In Africa, high-quality seeds can produce improved crops with enhanced nutrition, pest-resistance, and drought tolerance. However, such seeds for maize, vegetables, and cereal crops can be indistinguishable from counterfeit, or “fake” seeds. That’s creating a massive potential for fraud in seed quality that can potentially deprive farmers of access to climate-resilient seeds while putting their harvests and incomes at risk. A group of researchers analyzed the efforts of 50 African countries to combat counterfeit seeds. They found a wide range of penalties for selling them across different governments, and concluded that a significant gap exists between government policy commitments and implementation, largely due to limited capacity. Study lead author Ed Mabaya, a professor of global development at Cornell University in the U.S., told Mongabay, “For most smallholder farmers in Africa, planting happens once a season, often timed to the first rains. A farmer who buys counterfeit seed usually finds out only after planting, when the seed fails to germinate or the crop grows poorly. By then it is usually too late to replant, so the loss is not a slightly smaller harvest but potentially the whole season’s food and income.” That can lead to food insecurity for the individual farmer and local markets more broadly. Counterfeiters can dye or repackage grain and sell it as branded, certified seed, Mabaya said. “The problem arises because certified seed looks exactly like ordinary grain but sells for a much higher price, in some cases several times more for hybrid maize. That price gap…This article was originally published on Mongabay

Chi scrive lo scenario sceglie il nemico. L’Europa si esercita alla fine del mondo; il resto del mondo si esercita a farne a meno. A Levante questa sera, giovedì 8 ottobre 2026, Jeff Hoffman dialoga con Margherita Furlan, giornalista e analista geopolitica, direttrice di Casa del Sole TV, e con Vincenzo Maddaloni, giornalista e scrittore, direttore del Centro studi Berlin89. A Bruxelles gli ambasciatori dei ventisette preparano a porte chiuse, senza telefoni, lo «scenario da incubo» di un attacco ibrido con molte vittime. Dal 13 ottobre i cieli del Tirreno ospitano Steadfast Noon, l’esercitazione nucleare annuale della NATO. Ad Accra il Ghana annuncia che chiederà di entrare nei BRICS. AFFRONTIAMO INSIEME «Risposta dolorosa», «Schengen militare», «10 milioni di droni»: la nuova lingua della Commissione europea Il protocollo d’emergenza di Bruxelles: difesa europea o competenza che i Trattati non danno? Steadfast Noon: Ghedi, Aviano, Amendola, Gioia del Colle, Trapani e la Sardegna sorvolata a bassa quota Un Parlamento informato da un avviso tecnico per i piloti: la sovranità comincia dall’informazione La Germania tra la paura di Lipsia, il rifiuto della guerra e il riarmo come politica industriale Chi incassa lo scenario: droni, cavi, satelliti e gli Azionisti dell’Apocalisse Se la paura è il prodotto, perché i titoli della difesa sono scesi? Il Ghana bussa ai BRICS passando da Nuova Delhi: multipolarità o diplomazia di facciata? Cosa guardare nelle prossime due settimane per capire se lo scenario resta uno scenario LIBRI DEGLI OSPITI Vincenzo Maddaloni, «Voglia di rivoluzione», Nexus Edizioni, 2024 Vincenzo Maddaloni con Modini, «L’atomica degli ayatollah», Nutrimenti, 2006 Margherita Furlan, «BRICS Scacco Matto», La Casa del Sole Edizioni, 2025 (italiano, inglese, russo) SOSTIENI CASA DEL SOLE TV Casa del Sole TV è un progetto di giornalismo indipendente, autofinanziato, senza editori né partiti. IBAN: IT63P0326822300052392596590 Intestato a: La Casa del Sole Edizioni Causale: Donazione Casa del Sole TV MEMBERSHIP YOUTUBE https://www.youtube.com/@CasadelSoleT… Analista Multipolare: €5/mese Inviato della Verità: €15/mese Architetto del Futuro: €25/mese I LIBRI DI MARGHERITA FURLAN «BRICS Scacco Matto», disponibile in italiano, inglese e russo SEGUI CASA DEL SOLE TV YouTube: @CasadelSoleTVChannel La guerra è il prodotto, il caos è la materia prima. #Levante #CasadelSoleTV #MargheritaFurlan #VincenzoMaddaloni #JeffHoffman #Geopolitica #Multipolarismo #GuerraIbrida #SteadfastNoon #NATO #BRICS #Ghana

L'articolo 🔴SCENARIO IBRIDO | LEVANTE LIVE proviene da Casa del Sole TV.

