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Surfers fight to preserve the life of the oceans

The barrier reefs are dying, and climate change is putting the ocean and subsequently, the best surf spots, in jeopardy. Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is the world’s most extensive ecosystem, but is one of the World Heritage Sites that is under threat, and has “lost more than half its coral in ...

Tanzania: NGOs' Reminded Role in Achieving SDGs

Local government leaders, members of the Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and private sector were yesterday advised that achieving sustainable development goals (SGDs) requires serious commitment from every person who intends to see true changes.

Silky sharks find hope in Atlantic, remain targets in Indo-Pacific

New research shows that conservation efforts in the Atlantic Ocean may be working for one of the most popular—and endangered—species that ends up in the global shark fin trade.

New definition of sustainability overcomes flaw hampering global transformation efforts

An interdisciplinary team led by Senior Researcher Dr. Christoph Rupprecht (FEAST Project, RIHN) has revealed a new definition of sustainability that expands the concept to non-human species and their needs.

Can sting rays and electric rays help us map the ocean floor?

Researchers at the RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research (BDR) in Japan have completed a feasibility study indicating that electric rays and sting rays equipped with pingers will be able to map the seabed through natural exploration

Researchers investigate how marine protected areas affect the impacts of heatwaves on ocean ecosystems

Over the past several decades, marine protected areas (MPAs) have emerged as a favored conservation tool. By protecting marine species and safeguarding habitat, these reserves help buffer ecosystems against natural and human-made shocks alike.

Ocean pollution threatens the health of more than three billion people

In the first comprehensive report of its kind, experts describe how the impacts of ocean pollution are directly harmful to human health, and plastic is only part of the problem. The researchers found that toxic ocean pollution endangers the health and well-being of more than three billion people.

Pathways to sustainable land use and food systems

The findings of a new report by the Food, Agriculture, Biodiversity, Land-Use, and Energy (FABLE) Consortium, suggest that integrated strategies across food production, biodiversity, climate, and diets can meet the objectives of the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

FAO to support Iran to ensure sustainable healthy biodiverse soils

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) representative to Iran Gerold Bödeker, reaffirms the Organization’s stance to support Iran in developing and adopting policies and programs promoting sustainable agricultural systems and nurturing soil biodiversity.

Nestle outlines roadmap to net-zero by 2050, backed with more than £2bn of investment

The multinational food and beverage giant has today (3 December) published a net-zero roadmap detailing the scope of the new targets and its plans for meeting them. The targets have been approved in line with 1.5C by the Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi).

Auditors slam EU for 'marine protected areas' that fail to protect ocean

Europe’s marine protected areas (MPAs), set up to prevent biodiversity loss at sea, are failing to protect the oceans according to an excoriating report from auditors.

Countries fall short of U.N. pledge to protect 10% of the ocean by 2020

Covering a swath of ocean larger than Peru around coral reefs, golden beaches and rocky atolls in north Hawaiʻi, Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument is one of the world’s largest marine protected areas — and the biggest in North America.

World Soil Day celebration at Muresk

The Muresk Institute will host a free, farmer-focused event for World Soil Day this Saturday. A United Nations International Day of Significance, World Soil Day highlights the importance of healthy soil and advocates for its sustainable management.

Once in a lifetime floods to become regular occurrences by end of century

Superstorm Sandy brought flood-levels to the New York region that had not been seen in generations. Causing an estimated $74.1 billion in damages, it was the fourth-costliest U.S. storm behind Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and hurricanes Harvey and Maria in 2017 according to the National Oceanic and ...

Boosted by venture capital, leather alternatives gain steam

High-quality alternatives to animal hides from sustainable production technologies and materials are making headway.San Francisco-based startup MycoWorks announced a $45 million Series B financing in November to scale up its production of its biomaterial called Reishi, a sustainable leather alte ...

Statement by Ms. Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, on the occasion of the Global Taxonomy Initiative Forum 2020 Virtual Symposium, Online, 2 December 2020

Statement by Ms. Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, on the occasion of the Global Taxonomy Initiative Forum 2020 Virtual Symposium, Online, 2 December 2020

Global Taxonomy Initiative Forum 2020

2 - 4 December 2020, Online

Global sustainable fishing initiative agreed by 14 countries

Governments responsible for 40% of the world’s coastlines have pledged to end overfishing, restore dwindling fish populations and stop the flow of plastic pollution into the seas in the next 10 years.

