BIODIVERSITY IS LIFE –

The Endangered Southern Cassowary is a 'keystone' species crucial for rainforest ecology. Only 1000 remain in the wild due to habitat destruction caused by residential development.

Biodiversity and the natural environment in central Viet Nam are being increasingly degraded due to economic development, according to a recent study by the Viet Nam Environment Administration's Biodiversity Conservation Department.

River ecosystems are in trouble, which means we’re all in trouble. This special issue of World Rivers Review focuses on biodiversity and rivers. As International Rivers’ executive director Jason Rainey writes in the commentary, “We’re losing life forms that have the ability to nourish us, keep our water clean, produce breathable air and fertile soil, and ultimately make our planet the amazing place it is. If we don’t protect our biological richness and diversity, we undercut the re-generative capacity of the Earth, we undermine the prospect of life creating the conditions conducive to life.”

The Asean region has long been targeted by illegal wildlife traders as a hot spot in the lucrative, multibillion-dollar global trade of wildlife, in which both live and processed goods of most species are traded—ranging from tigers and elephants to rare orchids and indigenous medicinal herbs, from rare marine species to endemic reptiles and songbirds.

By the end of the century half of all species will be extinct. Does that matter?

In the final stages of dehydration the body shrinks, robbing youth from the young as the skin puckers, eyes recede into orbits, and the tongue swells and cracks. Brain cells shrivel and muscles seize.

Such is also the path of a dying species. Beyond a critical point, the collective body of a unique kind of mammal or bird or amphibian or tree cannot be salvaged, no matter the first aid rendered... http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/animal-extinction--the-greatest-threat-to-mankind-397939.html

Discover more about biodiversity and its impact on our lives.

MANILA, Philippines -- Philippine authorities have seized large shipments of anteater and turtle parts in a sign that the illegal trade in the endangered animals is booming, officials said Wednesday.

The Golden Eagle in peril in the US STEI opposes licenses to kill.

Save the Eagles International (STEI) is hereby issuing a biodiversity warning concerning the United States. Contrary to dubious studies financed and controlled by vested interests, the population of golden eagles in the Western States is on the decline. Wind farms are the main cause. The issuing of licenses to kill will accelerate the decline towards extinction.

From the American West to China, Australia to India, some of the world's most important rivers have been drained dry for agriculture, industry, and drinking water.