Search Results

California Commits to Conserving 30 Percent of its Land and Water by 2030. What Does That Mean?

On October 7 California Governor Gavin Newsom ordered the state to create a new California Biodiversity Collaborative and conserve 30 percent of its land and coastal waters by 2030.

Protected Areas Are Not Safe from Climate Change

A new study showing the most vulnerable protected areas—the poles and the subtropics—could help prioritize their care.Approximately 15% of the world’s land is designated as protected areas to conserve our planet’s biodiversity. Currently, there are over 240,000 such protected areas.

Tiny Atlantic island takes giant leap towards protecting world's oceans

A community of 250 people on one of the most remote inhabited islands on Earth has made a significant contribution to marine wildlife conservation by banning bottom-trawling fishing, deep-sea mining and other harmful activities from its waters.

Focus on freshwater conservation, and land gets swept along for the ride

Rivers, wetlands, ponds and streams punch above their weight. Freshwater ecosystems are home to hundreds of thousands of species, from tiny duckweeds and jewel-perfect diatoms to lake-covering water lilies and leaping river dolphins.

New Zealand Could Soon Protect One of World's Most Biodiverse Marine Areas

In 2015, then-New Zealand Prime Minister John Key announced his commitment to protect the waters surrounding the Kermadec Islands by creating one of the world’s largest fully protected marine areas. Located in the South Pacific, approximately 1,000 km (621 miles) northeast of New Zealand’s North ...

Expanding marine protected areas could boost fish yields – but there's a catch

Marine protected areas, or MPAs as they’re more commonly called, are very simple. Areas of the sea are set aside where certain activities – usually fishing – are banned or restricted. Ideally, these MPAs might be placed around particularly vibrant habitats that support lots of different species, ...

Statement by Ms. Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, Executive Secretary, Convention on Biological Diversity, at the opening of the Webinar on Building Back Better: Protecting Biodiversity, Combating Land Degradation and Mitigating Climate Change, 10 September 2020

Statement by Ms. Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, Executive Secretary, Convention on Biological Diversity, at the opening of the Webinar on Building Back Better: Protecting Biodiversity, Combating Land Degradation and Mitigating Climate Change, 10 September 2020

Webinar conference “Building back better: protecting biodiversity, combating land degradation and mitigating climate change to reduce the risks of future pandemics”

10 September 2020, Online

Request for Comments and Feedback on the Draft Report 'Making Money Local: Can Protected Areas Deliver Both Economic Benefits and Conservation Objectives?'

Reference: SCBD/SSSF/AS/SBG/ESE/89011 (2020-062)
To: CBD National Focal Points, PoWPA Focal Points, indigenous peoples and local communities, and relevant organizations

How much space does nature need? 30 percent of the planet may not be enough

For millions of years, giants graced the murky depths of China’s Yangtze River. The Chinese Paddlefish (Psephurus gladius), which could reach 7 meters in length, used its swordlike snout to sense the electrical perturbations made by smaller prey, snatching them in the dark. But no more.

Turn High Seas ‘Hotspots’ Into Parks

Researchers are using big data to identify biodiversity hotspots that could become the first generation of high seas marine protected areas.

Seychelles protects 30 percent of territorial waters, meeting target 10 years ahead of schedule

Seychelles has legally designated 30 percent of its territorial waters as marine protected areas 10 years ahead of international targets, President Danny Faure said at the signing of legal document on Thursday.

Action plan to save Bolivia’s red-fronted macaw awaits its reboot

For 13 years, Marlene Rivas has been part of a team working to protect the red-fronted macaw (Ara rubrogenysa), a bird endemic to Bolivia that is classified as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List.

These protected marine spots around the world are giving hope to Planet Earth

If you’ve been to the Andamans, gone diving in the Great Barrier Reef or sailed around the British Virgin Islands—chances are you’ve probably been to a Marine Protected Area (MPA) but you never knew it. Across the world, there are dozens of MPAs, earmarked with the aim to conserve marine life an ...