In a post-Covid world, lessons in living must come from the ocean

The Covid-19 pandemic brought into sharp focus the relationship people around the world have with the ocean. As lockdowns eased, people flocked to the seashore and the beaches as the oceans’ appeal to the inner stirrings of both body and soul became more pronounced.

Socio-Economic Linkages between Sustainable Land Management, Climate Change & Biodiversity in Liberia

Liberia faces numerous environmental challenges including land degradation, fragmentation, deforestation, soil erosion, and pollution. The dependence on forestry presents a unique environmental risk as Liberia’s forest is part of the West African Hotspot.

Over three quarters of worlds largest companies do not report risks from biodiversity loss: KPMG survey

Businesses worldwide have a critical role to play in addressing the inherent, existential risks of biodiversity loss. Yet, less than one-quarter (23 percent) of companies worldwide at risk from the loss of biodiversity are currently disclosing that risk in their corporate reporting, according to ...

Commercial wildlife farms present grave threat to biodiversity

In recent decades, along with the robust development of the economy, the demand for wildlife in Vietnam, especially in big cities, has increased. Aided by overlapping and inconsistent legal regulations on the management of animal origin, wildlife hunting and trafficking activities have intensifi ...

Global mega-trends impact forest communities, scientists find

Forests and the livelihoods they provide through ecosystem services are increasingly impacted by infrastructure development and other global trends that undermine efforts to achieve sustainability goals, according to a new study by international experts.

Guest post: Investigating climate change’s ‘humidity paradox’

Water vapour is fundamental to life on Earth. As well as being a greenhouse gas, water vapour is the basis for clouds and rain. Therefore, it sustains plants, forests and our ability to grow food.

How women from Hazaribagh are sparking a green revolution in the heart of India's coal state

Women farmers like Rina Yadav — a mother of three — are part of PRADAN and Corteva Agriscience's initiative to promote sustainable agriculture and financial literacy in Hazaribagh, Jharkhand.

Malawi: Innovation Vital in Addressing Forestry Challenges

Minister of Forestry and Natural Resources, Nancy Tembo, has said addressing forestry challenges requires innovation, resources and efforts from all stakeholders in order to ensure sustainable economic growth and development through proceeds realised from the country's natural resource base.

Why Mauritius is culling an endangered fruit bat that exists nowhere else

The endangered Mauritius fruit bat is once again the centre of a controversial cull at the hands of its government, much to the alarm of wildlife conservation organisations. Under pressure from both farmers and the public, the government of the Indian Ocean island recently announced a plan to cu ...

Scientists call for decade of concerted effort to enhance understanding of the deep seas

The deep seas - vast expanses of water and seabed hidden more than 200 metres below the ocean surface to depths up to 11,000 metres - are recognised globally as an important frontier of science and discovery.

Cooling La Niña may not save Great Barrier Reef from mass coral bleaching, experts warn

A global weather phenomenon that would typically keep ocean temperatures lower across the Great Barrier Reef may not be enough to stop another mass coral bleaching this coming summer, according to the marine park’s chief scientist.

What Sealed The Fate of The Giant Megalodon? Its Ancient Teeth May Reveal The Answer

The largest sharks ever to have roamed the oceans parked their young in shallow, warm-water nurseries where food was abundant and predators scarce until they could assume their title as kings and queens of the sea.

Four ways cities must harness the UN's Sustainable Development Goals to build back after COVID

The United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are vital to achieving a prosperous future for all. Only one, SDG #11, explicitly addresses cities – but in fact, 65% of the SDG targets can only be accomplished if cities and regions get involved.

Massive Swarm of Eels Is The Most Fish Ever Recorded at The Bottom of The Ocean

Before we start mining for precious metals in the darkness of the deep sea, we might try switching on the light first and observing our surroundings. In this seemingly isolated abyss, at deeper than 3,000 metres (9,800 ft) below sea level, scientists were able to coax a massive swarm of 115 cutt ...

Diageo will use 30% less water in every drink it makes as a part of its 10-year sustainability action plan

Diageo, manufacturers of Johnnie Walker, Smirnoff and Guinness, has announced a range of 25 bold and ambitious goals in its ‘Society 2030: Spirit of Progress’ plan, aimed at making a positive impact on the world by 2030, in the ‘Decade of Action’ to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Develop ...

