Newsletter 2022-12-15

FEATURED

Podcast: Waste crime is ‘the new narcotics’ in the U.K. by Mongabay.com — December 13, 2022

 

– The U.K.’s Environment Agency calls waste crime — where instead of delivering recycling or rubbish for proper disposal, companies simply dump it in the countryside — “the new narcotics” because it’s so easy to make money illegally.
– It’s estimated that one in every five U.K. waste companies operates in this manner, and the government seems powerless to stop it.
– In a three-part, “true eco-crime” series for Mongabay’s podcast, investigative journalists trace England’s towering illegal waste problem.
– On this second episode, a lawyer describes her year-long campaign to get the government to deal with a single illegal dump site, but they failed to act before it caught fire. We also speak with a former official at Interpol who shares that his agency also lacks the resources to tackle the problem.

Counterintuitive: Large wild herbivores may help slow climate change by Tim Vernimmen — December 13, 2022

 

– Large animals, especially herbivores such as elephants, are often seen as being destructive of vegetation, so are not thought of as a nature-based climate solution. Scientists are proving otherwise.
– By removing living and dead plants, large animals dispose of material that may fuel wildfires, which can add large amounts of carbon to the atmosphere; by consuming vegetation and excreting dung, large animals may improve the availability of nutrients to plants and support the storage of carbon in vegetation and soil.
– By creating gaps in the vegetation and dispersing seeds, large animals create diverse ecosystems with plenty of opportunities for a variety of plants to grow, making ecosystems more resilient and better able to deal with climate change.
– By nibbling down polar region shrubs and trampling snow, large animals help maintain permafrost, helping prevent the release of carbon to the atmosphere.

How agroforestry can restore degraded lands and provide income in the Amazon by Avener Prado, Ignacio Amigo and Sam Cowie — December 9, 2022

 

– As Brazil prepares to turn the page on the Bolsonaro government, finding sustainable and economically viable alternatives for the Amazon region remains challenging.
– Advocates tout agroforestry as a sustainable farming alternative to soy monocultures and cattle ranching. It can restore degraded pastures and provide a stable income for small farmers.
– One such project is RECA, a sustainable farming cooperative and an agroforestry pioneer in Brazil’s Amazon, with more than 30 years of experience.
– Yet expertise, financing, scale, science and technology are significant challenges.

If you build it, the amphibians will come: Swiss researchers show new ponds boost species at risk by Elissa Welle — December 9, 2022

 

– Local authorities and nonprofits created hundreds of new ponds on farms and in forests in a Swiss state.
– Two decades of monitoring 12 amphibian species showed that 10 of them expanded into more ponds, likely increasing their population numbers.
– The strategy is promising in similar settings, but may not be applicable everywhere.

Historic EU law against deforestation-linked imports ignores Brazil’s Cerrado by Alec Luhn — December 8, 2022

 

– A day before the COP15 biodiversity summit began, the European Union agreed on the text of a law against imports of commodities like soy, cocoa and palm oil that come from deforested areas.
– When formally adopted, the law will be the first of its kind in the world, but activists note that it only covers forests and not “other wooded land” such as Brazil’s biodiverse Cerrado savanna, almost half of which has already been cleared, mostly to grow soy for export to China and the EU.
– A proposal that would require companies to respect international law on Indigenous and human rights also failed to make it into the final text, which only mandates that they follow national laws in the country of production.
– The text also doesn’t regulate corn, nor does it apply to the financial institutions that lend to commodity producers.

 

NEWS

Japan’s example: Can forest planting reduce climate disaster risk? by Annelise Giseburt — December 15, 2022
– In disaster-prone Japan, torrential rains exacerbated by the climate crisis have caused serious flooding and landslides in recent years, including in the country’s many forests.
– While acknowledging the limits of forests’ ability to prevent landslides occurring in the bedrock, Japan’s Forestry Agency is implementing both forest improvement activities and erosion control facility construction to help mitigate future landslide disasters.
– Japan’s monoculture plantation forests, which represent 40% of the nation’s total forest cover, are seen by some experts and civil society members as insufficient to prevent mountain disasters. However, other experts say that a much wider range of geological and environmental factors, not just tree species, determine a forest’s disaster mitigation ability.
– Along Japan’s Pacific coast, others are using trees planted on raised embankments as an as-yet-untested countermeasure against future tsunamis, a type of disaster experts say can also be exacerbated by sea level rise due to climate change.

