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Illegal Raves on Costa Rican Beaches Raise Concerns

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Monday, August 12, 2024

Costa Rican beaches, known for their natural beauty, are increasingly being used as venues for illegal raves, sparking significant concern among local residents and environmentalists. These “jungle raves,” taking place in Santa Teresa, Manzanillo, Bello Horizonte, and Santiago, promise partygoers an immersive experience in nature but come at a high cost to the environment and local communities. The Blue Zone Chamber of Tourism and Commerce (CATUZCA), which represents areas like Malpaís, Santa Teresa, and Playa Hermosa, reported 22 complaints related to these raves between November 2023 and May 2024. Residents are frustrated by the noise pollution that these events generate, with music blaring from as early as 11 p.m. until 8 or 9 a.m. the following morning. One resident noted that although the rave was a kilometer away, the sound was so loud it felt as if it were right next door. Attendees often spill onto the beach after the official rave ends, continuing their festivities into the morning hours, much to the dismay of those living nearby. These raves are not small gatherings; some attract as many as 600 people, transforming them into massive, unregulated events. Despite their size, these gatherings lack the necessary permits, including sanitary licenses and emergency medical teams, and fail to implement any safety measures for the attendees. This has led to increasing tensions between the organizers and local authorities. Cóbano Mayor Ronny Montero pointed out that property owners hosting these raves can earn between $6,000 and $7,000 per night, making it a lucrative business. However, this financial gain comes at the expense of the community and the environment. Some organizers even offer to pay potential fines upfront to ensure their events proceed without interruption. The environmental impact of these raves is particularly troubling. The loud music and large crowds disturb local wildlife, forcing animals out of their natural habitats and into populated areas, where they face increased risks from pets, traffic, and human activity. The lack of proper planning or consultation with wildlife specialists exacerbates the situation, potentially leading to long-term damage to the local ecosystem. Despite the growing number of complaints, the Municipality of Cóbano has struggled to impose fines or take significant action against the organizers. However, in response to the mounting concerns, the municipality is preparing its first judicial complaint, which will be submitted to the Public Prosecutor’s Office in an effort to curb these illegal activities and protect the community and environment. The ongoing situation highlights the need for more stringent regulations and enforcement to prevent such events from continuing to disrupt the peace and harmony of Costa Rica’s beautiful coastal regions. The local community, along with formal businesses and government bodies, is calling for immediate action to address this pressing issue. The post Illegal Raves on Costa Rican Beaches Raise Concerns appeared first on The Tico Times | Costa Rica News | Travel | Real Estate.

Residents are frustrated by the noise pollution that these events generate, with music blaring from as early as 11 p.m. until 8 or 9 a.m. the following morning. One resident noted that although the rave was a kilometer away, the sound was so loud it felt as if it were right next door. Attendees often spill onto the beach after the official rave ends, continuing their festivities into the morning hours, much to the dismay of those living nearby.

These raves are not small gatherings; some attract as many as 600 people, transforming them into massive, unregulated events. Despite their size, these gatherings lack the necessary permits, including sanitary licenses and emergency medical teams, and fail to implement any safety measures for the attendees. This has led to increasing tensions between the organizers and local authorities.

Cóbano Mayor Ronny Montero pointed out that property owners hosting these raves can earn between $6,000 and $7,000 per night, making it a lucrative business. However, this financial gain comes at the expense of the community and the environment. Some organizers even offer to pay potential fines upfront to ensure their events proceed without interruption.

The environmental impact of these raves is particularly troubling. The loud music and large crowds disturb local wildlife, forcing animals out of their natural habitats and into populated areas, where they face increased risks from pets, traffic, and human activity. The lack of proper planning or consultation with wildlife specialists exacerbates the situation, potentially leading to long-term damage to the local ecosystem.

Despite the growing number of complaints, the Municipality of Cóbano has struggled to impose fines or take significant action against the organizers. However, in response to the mounting concerns, the municipality is preparing its first judicial complaint, which will be submitted to the Public Prosecutor’s Office in an effort to curb these illegal activities and protect the community and environment.

