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TOP STORY
UN seabed authority reaches no conclusion on deep-sea mining rules despite mounting support for ban
The UN body responsible for the world’s seabed continued to hold discussions on a mining code for the extraction of precious minerals from the deep sea up to the last day of its Council meeting on Wednesday but failed to finalise them, as a Canadian miner announced on the same day that it would continue tests in the Pacific Ocean.
MARKET
Biodiversity credit blockchain partnership secures Costa Rican project
A blockchain-based biodiversity credit partnership between three companies has secured a small project area in Costa Rica, they announced Thursday.
BUSINESS & FINANCE
UK asset manager Fidelity to expand sustainable oceans and water investments
Asset manager Fidelity International plans to expand its range of sustainable strategies to cover nature-related themes including oceans and water.
Chinese companies announce country’s first deforestation-free soybean import deal
China’s Cofco and Mengniu Group have announced the first Chinese deal to import deforestation-free soybeans from Brazil, with the agreement facilitated by the World Economic Forum’s Tropical Forest Alliance.
TOOLS & GUIDANCE
Five free map datasets launched on agricultural impacts
Five free-to-access mapped datasets to help companies understand the land, carbon, and biodiversity impacts of their agricultural supply chains have been launched by data agency Vizzuality.
Nature startup publishes peer-reviewed metric on forest biodiversity
An Estonia-based nature startup has published a forest-focused biodiversity metric that it says will help companies assess their impact on biodiversity and finance nature protection.
POLICY
US Farm Bill should front up funds for agroforestry, coalition says
A potential environmental game-changer, agroforestry has so far been overlooked and under-incentivised according to a US farming group, but the upcoming farm bill is an opportunity to switch up the rules.
Australia to learn from US EPA under environmental MoU
Australia has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the US to use its Environment Protection Agency to inform the establishment of Australia’s own federal environment watch dog.
BUSINESS & FINANCE
Looking for 12 – The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) this week issued a letter to member states, inviting them to apply to become one of 12 initial countries to receive support under the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) Accelerator Partnership, led by Colombia and Germany. The initiative will seek to help finance the development of NBSAPs in countries by biodiversity conference COP16 next year, and will at first identify candidates in diverse geographical locations that are committed to achieving their Global Biodiversity Framework goals with high levels of ambition in aligning their NBSAPs, are willing to apply a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach, and are aligned with the accelerator partnership’s guiding principles. Applicants must be eligible to receive Official Development Assistance.
Biodiversity funds – German asset manager DWS has launched three biodiversity-focused exchange-traded funds that aim to target companies in Europe, the US and worldwide with “lower negative impact on the earth’s ecosystems than the market average”. The funds, in DWS’s Xtrackers range, track variants of ISS STOXX Biodiversity Focus SRI indices. The filtering process for each fund excludes companies most detrimental to biodiversity.
POLICY
Protection – To stem the potential losses of Australian region Monaro’s snow gum woodlands and native grasslands, the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust (BCT) has recently signed conservation agreements with landholders to protect 4,200 ha of indigenous bushland. As regional areas continue to develop and natural disasters become more frequent and unpredictable, the long-term future of indigenous bushland has come under greater threat. BCT’s southeast regional manager, Tobi Edmonds, said these wood and grasslands are now critically endangered. (About Regional)
SCIENCE & TECH
The unfortunate fifth – A new analysis of 14,669 threatened species of plants and animals found in Europe reveals that about one fifth face the risk of extinction, and that agricultural land-use change poses a significant threat to them. Researchers at the Natural History Museum of Luxembourg found that of the species studied, 27% of plants, 24% of invertebrates, and 18% of vertebrates were under threat. While conservation attention tends to focus on vertebrates, this analysis suggests that the proportion of invertebrates at risk of extinction greatly exceeds the latest estimates from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services – an international organisation involving dozens of member countries. (EurekAlert)
Charted territory – The World Shipping Council has released a whale chart mapping all global mandatory and voluntary governmental efforts to reduce collisions between ships and whales. The council will update the chart regularly, and has made it available for free to anyone who is interested.
Pet problems – Researchers in Germany have identified the most risky freshwater species to have as pets, due to their potential to establish non-native populations if released by their owners. For each species surveyed by the group, they determined the likelihood of release based on availability and price, with cheaper species having a great risk of getting released and surviving. Fish were the most common group, representing 89.5% of the 669 species, and some like the walking catfish and African clawed frog are already of significant concern.
The ‘Bourne Biodiversity– The University of Melbourne has launched a new biodiversity institute. The research organisation will develop research that aims to address key challenges for biodiversity loss including species survival, nature-positive transitions, business and biodiversity, biodiversity and climate change, and nature’s connection to people.
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