Portside

If we want to save biodiversity, we must tackle the real causes, namely the exploitation of natural resources for profit and growing overconsumption, driven by the countries of the North.

U.S. farmers say a crisis of farm profitability and increase in food scarcity may be looming, short of major changes in the industrial agriculture system.

Industrial hemp has been proved to absorb more CO2 per hectare than any forest or commercial crop, making it the ideal carbon sink. It can be grown on a wide scale on nutrient-poor soils with very small amounts of water and no fertilizers.

Skyrocketing animal diversity a half-billion years ago was linked to spikes and dips in marine oxygen levels, according to a detailed geological study.

Humanity has wiped out 60% of mammals, birds, fish and reptiles since 1970, the world’s foremost experts warn that the annihilation of wildlife is now an emergency that threatens the survival of civilisation.

While many species are migrating toward the poles as the climate warms, many North American and European bee species are failing to colonize new habitats, according to a new study. “Climate change is crushing [bumblebee] species in a vice,” says ecologist Jeremy Kerr, the study's lead author. “There's no way you can nail a bee with neonicotinoids, invasive pathogens, and climate change and come out with a happy bee.”