Bright, unique colors can put tropical songbirds at greater risk by Anna Marie Yanny — December 15, 2022
– Scientists measured color diversity and uniqueness in songbirds and other perching birds to prove what’s been said since Darwin’s time: The tropics are the most colorful place for these birds.
– Because the global pet trade appears to target groups of related, uniquely colored songbirds, researchers believe an additional 478 species may be at risk next.
– Losing such birds may dull nature’s palette of colors and leave fewer charismatic species to inspire conservation.

In Sierra Leone’s fishing villages, a reality check for climate aid by Ashoka Mukpo — December 15, 2022
– In April, Mongabay’s Ashoka Mukpo visited the Sherbro estuary, a sprawling riverine ecosystem of mangroves and coastal fishing villages on the Sierra Leonean coastline.
– Like other coastal areas in West Africa, the Sherbro estuary is already suffering the impacts of climate change, including flooding and higher temperatures.
– Between 2016 and 2021, USAID financed mangrove replanting and the construction of makeshift seawalls in villages here as part of a coastal climate resilience aid project.
– The project’s struggles here are an example of the difficulties that climate aid efforts can face when they meet the economic and social needs of people in vulnerable areas.

Dalian Ocean Fishing, subject of Mongabay probe, now sanctioned by U.S. by Elizabeth Claire Alberts — December 15, 2022
– The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control recently announced sanctions on Chinese individuals and companies allegedly involved in human rights abuses and illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing while operating in distant waters.
– One sanctioned company, Dalian Ocean Fishing Co., Ltd. (DOF), was the subject of two Mongabay investigations: one uncovered widespread human rights abuses, and the other exposed extensive illegal shark-finning operations within the DOF fleet of longline fishing vessels.
– China, which operates the world’s largest distant-water fishing fleet and has a long history of fisheries offenses, denounced the sanctions, saying that it is a “responsible fishing country.”

Amazon-produced cacao offers climate solutions by Miguel Pinheiro — December 15, 2022
– Cacao plantations in the Brazilian state of Pará have helped to recover about 150,000 hectares (370,660 acres) of degraded land in the last 25 years.
– The Brazilian government has supported agroforestry within key commercial crops, such as cacao, to fight rampant deforestation in the Amazon and offset carbon.
– By 2030, another 250,000 cacao trees are expected to be planted in the region, according to some sources, increasing cacao’s currently cultivated area by 25%.
– One hectare of cacao plantation under an agroforestry system can remove 165 tons of carbon from the atmosphere, Brazilian research shows, which could make carbon markets an attractive opportunity for farmers in the Amazon.

In Brazil’s agricultural heartland, rivers run dry as monoculture advances by Ana Ionova — December 14, 2022
– The Paraná River Basin has suffered an unprecedented drought since 2021, affecting hydropower generation, river-borne food shipments, and freshwater supplies for 40 million people across Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay.
– In Brazil, the prolonged drought has hit some of the region’s most important reserves, including Várzeas do Rio Ivinhema State Park, which houses one of the last slices of forest in Mato Grosso do Sul state and acts as a refuge for hundreds of species.
– The drought has drained lagoons in the park, made parts of the reserve more prone to wildfires, and disrupted the breeding cycles of native birds.
– Environmentalists blame the advance of large-scale monoculture in the region, which has cleared most of the forests and ushered in changes in rain patterns and droughts.

Nearly half of replanted trees die, but careful site selection can help by Danielle Keeton-Olsen — December 14, 2022
– A recent survey of reforestation efforts in South and Southeast Asia found that about half of trees planted as part of such projects died within a decade.
– The study also identified factors that increase the chances of survival; for example, trees planted in sites with existing forest were more likely to survive than trees planted on open land.
– The researchers also noted that few projects carry out long-term monitoring after the initial planting, even though it takes decades for forests to regrow.

Wildfires are climbing up the snowiest mountains of the western U.S. by Isabel Swafford — December 14, 2022
– Forest fires are getting larger and hotter in the western U.S., shrinking the mountain snowpacks vital to communities and ecosystems.
– When a wildfire burns on mountain slopes, snow that falls later in the winter is more exposed to sun and wind, making it melt or evaporate faster and earlier than ever before.
– Burned land is recovering more slowly as the region warms, leaving less water for trees and plants to regrow and increasing the risks of erosion and flooding.

