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Countries bordering the south and east of the Mediterranean need to continually improve many aspects of environmental management to reduce pollution in the sea, according to a new assessment. Photo © Mhobl The "Horizon 2020 Mediterranean report - Toward shared environmental information systems"  has been coordinated by the European Environment Agency (EEA) and the United Nations Environment Programme/Mediterranean Action Plan with financial...

Gland, Switzerland: Mexico’s plans to increase its renewable energy supply from 15% to 25% of total energy supply by 2018, sets the pace globally for a much needed increased ambition towards the UN climate negotiations in Lima, Peru later this year, according to WWF. Mexico's plans would reduce about 15% of emissions from the power sector, according to WWF´s preliminary...

The Parliament voted to give lorry manufacturers more design space for the front end of the cab, allowing a more streamlined nose. Some of the extra cab space has to be used to get rid of blind spots, include a crumple zone and to make sure pedestrians and cyclists are not knocked underneath the wheels in a collision. Lorry...

The European Parliament and Member States, concluding final negotiations today on the new fuel infrastructure law, failed to set-out a clear pathway for a low-carbon European transport network. Transport & Environment expresses disappointment at this wasted opportunity, which contains no binding targets for low-carbon charging infrastructure and does little to help a transition towards sustainable e-mobility. The deal sets no...

Oakland, CA — An Alameda County Superior Court judge ruled that a 2013 law put a stop to a lawsuit designed to force the state of California to examine the environmental effects of the highly controversial oil and gas drilling process called fracking.Environmental advocates, represented by Earthjustice, were in court seeking to force the agency responsible for regulating the...

This is a media advisory from the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), which is part of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder. SAN FRANCISCO, CA—Scientists recently recorded the lowest temperatures on Earth at a desolate and remote ice plateau in East Antarctica, trumping a record set in 1983 and uncovering...

Every year, thousands of people die due to rabies, a deadly but preventable disease. WSPA-trained workers from the local Animal Disease Control Centre vaccinating a dog against rabies during the launch of a new mass dog vaccination pilot project in Jieshou City, Anhui Province. The red collar shows local people that the dog has been vaccinated against this deadly disease. Over...

GENEVA—European Union biofuel policy is pushing up demand for palm oil, says a report released today by the International Institute for Sustainable Development. The report, "The EU Biofuel Policy and Palm Oil: Cutting subsidies or cutting rainforest?", highlights a tension in the EU's environmental policy—support for biodiesel may be undermining efforts to preserve globally significant carbon stocks such as rainforest...

The National Marine Fisheries Service today declined to protect great white sharks off the coast of California under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Although peer-reviewed scientific population estimates at the two primary white shark aggregation sites indicate fewer than 350 adults and sub-adults, the agency denied protections to the sharks. This decision follows a NMFS finding that this white...

New York, USA, 29th May 2013—The United Nations Security Council will be briefed today on the severe and escalating threat to peace and security posed by Central Africa’s heavily-armed elephant poaching gangs. In a report to the world’s highest international security body, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says, “Poaching and its potential linkages to other criminal, even terrorist, activities constitute a...

WWF and WCS have received alarming reports from their field operations that elephants are being slaughtered in the violence-ridden Central African Republic (CAR), where new powers in place struggle to gain control over the situation. The conservation organizations are issuing today a joint call for immediate action. Dzanga-Ndoki National Park, Central African Republic. Forest Elephant killed by poachers being inspected...

With hundreds of scientist-volunteers at its heart, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is the world’s preeminent body for reviewing and synthesizing research on climate change. A single statement from the IPCC can reverberate for years. It can also be prone to misinterpretation in a variety of ways. NCAR scientist Tom Wigley and longtime colleague Ben Santer (Lawrence Livermore National...