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Big fish in big trouble in Europe
A new study by an international team of scientists, published in Nature Ecology & Evolution, warns that many large fish species, including many of the sharks and rays of Europe, are threatened with extinction. Confirming the findings of previous...
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Increased worldwide greening found to mitigate regional temperature differences
A JRC-led article recently published in 'Science' finds that the increase in global vegetation density has had substantial climate impacts in recent decades, with a warming effect in cold areas, and a cooling effect in warm areas. The findings...
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Environmental heritage paper honoured with international award
An international study warning of how World Heritage Sites are being damaged by human activities, of which the JRC was a co-author, has won a prestigious international award for scientific publishing.
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Dry and cold weather affects yield outlook
Yield forecasts for winter crops – published today in the May issue of the JRC MARS crop monitoring Bulletin for Europe - were revised downwards by 2-3% at EU level compared to the April Bulletin. The yield forecast for spring barley and rapeseed is...
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Corridors that can save jaguars
A new study has assessed and provided management recommendations for the main corridors linking the few remaining jaguar populations in northern Argentina, in the southernmost part of the range of this emblematic species in America. The study was led...
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The science, policy and practice of nature-based solutions
A scientific paper on so-called Nature-Based Solutions has been produced in the ALTER-Net (Europe's Ecosystem Research Network). Such solutions to societal problems are currently being actively pursued e.g. by the European Commission, but the concept...
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How Essential Biodiversity Variables and remote sensing can help national biodiversity monitoring
Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs) have been suggested to harmonize biodiversity monitoring worldwide. Vihervaara, P. et al. studied how well Finland’s current biodiversity state indicators correspond with EBVs, and how national biodiversity...
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Integrating nitrous oxide emissions to inform climate-smart agriculture
In a recently published article, JRC scientists describe a new model framework that extends a large-scale soil survey to include nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions, in order to provide an independent instrument in support to policies oriented towards...
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Probabilistic Evaluation of Ecological and Economic Objectives of River Basin Management Reveals a Potential Flaw in the Goal Setting of the EU Water Framework Directive
The biological status of European lakes has not improved as expected despite up-to-date legislation and ecological standards. As a result, the realism of objectives and the attainment of related ecological standards are under doubt.
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Phthalates increase the risk of allergies among children
Phthalates, which are used as plasticizers in plastics, can considerably increase the risk of allergies among children. This was demonstrated by UFZ researchers in conjunction with scientists from the University of Leipzig and the German Cancer...
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Sourcebook of Methods and Procedures for Monitoring Essential Biodiversity Variables in Tropical Forests with Remote Sensing
A recently published Global Observations of Forest and Land Cover Dynamics (GOFC-GOLD) sourcebook aims to support the efforts of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity to halt biodiversity loss by providing information on data and...
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Urban Water Atlas for Europe - 360° view on water management in cities
On 27 April 2017, the European Commission published the Urban Water Atlas for Europe. The publication – the first of its kind – shows how different water management choices, as well as other factors such as waste management, climate change and even...
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Urbanisation costs billion years of evolutionary history
All over the globe, the urbanisation of landscapes is increasing. 60% of the land surface which is expected to be urban by 2030 is currently not built on at all. How this will impact on biological diversity will only be apparent in retrospect....
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Same directive, different quality standards for EU rivers
New study shows significant differences i EU member states environmental quality standards for pollution in rivers. Under the Water Framework Directive of the European Union (EU), member states are to establish national environmental quality...
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Fairly positive outlook for winter cereals
According to the April issue of the JRC MARS crop monitoring bulletin for Europe published today, conditions of winter cereals are good, but more rain is needed to sustain high yields.
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Mangrove restoration at Spaans Lagoen, Aruba
Recently work on mangrove restoration begins at Spaans Lagoen, Aruba, an internationally important wetland designated as a Ramsar site. WEnR have been involved since 2015 in giving advice to the Government of Aruba in relation to the impacts of a new...
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Finnish research institutes planning centre in Chile to develop quality of environmental measurements
An international project has been launched at the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE) to plan a national Center for Environmental Reference in Chile together with the Finnish Meteorological Institute and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd....
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HINKU municipalities reduce climate emissions by nearly a third in eight years
Emissions from municipalities in the Carbon Neutral Municipalities (HINKU) network declined by an average 29 percent in 2007 - 2015. The greatest decreases in emissions were in the municipality of Ii (50%), Kitee and Lieksa (36%) as well as Lohja and...
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Saving our heritage, our future: The worrying state of Mediterranean fish stocks
Fish stocks in the Mediterranean Sea are deteriorating at an alarming rate. A recent analysis shows that 93% of the assessed fish stocks are overexploited, and a number of them are on the verge of depletion. In addition, the Mediterranean Sea has...
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New global report on food crisis offers benchmark for action needed to avoid future disasters
Despite international efforts to address food insecurity, around 108 million people in the world were severely food insecure in 2016, a dramatic increase compared with 80 million in 2015, according to a new global report on food crises released in...
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Emissions from the edge of the forest
When talk is of important ecosystems, tropical forests are top of the list. After all, half of the carbon stored in all of the Earth's vegetation is contained in these ecosystems. Deforestation has a correspondingly fatal effect. Scientists estimate...
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Calculating the potential impacts of Ecological Focus Areas on biodiversity and ecosystem services
A new JRC Technical Report explores the potential impact of the implementation of Ecological Focus Areas (EFAs) on the environment.
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SETAC Europe: 2,000 scientists discuss cutting-edge research in environmental toxicology and chemistry
The Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) Europe 27th Annual Meeting will draw 2,000 scientists from more than 60 countries from the Americas to Asia from 7–11 May to Brussels, Belgium, to discuss the latest research in...
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Crop monitoring bulletins for Europe and the European neighbourhood published
The latest JRC MARS Crop monitoring bulletins for Europe and the European neighbourhood (part of the global outlook 2017 series covering North Africa and, for the first time, Turkey and Ukraine) were published yesterday, 27 March 2017.
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Geese begin to threaten nature, agriculture and air traffic
Many parts of Europe are beginning to experience an annual biological 'invasion' from the air in recent years. This ‘invasion’ is beginning to pose new challenges to air traffic, nature conservation and agriculture as the numbers of some...
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Real-time monitoring of oil compounds installed in Tallinn-Stockholm ferry
The EU-funded project GRACE, coordinated by the Finnish Environment Institute, has launched a system for real-time monitoring of oil compounds in open seawater. ”This kind of technology could have a great potential onboard on many types of vessels...
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Microplastics – a risk to inland and marine waters in Finland
The state of Finland’s inland and marine waters has generally improved significantly over recent decades, thanks to effective water protection measures. But our waters are still under threat due to factors including microplastics, climate change,...
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EU scientists see the forest for the trees (EU-Forest)
The JRC has recently released a high-resolution tree occurrence dataset for Europe. The EU-Forest dataset is the most comprehensive database ever of forest resources at the EU level, comprising over half a million tree occurrences and over 200...
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GrowApp: make an animation of climate change in your backyard
The newly launched GrowApp allows people to make animations of trees, gardens and landscapes by taking pictures with their smartphone. The app directly transforms these pictures in a time lapse movie that shows changes over the seasons and even over...
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From entanglement to invasions of alien species: the harm caused by marine litter
Marine litter is a threat to the marine ecosystem, human health and economic activities. A new JRC report sheds light on the many effects of litter in our oceans, and highlights the severity and scale of the issue. The report confirms that plastic...
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