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.

Read More

UN

September 21, 2022
Following is the text of UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s video message to the seventh Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Business Forum, held virtually, today:

Excellencies, business leaders, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining the seventh SDG Business Forum.  This year’s event has provided a much-needed space for business leaders to share their experiences and insights to overcome our common challenges — from the COVID‑19 pandemic, to the war in Ukraine and its impacts on food, energy and finance, to the escalating climate emergency.

The private sector is an indispensable partner in promoting investment in sustainable development and mobilizing financing to achieve the 2030 Agenda.

Let me highlight two key messages from today’s discussions.  First, the business community should be a driving force to protect our global environmental commons, from climate action to ending pollution and restoring biodiversity.

Investing in biodiversity makes both environmental and economic sense.  Estimates by the World Economic Forum suggest that protecting nature and increasing biodiversity could generate business opportunities worth $10 trillion a year and create nearly 400 million new jobs.

Read More

The Globe and Mail

September 20, 2022
Indigenous-managed conservation areas are key to Canada’s pledge to designate nearly one third of its land and ocean waters for biodiversity protection by the end of this decade, according to a new report.

The report from World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Canada stresses that protected areas should be “co-developed and implemented with Indigenous consent” as part of Canada’s reconciliation process.

Its release on Tuesday coincides with efforts by a group of world leaders, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, to press their counterparts on biodiversity preservation ahead of international negotiations in Montreal later this year.

Mr. Trudeau is set to speak at an event on Tuesday evening occurring on the margins of the UN General Assembly, now under way in New York. The event was co-organized by the High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People, a group of more than 100 countries that have all formally endorsed the target of protecting at least 30 per cent of the world’s land and oceans by 2030.

Read More

BBC

March 16, 2022
Made up of 115 islands dotting the Indian Ocean off East Africa, Seychelles is known as a global hotspot for biodiversity. With as much as 85% of its animals and 45% of its plant species considered endemic, the archipelago is sometimes called the "Galapagos of the Indian Ocean". And both on land and in the ocean, different groups are working to preserve this ecological paradise.

This year, after creating a sophisticated zoning plan and completing extensive conversations with representatives from the country's tourism, fishing, petroleum and conservation efforts, the island nation is prepared to fully implement the landmark Marine Spatial Planning Initiative it announced several years ago: to protect 30% of its ocean territory. Tourism, climate change and other factors have already greatly impacted the environment of the Seychelles' more populated "Inner Islands", so this agreement – part of a deal to write off its national debt in exchange for conservation measures – is now aimed at protecting its 72 low-lying coralline "Outer Islands" from development before it's too late.

Read More

LA Times

March 7, 2022
In the latest United Nations report on climate change, scientists document the stark toll inflicted by global warming through more intense heat waves, droughts, floods and other disasters, and present a dire warning that humanity should act quickly to move away from fossil fuels and cut planet-heating emissions.

The report goes beyond past assessments not only by detailing the latest science but also by focusing on how the world, while reducing emissions, can better adapt to the accelerating effects of climate change to reduce risks and protect especially vulnerable people.

The report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, stresses that the threats to people’s health, livelihoods and lives disproportionately affect those who lack resources to weather the blows. In pursuing climate solutions, the report’s authors say, there should be a focus on equity and justice, because the effects are exacerbating inequality and hitting especially hard for low-income people, marginalized communities and developing countries.

Read More

National Geographic

February 25, 2022
In post-war Britain, natural places were in high demand, as expanding cities and industrialisation drove many, including returning heroes, to seek the solace of the countryside and clean air. In 1945, the Government produced a White Paper on National Parks and a National Parks Committee was established, with MP Sir Arthur Hobhouse as Chair. In 1949 the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act finally made the creation of legally protected areas in the UK possible, and the UK’s first National Park, the Peak District, was designated in 1951, followed by another nine throughout the 1950s.

Over seventy years later, the UK is home to several types of nationally protected landscape areas: National Parks (England, Scotland and Wales), Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty or AONBs (England, Northern Ireland and Wales), and National Scenic Areas in Scotland. The current tally of National Parks is 15 – 10 in England (including Wordsworth’s beloved Lake District), three in Wales and two in Scotland – with government agencies in each country holding the power to designate protected areas: Natural Resources Wales, Natural England and NatureScot.

As the UK slowly emerges from the grip of COVID-19, the UK Government is once more turning its attention to these protected places, which provided invaluable sanctuary for so many during some of the darkest hours of the past two years.

Read More

Nature

December 9, 2021
Advances in spatial biodiversity science and nationally available data have enabled the development of indicators that report on biodiversity outcomes, account for uneven global biodiversity between countries, and provide direct planning support. We urge their inclusion in the post-2020 global biodiversity framework.

In 2022, parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) will assemble in Kunming, China to agree on the post-2020 global biodiversity framework (GBF). Addressing threats that contribute to species extinctions and affect their role in ensuring ecosystem integrity underpins the GBF’s overarching Goal A, which stipulates “healthy and resilient populations of all species” and “reduced extinction rates”. Although multiple actions are needed to safeguard biodiversity, establishing targets for protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs) is recognized as a primary mechanism to achieve Goal A.

