Source: UN’s Kunming biodiversity summit delayed a second time
The latest news related to nature conservation from around the world. If there is
Sign up for our newsletter to receive this news in your inbox.
UN’s Kunming biodiversity summit delayed a second time
The Guardian
Covid pandemic continues to hamper plans for key gathering to agree targets on protecting nature. A key United Nations summit to negotiate an accord for nature similar to the Paris climate agreement has been postponed for a second time, it has been announced…
Protecting 30 percent of the oceans would benefit the entire planet
Popular Science
When we give marine life a chance to recoup, the ocean gives back. In protected ocean parks, the mass of fish is on average over 600 percent greater than nearby fished areas. Often, the fish return the favor when their shoals spill over from the protected area into commercial fishing grounds…
First-of-its kind study offers blueprint for ocean protection
World Economic Forum
A new study has endorsed protecting 30% of the world’s land and ocean by 2030 to meet 3 overall goals. These are preserving biodiversity, restoring fisheries and tackling climate change. During the study, 26 researchers determined which areas of the ocean should be protected, in order to meet each of the 3 above goals…
World Water Day 2021 highlights dire predictions of growing scarcity
CBC
More than half the global population could be living in water-stressed regions by 2050. About four billion people experience severe water shortages for at least one month a year, and around 1.6 billion – almost a quarter of the world’s population – have problems accessing a clean, safe water supply, according to the United Nations…
Barron’s
In 2015, Palau, a nation of more than 300 coral and volcanic islands in the western Pacific Ocean, expanded on decades of marine conservation to create a 193,000-square-mile protected area encompassing an extraordinary 80% of its ocean waters…
4 rivers and wetlands we love, and can’t afford to lose
World Wildlife Fund
Water is valued for a variety of reasons, but the common thread throughout is that it is essential for all life on Earth… This World Water Day, we’re celebrating 4 rivers and wetlands that we love, and cannot afford to lose…
On the sea’s surface, a wealth of ocean life gets its start, study finds
Mongabay
A new study found that surface slicks — moving patches of smooth water that form on the sea’s surface — host an array of species in larval form off the west coast of Hawaiʻi Island. The researchers identified more than 100 fish species from 54 families inside these slicks, representing 10% of all fish species ever recorded in Hawaiian waters…
Study calls for a marine reserve in a $500m fishing hotspot in Indonesia
Monabay
A new study proposes establishing a marine protected area in Indonesia’s Java Sea-Makassar Strait region, one of the top fishing grounds in the country. The study found that much of the commercially valuable snapper and grouper species caught in these shallow waters are juveniles…
Trawl fishing ban off Sussex coast aims to restore seaweed forests
The Guardian
Bylaw supported by David Attenborough protects large area of seabed to allow kelp to regrow. Damaging trawl fishing has been banned in more than 100 square miles of seabed off Sussex to help once vast kelp forests recover. A new bylaw has been approved to prohibit trawling year round…
Sharks ‘critical’ to restoring damaged ecosystems, finds study
The Guardian
Research in Australian bay shows absence of apex predators can exacerbate extreme climate damage. Sharks are critical in helping ecosystems recover from extreme climatic events, according to a new study…
Scientists Discover Tropic-Like Glowing Fish in the Arctic
The Swaddle
Tropical waters are known for their bright sunlight above and their richly colorful biodiversity below. These two things aren’t unrelated; for the many tropical species that exhibit biofluorescence… the sunlight is crucial. Which is why scientists have never expected to find a biofluorescent species in the Arctic…
Global Times
The Nepali government started census of the rhinoceros population on Monday in Chitwan National Park and Parsa National Park in central Nepal. The census carried out every five years was supposed to be done last year but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic…
UNESCO convenes protectors of biodiversity and launches global movement to safeguard planet
Panorama
On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of its Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme, UNESCO is organizing a Biodiversity Forum with leading players committed to biodiversity (24 March, 1pm, Central European Time). The aim of the Forum is to influence international negotiations underway…
Yale researchers create map of undiscovered life
YaleNews
Less than a decade after unveiling the “Map of Life,” a global database that marks the distribution of known species across the planet, Yale researchers have launched an even more ambitious and perhaps important project — creating a map of where life has yet to be discovered…
To avoid future pandemics, reverse the destruction of ecosystems
The Fifth Estate
There is a strong link between the threat of more pandemics and humanity’s destruction of nature, according to the IPBES and WHO. Reversing both trends will have multiple benefits, including on climate change, but will require concerted effort…
Preventing future pandemics by ending the wildlife trade
News Medical
It is a global problem and it is particularly bad in Asia, especially China. The demand from that region for wildlife has meant that illegal trade is now bringing in animals from Africa and South America to Southeast Asia. Instead of decreasing, the illegal wildlife trade to Southeast Asia and China has increased since SARS-CoV…
Protection of honey bee should be ethical concern
Punjab News Express
Many people who understand the cruelty involved in factory farming and are morally opposed to eating meat find it less obvious that the lowly honeybee should also be of ethical concern…. One may find lip service towards cruelty against animals but we are insensitive to the cruelty meted out to honeybees while extracting honey from their hives…
Recent notifications from the Convention on Biological Diversity
New dates have been announced for the UN Biodiversity Conference, now scheduled to take place from 11-24 October 2021 in Kunming, Yunnan Province, China…
