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TOP STORY
UK biodiversity net gain release exposes ‘serious risks’, say ecologists
The publishing of draft legislation on the UK’s biodiversity net gain (BNG) framework has been broadly welcomed, but its planning permission proposals have triggered concerns about “serious risks” among ecologists.
MARKET
French initiative to produce biodiversity benefit assessment methodology
A French initiative launched this week to develop a methodology for assessing the biodiversity benefits of activities, a move expected to underpin the creation of voluntary biodiversity credits.
Scottish nature restoration consortium to develop biodiversity credits as part of funding solution
A consortium of groups and organisations in Scotland on Thursday announced an investment plan for a new restoration project that in part will rely on a partnership with a nature fintech platform that recently won a contract with the government to develop a biodiversity credit system.
Indigenous Peoples-led nature credit framework launched by Pollination arm
A voluntary nature credit development framework led by Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPLCs) has been launched by Pollination Foundation.
BUSINESS & FINANCE
L’Oreal teams up with Great Barrier Reef Foundation to calculate coral reef biodiversity value
Global beauty product brand L’Oreal is partnering with the Great Barrier Reef Foundation (GBRF) to pioneer a methodology to calculate the value of coral reef biodiversity and support the deployment of heat-tolerant corals, the latter announced Wednesday.
Building materials maker extends IUCN partnership to focus on biodiversity, water
Switzerland-headquartered Holcim on Wednesday announced a three-year partnership with IUCN to strengthen their environmental cooperation, including plans for the conservation group to validate Holcim’s biodiversity baseline.
POLICY
UK pushes ahead with mandatory biodiversity net gain law
The UK government will lay biodiversity net gain (BNG) before parliament on Nov. 30 in a step towards making the law mandatory, it announced among a raft of nature-related pledges.
EU nature restoration law hurdles opposition to give ‘ray of hope’
The provisional EU nature restoration bill has overcome opposition from agriculture lobbyists, lending a “ray of hope” to the bloc’s environmental future, following approval from the European Parliament’s environment committee (ENVI).
MARKET
Plastic token – SMX (Security Matters) plans to launch a plastic cycle token in Q2 2024, which will create a digital platform to record plastic recycling efforts. Just 9% of plastic is currently estimated to be recycled in a market valued in excess of $40 bln. This initiative will thereby incentivise companies within and outside the plastic ecosystem, from oil producers to waste management firms, to increase the usage of recycled content and transition towards sustainable plastic usage, through being able to generate tradeable plastic cycle tokens from doing so. The SMX Plastic Cycle Token is also being presented as a net-generation alternative to carbon credits, with each token designed to represent a quantifiable amount of recycled plastic, using SMX’s technology to physically mark the plastics.
BUSINESS & FINANCE
Public-private – A ‘public-private community of practice for nature and development finance’ is in development by UNDP’s Biodiversity Finance Initiative (BIOFIN) and UNEP FI. Part of their focus will be in applying public and private finance to national biodiversity strategies, following the release of a report on the topic by UNEP FI last week.
POLICY
To the bottom – After the recent change of government in New Zealand, mining company Trans-Tasman Resources is now expecting to be granted by mid-2024 licence to mine vanadium and titanium from the seafloor off Taranaki on the west coast of NZ’s North Island. Greenpeace and local Maori groups have for years fought the plans, which the company says will be worth hundreds of millions of dollars and “bigger than oil and gas”. In an interview with Newsroom, project leader Alan Eggers said the mining would completely destroy ecosystems on the seafloor, but there is little there anyway and it will recover quickly.
Spending – The Victoria state government in Australia on Wednesday announced a new round of grant funding of a total A$500,000 from the Partnerships Against Pests Grants Program. Grants of up to A$50,000 each will be made available to agricultural and environmental volunteering organisations. The state govt has also allocated another A$250,000 to Victoria’s four Community Pest Management Groups, Premier Jacinta Allan announced.
Azerbaijan – The Azerbaijani government has committed to cooperating with a corporate group Neqsol based in the country on biodiversity conservation. Together they will work on the protection of flora and fauna, rehabilitation of ecosystems in protected areas, and providing raw materials for sustainable activities. “In addition to business projects, such as the construction of a solar power plant and the use of sustainable technologies, we also implement various social projects,” Neqsol said.
Scottish solutions – Nature-based solutions are crucial for ensuring sustainable food production in Scotland, a report by The Scottish Wildlife Trust has said. Such initiatives can enhance soil health, reduce the need for pesticides and fertilisers, and contribute to diversified production systems, all while promoting food security, it said in a report.
SCIENCE & TECH
Restoration uncertainty – Restoring degraded forests to boost biodiversity, store carbon, and reconnect fragmented habitats, is a burgeoning area of tropical forest conservation, but uncertainty remains around the long-term impacts of various restoration approaches on forest biodiversity and functioning, with experts suggesting, for instance, that overly focusing on biomass accumulation for climate mitigation can come at the expense of species diversity. A new study in Malaysian Borneo has found that actively restoring logged forest plots with a diversity of native timber species, coupled with management of competitive vegetation, actually boosted adult tree diversity after nearly two decades compared to plots left to regenerate naturally. While the results add to a growing body of evidence that active restoration can lead to biodiversity gains, the authors caution that restoration approaches must be conducted in ecologically sensitive ways to avoid unintended outcomes. (Mongabay)
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