Bystanders watch the MV Wakashio bulk carrier from which oil is leaking near Blue Bay Marine Park in southeast Mauritius, on August 6, 2020. Photo by Dev Ramkhelawon / L'Express Maurice / AFP / Getty Images
The Indian Ocean island of Mauritius, renowned for its coral reefs, is facing an unprecedented ecological catastrophe after a tanker ran aground offshore and began leaking oil.
<p>The 984-foot MV Wakashio ran aground on July 25 and began to break up due to rough waters, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/07/mauritius-facing-environmental-disaster-after-striken-bulk-carrier-leaks-oil?CMP=twt_a-environment_b-gdneco&fbclid=IwAR39uaSW-9_KYfuYZMv1Sqh66zFJLGtQqgCEv42JH6rs73MIOttQcD0iEds" target="_blank">The Guardian reported</a>. It contained about 220.5 tons of diesel fuel and 4,189 tons of bunker fuel.</p><p>"We are in an environmental crisis situation," Mauritius' environment minister Kavy Ramano said according to The Guardian.</p>
<div id="3bdfb" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6c8ea0ce2a9151f222fbc67584beda1e"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1291356236219387906" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">🇲🇺 The authorities in Mauritius have warned of a major oil spill after a Panama-flagged ship reported a "leakage".… https://t.co/C7irK1e9g8</div> — BBC News Africa (@BBC News Africa)<a href="https://twitter.com/BBCAfrica/statuses/1291356236219387906">1596718293.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The environment ministry announced the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/oil-spill" target="_self">oil spill</a> on Thursday, according to an AFP story published <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/08/tourist-hotspot-mauritius-hit-oil-spill-ship-grounds-200807054651300.html" target="_blank">by Al Jazeera</a>. The ship ran aground at Pointe d'Esny off the southeast of Mauritius, which is considered a "wetland of international importance" by the <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/water/wetlands/ramsar" target="_blank">Ramsar Convention</a>. Mauritius depends on its <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/oceans" target="_self">oceans</a> for <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fish" target="_self">fish</a> and tourism. It is also a major exporter of tuna, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-africa-47639452?ns_mchannel=social&ns_source=twitter&ns_campaign=bbc_live&ns_linkname=5f2bf24953c3fb067a7286fd%26Mauritius%20coast%20hit%20by%20oil%20spill%262020-08-06T12:13:14.186Z&ns_fee=0&pinned_post_locator=urn:asset:b0a37ecf-3c2b-4848-a562-cb28e0403c11&pinned_post_asset_id=5f2bf24953c3fb067a7286fd&pinned_post_type=share" target="_blank">BBC News</a> reported.</p><p>"This is the first time that we are faced with a catastrophe of this kind, and we are insufficiently equipped to handle this problem," Fishing Minister Sudheer Maudhoo said, AFP reported.</p><p>Mauritius is currently receiving help from the French island of Reunion and has asked other international and regional organizations to assist, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-06/mauritius-bars-access-to-beach-as-oil-leaks-from-stranded-vessel" target="_blank">Bloomberg reported</a>.</p>
<p>The MV Wakashio sails under a Panamanian flag but is owned by the Japanese company Nagashiki Shipping, The Guardian reported. All crew members were evacuated safely.</p><p>Nagashiki Shipping said that rough weather had caused the spill and made cleanup more difficult.</p><p>"Due to bad weather and constant pounding over the past few days, the starboard side bunker tanker has been breached and an amount of fuel oil has escaped into the sea," the company told Bloomberg by email. "In view of poor sea conditions salvage efforts are currently on hold."</p>
<p>A floating barrier has been placed around the ship to contain the oil.</p><p>Oceanographer Vassen Kauppaymuthoo said this was the first time Mauritius had seen such a devastating oil spill.</p><p>"It may have caused irreversible environmental damage to the southeastern coast of Mauritius," Kauppaymuthoo told Bloomberg. </p><p><a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/africa/en/" target="_blank">Greenpeace Africa</a>, meanwhile, said the incident demonstrated another example of the dangers of using and transporting <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels" target="_self">fossil fuels</a>.</p>
<div id="7eb49" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="83819841e380a7072ec66d3186c160e8"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1291705003984510977" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">🚨RESPONSE to #Mauritius #OILSpill 🚨 “Once again we see the risks in oil: aggravating the #ClimateCrisis, as well as… https://t.co/PBLioZat6X</div> — Greenpeace Africa (@Greenpeace Africa)<a href="https://twitter.com/Greenpeaceafric/statuses/1291705003984510977">1596801446.0</a></blockquote></div><p>"There is no guaranteed safe way to extract, transport and store fossil fuel products. This oil leak is not a twist of fate, but the choice of our twisted addiction to fossil fuels. We must react by accelerating our withdrawal from fossil fuels," Greenpeace Africa Senior Climate and Energy Campaign Manager Happy Khambule said in a <a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/africa/en/press/11864/greenpeace-africa-response-to-mauritius-oil-spill/?utm_campaign=oil&utm_source=t.co&utm_medium=post&utm_content=single-image&utm_term=mauritius-oil-spill-reactive" target="_blank">statement Friday</a>. "Once again we see the risks in oil: aggravating the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-crisis" target="_self">climate crisis</a>, as well as devastating oceans and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/biodiversity" target="_self">biodiversity</a> and threatening local livelihoods around some of Africa's most precious lagoons."</p>
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The Wildlife from Space project uses satellite technology to identify, count and monitor species such as emperor penguins in Antarctica. British Antarctic Survey / YouTube
New satellite images have revealed 11 new throngs of emperor penguin colonies, lifting the number of known emperor penguin colonies by 20 percent and their total population by 5 to 10 percent, according to The Guardian.
<p>"The [new colonies] are an exciting discovery," said Peter Fretwell, at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), who led the research, according to The Guardian. "Whilst this is good news, the colonies are small and so only take the overall population count up to just over half a million penguins."</p><p>While that may sound like great news for penguins, the truth is these penguins are just as threatened as the rest of their flightless feathered friends, according to <a href="https://earther.gizmodo.com/satellite-images-reveal-new-penguin-colonies-in-melting-1844609508" target="_blank">Gizmodo</a>.</p><p>The 11 new colonies bring the total number up to 61 colonies spread across the continent. Now, the newly discovered birds will act as "canaries in the coalmine" when it comes to studying the impact of global warming, experts have said, as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/05/world/penguins-antarctica-satellite-scn-scli-intl/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported.</p>
<p>The study, which used satellite mapping technology, will "provide an important benchmark for monitoring the impact of environmental change on the population of this iconic bird," researchers said, according to CNN.</p><p>The study was published in <em><a href="https://zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/20563485/0/0" target="_blank">Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation</a></em> on Wednesday. The findings help shed light on just how threatened the emperor penguins really are. While the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-crisis">climate crisis</a> is rapidly altering the surface of Earth, <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/antarctica">Antarctica</a> is running ahead of most of the world. It is warming three times faster than the most of the planet. With all that warmth comes the loss of <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/sea-ice">sea ice</a>, which is devastating to emperor penguins since they breed on the ice and need it to be stable, as Gizmodo reported.</p><p>"Emperor penguins are vulnerable to climate change, particularly the breakup of the sea ice on which they breed," said study author Peter Fretwell, a researcher with the British Antarctic Survey, in an email to Gizmodo. "Finding more penguins and studying their movements and distribution will be important if we are to understand their struggle to survive in the warming Antarctic environment."</p>
<p>As the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-53549299" target="_blank">BBC</a> noted, the emperors' whole life cycle is centered on the availability of sea ice, and if this is diminished in the decades ahead, as climate models project, then the animals' numbers will suffer. Some models predict that penguin colonies will drop by 90 percent, according to The Guardian.</p><p>The discoveries were made by spotting the distinctive red-brown guano patches the birds leave on the ice, according to The Guardian. The findings were made possible by higher-resolution images from a new satellite, as previous scans were unable to pick up smaller colonies.</p><p>The European Space Agency's Sentinel-2 satellite was launched in June 2015 and has a resolution of 10 meters. This enabled a search for the smaller penguin colonies. Emperor penguins were expected to be present at fairly regular intervals around the coast of Antarctica, so the search was targeted in areas where none were known. "In every gap where we thought there might be a colony, we found one," said Fretwell, as The Guardian reported.</p>
<p>The European Space Agency makes these images available online, so the team was able to analyze images from 2016, 2018 and 2019. By searching the images for "small areas of brown pixels," or clumps of penguin guano, and targeting their searches by looking at areas near known colonies and breeding habitat, the researchers were able to find these new communities, according to Gizmodo.</p><p>The next step is to direct satellites with very high, 30cm-resolution cameras over the colonies to enable the penguins to be counted. "It is dark at the moment in Antarctica, so we can't count them yet," said Fretwell, as The Guardian reported. "The sun will come up either later this month or next month in most of these locations, and then we will start."</p>
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Should Plants and Animals That Relocate Because of Climate Change Be Considered Invasive?
04 August
Animals
America Pikas are found from the Sierra Nevada to the Rocky Mountains, and have been migrating to higher elevations. Jon LeVasseur / Flickr / Public Domain
By Jenny Morber
Caribbean corals sprout off Texas. Pacific salmon tour the Canadian Arctic. Peruvian lowland birds nest at higher elevations.
<p>In the past 100 years, the planet has warmed in the range of <a title="" href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/GlobalWarming/page3.php" target="_blank">10 times faster</a> than it did on average over the past 5,000. In response, thousands of species are traveling poleward, climbing to higher elevations, and diving deeper into the seas, seeking their preferred environmental conditions. This great migration is challenging traditional ideas about native species, the role of conservation biology and what kind of environment is desirable for the future.</p><p>In a <a title="" href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/355/6332/eaai9214?rss=1" target="_blank">2017 review for <em>Science</em></a>, University of Tasmania marine ecology professor Gretta Pecl and colleagues wrote, "[C]limate change is impelling a universal redistribution of life on Earth. For marine, freshwater, and terrestrial species alike, the first response to changing climate is often a shift in location." In fact, Pecl says, data suggest that at least 25% and perhaps as much as 85% of Earth's estimated 8.7 million species are already shifting ranges in response to climate change.</p><p>But when they arrive, will they be welcome? Traditional definitions classify species according to place. "Native" species arrived without human help and usually before widespread human colonization, so are likely to have natural predators and are unlikely to go rogue. Non-natives are newcomers and suspect. Though 90% cause no lasting damage, 10% become invasive — meaning that they harm the environment, the economy or human health. Last year <a title="" href="https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2019/05/nature-decline-unprecedented-report/" target="_blank">a multinational report</a> flagged invasive species as a key driver of Earth's biodiversity crisis.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzUzMzA5My9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyMzM0MTI3NH0.oMhAPPXcPHecfraPvGcNqifWPj2zCRImoy-dGHjAIwA/img.jpg?width=980" id="89fd0" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="5acc10628b03ca297c3b53aefdcaacb2" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Known and anticipated changes in species distribution due to climate change around the world have implications for culture, society ecosystems, governance and climate change. Figure used with permission from Gretta T. Pecl, originally published on 31 Mar 2017 in Science 355(6332).
