America Recycles Day Challenges You to Reduce Your Daily Trash
The average American produces 4.4 pounds of trash every day. And just 35 percent of it is recycled.
Keep America Beautiful (KAB) hopes to increase the percentage of waste being recycled through its annual America Recycles Day, which is Friday. The observance is aimed at promoting recycling awareness, commitment and action.
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ShutterstockLast year, more than 2,000 events were held across the U.S. and more than 2.1 million people worked to educate and encourage their communities to recycle. More than 3.7 million pounds of recyclables were collected—the greenhouse gas equivalent of taking 280 cars off the road permanently.
Today, KAB will conduct a “Get Caught Recycling” event on the National Mall and in downtown Washington, D.C. Volunteers will ask people using the recycling bins placed around those areas to take the I Recycle pledge.
Another America Recycles Day event takes place in Philadelphia on Friday. A one-day recycling event will be held at 11 a.m. in Rittenhouse Square, one of Philadelphia's most trafficked parks, by Keep Philadelphia Beautiful, Recyclebank and the Philadelphia Streets Department. Educational and interactive stations will be set up throughout the square to demonstrate how to recycle in Philadelphia, why recycling is so critical, and what recycled objects are turned into. David Perri, the city streets department commissioner, will officially declare America Recycles Day in Philadelphia at the event kickoff.
Some events, such as this one in Cleveland, already have been held in conjunction with America Recycles Day.
“Through our education programs and collection events taking place in communities across the country, Keep America Beautiful, its affiliate network and partners are raising awareness about what is recyclable and what material can become when recycled and given a new life,” Brenda Pulley, KAB senior vice president, recycling, said in a media release.
Want to show your support? Take the I Recycle pledge at americarecyclesday.org and specify what you pledge to recycle more. Ten people who make a pledge will win a park bench made from recycled content. Last year, more than 94,000 people pledged.
Organizers plan a America Recycles Day Thunderclap, in which they will post a synchronized message of support on the Facebook or Twitter accounts of supporters at the exact same time on America Recycles Day.
Visit IWantToBeRecycled.org to find your nearest recycling center, learn about what materials can be recycled and how they can be used.
One of the beavers released into England's Somerset county this January, which has now helped build the area's first dam in more than 400 years. Ben Birchall / PA Images via Getty Images
England's Somerset county can now boast its first beaver dam in more than 400 years.
<p>The dam is the work of Eurasion beavers who were reintroduced to the <a href="https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/" target="_blank">National Trust</a>'s <a href="https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/holnicote-estate#Overview" target="_blank">Holnicote Estate</a> in <a href="https://www.exmoor-nationalpark.gov.uk/" target="_blank">Exmoor National Park</a> at the start of 2020, <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/beavers-exmoor-somerset-rewilding-b1763855.html" target="_blank">The Independent reported Monday</a>. The beavers began to build the small structure in October, and video cameras caught them gnawing on trees and gathering vegetation for the dam.</p><p>"It might look modest, but this beaver dam is incredibly special – it's the first to appear on Exmoor for almost half a millennium and marks a step change in how we manage the landscape," National Trust project manager Ben Eardley told <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-55125932" target="_blank">BBC News</a>. "What's amazing is that it's only been here a few weeks but has created an instant wetland."</p><p>The beavers weren't just re-released for the cute factor. These <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/rivers" target="_self">river</a>-dwelling rodents are also a natural solution to the twin crises of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate change</a> and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/biodiversity" target="_self">biodiversity</a> loss.</p>
<p>Beaver dams both hold water during <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/drought" target="_self">droughts</a> and help prevent <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/flooding" target="_self">flooding</a> by slowing its flow downstream during wet periods, the <a href="https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/features/beavering-away-natures-heroes" target="_blank">National Trust explained</a>. They also create pools that provide a habitat for other <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/animals/" target="_self">animals</a>.</p><p>"We've already spotted kingfishers at the site, and over time, as the beavers extend their network of dams and pools, we should see increased opportunities for other <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildlife" target="_self">wildlife</a>, including amphibians, insects, bats and birds," Eardley said in a National Trust update. "The recent rain we've had is a reminder of the significant role beavers can play in engineering the landscape. As we face the effects of climate change and more frequent <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/extreme-weather" target="_self">extreme weather</a> events, natural interventions like this need to be part of the solution."