A third of the world’s land is degraded. By the end of the 13th Conference of the Parties (COP13) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) that ended on Saturday, September 16, 2017 in Ordos, China, 113 countries agreed to specify concrete targets, with clear indicators, to reverse degradation and rehabilitate more land.
COP13 President, Mr Zhang Jianlong, opening the conference in Ordos, Inner Mongolia, China
Countries also agreed at COP13 on a new global roadmap to address land degradation.
The new UNCCD 2018-2030 Strategic Framework is said to be the most comprehensive global commitment to achieve Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) in order to restore the productivity of vast swathes of degraded land, improve the livelihoods of more than 1.3 billion people, and to reduce the impacts of drought on vulnerable populations.
“Some battles took place, but you took bold measures for our Convention. We have a new strategic framework and a new reporting cycle. We have a Drought Initiative. We have taken fundamental decisions on gender, capacity-building, migration and sand and dust storms,” said Ms Monique Barbut, UNCCD Executive Secretary.
The Conference also witnessed the birth of the first global private sector fund dedicated to implementing the Sustainable Development Goals. Known as the Land Degradation Neutrality Fund (LDN Fund), it will be a source of transformative capital bringing together public and private investors to fund projects to restore degraded lands, which come with environment, economic and social benefits.
With an initial target size of $300 million fund capital, the LDN Fund is co-promoted by Mirova, an affiliate of Natixis Global Asset Management that is dedicated to socially responsible investment, and the Global Mechanism of the UNCCD. A separately-operated Technical Assistance Facility (TAF) will advise the Fund on the development of promising sustainable land use activities in order to build a strong portfolio of projects.
The Global Land Outlook, a new landmark publication unveiled at the Conference, spotlighted the urgency for swift action. It reported that 20 percent of the world’s land has become degraded in just the last two decades.
“This is the most comprehensive study of its type, mapping the interlinked impacts of land on a range of thematic areas including urbanisation, climate change, erosion and forest loss,” Ms. Barbut said of the publication at its launch.
To reaffirm the progress made at the summit, more than 80 Ministers from around the world issued the Ordos Declaration urging countries to step up efforts on all fronts to tackle desertification – one of the planet’s most pressing global challenges.
“The Ordos Declaration reaffirms the contribution of ecological services to food security, private sector, civil society and youth…. It also recognises the importance of addressing climate change, protecting biodiversity and addressing food security,” said Zhang Jianlong, Minister of State Forestry Administration, China, when he closed the Conference.
He said the Convention will pay attention to regional hotspots and intensify cooperation, and underlined the Belt and Road Cooperation Mechanism that will support capacity building along the Silk Road in the region.
The Conference also took action to address three new and emerging issues linked to increasing land degradation – drought, sand and dust storms and migration.
Sand and dust storms threaten the health of millions of people across the globe, and is a major concern in China where the Conference took place.
“Equally, drought mitigation,” Ms Barbut asserted, “would for the first time be an area of focus under the New Strategy.”
“National drought policies with effective early warning systems would be crucial in promoting vulnerability assessment and risk mitigation measures, particularly in light of the devastating droughts witnessed in Africa this year that have left more than 20 million people on the verge of starvation,” she added.
The Conference took place from September 6 to 16 in Ordos, Inner Mongolia, China.
Demanding action from the world’s largest banks, institutional investors are calling for enhanced disclosure of banks’ climate-related risks and opportunities and of how these are being managed by banks’ boards and senior executives. A recent study estimates that the value at risk under business-as-usual scenarios may be equivalent to a permanent reduction of between 5% and 20% in portfolio value in just over a decade.
Isabelle Cabie, Global Head of Responsible Development at Candriam Investors Group
Some 100 investors with $1.8 trillion assets under management, including pension funds, asset owners, and asset managers such as Candriam Investors Group and Hermes EOS, are writing to the CEOs of 60 of the world’s largest banks, including Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, HSBC Holdings, JP Morgan Chase, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. and TD Bank.
The letter, coordinated by responsible investment non-profit ShareAction and Boston Common Asset Management, calls for more robust and relevant climate-related disclosure to be supplied to investors on four key areas: climate-relevant strategy and implementation, climate-related risk assessments and management, low-carbon banking products and services, and banks’ public policy engagements and collaboration with other actors on climate change.
There is a growing desire among asset owners and asset managers for more robust climate-related disclosures and risk management from the banking sector. The recent issuance of recommendations by the Financial Stability Board’s Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) introduces new norms and expectations around disclosure in this space. However, the TCFD framework is voluntary and progress depends on investors pressing for action.
