Global Conservation News Mar. 2

Source: Explainer: COP15, the biggest biodiversity conference in a decade

The latest news related to nature conservation from around the world. If there is an important news article we missed, please get in contact with us.

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Governments face pressure to protect nature in biodiversity ‘super year’

Governments are under pressure this year to agree on protecting at least 30% of the planet’s land and seas by 2030…

Rich countries could be asked to pay billions to protect biodiversity

Wealthy nations could be asked to make significant financial contributions to biodiverse countries such as Brazil under proposals put forward during talks on a global agreement to halt and reverse biodiversity decline…

Plan to drain Congo peat bog for oil could release vast amount of carbon

Drilling in one of the greatest carbon sinks on the planet could release greenhouse gases equivalent to Japan’s annual emissions, experts warn

CMS COP Expands Migratory Species Protections, Calls for Ecological Connectivity

Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Acting Executive Secretary, informed COP 13 participants that the post-2020 …

CBD Post-2020 Framework For Marine Biodiversity: What’s On Table To Mitigate Loss Of Global …

Among the various international regimes to prevent biodiversity loss, Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has been the significant one. Parties …

Researchers solve o l d biodiversity mystery

For many years, researchers have disagreed as to why some global areas have an extremely large species richness, while others have almost no species. In other words, what explains the uneven distribution of biodiversity on earth?

ASEAN joins second round of negotiations for new global biodiversity framework

The ASEAN Member States and the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) took part in the second round of negotiations over the post-2020 global biodiversity framework, which pushed through despite reports of an outbreak of COVID-19 in northern Italy.

Protecting humanity’s safety net

The world is facing a biodiversity crisis. We have lost more than 60 percent of species populations in the last 50 years, and, if we do nothing, we stand to witness a million species going extinct within the next 30 years.

UNEP launches Glowing Glowing Gone campaign on loss of coral due to climate change

This World Wildlife Day, the Wild for Life campaign is excited to partner with The Ocean Agency, an organization that utilizes the power of creative collaboration to accelerate ocean conservation and climate action. To foster change, the Ocean Agency raises awareness of the ocean’s most pressing issue…

Peatlands are under threat. Here’s why we must act now to save them

Wetlands are known by many names such as peatlands, marshes, bogs, fens or mires. What they all have in common is that their landscape is temporarily or permanently saturated with water.

Climate change threatens relationship between polar bears and ringed seals

The iconic relationship between polar bears and ringed seals is changing in western Hudson Bay, and even though the bears are eating fewer ringed seals, the seals should refrain from celebrating.

Raze here, save there: Do biodiversity offsets work for people or ecosystems?

Moussa Evariste, 53, treads lightly on sinewy legs across fields of grass that were once forest. The terrain is sandy and prickly, punctuated by the relief of slender streams. He has traced this path hundreds of times with his bare feet. A stained vest declares him Polisin’ala: forest patrol.

Abnormally Warm Years Caused a Sea Change in Coastal Alaska Ecosystems

While the changes are not yet permanent, they provide a glimpse into a possible future…

Why The Global Economy Needs A Paris-Style Agreement For Nature

Since 1970, wildlife populations have declined on average by 60%. Over the same period, we have lost more than half of the world’s coral reefs and …

Psychic Numbing: Keeping Hope Alive in a World of Extinctions

The litany of lost species can be overwhelming, leading to what has been called “psychic numbing.” But as the recovery of species from bald eagles to humpback whales shows, our actions do matter in saving species and the aliveness and beauty they bring to the world.

Global species loss could be halved

Extinction risk could decrease by more than 50% if at least 30% of land were to be conserved across the tropics, a new study reveals…

SDG15: The fight for life on land

Progress on protecting life on land has been agonisingly slow, as deforestation and habitat loss has accelerated, but hopes remain that a step change in global land management can yet be engineered…

What will it cost to save the earth’s oceans?

