Climate change is already making life harder on farmers, especially in developing nations. New sources of funding can help alleviate the burden but resources are limited. So where should governments, philanthropists and development agencies prioritize investment? Using a combination of the latest crop models and local expertise from farmers and others–and applying them to our…

The study published in the journal for the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences provides critical insights on the factors that control changes in the biodiversity of soil bacteria, fungi, protists, and invertebrates over many millennia. The findings indicate that these changes in soil biodiversity are driven by changes in plant cover and soil…

Found in smartphones, modern cars, climate-friendly photovoltaic units and used in many other industries, hi-tech materials have become an indispensable constituent of everyday life. Although recycling can partially cover the demand for raw materials, most are still sourced from mining. The environmental impacts are well known: land use, the generation of additional traffic infrastructure and…

In 2015, to combat the urgent threats posed by climate change, most of the world’s countries came together to establish the Paris Agreement: an ambitious plan to prevent the global temperature from rising 2°C above pre-industrial levels, and to work to further limit that temperature rise to 1.5°C. These seemingly small numbers can mask the…

The good news is global and local. Keeping inland lakes from turning green means less greenhouse gases entering the atmosphere and contributing to climate change. Healthy drinking water, fishing and recreation opportunities are also increased when waters are not green. What’s wrong with being green? Toxins released by algal blooms can ruin drinking water. When…

When tropical cyclone Idai made landfall near Beira, Mozambique on March 14, a spokesperson for the UN World Meteorological Organization called it possibly the the worst weather-related disaster to hit the southern hemisphere. This massive and horrifying storm caused catastrophic flooding and widespread destruction of buildings and roads in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi. Mozambique’s President…

Thawing permafrost in high-altitude mountain ecosystems may be a stealthy, underexplored contributor to atmospheric carbon dioxide emissions, new University of Colorado Boulder research shows. The new findings, published today in the journal Nature Communications, show that alpine tundra in Colorado’s Front Range emits more CO2 than it captures annually, potentially creating a feedback loop that…

There are roughly five times as many recreational fishers as commercial fishers throughout the world. And yet, the needs and peculiarities of these 220 million recreational fishers have largely been ignored in international fisheries and conservation policy. This gives rise to conflicts and loss of social welfare, and is not conducive to the sustainable management…

A team from the Institute of Forest Sciences at the University of Freiburg shows that the extraction of ground water for industry and households is increasingly damaging floodplain forests in Europe given the increasing intensity and length of drought periods in the summer. The scientists have published their results in the journal Frontiers in Forests…

In the most extensive study to date on sea level rise in California, researchers say damages by the end of the century could be far more devastating than the worst earthquakes and wildfires in state history. A team of U.S. Geological Survey scientists concluded that even a modest amount of sea level rise—often dismissed as…