy forum that brings together high-income democracies to address some of the world’s biggest challenges and promote liberty and prosperity. It develops policies to protect individual freedoms and improve the economic and social well-being of people worldwide. The organisation studies issues such as health, education, trade and taxation — and over the last two decades, climate change has become one of its most urgent areas of focus.

The OECD has recently published a major climate change report (link at the end of the article) that companies and governments must understand. It outlines essential policy tools and highlights the need to manage potential trade-offs — for example, ensuring that rapid renewable-energy deployment does not unintentionally damage natural habitats or create new waste-management challenges when technologies reach end-of-life.

According to the latest analysis, climate change is projected to overtake land-use change as the leading driver of biodiversity loss by 2050, intensifying pressures on terrestrial and marine ecosystems. In turn, biodiversity loss weakens ecosystem resilience to extreme weather and pollution, directly affecting air, water and soil quality. As land use shifts, we can also expect more flooding and wider challenges in wildlife management — as seen in recent bear attacks in Canada and Japan.

The new OECD Outlook emphasizes that policies addressing each environmental challenge are deeply interconnected. Climate mitigation policies that curb greenhouse gas emissions can also reduce co-emitted air pollutants. At the same time, expanding solar and wind power — essential for cutting emissions — can create new pressures on biodiversity if not carefully planned.

“Understanding the linkages between environmental challenges like climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution is essential for designing effective policy responses,” OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann said. “By co-ordinating their policy measures aimed at addressing these challenges, countries can more effectively advance their environmental objectives in line with their unique circumstances.”

The report examines national documents across ten countries — Argentina, Australia, Canada, China, France, India, Indonesia, Japan, Peru and Uganda — to illustrate how governments recognise these connections. While all countries acknowledge the two-way interlinkages between climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution in their Biennial Transparency Reports and National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans, gaps remain. What needs improvement? The report suggests that students, researchers and policymakers look closely at these findings to understand how to contribute to better environmental governance.

Overall, links between climate change and biodiversity are relatively well covered in national strategies, but the relationships involving pollution — including how climate and biodiversity pressures heighten pollution risks — are often missing. Policies designed to explicitly manage trade-offs, especially around pollution, remain limited.

To address these issues, the OECD identifies several practical levers for more integrated and effective policy action:

• Align financing and investment with interconnected climate, biodiversity and pollution objectives.

• Manage trade-offs in the clean-energy transition, including land pressures, material demand and end-of-life impacts.

• Transform resource use and advance circular-economy approaches to reduce waste, pollution and demand for primary materials.

• Improve the sustainability of food systems and land use to cut emissions, strengthen biodiversity and enhance resilience to climate and water stress.

::OECD climate change report

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In a key moment for global nature policy, the world’s governments have sketched the roadmap for the first collective review of the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) — the landmark pact adopted in 2022 to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030.

At the 27th meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA-27) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), held in Panama City, Parties agreed that the upcoming global review must be “facilitative, not punitive” — designed to build momentum and accountability rather than impose sanctions. The organization has used the acronym CBD, one of the key molecules in cannabis. Don’t be confused.

The meeting, attended by 800 delegates from around the world, focused on shaping the outline of the global progress report on the KMGBF’s 23 targets for 2030 — the targets which all 196 Parties to the CBD approved in 2022. The session also emphasised tighter coordination across climate, biodiversity and desertification treaties — underscoring a growing recognition that nature-loss, greenhouse-gas emissions and dry-land degradation are interlinked crises needing unified solutions.

As Panama’s Environment Minister, Juan Carlos Navarro, stated: “science-based decisions that deliver concrete results for people and life on Earth.” The agreed blueprint will guide the review process towards measurable outcomes and meaningful policy shifts rather than box-ticking.

