探花直播 of Cambridge - biodiversity

Conservation efforts are bringing species back from the brink

sc604 — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 18:30:46 +0000

A major review of over 67,000 animal species has found that while the natural world continues to face a biodiversity crisis, targeted conservation efforts are helping bring many species back from the brink of extinction.

Rewilding in wealthy nations could drive extinctions in species-rich regions, experts warn

fpjl2 — Thu, 13 Feb 2025 16:28:04 +0000

Some efforts to preserve or rewild natural habitats are shifting harmful land use to other parts of the world 鈥� and this could drive an even steeper decline in the planet鈥檚 species, according to a team of conservation scientists and economists led by the 探花直播 of Cambridge.

Researchers from over a dozen institutions worldwide have come together to call on the global community to acknowledge the 鈥榖iodiversity leak鈥�: the displacement of nature-damaging human activities caused by ringfencing certain areas for protection or restoration.

They argue that rewilding productive farmland or forestry in industrialised nations that have low levels of biodiversity may do more harm than good on a planetary scale.

Exploratory analysis by the team suggests that reclaiming typical UK cropland for nature may be five times more damaging for global biodiversity than the benefit it provides local species, due to the displacement of production to more biodiverse regions.

While this 鈥榣eakage鈥� has been known about for decades, it is largely neglected in biodiversity conservation, say the researchers. They argue it undermines actions ranging from establishing new nature reserves to the EU鈥檚 environmental policies.

Writing in the journal Science, the experts point out that even the UN鈥檚 landmark Global Biodiversity Framework 鈥� aiming for 30% of the world鈥檚 land and seas to be conserved 鈥� makes no mention of the leakage problem.

鈥淎s nations in temperate regions such as Europe conserve more land, the resulting shortfalls in food and wood production will have to be made up somewhere,鈥� said Professor Andrew Balmford, from the 探花直播 of Cambridge鈥檚 Department of Zoology.聽

鈥淢uch of this is likely to happen in more biodiverse but often less well-regulated parts of the world, such as Africa and South America. Areas of much greater importance for nature are likely to pay the price for conservation efforts in wealthy nations unless we work to fix this leak.鈥�

鈥� 探花直播first thing we need to do is collectively acknowledge that these leaks exist,鈥� said co-author Professor Brendan Fisher from the 探花直播 of Vermont. 鈥淚f protesting a logging concession in the USA increases demand for pulp from the tropics, then we are unlikely to be helping biodiversity.鈥�

Co-author Dr Ben Balmford of the 探花直播 of Exeter said: 鈥淭his issue demands far greater attention from a sector that seeks to shape how 30% of an ever hungrier and more connected planet is managed.鈥�

鈥楲eakage鈥� is already a major issue for carbon credits tied to forest preservation, say researchers. But they argue it鈥檚 a real problem for biodiversity conservation efforts too.

While protected areas can slow deforestation inside their borders, there鈥檚 evidence it can simply shift to neighbouring areas. Production can also be displaced much further. Efforts to protect the Pacific Northwest鈥檚 old-growth forests resulted in increased logging in other North American regions, for example.

Yet a survey of site managers of tropical conservation projects conducted by the Cambridge team found that 37% had not come across the concept of leakage, and less than half of the projects were attempting to curb any displacement damage.*

探花直播researchers explored how leakage caused by protected areas could affect global biodiversity by applying real-world food and biodiversity data to two hypothetical conservation projects.

They found that rewilding a sizeable area of Brazilian soybean farms would push production to nations such as Argentina and USA, but because Brazil is so important for biodiversity, the local conservation gains could be around five times greater than the displacement harms.

探花直播opposite would be true if the equivalent area of UK arable farmland was reclaimed for nature. Here, production would be displaced to Australia, Germany, Italy and Ukraine.**

As the UK has fewer species than these other countries, damage from 鈥榣eakage鈥� could be five times greater than the local benefit to British biodiversity.聽

探花直播experts offer a number of ways to help plug the biodiversity leak. They call on governments and the conservation sector to take leakage far more seriously when making environmental policy at national and global level.

They also point out that leakage could be reduced if conservation projects work with others to reduce demand 鈥� especially for high-footprint commodities such as red meat.

There鈥檚 scope to limit leakage by targeting conservation to areas high in biodiversity but where current or potential production of food or timber is limited, say researchers. One example is restoring abandoned tropical shrimp farms to mangroves.

However, we should also be much more cautious about restoring natural habitats on currently productive farmland in less biodiverse parts of the world, they argue.