</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rewildingbritain.org.uk/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Rewilding Britain</a> has also argued that beavers can provide habitat and wildlife corridors for animals forced to migrate as their range changes because of the climate crisis, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/nov/30/beavers-build-first-dam-exmoor-400-years-national-trust-animals?CMP=fb_gu&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR0kDsKVSzl_7xR6xFLgiPIv8hi-IbtBliX3XWL_jf4rsDng8o4XLmsgBJg#Echobox=1606739317" target="_blank">The Guardian explained</a>.</p><p>Beavers have also been touted as a climate solution outside the UK. Jen Vanderhoof of Washington State's King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/beavers-climate-change-adaptation-2645854054.html" target="_self">has argued</a> that beaver dams could help mitigate the climate-driven cycle of drought and flooding in the Pacific Northwest of the U.S., as well as help slow wildfires by acting as natural fire breaks.</p><p>However, the UK faces a special challenge in working with beavers, because the animals were hunted to extinction in the country in the sixteenth century, BBC News explained. They were sought after for their meat, water-resistant pelts and a substance called castoreum that they excrete, which was used in food, perfume and medicine.</p><p>Beavers have begun to be reintroduced into Britain beginning in the 2000s. The Exmoor beavers were brought over from wild populations along the River Tay in Scotland. Their introduction marks the first time in the National Trust's 125-year history that it has reintroduced beavers to a river ecosystem. They were originally introduced into a 2.7 acre enclosure on the Holnicote Estate, according to The Guardian.</p>
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<p>The beavers' introduction is part of the National Trust's £13 million project to restore the health of rivers and streams.</p><p>"Although we're introducing a species that used to live here in the wild, this project is all around creating our landscapes of the future, helping us respond to the challenges the landscape and communities now face," Eardley told the National Trust.</p><p>In a separate project, the UK government has completed a five-year trial of reintroducing beavers to the River Otter in Devon and is considering developing a national plan to reintroduce the animals, The Independent explained.</p>
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Fences Can 'Utterly Reorganize' Ecosystems, Producing Winners and Losers, but Are Rarely Studied
19h
Insights + Opinion
Australia's dingo fences, built to protect livestock from wild dogs, stretch for thousands of miles. Marian Deschain / Wikimedia
By Alex McInturff, Christine Wilkinson and Wenjing Xu
What is the most common form of human infrastructure in the world? It may well be the fence. Recent estimates suggest that the total length of all fencing around the globe is 10 times greater than the total length of roads. If our planet's fences were stretched end to end, they would likely bridge the distance from Earth to the Sun multiple times.
<p>On every continent, from cities to rural areas and from <a href="https://pages.nyu.edu/counterblast/fence.htm" target="_blank">ancient</a> to <a href="https://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/economics/rousseau/inequality/ch02.htm" target="_blank">modern</a> times, humans have built fences. But we know almost nothing about their ecological effects. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/world/border-barriers/global-illegal-immigration-prevention/" target="_blank">Border fences are often in the news</a>, but other fences are so ubiquitous that they disappear into the landscape, becoming scenery rather than subject.</p><p>In a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biaa103" target="_blank">recently published study</a>, our team sought to change this situation by offering a set of findings, frameworks and questions that can form the basis of a new discipline: fence ecology. By compiling studies from ecosystems around the world, our research shows that fences produce a complex range of ecological effects.</p><p>Some of them influence small-scale processes like <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/ary158" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the building of spider webs</a>. Others have much broader effects, such as <a href="https://sciencenordic.com/animals-archaeology-denmark/fences-are-disrupting-african-wildlife-on-an-unprecedented-scale/1441998" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">hastening the collapse of Kenya's Mara ecosystem</a>. Our findings reveal a world that has been utterly reorganized by a rapidly growing latticework of fences.</p>
