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TOP STORIES

No role for biodiversity credits to meet global $20-bln goal for nature -minister

The funds to meet a $20 billion finance target for biodiversity by 2025, a key component of last year’s landmark Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), should not come from biodiversity credits, according to the Samoan minister for environment speaking during an event on Wednesday, with other stakeholders also suggesting the nascent market is not likely to be ready to scale sufficient finance within less than three years.

Govt-commissioned panel urges New Zealand to set up biodiversity credit market

New Zealand should establish a biodiversity credit market to help drive sustainable land use and increase resilience, concluded a report released Friday by the government-appointed inquiry panel into the devastating impacts of Cyclone Gabrielle in February.

MARKET

Biodiversity market needs greater flexibility but starts in “more advanced” position than carbon -Verra

The burgeoning biodiversity market should be given more flexibility around the measurement and reporting of impact as it grows, compared to voluntary carbon, and also starts further along the development process, according to a senior member of standard body Verra, speaking at an event on Tuesday.

New partnership to scale sustainable landscape carbon, biodiversity project investments

A new partnership announced Thursday will structure and help finance large-scale conservation and restoration projects in biodiversity-rich landscapes with a view to generate nature-based environmental credits.

Australian banana plantation project earns Verra plastic credits

A plastic removal project at a banana plantation in northern Queensland, Australia this week was registered under Verra’s plastic programme and became the second project to receive its WCC plastic credits.

BUSINESS & FINANCE

EU continues exports of bee-killing pesticides while banning them at home -report

The EU is exporting more than 10,000 tonnes of “bee killing” pesticides a year to developing countries, despite having banned the use of these chemicals in its own fields, according to a report published Wednesday.

Collaboration, markets can help bolster South Africa’s struggling provincial nature reserves, study says

Public-private collaboration and sustainable financing through biodiversity and carbon markets can help improve the situation for South Africa’s vast network of provincial nature reserves that are increasingly failing, a recent study has found.

POLICY

Gabon restructures debt through Nature Conservancy to fund marine conservation project -report

Gabon is in talks with the Nature Conservancy (TNC) to facilitate a $500 mln debt swap for a marine conservation project in the country arranged by Bank of America, according to a media report.

Report argues pricing nature and conservation efforts alone are insufficient to preserve biodiversity

Putting pricing incentives for reforestation and enlarging protection areas will not stop biodiversity decline and the ongoing loss of critical ecosystem functions unless they are accompanied by measures that also target managed landscapes, according to a new study published in a journal by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK).

Canada launches consultation on 2030 biodiversity strategy

The Canadian government has launched a public consultation on its 2030 biodiversity strategy, asking citizens to provide their thoughts on what must be included in the future plan as it aims to finalise a draft version by the end of the year.

SCIENCE & TECH

Never coming back: Abandoned land brings opportunities, challenges for biodiversity target planners

Land equivalent to an area half the size of Australia has been abandoned over the past five decades, though policymakers and conservationists have spent little time trying to understand how that impacts biodiversity and how such territory can contribute to the world meeting its targets under the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), according to research published this week.

MARKET

Null and void – Zimbabwe this week announced all historical carbon offset deals previously entered into as “null and void” and that the country’s Treasury will take a 50% gross revenue cut of all future contracts, with a further minimum 20% going to local investors. Regional authorities will no longer be allowed to negotiate carbon transactions with foreign buyers. International investors and others stakeholders said the move was “opportunistic” and that it could render Zimbabwean offset projects unattractive or unviable. (Carbon Pulse)

Keeping the revenue – At the same time, the Kenyan government released a new bill that included provisions for climate trade under the Paris Agreement’s Article 6 and that creates a specific REDD avoided deforestation registry while mandating government oversight in negotiating new carbon projects. A key change would be the establishment of a community development agreement, which requires at least 25% of a project’s aggregate earnings from the previous year goes to local communities. (Carbon Pulse)

