No time to lose on ocean treaty as threats to high seas rise – Greenpeace
Singapore Reuters Governments have no time to lose when it comes to implementing a new global ocean treaty to protect the high seas as threats from human activities intensify, a report by environmental group Greenpeace said on Thursday. In March, more than 100 countries completed a groundbreaking treaty to protect the high seas after years […]
Wow!: Love of sea turtles turns Philippine poachers into protectors
ELIOSA LOPEZ, of Reuters, reports on how a conservation initiative established in 2009 has transformed sea turtle poachers into allies…
COP15 reaches deal to halt decline in nature by 2030
Montreal, CanadaReuters A United Nations summit approved on Monday a landmark global deal to protect nature and direct billions of dollars toward conservation but objections from key African nations, home to large tracts of tropical rainforest, held up its final passage. The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, reflecting the joint leadership of China and Canada, is […]
Explainer – Why did past targets to protect nature fail over the last decade?
Montreal, Canada Reuters This month’s UN biodiversity talks in Montreal aim to hammer out a new, global agreement. But this isn’t the first time governments have tried to halt environmental loss through agreed targets. In fact, many of the 24 conservation targets under discussion now aim to avoid past mistakes and improve on the world’s […]
“The woods next door”: US community forests take root
CAREY L BIRON, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports on the growing movement of creating urban and rural green spaces that see residents involved local conservation efforts…
Countries call for urgent action on biodiversity with ‘Kunming Declaration’
Kunming, ChinaReuters More than 100 countries pledged on Wednesday to put the protection of habitats at the heart of their government decision-making but they stopped short of committing to specific targets to curb mass extinctions. Chinese Environment Minister Huang Runqiu told delegates to a UN Biodiversity Conference in the city of Kunming that the declaration […]
UN puts nature’s value on the balance sheet. Will it work?
Thomson Reuters Foundation Conservationists and environment officials hope new UN standards to measure the value of nature can help governments slow the rapid decline of plant and animal species worldwide. Adopted this week by the UN Statistical Commission, the accounting system comes as a global movement gathers pace to protect the natural world by valuing the contributions […]
Canadian river wins legal rights in global push to protect nature
Toronto, Canada Thomson Reuters Foundation A river has won legal rights for the first time in Canadian history, in a move hailed by environmentalists as a new way to protect nature from humans. The Magpie River in northern Quebec, which runs nearly 300 kilometres, was granted the rights this week by the local Indigenous council […]
Essay: Coronavirus closures could lead to a radical revolution in conservation
In an article first published on The Conversation, North American-based academics JAMES STINSON and ELIZABETH LUNSTROM look at how widespread closures of parks and conservation areas around the world could change the way protected environments are managed…
Wildlife-loving Gabon minister seeks to stamp out illegal logging
Johannesbury, South AfricaThomson Reuters Foundation Gabon’s new environment minister, Lee White, a British-born conservationist, has vowed to fight illegal logging by strengthening governance of forests after a national scandal in which about 350 containers of rare kevazingo wood went missing. Illegal logging, political apathy and climate change are key reasons why White made the move […]