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Environment Programme (UNEP), which is hosting the talks, released a blueprint for reducing plastic waste by 80% by 2040. The report, issued earlier this month, outlined three key areas of action: reuse, recycling and reorientation of plastic packaging to alternative materials. This week, dozens of countries were listing public health as one of their priority concerns in limiting plastics production and waste. The UNEP report also identified 13,000 chemicals associated with plastic production, more than 3,000 of which were considered hazardous. Greenpeace, meanwhile, issued a report collecting findings from scientific research papers that suggest plastic recycling processes can release many of these chemicals including benzene into the environment.

☆ Southern Europe braces for climate change-fuelled summer of drought
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Kate Abnett | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

As climate change makes the region hotter and drier, years of consecutive drought have depleted groundwater reserves. CLIMATE CHANGE TRENDSouthern Europe is not alone in suffering severe water shortages this year. The Horn of Africa is enduring its worst drought in decades, while a historic drought in Argentina has hammered soy and corn crops. "In terms of the climate change signal, it very much fits with what we're expecting," said Hayley Fowler, Professor of Climate Change Impacts at Newcastle University. Some 90% of the mainland is suffering from drought, with severe drought affecting one-fifth of the country - nearly five times the area reported a year earlier.

☆ One year after volcanic blast, many of Tonga's reefs lay silent
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-15 | by ( Gloria Dickie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Coral reefs were turned to rubble and many fish perished or migrated away. Following the eruption, the Tongan government said it would seek $240 million for recovery, including improving food security. SILENT REEFSThe vast majority of Tongan territory is ocean, with its exclusive economic zone extending across nearly 700,000 square kilometres (270,271 square miles) of water. It is likely volcanic ash smothered many reefs, depriving fish of feeding areas and spawning beds. While volcanic eruptions on land eject mostly ash and sulfur dioxide, underwater volcanos jettison far more water.

☆ Analysis: U.N. nature deal can help wildlife as long as countries deliver
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Gloria Dickie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Conservationists praised the deal's ambition, saying it amounted to a Paris Agreement for nature in setting out 23 specific targets against which countries can measure their progress. "This is equivalent to the 1.5 degrees Celsius global goal for climate," said Marco Lambertini, director-general of World Wildlife Fund International. "Otherwise, there is a big risk that the cheapest areas are protected rather than those that matter most for biodiversity." During the talks, delegates discussed whether protected areas should be entirely off-limits to human settlement and development, or if some resource extraction should be allowed if managed sustainably. Canada, one of the world's largest nations, is expanding protected land and marine areas in the Arctic.

☆ Bill Gates upbeat on climate innovation, even if 1.5C goal out of reach
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Katy Daigle | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The software-developer-turned-philanthropist was nevertheless upbeat about climate innovation - ticking off numerous areas advancing low-carbon technologies with funding from the Breakthrough Energy Group, which Gates founded in 2015. Gates has invested more than $2 billion toward climate technologies, including direct air capture, solar energy and nuclear fission. Breakthrough Energy, however, operates separately from the Gates Foundation charity. But any Breakthrough Energy profits are funneled back into the group or to the foundation. He did not elaborate on the DAC companies' plans.

Here are some of the key areas agreed on after two weeks of negotiations hosted in Montreal, Canada. CONSERVATION, PROTECTION AND RESTORATIONDelegates committed to protecting 30% of land and 30% of coastal and marine areas by 2030, fulfilling the deal's highest-profile goal, known as 30-by-30. Wealthier countries should contribute at least $20 billion of this every year by 2025, and at least $30 billion a year by 2030. BIG COMPANIES REPORT IMPACTS ON BIODIVERSITYCompanies should analyse and report how their operations affect and are affected by biodiversity issues. This reporting is intended to progressively promote biodiversity, reduce the risks posed to business by the natural world, and encourage sustainable production.