The review – scheduled for 2026 in the lead-up to COP 17 (Yerevan, Armenia, October 2026) – will be anchored around five core axes:

1. Assess how countries are developing and implementing biodiversity plans, how inclusive and regionally representative they are, and how coordination, support and capacity-building are working.
2. Measure collective progress toward the KMGBF’s 23 global targets, comparing national and global goals, assessing successes, challenges and contributions from non-state actors.
3. Evaluate progress toward the Framework’s four overarching goals: summarising data and indicators, linking to targets, and offering science-based, non-binding options to address obstacles.
4. Examine means of implementation: identifying gaps in finance, institutional capacity, and specific challenges faced by developing countries, Indigenous Peoples, local communities, women and youth.
5. Review global cooperation: how multilateral agreements, institutions and non-governmental actors contribute to advancing the Framework’s vision for nature.

In the words of CBD Executive Secretary Astrid Schomaker: “This review is a vital checkpoint for the world’s commitment to nature. It allows us to see, with evidence and transparency, how far we’ve come … and where we must accelerate.” Still, she cautioned: “We’re running out of time … We must speed up our efforts and move towards taking action.”

Why This Matters for CleanTech, Finance & the Middle East-North Africa (MENA) Region

For the cleantech and sustainability sector — especially in the MENA region and emerging markets — this review sends critical signals that nature-positive investments will increasingly be measured not just by carbon outcomes, but by biodiversity, ecosystem service, and community outcomes as well.

Trade-offs between climate mitigation, land use and biodiversity are under scrutiny — meaning renewable energy, agritech, restoration and finance innovations must integrate biodiversity risk and opportunity. Developing countries, women, youth and Indigenous or local communities are now front and centre in measuring progress — policy, finance and technology must align accordingly.

Regional collaboration across climate, biodiversity and land-degradation architectures is gaining traction. Firms and funds operating in the MENA region should watch how cooperation, data-sharing and financing evolve.

For investors and entrepreneurs, the 2026 review offers a milestone for aligning new business models, green bonds or nature-based finance with emerging global biodiversity standards and expectations.

The upcoming KMGBF review is more than bureaucratic box-checking. It is a strategic inflection point: whether countries will shift from ambition to delivery, whether the private sector and civil society scale nature-positive business models, and whether global architecture for biodiversity, climate and land degradation will evolve toward coherence.

For the MENA region — facing climate stress, rapid land-use change, water scarcity and ecosystem vulnerability — this means stepping up. Governments, investors, start-ups and NGOs must align to the emerging agenda: biodiversity as a core pillar of sustainable development and climate action, not a side-note.

If we seize this moment, the 2026 review can catalyse a new wave of finance (see Green Finance mechanisms in the UAE), innovation and policy coherence — and move us closer to the vision of a nature-positive world by 2050. If not, the checkpoint risks becoming another missed opportunity while ecosystems, livelihoods and economies continue to degrade.

Biodiversity primer articles on Green Prophet

Where is the world’s most biodiversity? Follow the rain

How plants buffer against climate change (drylands biodiversity)

Yemen’s Socotra is the Galapagos of the Indian Ocean

How SPNI is Rewilding Cities and Rebuilding Resilience

A Guide to Rewilding Your Cities

Coral reefs and light pollution

Forests can bounce back after acid rain

Tropical forests are chemical factories

Sinkholes and Shrinking Shores: The Race to Rescue the Dead Sea

When greenwashing overwrites ecology at the superadobe Majara Residence, Hormuz Island

The post Biodiversity Blueprint Set for 2026 appeared first on Green Prophet.

An island in Africa’s smallest country is under scrutiny as conservationists raise alarm over an ultra-luxury development project on Assomption Island, Seychelles. Backed by Qatari investors with ties to controversial financial dealings (and alleged terror funds), the resort poses a potential threat to the Aldabra Atoll—one of the world’s most significant biodiversity hotspots and a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site.

We spoke with a local conservationist Adriam Skerret, bird expert and chairman of the Island Conservation Society on Mahé, whose interview we will publish next week. He told us that construction workers are already on the ground in Assomption and that there is no oversight.

“We are very concerned – there is no supervision. They are on the island and no one is there. Construction teams are there. They wanted 1500 construction workers and we said that’s too many. Never should there be more than 500. Who knows what’s goes on.”

