Forestry and Royal Botanical park services department has come up with a mobile application, where information on wildlife crime could be securely and easily accessible to frontline staff in Bhutan. This contains information about diverse regional species relevant to Bhutan, general description and distribution of the animals, commonly traded animal and animal’s parts in international market, photographs of the animals and its body parts, and visual clues for more accurate identification of wildlife contraband.
October 03
http://www.kuenselonline.com/mobile-app-to-help-curb-wildlife-crimes/
Friday, October 30, 2015
FOREST AND WILDLIFE CRIMES INCREASE- BHUTAN
Crimes related to forest and wildlife has increased even after the frequent patrolling and active watch during the nights. Smuggling of animal products rose from six cases to 19, poaching from 13 to 35, collection of sand and stones increased to 138 from 119 cases, illegal fishing from 123 to 138, and illegal felling of trees from 228 to 232 incidents in this year.
September 29
http://www.kuenselonline.com/forest-and-wildlife-crime-on-the-rise/
September 29
http://www.kuenselonline.com/forest-and-wildlife-crime-on-the-rise/
FIRST NATURAL SCIENCE MUSEUM- TIBET
There first natural science museum and the biggest museum in the southwestern autonomous region of Tibet, China has been opened. The 30,000 square-meter museum was financed by investment of more than USD 63 million. Interactive devices have been installed so visitors can experience Tibet's natural wonders. This is expected to facilitate innovative spirit among local youth and increase interest in science and technology in the wider community.
October 02
http://eng.tibet.cn/2012sy/xw/201510/t20151002_3950744.html
October 02
http://eng.tibet.cn/2012sy/xw/201510/t20151002_3950744.html
MONTREAL PROTOCOL MEETING OF PARTIES IN DUBAI
The 27th Meeting of Parties (MoP) to the Montreal Protocol will convene from
November 1-5, 2015 to discuss pressing issues related to hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and ozone-depleting substances (ODS).
Prior
to the MoP, a resumed two-day Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG) of the
Parties is expected to conclude discussions on a mandate for a contact
group to discuss
the HFC amendment proposals.
In preparation for the meeting, Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) has produced the new briefing
Solving the Global Climate Crisis: Taking the First Step with a Dubai Amendment on HFCs.
Our expert climate campaigners are available for interviews, comment and background briefings.
WHO: Attending from the Environmental Investigation Agency
(EIA):
·
Clare Perry – Climate Campaign Team Leader
·
Tim Grabiel – Senior Lawyer
·
Peter Grabiel – Senior Lawyer
·
Adela Putinelu – Climate Campaigner
WHEN:
October 29-30: Resumed OEWG meeting
November 1-5: Montreal
Protocol Meeting of Parties
WHERE:
The Conrad Hotel
Sheikh Zayed Road,
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
WHY: The
occasion is of utmost importance as Parties will
discuss proposals to reduce the consumption and production of HFCs,
super greenhouse gases used in refrigeration and air-conditioning.
A global agreement under the
Montreal Protocol to address HFCs could prevent the consumption of more
than 100 billion tonnes of CO2e HFCs by 2050. This would
achieve significant
near-term climate change mitigation and potentially catalyse
far-reaching action at the Paris Climate Conference. EIA is calling on
Parties to agree an amendment at the 27th MoP in Dubai which mandates concrete, ambitious reductions in HFC production
and consumption in developed countries and incentivises early action by developing countries to curtail HFC growth.
Follow the event live on Twitter via @EIAinvestigator
Biodiversity meeting to examine effectiveness of measures to implement global biodiversity plan
Montreal, 30 October 2015 – Some 600 delegates from around the world will gather together in Montreal, Canada, next week to examine the effectiveness of measures taken by Governments to implement the global biodiversity agenda and mainstream biodiversity into sustainable development through implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020. Discussions will focus on policy coherence and the monitoring of progress in achieving the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity and its Aichi Biodiversity Targets.
The nineteenth meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA 19) will be held from 2 to 5 November 2015 at the headquarters of the International Civil Aviation Organization in Montreal.
SBSTTA, the open-ended intergovernmental scientific body that advises the Conference of the Parties (COP), will review the main implications of the findings of the fourth edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook (GBO-4), which was published in 2014. Using information contained in the fifth national reports, and seeking to identify best practices and lessons learned, SBSTTA will review options for overcoming obstacles to the implementation of the Strategic Plan and the achievement of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets.
Delegates will discuss how to make the best use of available data and information, including work of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), to prepare future editions of the Global Biodiversity Outlook.
SBSTTA will also look at the report of the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on Indicators for the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020. The Group has recommended a set of potential indicators that could be used to monitor progress at the global level towards the achievement of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets. Many of these indicators would also be relevant to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the goals for sustainable development recently agreed by the United Nations General Assembly.