Of seven new dams planned in Laos, at least four are co-financed by Chinese companies, according to Mekong Dam Monitor data. 'WAKE-UP CALL'Farmers in the Vietnamese Mekong River Delta region were not prepared for the speed at which their landscape - and fortunes - have changed. The Mekong River Commission estimated in 2018 that total sediment flow by now would be around 47 million tonnes per year. "Mainstream dams catch everything," said economist Brian Eyler at the Stimson Center, which runs the Mekong Dam Monitor. The Xayaburi and Don Sahong dams in Laos are the most recent to come online, with Xayaburi the largest on the entire Mekong River.

☆ Rising climate costs to challenge countries, companies in 2023
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Katy Daigle | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Nowhere was this more apparent than at the U.N. climate conference in Egypt, where countries reached a landmark agreement to set up a fund to help poor countries cope with climate-fueled disaster costs. Even Hayhoe and others warning about the dangers of climate change didn't escape censure, with some activists laying into them for flying to conferences or eating meat. As of today, there are 2,176 climate-related lawsuits in play across the world, including 654 filed in U.S. courtrooms, according to the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University. And scientists and economists are making further advances in calculating exactly how much a country's activity may have contributed to climate change – and to specific disasters. With the new year, expect more public anxiety as climate change continues to escalate – and more worry among companies and governments over liability and risk.

☆ Analysis: Protecting 30% of the planet to save nature is not as simple as it sounds
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Gloria Dickie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

More than 110 countries have come out in support of the 30-by-30 goal, including Canada, the United States and France. But as is often the case with science-based policy, the details matter to whether a 30% global conservation goal can truly save the world's imperiled species and places. "They would like to be able to leave Montreal and say we're going to protect 30% of the planet. "If we do things the right way, we protect most biodiversity by being smart — by protecting the areas that matter." Were such countries to protect only 30% of their territories, that could actually result in a significant loss of nature.

☆ Investor group launches campaign to help companies protect nature
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( Expert Analysis | Reuters Professional | Calls Grow For Companies To Disclose Impacts On Nature In Bid To Plug Finance Gap | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Luis EcheverriaMONTREAL, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Here's the plan: Select 100 companies whose business burdens nature. Such is the vision of a campaign called "Nature Action 100" launched on Sunday by 11 investment firms hoping to encourage companies to help preserve ecosystems that support more than half the world's economic output. "The aim of Nature Action 100 is to engage those companies that have the highest impact on nature, not only to protect the natural environment but also to mitigate the risks these companies face from mounting pressure to effectively address biodiversity issues," Wearmouth said in a statement. The list of 100 companies will be published next year. Nature Action 100 would seek to select 100 companies for investors to focus on in suggesting how the private sector can navigate any new rules and monitoring their progress, the group said.

For decades, searching for such hard-to-reach plants and collecting samples was carried out by intrepid botanists who rappelled by rope down dangerous cliffs to hunt for what was lost. Now, we may have a little more time before extinction.”DIRE SITUATIONToday, two in five plant species globally are threatened with extinction. Kauai has 250 plant species that can be found only on the island. To protect species in the long run, botanists need to collect samples — seeds and genetic material — which they can cultivate in greenhouse nurseries. They might even use drones to bomb down collected seeds, packing them into sticky fertilizer balls that can adhere to steep cliffs.

☆ Activists dressed as birds and trees rally for nature at COP15 in Montreal
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( Gloria Dickie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] People take part in a march during the opening of COP15, the two-week U.N. Biodiversity summit in Montreal, Quebec, Canada December 10, 2022. REUTERS/Christinne MuschiMONTREAL, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Hundreds of people on Saturday braved sub-zero temperatures to march the streets of Montreal, the host city of this year's U.N. biodiversity summit, demanding a strong new deal to protect nature worldwide. Wearing costumes to look like birds, trees and caribou, activists said the COP15 summit could fail to meet the urgency of the issue, with about 1 million plant, insect and other animal species now threatened with extinction. Arkilaus Kladit, a member of the Knasaimos-Tehit tribe, traveled to Montreal from West Papua, Indonesia. Countries' ministers join the negotiations next week in Montreal with the hope of adopting a deal to guide conservation through 2030 and beyond.

