A new professional training programme on the transparency of climate action and support has been launched.
ong-gun Kim, President of Greenhouse Gas Inventory & Research Centre of Korea (GIR) (left) and Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The new professional training programme focuses on the transparency of climate action
The programme was launched in Bonn, Germany on Thursday, March 9 2017during a meeting between Yong-gun Kim, President of Greenhouse Gas Inventory & Research Centre of Korea (GIR) and Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
The programme seeks to provide professional training on greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories to national experts from developing countries. GHG inventories are a key source of information necessary to understand where each country and the global community at large stand in terms of GHG emissions. The initiative will significantly boost the technical capacity of developing countries.
“This partnership is yet another tangible sign that the world is moving forward on the Paris Agreement,” said Ms. Espinosa. “Additionally, the initiative provides a concrete model and platform for South-South cooperation by creating a forum for developing countries to share knowledge and support.”
Policy makers, implementers, and technicians are invited to apply to this training, and can expect to walk away with the theoretical and practical methods needed to take transformative action.
The partnership itself is a part of a broader training programme, called UNFCCC-CASTT, which is being promoted and championed by the UNFCCC secretariat in Bonn. This comprehensive programme looks to facilitate effective and universal participation of countries in the measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) arrangements under the UNFCCC and the transparency framework under the Paris Agreement.
“The GHG training programme was initiated by the GIR in 2011. I hope it will be further developed and expanded through this significant partnership with the UNFCCC secretariat,” said Dr. Yong-gun Kim. “We will actively cooperate with each other to nurture greenhouse gas experts in developing countries for successful implementation of the Paris Agreement.”
GIR will open the training programme enrollment on 27 March, with sessions to commence 26 June.
The Environmental Rights Agenda/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has raised the alarm on the presence of substances suspected to be toxic waste in Koko community in Warri North Local Government Area, Delta State.
Head of Media and Campaigns at ERA/FoEN, Philip Jakpor (left), and the Executive Director, Dr. Godwin Uyi Ojo, at the press briefing in Lagos
The executive director, Dr. Godwin Uyi Ojo, at a press briefing in Lagos on Wednesday, March 8 2017, asked the Delta State Government and the National Environmental Standard and Regulation Enforcement Agency (NESREA) to immediately set up a commission of inquiry to investigate the development.
The company linked to the dumping of the toxic waste in Koko for over three months now is known as Ebenco Global Link Limited, according to Ojo.
“This is not the first time this is happening. To refresh our memory, persistence ecological onslaught on the people of the Niger Delta being perpetrated by corporations and their Nigerian collaborators continues unabated leading to massive pollution of water bodies and soil contamination,” he said.
He recalled that, in 1988, Italian businessmen, Gianfranco Raffaeli and Renato Pent, of Waste Broker firms, Ecomar and Jelly Wax respectively, signed an illegal agreement with an unsuspecting Nigerian businessman, Sunday Nana, to use his property for the storage of 18,000 drums of hazardous waste for approximately $100 a month.
Italy is believed to produce between 40 and 50 million tonnes of industrial waste and 16 million tonnes of household wastes each year, most of which are exported to developing countries like Nigeria for disposal, ERA noted.
Nana, Dr. Ojo continued, was made to believe that the wastes were residual and allied chemicals relating to the building industry. “By the time the truth came out, it was discovered that the contents included ‘toxic and radioactive’ substances, including asbestos fibre and dioxin.”
Mr. Nana was said to have died while looking after the substances.
The issue, EnviroNews gathered, is being discussed in hushed tones, suggesting conflicts and division in the community as to how to handle the issue.
To address the issue, ERA/FoEN wants NESREA to live up to its responsibility of protecting the environment and enforce compliance with all environmental laws, both in Nigeria as well as international agreements, protocols and treaties on the environment to which Nigeria is signatory.
“Delta State Ministry of Environment and the Federal Ministry of Environment should also step into the situation and collaborate for a proper commission of inquiry to unravel the persistence of toxic waste dumping in Koko.
“Ebenco Global Link should be compelled to clean up its mess in Koko and evacuate its hazardous wastes, including those allegedly surreptitiously buried in large quantities,” ERA/FoEN demanded.
ERA also wants Ebenco to pay specified penalties and fines as well as compensation, to be imposed by NESREA and the Federal Government, to victims/community people whose lands have been contaminated.
