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MINAE Takes Stand Against Illegal Mining in Costa Rica’s Protected Areas

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Tuesday, September 10, 2024

The Ministry of Environment and Energy (MINAE) issued a statement denying any intention to conduct gold mining in Corcovado National Park. This clarification came after Mario Gómez Venegas, director of the Directorate of Geology and Mines (DGM) at MINAE, submitted a request to Paula Mena Corea, director of the Osa Conservation Area, asking for a delegation to enter the park as part of the PlanetGOLD Costa Rica project. Earlier this year, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) approved MINAE’s project, “Global Opportunities for the Long-term Development of the Artisanal and Small-scale Gold Mining Sector (ASM) – PlanetGOLD Costa Rica.” In a press release, MINAE denied the information being circulated and clarified the situation. “We strongly deny this statement and clarify that, in response to the illegal gold mining problem in the country, MINAE, with the support of GEF and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), launched a series of workshops in July to implement a project aimed at eliminating the use of mercury in gold mining,” the statement read. Document DGM-OD-368-2024 further explained that the PlanetGOLD program is in its initial phase, which requires field visits by the consulting team. The purpose of these visits is to inspect gold extraction sites, identify potential mineralization sources, collect samples, evaluate gold recovery processes, and verify whether mercury is being used. MINAE emphasized that the document signed by Mario Gómez is aimed at studying artisanal and small-scale mining associations, establishing gold value chains, and assessing environmental impacts in the cantons of Jiménez and Osa, all of which are linked to illegal mining activities. “This project tackles the issue of illegal mining and promotes safer methods in artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM), which currently employs extraction techniques that pose health risks, such as mercury use,” the statement added. MINAE also assured that, in collaboration with law enforcement, it will continue to address the problem of illegal gold mining, which extends beyond Corcovado National Park. The ministry will further promote initiatives to eliminate the use of hazardous substances, such as mercury, to protect human health and the environment. The post MINAE Takes Stand Against Illegal Mining in Costa Rica’s Protected Areas appeared first on The Tico Times | Costa Rica News | Travel | Real Estate.

The Ministry of Environment and Energy (MINAE) issued a statement denying any intention to conduct gold mining in Corcovado National Park. This clarification came after Mario Gómez Venegas, director of the Directorate of Geology and Mines (DGM) at MINAE, submitted a request to Paula Mena Corea, director of the Osa Conservation Area, asking for a […] The post MINAE Takes Stand Against Illegal Mining in Costa Rica’s Protected Areas appeared first on The Tico Times | Costa Rica News | Travel | Real Estate.

The Ministry of Environment and Energy (MINAE) issued a statement denying any intention to conduct gold mining in Corcovado National Park. This clarification came after Mario Gómez Venegas, director of the Directorate of Geology and Mines (DGM) at MINAE, submitted a request to Paula Mena Corea, director of the Osa Conservation Area, asking for a delegation to enter the park as part of the PlanetGOLD Costa Rica project.

Earlier this year, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) approved MINAE’s project, “Global Opportunities for the Long-term Development of the Artisanal and Small-scale Gold Mining Sector (ASM) – PlanetGOLD Costa Rica.”

In a press release, MINAE denied the information being circulated and clarified the situation.

“We strongly deny this statement and clarify that, in response to the illegal gold mining problem in the country, MINAE, with the support of GEF and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), launched a series of workshops in July to implement a project aimed at eliminating the use of mercury in gold mining,” the statement read.

Document DGM-OD-368-2024 further explained that the PlanetGOLD program is in its initial phase, which requires field visits by the consulting team. The purpose of these visits is to inspect gold extraction sites, identify potential mineralization sources, collect samples, evaluate gold recovery processes, and verify whether mercury is being used.

MINAE emphasized that the document signed by Mario Gómez is aimed at studying artisanal and small-scale mining associations, establishing gold value chains, and assessing environmental impacts in the cantons of Jiménez and Osa, all of which are linked to illegal mining activities.

“This project tackles the issue of illegal mining and promotes safer methods in artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM), which currently employs extraction techniques that pose health risks, such as mercury use,” the statement added.

MINAE also assured that, in collaboration with law enforcement, it will continue to address the problem of illegal gold mining, which extends beyond Corcovado National Park. The ministry will further promote initiatives to eliminate the use of hazardous substances, such as mercury, to protect human health and the environment.

