Reuters

September 1, 2020
It’s not an overstatement to say that our oceans are in crisis. Warming waters and ocean acidification caused by greenhouse gas emissions; fertiliser run-off creating dead zones where there’s no oxygen for life to survive, and over-fishing are all contributing to the destruction of biodiversity and loss of the ocean’s ability to mitigate climate change by storing carbon.

Research done for the High Level Panel for Sustainable Ocean Economy highlights the crucial role played by oceans, which account for 70% of the planet’s surface. It sets out ocean-based climate action that will cumulatively contribute as much as 21% of the emissions reduction needed to put us on a 1.5 degree pathway. These include sustainable seafood production; ocean-based renewable energies; the greening of shipping, and the conservation of mangroves and seagrass that store carbon.

To meet the goals of the Paris climate change agreement, a big proportion of the ocean has to be returned to a natural state, according to the Global Deal for Nature, a paper that sets a science-based target of protecting at least 30% of land and oceans by 2030.

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Fronteras

September 1, 2020
It seems counterintuitive to many of us — in order to keep our landscape healthy, we need to let it burn sometimes. That's the lesson that many indigenous leaders are hoping we can learn in order to help our wildfire-ravaged forests and grasslands in the West recover. For tens of thousands of years before Western settlers came to California and Arizona, indigenous peoples cared for the land and made it thrive — often using fire as a tool. And today, there are efforts underway to relearn those lessons and restore our land. I spoke with Debra Utacia Krol, indigenous affairs reporter at the Arizona Republic, more about it.

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The Guardian

August 30, 2020
Scientists are to warn world leaders that increasing numbers of deadly new pandemics will afflict the planet if levels of deforestation and biodiversity loss continue at their current catastrophic rates.

A UN summit on biodiversity, scheduled to be held in New York next month, will be told by conservationists and biologists there is now clear evidence of a strong link between environmental destruction and the increased emergence of deadly new diseases such as Covid-19.

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The New York Times

August 29, 2020
The world's largest wetland is ablaze, but the fire is often invisible.

In Brazil's Pantanal, the vegetation compacted under the marshy flood water during the wet season dries out as ponds and lagoons evaporate, leaving flammable deposits underground that can continue to smolder long after visible flames die down.

Firefighters across Brazil are battling raging towers of flames from the Amazon rainforest to the Cerrado savannah, but the fires beneath their feet are a particular challenge in the Pantanal. The only way to combat an underground fires is to dig a trench around it, said state firefighter Lieutenant Isaac Wihby.

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The Business Times

August 29, 2020
When we hear the names "Rio", "Cartagena", "Nagoya" or "Aichi" we think about cities but not about biodiversity. When we hear the word "coronavirus" all of us have many associations - but few of us would think immediately about biodiversity either. This is a missed opportunity.

Coronavirus will not be a one-off event. The number and diversity of epidemic events has been increasing over the past 30 years and the WHO reckons that over 60 per cent of infectious diseases reported globally have been "zoonotic" in nature, meaning that they were spread from animals to humans - as appears to have been the case with the current coronavirus. Not surprising, powerful global changes, such as growth in connectivity, growth of urbanisation with high-density living, increased deforestation as well as growing displacement of people and climate change, reinforce this development.

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Mongabay

August 28, 2020
Despite surging forest fires and deforestation in Earth’s largest rainforest, Brazil’s Ministry of the Environment announced it will suspend all operations to combat illegal deforestation and fire in the Amazon and Pantanal on Monday, August 31.

In a statement published on its official web site, the ministry said it would demobilize staff and resources across two agencies: the environmental protection agency IBAMA and the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio). The suspension affects 1,805 firefighters, 401 inspectors, six helicopters, 144 vehicles, and ten aircraft.

The ministry said the decision is a product of a federal budget cut of 60.6 million Brazilian reais ($11.26 million).

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Business Green

August 28, 2020
Investors and businesses seeking guidance on how to harness nature based solutions to boost profits and meet sustainability objectives can draw on a new report, titled Nature based solutions to the climate crisis, published yesterday by the Manchester-based Ignition project.

