CBD News Headlines

• Redefining productivity and efficiency of UK farming systems
  [released on: 15/10/2019]
  While the current approach to UK agricultural economics focuses on a growth in outputs and optimising inputs, the report states that a change in assessing the economics of food production is key.
• My beef with scapegoating meat in climate change conversation
  [released on: 15/10/2019]
  The meat industry is a popular target to blame when we analyze the biggest contributors to global warming, but the belief that adopting a purely meatless diet to combat climate change may not be enough.
• Indigenous Terra Madre: The Role of Youth, Women, and Ancient Methods
  [released on: 15/10/2019]
  On the third day of Indigenous Terra Madre Asia & Pan-Pacific in Ainu Mosir, the spotlight turned to the role of youth, women and ancient technologies in indigenous food systems.
• The nitrogen dilemma: can we reduce fertilisers and still feed the world?
  [released on: 15/10/2019]
  When nitrogen-based fertiliser runs into water systems it can result in toxic algae blooms, leading to oxygen depletion and vast oceanic 'dead zones'. Evidence suggests their use also contributes to air pollution, increased rates of cancer and reduced biodiversity, as well as emitting nitrous oxide - an extremely potent greenhouse gas.
• Unlocking the biochemical treasure chest within microbes
  [released on: 15/10/2019]
  A new genetic engineering tool will help open the floodgates of microbial metabolite applications.
• Sycomore AM launches Next Generation fund
  [released on: 15/10/2019]
  Sycomore Asset Management, the ?8bn French manager, has launched a balanced fund focused on companies with business models deemed compatible with sustainable growth objectives.
• UN, WWF and world's insurers unite to launch first insurance industry guide to protect UNESCO World Heritage Sites
  [released on: 15/10/2019]
  The first guide for the insurance industry to protect our world's priceless and irreplaceable assets was launched today at a major event by UN Environment's Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) in São Paulo, Brazil, convening leading insurers, investors and banks.
• Sustainability: The New World Order
  [released on: 15/10/2019]
  The responsibility of saving the planet is not a single entity's responsibility, but everyone's duty. It is time we joined forces to save the planet. After all, we have only one.
• Government tables 'groundbreaking' Environment Bill
  [released on: 15/10/2019]
  Long-awaited legislation to deliver new environmental regulator and legally binding green targets
• Accra wins award for Informal Waste Collection Expansion project
  [released on: 15/10/2019]
  Ghana's capital city, Accra, has been mentioned among the 2019 'World's Seven Best Climate Projects' for its Informal Waste Collection Expansion project. The recognition puts Accra among this year's seven short-listed cities of the 'C40 Cities Bloomberg Philanthropies Awards.'
• Green roofs can vastly improve city life, so why don't we see more of them?
  [released on: 15/10/2019]
  Rooftops covered with grass, vegetable gardens and lush foliage are now a common sight in many cities around the world. More and more private companies and city authorities are investing in green roofs, drawn to their wide-ranging benefits which include savings on energy costs, mitigating the risk from floods, creating habitats for urban wildlife, tackling air pollution and urban heat and even producing food.
• Fall leaves on your lawn can improve soil, biodiversity and environment: experts
  [released on: 15/10/2019]
  Leaves changing colour in the fall is a beautiful sign of transitioning seasons, but as they fall and gather on our lawns raking them up can be a daunting task for home owners. Lucky for those hoping to avoid tedious yard work, experts suggest leaving the rake in the shed and leaves on the ground.
• Pumping Oxygen In A Lake To Try To Save Fish Facing Climate Change
  [released on: 15/10/2019]
  You'd never suspect it on a whisper-still morning, with the mountains and marsh reflecting off the water, but Upper Klamath Lake in southern Oregon is a tough place to be a fish.
• Costs of climate change piling up already
  [released on: 15/10/2019]
  Talk climate change and everyone looks towards calamity in the future. It's the kind of thing that opponents find easy to dismiss. But how about the cost that climate change is already having? Real dollars-and-cents changes that will hit taxpayers and those using services around the world?
• Global index finds climate change driving 'alarming' hunger levels
  [released on: 15/10/2019]
  Central African Republic topped an annual world hunger index on Tuesday as aid agencies warned that climate change was making it increasingly hard to feed the world.
• Loons likely to disappear from Minnesota due to climate change, new report warns
  [released on: 15/10/2019]
  Minnesota could lose its beloved state bird in coming decades if humans don't stall climate change and prevent the common loon from shifting north.
• The IMF thinks carbon taxes will stop the climate crisis. That's a terrible idea
  [released on: 15/10/2019]
  On Thursday, the IMF suggested a $75-per-ton global carbon tax is the most efficient way to fight greenhouse gas emissions and keep warming below 2C. The tax is, if anything, far too low.
• SA's biodiversity is at risk despite commendable conservation laws
  [released on: 15/10/2019]
  Dr Andrew Skowno started his career counting the Clanwilliam cedar, an iconic conifer tree species, found in the Cederberg mountains and nowhere else on earth. The critically endangered species, which survived the last Ice Age, is being wiped out by climate change.
• Firms ignoring climate crisis will go bankrupt, says Mark Carney
  [released on: 15/10/2019]
  Companies and industries that are not moving towards zero-carbon emissions will be punished by investors and go bankrupt, the governor of the Bank of England has warned. Mark Carney also told the Guardian it was possible that the global transition needed to tackle the climate crisis could result in an abrupt financial collapse. He said the longer action to reverse emissions was delayed, the more the risk of collapse would grow.
• Making conservation 'contagious'
  [released on: 15/10/2019]
  New research reveals conservation initiatives often spread like disease, a fact which can help scientists and policymakers design programs more likely to be taken up.
