Natural Climate Solutions
Weekly Briefing
Welcome to Nature4Climate's Weekly Briefing, which summarises content from international media outlets (and our partner organisations) on stories, developments and events that relate to natural climate solutions from 1 to 9 September, 2020. Our editorial policy is to circulate articles and opinion pieces whether we agree or disagree with viewpoints represented. PLEASE NOTE THE NEW JOB POSTING SECTION ADDED THIS WEEK AND SEND US ANY OPPORTUNITIES TO BE FEATURED IN UPCOMING ISSUES.
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Featured News
Global reforestation drive grows fast as governments grasp benefits
Thomson Reuters Foundation, Michael Taylor, 2 September
Thomson Reuters Foundation reports that the Bonn Challenge, the world's largest reforestation program, has surpassed its 2020 goal of pledged hectares for reforestation by 60 million hectares. The program has generated pledges from 61 countries, state, and environmental actors to reforest 210 million total hectares. However, pledges are one thing; action on the ground is another. The Guardian shares that the Great Green Wall of Africa project, designed to plant forests across the southern edge of the Sahara to hold the desert back, has only planted four percent of the planned forests halfway through the project.
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World misses 2020 biodiversity goals: leaked UN draft report
Climate Home News, Chloé Farand, 8 September
Climate Home News shares initial findings from a leaked draft of the Global Biodiversity Outlook showing "governments have failed to meet any of the internationally agreed 2020 goals to halt plant and wildlife loss". National goals lacking ambition, failure to fully incorporate women, insufficient funds, and continuation of harmful subsidies were all factors contributing to goals being left unfulfilled.
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Mark Carney launches drive to develop global market for CO2 offsets
BusinessGreen, Michael Holder, 3 September
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Stop planting forests and allow trees to grow naturally, campaigners say in response to government consultation
The Telegraph, Helena Horton, 3 September
The Telegraph covers environmental campaigners' call for allowing government reforestation projects in the UK to occur naturally in a government consultation on reforestation plans.
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Global switch to green technologies could speed up biodiversity loss, scientists say
i newspaper, Madeleine Cuff, 1 September
i newspaper shares a study published this week in Nature Communications, in which scientists from the University of Queensland mapped mining areas around the world against the location of biodiversity conservation sites.
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Activists sour on Oatly vegan milk after stake sold to Trump-linked Blackstone
The Guardian, Edward Helmore, 1 September
The Guardian reports that environmentally focused activists and consumers are calling out sustainable foods brand Oatly for accepting investment from private equity firm Blackstone over its ties to deforestation. Metro, Mashed, and Business Insider also carry the story.
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FIRES MONITOR
California fires burn record 2m acres as new blazes prompt rescue missions
The Guardian, Oliver Milman and Kari Paul, 8 September
Fires in Brazil’s Pantanal Wetland and Amazon Rainforest Worst in a Decade
Unearthed, Lucy Jordan, 4 September
Worst-Ever Arctic Fires Released Record Amount of CO2
Bloomberg, Laura Millan Lombrana, 3 September
Brazil court decision sparks fears indigenous land could be handed to farmers
Reuters, Fabio Zuker, 7 September
Brazil’s Vice President Admits Mistakes in Fighting Amazon Deforestation
Wall Street Journal, Luciana Magalhaes and Paulo Trevisani, 4 September
$154b in capital has gone to 300 forest-risk companies since the Paris Agreement
Mongabay, Ashoka Mukpo, 3 September
Satellite Images Before And After Australia's Bushfires Reveal a Devastating Contrast
Science Alert, Jacinta Bowler, 1 September
Europe’s richest countries importing Brazilian beef linked to millions of tons of emissions: Report
Mongabay, 2 September
Argentina's wetlands under assault by worst fires in more than a decade
Reuters, Cassandra Garrison and Maximilian Heath, 2 September
Infrastructure plans imperil Latin America’s forests: Analysis
Mongabay, 2 September
Wildfires Hasten Another Climate Crisis: Homeowners Who Can’t Get Insurance
The New York Times, Christopher Flavelle, 3 September
Survival of Indigenous communities at risk as Amazon fire season advances
Mongabay, Shanna Hanbury, 2 September
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CONSULTATION: EU Deforestation and Forest Degradation – Reducing the Impact of Products Placed on the EU Market
The European Union opened a public consultation so that stakeholders can contribute to the ongoing impact assessment on measures to tackle EU-driven deforestation in the world. In July 2019, the European Commission adopted a Communication on Stepping up EU Action to Protect and Restore the World’s Forests, focusing on five priority areas. You can contribute to this consultation by filling in the online questionnaire found here.
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STAT OF THE WEEK
c
210 Million
Hectares
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The number of hectares pledged to reforestation as part of the Bonn Challenge.
