UK wildlife was ‘devastated’ by extreme weather in the UK. The National Trust’s annual audit revealed that 2022 was a dire year for animals, including amphibians, mammals, birds and insects. Due to strong storms, heatwaves and cold snaps, many species and habitats were effected. The wildfires during the hot summer destroyed many heathland areas in Cornwall, Devon and Dorset, impacting rare species such as sand lizards and smooth snakes. This potential ‘new norm’ of extreme weather is creating major challenges for UK biodiversity.
2022 will be the warmest year on record in the UK, according to the Met Office. Provisional figures hint that the annual average temperature from last year will exceed the previous record set in 2014. The 10 warmest years on record have all occurred since 2003, with temperature trends showing that the UK is hotter since we began burning fossil fuels and releasing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. This new record is showing that climate change is having a real impact.
Unseasonably warm weather is expected this January, with at least eight countries across Europe experiencing record high temperatures. The warmest January day on record was recorded in Poland, Denmark, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Belarus, Lithuania and Latvia. The Czech Republic saw temperatures of 19.6°C, compared with the usual average of 3°C.
Polar bears are vanishing from the ‘polar bear capital of the world’ in Canada. The western Hudson Bay is considered a stronghold for this species but government research is showing that there has been a dramatic decline in numbers. Every five years, researchers count the number of bears in the area and extrapolate population trends, with the last count in 2021 estimating 618 bears, down from 842 five years earlier. The reveal showed significant declines in adult females and subadult bears between 2011 and 2021, possibly due to displacements to neighbouring regions or hunting. The bears’ sea-ice habitat has also been disappearing, with the far north of the world warming up to four times faster than the rest of the planet.
New discoveries
A pink coloured variant of the Monotropastrum humile plant, native to East and Southeast Asia, has been discovered to actually be a new species. A 20-year study determined how exactly these plants different, with specimens collected throughout Japan, Taiwan and Vietnam. Originially, there was thought to be only one species in this genus in the world, so this new discovery has deepened our understanding of the plants in the Monotropastrum genus. As this newly recognised species is rare and therefore presumably endangered, the information from this study will hopefully be used to inform conservation efforts.
Eastern quolls have been released into the Australian bush in New South Wales, over sixty years after they were declared extinct on the mainland. The 10 individuals were released into a NSW nature reserve, bolstering an insurance population of quolls. The Barrington population is the largest on the mainland and was established through the Tasmanian Quoll Program. Special fences have been erected to keep out cats, foxes and pigs, as feral invasive predators are thought to have been the cause of the initial population decimation.
COP15, the UN Biodiversity Conference, took place between 7th and 19th December 2022. This event set out to convene world governments to agree to a new set of goals for nature over the next decade. This will create a framework that sets out an ambitious plan to implement broad-based action to change society’s relationship with biodiversity, ensuring that humanity can live in harmony with nature by 2050. COP15 has been touted as the key turning point in the fight to protect biodiversity, and a vital opportunity for countries to make change.
Biodiversity is declining globally, with the WWF Living Planet Report reporting that trends in the population abundance of mammals, fish, reptiles, birds and amphibians have revealed that populations have declined by an average of 69% between 1970 and 2018. Habitat conversion for people and livestock, hunting, exploitation, the intensification of agricultural practices, and the impacts of climate change such as temperature increase, changes to rainfall patterns and increased extreme weather events are among the wide range of challenges wildlife currently faces. Regionally, Latin America and The Caribbean have experienced the worst decline, at 94%. This global decline is set to worsen if no changes are made.
The main aim of COP15 was to reach a set of goals and targets that would create a comprehensive and equitable framework agreed upon by world governments. These clear targets need to address over-exploitation, pollution, fragmentation and unsustainable agricultural practices, and be matched by the resources needed for implementation. There also needed to be a plan that safeguarded the rights of indigenous peoples, recognising their contributions as stewards of nature. Finally, the finance for biodiversity needed to be addressed, particularly relating to the alignment of financial flows with nature to push finances towards sustainable investments and away from environmentally harmful ones.
The Deal
An agreement was reached on Monday 19th December 2022. Almost 200 countries agreed to the new set of goals and targets that aim to “halt and reverse” biodiversity loss by the end of the decade. Six items were adopted at COP15:
the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF)
A monitoring framework for the Kunming-Montreal GBF
Mechanisms for planning, monitoring, reporting and review
Capacity-building, development, technical and scientific cooperation
Resource mobilisation
Digital sequence information on genetic resources.
