Get our news on your inbox! x

Remember me Forgot password

MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, November 26th 2024 - 22:38 UTC

Environment

  • Wednesday, May 2nd 2018 - 08:13 UTC

    UK-US launch Antarctica research program to predict sea-level rise

    The mission will deploy teams of researchers, using a suite of technologies to investigate changes on the ice and in the ocean.

    A new UK-U.S. Antarctic research program to improve the prediction of future sea-level rise was launched on Monday at British Antarctic Survey (BAS), Cambridge. The £20 million 5-year research collaboration, funded jointly by the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), brings together over 100 polar scientists from leading UK and U.S. research organizations.

  • Tuesday, May 1st 2018 - 10:15 UTC

    Falkland Islands Government Partnership with local Environmental NGO Updated

    Falklands Conservation are an environmental conservation NGO, registered as a charity in the UK; its head office and majority of trustees are based in Falklands. Pic Falklands Conservation by Bob Prat

    The Falklands Islands Government have just recently finalized a review process of their Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Falklands Conservation, a local environmental NGO. This is an important partnership for the Government and has been in place 2006 on a formal basis.

  • Monday, April 30th 2018 - 08:30 UTC

    Major wind and flash rains storm hits Buenos Aires: two dead and 100.000 homes with no power

    Strong wind gusts forced the collapse of a roof at a parking lot crushing some 18 vehicles, and a dining room catering for 140 children was completely flooded

    A man and his teenage son died with electrocution during a storm that struck Buenos Aires City and the metropolitan area on Sunday dawn and morning. Winds blowing at over 130 kilometers and massive rainfall, 120 millimeters, caused the collapse of roofs and publicity billboards, trees and lamp posts were knocked down, plus extensive flooding and power cuts that affected thousands of clients. An estimated 2.500 people had to be evacuated and even more had to abandon their homes.

  • Saturday, April 28th 2018 - 10:22 UTC

    Bees victory: EU votes for a near total ban on insecticides

    Campaigners dressed in black and yellow bee suits rallied outside the headquarters of the EC in Brussels ahead of the vote for a ban on three key pesticide chemicals.(Pic AFP)

    European Union countries voted on Friday for a near-total ban on insecticides blamed for killing off bee populations, in what campaigners called a “beacon of hope” for the winged insects. Bees help pollinate 90 percent of the world’s major crops, but in recent years have been dying off from “colony collapse disorder,” a mysterious scourge blamed on mites, pesticides, virus, fungus, or a combination of these factors.

  • Thursday, April 26th 2018 - 08:41 UTC

    Major companies launch “UK Plastics Pact” to eliminate plastic packaging by 2025

    The pact comes amid widespread concern over the problem of plastic waste polluting the countryside and the world’s oceans

    Dozens of companies have signed up to efforts to eliminate unnecessary single-use plastic packaging by 2025, it has been announced. Under the “UK Plastics Pact”, the businesses have also agreed targets to make 100% of their plastic packaging reusable, recyclable or compostable and to ensure 70% is effectively recycled or composted.

  • Thursday, April 26th 2018 - 08:26 UTC

    “World Penguin Day”: funny on land and graceful and rapid in the sea

    Volunteer Point on the Falkland Islands is the world’s largest accessible king penguin colony with 1000 pairs of breeding penguins.Pic by Derek Pettersson

    April 25th is “World Penguin Day”, undoubtedly the world’s most popular bird – think of Happy Feet, March of the Penguins, Pingu just to name a few uses in popular culture. These charismatic flightless birds are funny to watch on land but are graceful and rapid in water. They occur only in the seas of the Southern hemisphere; there are seventeen species of penguin ranging from the Galapagos to Antarctica.

  • Wednesday, April 25th 2018 - 09:06 UTC

    Tons of frozen micro-plastics found trapped in the floating ice of the Arctic

    Traces of 17 different types of plastic were found in frozen seawater. Micro-plastics are tiny plastic pieces under five millimeters long.

    Record levels of micro-plastics have been found trapped inside sea ice floating in the Arctic. Ice cores gathered across the Arctic Ocean reveal micro-plastics at concentrations two to three times higher than previously recorded. As sea ice melts with climate change, the plastic will be released back into the water, with unknown effects on wildlife, say German scientists.

  • Saturday, April 21st 2018 - 06:57 UTC

    What is Earth Day, and what is it meant to accomplish?

    Earth Day 2018 will focus on mobilizing the world to End Plastic Pollution, including creating support for a global effort to eliminate single-use plastics

    A message from Earth Network president, Kathleen Rogers - Close to 48 years ago, on 22 April 1970, millions of people took to the streets to protest the negative impacts of 150 years of industrial development.

  • Thursday, April 19th 2018 - 08:12 UTC

    Drilling near the mouth of the Amazon banned by Brazil's environmental regulator

    Scientists aboard a Greenpeace ship documented the existence of coral in an area off the northern coast of Brazil and Total’s plans to drill for oil should be banned

    The public prosecutor’s office in the northern state of Amapá recommended on Wednesday that Brazil’s environmental regulator Ibama deny French major Total a license to drill for oil near the mouth of the Amazon.

  • Wednesday, April 18th 2018 - 07:56 UTC

    IMF semi-annual report warns of choppy waters ahead: protectionism and trade wars

    “Despite the good near-term news, longer-term prospects are more sobering,” said Maurice Obstfeld, Economic Counselor and Director of Research at the IMF.

    While the world economy continues to show broad-based momentum, a new report released on Tuesday by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is warning that there may be choppy seas ahead, caused by increasing protectionism or tit-for-tat trade wars.