Australia's Great Barrier Reef just suffered its third major bleaching event in a short span of 5 years. Huge coral loss has occurred&nbsp;as a result of a warm February, leading to warmer sea temperatures. According to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, the latest aerial survey shows severity of bleaching across the reef. They shared that the reef had only just begun recovering and this event has lead to more damage than previous bleaching events.&nbsp;

Australia's Great Barrier Reef just suffered its third major bleaching event in a short span of 5 years. Huge coral loss has occurred as a result of a warm February, leading to warmer sea temperatures. According to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, the latest aerial survey shows severity of bleaching across the reef. They shared that the reef had only just begun recovering and this event has lead to more damage than previous bleaching events.

Bird enthusiasts and researchers are making the best use of the lockdown&nbsp;period which has lowered noise pollution in our surroundings significantly. The first global public sound map of the morning bird song has been created where people have shared over 3,000 recordings of bird chorus at down on the Dawn Chorus website. The project is&nbsp;led by Prof Michael Gorman&nbsp;who told Guardian, 'suddenly, the natural world can be heard more clearly.' According to early findings, Gorman&nbsp;says that&nbsp;records indicate that spring now occurs two weeks earlier than 15 years ago. The spring chorus project will help in the creation of art and help scientists study long-term changes in bird habitats.&nbsp;

Scientists from the&nbsp;University of Cambridge have found that the ice sheets of Antarctica retreated&nbsp;at the speed of up to 50 meters a day at the end of the last Ice Age. This means that they retreated&nbsp;ten times quicker than the fastest retreating sheets today! The researchers warn that if the current trend of climate change continues to weaken ice shelves, similar patterns of ice retreat could occur, with massive consequences for global sea levels. Researchers from the Weddell Sea Expedition studied the ridges on the seafloor and noticed stunning delicate patterns, giving an insight into past ice retreats.&nbsp;

According to a new study published in the journal Science, the climate crisis and the mass felling of trees has made forests across the world, 'shorter and younger' and the trend is expected to continue. This comes with worrying consequences for the ability of forests to mitigate risks of climate change and store carbon. It could also impact wildlife that are dependent on these forests for their survival. According to researchers led by the U.S. Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, the death rate of trees has increased due high temperature, drought, pests and a number of diseases.&nbsp;

Soggy, algae-caked surgical masks and soiled, waterlogged rubber gloves waving eerily beneath the waves are some of the coronavirus-relates discards littering the Mediterranean sea near the French Riviera, according to a French environmental group.&nbsp;
Video shot by the Operation Clean Sea group last week shows scattered masks and gloves on the seabed, among beer cans, cigarette butts and other rubbish.
The volume of pandemic-related rubbish has so far been limited, the founder told AP adding, but it may get much worse if not addressed right away.

The UK Met Office&rsquo;s Hadley Centre for climate science and services marks its 30th anniversary with some gory news. According to a Guardian report, the 'human imprint' on climate change is impossible to avoid. The Met office revealed that since the 1990s,&nbsp;global temperatures have warmed by half a degree, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased by 17% and sea-levels have risen by about 10cm. "In parts of the world that are already hot and humid it could increasingly get too hot to function," a Met office scientist told Guardian, adding that 'there will be no winners of climate change if we continue.'

A new report compiled by a team from IIT Kharagpur&nbsp;says that improving the water supply chain could significantly reduce&nbsp;plastic waste in oceans for developing countries. When water supply from pipelines is not fit for use, it increases the dependence on plastic bottles. What may be a mindless luxury for rich countries is a necessary evil for many in poorer or emerging economies. The paper was commissioned by the&nbsp;High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy, which pointed out that access to safe and affordable drinking water will help in reducing a nation's plastic waste problem.&nbsp;

Amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, devastating visuals of forest fires in the state of Uttarakhand are being widely shared on social media. Uttarakhand reported 46 instances of wildfire this year. According to a report in The Times Of India, the forest fire has consumed nearly 51 hectares of cover since the first incident was reported. Kumaon region reported the maximum wildfires with 21 incidents, while Garhwal and reserve forest areas reported 16 and 9 instances. Distressed about the flora and fauna gutted by fire in the state, the hashtag #PrayForUttarakhand soon became the top trending topic on Twitter.