BUSINESS & FINANCE

More, please – A senior investment banker at Credit Suisse AG says his team is actively seeking new deals in a rapidly growing corner of ESG financing, even as the future of the unit after the takeover by UBS Group AG is in question. The Swiss bank stands out as a pioneer in a corner of ESG investment known as debt-for-nature swaps, a market that it has so far dominated. But this year’s near-collapse and government-engineered rescue by UBS Group means that businesses in the loss-making investment bank are now being taken under the microscope for their fit into the longer-term UBS strategy. Ramzi Issa, global head of credit investor products structuring at Credit Suisse, says his team still wants to build out its debt-for-nature swap business after just concluding the largest ever such arrangement, a $656 million deal for Ecuador. (Bloomberg)

Questions asked – In 2020, UK company BSI audited the Western Australia Forest Product Commission’s timber harvesting before mining, and miner Alcoa’s rehabilitation afterwards, and decided it met the requirements for sustainable forest management under the global Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification. But the Wilderness Society called that conclusion “greenwashing”. Australian hardware chain store Bunnings, which sells jarrah products described as “sustainably harvested”, has confirmed some of its products made from the once ubiquitous WA hardwood come from PEFC-certified forest areas cleared for Alcoa. But none of the almost 280 sq km of jarrah forest cleared by Alcoa over 60 years has been rehabilitated to the point where it meets the completion criteria agreed between Alcoa and the WA government. (WA Today)

Looking out for the birds – To celebrate the World Migratory Bird Day on May 13, Hong Kong’s Agriculture, Fisheries, and Conservation Department (AFCD), National Parks Board of Singapore (NParks), WWF-Hong Kong, and WWF-Singapore signed an MoU to establish Mai Po Inner Deep Bay (managed by WWF-Hong Kong) and Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve (managed by Nparks) as Sister Sites under the East Asian-Australasian Flyway Partnership (EAAFP). This year’s theme of World Migratory Bird Day was focused on water and its importance for migratory birds. Wetlands are important ecosystems that filter water and provide ecological functions to wildlife and human beings. Hence, securing the integrity of the wetland ecosystem is essential. The four organisations will deepen their collaboration to support the conservation of these wetland sites and the migratory shorebirds that use the sites, maintaining and enhancing the ecological value of the two important wetland sites.

POLICY

Ghostbusters – Australia has launched a grant programme of up to A$400,000 ($265,000) per project for the removal of so-called ghost nets from northern Australian waters. Every year, lost or abandoned fishing gear drifts into the Gulf of Carpentaria, the government said. These nets can be more than 6 km long, weigh over 10 tonnes, and travel great distances with the tides and ocean currents. Ghost nets are a dangerous menace for turtles, dolphins, sharks, seals, and other fish. Endangered animals swim into the nets and then become entangled, lacerated, or strangled by them. Nylon ghost nets are also a major contributor to the global crisis of ocean plastics, taking hundreds of years to break down.

SCIENCE & TECH

Major loss – The use of pesticides and fertilisers in intensive agriculture is the biggest cause of the dwindling number of birds in the UK and the rest of Europe, scientists have said. Compared with a generation ago, 550 million fewer birds fly over the continent, with their decline well documented. But until now the relative importance of various pressures on bird populations was not known. A team of more than 50 researchers, analysing data collected by thousands of citizen scientists in 28 countries over nearly four decades, found that it is intensive agriculture, above all, that is behind the decline in the continent’s bird populations. (Guardian)

Light show – Scotland may conduct an annual airborne laser scan of the country’s landscapes to monitor the health of its forest, peatlands, and natural ecosystems, according to the Guardian. The Scottish government is weighing up the benefits of annual 3D imaging flights to provide regular data on nature restoration across the temperate rainforests of the west coast to the peaks of the Cairngorms, akin to an annual CT scan for biodiversity. The laser scans – known as lidar (light detection and ranging) – would generate a three-dimensional map of Scotland every year. The data could be used to assess progress on climate and biodiversity targets, provide higher quality data for its carbon market by monitoring changes in forests and peatlands, and study how ecosystems change as the world warms. (Guardian)

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