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
UN report looks underfoot, to solve global water crises
21/3/2022: While groundwater accounts for 99 per cent of all running freshwater on Earth, it is often undervalued, mismanaged, and overexploited, according to a new report by UNESCO. Water use is projected to grow by roughly one per cent annually over the next 30 years, and dependency on groundwater is expected to rise.
Source: UN News
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
US abandons share of climate finance for poorest countries
11/3/2022: The Biden Administration committed to deliver $11.4 billion a year in climate finance by 2024 but Congress has approved only $1 billion. Pledges for the Green Climate Fund have been abandoned.
Source: Climate Home News
Mapping vulnerability of climate risk is contentious
10/3/2022: The UN's climate science panel labelled 3.3-3.6bn people as highly vulnerable to climate disaster but many governments saw the underlying map as problematic. IPCC scientists acknowledge that there is no agreed method for measuring vulnerability.
Source: Climate Home News
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
Vanessa Nakate confronts ministers over loss and damage
8/3/2022: Ugandan climate activist Vanessa Nakate has confronted rich countries over their refusal to provide finance for victims of the climate crisis in the developing world. UK and European officials agreed in principle yet would not commit to providing finance.
Source: Climate Home News
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