Over the course of the last several decades, people seeking to move out of populated areas have been increasingly building homes in neighboring wildlands.

Wildland-urban interface (WUI) — places where human development meets undeveloped natural areas like grasslands, deserts or forests — grew by 35.6 percent from 2000 to 2020, according to new research led by three environmental scientists from the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The surge in WUI areas means more contact between people and wildlife, such as coyotes and bears, reported Phys.org. It has also resulted in an increasing number of homes being destroyed by smaller, local wildfires.

“Rapidly increasing human-nature interactions exacerbate the risk of exposure to wildfires for human society. The wildland-urban interface (WUI) represents the nexus of human-nature interactions, where the risk of exposure to natural hazards such as wildfire is most pronounced,” the authors of the paper wrote. “The increase in WUI was primarily driven by the unprecedented expansion of global urbanization, contributing an additional 589,914 square kilometer[s] of WUI. In addition, the number of small fires occurring in WUI areas has increased substantially since 2010. These findings underscore the rising wildfire risk to human society and highlight the urgency of implementing tailored fire management strategies in WUI areas.”

The research team — which included a colleague from the Ministry of Education in China — used satellite analysis to find evidence of how much WUI areas had expanded over the course of 20 years. The team observed the increase in WUI areas around the world using global satellite data from 2000, 2010 and 2020.

The researchers noted that there had been a roughly 85 percent increase from 2010 to 2020, which suggested the pace of WUI was growing. They found the highest growth rates in Nigeria, eastern China and several regions of the United States.

The team analyzed the data to find out if WUI area growth had led to an increase in wildfires. They discovered that the low-intensity fire rate had risen inside WUI areas, but that high-intensity fires were more likely to happen outside these areas.

“Considering the current large wildfire scenario we are in, an increase in the wildland-urban interface increases vulnerability to large fires. These areas are highly exposed to the impact of large fires, as they are surrounded by forest areas that are often unmanaged and without barriers or minimum safety distances,” said Adrián Regos Sanz, a postdoctoral researcher with the Biological Mission of Galicia, as Science Media Centre reported.

The research team concluded that the results of their study could help wildfire officials manage risk.

Sanz said the study “is a wake-up call for current (or past) spatial planning and the current trend towards greater exposure and vulnerability to future wildfires in urban areas. Consideration should be given to how this wildland-urban interface can be reduced, and the perimeters of rural and urban areas should be secured with buffer zones or more open habitats that break the fuel (vegetation) continuum and provide opportunities for fire suppression in these areas.”

The study, “Global expansion of wildland-urban interface intensifies human exposure to wildfire risk in the 21st century,” was published in the journal Science Advances.

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Photos of wildlife on social media have the power to boost conservation by depicting predators not only as beautiful, but as similar to domestic pets.

A new study has found that, through their millions of followers, Instagram and Facebook can steer public engagement and awareness toward support for predators like wildcats, who are sometimes shot and poisoned by farmers.

The research was based on the caracal wildcat — a native of Africa with prominent, tufted ears — whose similarity to house cats has brought thousands of followers to internet streams about conserving the elegant felines, a press release from Taylor & Francis said.

The researchers point out that “charismatic” smaller mammals like the caracal can be “flagship species” for getting the word out about the purposes of scientific research in areas that are rapidly urbanizing.

“Using an aesthetic species such as the caracal is an effective way to capture public attention to communicate the importance of conserving urban wildlife,” said Drs. Laurel Serieys and Gabriella Leighton with the Urban Caracal Project (UCP) and the University of Cape Town in the press release.

The findings suggest the graceful carnivore’s online appeal is connected with viral images, memes and videos of cats.

Improved public engagement is important for achieving conservation aims, particularly in biodiversity hotspots. Many species are unique to these regions, as well as endangered, and threatened areas are becoming increasingly urbanized and understudied.