It is hoped that measurable targets within the Kunming-Montreal GBF, and a mechanism for implementation, will ensure it will succeed where previous targets have not. There are 23 global targets within this GBF for 2030, with 10 ‘milestones’, including ensuring that at least 30% of land and water considered important for biodiversity are protected before the end of the decade. Currently, only 17% of terrestrial and 10% of marine areas are protected.
The key targets also include increasing financial resources from all sources, not just governments, to at least $200 billion per year towards supporting biodiversity by 2030; reducing, redirecting or reforming environmentally harmful incentives by $500 billion per year; and reducing the nutrients lost to the environment by at least 50%, pesticides by at least two thirds and eliminating plastic waste from entering the environment entirely.
The digital sequence information target refers to genetic sequence data, derived from the natural world. This is used in medicine and science, for vaccines, biofuels, crop improvements and further research. The target would require that the benefits arising from this information be shared fairly and equitably.
Are they effective?
Many are labelling the goal of taking urgent measures by 2030 as a strong call to action, with many 2030 milestones listed in the final agreement, including reducing extinction risk by 20%. This would then be reduced tenfold by 2050. This, however, would mean many species are still likely to go extinct during this time, particularly specialist species that occupy narrow niches, as these are more likely to be impacted than generalist species that can survive in a wider variety of environmental conditions. Reducing the diversity of species within an ecosystem can reduce its resilience against other stressors, such as the impacts of climate change, disease and habitat degradation. This is known as biotic homogenisation, where ecological communities become increasingly similar due to a combination of the extinction of native species and the invasion of non-native species.
The target of protecting 30% of land and sea by 2030 is hailed by many as the main success of the conference. This large increase in protected areas, especially with the requested focus on areas of particular importance for biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services, will have a significant impact on biodiversity loss. However, some are describing the milestone of conserving at least 30% of land and sea by 2030 as a ‘floor, not a ceiling’, suggesting that 50% is an important step to the long-term survival of both biodiversity and humanity. This is the key aspect of the Half-Earth concept, developed by biologist E. O. Wilson, which states that the only solution to the upcoming ‘Sixth Extinction’ is to increase natural reserves to cover half the surface of the earth.
Additionally, there is no target for increasing species population abundance by 2030, with details on enlarging the area of natural ecosystems by at least 5% being removed after earlier drafts. While many of the other targets will most likely lead to an increase in species population abundance, and perhaps even in increasing the area of natural ecosystems, the lack of a set target makes it harder to hold governments to account.
Another item that has notably been missed is the issue of dietary consumption, beyond reducing general overconsumption. Research has shown the consumption of meat, particularly beef, is specifically linked to biodiversity loss, with 30% of biodiversity loss linked to livestock production. Reduction of meat consumption is not mentioned in the text of the COP15 agreement, despite research suggesting that beef consumption needs to fall by 90% in western countries to prevent the future impacts of climate change.
Research has also shown that over £1.48tn ($1.8tn) of environmentally harmful subsidies are being paid each year, going towards high-emission cattle production, deforestation and pollution. One of the Aichi biodiversity targets, discussed later in this article, was to remove these subsidies, which governments failed to achieve by 2020. This new target, which requires governments to redirect or reduce these subsidies by at least £416bn ($500bn) per year is a major opportunity, and is recognised as another major outcome of this agreement. However, this still leaves over £1tn ($1.3tn) in environmentally harmful subsidies each year, continuing to put pressure on global biodiversity.
Additonally, the COP15 agreement calls for businesses to assess and disclose how they impact and are impacted by nature loss, but it is not mandatory, which weakens this target. This is unlikely to effectively hold large corporations to account, though societal pressure may play a role in encouraging many countries and financial firms towards disclosures.
This all suggests that, while meeting these targets will put the world on the right track towards halting and reversing biodiversity loss, there is still much more that is needed to be done to create a ‘nature-positive’, more harmonious future. These targets need to be a starting point rather than an end goal.
Can we rely on these promises?
The previous strategic plan for biodiversity for the 2011-2020 period included the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, agreed upon at COP10 in 2010. However, by 2020, the Global Biodiversity Outlook 5 Report by the UN showed that the world failed to meet any of the targets. There were 20 targets agreed upon, which were separated into 6o elements, to aid in monitoring overall progress. In 2020, only seven of these elements were achieved, with 38 showing progress and 13 with no progress at all. Two had unknown progress. This resulted in six Aichi targets being partially achieved, such as those on protected areas and invasive species. This failure to meet the previous set of targets does not bode well for any confidence in the seriousness of the commitment of world governments to meet these new ones.
