AP

June 8, 2020
The president of the U.N. General Assembly said Monday that world leaders will not be coming to New York for their annual gathering in late September for the first time in the 75-year history of the United Nations because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

But Tijjani Muhammad-Bande told a news conference that he hopes to announce in the next two weeks how the 193 heads of state and government will give their speeches on pressing local and world issues during the assembly’s so-called General Debate.

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HAC

June 5, 2020
We are joining forces to call on all governments around the world to retain our precious intact ecosystems and wilderness, to preserve and effectively manage at least 30% of our planet’s lands and oceans by 2030, and to restore and conserve biodiversity, as a crucial step to help prevent future pandemics and public health emergencies, and lay the foundations for a sustainable global economy through job creation and human well-being. 

 The rapid and devastating spread of COVID-19 is a tragedy with monumental impacts on people, economies and societies that will endure for years to come. This pandemic provides unprecedented and powerful proof that nature and people share the same fate and are far more closely linked that most of us realized. 

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The Washington Post

June 4, 2020
The coronavirus-related economic downturn may have set off a sudden plunge in global greenhouse gas emissions, but another crucial metric for determining the severity of global warming — the amount of greenhouse gases actually in the air — just hit a record high.

According to readings from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the amount of CO2 in the air in May 2020 hit an average of slightly greater than 417 parts per million (ppm). This is the highest monthly average value ever recorded, and is up from 414.7 ppm in May of last year.

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WEF Blog

June 1, 2020
The depths of the oceans are heating up more slowly than the surface and the air, but that will undergo a dramatic shift in the second half of the century, according to a new study. Researchers expect the rate of climate change in the deep parts of the oceans could accelerate to seven times their current rate after 2050, as The Guardian reported.

The study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, found that different parts of the ocean undergo change at different rates as the extra heat from increasing levels of greenhouse gases moved through the vast ocean depths, making it increasingly tricky for marine life to adapt, according to The Guardian.

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Thomson Reuters Foundation

May 21, 2020
[…] Now, lockdowns and other measures worldwide to contain the virus are hampering efforts to conserve traditional food crops like those Wanjama wants to save, as well as forests, wetlands and their native species, scientists and environmentalists say.

Green groups and international organisations had billed 2020 as a "super year" for the biodiversity of the planet's plants and animals, as new global agreements were due to be sealed.

But key U.N. negotiations have been postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic which many environmentalists blame, at least partly, on a failure to protect nature that has facilitated the transition of viruses from animals to humans.

Meanwhile, a relaxation of surveillance and monitoring in many countries has led to more poaching and illegal, unregulated fishing, said ecologist Sandra Diaz.

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Fast Company

May 20, 2020

Over the next decade, the European Union plans to plant 3 billion trees. It’s one piece of a larger commitment to protect nature on the continent at a time when a million species, globally, are now at risk of extinction, and biodiversity loss also threatens future pandemics. In a new strategy document, the European Commission says it now aims to protect 30% of the region’s land and oceans, based on science that suggests that amount is necessary to preserve biodiversity.

“This is the first truly serious biodiversity strategy at a large scale that we’ve seen,” says Brian O’Donnell, director of the nonprofit Campaign for Nature. “It’s a continent-wide strategy. It’s an all-of-government strategy. It addresses both conserving and protecting the best of nature that remains and restoring new areas. . . . The tree-planting component of it I think is something that will get a number of people’s attention. But it’s only one part of what I think is a comprehensive biodiversity strategy both for Europe.”

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ABC

May 17, 2020
There’s a serious campaign underway to have 30 per cent of the Earth designated as a giant conservation area. The target date is 2030.

But that’s just the start. The scientists and environmentalists involved in the plan want to eventually lock down half the planet. It’s about protecting habitats and biodiversity.

Cost and logistics are primary considerations. But they aren’t the only ones. Other issues at stake include increasing poverty and indigenous rights.

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Project Syndicate

May 14, 2020
The Seychelles, a string of 115 verdant, rocky islands in the Indian Ocean, recently announced – in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic – that it would protect 30% of its glittering turquoise waters from commercial use.

Safeguarding some 410,000 square kilometers (158,000 square miles) of the sea will benefit wildlife on the shore and in the water, including 100,000 giant tortoises and some of the world’s last pristine coral reefs. But, beyond helping such species, establishing the new Marine Protected Areas – which was made possible through an innovative debt-swap deal – will also bolster the health, wellbeing, and prosperity of the Seychellois, who number under 100,000 but cater to more than 350,000 visitors each year.

