Photograph by: Enric Sala, National Geographic
February 21, 2020
[…] Environmental defenders around the world are increasingly exposed to threats and violence —sometimes, as in the recent tragic events in Mexico, at the risk of their lives. Any threat or attack experienced by nonviolent environmental defenders is unacceptable.
February 20, 2020
Their 23-day survey counted 55 animals - a total that is unprecedented in the decades since commercial whaling ended. […]
To witness 55 of them now return to what was once a pre-eminent feeding ground for the population has been described as "truly, truly amazing" by cetacean specialist Dr Trevor Branch from the University of Washington, Seattle.
February 18, 2020
When UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres addressed the 193-member General Assembly last December, he focused on the smoldering climate crisis– pointing out that the last five years have been the hottest ever recorded.
Ice caps are melting, he said, In Greenland alone, 179 billion tonnes of ice melted in July. Permafrost in the Arctic is thawing 70 years ahead of projections. Antarctica is melting three times as fast as a decade ago.
February 18, 2020
The conservation community must be able to track countries’ progress in protecting wetlands, reefs, forests and more, argue James Watson and colleagues.
[…]
Since 2010, targets for conserving species have shaped policy and galvanized efforts to halt species loss worldwide, as part of the Convention on Biological Diversity. Yet no such targets exist for ecosystems — despite the wealth of evidence showing that their health and functions are essential to the processes that maintain all life.
February 18, 2020
The Convention on Biological Diversity needs a legacy that can stand the test of time, not a cosmetic victory, argues Li Shuo.
There are just eight months left to make progress on a framework to protect biodiversity for the next ten years. It is of global importance that the October meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in the Chinese city of Kunming helps the world to stop biodiversity loss.
February 18, 2020
Climate change could wipe out almost all coral reef habitats around the world by 2100, according to research released Monday.
The bleak outlook forecasts that warming oceans and rising seas could have a devastating impact on ocean ecosystems, suggesting that efforts to restore dying corals will likely encounter difficulties as global warming continues to wipe out habitats that could once support healthy reef systems.
February 18, 2020
Today, 23 former foreign ministers from North America, Europe, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and the Pacific released a statement calling for stronger conservation protections of land and oceans for the sake of –as well as national security.
February 17, 2020
This week representatives from 129 countries and the European Union will be meeting in Gandhinagar in the western state of Gujarat, India for the UN-sponsored meet to conserve migratory species of wild animals. The thirteenth meeting of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS COP13) being hosted by India is the first international meet focusing on biodiversity in what has been slated as the “super year for biodiversity”.
February 15, 2020
One-third of all animal and plant species on the planet could face extinction by 2070 due to climate change, a new study warns.
Researchers studied recent extinctions from climate change to estimate how many species would be lost over the next 50 years.
February 15, 2020
In a country where there has always been more space than people, where the land and wildlife are cherished like a Picasso, nature is closing in. Fueled by climate change and the world’s refusal to address it, the fires that have burned across Australia are not just destroying lives, or turning forests as large as nations into ashen moonscapes.
February 14, 2020
Species are being lost at about a thousand times the natural rate of extinction. This is faster than at any other period in human history. Ecosystems — the vital systems on which all life depends — are being degraded across the globe.
This crisis of biodiversity loss is finally getting some attention. But its connection to another loss – that of indigenous cultures – is rarely mentioned. From animals to insects and plants, biodiversity loss cannot be effectively addressed without tackling the rapid disappearance of indigenous cultures. The two are inextricably linked.
February 14, 2020
Governments must provide larger spatial protections in the Greater Caribbean for threatened, highly migratory species such as sharks, is the call from a diverse group of marine scientists including Stony Brook University School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS) Ph.D. Candidate, Oliver Shipley, and led by the conservation NGO Beneath the Waves in a letter to published in Science.
February 14, 2020
Global insect extinctions have been the subject of growing public concern for the past few decades. But until recently, most people were unaware that many insect populations could actually be in trouble, nor did most people consider the consequences of insect extinctions for human welfare.
February 14, 2020
An irradiated nuclear zone is hardly the most obvious animal sanctuary. But in January, almost a decade after Japan’s Fukushima disaster, scientists using remote cameras in the area around the abandoned power station discovered an abundance of wildlife.
February 13, 2020
Leading scientists and conservationists are proposing that up to 50 percent of the earth’s land and oceans be protected in the coming decades. While some view the goal as unrealistic, proponents say it is essential for preserving the natural systems on which life itself depends.