In the wake of the Paris Agreement, the banking sector faces an array of climate-related risks and opportunities. As providers of capital, banks have an essential role to play in ensuring that we meet the Paris Agreement goal of “making finance flows consistent with a pathway towards low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development”. A staggering $93 trillion of investment is required by 2030 to limit global warming to two degrees and the private financial sector has a pivotal role to play in enabling the transition to a low-carbon future.
Isabelle Cabie, Global Head of Responsible Development at Candriam Investors Group, says: “As a result of climate change and the low-carbon transition, banks now face risks and opportunities that are real, wide-ranging, and material to investors. As long-term investors, better disclosure of climate risk allows us to judge how specific banks are performing compared to their peers, and so we ask that banks pay heed to this important call from the investor community.”
Roland Bosch, Associate Director, Engagement at Hermes EOS, says: “In light of the recently issued recommendations of the TCFD, investors are seeking better disclosure from companies in sectors particularly exposed to climate change and global efforts to reduce emissions. We believe that the banking sector can do more to expand its disclosure of how climate risks and opportunities are being assessed and managed.”
Lauren Compere, Managing Director and Director of Shareholder Engagement at Boston Common Asset Management, says: “Limiting global warming to less than a 2 degrees Celsius rise requires a major shift in the way we operate financially and economically. As climate risk becomes recognised as critical to banks, investors want to know whether this risk is being managed well and at the highest levels of the organisation.”
Catherine Howarth, Chief Executive of ShareAction, says: “Millions of people have an interest in how these banks respond to climate change, whether as citizens affected by the frightening physical impacts we hear about almost daily now in the news, as pension savers whose funds invest in these banks, or indeed as customers of these banks. We are hugely encouraged that this substantial group of global institutional investors has come together to press banks for meaningful action on climate-related risks and opportunities.”
The letter is part of a wider investor engagement initiative on banks and climate change. The announcement of this initiative comes ahead of Climate Week NYC, which brings together companies, investors, governments, and civil society to drive faster progress in addressing climate change.
Earlier this year, ShareAction published “Banking on a Low-Carbon Future”, a guide for investors on engaging with banks on climate change. In early 2017 Boston Common Asset Management released “On Borrowed Time: Banks & Climate Change” as an update to their 2015 report highlighting progress but ongoing gaps in the global banking sector’s climate performance.
In the modern world – where technology enables us to achieve more at a faster pace and social media boasting makes it easy to feel inadequate at the achievements of others – 30 could be considered the new 40.
Erik Solheim, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Photo credit: OECD/Michael Dean
We no longer need to stare horrified at the first grey hair wrapped around a comb or grimly pinch a thickening waistline to receive the impetus to stop and ask ourselves what we have done, and what we are going to do now to add meaning to our lives and value to the world.
As for people, so it goes for companies, organisations and initiatives: 30 years under the belt provides the opportunity to reflect and redirect.
Many such bodies will be casting an envious eye at the Montreal Protocol as it reaches this milestone, both in terms of its amazing achievement to date – setting the ozone layer on the road to recovery – and its new vision to help avoid up to 0.5° Celsius in global warming by the end of the century.
“The ozone story continues to inspire,” said Tina Birmpili, head of UN Environment’s Ozone Secretariat, under which the protocol falls. “It shows what can be achieved if we listen to the science, put aside our differences and act on behalf of our planet. This must not just be a one-off.”
On September 16, 1987, nations agreed on the protocol – The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, to give its full name. The goal was to slash the production and use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), and other ozone-depleting substances, used in aerosols, refrigeration systems and many other items.
While such inventions brought comfort and convenience to billions, the substances they ran on were rather inconveniently ripping a hole in the ozone layer, allowing harmful ultraviolet radiation to stream through and threaten human lives, the environment and economies.
Fast forward to today, and the nations of the world – all of whom signed up to the protocol – have phased out nearly 99 per cent of ozone-depleting substances. In September 2014, a report from the Scientific Assessment Panel of the Montreal Protocol confirmed that the ozone layer is healing and will return to 1980 levels by mid-century. As a result, up to 2 million cases of skin cancer may be prevented each year by 2030.
Climate change in the crosshairs
With this success in the trophy cabinet, the Montreal Protocol is now helping to address the climate change challenge.
Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) became widely used substitutes for ozone-depleting substances, but these are climate-warming gases with significant global-warming potential.
