location: New York

location: New York

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Do forest conservation pledges work? (commentary)
- The New York Declaration on Forests was agreed with great hope 10 years ago, but the world missed its 2020 target and is off track to end deforestation by 2030. Does this mean that forest pledges don’t work?
- It would be naive to expect pledges like it to quickly resolve decades long economic and political battles over land: their effect is limited without changes to forest funding, because forest clearance is usually driven by economic calculation.
- “The NYDF has not made history, but it did help redirect attention in a distracted world and create a benchmark for progress. Without it and the Glasgow Declaration, there would be less support for the many communities and institutions who are helping protect the two thirds of remaining tropical forests which are still standing,” a new op-ed states.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

Botanical gardens play key role in biodiversity & climate conventions (commentary)
- “As world leaders and scientific institutions from across the globe gather to discuss the biodiversity crisis at COP16 and climate change at COP29 this fall, it’s critical that they do not neglect the important work that is already being done by one of the world’s key stewards of nature – botanical gardens,” a new op-ed argues.
- Botanical gardens have an important role to play in the overall effort to combat the dual climate and biodiversity crises and can offer important solutions, but they are often underutilized, despite housing a wide array of experts on plants and fungi.
- “At the rate the planet is warming, there is no time to leave their untapped potential behind,” writes the CEO of The New York Botanical Garden.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

Major meatpacker JBS misled the public about sustainability efforts, NY lawsuit claims
- New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit against JBS USA Food Company and JBS USA Food Company Holdings for misrepresenting plans to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040.
- The lawsuit cites numerous instances in which the company’s claims to the public didn’t align with what was happening behind closed doors. Its website and advertisements have boasted claims about reaching net-zero carbon emissions while company executives were making plans to grow.
- The New York attorney general said JBS Group’s greenhouse gas emissions calculations don’t include deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest, making its environmental goals “not feasible given the current scope of [its] business operations.”

Alleged macaque-smuggling ring exposed as U.S. indicts Cambodian officials
- U.S. federal prosecutors have charged eight people, including two Cambodian forestry officials, for their alleged involvement in an international ring smuggling endangered long-tailed macaques.
- The indictment alleges forestry officials colluded with Hong Kong-based biomedical firm Vanny Bio Research to procure macaques from the wild and create export permits falsely listing them as captive-bred animals.
- One of the officials charged was arrested in New York City on Nov. 16, en route to Panama for an international summit focused on regulating the global trade in wildlife.
- This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center’s Rainforest Investigations Network where Gerald Flynn is a fellow.

Big Apple birding is set to take flight: Here’s how to get started this Spring
- New York City is home to some of the most competitive bird watchers in the world, says avid birder Rochelle Thomas.
- Perhaps unrivaled in their intensity, NYC bird watchers have become driven by what we would otherwise perceive to be a leisure activity.
- In an interview with Mongabay, Thomas shares her tips on where and when to get in on the action starting in mid April.

Visions of a post-supply chain society (commentary)
- For the past several months, Americans have been hearing about, and experiencing firsthand, supply chain disruptions.
- Nikolas Kozloff, a writer who authored No Rain in the Amazon: How South America’s Climate Change Affects the Entire Planet, asks whether we need to be thinking about a post-supply chain society.
- “Now that the pandemic has exposed underlying weaknesses in the system, there will undoubtedly be a reckoning by some,” Kozloff writes. “But perhaps the real question is whether we have wrestled with more severe challenges like climate change, which will disrupt lives to an even greater degree. Indeed, if consumers thought COVID-19 posed a headache for holiday shopping, imagine how rising sea levels, massive increases in temperature, severe wildfires and flooding will place additional stress on orderly supply chains.”
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

The Brooklyn Bridge needs a makeover. Is rainforest lumber still in style?
- Last year, a proposal to replace the Brooklyn Bridge’s walkway with wooden planks sourced from a Guatemalan rainforest won a City Council-sponsored competition.
- The planks would come from Uaxactun, a community-managed forest concession in the remote northeastern jungles of Petén.
- Set up after Guatemala’s civil war, community concessions in Petén have achieved remarkably low rates of deforestation and have a high prevalence of wildlife.
- Some environmentalists in New York say the proposal is misguided, and that creating any demand for tropical hardwood is a mistake no matter where it’s sourced from.

Investors say agroforestry isn’t just climate friendly — it’s also profitable
- Investments in agroforestry systems are growing along with the recognition that this model of farming is climate-friendly, environmentally sustainable, and profitable.
- Recently the startup company Propagate Ventures raised $1.5 million in seed funding to help farmers in eight U.S. states transition from conventional agriculture to agroforestry.
- For-profits ranging from individual farms to coffee companies and some of the largest chocolate companies in the world are currently investing in agroforestry.
- The relatively longer wait until profitability complicates its adoption by investors and farmers alike, where quick returns and obligations to shareholders are normally required, underscoring the niche for companies like Propagate.

As a campaigner against deforestation, almost dying of COVID-19 was ironic (commentary)
- Etelle Higonnet has worked for years to reform the palm oil, rubber, soy, and cocoa industries, which are heavily involved in tropical deforestation.
- Pandemics like COVID-19 are linked with deforestation and the wildlife trade, and she’s married to a public health expert, so it was ironic that she nearly lost her life to the disease last month.
- Higonnet argues that ending the wildlife trafficking which seems to have caused the pandemic is of no use if animals’ forest homes continue to be bulldozed, sending them into contact with people.
- This post is a commentary and does not necessarily reflect the views of Mongabay.