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A Better Post-COVID World
Global campaign platform Avaaz is crowdsourcing photos of real people for a new campaign video it is helping to produce. The 60-second inspiring video will feature people’s faces from across the world! But in order to launch it in time for the UN General Assembly, Avaaz needs 3,000 people to join this week!
It's easy to join this beautiful collage of humanity: Just email 2 photos of yourself (or of someone you love) or a photograph of your family. Here’s how:
- Get 2 photos taken -- one with eyes open, and one with eyes closed.
- You can also take a photo with your family
- Hold the phone in landscape mode (horizontally), not portrait.
- Bonus points for outdoor shots
PS. By emailing Avaaz your photos you agree for them to be used in the 60 second film that will be made public on social media, and will feature thousands of people from around the world.
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CORRECTION
Last week we shared the wrong link for the letter Reflections on 2020 from a Nature Campaigner by Joanna Benn, the Director of Communications for Global Projects, TNC and Editor, Nature4Climate. Her reflections on the progress we can still make despite COVID-19 upending the planned "super-year" for nature are worth a read and we wanted to make sure you had a chance to read it. |
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Featured Commentary
The new UK Climate and Ecological Emergency Bill is exactly what we need – here’s why
The Conversation, Jefim Vogel, 7 September
Jefim Vogel, PhD Researcher in Ecological Economics at the University of Leeds, explains how the “Climate and Ecological Emergency Bill” would significantly expand the UK's response to climate change.
Rewilding better than tree planting
Ecologist, Brendan Montague, 7 September
The editor for Ecologist details why allowing trees to naturally establish over huge areas could massively expand Britain’s woodlands more effectively and at a fraction of the cost of tree planting, according to research by Rewilding Britain.
Enough with 'local' and 'organic'. We'll begin to eat well when we farm well
The Guardian, James Rebanks, 6 September
Farmer and author, James Rebanks, challenges us to focus on how we farm over what we are eating when we consider sustainability.
To solve everything, solve climate
The.Ink, Anand Giridharadas, 1 September
Journalist Anand Giridharadas' interview with Sunrise Movement Executive Director Varshini Prakash on how climate action can be a solution multiplier.
We need a new asset class of healthy soils and pollinators
Financial Times, Henry Paulson, 8 September
Former US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson calls for asset classes that preserve biodiversity are necessary if we want to avoid future crises.
Wildfires rage, Covid spreads: in California, life as we knew it has disappeared
The Guardian, Dana Frank, 3 September
Dana Frank, professor emerita at the University of California, Santa Cruz, shares how the wildfires and the pandemic have combined to show a lack of support from governmental systems to aid all people affecting by these disasters.
The EU must face its responsibility for the Amazon fires
EurActiv, Ester Asin, 31 August
Ester Asin of WWF argues that only strong law(s) can provide European consumers the confidence they desire that the production of the food they eat does not fuel the horrendous fires we witness every year in the Amazon.
Driving supply chain collaboration for a forest positive future
CDP, Morgan Gillespy and George Hodge, 1 September
The Directors of Forests and Supply Chain work at CDP pen a piece to announce their new Supply Chain Forests Member Challenge that will increase ambition and collaboration amongst purchasers and suppliers to remove deforestation from their supply chains.
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NATURE JOBS
In this new section, we'll be posting NBS-related jobs as a service to the community. If you have an opportunity you'd like featured in the newsletter, please send the details to us.
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Finding the newsletter useful? Subscribe or share with a friend to grow our community!
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NetworkNature Platform
Nature-based solutions are building blocks of sustainable landscapes, with a new platform, NetworkNature, promising to be its cornerstone. The service launching in 2020 will gather nature-based solutions (NBS) communities, resources, projects, best practices and tools under one roof. The pioneering European platform with a global reach will create opportunities for local, regional and international cooperation to make NBS the new normal. NetworkNature’s mission is to support a global NBS community across science, business, policy and implementation.