<p>How we define species is critical, because these definitions influence perceptions, policy and management. The U.S. National Invasive Species Council (NISC) defines a biological invasion as "the process by which non-native species breach biogeographical barriers and extend their range" and states that "preventing the introduction of potentially harmful organisms is … the first line of defense." But some say excluding newcomers is myopic.</p><p>"If you were trying to maintain the status quo, so every time a new species comes in, you chuck it out," says Camille Parmesan, director of the French National Centre for Scientific Research, you could gradually "lose so many that that ecosystem will lose its coherence." If climate change is driving native species extinct, she says, "you need to allow new ones coming in to take over those same functions."</p><p>As University of Florida conservation ecologist Brett Scheffers and Pecl warned in a <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-019-0526-5" target="_blank">2019 paper in <em>Nature Climate Change</em></a>, "past management of redistributed species … has yielded mixed actions and results." They concluded that "we cannot leave the fate of biodiversity critical to human survival to be randomly persecuted, protected or ignored."</p>Existing Tools
<p>One approach to managing these climate-driven habitat shifts, suggested by University of California, Irvine marine ecologist Piper Wallingford and colleagues in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-020-0768-2" target="_blank">a recent issue of Nature Climate Change</a>, is for scientists to adapt existing tools like the <a href="https://www.iucn.org/theme/species/our-work/invasive-species/eicat" target="_blank">Environmental Impact Classification of Alien Taxa (EICAT)</a> to assess potential risks associated with moving species. Because range-shifting species pose impacts to communities similar to those of species introduced by humans, the authors argue, new management strategies are unnecessary, and each new arrival can be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.</p><p>Karen Lips, a professor of biology at University of Maryland who was not associated with the study, echoes the idea that each case is so varied and nuanced that trying to fit climate shifting species into a single category with broad management goals may be impractical. "Things may be fine today, but add a new mosquito vector or add a new tick or a new disease, and all of a sudden things spiral out of control," she says. "The nuance means that the answer to any particular problem might be pretty different."</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzUzMzEwOC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTU5Nzc3Mzg5OH0.mfmERsqdqXWZxoqSAKjoS_djEwYmc5sqJGvc3vaxQhM/img.jpg?width=980" id="5d0ac" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="0b6c13afe6f55afc739919773358c08f" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
In recent years, northern flying squirrels in Canada have found themselves in the company of new neighbors — southern flying squirrels expanding their range as the climate warms. Public Domain / USFW
<p>Laura Meyerson, a professor in the Department of Natural Resources Science at the University of Rhode Island says scientists should use existing tools to identify and address invasive species to deal with climate-shifting species. "I would like to operate under the precautionary principle and then reevaluate as things shift. You're sort of shifting one piece in this machinery; as you insert a new species into a system, everything is going to respond," she says. "Will some of the species that are expanding their ranges because of climate change become problematic? Perhaps they might."</p><p>The reality is that some climate-shifting species may be harmful to some conservation or economic goals while being helpful to others. While sport fisherman are excited about red snapper moving down the East Coast of Australia, for example, if they eat juvenile lobsters in Tasmania they could harm this environmentally and economically important crustacean. "At the end of the day … you're going to have to look at whether that range expansion has some sort of impact and presumably be more concerned about the negative impacts," says NISC executive director Stas Burgiel. "Many of the [risk assessment] tools we have are set up to look at negative impact." As a result, positive effects may be deemphasized or overlooked. "So that notion of cost versus benefit … I don't think it has played out in this particular context."</p>Location, Location, Location
<p>In a <a href="https://www-nature-com.ezp3.lib.umn.edu/articles/s41558-020-0770-8" target="_blank">companion paper</a> to Wallingford's, University of Connecticut ecology and evolutionary biology associate professor Mark Urban stressed key differences between invasive species, which are both non-native and harmful, and what he calls "climate tracking species." Whereas invasive species originate from places very unlike the communities they overtake, he says, climate tracking species expand from largely similar environments, seeking to follow preferred conditions as these environments move. For example, an American pika may relocate to a higher mountain elevation, or a marbled salamander might expand its New England range northward to seek cooler temperatures, but these new locations are not drastically different than the places they had called home before.</p><p>Climate tracking species may move faster than their competitors at first, Urban says, but competing species will likely catch up. "Applying perspectives from invasion biology to climate-tracking species … arbitrarily chooses local winners over colonizing losers," he writes.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzUzMzExOS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzNDcyNzA3Mn0.n_ebiiONrITEyBQmEWJFAbXDUd4ZWzPOBE8CKnyHm1Q/img.jpg?width=980" id="ec01c" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="84cbbac4ee5597e41544f6cedfcce139" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
The marbled salamander, a native of the eastern U.S., is among species whose range could expand northward to accommodate rising temperatures. Seánín Óg / Flickr / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
<p>Urban stresses that if people prevent range shifts, some climate-tracking species may have nowhere to go. He suggests that humans should even <a href="https://ensia.com/features/time-for-trees-to-pack-their-trunks/" target="_blank">facilitate movement</a> as the planet warms. "The goal in this crazy warming world is to keep everything alive. But it may not be in the same place," Urban says.</p><p>Parmesan echoes Urban, emphasizing it's the distance that makes the difference. "[Invasives] come from a different continent or a different ocean. You're having these enormous trans-global movements and that's what ends up causing the species that's exotic to be invasive," she says. "Things moving around with climate change is a few hundred miles. Invasive species are moving a few thousand miles."</p><p>In 2019 University of Vienna conservation biology associate professor Franz Essl published a similar argument for species classification beyond the native/non-native dichotomy. Essl uses "neonatives" to refer to species that have expanded outside their native areas and established populations because of climate change but not direct human agency. He argues that these species should be considered as native in their new range.</p>They Never Come Alone
<p>Meyerson calls for caution. "I don't think we should be introducing species" into ecosystems, she says. "I mean, they never come alone. They bring all their friends, their microflora, and maybe parasites and things clinging to their roots or their leaves. … It's like bringing some mattress off the street into your house."</p><p>Burgiel warns that labeling can have unintended consequences. We in the invasive species field … focus on non-native species that cause harm," he says. "Some people think that anything that's not native is invasive, which isn't necessarily the case." Because resources are limited and land management and conservation are publicly funded, Burgiel says, it is critical that the public understands how the decisions are being made.</p><p>Piero Genovesi, chair of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Invasive Species Specialist Group, sees the debate about classification — and therefore about management — as a potential distraction from more pressing conservation issues.</p><p>"The real bulk of conservation is that we want to focus on the narrow proportion of alien species that are really harmful," he says. In Hawaii "we don't discuss species that are there [but aren't] causing any problem because we don't even have the energy for dealing with them all. And I can tell you, no one wants to remove [non-native] cypresses from Tuscany. So, I think that some of the discussions are probably not so real in the work that we do in conservation."</p><p>Indigenous frameworks offer another way to look at species searching for a new home in the face of climate change. According to <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11625-018-0571-4" target="_blank">a study</a> published in Sustainability Science in 2018 by Dartmouth Native American studies and environmental studies associate professor Nicholas Reo, a citizen of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, and Dartmouth anthropology associate professor Laura Ogden, some Anishnaabe people view plants as persons and the arrival of new plants as a natural form of migration, which is not inherently good or bad. They may seek to discover the purpose of new species, at times with animals as their teachers. In their paper Reo and Ogden quote Anishnaabe tribal chairman Aaron Payment as saying, "We are an extension of our natural environment; we're not separate from it."</p>The Need for Collaboration
<p>The successful conservation of Earth's species in a way that keeps biodiversity functional and healthy will likely depend on collaboration. Without global agreements, one can envision scenarios in which countries try to impede high-value species from moving beyond their borders, or newly arriving species are quickly overharvested.</p><p>In Nature Climate Change, Sheffers and Pecl call for a Climate Change Redistribution Treaty that would recognize species redistribution beyond political boundaries and establish governance to deal with it. Treaties already in place, such as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, which regulates trade in wild plants and animals; the Migratory Bird Treaty Act; and the Agreed Measures for the Conservation of Antarctic Fauna and Flora, can help guide these new agreements.</p><p>"We are living through the greatest redistribution of life on Earth for … potentially hundreds of thousands of years, so we definitely need to think about how we want to manage that," Pecl says.</p><p>Genovesi agrees that conservationists need a vision for the future. "What we do is more to be reactive [to known threats]. … It's so simple to say that destroying the Amazon is probably not a good idea that you don't need to think of a step ahead of that." But, he adds, "I don't think we have a real answer in terms of okay, this is a threshold of species, or this is the temporal line where we should aim to." Defining a vision for what success would look like, Genovesi says, "is a question that hasn't been addressed enough by science and by decision makers."</p><p>At the heart of these questions are values. "All of these perceptions around what's good and what's bad, all [are based on] some kind of value system," Pecl says. "As a whole society, we haven't talked about what we value and who gets to say what's of value and what isn't."</p><p>This is especially important when it comes to marginalized voices, and Pecl says she is concerned because she doesn't "think we have enough consideration or representation of Indigenous worldviews." Reo and colleagues <a href="https://cpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/sites.dartmouth.edu/dist/9/52/files/2012/10/Reo_etal_AIQ_invasive_species_2017.pdf" target="_blank">wrote in American Indian Quarterly in 2017</a> that climate change literature and media coverage tend to portray native people as vulnerable and without agency. Yet, says Pecl, "The regions of the world where [biodiversity and ecosystems] are either not declining or are declining at a much slower rate are Indigenous controlled" — suggesting that Indigenous people have potentially managed species more effectively in the past, and may be able to manage changing species distributions in a way that could be informative to others working on these issues.</p><p>Meanwhile, researchers such as Lips see species classification as native or other as stemming from a perspective that there is a better environmental time and place to return to. "There is no pristine, there's no way to go back," says Lips. "The entire world is always very dynamic and changing. And I think it's a better idea to consider just simply what is it that we do want, and let's work on that."</p>
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Water trickles down a hillside among moss next to the entrance to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault during a summer heat wave as mountains behind stand devoid of snow on Svalbard archipelago on July 29 in Longyearbyen, Norway. Sean Gallup / Getty Images
By Johnny Wood
What better place to build a Doomsday Vault than the remote, snow-covered islands of Norway's Arctic Svalbard? Sitting around 1,000 kilometers from the North Pole, the facility is buried in permafrost to protect the precious seed samples housed there. But a freak heatwave is causing the region's ice to melt.
