econhut

  Looking to help restore the natural world? Here’s your guide. Food, water, medicine, energy: the planet’s ecosystems provide the essentials of life, so long as they’re taken care of. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been happening. During the last several decades, human development has pushed many of the world’s forests, savannahs and other natural systems to the brink of collapse. To counteract that decline, the United Nations Environment Programme and several partners are launching a  practical guide  to restoring ecosystems. It provides tips to individuals, communities,  businesses and government agencies, highlighting how they can revive the natural spaces around them. The guide comes just ahead of the launch of the  United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration , a global drive to halt the degradation of land and oceans, protect biodiversity, and rebuild ecosystems. The practical guide contains pointers on how people can design their own restoration project, c...

  A beginA beginner’s guide to ecosystem restorationner’s guide to ecosystem restoration It’s a phrase that’s been on the lips of scientists, officials and environmental activists a lot in the last few months: ecosystem restoration. This year, 5 June, World Environment Day, marks the official launch of the  UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration , a 10-year push to halt and reverse the  decline of the natural world. You might be wondering: what exactly is an ecosystem and how do you restore one? To answer the first question an ecosystem is a place where plants, animals and other organisms, in conjunction with the landscape around them, come together to form the web of life. Ecosystems can be large, like a forest, or small, like a pond. Many are crucial to human societies, providing people with water, food, building materials and a host of other essentials. They also provide planet-wide benefits like climate protection and biodiversity conservation. But in recent decades, huma...

  Prof CNR Rao bags Eni International Award for renewable energy research         Bharat Ratna Professor C.N.R. Rao The Energy Frontiers award is to presented in October 2021 in Rome. Bharat Ratna Professor C.N.R. Rao has received International Eni Award 2020 for research into renewable energy sources and energy storage, also called the Energy Frontier award. This is considered to be the Nobel Prize in Energy Research. Professor Rao has been working on hydrogen energy as the only energy source for the benefit of all mankind. Hydrogen storage, photochemical and electrochemical production of hydrogen, solar production of hydrogen, and non-metallic catalysis were the highlights of his work. The Energy Frontiers award has been conferred for his work on metal oxides, carbon nanotubes, and other materials and two-dimensional systems, including graphene, boron-nitrogen-carbon hybrid materials, and molybdenum sulfide (Molybdenite - MoS2) for energy applications and gree...

  New coral reef restoration technology aims to reverse climate change damage Deborah Brosnan, a marine scientist, pioneered reef restoration technology in order to facilitate coral and other marine life colonisation. The built reef modules will also help protect the nearby coastal community from storm surge and sea-level rise. Marine scientist Deborah Brosnan does a research dive on a coral reef, in this undated handout in Antigua and Barbuda (Photo: Reuters) Marine scientist Deborah Brosnan remembers “feeling like a visitor at an amazing party” on her diving trips to a bay near the Caribbean island of Saint Barthelemy where she swam above coral reefs with nurse sharks, sea turtles and countless colourful fish. But on a return trip after Hurricane Irma ravaged the island in 2017, she dove the reef again - and was shocked by what she saw. “Everything was dead,” she recalled in an interview with Reuters. “There were no sharks, no sea turtles, no seagrass, no living coral. I felt lik...

  Earth’s water cycle changing due to global warming, may lead to more droughts As the global climate warms up, the water cycle is being affected at an alarming rate. New study shows there could be more drought in the future. The new study will be of immense use in planning strategies to combat climate change. (Photo: Nasa) The water cycle, a natural phenomenon through which plants and land surfaces release moisture into the air, is getting impacted due to climate change. A new study of gravity observations over 17 years indicates the rapid change as global warming heats up the planet. Dubbed as "evapotranspiration", researchers have found a surge of 10 per cent in the process between 2003 and 2019. Studies on the mass change of water between the oceans and continents revealed that this rate of increase is up to two times higher than previous estimates. Evapotranspiration is a critical branch of the global water cycle a cycle that creates sustainable conditions for life on la...

TASMANIAN DEVILS BORN IN THE WILD IN AUSTRALIA FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 3,000 YEARS   After being bombarded with a barrage of bad news about biodiversity extinction, we finally have wonderful news from the wilds of Australia. For the first time in 3,000 years, Tasmanian devils were born in the wild, Down-Under. The population of these marsupials, according to a   report   in   CNN , had reduced after the arrival of the wild dog species known as Dingoes, on the mainland. Their numbers were further reduced because they fell victim to the Devil Facial Tumor Disease (DFTD). Since it was discovered in 1996, DFTD killed 90 percent of the Tasmanian devil's population.                  For the first time in 3,000 years, Tasmanian devils were born in the wild in Australia. Tasmanian devils are  carnivorous marsupial  and have a coarse coat of black or brown fur. They look like baby bears but have either a white strip or a pa...