The new financial targets, widely hailed as one of the main successes of COP15 will make a huge difference in halting and reversing biodiversity loss but only if they are actually achieved. In 2009, developed countries committed to supplying $100 billion per year by 2020 to help vulnerable countries impacted by climate change. However, these rich nations failed to meet the long-standing pledge. Instead, $83.3 billion was provided in 2020, $16.7 billion short of the target. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) suggested that the $100 billion target would not be met until 2023, using U.N. data processed with a two-year delay. This, again, casts doubt on whether developed countries can be relied upon to follow through with the financial commitments agreed upon at these events.
The other main success of COP15, the goal to protect 30% of land and sea for nature by 2030, also has a failing precedent. In the UK in 2020, the Prime Minister at the time, Boris Johnson, committed to protecting 30% of the UK’s land and sea for nature by 2030. However, so far, according to the 2022 Progress Report on 30×30 in England by Wildlife and Countryside Link, only 3.22% of England’s land is effectively protected and managed by nature, compared to 3% in 2021. There was more progress in protecting English waters, with 8% effectively protected for nature, compared to 4% in 2021. With very little progress being made and the continued threats of deregulatory proposals to reform or repeal the strongest laws for nature, this calls into question whether the UK will remain committed to these new global goals. Additionally, the newly published environmental targets from The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) are being criticised as a ‘job half-done’ as the goals to ensure greater biodiversity in 2042 than in 2022, and at least 10% more than in 2030, do not go far enough.
However, a proposed EU Nature Restoration Law might be the first step towards achieving these new targets. Should this law successfully make its way through the European Parliament, it would signal that these countries are willing to make the necessary policy changes to stop biodiversity loss. The new law aims to set specific timetables for restoring degraded habitats such as rivers, wetlands, fields and forests. It would cover 1.6 million square miles across the 27 member countries. As the EU’s current environmental laws don’t explicitly state how, when or who needs to restore these areas, this new law is a much-needed addition to ensure proper implementation of conservation. The final vote is expected to take place in June.
Protest at COP15. Image by UN Biodiversity via Flickr
Ultimately, world governments and global businesses have made similar pledges before and failed to follow through. Often, while the agreements contain targets that would make significant progress against biodiversity loss, there is a lack of strict regulation of adherence and adoption of policies that would allow for progress towards these targets. While there have been some initial steps that suggest a real commitment to achieving these targets, the next few months and years will be a key time for world governments to prove that they are willing to make the necessary changes.
The province of Limburg in the Netherlands will be restoring the habitat of the critically endangered garden dormouse over the next four years. In the Netherlands, this species (Eliomys quercinus) is only found in the southern Limburg area, although it is found across other parts of Europe, including France, Spain, Portugal, Italy and areas of south eastern Europe. The species relies on contiguous hedges and bushes, avoiding open fields, with a food preference for blackberries, common hazel, elderberries, gooseberries and red currants. Habitat loss and fragmentation are thought to have been the cause of the decline in both their abundance and range.
The garden dormouse (Eliomys quercinus) by Arno Laurent via Wikipedia Commons
Extinction risks
There have been a number of news stories relating to the mass die-offs of crustaceans off the North East and Yorkshire coasts, the first of which occurred in October 2021. Fishers and campaigners are protesting against further developments on the River Tee, where they believe dredging disturbed toxic chemicals and caused the mass deaths. Both the government and Tees Valley Combined Authority rejected this claim, with Defra suggesting naturally occurring algae was the most likely cause. Defra is organising an independent panel that will reinvestigate by January, and MPs are now calling for the inquiry to be open and collaborative, ensuring independence in the process.
Policy
Campaigners call for biodegradable plastic to be included in English single-use cutlery ban. The ban, expected to be announced in the coming weeks, comes after Scotland and Wales already legislated to ban various single-use plastics, including those described as biodegradable. Many ‘bioplastics’ are environmentally damaging and won’t break down in the natural environment, despite being termed biodegradable.
A report from the House of Lords has said that access to green space needs to be prioritised when deciding how to use land. The cross-party House of Lords land use in England commission has laid out its priorities for a land use framework. This would divide up the land in England and decide where is best for different types of agriculture, as well as carbon sequestration, nature restoration and recreation. The report, published on Tuesday last week, highlights the need for greater access to the natural world for the public, as it is ‘important for health and wellbeing, especially in urban and peri-urban locations near where people live’.