The ongoing situation highlights the need for more stringent regulations and enforcement to prevent such events from continuing to disrupt the peace and harmony of Costa Rica’s beautiful coastal regions. The local community, along with formal businesses and government bodies, is calling for immediate action to address this pressing issue.

The post Illegal Raves on Costa Rican Beaches Raise Concerns appeared first on The Tico Times | Costa Rica News | Travel | Real Estate.

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The Public’s Reaction to Otter Reintroduction

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife invited coastal communities to comment on otters in Northern California and here’s what they learned. The post The Public’s Reaction to Otter Reintroduction appeared first on Bay Nature.

A San Francisco crabber for 15 years, Nick Krieger arrived at the Bay Model Visitor Center in Sausalito a bit late after a morning of teaching surf lessons. He noticed that attendance was sparse, and he didn’t spot any other fishermen. But there had been a three-day stretch of calm weather, so he suspected they were taking advantage of the windless day. The open house in Sausalito was one of 16 held by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in June 2023 about the potential reintroduction of southern sea otters (Enhydra lutris nereis), also known as California otters, to their historic range in northern California and Oregon. Attendees were invited to write down their opinions about a sea otter return and hundreds of their answers were published in an open house report by the Service in August this year. The majority of comments from the couple hundred Californians who participated extolled the benefits of sea otters in helping to restore kelp forests, the importance of biodiversity, ecosystem balance, and as many screamed in uppercase: “they’re just plain CUTE!” Only a small fraction of answers expressed opposition—and most of those were concerned with impacts to commercial and local fishing. A public engagement specialist answers questions at the information station on sea otters’ natural history and their keystone species role in Benjamin, Fort Bragg (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) “These informal events were a chance for us to meet one-on-one with members of the public to learn more about their interests, perspectives, and concerns about the idea of restoring sea otters to the ecosystem,” the Service wrote in an email. Currently there is no proposal from the Service to reintroduce the otters, but Congress directed the Service “to study the feasibility and cost of reestablishing sea otters” on the Pacific Coast, a result of the passage of Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021. Two years later, the Service released its feasibility assessment that concludes the reintroduction of sea otters to northern California and Oregon is both economically and ecologically feasible. Otters once occurred from Baja California, Mexico to Oregon, but the population was hunted to near extinction for their pelts and is still listed as a threatened species under California state law. Southern sea otters have persevered along the central California coast, but the species has only reclaimed 13 percent of its historical range. Without the protection of kelp forests, which become more sparse north of Monterey Bay, otters are less inclined to migrate to the waters they were extirpated from more than 100 years ago. Those who do take the risk to venture north often return with fatal shark bites. The effect of sea otters on kelp is well-studied: otters control urchin populations that feed on kelp, which serves as habitat for other species, attenuates ocean currents, and absorbs carbon dioxide. In central California where southern sea otters persist, kelp populations have resisted centuries-long trends of decline that have occurred along coastlines without sea otters. Northern California has experienced an unprecedented depletion of kelp forests since 2014. Warming, nutrient-poor waters paired with the absence of sea urchin’s natural predators—otters and sunflower sea stars—has led to forest collapse in which only five percent of bull kelp remains in small, isolated patches in northern California. Purple sea urchin barren in Monterey, CA (Zachary Randall via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0); sea otter eating a purple urchin (Ingrid Taylar via Flickr, CC BY-NC 2.0) As the need for kelp restoration intensifies, so are conversations within the federal government about how southern sea otters can prevent exploding urchin populations from consuming the little kelp that remains—and hopefully, allow kelp forests to return. But in a changed ecosystem where humans harvest shellfish, the question of reintroduction requires more than biological considerations. In the feasibility report, the Service estimated that the costs of site evaluation, otter acquisition, release, monitoring, and postmortem and spill programs would range from $26 million to $43 million dollars over a 13-year period. While some would reap the benefits of sea otter return in ecosystem services, ecotourism, and finfish industries, the impact on shellfish fisheries—oysters, crabs, urchins, and clams—remains uncertain. “The ultimate success of reintroduction, however, would require additional work to overcome some challenges, particularly in the socioeconomic sector,” the Service’s feasibility assessment states. The open houses were part of the Service’s further efforts to evaluate public, industry, and tribal perspectives through informal conversations and voluntary surveys and mapping activities. The Service says their intention was “to follow up on the next steps recommended in our feasibility assessment by reaching out directly to people in the coastal communities that would be most directly affected by the possible future reintroduction of sea otters.” At the open houses, booths staffed by the Service presented information on colorful poster boards and invited people to share their thoughts in a series of questionnaires. There was a “Community-Based Mapping Activity” to help the Service understand what people valued about specific coastal environments and how they expected sea otters would affect that landscape. The voices of fishermen seemed scant in this survey, as only 39 of 185 responses from seven open houses in California answered with concerns about the impacts on fishing. More than two-thirds of those responses came from the open houses in Bodega Bay and Fort Bragg—rural coastal cities with multigenerational fishing families, where commercial fishing was identified as a “deeply ingrained value” by the Service. “Our community has a long history of a connection with the coast for commercial shellfish,” wrote a Fort Bragg local. “My concern is there aren’t enough viable sea urchins to feed the sea otters, and so they will eat whatever they can—wiping out the other shellfish.” As seen in Monterey Bay, otters