In addition, delegates will discuss climate-related geoengineering, based on information submitted by Parties and the Update on Climate Geoengineering in Relation to the Convention on Biological Diversity.
The report provides an update on the potential impacts of geoengineering techniques on biodiversity together with an account of regulatory developments since the 2012 studies on geoengineering and biodiversity presented in CBD Technical Series No. 66.
The relationship between biodiversity and human health will also be approached through a review of Connecting Global Priorities: Biodiversity and Human Health, a State of Knowledge Review, a joint report of the Secretariat of CBD and the World Health Organization (WHO).
Synergies in achieving the Aichi Biodiversity Targets of relevance to forests and other internationally agreed forest-related targets and objectives will be examined. This will include exploring how the Convention on Biological Diversity can better integrate its work with that of the United Nations Forum on Forests and other international organizations, in addition to looking at land use change, consumption patterns, and behaviour and institutional change.
Recommendations emanating from SBSTTA 19 will be considered by the Conference of the Parties at its thirteenth meeting, which will be held from 4 to 17 December 2016 in Cancun, Mexico.
The nineteenth meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA 19) will be held from 2 to 5 November 2015 at the headquarters of the International Civil Aviation Organization in Montreal.
SBSTTA, the open-ended intergovernmental scientific body that advises the Conference of the Parties (COP), will review the main implications of the findings of the fourth edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook (GBO-4), which was published in 2014. Using information contained in the fifth national reports, and seeking to identify best practices and lessons learned, SBSTTA will review options for overcoming obstacles to the implementation of the Strategic Plan and the achievement of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets.
Delegates will discuss how to make the best use of available data and information, including work of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), to prepare future editions of the Global Biodiversity Outlook.
SBSTTA will also look at the report of the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on Indicators for the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020. The Group has recommended a set of potential indicators that could be used to monitor progress at the global level towards the achievement of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets. Many of these indicators would also be relevant to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the goals for sustainable development recently agreed by the United Nations General Assembly.
In addition, delegates will discuss climate-related geoengineering, based on information submitted by Parties and the Update on Climate Geoengineering in Relation to the Convention on Biological Diversity.
The report provides an update on the potential impacts of geoengineering techniques on biodiversity together with an account of regulatory developments since the 2012 studies on geoengineering and biodiversity presented in CBD Technical Series No. 66.
The relationship between biodiversity and human health will also be approached through a review of Connecting Global Priorities: Biodiversity and Human Health, a State of Knowledge Review, a joint report of the Secretariat of CBD and the World Health Organization (WHO).
Synergies in achieving the Aichi Biodiversity Targets of relevance to forests and other internationally agreed forest-related targets and objectives will be examined. This will include exploring how the Convention on Biological Diversity can better integrate its work with that of the United Nations Forum on Forests and other international organizations, in addition to looking at land use change, consumption patterns, and behaviour and institutional change.
Recommendations emanating from SBSTTA 19 will be considered by the Conference of the Parties at its thirteenth meeting, which will be held from 4 to 17 December 2016 in Cancun, Mexico.
Wednesday, October 21, 2015
Governments should consider the use of biodiversity and ecosystem services as strategy for climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction
Montreal, 21 October 2015 – Biodiversity and the ecosystem services it underpins can be the basis for climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction strategies as they can deliver benefits that will, according to the outcomes of a recent technical workshop on ecosystem-based approaches to climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction, increase the resilience of people to the impacts of climate change.
The key messages from the workshop, recently held in Johannesburg, South Africa, were delivered at a side event in Ankara, Turkey, at the 12th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. The focus of the messages is that governments should consider ecosystem-based approaches to climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction to provide safety nets to communities in times of climate shocks and natural disasters. These findings come in advance of the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (“Paris 2015”).
"Biodiversity and healthy ecosystems are the building blocks that provide natural solutions which build resilience for society to adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change," said Barbara Thomson, Deputy Minister, Department of Environmental Affairs, South Africa.
As climate change increases the frequency and intensity of extreme weather and climate events, ecosystems can provide protection from these extremes by stabilizing the movement of water, earth, rocks and snow; serving as a buffer from climate impacts and hazards.
Ecosystem-based approaches to climate change adaptation (EbA) use biodiversity and ecosystem services as part of an overall adaptation strategy to help people adapt to the adverse effects of climate change, while ecosystem-based approaches to disaster risk reduction (Eco-DRR) are defined as ‘sustainable management, conservation and restoration
of ecosystems to reduce disaster risk, with the aim to achieve sustainable and resilient development’.
“Biodiversity is a critical resource, not only for climate change adaptation and mitigation, but as a tool to make countries more resilient and help reduce the risk and damages associated with natural disasters,” said Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity.
