#environmental-degradation

#environmental-degradation

Laterite deposits are created by intense humidity and tropical weathering of rock and so they form in the tropics, often in hotspots for biodiversity and rich, intact rainforests. These deposits account for about 70% of the world's reserves of nickel, a mineral now in high demand for manufacturing batteries, especially for electric cars and clean energy infrastructure.

Nearly half of the 261 species studied showed big enough losses in numbers to be statistically significant and more than half of those declining are seeing their losses accelerate since 1987, according to Thursday's journal Science. The study is the first to look at more than the total bird population by examining the trends in their decrease, where they are shrinking the most and what the declines are connected to.

An unseen force is destroying the air and the seasons; at the same time, money's going bad, and no one knows why. Power is flowing away from governments, and pooling in the offices of theocrats, the coffers of conglomerates, the hands of mobs. Something is at work, very quietly, very subtly, says merchant Mustafa Bey, keeping a watchful eye on the Silk Roads from his seat in an Aleppo cafe.

Our town is supposed to be well developed because we have oil. We are supposed to be the heartbeat of Nigeria,' she says. They have taken so much from us and given us nothing in return.' Photograph: Etinosa Yvonne/ActionAid The land defender Chan Kimcheng lives in Trapeang Pris, in Koh Kong province, which she says was once home to nearly 50 freshwater ponds.

The prized nadru stems gradually disappeared as an ingredient used in local kitchens. Over the next three decades, the condition of the lake worsened. Parts were turned into dumping grounds and its area was drastically reduced.