Biodiversity

"President Trump’s zest for rapidly shrinking the government is triggering anxiety about conservation priorities that have been embedded for more than five decades in the country’s national parks and wildlife refuges. Amid the staffing whiplash — chaotic firings and reinstatement of rangers, scientists, and other civil servants — America’s most vulnerable plant and animal species face new peril in their struggle to survive."

"Every year, from December to April, the Harmattan sweeps across Africa. This cool, dry and dust-laden wind gets its name from haramata, a word in the Ghanaian language Fanti. ... The Harmattan's effects go beyond reduced visibility and dryness. It has an impact on human health, agriculture and ecosystems."

"The US could be plunged back into an era of toxic acid rain, an environmental problem thought to have been solved decades ago, due to the Donald Trump administration’s rollback of pollution protections, the scientist who discovered the existence of acid rain in North America has warned."

"In Uganda’s Mbale district, famous for its production of arabica coffee, a plague of plastic bags locally known as buveera is creeping beyond the city."

"On Wednesday, lawmakers on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee held the first hearing on President Trump’s nomination to lead the US Fish and Wildlife Service. If confirmed, Brian Nesvik, a former game warden turned Wyoming Game and Fish director, would lead the federal agency whose primary charge is to protect the plants and animals most in need of conservation."

"Federal agencies will need fully-staffed teams to implement President Donald Trump’s order for the Interior Department and other agencies to expedite mining on federal lands, natural resources lawyers say. But massive staffing cuts could get in the way of Trump’s demand to mine more minerals domestically, and it could take years for agencies and companies to mobilize and begin digging rock."

"Sardines in the Mediterranean struggling for a decent bite of shrinking plankton are accidentally ingesting more and more microplastics and microfibres, scientists have found. And the root cause of all their problems? Well, it's climate change - of course."

"Fifteen years of coordinated conservation efforts have produced a significant recovery in the U.S. population of the American oystercatcher, a bird with a distinctive bright red bill that breeds and roosts on beaches and coastal marshes, at a time when most shorebirds are declining."