Read More

World Economic Forum

November 25, 2021
Throughout this past summer, wildfires ravaged forests from California to Siberia, devastating wildlife, and turning entire communities to dust. But as affected countries deal with the visible damage, the whole world will have to reckon with an unseen consequence for decades to come: a massive release of greenhouse gas.

It’s easy to forget that the ground beneath us contains far more than just dirt, even in some of Earth’s most rugged environments. All kinds of ecosystems — lush rainforest, muddy peatland, shady mangroves — contain eons of stored carbon, captured by photosynthesis. Worldwide, there are about 730 gigatons of manageable carbon locked away in nature; and if disturbed by fire, agriculture, or development, these stores can vanish, sending long-stored emissions right back into the air. As humanity works to prevent runaway climate change, this kind of unplanned expense could quietly bust our carbon budget.

Read More

UNDP

November 11, 2021
Protected areas (PAs) and other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs) are a cornerstone of biodiversity conservation that provide co-benefits for achievement of the SDGs, in support of a nature-positive future. This report presents the global status of PAs and OECMs and opportunities for action, focusing on coverage and quality elements of effective management and equitable governance. Recognition is given to Indigenous Peoples' territories and the need to secure tenure rights, as well as embed PAs and OECMs into national policies and frameworks.

Read More

The Guardian

October 28, 2021
Nearly two years after the first reported case of Covid-19, the world is still facing the repercussions. At the same time, the extent of our planetary emergency – of climate crisis, biodiversity loss and inequality – has become evident. As we rebuild our societies and economies, we are faced with a unique opportunity to build a nature-positive future that we must not let slip away. It is time for all of us to chart a planetary response to our planetary crisis – a response that puts nature at the centre.

Our shared global experience with Covid-19 has underlined the interconnectedness of our different systems. The science is clear: climate, biodiversity and human health are fully interdependent. Yet, within discussions around post-Covid recovery, nature is not yet recognised enough as an essential piece in the puzzle of a resilient future for all.

Read More

The New York Times

October 4, 2021
The world lost about 14 percent of its coral reefs in the decade after 2009, mainly because of climate change, according to a sweeping international report on the state of the world’s corals.

The report, issued late Monday, underscores the catastrophic consequences of global warming while also offering some hope that some coral reefs can be saved if humans move quickly to rein in greenhouse gases.

“Coral reefs are the canary in the coal mine telling us how quickly it can go wrong,” said David Obura, one of the report’s editors and chairman of the coral specialist group for the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

The 14 percent decline, he said, was cause for deep concern. “In finance, we worry about half-percent declines and half-percent changes in employment and interest rates.”

Read More

Trade for Development News

August 17, 2021
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a deep global recession in which much economic activity has declined, and one of the hardest hit sectors is tourism. In tourism-dependent economies in Africa and the Caribbean, for example, GDP is projected to shrink by 12%.  

The economic toll is occurring at a time when biodiversity is imperiled globally. The 2020 Living Planet Index reported a 68% average decline in birds, amphibians, mammals, fish and reptiles since 1970. Biodiversity matters because of its intrinsic worth, and because it underpins human wellbeing and supports economic activity. Protected areas, which are key to any global effort to contain biodiversity loss, attract eight billion visitors in a typical year.

How can countries address the intersecting calamities of a pandemic in a time of biodiversity loss?  Moreover, can countries afford to bring even larger areas under conservation when the need for economic recovery is so pressing, fiscal spaces are tight and so many development challenges persist?

Read More

EurekAlert!

July 13, 2021
Scientists have published a global study on the effectiveness of protected areas in preventing deforestation.

The study, published recently in Environmental Research Letters, explored the success of country-level protected areas at reducing forest loss, and used machine learning to uncover some of the factors that contribute to differences in effectiveness.

"Protected areas are a key conservation tool that are essential for stemming the tide of biodiversity and habitat loss across the Earth," said first author, Dr. Payal Shah, a research scientist at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST), who specializes in applying economic theory to conservation.

Read More

World Bank Blog

July 12, 2021
The rollout of vaccines globally, particularly as this effort picks up momentum, is spreading hope that countries will soon have control over the devastating health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Countries still, though, have a long path to travel for economic recovery. The pandemic has led to a deep global recession in which much economic activity has declined, including in the hard-hit tourism sector. In tourism-dependent economies in Africa and the Caribbean, for example, GDP is projected to shrink by 12 percent.

The economic toll is occurring at a time when biodiversity is imperiled, globally. The 2020 Living Planet Index reported a 68 percent average decline in birds, amphibians, mammals, fish, and reptiles since 1970; one-third of the world’s terrestrial, and two-thirds of its marine, protected areas are under threat from human impact. Protected areas are not only key to any global effort to conserve biodiversity, they are also crucial to address climate change and achieve sustainable development goals. Currently, 17 percent of land and 8 percent of the marine environment, world over, is protected. The proposed target for 2030 – to be negotiated at the CBD COP-15 in Kunming, China in the coming months -- is to expand this coverage to at least 30 percent, part of an effort to address the threat to biodiversity.

Read More

Reuters

July 7, 2021
China has designated 25% of its onshore territory "ecological conservation" areas, limiting development and human activities in order to improve the environment and conserve resources.

The Ministry of Ecology and Environment was tasked with identifying areas in need of protection a decade ago, when the government acknowledged that decades of "irrational development" had put its ecological safety under severe strain.

Read More