A caracal on the steps of a garden of an urban edge property in Smitswinkel on the Cape Peninsula, South Africa. Anya Adendorff

Cape Town is home to the caracal, as well as a biodiversity hotspot. Caracals are elusive mammals who are viewed by livestock farmers in other parts of South Africa as pests.

The UCP was established in December of 2014 to explore caracal ecology. The project uses social media to influence perceptions and awareness of urban caracal conservation. UCP is run by researchers hosted by University of Cape Town’s Institute for Communities and Wildlife in Africa.

Most of the interactions regarding UCP’s works are communicated through social media, though the project also has a website.

The authors of the study assessed caracals’ global popularity between 2004 and the present using Google Trends, both before and following the establishment of UCP. They compared the interest in caracals with that of the serval, a similar wild cat from Africa.

The authors also used recent Instagram and Facebook data to look at all the material UCP had posted, along with direct public engagement like reporting caracal rescues, sightings and findings of deceased individuals.

The results showed twice as much interest in “caracal” as a term since the launching of UCP. This represented a 91 percent increase in comparison with that of “servals,” which grew by 76 percent during the same period.

The authors said the results suggested UCP had helped increase global awareness of caracals as a species.

Two caracals in the fynbos vegetation of the Cape Point reserve in the southern part of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa. Gilbert Reinhardt

Other evidence included the project’s now 7,300 followers on Instagram and 16,800 on Facebook, which represent “micro-influencer” status. Most UCP followers are from South Africa, but include those from India, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The authors said deaths of caracals reported by the public — frequently through social media or WhatsApp — allow them to assess threats to the population, as well as roadkill patterns, through post-mortems.

Samples taken for the conducting of tissue analysis have been collected from areas that would have been otherwise unreachable if it weren’t for the citizen network. These investigations have revealed that caracals are exposed to poisonous pesticides and pollutants.

Facebook comments and sightings give conservationists useful information about how the African wildcats respond to humans. Most caracal encounters with humans happen on paths or roads, with caracals being described as “calm” or “chilled” before quickly moving away.

The most frequently used positive adjective to describe caracals in Facebook comments is “beautiful,” in addition to “sad” on negative posts — most often in response to the death of an individual caracal or a threat to their population. The authors said this shows how much engagement on social media has resulted in people caring about the welfare of caracals.

“This paper contributes to our understanding of the various ways in which the public can participate in science. It shows how charismatic species can contribute to conservation and public awareness of biodiversity in urban areas,” Serieys and Leighton said. “The research demonstrates how a public interest in urban ecology and the global phenomenon of ‘cats on the internet’… can be harnessed to leverage conservation action.”

The study, “Wild Cats on the Internet: The Role of Social Media in Popularising Caracals in South Africa,” was published in the journal Environmental Communication and will be part of its special issue, Affective Encounters: Storying in South African Ecological Communication.

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The UK government set out plans this week for one the country’s largest heat networks, which is slated to provide low-carbon heat to about 1,000 buildings in central London. 

The network is part of a £1 billion ($1.29 billion) initiative to provide low-carbon heating throughout Westminster, a city and governmental hub within Greater London. The heat network was established by the UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) and Westminster Council.

As The Guardian reported, the plan will be developed by Hemiko and Vital Energi as part of the South Westminster Area Network partnership, which will invest £1 billion over the next 6 years into developing this network.

As explained by the UK Department for Business, Energy, & Industrial Strategy, a heat network is a form of centralized heating ideal for high-density areas that eliminates the need for boilers and electric heaters in individual buildings. According to the department, heat networks are one of the most affordable options for reducing heating-related emissions. The savings are passed on to consumers, with about a 30% savings when swapping an individual electric heater to join a heat network.

The scheme could save about 75,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year, The Guardian reported.

The project is able to supply low-carbon heating by drawing otherwise wasted heat from the London Underground transportation system, the sewers and the River Thames. The waste heat will be pulled through a network of pipes and dispensed to buildings in Westminster for central heating and water heaters. Rather than electric heaters or boilers, buildings will have a heat exchanger to dispense heat supplied by the network.