Assomption Island lies roughly 20 miles from Aldabra Atoll, often called an “outpost for evolution” due to its unique ecological makeup and high concentration of endemic species. The island is home to endangered nesting sea turtles, giant tortoises, and over 400 species found nowhere else on Earth.

Construction has reportedly begun on Assomption Island for a development that includes luxury villas, a wellness spa, extended airstrip, and other high-end amenities. Conservationists argue this could devastate fragile habitats and pave the way for further commercial encroachment in the Aldabra region.

A 3-mile stretch of beach on Assomption is one of the best beaches in the Seychelles and a main breeding ground for the green turtle, says Skerret.

Despite opposition from some environmental NGOs and local communities (Skerret personally is for development, but in the right way), the Seychelles government has approved the project. Critics have questioned the transparency of the environmental impact assessment (EIA) process, alleging it was expedited and potentially influenced by vested interests.

Qatari Influence and Allegations

The development is backed by the Assets Group, led by the Al-Khayyat brothers, whose business dealings have attracted international scrutiny. The pair have been implicated in UK court proceedings alleging ties to extremist financing—though these allegations remain under legal review.

Assets Group, the Qatari conglomerate behind the Assomption Island development, is led by the Al-Khayyat brothers—figures currently embroiled in UK legal proceedings over allegations of financing terrorist organizations. Court documents and investigative reports have linked the group to funneling funds through charitable fronts and construction firms tied to extremist networks, raising serious ethical and geopolitical concerns about their involvement in high-profile international projects.

When the Seychelles put out a tender for a development, Qatar was the only one who responded.

Observers such as the Friends of Aldabra fear that the resort is part of a broader geopolitical strategy: using opaque investment structures to gain strategic footholds in vulnerable island nations. Qatar’s expansion into tourism infrastructure across the Global South has raised similar concerns elsewhere.

A Troubled History of Assomption

According to ornithologist and conservationist Chris Feare, Assomption has already suffered catastrophic ecological damage due to guano mining in the 20th century. “Virtually all of its birds, some of them endemic forms, all of its Giant Tortoises and most of its vegetation were lost,” says Feare. The current development could undo decades of slow ecological recovery.

Assomption also serves as a critical logistical access point to the Aldabra region. Conservationists argue that once the airstrip is expanded to accommodate private jets, increased development pressure will follow across other islands in the Outer Islands District.

The Seychelles has long promoted itself as a global leader in marine conservation through its Blue Economy initiatives and high-profile international environmental partnerships. The Assomption project could undermine that reputation, and with national elections on the horizon, public scrutiny is mounting.

Despite concern from prominent figures, including Nirmal Shah, CEO of Nature Seychelles, institutional influence appears limited. “I have no role in any regulatory matter. I run an NGO,” he commented via LinkedIn. We have sent him more questions and he says he will return to us next week.

Visual materials shared by Assets Group show an ultra-luxury resort featuring up to 40 beachfront villas, an outdoor cinema, children’s clubs, diving experiences, and atoll sunset tours—all under the guise of “sustainable luxury.” The resort operator is expected to be announced in 2025, with an opening scheduled for 2027.

Meanwhile, activists continue to raise awareness and rally support to halt the development. The Island Conservation Society produced this environment assessment.

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Medical marijuana growers swear by it: that music from different styles enhances the growth of their plants. This is the reason why parents in the 80s played Mozart to their embryos.

There may be something to it:

Soil microbes enjoy bouts of white noise finds scientists in a new research project. Fungal soil microbes that promote plant growth seem to get a boost from white noise. Researchers say it’s like hosting an underground rave.

When scientists periodically played a noise similar to radio static to Trichoderma harzianum, the fungi grew bigger and produced more spores than other samples grown in a soundproof booth. The vibrations might stimulate mechanoreceptors in Trichoderma’s cell walls, which alters the expression of genes involved in growth, suggest researchers.

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We often curse some animals we don’t like in nature. Mosquitoes come to mind as the first choice. And a lot of people don’t like bats because of the movies, but they are masterful at pest control. According to the US Forest Service bats catch 1,000 mosquito-sized insects in an hour, and a nursing mother eats approximately 4,500 insects every night.

