Nature
There’s a secret UN climate summit taking place in Mexico
UN biodiversity chief tells Climate Home protecting and restoring ecosystems is the best way to protect the world from dangerous levels of global warming
Scientists warn of ecological recession as biodiversity declines
Species loss has pushed ecosystems past a danger threshold across more than half of the terrestrial world
Climate change is raising peat fire risk – study
Drying bogs are increasingly flammable, researchers warn, fuelling blazes from Fort McMurray in Canada to southeast Asia
China’s pandas, flowers threatened by global warming
Researchers scent danger as rising temperatures threaten to eliminate vast amounts of the bamboo vital to panda diets and make flowers less attractive to pollinators
Super CO2-sucking crops could save the world from starving
NEWS: Plants genetically modified to thrive in hotter temperatures and increased carbon dioxide could cut fertiliser use and raise yields to reduce food shortages
Climate change could make growing these crops in African regions impossible
NEWS: Farmers advised to swap beans, bananas and maize for hardier staples in face of hotter continent in new study
Climate change slows health gains from eating better – study
NEWS: Cutting greenhouse gas emissions could save half a million lives in 2050, researchers find, by preventing food crop damage
India bee populations are collapsing under environmental strain
NEWS: A warming climate and the loss of natural areas to meet the demands of tourism are driving Indian bee colonies to the brink, imperilling food crops
Lost at sea: Rising ocean CO2 intoxicates fish – study
NEWS: Burning fossil fuels could change ocean’s chemistry enough by 2050 to disorient and confuse marine life, scientists warn
On forests, the UN and indigenous people are worlds apart
ANALYSIS: Germany, Norway and UK lead forest protection announcements, but where are the real forest defenders at COP21?
Obama bids to dilute climate change’s impact on oceans
NEWS: US President announces two marine sanctuaries, illegal fishing curbs as conservation summit in Chile begins
Thawing permafrost could cost world economy $43 trillion
NEWS: Released greenhouse gases could rack up huge costs by year 2200, but swift action would dramatically cut impact, study says
Southern Ocean starts to absorb carbon again
NEWS: Great oceanic “lung” is again breathing in lots of CO2 from the atmosphere but scientists can’t say why or whether it will last
Burn all fossil fuels and New York drowns – study
NEWS: Exploiting global reserves would melt all Antarctica and jack up sea levels by 50m. Though it would take 10,000 years
Small forest users can outcompete agribusiness – study
NEWS: Finance must flow to local enterprises to slow deforestation and internal displacement wrought by clearance for agriculture, report says
Google lays bare overlooked deforestation ‘hotspots’
NEWS: Search giant and researchers map emerging clusters of tropical forest loss in Southeast Asia, South America and Africa
Brazil’s satellite-dodging loggers recast deforestation fight
NEWS: Hard-to-detect small-scale clearance of Amazon rainforest makes up half of country’s tree-cutting rate, says study
Trees at risk in warming Andes upland forests
NEWS: Many plant species cannot migrate uphill fast enough to escape rising temperatures, scientists have found
As climate change bites, Kenya water fund offers hope to farmers
ANALYSIS: Natural infrastructure is boosting Nairobi’s resilience to water extremes, but this approach can struggle to attract investment
Mangroves rooted in Indonesia’s climate target
NEWS: Indonesia could go a quarter of the way to reaching its 2020 carbon-cutting aim by ending destruction of vital forests