Sea Staghorn (Codium fragile) by Jerry Kirkhart via Flickr
A breakthrough in nuclear fusion energy has been announced by US scientists. Physicists have been pursuing the technology for decades as it promises a potential source of near-limitless clean energy. The fusion experiment, which took place at the National Ignition Facility in California produced more energy than was put in, but experts say there is still some way to go before fusion powers homes. Nuclear fusion works by taking pairs of light atoms and forcing them together, which releases a lot of energy. This process, while giving off small amounts of short-lived radioactive waste, produces no greenhouse gas emissions and therefore would not contribute to climate change.
Pollination loss removes healthy food from global diets. New research led by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health has found that this increases chronic diseases causing excess deaths. Inadequate pollination, due to reduced biodiversity, has led to a 3-5% loss of fruit, vegetable and nut production, linked to an estimated 427,000 excess deaths annually from lost healthy food consumption and associated diseases, including heart disease, stroke, diabetes and certain cancers.
COP15
Eels are facing a population collapse after the annual fishing negotiations for key EU waters ended in quotas higher than those scientists have recommended. Conservation groups and scientists recently called for all EU eel fisheries to be closed to allow populations space to recover. However, the European Commission only agreed to extend the closure of eel fisheries at sea from the current three-month closure to six months. This will cover juvenile eel migrations and mature eels swimming between the sea and rivers. This decision came as the UN COP15 biodiversity summit, which ended on Monday 19th December, attempted to bring countries together to agree on targets to ensure the survival of species and stem the collapse of ecosystems across the world. A number of conservationists and scientists believe this decision is at odds with EU leaders’ proclaimed ambitions to protect biodiversity at COP15.
Countries have agreed to protect 30% of land and sea, decrease environmentally harmful subsidies and increase financing for nature restoration and protection. This goal is set to be achieved by the end of the decade, with initial responses from green groups being broadly positive. A new biodiversity fund will be formed, to sit within the UN’s existing Global Environment Facility, pooling together development aid, private sector money, philanthropic donations and funds raised through the use of digital sequence information of genetic resources. Additionally, rich countries have committed to increasing international aid for biodiversity to $20bn annually by 2025, then to $30bn by 2030.
The UN Climate Conference COP27 took place in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, from 6th to 18th November. Bringing together over 45,000 people from around the world, the list of delegates included indigenous peoples, local communities, civil society and world leaders, with the aim of delivering solidarity between countries and following through on commitments made in the landmark Paris Agreement.
In this post we’ll take a brief look at some of the outcomes of the conference.
Breakthrough agreement on “Loss and Damage” fund
In negotiations that went up to and beyond the official closing date of the conference, an agreement was finally made to establish a “loss and damage” fund to help those nations most at risk due to the climate crisis. Although many of the details to do with the fund have yet to be ironed out, the money is expected to go to the most vulnerable countries to assist with problems arising from droughts, flooding and other situations caused by climate change.
Commitment to limiting global temperature rise
Although the final agreement of COP27 stated “the urgent need for deep, rapid and sustained reductions in global greenhouse gas emissions” and a renewed commitment to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels as stated in the Paris Agreement, there were widespread concerns that there have been no concrete plans to cut fossil fuel emissions since COP26.
The global transformation to a low carbon economy has been estimated to require investments of USD 4–6 trillion per year. This amount would require a complete transformation of financial systems, and concerns were raised that developed countries are not yet showing signs of working together to achieve this.
World Leaders Summit
The World Leaders Summit took place over two days and involved 112 world leaders in six round table discussions. Under the general title “Together for Implementation”, these discussions were intended to break down the steps required to translate commitments into concrete and achievable action. Topics covered by these discussions included:
Just transition
Innovative finance
Investing in the future of energy
Food security
Water security
Climate change and the sustainability of vulnerable communities
The voice of youth at COP27
Children and young people were given much greater prominence at COP27, with governments being encouraged to listen to their thoughts and opinions, and incorporate their ideas in solutions and policies.
The first ever Pavilion for Children and Youth featured a lively programme of discussions, panel events, creative workshops, talks and networking, and provided a dedicated space where the voices of young activists could be heard.
Also new at COP27 was the youth-led climate forum which brought together policymakers with young representatives from the Conference of the Youth (COY17), who presented the Global Youth Statement and highlighted the topics that they wanted raising during COP27 discussions.
Other key outcomes
• The second technical dialogue of the Global Stocktake took place. The Global Stocktake aims to assess collective progress on the implementation of the Paris Agreement. The UN Secretary-General will convene a ‘climate ambition summit’ in 2023, ahead of the conclusion of the stocktake at COP28 next year.
