The Nature Conservancy’s Post

Next to habitat loss, the spread of non-native, invasive species is one of the top problems causing environmental decline in our land and water ecosystems. Whether they are invasive plants, tree pests, fish, mussels, animals, or insects, they all threaten native species. Over the last few years, we have been involved in various projects to control invasive species, including: 🌾 Treating and removing Phragmites and buckthorns in London’s Environmentally Significant Areas and Fanshawe Conservation Area 🐠 Monitoring our aquatic systems for invasive fish species 🌳 Researching and studying the effects of tree diseases and insect pests (e.g., oak wild and emerald ash borer) in our watershed 🌿 Spraying Japanese knotweed in the Town of Mitchell for the Municipality of West Perth 🌱 Invasive species iNaturalist project 🐛 Being on alert for new pests and invasive plants entering the region Find out more: https://lnkd.in/gHaNm6g2

"We are in a position of great risk, the time for action to minimise risk is now. A decade from now what we do won't be as impactful." Professor Tim Flannery is a world-renowned scientist and explorer who was also the keynote speaker at the O Tātou Ngahere Conference in 2022. He speaks with Vincent Heeringa about the imminent climate risks to the world and what we in Aotearoa can do about it now. Pure Advantage and Tāne’s Tree Trust, with a growing group of supporters including mana whenua groups, are calling on the Government, businesses, local communities, and every person in Aotearoa New Zealand to support and commit to an urgent and ambitious programme to restore indigenous forests and sequester carbon, tackle the biodiversity crisis and cleanse waterways across the land. Recloaking Papatūānuku in practical terms means the Reforestation of our Earth Mother. Drawing from Mana Taiao Tairāwhiti’s ‘Recloaking the Whenua’ and building on the successful O Tātou Ngahere programme and conference, Recloaking Papatūānuku is an initiative guided by the wisdom of mātaraunga Māori and is a holistic approach to conservation. This interview is part of a series that forms a bridge to Recloaking Papatūānuku by communicating the rationale and urgency for such a vision. Visit the link for more and to also read our latest newsletter https://lnkd.in/gfAAwW7a #OTātouNgahere #RecloakingPapatūānuku #OTNinterviewseries #thinklikeaforest #nativeforest #indigenous #forest #regenerativeforestry #climatechange #naturebasedsolutions #recloakingpapatuanuku #biodiversity #indigenousforest #reforestation #restoration Tāne’s Tree Trust

Sharing this insightful post by Nirmal Jivan Shah for a number of reasons, but at the top of mind is the increasing overreliance on "tech" and finance and the disconnect from nature that is trending in the conservation, sustainability, and "blue/green economy" spaces. How do we have "experts" in environmental conservation and sustainability who have no actual connection to the natural systems they purport to care for? I'm not the only one concerned, which is a good thing. What happens when we overinvest in solutions that are derived from the same systems which created the problems of over-extraction and exploitation in the first place. Can we really fix problems using the same paradigms that caused them? For additional data points to prompt reflection on this, see: *Bunmi E.'s comments on the Ori Consultancy page re "tech" and traditional knowledge. *Mongabay's recent exposé revealing more fraud in *audited* carbon credit schemes in Brasil. What if, rather than pouring billions of dollars into creating more financial instruments and building robots to do things humans have been doing for thousands of years, we invested in less corruptible, more authentic, tangible work on the ground? #nature #investments #authenticity #conservation #sustainability

At the recently concluded #GLFNairobi conference in Nairobi, we shed light on Genetic diversity conservation. As countries strive to fulfill pledges to restore vast areas of degraded forest landscapes, there are also numerous challenges associated with collecting, storing, and distributing tree seeds from wild species with sufficient genetic diversity. How are seed banks critical for climate adaptation? 🌱 Find out: https://bit.ly/3SzdLaO #Trees4Resilience #cop28

So, people who never go out in the field and may have never studied, conserved or restored mangroves, are blathering on about mangroves and "blue carbon" and their importance to coastal protection, Blah Blah Blah. Yet more than 50% of the world’s mangrove ecosystems are at risk of collapse, according to the first global mangrove assessment for the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Ecosystems. Mangrove ecosystems are exceptional in their ability to provide essential services to people, including coastal disaster risk reduction, carbon storage and sequestration, and support for fisheries. Their loss stands to be disastrous for nature and people across the globe. What are you doing to save mangroves?

We need the best available information available to help biodiversity managers assist our native species and ecosystems adapt to climate change.    The 4 #NESP hubs are working together to understand what information is needed to undertake adaptation for better biodiversity outcomes. This involves consulting with stakeholders across the country to develop a climate adaptation knowledge platform for biodiversity.    NESP Resilient Landscapes Hub Sustainable Communities and Waste Hub NESP Marine and Coastal Hub Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry

Via David Shiffman - Extreme events delay the detection of marine protected area effects: Implications for monitoring and management - Science Direct: The establishment of protected natural areas worldwide has surged in the last decade, with more protected area coverage expected in the future. In the case of marine protected areas (MPAs) that prohibit fishing, there are ongoing efforts to evaluate their effectiveness in conserving fish populations. Accurate assessments of MPA effects (namely, their ability to increase fish biomass within their boundaries) are crucial to support these evaluations. However, marine ecosystems are increasingly affected by extreme events including marine heatwaves, hypoxia, storms, and epizootic outbreaks. These events can disrupt population increases within MPAs, leading to delays in expected conservation outcomes and the misperception that protection may not be effective. However, it is currently unclear to what extent disturbances could bias MPA assessments and for how long. To address this gap, we used a population model based on a common nearshore fishery species from the USA west coast (blue rockfish, Sebastes mystinus) to evaluate the detectability of MPA effects when an acute disturbance occurs within the first decade of protection. We found that detecting MPA effects with high confidence can be delayed up to 10 years following an extreme disturbance. Furthermore, the before-after sampling design (as opposed to an inside-outside or before-after-control-impact, or BACI design) is most biased by a widespread disturbance event, especially with long (>5 years) and severe disturbances (>30 % population reduction). These findings indicate that extreme events can profoundly impact MPA assessments, causing delays in recovery and detectability. Our results provide a benchmark to calibrate monitoring and management evaluations accordingly. https://lnkd.in/ermJPzvP

Global Insect Decline Threatens Ecosystems: Urgent Action Needed! #climatechangeandinsectdecline #globalinsectdecline #habitatlossandinsectdecline #impactofinsectdecline #insectpopulationdecline

Have you heard of the incredible #DoomsdayVault, a safeguard for our planet's biodiversity. This impressive initiative secures seeds from around the world, ensuring food security for future generations. Check it out at https://buff.ly/3PSER9X #Environment #Conservation 🌱🌍"