 

They rarely make headlines, but they happen every single day. While difficult news reaches us non-stop, there are scientists, doctors, teachers, and volunteers working quietly to make the world a slightly better place. And when we pay attention to that work, we realize there is far more to be grateful for than we imagine.

We can thank science, which today protects against HIV with just two injections a year and reaches, for the first time, rich and poor countries simultaneously. We can thank technology, which restores voice and gestures to those who lost them, and artificial intelligence, which detects heart disease in just a few seconds. And we can be grateful, right here in Canada, for a simple measure that ensures thousands of children do not learn on an empty stomach.

None of this is a miracle. It is the result of years of effort, persistence, and cooperation among people who refused to give up. These are advancements that remind us that progress is possible and that humanity remains capable of the very best.

In the following pages, we have brought together a few of these stories. Not to forget what is still wrong, but to remember that, even in uncertain times, there is always a light shining.

 

Kidney donated from mother to daughter reaches 111 years old, breaking a world record

A kidney donated from a mother to her daughter in Brazil in 1969 is still functioning and has reached a biological age of 111 years. It has now entered the history books as the oldest in the world.

Guiomar, who was 54 at the time, “had no hesitation whatsoever” in donating her kidney to her daughter, Maria Célia, who was suffering from kidney failure. At the time, the procedure was a novelty in Brazil—the first had taken place just five years earlier, and only about 50 were performed per year.

In the prime of her youth, Maria Célia underwent three hemodialysis sessions before the kidney transplant. But in 1969, they decided to move forward with the surgery, which took about five hours and carried several associated risks, as ultrasounds, CT scans, or MRIs were not available. “I never experienced rejection, I never had complications, I was never hospitalized,” the recipient told the Brazilian portal G1, adding that her mother also led a healthy life: “She never got sick, never had anything wrong. She died at age 97, without any complications.”

Speaking to the publication, nephrologist Dr. José Medina Pestana revealed that the situation is exceptional, given that transplanted organs last, on average, 20 to 30 years. The fact that they were mother and daughter, however, may have been the key to its success.

“I spent nine months inside my mother, and today she is here inside me. Alive. Much longer inside me. And she will stay,” Maria Célia highlights.

Currently, Brazil performs about 27,000 transplants per year, of which roughly 6,000 are kidney transplants. The surgeries are carried out under the Unified Health System (SUS), which provides anti-rejection medications free of charge. Estimates indicate that over 140,000 people have undergone kidney transplants in the country.

 

 

 

 

A twice-a-year injection against HIV

For decades, major innovations in the fight against HIV took years to reach poorer countries. With lenacapavir, the story is unfolding differently. This injectable medication, which protects against the virus in nearly 100% of cases, needs to be administered only twice a year. It is a massive advantage over daily pills, which many people struggle to adhere to.

For the first time, an innovation in HIV prevention has arrived almost simultaneously in rich and low-income countries. The initial doses arrived in Eswatini and Zambia in November 2025 and began being administered in December. According to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, 49,000 people had been protected by the end of June. By mid-August, that number was close to 100,000 across nine African countries. By the end of 2026, the drug is expected to be available in 24 countries.

The good news doesn’t end there. Cheaper generic versions are expected to hit the market at the end of this year, which will expand access further in 2027. Researchers estimate that lenacapavir could prevent nearly a third of new infections in parts of eastern and southern Africa and accelerate control of the epidemic by up to 14 years.

Restoring voice and gestures to those who lost them

Imagine losing the ability to speak and move, but continuing to think with complete clarity. This is the reality for many people who have suffered a severe stroke or live with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). For them, new hope has now arrived from the University of California, San Francisco.

A team led by bioengineer Samantha Brosler and neurosurgeon Edward Chang has developed a brain implant that allows paralyzed individuals to speak and gesture through a digital avatar using only their thoughts. The device, about the size of a cell phone, contains 253 electrodes and is placed over the region of the brain that controls movements. It reads brain signals and simultaneously translates them into words and gestures such as waving or clapping.

The system was tested on two patients. The patient paralyzed after a stroke achieved 100% accuracy in test conversations. The patient with ALS achieved 85% accuracy in gestures and 75% in speech. For now, the participants trained on ten simple phrases, such as “hello” and “nice to meet you,” and ten gestures, across a hundred combinations.