When insect-eating bats are wiped out by a new fungus found in the US known as ‘white nose syndrome’, farmers turn to pesticides for pest control — possibly leading to knock-on effects for human health and the survival rates of babies.

Researchers compared counties in the northeastern United States where the white nose fungus had killed most bats to those areas where the disease hadn’t yet spread.

In places where bat populations had crashed, farmers used 31% more insecticides and infant deaths not due to accidents or homicides rose by 8% — numbers that the authors suggest might be linked. Where bats remained, there was no change in pesticide use or infant mortality.

White-nose syndrome (WNS) according to the NGO in its name is a disease that affects hibernating bats and is caused by a fungus, Pseudogymnoascus destructans, or Pd for short. Sometimes Pd looks like a white fuzz on bats’ faces, which is how the disease got its name. Pd grows in cold, dark and damp places.

It attacks the bare skin of bats while they’re hibernating in a relatively inactive state. As it grows, Pd causes changes in bats that make them become active more than usual and burn up fat they need to survive the winter. Bats with white-nose syndrome may do strange things like fly outside in the daytime in the winter.

Where did White-nose Syndrome Come From?

Biologists first saw bats sick and dying from white-nose syndrome in 2007 in caves near Albany, New York. However, cave explorers in that area had taken a photo of bats with a white powder on their noses the year before, so white-nose syndrome has been in North America at least since 2006.

Read related: Making bats habitat in cities 

According to the whitenosesyndrome website white-nose syndrome has killed millions of bats in North America. At some sites, 90 to 100 percent of bats have died. Several species are affected, with the hardest-hit being the northern long-eared bat, little brown bat, and tricolored bat.

There is no cure for white-nose syndrome, but scientists from all over the world are working together to study the disease, how it spreads and infects bats and what we can do to control it. Several experimental treatments, including a vaccine and making changes to bat habitats, are in progress and will hopefully lead to increased survival of bats from this devastating disease.

The post How bats help your babies appeared first on Green Prophet.

Highly endangered but still kicking: researchers from Israel have found the breeding ground of a rare sea creature, a kind of ray once thought to be a shark, called the guitarfish. The long-term study at the Leon H. Charney School of Marine Sciences at the University of Haifa found that the coast between Ma’agan Michael and Dor Beach serves as a nursery ground for the blackchin guitarfish and the scientists are working to get it declared a nature reserve.

Dor Beach is a popular place for people from all over Israel to swim. It is free to enter but you need a car to get there.

Blackchin guitarfish is a cartilaginous fish in danger of extinction.

The researchers found that concentrations of juvenile guitarfish develop from the end of August through early November.

“A nursery ground is a natural area where animals, particularly marine species, gather during the early stages of life. A nursery ground is defined as an area that enhances the animals’ chances of survival during the sensitive early stage of life by providing optimum conditions in terms of food, protection against predators, and shelter from extreme environmental conditions. Following the study findings, we hope this area will be declared a nature reserve when the young guitarfish gather here so they can be protected,” says PhD student Eynav Cohen, one of the study’s authors.

Guitarfish populations are in constant decline around the world, and in the Mediterranean Sea in particular, mainly as a result of net fishing. These fish are now classed at the highest level of extinction risk for vertebrates.

Related: Over Fishing in the Mediterranean Sea 

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the blackchin guitarfish is in critical danger of extinction. The researchers add that there is a lack of biological and ecological knowledge about guitarfish, including population sizes along Israel’s coast and worldwide. Most of the existing knowledge comes from commercial fishing data.

This study was the first time a monitoring program for guitarfish in Israel was established.

The researchers hope that their study’s findings, confirming that the area serves as a nursery ground for the blackchin guitarfish, will motivate national to regional regulatory bodies to declare the area as a marine nature reserve when the guitarfish are present.

So little is known about the Mediterranean Sea and its biodiversity. Since the establishment of the Suez Canal and the linking of the Med Sea to the Red Sea biodiversity has become under threat due to invasive species such as the jellyfish taking over. Egypt earns almost $10 Billion USD a year for the canal which allows ships to bypass Africa on their way to Europe but Egypt has denied its culpability in the biodiversity invasion.