ignored the urchin barrens, where emaciated urchins, devoid of the fleshy orange meat that seafood lovers (especially otters) crave, dominate the ecosystem. Still, where meaty urchins lived in isolated kelp patches, the otters dined, protecting the patches of kelp from overgrazing, and preserving spores for future kelp growth and recovery. A commercial urchin diver of 44 years at the Fort Bragg open house wrote, “my life is already changing because of the loss of kelp. Things in the ocean are bad, don’t make things worse.” Still, nearly half of comments from all seven California open houses said that the sea otters would restore or improve ocean ecosystems, and a quarter expected the otters would reverse kelp and seagrass loss by controlling urchins, which otters had done when reintroduced to the Elkhorn Slough estuary in Monterey Bay. “Sea otters can get rid of the urchins munching on kelp,” wrote a Point Reyes local who attended the Sausalito open house. The same respondent wrote that natural beauty and wildlife made Point Reyes special. For people who were supportive of the sea otters returning, the Service found that beauty, wildlife, mental and spiritual health, and environmental quality were mentioned frequently. From this mapping activity, the Service categorized the respondent’s comments into three types of value assigned to otters: instrumental (material goods and services), relational (human-nature interactions), and ecological (intrinsic value of nature). Multiple values could be held by one individual. Graph created by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service based on the community-based mapping survey, correlating respondents’ values with their support for sea otter reintroduction (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) “I really hope that sea otters could help restore the kelp forest as a key player in ecosystem balance,” wrote one respondent at Fort Bragg. “I’m also mindful of the needs of both subsistence and commercial fishermen.” Many fishermen expressed values of natural beauty, biological diversity, and tradition, and held the belief that introducing sea otters would disturb the environment by removing endangered shellfish species. “The ocean is in trouble enough, why add another predator to the abalones and other sea life?” asked one respondent in Bodega Bay. An attendee, who values the Mendocino coast for its natural beauty, recreation, and resource availability, wrote “the cost spent on reintroduction will be better used in direct kelp reforestation and protection.” The respondent fears sea otters will not survive with the growing presence of urchin barrens, and the Service should instead fund “more efficient ways to benefit the ecosystem.” Situated at another booth, the “Next Steps” activity asked attendees what possible socioeconomic effects the Service should consider at potential reintroduction sites. From this survey, over 60 percent of the 84 responses in California acknowledged the possible or inevitable effects of sea otter reintroduction on the fishing industry. “I am sympathetic to fisheries’ concerns,” one respondent in Emeryville wrote. “Can they receive subsidies or grants?” Many respondents got creative, proposing that the Service supplement fishermen’s incomes with taxes on vacation rentals or employ fishermen in otter eco-tourism. But some expressed that socioeconomic factors should not even be considered. In California, 13 of the 84 responses explicitly dismissed possible socioeconomic concerns. “There are no negative economic effects,” one respondent at the Fort Bragg open house said. “The amount of food otters eat should not be considered a loss to anybody.” Another respondent from the San Francisco open house believed that otters should be reintroduced “purely for the preservation of the species” without considering any human impact. The Service found that people who held recreational versus livelihood-based values were more likely to expect sea otters to have a positive impact on the coastal region by “controlling sea urchin barrens and revitalizing kelp forests.” “We should not always prioritize corporate or human profits,” one Point Reyes attendee belonging to a family of recreational fishermen wrote. Another respondent wanted to distinguish between who gets the profits. “We shouldn’t do anything substantial for the corporations, and should focus on those with a real connection to shellfish as a livelihood,” the respondent at Emeryville said. But from surveys, both commercial and subsistence fishermen express that their livelihoods deeply rely on shellfish. “I am a Native American that has lived in Fort Bragg all of my life,” one respondent wrote. “Sea otters are going to take our food sources away, like abalone and mussels.” Similarly, “the reintroduction will affect what I do,” wrote a commercial fisherman, translated from Spanish, and asked that the Service consider all families that depend on “ocean products.” Whether subsistence or commercial, fishermen in northern California harbor a deep and often-generational connection and access to shellfish that has become more fragile. Under these conditions, many are expressing that sea otters are a severe threat to their livelihoods. Service biologists talk to open house attendees (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) After the open houses, the Service analyzed the results of the feedback they received in an open house report. They state that the viewpoints of those who participated can’t entirely represent the perspectives of their communities, and that the open houses were just a first step in an “ongoing effort” to understand what local community members cared about. As for next steps, the Service plans to convene a series of workshops with stakeholders and scientific experts to explore options that “might present an acceptable level of risk to all parties”—and ultimately develop criteria for potential reintroduction site selection. After a full-scale socioeconomic impact study, the Service then intends to develop pilot studies or small-scale reintroductions to decide whether surrogate-reared southern sea otter pups or wild captured sea otters in estuaries should be chosen for establishment. Their final step: integrate population growth and expansion models to forecast outcomes of interaction between the reintroduced populations. The Service also solicited general feedback in California and Oregon on the open houses themselves. Of the 70 comments they received, 63 percent deemed the open houses as very valuable and 24 percent as valuable. Although there were mixed opinions on how sea otters will impact northern Californians, the open houses appeared to be a two-way street in sharing information between the Service and the general public. For Nick Krieger, he preferred staying under the radar at the Sausalito open house. He did not want to upset people with his controversial views, and chose not to participate in the survey activities. “I went to listen and observe,” Krieger said.