<p>Following several days of near record-breaking hot weather in July, <a href="https://twitter.com/Meteorologene/status/1287060076365262849" target="_blank">Svalbard temperatures topped out at 21.7℃</a>, the country's meteorological institute reported. This is the <a href="https://www.sciencealert.com/svalbard-home-of-the-doomsday-vault-just-recorded-its-highest-ever-temperature" target="_blank">hottest ever recorded here, exceeding the previous record of 21.3℃ set </a>over 40 years earlier and a stark contrast to the region's <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/261996139_Introduction_in_TOPOCLIMATIC_DIVERSITY_IN_THE_FORLANDSUNDET_REGION_NW_SPITSBERGEN_IN_GLOBAL_WARMING_CONDITIONS_Edited_by_Przybylak_et_al_2012" target="_blank">average of between 5-7℃ for this time of year</a>.<br/></p>
Deep Trouble?
<p>The <a href="https://www.sciencealert.com/here-s-what-it-s-like-inside-the-doomsday-vault-that-stores-every-known-crop-on-the-planet" target="_blank">Svalbard Global Seed Vault</a> – also known as the Doomsday Vault – is a gigantic bunker, sitting deep inside a mountain surrounded by snowy wastelands. The facility stores close to <a href="https://www.seedvault.no/about/the-facility/" target="_blank">900,000 seed samples</a> from around the world and acts as a sort of back-up plan for agriculture, should disaster render parts of the planet unlivable or the world suffer a catastrophe, such as nuclear war or extreme climate change.</p><p>It's been described as an "<a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/2235116-svalbard-doomsday-vault-gets-first-big-seed-deposit-since-upgrade/" target="_blank">insurance policy for food security</a>."</p><p>Inside the vault, <a href="https://www.sciencealert.com/here-s-what-it-s-like-inside-the-doomsday-vault-that-stores-every-known-crop-on-the-planet" target="_blank">temperatures are kept below minus 18℃</a>, cold enough to keep the seed samples safe for at least 200 years, even without backup power. But climate change is causing problems for the vault.</p><p>In 2016, which was the <a href="https://climate.nasa.gov/news/2841/2018-fourth-warmest-year-in-continued-warming-trend-according-to-nasa-noaa/" target="_blank">warmest year on record according to NASA</a>, soaring temperatures caused <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/05/20/doomsday-arctic-seed-vault-breached-permafrost-melts/" target="_blank">meltwater to breach the vault's entrance tunnel</a>. While no seeds were damaged, the <a href="https://www.sciencealert.com/svalbard-home-of-the-doomsday-vault-just-recorded-its-highest-ever-temperature" target="_blank">floodwater left an expensive repair bill</a> and tarnished the vault's reputation as impregnable to natural or manmade disasters.<span></span><br></p>The Heat Is On
<p>Warming in the islands has been underway for some time. Figures for 2017 show average temperatures are between 3-5℃ hotter than in 1971, according to the <a href="https://www.miljodirektoratet.no/globalassets/publikasjoner/M1242/M1242.pdf" target="_blank">Climate in Svalbard 2100</a> report, with the largest increases affecting the inner fjords.</p><p><span></span>Between 2071 and 2100, average temperatures throughout the archipelago will increase by between 7-10℃, the report predicts, shortening the snow season and causing loss of near-surface permafrost.</p><p><span></span>What's happening in Svalbard is symptomatic of wider changes impacting the Arctic expanse, which is <a href="https://www.upi.com/Science_News/2018/12/12/NOAA-Arctic-warming-at-twice-the-rate-of-the-rest-of-the-planet/5141544580754/" target="_blank">warming twice as fast as the rest of the planet</a>. Parts of the <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2019GL082187" target="_blank">Canadian Arctic are thawing 70 years earlier than predicted</a>, scientists from the University of Alaska Fairbanks found, a sign that climate change could be happening faster than first thought.</p><p>As warmer-than-average summers destabilize permafrost, much of which has lain frozen for millennia, methane and other gases trapped in the ice could be released at scale, accelerating climate change. In turn, warmer temperatures would lead to further permafrost loss.<br><br>Melting ice, on land and at sea, <a href="https://www.wwf.org.uk/updates/11-arctic-species-affected-climate-change" target="_blank">destroys animal habitats for species like polar bears and Arctic foxes</a>, which use their snowy white coats as camouflage either to hunt for food or avoid predators.</p><p>Climate scientist Dr Boris K Biskaborn of the Alfred Wegener Institute polar and marine research centre found Arctic continuous permafrost ground temperatures increased by 0.39℃ between 2008 and 2016. A similar trend was found in Antarctica, with increases of 0.29℃ over the same period.</p><p><span></span>Warming ground temperatures are an indication of the extent of climate change. Biskaborn predicts melting permafrost could lead to increased Arctic air temperatures of up to 0.27℃ by 2100.</p><p><span></span>Svalbard's seed bank exists to protect the world's most valuable natural resources from catastrophe. If we want to avoid making multiple withdrawals, tackling the underlying causes of climate change is a priority.</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/07/svalbard-seed-vault-arctic-climate-change/" target="_blank">World Economic Forum</a>. </em><em></em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Whooping cranes fly in Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge in Decatur, Alabama. There were only 48 whooping cranes in the country when the Endangered Species Act was passed in 1973, and thanks to the law's protections there are now over 600. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service / Flickr / CC BY 2.0
By Eoin Higgins
Environmental groups on Friday condemned the announcement of a new rule proposed by President Donald Trump that would further weaken the Endangered Species Act by making it easier to destroy habitats vulnerable species rely on for survival.
<p>"President Trump is back for another whack at another key environmental law," <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2020/07/31/president-trump-again-takes-aim-endangered-species-act" target="_blank">said</a> Oceana senior federal policy director Lara Levison.</p><p>At issue is a planned rule change to the Endangered Species Act, or ESA, from the Department of Fish and Wildlife that would redefine "habitat" as "areas with existing attributes that have the capacity to support individuals of the species," precluding the restoration and repair of historical habitats that could, with time, support endangered species. </p>
<p>"The Trump administration won't be satisfied until it removes all protections for the natural world, including clean air and water, land, and now even habitat for our most vulnerable wildlife," Noah Greenwald, the endangered species director at the Center for Biological Diversity, <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2020/07/31/trump-administration-proposes-new-limits-protecting-endangered-species-habitat" target="_blank">said</a> in a statement.</p><p>As the Center for Biological Diversity explained:</p><blockquote>The definition stems from a 2018 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that said the Service needed to define the term habitat in relation to the highly endangered dusky gopher frog. The frog survives in one ephemeral pond in Mississippi. Recognizing that to secure the frog would require recovering it in additional areas, the Service designated an area in Louisiana that had the ephemeral ponds the frog requires. However, this area would need forest restoration to provide high-quality habitat.<br> <br>Weyerhaeuser Timber Company, the landowner, and Pacific Legal Foundation, a private-property advocacy group, challenged the designation, resulting in today's definition and the frog losing habitat protection in Louisiana.<br></blockquote><p>"This will have real life-and-death consequences for some of our nation's most vulnerable species," said Greenwald.</p><p>Oceana's Levison concurred with Greenwald's bleak assessment.</p><p>"The president's newly proposed rules will make it even harder to save species from extinction," she said. "The ESA protects threatened and endangered species like sea turtles and the North Atlantic right whale, as well as the habitats they depend on, but the draft rule released today reduces these protections."</p><p>Cathy Liss, president of the Animal Welfare Institute, called on the president and the administration to do the right thing for the planet by saving "an effective and popular law that serves as the last line of defense for rare species facing extinction." </p><p>"At a time of unprecedented wildlife extinction and habitat destruction, we should be working to strengthen — not weaken — the Endangered Species Act," said Liss.</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/08/01/back-another-whack-trump-administration-rule-proposal-would-further-undermine" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>. </em><em></em></p>
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Porcupines Face a Poaching Crisis — and It’s All Because of What’s in Their Stomachs
01 August
Animals
A Malayan porcupine photographed at Kaeng Krachan National Park, Phetchaburi, Thailand. Jason Thompson / CC BY 2.0
By John R. Platt
A porcupine's diet is wide, varied, and a little hard to digest. A lifetime of grasses, herbs, bark and other vegetation can leave little bits of indigestible matter behind in a porcupine's digestive tract, where they occasionally congeal into a hard ball called a bezoar.
<p>That sounds uncomfortable, but a porcupine's health probably doesn't suffer due to the presence of this undigested mass in its stomach or intestines — that is, not until humans come along.</p><p>For centuries people have valued these rare "stones" or "dates," as they're sometimes called, for their purported healing abilities. Bezoars have been used to "treat" everything from fevers to diabetes and even cancer.</p>
<p>Bezoar use even creeps into popular fiction: the stones are an ingredient for protective spells in the <em>Harry Potter</em> universe.</p><p>The medicinal claims are equally fiction: there doesn't appear to be any veracity to bezoar use to treat illnesses. Yet despite the lack of evidence, the trade in bezoars has persisted. Not only that, it appears to be increasing.</p><p>A study published recently in the journal <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989420307459?dgcid=raven_sd_aip_email" target="_blank"><em>Global Ecology and Conservation</em></a> tracked, for the first time, the online trade in old-world porcupines (those from the family <em>Hystricidae</em> in Asia and Africa). The researchers examined e-commerce sites in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore for four months in 2019, where they found active for-sale listings for 443 individual bezoars and a large variety of powdered products. Based on the weight of the powders, and the assumption that they might have contained other ingredients, the researchers estimate this translated to at least 680 and as many as 1,300 bezoars. (The researcher ignored "out of stock" listings and more dubious sites, such as one that claimed to have 2,000 tons of product on hand.)</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzUyNzM0NS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0MDE2MjE1N30.IEpEpforer7WNqqOdzQzJevwCQfg3yVaPLxoL00Rom4/img.jpg?width=980" id="4ead9" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="2a6f39c01025f8a63700f9917460dacc" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://therevelator.org/porcupines-bezoars/" target="_blank">The Revelator</a>. </em><em></em></p>A bezoar and typical medical claims, posted to Instagram. Screen grab July 24, 2020.