In October 2016, after long and sometimes-fraught negotiations, parties to the Montreal Protocol put aside their differences and signed the Kigali Amendment to phase down these greenhouse gases.
Then-UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called the amendment “a major boost to limiting global temperature rise”.
The Paris Agreement calls for the world to limit global warming this century to under 2°C compared to pre-industrial levels, with a more-ambitious 1.5°C set as an aspirational target.
Everybody onboard
Countries that ratify the Kigali Amendment – and there have been six so far – are committing to cutting the production and consumption of HFCs by more than 80 per cent over the next 30 years.
The new deal includes targets and timetables to replace HFCs with more planet-friendly alternatives, and an agreement by rich countries to help finance the transition of developing countries to safer products.
Top officials from the chemical industry, including producers of chemicals and manufacturers of equipment that use HFCs, were also in Kigali, demonstrating support from the private sector.
Developed countries will start reducing HFCs as early as 2019. Developing countries will start later, provided 20 nations have ratified the amendment to allow it to enter into force. However, some African nations have expressed the desire to phase down the chemicals faster than required. They have good reason to do so.
According to UN Environment’s 2015 Africa Adaptation Gap Report, even limiting global warming to under 2°C will cut agricultural yields by 40 per cent, putting 50 per cent of the continent’s population at the risk of undernourishment.
There is still a long way to go, but the success on the ozone layer proves that when the world acts as one, as they are doing again with the Kigali Amendment, results will come.
To keep the energy up, and inspire the next generation of supporters for the coming challenge, the Ozone Secretariat, in partnership with Marvel Comics, is launching an Ozone Heroes campaign – reminding people that our human qualities are what equip us to solve the world’s most pressing problems and that we are all #OzoneHeroes.
“The Montreal Protocol is as necessary today as it was in the 1980s, not just for the ozone layer but also as part of global efforts to halt climate change,” said Erik Solheim, head of UN Environment. “Our continued success depends on the emergence of a new generation of heroes.”
Two more potential tropical storms were brewing in the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday, September 14, 2017, even as Hurricane Jose approaches the US.
Hurricane Jose approaches the US, as Lee and Marie (marked as Xs) are formed
According to the National Hurricane Centre, Hurricanes Lee and Marie could materialise as, according to the body, a wave off the African coast has a 70 percent likelihood becoming one in the next five days, as does a wave to the west of it.
But, weakened to a tropical storm on Thursday morning, Hurricane Jose, coming on the heals of Irma, reportedly made very little movement during the past two days, as it continues spinning around in the open waters of the Atlantic. That leaves forecasters in a frustrating waiting game as they analyse the atmospheric conditions that will determine the long-term track of the storm – which is expected to regain strength this weekend.
During the next four days, forecasters are confident that Jose will remain far from any land as it slowly makes it way west and north on a path that will take it about halfway between Bermuda and the eastern Carolina coast by Monday night.
As of 11 a.m. Thursday, Jose weakened slightly from a minimal Category 1 hurricane, with peak winds of 75 mph, to a tropical storm, with peak winds of 70 mph. Category 1 hurricanes pack maximum sustained winds of 74 to 95 mph, while tropical storms pack maximum winds of 39 to 73 mph.
The centre of Tropical Storm Jose was about 435 miles east-northeast of the southeastern Bahamas and 520 miles south-southwest of Bermuda, the National Hurircane Centre reported. The storm was moving north-northwest at a pace of 7 mph, still slow but slightly faster than its early morning pace of 3 mph.
“Some restrengthening is forecast to begin on Friday, and Jose will likely become a hurricane again by the weekend,” the National Hurricane Centre said in its 11 a.m. advisory. As of now, tropical-storm-force winds extend up to 115 miles from Jose’s centre.
The 2017 Forum of the Standing Committee on Finance (SCF), held from September 6 to 7, 2017 in Rabat, Morocco, concluded with key actors from the public and private sector calling to do things differently to increase funding for climate-resilient infrastructure, especially in developing countries.
Participants at the 2017 Forum of the Standing Committee on Finance (SCF)
With an increase in climate impacts such as storms or floods, there is a growing need to ensure that infrastructure can withstand such extreme weather events to the greatest degree possible.
The two-day forum on the topic of “Mobilising finance for climate-resilient infrastructure”, took place against the backdrop of devastating typhoons and hurricanes that damaged and paralysed infrastructure across large parts of South Asia, the Caribbean and the United States, thus making a clear case for urgent action.