Over 200 organisations representing at least 40 million health workers from around the world have signed an open letter to the G20 leaders to ensure a 'green recovery' from the Covid-19 pandemic. The letter indicates that 7 million premature deaths are caused globally due to air pollution. They urge leaders to strengthen public health systems and warn that environmental degradation could lead to future diseases. The letter states that better preparation could have reduced the impact of the pandemic. Several nations are considering a green recovery plan and taking steps like remote working and reducing greenhouse gases. Some of the signatories include include the World Medical Association, the International Council of Nurses and the Commonwealth Nurses and Midwives Federation.

&nbsp;
Operation clean sea, a French environmental NGO, has released footage of masks and gloves found in the sea bed of the Mediterranean Sea. It seems like a new kind of pollution is going to take centre stage as the Covid-19 pandemic continues to spread, said the organisation. Masks and gloves have become basic necessities against the virus. As Europe slowly emerges out of lockdown, people are heading to the beaches and leaving behind their litter. The NGO has warned that there could be billions of these 'medical' items polluting the sea in the coming days and we must watch out.

Birds living on river banks are ingesting plastic at the rate of hundreds of tiny fragments a day, according to a new study. Scientists say that this is the first clear evidence that plastic pollutants in rivers are finding their way into wildlife and moving up the food chain.&nbsp;Researchers found plastic pollutants in a bird known as a dipper, which feeds on underwater insects. Their&nbsp;alculations suggest that dippers are ingesting about 200 tiny fragments of plastic a day from the insects they consume. The research, published in the journal Global Change Biology, was carried out in collaboration with the Greenpeace Research Laboratories at the University of Exeter.

We may have gravely underestimated the extent of microplastic pollution in oceans according to a new study. Researched searched through US and UK waters with a finer mesh net than what is normally used and discovered&nbsp;2.5 times more plastic particles.&nbsp;The discovery of smaller particles takes up the existing global estimates of surface microplastics&nbsp;from between 5 trillion and 50 trillion particles to 12-125&nbsp;trillion particles, scientists say. Researchers, who published their work in the journal Environmental Pollution warned of the risk that zooplankton, a microorganism&nbsp;that shapes climate change, could confuse the plastic particles for food.

The United Nations International Day of Biological Diversity which falls on May 22 aims to highlight&nbsp;the problem of diminishing&nbsp;biodiversity and promote sustainable growth.
To mark the day, the European Commission has shared its Biodiversity Strategy, which&nbsp;aims to halve the use of chemical pesticides by 2030 and ensure that at least 25% of agricultural land is reserved for organic farming, compared to 8% at the moment.
Greenhouse gas emissions should be reduced to zero by mid-century. The use of antimicrobials, which include antibiotics, should also be reduced by 50% for fish and animal farming.&nbsp;
The commission also wants to plant at least 3 extra billion trees over the next ten years.
The body also added that the EU will not meet its biodiversity objectives for 2020.&nbsp;

Most of India's coal-fired power plants may miss the deadline to curb toxic emission, according to a report by the Centre for Science and Environment. This may hinder efforts to curb air pollution, the report said. The 2022 deadline&nbsp;for restricting sulfur dioxide emissions maybe missed by 70% of the capacity and the Covid-19 pandemic may accelerate these worries. According to CSE, these plants are&nbsp;the biggest source of pollution emissions, contributing 60% of the total particulate matter emissions. The emission norms were set in December 2015 by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. The report gives certain recommendations, including hefty fines that must be imposed by the environment ministry.&nbsp;