First known case of tiger contracting COVID-19 at Bronx Zoo
- A Malayan tiger housed at Bronx Zoo in New York City has tested positive for COVID-19.
- Four tigers and three African lions showed symptoms of the disease, which they likely contracted from an asymptomatic caretaker, who had COVID-19.
- There are a handful of cases of pets getting infected from their owners who had the disease but there is no evidence of these animals transmitting the virus to humans.
- The rapid spread of the virus has sparked concerns about humans infecting other wildlife populations, especially great apes that are susceptible to human diseases because they share more than 95% of genetic material with humans.

New tagging tech for great white shark tracking in New York waters
- Mongabay editor Erik Hoffner joined a research team studying juvenile great white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) just offshore of Long Island, New York, an area that has been identified as a great white ‘nursery.’
- Some of the technology being deployed via tags on sharks for this study will return unprecedented information on the species.
- Here we present a series of images from the program and of this particular shark’s capture and release.

Religious leaders mobilize to protect indigenous people and forests
- Religious leaders joined forces with indigenous peoples from Brazil, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Indonesia, Meso-America and Peru at the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo in 2017 to launch the Interfaith Rainforest Initiative (IRI).
- The IRI plans to mobilize high profile religious leaders to intervene in policy forums and advocate for forests and indigenous people with support from UN Environment.
- It has been estimated that one third of climate change mitigation is from tropical rainforests and securing land rights for indigenous peoples is an effective and low-cost method of reducing carbon emissions.

‘Adaptation Bangladesh: Sea Level Rise’ film shows how farmers are fighting climate change
- A recent documentary looks at how Bangladeshi farmers are adapting to rising sea levels.
- The film documents how Bangladeshi farmers are keeping their farms from flooding by building floating gardens made of water hyacinth and bamboo.
- The film won the Best Short Film at the New York WILD Film Festival, which begins on Feb. 22.
- Mongabay interviewed cultural anthropologist Alizé Carrère to learn more about why she chose to focus on Bangladesh and why this story is important.

Films celebrate big cats on World Wildlife Day
- Big cats is the theme of the global celebration of this year’s World Wildlife Day on March 3.
- A big cats film festival hosted by CITES and Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival at the UN headquarters in New York City will screen 16 films selected as finalists.
- Big cats are key apex predators that keep ecosystems healthy, and eight species are being celebrated for the event: the clouded leopard, jaguar, cheetah, leopard, lion, snow leopard, tiger and puma.

Scientists deploy DNA analysis and radiocarbon dating in latest salvo against ivory trafficking
- Scientists are analyzing ivory samples confiscated from the U.S. retail market to help reduce elephant poaching.
- Two teams of scientists will use radiocarbon dating to determine when each elephant was killed and DNA analyses to locate where it came from in Africa.
- Determining the location and year an elephant that produced a tusk was killed establishes if the ivory being sold is legal, helps assess the current extent of poaching, and assists law enforcement in targeting the poachers responsible.

Watch: $8 million worth elephant ivory crushed in New York City
- The ivory, weighing nearly two tons, is believed to represent more than 100 slaughtered elephants.
- By destroying the illegally obtained ivory, authorities hope to send a message to poachers, traffickers and dealers that the slaughter of elephants will not be tolerated.
- All of the ivory that was crushed on Thursday came from seizures over the past three years, mostly from New York City.

EGI: Filling in the gaps in law enforcement for the online wildlife trade
- Enforcement Gaps Interface (EGI) uses a computational algorithm to mine hundreds of commercial sites for ads potentially containing illegal wildlife and wildlife products.
- EGI aims to help law enforcement agencies, retailers and nongovernmental organizations reduce and ultimately eliminate rampant online wildlife trafficking.
- EGI’s creators are further developing it to incorporate more languages and image recognition into its searches.

The thriving oysters of Wellfleet Harbor

Cape Cod’s Wellfleet Harbor houses a complex ecosystem. Horseshoe crabs and Diamondback Terrapin Turtles form integral populations, but they are both most importantly bound to this harbor by its population of oysters, a keystone species that both purifies the water and provides an excellent habitat to other creatures. This unique and diverse harbor, as well […]
Drink beer, help the ocean?
- Saltwater Brewery has launched a prototype of biodegradable six-pack rings made from wheat and barley left over from the brewing process, which are non-toxic and disintegrate comparatively quickly in the ocean.
- The innovation could significantly reduce marine plastic pollution and protect hundreds of thousands of sea creatures harmed or killed annually by plastic rings.
- The brewery is perfecting the edible rings design, plans to eventually package all its cans using the technology and hopes investors and other breweries will support, adopt and popularize it.

Alec Baldwin, Helen Clark join Indigenous leaders calling for forest protections and land rights to combat climate change
- Standing outside UN headquarters today, Mina Setra, a leader of the Dayak Pompakng people from West Kalimantan, Indonesia, spoke about the dire need for an end to the criminalization and violence Indigenous people fighting to protect their forests are often met with.
- Her message for government officials due to sign the Paris Agreement tomorrow was simple: “Start implementation. Not on paper — now.”
- At a press conference earlier that day, multiple reports were released that bolster Setra’s argument — which was echoed by actor Alec Baldwin and UN Development Program administrator Helen Clark, who were also in attendance.

New fund helps groups buy land quickly to protect threatened wildlife

A view of the 5,000-acre Bábaco ranch, the purchase of which was supported by the Quick Response Biodiversity Fund to expand the Northern Jaguar Reserve in Sonora, Mexico. Photo by Miguel Gomez. The benefits of land acquisition as a conservation strategy are obvious enough. If you own the land, you get to decide what happens […]

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