Julien Goldstein for The New York TimesRefugees dwelling in tents near Al Raqqa, Syria, after leaving their farms during a harsh drought last year.More than 30 million people in Asia were displaced last year by environmental and weather-related disasters, the Asian Development Bank warns. It predicts that climate change will uproot tens of millions more through sea-level rise, droughts, floods and food shortages in decades to come, and that governments must start to prepare. [The Guardian]
Twelve previously unknown species of night frogs have been found in remote rain forests in western India, a new study in a zoological journal says, and three that had not been seen for decades have been rediscovered. Researchers hope that the findings will bolster support for protection of the Western Ghats ecosystem, known as a biodiversity hot spot. [Mother Nature Network]
The exit of Siemens from the nuclear energy business leaves Rosatom, the state-run Russian nuclear corporation, on its own in competing against multinationals led by companies in the United States, Japan and France. The partnership with Siemens had been viewed as crucial to Rosatom’s international credibility. [Reuters]
The New England cottontail rabbit, already no longer found in Vermont, has nearly vanished from Rhode Island and New Hampshire and exists in only negligible populations in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine and New York, biologists say. No clear reason exists for the sharp decline, which has been under way for decades. [Planet Ark]