Asserting that Koko has become a symbol of poverty and exploitation in Niger Delta and the people have become prey to the “compensation syndrome”, ERA tasked government to protect Koko.
Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) is considering purchasing wood from these plantations as a fiber source for its controversial new mill PT. OKI Pulp and Paper mill, despite the ongoing conflicts. The OKI Pulp and Paper mill is one of the world’s largest and has been criticised over concerns that its high demand for wood fiber will drive new land conflicts, breaking APP’s social and environmental commitments.
The report shows that Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) is currently considering PT. Bangun Rimba Sejahtera (BRS) as a fiber supplier for its OKI mill, despite BRS being rejected by a majority of the communities living within and adjacent to the BRS plantation concession.
“One hundred thousand people could be negatively affected by these plantations,” said Ratno Budi of Walhi Banka Belitung. “A majority of these communities have declared their objection to the plantation and to the presence of BRS on their community lands.”
Communities have organised demonstrations and written letters and petitions to government officials opposing the BRS plantation, as their customary lands, which will be affected, are the primary source of livelihood for most community members. The report shows that communities were not adequately consulted about the project and did not give their consent to the plantation. It also documents how BRS has included police and army in public meetings, with an intimidating effect on local residents.
“APP has made a commitment that any new concessions or fiber used to supply the OKI mill will respect the rights of affected communities to give or withhold their Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC),” said Aidil Fitri, director of HaKi. “If APP brings BRS on as a supplier it would clearly be breaking its own sustainability policies and its promise to respect human rights.”
“There is a lot of concern that the OKI mill will drive more social conflict, peatland drainage and deforestation,” said Lafcadio Cortesi of Rainforest Action Network. “This is a test case for APP. Pulp and paper customers and investors will be watching whether APP will be true to its word and avoid suppliers like BRS.”
Members of Ikot Ebon Community in Itu Local Government Area (LGA) of Akwa Ibom State have expressed divergent views over plans by the Federal Government to build a 1200MW nuclear power plant close to their neighbourhood.
A nuclear power plant in Doel, Belgium. Photo credit: Julien Warnand / European Press Photo Agency
The news apparently came as a shock to some members of the community who claimed not to be aware of such a proposal when officials of the Environmental Right Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) visited the community recently with local journalists as well as their foreign counterpart from the Finnish Foundation for Media and Development (Vikes) to inform them of the dangers inherent in the project.
Obviously uncertain of the prospects of the proposed development, a youth group member, Aniefiok Anyang, said, “I think I have little knowledge of the nuclear power plant and its danger to communities and necessary measures government should be put in place before such project can come to stay. I think it is a welcome idea, but I did not know there are plans on going to build it in our community.”
Another youth in the community, William Etim, who said he heard it on national news, condemned it noting that, although it’s a welcome development, it however will not be accepted by the people because of the danger involve.
Etim explained that his findings reviewed that the energy plant would be located at 10 km away from the community which he feared could cover the whole community land.
In his words, “I heard it on national news that the Minister of Science and Technology during former President Jonathan’s administration, and I went and did my findings from professionals at the University of Uyo to know the dangers and benefits of the project and found out it will be good because it will provide employment for the populace but the problem is that we Africans don’t have maintenance culture.
“And again the proposed plant will have to be 10 km away from the community; does it mean that the whole community will be taken away for this project? We are practicing a government that does not listen to the people, the next thing they will say will be that they brought development to the community and we rejected it.
“Fine, it is a good development but it is not all development that we should accept because we lack maintenance culture. Speaking on behalf of my community, we are happy that you have come to give us that support and we are ready to cooperate with you.”
On his part, the Secretary to the Council, Okon Akpan, said, “We have not been informed by the government that our community will be the site for the nuclear power plant you just revealed to us. What we are going to do is come together as a community and decide on what to do when we are approached. And we believe that you will come back and enlighten us more on steps to take.”
It will be recalled that the Federal Government last year unfolded plans to engage Rosatom, a Russian firm, to build 1200MW reactors in Itu LGA. The plan received knocks from NGOs and communities across the state.
According to the media, the Nigerian Atomic Energy Commission (NAEC) entered into an agreement with Rosatom to design, construct, operate and commission the nation’s first nuclear facility in 2025 to produce 1200MW of electricity with plan to increase installed capacity to four nuclear plants producing a total capacity of 4, 800MW by 2035.