“The human and economic costs of inaction on climate change are immense. If we don’t focus on increasing resilience, all development gains of the past years will be lost,” said UNFCCC Executive Secretary, Patricia Espinosa.
“Yet we have two remarkable global frameworks – the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals – through which the international community can act to address these urgent issues,” she added.
The forum convened about 120 participants from around the world, including government officials, representatives of multilateral development banks and the operating entities of the Financial Mechanisms that finance climate-resilient infrastructure projects, infrastructure developers, engineers, representatives of the private sector as well as the UNFCCC NGO Constituencies.
Given the importance of infrastructure in maintaining day-to-day economic operations of countries, regions and cities, as well as the provision of various social and educational services, President of COP 22, Mezouar Salaheddine, called for concrete action and progress in climate-resilient infrastructure financing.
Some of the concrete measures discussed included providing targeted support to turn the climate action plans for reducing emissions and for adapting to the consequences of climate change into fundable projects that investors can readily invest in.
Another key measure that participants stressed is the development of standards and metrics for climate resilience in infrastructure.
The forum also emphasised the need for mainstreaming climate-related financial disclosures and strengthening hydro-meteorological services in developing countries so that better climate data and information services become available to inform the infrastructure planning and implementation process.
The ability to clearly explain the social, environmental and economic benefits of climate-resilient infrastructure to the private sector was also stressed, as investors are driven by opportunities rather than risks.
These concrete action items will be captured in a summary report containing recommendations, which the SCF will submit to the COP with the aim of accelerating financing for climate-resilient infrastructure worldwide.
“We shouldn’t wait for extreme weather events to change us. It will be too late then,” urged Mohamed Nasr, SCF member from Egypt.
With Hurricane Harvey’s rainfall records and now Irma’s stunning combination of extreme strength and longevity, the hurricane-global warming debate is back in full swing. And it has evolved a good bit since 2005, when the United States was severely damaged by superstrong hurricanes (Katrina, Rita, Wilma).
A satellite image released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows Hurricane Irma as it moved westward across the Caribbean islands
Scientists are more confident now in their messages, more willing to link factors like worsened storm surge flooding and hurricane rainfall to climate change (even while stating the remaining uncertainties and caveats). Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, in contrast, has called it “very insensitive” to raise climate policy while storms barrel toward coasts.
Actually, there’s a case to be made that the climate change-hurricane discussion should be broadened – a move that will give a sense both of how consequential and how uncertain the issue actually is.
The public debate over hurricanes and global warming generally gets confined to a few issues: Will hurricanes be increasingly intense, like Irma was? Will they rain more, like Harvey did? Will they drive worse inland storm surges because of sea-level rise? Will they be more or less numerous?
That’s understandable: These questions have been more heavily studied – and in some cases, especially when it comes to sea-level rise (which is clearly happening), are more easily answered.
But once you take a step back and think about how hurricanes nestle into the broader climate system – as researchers like MIT’s hurricane and climate expert Kerry Emanuel, a number of whose papers are cited below, tend to do – you realise there is a broader picture, although it’s also a less certain one.
Hurricanes, Emanuel and others have shown, are massive thermodynamic systems that withdraw energy from the oceans and expel it into the atmosphere. That means many of their patterns and traits could change with warmer seas – even if some of those traits are harder to talk about because the research remains less definitive.
So let’s consider some less-discussed storm attributes that could plausibly change in a warming world. We don’t know definitively that these things are happening – again, the research here is thinner – but they’re well worth wondering about.
Season length
Hurricanes follow seasonal patterns. They occur in the summer and fall, and this, too, reflects the temperature of the oceans (among other factors). But as the climate warms, could hurricanes be more likely to occur out of season – either in the late spring or late fall/early winter?
Basically, that would amount to a thickening of the ends of this famous NOAA chart on the seasonal occurrence of Atlantic hurricanes (which demonstrates that we are at peak season right now and probably have a long way to go).
There’s at least some suggestiveevidence of season lengthening. In a 2008 study on the Atlantic hurricane season, for instance, James Kossin of NOAA and the University of Wisconsin at Madison found “an apparent tendency toward more common early- and late-season storms that correlates with warming (sea surface temperature), but the uncertainty in these relationships is high.”
However, the question of season length is complex, and other research has yielded more ambiguous results. “Ultimately, there is not yet a consensus on how the length of the (tropical cyclone) season will change as a result of anthropogenic effects,” a 2015 computer modeling study by Columbia University’s John Dwyer and co-authors concluded.
