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Prince William says make peace with nature

News Feed
Wednesday, September 25, 2024

Prince William says make peace with natureKensington Palace"It means change," Prince William said, in a video message at the United NationsThe Prince of Wales has issued an urgent call to end environmental destruction and "make peace with nature"."We are living at odds with the natural world - and it is buckling under the pressure of our actions," he said, in a video message played at a Campaign for Nature event at the General Assembly of the United Nations, in New York.Prince William said climate change and the prospect of a million species facing extinction represented the most pressing "existential threat".His speech followed the announcement, also in New York, of the finalists for the fourth year of the prince's Earthshot awards for international ideas to improve sustainability.'Must act'"If we are to keep this planet liveable for our children and grandchildren, we must act urgently," the prince said, in a speech echoing the eco-campaigning of his father, King Charles III."We can and must change our relationship with the natural world." And such a reset in the relationship would mean economic changes, "realigning financial flows from destruction to regeneration"."It means change," the prince said, calling on international leaders "to halt the unsustainable production and consumption of natural resources". "We must act to save our rivers, oceans, savannas, mangroves and forests, as well as the communities that protect and live alongside them," he said.Drawn from 2,500 nominations, the 15 Earthshot finalists include:The five winners, to be revealed at an event in Cape Town, South Africa, in November, will receive £1m each.Meanwhile, the Princess of Wales is continuing her return to work, after the end of her chemotherapy.On Tuesday, she held a meeting in Windsor Castle, to plan her annual Christmas carol concert in Westminster Abbey.

The Prince of Wales has issued an urgent call to end the destruction of the environment.

Prince William says make peace with nature

Kensington Palace Prince William pictured in a video sent to a UN meeting on the environmentKensington Palace

"It means change," Prince William said, in a video message at the United Nations

The Prince of Wales has issued an urgent call to end environmental destruction and "make peace with nature".

"We are living at odds with the natural world - and it is buckling under the pressure of our actions," he said, in a video message played at a Campaign for Nature event at the General Assembly of the United Nations, in New York.

Prince William said climate change and the prospect of a million species facing extinction represented the most pressing "existential threat".

His speech followed the announcement, also in New York, of the finalists for the fourth year of the prince's Earthshot awards for international ideas to improve sustainability.

'Must act'

"If we are to keep this planet liveable for our children and grandchildren, we must act urgently," the prince said, in a speech echoing the eco-campaigning of his father, King Charles III.

"We can and must change our relationship with the natural world."

And such a reset in the relationship would mean economic changes, "realigning financial flows from destruction to regeneration".

"It means change," the prince said, calling on international leaders "to halt the unsustainable production and consumption of natural resources".

"We must act to save our rivers, oceans, savannas, mangroves and forests, as well as the communities that protect and live alongside them," he said.

Drawn from 2,500 nominations, the 15 Earthshot finalists include:

The five winners, to be revealed at an event in Cape Town, South Africa, in November, will receive £1m each.

Meanwhile, the Princess of Wales is continuing her return to work, after the end of her chemotherapy.

On Tuesday, she held a meeting in Windsor Castle, to plan her annual Christmas carol concert in Westminster Abbey.

Read the full story here.
Photos courtesy of

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Heart-shaped mollusc has windows that work like fibre optics

Tiny, solid windows in the shells of heart cockles let in light for the photosynthetic algae inside them – and they could show us how to make better fibre-optic cables

Heart cockles come in many colours and host photosynthetic algae inside their shellsDakota McCoy A heart-shaped mollusc has evolved tiny windows that work like fibre-optic cables, the first known example in nature. Heart cockles (Corculum cardissa) are bivalve molluscs a bit like clams that have a symbiotic relationship with photosynthetic algae that live inside them. The algae have a safe home, get light to photosynthesise and provide nutrients for their hosts. Unlike other bivalves, heart cockles don’t open their shells up wide, yet they somehow funnel light to their interior even while staying shut. Now, Dakota McCoy at the University of Chicago and her colleagues have found that there are transparent calcium carbonate crystal structures in the heart cockle shells that function like fibre-optic bundles, letting light inside to bathe the algae. “If you don’t have to open and can just have a transparent window, that’s a very safe way to irradiate your algae,” says McCoy. The researchers examined fragments of different heart cockle shells and the transparent structures within them, as well as the intensity and colour of light that gets through. They found that the windows were made from long, thin fibres of a mineral called aragonite – a form of calcium carbonate – which lets twice as much of the photosynthetically useful light through as it does harmful ultraviolet light. “We put on sunblock because UV causes mutations and cancer. The heart cockles are using these windows as a sunblock,” says McCoy. Heart cockle shells illuminated from within to show the transparent windows in their shells, which can be little triangles (left) or stripes (right)Dakota McCoy While the aragonite threads look similar to manufactured fibre optics, they lack a protective, insulating sheath, called cladding, yet transmit light just as effectively. This could serve as an inspiration for cladding-free fibre-optic cables, which would be cheaper to manufacture. The natural, UV-blocking properties of the shells could also be used to help protect corals, which, like the cockles, host photosynthetic algae inside them, but are more susceptible to environmental stresses like light and heat, says McCoy.