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<h2>Connecting the Dots</h2><p>If fences seem like an odd thing for ecologists to study, consider that until recently no one thought much about how roads affected the places around them. Then, in a burst of research in the 1990s, scientists showed that roads – which also have been part of human civilization for millennia – had narrow footprints but produced enormous environmental effects.</p><p>For example, roads can <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/4385/deforestation-patterns-in-the-amazon" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">destroy or fragment habitats</a> that wild species rely on to survive. They also can promote <a href="http://courses.washington.edu/gmforum/topics/trans_water/trans_water.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">air and water pollution</a> and <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2019/04/wildlife-overpasses-underpasses-make-animals-people-safer/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">vehicle collisions with wildlife</a>. This work generated a <a href="https://roadecology.ucdavis.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">new scientific discipline</a>, <a href="https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Handbook+of+Road+Ecology-p-9781118568187" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">road ecology</a>, that offers unique insights into the startling extent of humanity's reach.</p><p>Our research team became interested in fences by watching animals. In California, Kenya, China and Mongolia, we had all observed animals behaving oddly around fences – <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.13380" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">gazelles taking long detours</a> around them, for example, or predators following "highways" along fence lines.</p><p>We reviewed a large body of academic literature looking for explanations. There were many studies of individual species, but each of them told us only a little on its own. Research had not yet connected the dots between many disparate findings. By linking all these studies together, we uncovered important new discoveries about our fenced world.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDg1MTQ0Mi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxNzQ3OTg5MX0.UCnhZaRBaffS5gJoUJrbHRk6_STHq-rO1Ulx9sX_etM/img.jpg?width=980" id="ed3b1" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="7ea3fb456c6e9e001c50b89328ec1673" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Early advertisement for barbed wire fencing, 1880-1889. The advent of barbed wire dramatically changed ranching and land use in the American West by ending the open range system. Kansas Historical Society / CC BY-ND
<h2>Remaking Ecosystems</h2><p>Perhaps the most striking pattern we found was that fences rarely are unambiguously good or bad for an ecosystem. Instead, they have myriad ecological effects that produce winners and losers, helping to dictate the rules of the ecosystems where they occur.</p><p>Even "good" fences that are designed to protect threatened species or restore sensitive habitats can still <a href="http://dx.doi.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">fragment and isolate ecosystems</a>. For example, fences constructed in Botswana to prevent disease transmission between wildlife and livestock have <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/03/a-plea-to-botswana-please-rethink-a-not-enough-fences-approach-commentary/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">stopped migrating wildebeests in their tracks</a>, producing haunting images of injured and dead animals strewn along fencelines.</p><p>Enclosing an area to protect one species may <a href="https://www.canberra.edu.au/about-uc/media/newsroom/2015/february/conservation-fences-costing-turtle-lives" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">injure or kill others</a>, or create entry pathways for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1526-100X.2008.00378.x" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">invasive species</a>.</p><p>One finding that we believe is critical is that for every winner, fences typically produce multiple losers. As a result, they can create ecological "no man's lands" where only species and ecosystems with a narrow range of traits can survive and thrive.</p>
<h2>Altering Regions and Continents</h2><p>Examples from around the world demonstrate fences' powerful and often unintended consequences. The U.S.-Mexico border wall – most of which fits our definition of a fence – has <a href="https://earth.stanford.edu/news/how-would-border-wall-affect-wildlife#gs.il0l5m" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">genetically isolated populations of large mammals</a> such as bighorn sheep, leading to population declines and genetic isolation. It has even had surprising effects on birds, <a href="https://www.audubon.org/news/us-mexico-border-fence-hinders-wildlife-study-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">like ferruginous pygmy owls</a>, that fly low to the ground.</p><p>Australia's dingo fences, built to protect livestock from the nation's iconic canines, are among the world's longest man-made structures, stretching thousands of kilometers each. These fences have started ecological chain reactions called trophic cascades that have <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/australias-dingo-proof-fence-changing-ecosystem-outback-180963273/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">affected an entire continent's ecology</a>.</p><p>The absence of dingoes, a top predator, from one side of the fence means that populations of prey species like kangaroos can explode, causing categorical shifts in plant composition and even depleting the soil of nutrients. On either side of the fence there now are two distinct "<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature.2017.21962" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">ecological universes</a>."