Trafficking and habitat loss spell doom for Bangladesh’s western hoolock gibbons by Rafiqul Islam — December 14, 2022
– The western hoolock gibbon is a globally endangered species but in Bangladesh is considered critically endangered, due to continued habitat depletion, hunting and trafficking.
– According to a 2021 study, the country’s hoolock gibbon population dropped by around 84% over the past four decades, with the total estimated population now at just 469 individuals.
– Wildlife experts say the apes are hunted for food locally, and trafficked across the border to India and China for the illegal pet trade and for use in traditional medicine.
– They’ve called for an urgent conservation initiative to protect the gibbons and their habitats, including greater involvement by border guards and intelligence agents to crack down on trafficking.

Airbus Foundation looks to put satellites to new biodiversity conservation uses by Mongabay.com — December 14, 2022
– The Connected Conservation Foundation and the Airbus Foundation are currently accepting proposals for an award to support the use of satellite imagery for biodiversity conservation.
– The competition winners will receive access to Airbus’s Pléiades and Pléiades Neo satellite constellations and $5,000 in financing.
– The satellites deliver images with resolutions down to 30 centimeters (12 inches) and could be used in applications such as anti-poaching, forest monitoring, and species population assessments.

“Sinchiurco is coated with oil”: The Kichwa people going up against Petroecuador by Ana Cristina Alvarado — December 14, 2022
– In 1985, a road opened through the Kichwa community of Sinchiruco, in the northern Ecuadorian Amazon. With it came the Guanta 1 oil platform, which would lead to repeated complaints of human and environmental rights violations.
– Until 1990, Guanta 1 was operated by Texaco. Texaco and the companies that came later have been accused of oil and diesel spills, creating crude oil pools, and accidents that led to the death of a child and the loss of one girl’s sight.
– The platform was later managed by Petroamazonas and PDVSA. Now run by Petroecuador, the surrounding communities are still demanding compensation for previous spills and repairs to partially fixed pipelines that, they claim, continue to cause spills. After 37 years, the community is saying that enough is enough.

Amid struggling COP15 talks, Indigenous leaders from Canada offer some solutions by Chris Arsenault — December 14, 2022
– Talks on a plan to protect land and water globally are underway at the COP15 meeting in Montreal, with the host nation Canada among a legion of countries pushing for a “30×30” deal to protect 30% of the world’s land and ocean by 2030.
– Agreements on the targets, approaches and language in the post-2020 global biodiversity framework have been especially slow, with ministers from around the world set to arrive tomorrow to approve on the text.
– Indigenous delegates and analysts are calling for the integration of Indigenous land rights, knowledge and financing to resolve the 30×30 conservation target, citing Canada’s guardians program as a successful way to meet area-based conservation goals.
– The Canadian government has committed $800 million for Indigenous-run protected areas, with plans to expand them by nearly 1 million square kilometers (247 million acres) over the next seven years.

Lianas affect forest carbon uptake differently by region, study shows by Carolyn Cowan — December 14, 2022
– A new study has revealed that vine-like lianas typically infest smaller trees in Southeast Asia, in sharp contrast to prior findings in the Neotropics.
– Scientists have long known that lianas can impede tree growth, alter forest composition and structure, and reduce the amount of carbon stored in aboveground tree biomass.
– The study suggests that lianas play different ecological roles in forests in different parts of the world, and therefore affect forest carbon sequestration in variable ways.
– The study authors say that despite their negative effects on forest carbon, lianas are still essential components of natural ecosystems, and managers should apply a targeted, precautionary approach to cutting.

Tech companies work to make fishing, aquaculture more sustainable by Abhishyant Kidangoor — December 14, 2022
– Several companies around the world are developing technology to make fishing and aquaculture more sustainable.
– These include the use of artificial intelligence to identify non-native species that disrupt marine food webs and the fisheries they support, and lights that attempt to attract only target species to fishing nets in a bid to reduce the capture of non-targeted species.
– With the rapidly increasing global population underscoring the need to source protein more sustainably, experts say it’s urgent to find ways to make fishing less damaging and more productive.

Sulawesi hydropower dam could flood important archaeological sites by Agus Mawan — December 14, 2022
– A Jakarta-based hydropower company aims to dam the Karama River in western Sulawesi as part of a clean energy project to help wean the country off of coal.
– An inundation map shows that the dam could raise the river’s water level to 62 meters (203 feet) above sea level, potentially damaging important archaeological sites in the Karama valley.
– In 2020, archaeologists announced they had found Indonesia’s oldest-known rice strain in the Karama valley, an important region in the Austronesian expansion, thought to be one of the most expansive prehistoric human migrations.

