Page 3 - Eric Dinerstein News Today

The reintroduction of gray wolves to Yellowstone National Park in 1995 triggered a cascade of knock-on effects. The wolves kept herbivores like elk in check and on the move, reducing their browsing pressure on young trees. As a result, groves of willow and aspen sprouted along watercourses, creating ideal conditions for a thriving beaver population. […]

Ahead of COP15 next year, negotiators are focusing on a proposal to protect at least 30% of Earth’s land and sea by 2030

COP15 negotiators are focusing on a proposal to protect 30% of Earth’s land and sea by 2030, but what about indigenous rights? %

WASHINGTON — Roughly a sixth of the planet’s land and freshwater area now lies within protected or conservation areas, according to a United Nations report released Wednesday.

Protected areas cover a sixth of Earths land and freshwater CHRISTINA LARSON, AP Science Writer May 19, 2021 FacebookTwitterEmail 9 1of9FILE - This Feb. 25, 2019 photo provided by the Galapagos National Park shows a hammerhead shark nursery which was recently discovered in Santa Cruz, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature lists hammerhead sharks as endangered species that have suffered sharply declining numbers in recent years around the...

Share In Bali, Aboriginal people grow crops in the midst of a diverse tropical forest. Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images Just 19% of Earth’s land is still ‘wild,’ analysis suggests Apr. 19, 2021 , 3:00 PM Since the 1960s, conservationists have had a standard solution for saving biodiversity: Protect natural areas from human influence. But a new analysis of Earth’s land use going back 12,000 years suggests that even in the time of mammoths and giant sloths,...

Right now, in the conservation movement, a lot of people are fixated on a single number: 30. The US and more than 50 other countries have pledged to conserve 30 percent of their land and water by 2030 as a means to help thwart the biodiversity crisis. Biodiversity tends to increase with the area of land or water conserved, yet just 16 percent of global land is in protected areas today (in the US, it’s closer to 12 percent), according to the World Database on Protected Areas. Intact ecosystem...

Jo-Anne McArthur/We Animals/naturepl THE Great Barrier Reef is already in a critical state. Rising sea temperatures are killing corals faster than they can recover. As temperatures continue to increase, more and more of the reef will die, along with the rich variety of life and the AUS$6 billion tourism industry that depend on it. It is one headline-grabbing example among many. The continued rapid warming of the planet would wipe out many species, even if it were the only change happening. As i...