“Gestures play an important role in communication,” explains Samantha Brosler. The same word can carry different meanings depending on the gesture that accompanies it. The study was published on September 14 in the journal Nature Neuroscience.

Artificial intelligence detects heart conditions in seconds

The electrocardiogram is one of the simplest and cheapest medical exams: it takes just a few seconds and is available in almost every health center. Until now, it served primarily as an initial screening tool. Thanks to artificial intelligence, it may soon reveal far more.

Researchers at Imperial College London, led by physician Arunashis Sau, have developed a software program that analyzes an electrocardiogram in under two seconds and identifies signs of heart disease that doctors cannot see with the naked eye. The system learned from millions of tests in Brazil and the United States and was then tested on 67,000 patients. It correctly identified 81% of heart failure cases and 90% of heart valve diseases.

Today, many patients wait months for an echocardiogram—the test that confirms these conditions. With this tool, it will be possible to quickly identify who needs it most urgently. The goal is not to replace cardiologists, but to help them reach those in need much faster.

“A 10-second electrocardiogram, which was once a low-precision screening tool, could soon become one of the most informative tests in medicine,” said Professor Fu Siong Ng, one of the study’s leads. The results were presented at the European Society of Cardiology congress. Before reaching hospitals, the tool still requires approval from health authorities.

No child should learn on an empty stomach

It’s hard to pay attention in math class when you’re hungry. Recognizing this, Canada took a major step forward: the National School Food Program became law on March 26, 2026, making it permanent and protecting it from future political shifts.

This school year, more than 10,000 schools are offering food programs to students—representing about 80% of the country’s public schools. The program will reach an additional 400,000 children annually. Approaches vary by region: free breakfasts, “pay-what-you-can” lunches, grab-and-go snacks, school gardens, and community meals featuring traditional foods.

Federal funding to provinces and territories doubled to $140 million per year. Starting in 2029–30, the government guarantees $216.6 million annually to maintain the program. Families are feeling the difference too. According to the government, a family with two school-aged children can save around $800 a year on groceries.

“When children have access to healthy food at school, they can learn, grow, and reach their full potential,” stated Parliamentary Secretary Anna Gainey. In a time when the cost of living weighs heavily on so many families’ budgets, this is a measure well worth giving thanks for.

US approves new Parkinson’s drug that acts differently in the brain

Hope for patients: a new drug for Parkinson’s disease has just been approved in the United States. The FDA, the country’s drug regulatory agency, authorized the use of tavapadon for adults living with the disease. The medication, which will be sold under the brand name Juvmo, is manufactured by AbbVie and is expected to hit American pharmacies this October.

The novelty lies in how the drug acts within the brain. Tavapadon is the first approved agonist that selectively targets D1 and D5 dopamine receptors, whereas similar medications currently in use mainly target D2 and D3 receptors.

The pill is taken once daily and can be used on its own or alongside levodopa, one of the primary medications for Parkinson’s.

Improvement in movement

The new medication is not proven to cure or stop the progression of Parkinson’s. The benefit demonstrated so far is the management of motor symptoms.

Another data point caught the researchers’ attention. After 85 weeks of follow-up, 93% of participants using tavapadon alongside levodopa did not need to increase their levodopa dosage.

Among patients in the early stages of the disease who were not yet taking levodopa, 94% remained off levodopa during that same period.

McDonald’s employee covers meal for customer who forgot wallet and receives surprise for his generosity

Look at what generosity can do! A young McDonald’s employee paid out of his own pocket for a meal for a customer he didn’t know, who had forgotten his wallet and couldn’t complete the payment using his phone. The gesture touched the customer so deeply that he reached out to a television station to share the young man’s act so he could be recognized. And that kindness came back to the young man in the form of gifts!

Matthew works at a McDonald’s location in Rexburg, Idaho, in the United States, and had no idea that paying for that burger and a milkshake would cause such a stir. The incident happened in July and was recently published by the portal Sunny Skyz.

The crew from the Feel Good Friday show, which regularly surprises community members who perform good deeds, sought out young Matthew and handed him several gift cards and presents in recognition of his attitude.