Currently hosting only a handful of tourists stranded by the pandemic, the country is under a lockdown aimed at preventing the further spread of the virus. President Danny Faure’s decision to press ahead with this protection effort, even as his country deals with a public-health emergency, serves as a powerful reminder of the importance of nature to people’s physical and economic wellbeing – and not just in the Seychelles.

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The Independent

May 13, 2020
Several hundred miles north of a dwindling Ebola outbreak, rangers at Garamba National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are most concerned with how the COVID-19 pandemic will continue to play out around the world.

Up until this year, Ebola was perhaps the scariest disease on the planet. Arising at times when human activity expands into and damages the West and Central African rainforests, the disease set off a global panic in 2014 when seven cases appeared outside the African continent. But in 2020, COVID-19 is now the scariest, with its impacts slamming all facets of the global economy.

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Mail & Guardian

May 11, 2020
As South Africa grapples with the tragic effect of the coronavirus on people, the economy and society it’s increasingly clear that our status as a megadiverse country is a blessing, but that our reliance on nature tourism is a risk. 

In good times and bad, our natural places are our greatest assets. In addition to offering beauty and a source of mental health, our grasslands, shrublands, forests and coastlines shield us from hunger and poverty, safeguard us from pollution and climate change, and supply us with medicine and leisure. Researchers estimate that these services provided — for free — by nature are worth R275-billion each year. 

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New Strait Times- OpEd

May 11, 2020
While saving human lives and re-booting the economy are two utmost priorities for governments to consider when developing their post-Covid-19 Stimulus Package, they must not forget Nature.

After all, the root cause of those zoonotic diseases such as Covid-19 is the destruction of wildlife habitats, a fact endorsed by most of the scientific community. Meaning, our human activity facilitated the virus' jump from wildlife to us. And, as we contemplate the post-pandemic world to come, the voices of scientists need to be heard far and wide.

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The Revelator

May 7, 2020
Most of us have never been to the world’s immense last wilderness and never will. It’s beyond the horizon and often past the limits of our imaginations. It contains towering underwater mountain ranges, ancient corals, mysterious, unknown forms of life and the largest seagrass meadow in the world.

Yet it begins just 200 nautical miles off our shores. Technically referred to as “areas beyond national jurisdiction,” these remote expanses are known to most people simply as “the high seas.”

Their vast, dark waters encompass roughly two-thirds of the ocean and half the planet and are the last great global commons. Yet just 1% are protected, leaving these vital but relatively lawless expanses open to overfishing, pollution, piracy and other threats.

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The Hill

May 1, 2020
[…] The COVID-19 pandemic is causing heartbreaking loss of life across the world. Our daily lives have ground to a halt, and we do not yet know the full magnitude of the long-term social and economic impacts. But it has also given us all time to rethink our priorities and reminded us of what is truly important.

In an open letter to the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, BirdLife International is calling for the U.N. to declare a healthy natural environment a fundamental human right. Currently, the declaration does not make any reference to preserving our environment — yet this is the foundation on which all other human rights — and indeed, all life on earth — depends. For our children and grandchildren to enjoy sufficient food, water and safety, and to raise families of their own, the natural world must be healthy and strong enough to support them.

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The Guardian

May 5, 2020
From the vast plains of the Masai Mara in Kenya to the delicate corals of the Aldabra atoll in the Seychelles, conservation work to protect some of the world’s most important ecosystems is facing crisis following a collapse in ecotourism during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Organisations that depend on visitors to fund projects for critically endangered species and rare habitats could be forced to close, according to wildlife NGOs, after border closures and worldwide travel restrictions abruptly halted millions of pounds of income from tourism.

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The Hill

May 4, 2020
As spring dawns across North America and COVID-19 rages through our country, we are facing numerous novel stressors, be they economic, psychological or physical. Confined to our homes, we can’t flock to the outdoor places we usually do as the weather warms. But it’s also during this time that such natural places, and their sights and sounds, can provide the greatest solace. 

The therapeutic nature of natural sounds is well recognized: Listening to natural sounds has been shown to increase mood, boost productivity, lower blood pressure and decrease stress — all of which promote a stronger immune system. The importance of natural sound immersion is particularly heightened in periods of increased stress and uncertainty, when it can serve to decrease the negative repercussions of that stress and provide a mindfulness "reset."

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