• The Forest and Climate Leaders’ Partnership was launched, which aims to half forest loss and degradation by 2030 by uniting action by governments, business and other community leaders.
• A USD 3.1 billion plan was announced by the UN Secretary-General which would ensure that everyone on the planet is covered by early warning systems by 2027. This is particularly important for the most vulnerable communities who often have no idea that hazardous weather is on its way until it is too late.
• A 12-month masterplan was drawn up to help make cleaner energies more accessible. Involving 25 collaborative actions to be delivered in time for COP28, the plan aims to speed up decarbonisation within five key areas: power, road transport, steel, hydrogen and agriculture.
For information about last year’s COP26, check out our series of blogs on its importance, the first week update and a round up of all the major outcomes from that event and how they could affect our efforts to combat climate change, if countries and businessess stay committed. We also have a series of blogs that look at some of the toughest global climate challenges that we are currently facing.
However, climate change isn’t the only challenge the natural world is facing. Despite world-wide and on-going efforts, biodiversity is deteriorating on a global scale, with the decline projected to worsen if nothing changes. COP15, the UN Biodiversity Conference, is currently underway (7th to 19th December 2022) and aims to agree a new set of goals for nature over the next decade through the Convention on Biological Diversity post-2020 framework process. For more information on this, please check out the dedicated UN webpage.
More than 20,000 bison, in 65 herds, are now owned by 82 Native American tribes across the US. Once roaming North America’s Great Plains in the tens of millions, bison were slaughtered to near extinction by European settlers. Previously, conservation efforts for this species have excluded Native Americans but now this cultural connection is being rekindled, increasing food security, reclaiming sovereignty and improving land management.
More than 50 shark species are to be given protection from over-exploitation. Nearly 200 countries voted to add them to the list of species protected under global trade rules. This includes tiger sharks, blacktip sharks, the bonnethead and blue sharks. The two shark families, requiem sharks and hammerhead sharks, that these species belong to make up over 50% of the trade in shark fins for soup, with many species threatened with extinction. By listing them on CITES, trading products that contain these species will be much harder.
The largest-ever dam demolition will restore hundreds of miles of historical salmon habitat. Four ageing dams are set to be destroyed along the Klamath River in California and Oregon, a win for the Native American tribes and environmentalists that have been fighting for this for years. This $500 million proposal was approved in November and the project is slated to began next year, with the biggest removals taking place in 2024.
Cranes fledge young on the Suffolk coast for the first time. The RSPB recorded two successfully raised chicks at Snape Wetlands Nature Reserve by a pair of cranes. Only around 65 pairs breed in Britain each year. This is a great sign for the relatively new reserve: the original 82ha graslland was converted to wetland and reedbed between 2008-2014. The RSPB has said it will continue to manage the wetlands to encourage more cranes to breed at the site.
A new seaweed species has been discovered more than 100 metres below the surface of the Antarctic Ocean. The red algae, Palmaria decipiens, was found by a team that included researchers from the University of Aberdeen using a remotely operated vehicle. The project, funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council, set out to clarify the maximum depths that seaweed could grow in Antarctica. Samples were collected for further examination and DNA sequencing was then used to confirm the type of seaweed.
Extinction risk
The Mount Ballow mountain frog, only discovered earlier this year, is already facing extinction, despite living in a World Heritage rainforest. Scientists have warned that the species could become extinct by 2055 due to the impacts of climate change reducing the availability of suitable habitats. These frogs are currently stranded on an ‘island in the sky’ due to habitat loss within the upland mountain rainforests of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia, and occupy a very narrow niche. 91% of this ecological niche would be lost under a worst-case scenario of three degrees warming, according to lead author Liam Bolitho.
A survey has found that 80% of Scots fear climate change impacts on Scotland’s nature. The research, conducted for charities network Scottish Environment LINK, also found that pollution and ocean warming are also major fears. Just over 1,000 Scots were interviewed between 31st October and 6th November. Nearly a third of those polled stated thay were “very concerned” about the impact of climate change on Scotland, with 50% saying they were “quite concerned”. Just 14% put that they were “not that concerned”, and only 3% stated they were “not at all concerned”.
Policy
A number of MPs are backing the bill to ban trophy hunting overseas, in hopes to protect many endangered animals that are being hunted to the brink of extinction. Support currently includes the MPs for East Yorkshire, North Devon and Milton Keynes. The bill, which has cross party support, would ban British hunters from bringing ‘trophies’ of endangered and vulnerable animals into Britain. The bill has passed its second reading and it is now preparing for the committee stage of its progress through Parliament, which is expected to take place in the New Year.
