By AFPAn unprecedented coral bleaching episode has spread to 84 percent of the world's reefs in an unfolding human-caused crisis that could kill off swathes of the essential ecosystems, scientists warned Wednesday.Since it began in early 2023, the gl...

By AFP/Marchio Gorbiano with Sara HusseinAn Indonesian soldier gives a thumbs up as he crosses a rice field on a combine harvester in remote Papua, where a government food security mega-project has raised fears of mass deforestation.Keen to end its r...

By AFP/Hicham RafihIt may be the gateway to the vast Sahara desert, but that doesn't mean it's free of that modern scourge of the environment -- the rubbish humanity discards.In southern Morocco, volunteers are hunting for waste embedded in the sand,...

By AFPSnowfall in Asia's Hindu Kush-Himalayan mountain range has reached a 23-year low, threatening nearly two billion people dependent on snowmelt for water, scientists warned in a report on Monday.The Hindu Kush-Himalayan range, which stretches fro...

By AFP/Mathilde DUMAZETThrough magisterial Vatican pronouncements about the dangers posed by the warming planet, Pope Francis gave the Roman Catholic church a voice that influenced climate change talks, experts said.Amidst an outpouring of praise for...

By AFP/Julie BOURDINThe rhino lay frozen in the sand, its grey legs stiff, glassy eyes open, horn crudely sawed off.A dead giraffe slumped nearby and a lion's twisted body to the right -- a tableau of devastation.Three figures in white hazmat suits t...

By AFP/James Rybacki and Laurie ChurchmanStaff at a London animal shelter have seen more than their fair share of abandoned pets over the years, from kittens in boxes to budgies dropped outside in the dead of night.But lately there has been a surge i...

By AFPUp to 17 percent of cropland worldwide is contaminated with at least one type of toxic heavy metal, posing health risks to up to 1.4 billion people, scientists warned Thursday.Published in the journal Science, their study is a first-of-its-kind...

By AFPCommercial fishing will be allowed in a gigantic marine reserve home to one of the world's most vulnerable ecosystems in the middle of the Pacific under an executive order signed Thursday by President Donald Trump.The Pacific Remote Islands Mar...

By AFP/Arunabh SAIKIAIn central India's dry forests, community trackers hunt for signs of elephants to feed into an alert system that is helping prevent some of the hundreds of fatal tramplings each year.Boots crunch on brittle leaves as Bhuvan Yadav...

By AFP/Charlene PERSONNAZAn unusually heavy spring storm across the Alps sparked chaos on Thursday, as it dumped more than a metre of snow in some areas, shutting ski areas, roads, trains and schools as authorities urged people to stay home.The heavy...

By AFPGermany's environment minister on Wednesday warned of a high risk of forest fires and poor harvests after a "worrying" lack of rain in recent weeks.From February 1 to April 13, Germany saw 40 litres of rainfall per square metre -- its lowest le...