In Afghanistan, a new national park carries hopes for conservation and peace

Ibrahim Abrar’s first visit to Afghanistan’s Bamyan province, where he encountered the Dar-e-Bozurk, or Grand Canyon, is an experience he says he’ll never forget. He describes it as “a vast emptiness of gigantic and deep canyons, pristine rangeland, and rather intimidating dignified, old juniper ...

Protected Hungarian forest by the Tisza River destroyed

An old floodplain forest in Hungary was destroyed by unauthorized clear-cutting in a protected area near the Tisza River.

Govt names second marine protected area in Tanintharyi

The Fisheries Department declared a second marine protected area in Tanintharyi Region to protect endangered fish species and marine habitats. The new conservation area covers the coastal waters between Kawthoung township and Kau-ye Island, the department said in a statement.

Study: To curb biodiversity declines, protect land in the tropics

Feb. 26 (UPI) -- If world leaders, land managers and other policymakers can find a way to limit global warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius and conserve a third of the land in the tropics, global species loss could be cut in half.

Ottawa introduces new rules to protect right whales in Canadian waters

The Liberal government said Thursday it is enhancing measures to reduce risks to North Atlantic right whales, an endangered species largely due to human activity.

New Deal for Nature: Paying the Emperor to Fence the Wind

The latest idea to be heavily promoted by big conservation NGOs is doubling the world’s so-called “Protected Areas” (PAs) so that they cover thirty percent of the globe’s lands and oceans.

Seychelles: $ 31 Million 'Ridge to the Reef' Project to Protect Seychelles' Ecosystems From Mountain to Coast

A first-of-its-kind project in Seychelles will show an integrated approach to the management of marine, coastal and terrestrial ecosystems of the island nation, stretching from mountaintop to coastline. The $31 million project, from Ridge to Reef, will be implemented over six years. It is co-fin ...

Appreciate social, environmental benefits of protected areas

SETTING aside ecologically-important lands and marine areas within protected areas (PA) was among the more contentious issues that confronted governments at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.

The Government of Canada invests in protected areas in Prince Edward Island

Protecting nature is vital to our health, well-being, and our efforts to combat climate change. That's why the Government of Canada is working closely with provinces, territories, Indigenous Peoples and others to double the amount of nature protected from coast to coast to coast.

Protect 30% of Earth to avert ‘irreversible’ biodiversity loss – former ministers say

Governments should sharply expand protected areas for animals and plants to cover 30% of the planet by 2030 to pull back from “the precipice of irreversible loss of biodiversity”, a group of former foreign ministers said on Tuesday.

Looking beyond protected areas to conserve species in tea-garden terrains

Governments are gearing up to determine biodiversity targets for the next decade in 2020, a year dubbed as the make or break year for biodiversity. Meanwhile, disquiet prevails in a scenic, tea garden-dominated landscape in the Himalayan foothills in north-east India.

Caribbean sharks in need of large marine protected areas

Governments must provide larger spatial protections in the Greater Caribbean for threatened, highly migratory species such as sharks, is the call from a diverse group of marine scientists including Stony Brook University School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS) Ph.D. Candidate, Oliver S ...

Dorsal de Nasca: Peru pledges to create a huge new marine reserve

In October, Peru’s environment minister pledged to make a proposed 50,000-square-kilometer (19,300-square-mile) marine protected area a reality by 2021.

Abu Dhabi to cultivate 14 million mangrove seedlings over the next 25 years: Hamdan bin Zayed

Over the next 25 years, the planted trees will help reduce carbon emissions by 200,000 tonnes, equivalent to the yearly energy consumption of over 20,000 homes, helping to reduce the effects of climate change.

Introduce the cheetah, with caution and guidelines / Opinion

The plan to bring the cheetah to India should have a minimum requirement of setting up a grassland policy

Jamaicans Encouraged To Protect Rich Biodiversity

The Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, is calling on more Jamaicans to preserve the rich biodiversity that exists, given the impact Climate Change is having on natural resources.

Human-wildlife conflict threatens protected reserves in East Africa

Each year, more than a million wildebeest migrate across the grassy plains of the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania into Kenya's Masai Mara National Reserve. But on the borders of these protected areas, human populations are increasing and wild ecosystems are struggling to survive in the face ...