“Taking waste heat from the River Thames and London Underground to heat such iconic places as the Houses of Parliament and the National Portrait Gallery is a really exciting example of what lies ahead on our journey to low-cost, low-carbon heating,” said Miatta Fahnbulleh, minister for energy consumers at DESNZ, as reported by the BBC. “This project will help support hundreds of jobs and make bold new strides towards boosting our energy security.”

Currently, only around 3% of the UK sources heat through heat networks, but these networks are expected to be an important part of reducing fossil fuel reliance and reaching the country’s goal of net-zero emissions by 2050. By then, heat networks could meet 19% or more of heat demand in the country.

The first heat from the network is expected to be supplied in 2026, according to a press release from infrastructure consulting firm AECOM, which is involved with the project. The full network is expected to be complete by 2050.

“Heat networks are crucial to the UK’s energy transition,” said Channa Karunaratne, head of heat networks at AECOM. “We need to move away from fossil fuels, work towards energy independence and enable growth in our buildings and places, and heat networks are a vital part of the solution.”

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The voices of the night, coyotes are incredibly resilient, even in the face of mounting environmental pressures.

A new study has found that the baying omnivores — the most successful predators in North America — are thriving and becoming even more successful, despite hunting, human development and competition with larger carnivores like pumas and black bears, a press release from University of New Hampshire (UNH) said.

In the study, researchers with UNH’s New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station (NHAES) give a detailed assessment of coyotes’ response to the threats they face in their ever-changing habitat.

“Once a rare sight in the northeastern United States, the eastern coyote has become a common presence across New Hampshire’s forests, farms and suburbs,” the press release said. “First arriving in the state in the 1940s from the Midwest, these predators have since spread throughout every county and are keen adapters to regular interactions with humans, livestock and larger carnivores.”

The research team used data collected from 4,587 camera traps set up all over the country by SNAPSHOT USA — a national project that uses coordinated camera arrays to collect wildlife data from across the lower 48 States.

To their surprise, the researchers discovered that the hunting of coyotes may actually help increase their numbers.

“Intensive coyote removal can obviously reduce populations in the short-term, but removal can also result in younger coyote populations with higher reproduction and immigration rates,” explained co-author of the study Remington Moll, NHAES scientist and assistant professor of wildlife ecology and management at UNH, in the press release. “In our study, we detected more coyotes in places where hunting was allowed. This change occurred over several years, suggesting that, on average, hunting did not reduce coyote abundance and perhaps increased it locally in certain areas.”

The findings of the study, “People or predators? Comparing habitat‐dependent effects of hunting and large carnivores on the abundance of North America’s top mesocarnivore,” were published in the journal Ecography.

The team found that larger carnivores had an influence on coyote numbers, depending on the habitat. For instance, pumas led to smaller populations of coyotes in more open environments, while the presence of black bears resulted in fewer coyotes in forested areas.

“Our work suggests that promoting the recovery of large carnivores, especially in certain habitats, is more likely to reduce coyote numbers than people directly hunting them,” said co-author Roland Kays, a research professor with the College of Natural Resources at North Carolina State University.

Kays said the study can help better inform coyote management strategies by demonstrating which factors have the biggest impact on their populations.

The largest number of coyotes were found in grasslands and landscapes that provide ample shelter and prey, like agricultural operations. Coyote populations varied in urban areas, depending on their scale. Smaller, local urban development had a tendency to reduce coyote numbers because of increased habitat fragmentation and human presence. Larger, suburban-scale development, on the other hand, led to thriving coyote populations, as they benefited from fragmented edges and habitats offering access to natural and human-modified resources.

The study noted large regional variations in populations of coyotes across the U.S., with lower numbers in the Northeast and especially high numbers in the Southwest. These differences reflect the influence of each region’s diverse geographical and ecological characteristics.

“Many of the ecological relationships we found were expected,” Kays said. “But now that we have quantified them and can map them out across the country, we’re able to provide the first abundance map of our country’s most important predator.”