Beyond planning where to conserve, major conservation initiatives should work with partners in other sectors to support local farmers, so that overall levels of production are maintained in the region despite protected areas. 探花直播team cite examples ranging from forest-friendly chocolate to herding practices that protect snow leopards.

Where local yield increases are difficult, larger-scale programmes could establish long-range partnerships with suppliers in the same markets to make up shortfalls in production.

鈥淲ithout attention and action, there is a real risk that the biodiversity leak will undermine hard-won conservation victories,鈥� said co-author Dr Fiona Sanderson of the Royal Society for Protection of Birds, who works on reducing the impacts of cocoa production in Sierra Leone.

Lead author from Cambridge, Prof Andrew Balmford, added: 鈥淎t its worst, we could see some conservation actions cause net global harm by displacing production to regions which are much more significant for biodiversity.鈥澛�

*Survey of 100 practitioners involved in area-based tropical conservation projects, including directors, managers, coordinators, and researchers. Respondents came from 36 countries across all five continents. Further details: https://zenodo.org/records/14780198

** Two hypothetical habitat restoration programmes covering 1000km2 of Brazilian soy-producing land, and restoring 1000km2 of arable farmland in the UK that produces wheat, barley and oilseed rape.

Researchers call on the international community to recognise and start tackling the 鈥榖iodiversity leak鈥�.

Areas of much greater importance for nature are likely to pay the price for conservation efforts in wealthy nations unless we work to fix this leak

Andrew Balmford

Michael Duff, 漏 RSPB-images.com

探花直播Gola Rainforest Project in Sierra Leone. This conservation project has limited leakage while slowing deforestation by supporting nearby farmers such as Mallo Samah to increase their yields and get higher prices for their cocoa.

探花直播text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright 漏探花直播 of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways 鈥� on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

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Botanic Gardens must team up to save wild plants from extinction

jg533 — Mon, 27 Jan 2025 00:01:55 +0000

A major study of botanic gardens around the world has revealed their struggles with one fundamental aim: to safeguard the world鈥檚 most threatened plants from extinction.

Researchers analysed a century鈥檚 worth of records - from 1921 to 2021 - from fifty botanic gardens and arboreta currently growing half a million plants, to see how the world鈥檚 living plant collections have changed over time.聽

探花直播results suggest that the world鈥檚 living collections have collectively reached peak capacity, and that restrictions on wild plant collecting around the world are hampering efforts to gather plant diversity on the scale needed to study and protect it.

There is little evidence that institutions are managing to conserve threatened plants within collections, on a global scale, despite accelerating rates of elevated extinction risk.

探花直播findings imply that tackling the loss of biodiversity has not been prioritised across the world鈥檚 botanic gardens as a collective - a fact the researchers say must be urgently addressed.

Curator of Cambridge 探花直播 Botanic Garden Professor Samuel Brockington, who led the work, said: 鈥淎 concerted, collaborative effort across the world鈥檚 botanic gardens is now needed to conserve a genetically diverse range of plants, and to make them available for research and future reintroduction into the wild.鈥�

In their report, published聽in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, the researchers say the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has effectively halved the level at which plants are being collected from the wild, and also created obstacles to the international exchange of plants.

Brockington, who is also Professor of Evolution in the 探花直播 of Cambridge鈥檚 Department of Plant Sciences, said: 鈥� 探花直播impact of the Convention on Biological Diversity is a remarkable demonstration of the power and value of international agreements. But it seems to be preventing individual botanic gardens from working with many globally threatened plant species that we could help save from extinction.鈥�

Collective thinking

As much as 40% of the world鈥檚 plant diversity is at elevated risk of extinction. Acceptance that individual collections have limited capacity to single-handedly prevent species extinction demands a rethink as to how they collaborate to store and safeguard diversity in living collections.

探花直播researchers say it will be vital for the living collections to be considered as a 鈥榤eta-collection鈥� in future: only by working closely together will the world鈥檚 botanic gardens be able to hold the range of plants needed to make a meaningful contribution to conservation efforts. This will include sharing data and expertise and supporting the development of new collections in the global south, where much of the world鈥檚 biodiversity is located.聽

探花直播researchers point out that some individual institutions, like the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh, have successfully targeted and measurably conserved threatened conifer species. Similarly, Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) has established numerous global conservation consortia. However, these initiatives are the exception.

