Trade threat worsens plight of three pangolin species

Three species of pangolins have been moved into a higher category of threat due to the growing impacts of habitat loss, poaching and illegal trade. Two African species, the giant ground pangolin and the white-bellied pangolin, were reclassified from ‘Vulnerable’ to ‘Endangered’ on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, while the Philippine pangolin has been reclassified from ‘Endangered’ to ‘Critically Endangered’. These changes emphasise the perilous state of the world’s eight pangolin species.

China’s rogue CFC use may delay ozone layer recovery

China may have acted swiftly on our exposé that the banned ozone-destroying chemical CFC-11 was being produced and used in its building industry but those rogue emissions could still delay recovery of the ozone layer, according to a new study in Nature.