<p>Previous research has suggested that bezoars only grow in an incidentally small portion of the porcupine population, so the total number of animals killed to accumulate that quantity for sale could conceivably have been in the tens of thousands.</p><p>And since the study didn't look at the e-commerce sites every day, it probably uncovered only a portion of the total trade.</p><p>This paper calls for more study about this issue and additional conservation actions to protect porcupines. Currently the various species enjoy some national-level protection but precious little on the international level, because they're still perceived as relatively common. In fact, most old-world porcupine species currently appear on the IUCN Red List as <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/search?query=porpupine&searchType=species" target="_blank">either "least concern" or "data deficient."</a> Only the <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/10753/22231557" target="_blank">Philippine porcupine</a> (<em>Hystrix pumila</em>) is listed as "vulnerable to extinction." None are currently protected by the Convention on Trade in Endangered Species.</p><p>Should that change? While the authors acknowledge the limitations caused by their study's short time frame and their inability to examine and verify the nature of the bezoars (some of which could have come from other animals or been counterfeits), they still uncovered an alarming level of trade. The authors warn that "current trade levels are likely unsustainable, and we predict that porcupine species may become threatened in the future should current trade levels continue."</p><p>And while some porcupines are farmed, this study indicates pressure on wild porcupines, which also face threats from habitat destruction and the bushmeat trade, as well as persecution as agricultural pests. It suggests a need to protect certain populations which fetch higher prices due to their purported purity. The study quotes one popular website: <em>"The most valuable for the porcupine bezoars are procured from … the rainforest of Indonesia or Borneo. The porcupines here eat unpolluted herbs that have high medicinal value causing the bezoars … to be of the rarest and highest value. The price is very high and has collection, medicinal and stockpiling value."</em></p><p>In many ways this isn't surprising. The bezoar trade has been around for centuries, and it isn't restricted to southern Asia. The paper notes that Europeans in the 16th to 19th centuries, who sometimes wore the stones as jewelry, valued porcupine bezoars so much they priced each one "as high as forty times its own weight in gold."</p><p>Bezoars today don't fetch quite that amount, but the study still found them selling for around $151 a gram — two and a half times the current price of gold — all for a useless clump of congealed, inedible food.</p><p>Too bad we don't value a living porcupine half that much.</p><p><em><a href="https://therevelator.org/author/john/" target="_blank">John R. Platt</a> is the editor of The Revelator. An award-winning environmental journalist, his work has appeared in Scientific American, Audubon, Motherboard</em><em style="">, and numerous other magazines and publications. His "Extinction Countdown" column has run continuously since 2004 and has covered news and science related to more than 1,000 endangered species. He is a member of the Society of Environmental Journalists and the National Association of Science Writers. John lives on the outskirts of Portland, Ore., where he finds himself surrounded by animals and cartoonists.</em></p>
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Brazilian Amazon Has Lost Millions of Wild Animals to Criminal Networks, Report Finds
30 July
Animals
Freeland Brasil works to conserve biodiversity by combating wildlife trafficking. Freeland Brasil
By Sharon Guynup
The Brazilian Amazon is hemorrhaging illegally traded wildlife according to a new report released Monday. Each year, thousands of silver-voiced saffron finches and other songbirds, along with rare macaws and parrots, are captured, trafficked and sold as pets. Some are auctioned as future contestants in songbird contests. Others are exported around the globe.
<p>Fish bound for ornamental home aquariums also pour out of the Amazon, including the tiny, iridescent blue and red cardinal tetra. Arapaima fish — also known as <em>pirarucù</em>, one of the world's largest freshwater fish — are caught illegally, "laundered" amidst captive-bred specimens and shipped to the U.S. in large numbers.</p><p>Other fish are headed for the dinner table, as are freshwater turtles and their eggs, while tapir, peccary and other mammals are sold in Brazil as bushmeat. Jaguar teeth, heads and skins are shipped to China.</p><p>Millions of animals are being illegally captured and traded live and in parts in a thriving Brazilian black market, according to the report, produced by TRAFFIC, a UK-based nonprofit that studies the trade. "The pervasive and uncontrolled capture of wild animals and plants for the illegal trade is having grave consequences for Brazilian <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/biodiversity" target="_self">biodiversity</a>, the national economy, the rule of law and good governance," it says.</p>
<h3>Lack of Data Hides Trafficking</h3><p>Deep-dive research by biodiversity consultant Sandra Charity — who wrote the 140-page study with Juliana Ferreira, executive director of the nonprofit <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/conservation">conservation</a> group <a href="https://en.freeland.org.br/sobre-nos" target="_blank">Freeland Brasil</a> —focused on Amazon rainforest species and closely investigated the domestic bird trade.</p><p>Importantly, the researchers found that an ever-increasing segment of the illegal trade launders poached animals via a sprawling, legal captive breeding industry — a network that specializes in birds, which have a huge domestic market in Brazil.</p><p>The authors also discovered that few government agencies have kept records or reported solid data that quantify the true scope of the problem. In many cases, records did not even identify the species or number of animals seized by authorities, while data coming from the Amazon was "notoriously scarce."</p><p>"Significant seizures are made on a daily basis by Amazon state law enforcement, and we did not have access to their data," Ferreria said, adding, "from what we saw, [the illegal trade] is even bigger than we imagined."</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzUyMzgyMC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwMDA3NzM1OH0.VUPTr8JGnro51eIVKkTzeNylJGlbLlTE43JRM3g4Pjw/img.jpg?width=980" id="611e7" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="2be4dcc7509e3f05df53742af3cec824" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<p>Trends remain difficult to track, however, since seizure data alone represents a mere fraction of animals illegally pulled from the wild. But it is clear from existing data that there is an uptick in smuggling of some species, including jaguars: seizures increased by 200% from 2012 to 2018.</p><p>The lack of comprehensive data, the report notes, tends to play down the importance, as well as concealing the severity, of Brazilian trafficking — undermining enforcement efforts, legal attention and the funding needed to fight it.</p><p>But the study warns that the illegal trade is having serious consequences not only for the animals seized, but for entire species, ecosystems and people, not just in the Amazon but around the globe. The current COVID-19 epidemic, for example, caused by a coronavirus that jumped from wildlife to humans, has reminded the world that trafficking in wild animals is not merely a conservation issue, says Ferreira. It's both a public health issue and a biosafety issue.</p><p>An overarching national strategy is needed now to deal effectively with the problem, said the research team.</p>
<h3>Impact on the Amazon</h3><p>Today's vigorous, deadly commerce has helped speed the demise of 1,173 species that are either facing extinction or have already vanished in Brazil. Often the largest, strongest, most beautiful animals are lost, impacting the entire population. For example, the trade targets male birds with their showy plumage, while the few survivors of a species remaining in the wild can become inbred, weakening the gene pool and genetic resilience.</p><p>The scope of the plunder has also sparked concern over broader, cascading ecosystem impacts, says Ferreira, who explained that regularly taking animals from wild populations creates a domino effect, dismantling the biological and physical systems that sustain all life on Earth.</p><p>For example, without birds that act as pollinators and seed-dispersers, trees and plants that many creatures rely on for food disappear. Tropical forests also act as huge carbon vaults, mitigating climate change and extreme weather; they offer buffers from flooding and provide drinking water for millions of people. Losing millions of animals every year to trafficking could lead not only to empty forests, but eventually cause whole ecosystems to crash.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzUyMzgyMy9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwMzYxNTQ1NH0.UmXQbzCzJXdxIN_vMeotnVIJgF3MWlYKDnQLndFtct0/img.jpg?width=980" id="b7598" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="ba860e575989538043788aea786470e4" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<h3>Trafficking as Global Organized Crime</h3><p>The wildlife trade is also gaining increasing attention because of its lawless perpetrators: transnational criminal trafficking networks span the globe, make huge profits and cultivating massive corruption. Their illicit supply chain extends from the Amazon to almost every continent.</p><p><a href="https://www.thegef.org/" target="_blank">The Global Environment Facility (GEF)</a> describes the illegal wildlife trade as "one of the most lucrative illegal businesses in the world." It's ranked as the world's fourth largest source of criminal earnings, generating up to <a href="https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/story/three-ways-united-nations-environment-programme-works-address-illegal-trade" target="_blank">U.S. $23 billion</a> annually. With so much money changing hands under the table, the trade has even become a global national security issue.</p><p>But even though environmental authorities may seize illegally traded animals and apprehend some smugglers, the study notes that law enforcement is not targeting the kingpins who mastermind the trade or its supply chains. As a result, this shadowy underworld industry thrives as it breeds widespread corruption, bribery, fraud, forgery, money laundering and smuggling.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, "Existing legislation does not consider wildlife trafficking a 'serious crime,'" and there are numerous loopholes and inconsistencies in laws, the report says. Since the illicit trade is such a lucrative business, mild penalties offer little deterrent. A six- to 12-month "detention" is common, which is just restriction of freedom — not jail time — or is negotiated down to a stint at community service.</p><p>In addition, the report documented extensive evidence of widespread fraud by both private and commercial breeders in Brazil who forged permits, mislabeled species declarations, and tampered with government-issued identification rings to sell illegally-acquired songbirds alongside those they legally breed. This particular market is largely domestic, feeding an entrenched Brazilian culture that keeps songbirds as pets. IBAMA, Brazil's environmental agency, estimated that in 2015 alone, some three million passerine birds were fraudulently listed with the government — 75% of all that were registered.</p>
