Photograph by: Enric Sala, National Geographic
March 15, 2021
Secretary Haaland has been at the forefront of efforts to conserve at least 30 percent of the land and ocean in the United States by 2030. Prior to her nomination, Sec. Haaland was the lead sponsor of a resolution supporting the 30x30 goal and served as an honorary member of the Campaign for Nature’s Global Steering Committee, which advocates for the 30x30 target at the global level.
March 1, 2021
When Grand Canyon National Park was established a century ago, the Colorado River running through it was treated as an afterthought. In the decades following, states scrambled to squeeze every drop of water out of the Colorado for farming and drinking, with a cascade of huge dams constructed along its course.
Native fish like suckers and chubs, found nowhere else in the world, were replaced with invasive catfish and bass that were more attractive for anglers. In time, the mighty river that had once carved out one of America’s most iconic landscapes was reduced to a trickle, no longer able to fulfill its destiny of reaching the sea.
What happened to the Colorado is a powerful example of a river’s decline, but it’s hardly an exception. Around the world, rivers, lakes, and wetlands have increasingly come under similar assault from poorly planned dams, pollution, habitat loss, sand mining, climate change, and the introduction of invasive species.
February 19, 2021
Today marks the U.S.’s official reinstatement into the Paris Climate Agreement, which President Biden rejoined hours after his inauguration on January 20, 2021. As the U.S rejoins the world in this historic climate accord, the Campaign for Nature has issued the following statement:
Enric Sala, Explorer in Residence, National Geographic and the author of the award winning book The Nature of Nature, Why We Need the Wild. @enric_sala
“Today marks a new beginning for the U.S. It is an opportunity to reset its ambitions and to reestablish its leadership on the global stage in combating climate change. This move, along with the Biden administration’s signal to set the United States on a path to conserve 30% of the U.S – land and at sea – by 2030 (30x30), demonstrates that the country is prepared to lead on the two largest crises facing our planet.”
January 11, 2021
As the natural world continues to disappear at an unprecedented rate, a group of over 50 countries—which (as of 10 January 2021) together harbour 30% of global terrestrial biodiversity (using vertebrates as a proxy) and a quarter of the world’s terrestrial carbon stores (biomass and soil), and 28% of ocean biodiversity priority areas and over a third of the ocean carbon stores—have announced their commitment to protect at least 30% of the globe’s land and ocean by 2030, and to champion an ambitious global deal to halt species loss and protect ecosystems that are vital to human health and economic security. Their announcement kicks off what Costa Rica, France and the United Kingdom call an urgent year for action on biodiversity and the climate.
December 20, 2020
In November of 2020, the government of Tristan da Cunha, a four-island archipelago in the South Atlantic, announced that it is creating the fourth-largest marine “no-take” reserve in the world. The new marine reserve will encompass 265,347 square miles, making it almost three times larger than the United Kingdom. Tristan da Cunha, a British territory, will protect 90% of the waters around the island chain by banning fishing, mining, and other extractive activities. What makes it so special? “This is a place that has a unique ecosystem that is found nowhere else,” National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Enric Sala remarked, ant is notable for its kelp forests and as a critical nursery for blue sharks.
December 17, 2020
The Campaign for Nature has issued the following responses:
Director of Campaign for Nature, Brian O’Donnell said:
“Representative Deb Haaland is an outstanding pick to lead the Department of the Interior. She has been a leader in the Congress in protecting lands and wildlife and advancing equity and social justice. This is a proud day for the United States. A department that has disenfranchised Indigenous people and dispossessed them of their territories throughout its history will now be run by an Indigenous woman. Her nomination won’t right the wrongs of the past, but it is a step forward that is long overdue.”
December 17, 2020
Yesterday President-elect Joe Biden announced key nominations and appointments of his climate team:
Congresswoman Deb Haaland, Secretary of the Interior
Governor Jennifer Granholm, Secretary of Energy
Michael Regan, EPA Administrator
Brenda Mallory, Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality
Administrator Gina McCarthy, National Climate Advisor
Ali Zaidi, Deputy National Climate Advisor
A team that AP described as “dealmakers and fighters.”
