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UN Biodiversity summit
The United Nations summit on biodiversity was held at the end of September, with the theme: Urgent action on biodiversity for sustainable development. There was a strong emphasis on the relationship between biodiversity, climate change and zoonotic disease. The importance of NbS for climate change and other development priorities was highlighted by many speakers, with […] -
Oxford principles for net zero aligned carbon offsetting
Many companies, governments, cities, regions and financial institutions are making net-zero commitments. To achieve this, in most cases, carbon offsetting is necessary. This comes with risks, such as inappropriate carbon accounting, the release of stored carbon at a later date, and negative impacts on people, biodiversity and ecosystem services. Published today, the Oxford Offsetting Principles […] -
Leaders’ Pledge for Nature
Today sees the launch of the Leaders Pledge for Nature. Endorsed by political leaders from 79 nations across five continents, including from five of the world’s biggest economies, the pledge calls for a global scale-up of ambition to protect biodiversity to help avert the planetary emergency we face. Signatories recognise that biodiversity loss and climate […] -
Mapping carbon accumulation potential from global natural forest regrowth
Cook-Patton et al. 2020 Estimating how much carbon is taken up by growing forests, and what the global climate change mitigation potential of reforestation is, has been a topic of much debate for the last few years. This study provides the latest estimate of carbon accumulation over the first 30 years of regrowth of natural […] -
Science Based Targets for Nature (SBTN)
Around 1000 companies have already committed to cutting greenhouse gas emissions in line with the science-based target for emissions. Now the same initiative has launched science-based targets guidance to define how companies can assess, prioritize, measure, address and track their impacts and dependencies on natural ecosystems. The guidance defines interim targets that companies can align […] -
Climate and biodiversity commitments at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA)
Several significant announcements from governments and corporations were made during the UNGA and the co-occurring Climate Week NYC. For example: China pledged to reach net-zero emissions by 2060, which was later followed by net-zero by 2050 pledges from two more major Asian economies – South Korea and Japan. Amazon and Global Optimism launched The Climate […] -
UK climate commitments to kickstart Climate Week NYC
Climate Week NYC is taking place from 21st to 27th September; it’s the biggest climate summit of the year and will focus on how we can address climate change as we recover from COVID-19. Alok Sharma, COP26 President, has made the following announcements to kickstart the week: Race to Zero is a global campaign for […] -
Living Planet Report: bending the curve of biodiversity loss
WWF’s 2020 Living Planet Report publishes updated figures for the Living Planet Index (LPI): the size of around 21,000 mammal, bird, fish, amphibian and reptile populations fell by an average of 68% between 1970 and 2016. The change in LPI varies regionally, with the most striking result being a 94% decline in tropical subregions of […] -
Mapping the evidence of nature-based solutions for climate change adaptation
Our systematic review on the effectiveness of nature-based solutions for climate change adaptation has been published in Global Change Biology. It is the first global systematic review of the effectiveness of nature-based solutions and provides evidence that nature-based solutions play a key role in addressing the impacts of climate change, but also highlights potential trade-offs […] -
HSBC to asset management venture for natural capital
The UK-based multinational bank, HSBC, is collaborating with a climate change advisory firm to create a venture which will target investments at projects which protect or enhance nature whilst generating profit. Some of these projects will likely qualify as nature-based solutions, such as sustainable forestry and regenerative agriculture. The venture is expecting to raise up […] -
First chapter of Trillion Trees programme launched
Over 20 cities, companies and nonprofits in the US have pledged to collectively plant more than 800 million trees by 2030. This is the first chapter of the World Economic Forum’s Trillion Trees programme to be officially launched. Groups taking part in the new national programme will need to outline detailed plans for how they […] -
Mapping the impacts of hurricanes Maria and Irma on banana production area in the Dominican Republic
Here, we use openly available remote sensing data to quantify the impacts of hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017 on banana production area in the Dominican Republic — the world’s largest producer of organic bananas. -
New UK law proposed to protect forests
The UK government has proposed a new law which will force companies above a certain size to ensure that the products they sell have deforestation-free supply chains. Currently, most environmental targets and regulations are restricted to UK territory alone. For example, the net-zero emissions by 2050 target does not include emissions released abroad during the […] -
The Cerrado – Brazil’s savanna deserves protection
This article explains how the Cerrado, the world’s most biodiverse savanna, has been neglected in part due to being overshadowed by its charismatic neighbour – the Amazon rainforset. In fact, the Cerrado is invaluable: Its deep soil holds water from the wet season, feeding into eight watersheds which together provide 40% of Brazil’s freshwater It […] -
Brewdog goes ‘carbon negative’ using NbS – what does this mean?
