Archive for May, 2010
Cleanup, May 2010
Our volunteer cleanup day for May 2010 took place on Saturday the 22nd in Bukhansan National Park. The team returned to the trail circuit starting at the south Wonhyobong trailhead to finish cleaning up the trash cache found there in April, and made an unfortunate discovery. Read more →
North Korea Logging in Protected Area
Science Daily (May 19, 2010) — Using NASA satellite data and Google Earth, a Purdue University researcher has reported finding evidence that North Korea has been logging in what is designated as a protected United Nations forest preserve. Read more →
7th Seoul Green Film Festival
KMPL (May 17, 2010) – The 7th annual Seoul Green Film Festival will kick off on May 20th. It is the first film festival of its kind in Korea in which environmental and conservationist issues are highlighted. The week long festival, a carbon-neutral event, aims to raise public awareness of the most pressing environmental, conservationist, and life issues facing individual societies and the world today. Read more →
New Species Found in “Lost World”
Brian Handwerk, National Geographic (May 17, 2010) - This unnamed new imperial pigeon is among a menagerie of new species discovered in Indonesia’s Foja Mountains, scientists announced Monday. In a few short weeks in these pristine rain forests on the island of New Guinea, an international survey team uncovered at least a dozen new mammals, reptiles, amphibians, insects, and birds—including a Pinocchio-like frog and the world’s smallest wallaby. Read more →
Destruction of ancient forests at lowest level in 20 years, UN
Ben Webster, Environment Editor, The Times (May 12, 2010) – The destruction of ancient forests has fallen to its lowest level for 20 years as countries finally begin to deliver on their commitment to protect animal and plant species, according to a UN report. The variety of life on Earth is still declining rapidly and several regions are close to “tipping points” from which they may not recover, but there are promising signs that most governments have accepted the need to preserve natural resources. Read more →
World governments fail to halt biodiversity loss
Reuters (May 11, 2010) - World governments have failed to meet a 2010 target to halt biodiversity loss and action must be taken to preserve the species and ecosystems upon which human life depends, a United Nations report said on Monday. In a move endorsed by the U.N. General Assembly, more than 190 countries committed in 2002 to achieve a significant reduction in the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010. But the report said: “There are multiple indications of continuing decline in biodiversity in all three of its main components — genes, species and ecosystems.” Read more →