Research
Tissue loss, decay and death, along with widespread coral bleaching, were reported across the northern coastline of New Zealand last year, impacting hundreds of thousands of specimens. Latest research shows that the most severe impacts on sponges occurred in areas where a prolonged marine heatwave was most intense. These organisms serve a number of important ecological functions, including filtering large quantities of water and moving carbon from the water column to the seafloor. A major loss in coral species would change the community structure of the ecosystem within that habitat, having widespread impacts on a variety of species.
Between 2003 and 2019, almost a quarter of Sweden’s remaining unprotected old-growth forest was logged. These rare and ecologically valuable forests are rich in biodiversity and are some of the last remaining areas where we can see how northern landscapes may have looked before humans began altering them. If logging continues at the same rate, all of these old-growth forests will be lost within the next 50 years.
A new analysis from the groups Global Witness, Corporate Europe Observatory and Corporate Accountability reported that 636 fossil fuel lobbyists are registered to attend the COP27 climate talks – a figure that is up 25% from last year. This shows a worrying rise in the influence of the fossil fuel industry at these critical climate talks.
100 universities in the UK have pledged to divest from fossil fuels, equating to 65% of the country’s higher education sector. The Fossil Free campaign, led by students, has been active since 2013, with the first institution, the University of Glasgow, announcing its divestment in 2014. Coventry University has become the 100th. Together, the endowments now unavailable for fossil fuel companies are worth more than £17.6bn.
The threatened Barberry carpet moth has seen a boom in numbers in a forest in Dorset, with the population trebling in four years. Experts found 50 larvae in Blandford Forest during their most recent survey, compared to just 14 in 2018. The moth was almost extinct in the 1980s, limited to just a single location in the UK. This drop was thought to be due to Barberry bushes being removed by farmers. Both Forestry England and Butterfly Conservation began planting Barberry plants in woodlands and along the edges of farmland in 2007 to try to repopulate the species.
30% of forests in Sierra Nevada, USA, disappeared between 2011 and 2020. The historic droughts and wildfires that plagued California for more than a decade have severely impacted woodlands. More than half of mature forest habitats and 85% of high-density mature forests have either been destroyed or transformed into low-density forests. These areas usually contain high levels of biodiversity, with a range of different types of trees, but the increasing loss of these mature forests is threatening this biodiversity.
New discoveries
Six new rain frog species have been discovered in Ecuador. Scientists discovered all six species on the eastern slopes of the Ecuadorian Andes, in two national parks, within a 20km-radius of deforested areas. There are more than 550 different Pristimantis frog species across Central and South America. All six have been recommended to be added to the IUCN’s red list of threatened species.
A new species of mammal has been found in mainland Britain for the first time. The greater white-toothed shrew, usually found across western parts of Europe as well as the Channel Islands of Guernsey and Alderney, was spotted in Sunderland in 2021. The dead specimen was examined using a DNA test to confirm its species. There is other evidence that this species has been here for a while, with remains found in owl pellets in Ireland in 2007 and photos dating from at least 2015. Research is currently underway to discover how these shrews may have arrived.
Research
A new study has found that bees ‘count’ from left to right. There is a much-debated theory that this direction is inherent to all animals, including humans. However, as the opposite direction has been found in people from cultures that use an Arabic script, it has been suggested that there is a cultural element involved. The study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal, found that after being trained to associate numbers with a sucrose reward, honey bees ordered numbers in increasing size from left to right.
A bar-tailed godwit has set a world record with a 13,560km continuous flight from Alaska to southern Australia, taking 11 days and one hour. The satellite tag recorded the flight of the five-month-old juvenile bar-tailed godwit, which was over 500km longer than the previous record. Juveniles migrate separately from adults, who make the journey up to six weeks earlier, as the juveniles use the extra time to fatten up for the long migration. Bar-jailed godwits can shrink their internal organs to make more space for these extra fat stores.
Hybrid songbirds are found more often in human-altered environments than in natural areas. A new study, published in Global Change Biology, found that hybrids of the black-capped and mountain chickadee, two common North American songbirds, were more likely to be found where humans had altered the landscape in some way. The study looked at observational data from the citizen science site eBird, as well as DNA samples from 196 black-capped and 213 mountain chickadees at 81 sites in North America. While they found a positive, significant correlation between hybrids and areas where humans have disturbed their habitat in some form, the study did not determine why these hybrids were more common in these areas.