The creators of NetworkNature have developed a survey to ask our community about our needs and how the platform can support others in learning about nature-based solutions. Please take a few moments to respond to the survey here. |
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Media Round-Up
Natural Climate Solutions and Nature4Climate Partners
Shorter lifespan of faster-growing trees will add to climate crisis, study finds
The Guardian, Fiona Harvey, 8 September
Australian ecologists say their findings are 'commonly suppressed'
Sydney Morning Herald, Peter Hannam, 9 September
Solomon Islands community opts for nature park over logging
Australia Broadcast Corporation, Evan Wasuka, 2 September
Amazon tribes are using drones to track deforestation in the Brazilian rainforest
CNN, Hazel Pfeifer, 1 September
Discovery of threatened species drives bid to protect Vietnam forest
Mongabay, Michael Tatarski, 1 September
Park rangers, the guardians of Ecuador’s biodiversity, face job insecurity
Mongabay, Doménica Montaño, 28 August
Deforestation
Experts question integrity of Indonesia’s claim of avoided deforestation
Mongabay. Hans Nicholas Jong, 8 September
Made worse by tree loss, flooding forces migration in Afghanistan
Reuters, Stefanie Glinski, 8 September
Trump administration rule seeks to make drilling easier in national forests
The Guardian, Emily Holden, 1 September
Under cover of COVID-19, loggers plunder Cambodian wildlife sanctuary
Mongabay, Chris Humphrey, 31 August
Just half of major timber and pulp suppliers committed to zero deforestation: Report
Mongabay, Claire Asher, 2 September
State neglect means Indigenous Papuans’ victory over palm oil firm is shaky
Mongabay, Hans Nicholas Jong, 2 September
Paper giant APP linked to Indonesia peat clearing despite sustainability vow
Mongabay, Hans Nicholas Jong, 1 September
Large soy producer will stop deforesting Brazilian cerrado in 2020
Folha de Sao Paulo, Phillippe Watanabe, 7 September
Old-growth Tongass timber slated for sale
E&E News, Marc Heller, 8 September
Reforestation
Garnier pledges to plant 400,000 trees by November
BusinessGreen, Tom Gockelen-Kozlowski, 8 September
Senegal: A campaign to plant 20 million trees by the end of September
Afrik21, Jean Marie Takouleu, 3 September
Seedballs Game To Help Curb Climate Change Effects Through Reforestation
Kahawa Tungu, Francis Muli, 2 September
Sustainable Forestry
Forestry supporters seize on error in study to falsely claim logging doesn’t raise bushfire risk
The Guardian, Graham Readfearn, 2 September
Research paper calls for change in India’s forest policy: D-G Forests
The Hindu, Sidharth Yadav, 6 September
Brazilian Company Suzano Bets the Bond Market on Emission Cuts
The Wall Street Journal, Matt Wirz, 3 September
Negative Emissions Technologies
EPA gives Wyoming authority over carbon-capture wells
Energy News Network, Lisa Ellwood, 8 September
Wyoming lauds US carbon capture study; utility skeptical
Associated Press, Mead Gruver, 3 September
Department of Energy Invests $72 Million in Carbon Capture Technologies
Department of Energy, 1 September
Agriculture and Soil Health
Eating lentils, beans and nuts instead of 'land-hungry meat and dairy' could remove up to 16 years' worth of CO2 emissions by 2050, scientists say
Daily Mail, Ian Randall, 7 September
Indonesia to revamp palm oil levy to support biodiesel programme
Reuters, 8 September
Meet the Canadian farmers fighting climate change
The Narwhal, Sharon J. Riley, 9 September
Darrell Lea goes palm oil free
Daily Mail Australia, Louise Starkey and Louise Ayling, 2 September
Sheep farmers could profit more from returning their land to native trees and selling carbon 'credits' new report claims
Yorkshire Post, Sophie McCandlish, 2 September
You Can Now Track Carbon in an Ear of Corn From Farm to Table
Bloomberg, Justina Vazquez, 2 September
Mondelēz International Advances Sustainable Palm Oil Sourcing with Enhanced Traceability
Mondelēz International, 3 September
Wetlands
Study shows efforts in mangrove conservation and restoration paying off
Phys.Org, 31 August
Terrawatch: how much peat is there on Earth?
The Guardian, Kate Ravilious, 1 September
Bring back the bogs: Estonian volunteers get hands dirty in climate fight
Reuters, Andrius Sytas and Ints Kalnins, 1 September
Build mangrove cells across all coastal states: Environment ministry panel
Hindustan Times, Badri Chatterjee, 3 September
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New Science, Research, Policy and Tools
The Carbon Lottery: Europe blind to potentially huge Brazilian beef carbon footprints
earthsight, September 2020
Priorities for governing large-scale infrastructure in the tropics
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, September 2020
Renewable energy production will exacerbate mining threats to biodiversity
Nature Communications, September 2020
Forest carbon sink neutralized by pervasive growth-lifespan trade-offs
Nature Communications, September 2020
The carbon opportunity cost of animal-sourced food production on land
Nature Sustainability, September 2020
Integration of remote-sensing and ground-based observations for estimation of emissions and removals of greenhouse gases in forests
Global Forest Observation Institute, September 2020
A global-scale data set of mining areas
Nature, September 2020
Landscape Assessment of Financial Flows
Tropenbos International and EcoAgriculture Partners, August 2020
Cropland expansion in the United States produces marginal yields at high costs to wildlife
Nature Communications, September 2020
Banks Funnelled Over USD 150 Billion Into Companies Driving Deforestation Since Paris Agreement, New Data Analyses Shows
Forests & Finance, September 2020
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Lucy Almond, Director and Chair of Nature4Climate
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