Meanwhile, though the science remains unresolved, it’s hard not to miss real-world storms that appear to fit the pattern. This very year, the first named storm in the Atlantic, Tropical Storm Arlene, formed in April, far outside the bounds of the traditional hurricane season.
Regions of formation and intensification
If the globe’s oceans are warming in general, that could also mean that the regions in which hurricanes (or typhoons or tropical cyclones) can form – currently, seven major “basins” across the globe – could shift. Or, it could mean that these storms – generally creatures of the tropics – will be able to maintain their strength in new places, farther from the equator.
Any general shift in hurricane formation or arrival regions could have large implications because it could subject coastlines that aren’t accustomed to storms to their punishment.
Once again, there is at least some evidence this is happening or could happen. Kossin and two colleagues (MIT’s Emanuel and Princeton and NOAA’s Gabriel Vecchi) published a 2014 study in Nature finding “a pronounced poleward migration in the average latitude at which tropical cyclones have achieved their lifetime-maximum intensity over the past 30 years.”
Hurricanes were moving out of the tropics “a rate of about one degree of latitude per decade,” the researchers added. The study linked the change to a broader “tropical expansion” that, in turn, appears tied to human alteration of the planet’s atmosphere.
Rapid intensification
Hurricane Harvey epitomised a number of dangerous storm traits, one of which was increasing in strength very quickly as it approached the Texas coast. This is a nightmare scenario for forecasters and emergency planners because it gives little time for people to evacuate.
In general, rapid intensification is something that we have seen a lot of lately, including in super-intense storms Wilma (2005) and Patricia (2015). Wilma’s maximum sustained winds increased by 110 mph in just 24 hours, and Patricia’s beat that record, increasing by 120 mph in the same time frame.
So will storms be more likely to rapidly intensify as the climate warms? Emanuel, at least, thinks the answer is yes.
He just published a study in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society finding that the “incidence of storms that intensify rapidly just before landfall increases substantially as a result of global warming.” He reached this result by creating thousands of synthetic hurricanes in a computer simulation and then comparing how they behaved with and without a changing climate.
This area remains little researched, so this one computer modeling study shouldn’t be taken as a final answer. But it’s still worth pondering.
Storm size
And then we come to one of the most uncertain changes of all.
Separate from the matter of their wind speeds, overall hurricane sizes also vary greatly, from the relatively small Andrew up to the massive Katrina and beyond. So would a changing climate have any effect on this?
It’s very unclear. But a trend toward bigger storms, like Katrina and Sandy, could be just as much of a problem as a trend toward stronger storms when measured by wind speeds.
In Emanuel’s work you find a hint of this idea. A 2014 paper that he wrote with MIT’s Daniel Chavas wondered “how the distribution of storm size may differ in other climate states.” But the study made clear that before answering that question, it would first be necessary for scientists to achieve a better understanding of what controls hurricane size in the first place.
That hasn’t stopped some top hurricane gurus from speculating, though. Contemplating the massive size of Hurricane Sandy, the Weather Underground’s Jeff Masters wrote, “We have pushed our climate system to a fundamentally new, higher-energy state where more heat and moisture is available to power stronger storms, and we should be concerned about the possibility that Hurricane Sandy’s freak size and power were partially due to human-caused climate change.”
Still, this should be considered a frontier – while it’s not absurd to think that storm sizes could change in some way as the climate does, we don’t know what’s going to actually happen. And it’s possible that here, and elsewhere, there could be a trade-off – larger storms but fewer of them, perhaps. (We shouldn’t assume every change is an unmitigated negative.)
So, in sum, there is much more to be said about changing hurricane traits than the usual mantra that they will probably be more intense, will rain more, will ride atop higher seas, but could be less numerous overall.
As scientists dig into these other questions, we will probably continue to see large storms, rapidly intensifying storms, out-of-season storms and suspiciously placed storms. Those should be regarded as anecdotes – not proof of anything. But we should remember that as the climate changes, all of the different ways that hurricanes extract energy from the tropical oceans could change, too.
The Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) and Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) have called on the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) and the Nigerian Customs to impound consignments of genetically modified (GM) maize said to have been illegally imported into the country.
Genetically modified (GM) maize
At a media conference in Abuja on Wednesday, September 13, 2017, Director General of NBMA, Dr Rufus Ebegba, made the disclosure, even as he decried the importation of the GM maize into Nigeria.
