More than 47,000 species around the world are threatened with extinction, according to the latest update of a global Red List of endangered animals, plants and other organisms. The figures from the International Union for Conservation of Nature highlight how factors such as deforestation and the expansion of agricultural and urban areas are causing an irreversible loss of species. […]

Political changes, higher defence spending and a shift in focus towards national priorities have seen many European aid budgets slashed recently. Several key Western European countries including the UK, Switzerland, Germany, France and the Netherlands have slashed their aid budgets considerably in the last few months. This trend comes amid escalating geopolitical tensions and global […]

In the past, intact forests absorbed 7.8 billion tonnes of CO2 annually — about a fifth of all human emissions — but their carbon storage is increasingly at risk from climate change and human activities such as deforestation. A new study from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) shows that failing to account for […]

Since satellites began tracking it, Arctic sea ice’s winter peak has shrunk by an area about the size of Pakistan. Arctic sea ice had its weakest winter buildup since record-keeping began 47 years ago. It is a symptom of climate change that will have repercussions globally, scientists said Thursday. The Arctic reaches its maximum sea […]

A Dubai lawyer who has spent four decades studying plants and animals native to the Emirates has had a species of gecko named after him. Scientists have named it Feulner’s semaphore gecko (Pristurus feulneri) after Gary Feulner. The name is a reference to how it communicates using its tail and body. The gecko is commonly found across […]