UN Secretary General, António Guterres, while celebrating the International Women’s Day (IWD), emphasises that empowering women and girls is the only way to protect their rights and make sure they can realise their full potential
Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary General
Women’s rights are human rights. But in these troubled times, as our world becomes more unpredictable and chaotic, the rights of women and girls are being reduced, restricted and reversed.
Empowering women and girls is the only way to protect their rights and make sure they can realise their full potential.
Historic imbalances in power relations between men and women, exacerbated by growing inequalities within and between societies and countries, are leading to greater discrimination against women and girls. Around the world, tradition, cultural values and religion are being misused to curtail women’s rights, to entrench sexism and defend misogynistic practices.
Women’s legal rights, which have never been equal to men’s on any continent, are being eroded further. Women’s rights over their own bodies are questioned and undermined. Women are routinely targeted for intimidation and harassment in cyberspace and in real life. In the worst cases, extremists and terrorists build their ideologies around the subjugation of women and girls and single them out for sexual and gender-based violence, forced marriage and virtual enslavement.
Despite some improvements, leadership positions across the board are still held by men, and the economic gender gap is widening, thanks to outdated attitudes and entrenched male chauvinism. We must change this, by empowering women at all levels, enabling their voices to be heard and giving them control over their own lives and over the future of our world.
Denying the rights of women and girls is not only wrong in itself; it has a serious social and economic impact that holds us all back. Gender equality has a transformative effect that is essential to fully functioning communities, societies and economies.
Women’s access to education and health services has benefits for their families and communities that extend to future generations. An extra year in school can add up to 25 per cent to a girl’s future income.
When women participate fully in the labour force, it creates opportunities and generates growth. Closing the gender gap in employment could add $12 trillion to global GDP by 2025. Increasing the proportion of women in public institutions makes them more representative, increases innovation, improves decision-making and benefits whole societies.
Gender equality is central to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the global plan agreed by leaders of all countries to meet the challenges we face. Sustainable Development Goal 5 calls specifically for gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, and this is central to the achievement of all the 17 SDGs.
I am committed to increasing women’s participation in our peace and security work. Women negotiators increase the chances of sustainable peace, and women peacekeepers decrease the chances of sexual exploitation and abuse.
Within the UN, I am establishing a clear road map with benchmarks to achieve gender parity across the system, so that our Organisation truly represents the people we serve. Previous targets have not been met. Now we must move from ambition to action.
On International Women’s Day, let us all pledge to do everything we can to overcome entrenched prejudice, support engagement and activism, and promote gender equality and women’s empowerment.
UN Women Executive Director, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, on International Women’s Day (IWD), says that if women are to compete successfully for high-paying ‘new collar’ jobs, they need to, among others, be part of the digital revolution
UN Women Executive Director, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka
Across the world, too many women and girls spend too many hours on household responsibilities – typically more than double the time spent by men and boys. They look after younger siblings, older family members, deal with illness in the family and manage the house. In many cases this unequal division of labour is at the expense of women’s and girls’ learning, of paid work, sports, or engagement in civic or community leadership. This shapes the norms of relative disadvantage and advantage, of where women and men are positioned in the economy, of what they are skilled to do and where they will work.
This is the unchanging world of unrewarded work, a globally familiar scene of withered futures, where girls and their mothers sustain the family with free labour, with lives whose trajectories are very different from the men of the household.
We want to construct a different world of work for women. As they grow up, girls must be exposed to a broad range of careers, and encouraged to make choices that lead beyond the traditional service and care options to jobs in industry, art, public service, modern agriculture and science.
We have to start change at home and in the earliest days of school, so that there are no places in a child’s environment where they learn that girls must be less, have less, and dream smaller than boys.
This will take adjustments in parenting, curricula, educational settings, and channels for everyday stereotypes like TV, advertising and entertainment; it will take determined steps to protect young girls from harmful cultural practices like early marriage, and from all forms of violence.
Women and girls must be ready to be part of the digital revolution. Currently only 18 per cent of undergraduate computer science degrees are held by women. We must see a significant shift in girls all over the world taking STEM subjects, if women are to compete successfully for high-paying ‘new collar’ jobs. Currently just 25 per cent of the digital industries’ workforce are women.
Achieving equality in the workplace will require an expansion of decent work and employment opportunities, involving governments’ targeted efforts to promote women’s participation in economic life, the support of important collectives like trade unions, and the voices of women themselves in framing solutions to overcome current barriers to women’s participation, as examined by the UN Secretary-General’s High-level Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment. The stakes are high: advancing women’s equality could boost global GDP by $12 trillion by 2025.