The post MINAE Takes Stand Against Illegal Mining in Costa Rica’s Protected Areas appeared first on The Tico Times | Costa Rica News | Travel | Real Estate.

Read the full story here.
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How Colorado’s Thompson Divide Got Protection From Oil and Gas Drilling

The members of a self-described ragtag group had little in common, but their campaign could serve as model for future environmental efforts.

The drilling leases in a pristine corner of Colorado seemed like a done deal. But then an unlikely alliance of cowboys and environmentalists emerged. And things changed.The members of the group — a self-described ragtag organization that included ranchers, cyclists and snowmobilers — had little in common aside from a desire to protect the expanse, almost a quarter-million acres of public land known as the Thompson Divide. But they ultimately developed a novel legal strategy that helped win a 20-year pause on new oil and gas development across the area.That strategy could serve as a model for future conservation efforts.“It’s an incredible story of how it all came together,” said Zane Kessler, the founding executive director of the group, the Thompson Divide Coalition.The area, in west-central Colorado, overlaps with part of the White River National Forest, one of the most visited national forests in the United States. The Thompson Divide is also home to endangered lynxes and to one of the expansive organisms in the world: the state’s largest Aspen stand, a colony of trees connected by a lateral root system.The Bush administration started issuing oil and gas leases in the area in the early 2000s in an effort to expand production on public lands. Roughly 80 leases were issued on the Thompson Divide, with dozens more in adjacent parcels of land.“It happened incredibly quickly,” said Peter Hart, who led the coalition’s legal team. “And it happened at a time when it was the beginning of people developing skills and knowledge to engage in these processes and actually push back.”Subscribe to The Times to read as many articles as you like.

Sea Turtles Make Big Comeback on Sandy Beaches at 2 British Military Bases in Cyprus

Officials say protected Green and Loggerhead turtles are making a big comeback on the beaches of two British military bases in Cyprus, with the number of nests surpassing last year’s record count by nearly 25%

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Protected Green and Loggerhead turtles are making a big comeback on the beaches of two British military bases in Cyprus, with the number of nests surpassing last year’s record count by nearly 25%, environmentalists said Tuesday.There were 382 sea turtle nests recorded this year on all sandy beaches inside the bases — 100 more than last year’s count.Bases Environmental and Police Officer Alexia Perdiou said a decades-long commitment by base authorities to safeguard nests is paying off, given that an average of only 30 turtle nests were discovered each year on the base beaches between 1994 and 2011.The turnaround is remarkable given that only one in 1,000 turtle hatchlings makes it to adulthood.“The steep increase in turtle nests has been the result of a consistent, systematic ‘hands-off’ approach, together with enforcement efforts to minimize illegal, damaging activities on nesting beaches,” Perdiou said.Contributing to the nest increase, she said, is the fact that most sandy beaches inside the bases are free from development, while daily patrols by volunteers ensure that aluminum cages set atop the nests remain in place to protect the turtles from predators like foxes and dogs.Human activity on the beaches, including the driving of vehicles, parties with barbeques or powerful lighting is punishable by up to 17,000 euros ($19,000) in fines or three years in prison.Perdiou said despite the success, authorities won’t let up in their conservation efforts in partnerships with the Cypriot government, local authorities and volunteers.Britain retained two military bases along Cyprus’ southern coast after the east Mediterranean island gained independence from colonial rule in 1960. They are home to one of the Royal Air Force's busiest and most complex airfields, and host important communications equipment.Base authorities said it’s likely that investments of over 1 billion pounds sterling ($1.32 billion) will be made in the bases over the next decade.Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Photos You Should See - July 2024

Rare smelly penguin wins New Zealand bird of the year contest

The hoiho, which means ‘noise shouter’, triumphed in a year free from the usual scandals surrounding the competitionOne of the world’s rarest penguins has been crowned New Zealand’s bird of the year, in an unusually sedate year for the competition, free from the foreign interference and voting scandals of previous events.The endangered yellow-eyed penguin, or hoiho, is the largest of New Zealand’s mainland penguin species and is distinctive for the pale yellow band of feathers linking the eyes. Continue reading...

