Latest news with #Kunming-MontrealGlobalBiodiversityFramework
The Star
3 days ago
- Business
- The Star
Brunei forest, reef conservation needs shared responsibility: Minister
Minister of Primary Resources and Tourism Manaf Metussin at the Brunei Conference on Forest to Reef in Bandar Seri Begawan. - BB BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN: Protecting Brunei forests and reefs is not the task for the government alone but a shared mission that requires every one of us to act now, said a Brunei government minister on Tuesday (June 17). This reinforces Brunei's commitment under the National Biodiversity Policy and Strategic Plan of Action 2024-2030, which aligns with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, said the Minister of Primary Resources and Tourism Manaf Metussin at the Brunei Conference on Forest to Reef held in the capital, Bandar Seri Begawan. Sudono Salim, chief growth officer and co-founder of Jejakin, a carbon footprint management platform, as a guest speaker, lauded Brunei for its clean air and said the blue carbon ecosystem, which is naturally captured and stored by coastal ecosystems such as mangrove, helps in climate change mitigation. The conference focuses on promoting blue and green economic growth, including eco-tourism and carbon markets, while enhancing capacity building, education, and professional networks in biodiversity conservation, climate adaptation, and disaster risk reduction. It also supports integrating international best practices and new economic opportunities into national forest-to-reef strategies. - Xinhua
Observer
7 days ago
- Science
- Observer
Oman contributes to global whale migration atlas
In a landmark step for marine conservation, Oman has contributed to a major new global initiative to map and safeguard the migratory 'superhighways' of whales. The Blue Corridors platform ( launched this week by WWF and an international coalition of scientists and conservation groups, digitally charts decades of whale tracking data to drive action on ocean protection worldwide. Oman's unique satellite tracking data -gathered through the Environment Society of Oman (ESO) and marine research group Future Seas and supported by the Environment Authority is now part of this global dataset; helping to illuminate how whales travel through the region's waters and beyond. 'We've contributed Oman's dataset to this collaborative effort,' Suaad al Harthi from the Environment Society of Oman confirmed, 'offering insights that will support international efforts to protect whales from rising threats such as ship strikes, fishing gear entanglement, underwater noise and climate change'. For the first time, brings together three decades of global tracking data, integrating it with maps of overlapping marine risks to create a dynamic tool for governments, scientists and policymakers. The initiative highlights the movement of whales through the territorial waters of multiple countries and underscores the urgency of international collaboration, especially as seven of the world's 14 great whale species remain endangered or vulnerable despite decades of conservation efforts. 'Oman's contribution is a vital part of this global effort,' said Dr Andrew Willson of Future Seas Oman, one of the contributing researchers. 'By understanding where whales travel, and where they face the greatest risks, we can work together on more informed conservation plans to protect them —not just in Oman's waters, but across the migratory routes that connect the dots between important habitats used by the whales for breeding and feeding.' Launched ahead of World Oceans Day (8 June) and the UN Ocean Conference in Nice, France, the project also advances global goals to protect 30% of the ocean by 2030 — part of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and the UN Decade of Ocean Science. The Blue Corridors platform is publicly accessible and will evolve with further peer-reviewed science and collaborative input through 2025. 'Blue corridors are more than migration routes — they're lifelines for the ocean's giants and the ecosystems they support,' said Chris Johnson, Global Lead for WWF's Protecting Whales and Dolphins Initiative. 'This platform transforms decades of science into a tool for action — showing when, where and how to protect whales in a rapidly changing ocean.' The project builds on the Protecting Blue Corridors report (2022), now enhanced with open-access visualisations from more than 50 contributing research groups. The platform also highlights hotspots where solutions -such as marine protected areas or revised shipping routes- can make the greatest difference. As the oceans warm and human activities intensify, tools like this offer hope for species whose survival depends on protecting migratory pathways. And Oman's role in this collaborative atlas underscores the country's growing contribution to marine science and conservation on a global scale. Najah al Riyami The writer is a Media and Communication Master's graduate.