Private-sector efforts also have sprung up offering credits for "voluntary" carbon markets, while a range of registries such as Verra and Gold Standard is accrediting and tracking them. The new database - called the Climate Action Data Trust (CAD Trust) - aims to address these issues by collating all the project and carbon credit data in one place and making it free to the public. It brings us up to speed with what is required within the carbon markets," he said. He said Bhutan is in discussions with possible buyers who want details about how carbon credits from its forests are being registered, verified and monitored. "The CAD Trust meets all the technical requirements of host countries and buyers."

As the COP15 biodiversity summit kicks off in Montreal, businesses and corporate leaders are pushing for an ambitious agreement with strong policies that will provide guidance to companies seeking to change. They are under increasing pressure to show progress in tackling climate change and reducing harm to the environment. The agency has said some $384 billion will be needed each year for nature projects by 2025. "If we take that mindset to nature, it leads to the investment models that would allow us to invest in nature as infrastructure," he said. "Two years ago, all these governments around the world said 'let's put trillions of dollars into nature.'

REUTERS/Rebecca Naden/File PhotoMONTREAL, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Countries are gathering Tuesday for a key U.N. nature conference in Montreal, aiming to broker a new global agreement to protect what's left of Earth's wildlife and natural spaces. Global Land Outlook assessment. Like many other campaigners, Zabey called for "an ambitious, clear and enforceable international agreement" similar to the Paris Agreement on climate change. Unlike the U.N. climate talks, Montreal's summit will see few world leaders, which negotiators say could make it tougher to reach an ambitious agreement. Meanwhile, Montreal police have put up a 3-meter (10-foot) fence around the downtown summit venue, Palais des congrès, and are preparing for thousands of student protesters expected to swarm the Montreal's streets to demand a strong deal to protect nature.

And Wagner’s beloved fireflies – like so many insects worldwide – have largely vanished in what scientists are calling the global Insect Apocalypse. “Insects are the food that make all the birds and make all the fish,” said Wagner, who works at the University of Connecticut. Humans, too, see some 2,000 species of insects as food. “We’d see yields dropping of all of these crops.”And in nature, about 80% of wild plants rely on insects for pollination. WINNERS AND LOSERSWhile the situation is bleak for insects at large, a few types of insects are thriving.

☆ Explainer: What's on the agenda at the U.N.'s COP15 nature summit?
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Gloria Dickie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

MONTREAL, Dec 6 (Reuters) - A key United Nations summit to halt nature loss begins this week in Montreal, Canada. China's COP15 summit has been delayed four times, however, from its original date in 2020 due to COVID. The world's last set of nature targets - the Aichi Targets - expired in 2020. To protect nature, countries will need cash - a lot of it. Environmental groups argue that rich nations should provide at least $60 billion per year to help developing countries meet their nature targets.

It also referred to the need to reform international financial institutions. It should lead to a tripling of the amount international financial institutions lend "with a clear focus on climate and sustainable development goals," Prasad said. Similarly, Akinwumi Adesina, head of the African Development Bank said: "If you want to do more, you actually need more." "There has to be a lot more increase in capital, for the multilateral development banks," he told Reuters. "Our international financial architecture is built for a different time and different challenges," he said.

☆ Analysis: First U.S. coral insurance marks the rise of the reef brigades
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Clare Baldwin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

On Monday, the global 'Reef Brigades' plan came closer to reality when it bought an insurance policy on behalf of the state of Hawaii, the first U.S. coral insurance contract, which will provide funds for repair work, building on similar policies taken out in the Caribbean. Apart from being a precious nursery for fish, coral reefs that fringe developed coastlines can limit flooding by providing a barrier against ocean storm surges, meaning insurers have every interest in protecting them. For the premium of $110,000 in Hawaii's contract announced on Monday, that state will get up to $2 million of insurance protection for its coral reefs until the end of December 2023. Just offshore from some of the country's most famous Mayan ruins, local tourism businesses and the government bought an insurance policy to cover their share of the Mesoamerican Reef. Willis Towers Watson, which worked on the MAR Fund policy and the Hawaii policy, said it is actively working on a coral reef policy for Fiji, and policies for coral reef bleaching, run-off due to excessive rainfall, and lost fishing days due to climate change-induced storms.