One of the world’s rarest penguins has been crowned New Zealand’s bird of the year, in an unusually sedate year for the competition, free from the foreign interference and voting scandals of previous events.The endangered yellow-eyed penguin, or hoiho, is the largest of New Zealand’s mainland penguin species and is distinctive for the pale yellow band of feathers linking the eyes.The hoiho, meaning ‘noise shouter” in Māori due to its shrill call, lives along parts of the South Island’s east coast and in the sub-Antarctic Auckland Islands. The shy, fishy-smelling species tends to live in native coastal forests, scrub or dense flax.There are believed to be roughly just 4,000 to 5,000 left in the world, according to the department of conservation, and its numbers are declining. The number of mainland breeding birds has dropped by 78% over the last 15 years – including an 18% dip over just the last year alone, says the Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust.“This spotlight couldn’t have come at a better time,” said Nicola Toki, chief executive of Forest & Bird, the environmental organisation that runs the annual competition.“This iconic penguin is disappearing from mainland Aotearoa [New Zealand] before our eyes.”The birds are “being hammered from all angles” including diseases, dog attacks, predation from introduced pests, she said in a statement. The penguin’s fishy odour is irresistible to dogs, which can smell them from a distance.The penguins were also drowning in set nets – nets anchored to the seafloor with weights – and are struggling to find food, Toki said, adding the birds urgently need marine protected areas to secure their survival.A karure, or Chatham Islands black robin pictured on Chatham Island in 2016 is the runner-up Photograph: Oscar Thomas/APThe bird of the year competition was launched in 2005 to raise awareness about the plight of New Zealand’s native birds, many of which are threatened, on the brink of extinction or already extinct due to the introduction of pests, human activity and declining habitats.New Zealand’s only native mammals are bats and marine species, putting the spotlight on its birds, which are beloved – and often rare.Over the years, the contest has become a lightning-rod for scandal, from crowning a bat the winner in 2021, to accusations of Russian interference in 2019, and claims Australians attempted to rig the contest in favour of the shag in 2018.The two-week competition attracted more than 52,000 verified votes – a significant drop compared with 2023’s event, which leapt to 350,000 votes across 195 countries after British-American comedian and talkshow host John Oliver ran a global campaign for the threatened pūteketeke – a grunting, puking bird with an unusual repertoire of mating rituals.Oliver’s self-described “alarmingly aggressive” campaign, including buying up billboards in New Zealand, Japan, France, the UK, India and the US state of Wisconsin. A plane with a pūteketeke campaign banner also flew over the beaches of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.His efforts were rewarded when the pūteketeke was crowned the 2023 winner.The hoiho, which secured 6,328 votes to win, also attracted celebrity endorsements, including from conservationist Dr Jane Goodall, host of the Amazing Race Phil Keoghan and former prime ministers Helen Clark and Chris Hipkins but the competition was a more ‘homegrown’ affair, Forest & Bird’s Ellen Rykers told RNZ.This year, local campaigners sought votes in the usual ways – launching meme wars and getting tattoos to prove their loyalty.The hoiho bid was run by a collective of wildlife groups, a museum, a brewery and a rugby team in the city of Dunedin, making it the highest-powered campaign of the 2024 vote.The Hoiho joins the kākāpō as the only bird to have taken out the avian election twice. The kākāpō won in 2008 and 2020.The tiny karure, a small “goth” black robin found only New Zealand’s Chatham Island, came second, while the kākāpō – the world’s heaviest, longest-living parrot – came third.

Yucaipa residents fight back against massive warehouse proposal

Residents fear a proposed warehouse complex is part of a push to remake Yucaipa into another Inland Empire logistics hub dominated by giant fulfillment centers and diesel trucks.