Policy
The UK government has delayed its publication of clean water and biodiversity targets, breaching its Environment Act. The targets, which will underpin the country’s nature recovery were meant to be released on 31 October, ahead of the COP27 UN climate talks in November. The delay in publication means the delegation will not have targets to present to other countries. This is stated to be due to the “significant public response” to Defra’s consultation on nature recovery, with no date set as to when the targets will be published. This adds further concern to a number of environmentalists, as the government is currently reviewing over 500 pieces of environmental legislation by the end of next year under the retained EU law bill. If, by the end of this period, any bill has not been amended or retained by parliament, it will fall. Many critics are suggesting that it is unlikely the government will be able to review the thousands of EU laws required within this time.
Pollution
An analysis has found that scrapping nature-friendly farming payment schemes could worsen river pollution in England by up to 20%. Recent sources suggested that the previous government was looking to remove nature restoration from the upcoming scheme intended to replace the EU’s area-based payment scheme for farmers. 86% of rivers in England were deemed to not be in a ‘good ecological condition’, with agriculture being the reason why 40% of water bodies in England failed to meet this status, according to the Environment Agency.
The Living Planet Report, compiled by WWF in association with the Zoological Society of London, is the most comprehensive study ever undertaken on the changes in global biodiversity and planet health. Using datasets from almost 32,000 populations of 5,230 species across the planet, the document details how global wildlife populations have changed since 1970, and how these vary between continents and species groups. Utilising recent developments in mapping analysis techniques means that the speed and scale of biodiversity change can now be seen much more clearly and on a finer scale than ever before, allowing us to pinpoint the areas that are suffering most and where nature is contributing most to our lives.
As well as documenting the data, the Living Planet Report aims to show that positive change is still possible, and that the key drivers of biodiversity loss and habitat destruction need to be addressed with great urgency. The final chapter of the document, ‘Building a nature-positive society’, discusses how there is no one-size-fits all solution to the biodiversity crisis, and that transformational change will be required across all areas – production, consumption, finance and economics – before we start to see a beneficial effect on nature.
Key points from the 2022 Living Planet Report
• Changes in the Living Planet Index, which tracks trends in population abundance of mammals, fish, reptiles, birds and amphibians, has revealed that populations have declined by an average of 69% between 1970 and 2018.
• Freshwater populations have been hit the hardest, showing an average decrease of 83% over this period.
• Latin America and the Caribbean showed the biggest decline in species abundance (-94%), followed by Africa (-66%). This is in comparison to a relatively moderate -18% recorded in Europe.
• Land-use change is still the most significant driver of biodiversity loss. Unless we make serious efforts to control the impacts of climate change, however, this is likely to become the most dominant cause within the next few decades.
Looking forward
“We know that the health of our planet is declining, and we know why. We also know that we have the knowledge and means to address climate change and biodiversity loss”.
In the final chapter of the Living Planet Report, we are reminded of the recognition by the UN in July 2022 that it is a human right to live in a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. With this in mind, it is clear that the current climate and biodiversity crises are also human rights crises, and our world’s most vulnerable people, wildlife and places are already bearing the brunt of these.
It is also clear that the changes required to ‘bend the curve’ of biodiversity loss will need to be nothing short of transformational and system-wide. They will need to impact all aspects of the way we live, including our means of production and consumption, the technology we use, the things we finance, and our entire economic systems.
Within the report, Costa Rica is lauded as an inspirational environmental giant due to the changes made to its constitution in 1994. Since then, 30% of the country has been designated as national parks, 99% of its electricity comes from renewable sources and reforestation has doubled the amount of forest cover from 25% in 1994 to 50% today. Looking to examples such as these as inspiration for what can occur with large-scale systemic change is key to realising the dream of a healthy environment for all.
The ultimate message provided by the Living Planet Report is that, while there is still time to act, urgency is required. Solutions will need to be applied globally by governments, businesses, local communities and Indigenous Peoples with the aim of reversing biodiversity loss by 2030, and achieving complete recovery by 2050. The UN Convention on Biological Diversity’s COP15 is a huge opportunity for world leaders to commit to rapid and effective action in order to secure a nature-positive, equitable future for everyone.
Climate change could force primates such as monkeys and lemurs from the trees to the forest floor. A new study from San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance suggests that in warmer temperatures, tree-dwelling primates could begin spending more time on the ground searching for shade and water. Spending more time on the forest floor could increase interactions between these species and humans, as well as domestic animals, increasing the chances of conflict, disturbance and disease transmission. This change in behaviour may also have an impact on other species, as the primates’ diets may become more generalised, changing predator/prey relationships and potentially impacting dispersal strategies.
