Topic description and stories

Life on Earth is at risk from an unprecedented rate of environmental change that threatens the natural resources on which we depend.

Lion Cub with Mother in the Serengeti

Global carnivore conservation at risk

06 Apr 2016

Shrinking habitat, increased conflict projected in regions critical to survival of threatened apex predators.

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Carpenter bee (Xylocopa flavorufa) visiting coffee flower (Coffea arabica)

Pollinator species vital to our food supply are under threat, warn experts

26 Feb 2016

A new report from experts and Government around the world addresses threats to animal pollinators such as bees, birds and bats that are vital to more...

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How 'more food per field' could help save our wild spaces

28 Jan 2016

Increased farm yields could help to spare land from agriculture for natural habitats that benefit wildlife and store greenhouse gases, but only if...

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Lion waiting in Namibia

Banning trophy hunting could do more harm than good

11 Jan 2016

Trophy hunting shouldn’t be banned, but instead it should be better regulated to ensure funds generated from permits are invested back into local...

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Tassie devil orphan

Second contagious form of cancer found in Tasmanian devils

28 Dec 2015

Transmissible cancers – cancers which can spread between individuals by the transfer of living cancer cells – are believed to arise extremely rarely...

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Silver Lake, Wasatch watershed, Utah

Opinion: Paying people to stay away is not always the best way to protect watersheds

24 Dec 2015

Libby Blanchard and Bhaskar Vira from Cambridge's Department of Geography argue that we need to consider alternative approaches in order to protect...

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Rougier Gabon

‘Traditional authority’ linked to rates of deforestation in Africa

24 Nov 2015

New analysis reveals a strong correlation between precolonial institutions in Africa and current levels of deforestation. Researchers suggest that...

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Madagascan President discusses conservation challenges with Cambridge experts

20 Nov 2015

̽»¨Ö±²¥President of the Republic of Madagascar, Hery Rajaonarimampianina, today visited the ̽»¨Ö±²¥ of Cambridge to discuss ways in which the...

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Lonely tap

Not a drop to drink

19 Oct 2015

A major research collaboration is looking at how small towns in the hills of India and Nepal are coping with increasing demand for water: who wins...

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Mid-19th-century map with a line linking Britain to India

Cambridge and India

05 Oct 2015

Cambridge’s engagement with India has evolved from scholars working on India to scholars working with , and increasingly, in India – on shared...

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Vast pivot irrigator shows farming encroaching on wilderness in New Zealand.

Paying farmers to help the environment works, but ‘perverse’ subsidies must be balanced

09 Sep 2015

First analysis of effectiveness of agri-environment schemes measured at a national level suggests that they work, but are still a drop in the ocean...

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Baby gorilla

Mountain gorilla genome study provides optimism about population numbers

09 Apr 2015

An international research project to sequence whole genomes from mountain gorillas has given scientists and conservationists new insight into the...

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