Protecting wetlands is key to Indonesia hitting its climate goals, study says by Basten Gokkon — December 13, 2022
– Fully protecting Indonesia’s remaining peatlands and mangroves is crucial in meeting its greenhouse gas reduction goals under the Paris climate agreement, a new study says.
– Protecting these existing wetland ecosystems, including extending prevailing protections to secondary forests, has a greater climate mitigation potential than restoring degraded ecosystems, the study authors say.
– Under its Paris Agreement commitment, Indonesia has pledged to cut emissions by 31.8% by 2030 against the business-as-usual trajectory, or 43.2% with support from the international community.
– Most of the country’s emissions come from the forestry and other land use sector, but this sector receives scant climate funding for decarbonization compared to the transportation and electricity sectors.

Threatened cloud forests key to billions of dollars worth of hydropower: Report by John Cannon — December 13, 2022
– Payments for the provision of water by cloud forests for hydropower could produce income for countries and bolster the case for the forests’ protection, a new report reveals.
– These fog-laden forests occur on tropical mountains, with about 90% found in just 25 countries.
– Cloud forests are threatened by climate change, agricultural expansion, logging and charcoal production, and studies have shown that the quality and quantity of water that these forests generate is tied to keeping them healthy.

Chimpanzee nut cracking leaves telltale marks on stones, providing clues to human evolution by Kate Hull — December 13, 2022
– Groups of chimpanzees in West Africa use stone tools in distinctly different ways to crack open nuts.
– Researchers used 3D scans to trace wear patterns on the tools, called “hammerstones” and “anvils.”
– The different tool uses may help archaeologists identify signs of early stone tool technology in human ancestors more than 3 million years ago.

‘Panic’ sets in as armed groups occupy, deforest Colombian national park by Astrid Arellano — December 12, 2022
– Once covering an expanse of more than 2,140 square kilometers (826 square miles) of the Colombian Amazon Rainforest, Tinigua National Natural Park has lost 29% of its forests over the past 20 years; the majority of this loss has occurred since 2018.
– Satellite data and monitoring suggest forest loss has kept a quick pace in 2022.
– Authorities say illegal cattle ranching, coca growing and land-grabbing are driving deforestation in the park, much of it reportedly done at the hands of armed groups affiliated with FARC dissident factions.
– Local communities have also reportedly been threatened by these groups.

Bolivia looks to opaque methods, firms to build lithium powerhouse by Ian Morse — December 12, 2022
– As fossil fuel use aggravates climate breakdown, companies and governments are looking to lithium-ion batteries to replace carbon-intensive technologies. Lithium prices have hit all-time highs, pushing the market to seek more sources to meet forecasted demand.
– To fill the gap, companies have turned to Bolivia, whose 2019 election was marred by turmoil exacerbated by allegations of foreign powers seeking its lithium that some called an attempted coup.
– Six foreign firms expect a decision from the Bolivian government about which will earn the opportunity to use new technologies, collectively called direct lithium extraction, to speed up the country’s production of the world’s largest recorded reserves of lithium.

For Philippine pangolins, tourism’s return could spell trouble by Keith Anthony S. Fabro — December 12, 2022
– Since lifting tourism restrictions at the beginning of the year, the Philippines has received more than 2 million international arrivals. Palawan, home of the Philippine pangolin, has already received more than 500,000 visitors this year.
– The Philippine pangolin is critically endangered, hunted to the brink of extinction for its scales and meat; China, the Philippines’ neighbor and a major tourism market, drives global demand for these products.
– A recent report on trafficking dynamics of the Philippine pangolin says the development of local pangolin trafficking networks since 2016 is tied in part to policies that encouraged Chinese tourism and direct investment.
– Experts warn the post-COVID-19 resurgence of tourism will also lead to a spike in pangolin trafficking.

Indonesia’s mangrove revival hindered by conflicting policies by Gafur Abdullah — December 12, 2022
– Indonesia’s president showcased a new conservation area to G20 leaders as an example of the country’s efforts to combat climate change.
– The country aims to add 33 more sites next year and rehabilitate 600,000 hectares of mangroves by 2024.
– Only about one-third of the country’s mangroves are in good condition, and conflicting development policies stand in the way of future conservation efforts, according to the nation’s largest environmental group.

Five pressing questions for the future of lithium mining in Bolivia by Maxwell Radwin — December 12, 2022
– As the Bolivian government negotiates business dealings with foreign lithium companies, questions remain about the future of local desert ecosystems and the Indigenous communities that steward them.
– Lithium extraction, often used for lithium-ion batteries, has been known to deplete and contaminate freshwater, impacting wildlife populations and the livelihoods of residents who rely on tourism and salt mining.
– While many community leaders in Bolivia are hopeful they can avoid similar pitfalls in the early stages of development, others are worried that foreign interests will once again exploit the country’s natural resources, leaving many residents in poverty.

