mining

Human activity has degraded as much as 40 percent of the world’s land, impacting half of the people on Earth and putting about half of global gross domestic product at risk. That’s the stark finding of the Global Land Outlook 2, a new report from the UN’s Council to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). With more than […]

The Honduras government is banning new permits for open-pit mining projects due to their negative environmental impact, including pollution and deforestation. However, it is unclear when the ban officially takes effect. “The approval of extractive exploitation permits is canceled for being harmful, threatening natural resources, public health and limiting access to water as a human […]

By Julia Conley A vote overwhelmingly in favor of placing a moratorium on deep-sea mineral mining at a global biodiversity summit this week has put urgent pressure on the International Seabed Authority to strictly regulate the practice. The vast majority of governments, NGOs, and civil society groups voted in favor of the moratorium at the […]

By Jessica Corbett Conservationists, local tribes, and commercial fishers celebrated on Thursday the Biden administration’s move to permanently protect Alaska’s Bristol Bay watershed from the proposed Pebble Mine and similarly destructive projects. “Placing a massive mine at the headwaters of the world’s greatest, most productive wild sockeye salmon fishery has been a terrible idea from […]

Do we really need to put ocean ecosystems at risk in order to transition to a renewable-energy economy? Proponents of deep-sea mining claim that the as-yet-untested practice is the best means of supplying minerals like cobalt, lithium, nickel, copper, vanadium and indium used in electric vehicles, storage batteries and other green technologies. But a new […]

A new species of frog has been described by scientists for the first time, and it’s a real rockstar. The new frog, introduced to the world in the journal Neotropical Biodiversity on Sunday, hails from the Ecuadorian Andes and bears the name Pristimantis ledzeppelin, or Led Zeppelin’s Rain Frog. “The name honours Led Zeppelin and […]

By Michel Penke More than every second person in the world now has a cellphone, and manufacturers are rolling out bigger, better, slicker models all the time. Many, however, have a bloody history. Though made in large part of plastic, glass, ceramics, gold and copper, they also contain critical resources. The gallium used for LEDs […]

For the first time, major companies are adding their voices to the call for a ban on deep-sea mining. Google, BMW, Volvo and Samsung SD all signed a WWF statement last Wednesday calling for a moratorium on the controversial practice until its environmental impacts are thoroughly understood, Reuters reported. “We welcome this important step, and […]