Nature

CO2

Food

National parkland in public hands 'would help nature'

Campaigners call for national parks to be given new powers to buy private land and protect habitats.

National parkland in public hands 'would help nature'Getty ImagesCampaigners say national parks should have more powers to buy up private landRestoring nature in the UK’s national parks is being held back because nearly 90% of their land remains in the hands of private owners, campaigners say.The Campaign for National Parks (CNP) has called for the authorities overseeing the protected landscapes to be given more powers to buy up private land under what they call a ‘People’s Charter’ so they can do more to boost biodiversity.New research estimates that just under 595,000 acres of 5.7m acres of land covered by Britain’s 15 national parks is in public ownership.The government said it was still committed to protecting 30% of land for nature by 2030 and to making national parks wilder, greener and more accessible.CLAVictoria Vyvyan of the Country Land and Business Association says private landowners play a vital role in protecting landscapesIt is 75 years since the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 paved the way for the creation of a range of legally-protected landscapes, managed for the nation.Today there are 10 parks in England, three in Wales and two in Scotland, which are run by national park authorities (NPAs) that have a legal responsibility to conserve and enhance the natural beauty and wildlife of the area.Access campaigner and environmental researcher Guy Shrubsole, who has mapped current land ownership within the boundaries of the 15 parks, said mostly they were “not, in fact, owned by the nation”.Some NPAs own almost no land at all, including in the South Downs - the newest park - and in the Yorkshire Dales, where its authority owns less than 0.4% of the land, made up of car parks, woodland and small nature reserves.Getty ImagesLandowners, farmers and national park authorities work together to protect landscapes and enhance natureThe biggest land-owning authorities are in Bannau Brycheiniog, also known as the Brecon Beacons, which still owns approximately 13% of the land, followed by Exmoor with around 9%.Mr Shrubsole said NPAs – which also act as planning authorities - were “almost powerless to influence the private landowners who own the vast majority of land in our parks and who too often fail to steward the nature in their care”.But the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) said farmers and other private landowners played a vital role in creating “cherished landscapes".Victoria Vyvyan, the CLA’s president, added that criticisms “overlook a simple truth: alongside feeding the country, many farmers are investing their own time and money protecting nature and fighting climate change”.“Let them lead — it’s cheaper and more effective,” she added.CNPDr Rose O’Neill, of the Campaign for National Parks, called for a new 'People's Charter' to help boost biodiversityIn England, a £100m government scheme, known as the Farming in Protected Landscapes (FiPL) programme, currently provides funding for farmers and land managers to work in partnership with NPAs to deliver environmental projects.But Jayne Butler, executive director of National Parks England, pointed out that the programme had yet to be extended beyond this financial year and NPAs had suffered years of underfunding.She said that “our experience of working in partnership with many landowners is that ownership of land in itself is not the decisive factor in driving nature recovery, but rather whether there is the right blend of resources, funding and powers in place”.Earlier this year, a report by the CNP said that NPAs have little influence over what happens on land they do not own, including areas held by other public bodies such as the Ministry of Defence and Forestry England, which manages nearly half of the New Forest, and by water companies.Parks 'in decline'Dr Rose O’Neill, the CNP’s chief executive, told the BBC that national parks “absolutely need more powers and resources as well as reform of governance and ownership”.She called for the government to create a new People’s Charter for the parks that would include "a requirement that any land over a certain size is first offered for community or public purchase when put up for sale, supported by a Treasury-backed capital fund to support public sector purchase of land in national parks.”Meanwhile, new national parks are to be created in Galloway, Scotland, and in the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley area in Wales.Plans for a new national park for England were also announced by the previous UK government, while new regulations and powers for national parks are currently being reviewed.A UK government spokesperson acknowledged that Britain is “one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world” and that its national parks “are in decline”.“That is why we have wasted no time in announcing a rapid review to deliver our legally-binding environment targets to better protect our natural environment,” he said.“We will also create more nature-rich habitats and help our national parks become wilder, greener, and more accessible to all as we deliver our commitment to protect 30% of land for nature by 2030.”

Nature

Business

Forests

2024 Wainwright prizes are ‘heartwearming’ tribute to a new generation of nature writers

Top nature writing honour goes to Late Light by Michael Malay, which explores modern Britain through the ‘unloved’ lives of eels, moths, crickets and musselsA book that explores modern Britain by examining four “unloved” animals – eels, moths, crickets and mussels – has won this year’s Wainwright prize for nature writing.Michael Malay, a lecturer in literature and environmental humanities at the University of Bristol, took home the award for Late Light, in which he tells his story of moving to the UK as an Indonesian Australian, drawing parallels with the lives of the animals he looks at. Continue reading...