When David Matuszak looks out over Live Oak Canyon from his four-acre horse ranch, he has a sweeping view of farm fields and grazing cattle. For nearly 40 years, he’s been riding equestrian trails dotted with coastal oaks, chamise and buckwheat and flanked by the snow-capped mountains of the San Gorgonio Wilderness.“It’s one of the most scenic areas of Southern California,” said the author and retired high school teacher who also serves as president of Friends of Live Oak Canyon, which he describes as a grassroots environmental homeowners association.But Matuszak and others fear that could change if the city of Yucaipa green-lights the construction of two massive warehouses in an undeveloped area about a mile from Matuszak’s ranch. They say the project would spoil natural spaces and undermine the town’s rural character, bringing increased traffic congestion and air pollution. They fear it’s part of a push by city officials to remake Yucaipa into yet another Inland Empire logistics hub dominated by giant fulfillment centers and rumbling diesel trucks.“That’s exactly what we’re worried about, that we’re the next Fontana, Ontario or San Bernardino,” said Kathy Sellers, a retired San Bernardino courts reporter who’s lived in Yucaipa for 38 years. “That’s why we all live out here, to get away from that.” Jurupa Hills High School borders multiple large warehouses in Fontana. Some Yucaipa residents are protesting the planned construction of a massive warehouse facility there, saying that Fontana and other communities have suffered amid the spread of logistical warehouses. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times) San Bernardino and Riverside counties are already home to an estimated 4,000 warehouses that span some 37 square miles — the largest contiguous cluster on the planet, according to a report released by environmental groups last year. The sprawling area east of Los Angeles sits near freeways and rail spurs that ferry goods to and from the busy ports of L.A. and Long Beach. Demand for the logistics centers was further driven by an explosion in e-commerce during the COVID-19 pandemic.The growth in warehouse development has raised concerns about poor air quality, increased cancer risk and the destruction of green areas that act as natural carbon sinks. More than 60 organizations, including Friends of Live Oak Canyon, signed a letter calling the surge one of the most critical environmental justice issues facing the region and urging Gov. Gavin Newsom to declare a state of emergency over its public health implications.Already, studies consistently rank the Inland Empire as having among the worst air quality in the nation. The region is forced to contend with high levels of diesel particulate matter, said Timothy Mullins, who moved to Yucaipa 25 years ago to escape development in Redlands.“By this project going in, we’re going to be even more burdened, and the health of the community is going to be degraded,” he said.Until recently, Yucaipa had largely been spared from this type of development. Now, a 363,000-foot warehouse near the border with Calimesa is slated for completion in the next couple months. And the project currently being considered — dubbed the Pacific Oaks Commerce Center — would consist of two buildings of roughly 1 million square feet each and generate some 1,100 daily truck trips, according to a traffic study.The project would be a financial boon to the city, which has struggled with a growing budget deficit that has officials planning cuts to public safety and community services should voters fail to pass a November ballot measure that would raise the sales tax.Developers would pay roughly $14 million in impact fees and invest millions more in infrastructure improvements, including building a water line and widening a portion of Live Oak Canyon Road, said Benjamin Matlock, Yucaipa city planner and deputy director of community development. That would help the city attract other projects to the area, including badly needed housing, he said. The developers have also agreed to provide funding for an aerial ladder truck for the Yucaipa Fire Department, he said. An aerial view of the site where developers hope to build two 1-million-square-foot warehouses in the Live Oak Canyon area of Yucaipa. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) The infrastructure upgrades would total more than $37 million, financed without using taxpayer dollars or bonds, according to Dan Floriani, co-founder of project developer Pacific Industrial. The project would include 96 acres of permanent open space with a trail accessible to the public. An economic benefits analysis by a third-party consultant estimates it would create 1,200 to 1,600 permanent jobs, he wrote in an email.Edward Timmons, whose children are fifth-generation Yucaipa residents, once worked as a manager at a large fulfillment center in Rialto. He said the work was dominated by low-paying, low-skilled jobs with high rates of attrition. “Your average employee would stay there about three months; average manager, four to six months,” he said. “It’s not a place where you build a career. It’s a place that fills in the gaps until you find a better place to work.”He also questioned whether the project would provide the long-term economic benefits the city is hoping for. The local logistics industry has cooled since the pandemic, with warehousing and storage jobs shrinking for the first time in more than two decades and industrial building vacancies rising, according to an L.A. Times report published earlier this year.Timmons, who now works as a real estate broker and mortgage loan originator, pulled listings within a 30-mile radius of Yucaipa and tallied about 27 million square feet of vacant warehouse space when it comes to warehouses over 250,000 square feet.Timmons and other residents said that, while talks between the city and developers have been taking place for four years, many locals didn’t become aware of the proposal until it went before the planning commission in June. In July, the commission voted 3-2 not to recommend the project.“Nobody wants this,” Timmons said.In order for the project to go forward, Yucaipa’s City Council must both approve it and update a 2008 plan that specifies how the city’s freeway corridor — a 1,200-acre area bisected by Interstate 10 — should be developed. The council is expected to vote Sept. 23. Some residents say a proposal to build a massive shipping warehouse in Yucaipa threatens to turn the rural area into an Inland Empire logistics hub. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) The 2008 plan already permits warehouses in certain areas, said Matlock, the city planner. The proposed update would reconfigure where those warehouses could be built, from an area closer to the freeway to a more discrete location, he said. The developers went through an “exhaustive effort” to design the site to be adjacent to a wastewater treatment facility and tucked behind hills, he added.Kristine Mohler, who was on the committee that drafted the 2008 freeway corridor plan during two years of meetings, said the choice to zone retail, commercial and industrial activity next to the freeway was deliberate, “so that people would go on and off the freeway and shop and do those type of things and not have such a tremendous impact on housing areas and the land.”The original plan earmarked the internal portion of the corridor for housing and open space, whereas under the proposed update, the warehouse project would be at its core, with housing around it, she said. “That’s just absurd for that area,” she said. “So what we originally planned, which we thought was very efficient, as non-invasive as possible, has turned into a huge warehouse hub. And that’s just not what we had in mind.”Although the warehouse complex wouldn’t be visible from the freeway, it would be visible from nearby trails and open spaces, said Sherli Leonard, president of the Redlands Conservancy. The nonprofit manages a 341-acre preserve that’s about a half-mile from the proposed complex and another 70 acres that’s nearby.“The views are lovely,” she said. “And it’s not just that they’re lovely but they actually benefit the human psyche. Look at car commercials: they don’t ever show someone driving through a warehouse district or even a neighborhood.”The land earmarked for the complex is privately owned and not open to the public. However, she said it is a wildlife corridor for mountain lions, coyotes, foxes, bobcats and the occasional bear.“It would cause significant damage to that environment, to that habitat, and also open the door for more such things — that’s from a conservationist standpoint,” she said. “From anybody’s standpoint, it will introduce 18-wheelers to a freeway offramp that is already seriously congested at many times of the day and there isn’t any way to mitigate that, you just have to deal with it.”When Matuszak moved to Yucaipa in 1977 to teach exercise science and biomechanics at the local high school, the nearby communities of San Bernardino and Redlands were dominated by orange groves and open fields where farmers grew strawberries and onions, he said.“Now, there are miles and miles of these warehouses and it’s concrete — concrete roofs, concrete walls, parking lots and so forth,” he said. That’s created a heat island effect that’s raised local temperatures by several degrees on top of global warming, he said.“We’re seeing the beginnings of that same push to extend what they’re calling the logistics capital of the world all the way out into our neck of the woods,” he said. “And we’re just furious about it. We’re going to do everything we can to stop that from happening.”