The report analyses a range of nature-based solutions to construction and urban planning challenges: street trees, green roofs and walls, urban parks and green spaces, and sustainable drainage systems.

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Santa Barbara Independent

August 27, 2020
In the 1960s, Costa Rica had one of the highest population growth rates in the world at almost 4 percent. This caused major concern among demographers. Through changes in policy and education, the rate has steadily dropped until today it is slightly below 1 percent, less than replacement level.

On another front, Costa Rica has similarly achieved a remarkable turnaround. In the 1940s, 75 percent of the country was covered in rainforest, cloud forest, and mangrove. Over the next 40 years, more than half of all trees were logged; the country had the highest deforestation rate in the American hemisphere in the ’70s and ‘’80s. Starting in the 1990s, a forest conservation and restoration program was initiated based on the strategy of valuing forests by paying for their services, known as Payment for Environmental Services (PES).

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New Straits Times

August 20, 2020
In a few weeks, the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity will release a final report card on the world's 20 biodiversity targets, set back in 2010 for achievement by this year. According to all predictions, we have made progress, but largely missed those pledges, as we did the decade before, when the world agreed to stem the rate of biodiversity loss.

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Independent.ie

August 19, 2020
The Earth is running a high fever, not only from the Covid-19 pandemic but from climate change. This summer, Svalbard experienced its highest-ever recorded temperatures, causing the Arctic archipelago's glaciers to shrink away into growing turquoise meltwaters. And night sweats from the heavy monsoons that pummelled the foothills of the Himalayas resulted in floods and the displacement of millions.

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Protected Planet

August 12, 2020
Liveability, sustainability, resilience and equity; goals that frame countless discussions in city halls across the world. Yet how often are these goals considered in the context of protected areas for nature within and around the city?

We know protected areas generate flows of goods and services that benefit all of us: medicine, food, clean air and fresh water. They buffer the effects of climate change: heat stress, flash flooding and storm surges. They give meaning to proud cultures and create a sense of place and belonging for communities. They are learning places, exciting places, places for adventure where real beauty can be experienced away from screens and technology. Yet rapid urbanisation and sub-urbanisation in many parts of the world is placing them under mounting pressure.

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Our Daily Planet

August 9, 2020
Yesterday was the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples.  In recognition of that, and the key role Indigenous peoples are playing in the conservation movement today in the U.S. and globally, we sat down with Raina Thiele, who is Dena’ina Athabascan, and Yup’ik, and has worked at the highest levels of government on Tribal outreach and issues. She now runs her own business and serves as an advisor on Indigenous issues to the Campaign for Nature.

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The Guardian

August 5, 2020
The human destruction of natural ecosystems increases the numbers of rats, bats and other animals that harbour diseases that can lead to pandemics such as Covid-19, a comprehensive analysis has found.

The research assessed nearly 7,000 animal communities on six continents and found that the conversion of wild places into farmland or settlements often wipes out larger species. It found that the damage benefits smaller, more adaptable creatures that also carry the most pathogens that can pass to humans.

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BBC Future

August 3, 2020
After defaulting on its substantial national debt, the Seychelles was offered an unusual deal.

Located around 1,600 kilometres (994 miles) off the coast of East Africa, the Seychelles is an ecological paradise. The archipelago of 115 lush and rocky islands sits amongst vast swathes of ocean, covering some 1.35 million square kilometres (521,000 square miles). They’re home to some of the world’s last pristine coral reefs and are teeming with endangered species, including the southern fin whale and the Indian Ocean’s only dugongs – large marine mammals also known as “sea cows”.

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Project Syndicate

July 31, 2020
Natural systems like the massive Sundarbans mangrove forest in India and Bangladesh are not just home to millions of plant and animal species that deserve protection from human encroachment. They are also crucial sources of economic output and resilience, demanding far more protection than they currently receive.

When Cyclone Amphan came barreling up the Bay of Bengal this past May, South Asia’s first named storm of the year appeared to pose a massive threat to the people who live on the coastal floodplains and to the animals and plants – including many endangered species – that rely on these sensitive ecosystems. But nature came to the region’s rescue.

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