Digital Journal

England's nature reserves, national parks and protected areas are failing in four out of five key quality benchmarks, a major year-long government-sponsored review has concurred. Around £1.1bn is needed to help rebuild nature in England. A 14-member team of wildlife experts has warned that England's wildlife protection areas are not effective enough at preserving species due to poor management, small size, ease of reach by the wider public (especially in urban areas) and lack of inter...

Two-thirds of US cities and counties consider the environment and energy conservation a priority, but far fewer have taken steps to address those issues. And four out of five people do not consider climate change to be a high priority. The findings are from a survey of 2,176 local governments by the International City/County Management Association (ICMA). When asked to what extent different elements were a priority for them, 46.3 percent said it was "no priority". Another 34.6 percent said it...

European countries have agreed to create six marine protected areas (MPAs) in the northeast Atlantic to step up the protection of the region's environment. They have defined six zones or MPAs over 285,000 sq km where human activity should be limited. The decision was taken at a meeting on Friday in the southwestern Norwegian city of Bergen of the OSPAR Commission, a body through which 15 regional countries, along with the European Union, work to protect the environment of the northeast Atlantic...

An Indian court has defended sting operations as a means to expose corruption. The Delhi High Court on Friday quashed criminal proceedings against two journalists who unearthed a sensational scam involving Members of Parliament (MPs) in 2005. Hearing the petition of journalists Aniruddha Bahal and Suhasini Raj, Justice Shiv Narayan Dhingra observed that “charging the petitioner under offence of the Prevention of Corruption Act would amount to travesty of justice”. Justice Dhingra said every...

Scientists have long tried to understand how the ancient Egyptians erected their giant pyramids. Now, a Norwegian architect and researcher says he has the answer to this ancient, unsolved puzzle. Ole J Bryn, an architect and associate professor the Norwegian University of Science and Technology's (NTNU) Faculty of Architecture and Fine Art, believes researchers were needlessly preoccupied with the weight of the stones. In the bargain, they overlooked two problems: How did the Egyptians know...

Protected birds were illegally targeted during the night after hundreds of raptors and a flock of 22 spoonbills, among other protected birds, flew into Malta to roost on Tuesday, BirdLife Malta has reported. The 22 spoonbills roosted close to the Salina Bird Sanctuary, a known hotspot of illegal hunting and trapping activity. After dusk they left the area, followed by a team of BirdLife's Raptor Camp who lost sight of them in the dark. In the morning, only nine of the spoonbills headed south...

Brazil has announced a new plan to protect the Cerrado, a massive expanse of biologically diverse savannah that is under huge pressure from encroaching development by boosting spot checks and sustainable development. The Cerrado Plan will see US$200 million of federal money being invested over the next two years to protect the mixed woodland-savannah, which covers 21percent of Brazil’s landmass, an area about the size of Greenland. Numerous important tributaries of the Amazon River originate in...

A landmark study has been launched that may help ensure the migratory success and survival of North America’s fastest land animal—the pronghorn—in Grand Teton National Park and the southern Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. The new study, to be conducted by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), Grand Teton National Park, and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, will evaluate dynamics of this population as well as threats that may be faced by pronghorn as they travel the path to and from...

Researchers have discovered that the most common form of human malaria— Plasmodium falciparum—may have originated in western lowland gorillas. The closest genetic match between malaria that infects humans and one that infects gorillas has been found. The result, which contradicts previous studies that point to chimpanzees as the potential reservoir of malignant malaria, has been published in the latest issue of science journal Nature. This research was led by Dr Beatrice Hahn and colleagues at...

A group of Peruvian archaeologists has discovered two temples dating back more than four thousand years in a landfill spot the jungles in the north of the country. It is probably the oldest known temple building in Peru. The temples were found near the village of Jaén, Cajamarca, in northern Peru. The excavation sites, locally known as Monte Grande and San Isidro, were previously used for agriculture and even as a garbage dump. The complex was in all likelihood built around 2,000 BC. From the...