The bacterium 'Klebsiella pneumoniae', which is resistant to all antibiotics, is also particularly aggressive and dangerous.

Countries are losing US$492 billion in tax a year to multinational corporations and wealthy individuals using tax havens to underpay tax, the Tax Justice Network’s annual State of Tax Justice shows. Nearly half the losses (43%) are enabled by the eight countries that remain opposed to a UN tax convention: Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, the UK and the US.

A study published today in IOP Publishing’s journal Environmental Research Letters reveals that centimetre-sized plastic fragments are increasing much faster than larger floating plastics in the North Pacific Garbage Patch [NPGP], threatening the local ecosystem and potentially the global carbon cycle.

COP after COP forces many thousands of delegates to cram in faraway places, only to add to the long lists of promises and pledges, of which only few ever see results. Next stop: oil-soaked Baku, Azerbaijan. The latest news: the COP CEO is lobbying for the oil industry.

A new global fund for sharing the benefits of using digital sequence information (DSI) from genetic resources was agreed at COP16 in Cali, Colombia. However, discussions around the establishment of a new wider biodiversity fund, as well as other key decisions, have been postponed and the meeting suspended.

The CAP, which represents about a third of the EU’s budget (€55 billion annually), was meant to address sustainability alongside supporting farmers. It grants financial rewards for environmentally friendly practices, like planting trees or conserving wetlands. However, these measures have largely failed to protect biodiversity.

We must hope. Hope is good. Politicians, businesspeople, and even climate activists keep hammering it home, but research shows that people who worry are more likely to take action together.

The year 2023 marked the driest year for global water resources in over three decades, according to a new report coordinated by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), which signaled critical changes in water availability in an era of growing demand. 

The Living Planet Report warns that, as the Earth approaches dangerous tipping points posing grave threats to humanity, a huge collective effort will be required over the next five years to tackle the dual climate and nature crises.