December 12, 2020
Five years ago, when the Paris Agreement to tackle climate change was adopted, storing planet-warming carbon in ecosystems such as tropical forests, wetlands and coastal mangroves was not seen as a major part of the solution.
Now officials and environmentalists say goals to limit global temperature rise cannot be met without nature’s help.
Ahead of a U.N. “Climate Ambition Summit” to mark the fifth anniversary of the Paris accord on Saturday, held online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they said threats to plants, wildlife, human health and the climate should be confronted together.
December 11, 2020
On the 5th anniversary of the Paris Climate Agreement, Nature Based Solutions are emerging as essential climate mitigation and adaptation strategies. In 2015, the biodiversity agenda and the climate agenda were seen as two separate tracks. It is now widely believed that protecting ecosystems could provide at least a third of the climate mitigation needed by 2030 under the Paris Climate Agreement. In the wake of Covid 19 and the growing understanding of the interdependence of biodiversity, climate and human health and their compound threat, it has become clear that the natural world should be included in climate solutions, and that global leaders should address all three crises in an integrated manner.
December 2, 2020
Today, the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy (Ocean Panel), composed of 14 serving world leaders, is putting forward a new ocean action agenda for building a sustainable ocean economy where protection, production and prosperity go hand in hand. In addition to releasing commitments and policy actions designed to transform how the world can protect and use the ocean and ultimately sustainably manage humanity’s impacts on it, the Ocean Panel will also release a new comprehensive report spotlighting ways to accelerate, scale and finance ocean action.
November 15, 2020
Actions speak louder than words. Three recent events have left this observer feeling more optimistic about the environment in this country.
Firstly, the 2021 Budget. The finance minister last week listed a number of environment-friendly measures, including RM50 million to remove rubbish and waste from rivers; RM40 million to strengthen enforcement and monitoring; RM10 million for island waste management projects in Johor and Terengganu; RM400 million for the preservation of natural resources (the Tahap initiative); RM20 million to hire 500 former soldiers and police, as well as Orang Asli, to patrol forests; and a promise to build with the private sector an urban transformation centre in Lembah Pantai.
Secondly, Pakatan Harapan and Barisan Nasional assemblymen in the Selangor Legislative Assembly last week stood as one to vote to preserve forest reserves in Selangor, after the speaker called for a voice vote to consider that "any move to degazette forest reserves should only be done in consultation with residents, stakeholders and professionals".
October 30, 2020
Yesterday leaders from 190 countries were supposed to have met in Kunming, China for final negotiations on a biodiversity treaty designed to address the world’s urgent extinction and biodiversity crises. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has made attendance of the UN Biodiversity Conference impossible.
However, a panel of experts from the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) (an independent intergovernmental body open to all member countries of the UN) released a report that links zoonotic diseases like COVID-19 to “unsustainable exploitation of the environment,” including the wildlife trade and land-use change.
October 30, 2020
The world must tackle the biodiversity and climate crises to stand a chance of preventing future pandemics, the world's leading experts on nature are warning.
That includes setting up an international body of leaders to minimise risks, the scientists say.
Where there is a clear link to high pandemic risk, taxes on meat consumption and production should be considered, and incentives should be provided to switch away from high-risk industries such as fur farming, they suggest.
October 30, 2020
Avoiding the loss of human life and the economic fallout caused by future pandemics will require a seismic change in our approach to the causes of the emergence of disease-causing viruses, according to a new report from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, or IPBES.
Peter Daszak, who chaired the July 2020 workshop that produced the report, noted that we’ve identified only about 2,000 of the 1.7 million viruses that exist in birds and mammals. Scientists estimate that between 540,000 and 850,000 of these could infect humans.
October 29, 2020
Absent major policy changes and billions of dollars invested in protecting land and wildlife, the world may see another major pandemic like COVID-19, an international group of scientists warned today.
Conserving biodiversity can preserve human lives, according to their new report, which reviews the latest research on how the decline of habitat and wildlife leaves humans exposed to new, emerging diseases.