</p><p>Our review shows that fences affect ecosystems at every scale, leading to cascades of change that may, in the worst cases, culminate in what some conservation biologists have described as total "<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1246251" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">ecological meltdown</a>." But this peril often is overlooked.</p><p>To demonstrate this point, we looked more closely at the western U.S., which is known for huge open spaces but also is the <a href="https://www.popsci.com/barbed-wire-invention-history/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">homeland of barbed wire fencing</a>. Our analysis shows that vast areas viewed by researchers as <a href="https://earthdata.nasa.gov/learn/sensing-our-planet/the-human-footprint#:%7E:text=Increased%20human%20population%20often%20leads,the%20earliest%20lasting%20human%20impact" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">relatively untrodden by the human footprint</a> are silently entangled in dense networks of fences.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDg1MTQ0NS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxNzU4NjUyNH0.dQmTuEHI2zVTp5BQipPApNgoCWyfKfAEFvh7oyk_az8/img.jpg?width=980" id="6317e" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="4d2e11ba10d146a1672e5cffc54d4d6d" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
The authors assembled a conservative data set of potential fence lines across the U.S. West. They calculated the nearest distance to any given fence to be less than 31 miles (50 kilometers), with a mean of about 2 miles (3.1 kilometers). McInturff et al,. 2020 / CC BY-ND
<h2>Do Less Harm</h2><p>Fences clearly are here to stay. As fence ecology develops into a discipline, its practitioners should consider the complex roles fences play in human social, economic and political systems. Even now, however, there is enough evidence to identify actions that could reduce their harmful impacts.</p><p>There are many ways to change fence design and construction without affecting their functionality. For example, in <a href="https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detailfull/wy/technical/landuse/pasture/?cid=nrcs142p2_026826" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Wyoming</a> and <a href="http://fwp.mt.gov/fwpDoc.html?id=34461" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Montana</a>, federal land managers have experimented with wildlife-friendly designs that allow species like pronghorn antelope to pass through fences with fewer obstacles and injuries. This kind of modification shows great promise for wildlife and may produce broader ecological benefits.</p>
<div id="9caf2" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="5b235c2085189c03e02467cbce2ea212"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1240336705846042624" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Some incredible non-COVID19 content for you today: hundreds of pronghorn (aka speed goats!) migrating through Natro… https://t.co/OieLvGhbqU</div> — Ben Goldfarb (@Ben Goldfarb)<a href="https://twitter.com/ben_a_goldfarb/statuses/1240336705846042624">1584554289.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Another option is aligning fences along natural ecological boundaries, like watercourses or topographical features. This approach can help minimize their effects on ecosystems at low cost. And land agencies or nonprofit organizations could offer incentives for land owners to remove fences that are derelict and no longer serve a purpose.</p><p>Nonetheless, once a fence is built its effects are long lasting. Even after removal, "<a href="https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.5950" target="_blank">ghost fences</a>" can live on, with species continuing to <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27129727" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">behave as if a fence were still present for generations</a>.</p><p>Knowing this, we believe that policymakers and landowners should be more cautious about installing fences in the first place. Instead of considering only a fence's short-term purpose and the landscape nearby, we would like to see people view a new fence as yet another permanent link in a chain encircling the planet many times over.</p>
<p>
<em>Alex McInturff is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Santa Barbara.<br/>
<span style="background-color: initial;">Christine Wilkinson is a </span>Ph.D. candidate in environmental science, policy and management at the University of California, Berkeley.<br/>
<span style="background-color: initial;">Wenjing Xu is a </span>Ph.D. candidate in environmental science, policy and management at the</em><em> University of California, Berkeley.</em>
</p><p>
<em>Disclosure statements: </em><em>Wenjing Xu receives funding from the Smithsonian Institute. </em><em>Alex McInturff and Christine Wilkinson do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</em>
</p><p>
<em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://theconversation.com/fences-have-big-effects-on-land-and-wildlife-around-the-world-that-are-rarely-measured-147797" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>.</em>
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Hopi blue corn is being affected by climate change. Abrahami / Wikimedia Commons / CC by 3.0
Climate change is making ancient Hopi farming nearly impossible, threatening not just the Tribe's staple food source, but a pillar of its culture and religion, the Arizona Republic reports.