Canada Standard
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Canada Standard
2030 Biodiversity Target Was Always a Long Shot, UK Official Says
When negotiators in Montreal agreed in 2022 to halt and reverse global biodiversity loss by 2030, many knew the goal was ambitious, says a former United Kingdom negotiator-but the targets were about more than just hitting the numbers. In an interview with Carbon Brief, William Lockhart, who represented the UK at United Nations nature negotiations from 2021 to early 2025, expressed ambivalence about whether countries can meet the conservation targets of the 2022 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), aimed at reversing biodiversity loss within five years. It remains possible with "the right interventions at exactly the right scale," he said, but countries are not on a trajectory to make it happen. But the numbers attached to the targets aren't the main point of the COP negotiations, Lockhart added. View our latest digests "The important thing is that people spent a lot of time thinking about why we were setting certain kinds of targets," he said, adding that while targets should be specific, measurable and achievable, there were open questions about what those criteria meant, and what message they were meant to send. "This is politics; this isn't necessarily science." More than half the countries that submitted plans to the UN did not commit to protecting 30% of their territories for nature-a target as important to biodiversity conservation as the 1.5C pathway is for climate action, writes Carbon Brief. "Countries have never fully met any target to help nature since the UN biodiversity convention was established in the 1990s." Lockhart questioned the role of UN summits like the COPs and whether they can be effective for global action. In one sense, he said, the world is asking too much of the COPs, "there's so much coverage and intense scrutiny." "'This person's arrived', 'this comma has moved'...There's an extraordinary media circus." But the world also asks too little of the COPs, he added, because success and failure hinges on details as small as particular words, while overall progress stalls. Lockhart said he and his colleagues worry that the COPs are being seen as ends in themselves. "We agree on stuff," he told Carbon Brief. But that stuff "doesn't get delivered, by and large," because "political factors, capability factors, jurisdictional factors, all sorts of different things" undermine implementation processes. "The problem is that by focusing on COPs as an end to themselves, we risk missing the wood for the trees." Still, Lockhart hasn't given up on the talks. "It's extremely important, in my view, that you have a space where the whole world can come together in a room and agree that it wants to do something," he said. If targets like those in the GBF aren't achievable, "then the question is: 'Why did the world agree to it?'" he asked. "And the answer to that is: 'Because it matters that we try.'" Source: The Energy Mix
Scoop
22-05-2025
- General
- Scoop
Biodiversity Loss Demands Urgent Global Action, Says UN Chief
UN Secretary-General Antnio Guterres has called on countries to radically rethink their relationship with nature, warning that biodiversity loss is a global crisis no nation can ignore. In a message marking Thursday's International Day for Biological Diversity, the UN chief raised alarm over the 'lightning pace' of degradation of the natural world. 'Biodiversity is the bedrock of life and a cornerstone of sustainable development,' Mr. Guterres said. 'Yet humanity is destroying biodiversity at lightening pace, the result of pollution, climate crisis, ecosystem destruction and – ultimately – short-term interests fuelling the unsustainable use of our natural world.' He stressed that no country, 'however rich or powerful,' can address the crisis in isolation, nor thrive without the ecological richness that defines life on Earth. Alarm bells ringing The International Day comes amid stark concern for the future: one million species are at risk of extinction, 75 per cent of land ecosystems and two-thirds of marine environments have been significantly altered by human activity. Furthermore, if current trends continue, progress towards eight of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) could be jeopardized. Mr. Guterres called for urgent implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, the landmark agreement adopted to halt and reverse nature loss by 2030. This includes delivering on national biodiversity action plans, scaling finance for conservation, shifting harmful subsidies, and supporting local communities, Indigenous Peoples, women and youth. Live in harmony with nature Biological diversity underpins food security, livelihoods, health and climate resilience. Roughly three billion people eat fish for 20 a per cent of their animal protein intake, and 80 per cent of rural populations in developing countries rely on plant-based medicine. Yet the destruction of natural habitats is also increasing the risk of zoonotic disease transmission, making biodiversity preservation a key factor in global health. 'Living in harmony with nature and sustainable development is humanity's path to a better world for all,' Mr. Guterres said, echoing this year's theme. 'Together, let us take it.' The International Day The UN officially designated 22 May as the International Day for Biological Diversity in 2000 to increase understanding and awareness of biodiversity issues. The date marks the adoption of the Convention on Biological Diversity in 1992.
Scoop
21-05-2025
- General
- Scoop
Biodiversity Loss Demands Urgent Global Action, Says UN Chief
In a message marking Thursday's International Day for Biological Diversity, the UN chief raised alarm over the 'lightning pace' of degradation of the natural world. 'Biodiversity is the bedrock of life and a cornerstone of sustainable development,' Mr. Guterres said. 'Yet humanity is destroying biodiversity at lightening pace, the result of pollution, climate crisis, ecosystem destruction and – ultimately – short-term interests fuelling the unsustainable use of our natural world.' He stressed that no country, 'however rich or powerful,' can address the crisis in isolation, nor thrive without the ecological richness that defines life on Earth. Alarm bells ringing The International Day comes amid stark concern for the future: one million species are at risk of extinction, 75 per cent of land ecosystems and two-thirds of marine environments have been significantly altered by human activity. Furthermore, if current trends continue, progress towards eight of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) could be jeopardized. Mr. Guterres called for urgent implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, the landmark agreement adopted to halt and reverse nature loss by 2030. This includes delivering on national biodiversity action plans, scaling finance for conservation, shifting harmful subsidies, and supporting local communities, Indigenous Peoples, women and youth. Live in harmony with nature Biological diversity underpins food security, livelihoods, health and climate resilience. Roughly three billion people eat fish for 20 a per cent of their animal protein intake, and 80 per cent of rural populations in developing countries rely on plant-based medicine. Yet the destruction of natural habitats is also increasing the risk of zoonotic disease transmission, making biodiversity preservation a key factor in global health. 'Living in harmony with nature and sustainable development is humanity's path to a better world for all,' Mr. Guterres said, echoing this year's theme. 'Together, let us take it.' The International Day The UN officially designated 22 May as the International Day for Biological Diversity in 2000 to increase understanding and awareness of biodiversity issues. The date marks the adoption of the Convention on Biological Diversity in 1992.
