Spring at Macoun Marsh in Ottawa, Canada

Here are some pictures from today!

A SPLASH of colour- a Female Eastern Comma

Male Goldfinch showing off his colour!

Red-tailed Bumble Bee on a Periwinkle flower

Red-necked False Blister Beetle on Dogtooth Violet

Green frog with frog-specific mosquitoes

BONOBOS ARE OUR CLOSEST LIVING RELATIVES

Although bonobos are our closest living relative, we still know very little about them. What we do know is that there aren’t many of them left – as few as 10,000 left in the wild, making them the world’s most endangered ape. Bonobos only live in one country, the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has seen the bloodiest war since World War II.

For over 15 years, Claudine André has fought for the conservation and welfare of bonobos in Congo. She established Lola ya Bonobo, the world’s only bonobo sanctuary with over 60 orphans from the bushmeat trade, but more than anyone else in the world, Claudine has worked tirelessly to convince everyone from Congolese hunters to politicians that bonobos are a national treasure worth protecting.

How can anyone not want to help these beautiful animals?

  Bonobo Handshake is an amazing book that follows a young woman (Vanessa Woods) who follows her fiance to Congo to study these rare apes.  Check out http://www.bonobohandshake.com/

A big thank you to Vanessa Woods for the permission to use the above images.

About We Canada:

"We Canada is a nation-wide initiative for Canadian leadership in sustainable development at the Earth Summit 2012. Our goal is to represent the Canadians that otherwise wouldn't have been represented. We aim to bring a diversity of Canadian voices to the Earth Summit 2012 and to the Government of Canada’s attention.

The initiative aims to influence Canadian political actors to adopt progressive policies on sustainable development. The three policy proposals put forward by We Canada are: Measuring What Matters, Getting the Prices Right and Making Trade Fair. We Canada is about talking, about sharing, about creating a community of engaged citizens around common ideas and concerns for our future. We  Canada is about telling our leaders that they must take a stand for sustainability because this is our priority.

We want your voice to be heard when Canada speaks up for you at the Earth Summit 2012. Whether you see sustainable development as a health issue, an environmental issue, a social issue, an equality issue, a political issue, or a global issue - you’re right! Together, WE CAN address all of these challenges and make our voices heard at this globally important event."
Earth Summit Dialogues:

"The Earth Summit Dialogues, is an initiative to encourage Canadians to take action for Canadian leadership at the Earth Summit 2012. Through the dialogues Canadians will have an opportunity to engage in discussions related to sustainability at the local level. These discussions will involve friends, family, students and/or colleagues and will focus on We Canada’s three major policy proposals for the Earth Summit 2012. The results from these dialogues will then be presented at the conference in Rio de Janeiro during the We Canada event. The Earth summit Dialogues will be hosted in Canadian homes from April 15 – May 15, 2012.

The three policy recommendations that are the topic of discussion of the Earth Summit Dialogues are: Measuring What Matters, that aims to establish an efficient method to measure human welfare, Getting the Prices Right that targets the Canadian government to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies and place an economy-wide price on carbon and Making Trade Fair, that addresses Canada’s economic activity on a global scale and focuses on ways to ensure that Canadian trade advances the social, environmental and economic wellbeing of other people and places around the world."

website:http://earthsummit.ca/dialogues-toolkit/

MACOUN MARSH, OTTAWA, CANADA

Spring at Macoun Marsh with St-Laurent Academy School

Tree Swallow

Eastern garter snake

Enjoying nature

Eastern blue-spots are common here.

Red-wing male defending its territory.

Assassin bug

Raccoon sleeping in a squirrel nest

PANAMÁ - More Photos From My Easter Break

A hummingbird drinking some sweet honey from a feeder.

A close up shot of a hummingbird.

Some bromeliads from the same family as pineapples, nestled up on some tree branches.

A nut from the Bambito tree. One of the foods the Resplendent Quetzal prefers.

Here is a male quetzal with a nut that he is holding in his beak. Waiting so he can feed it to his chicks. 

A shot I took of a piece bamboo which helps the earth here in Panamá stay firm.
Bamboo is very helpful to avoid corrosion and landslides. 

Mr. Panamá

New insights in biodiversity and sustainability awareness around the world:

Paris/Montreal, 12 April 2012 –The Union for Ethical Bio Trade (UEBT) launched the latest Biodiversity Barometer in Paris today.

The 2012 biodiversity barometer finds that 76% of all respondents from around the globe were aware of sustainable development, 64% of biodiversity. Of the top 100 beauty companies in the world, 54 mentioned sustainability in their reporting and website, while 31 referred to biodiversity.

The barometer provides insights on evolving biodiversity awareness among consumers and how the beauty industry reports on biodiversity. It also illustrates the progress towards achieving the targets of the Strategic Plan of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). This year, the survey was conducted among 8000 consumers in eight countries - Brazil, France, Germany, India, Peru, Switzerland, UK and USA.

Towards Rio+20

Twenty years after the United Nations Earth Summit significant levels of awareness have been reached. UEBT found that global awareness on sustainability is 76%. Yet, over the last years the growth curve has flattened. Rio+20, the UN Summit on Sustainable Development that will be held in Brazil later this year, is aiming to provide new impetus for sustainable development.