• Images offer glimpse into life of endangered Florida panther
  [released on: 15/10/2019]
  The discovery of a female Florida panther lying with a broken leg on a verge outside the town of Naples, south of Tampa, triggered a widespread rescue dash. Conservationists, who had previously fitted a tracking collar to the animal, were aware she had recently given birth. The kittens would not survive long on their own, they realised, and so an urgent search for them was launched.
• National census to assess endangered species in Seychelles
  [released on: 15/10/2019]
  A national census is expected to start over the course of this month to assess the endangered species of Seychelles. The annual exercise is being undertaken by the Ministry for Environment, Energy and Climate Change with the assistance of local consultants.
• Are Plantation Forests Eco Friendly Or Just 'Green Deserts'?
  [released on: 15/10/2019]
  A forest is a complex, biodiversity-rich, self-regenerating ecosystem, consisting of soil, water, microclimate, and a wide variety of plants and animals in mutual coexistence, on a piece of land. Trees are naturally regenerated in 'natural forests'. Natural Forests have high biomass density, i.e., they sequester more carbon and have 'continuous plant growth'.
• The 5 lessons from New York Climate Week to help us combat deforestation
  [released on: 15/10/2019]
  Post-New York Climate Week and the Sustainable Development Impact Summit running alongside the UN General Assembly, it's an opportune moment to reflect on the climate crisis and deforestation's role in it.
• 100 questions to prevent biodiversity loss in Southeast Asia
  [released on: 15/10/2019]
  Scientists identify the top research questions needing answers in biodiversity conservation.
• Q&A with Christiane Paulus from the German Ministry for Environment
  [released on: 15/10/2019]
  As Germany's director general for nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources at the Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU), Christiane Paulus is a champion for landscape restoration and conservation not only on her home front but also abroad.
• Deposit return schemes and biodiversity net-gain: Raft of new policies unveiled in Environment Bill
  [released on: 15/10/2019]
  The UK Government has launched its new governance system on issues covering clean air, waste management and plastics pollution, natural capital approaches and water stewardship, after the long-awaited Environment Bill was launched.
• President authenticates Environment Protection Bill-2019
  [released on: 15/10/2019]
  Kathmandu - President Bidhya Devi Bhandari has authenticated the Environment Protection Bill endorsed by both Houses of the Federal Parliament.
• Quarantined pests for plant health
  [released on: 15/10/2019]
  The European Commission has published a list of priority pests that must be quarantined in order to protect European wildlife and vegetation.
• Best way to protect ocean fisheries? Let nations profit from them
  [released on: 15/10/2019]
  Overfishing is a major problem for the world's oceans, but a strategy adopted nearly 50 years ago has helped protect fisheries: giving nations exclusive rights to waters 200 miles offshore and letting them police their own fish stocks.
• Researchers describe a survival strategy in living corals which was only seen in fossil records
  [released on: 15/10/2019]
  Some corals can recover after massive mortality episodes caused by the water temperature rise. This survival mechanism in the marine environment -known as rejuvenation- had only been described in some fossil corals so far. A new study published in the journal Science Advances reveals the first scientific evidence of the rejuvenation phenomenon in vivo in Cladocora caespitosa coral colonies, in the marine reserve in Columbrets, in the coast of Castellón (Spain).
• Jordan's Aqaba Reefs: Hard Corals Present Simple Solution
  [released on: 15/10/2019]
  The solution to dying coral reefs may be lurking just under the surface of Red Sea waters. New studies reveal that Gulf of Aqaba coral reefs show resistance to climate change.
• Thaidene Nëné heralds a new era of parks
  [released on: 15/10/2019]
  In Canada's newest national park - Thaidene Nëné National Park Reserve - the Lutsel K'e Dene will hunt and fish, work as guardians of the territory and show off their land to tourists.
• Evolutionary history of oaks
  [released on: 15/10/2019]
  Oaks have a complex evolutionary history that has long eluded scientists. New research, however, provides the most detailed account to date of the evolution of oaks, recovering the 56-million-year history that has made the oaks one of the most diverse, abundant and important woody plant groups to the ecology and economy of the northern hemisphere.
• Habitat corridors boost biodiversity, a new study confirms
  [released on: 15/10/2019]
  Connecting wildlife habitats has often been perceived as a way to enhance biodiversity. A new article backs up previous evidence with large-scale findings.
• Behind The Power Of Giant Sharks
  [released on: 15/10/2019]
  Led by Christopher L. Lawson, a PhD Candidate in the School of Biomedical Sciences of the University of Queensland, a group of scientists set out to learn more about the bioenergetics models for shark and rays. "A bioenergetics model describes the energy requirements of an animal and how energy is distributed to various processes in the body, such as metabolic rate, exercise, growth and reproduction," explained Lawson. "They are useful for modelling populations of animals (e.g. fisheries) or for predicting how reproductive rates may change under altered environmental conditions, such as ocean warming." Any bioenergetic models for elasmobranchs (sharks, skates, and rays) would allow scientists to answer fundamental ecological questions surrounding their response to our changing environmental conditions.
• Indigenous Knowledge Can Help Solve the Biodiversity Crisis
  [released on: 15/10/2019]
  People who live off the land depend on keeping ecosystems intact, and scientists are tapping into their unique expertise.
• Indigenous Land Stewardship program applies old solutions to modern problems
  [released on: 15/10/2019]
  Program at Native Education College comes as world looks to Indigenous knowledge to help solve climate crisis.
• A native plant is exposing the clash between traditional knowledge and Western conventions
  [released on: 15/10/2019]
  A fight is brewing over ownership of gumby gumby, exposing the clash between traditional knowledge and the Western intellectual property (IP) system. It is part of a broader debate in Australia and globally about how to value and protect traditional knowledge and ensure Indigenous people benefit from and retain access to their heritage.