CBD News Headlines

• A Light at the End of the Covid Tunnel?
  [released on: 01/05/2020]
  In farming and food systems, as in every other avenue of public life, context is everything, as I said during a discussion on Al Jazeera's 'Inside Story', this past Thursday.
• Experts apply microbiome research to agricultural science to increase crop yield
  [released on: 01/05/2020]
  The global demand and consumption of agricultural crops is increasing at a rapid pace. According to the 2019 Global Agricultural Productivity Report, global yield needs to increase at an average annual rate of 1.73 percent to sustainably produce food, feed, fiber and bioenergy for 10 billion people in 2050.
• Where fashion's transparency falls short
  [released on: 01/05/2020]
  The resounding message from Fashion Revolution's annual Transparency Index: many apparel brands are becoming more transparent, considered by many to be a proxy for how aggressive their sustainability efforts are.
• Scientists Discover 1.9 Million Plastic Pieces On Ocean Floor
  [released on: 01/05/2020]
  Scientists have found the highest microplastic contamination ever recorded on the ocean floor. According to BBC News' latest report, the water contamination was found in sediments pulled from the bottom of the Mediterranean located near Italy.
• A COVID-19 recovery for climate
  [released on: 01/05/2020]
  In response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, countries are launching economic recovery programs to mitigate unemployment and stabilize core industries. Although it is understandably difficult to contemplate other hazards in the midst of this outbreak, it is important to remember that we face another major crisis that threatens human prosperity-climate change.
• African Continent: Challenges of Climate and Demographic Changes
  [released on: 01/05/2020]
  Impacts of climate change and growing population, as well as the threats to human development - such as poverty, crime and health - could lead to insecurity and instability in African countries. Hence, the continent must already start preparing to deal with these risk factors. For this purpose, paying close attention to business-intelligence and geopolitical-risk-analysis will help stakeholders to understand the risks involved in Africa and how to mitigate them.
• 'What can I realistically do about climate change?'
  [released on: 01/05/2020]
  I was born in 1988, which apparently makes me an older millennial. My question is, what changes can I make and realistically recommend to contribute to fighting climate change? I already vote conscientiously, I've moved closer to my office - reducing my commute. I can't afford a new electric car, I don't own my own home where I can install solar panels. I'm largely vegetarian. I recycle and compost dutifully.
• Unconventional Optimism: Lessons from Climate Change Scholars and Activists
  [released on: 01/05/2020]
  How do you feel, dear reader, about the future of our planet in this present moment? Perhaps as an environmental activist, a scientist, or just a person who cares about the well-being of others - how do you feel about the possibility for the success of our movements for transformation, ecological well-being, and a freer, fairer world?
• Liberia: Climate Change Efforts and Messages in Relation to the COVID-19 Pandemic
  [released on: 01/05/2020]
  The COVID19 pandemic has become a global concern and governments around the world are fighting it in different ways. On April 8, 2020, a State of Emergency was declared by the Liberian Government to stop the spread of the virus which includes a STAY-AT-HOME order. I woke up this morning going through a long To Do List, yet I decided to write an article.
• African Continent: Challenges of Climate and Demographic Changes
  [released on: 01/05/2020]
  Impacts of climate change and growing population, as well as the threats to human development - such as poverty, crime and health - could lead to insecurity and instability in African countries. Hence, the continent must already start preparing to deal with these risk factors. For this purpose, paying close attention to business-intelligence and geopolitical-risk-analysis will help stakeholders to understand the risks involved in Africa and how to mitigate them.
• Rare Parrots Rebound In New Zealand And Australia
  [released on: 01/05/2020]
  Bringing some good news for bird lovers. Populations of New Zealand's orange-fronted parakeet and southern Australia's orange-bellied parrots, both critically endangered species, are recovering- thanks to conservation efforts concentrated on bringing them back from the brink. However, there is still a long fight ahead for these birds and their protectors. Here are some recent conservation success stories associated with these two species.
• Global lockdowns spur worrying uptick in wildlife poaching
  [released on: 01/05/2020]
  As the coronavirus pandemic diverts attention and funds from wildlife protection to public health and global lockdowns deprive rural poor of desperately needed income, countries around the globe are witnessing an uptick in poaching of endangered species.