How many ants live on Earth? At least 20 quadrillion, scientists say by Shannon Banks — December 12, 2022
– Biologists scoured hundreds of studies of ant populations around the globe to arrive at a startling new estimate of their numbers: 20 quadrillion, or about 2.5 million for every person on Earth.
– Even this estimate is low, the scientists say, as it does not account for ants living underground, and there is not much data from Northern Asia and Central Africa.
– Because ants are vital to the health of our ecosystems, researchers stress the importance of learning more about their abundance and their response to environmental change.

Deforestation accelerated in Brazil while climate talks were underway in Egypt by Mongabay.com — December 9, 2022
– Deforestation in Earth’s largest rainforest accelerated sharply during the month of November when U.N. climate talks were underway in Egypt, according to data released today.
– Brazil’s national space research institute INPE detected 555 square kilometers (214 square miles) of forest clearing during November, about 60% above average for the month over the past seven years and more than twice last November’s rate.
– Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has been trending upward since 2012 but incoming president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has pledged to better protect the region’s forests.

Bill threatens more oil extraction, roads in Guatemala’s protected forests by Maxwell Radwin — December 9, 2022
– A bill in Guatemala’s congress would renew a contract for the current oil and gas pipeline in Laguna del Tigre National Park and make it easier to contract future drilling.
– The region’s largest oil reserves pass from southern Mexico through the Petén department and into Belize, making Laguna del Tigre National Park an ideal focus of development, some environmentalists warn.
– Additional development could lead to the creation of roads, making it easier for illegal loggers, drug traffickers and land grabbers to move into the park, as happened when the original oil field was created in the 1980s.

Climate change could force 1.2 billion to move by 2050. Is the world even remotely ready? by Robert Muggah — December 9, 2022
– In a world beset by rising temperatures, devastating storms, and flash floods, climate migration and disaster displacement are quickly becoming the signal 21st century crisis. The vast majority of those worst affected are in the world’s poorest and fastest warming countries.
– Yet, rather than step up to meet the challenges of climate dislocation, most national governments, international agencies, private sector players and non-profits are burying their heads in the sand.
– Short-termism prevails over long-range forecasting, planning and preparation. This is dangerous, argues Robert Muggah, co-founder of the Igarapé Institute, in a new analysis.

Will the world join Indigenous peoples in relationship with nature at COP-15? (commentary) by Jennifer Tauli Corpuz and Valérie Courtois — December 9, 2022
– Indigenous peoples are recognized as the world’s top conservationists and protectors of biodiversity, and have a strong presence at the COP-15 meetings on biodiversity now in progress in Montreal.
– Many of Canada’s First Nations have lived in relationship with caribou for 10,000 years, for instance, but the herds are faltering as delegates debate hundreds of kilometers to the south.
– “Regardless of what is decided in Montreal, Indigenous peoples will continue to nurture and fight for the wellbeing of the flora and fauna on our lands, though we are hopeful that the world will join us,” the Indigenous authors of a new op-ed argue.
– This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.

Climate change is hammering insects — in the tropics and everywhere else: Scientists by Jeremy Hance — December 9, 2022
– A new review paper finds that climate change is pounding insects in a wide variety of ways all over the world.
– Because insects are so sensitive to temperature change, climate change is impacting them directly, including potentially decreasing their ability to breed.
– But climate change is also causing insects to change their behavior as it shifts seasonal beginnings and ends, risking that insects will act out of sync with the rest of the environment on which they depend. Climate change-intensified drought, extreme precipitation, lengthening heat waves, and fires are also harming insects.
– The best way to protect insects? Combat climate change and safeguard micro-habitats.

Fears for academic freedom as Indonesia doubles down on scientists’ ban by Hans Nicholas Jong and Lusia Arumingtyas — December 9, 2022
– Indonesian academics continue to question the government’s justification for banning five foreign scientists who called out the official narrative that the country’s orangutan populations are increasing.
– The initial ban made nebulous accusations that the scientists had “negative intentions” that could “discredit” the government, but the environment ministry now claims they broke the law — without specifying how.
– Indonesian scientists campaigning for academic freedom say the government’s move is a form of anti-science policy and power control over the production of knowledge.
– The environment ministry has refused to engage with either the foreign scientists or the academic freedom caucus, with researchers saying this is part of a larger trend of independent science being constrained.