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As Australia privatises nature repair, the cheapest approach won’t save our threatened species

Australia’s carbon credit scheme largely fails to protect threatened species, despite assumptions to the contrary. The findings provide cautionary lessons for the nature repair scheme.

ShutterstockAustralia is a world-leader in species extinction and environmental decline. So great is the problem, the federal government now wants to harness money from the private sector to pay for nature repair. Under the government’s new “nature repair market”, those who run projects to restore and protect the environment are rewarded with biodiversity credits. These credits can be sold to private buyers, such as corporations wanting to meet environmental goals. The nature repair market is similar in many ways to Ausralia’s existing carbon credit scheme. So, examining the extent to which carbon projects actually protect biodiversity is important as the government sets up the nature repair market. This was the focus of our new research. Alarmingly, we found Australia’s carbon credit scheme largely fails to protect threatened species, despite assumptions to the contrary. The findings provide cautionary lessons for the nature repair scheme. Spotlight on the carbon credit scheme Australia’s carbon credit scheme encourages activities that reduce carbon. They include planting trees, reducing animal grazing on vegetation, or retaining vegetation instead of cutting it down. Project proponents earn credits for carbon reduction, which can then be sold on a carbon market. The scheme also purports to offer “non-carbon” benefits. These include increasing biodiversity and expanding habitats for native species. Indeed, biodiversity conservation has underpinned the carbon credit scheme since it began in 2011. But does the carbon scheme actually benefit biodiversity? To answer this question, we overlaid the locations of carbon-reduction projects with the locations of habitat for threatened plants and animals species. We then scored the level of degradation of each habitat, and identified the processes imperilling the threatened species. So what did we find? Threatened species most in need of habitat restoration are the least likely to have their habitat restored under the carbon credit scheme. Projects under the scheme are primarily located in arid parts of Australia not suitable for growing crops – mostly vast cattle grazing leases. Carbon projects here involve inexpensive activities such as removing some cattle or managing weeds. These areas support habitat for only 6% of Australia’s threatened species. In other words, vegetation loss here generally doesn’t threaten species’ survival. In contrast, just 20% of carbon projects take place on productive agricultural land which supports nearly half of Australia’s threatened species. In these areas, property values are high and landholders can earn good money from farming. That means carbon-reduction projects are often less financially attractive than other land uses, so their number and size is limited. So what’s the upshot? Australia’s carbon projects are concentrated in areas containing little threatened species habitat, rather than where threatened species live and most need protecting. Government policies enable this perverse outcome, by giving preference to projects that can reduce carbon for the lowest cost. This has skewed projects towards unpopulated, relatively unproductive lands. There’s an upside It’s not all bad news, however. We found the carbon credit scheme may protect threatened species in some cases. Almost one-third (or 525) of Australia’s threatened species live in habitat that overlaps with projects under the scheme. In addition, five species whose habitat is not safeguarded in Australia’s protected areas, such as national parks, may also occur on land where carbon projects take place. A further 270 species with too-little protected habitat also overlap with the projects. The potential for positive benefits can be seen by looking at the two regions with the largest concentration of carbon projects in Australia. In the Murchison bioregion in Western Australia, a quarter of species rely on habitat that is not adequately protected elsewhere. In the Mulga bioregion in New South Wales and southwest Queensland, two-thirds of species rely on habitat inadequately protected elsewhere. The Mulga bioregion, one of two in Australia where the carbon credit scheme may protect threatened species. Shutterstock Lessons for nature repair Australia’s nature repair legislation came into effect in late 2023. It creates a framework for the nature repair market which is expected to launch early next year. Our findings provide important lessons for this market. Most importantly, they show a lowest-cost approach to generating credits is unlikely to benefit biodiversity. 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Negotiations Stall Over Some Crucial Issues on Final Day of UN Biodiversity Summit in Colombia

At the United Nations biodiversity summit in Colombia, negotiators struggle to find common ground on key issues, such as how to finance protections for 30% of the Earth's wild species by 2023 and how to make payments for nature’s genetic data

