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27/4/2022: The Global Land Outlook published by the UN Convention to Combat Desertification calls for ambitious plans for sustainable land use to protect human health. By 2050 an additional area the size of South America will be degraded if the world continues along the current trajectory.

Source: Inter Press Service

What really happened at Geneva’s crucial biodiversity negotiations?

2/4/2022: Talks ahead of the key Cop15 summit on halting mass extinction of life were slow – and much has been asked of the developing world. Little progress was made on the targets and goals due for approval at the major biodiversity summit in Kunming, China, later this year.

Source: The Guardian

UN talks fail to finalize a treaty to manage the high seas

21/3/2022: UN member states have failed to reach consensus on several key points of a treaty governing the high seas, including how to establish marine protected areas. This was the last of four diplomatic sessions planned since 2017. There is now pressure to complete a treaty in 2022.

Source: Mongabay

Amazon deforestation map shows devastating impact of ranching

22/3/2022: Monitoring of the Andean Amazon Project has found that forest loss in 2021 was mostly the result of cattle ranching and other agricultural activities. Most of the deforestation took place in Brazil and Bolivia.

Source: Mongabay

Activists vow to take EU to court over forest biomass policies

14/3/2022: International NGOs and their lawyers contend that the European Union is burning forest biomass to produce energy, a policy science has shown to be climate destabilizing, destructive to forests and biodiversity.

Source: Mongabay

Amazon deforestation starts 2022 at fastest pace in 14 years

15/3/2022: According to data from Brazil’s national space research institute, forest clearing in the Amazon through the first two months of 2022 has amounted to 430 square kilometers, more than twice the average over the past ten years. The data suggests that the Brazilian government is falling short of its pledge at last year’s UN climate conference.

Source: Mongabay

NGOs call for $60bn increase in annual biodiversity funding

13/3/2022: The UN Convention on Biological Diversity has started preparatory negotiations on the post-2020 global biodiversity framework in advance of the full conference of parties scheduled for May. International conservation groups are calling on richer countries to increase funding to protect the world's biodiversity.

Source: Mongabay

UN ocean treaty is vital chance to protect the high seas

10/3/2022: UN negotiators are hoping to finalise a new legal framework to protect biodiversity and govern the oceans. Currently all countries have the right to navigate, fish and carry out scientific research on the high seas with few restrictions.

Source: The Guardian

Historic day in the campaign to beat plastic pollution

2/3/2022: Governments have endorsed a historic resolution at the UN Environment Assembly in Nairobi to End Plastic Pollution and forge an international legally binding agreement by 2024. The resolution addresses the full lifecycle of plastic including its production design and disposal.

Source: UN Environment Programme

Safe havens for coral reefs will disappear as oceans warm

2/2/2022: A new study has found that places that have historically protected coral reefs from thermal stress will decline substantially when global heating reaches 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels; at 2°C most coral reef refugia will disappear.

Source: Mongabay

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