Wild decline

Plants must be regularly replaced or propagated within living collections: the average lifetime of a specimen is just 15 years. But the team鈥檚 analysis found that the number of wild-origin plants - those collected in the wild - in the collections peaked in 1993 and has been in decline ever since.聽

鈥淚t is certainly not getting any easier to sustain the diversity of our collections. This is especially true for wild-collected plants, and they鈥檙e the most valuable for us in terms for supporting research, and in finding solutions to the twin challenges of climate change and global biodiversity loss,鈥� said Brockington.

Weather worries

As climate change alters growing conditions in different regions of the world, it will become more challenging for individual botanic gardens to continue to grow such a diverse range of species.

Brockington said: 鈥淐limate change affects our work directly by altering local weather conditions - we鈥檝e already seen record-breaking temperatures in Cambridge in recent years. That鈥檚 going to affect how well our plants survive, so we need to think rationally and collectively about the best locations to hold different species across the global network of living collections.鈥澛�

On 25 July 2019, Cambridge 探花直播 Botanic Garden reached 38.7⁰C - the highest temperature ever recorded in the UK at that time.

Diversity is key

Genetic diversity is important when it comes to protecting plants at risk of extinction, because it allows for breeding populations of species that can adapt to future challenges.

探花直播more individual plants of a particular species in a collection, the greater the genetic diversity is likely to be.聽

探花直播team says data from the International Conifer Conservation Programme, run by the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, shows that living collections can make a valuable contribution to conservation efforts - given the right resource and focus. By distributing threatened species across a network of safe sites, the trees are grown where they grow best, and as a whole they represent a strong sample of the genetic diversity of this important group.
Ethical collecting

Last year, Cambridge 探花直播 Botanic Garden advertised for a new 鈥楨xpedition Botanist鈥� to lead global plant-collection expeditions and contribute to vital conservation efforts.聽

Brockington says these expeditions remain vital to work to safeguard and study the world鈥檚 plant species. He suggests that collaborative collecting work is possible, in a fair and ethical way, that builds equitable international partnerships.聽

探花直播CBD is a global agreement, signed by 150 government leaders in 1992, dedicated to promoting sustainable development. It makes each country responsible for protecting its own biodiversity, and supports fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the use of that biodiversity.

There are 3,500 botanic gardens and arboreta worldwide. They exist so that scientists can study, conserve and provide access to the world鈥檚 plants, as well as showcasing them to the public.

Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) is a charity whose purpose is to mobilise botanic gardens and engage partners in securing plant diversity for the wellbeing of people and the planet.

Reference: Cano, A. et al: 鈥�Insights from a century of data reveal global trends in ex situ living plant collections.鈥� Nature Ecology and Evolution, January 2024. DOI: 10.1038/s41559-024-02633-z
聽

探花直播world鈥檚 botanic gardens must pull together to protect global plant biodiversity in the face of the extinction crisis, amid restrictions on wild-collecting, say researchers.

A concerted, collaborative effort across the world鈥檚 botanic gardens is now needed to conserve a genetically diverse range of plants.

Samuel Brockington

Howard Rice

Cambridge 探花直播 Botanic Garden

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Licence type:

Attribution-Noncommerical

A radical economic transformation is the only way to save nature and ourselves

plc32 — Mon, 04 Nov 2024 17:16:30 +0000

Cambridge Institute聽for Sustainability Leadership's Chief Innovation Officer, James Cole, looks back at what happened at COP16, and asks what comes next in this article.聽

After two weeks of negotiations last week in Cali, Colombia, the COP16 biodiversity summit was suspended with no overall agreement on a path forward on 鈥渞esource mobilisation."

Yes

Hope and determination for nature

plc32 — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 10:41:16 +0000

Cambridge Conservation Initiative Executive Director Melissa Leach offers insights on the COP16 Global Biodiversity summit in Cali, Colombia as government ministers engage in tense final negotiations and the latest news from the natural world is that more than a third of tree species face extinction in the wild.

探花直播price of ecological breakdown

fpjl2 — Mon, 07 Oct 2024 23:00:00 +0000

Cambridge researchers are investigating the聽economic聽consequences of聽climate change聽and聽biodiversity聽loss, and identifying ways to drive a more聽sustainable聽global economy.

Highly-sensitive beaks could help albatrosses and penguins find their food

sc604 — Wed, 18 Sep 2024 00:09:46 +0000

Researchers have discovered that seabirds, including penguins and albatrosses, have highly-sensitive regions in their beaks that could be used to help them find food. This is the first time this ability has been identified in seabirds.