How scientists debunked one of conservation’s most influential statistics

The factoid about biodiversity and Indigenous peoples spread around the world, but scientists say bad data can undermine the very causes it claims to supportThe statistic seemed to crop up everywhere. Versions were cited at UN negotiations, on protest banners, in 186 peer-reviewed scientific papers – even by the film-maker James Cameron, while promoting his Avatar films. Exact wording varied, but the claim was this: that 80% of the world’s remaining biodiversity is protected by Indigenous peoples.When scientists investigated its origins, however, they found nothing. In September, the scientific journal Nature reported that the much-cited claim was “a baseless statistic”, not supported by any real data, and could jeopardise the very Indigenous-led conservation efforts it was cited in support of. Indigenous communities play “essential roles” in conserving biodiversity, the comment says, but the 80% claim is simply “wrong” and risks undermining their credibility. Continue reading...

The statistic seemed to crop up everywhere. Versions were cited at UN negotiations, on protest banners, in 186 peer-reviewed scientific papers – even by the film-maker James Cameron, while promoting his Avatar films. Exact wording varied, but the claim was this: that 80% of the world’s remaining biodiversity is protected by Indigenous peoples.When scientists investigated its origins, however, they found nothing. In September, the scientific journal Nature reported that the much-cited claim was “a baseless statistic”, not supported by any real data, and could jeopardise the very Indigenous-led conservation efforts it was cited in support of. Indigenous communities play “essential roles” in conserving biodiversity, the comment says, but the 80% claim is simply “wrong” and risks undermining their credibility.The carefully worded article, written by 13 authors including three Indigenous scientists, had been about five years in the making. But it raised other questions: including how a foundationless factoid got so much traction – and what other inaccuracies were circulating.“There were policy reports using it. There were scientific reports. It was cited in more than 180 scientific publications,” says Álvaro Fernández-Llamazares, an ethnobiologist at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and one of the authors of the article. It was checked as “true” by a dedicated factchecking organisation, and quoted by numerous news organisations (including the Guardian). Fernández-Llamazares stressed they did not blame those who used the figure. Instead, he said: “What we are questioning is: how can it be that this figure has gone unchallenged for so many years?”To check the claim, the scientists searched decades of literature and citations. They did not find anything resembling an actual calculation. Instead, reports by the UN and the World Bank from the early 2000s seem to have popularised it. They in turn cited an encyclopedia article on eco-regions occupied by Indigenous peoples, and research that found some ​​Indigenous tribes in the Philippines were “maintaining over 80% of the original high-biodiversity forest cover”.Perhaps, however, the statistic should have raised eyebrows from the outset. Despite recent advances in measurability, biodiversity as a concept is still hard to define, let alone quantify and count. Millions of species aren’t even described or their status as a species is debated. “The 80% claim is based on two assumptions: that biodiversity can be divided into countable units, and that these can be mapped spatially at the global level. Neither feat is possible,” the Nature authors wrote.Historical land use reconstruction is a very messy business, especially at the global scaleErle Ellis, environmental scientistOn the face of it, the biodiversity field is very numbers driven. But the look of mathematical precision can be misleading, in a field that deals with measuring under-studied species, changing ecosystems and data black spots.“We are not honest with ourselves within our own ranks,” says Matthias Glaubrecht, a professor at the Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change in Hamburg. “Biology is a dirty science, so to speak: numbers here are an auxiliary construction to prove a case, but always accompanied by a big question mark.”Elephants in Africa, for example, are often used as a symbol of mass extinction. Discourse around African elephants often focuses on a dramatic decline in the 20th century. Popular data platform Our World in Data reported that there were once 26 million elephants in Africa, which declined to 10 million in 1900, to half a million today. The same figures are widely used by NGOs and the press.But 26 million elephants would mean almost one elephant for each square kilometre across the entire African continent, with its huge variations in habitat – a figure that strains plausibility.The number originated from a PhD thesis in the early 1990s by Oxford biologist Eleanor Jane Milner-Gulland. Debates around a ban on the ivory trade were running high at the time, and Milner-Gulland tried to estimate the influence of poaching on population sizes. Because there were no robust elephant counts until well into the 1900s, she built a statistical model, taking recent counts from areas populated by elephants and multiplying them out across the continent to areas where elephants could have lived. She arrived at an estimate of between 13.5 million and 26.9 million elephants for the early 19th century.“The assumption of the study is wrong,” says Chris Thouless, research director for Save the Elephants in Kenya: “It was written with the idea that hardly any people lived in Africa.”Thouless says an unsurprising range would be “a few million – rather than tens of millions”. There is no doubt that elephant populations have suffered. But their decline is a more complicated story than the sudden apocalypse sometimes painted. After being approached by the Guardian about the veracity of historical elephant data, Our World in Data removed the numbers.Statistical modelling of a world we might have lost is common in the field. But it’s tricky to do. “Historical land use reconstruction is a very messy business, especially at the global scale,” says Erle Ellis from the University of Maryland. Ellis works with these kinds of models, dating back 12,000 years. A single parameter based on an archaeological find can change an entire region. “There are lots of models – for example on habitat loss and what it does to a given species. But is there a good model that does that? I don’t think so,” Ellis says.Despite the importance of robust data in environmental crises, calling out bad statistics is sometimes seen as an attack on conservation itself. The Nature article about the 80% was in the making for five years, one of the authors says, because the topic is so sensitive and could be abused politically. In the article, they write that “the 80% claim could undermine [more] rigorous studies – as well as effective efforts to conserve biodiversity by Indigenous peoples on the ground”. After its publication, however, the authors faced some intense criticism.“The feedback here in Mexico is strong … is rude. Someone told me this is a call for war,” says Yesenia H Márquez, a co-author of the article and member of the expert group on Indigenous and local knowledge at the UN’s Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (Ipbes). “But I think it’s not a problem to promote the paper,” she says. “We know our territories. We know all the biodiversity that we have.”Tin Fischer is a data journalist based in Berlin, and author of a book on how political allegiances can change perception of data.

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