Presenting Biodiversity Pulse Weekly, Carbon Pulse’s free newsletter on the biodiversity market. It’s a weekly summary of our news plus bite-sized updates from around the world. Subscribe here

All articles in this edition are free to read (no subscription required).

TOP STORY

Gabon deal brings biodiversity market opportunities for UK forestry firm

A conditional award of the right to manage 50,000 hectares of land in Gabon for carbon credit afforestation purposes has opened a door for a British forestry and timber trading company to enter the emerging market for biodiversity credits.

MARKET

Dutch developer to roll out biodiversity credit platform

A Dutch nature-based solutions developer with a growing portfolio of forestry-based carbon projects in Africa has plans to set up a platform before the end of the year through which it will sell tailor-made biodiversity credits.

Mediterranean seagrass gets boost from French carbon project

The French government has become the first in Europe to approve an accounting methodology for a carbon project that will protect the crucial Posidonia seagrass meadows along a stretch of coast overseen by the Calanques National Park.

BUSINESS & FINANCE

Cosmetics giant outlines huge biodiversity supply-chain challenges

Water risk in North American pulp forests, soil organic carbon in Australia, untreated wastewater in China, and air pollution and carbon emissions in Russia are just some of the nature risks facing a major chemicals and cosmetics corporation that released a first-of-its-kind report on its biodiversity challenges Monday.

Conservation initiative picks first batch of island-ocean ecosystems for rewilding

The Island-Ocean Connection Challenge (IOCC) has picked a first batch of eight Pacific islands for ecosystem restoration projects, with a view to expanding that number to 40 by the end of the decade.

POLICY

Conservation group backs OECMs as flexible way for nations to meet 2030 biodiversity targets

Meeting the 30×30 target of the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) will be a major challenge for many countries, though OECMs – other effective area-based conservation measures – are increasingly seen as a useful tool, with IUCN this week showcasing how they could help Vietnam achieve its biodiversity commitments.

NGO calls on IMF to re-position, make major push on biodiversity

A US-headquartered NGO has urged the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to instantly make significant funds available for biodiversity purposes and undertake institutional reforms to put nature loss at the heart of global financial reform.

MARKET

Pull the plug – A ministerial commission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has recommended terminating 30 forest concessions, including a handful linked to REDD+ projects as well as undeclared carbon credit sales. The commission’s preliminary report presented evidence and recommendations related to 82 forest contracts, including 56 timber and mining concessions and 26 conservation concessions. (Carbon Pulse)

BUSINESS & FINANCE

Doubling the effort – Apple announced on Tuesday that it intends to double its commitment to nature-based carbon removal projects, eyeing the resulting credits for use towards its own Scope 3 carbon neutral 2030 goal. The world’s largest tech company by revenue announced the expansion of its Restore Fund, through which it is advancing nature-based carbon removal projects. (Carbon Pulse)

POLICY

Doing it together – India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi this weekend called for increased cooperation in conservation and biodiversity enhancement, saying the time has come for an international alliance to handle the issue. Modi’s comments came in a speech commemorating the 50th anniversary of India’s tiger protection programme. (Deccan Herald)

Going ahead – This week, Uzbekistan’s government along with UNDP and GEF launched the “Global Framework Programme – Supporting Early Action” to help the Central Asian country implement the Global Biodiversity Framework. Over the next two years, the project will collaborate with various groups of national and international stakeholders, including line ministries, departments, academia, and NGOs to accelerate readiness and early action to implement post-2020 biodiversity priorities and align national targets, monitoring, policy, and financial framework with the GBF. (EIN News)

Hurry up – Non-profit Greenpeace has called on Taiwan’s legislators to pass a long-pending act during this legislative session to ensure marine ecosystems around the island are better protected, Taiwan News reports. Activists are calling on whips from each of Taiwan’s major political parties to voice their support for the draft of the “Ocean Conservation Act”, which was submitted to the Cabinet for review in July 2020, before the current session ends on May 31. Greenpeace had won the support of 26 legislators as of Apr. 10, though another 87 have yet to stand behind the act for it to have sufficient support to pass, according to the report.

SCIENCE & TECH

Bad data – Every time a new Javan rhino calf is spotted, Indonesia’s environmental authorities issue an update of the precise population number for the near-extinct species. The rhino’s entire population is confined to a single national park, filled with hundreds of camera traps that allow conservationists to monitor sightings of known, named adult rhinos as well as any new births. Since 2011, when officials started installing the camera traps, the government has reported steady growth from 35 to 72 individual Javan rhinos. According to a new investigative report, however, the seeming precision of these numbers belies serious problems with transparency, poor management of the species, and indications that the population may in fact be declining. (Mongabay)

Got a tip? How about some feedback? Email us at news@carbon-pulse.com