• Lockdown isn't good news for all wildlife - many animals rely on humans for survival
  [released on: 01/05/2020]
  From Venetian canals running clear, to herds of goats roaming around Llandudno, Wales, there have been claims of nature's comeback since the start of lockdown. But recently, staff at the Meltham Wildlife Reserve in Holmfirth, West Yorkshire, reported the arrival of a red kite that was found to be underweight and incapable of feeding itself.
• Endangered ornate eagle rays make a splash off Queensland's Lady Elliot Island
  [released on: 01/05/2020]
  Two endangered ornate eagle rays have been sighted off Lady Elliot Island in the southern Great Barrier Reef, a breakthrough for researchers studying the species dubbed "the unicorn of the sea".
• Why Amazon's commitment to working forests matters
  [released on: 01/05/2020]
  The first investment by e-commerce and cloud services powerhouse Amazon's $100 million Right Now Climate Fund underscores the growing interest in nature-based solutions for carbon removal. But this is not yet-another-tree-planting commitment.
• Trees For The Future Launches 20 New Projects
  [released on: 01/05/2020]
  Regenerative agroforestry nonprofit Trees for the Future launches 20 new projects across sub-Saharan Africa in their ongoing effort to end hunger, poverty, and deforestation through farmer education and the Forest Garden Approach.
• 'Not just weeds': how rebel botanists are using graffiti to name forgotten flora
  [released on: 01/05/2020]
  Arising international force of rebel botanists armed with chalk has taken up street graffiti to highlight the names and importance of the diverse but downtrodden flora growing in the cracks of paths and walls in towns and cities across Europe.
• Birdlife urges U.N. to make a 'healthy natural environment' a human right
  [released on: 01/05/2020]
  In an open letter to the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, the leading global conservation partnership, BirdLife International, recently marked the 50th anniversary of Earth Day by calling for the UN to take a bold and unprecedented step: declare a healthy natural environment a fundamental human right.
• Your Environment This Week: India's polar missions, opportunity in a pandemic, fake wildlife news frenzy
  [released on: 01/05/2020]
  This week's environment and conservation news stories rolled into one.
• Can't hurry love: slow worms embrace marathon sessions of lockdown loving
  [released on: 01/05/2020]
  Under a small, sun-baked mat, a curled metallic-gold slow worm lies basking in the heat, the dark stripe running down its body revealing its youth. Sensing attention, it begins to wriggle away, revealing a companion, which speeds rapidly into the grasses in the opposite direction.
• Revelations from Palmyra Atoll: the Age of Catalyzing Biodiversity Growth
  [released on: 01/05/2020]
  In 2014, Andrew Wright, photographer and member of Island Conservation's Advisory Council, jumped at the opportunity to visit the remote and awe-inspiring Palmyra Atoll. He joined a field team from Island Conservation and The Nature Conservancy on a monitoring trip to see first-hand the ecosystem recovery that had taken place in only three years following the removal of invasive rats.
• Towards a shift in interdependent life
  [released on: 01/05/2020]
  We are living in a time unlike any other. The rhythm of life is shifting; the frenzied speeds of daily activities and the productive flows that propel and accelerate entire societies have been intercepted by the global reach of the deadly coronavirus pandemic.
• What exactly is the 'big five'? And why you might want to help change it
  [released on: 01/05/2020]
  A term coined in the late 1800s, "the big five" referred to the most difficult and dangerous animals hunters pursued in Africa on foot: Lion, leopard, elephant, rhinoceros and buffalo.
• Japanese aquarium urges public to video-chat eels who are forgetting humans exist
  [released on: 01/05/2020]
  When the garden eels at a Tokyo aquarium remove their heads from the sand, they are usually confronted by pairs of human eyes staring back at them through the glass.
• The bison calf taking the first step to rewild the Canadian prairies
  [released on: 01/05/2020]
  When Europeans settlers first set their eyes upon North America's Great Plains, vast seas of bison stretched as far as the horizon. But, more than a century ago, the last of the thundering herds that stampeded across the grasslands disappeared.
• Why post COVID-19 must focus on building a transition to a greener economy
  [released on: 01/05/2020]
  The virus has disrupted society and demobilized the global economy which will have profound lasting economic and social consequences in every corner of the globe. The world is facing an unprecedented crisis. In the past two months, COVID-19 has swept across the world causing a tremendous human tragedy of historical proportions. COVID19 knows no borders, spares no country, or continent and strikes indiscriminately.
