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TOP STORY

Australia’s nature repair market legislation pushed back again

Australia’s nature repair market bill will not be re-introduced to parliament until 2024 at the earliest, after the senate committee examining the legislation requested another extension to its reporting deadline.

BUSINESS & FINANCE

Centralised private sector biodiversity fund could help hit global targets, says research organisation

A centralised private sector biodiversity fund could help achieve global nature targets without the need to develop biodiversity credit mechanisms, according to a research group.

‘First ever’ positive impact of biodiversity fund measured

Biodiversity over an area equivalent to at least 3,000 hectares was supported by ASN Impact Investor’s biodiversity fund last year, according to the “first” measuring of positive nature impact by an investment manager, it said.

TOOLS & GUIDANCE

UN scientific meeting adopts global biodiversity monitoring approach

Representatives from 196 countries this week approved an overall approach for monitoring efforts to meet the world’s biodiversity targets, though a lack of detail means more work needs to be done.

EU-funded Align project launches biodiversity measurement guidance

Three sets of guidance for measuring biodiversity covering direct operations, supply chains, and ecosystem conditions have been launched by the EU Commission-funded Aligning Accounting Approaches for Nature (Align).

POLICY

Global progress on deforestation not just off-track but getting worse, groups say

A new study produced by a collection of NGOs, think tanks, and academics said that international commitments to halt deforestation have not yet been backed up by sufficient action or funding to tackle the challenge.

PROJECTS

Philippines govt signs nature-based solution partnership with energy firm

The Philippines Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has formalised a biodiversity and climate change agreement with a major renewable energy firm in a bid to drive larger private-sector investments into nature-based solutions.

MARKET

Starting up – A treaty promising to plant 100 mln native trees across southern and southeastern Brazil and create a self-regulatory carbon market, potentially with sectoral emissions limits, was signed by seven states at an annual meeting in Sao Paulo on Saturday. The Atlantic Forest Treaty was signed by members of the Consortium for the Integration of the South and Southeast (COSUD), which are the states of Espirito Santo, Minas Gerais, Parana, Rio De Janeiro, Rio Grande Do Sul, Santa Catarina, and Sao Paulo. (Carbon Pulse)

BUSINESS & FINANCE

Funds flowing – The Bezos Earth Fund announced Thursday it has awarded a $10 mln grant to non-profit water.org, founded by Matt Damon and Gary White, to increase access to sustainable, climate-resistant water and sanitation services in developing countries. The funds are expected to be spent on water infrastructure in India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Kenya, and Brazil, and have significant biodiversity and climate mitigation benefits. The Bezos Earth Fund said in an announcement that the partnership with water.org advances a new Water and Climate Philanthropic Fund that will unlock $1 bln in investments.

Mangroves – China’s Ping An Insurance Company has established the Ping An Biodiversity and Environmental Conservation Charitable trust, initiated with a donation of 10 mln yuan ($1.37 mln). It will focus on mangrove ecology and aims to protect biodiversity while promoting ecological conservation and sustainable development.

Who you gonna call? – A group of marine stakeholders and NGOs in Belgium has launched the Coastbusters projects after six years of experimentation. The project uses self-growing mussel reefs at the boundary of shallow water (the foreshore) to reduce coastal erosion while making a positive contribution to biodiversity and the coastal ecosystem. One of the innovative elements in it is the so-called mussel shaker. The new technique uses mussels to build a reef that acts as a biologically-reinforced dune-by-dike underwater, as the first hurdle against storm surges. Beach and dunes then become the second line of defence. (Marine Insight)

A glass of your finest blue – French actress and winery owner Carole Bouquet has promised to give one bottle of her illustrious Sangue d’Oro wine to anyone donating at least €1,000 to the experimental Panther seabed restoration project off the Mediterranean island of Pantelleria. The project, run by the Pure Ocean Foundation, will replant Posidonia, sponges, and gorgonians over a 200 sq. m area on the sea floor in a bid to recreate the environment necessary for marine life to return to the degraded area. Pure Ocean hopes to fund the project through a fundraising campaign, with Bouquet’s backing seen as an attractive incentive for potential donors.

Bee nice – The largest US grocery retailers are failing to protect bees, a scorecard report by Friends of the Earth has found. Out of the 25 firms, who have $1.8 trillion of sales annually, 21 scored a D+ grade or worse. Twelve companies have pesticide policies but actions fall “far short” of what is required to protect bees, the campaign group said. Giant Eagle retailer won the most points, receiving a B+ grade.

POLICY

Too hard – In Taiwan, a new survey from Greenpeace has shown rapidly falling fish stock numbers around the island of Xiaoliuqiu, a popular tourist destination. Pressure is now growing on the government to adopt a proposed Marine Conservation Law, but according to a statement from the Environmental Information Centre, the Marine Conservation Department is saying it is “too difficult” to push the bill through the current parliamentary session, meaning legislators will kick the can down the road.

SCIENCE & TECH

More mangroves – Best Practice Guidelines for Mangrove Restoration have been launched, led by non-profit the Global Mangrove Alliance. The 141-page document outlines a step-by-step approach to restoring mangroves from project design to monitoring. “The excitement for mangrove restoration has never been higher,” the US-headquartered organisation said.

Hyperspectral – The impact of microscopic algae on drinking water in the Theewaterskloof Dam, South Africa is being analysed using a buoy deployed by researchers from the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Engineering News reported. The buoy is the only one on the continent equipped with “hyperspectral” equipment, capable of analysing a wide spectrum of light, the outlet said.

Chilled critters – The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance have partnered to form the new Center for Species Survival: Biodiversity Banking. The centre will house six specimen collections covering tissue, cell cultures, and skeletal samples of a multitude of species. One of the collections is the “Frozen Zoo”, reportedly the largest and most diverse collection of its kind in the world with close to 11,000 living cell cultures. The samples and data will be shared with scientists globally and were recently used to produce clones of the black-footed ferret and two Przewalski’s horses.

Black Summer – Planet and animal life has struggled to rebound in parts of Australia that were severely affected by extreme fires that occurred in the 2019-2020 season, according to a new peer-reviewed study published in Global Change Biology. While many Australian species can persist, recovery can be impacted by the severity and scale of the fire event, scientists said. In less severely burnt regions species diversity actually increased post-fire, but when fires hit the “high severity zone” species diversity had not recovered compared to unburnt regions. The study used data collected by citizen scientists through the Environment Recovery Project and the iNaturalist platform. (Phys.org)

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