A book that explores modern Britain by examining four “unloved” animals – eels, moths, crickets and mussels – has won this year’s Wainwright prize for nature writing.Michael Malay, a lecturer in literature and environmental humanities at the University of Bristol, took home the award for Late Light, in which he tells his story of moving to the UK as an Indonesian Australian, drawing parallels with the lives of the animals he looks at.Late Light by Michael Malay. Photograph: Manilla PressIn the conservation writing category, the ocean was the focus of the winning title. Blue Machine by Helen Czerski, a physicist and oceanographer, explores the vital role of the ocean in sustaining life on the rest of the planet.Meanwhile, Katya Balen won the children’s nature and conservation writing category for her novel Foxlight, which follows twins searching through wildlands for their mother.Foxlight by Katya Balen. Photograph: BloomsburyA £7,500 prize will be shared between the three winners, who were announced at a ceremony at Camley Street Natural Park, an urban nature reserve in London. The prizes celebrate books that encourage readers to embrace nature and develop respect for the environment.“It’s wonderfully heartwarming to witness the emergence of a new generation of outstandingly talented writers, exposing the genre and its increasingly salient themes to ever larger and more diverse audiences,” said prize director Alastair Giles.In Late Light, Malay “portrays his evolving emotional and intellectual relationships with people, place and nature in a way that’s very easy to get on board with, while still having moments of beautiful prose that uplift the reading experience,” said Khalil Thirlaway, a biologist and presenter who chaired the nature writing judges.Dispersals by Jessica J Lee was highly commended in the category. Other shortlisted books included The Garden Against Time by Olivia Laing and Local by Alastair Humphreys.skip past newsletter promotionDiscover new books and learn more about your favourite authors with our expert reviews, interviews and news stories. Literary delights delivered direct to youPrivacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.after newsletter promotion‘From the minuscule to the macroscopic’ … Helen Czerski, who won the conservation writing category with Blue Machine. Photograph: © Emma Gibson/Wainwright prizeIn the conservation category winner Blue Machine, readers are “immersed into the world of the ocean with spectacular detail, from the minuscule to the macroscopic, guided through the ocean’s anatomy and introduced to the people who live in intimate relationships with it,” said conservation category judging chair Joycelyn Longdon, an environmental justice researcher and founder of education platform Climate in Colour.Highly commended for conservation writing was Groundbreakers by Chantal Lyons. Other titles shortlisted included Wasteland by Oliver Franklin-Wallis and Fire Weather by John Vaillant, which won last year’s Baillie Gifford prize.Previous Wainwright prize winners include James Rebanks, Merlin Sheldrake, Robert Macfarlane and Amy Liptrot. In 2023, Amy-Jane Beer won the nature writing category with The Flow, while Guy Shrubsole won the conservation category for The Lost Rainforests of Britain.The prize “feels ever more important as we confront the realities of a world in crisis, but as this year’s winners prove, it’s equally important to reflect on finding peace and connection with the natural world, and to inspire younger generations to become better environmental stewards than those before them,” said Giles.

Nature

Animals

Conservation

What if nature had a voice in legislation? A ‘planetary parliament’ could give it one.

The Planetary Democrats, a European legal association, wants to create a global parliament that would represent the interests of the nonhuman world.