• For Singapore penguins, shuttered zoo is flippin' fun
  [released on: 01/05/2020]
  One cute group is making the most of Singapore's partial virus lockdown-penguins at the city-state's zoo, who are being given the run of the empty complex and revelling in the chance to do some exploring.
• Biodiversity or Bust
  [released on: 01/05/2020]
  Diseases transmitted from animals have decimated human populations at least since the bubonic plague appeared in Biblical times. Centuries later, preserving healthy ecosystems is the most effective - and the most cost-effective - way to prevent future outbreaks that endanger our lives and threaten our livelihoods.
• Balancing impacts of range-shifting species: Invasives vs. biodiversity
  [released on: 01/05/2020]
  For many years, the conservation community has embraced the idea that improving connectivity, that is, creating corridors so species can follow their preferred climate, will benefit biodiversity, says Toni Lyn Morelli at the University of Massachusetts Amherst's Climate Adaptation Science Center.
• Ocean acidification prediction now possible years in advance
  [released on: 01/05/2020]
  CU Boulder researchers have developed a method that could enable scientists to accurately forecast ocean acidity up to five years in advance. This would enable fisheries and communities that depend on seafood negatively affected by ocean acidification to adapt to changing conditions in real time, improving economic and food security in the next few decades.
• Ukraine scientists navigate lockdown to reach Antarctica
  [released on: 01/05/2020]
  Yuriy Otruba was preparing for his sixth scientific expedition to Antarctica when the coronavirus pandemic hit, shutting borders, grounding flights and locking down countries he needed to travel through.
• LED lights halve unwanted fish in nets, research finds
  [released on: 01/05/2020]
  A simple technique to "illuminate the exits" in trawl fishing nets can almost halve the numbers of unwanted catch, new research has found, potentially protecting both the environment and fishermen's livelihoods.
• Alarm over deaths of bees from rapidly spreading viral disease
  [released on: 01/05/2020]
  A viral disease that causes honey bees to suffer severe trembling, flightlessness and death within a week is spreading exponentially in Britain. Chronic bee paralysis virus (CBPV) was only recorded in Lincolnshire in 2007. A decade later, it was found in 39 of 47 English counties and six of eight Welsh counties, according to data collected from visits to more than 24,000 beekeepers.
• A nose for trouble: Fruit flies can detect predators by smell
  [released on: 01/05/2020]
  A study published this week in Scientific Reports by researchers from Macquarie University Applied BioSciences reveals that Queensland Fruit Fly (Q-fly) can detect the presence of potential predators by smell. Incredibly, the study also found that Q-fly modify their behavior based upon this detection, adopting predator-specific responses.
• Coffee plants have a small but consistent core microbiome of fungi and bacteria
  [released on: 01/05/2020]
  For most people, coffee is a necessary start to the day. For three scientists based in Toronto, coffee is a good research subject in a world with a changing climate.
• New self-forming membrane to protect our environment
  [released on: 01/05/2020]
  A new class of self-forming membrane to separate carbon dioxide from a mixture of gases has been developed by Newcastle University researchers.
• Scientists find evidence of how platinum metals form under 60 million-year-old Scottish volcano
  [released on: 01/05/2020]
  Research carried out by scientists at Keele University, the University of Manchester and University College Dublin has shed new light on how precious metals are concentrated in igneous rocks.
• Plastic, paper or cotton: which shopping bag is best?
  [released on: 01/05/2020]
  On March 1, New York State instituted its plastic bag ban, joining seven other states in an attempt to lessen litter, garbage in landfills, ocean pollution, and harm to marine life. March 1 was also the day that New York acknowledged its first coronavirus case. And despite the fact that California was the first state to ban plastic bags in 2014, San Francisco has reversed its plastic bag ban because of the coronavirus, outlawing the use of reusable shopping bags, which are capable of spreading viral and bacterial diseases.
• Climate-smart agricultural practices increase maize yield in Malawi
  [released on: 01/05/2020]
  Climate change creates extreme weather patterns that are especially challenging for people in developing countries and can severely impact agricultural yield and food security. International aid organizations have invested billions of dollars in promoting climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices, but the effects of those programs are rarely documented.
• Carbon dioxide emissions from dry inland waters globally underestimated
  [released on: 01/05/2020]
  Inland waters such as rivers, lakes and reservoirs play an important role in the global carbon cycle. Calculations that scale up the carbon dioxide emissions from land and water surface areas do not take account of inland waters that dry out intermittently.