Rhett Butler
What harm can a road do? Plenty. Once built, illegal roads let loggers, miners, poachers and landgrabbers into the jungle, and the felling begins.
Pacific herring swimming through a bull kelp (Nereocystis luetkeana) forest on Vancouver Island, B.C.
(Fernando Lessa)
Kelp forests around the world, and in Canada, are under threat. New research sheds further light on the health, and resilience, of these crucial ecosystems.
South Africa’s new biodiversity economy strategy aims to make the benefits from biodiversity available to more people.
Hayley Clements
The strategy aims to conserve biodiversity while also contributing to the creation of jobs and economic growth.
Pumpjacks draw oil out of the ground as a deer stands in a canola field near Olds, Alta., in July 2020. Standard agricultural systems in Canada and around the world achieve high yields, but at times at great ecological costs. Agroecology aims to address these issues.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
Agroecology could be an effective way to address food insecurity and respond to the climate crisis. However, significant hurdles remain.
Hanna Taniukevich/Shutterstock
Even with the best intentions, policies from different government departments can clash.
VespAI Bait Station.
Peter J. Kennedy
New AI tech could identify Asian hornets and help scientists eradicate invading colonies.
The planet contains myriad types of soil and ground cover, each with unique properties and sustainability requirements.
(AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
Not all types of ground are the same and understanding how varied ground types react to environmental stresses is key to achieving true sustainability.
Conservation.
Conservation of biodiversity is in the hands of humans but artificial intelligence can help guide decisions.
Sundry Photography, Shutterstock
Australia committed to restore 30% of degraded ecosystems by 2030 when we signed the global biodiversity framework. But what does that really mean? It’s open to interpretation. So let’s be ambitious.
The habitats used throughout the halibut’s life and the movements between them are difficult to characterize.
(Charlotte Gauthier)
Atlantic halibut are making a strong comeback in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. But how do we know where the fish move throughout their lives?
Shutterstock
We scanned the tree canopy with lasers and found birds much prefer the branches of big old trees.
Sea lions killed by bird flu in Chile, April 2023.
Patricio Banda/EPA-EFE
Bird flu is decimating species already threatened by climate change and habitat loss.
A pine plantation and hedgerow as seen from an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).
Alexandre Changenet, 2023
The SUPERB project, part of the EU’s Horizon programme, aims to restore thousands of hectares of forest landscape across Europe.
Human influence on the climate started even before the Industrial Revolution.
Print Collector/Getty Images
Scientists have been debating the start of the Anthropocene Epoch for 15 years. I was part of those discussions, and I agree with the vote rejecting it.
John Gould/Wikimedia
Translocation may have been the key to survival for the eastern barred bandicoot but it might not be the golden ticket for every species.
Solitary bees, including this Nomada goodeniana, often feed on nectar from specific flowers - in this case, white hawthorn.
HWall/Shutterstock
The nutritional needs of bees are complex and monoculture crops aren’t providing a diverse diet. Introducing more diverse wildflower meadows and green spaces could benefit wild pollinators.
Tara Lambourne/Shutterstock
For years, Australia and New Zealand have been united in working for sustainable fishing in the South Pacific. That just changed.
Cattle walk along an illegally deforested area in an extractive reserve near Jaci-Parana, Rondonia state, Brazil. Deforestation is a global problem and while it has varied causes the trade in illegal timber is a major factor.
(AP Photo/Andre Penner)
Effective use of genomic identification could revolutionize the control of the illegal timber trade.
Bernard Spragg/Flickr
From sacrificial bark to fire-germinating gumnuts to stealthy buds the eucalyptus has evolved an arsenal of protective measures.
Deakin University/AAP
We’ve brought some species back from the brink – but more and more are being threatened. Here’s why