<h3>Curbing Amazon Trafficking</h3><p>While the goal of the new report was not to make a comprehensive assessment of the international trade, the authors found that foreign buyers are driving much of it. "It seems that some Asian countries are sourcing more species in Brazil, such as sea cucumber, sea horses, ornamental fish, jaguars and shark fin," Ferreira said, adding that the U.S. is a top consumer of ornamental fish and leather made from pirarucu skin. Birds, amphibians and reptiles typically sell to European collectors, and the Middle East is a market for Amazon raptors.</p><p>Digital commerce — the internet, social media and messaging groups — have become key "sales offices" for wild animals and the products made from them. The "merchandise" itself is moved in every way imaginable: via cars, buses, boats, planes and overnight courier services. Human "mules" have been arrested with birds or eggs taped to their bodies or concealed in clothing. A porous, 8,000-mile border between Brazil and eight Amazon neighbors creates an easy flow. The Peruvian and Colombian borders in the Northwestern Amazon form a "particularly relevant hub" for trafficking, the report noted.</p>
<p>Combatting the trade requires that it be recognized and treated as a serious crime. More complete data is also needed that will allow for strategic planning and strengthened law enforcement, says lead author Sandra Charity. Stronger national laws that target professional traffickers would also allow for the implementation of the UN Convention on Organized Crime, she said.</p><p>Without a market, there is no commerce, so educating consumers is key, concludes Ferreira.</p><p>"Ultimately, it is a matter of choosing why we are buying that animal, or wildlife product, and if it is worth it …. Cultures are dynamic and need to evolve. We need to start to change the way we view wildlife as commodities," she said, and "we also need to understand that loving an animal does equal imprisoning them."</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/07/brazilian-amazon-drained-of-millions-of-wild-animals-by-criminal-networks-report/" target="_blank">Mongabay</a>.</em><br/></p>From Your Site Articles
- Brazil's Amazon Rainforest Is the Wild West for Illegal Gold Miners ... ›
- Illegal Gold Mining Is Laying Waste to the Amazon - EcoWatch ›
- Amazon Rainforest Reaches Point of No Return - EcoWatch ›
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Pexels
By Stephen Garnett, Les Christidis, Les Christidis and Scott Thomson
<p>Taxonomy, or the naming of species, is the foundation of modern biology. It might sound like a fairly straightforward exercise, but in fact it's complicated and often controversial.</p><p>Why? Because there's no one agreed list of all the world's species. Competing lists exist for organisms such as mammals and birds, while other less well-known groups have none. And there are more than 30 definitions of what constitutes a species. This can make life difficult for biodiversity researchers and those working in areas such as conservation, biosecurity and regulation of the wildlife trade.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzUxMzY4MC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTU5NzMxMjEyMn0.Sv_kVRHK1agfjiGkYAIEn4yi07LUcu1t5SL3e2LbO_o/img.jpg?width=980" id="5c50f" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="91943648d5fbc3273383c5d3c303f1e3" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Scientists worked out a few differences over how to name species. Laurent Gillieron / EPA
How It All Began
<p>In May 2017 two of the authors, Stephen Garnett and Les Christidis, published an <a href="https://www.nature.com/news/taxonomy-anarchy-hampers-conservation-1.22064" target="_blank">article in Nature</a>. They argued taxonomy needed rules around what should be called a species, because currently there are none. They wrote:</p><blockquote>for a discipline aiming to impose order on the natural world, taxonomy (the classification of complex organisms) is remarkably anarchic […] There is reasonable agreement among taxonomists that a species should represent a distinct evolutionary lineage. But there is none about how a lineage should be defined.<br>'Species' are often created or dismissed arbitrarily, according to the individual taxonomist's adherence to one of at least 30 definitions. Crucially, there is no global oversight of taxonomic decisions — researchers can 'split or lump' species with no consideration of the consequences.<br></blockquote><p>Garnett and Christidis proposed that any changes to the taxonomy of complex organisms be overseen by the highest body in the global governance of biology, the International Union of Biological Sciences (<a href="https://www.iubs.org/" target="_blank">IUBS</a>), which would "restrict […] freedom of taxonomic action."</p>An Animated Response
<p>Garnett and Christidis' article raised hackles in some corners of the taxonomy world – including coauthors of this article.</p><p>These critics rejected the description of taxonomy as "anarchic." In fact, they argued there are detailed rules around the naming of species administered by groups such as the International Commission on Zoological <a href="https://www.iczn.org/" target="_blank">Nomenclature</a> and the International Code of <a href="https://www.iapt-taxon.org/nomen/main.php" target="_blank">Nomenclature</a> for algae, fungi, and plants. For 125 years, the codes have been almost universally adopted by scientists.</p><p>So in March 2018, 183 researchers – led by Scott Thomson and Richard Pyle – wrote an animated response to the Nature article, published in <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.2005075" target="_blank">PLoS Biology</a>.</p><p>They wrote that Garnett and Christidis' IUBS proposal was "flawed in terms of scientific integrity […] but is also untenable in practice". They argued:</p><blockquote>Through taxonomic research, our understanding of biodiversity and classifications of living organisms will continue to progress. Any system that restricts such progress runs counter to basic scientific principles, which rely on peer review and subsequent acceptance or rejection by the community, rather than third-party regulation.</blockquote><p>In a separate paper, another group of taxonomists <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/319422386_What_really_hampers_taxonomy_and_conservation_A_riposte_to_Garnett_and_Christidis_2017" target="_blank">accused</a> Garnett and Christidis of trying to suppress freedom of scientific thought, likening them to Stalin's science advisor Trofim Lysenko.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzUxMzY4Ni9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1Mzc2MjIwMn0.-M6nMB620f2GMCZfwz6DJiUMvBhMErDJMN4gH0eoPFs/img.jpg?width=980" id="172c0" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="fdbec99992d0d1cdbfafc5f5197f95ee" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Taxonomy can influence how conservation funding is allocated. Queensland Museum
Finding Common Ground
<p>This might have been the end of it. But the editor at PLoS Biology, Roli Roberts, wanted to turn consternation into constructive debate, and invited <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.2005249" target="_blank">a response</a> from Garnett and Christidis. In the to and fro of articles, we all found common ground.</p><p>We recognised the powerful need for a global list of species – representing a consensus view of the world's taxonomists at a particular time.</p><p>Such lists do exist. The <a href="https://www.catalogueoflife.org/" target="_blank">Catalogue of Life</a>, for example, has done a remarkable job in assembling lists of almost all the world's species. But there are no rules on how to choose between competing lists of validly named species. What was needed, we agreed, was principles governing what can be included on lists.</p><p>As it stands now, anyone can name a species, or decide which to recognise as valid and which not. This creates chaos. It means international agreements on biodiversity conservation, such as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (<a href="https://cites.org/" target="_blank">CITES</a>) and the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (<a href="https://www.cms.int/" target="_blank">CMS</a>), take different taxonomic approaches to species they aim to protect.</p><p>We decided to work together. With funding from the IUBS, we <a href="https://www.cdu.edu.au/news/experts-gather-lead-darwin-day" target="_blank">held a workshop</a> in February this year at Charles Darwin University to determine principles for devising a single, agreed global list of species.</p>
<p>Participants came from around the world. They included taxonomists, science governance experts, science philosophers, administrators of the nomenclatural (naming) codes, and taxonomic users such as the creators of national species lists.</p><p>The result is a draft set of ten principles that to us, represent the ideals of global science governance. They include that:</p><ul><li>the species list be based on science and free from "non-taxonomic" interference</li><li>all decisions about composition of the list be transparent</li><li>governance of the list aim for community support and use</li><li>the listing process encompasses global diversity while accommodating local knowledge.</li></ul><p>The principles will now be discussed at international workshops of taxonomists and the users of taxonomy. We've also formed a working group to discuss how a global list might come together and the type of institution needed to look after it.</p><p>We hope by 2030, a scientific debate that began with claims of anarchy might lead to a clear governance system – and finally, the world's first endorsed global list of species.</p>
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<em>The following people provided editorial comment for this article: Aaron M Lien, Frank Zachos, John Buckeridge, Kevin Thiele, Svetlana Nikolaeva, Zhi-Qiang Zhang, Donald Hobern, Olaf Banki, Peter Paul van Dijk, Saroj Kanta Barik and Stijn Conix.
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<em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/stephen-garnett-4565" target="_blank">Stephen Garnett</a> is a Professor of Conservation and Sustainable Livelihoods at Charles Darwin University. <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/les-christidis-602506" target="_blank">Les Christidis</a> is a Professor at Southern Cross University. <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/richard-l-pyle-1133017" target="_blank">Richard L. Pyle</a> is a Associate lecturer at the University of Hawaii. <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/scott-thomson-154786" target="_blank">Scott Thomson</a> is a Research associate at the Universidade de São Paulo.</em>
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<em>Disclosure statement: </em>
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<em>Stephen Garnett receives funding from International Union for Biological Sciences, the Australian Research Council and the National Environment Science Program</em>
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<em>Les Christidis receives funding from the International Union for Biological Sciences.</em>
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<em>Richard L. Pyle receives funding from U.S National Science Foundation, NOAA (U.S.), U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.</em>
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<em>Scott Thomson is affiliated with the Chelonian Research Institute and the IUCN Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group. The first is a not for profit organisation,</em>
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<em><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-a-scientific-spat-over-how-to-name-species-turned-into-a-big-plus-for-nature-138887" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>.</em><em></em></em>
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Woodland caribou in northern Ontario. J.H. / CC BY-ND 2.0
By Tara Lohan
A logged forest is a changed forest, and for woodland caribou that could mean the difference between life and death.