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Darwin asked, and science answered. Now we should be praying for rain to keep diversity.

An international research group wanted to answer the centuries long question that Darwin asked: why there are more animal and plant species in the tropics?

In the most comprehensive study to this date on species richness of land vertebrates, the researchers explored patterns in the number of species – all across the world – using comprehensive data for tens of thousands of species of amphibians, birds, mammals, and reptiles.

The scientists highlighted again the dominance of tropical regions, close to the equator, as centers of high biodiversity. When investigating the reasons behind these patterns, they found that the combination of climate and topography was key in explaining them.

However, while larger amounts of rainfall contribute to higher richness for amphibians, birds, and mammals, more reptiles are found in warmer regions, regardless of rainfall. Patterns are even more complex as species numbers increase with rainfall almost everywhere in the world – but in cold regions temperature has a more dominant effect.

Prof. Uri Roll, involved in the study says: “We live in an age of the biodiversity crisis! If trends continue as they are, many of the plants and animals that share the Earth with us will not be here by the end of the 21^st century due to destruction of their habitats, climate change, and other human effects.

“A better understanding of where biodiversity is found, and why we find it there, is fundamental for our efforts to conserve it. Moreover, works such as this highlight how life on Earth is a truly miraculous phenomenon, and should serve as a call to action to everyone to protect it.”

The research was led by PhD student Tal Raz and Prof. Shai Meiri from Tel Aviv University’s School of Zoology at the Wise Faculty of Life Sciences and the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, along with Prof. Uri Roll from the Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. The research encompassed 5,983 amphibian, 9,630 avian, 5,004 mammal and 8,939 reptile species and was published in the Journal of Zoology

“Until recently, we didn’t have enough data on where land vertebrates are found and thus on how many species are actually found in different areas of the world. Now, we have detailed data for reptiles, which we made available, along with publicly available data for other land vertebrate groups,” says Raz.

“This allows us to accurately study global patterns and how they relate to the environment. The relationship between temperature, precipitation, and topography in shaping ecosystems is fascinating. In regions where environmental factors are diverse, they tend to have a more pronounced influence on the number of species.

“In Africa, for instance—where temperatures are quite high all over, the varying rainfall plays a crucial role in determining the number of species. In Eurasia, both temperature and rainfall are highly diverse, making them both influential for species richness. But with all that, amphibians never forget their connection to rainfall, and reptiles hold onto their affinity for warmth”, said Tal Raz.

The researchers found that reptiles have a slightly different species-richness pattern that is more influenced by temperature and less by rainfall.

Prof. Shai Meiri from Tel Aviv University explained that “reptiles can do with very little water, because their metabolism is much slower compared to birds and mammals and because, unlike amphibians, they have highly efficient mechanisms to prevent water loss.

“But reptiles are highly sensitive to temperatures and cannot readily function in cold regions. Therefore, we see relatively high numbers of reptiles in deserts worldwide, where mammals, birds and, especially, amphibians, are scarce.” Prof. Meiri added “in recent years we have made tremendous efforts to map the global distributions of about 12,000 species of reptiles (as part of the Global Assessment of Reptile Distributions). Such efforts enable us to ask such broad-scale fundamental questions regarding the ecology and evolution of life on our planet.”

Which environmental factor explains most of the variation in the number of species?

Here you can see whether rainfall, temperature, or height determines the number of species in different places in the world. The size of the circle depicts the importance of the factor. The two most important factors are presented for each animal group. The dragon represents all land vertebrates together (birds, mammals, amphibians, and reptiles combined). For example, temperature explains most of the variation in the number of species in North America for all animal groups, while rainfall and range of heights are the most important in South-East Asia.

Patterns of the number of species worldwide. Red means many species, yellow means an intermediate number, and blue means few species. The top map (a) represents all land vertebrates together (birds, mammals, amphibians, and reptiles combined). The bottom maps (c-e) are species-richness patterns of each group individually. For example, for all animal groups there are many species in the Amazon Forest, and few species in the Sahara Desert. You can also see some differences among group like in Australia – where there are many reptile species but few amphibians and mammals.

