Extinction VCC News
[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?
[Apr 09, 2026] Rice's whales are on the course to extinction: As emphasized by Oliver Milman in his article “Rice’s whales existed before humans. Now Trump could make them extinct published in the Guardian, there are only 50 of these whales left, and all of them are in the Gulf of Mexico. The scraping of all protections for these whales by the U.S. President puts this small group of high risk.
[Apr 09, 2026] Climate Change Can Cause Extinction: In an article titled “Mass drowning of chicks puts emperor penguins at risk of extinction” and published in the Guardian, Damian Carrington reports about a mass drowning of emperor penguin chicks that resulted from massive melting of sea ice in the course of a changing climate. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has declared the species officially in danger of extinction.
[Apr 02, 2026] Freshwater Fish Populations are crashing: Billions of fish make epic migrations. Such fish migrations happen in rivers across the world, but many are rapidly collapsing. Damian Carrington in an article in the Guardian refers to the Global Assessment of Migratory Freshwater Fishes which indicates that freshwater fish populations worldwide have crashed by about 81% since 1970. This report was discussed at the recent COP15 of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals held on 23-29 March 2026 in Campo Grande, Brazil.
Platform News
[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!
[May 28, 2026] No King Day on June 14, 2026: The No Kings movement has announced a nationwide event on June 14, 2026, directly counter-programming the 80th birthday celebrations for Donald Trump and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) bout on the south lawn of the White House.