The researchers incorporated data from the SNAPSHOT USA camera traps in one of the largest studies of coyote populations ever conducted. The data allowed them to look at the effects of hunting practices, suburban expansion, habitat type and competition with larger carnivores on coyote populations.

“The impressive SNAPSHOT USA project provides a yearly glimpse into our nation’s wildlife thanks to hundreds of researchers and the coordination by the Smithsonian and the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences,” Moll said. “By combining data from cameras with satellite-derived habitat metrics and advanced statistical models, we got an unprecedented look into continent-scale trends for this fascinating species.”

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A drought in much of South America impacts more than 420,000 children living in the Amazon basin, according to new estimates from UNICEF.

The record-breaking drought — ongoing since last year — has left rivers in the region at an all-time low, a press release from UNICEF said.

The lack of rain has affected river transportation and water supplies for Indigenous children and their communities in Colombia, Brazil and Peru. Families use the rivers to access and transport water, food, fuel and medical supplies. The children also use them to travel to school.

“For centuries the Amazon has been home to precious natural resources. We are witnessing the devastation of an essential ecosystem that families rely on, leaving many children without access to adequate food, water, health care and schools,” said Executive Director of UNICEF Catherine Russell in the press release.

Food insecurity caused by the drought has increased malnutrition risk in the region’s children, while restricted access to drinking water could lead to an increase in infectious diseases, UNICEF said, as AFP reported.

“Food insecurity caused by drought increases the risk of malnutrition, stunting and wasting, and death in children,” the press release said. “Research has also found that pregnant women who experience droughts are likely to have children with lower birth weights.”

In the Brazilian Amazon, more than 760 medical clinics and over 1,700 schools have become inaccessible or were forced to close due to low river levels.

In addition to essential health, child protection and education services being drastically disrupted in the region, fishing and agricultural livelihoods have also been interrupted, putting lives at risk.

“In the Colombian Amazon, river water levels have dropped by up to 80 per cent, restricting access to drinking water and food supplies, and leading to the suspension of in-person classes for children at more than 130 schools. In turn, this has increased children’s risk of recruitment, use and exploitation by non-state armed groups, and has also led to increased respiratory infections, diarrheal diseases, malaria, and acute malnutrition among children under age 5,” UNICEF said.

According to the latest field assessment by UNICEF, half of families across 14 communities in Brazil’s Southern Amazon said their children are not currently in school because of the drought.

Loreto in Northeastern Peru is the most drought-affected region in the country, putting remote, mostly Indigenous communities that are already vulnerable at risk. The drought has caused over 50 healthcare centers there to become inaccessible.

Wildfires in Peru, often started by humans but made worse by the past two months of drought, have brought unprecedented biodiversity loss and devastation in 22 of Peru’s 26 regions, as well as increased air pollution regionally and locally.

The Amazon is the planet’s largest and most diverse tropical rainforest.

UNICEF estimates it will take $10 million in the coming months to address drought-affected communities’ most urgent needs in Colombia, Peru and Brazil. This will include distributing water and additional essential supplies, strengthening the resilience of local public services and community-based systems in affected Indigenous communities and the mobilization of health brigades.

“We must mitigate the effects of extreme climate crises to protect children today and future generations. The health of the Amazon affects the health of us all,” Russell said. 

Ahead of the COP29 United Nations Climate Change Conference next week, UNICEF is asking leaders to carry out four critical actions for young people and children, including ensuring that the COP29 Cover Decision addresses the disproportionate and unique impact climate change has on children; securing a dramatic increase in funding for adaptation, loss and damage and climate financing for children; guaranteeing that all Nationally Determined Contributions are sensitive to children and respond to the disproportionate impact climate change has on them; and empowering young people and children to meaningfully participate and be present in decision-making on climate at all levels.

“In all parts of the world, children face devastating consequences of climate crises,” Russell emphasized. “We are at a critical juncture. Children must be at the center of our climate negotiations.”

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