The pristine whites of Antarctica are starting to go green as&nbsp;blooms of algae are giving parts of the continent a green hue. Researchers from the University of Cambridge and the British Antarctic Survey say warmer weather due to climate change are the reason behind this green snow phenomenon which is even visible from space. They used data collected over 2 years by the&nbsp;European Space Agency. Turns out green is not the colour that's cropping in the frozen continent&nbsp;researchers are now planning to take on similar studies on red and orange algae.&nbsp;

Climate change is impacting our future in more ways than we can count. A new report now says that global warming caused by human factors has intensified the wind speeds of&nbsp;hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones across the world.&nbsp;Studying 40 years of satellite images to derive their conclusions, scientists found that&nbsp;tropical cyclones, which are one of the most naturally destructive storms, have become stronger as a response to a warming world. Published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, an author from the study told CNN&nbsp;that&nbsp;'a hurricane is 8% more likely to be a major hurricane in this decade compared to the last decade.'&nbsp;

The global coal industry may never recover from the Covid-19 pandemic as the crisis has proved that renewable energy is cheaper for consumers and safer for investors, says a report by British&nbsp;publication&nbsp;The Guardian. In the European Union, imports of coal for power plants plunged by almost two-thirds in recent months. It is projected that the US will produce more electricity this year from renewables than from coal for the first time.&nbsp;Last month, Sweden&nbsp;closed its last coal-fired power plant two years early. In India, the world&rsquo;s&nbsp;second-biggest coal consumer, the government has prioritised cheap solar energy due to reduced&nbsp;electricity demand and pull the economy out of the lockdown.&nbsp;Even as China reopened, the demand for coal has not returned&nbsp;to its previous level, states the report.

As the Covid-19 lockdown&nbsp;continues around the world, global carbon emissions have seen the sharpest fall since records began. According to the new study published in the journal Nature Climate Change, daily carbon emissions plunged by 17 percent by early April. The study is the first definitive one for global carbon output in 2020 and states that the annual decline is likely to be only about 7 percent as countries slowly go back to normal activity. If the restrictions are lifted by mid-June, the fall is likely to be only 4 percent. This would still point towards the biggest annual drop in emissions&nbsp;since the second world war!&nbsp;

The government has released a &lsquo;five-star garbage-free&rsquo; list of cities, awarding the title to six cities including Chhattisgarh&rsquo;s Ambikapur and Madhya Pradesh's Indore.&nbsp;Total 141 cities have been rated -- six received 5-star, 65 got three-star, 70 one-star.&nbsp;Gujarat&rsquo;s Rajkot and Surat, Karnataka&rsquo;s Mysore and Maharashtra&rsquo;s Navi Mumbai have also been rated five-star.&nbsp;For the assessments, 1.19 crore citizen feedbacks and over 10 lakh geo-tagged pictures were collected and 5,175 solid waste processing plants were visited by 1,210 field assessors, according to a PTI&nbsp;report.&nbsp;

Environment activists and students from Assam have started an online campaign against a new National Board of Wild Life (NBWL) recommendation that allows&nbsp;coal mining in the ecologically-vulnerable&nbsp;Dehing Patkai elephant reserve. According to Hindustan Times, authorities recommended that a portion of the forest reserve be used for&nbsp;opencast coal mining, while the rest could be used for underground mining. If implemented, this could have a negative impact on the natural flora and fauna of the region which is said to be the largest tropical lowland rainforest in the country. The protesters are using the&nbsp;hashtags #SAVEDEHINGPATKAI and #IAMDEHINGPATKAI&nbsp;on social media.&nbsp;

Flipkart began phasing out plastic packaging, replacing it with&nbsp;paper-based packaging beginning May 1 this year, according to a company statement. The Walmart-owned online retailer has now announced that it has been able to reduce plastic packaging from its supply chain by 50 per cent. The e-commerce giant explained that as a part of its zero-waste initiative, Flipkart&nbsp;has&nbsp;replaced poly pouches with recycled paper bags, and instead of bubble wrap, now uses airbags with carton waste shredded material and two-ply roll.&nbsp;

Third mass bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef in five years

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Third mass bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef in five years

Apr 07, 2020 11:36 IST

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