Nature & Environment

Chocolate lovers beware! Your favourite sweet treat could be getting pricier thanks to a confluence of factors. El Niño and climate change are wreaking havoc on cocoa crops in West Africa, pushing cocoa bean prices to record highs. This surge threatens the global chocolate supply and could soon translate to higher prices for consumers.

Deep within the lush landscapes of Aotearoa, known as New Zealand, a team of dedicated individuals wage a vital battle against the tide of extinction. These are the Wild Heroes, and their story unfolds in a captivating new documentary series on Global Trekker.

Efforts to save the endangered Irrawaddy dolphins in Cambodia's Mekong River face challenges due to limited resources and illegal fishing practices. Despite new restrictions on fishing in the river, gillnets continue to be the primary cause of dolphin deaths.

According to a new study published in Nature, melting ice sheets in Antarctica could retreat much faster than previously thought. Researchers analysed markings on the Norwegian seafloor, remnants of a giant European ice sheet that melted thousands of years ago.

Indonesian wildlife experts are getting ready to perform an autopsy on an 18-metre-long sperm whale that washed up on a Bali beach. The cause of death is still being investigated, and officials want to determine whether pollution or plastic were the contributing factors.

The latest IPCC report is a reminder of the devastating effects of global warming. The climate crisis is the biggest health crisis of our time, causing a rise in chronic diseases and expected trebling of heat-related deaths by 2050.

Robot fish that "eat" microplastics may one day help to clean up the world's polluted oceans, says a team of Chinese scientists from Sichuan University in southwest China.

Japan has seen one of its hottest summers on record this year, leading to thousands of hospitalizations for heat-related medical issues.

Some Japanese insurance companies are taking advantage of the situation, offering daily coverage for consumers who are worried about heat stroke.

In part one of a four-part series on Earth Day looking at how climate change is impacting rice production and trade, farmers in Thailand tell CNA they are regularly grappling with adverse weather patterns that are impacting their output and livelihood.

SINGAPORE - The restoration of coastal forest habitats in Labrador will boost conservation efforts for native flora and fauna species, many of which are critically endangered.

CUC PHUONG, Vietnam, June 30 (Reuters) - Vietnamese conservationist Nguyen Van Thai recalls in detail the moment when, as a boy, he watched his neighbours dig up and kill a female pangolin that had curled up into a scaly ball.

Tigers once roamed throughout the dense forested interior of mainland Southeast Asia and several islands of Indonesia. Positioned at the pinnacle of the food chain, tigers maintain ecosystem balance, and by protecting them, we can preserve entire biodiverse landscapes.

As climate change and habitat loss push wildlife to the brink, the time to protect biodiversity is now.

With the global population likely to reach upward of nine billion people by 2050, it may seem as though environmental protection and human development are destined to remain at odds.

After the announcement this week of plans to create a new nature park network in the northern part of Singapore, CNA looks at the country's changing relationship with its natural environment and the efforts to ensure it can flourish while urban development continues.