Brewdog has announced that from the 22 August 2020 they will remove twice as much carbon from the air each year than they emit. Currently, the only method for removing carbon from the air at scale is using natural ecosystems. Let’s take a look at what this company is doing: Calculating scope 1, 2 and […] -
Cloud forest & páramo NbS for water security in Colombia
In April this year Colombia experienced 40% lower rainfall than expected, leading to water shortages during the height of the pandemic. As climate change progresses, Colombian water security will be increasingly threatened with knock-on effects for agriculture, health, and hydroelectric power which generates 73% of the country’s electricity. It is clear that steps must be […] -
IUCN examples of NbS providing multiple benefits
IUCN provide short summaries of NbS being successfully integrated on the ground, including: Agroforestry in Rwanda enabling people to send children to school Integration of shrimp farming with mangrove protection and management in Viet Nam Conservation agricultural providing food security in Mozambique Forest landscape restoration in Malawi with information disseminated by a radio programme Stabilisation […] -
Economic and social constraints on reforestation for climate mitigation in Southeast Asia
Zeng et al. 2020 Reforestation will play an important role in mitigating climate change, but some estimates of reforestation potential lack consideration of social and economic constraints. This paper takes the example of Southeast Asia to estimate the extent to which such constraints reduce total mitigation potential from reforestation. 121 million ha of land were […] -
Local People’s Participation in Mangrove Restoration Projects and Impacts on Social Capital and Livelihood: A Case Study in the Philippines
Valenzuela et al. 2020 Participatory management of mangrove restoration projects by local People’s Organisations in two communities in Quezon, Philippines, has been shown to provide substantial benefits for the people involved as well as increasing long-term sustainability of the restoration projects themselves. Members of People’s Organisations increased their social capital by gaining more numerous and […] -
Climate change mitigation potential of wetlands and the cost-effectiveness of their restoration
Taillardat et al. 2020 Although inland and coastal wetlands are highly efficient sinks of carbon dioxide, they also release methane – another carbon-containing greenhouse gas. Hence, wetlands can in some cases draw down carbon and yet have a net warming effect on the climate due to methane release. This means that restoration, protection and management […] -
Active restoration accelerates the carbon recovery of human-modified tropical forests
Philipson et al. 2020 Over half of tropical forests have been degraded by human activities, such as timber harvesting, reducing carbon storage and biodiversity value, and making them more vulnerable to conversion to agriculture. This paper investigates the effect of natural regeneration and active restoration of degraded forests on recovery of carbon stocks in Sabah, […] -
Integrated farming & forestry in Guatemala
An integrated nature-based farming and forestry approach in Guatemala has increased the resilience of local people to change, as shown by their better ability to cope with the implications of COVID-19 than communities without such a system. The approach is known as “Maize, Potato, Sheep and Forest” (MPOB). It involves intercropping of the primary crops, […] -
Mangrove restoration in Costa Rica
A pilot mangrove restoration project in Costa Rica has demonstrated how mangrove planting can benefit habitat and species conservation, whilst also boosting the local economy. About 40% of Costa Rica’s mangroves were deforested following the collapse of the country’s banana boom in the 1980s. A vigorous fern species has taken over much of the deforested […] -
Sustainable wetland management in Bangladesh
The Tanguar Haor wetland in Bangladesh provides a striking example of how decades of poor ecological management and violation of people’s rights can be turned around with dedicated collaborations of governments, NGOs and local people, but also highlights the challenges of creating community-centric ecological management that is sustainable in the long-term. From the 1930s until […] -
Poverty alleviation in Indonesia protects forests
The correlation between reduced deforestation and poverty alleviation has been well known for years. However, Ferraro and Simorangkir (2020) looked at the direction of causation in Indonesia for the first time. They found that a programme providing households with cash, in return for taking specific health- or education-related actions, resulted in a decrease in forest […]