How the neoliberal obsession with valuing nature changes our understanding of it

Dec 04, 2018 16:34 pm UTC| Insights & Views Politics Nature

Over the last decade, an industry has developed that values different aspects of nature in different ways. Its growth has been underpinned by the argument that, in a neoliberal world where the market is the dominant...

COP24: 12 years from disaster, here's where we are and what needs to be done to fight climate change

Dec 04, 2018 16:34 pm UTC| Insights & Views Nature

World leaders are gathering in Katowice, Poland, to negotiate the worlds response to climate change. The 24th Conference of the Parties (COP24) will last from December 3-14 and its primary aim is to reach agreement on how...

NZ is home to species found nowhere else but biodiversity losses match global crisis

Dec 04, 2018 16:25 pm UTC| Nature

The recently released 2018 Living Planet report is among the most comprehensive global analyses of biodiversity yet. It is based on published data on 4,000 out of the 70,000 known species of mammals, birds, fish, reptiles...

Why we should stop labelling people climate change deniers

Dec 03, 2018 23:59 pm UTC| Insights & Views Nature

In the westernmost reaches of Nunavut, on the Northwest Passage, Inuit hunters have told me some pithy things about climate change. The land is changing. It isnt climate change. This is part of cycles. Our elders saw...

How we calculated the age of caves in the Cradle of Humankind -- and why it matters

Nov 26, 2018 17:00 pm UTC| Insights & Views Nature

As a species, we humans have always been fascinated in where we came from. Initially, it was believed humans couldnt have originated from Africa. That misconception began to shift slowly from 1925, when the modern...

It looks like an anchovy fillet but this ancient creature helps us understand how DNA works

Nov 26, 2018 16:58 pm UTC| Insights & Views Nature

Today a large international consortium of researchers published a complex but important study looking at how DNA works in animals. The research focused on a marine organism, a creature called amphioxus (also known as the...

Steps rural communities can take to protect their water resources

Nov 26, 2018 16:17 pm UTC| Insights & Views Nature

For rural communities in the highlands of eastern Africa, water for domestic use is not piped. They have to collect, or use it from springs or rivers and its accessible to anyone. Increasingly, highland communities in...