Norway on Tuesday said it plans to offer a record number of gas and oil exploration blocks in the Arctic, with environmental NGOs condemning an "aggressive" promotion of fossil fuels.. The NGO said the proposal would violate the commitment not to explore virgin territory as some blocks were to be located far from existing infrastructure.
Europe's JUICE spacecraft is all ready to embark on an eight-year odyssey through the Solar System to find out whether the oceans hidden under the surface of Jupiter's icy moons have the potential to host extraterrestrial life.. If one of the moons prove to be a particularly good candidate to host life, the "logical next step" would be to send a spacecraft to land on the surface, Cavel said.
Corsican construction tycoon Patrick Rocca was fined 150,000 euros Tuesday for harming protected tortoises on a building site even after officials told him to stop.. His conviction for mutilation and unauthorised destruction of a protected animal species and their habitat follows a court ruling against Fortimmo, which had to pay a 500,000-euro ($540,000) fine, and a total of 530,000 euros in damages.
Brazil's environment minister Marina Silva knows she has her work cut out to protect the Amazon, the world's largest rainforest that is shared among nine countries.. Brasilia will not be able to pull off miracles without international help, said Silva, who was previously environment minister during Lula's first two terms as president (from 2003 to 2010) before quiting in 2008 in protest against what she called a lack of funding.
Declines in populations of big carnivores like lions, tigers and wolves may be driven more by rapid human economic development than habitat loss or climate change, according to a new study Tuesday. . The study found that faster economic development was linked to a quicker decline in carnivore populations.
The "Doomsday Clock" symbolizing the perils to humanity moved Tuesday to its closest ever to midnight amid the Ukraine war, nuclear tensions and the climate crisis.. The hands of the clock moved to 100 seconds to midnight in January 2020 -- the closest to midnight it had been in its history -- and remained there for the next two years.
German environmentalists on Tuesday sued the government for failing to follow its own laws to protect the climate and reduce emissions.. "We cannot continue to stand by as parts of the federal government ignore their own climate protection goals," BUND chief Olaf Bandt said in a statement.
The EU on Tuesday announced proposals to try to reverse an "alarming decline" in the number of bees -- and other insects that pollinate the bloc's crops -- including by rewarding organic farming.. The proposal calls for promoting farming -- organic or otherwise -- that protects pollinating insects, cutting back on pesticides, better monitoring of pollinator populations, and better conservation of habitats including in urban areas.
Norway's Supreme Court began hearing a sensitive case Tuesday that could set a legal precedent for the control of natural resources around the strategically important Svalbard archipelago in the Arctic.. In 2019, the Supreme Court had upheld a fine imposed on the company but did not specifically address the sensitive question of resource rights with regard to the 1920 treaty. phy/map/po/rl
The "Doomsday Clock," which represents the judgment of leading science and security experts about the perils to human existence, is to be updated on Tuesday against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine and other crises.. A decision to reset the hands of the clock is taken each year by the Bulletin's science and security board and its board of sponsors, which includes 11 Nobel laureates.
