Algemeen

Eight species of flora and five species of fauna are nearing extinction in Punjab. The once-common white-backed vulture (Gyps bengalensis) is critically endangered since 2000. Another endangered species is Indus River Dolphin (Platanista gangetica). Sarus Crane (Grus antigone) is another vulnerable bird species. Indian Rock Python (Python molurus) and Indian Roofed Turtle (Kachuga tecta) are also endangered. Among the endangered trees is ‘Seem’ tree (Tecomella undulata), an economically and pharmaceutically important tree.

One-quarter of agricultural land in the EU will be under organic farming by the year 2030, according to the EU’s Biodiversity Strategy, which was released today, Wednesday, May 20. The aim of this, according to the strategy, is to maintain productivity; increase soil fertility and biodiversity; and reduce the footprint of food production. “Organic farming in particular holds great potential for farmers and consumers alike. The sector creates jobs and attracts young farmers,” the strategy notes.

Little is really known about the total numbers of insect species our planet holds and it is estimated that only between 10 and 20 per cent of insect and invertebrate species have been classified and named. We may well ask ourselves as to why the world’s insect population is declining with some species facing extinction?

La Selva is a swath of intact Costa Rican jungle protected from development specifically for use by science researchers and educators. Hints of research projects can be seen along the over 30 miles of pathways that weave through the jungle – a tree tagged with orange tape, a 3-square-foot plot of jungle marked off with string.

Hundreds of bird populations in India are collapsing, according to a major new report. Researchers using data collected by more than 15,000 birdwatchers examined trends over a 25-year period, and also over the last five years, and in both cases found numbers had declined overall. Over the last quarter of a century there is data available for 261 species – 52 per cent of which were found to be decreasing in number. And over the past five years, data available for 146 species revealed almost 80 per cent of them were declining.

Neonicotinoid insecticides, also known as neonics, are doing more than killing bees and other insects in record numbers, according to a report issued last month by the Natural Resources Defense Council, an international environmental advocacy group. Neonics, the council says, are contaminating New York State’s soil and water and “hollowing out ecosystems from the bottom up.”

The breeding bird population in Germany declined by around 14 million or eight percent over the period between 1992 and 2016, the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) said on Wednesday. The "significant decline" in the number of native birds in meadows, pastures and fields has been continuing, according to an evaluation of thousands of data sets by the agency. "In the open agricultural landscapes, the population of breeding pairs has declined by about two million over a quarter of a century," BfN President Beate Jessel said.

Steve Gillam, Starved Rock volunteer Tom Williams and Starved Rock State Park natural resource coordinator Lisa Sons exchanged jokes and friendly chitchat as they trudged over a muddy path along a field edge, wetland and woods at Matthiessen State Park. They were not seeing many birds, despite sunny, breezy conditions and diverse habitat, during their after-lunch hike over their territory in the Starved Rock Audubon Society Christmas bird count. And they said they had not seen many birds in the morning among the oak trees and canyons in the Matthiessen Dells area.