<p>A recent <a href="https://wildlife.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/jwmg.21829" target="_blank">study</a> in the <em>Journal of Wildlife Management</em> tracked the survival rates and population growth of woodland caribou (<em>Rangifer tarandus caribou</em>) across two areas of northern Ontario, Canada. In one area about a third of the forest had been logged 30 to 50 years ago. In the other, the only disturbances were from natural events.</p><p>The research found "substantial differences" in the survival of adult caribou between the two areas.</p>
<p>The animals, it turned out, fared considerably worse in the previously logged landscape — so badly that the researchers, led by <a href="https://www.fryxell-lab.com/thefryxelllab" target="_blank">John Fryxell</a>, a professor at the University of Guelph and executive director of the <a href="https://biodiversity.uoguelph.ca/" target="_blank">Biodiversity Institute of Ontario</a>, concluded it would lead to a dwindling population. The unlogged habitat, however, they found "should be considerably more capable of sustaining caribou."</p><p>The high mortality rates for the caribou in the logged forest are mostly due to wolf predation, but human changes to the landscape help make that possible. Development has been a driving force behind declining caribou numbers throughout their range.</p><p>As a result of these human disturbances, the caribou population in North America is in a precarious position. Woodland caribou once ranged across half of Canada and the northern reaches of the contiguous United States. But they're now gone from their southern range. In Canada's boreal forests, the animals are listed as threatened under the federal Species at Risk Act, Canada's version of the Endangered Species Act.</p><p>While woodland caribou have evolved to live with forests disturbed by wildfire, they haven't fared well in forests disturbed by people. One of the biggest threats is habitat fragmentation from commercial logging, mining, oil and gas — and all the roads associated with those activities.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzUxMzA0Ni9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwMjc4Nzc5OX0.Im2Bk0epol_P5NjtPoPU8wCFVC6Jmmdekm7ObdaiRbg/img.jpg?width=980" id="4204a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="99b5f5d275212ce21fa200e2d57edd83" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://therevelator.org/woodland-caribou-boreal/" target="_blank">The Revelator</a>. </em><br/></p>Tar sands mining in Fort McMurray, Alberta fragments habitat for caribou. Kris Krüg / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
<p>But here's the twist: Moose do better in these disturbed landscapes, and that puts caribou further at risk, albeit indirectly.</p><p>Previous research has found that moose prefer the vegetation that grows in these early successional forests that follow a large-scale disturbance, like commercial logging. And a higher density of moose attracts more wolves, which are also able to <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2664.12732" target="_blank">move faster and hunt farther</a> by following linear clearings like roads and pipelines in these developed areas.</p><p>While moose are the primary prey for wolves, caribou that wander into these forests become another tasty target.</p><p>"The bottom line," Fryxell explains, "is that the combination of vegetation changes, increase in road density, increase in moose, and consequent increase in wolves threaten long-term viability of woodland caribou in boreal landscapes of Ontario, in a similar fashion to many other parts of Canada."</p><p>A national assessment found that around 70% of Canada's local <a href="http://registrelep-sararegistry.gc.ca/default.asp?lang=En&n=2FEAAC82-1#_ex" target="_blank">populations of woodland caribou were no longer self-sustaining</a>.</p><p>So what's to be done?</p><p>Last year provincial managers in Quebec floated the idea of <a href="https://www.nationalobserver.com/2019/12/11/news/quebec-plan-kill-wolves-protect-caribou-angers-conservationists" target="_blank">killing wolves</a> to protect caribou herds. Their idea met with public backlash, but wolves in British Columbia weren't so lucky. During the winter of 2019-2020, a whopping 463 wolves were killed by the B.C. provincial government for the stated purpose of protecting populations of southern mountain caribou, another caribou ecotype.</p><p>Some of the money to pay for the kill came from Coastal GasLink, a company actively clearing land in caribou habitat for a pipeline, the Canadian news outlet the <em><a href="https://thenarwhal.ca/a-dangerous-road-coastal-gaslink-pays-to-kill-wolves-in-endangered-caribou-habitat-in-b-c-interior/" target="_blank">Narwhal </a></em><a href="https://thenarwhal.ca/a-dangerous-road-coastal-gaslink-pays-to-kill-wolves-in-endangered-caribou-habitat-in-b-c-interior/" target="_blank">reported</a>.</p><p>And a <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10531-020-02008-3" target="_blank">recently published study</a> in the journal <em>Biology and Conservation </em>found that the culls were not likely to aid caribou and pointed out several shortcomings in previous research that called for such wolf-control measures.</p><p>There are other, and better, options — like habitat protection and restoration.</p><p>Fryxell's study concluded that "the most secure conservation measure would be to set aside extensive tracts of boreal forest with natural patterns of disturbance to sustain viable caribou sub‐populations."</p><p>Research shows that the animals need at least 65% of their range undisturbed to have a good shot at survival.</p><p>And helping caribou will come with other environmental benefits. Canada's 2018 <a href="http://registrelep-sararegistry.gc.ca/default.asp?lang=En&n=2FEAAC82-1#_ex" target="_blank">federal action</a> plan to restore caribou stated, "Boreal caribou is also considered by many to be an indicator of the overall state of Canada's boreal forest ecosystem." So keeping forests intact or restoring habitat is a proposition that would benefit not only caribou but many other species.</p><p><em><a href="https://therevelator.org/author/taralohan/" target="_blank">Tara Lohan</a> is deputy editor of The Revelator and has worked for more than a decade as a digital editor and environmental journalist focused on the intersections of energy, water and climate. Her work has been published by The Nation, American Prospect, High Country News, Grist, Pacific Standard</em><em style=""> and others. She is the editor of two books on the global water crisis.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Collecting and organizing genetic diversity as a conservation strategy emerged in the 1960s and now plays an important role in ensuring the world's collective food security. Claire05 / Pixabay
By Katie Howell
More than 6,000 plant species have been cultivated for food worldwide, but only nine account for the majority of total crop production, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). FAO finds that crop diversity is continuing to decline across the globe because of unsustainable agricultural practices, industrialization, and increased urbanization.
<p>Collecting and organizing genetic diversity as a conservation strategy <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1369848615001284" target="_blank">emerged</a> in the 1960s and now plays an important role in ensuring the world's collective food security. Seed saving organizations have helped secure <a href="https://foodtank.com/news/2019/05/how-a-syrian-genebank-secured-over-100000-seeds-during-wartime-maybe-saving-the-future-of-wheat/" target="_blank">over 100,000 seeds</a> during wartime in Syria, preserve <a href="https://www.kew.org/press-media/Kew-celebrates-banking-13-million-seeds-from-UK-native-trees" target="_blank">13 million seeds from over 70 species</a> of native trees in the United Kingdom, and contribute to <a href="https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/7b8e/e7ba0175d418985b43336183d9a24b759969.pdf" target="_blank">over US$77 million</a> in pastoral agriculture revenue in New Zealand. As the climate crisis continues, seed preservation <a href="https://www.bioversityinternational.org/fileadmin/user_upload/The_roles_Vernooy_2017.pdf" target="_blank">may also be critical</a> in research and innovation to help farmers adapt to changing conditions.</p><p>Seed conservation can occur on-site in farmers' fields or protected areas, referred to as <em>in situ</em>, or in off-site collections, known as <em>ex situ</em> conservation. <em>Ex situ</em> collections represent the <a href="http://www.fao.org/3/i1500e/i1500e.pdf" target="_blank">most widespread</a> conservation strategy for plant genetics–it includes seeds kept in cold storage, living plants grown in open field seed banks, or tissue, DNA, embryos, or pollen samples stored <em>in vitro</em>. "Such genebank collections provide a means to make unique biodiversity available cheaply, and effectively, for the long-term," <a href="https://cdn.croptrust.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Impact-Paper_16Dec2015_ks.pdf" target="_blank">according to Crop Trust</a>, a leading organization dedicated to conserving crop biodiversity.</p><p>According to FAO, there are more than 1,750 <em>ex situ</em> seed banks across the world – both international and local – that preserve over 7 million samples of seeds, cuttings, or genetic material. To celebrate these efforts, Food Tank has selected 26 seed saving organizations working to promote seed diversity through seed banks, exchange networks, and educational programs.</p><p>1. <a href="https://aseed.net/" target="_blank">ASEED Europe</a>, <em>Netherlands</em></p><p>Action for Solidarity, Equality, Environment, and Diversity (ASEED Europe) aims to achieve social justice and environmental integrity through grassroots organizing, education, and non-violent direct action. Founded in 1991, ASEED Europe organizes international campaigns focused on the decline of biodiversity in agriculture, the availability of seeds, and corporate concentration in the food system. They offer educational materials and training on topics such as seeds, climate change, trade, and food sovereignty.</p><p>2. <a href="https://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/Science/Australian-plantbank/Our-collections/Plant-journeys/The-seedbank" target="_blank">Australian PlantBank</a>, <em>Australia</em></p><p>The Australian PlantBank is the largest native plant conservation seed bank in Australia. Housing over 100 million individual seeds in 10,000 seed collections, it has become one of the world's most biodiverse seed banks. Located in New South Wales, the PlantBank uses seed banking, cryostorage, and tissue culture for conservation, horticulture, restoration, and research efforts. They also offer educational tours to teach visitors about the important conservation work of scientists.</p>
<p>3. <a href="https://www.brit.org/research/seedbank" target="_blank">Botanical Research Institute of Texas</a>, <em>United States</em></p><p>Founded in 1987, The Botanical Research Institute of Texas (BRIT)'s mission is to conserve natural heritage by educating the public about the value of plants. BRIT operates the Conservation Seed Laboratory and Seed Bank as a part of their larger Texas Plant Conservation Program. In 2017, BRIT joined the Center of Plant Conservation (CPC) to help Texas organizations protect and preserve rare and endangered native plants. Through community education programs and workshops, research initiatives, and events, BRIT aims to increase awareness about sustainable stewardship and the importance of plant diversity.</p><p>4. <a href="https://secure.cherokee.org/seedbank" target="_blank">Cherokee Nation Seed Bank</a>, United States</p><p>The Cherokee Nation Seed Bank is maintained by The Cherokee Nation Heirloom Garden and Native Plant Site. The bank collects rare, native plants from the Cherokee regions. Representing centuries of Cherokee history, the Seed Bank provides an opportunity to continue traditions of ancestors, as well as educate youth about the Cherokee Nation's agricultural past. Seeds may be requested by community members; varieties include heirloom corn, tobacco, and gourds. Additionally, the organization offers educational materials like planting guides to help growers maintain the plants' genetic integrity.</p><p>5. <a href="https://caminoverde.org/" target="_blank">Camino Verde</a>, <em>United States & Peru</em></p><p>Camino Verde is a United States-based nonprofit with locations in Concord, Massachusetts and Puerto Maldonado, Peru. Camino Verde's mission is to plant trees and encourage future planting through educational programs and public awareness. From 2007 to 2016, Camino Verde worked to establish a Living Seed Bank of over 400 species of trees. With these seeds, they created a restoration forest center, planting over 25,000 trees whose nurseries now produce over 200,000 seedlings each year. The organization also works with farmers and native communities in the Amazon of Peru to help bring back forests to areas degraded by agriculture, gold mining, and ranching.</p><p>6. <a href="https://www.croptrust.org/" target="_blank">Crop Trust</a>, <em>Germany</em></p><p>The Crop Trust is an international organization whose mission is to ensure the conservation and availability of crop diversity for food security worldwide. Through its Crop Diversity Endowment Fund, the Crop Trust funds the world's largest genebanks, including the <a href="http://www.cgiar.org/" target="_blank">Consultative Group for International Agriculture Research</a> (CGIAR) genebank platform, Svalbard Global Seed Vault, and Seeds for Resilience–a project supporting five seed banks in Sub-Saharan Africa. The organization also works to develop government conservation strategies.</p><p>7. <a href="http://www.vir.nw.ru/" target="_blank">Federal Research Center All-Russian Institute of Plant Genetic Resources/VIR</a>, <em>Russia</em></p><p>Located in St. Petersburg, the Federal Research Center All-Russian Institute of Plant Genetic Resources, or the Vavilov Research Institute (VRI), was founded in 1921 and has since expanded into 12 research stations throughout Russia. As the world's oldest and largest seed bank, they house a total of 60,000 seed varieties and their herbariums contain some 250,000 cultivated plant specimens and their wild relatives.</p>