Global timber supply threatened as climate change pushes cropland northwards

jg533 — Thu, 29 Aug 2024 08:49:54 +0000

探花直播sight of vineyards in Britain is becoming more common as hotter summers create increasingly suitable conditions for growing grapes. But behind this success story is a sobering one: climate change is shifting the regions of the world suitable for growing crops.

Researchers at the 探花直播 of Cambridge have uncovered a looming issue: as the land suitable for producing our food moves northwards, it will put a squeeze on the land we need to grow trees. 探花直播timber these trees produce is the basis of much of modern life 鈥� from paper and cardboard to furniture and buildings.

They say that the increasing competition between land for timber production and food production due to climate change has, until now, been overlooked 鈥� but is set to be an emerging issue as our demand for both continues to increase.

Under the worst-case scenario for climate change, where no action is taken to decarbonise society, the study found that over a quarter of existing forestry land 鈥� around 320 million hectares, equivalent to the size of India 鈥� will become more suitable for agriculture by the end of the century.

Most forests for timber production are currently located in the northern hemisphere in the US, Canada, China and Russia. 探花直播study found that 90% of all current forestry land that will become agriculturally productive by 2100 will be in these 4 countries.

In particular, tens of millions of hectares of timber-producing land across Russia will become newly suitable for agriculture 鈥� more than in the US, Canada and China put together 鈥� with conditions becoming favourable for potato, soy, and wheat farming.

鈥淭here鈥檚 only a finite area of suitable land on the planet where we can produce food and wood - 2 critical resources for society. As climate change worsens and agriculture is forced to expand northwards, there鈥檚 going to be increasing pressure on timber production,鈥� said Dr Oscar Morton, a researcher in the 探花直播 of Cambridge鈥檚 Department of Plant Sciences who co-led the study.

鈥淲e鈥檝e got to be thinking 50 years ahead because if we want timber in the future, we need to be planting it now. 探花直播trees that will be logged by the end of this century are already in the ground 鈥� they鈥檙e on much slower cycles than food crops,鈥� said Dr Chris Bousfield, a postdoctoral researcher in the 探花直播 of Cambridge鈥檚 Department of Plant Sciences and co-leader of the study.

Global food demand is projected to double by 2050 as the population grows and becomes more affluent. Global wood demand is also expected to double in the same timeframe, in large part because it is a low-carbon alternative to concrete and steel for construction.

Shifting timber production deeper into boreal or tropical forests are not viable options, because the trees in those regions have stood untouched for thousands of years and logging them would release huge amounts of carbon and threaten biodiversity.

鈥淎 major environmental risk of increasing competition for land between farming and forestry is that wood production moves into remaining areas of primary forest within the tropics or boreal zones. These are the epicentres of remaining global wilderness and untouched tropical forests are the most biodiverse places on Earth. Preventing further expansion is critical,鈥� said David Edwards, Professor of Plant Ecology in the 探花直播 of Cambridge鈥檚 Department of Plant Sciences and senior author of the study.

To get their results, the researchers took satellite data showing intensive forestry across the world and overlaid it with predictions of suitable agricultural land for the world鈥檚 key crops -including rice, wheat, maize, soy and potato - in the future under various climate change scenarios.

Even in the best-case scenario, where the world meets net-zero targets, the researchers say there will still be significant future changes in the regions suitable for timber and crop production.

探花直播study is published in the journal Nature Climate Change.

Timber production contributes over US $1.5 trillion (about 拢1.1 trillion) per year to national economies globally. Heatwaves and associated wildfires have caused huge recent losses of timber forests around the world. Climate change is also driving the spread of pests like the Bark Beetle, which attacks trees.

Climate change is expected to cause areas in the tropics to become too hot and inhospitable for growing food and make large areas of southern Europe much less suitable for food and wood production.

鈥淐limate change is already causing challenges for timber production. Now on top of that, there will be this increased pressure from agriculture, creating a perfect storm of problems,鈥� said Bousfield.

鈥淪ecuring our future wood supply might not seem as pressing as securing the food we need to eat and survive. But wood is just as integrated within our daily lives and we need to develop strategies to ensure both food and wood security into the future,鈥� said Morton.

Reference

Bousfield, C G, et al, 鈥�Climate change will exacerbate land conflict between agriculture and timber production.鈥� Nature Climate Change (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41558-024-02113-z

Climate change will move and reduce the land suitable for growing food and timber, putting the production of these 2 vital resources into direct competition, a new study has found.

Gianluca Cerullo

Timber/farming contrast in the USA

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