It also requires a determined focus on removing the discrimination women face on multiple and intersecting fronts over and above their gender: sexual orientation, disability, older age, and race. Wage inequality follows these: the average gender wage gap is 23 per cent but this rises to 40 per cent for African American women in the United States. In the European Union, elderly women are 37 per cent more likely to live in poverty than elderly men.
In roles where women are already over-represented but poorly paid, and with little or no social protection, we must make those industries work better for women. For example, a robust care economy that responds to the needs of women and gainfully employs them; equal terms and conditions for women’s paid work and unpaid work; and support for women entrepreneurs, including their access to finance and markets. Women in the informal sector also need their contributions to be acknowledged and protected. This calls for enabling macroeconomic policies that contribute to inclusive growth and significantly accelerate progress for the 770 million people living in extreme poverty.
Addressing the injustices will take resolve and flexibility from both public and private sector employers. Incentives will be needed to recruit and retain female workers; like expanded maternity benefits for women that also support their re-entry into work, adoption of the Women’s Empowerment Principles , and direct representation at decision-making levels. Accompanying this, important changes in the provision of benefits for new fathers are needed, along with the cultural shifts that make uptake of paternity and parental leave a viable choice, and thus a real shared benefit for the family.
In this complexity there are simple, big changes that must be made: for men to parent, for women to participate and for girls to be free to grow up equal to boys. Adjustments must happen on all sides if we are to increase the number of people able to engage in decent work, to keep this pool inclusive, and to realize the benefits that will come to all from the equal world envisaged in our Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development.
Irina Bokova, Director-General of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), in a speech to commemorate the 2017 International Women’s Day (IWD), insists that, just as men do, women must exercise their freedoms and be able to make their own choices, control their own bodies and their own lives, and take part in the decisions that set the course of society
Irina Bokova, Director-General of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). She says that women must exercise their freedoms
“The story of women’s struggle for equality belongs to no single feminist nor to any one organisation but to the collective efforts of all who care about human rights.”
These words by activist Gloria Steinem testify to the universal nature of the fight for women’s rights and once a year, on 8 March, we restate our commitment to gender equality as a force driving dignity for all. Inequality between men and women penalises societies at all levels of development. The violence, injustice and stereotypes suffered by too many women in their personal or professional lives undermine society as a whole, and deprive of it considerable potential for creativity, strength and confidence in the future.
As the United Nations has adopted the ambitious 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the full empowerment of girls and women is one of humanity’s most powerful levers for development. It is a matter of principle, and a matter of common sense: everybody has a stake in promoting equality between men and women, at all levels of society: in farmland and on the benches of parliamentary assemblies, in company boardrooms and in the streets of our cities.
Rural women are directly responsible for the production of half the world’s food – and it is primarily women who manage and gather natural resources. Ninety per cent of rapes in the world take place precisely when women are on their way to collect water or firewood. Two thirds of illiterate adults in the world are women. One in three women is subject to physical violence in the private sphere, and the wage gap between men and women, for equal work and with equal skills, is a fact across the world.
Women must exercise their freedoms and be able to make their own choices, control their own bodies and their own lives, and take part in the decisions that set the course of society, just as men do. Everywhere, women and men are determined to change things, to denounce discrimination and demand genuine equality, and we must support and accompany them. For UNESCO, the main engine for change rests on education, training, and the possibility given to all girls and women of pursuing careers in research, politics and culture. Equality also lies in ridding the media and collective imagination of prejudice by highlighting the women scientists, artists and politicians who are moving humanity forward in all fields. On the occasion of this 2017 International Women’s Day, I call on all Member States to make a commitment to women’s’ rights, and thereby enhance rights and dignity for all.
Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Usani Uguru Usani, as well as the Minister of State for Environment, Ibrahim Usman Jibril, are among five distinguished persons that the Council of the Association of Nigerian Geographers (AGN) will bestow awards on during its 58th Annual Conference scheduled to hold from Sunday, March 12 to Friday, March 17 2017 at the Nasarawa State University, Keffi (NSUK).
Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Usani Uguru Usani
Others include Professor Muhammad Mainoma, Vice Chancellor, NSUK; Late Dr. Akwa V. Labaris, Pioneer HOD, Department of Geography, NSUK; and Senator Muhammad Bindow Jibrilla, the governor of Adamawa State.