Pizzeria owner sees elderly woman eating from trash and starts chain of kindness against hunger

A pizzeria owner was heartbroken to see an elderly woman eating pizza out of the trash. Daniel Romano, owner of D’Romano’s Pizza, brought the woman inside, threw away what she had found, and served her a fresh, hot slice. The woman began to cry upon receiving the food.

Daniel told her: “Don’t cry, eat!” After that encounter, he made the decision to offer pizza to anyone in a similar situation who came to his shop. “I don’t want anyone eating from the trash,” said the shopkeeper from the Bronx, New York, in the United States.

The story, shared on social media in July, gained millions of views and gained traction again in late August when Fox 5 New York showed that the gesture had expanded beyond the pizzeria, sparking a massive chain of kindness.

Still deeply impacted by the hungry elderly woman’s story, Daniel grabbed a marker and wrote a note on the shop’s window: “To the people eating out of my trash: I have more love for you than you realize,” the message begins.

In the rest of the note, he asks that anyone in that situation step inside and simply say they are hungry, promising to offer a slice of pizza and fresh water free of charge. No explanations needed—just ask.

“I think there’s too much hate, too much anger, too much negativity. Why not put a smile on someone’s face?” said the business owner.

Daniel recalls that his mother, Carmella Romano, used to repeat an old Italian saying: “A desperate person always makes a better decision on a full stomach than an empty one,” he shared. And he never forgot it.

Chain of kindness reached other states

Daniel’s initiative inspired many people and set off a chain of goodwill. Today, strangers call from various states to pay in advance for new slices for people in need who arrive hungry. “I have people from Texas, Arkansas, Alaska, everywhere calling me,” Daniel said, laughing at the volume of calls he started receiving.

Madalena Balça/MS

This is an edition of Video Village, David Sims’s newsletter that unearths cinematic gems and brings readers into his movie obsession. Sign up for it here.

Welcome to Video Village, a new space for The Atlantic’s film-loving readers. For this, my first edition, my editors challenged me to lay out my perspective on my own taste, so I’ve worked up a list of movies that I think define this strange decade thus far. These are all personal favorites, yes, but this is not precisely a “best of” list; think more an atmospheric overview of how Hollywood looks and operates today, which will be a recurring theme of this newsletter.

Let’s get two of the most obvious picks out of the way: Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, whose release on the same day in July 2023—and during a strike that kneecapped Hollywood—resulted in a multibillion-dollar cultural phenomenon. The industry has spent the following years trying its darndest to recapture that success—and to undo the coronavirus pandemic’s unprecedented effects on moviegoing as a whole. Those movies aside, here’s a look at 10 other great films that illustrate the spirit of the 2020s.

Da 5 Bloods (2020, directed by Spike Lee): The decade kicked off with what still has been its oddest year, defined by COVID lockdowns, theaters going out of business, and the dominance of streaming services at a moment when the only way to experience good movies (for most people) was at home. A lot of the wonderful films released that year feel like a blur; maybe the best example of a memory-holed masterpiece is Lee’s Vietnam epic, Da 5 Bloods, which I’d love to someday see on a giant screen with booming sound. It boldly ties the failures of America’s intervention in that war to the country’s struggles since, with Delroy Lindo’s troubled vet turned MAGA patriot the chief emblem of its chaotic viewpoint. Hopefully, this ambitious movie, whose production was similarly fascinating, will be rediscovered in the years ahead—ideally on a bigger screen than a television set.

The Worst Person in the World (2021, directed by Joachim Trier): The ultimate work of self-reflexive Millennial-core, the Norwegian director Trier’s sharp dramedy came just as some moviegoers were returning to theaters after lockdowns had frozen them in time and anxiety. It follows Julie (played by Renate Reinsve), a witty 30-year-old who simply does not know what to do with her life. The film charts her every stutter-step career decision and corresponding romantic entanglements with bittersweet aplomb. All of Trier’s movies are worth checking out (the most recent being Sentimental Value, a hit at this year’s Oscars). But this one remains my personal favorite.

Drive My Car (2021, directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi): One of the best examples of William Goldman’s notorious industry adage—“Nobody knows anything”—is this three-hour, soft-spoken Japanese drama. The story of a depressed theater director’s effort to stage a multilingual production of Uncle Vanya became a surprise sensation, launching Hamaguchi to art-house fame and snagging four major Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. It’s a beautiful work of deceptive tranquility, where aloof conversations belie dark emotional storms beneath; it’s also the greatest adaptation of Haruki Murakami’s writing ever put to film. Hamaguchi has since proved to be one of the decade’s most fascinating auteurs, and his work is appointment viewing. (Next up is All of a Sudden, out this November.)