The vision “We might have environmental protections, but those come from humans determining what’s good about an ecosystem. It might look a little different if you were to talk to a pod of pilot whales about what their needs are.” — writer and environmental philosopher Melanie Challenger The spotlight Imagine: You’re in parliament, getting ready to introduce a motion to tax greenhouse gas emissions at the global level and encourage the development of renewable energy. To your right, a fellow human lawmaker from the other side of the world nods in approval. But to your left? A koala glares at you; in Australia, the tax is expected to incentivize the clearing of eucalyptus groves — the koala’s habitat — for a major solar project! Next to the koala is a frangipani tree, and after the tree is a bend of the Murrumbidgee River. They’re on equal footing with you, since the policy will affect their interests as well as those of humans. Your motion is in danger — unless it can win the support of a majority of Earth’s living and nonliving constituents. This scenario is a caricature, of course; river bends and koalas aren’t going to be literally invited into parliament anytime soon. But it’s a caricature of a real proposal recently put forward by Planetary Democrats, a European legal association. According to the group, too many decisions are currently made from a purely human-centric perspective, without proper consideration for the natural entities they affect. They argue that a “planetary parliament” representing the interests of nonhuman plants, animals, and ecosystems could bring much-needed balance — and get at the root of problems, like environmental degradation and animal exploitation — ensuring that nature is valued on its own terms and not just for the benefits it brings humans. “These entities are affected by laws, and so they should be represented in the decision-making process,” said Anton Rüpke, the Planetary Democrats’ first chairperson. He said elements of nature deserve political representation by virtue of their existence, not because they have some special utility to humans. Rüpke’s thinking is rooted in a broader effort to recognize humans as just one part of the global ecosystem, with no inherent right to dominion over everything else. For example, within the “rights of nature” movement, many experts and environmental groups have advocated for the rights of nature to be enshrined in law. They’ve won a handful of big victories — Ecuador’s 2008 constitution, for example, recognizes Earth’s inherent right to “maintenance and regeneration of its life cycles, structure, functions, and evolutionary processes,” independent of its utility to people. Other countries and subnational jurisdictions have enshrined nature’s rights through constitutional amendments and Supreme Court rulings. Underlying those victories, however, is a question of representation. Granting legal rights to something or someone is not a guarantee that those rights will be respected. Rivers, forests, and wildlife can’t speak for themselves; they need human surrogates in order to participate in human governance systems. Some jurisdictions have attempted to solve this problem by appointing specific legal guardians to nature, or by calling on the general population to bring lawsuits against those who violate nature’s rights. But for Rüpke, depending on the legal branch alone is a reactive approach — it puts nature on the defensive every time a threat arises, rather than empowering it to create laws that could stop threats from cropping up in the first place. “We need to have representation also in the executive and legislative branches of government,” Rüpke said. Enter the notion of a “planetary parliament,” the Planetary Democrats’ idea for a new, 400-member legislative body — potentially within the United Nations — to represent the interests of nonhuman nature. According to the group, this would lead to more democratic decision-making and better protections for all of nature, not just the parts that are most popular among humans (such as charismatic megafauna like whales and eagles). Here’s how it would work: 200 members of the parliament would be selected at random from the global population to represent the diverse interests of humanity. The remaining 200 representatives would be experts nominated by environmental groups to legislate on behalf of nonhuman animals, fungi, plants, and microorganisms, as well as nonliving entities — the atmosphere, the cryosphere (ice), the