The Hill

May 1, 2020
[…] The COVID-19 pandemic is causing heartbreaking loss of life across the world. Our daily lives have ground to a halt, and we do not yet know the full magnitude of the long-term social and economic impacts. But it has also given us all time to rethink our priorities and reminded us of what is truly important.

In an open letter to the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, BirdLife International is calling for the U.N. to declare a healthy natural environment a fundamental human right. Currently, the declaration does not make any reference to preserving our environment — yet this is the foundation on which all other human rights — and indeed, all life on earth — depends. For our children and grandchildren to enjoy sufficient food, water and safety, and to raise families of their own, the natural world must be healthy and strong enough to support them.

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The Guardian

May 5, 2020
From the vast plains of the Masai Mara in Kenya to the delicate corals of the Aldabra atoll in the Seychelles, conservation work to protect some of the world’s most important ecosystems is facing crisis following a collapse in ecotourism during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Organisations that depend on visitors to fund projects for critically endangered species and rare habitats could be forced to close, according to wildlife NGOs, after border closures and worldwide travel restrictions abruptly halted millions of pounds of income from tourism.

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The Hill

May 4, 2020
As spring dawns across North America and COVID-19 rages through our country, we are facing numerous novel stressors, be they economic, psychological or physical. Confined to our homes, we can’t flock to the outdoor places we usually do as the weather warms. But it’s also during this time that such natural places, and their sights and sounds, can provide the greatest solace. 

The therapeutic nature of natural sounds is well recognized: Listening to natural sounds has been shown to increase mood, boost productivity, lower blood pressure and decrease stress — all of which promote a stronger immune system. The importance of natural sound immersion is particularly heightened in periods of increased stress and uncertainty, when it can serve to decrease the negative repercussions of that stress and provide a mindfulness "reset."

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Mirage News

May 4, 2020

Researchers from Senckenberg am Meer (Senckenberg by the Sea) and the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources developed a new method intended for establishing protection zones for the deep-sea fauna in the Clarion-Clipperton fracture zone.

The abyssal plain is earmarked for the potential extraction of manganese nodules. In their study, published today in the Journal of Applied Ecology, the team advocates the timely establishment of preservation zones from which deep-sea species can recolonize destroyed areas.

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World Economic Forum Blog

May 4, 2020
A group of biodiversity experts warned that future pandemics are on the horizon if mankind does not stop its rapid destruction of nature.

Writing an article published Monday by The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), the authors put the responsibility for COVID-19 squarely on our shoulders.

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Scientific American

May 1, 2020
SARS, Ebola and now SARS-CoV-2: all three of these highly infectious viruses have caused global panic since 2002—and all three of them jumped to humans from wild animals that live in dense tropical forests.

Three quarters of the emerging pathogens that infect humans leaped from animals, many of them creatures in the forest habitats that we are slashing and burning to create land for crops, including biofuel plants, and for mining and housing. The more we clear, the more we come into contact with wildlife that carries microbes well suited to kill us—and the more we concentrate those animals in smaller areas where they can swap infectious microbes, raising the chances of novel strains. Clearing land also reduces biodiversity, and the species that survive are more likely to host illnesses that can be transferred to humans. All these factors will lead to more spillover of animal pathogens into people.

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Campaign for Nature

April 29, 2020
The Campaign for Nature welcomes the Chancellor's clear statement at the 11th Petersberg Climate Dialogue, in which she points out the close link between the biodiversity crisis and pandemics such as Covid-19.  According to scientists, 60 percent of all infectious diseases have been transmitted from animals to humans in recent decades. This is "particularly due to the increased use of previously undisturbed habitats and the resulting proximity to wild animals.” Merkel warns that progress must be made in the international protection of biodiversity and that a new framework for the protection of biodiversity is therefore necessary by next year's 15th UN Conference on the Implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity.

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Wyss

April 28, 2020

The Wyss Campaign for Nature released a new report this morning spotlighting the critical leadership indigenous and local communities are providing to safeguard the planet’s vulnerable lands, oceans, and wildlife. The report documents the unique perspective of four community leaders who are immersed in successful, indigenous- and community-led conservation projects in four different countries.

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Eco Watch

April 27, 2020
A group of biodiversity experts warned that future pandemics are on the horizon if mankind does not stop its rapid destruction of nature.

Writing an article published Monday by The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), the authors put the responsibility for COVID-19 squarely on our shoulders.

"There is a single species that is responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic – us. As with the climate and biodiversity crises, recent pandemics are a direct consequence of human activity – particularly our global financial and economic systems, based on a limited paradigm that prizes economic growth at any cost. We have a small window of opportunity, in overcoming the challenges of the current crisis, to avoid sowing the seeds of future ones," the authors wrote on IPBES.

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Nature World News

April 23, 2020
A growing number of influential conservationists and scientists believe that the key to keeping the planet habitable is to protect half of the Earth. The rapid expansion of humans goes unabated, with the burning and bulldozing of nature, destruction of ecosystems, and the driving of species into extinction. 

Conservation biologist E.O. Wilson published Half Earth: Our Planet's Fight for Life, with the idea of saving half the planet, since future extinction rates will be a thousand times higher than ever before.

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New Straits Times

April 22, 2020
Academy of Sciences Malaysia senior fellow Emeritus Professor Tan Sri Dr Zakri Abdul Hamid has been appointed ambassador and science adviser to the global Campaign for Nature, a partnership between the Wyss Campaign for Nature and the National Geographic Society.

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The Weather Network

April 22, 2020
Earth Day is celebrated each year on April 22 and this year marks the 50th anniversary since the campaign first launched. The event encourages increased awareness of the environment as well as actions and commitments that will reduce the negative impacts humans have on the planet.

Fighting climate change is central to Earth Day and some of the actions that the campaign recommends include using less electricity, taking public transit or walking instead of driving and other choices that reduce our carbon footprint. In addition to these individual behaviours, climate scientists say that more conservation efforts are needed to ensure that ecosystems can continue absorbing the large amount of carbon dioxide that we release.

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Medium

April 22, 2020
Across the United States, 20 million people of all ages and backgrounds united on April 22, 1970 to protect our planet and build an environmental movement from the ground up to chart a cleaner, healthier, and more sustainable future. The people who lent their voices to the first Earth Day created a groundswell of political change that helped establish the Environmental Protection Agency and enact bedrock conservation laws like the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts. Parents demanded change for their children, children demanded change for their future — and progress was won.

It was during this time that my father, former Interior Secretary Stewart Udall, sounded the alarm about the creeping destruction of nature — what he termed ‘The Quiet Crisis.’

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Campaign For Nature

April 22, 2020
Today, as the world celebrates the 50th Earth Day, individuals and leaders around the world are reimagining our relationship with nature. There is a growing recognition that the accelerating destruction of nature is contributing to the major challenges of our time: climate change, mass wildlife extinction, and more clearly than ever this year, the spread of infectious diseases.

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The Weather Network

April 21, 2020
Scientists say that more conservation efforts are needed to ensure that ecosystems can continue absorbing large amounts of carbon dioxide.

Earth Day is celebrated each year on April 22 and this year marks the 50th anniversary since the campaign first launched. The event encourages increased awareness of the environment as well as actions and commitments that will reduce the negative impacts humans have on the planet.

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