The awardees are being decorated for their contributions and achievements towards nation building, says Professor Nasiru Idris, chair, Central Local Organising Committee of the AGN conference, adding that the event will hold on Wednesday, March 15.
Themed: “Geography, Nation-Building and Environmental Change”, the conference will be declared open on Monday, March 12 2017 by the Minister of Water Resources and Rural Development, Suleiman Adamu, while keynote addresses will be delivered by Mr. Jibril (with a paper titled “Environmental Issues in Nigeria: The Change Agenda and New Narrative”) and Mr. Usani (with a paper titled “Appreciating Change in the Context of Globalisation: A geographic Paradigm”).
Plenary sessions that will ensue will feature presentations by senior geographers including Professor Emeritus E. A. Olofin (with a paper entitled “Reversing Stepping On Environmental Toes To Achieve Sustainable Environmental Change”), Professor Sani Mashi, Director-General, NIMET (with a paper entitled “Making the Best of Meteorological Services for Research and Development in Nigeria”), Professor Haruna Ayuba of NSUK (with a paper entitled “Nasarawa at 20: The way forward”) and Professor Rafee Majid (with a paper titled “Societies, Cultures and Ecotourism: Lesson learned from Malaysia”).
Prof Idrisu further disclosed in a statement made available to EnviroNews on Wednesday, March 8 2017 that there would be a Secondary School Quiz Competition on Monday, March 13, wherein young geographers that will represent Nigeria at the International Geography Olympiad (iGeo) in Serbia, Belgrade in 2017 would be selected.
Prof Idrisu notes: “The conference will provide an avenue for all the Heads of Department of Geography in Nigerian tertiary institutions alongside with the Presidents of all the Nigerian Association of Geography Students. This meeting will also provide a platform for discussion on the gray areas bordering the two parties on either Teaching or Research. The meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, March 14.
“The last programme during the 58th ANG Annual Conference will be the Field Trip/Excursion to areas of geographical interest to complement the theories in paper presentations and the practical aspect into reality.
“Hosting of this conference in Keffi will in many ways touch and transform the local economy of the entire region. It will also go a long way in making the entire state more visible and make it a popular destination for future events due to the large number of participants that we are expecting.”
If Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger, had followed his hunch or consulted a crystal ball before the UEFA Champions League round of 16 second leg match against Bayern Munich on Tuesday, March 7 2017, he probably might have stayed home and avoided the disgrace he encountered at the Emirates Stadium in London.
Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger
Firstly, there was a demonstration before the kick-off, as a large gathering of fans made it known outside the ground that they did not want the Frenchman to be in charge of the club anymore.
About 200 Arsenal fans, unhappy at the state affairs at the London club side, raged at Wenger, with poisonous banners.
The banners read: “Arsene Wenger you’re killing our club”, “No new contract”, “Stubborn and clueless”, “All good things must come to an end”, to mention but a few.
Secondly, inside the Emirates Stadium, there were no banners, just rather a lot of empty seats. And that said it all really.
Anyway, Wenger has yet to decide whether to accept the contract extension or leave the club he has managed since 1996.
The 10-2 aggregate defeat is the worst suffered by an English side in the Champions League. It was Arsenal’s biggest home loss since November 1998 (5-0 against Chelsea in the League Cup).
A 10-man Arsenal was knocked out of the Champions League at the last stage for the seventh successive season, following a second-half capitulation against Bayern.
Tuesday’s 1-5 loss saw Theo Walcott scoring the only goal for Arsenal (20th minute) while Koscielny got the red card (54th).
Bayern Munich equalised through a penalty by Robert Lewandowski (55th), Arjen Robben followed (68th), Douglas Costa (78th), while Arturo Vidal got a brace (80th and 85th).
Arsene Wenger did not think Arsenal’s defeat was his most disappointing night in Europe.
“We knew before the game that it would be difficult to qualify to after the first leg. We wanted to at least go home and feel we dealt with the situation with pride and commitment. The fact that the end result will not highlight the quality of our performance is very disappointing,” he said.
How much damage can one snake do? If it’s the brown treesnake (Boiga irregularis), an invasive species on the West Pacific island of Guam, the answer is a lot.