<p>8. <a href="https://kohalacenter.org/hpsi" target="_blank">Hawai'i Public Seed Initiative</a>, <em>United States</em></p><p>The Hawai'i Public Seed Initiative (HPSI) was created by The Kohula Center in 2010 and is funded by the Ceres Trust. The initiative works to identify and save seed varieties best suited for the island's soils and climates. Through community seed networks and workshops, HPSI teaches people to select, grow, harvest, store, and improve seed varieties that can strengthen the state's food security. HPSI holds events to develop seed leaders across the state, including on Hawai'i Island, Kaua'i, O'ahu, Maui, and Moloka'i.</p><p>9. <a href="http://www.irishseedsavers.ie/" target="_blank">Irish Seed Savers</a>, <em>Ireland</em></p><p>The Irish Seeds Savers was founded in 1991 in County Carlow, before moving to Scarriff, Ireland. The organization aims to raise public awareness about the vulnerability of Irish agricultural biodiversity. They provide educational workshops to schools and community groups and aim to facilitate conversations between governments, universities, and gene banks. The Irish Seed Savers maintain a public seed bank with over 600 non-commercially available varieties of heirloom and heritage seeds, including rare vegetables, soft fruit, flowers, grains, potatoes, and apple trees.</p><p>10. <a href="https://ciat.cgiar.org/" target="_blank">International Center for Tropical Agriculture</a> (CIAT), <em>Colombia</em></p><p>Headquartered in Colombia, the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) is a CGIAR research center focused on promoting agrobiodiversity and sustainable agroecosystems in Africa, Asian, Latin America, and the Caribbean. CIAT conducts crop research with its extensive genebank, which holds the largest global collection of beans, cassava, and tropical forages. CIAT provides seed samples free of charge to any individual or organization anywhere in the world for the purposes of research, breeding, or training.</p><p>11. <a href="https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/la/programs/?cid=nrcs141p2_015689" target="_blank">Louisiana Native Plant Initiative</a>, <em>United States</em></p><p>The Louisiana Native Plant Initiative (LNPI) is a multi-agency effort that helps conserve native plants. The National Resource Conservation Service of Louisiana collaborates with their many partners to collect seeds, preserve native varieties, increase flora abundance, and research plant materials for future revegetation projects. The initiative has spearheaded several conservation projects to protect species such as the longleaf pine, switchgrass, big bluestem, little bluestem, smooth cordgrass, eastern gamagrass, and partridge pea.</p><p>12. <a href="https://www.kew.org/science/collections-and-resources/collections/seed-collection" target="_blank">Millennium Seed Bank at Wakehurst</a>, <em>England</em></p><p>The Millennium Seed Bank at Wakehurst is a world leader in on-site conservation of wild plant species. The majority of the seed collections in the Seed Bank at Wakehurst are curated by the larger Millennium Seed Bank Partnership, a seed conversation network active in over 80 countries around the world. Currently, there are more than 92,500 seed collections in the bank, which represent over 40,000 species.</p>
<p>13. <a href="https://www.ars.usda.gov/plains-area/fort-collins-co/center-for-agricultural-resources-research/paagrpru/" target="_blank">National Laboratory for Genetic Resources Perseveration</a> (NLGRP), <em>United States</em></p><p>Located on the campus of Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado, the National Laboratory for Genetic Resources Preservation (NLGRP) is home to one of the world's largest plant and animal gene banks. NLGRP's mission is to support U.S. agriculture in producing high-quality food, feed, and fiber by acquiring, evaluating, preserving, and distributing critical genetic resources. In its plant division, the laboratory manages more than 10,000 plant species in long-term storage and on fields, orchards, and nature reserves.</p><p><em> </em>14. <a href="https://nativefoodalliance.org/" target="_blank">Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance</a><em>, United States</em></p><p><em> </em>Indigenous Seed Keeper Network (ISKN) is an initiative of the Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance (NAFSA), a non-profit organization aimed at leveraging resources to support tribal food sovereignty projects. The mission of the Network is to nourish and assist the growing seed sovereignty movement across Turtle Island. ISKN provides educational resources, mentorship training, outreach, and advocacy support on seed policy issues, and organizes convenings to connect communities engaged in this work.<a href="https://sierraseeds.org/" target="_blank"> Sierra Seeds</a>, a nonprofit sister program to ISKN, also uses mentorship and education to create greater sustainability in food and seed systems by sharing essential practical skills and promoting seed literacy.</p><p>15. <a href="https://www.nativeseeds.org/" target="_blank">Native Seeds/SEARCH</a>, <em>United States</em></p><p>Based in Tucson, Arizona, Native Seeds/SEARCH (NS/S) aims to conserve and promote arid-adapted crop diversity in the southwest United States. Since it was founded as a nonprofit organization in 1983, NS/S has established a reputation as a leader in heirloom conservation. Its seed bank holds nearly 2,000 varieties of crops adapted to landscapes extending from southern Colorado to Mexico. These varieties include traditional crops such as corn, beans, and squash used by the Apache, Havasupai, Hopi, Maricopa, Mayo, and many other tribes.</p><p>16. <a href="http://www.navdanya.org/site/living-seed/navdanya-seed-banks" target="_blank">Navdanya</a>, <em>India</em></p><p>Navdanya is a research-based initiative founded by Dr. Vandana Shiva, a world-renowned scientist and environmentalist. The organization is a network of seed keepers and organic producers that works across 22 states in India. Navdanya has helped set up over 150 community seed banks over the last 30 years. The organization has conserved and promoted undervalued crops such as millets, pulses, and pseudo-cereals and saved over 4,000 rice varieties. They also conduct research on sustainable farming practices and have provided training to over 750,000 farmers on food and seed sovereignty.</p><p>17. <a href="http://www.nycgovparks.org/greening/greenbelt-native-plant-center/conservation-initiative" target="_blank">New York City Native Plant Conservation Initiative</a>, <em>United States</em></p><p>The New York City Native Plant Conservation Initiative began in 2008 as a partnership between the Brooklyn Botanical Garden and the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. In response to declining native plant populations due to increasing urbanization, the initiative works to maximize long-term conservation of diverse native species. Launched with 34 endangered species, conservation efforts include collecting seeds, preparing and implementing protocols for restoration and management of native plant populations, and raising public awareness of the status of native plants in NYC.</p>
<p>18. <a href="https://www.library.pima.gov/seed-library/" target="_blank">Pima County Seed Library</a>, <em>United States</em></p><p>The Seed Library is a collection of open-pollinated and heirloom seeds in Pima County, Arizona. The library works to create local seed stocks that are acclimated to desert climate and support an abundant and genetically diverse landscape. The collection helps to support gardeners and educate community members about how to grow, harvest, and save seeds. Made up of almost 250 types of seeds, varieties include beans, flowers, herbs, melons, and more.</p><p>19. <a href="https://rockymountainseeds.org/" target="_blank">Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance</a>, <em>United States</em></p><p>The Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance (RMSA) is a nonprofit organization working to create a network of seed growers, distributors, and educators in the Rocky Mountain West region of the United States. Founded in 2014, RMSA emphasizes sharing of seed saving knowledge to preserve and promote the use of regionally adapted crops, herbs, wildflowers, and native grass seeds. To create a more resilient food system, the organization provides seed education resources, runs an online seed school, hosts an international seed festival, operates a regional seed vault, and more.</p><p>20. <a href="https://weseedchange.org/see-the-impact/global-impact/" target="_blank">SeedChange</a>, <em>Canada</em></p><p>Formerly USC Canada, SeedChange is working to fight for farmers' rights to fair wages, land, and seeds around the globe. Through partnerships with nonprofits, they support over 30,000 small-scale farmers to restore degraded lands, share seeds, and start businesses. SeedChange projects are rooted in a Seeds of Survival approach, which emphasizes the importance of local seeds and local knowledge. They support about 70 seed banks run by the communities in which they are located, and hundreds of home seed banks cared for by the farmers in their own homes.</p><p>21. <a href="https://www.seedsavers.org/" target="_blank">Seed Savers Exchange</a>, <em>United States</em></p><p>The Seed Savers Exchange is a nonprofit in Winneshiek County, Iowa that focuses on stewarding and sharing a large collection of open-pollinated seed varieties across the U.S. Founded in 1975, the organization works to ensure the preservation of diverse heirloom seeds to guarantee future food security. Today, Seed Savers Exchange has over 20,000 plant varieties and 13,000 members.<em> </em></p><p>22. <a href="https://www.southernexposure.com/about-us/" target="_blank">Southern Exposure Seed Exchange</a>, <em>United States</em></p><p>Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, located in central Virginia, is focused on seed varieties that grow well in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern U.S. Operating as a cooperative, the organization offers 800 varieties of vegetable, herb, flower, grain, and cover crop seeds. Sixty percent of their seed varieties are certified organic and over 60 percent of seeds come from small farmers. Some unique Southern heirlooms they offer include peanuts, okra, naturally colored cotton, butterbeans, and roselle.</p>
<p>23. <a href="https://www.regjeringen.no/en/topics/food-fisheries-and-agriculture/svalbard-global-seed-vault/id462220/" target="_blank">Svalbard Global Seed Vault</a>, <em>Norway</em></p><p>Opened by the Norwegian government in 2008, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault is the world's largest secure seed storage facility. Also referred to as the doomsday vault, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault holds duplicates of seed samples from other regional, national, and international gene banks to serve as backup storage in case of emergency. Svalbard has the capacity to house 2.25 billion seeds, equaling 500 seeds of 4.5 million crop varieties. The seed vault is run by the Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture and Food, Nordic Gene Resource Centre, and the Global Crop Diversity Trust. It currently holds seeds of more than 4,000 plant species.</p><p>24. <a href="http://www.genobank.org/" target="_blank">The Germplasm Bank of Wild Species</a>, <em>China</em></p><p>Created in 2004, The Germplasm Bank of Wild Species has collected over 80,000 seed samples from over 10,000 species of wild plants. The project is operated by the Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and includes a seed bank, DNA bank, microbial bank, animal germplasm bank, and seed biology research center.<a href="https://news.cgtn.com/news/2019-08-04/Seed-Bank-Protecting-plant-biodiversity-IRaTqG6pEY/index.html" target="_blank"> According</a> to one news source, by the end of 2018, the organization's seed storage accounted for one-third of the total wild plant species nationwide, making it the largest in Asia and the second of its kind globally.</p><p>25. <a href="https://avrdc.org/" target="_blank">The World Vegetable Center</a>, <em>Taiwan</em></p><p>The World Vegetable Center was founded in 1971 as the Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center (AVRDC). Today, the Center conducts research, builds networks, and carries out training activities to raise awareness of the role of vegetables for improved health and poverty alleviation around the globe. The Center's Genebank is the world's largest vegetable germplasm collection, holding over 61,000 accessions–plant materials collected from different areas–sourced from 155 countries. Since its founding, the Center has distributed more than 600,000 seed samples to researchers in the public and private sectors in at least 180 countries. Their work has led to the release of hundreds of varieties throughout the world, especially in developing countries. The World Vegetable Center Genebank is part of the global germplasm network, <a href="https://www.genesys-pgr.org/welcome" target="_blank">Genesys</a>.</p><p>26. <a href="http://cintdis.org/vrihi/" target="_blank">Vrihi</a>, <em>India</em></p><p>Vrihi, the Sandskrit word for "rice", was founded by ecologist Dr. Debal Deb and is now the largest folk rice seed bank in Eastern India. In 1997, Vrihi began as a partnership of a nationwide folk crop conservation movement between the Centre of Interdisciplinary Studies (CIS) and Dr. Vandana Shiva's Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology (RFSTE). Since 2000, Vrihi has been an independent organization, working to promote the cultivation of folk rice varieties and reestablish non-commercial seed exchange.</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://foodtank.com/news/2020/07/26-organizations-working-to-conserve-seed-biodiversity/" target="_blank">Food Tank</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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James Bradley's latest novel, Ghost Species, encompasses themes of ecological loss and climate catastrophe. Yale Climate Connections
By Amy Brady
Australian author and critic James Bradley stunned with his previous novel, Clade, a multi-generational story about a swiftly changing planet. His latest novel, Ghost Species, encompasses similar themes of ecological loss and climate catastrophe.
