endangered

Somalia’s Yeheb tree is vanishing. Turning Cordeauxia edulis into a domesticated crop could secure food, fodder and fragile drylands. In the sun-scored rangelands of Hiiraan, Galmudug, Mudug and the Somali-Ethiopian borderlands, a native lifeline grows almost nowhere else on Earth: the Yeheb tree (Cordeauxia edulis), known locally as Jicib. Long relied upon for its edible nuts, livestock fodder and soil-restoring roots, this wild leguminous shrub is quietly slipping away—its populations down as much as 70% under pressure…

The claim that the world is “not secure” unless the United States has Greenland is sweeping, but it taps a real and growing geopolitical truth: the Arctic island has moved from remote afterthought to a front line of 21st-century power politics. The strategic drama—rekindled when former President Donald Trump floated the idea of acquiring Greenland—sits at the intersection of climate change, great-power competition, rare-earth minerals, and the security architecture that binds North America and Europe. Greenland is not for…

The recent arrest of five individuals in Lesotho for the illegal trade of pelargonium has revealed significant flaws in the government's capacity to safeguard endangered plant species, as reported by Sechaba Mokhethi for GroundUp. Back in 2004, the government classified Pelargonium sidoides—often called African geranium—as a protected species. This plant has gained global recognition for its medicinal properties, being a key ingredient in various herbal remedies, including some cough syrups. Yet, despite these protective…

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the authority behind the esteemed Red Lists of Threatened Species, has declared the African Penguin as “critically endangered.” The IUCN Red List serves as the worldwide benchmark for evaluating extinction risk. As of now, it has assessed 163,040 species, with a staggering 45,321 facing peril. This charming African Penguin, a beloved icon, stands as the first of 18 penguin species around the globe to meet the daunting criteria for this designation—just a…

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) will publish its new red list of endangered animals on Thursday, March 25. It has 37,480 endangered species against 35,765 in December 2020. And African forest elephants now fall into the category of "critically endangered" and "endangered" for savannah elephants. Forest elephants today occupy only a quarter of their original territory.…