hydrosphere (water), and the lithosphere (rocks). If the planetary parliament were created within the U.N., it could be empowered to put forward legislative proposals and make decisions that would be binding under international law. Rüpke said this could include any number of policies to curb biodiversity loss, improve soil health, address plastic pollution — whatever the representatives deem to be the most pressing problems. Of course, existing governance bodies are already trying to tackle those problems. But they haven’t been very successful — at least not yet — and according to the Planetary Democrats, they lack the high degree of democratic legitimacy that would set apart a planetary parliament. “While current politicians are beholden to their human constituents, nature’s representatives would be beholden to the entire planet, representing different needs and requirements in a more balanced way,” the Planetary Democrats’ proposal says. It’s an out-of-the-box approach, and the Planetary Democrats acknowledge that new tools will have to be developed to overcome practical and epistemological challenges. For example, with no way to receive direct feedback from their nonhuman constituents, nature’s representatives would have to imagine new ways of evaluating their work. External accountability bodies might also have to develop ways to ensure that representatives act in nature’s best interests and don’t abuse their power. And there would have to be a protocol for when the interests of one part of nature clash with those of another. Pablo Magaña, a former postdoctoral researcher at NOVA University Lisbon and a board member for the Pompeu Fabra University Centre for Animal Ethics in Barcelona, said a strong, durable planetary parliament should be as inclusive as possible, with plenty of consultation and input from those outside the governance body. “If all stakeholders aren’t included, it’s more vulnerable, more likely to fail,” he said. Rüpke suggested that members could take regular excursions to endangered ecosystems while in office, in order to feel more connected to the entities they would be representing. For now, the idea of giving nature political representation might seem far-off. But then again, this is how it often is with social progress — it was once seen as a “grave social experiment” to allow women to vote — and smaller-scale experiments around the world are giving advocates hope. Several jurisdictions, including Germany, Malta, Spain, and New York City, have appointed animal welfare commissioners or offices, tasked with representing the interests of pets and wildlife. New Zealand has a commissioner for the environment, and Wales has one charged with representing the interests of future generations of humans, who, like nonhuman parts of nature, cannot advocate for themselves. “What we’re seeing is the green shoots in the garden of experimentation,” said Melanie Challenger, deputy co-chair for the Nuffield Council on Bioethics and vice president of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in the U.K. While some of these experiments might not work out, she added, they’re still driving the conversation forward. “Every group that is proposing something is adding something of value,” Challenger said. “Even those proposals that need to change.” — Joseph Winters More exposure Read: more about the rights of nature movement, and new tactics that advocates are employing (The Guardian) Read: about the efforts of Indigenous advocates to fight extractive projects and industries on behalf of salmon and wild rice (Grist) Read: about an effort in Utah to ban “legal personhood” for natural entities, including the Great Salt Lake (Inside Climate News) Watch: a short documentary on Ecuador’s biodiversity, and the movement that made it the first and only country to enshrine the rights of nature in its constitution (Nature on PBS) A parting shot These (kind of inexplicably wacky) images, created by Planetary Democrats using artificial intelligence, show a visualization of the ethos behind the proposal. In two of them, a cloud and a koala speak in parliament, surrounded by plants. In others, for some reason, a clump of algae rides public transit and a swirl of ocean water hangs out in a studio. IMAGE CREDITS Vision: Grist Parting shot: Grist / Courtesy of Planetary Democrats This story was originally published by Grist with the headline What if nature had a voice in legislation? A ‘planetary parliament’ could give it one. on Sep 11, 2024.

