“The UK’s Massive Tree-Planting Campaign Isn’t Moving Fast Enough”
One of Europe’s least-forested countries has a plan to fight climate change. That’s much easier said than done.
The UK’s Tree-Planting Campaign Is Falling Behind – Bloomberg
Compared with most of its neighbors, the UK is relatively treeless, its woodlands felled centuries ago and never replanted. Just 13% of its territory is covered by forest, compared with roughly a third or more in France, Germany and Spain. The UK has set a goal of reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Even the most ambitious scenarios don’t call for a complete end to fossil fuel use, so meeting the target will be impossible without finding ways to capture carbon from the atmosphere.
“Wild Animal Populations Have Declined 69% in 50 Years, Says WWF”
Stark Drop in Wildlife Numbers Is an Emergency for Nature – Bloomberg
The world’s populations of wild mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish have declined by more than two-thirds on average since 1970, according to a grim new report on biodiversity loss.
“World Bank sells first ‘rhino’ bond to help S.Africa’s conservation efforts”
The World Bank has issued the world’s first wildlife conservation bond, raising $150 million to help efforts to increase the endangered black rhino population in South Africa, the bank said in a statement on Thursday.
“Amazon near tipping point of shifting from rainforest to savannah, study suggests”
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/03/07/americas/amazon-tipping-point-climate-scn/
The Amazon rainforest may be nearing a critical tipping point that could see the biologically rich and diverse ecosystem transformed into a grassy savannah.
“With fewer animals to spread seeds, plants could have trouble adapting to climate change”
Picture a mature, broad-branched tree like an oak, maple or fig. How does it reproduce so that its offspring don’t grow up in its shadow, fighting for light?
“Earth is getting a black box to record humanity’s ‘every step toward catastrophe'”
An indestructible “black box” is set to be built upon a granite plain on the west coast of Tasmania, Australia in early 2022. Its mission: Record “every step we take” towards climate catastrophe, providing a record for future civilizations to understand what caused our demise, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).
“All forests are not the same”
Primary ‘old growth’ forests are unique and irreplaceable. As well as sustaining local communities, they protect over two thirds of the planet’s land and freshwater species, including countless endangered species. They are natural quarantine areas, preventing the spread of zoonotic diseases like COVID19. And they store vast amounts of carbon from the atmosphere, half of which is locked up in the massive old trees which tower over the forest canopy. But how do you get that message across to governments, policymakers and corporations? And the message that not all forests are the same?
“Nature must be a partner, not just a provider of services – Oxford report”
https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2021-05-04-nature-must-be-partner-not-just-provider-services-oxford-report
Nature based Solutions (NbS) could support transformative change in environmental sustainability – to address major societal challenges, including the climate crisis – according to a new paper from Oxford researchers.
“The Blue Acceleration: The Trajectory of Human Expansion into the Ocean”
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590332219302751?dgcid=rss_sd_oa
Does humanity’s future lie in the ocean? As demand for resources continues to grow and land-based sources decline, expectations for the ocean as an engine of human development are increasing. Claiming marine resources and space is not new to humanity, but the extent, intensity, and diversity of today’s aspirations are unprecedented. We describe this as the blue acceleration—a race among diverse and often competing interests for ocean food, material, and space. Exploring what this new reality means for the global ocean and how to steer it in a sustainable and equitable way represents an urgent challenge.
“Can Komodo Dragons Survive the Ecotourist Boom?”
The fierce lizards are in perpetual decline on their native island. A huge influx of visitors hasn’t helped.
My Trip To The Amazon 
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