The Guardian

October 22, 2020
A US senator has introduced a proposal to conserve 30% of the country’s lands and seas in the next 10 years, amid a surge of similar proposals.

The initiative, brought by the New Mexico senator Tom Udall last week, is called the “30 by 30” plan. In the US, 12% of land area is protected, according to Udall, mostly in Alaska and the west. If passed, the resolution would align the United States with international goals to protect and preserve nearly a third of the world’s land and water by 2030.

“The United States faces a conservation and climate crisis, with nature in a steep decline and greenhouse gas emissions not declining at the rate scientists say is needed,” according to the proposal. “Nature, like the climate, is nearing a tipping point.”

Read More

The Independent

October 15, 2020
Last month, political leaders from 64 countries around the world all pledged to “reverse biodiversity loss” in the next decade by protecting 30 per cent of land and ocean by 2030.

This 30x30 goal aims to preserve lands, waterways and seas, in order to protect the natural world and fight the climate crisis.

A new study highlights the huge impact returning 30 per cent of ecosystems to their natural state would have, both in terms of saving huge numbers of species, and in reducing levels of the dangerous greenhouse gas carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Some 27 researchers from 12 countries contributed to the report, which assessed forests, grasslands, shrublands, wetlands and arid ecosystems.

Read More

Mongabay

October 9, 2020
In 2010, the member nations of the U.N.’s Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), 195 countries plus the EU, agreed that at least 17% of global land and 10% of the ocean needed to be protected by 2020.

A new global review finds that many countries have fallen short of these targets, and the expansion of protected areas over the past 10 years has not successfully covered priority areas such as biodiversity hotspots and areas providing ecosystem services.

The research team overlaid maps of protected areas, threatened species, productive fisheries, and carbon services, and found that 78% of known threatened species do not have adequate protection.

Read More

EurekAlert

October 7, 2020
A failure by governments to deliver on commitments under a global nature conservation treaty, the Convention on Biological Diversity, could have devastating effects.

The warning comes after a consortium of scientists, led by Dr Sean Maxwell and Professor James Watson from The University of Queensland, reviewed national area-based conservation efforts, including protected areas.

In 2010, almost all nations agreed that area-based conservation efforts must cover at least 17 per cent of land and 10 per cent of ocean by 2020, in areas that are important for biodiversity and ecosystem services.

Read More

The Mercury News

October 7, 2020
Saying more needs to be done to preserve nature as a way to help address climate change, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday committed the state to a goal of protecting 30% of California’s land and coastal waters by 2030.

Newsom signed an executive order directing the state’s Natural Resources Agency to draw up a plan by Feb. 1, 2022, to achieve the goal in a way that also protects the state’s economy and agriculture industry, while expanding and restoring biodiversity — the vast variety of animals and plants — that live in areas as varied as the Bay Area’s tidepools to arid deserts in Southern California to mountain forests across the Sierra Nevada.

Read More

Yahoo News!

September 28, 2020
Britain and Canada on Monday joined the European Union in pledging to protect 30% of their land and seas by 2030 to stem "catastrophic" biodiversity loss and help galvanise support for broader agreement on the target ahead of a U.N. summit.

With the twin crises of climate change and wildlife loss accelerating, leaders are trying to build momentum ahead of the meeting in Kunming, China, in May, where nearly 200 countries will negotiate a new agreement on protecting nature.

Read More

Radio Canada International

September 28, 2020
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is calling on the world’s largest countries to commit to protecting 30 per cent of their lands and waters to stop the loss of the planet’s biodiversity.

Trudeau made that call today at a special session of the United Nations via video conference on the sidelines of the virtual General Assembly meeting.

Trudeau was taking part in the Leaders Event for Nature and People that also featured the leaders of Costa Rica and Norway.

Read More

Thomson Reuters Foundation

September 28, 2020
Protecting the planet's plants, animals and ecosystems, and repairing the damage done to them by humans will take about $700 billion a year in extra funding over the next decade, requiring a huge boost in investment by governments and business, officials said on Monday.

The call came as Britain and Canada joined a coalition of countries that have promised to protect 30% of their land and seas by 2030 to stem "catastrophic" biodiversity loss.

The two nations also signed up to a separate pledge, uniting 70 countries and the European Union, to reverse the loss of biodiversity by 2030 through a green recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, tackling pollution and deforestation, and boosting financing to safeguard the planet, among other commitments.

Read More

The Guardian

September 27, 2020
World leaders have pledged to clamp down on pollution, embrace sustainable economic systems and eliminate the dumping of plastic waste in oceans by the middle of the century as part of “meaningful action” to halt the destruction of nature on Earth.

Emmanuel Macron, Angela Merkel, Justin Trudeau, Jacinda Ardern and Boris Johnson are among 64 leaders from five continents warning that humanity is in a state of planetary emergency due to the climate crisis and the rampant destruction of life-sustaining ecosystems. To restore the balance with nature, governments and the European Union have made a 10-point pledge to counteract the damage to systems that underpin human health and wellbeing.

Read More

Campaign For Nature

September 23, 2020
A complement to the fifth edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook, the second Local Biodiversity Outlooks assesses the views and contributions of Indigenous and Local Communities (IPLCs) to the conservation of biodiversity, finding their their vital role has been “disregarded,” to date, marking a “missed opportunity” as the world seeks to address the dual challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss.

Read More

Project Syndicate

September 22, 2020
A growing body of evidence shows that lands and waters that are owned, managed, and used by indigenous peoples and local communities are much healthier than those that aren’t. Governments and multilateral bodies owe it to everyone to engage them in discussions about protecting biodiversity.

In May 2019, a landmark report by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services painted a bleak picture of our planet’s health. Around one million animal and plant species – more than ever before in human history – are now threatened with extinction, many within decades. Pollution is proliferating, land degradation is accelerating, and we are nowhere near on track to achieve global goals for protecting biodiversity and achieving sustainability.

Read More

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.

Read More

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).

Read More

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.

Read More

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.

Read More