Nature

Animals

Energy

Endangered wombat's rare encounter with echidna caught on camera

A camera trap at an Australian nature refuge has captured a boisterous interaction between a northern hairy-nosed wombat and an echidna

VIDEO A rare and boisterous encounter between a young wombat and a spiny echidna has been caught on camera, to the delight of Australian conservationists. The exuberant behaviour captured by a camera trap is a sign that a gamble to establish a third population of critically endangered northern hairy-nosed wombats (Lasiorhinus krefftii) in Queensland, Australia, is paying off. At their lowest point in the late 1990s, there were as few as 35 individuals living in a single, small reserve in central Queensland, making the wombats among the rarest large mammals on Earth. Now, after a determined conservation effort, their numbers have grown to around 400. Translocations to the fenced Richard Underwood Nature Refuge in southern Queensland began in 2009, and there are now around 15 individuals at this site. Andy Howe at the Australian Wildlife Conservancy in Newcastle, Australia, was trawling through 100 hours of footage recorded at the refuge when two clips caught his eye. The first, from early June, showed a juvenile northern hairy-nosed wombat, proving that the reserve’s population was successfully rearing young that were progressing to foraging independently. Howe says the wombat appears to be in good condition, with a consistent coat and healthy weight. Then, in footage captured a month later, he spotted the interaction between a young wombat and a short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus). The echidna is seen waddling around the frame, apparently unperturbed, while the wombat gets increasingly agitated and throws itself into the dirt. Tim Flannery at the Australian Museum, Sydney, says in all of his decades studying mammals he has never seen an interaction like it. “It’s a nervous wombat and a happy echidna,” he says. A northern hairy-nosed wombat at Richard Underwood Nature Refuge in Queensland, AustraliaBrad Leue/Australian Wildlife Conservancy It is typical behaviour for an echidna because their spines make them difficult and dangerous to attack, he says. Throughout most of the clip, the wombat has its rear end facing the monotreme – a defensive stance that they employ in their tunnels to push intruders against the roof of their burrows. To see such natural, wild behaviour for a creature that came so close to extinction is “fantastic”, says Flannery. “This is very heartening to see these wombats doing so well,” he says. Now it has been proven how well translocation has worked, he suggests new populations should be established elsewhere as quickly as possible. Before the arrival of Europeans, the species was found from northern Victoria all the way through to arid New South Wales and up to central Queensland. There would be huge environmental benefits to seeing them re-established across their range, says Flannery. “They’re an ecosystem engineer because they dig and turn over soils,” he says. “Their burrows offer refuge to other creatures during heatwaves, drought and fires.”

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