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TOP STORY

UK-France biodiversity credit panel to launch consultation next week

The UK-French led international initiative on biodiversity credits established earlier this year will launch a public consultation process on the framework next week, according to one of the co-chairs.

MARKET

Views split on whether a NZ biodiversity market is the best course

Submissions to New Zealand’s biodiversity market consultation agreed that governments alone cannot muster enough cash to adequately address biodiversity decline, but there are concerns that credit-based schemes are too immature to be considered.

BUSINESS & FINANCE

US-backed nature fund latches onto private sector, green bonds

The Americas Partnership Fund for Nature will receive an initial $10 million from the US government, the White House said last week before launching the financing vehicle officially via a fact sheet Friday.

Cosmetics giant rolls out biodiversity action policy to limit impact on nature

A major chemicals and cosmetics corporation has released a biodiversity action policy, promising to work with consumers and business partners to conserve and restore biodiversity impacted by its activities.

Smallholder farmers spend billions of their own income annually on adapting to climate change, nature loss

The 439 million smallholder farmers globally are spending as much as $368 billion collectively of their own income each year on tackling the impacts of climate change, including on pest control, soil improvements, and biodiversity conservation, which significantly dwarfs the $230 mln pledged for the Adaptation Fund at last year’s COP27 and highlights the increased levels of climate support required by the sector that produces around a third of the world’s food, according to a study published Tuesday.

POLICY

EU co-legislators reach provisional deal on nature restoration law

European co-legislators found a provisional agreement late Thursday night on a bill to restore at least 20% of the bloc’s land and sea areas by 2030, after a long day of closed-door negotiations.

Clamour to address plastic pollution reaches peak ahead of global treaty negotiations

The noise around efforts to tackle plastic pollution has risen to a fever pitch, a week before the negotiations for a global treaty to address the issue are due to begin.

Australian politicians, conservation groups call on govt to end native forest logging

A group of Australia’s past and present politicians and environmental groups have signed on to a pledge urging the state and federal governments to halt the logging of native forests in the country.

South Africa signs first biodiversity tax break agreements

South Africa’s environment ministry has entered into biodiversity management agreements (BMAs) with three landowners in Limpopo province, offering tax incentives in exchange for the protection of privately-owned lions and rhinos.

UK government advisor stresses nature commitments as ministers reshuffle

A key political advisor to the UK government has stressed she is committed to fulfilling the country’s nature-related targets, including biodiversity credit action, the same day as a reshuffle of the country’s top ministers saw the environment secretary resign.

BUSINESS & FINANCE

Building the blue wall – The IUCN and Mission Inclusion, supported by Global Affairs Canada, have launched the Regenerative Seascapes Project for Planet, Nature, and People (ReSea) in Kenya. The three-year, $30-mln project focuses on strengthening the conservation of marine-protected areas, implementing nature-based solutions for climate adaptation, and empowering women economically in blue economy value chains, the IUCN said. The project will be implemented in Kilifi County.

Beef laundry – Four French financial institutions have had a complaint filed against them claiming they have been money “laundering proceeds from illegal deforestation in the Amazon” related to the beef sector. BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole, BPCE and Axa were accused of the “criminal complaint” in a filing to the French authorities led by law NGO Sherpa, according to a press release. Biodiversity lawyer Zaneta Sedilekova predicted the case, the “first” of its kind, “will be replicated widely”, in a post on LinkedIn.

POLICY

Major step – Papua New Guinea has taken a major step towards meeting its 30×30 target by declaring two new marine protected areas (MPAs), spanning some 16,000 sq. km of ocean in New Ireland province. Six years in the making, the MPAs are the first ever with specific measures designed to protect the most threatened groups of sharks and rays, according to the World Conservation Society. The MPAs will also offer protections for marine turtles, dugongs, whales and dolphins. More than 9,000 people from over 100 Indigenous communities were involved in designing the new MPAs.

First of its kind – The Caribbean island nation of Dominica on Monday announced it will establish the world’s first sperm whale reserve, protecting an area of 788 sq. km on its west coast. The area provides a year-round habitat for around 250 sperm whales, but the numbers have been steadily declining, largely due to noise and collisions caused by shipping and tourism pressure. The reserve will be funded through a better-regulated sustainable tourism offer, while ships will have to use specific corridors to leave the animals alone. Fishing will still be allowed in the area, but only from sustainable fishing vessels made of wood. Researchers estimate the animals sequester some 4,200 tonnes of carbon each year, as their nitrogen and iron-rich faeces fosters plankton blooms that capture CO2 before burying it at the bottom of the ocean once the plankton die.

Can’t do that – In June, the Norwegian government announced plans to open up an area of over 280,000 sq. km to commercial deep seabed mining, one of the first nations in the world to do so. However, green group WWF has now commissioned a report from law firm Wikborg Rein, which found that the plan is illegal because the impact assessment process has not been carried out appropriately. The lawyers also said the plan in inconsistent with Norway’s international commitments and could be challenged under several international treaties. Norway’s parliament has yet to vote on the plan.

Big money – The European Commission approved 171 new projects across Europe under the EU’s funding instrument LIFE Programme for environment and climate action, worth more than €396 million. Funding will go towards nature and biodiversity, circular economy and quality of life, climate change mitigation and adaptation and the clean energy transition. One of the biggest nature and biodiversity projects involves 13 EU member states tackling fishing bycatch in the North Atlantic, Baltic and Mediterranean waters.

SCIENCE & TECH

Funding helps – Deforestation in the Amazon has fallen to its lowest level in five years, according to a report published this week by Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE), while a fund to support these efforts was strengthened. Land clearing in nine Amazonian states decreased by 22% between Aug. 2022 and July 2023, reaching 9,000 sq. km, according to data from INPE’s Prodes system. (Carbon Pulse)

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