Dec 2, 08
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WWF Living Planet Report 2008
The Living Planet Report 2008, a study published by the WWF, offers the organization's most in-depth study of global ecosystem decline to date. The report combines data from the Living Planet Index (a survey of 1,313 vertebrate species from both land and water habitats around the world), global ecological footprints, and also studies of water resources (we've covered previous editions of the Living Planet Report). According to Pavan Sukhdev, lead author, The Economics of Ecosystems and...
Ecosystem Services of Tropical Forests to be Protected with Precedent-Setting Memorandum
Earlier this week California, Illinois and Wisconsin joined forces with six states in Brazil and Indonesia to fight climate change in an unprecedented way: the states will develop programs that will protect and restore tropical rainforests to ensure the safety of these essential carbon sinks. According to a recent release from Marshall Maher of Conservation International, by signing the memorandum of understanding (MOU), the governors are stating that they are willing to pay for the...
Conservationists Push to Protect Marine Areas
Conservationists are increasing their efforts to establish a global network of marine protected areas in response to the deteriorating health of the world's oceans. Marine parks, areas that ban fishing, development, and other commercial activity to allow the recovery of fish populations and wild ecosystems, have become popular strategies in recent years to address the oceans' woes. More than one-third of marine ecosystems are seriously threatened by human activities, according to the World...
Coalition Releases REDD Advice
Leaders from the environmental and business communities have released the most comprehensive recommendations yet on the role that forests should play in the next climate change agreement. The Forest Dialogue's Initiative on Forests and Climate Change, a 250-person coalition of governments, environmentalists, timber companies, trade unions, financial institutions, and indigenous peoples, released five "guiding principles" [PDF] in a joint statement at the World Conservation Union...
Addressing the Source of Species Extinction
One of the greatest tragedies of our time is being both witness to and having a hand in the sixth extinction (which you can read more about here and here). Not only is it challenging and seriously depressing to try to understand this (a headline I saw this morning actually read: “Polar Bears Turn to Cannibalism as Arctic Ice Melts”); it often feels downright impossible to come up with solutions for helping endangered species recover. But when we truly go after long-term solutions, we...
Today is Earth Overshoot Day
Creeping steadily up the calendar page is Earth Overshoot Day, the day our demand surpasses nature's budget. In almost 10 months, humanity has consumed all the new resources the planet will produce this year, according to Global Footprint Network calculations. We are now living beyond our ecological means, warns GFN. Every day from now on, we are essentially borrowing resources from the future: Just like any company nature has a budget – it can only produce so many resources and absorb so...
Return of the Plains Grizzly
By WorldChanging Canada writer Rod Edwards. The Grizzly bear's Latin name captures its place in popular culture: fierce symbol of untamed wilderness, Ursus arctos horribilis. Among carnivorous North American land mammals, the grizzly is second in size only to its larger cousin, the polar bear. Despite its stature, or perhaps because of it, the grizzly has long been a victim of human territorial expansion, compounded by its own reclusive nature, low birth rate, and large territorial...
Can the Dead Sea Be Brought to Life?
by Hannah Doherty The Dead Sea has been a religious and cultural landmark of the Middle East for thousands of years. Saltier than the oceans, the lake is like none other in the world. But in the past 30 years, the Dead Sea has lost about a third of its surface area. As much as 95 percent of the flow of its main tributary, the Jordan River, has been diverted for agriculture and domestic use. Excessive mineral mining for potash and magnesium chloride is removing water at a rate of 150...
Ontario to Protect Northern Boreal Forest
Monday, Primer Dalton McGuinty announced that Ontario will set aside 55 million acres of Northern Boreal Forest for permanent protection from development. The area, one of the world's largest intact forest and wetland ecosystems, is roughly the size of the United Kingdom. More than 1,500 scientists worldwide sent letters to inspire the Canadian government to initiate the legislation, which, once enacted in 10 to 15 years, will work to protect the forest as well as its more than 200...
U.S. Ecosystem Report Indicates Trouble
Years of industrial and agricultural growth have left an indelible imprint on many formerly vibrant U.S. ecosystems. While nature is adept at resilience, the depletion and contamination of natural resources, especially water, may affect human health and wellbeing, a new report suggests. Released last week by the federally funded environmental think tank The Heinz Center, The State of the Nation's Ecosystems offers what the authors consider the most comprehensive look at countrywide...
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