UN climate report: Scientists release 'survival guide' to avert climate disaster

Scientists from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change met in Switzerland where glaciers are melting

UN chief Antonio Guterres says a major new report on climate change is a "survival guide for humanity".

Clean energy and technology can be exploited to avoid the growing climate disaster, the report says.

Sun-bleached skeletons of long-dead whitebark pine trees stand at the top of a 7,200-foot-high ridge along the Reservation Divide on the Flathead Indian Reservation, Montana. With annual average temperatures in Montana rising, the whitebark pine that were not previously threatened are now facing an increase in blister rust infections, mountain pine beetle infestations and wildfire.

Stretching from British Columbia, Canada down to parts of California and east to Montana, live the whitebark pine. The tree grows in subalpine and timberline zones — elevations anywhere from 4,000 to almost 9,000 ft. It's an unforgiving space. The wind is harsh. Plants and animals confront sub-freezing temperatures, often until summertime.

The whitebark pine has historically thrived in these lands. But today, the tree species is in trouble. So much so that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the whitebark pine as a threatened species in December 2022. Increased fire intensity from climate change and colonial fire suppression practices, infestation by mountain pine beetles and a deadly fungus called blister rust — they're collectively killing this tree.

Namibia reports record level of rhino poaching

A female white rhino in Namibia

The number of endangered rhinos poached in Namibia last year was the highest on record and almost twice as many as the year before, officials say.

A total of 87 rhinos were killed compared with 45 in 2021, official government data show.

Most were poached in Etosha, Namibia's biggest national park, officials say.

Rhino numbers in Africa have dropped significantly in recent decades to feed demand for rhino horn in China and Vietnam.

A "sea cow" that evoked tales of mermaids is being driven to the edge of extinction, conservation experts warn.

According to an update of the official extinction list, the dugong is almost wiped out in some parts of the world.

Scientists have also sounded alarm over the loss of other marine creatures, including exotic coral and shellfish.

One in five people around the world rely on wild animals, plants and fungi for food and livelihoods, according to a landmark assessment.

But many wild species are not being harvested sustainably, putting food security at risk, the report found.

In 2019, experts estimated that one million plants and animals could go extinct in coming decades.

And much of this is being driven by unsustainable fishing, hunting and logging.

Now a new report by the same influential body concludes that the sustainable use of wild species is critical for people and nature.

And climate change and increased demand is likely to push more species to the brink, putting food security at risk.

The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) is conservation scientists' equivalent of the IPCC group of climate scientists.

Their most recent assessment, approved by 139 countries in Bonn, Germany, focuses on how fishing, hunting and logging can be carried out more sustainably without damaging biodiversity and food security.

It found that billions of people across the world rely on 50,000 species of wild animals, plants and fungi for food, medicine, fuel, income and other purposes.

The assessment paints a picture of widespread exploitation of nature, with about a third of wild fish in the ocean overfished, more than 10% of wild trees threatened by unsustainable logging, and more than 1,300 mammals pushed to extinction by unsustainable hunting.