Tár (2022, directed by Todd Field): I finally became convinced that the theater experience wasn’t going anywhere while watching the titular protagonist of Tár, Lydia (Cate Blanchett), confront a child who had bullied her daughter on the playground—I felt the entire viewing audience ripple with delight. Here we all were, observing this egotistical conductor whose life was spiraling to pieces, and struggling to resist the urge to cheer for such obviously aberrant behavior. Field’s film is a fantastic portrayal of ego, power, and the kind of rapid professional disintegration that’s become more common in the celebrity sphere of late; it’s a totally unique take on a common spectacle.

Nope (2022, directed by Jordan Peele): Peele announced himself as a film director with the subversive smash that was Get Out and could have led his career in any direction from there. I love that he’s instead doubled down on original horror storytelling. Nope is his most recent movie (a new project is supposedly in the works but remains a mystery), and it’s his best and most ambitious: a sly tale of how the entertainment world can chew people up and spit them out. It also features a flying monster that can literally do that.

RRR (2022, directed by S. S. Rajamouli): This epic from India’s Telugu-language industry (known as “Tollywood”) blasted into multiplexes out of nowhere, just as the Hollywood blockbuster began truly spooling up again. RRR showed Americans how grandiose, CGI-assisted action filmmaking can still feel fun and original; the movie is a sprawling, 1920s-set musical epic of revolt and revenge designed to inspire viewers to stand and applaud throughout. The crowd-pleaser par excellence broke records around the world and even won an Oscar for Best Original Song. Rajamouli’s much-anticipated next film, Varanasi, is due for release in 2027.

Asteroid City (2023, directed by Wes Anderson): Few raves I’ve written in my time at The Atlantic have been more polarizing than my championing of Anderson’s sci-fi comedy; multiple people who had grown wary of the writer-director’s output have angrily confronted me about my review. Plenty of readers, however, agree with me wholeheartedly that it’s the director’s best film in close to a decade. Whatever other viewers make of it (and all of Anderson’s recent work, which is hermetic and tightly designed even by his standards), I think Asteroid City is one of the most profound attempts to wrestle with the odd sense of community and tragedy that emerged when most of us were unable to leave our home. It’s a very modern portrait of quarantine—albeit set in the 1950s—that doesn’t pull its punches on the darkness that its broad ensemble is struggling with.

Red Rooms (2024, directed by Pascal Plante): Looking back at 2020s cinema, we’ll find that a defining trend was contending with the spiraling madness of online life. Red Rooms is maybe the best horror movie ever made about being on your computer too much: The Canadian thriller is a freaky tale of a true crime–obsessed woman (Juliette Gariépy) fixated on a murder case that’s sparked a media circus. It’s a profoundly disturbing watch, even though it holds back on graphic visuals (like many a great horror movie, it leaves the worst to your imagination). Red Rooms was a sneaky festival hit before it trickled into cinemas, and it’s guaranteed to become a long-running cult classic.

Eddington (2025, directed by Ari Aster): This internet-horror story runs right at the bizarre experience of the pandemic lockdowns. Aster’s Eddington was profoundly divisive on release and was quickly dismissed by some critics for its sheer unpleasantness. It’s worth a watch (or, if you hated it the first time, a revisit); Aster’s got a keen eye for the type of online brain poisoning that has grown and spread across the world over the past six years, and he has a darkly humorous perspective on the way identity politics have been misappropriated by bad actors. I had barely heard of data centers when I saw Eddington last summer; now they are often at the top of political discourse. What else did Aster see coming?

Backrooms (2026, directed by Kane Parsons): I’m hardly proclaiming Backrooms the movie of the year; 2026 isn’t even over yet. But its release definitely seems to have pushed Hollywood to recognize a new frontier in filmmaking. The horror film, a bewildering adaptation of a series of YouTube videos, was directed by a 20-year-old who taught himself visual-effects technology during high school. Set in a world of eerie liminal spaces, Backrooms feels somehow beamed in from another universe while also being a slick creep-fest that could draw in young viewers on “vibes” alone. The unsettling promise of its scares just feels so unlike anything I’ve seen in theaters lately—I loved it.