The endangered Guam Kingfisher
This snake likely arrived on Guam after World War II and has killed off almost all of the island’s forest bird species, making it a “poster child” for invasive animals. But a new study shows that its impact goes further: On Guam, birds are critical for eating and spreading seeds produced by tropical trees. Researchers have discovered that without these flying helpers, the growth of new trees on the island may have dropped by as much as 92% – with potentially far-ranging consequences for Guam’s forests.
Guam is a U.S. island territory in Micronesia, in the Western Pacific. It’s distinguished by tropical beaches, Chamorro villages and ancient latte-stone pillars.
The study will be published on Wednesday, March 8 2017 in Nature Communications. The findings suggest that the impacts of of invasive species like brown treesnakes on natural areas could be more subtle, and widespread, than many scientists think.
“This study takes the first step in predicting the scale of change that could take place on Guam if we can’t find a way to bring birds back,” says Joshua Tewksbury, a co-author of the study and Director of the Colorado Global Hub of Future Earth. “The full impact of the brown treesnake invasion, and the loss of birds, is still unfolding, but our results clearly suggest that the indirect effects are going to be large, potentially affecting forest composition and structure.”
Scientists suspect that the brown treesnake traveled to Guam onboard a cargo ship from Papua New Guinea in the 1940s. The nocturnal predator had a big appetite for birds. By the 1980s, the snake had wiped out 10 out of the 12 forest bird species native to Guam. They included the Guam rail (Gallirallus owstoni), Guam kingfisher (Todiramphus cinnamominus) and Guam flycatcher (Myiagra freycineti), which is now extinct globally.
You can tell the difference, says Haldre Rogers, an assistant professor at Iowa State University in Ames and lead author of the study. She’s spent time walking around forests on Guam and on the nearby Mariana Islands of Rota, Tinian and Saipan – where the snake never set up camp. “When you’re on Saipan, there’s this constant bird chatter, and you get visited by different birds. On Guam, it’s silent,” Rogers says. “It’s a really eerie feeling to spend a day by yourself in the jungle on Guam.”
She suspected that the differences might go beyond forest noise. To find out how the disappearance of birds had affected whole forests in Guam, Rogers and her colleagues ran a series of experiments. First, they tested how seed dispersal had changed on the island. Rogers explains that on Guam, about 70% of trees produce small fruit. Birds eat these morsels, fly to another spot in the forest and poop the seeds out. “Aside from fruit bats, which are also nearly extinct on Guam, nothing else can disperse seeds,” Rogers says. “If you get rid of the birds and bats, there’s nothing to replace them.”
So the researchers set out a series of “seed baskets,” or hula hoop-sized nets, throughout the forests of Guam and neighboring Rota, Tinian and Saipan. They then checked the baskets to see if they had captured seeds falling to the ground from two common tree species: Psychotria mariana and Premna serratifolia. And, they discovered, the loss of birds had made a dent in seed dispersal. On Guam, less than 10% of seeds made it out of the vicinity of their parent trees. In other words, fruit fell to the ground and stayed there. On the snake-free islands, 60% or more of seeds were scattered far away from their parents – the likely recipients of the delivery services of birds.
“On Guam, all of the seeds would just be in the traps beneath the parent trees,” Rogers says. “As soon as you got away from those trees, the traps would have zero seeds in them.”
In a second experiment, Rogers and her colleagues found that seeds that had passed through the digestive tracts of birds were two to four times more likely to germinate than seeds that hadn’t. That’s possibly because the birds’ digestive enzymes helped to break down the hard, outer coating of the seeds.
In all, the researchers calculated that the absence of birds reduced the abundance of new seedlings of the two species on Guam by 61% to 92%. This whopping loss shows how crucial birds are to the life of the island’s forests, Rogers says.
While the full fall-out from the absence of birds isn’t clear, she says that the findings show the potential of invasive species to rewire entire ecosystems. In some cases, invaders like the brown treesnake could have widespread impacts that are hard to spot if you’re not looking carefully. Rogers gives the example of feral cats, which have overrun many cities and natural areas around the world. Every year, outdoor domestic cats eat 1.3 to 4 billions birds in the United States alone, according to one study – but scientists don’t yet know the ecosystem-wide impacts of these losses.
“We often don’t know enough about the impact of invasive species. The brown treesnake is one of the poster children of invasive species, and we know it’s had this huge impact on bird communities, but the research stopped there,” Rogers says. “The lesson I take from this study is that before we accept non-native species as a part of an ecosystem, we have to understand the full range of their impact, including any cascading effects.”