A significant number of people surveyed (75%) assign an important role to private sector in achieving sustainable development, in addition to their governments. This highlights the needs to consider the private sector in the outcomes of Rio+20 and the importance of business to take action towards the future we want.

Reaching the 2020 biodiversity targets
Awareness on biodiversity around the world is generally high, with particularly high awareness rates in countries like Brazil, France, Switzerland and South Korea. Significant differences of awareness exist between countries, even within the same region. The understanding of 2 biodiversity, measured through the number of people that provided correct definitions of biodiversity, is often very limited: Nowhere does it exceed 50%.

Governments worldwide are committed to increasing understanding of the values of biodiversity by the year 2020, as part of the biodiversity targets of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. The UEBT Biodiversity Barometer shows that when reaching out to increase understanding, the most important channels are television, magazines, newspapers and schools.

Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias, Executive Secretary of the CBD, said: “The first target of 2020 is raising awareess on the values of biodiversity. To reach these targets we need to regain the momentum created by 2010 International Year of Biodiversity. We trust that Rio+20 and the United Nations Decade of Biodiversity 2011-2012 will put biodiversity high on people’s agenda again.”

Rik Kutsch Lojenga, UEBT Executive Director, adds: “Only 19% of people have heard about biodiversity through business communications. So far, the potential contribution of the private sector towards biodiversity awareness remains largely untapped. To understand the vast potential, one only needs to look at Brazil where consumers say that advertising is the second most important source of information on biodiversity. Biodiversity awareness in Brazil is highest among the surveyed countries.”

Ethical sourcing of biodiversity: consumer expectations towards business
The UEBT biodiversity barometer finds that 85% of consumers surveyed look for natural ingredients in cosmetics products, and 69% pay attention to where ingredients come from.  More than 80% would like to be better informed about companies' sourcing practices. Yet, only 31 of the top 100 beauty companies mention biodiversity in their websites or CSR reporting. Only 19 mention biodiversity sourcing practices in supply chains, and consistent and comprehensive reporting on these issues is almost absent.

This year particular attention was paid to emerging economies. “Emerging economies are not only the markets of the future, they are also increasingly influencing the sustainability agenda” said Rik Kutsch Lojenga. “Many consumers in emerging economies are interested in environmental and social issues. When asked about their purchasing behaviour, 41% of consumers in Brazil, India and Peru indicated they pay attention to a brand's social and environmental values. Levels that are higher than those in Western markets.”

“All businesses depend upon biodiversity in one way or another, and similarly all businesses have an impact upon biodiversity. Sustainable use of biodiversity is therefore good not only for the environment, but also important for the ongoing viability and profitability of most business models,” said Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias, adding: “Sustainable use of biodiversity also needs to recognize and value the rights of the custodians of biodiversity and promote benefit-sharing.

In this regard, the anticipated entry into force of the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit sharing will open another opportunity for businesses to move towards sustainability.”

IVORY TRADE ‘EXPERTS’ STILL AVOIDING KEY ISSUE

LONDON: The new BBC documentary Ivory Wars: Out of Africa tonight detailed the ongoing tragedy of rampant elephant poaching and the international ivory trade, but something was absent from its broad overview.

Leading experts featured in the Panorama special failed to confront the most pressing issue – that China’s ‘legal’ ivory trade is driving the slaughter and shutting it down must be made a priority.

Last month, the London-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) released the new briefing Blood Ivory: Exposing the myth of a regulated market and a campaign film, calling for legal ivory sales to be stopped and for China to be stripped of its Approved Buyer status.

EIA Executive Director Mary Rice said: “Panorama's findings clearly show how China’s unregulated consumption is devastating elephant populations in Africa, and how illegal ivory is even available in State-run Friendship stores.

“China’s voracious demand and its abject failure to regulate the ‘legal’ trade constitute a total failure of the 2008 decision to grant Approved Buyer status to China, allowing it to purchase stockpiled ivory at auctions sanctioned by the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

“The UK, European Union and other governments supported China’s bid to become an Approved Buyer and should shoulder the responsibility for that misguided decision by opposing any further sales and pushing for China’s status to be revoked.”

Recent EIA undercover investigations in China show its ivory trade is out of control, with up to 90 per cent of ivory available coming from illegal sources and evidence that the Chinese Government itself has directly profiteered on the ivory it bought at auction in 2008.

EIA has repeatedly warned of the risk of granting China Approved Buyer status, including in its 2007 report Made in China: “China does not meet the requirements of CITES … and the Standing Committee should not approve China’s request to be an approved trading partner”.

However, the following year, a report by TRAFFIC, which manages the Elephant Trade Information System (ETIS) on behalf of CITES, and China Arts & Crafts Association claimed “… the legal ivory processing and sales enterprises are not involved in any illegal ivory trade.” In the same year, TRAFFIC endorsed China's application to be an Approved Buyer for legal ivory sales.

In Ivory Wars, TRAFFIC/ETIS spokesman Tom Milliken conceded: “Did allowance of ivory to go into China exacerbate a situation? One could probably argue now, that with hindsight, that indeed it did. It created perhaps an image in the minds of many potential Chinese consumers that it was okay to buy ivory.”

Rice added: “Time is not on the elephant’s side. The failure of the legal trade is evident and it should be immediately shut down.”

Interviews are available on request; please contact EIA Executive Director Mary Rice at maryrice@eia-international.org or telephone 020 7354 7960.