<p>A two decades-long "megadrought" across the American West as severe as any in the last 1,200 years, has made Hopi lands even dryer than the arid environment in which they have lived for centuries, and heat waves made worse by climate change intensify evaporation, robbing the corn of even more precious water. </p>
<p>Beatrice Norton, 69, is a member of the matrilineal Young Corn Clan responsible for the tribe's food. </p><p>"This is our way of life. We are dependent on this corn for our ceremonies, our way of life, to be complete," she said. </p><p>"But eventually, if this is the way and the direction that this is going to go, our weather and then the environment, global heating and no rain, sooner or later we're going to be missing a big piece of what is a part of our life as Hopi."</p>
<p><strong>For a deeper dive:</strong></p><p><a href="https://www.azcentral.com/in-depth/news/local/arizona-environment/2020/11/30/hopi-tribe-withering-corn-crops-show-impact-climate-change/5931561002/?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=101464952&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9y8D3XTXSFwLwANv9QSBuZGtBI7yTIw4i6Bram56CIhxz9T1-yn3F4XNruO6STzdw3jToKLwOY392vKXbVTGPdfLEKHEz3tuJov4Aaoh9euz9HfEY&utm_content=101464952&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">Arizona Republic</a>; Climate Signals background: <a href="https://www.climatesignals.org/climate-change-drought?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=101464952&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9TbYuQOYNDvdnvSxALM83Y-zV5ts7wFnmf9CXh3vPEruqdfiipuGmwSklaBekdnFV8rDLYzYuZhZ3bOYfkUSUcEao5-SWkG7QyAcb7-gsi0KbTDj4&utm_content=101464952&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">Drought</a><br/></p><p><em>For more </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/climate-change-news/" target="_blank"><em>climate change</em></a><em> and </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/business/renewables/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>clean energy</em></a><em> news, you can follow Climate Nexus on </em><a href="https://twitter.com/ClimateNexus" target="_blank"><em>Twitter</em></a><em> and </em><a href="https://www.facebook.com/ClimateNexus/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Facebook</em></a><em>, and sign up for daily </em><a href="http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage1.com/subscribe?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=7c84c08aaa" target="_blank"><em>Hot News</em></a><em>.</em></p>
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Pollution on the Ganges River. Kaushik Ghosh / Moment Open / Getty Images
The most polluted river in the world continues to be exploited through fishing practices that threaten endangered wildlife, new research shows.
<p>The Ganges River is a quagmire of raw sewage, toxic waste and overfishing from the crowded cities along its waterway. It is also home to the endangered Ganges <a href="https://www.newindianexpress.com/states/odisha/2020/nov/24/rare-dolphin-trapped-in-net-in-odishas-govari-river-dies-2227377.html" target="_blank">river dolphin</a> and the critically endangered three-striped roofed turtle, along with other threatened marine species.</p><p>As part of the National Geographic Society's "Sea to Source: Ganges" expedition, a study was conducted to understand how much plastic pollution or "ghost" fishing threatens the native <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildlife">wildlife</a>. Fishing nets are common in the river, and entanglements frequently occur.</p>
<p>According to interviews conducted with the local fishing community as part of the study, nets and equipment are commonly left in the river. Researchers at the University of Exeter, who gathered data for the study, found disposal systems in short supply.</p><p>"The Ganges River supports some of the world's largest inland fisheries, but no research has been done to assess plastic pollution from this industry, and its impacts on wildlife," said Dr. Sarah Nelms, a postdoctoral associate at the Center for Ecology and Conservation at the University of Exeter, and an author of the study.</p><p>"Ingesting plastic can harm wildlife, but our threat assessment focused on entanglement, which is known to injure and kill a wide range of marine species."</p>
<p>Professor Heather Koldewey, of the Zoological Society of London and the University of Exeter, and a National Geographic Fellow believes the "circular economy" – the reuse of products and equipment that have monetary value – can play a role in keeping nets out of the river, especially when nets are made of durable nylon material which can be reused to make carpet or clothing.</p><p>"Collection and recycling of nylon 6 has strong potential as a solution because it would cut plastic pollution and provide an income," she said.</p><p>Plastic pollution in <a href="https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/ocean_plastics/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">marine </a>and <a href="https://www.salon.com/2020/11/30/how-humanity-lost-control-of-plastic-pollution/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">freshwater</a> ecosystems continues on an increasing scale to cause wildlife death. But Koldewey believes behavior changes through this new research could have positive effects.</p><p>"This is a complex problem that will require multiple solutions – all of which must work for both local communities and wildlife."</p>
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Oil spills, such as the one in Mauritius in August 2020, could soon be among the ecological crimes considered ecocide. - / AFP / Getty Images
By Kenny Stancil
An expert panel of top international and environmental lawyers have begun working this month on a legal definition of "ecocide" with the goal of making mass ecological damage an enforceable international crime on par with war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.
