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TOP STORY

Only four countries have ocean acidification plans, report finds

Just four countries globally have regions to have published dedicated plans for tackling the threat posed by increasing seawater acidity levels, with the US taking the lead, a report has found.

BUSINESS & FINANCE

French govt paper urges range of financing options for nature-based solutions

A report published by the French government, in collaboration with CDC Biodiversite, underlined that greater finance from across the spectrum of stakeholders would be needed to protect nature, while also assessing the various tools available to scale funding.

WWF pitches international nature positive financial regulation blueprint

A coalition of countries could collaborate on a plan for regulation to push a nature positive agenda globally, the director general of the WWF International has said.

Precision agriculture firm preserves 1,200 species in one year, US asset manager says

A company working in precision agriculture helped avoid the loss of 1,216 species worldwide throughout 2022, US-headquartered asset manager Federated Hermes has suggested.

POLICY

British Columbia commits to whole-of-govt approach in new biodiversity framework

Canada’s British Columbia has released a strategy framework on biodiversity and ecosystem health, vowing to take a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach to govern the protection and restoration of nature.

Over 140 fossil fuel and chemical company lobbyists at global plastic treaty negotiations, report finds

Some 143 fossil fuel and chemical industry “lobbyists” have registered to attend the global plastic treaty negotiations in Kenya, according to a non-profit concerned that the delegates will exert an undue influence upon the proceedings.

EU to renew glyphosate approval for a decade despite divisions

The EU will extend for 10 years authorisation for the use of glyphosate, the European Commission said on Thursday, exercising its default power after member states failed to agree.

MARKET

Fixing mangroves – UAE-based carbon project developer Blue Forest has signed a memorandum of understanding with the provincial Ca Mau Forest Department in Vietnam, and the Vietnam Sustainable Shrimp Alliance, to identify methods to restore 10,000 ha of degraded mangrove forests, it said on LinkedIn. The Southeast Asian nation has lost more than half of its original mangroves, primarily as a result of expanding shrimp farms.

BUSINESS & FINANCE

See you in court – PepsiCo has been sued by the state of New York for its plastic pollution along Buffalo River that is allegedly contaminating the water and harming wildlife. According to the lawsuit, PepsiCo is the single largest identifiable contributor to the problem. PepsiCo’s spokesperson has told the BBC that it has been “transparent in its journey to reduce use of plastic”. Last week Coca-Cola, Danone, and Nestle were accused of making misleading claims about their plastic bottles. PepsiCo is the world’s second biggest food company and many other big corporations have been facing lawsuits by local authorities about their impact on the environment.

Money – Aboriginal groups responsible for managing their sea and land areas are set for a big funding boost. Environment minister Tanya Plibsersek has pledged A$160.5 mln towards the 84 Indigenous Protected Areas operating in Australia. IPAs are developed under voluntary agreements between the federal government and Indigenous people to allow them to manage and protect areas of land and sea for biodiversity conservation. (Daily Mail)

POLICY

Agreed – More than 20 countries and the EU have adopted 34 measures to ensure the conservation and sustainable use of marine living resources, as well as the sustainable development of aquaculture in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. The forty-sixth session of the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) of the FAO, which closed last week in Split, Croatia, was one of the most productive in the organisation’s history, the UN body announced. A total of 34 decisions were unanimously adopted, including 24 binding recommendations, the highest number so far. The proposals centred on three main themes: improving fisheries management, addressing climate and environmental issues in the fisheries and aquaculture sector, and enhancing compliance.

Whoops – Endangered peat swamps in Western Australia’s Great Southern have been burned only weeks after the federal government placed them on a threatened ecological community list. Site checks by the Denmark Environment Centre of a 3,500-hectare area near the Styx River, found that patches of subsurface peat are still smouldering more than two weeks after a state department set fire to the vegetation as part of a wildfire mitigation programme. (WA Today)

Urgent – IUCN-Pakistan underscored the need for the establishment of a conservation programme for critically endangered plant species, including the development of a seed bank and the promotion of sustainable harvesting practices, in a new report on Tharparkar’s natural ecosystem. The report also indicated the need for implementation of a community-based conservation programme for the threatened animal and plant species, including awareness-raising campaigns and the development of alternative livelihoods for local communities. This report is a two-and-a-half-year study conducted by a team of experts from Sindh Wildlife Department, Zoological Society of Pakistan, Baanh Beli, and distinguished academic institutions. (APP)

Infertile ground – Nitrogen fertiliser usage is exceeding the amount the planet can cope with by two-fold, a report by non-profit Planet Tracker has said. Regardless, production capacity is forecast to grow to 202 mln tonnes by 2027, it said. “Policymakers and financial institutions must take action to ensure more equitable and sustainable use of fertilisers,” it said.

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