“Taking ecosystem-based approaches to adaptation and ecosystem-based approaches to disaster risk reduction enables people to adapt to the impacts of climate change by using opportunities created by sustainably managing, conserving and restoring ecosystems to provide ecosystem goods and services. It is clear that these approaches should be integrated into broader adaptation and development strategies.”
Healthy ecosystems can also reduce socio-economic vulnerability by providing essential goods and services to people, such as supporting income generation and protecting human health.
At the twelfth meeting of the Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity, held in October 2014, member States requested the Executive Secretary to compile and analyze experiences on ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction and ecosystem-based adaptation. In response, the Secretariat is preparing a synthesis report that compiles experiences, planned activities and national targets of Parties, as well as other relevant information related to EbA and Eco-DRR. In addition, a technical workshop on ecosystem-based approaches to climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction was organized in Johannesburg, South Africa, from 28 September to 2 October 2015, with the support of the European Union, the Government of South Africa, the Government of Sweden and the Government of Germany.
The purpose of the workshop was to review a draft synthesis report on experiences with implementation of EbA and Eco-DRR, identify gaps and share more information to strengthen the report. Workshop participants, which included national experts from key regions, including from small island developing States and least developed countries, representatives from indigenous peoples and local communities, as well as experts from relevant organizations, provided perspectives on implementing EbA and Eco-DRR.
The main conclusions from the synthesis report and from the workshop will be presented to the Convention’s Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice for consideration at its twentieth meeting.
For more information: www.cbd.int/climate/doc/flyer-climate-2015-10-20-en.pdf
The key messages from the workshop, recently held in Johannesburg, South Africa, were delivered at a side event in Ankara, Turkey, at the 12th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. The focus of the messages is that governments should consider ecosystem-based approaches to climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction to provide safety nets to communities in times of climate shocks and natural disasters. These findings come in advance of the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (“Paris 2015”).
"Biodiversity and healthy ecosystems are the building blocks that provide natural solutions which build resilience for society to adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change," said Barbara Thomson, Deputy Minister, Department of Environmental Affairs, South Africa.
As climate change increases the frequency and intensity of extreme weather and climate events, ecosystems can provide protection from these extremes by stabilizing the movement of water, earth, rocks and snow; serving as a buffer from climate impacts and hazards.
Ecosystem-based approaches to climate change adaptation (EbA) use biodiversity and ecosystem services as part of an overall adaptation strategy to help people adapt to the adverse effects of climate change, while ecosystem-based approaches to disaster risk reduction (Eco-DRR) are defined as ‘sustainable management, conservation and restoration
of ecosystems to reduce disaster risk, with the aim to achieve sustainable and resilient development’.
“Biodiversity is a critical resource, not only for climate change adaptation and mitigation, but as a tool to make countries more resilient and help reduce the risk and damages associated with natural disasters,” said Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity.
“Taking ecosystem-based approaches to adaptation and ecosystem-based approaches to disaster risk reduction enables people to adapt to the impacts of climate change by using opportunities created by sustainably managing, conserving and restoring ecosystems to provide ecosystem goods and services. It is clear that these approaches should be integrated into broader adaptation and development strategies.”
Healthy ecosystems can also reduce socio-economic vulnerability by providing essential goods and services to people, such as supporting income generation and protecting human health.
At the twelfth meeting of the Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity, held in October 2014, member States requested the Executive Secretary to compile and analyze experiences on ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction and ecosystem-based adaptation. In response, the Secretariat is preparing a synthesis report that compiles experiences, planned activities and national targets of Parties, as well as other relevant information related to EbA and Eco-DRR. In addition, a technical workshop on ecosystem-based approaches to climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction was organized in Johannesburg, South Africa, from 28 September to 2 October 2015, with the support of the European Union, the Government of South Africa, the Government of Sweden and the Government of Germany.
The purpose of the workshop was to review a draft synthesis report on experiences with implementation of EbA and Eco-DRR, identify gaps and share more information to strengthen the report. Workshop participants, which included national experts from key regions, including from small island developing States and least developed countries, representatives from indigenous peoples and local communities, as well as experts from relevant organizations, provided perspectives on implementing EbA and Eco-DRR.
The main conclusions from the synthesis report and from the workshop will be presented to the Convention’s Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice for consideration at its twentieth meeting.
For more information: www.cbd.int/climate/doc/flyer-climate-2015-10-20-en.pdf
Saturday, October 17, 2015
EMPOWERING YOUTH ON BIODIVERSITY ISSUES (OTTAWA, ONTARIO)
Today educators and students from St-Laurent Academy, Notre Dame Catholic School, Devonshire Public School, and Lady Evelyn Alternative School partnered together for our training program to accredit youth to become biodiversity leaders in their communities.
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