The post Where is the world’s most biodiversity? Follow the rain appeared first on Green Prophet.

If there is anywhere on earth we can consider pristine and pure, it must be remote locations like the Antarctic region.  But it actually has a dirty secret, according to a new report issued this past summer in the PLOS One journal. Parts of the sea floor near Australia’s Casey research station may be as polluted as busy in-use harbors today, like Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, according to researchers.

The contamination is likely to be widespread across Antarctica’s older research stations as well, announces Jonathan Stark, a marine ecologist at the Australian Antarctic Division in Hobart who was a co-author of the latest paper. “These contaminants accumulate over long time frames and don’t just go away,” he told Nature. 

In the new report Stark and his colleagues documented high concentrations of hydrocarbons — those are compounds found in fossil fuels — and they also reported heavy metals, such as lead, copper and zinc. Many of the samples they took were also full of polychlorinated biphenyls, which are highly carcinogenic chemical compounds that were common before being banned in 2001.

As part of the study, the researchers compared their samples with data from the World Harbour Project — which is an international collaboration to track pollution and the health of large urban waterways –– and to their shock they found that lead, copper and zinc were similar to those in Sydney Harbour and Rio de Janeiro over the last 20 years.

The human ‘footprint’ and spatial extent of human activities and associated impacts in Antarctica, continues to grow as national Antarctic programs establish, expand, modernise and rebuild stations. There are currently 112 scientific research stations or national facilities established in Antarctica, including both year-round and summer only operations.

Related: The UA wants to drag a drinking water iceburg from the Antarctic

Many research stations have been operational for a long period of time, with 44 of them established prior to 1980; while a further 35 established between 1980 and 2000.

Prior to the 1980’s little attention was given to the environmental impacts of station activities, the scientists document in their report: waste and rubbish were disposed of by dumping into landfill sites, onto sea ice, or into the ocean. From the 1980’s onwards environmental management practices improved greatly, largely due to the introduction and ratification of the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty (known as the Madrid Protocol).

For example, solid waste is now mostly exported from the continent. Historical practices have however, resulted in a legacy of environmental contamination. As most stations are located in coastal areas, this can lead to contamination of local marine environments, with sources including sewage and wastewater discharges, oil spills, and waste disposal sites.

Related: Omanis freeze themselves to prep for Antarctica

While pollution of marine environments is likely to occur at all coastal stations to varying degrees, it is not well documented and has only been reported for a few stations in the Antarctic.

The researchers sum up: “Our understanding of the processes that affect contamination of the Antarctic coastal marine environment is relatively limited. For example, it is not known how long existing contamination will persist or if natural processes will attenuate and/or distribute contaminants beyond existing contaminated areas.

“Similarly, our understanding of the impacts of such contamination on marine benthic ecosystems adjacent to stations, and the significance of such impacts in local and regional contexts is limited. To begin to address such issues it is important to ascertain the nature and extent of contamination of marine ecosystems around Antarctic stations.”

Related: World’s coldest temperatures recorded in Antarctica

Most of the stations are built on ice-free areas where most of the diversity of plant and animal life subside. Only about 1% of the Antarctic is ice-free so pollution these areas can have dire consequences for the nature there.

While each nation is responsible for the operations of their research stations, each country practices its responsibility differently. The researchers propose an action plan which includes at the very soonest upgrading wastewater treatment facilities.

The Argentine Antarctic Institute in Buenos Aires are using bacteria to remove hydrocarbons from soil around Argentina’s Carlini Base on King George Island. This is a similar approach to the use of fungus on a pristine island damaged by a US military base.

Does this issue move you? Check here on Wikipedia if your country has an Antarctic research base. If you want to get involved reach out to your federal governments or researchers in the universities working at these bases.

 

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Starting a seed bank at home is a great way to preserve family traditions of food and gardening. You don’t need to be a biologist or forester: Many families have unique heirloom seeds that have been passed down from generation to generation. Look to your backyard or your old family cottage. Collecting and storing seeds of food and plants you love is a great way to ensure that these traditions continue, but it is also a way to preserve biodiversity and promote sustainability. Nothing says I love you more than a pack of seeds. 

