Source: Urgent action needed to measure air pollution worldwide
The latest news related to nature conservation from around the world. If there is
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There will be no weekly conservation news posted next week due to the holidays. Please expect the weekly conservation news to resume in the new year, starting January 6th, 2021.
World Heritage and Biodiversity
UNESCO
We are pleased to bring you this issue on biodiversity and World Heritage sites, focusing on some of the properties most vital to the future of our planet. These articles were prepared in anticipation of the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP 15) originally planned for October 2020 in Kunming, China, and the designation of a “biodiversity super year”…
World’s most endangered turtle finds new hope in Vietnam
Nhan Dan
Scientists have released genetic results confirming a female turtle captured in October 2020 in Vietnam is definitively the near-extinct Swinhoe’s Softshell Turtle (Rafetus swinhoei) – also known as the Hoan Kiem Turtle, raising hopes for the conservation of the world’s rarest turtle in Vietnam…
Why Monarch Butterflies Aren’t Getting Endangered Species Status
Smithsonian Magazine
Monarch butterflies will not be added to the federal endangered species list this year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced on Tuesday. The agency found that the butterfly qualifies for the status but, for now, the species is precluded from protections and will be reconsidered annually until 2024…
Not so fast: why India’s plan to reintroduce cheetahs may run into problems
The Conversation
In early 2020, the country’s supreme court agreed that wildlife authorities there could reintroduce the cheetah to India, 70 years after its local extinction. Some experts questioned the decision. They point out that the cheetah is a wide-ranging species, and Indian parks tend to be much smaller than those in Africa…
Leonardo DiCaprio Teams Up with Global Wildlife Conservation and the EU to Protect Biodiversity
One Green Planet
Leonardo DiCaprio, the European Union, and Global Wildlife Conservation (GWC) have announced two projects aimed at protecting biodiversity. An investment of more than $41.5 million USD will be put into the two initiatives…
To fund biodiversity conservation, redirect subsidies from these three industries
Mongabay
Funding for conservation has been decimated by the COVID-19 pandemic, from sharp dips in ecotourism to decreases in charitable donations. Rather than pursuing new sources of biodiversity funding, countries should consider eliminating taxpayer-funded subsidies for top industries driving species extinctions…
A Madagascar forest long protected by its remoteness is now threatened by it
Mongabay
The mountainous forests of northern Madagascar are biodiverse beyond measure, containing plant and animal species found nowhere else on the planet. And yet their protected status is no longer enough: satellite data show they are now being cut down at an increasing rate…
Indonesia’s biofuel bid threatens more deforestation for oil palm plantations
Mongabay
An Indonesian government program to phase out diesel for an alternative made from palm oil could spur massive deforestation for palm plantations spanning an area a fifth the size of Borneo…
Land inequality is worsening and fueling other social ills, report says
Mongabay
A new report shows that global land inequality is much more severe than previously estimated. According to the report, the top 10% of the rural population captures 60% of agricultural land value, while the bottom 50% only control 3% of land value…
In an oil spill’s aftermath in Peru, new voices lead an Indigenous fight for justice
Mongabay
When more than 2,300 barrels of oil spilled into Peru’s Marañón River near the community of Cuninico in 2014, it spurred women of the community into prominent roles as leaders seeking justice. The women formed three organizations that have been crucial in pushing for improvements to public health, the environment, and economic stability…
Pirate hunters of the Po: how locals sick of poachers decided to fight back
The Guardian
As night falls in Italy’s largest delta, volunteers board tiny boats to track down the elusive fish mafia plundering the waters. The “pirate hunters” are looking for poachers on the delta of the Po River in Italy. The brackish Po has one of Europe’s largest deltas, but until recently it has been plagued by poachers…
Urgent action needed to measure air pollution worldwide
The Guardian
Globally, particle pollution contributed to an estimated 4.1 million early deaths in 2019, but 141 of the world’s 234 countries had no regular measurements. There is an urgent need for more pollution measurements around the world…
Experts encourage nature-based solutions to build climate resilience
Philippine Information Agency
The ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) and the Philippines’ Climate Change Commission held the Biodiversity and Building Resilience to the Impacts of Climate Change in the ASEAN webinar on 15 December, coinciding with the 5th anniversary of the Paris Agreement…
CTV News
Researchers studying climate change at McGill University say they have projected a more precise window of when the Earth will likely cross “dangerous warming levels,” with their new threshold set at 2027-2042 – 25 years earlier than previous modelling…
2020: a truly unimaginable year for biodiversity
The Guardian
The Guardian’s biodiversity editor looks back on a year that put the state of the planet on the agenda in ways no one could have foreseen. The year 2020 was always destined to be a crucial one for biodiversity, with the Cop15 conference in Kunming,…
2020 may be Canada’s most important year for nature conservation
The Hamilton Spectator
A year ago, there was much anticipation in the conservation community that 2020 would perhaps be the most important year ever for nature. Canada’s Nature Fund promised to accelerate the conservation of our wild spaces and species. And then everything changed. Urgent and immediate crises have a way of laying bare the true values and character of individuals and societies…