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Beyond the headlines from the annual U.N. climate conference, progress in advancing the global climate agenda relies on the behind-the-scenes efforts of technocrats over years. Offsets allow countries or companies to pay others to cut greenhouse gas emissions to make up for their own. But discussions on how to curb those emissions are relatively new within U.N. climate negotiations. The work also deals with food security and the economic impacts of global warming. As the initial mandate expired, countries at COP27 authorised the KJWA work to continue for another four years.

[1/10] Delegates applaud as COP27 President Sameh Shoukry delivers a statement during the closing plenary at the COP27 climate summit in Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, November 20, 2022. "We had to fight relentlessly to hold the line of Glasgow," a visibly frustrated Alok Sharma, architect of the Glasgow deal, told the summit. He listed off a number of ambition-boosting measures that were stymied in the negotiations for the final COP27 deal in Egypt: "Emissions peaking before 2025 as the science tells us is necessary? Another section of the COP27 deal dropped the idea of annual target renewal in favour of returning to a longer five-year cycle set out in the Paris pact. "I recognise the progress we made in COP27" with the loss and damage fund, Aminath Shauna told the plenary.

☆ Analysis: COP27 does little for next month's global agenda: nature loss
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Gloria Dickie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Many environment ministers and campaigners have said the climate talks should underline the importance of protecting nature to help to limit climate change. The "landmark" target of the draft Montreal deal proposes protecting 30% of the world's land and sea by 2030 - known informally as 30-by-30. The world's wildlife crisis is largely driven by habitat loss, with wild spaces turned into agricultural fields and cities, or degraded by pollution. But climate change poses an increasing threat as temperatures climb, pushing species out of their comfortable ranges. It encouraged parties to "consider, as appropriate, nature-based solutions or ecosystem-based approaches" to climate change.

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Countries agreed early Sunday at the COP27 climate summit to set up a fund to help poor countries being battered by climate disasters, but delayed approving a wider deal outlining global resolve to fight climate change. The session approved the text's provision to set up a "loss and damage" fund to help developing countries bear the immediate costs of climate-fuelled events such as storms and floods. Those recommendations would cover "identifying and expanding sources of funding" - referring to the vexed question of which countries should pay into the new fund. Calls by developing countries for such a fund have dominated the two-week summit, pushing the talks past their scheduled Friday finish. The document, which forms the overall political deal for COP27, needs approval from the nearly 200 countries at the climate summit in Egypt.

☆ Key takeaways from the COP27 climate summit
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-20 | by ( Megan Rowling | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/4] Egyptian Foreign Minister and Egypt's COP27 President Sameh Shoukry attends an informal stocktaking session during the COP27 climate summit, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, November 18, 2022. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El GhanySHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, Nov 20 (Reuters) - This year's U.N. climate summit featured visits by world leaders, proposals by business leaders, and negotiations by nearly 200 nations about the future of global action on climate change. Natural gas chiefs were billing themselves as climate champions, despite gas companies having faced lawsuits in the United States over such claims. The leftist leader made the Egypt climate summit his first visit abroad since winning Brazil's presidential election last month against right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro, who presided over mounting destruction of the rainforest and refused to hold the 2019 climate summit originally planned for Brazil. U.S., CHINA RELATIONSHIP REKINDLEDA critical precursor for the climate talks' success happened far away from the Red Sea locale.

☆ Key takeaways from the COP27 climate summit in Egypt
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

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