Here are 10 steps and tips to help you start a seed bank at home:

1. Determine what seeds you want to collect: The first step in starting a home seed bank is to determine which seeds you want to collect. Think about the fruits, flowers vegetables, trees, and herbs that your family enjoys eating and growing. Tomatoes are a good start. Consider collecting seeds from plants that have been grown in your family for generations or that have sentimental value. Taking a trip back to your ancestral home? Collect seeds. Just check on laws about importing them to your country if you live on a different continent. If your family are an immigrant family, think about what your grandmother loved to eat “back home”. 

2. Choose the right time to collect seeds: It is important to collect seeds when they are mature and viable. Most seeds are ready to be collected when the fruits or vegetables are ripe and ready to be harvested and eaten. However, some seeds, such as tomato seeds, might need to be soaked before they can be stored.

3. Collect the seeds: Collecting seeds is easy and can be done with minimal tools. Fingers will do. Simply remove the seeds from the fruit or vegetable and let them dry on a paper towel for a few days. For small seeds, like tomato seeds, place the seeds and pulp in a jar of water and let them soak for a few days. Once the seeds have separated from the pulp, rinse them with water and dry them on a paper towel. Consider a seed savers party, with wine!

   

4. Label your seeds and have fun when naming them: I tell myself when I collect seeds that I will remember where they came from but so many seeds look like the same especially those in the melon family. It is important to label each type of seed to keep track of what you have collected. Use a permanent marker on a jar or label and write the name of the plant, the variety or nickname if it has one, date the seeds were collected, and any other important information, such as the location where the seeds were collected. You can also start making up nicknames for seeds that you love. Yan from Piebird sells the Purple Moustache Bean, Strange Squash from Outer Space and the Bicycling Carrot Seeds. 

   

5. Store the seeds in a cool, dry place: Once the seeds are dry and labeled, store them in a cool, dry place. A pantry, root cellar, or basement is a great location for storing seeds. If you want to store for years the freezer or fridge can work but you need to be mindful about blasts of humidity which will ruin the seeds. A friend of mine stores tomato cultivars this way but make sure the seeds are dry before you freeze. 

6. Let the seeds dry in paper bags but then store them in airtight containers: It is important to store seeds in airtight containers to prevent moisture and pests from damaging the seeds. Use glass jars or plastic containers with tight-fitting lids to store seeds.

7. Check on your seeds periodically: It is important to take a peek to ensure that they are still viable. To test the viability of seeds, place a few seeds on a damp paper towel and wait a few days to see if they sprout. If the seeds do not sprout, they may not be viable and should be thrown out. The longer seeds are stored the less the seeds will be viable. 

8. Share your seeds: Seed banks are meant to be shared with others. Consider sharing your seeds with family members, garden markets, with friends, or at local gardening groups. Start up a seed share at your kid’s school. With local chefs. This not only helps to preserve biodiversity, but it also helps to promote sustainability by encouraging others to grow their own food. Some libraries like in Newmarket, Ontario have an active seed bank where you can leave and collect the seeds you don’t yet have. A win for everyone. 

9. Save seeds from year to year: Once you have started a seed bank, it is important to save seeds from one year to the next. This not only ensures that you have a steady supply of seeds for planting, but it also helps to preserve biodiversity by maintaining the genetic diversity of your plants.

10. Learn about seed saving: Seed saving is a skill that can be learned and improved over time. There are many resources available, including books at your library, in online resources, and gardening groups. Learn more about seed saving and how to improve your skills. Some people might want to turn this into a little business once the skills turn expert level. Consider that cannabis seed selling has been going on for decades. Now with an ounce of tomato seeds costing more than an ounce of gold, your future career might be in seeds. 

Starting a seed bank at home is a great way to preserve family traditions of food and gardening. By following these 10 steps and tips, you can collect and store seeds safely and help to promote biodiversity and sustainability. Happy seed saving! Next up: beekeeping.

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