News reports had earlier announced that a vessel named Diamond Harbour, arrived the ENL terminal of the seaport at Lagos with 25,750MT of maize worth $3.7 million at the current market value of $144.29/MT. Two days later, another vessel named Zola berthed at the same terminal with 42,900MT of maize valued at $6.1 million.
But Nnimmo Bassey, Director, HOMEF, expressed concern over the incident, which he said “may just be a fraction of other undetected arrival of unauthorised foods into Nigeria, including those of the genetically modified varieties.”
His words: “Nigerians should be alarmed at these incidents because whoever imported these illegal shipments may have done so due to the preponderant attitude of government that Nigeria is open to GMOs and that there is nothing to worry about GMOs. This is an indication that more GMO foods and products may have slipped into the country undetected.”
According to him, HOMEF has been strident in demanding the banning of GMOs in Nigeria, adding that the organisation believes that Nigerian farmers can meet the food needs of Nigerians if they are supported with extension services, processing and storage facilities as well as adequate rural infrastructure.
“What happened to Nigeria’s pre-shipment procedures?” asked Mariann Bassey Orovwuje, Chair of AFSA. “These GMOs should not have been authorised to head to Nigerian ports in the first instance.”
Bassey and Orovwuje submitted: “It is important that NBMA unveiled this massive importation of illegal maize. HOMEF urges NBMA and the Nigerian Customs to ensure that the illegal consignments are impounded and destroyed. NBMA should equally conduct market audits to ensure that crops, foods and feeds that have genetically modified traits have not been sneaked into the country.”
North America’s most widespread and valuable ash tree species are on the brink of extinction due to an invasive beetle decimating their populations, while the loss of wilderness areas and poaching are contributing to the declining numbers of five African antelope species, according to the latest update of The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
Five African antelope species face extinction
Released on Thursday, September 14, 2017, the IUCN Red List update also reveals a dramatic decline of grasshoppers and millipedes endemic to Madagascar, and the extinction of the Christmas Island Pipistrelle bat.
The IUCN Red List now includes 87,967 species of which 25,062 are threatened with extinction.
“Our activities as humans are pushing species to the brink so fast that it’s impossible for conservationists to assess the declines in real time,” says Inger Andersen, IUCN Director General. “Even those species that we thought were abundant and safe – such as antelopes in Africa or ash trees in the U.S. – now face an imminent threat of extinction.
“And while conservation action does work, conserving the forests, savannas and other biomes that we depend on for our survival and development is simply not a high-enough funding priority. Our planet needs urgent, global action, guided by the Red List data, to ensure species’ survival and our own sustainable future.”
North America’s ash trees on the brink
Five of the six most prominent ash tree species in North America enter The IUCN Red List as Critically Endangered – only one step from going extinct – with the sixth species assessed as Endangered. These species are being decimated by the invasive Emerald Ash Borer beetle (Agrilus planipennis). Three of them – Green Ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica), White Ash (Fraxinus americana) and Black Ash (Fraxinus nigra) – are the country’s most dominant ash trees, comprising nearly nine billion trees in the forested lands of the contiguous U.S. The once-plentiful White Ash (Fraxinus americana) is one of the most valuable timber trees of North America used for making furniture, baseball bats, and hockey sticks.
Ash trees are a key component of North American forests. They provide habitat and food for birds, squirrels, and insects, and support important pollinator species such as butterflies and moths.
“Ash trees are essential to plant communities of the United States and have been a popular horticultural species, planted by the millions along our streets and in gardens,” says Murphy Westwood, member of the IUCN Global Tree Specialist Group who led the assessment. “Their decline, which is likely to affect over 80 percent of the trees, will dramatically change the composition of both wild and urban forests. Due to the great ecological and economic value of ash trees, and because removing dead ash trees is extremely costly, much research is currently underway across sectors to halt their devastating decline. This brings hope for the survival of the species.”
The fast-moving Emerald Ash Borer beetle arrived in Michigan from Asia in the late 1990s via infested shipping pallets, and has already destroyed tens of millions of trees throughout the U.S. and Canada. It has the potential to destroy over eight billion ash trees as it spreads rapidly and can kill nearly an entire forest stand of ash within six years of infestation.
Due to a warming climate, areas which were previously too cold for the beetle are becoming more suitable for it to thrive, making it impossible to know how far it could spread in future.
Five antelope species in decline
Although the status of most antelope species remains unchanged, five species of African antelopes – of which four were previously assessed as Least Concern – are declining drastically as a result of poaching, habitat degradation and competition with domestic livestock. This decline reflects a broader downward trend for large African mammals as they compete with the growing human population for space and resources.