<p>Assembled by the Stop Ecocide Foundation at the request of several Swedish parliamentarians, the initiative to criminalize the destruction of ecosystems at the global level has already garnered support from European countries as well as small island nations highly vulnerable to rising sea levels.</p><p>The drafting panel is co-chaired by Philippe Sands QC, a professor at University College London, and Justice Florence Mumba, a former judge at the International Criminal Court (ICC). </p><p>The November 20 launch date of the project coincided with the 75th anniversary of the beginning of the Nuremberg trials of Nazi leaders, where the terms "crimes against humanity" and "genocide" were coined.</p>
<p>"The time is right," Sands <a href="https://www.stopecocide.earth/expert-drafting-panel" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">said </a>recently at an event commemorating the Nuremberg trials, "to harness the power of international criminal law to protect our global environment."</p><p>"Seventy five years ago, 'crimes against humanity' and 'genocide' were spoken for the first time, in Nuremberg's Courtroom 600," Sands added, "and my hope is that this group will be able to draw on experience since that day to forge a definition that is practical, effective, and sustainable, and that might attract support to allow an amendment to the ICC Statute to be made."</p><p>Charles Jalloh, a professor at Florida International University and member of the United Nations International Law Commission who is on the panel drafting a legally robust definition of ecocide, said that "states should use all tools at their disposal, including their criminal law power at the national and international levels, to protect our shared global environment and to bring the most responsible perpetrators to justice."</p>
<div id="a7786" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="1141146b6f6ee52f22c2ee4ca9b14037"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1331227090755215363" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Professor Jalloh is a member of the UN International Law Commission & Editor in Chief of the Journal of African Leg… https://t.co/MAf3pR2tLV</div> — Stop Ecocide International (@Stop Ecocide International)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcocideLaw/statuses/1331227090755215363">1606224246.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The Stop Ecocide Foundation <a href="https://www.stopecocide.earth/expert-drafting-panel" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">noted </a>that the concept of criminalizing ecocide "has been steadily gaining traction in recent months since small island states Vanuatu and the Maldives called for 'serious consideration' of it at the ICC's annual assembly" in December 2019. According to the group, French President Emmanuel Macron "has actively promised to champion the idea," and the Belgian government has also "pledged diplomatic action to support it."</p><p>As<em> The Guardian </em><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/law/2020/nov/30/international-lawyers-draft-plan-to-criminalise-ecosystem-destruction" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">reported</a> Monday, the ICC "has previously promised to prioritize crimes that result in the 'destruction of the environment,' 'exploitation of natural resources,' and the 'illegal dispossession' of land."</p><p>"An <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global/2016/sep/15/hague-court-widens-remit-to-include-environmental-destruction-cases" target="_blank">ICC policy paper in 2016</a> said it was not formally extending its jurisdiction but would assess existing offenses, such as crimes against humanity, in a broader context," <em>The Guardian </em>continued. Yet "there have been no formal investigations or charges of this type so far."</p>
<p>Panel member Pablo Fajardo, the Goldman prize-winning Ecuadorian lawyer who challenged Chevron for polluting the Amazon rainforest,<a href="https://www.stopecocide.earth/expert-drafting-panel" target="_blank"> said</a> that this "great legal vaccum that exists globally" results in "crimes... committed against nature, against life... go[ing] unpunished," even though "these crimes take their toll on humanity."</p><p>"We see... systemic, widespread, and deliberate destruction of the environment without any obvious consequences," <a href="https://www.stopecocide.earth/expert-drafting-panel" target="_blank">said </a>panelist Christina Voigt, a professor at the University of Oslo and expert in climate change law. A newly defined crime of ecocide, she added, "could not only bring those responsible to justice, but also more importantly prevent further destruction."</p><p>As <em>The Guardian</em><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/law/2020/nov/30/international-lawyers-draft-plan-to-criminalise-ecosystem-destruction" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> pointed out</a>, "one challenge for the drafting panel would be to define at what point an ecocide offense would come into force. Chopping down a single tree on a village green would not be sufficient."</p>
<p>Jojo Mehta, chair of the Stop Ecocide Foundation, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/law/2020/nov/30/international-lawyers-draft-plan-to-criminalise-ecosystem-destruction" target="_blank">told </a><em>The Guardian</em> that "it would have to involve mass, systematic, or widespread destruction" of the world's ecosystems.</p><p>"We are probably talking about Amazon deforestation on a huge scale, deep sea bottom trawling, or oil spills," she said. "We want to place it at the same level as atrocities investigated by the ICC."</p><p>Mehta explained that "in most cases ecocide is likely to be a corporate crime."</p><p>"Criminalizing something at the ICC means that nations that have ratified it have to incorporate it into their own national legislation," she added. "That means there would be lots of options for prosecuting [offending corporations] around the world."</p><p>Preparatory work is now underway, and the panel plans to deliver a draft of a legally enforceable definition of ecocide in early 2021. </p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/11/30/end-impunity-deliberate-destruction-planet-international-lawyers-drafting-plan" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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