idw

October 20, 2022
Ahead of the global meeting of the Conference of the Parties in Montréal, Canada, which decides new targets for nature, the first-ever study of its kind outlines an urgent need for larger numbers and better-supported protected area staff to ensure the health of life on Earth. In a new scientific paper published today in the journal “Nature Sustainability”, an international team of scientists – including two members of the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW) in Berlin – argue that there are not enough rangers and other staff to manage even the current protected areas around the world.

The authors urge governments, donors, private landowners and NGOs to increase the numbers of rangers and other staff five-fold in order to meet global biodiversity conservation goals that have economic, cultural and ecosystem benefits.

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The Guardian

October 14, 2021
The calls for biodiversity and the climate crisis to be tackled in tandem are growing. “It is clear that we cannot solve [the global biodiversity and climate crises] in isolation – we either solve both or we solve neither,” says Sveinung Rotevatn, Norway’s climate and environment minister, with the launch in June of a report produced by the world’s leading biodiversity and climate experts. Zoological Society of London senior research fellow Dr Nathalie Pettorelli, who led a study on the subject published in the Journal of Applied Ecology in September, says: “The level of interconnectedness between the climate change and biodiversity crises is high and should not be underestimated. This is not just about climate change impacting biodiversity; it is also about the loss of biodiversity deepening the climate crisis.”

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New Straits Times

September 5, 2021
Borneo, the world's third largest island, boasts one of Earth's oldest rainforests.

It accounts for just one per cent of the planet's landmass yet holds approximately six per cent of the Earth's variety of plant and animal species, including such charismatic creatures as Bornean orangutans, clouded leopards, pygmy elephants and rhinoceros, as well as giant pitcher plants and Rafflesia flowers.

Forest conversion and degradation over the years have threatened the integrity of rainforests. The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) listed Borneo among the deforestation hotspots and planetary warming has made it vulnerable to forest fires.

It was to the great credit of the governments of Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia when they established the "Heart of Borneo" (HoB) conservation area in 2007, one of the largest transboundary rainforests in the world — 22 million ha (the size of England and Scotland combined). It was a triumph of environmental diplomacy and a demonstration of political will at the highest level.

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New Straits Times

September 2, 2020
Roads encroach on animal habitats and populations, posing a hazard to wildlife. 

In Malaysia, as elsewhere, the rise in roadkill incidents contributes to biodiversity loss, which is a threat to the wellbeing of humans every bit as dangerous as climate change.

The solution includes safe corridors of transit between habitat areas — passages and bridges — and better driving habits. 

On an exceptionally large scale, we need to ensure the connectivity between national and international protected areas and animal habitats.

A global effort to conserve biodiversity got underway recently. Campaign for Nature (CFN) called on governments worldwide to protect at least 30 per cent of the planet's land and oceans by 2030, deemed by scientists to be the minimum area needed to halt biodiversity loss. 

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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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edie

July 27, 2020
Scientists have mapped the entirety of the planet's terrestrial habitat, creating a resource that will help businesses and investors measure and minimize their impacts on natural resources and biodiversity.

The map, which claims to be the first of its kind, was published in the journal Biological Conservation late last week following extensive research from scientists at the UN’s Environment Programme arm (UNEP). Before its publication, such in-depth data was only available for areas classed as ‘protected’ and ‘key for biodiversity, which are accountable for just 15.1% and 8.8% of land respectively.

It maps whether each square kilometre of land is classified as ‘natural’ or ‘modified’ – natural habitats being those which have not been created by humans or significantly altered by development activity. As such, users can identify where existing projects can be expanded, or new ones began, with the smallest impact on habitats possible.

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Financial Review

March 24, 2020

As the COVID-19 catastrophe has unfolded, a significant broadening of the landholdings of Indigenous Australians has taken place, with about 88,000 hectares of beautiful, rich Murrumbidgee floodplain country in south-western NSW handed back to its traditional custodians, the Nari-Nari people.

No figure for the value of the land has been given by Nature Conservancy, which facilitated the complex sale and handover process with the NSW government. However, an earlier federal estimate put it at $44 million.

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ZME Science

March 19, 2020
Farmlands can act as havens for wildlife species in a world where climate change is eroding their habitats, a new study explains. However, for that to happen, a shift needs to be made towards mixed cultures. Such a change would also make the farms themselves more resilient against climate changes, which would also benefit us and help solidify the global food supply against environmental shocks.

Although the study focused on bird species in Costa Rica, the team explains that birds can serve as a “natural guideline” for the health of other animal families throughout the world, as well.

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IISD

February 27, 2020
In the paper titled, ‘How to Halt the Global Decline of Lands,’ the lead authors of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) ‘Assessment of Land Degradation and Restoration’ present five systemic policy barriers to land restoration and propose 10 solutions for overcoming them.

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The New York Times

January 28, 2020
Indigenous people, environmentalists and industries vie for control over lands that can offer economic benefits or climate protection — but not always both.

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Phys.org

January 28, 2020
All plants and animals need suitable conditions to survive. That means a certain amount of light, a tolerable temperature range, and access to sources of food, water and shelter. Many of the existing efforts to protect plant and animal species across the United States rely on information about where these species currently live.

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The Hill

January 14, 2020
In Portugal’s Greater Côa Valley, a transformation is underway. Once degraded and overgrown, thousands of hectares of this remote ecosystem are being restored and rewilded. Plans are afoot to reintroduce wild horses, roe deer and Iberian ibex. This restoration will improve the connection between the Malcata mountain range and the Douro Valley. It is an all-round win for Portuguese wildlife.

But if this grand vision is to be sustainable, it needs to be profitable. The valley has suffered one of the highest rates of land abandonment in Europe, which has contributed to the decline of the landscape — the area became overgrown in the absence of grazing farm animals, and that in turn has harmed biodiversity and increased the risk of wildfire.

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Fast Company

January 10, 2020
As wildfires devastate Australia, author and activist Julia Watson considers the wisdom of low-tech land management strategies that’ve been passed down through generations.

Australia’s wildfires—which, since September, have burned 17.9 million acres of the continent—have not only turned skies vermillion and made breathing the air a health hazard, they have also claimed the lives of an estimated 27 people and 1 billion animals. This global warming-fueled crisis began thanks to a combination of lightning, arson, and an unusually hot and dry summer season.

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Phys.org

January 9, 2020
It is well-established that biodiverse ecosystems generally function better than monocultures. Ecologists at the University of Zurich have now shown that the same is true on a larger scale: Having a mix of different land-covers including grassland, forest, urban areas and water bodies improves the functioning and stability of a landscape—irrespective of the plant species diversity, region and climate.

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Mongabay

November 14, 2019
As the world races to meet the goal of protecting 17 percent of Earth’s land surface, a new study looks at how effective protected areas are at reducing human pressures — and finds that there is considerable room for improvement.

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