“Antelopes have been declining as human populations continue to grow, clearing land for agriculture, unsustainably harvesting bushmeat, expanding their settlements, extracting resources and building new roads,” says David Mallon, Co-Chair of the IUCN Species Survival Commission’s Antelope Specialist Group. “To reverse this dangerous trend, conserving biodiversity must be given much higher priority as part of efforts to achieve sustainable national economic development. Existing laws protecting wildlife must also be much more effectively enforced.”
The world’s largest antelope, the Giant Eland (Tragelaphus derbianus) – previously assessed as Least Concern – is now Vulnerable. Its estimated global population is between 12,000 and 14,000 at most, with fewer than 10,000 mature animals. This species is declining due to poaching for bushmeat, encroachment into protected areas and expansion of agriculture and livestock grazing. Political instability and armed conflict in Central African Republic are major barriers to protecting this species.
Also previously listed as Least Concern, the Mountain Reedbuck (Redunca fulvorufula) has seen an approximate 55% decline in its South African population over the last 15 years. It is now listed as Endangered as similar declines throughout the rest of the range are probable. Expansion of human settlements leading to increases in poaching and sport hunting with dogs are thought to be the main reasons for its decline. Other threats may include widespread disturbance by cattle herders and their livestock and increased frequency and duration of droughts associated with climate change. Further monitoring data, especially from outside protected areas, are needed to fully quantify the population decline in this species.
Other species are also under threat, including the Heuglin’s Gazelle (Eudorcas tilonura) – now Endangered due to competition with domestic livestock and habitat degradation; Southern Lechwe (Kobus leche), now listed as Near Threatened due to poaching, agricultural expansion, livestock grazing and droughts; and theGrey Rhebok (Pelea capreolus) – the origin of the Reebok sports brand – now in the Near Threatenedcategory. Reasons for the decline of this species are poorly understood, and may include increases in illegal sport hunting with dogs, and poaching for bushmeat.
Madagascan grasshoppers and millipedes facing extinction
While the conservation status of the majority of invertebrate species is still unknown, recent assessments are beginning to reveal the impact of deforestation on Madagascar’s invertebrates. An assessment of all 71 species of endemic Madagascan pygmy grasshoppers shows that almost 40% of them are threatened with extinction. Seven of these species enter The IUCN Red List as Critically Endangered, including theRumplestiltskin Pygmy Grasshopper (Agkistropleuron simplex). This flightless species is only known to occur in Manakambahiny forest in eastern Madagascar. The only recent record of the species dates back to 1995. Its decline is due to the loss of its forest habitat.
More than 40% of 145 endemic Madagascan millipedes are also threatened with extinction, with 27 of them assessed as Critically Endangered. These include the Shiny Giant Pill Millipede (Sphaeromimus splendidus), which requires a very specific sandy soil habitat in coastal rainforest areas. Its only habitat – the littoral rainforest of Sainte Luce – is now partly degraded due to wood removal and grazing. However, a planned strip-mining project, which will likely cause the destruction of most of its remaining habitat, poses the greatest threat to its survival.
New Snow Leopard data
Thanks to new available data, the Snow Leopard (Panthera uncia) has moved from the Endangered to Vulnerable category. However, its population continues to decline and it still faces a high risk of extinction through habitat loss and degradation, declines in prey, competition with livestock, persecution, and poaching for illegal wildlife trade.
Thanks to significant investments in conservation for this species, including anti-poaching efforts, initiatives to reduce conflict with livestock, and awareness-raising programmes, conditions in parts of the Snow Leopard’s range have improved. It is essential to continue and expand conservation efforts to reverse its declining trend and prevent this iconic cat from moving even closer to extinction.
Christmas Island Pipistrelle goes extinct
Thursday’s update declares the Christmas Island Pipistrelle (Pipistrellus murrayi) – a bat species endemic to Australia’s Christmas Island – as Extinct. The population of this species rapidly declined from being common and widespread in the 1980s to between four and 20 animals in January 2009. Only one individual remained in August 2009, and it disappeared later that month. There has been no trace of this bat since then, despite extensive searches of the island. The reasons for the decline are not clear, but may have been a combination of increased predation by introduced species, impacts of invasive Yellow Crazy Ant (Anoplolepis gracilipes) on its habitat and on its invertebrate prey species, or possibly an unknown disease.