New discovery allows early detection of shade avoidance syndrome in plants

Researchers from the Disruptive & Sustainable Technologies for Agricultural Precision (DiSTAP) Interdisciplinary Research Group (IRG) of Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART), MIT's research enterprise in Singapore and Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory (TLL) have discovered a ...

Why investors are betting on biodiversity

Those of you whose memories still stretch all the way back to the beforetime — January and February — may recall that 2020 was to be a "super year" for biodiversity. Plans called for several global events focusing on the role of nature in mitigating the climate crisis, protecting us against the ...

The newest species of Philippine false gecko is the 10th (and counting)

Spotting false geckos in the wild can be hard. They can easily disappear into their environment thanks to their cryptic colors and markings and their use of hollow areas to hide in.

"Forests and livelihoods: sustaining people and planet" announced as theme of World Wildlife Day 2021

The Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) announced today the theme of United Nations World Wildlife Day 2020: “Forests and livelihoods: sustaining people and planet”. Covering nearly a third of the planet’s land surface, fores ...

Eat like it matters: how your food choices can clean up the planet and feed the world

Food is why we’re all here. It sustains life, spreads joy and brings us together.But if we are to feed 10 billion people in a healthy way within planetary boundaries, the way in which we produce and consume food needs to change.

Stability of Earth's biggest lump of ice at risk from warming oceans

The drastically increasing influence of humans on Earth's climate causes a melting of polar ice sheets and therefore a rise in global sea levels. A team of international scientists led by the Institute of Earth Sciences at Heidelberg University and including the University of Southampton has now ...

For sustainable business, how do ‘planetary boundaries’ define the new rules?

How does a business grow and expand, but function in a way that doesn’t overexploit the Earth? A new enterprise is offering an answer to this question. Last week, the Science Based Target Network (SBTN), an offshoot of a global partnership called the Global Commons Alliance (GCA), launched a pro ...

The seaweed swamping the Atlantic Ocean

A sargassum bloom the width of the Atlantic Ocean caused havoc on beaches, but locals in Mexico and the Caribbean are fast finding ways to turn the seaweed invasion to their advantage.

Table for 10 Billion? Leaders to Unlock More Sustainable and Equitable Food Future

The COVID-19 crisis has exacerbated vulnerabilities in food systems – highlighting the insecurity of rural livelihoods, the tragedy of food waste, and stark inequities in access to healthy food. As the global population races to 10 billion, more needs to be done to feed the planet while tackling ...

Sustainable Soil Management with Spectroscopy

Modern agricultural research is focused on how to feed the future population of the world. Year on year, farmers aim to generate a greater amount of food from the same resources and quickly changing environmental conditions only increase the pressure for international food supply.

New Chinese submersible reaches Earth's deepest ocean trench

China livestreamed footage of its new manned submersible parked at the bottom of the ocean Friday, the latest foray by the country's scientists into the Earth's deepest ocean trench.

Researchers discover 'missing' piece of Hawaii's formation

An oceanic plateau has been observed for the first time in the Earth's lower mantle, 800 kilometers deep underneath Eastern Siberia, pushing Hawaii's birthplace back to 100 million years, says a Michigan State University geophysicist.

Synthesis study demonstrates phytoplankton can bloom below Arctic sea ice

Small photosynthetic marine algae are a key component of the Arctic marine ecosystem but their role for the ecology of the Arctic Ocean have been underestimated for decades. That's the conclusion of a team of scientists who synthesized more than half a century of research about the occurrence, m ...

Tom Ford Launches A Million Dollar Sustainability Prize And A Watch Made Entirely From Ocean Plastic Waste

The statistics are truly alarming. More than eight million tons of plastic enter the oceans each year, the equivalent of dumping a garbage truck full of the stuff into the seas every minute. By 2050, there will be more plastic in the oceans than fish.

Endangered animals get entangled in plastics that riddle US oceans – study

Endangered marine mammals and sea turtles are routinely being entangled in or are swallowing pieces of plastic that now riddle the oceans off US coastlines, a new report has found.

Caribbean Youth To Tackle Ocean Health Issues

Every year, 11 million metric tons of plastic waste enter the ocean — on track to triple by 2040 without concerted global efforts to stop it. In the Caribbean specifically, native mangroves and coral reefs could help protect more than a quarter of the people at risk by serving as a buffer betwee ...