<p>It introduces us to Kate Larkin, a scientist who takes part in a secret project to resurrect extinct species that will, in theory, help to re-engineer the planet. Questions of ethics and biological authenticity circulate the project, only to grow more complex when the scientists extend their work to bringing back one of humanity's closest ancient relatives – a Neanderthal. After the baby's birth, Kate begins to question the very things that make us human.</p><p>Timely and beautifully written, <em>Ghost Species</em> is an elegiac exploration of <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/science/" target="_self">science</a> and compassion against a backdrop of planetary trauma. In this interview, I asked James what inspired the novel, what he learned about the real-life science of recreating ecosystems, and his feelings about the future.</p>
<p><strong>Amy Brady:</strong> Before we discuss <em>Ghost Species</em> specifically I'd like to talk about your writing interests more generally. Your previous novel, <em>Clade</em>, dealt acutely with the climate crisis, and you've written essays about the issue as well. What continues to draw you to the subject of climate change in your writing?</p><p><strong>James Bradley:</strong> I have a friend who talks about "the knowledge," by which she means that moment when you fully appreciate the scale and urgency of the climate crisis and its implications. I'm not sure I really think it's quite as simple or as singular as that – it seems to me most of us continue to resist that understanding in various ways, and to struggle with the complex and often frightening feelings that come with it – but I think she's right that once you've got there, nothing is the same. Politics, art, love, relationships: they're all transformed. A lot of my writing over the past decade or so has been trying to <a target="_blank" href="https://sydneyreviewofbooks.com/essay/an-ocean-and-an-instant/">think my way into that awareness</a>, and then to try to make sense of <a target="_blank" href="https://meanjin.com.au/essays/unearthed/">what you do with it once you're there</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Amy Brady:</strong> <em>Ghost Species</em> explores the questions surrounding the science and ethics of de-extinction. Unlike other novels I've read on the subject, yours feels remarkably plausible. Tell us about your research process and what surprised you the most about what you learned.</p><p><strong>James Bradley:</strong> I decided quite early on that I didn't want to spend pages and pages discussing the technicalities of the science, partly because I didn't think most readers would be terribly interested in them, partly because I felt they'd detract from the emotional questions that seemed to me to be at the heart of the book. But interestingly, my route into the idea was actually a bit like the one Davis, the billionaire who finances the project, follows. So I began by reading about rewilding and recreating ecosystems rather than reading about the nuts and bolts of recreating extinct species in the lab. That led me to the story of the ways in which reintroducing wolves to Yellowstone <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysa5OBhXz-Q">altered the physical structure of the rivers</a>, and that led me to the idea that you might try to slow down the melting of the permafrost by using de-extinct ice age animals to re-engineer the climate in the north, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/04/pleistocene-park/517779/">in the way Sergey and Nikita Zemov are in Siberia</a>.</p><p>Perhaps because I began thinking about ecosystems and interconnectedness and cycles of energy, when I came to start looking at the actual science of de-extinction I was less focussed on the technicalities than I was on the question of what extinction – and by implication de-extinction – might mean, not just as a metaphor for all the ways in which environmental crisis is upsetting and unhinging time and temporality, but for the kind of loneliness we all feel in a world where so much is being lost all around us.</p>
<p><strong></strong><strong>Amy Brady:</strong> A question at the heart of your new novel is whether an extinct animal – or even an extinct human relative, the Neanderthal – can be considered "real" once resurrected. Is this a question that scientists are taking seriously? Is it one that you yourself have landed on an answer to?</p><p><strong>James Bradley:</strong> When an animal or a species disappears from the world it's not just their biological identity that's lost, it's also a way of being in the world, and a whole host of complex entanglements with other species and their environment. That absence is profound and immense, but it also means that even if we do find the means to bring back vanished species, they will lack those connections and meanings. For Eve that disconnection is manifested through a larger sense of separation and loneliness, the feeling she's always an outsider. But what also happens in the book is that both Eve and some of the other recreated species begin to change and adapt – to go wild, I suppose – and as they do their lives begin to take on new shapes and new meanings, although not necessarily the ones their creators might have expected.</p>
<p><strong></strong><strong>Amy Brady:</strong> Your novels emphasize compassion, how humans can find deep wells of love and sympathy and beauty even in times of great distress. So often in public debate climate change is discussed in terms of fear and anger, or on the other side of the spectrum, hope and courage. What roles might love and compassion play in not only climate debate, but perhaps in climate action?</p><p><strong>James Bradley:</strong> I think it's really difficult to describe the scale or the trauma of last summer's bushfires here in Australia. Dozens of people were killed, thousands of homes were destroyed, and a whole range of animals and plants were pushed to the brink of extinction. But <a target="_blank" href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jan/11/terror-hope-anger-kindness-the-complexity-of-life-as-we-face-the-new-normal">as I wrote at the time</a>, what was really striking wasn't the anger and fear and grief, all of which was real and palpable (and given our government's appalling record on climate, justified), it was the outpouring of generosity and kindness. Truckies and tradies organized food deliveries, other people set up websites to find people who'd lost their homes a place to stay, members of the Muslim and Sikh communities took food to the firefighters, all of whom were volunteers, and many of whom had been fighting the fires for weeks or even months on end, and people gave millions of dollars to charities.</p><p>That didn't come out of nowhere. People did it because they saw people were suffering, and they wanted to help. That recognition other people's suffering is real is incredibly important, because once we do that it's much harder to look away, or to treat other people's lives as expendable.</p>
<p><strong></strong><strong>Amy Brady:</strong> Speaking of love, I loved your protagonist Kate Larkin. Where did she come from? Is she inspired by anyone in real life?</p><p><strong>James Bradley:</strong> I think all my writing is pretty personal, but with this book I really wanted to find a way of writing that erased all the barriers between me and the work, so I was writing out of somewhere very intimate, and undefended. I did that because I wanted to find a way of articulating a range of feelings of grief and fear that I usually need to keep under control so I can keep functioning. But it also meant I ended up using a lot of material from my own life in a pretty direct way: certainly the material about parenting and children is drawn from my own experience, and addiction and alcoholism have had a big impact on people very close to me. I suppose that desire to write without distance is also about the context in which I wrote the book. I began it just after my father died, and my mother died just as I was finishing it, and it's very much bookended by those losses, and a recognition of what they both meant to me.</p>
<p><strong></strong><strong>Amy Brady:</strong> Climate change is often depicted as a slow-moving phenomenon, but so much has happened since the last time we did an interview together for this column in late 2017 – a mere two and a half years ago. North America experienced one of its worst hurricane seasons in history, and Australia suffered one of its worst bushfires in history. And that's just in our respective home countries. I asked you back in 2017 if you were hopeful for the future, and you gave a thoughtful and elegant answer that I will paraphrase as "I'm wary of despair." Have your feelings about what's in store for us changed? Are you still at least cautiously hopeful about what the future might bring?</p><p><strong>James Bradley:</strong> When I wrote <em>Clade</em> one of the things I wanted the book to do was to push back against the idea the future is set, and make a space for possibility and change. I think over the past few years it's become much harder to hold onto the idea we might avoid the worst of what's coming. Having said that, I still think despair is a cop-out and an indulgence, and that even if the odds of staying under two degrees of warming are now slim, there's a big difference between two degrees and three, or three degrees and four, and which of those we end up with depends on what we do now.</p>
<p><strong>Amy Brady:</strong> What's next for you?</p><p><strong>James Bradley:</strong> It's a really good question! In fact, I've just finished a draft of a new novel, and I'm working on a book of non-fiction about the ocean, but both of them are still a way off. In the meantime, I've got a couple of long essays that should be out in the next few months, and I'm working on a couple of articles and a new novella. So I've got a lot of things on the boil, which is always nice.</p><p>SCIENCE FICTION<br><a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/ghost-species-9781926428666" target="_blank"><em>Ghost Species</em></a>, by James Bradley, Hamish Hamilton, published April 20, 2020.</p>
<p><em>Reprinted with permission from <a href="https://www.yaleclimatemediaforum.org/2020/07/the-art-and-science-of-resurrection-in-ghost-species/" target="_blank">Yale Climate Connections</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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