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) on Thursday, September 14, 2017 announced that it is down-listing the snow leopard on the Red List of Threatened Species from “Endangered” to “Vulnerable” – the next lower category of risk. A “Vulnerable” listing on the Red List is still regarded as a major cause for concern though, with vulnerable species considered “to be facing a high risk of extinction in the wild.”
Snow leopards
But the Snow Leopard Trust, the Seattle-based organisation that specialises in the conservation of the endangered snow leopard, has opposed the status change. According to the group, the best available science does not justify the status change, which they say could have serious consequences for the species.
In statement issued on Thursday, Snow Leopard Trust said: “The IUCN’s guidelines make it clear that any status assessment should follow a precautionary approach. If the best available data aren’t conclusive, no down-listing should be done.
“In the case of the snow leopard, less than 2% of the species’ range has ever been sampled for abundance using reliable techniques, and those data are biased toward high-density areas.
“The new assessment behind the status change of the snow leopard does not improve on this data and appears to use methodologies – such as asking people how many snow leopards they think exist in any area – that are not recognised as scientifically valid for estimating populations.
“In contrast, the latest information based on genetic and trap camera surveys from one of the range countries, i.e. Pakistan, where a large proportion of the habitat has been sampled, shows that the snow leopard population there could be as low as 40 cats, and is almost certainly lower than 100, compared to the earlier guesstimate of 200-420 cats. This varying data suggests that snow leopard populations in some parts of their habitat may be lower than assumed, and that more robust science is needed to ensure an accurate assessment before revising the status.
“In addition, demographic modeling based on the limited solid data that is available actually showed results in favor of an Endangered listing.
“Given these circumstances, and taking into account the growing threats to the snow leopard’s survival, we had argued for the status to remain Endangered, and will be calling on IUCN to revisit the decision through the appropriate channels.
“The potential consequences of an unwarranted down-listing could be very serious. In the last four years, range country governments have launched the Global Snow Leopard & Ecosystem Programme, the first range-wide initiative to protect these cats. There has never been as much political will or momentum to secure the snow leopard’s future. However, conservation action might become harder to justify politically if there is a belief that the cat’s situation has improved.
“We do know that the threats to snow leopard survival are growing. Climate change threatens two-thirds of snow leopard habitat. Snow leopard habitats are increasingly facing mining pressures. Illegal hunting, poaching, and retaliatory killing of snow leopards are on the rise in many areas. We are most concerned about how the lower status may weaken conservation efforts in range countries and the ability of local governments to stop these threats. Governments may have less support from some sectors of their society to create protected areas for snow leopards given the potential revised status. We have earlier successfully opposed plans to commercially hunt snow leopards for trophy, and we anticipate that these pressures will increase.
“In short, we think the status change is unjustified and detrimental to the conservation of the snow leopard. The snow leopard may not officially be listed as Endangered anymore, but there is no doubt that it very much remains in danger.”
The Snow Leopard Trust also conducts research and partners with communities as well as governments across snow leopard habitat to protect the cat.
The Legal Defense and Assistance Project (LEDAP) has urged the federal government to stop the operation python dance in the South East.
The Nigeria Army in a military operation
The group wants the soldiers withdrawn from the streets while all the road blocks mounted by the security agencies are dismantled.
In a statement signed by LEDAP’s National Coordinator, Chino Obiagwu, the group stated that the military is not set up to conduct civilian policing duties but, rather only to interfere where there is war against Nigeria.
According to the group, they are concerned that continued militarisation of the Nigerian society would continue to increase violent crimes, extra-judicial killings, and violent extremist agitations across the country.
The group said: “LEDAP recalls that the excessive militarisation against peaceful protests and agitations in the North East between 2007 and 2009 resulted in the emergence of violent extremist Boko Haram especially the extrajudicial execution of Mohammed Yusuf, the former leader of the sect.
“It appears this regime of the federal government is poised to commit the same error of judgment of the former regime that, rather than engaging with protesters and political oppositions in peaceful dialogue, used excessive force resulting in the death of many people and consequently insurgency in the North East.”
“The military are not trained to conduct civilian policing duties but only to wage war and therefore do not have the skill, the patience and the tools to engage with civilian population,” the group added.
The group therefore cautioned the federal government that massive deployment of soldiers in the operation “Egwu Eke” (python dance) will definitely result to violations of rights of ordinary citizens, violent crimes, and more importantly turning erstwhile civil protesters into extremist violent agitators.
They also want the federal government to engage in dialogue with the stakeholders to ensure that their concerns are addressed in fair, transparent and right-based manner.