Why 'biosecurity' is important for wildlife conservation

FAUSTO Novelozo, chief of the Taw’buid tribe, exhales from his worn clay pipe. The sweet scent of wild tobacco envelopes the hut. “It was sickness that drove us down from the mountains. Measles we got from Tagalog visitors. Half our village of 200 died. The survivors moved here to be closer to c ...

RSPL: Largest Choco Hills is smallest protected area in Bohol

With little less than 400,000 hectares of agricultural, upland forests, open grasslands, beaches, fishponds and mangrove forests, keeping Bohol’s biodiversity is assured with the government’s efforts to declare the 16 protected areas in Bohol.

Owls Head development would mean 'complete destruction' of its ecology, says biologist

Several scientists at Saint Mary's University in Halifax are adding their names to the growing list of people who want the Nova Scotia government to abandon plans to pursue a sale of Owls Head provincial park.

UN: A third of the planet should be protected as wildlife habitats

The planet is experiencing a mass extinction of species and we are the cause of it. But we can do something about it while there’s still time. We can stop cutting down forests. We can stop further fragmenting already fragmented wildlife habitats. And we can stop poaching endangered species.

Several forests around Bucharest get protected-area status

The Snagov, Andronache and Băneasa forests, close to Bucharest, will have the status of protected areas beginning this March, environment minister Costel Alexe announced.

The advantage of changing sex in fish population recovery

Humans eat a lot of fish, in some areas of the world making up an essential part of our diet. Fishing can sometimes deplete fish populations to the point where the fish have difficulty reproducing and growing their numbers again. Establishing Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) that limit or eliminate ...

Marine Protected Areas: May or May Not Include Actual Protection

Sarah Dudas is in a race against time. Before the high tide returns, she and her fellow researchers are determined to survey the marine life clinging to the intertidal zone of Goose Island—a small island off the remote central coast of British Columbia.

Kenyan Wildlife Policies Must Extend Beyond Protected Areas

At least 15% of the world's surface is governed by laws to protect its living species, including plants, animals and fungi. But this is not enough. The most recent estimates suggest that an additional 30% of the planet's surface needs further conservation attention. Without this additional prote ...

Plan devised for key pond habitat

The National Conservation Council has approved a much needed conservation plan for Meagre Bay Pond, one of Cayman’s oldest protected areas. The conservation law provides for management plans to protect important habitat and allow public access. Meagre Bay is in need of help to restore the water ...

Request to Identify and Submit Data on Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures

Reference: SCBD/SSSF/AS/SBG/ESE/88552 (2019-116)
To: CBD National Focal Points; PoWPA Focal Points; relevant organizations; indigenous peoples and local communities

International Mountain Day 2019

11 December 2019, New York, United States of America

What if we gave half the planet entirely back to nature?

To conserve life on Earth (as we know it) in the face of climate change, we need a drastic solution, and a growing movement has a bold plan: set aside half of the planet’s surface for just nature. There’s one problem: There are a lot of people already on much of that land.

Statement by Ms. Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, Acting Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, at the opening of the Thematic Workshop on Area-Based Conservation Measures, La Prairie, Canada, 1-3 December 2019

Statement by Ms. Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, Acting Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, at the opening of the Thematic Workshop on Area-Based Conservation Measures, La Prairie, Canada, 1-3 December 2019

Lift-off for first African vulture safe zones

Howick, SOUTH AFRICA – The first of at least five new “vulture safe zones” in Southern Africa are about to take off as private landowners and other partners join the battle to save Africa’s imperilled carrion clean-up birds.

Saving the sea: Gray's Reef serves as a model of conservation

Thanks to U.S. government protection for the past four decades, an area off Georgia's coast is now a spectacular home to hundreds of marine species.

Iranian northwestern national parks share incredible biodiversity

TEHRAN – The precious national parks of northwestern Iran are the most diverse of any in the country, differing from rainforest to wide shrub lands which share a great biological diversity, this time we will take a quick look at three incredible national parks located in East Azarbaijan province.

Anticosti Island to get special protection, barring all unsustainable economic activity

Quebec Environment Minister Benoit Charette wants to give Anticosti Island a new land protection status that could help the island in its bid to be recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site.