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An Essay I Enjoyed

Carrie, With Kid Gloves
By Emma Stefansky

The climax of Carrie, Stephen King’s debut horror novel, is so famous that even people who haven’t read it or seen any of the numerous adaptations know the basics. The eponymous Carrie White, driven to the edge of sanity after years of abuse from her classmates and hyper-religious mother, gets drenched in a bucket of pig’s blood at her prom. She then uses her latent telekinetic powers to destroy her high school and her hometown. It’s an extreme reaction to an extreme situation, the climax of a revenge story in which vengeance is just another tragic act of violence. The line between villain and victim blurs.

Read the full article.

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Coming Attractions

October tends to mark the start of a real glut of releases: Many major premieres happen in quick succession at big fall festivals (in Telluride, Venice, Toronto, and New York), and then they come to regular theatergoers—and bring the awards race into focus. One of this year’s contenders, in theaters this week, is Fjord. Directed by the Romanian auteur Cristian Mungiu, it won him the Palme d’Or at this summer’s Cannes Film Festival—an award that has become a bit of a springboard to more mainstream success, as it did for the recent Best Picture winners Anora and Parasite. But I’m of two minds on whether Fjord will follow in their footsteps. Like all of Mungiu’s movies, it is challenging in its remoteness, asking the audience to hold some uncomfortable truths and make their own decisions about them.

The film follows a Romanian family that has immigrated to a remote Norwegian village. The parents, played by Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve, are both stern and religious, placing them well outside of the country’s secular cultural norms. The couple is soon accused of abuse, and the government takes their children away while an investigation proceeds—a situation that erupts into something of an international incident. The reality of what’s happening is plain to grasp: This parenting style is at best alienating, and the seemingly tolerant society surrounding the family doesn’t quite know how to deal with it. Fjord is grim, and at 146 minutes, it’s a demanding watch—one that may be too disaffecting to break through. But it’s also an undeniably engrossing experience; no character feels truly sympathetic, and best intentions crumble in the face of internet outrage and ill-functioning bureaucracy.

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What Else I’m Watching

• I rewatched Paweł Pawlikowski’s film Cold War in preparation for the upcoming release of Fatherland, which will complete a loose trilogy about postwar Europe; it’s short, sometimes sexy, and sweetly tragic (and streaming on Prime Video).

• I’m also catching up on the filmography of another great director, Lee Chang-dong, whose Possible Love is out at the end of the month (and in November on Netflix). I watched his debut, Green Fish, which is a lovely and poetic little crime saga from 1997. (It’s available to rent on Prime Video and Apple TV, and streaming on Kanopy, though I watched it on a disc published by Vinegar Syndrome.)
• Finally, I caught up with last year’s documentary Pompei: Below the Clouds, from Gianfranco Rosi. It’s a gorgeous and fragmented portrayal of life in modern Naples in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius, and it’s streaming on Mubi.

© Illustration by Soña Lee. Sources: Jaap Buitendijk / Warner Bros. / Courtesy Everett Collection; A24; Raftar Creations / Courtesy Everett Collection; Universal Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection.

Africa’s monitored wildlife populations have declined an average of 80% since 1970, according to a new global assessment. The report also points to pockets of recovery where conservation efforts have been maintained over decades. The report on the decline in the average size of monitored populations was released Oct. 8 in the Living Planet Report 2026. It tracked monitored populations of mammals, birds, fish, reptiles and amphibians between 1970 and 2022. Africa’s 80% decline compares with a global average of 73%; Latin America and the Caribbean recorded the largest regional decline, at 95%. The findings come as governments prepare to assess progress on the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, whose 23 targets include commitments to halt human-induced extinctions and support the recovery of threatened species by 2030. The framework also calls for conserving at least 30% of the world’s land, inland waters and seas by 2030. The Living Planet Index, managed by the Zoological Society of London in partnership with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), draws on 35,803 population trends from 5,790 vertebrate species worldwide. The index measure changes in the average size of monitored populations, it does not mean that Africa lost 80% of its wild animals or wildlife species, a press release obtained by Mongabay cautions. Habitat destruction and degradation are the most frequently reported pressures on the wildlife populations tracked globally, the report finds. Overexploitation, climate change, pollution, disease and invasive species are among the other threats identified. In the Congo Basin, for example, those pressures…This article was originally published on Mongabay