CALI, Colombia (AP) — At the United Nations biodiversity summit in Colombia, negotiators have struggled to find common ground on key issues.These include how to finance protections for 30% of the world's plants and animals by 2030, how to establish a permanent body for Indigenous peoples and how to make payments for nature’s genetic data that's used to create commercial products.The two-week conference, known as COP16, was due to wrap up Friday, although observers say negotiations could go into the weekend. In 2022, the biodiversity summit in Montreal, COP15, established a framework for countries to go about saving plummeting global ecosystems. This year’s follow-up summit was to put plans into motion. "COP15 was all about the ‘what’; this was supposed to be about the ‘how,’” Georgina Chandler, head of policy and campaigns at The Zoological Society of London, told The Associated Press. Wealthy nations pledged in Montreal’s summit to raise $20 billion in annual conservation financing for developing nations by 2025 — with that rising to $30 billion annually by 2030. “I don’t think we’ve seen governments come here with increased commitments towards the $20 billion significant enough that we’re going to achieve that," Chandler said. "That’s fallen a bit short.”The lack of financial pledges from wealthy countries prompted 20 ministers from the Global South to release a joint statement calling for the need to build trust among nations and for the Global North to meet its finance targets. In the run-up to negotiations, over 230 businesses and financial institutions demanded stronger policy ambitions to address the growing risks of nature loss, said Eva Zabey, CEO of Business for Nature. “In the final stretch at COP16, negotiations are stalling on crucial issues — including the mobilization of meaningful financial resources and a way for companies to ensure the benefits of nature are valued and shared fairly,” Zabey said. “We need governments to put aside their differences and demonstrate real and urgent leadership to deliver a strong COP16 outcome that incentivizes and drives necessary business action, further and faster, to halt and reverse nature loss by 2030,” she said. Who owns nature's DNA was a major topic at the summit. There was tension between poorer and developed countries over digital sequence information on genetic resources (DSI). This would oblige the sharing of benefits when genetic resources from animals, plants or microorganisms are used in biotechnologies. In Montreal, countries agreed to set up a global fund. “The DSI fund was scheduled to be adopted here two years ago. There is no clarity on how money will be gathered from companies,” said Oscar Soria, director of The Common Initiative. “As the text reads it is purely voluntary.” Sources told AP that there has been significant back and forth over wording in the draft agreement by nations. ’It’s clear that a number of points are going down to the wire in the COP16 negotiations," Catherine Weller, Director of Global Policy at charity Fauna & Flora said. One of the biggest controversies during talks was the blocking by a few countries of a Permanent Subsidiary Body for Indigenous Peoples and local communities, who Weller says bring valuable insights to many discussions. “We urge the negotiators to step up and ensure this is finalized,” she said.The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Photos You Should See - Sept. 2024

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Green farming budget freeze 'will hit nature work'

Environmental groups warn that next year's farm payments budget will not be enough to protect nature.

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Cape nature reserve granted Green Coast Status

At a special ceremony, WESSA awarded Green Coast Status to Blaauwberg Nature Reserve for the fifth time this year. The post Cape nature reserve granted Green Coast Status appeared first on SA People.

Cape Town’s Blaauwberg Nature Reserve has been again awarded Green Coast Status this year. Markedly, it is the fifth time that the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa (WESSA) has awarded this nature reserve this prestigious status. The award recognises the work that those involved are doing in protecting the environment. About Green Coast Status WESSA, founder of the programme, presented official Green Coast Status to the Blaauwberg Nature Reserve at a special ceremony. The event was held at the Two Oceans Aquarium on 28 October 2024. The award is a recognition of the hard work and effort put in by the parties involved. These include individuals from the Environmental Management Department and the Friends of Blaauwberg Conservation Area. The Green Coast Awards recognise local conservation champions and towns for their effective environmental practices and support of nature-based tourism. As part of WESSA’s advocacy efforts, these awards also provide a platform for citizen science monitoring projects (such as water quality testing and biodiversity surveys), local community activism, and environmental education. These empower individuals to take action in protecting South Africa’s coastlines. About Blaauwberg Nature Reserve The Blaauwberg Nature Reserve in the Cape covers approximately 2 000 hectares of coastal terrain, including inland koppies and flats. It is home to critically endangered vegetation and has a seven-kilometre coastline. Markedly, the Blaauwberg Hill in the reserve is one of the rare spots in the world where you can view two UNESCO World Heritage Sites. These are Table Mountain and Robben Island. Along this stretch of coastline, the Green Coast Zone promotes conservation, sustainable tourism and environmental education. Eddie Andrews, City of Cape Town’s Deputy Mayor and Mayoral Committee Member for Spatial Planning and Environment, said that this achievement comes as a result of the City’s Environmental Management Department and its implementing partner, the Friends of Blaauwberg Conservation Area’s collective efforts. These include ‘actively monitoring, maintaining, and ensuring the accessibility of the coastline, while providing opportunities for environmental education, sustainable tourism, and the empowerment of local communities’, said Andrews. “Today we can proudly say that Blaauwberg Nature Reserve is a beacon for coastal conservation in Cape Town and South Africa. I am pleased that we have set the ‘Green’ bar.”Eddie Andrews. The post Cape nature reserve granted Green Coast Status appeared first on SA People.

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