In 2015, 193 countries agreed on 17 global objectives for ending poverty and protecting the environment by 2030. These Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) included SDG 14, to “conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.”

Ability to Take on Diverse Roles May Be Key to Which Animals Survive Mass Extinction

An analysis spanning geologic history found that species able to occupy different ecological niches have a survival edge…

Conserving wildlife is a matter of our own survival

As Uganda prepares to join the rest of the world on March 3, 2020, to celebrate the United Nations World Wildlife Day, it is imperative to reflect on both the global and local themes; sustaining all life on earth and…

To Fight for a Living Planet, Restore its Biology

We face the greatest environmental challenges ever relating to climate change, biodiversity, land use, and more. Humans are driving 1 million species to extinction, according to…

Preserving World’s Biodiversity: Negotiations Convene at FAO Headquarters

“The world out there is watching and waiting for results,” Elizabeth Maruma Mrema warns while talking to IPS regarding the preservation of biodiversity of our planet.

Scientists document striking changes in Pacific Arctic ecosystems

Pacific Arctic ecosystems are undergoing dramatic changes because of warmer ocean water, a multidisciplinary team of scientists reported in the journal Nature Climate Change.

Scientists call on government to increase ambition to save our ocean

In the last decade there has been rapid expansion in the area of ocean designated as a Marine Protected Area (MPA). Despite this progress, marine biodiversity continues to decline, placing at risk the health of our oceans and the critical role…

Study: To curb biodiversity declines, protect land in the tropics

If world leaders, land managers and other policymakers can find a way to limit global warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius and conserve a third of the land in the tropics, global species loss could be cut in half.

The World’s Best Natural Defense Against Climate Change May Soon Make Things Worse

As extreme weather rocks the Southern Ocean, a tumultuous mix of carbon dioxide, winds and warming waters could reach an environmental tipping point…

Protecting the environment should be everyone’s concern

The Bangladesh parliament, led by the parliamentary standing committee on environment, recently declared a planetary emergency in Bangladesh. This is ground breaking in that most other parliaments around the world have declared a climate change emergency, but none have also added a biodiversity emergency…

Study: Protecting tropics could save half of species on brink

In 2019, a landmark UN report revealed that nearly 1 million species face extinction due to human activities and climate change. A groundbreaking new study offers a solution to save more than half of these doomed species…

How South Africa’s mangrove forests store carbon and why it matters

Scientists around the world are looking for ways to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This gas is a natural component of the atmosphere, released by processes of respiration and decomposition of organic matter.

UN biodiversity meeting needs to deliver transformative change, not just targets

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 UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in the Chinese city of Kunming helps the world to stop biodiversity loss.

Ten new migratory species protected under global wildlife agreement

Asian elephants, jaguars and great Indian bustards were among 10 new species added to a global wildlife agreement on Saturday.The Thirteenth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS COP13) concluded in Gandhinagar, India,…

Negotiations start on global ‘Paris-style’ deal to avert Earth’s sixth mass extinction

National governments will meet in Rome this week to discuss and reflect on a 20-point UN draft proposal to halt irreversible ecological damage, which looks set to be formally adopted in October.

Explainer: COP15, the biggest biodiversity conference in a decade

Biodiversity encompasses the full variety of life – all genes, species and ecosystems – and it is in danger, which means we are too. As this article explains, a major conference in China this year could have a big impact on our collective fate by helping to end biodiversity loss.

A Plan to Save Earth’s Oceans

According to a recent study, key regions for conservation include the Northern Pacific Ocean near China and Japan and the Atlantic between West …

2nd Meeting of the Open-ended Working Group on the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework

The second meeting of the Working Group on the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (WG) resumed on Friday, with the first meeting of the fourth contact group on sections of the zero draft on the post-2020 global biodiversity framework (GBF)…

30×30 Land and Water Conservation in the States – NCEL

There is an opportunity for states to take the lead and push forward the 30×30 movement. They can do so by introducing and passing…