Politicians not ambitious enough to save nature, say scientists

Scientists say there has been an alarming lack of progress in saving nature as the UN biodiversity summit, COP 16, draws to a close.

The scale of political ambition has not risen to the challenge of reducing the destruction of nature that costs the economy billions, said one leading expert.

Amur leopards are one of the most endangered species in the world

Targets to reverse the decline of biodiversity by 2030 may be missed without urgent action, according to a new report.

This goal was a key part of the UN global summit on biodiversity held in December 2022.

Nearly a third of all monitored species are currently endangered due to human activities.

Warmer air is melting the top of the Greenland Ice Sheet

If you could shape an ice cube out of all the ice losses from Greenland and Antarctica over the past three decades, it would stand 20km high.

An international group of scientists who work with satellite data say the acceleration in the melting of Earth's ice sheets is now unmistakable.

They calculate the planet's frozen poles lost 7,560 billion tonnes in mass between 1992 and 2022.

Seven of the worst melting years have occurred in the past decade.

Mass loss from Greenland and Antarctica is now responsible for a quarter of all sea-level rise.

This contribution is five times what it was 30 years ago.

The latest assessment comes from the Ice Sheet Mass Balance Intercomparison Exercise, or Imbie.

PLANETARY REALIGNMENT

Once the Earth is ice-free, and probably just before, in my opinion, due to a major change in the distribution of weight on the surface of Earth, Earth, which currently has a slight wobble in its rotation on its tilted axis, (probably in part because of the ice at the poles), should shift on its axis, so that a different tilt and a greater or lesser wobble will result. This shift will probably also include a change in the rotational speed of Earth. This entire area needs further study. Research is needed to quantify the changes in the angle of tilt, the wobble and the rotational speed, as well as to determine what effects such changes will have on both earth and Humanity; for example plate tectonics, volcanology, magnetism, Earth's magnetic shield, tides, etc. in addition to daily time-keeping and the change in the length of a day.