Biodiversity

Protecting and Managing the High Seas

By Daud Khan and Stephen Akester
On March 4 2023, the 193 members of the United Nations reached a major milestone. They agreed on a treaty to manage and protect the high seas– the marine areas that lie outside the 200 mile Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) of coastal states. The high seas are an essential part of the global ecosystem. They cover 50 percent of the Earth’s surface, produce half the oxygen we breathe, provide a home to 95 percent of the planet’s biosphere, are a critical sink for carbon dioxide, and help regulate the Earth’s temperature.

Interwoven Global Crises Can Best be Solved Together

By Paula Harrison, Pamela McElwee and David Obura
When global crises are interlinked, they overlap and compound each other. In such cases, the most effective solutions are those that work at the nexus of all these challenges.

Wildlife Is Much More than a Safari. And It Is at Highest Risk of Extinction

By Baher Kamal
Wildlife is indeed far much more than a safari or an ‘exotic’ ornament: as many as four billion people –or an entire half the whole world's population– rely on wild species for income, food, medicines and wood fuel for cooking.

Management Areas Protect Sustainable Artisanal Fishing of Molluscs and Kelp in Chile

By Orlando Milesi
Management areas in Chile for benthic organisims, which live on the bottom of the sea, are successfully combating the overexploitation of this food source thanks to the efforts of organized shellfish and seaweed harvesters and divers.

One of the World’s Largest Oil Corporations to Lead Climate Change Talks in 2023

By Pablo Fajardo Mendoza and Gadir Lavadenz
The Chief Executive of the twelfth largest oil producer - Sultan Al Jaber of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) - has been appointed as president of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s (UNFCCC) COP28, the biggest climate change conference that will take place in November, 2023 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

A Last-Ditch Effort to Save a High Seas Treaty from Sinking

By Thalif Deen
When the United Nations began negotiations on a legally binding treaty to protect and regulate the high seas, one diplomat pointedly remarked: “It’s a jungle out there”—characterizing a wide-open ocean degraded by illegal and over-fishing, plastics pollution, indiscriminate sea bed mining and the destruction of marine eco-systems.

Management of Protected Areas Is a Latin American Priority for 2023

By Humberto Márquez
The environmental priority for South America in 2023 can be summed up in the management of its terrestrial and marine protected areas, together with the challenges of the extractivist economy and the transition to a green economy with priority attention to the most vulnerable populations.

Cabo Verde Hoists the Blue Flag

By Christopher Marc Lilyblad
On 20 January, the world’s best sailors arrived in Mindelo, Cabo Verde, completing the initial leg of the 2023 edition of The Ocean Race. Coinciding with this stop was the launch of Cabo Verde’s first blue bond at the Ocean Summit, an event jointly organized by The Ocean Race and the Government of Cabo Verde on the sidelines of the grueling round-the-world race. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was in attendance as this year’s keynote speaker.

2022: An Apocalyptic Warning of the Frailty of Our Planet


 
2022 has been an apocalyptic warning of the frailty of our planet… …and the woeful shortcomings of humankind. It started with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

War, Famine, Disease, Disasters – 2022 – a Year Staring at Apocalypse

By Farhana Haque Rahman
A year that started with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and is ending with famine in Africa, while still spreading death and misery through an enduring pandemic and a deteriorating climate crisis -- 2022 has been an apocalyptic warning of the frailty of our planet and the woeful shortcomings of humankind.

Global Biodiversity Framework: A ‘Good Compromise’

By Stella Paul
In a landmark agreement, all parties of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (UNCBD) adopted the draft Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) to protect at least 30% of the world’s lands and water by 2030.

Biodiversity Agreement Historic But Difficult to Implement

By Emilio Godoy
The pillar coral (Dendrogyra cylindrus), which takes its name from its shape, is found throughout the Caribbean Sea, but its population has declined by more than 80 percent since 1990. As a result, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has listed it as "critically endangered" due to the effects of the human-induced climate crisis.

Gender Target at COP15: Russia’s Single Word Objection Holds Up Process

By Stella Paul
Since the beginning of the high-level segment, tensions have been steadily rising at the 15th meeting of the conference of the parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP15) among all participants, including members of country delegation teams, NGOs, observers, monitors, and media. At the press events held daily at the media center and various other events in the Montreal Convention Center, an outburst of anger and frustration have become a common sight.

Tracking the Impact of Science on Biodiversity Conservation

By Busani Bafana
Billy Offland (21), a British sustainability student, went on a two-year 'World Conservation Journey' to bring attention to the biodiversity crisis as the world seeks a deal to protect nature.

Digital Treatment of Genetic Resources Shakes Up COP15

By Emilio Godoy
In addition to its nutritional properties, quinoa, an ancestral grain from the Andes, also has cosmetic uses, as stated by the resource use and benefit-sharing permit ABSCH-IRCC-PE-261033-1 awarded in February to a private individual under a 15-month commercial use contract.

COP15: Impact of Mega Infrastructure Projects on Biodiversity Stay Off-Radar

By Stella Paul
As the COP entered its crucial second week, negotiations are intensifying now. A slew of new contact groups – meeting mostly behind closed doors – are discussing the minutest details of the Global Biodiversity Framework and the contentious issues within or around it, such as Digital Sequencing Information, Access, and Benefit Sharing. The core aim of all these groups is to talk and resolve all issues and produce a draft treaty that will be acceptable to all parties.

COP15: Unsustainable Infrastructure Threatens Biodiversity

By Emilio Godoy
Created in 2016, the Mexican Caribbean Biosphere Reserve (MCBR) hosts 1900 species of animals and plants and contains half of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System, the second largest in the world after Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

Experts Seek Appropriate Circular Solutions to Plastic Pollution

By Aimable Twahirwa
Experts agree that African economies need to develop innovative approaches to deal with plastic production, which is set to double in 20 years – adversely impacting rural communities.

Africa Fights Back Against Wildlife Poachers, but Drought is Devastating

By Guy Dinmore
Elephant populations are starting to recover in parts of Africa as law enforcement agencies and local communities turn the tide in their long-running battle against wildlife poachers and traffickers.

As COP15 Begins, Biodiversity’s ‘Paris Moment’ Looks a Distant Dream

By Stella Paul
The long-awaited 15th Convention of United Nations Biological Diversity (CBD COP15) finally started this week in Montreal, Canada. After four years of intense negotiations and delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, nations have gathered again for the final round of talks before adopting a new global treaty – the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF).

COP15: ‘Super Reefs’ Offer Hope for Ocean Recovery Ahead of Biodiversity Summit

By Enric Sala
Delegates from more than 190 countries are donning thick coats and winter boots to attend the long-delayed UN biodiversity summit in Montreal, Canada—the land of caribou, beluga whales and wolverines.
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