Extinction VCC News
[Jun 13, 2026] Wildfires Increase Extinction Risks: In her article “‘Flamin’ cockatoos’ have lost much of their habitat to bushfires. Can the species survive? published in the Guardian, Petra Stock points out that two fires in 12 years wiped out all but a handful of the mature native pines in Victoria’s Wyperfeld national park. This area is a key breeding ground for endangered pink cockatoos. The author asked the important question whether the damage done by increasing wildfires will lead to the extinction of the species.
[Jun 10, 2026] Loss of Pollinators Threatens Human Health : A study underlines the inherent connection between biodiversity and human health. The authors find that biodiversity loss threatens human health and welfare through the degradation of ecosystem services like pollination. Gloria Dickie comments on the study in her article “Pollinators in peril: scientists reveal the hidden human health costs of the world’s disappearing bees” published in the Guardian. Jennie Durant in her Opinion piece “Big agriculture is killing our bees. We’ll all pay the price” emphasizes that the thinking about the crisis facing pollinators is flawed, and that we are in a crucial moment in which the losses of pollinators destabilize the food system.
[Jun 10, 2026] Extreme Rain and Landslides push Species Towards Extinction: A new study published in Current Biology finds that 58 of the remaining 800 critically endangered Tapanuli orangutans (Pongo tapanuliensis) were killed in November 2025 when extreme rain of more than 1,000 mm fell over four days in Indonesia’s North Sumatra province, which also caused many landslides. The extreme rain is attributed to modern climate change. Katie Ward comments on the study in her article published in the Guardian.
[Apr 25, 2026] Wildlife bridge in California close to finish: Katharine Gammon reports in her article “California’s wildlife bridge became a target for the right. Now it’s eyeing the finish line” published in the Guardian that this important wildlife bridge over a very busy 10-lane part of the 101 Freeway came under attach by the Murdoch-owned California Post, which “published an op-ed in March, penned by two writers from the conservative Manhattan Institute, that criticized the $114m project for going over budget, calling it a “jobs program for environmentalists” and a “multimillion-dollar bridge to nowhere”. Other conservative commentators piled on; from Fox News to Trump’s transportation secretary, Sean Duffy.” Despite all this rightwing hate, the bridge is already occupied by wildlife and will be fully operational in December 2026.
[Apr 25, 2026] Sumatran orangutan use canopy bridge first time: This certainly is good news: Isaaq Tomkins reports in his article “‘Cries of delight’ as Sumatran orangutan filmed using canopy bridge to cross road for first time” published in the Guardian that after a wait of two years, a young male of this endangered species was filmed for the first time crossing the bridge over the Lagan-Pagindar road, which provides an essential route for local people but which became a barrier for animals. Beautiful to watch the video, but is there really hope in this?
Platform News
[Aug 11, 2026] CitizenForum VCC opened: The "Citizen Forum Norfolk and World VCC" has been initialized and is open now.
[Aug 03, 2026] Alliance of World Scientists Declares Planetary Emergency: In the paper “ World scientists’ warning to humanity: a third notice” the Alliance of World Scientists includes the “Declaration of a planetary emergency.” The declaration states: “We, the undersigned, recognize that Earth is now in a state of planetary emergency. Climate change, biodiversity loss, land and freshwater degradation, pollution, and unsustainable production and consumption are destabilizing the Earth system that supports all life.”
You can sign the declaration here ...
[Aug 03, 2026] Hothouse Earth: arriving sooner than you think…: Julian Cribb writes in his latest blog: “Latest measurements, carefully analysed to exclude anomalies such as El Nino, reveal a planet cooking up at a steady 0.48 degrees per decade since 2015, in what is thought to be the most rapid heating event in all its geological history.” We are experiencing the most rapid heating event in Earth's billions of years long history! We have caused this event with a few hundred years of sole focus on unlimited growth using all the ancient solar energy accumulated by Earth's biosphere over more than 250 million years - just because we could! That is something to reflect on!
[Jun 04, 2026] ‘An equal and habitable world is possible’: This is what the Global Justice Report published today makes very clear. Read the article by Jonathan Watts in the Guardian as an introduction. While this equal and habitable world is still possible, it is very unlikely that we will transition to this world as long as greedy and unethical billionaires supported by governments they own compete to be the first trillionaire. The report underlines that the fight for an equal and habitable world has to be a fight against a system that rewards extraction and depletion of all resources and requires infinitely growing consumption devouring the Earth's life-support system; a system designed to increase inequality and sustain the exploitation of almost all to serve the greed of a few!