Almost 70% of animal populations have been wiped out since 1970, according to the biennial Living Planet Report. The leading scientific assessment, run by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Zoological Society of London, shows that the abundance of birds, fish, amphibians and reptiles declined, on average, by more than two thirds between 1970 and 2018. The 89 authors are now urging world leaders to reach an ambitious agreement at the upcoming COP15 biodiversity summit and to cut carbon emissions to limit global heating to below 1.5 degrees within this decade.
A new fish has been discovered in the Atacama Trench off the west coast of South America. The small blue snailfish was spotted by a team of scientists using free-falling landers to sample deep-sea creatures using cameras and traps with bait. The deep-sea species was seen from about 6,000-7,600m deep and, using DNA barcoding and a 3D x-ray technique called microcomputed tomography, the team was able to determine where the species fit within the snailfish family. They were surprised to learn that this new species appears to be a seperate coloniser of the Atacama Trench, as it belongs in the genus Paraliparis, with other species in this genus rarely being found deeper than 2,000m.
Research
A new study has found that wild bees are active in woodland tree-tops, a habitat now thought to play a more significant role in bee conservation than previously thought. Researchers from the University of East Anglia studied bee communities across 15 woodland sites in a farmed landscape in Norfolk in late spring, examining levels of bee activity in four habitats: the canopy and understory of both woodland interiors and exposed woodland edges. They found a diverse community of wild bees utilising the woodland canopy, particularly near flowering sycamore trees. This has implications for bee conservation policies, as nectar producing trees such as sycamores may represent a significant food source for certain bee species.
Catch and release fishing may be having physiological and behavioural impacts on sharks. The practice, an important component of both ecotourism industries and scientific research worldwide, was the subject of a recent study published in Conservation Physiology. Researchers used ‘biologging’ and blood chemistry to explore the impacts of these interactions on two species: the blue shark (Prionace glauca) and the tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier). The research shows that short-term capture lead to a significant and rapid increase in body temperature in both species, lasting for between 10-40 minutes post-release. Further research is now needed into the potential longer term effects on the welfare of sharks that are caught using catch and release methods.
Chicken farms may explain the declining health of the River Wye, according to samples taken by citizen scientists. The Wye Salmon Association, with support from the Countryside Charity CPRE, tested soil samples along public footpaths near a tributary of the River Wye in Herefordshire and found that the highest levels of phosphorus were found in soils close to intensive poultry units. High phosphorus levels in river systems have a number of ecological impacts, including eutrophiciation, where excess nutrients cause increased algal and plant growth, which can reduce oxygen levels in the water. Toxic algal blooms can occur, as well as changes in habitat availability, where increased plant growth has covered previously bare gravel or sediment river beds. Campaigners are now calling for stronger regulations around the spreading of manure to limit phosphorus levels in soil.
A new study has revealed the ‘staggering’ scale of lost fishing gear currently drifting in the oceans. These include 25 million pots and traps, 14 billion hooks, and enough nets that, if tied together, could stretch around the world 18 times. Published in Science Advances, this report by researchers from CSIRO and the University of Tasmania used interviews with 451 commercial fishers from seven different countries to ask about what was being lost. They then matched the date from these interviews with data on global commercial fishing to estimate the total annual losses world wide. Ghost nets, as these lost nets are called, are lethal for many forms of marine life, potentially continuing to trap wildlife for years after they’re lost.
Conservation
A rare woodpecker has been spotted in Dorset, despite thoughts that it had died out locally. The lesser spotted woodpecker, whose population has fallen by 83% since 1970, was spotted at Hollis Mead Organic Dairy Farm in Corscombe. There are only thought to be 12 breeding pairs in Dorset according to the Dorset Wildlife Trust. The farm’s managing director believes that the organic approach his farm is taking, including not using insecticides or pesticides as well as leaving the woodland unmanaged, is beneficial for biodiversity.
As global temperatures rise due to climate change, blue lakes in North America and Europe are likely to turn from blue to green-brown. This is mainly due to changes in algal blooms and sediments which are affected by temperature and precipitation. As well as the purely aesthetic impacts on local culture and recreation, there are important implications for water quality, particularly for lakes that are used as drinking water sources.
An international study looking at the future role of termites in ecosystems has determined that their role could be much larger in a warming environment. These wood-consuming insects are important for breaking down wood and contributing to the earth’s carbon cycle, but their activities are currently concentrated mainly in the tropics. With an increase in global temperatures, they are likely to expand their ranges much further north and south.