Will FTX’s demise shift sinking Miami’s crypto embrace? (commentary) by Nikolas Kozloff — December 8, 2022
– Encouraged by a Bitcoin-friendly mayor, Miami has become a cryptocurrency capital, of sorts.
– This seems ironic because low-lying city is extremely vulnerable to sea level rise, and the crypto industry has one of the heaviest carbon footprints, thereby hastening that rise due to climate change.
– Before FTX imploded recently, the crypto investor Sam Bankman-Fried hoped to turn Miami into a hub for global cryptocurrency. “Hopefully, the demise of FTX will derail such vainglorious fantasies,” a new op-ed argues.
– This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

Mennonites deforest Peruvian Amazon, encroach on Indigenous lands | Chasing Deforestation by Romina Castagnino — December 8, 2022
– Chasing Deforestation is a series that explores the world’s most threatened forests through satellite data and reporters on the ground.
– Host Romi Castagnino travels to the central Peruvian Amazon Rainforest, where a deeply conservative religious group, known as Mennonites, has been illegally deforesting land and encroaching upon Indigenous territories to expand their agricultural fields.
– Satellite data show that Mennonite colonies are now the leading cause of large-scale deforestation in the Peruvian Amazon.
– Romi talks with leaders and members of two Indigenous communities affected by the Mennonite-led deforestation and also visits the Mennonite colony of Masisea, the one responsible for the illegal clearing.

Peat on land and kelp at sea as Argentina protects tip of Tierra del Fuego by Elizabeth Claire Alberts — December 8, 2022
– Argentinian legislators recently approved a law to permanently protect the Mitre Peninsula at the tip of South America, which harbors vast peatlands and kelp forests that host an assortment of species.
– The Mitre Peninsula is thought to hold about 84% of Argentina’s peatlands, which are known to sequester about 315 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, roughly equivalent to three years of emissions in Argentina.
– The region also holds more than 30% of the world’s kelp forests, another key store of carbon.

Animating the Carbon Cycle: Earth’s animals vital allies in CO2 storage by Mark Hillsdon — December 8, 2022
– The idea of animating the carbon cycle (ACC) is relatively new. The concept champions the role that healthy populations of wild animals, both terrestrial and marine, can play in boosting the ability of ecosystems to store carbon, helping the planet stay within 1.5°C (2.7°F) of temperature rise over pre-industrial levels.
– But for ACC to be fully effective, humanity needs to preserve and protect intact nature. We also need to rebuild populations of wild animals, including apex predators such as wolves, large herds of herbivores, and invertebrates such as pollinators. By doing so we can help rebalance the functions of natural systems.
– ACC puts the spotlight on oceans too, and the role animals there can play in sequestering carbon. It calls for greater protection of the seas and marine life, allowing whale populations to grow, and protecting mesopelagic fish — the largest group of vertebrates on the planet — from overfishing.
– By looking at the bigger picture of animal-plant-ecosystem relationships, and based on the growing popularity of nature-based climate solutions, scientists believe that now is the time for the wider conservation and rewilding movements to embrace ACC to help animals fulfill their vital roles in the carbon cycle.

Shark-fishing gear banned across much of Pacific in conservation ‘win’ by Philip Jacobson — December 8, 2022
– The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission has outlawed shark lines and wire leaders, both of which aid industrial-scale fishers in targeting sharks.
– Shark numbers in the open ocean have dropped by roughly 71% in the past 50 years.
– Proponents consider the measure a potentially precedent-setting move that could precede similar bans in other regions.

 

PREVIOUS FEATURES

Shark-fishing gear banned across much of Pacific in conservation ‘win’ by Philip Jacobson — December 8, 2022
Podcast: True eco-crime in the U.K., ‘Into the Wasteland’ part 1 by Mongabay.com — December 6, 2022
Whistleblower: Enviva claim of ‘being good for the planet… all nonsense’ by Justin Catanoso — December 5, 2022
Rare, critically endangered gecko making dramatic recovery in Caribbean by Maxwell Radwin — December 2, 2022
Photos: Newcomer farmers in Brazil embrace bees, agroforestry and find success by Inaê Guion — December 2, 2022
‘It was a shark operation’: Q&A with Indonesian crew abused on Chinese shark-finning boat by Philip Jacobson and Basten Gokkon — December 2, 2022
Podcast: How reporters uncovered a massive illegal shark finning operation by Mike Gaworecki — December 1, 2022

 

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