Solutions to Extinction of Species. Click the Read More link after each Snippet to read the complete article!

March 2023 - Ocean treaty: Historic agreement reached after decade of talks

Nations have reached a historic agreement to protect the world's oceans following 10 years of negotiations.

The High Seas Treaty places 30% of the seas into protected areas by 2030, aiming to safeguard and recuperate marine nature.

The agreement was reached on Saturday evening, after 38 hours of talks, at UN headquarters in New York.

The negotiations had been held up for years over disagreements on funding and fishing rights.

The last international agreement on ocean protection was signed 40 years ago in 1982 - the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Leaders meet to try to pass a UN treaty to protect oceans - August 2022

Whales and two babies swim underwater

World leaders will meet at the UN in New York later for more talks to save the world's oceans from overexploitation.

The UN High Seas Treaty has been through 10 years of negotiations but has yet to be signed.

If agreed, it would put 30% of the world's oceans into conservation areas by 2030.

Campaigners hope it will protect marine life from overfishing and other human activities.

Two-thirds of the world's oceans are currently considered international waters, which mean all countries have a right to fish, ship and do research there. But only 1.2% of these high seas, as they are referred to, are protected.

Kenya: Wildlife trafficking suspect seized after $1m reward

A crash, or group, of white rhinoceroses, also known as the square-lipped rhinoceros, is seen during a safari drive at the Shamwari Private Game Reserve on February 7, 2022 near the town of Paterson in South Africa's Eastern Cape province.

Mr Ahmed is suspected of trying to traffic rhinoceros horn and ivory

Kenyan police have arrested a man suspected of links to a transnational wildlife and drug trafficking syndicate who was indicted in a US court.

Abdi Hussein Ahmed, alias Abu Khadi, was detained on Tuesday in the central county of Meru after a tip-off from the public, police say.

How rangers are using AI to help protect India's tigers in 2022

Indian tiger

India has around 3,000 tigers

For 22 years vet, Akhilesh Mishra has been treating animals at Pench National Park in Madhya Pradesh state in India.

He does not hesitate to name the tiger as his favourite animal. "They are so magnificent and beautiful. I just need to feel their soft skin to feel relaxed" he says. "!When I treat an injured tiger and then they are able to go back to forest, it is an out of this world experience."

A tiger's life is not easy, he says, particularly for the females: "For me the tigress is much stronger than the male tiger. She fights so fearlessly for her cubs. She is a goddess - ready to take on a huge tiger who tries to harm her cubs."

Nepal 2022: Return of the tigers brings both joy and fear

Bengal tiger

Endangered Bengal tigers are making a remarkable recovery in Nepal

Cheetahs to prowl India for first time in 70 years

A captive cheetah licks her sibling in an enclosure at the Cheetah Conservation Fund in Otjiwarongo, Namibia, on February 18, 2016.

Namibia has one of the world's largest populations of cheetahs

For the first time in 70 years, India's forests will be home to cheetahs.

Eight of them are set to arrive in August from Namibia, home to one of the world's largest populations of the wild cat.

Their return comes decades after India's indigenous population was declared officially extinct in 1952.

The world's fastest land animal, the cheetah can reach speeds of 70 miles (113km) an hour.

Human Government

Human Government, through its laws, and its enforcement of them, is both a major cause of and a potential solution to the Extinction of Species. Human Government needs to change its laws, and enforce them. We can save species in the short term by creating and enlargening Nature Reserves and Protected areas and legislating against killing any species within those protected aeras, and enforcing that legislation absolutely. After all Extinction is Forever!

This is only a short term "solution", as it does not address Human Overpopulation, Human Overdevelopment and Human Pollution - the major causes of decline and loss and extinction of species and habitat. Only Humans together can make the necessary laws to preserve Nature - which is what must be done to ensure our own survival as well as the survival of our Human Civilization.

Humanity depends on Nature - on habitat for food availablity, pollution control, water purification, and agriculture; on other species for food availability, pollution control and pollination; on the atmospheric and oceanic currents for temperature control and freshwater generation and distribution; on atmosphic layers to protect us from cosmic radiation; and much, much more.

We could never afford to do what Nature does for us - we don't have the capacity or ability, and it would cost us thousands or millions times more than the total wealth of the planet - if we could.

Furthermore, human engineering, rather than replacing Nature, only causes more pollution, which makes the situation worse.

Human Dependency on Nature

We could never afford to do what Nature does for us - we don't have the capacity or ability, and it would cost us thousands or millions times more than the total wealth of the planet - if we could.

Furthermore, human engineering, rather than replacing Nature, only causes more pollution, which makes the situation worse.

Neither can we find another planet in Space to go live on. We do not know of any other habitable planets, and we do not have the technology to get us there, when we do. Furthermore, this "option" will only be available for a very select few and will be horribly expensive, and won't come before the 22nd century, most likely. Planet Earth and our Human civilization won't survive that long unless we change the way we live dramatically.

The only answer for our Human survival is to reduce and limit our numbers, reduce and limit our development and destruction of the natural world, and reduce and limit our types and amounts of pollution. That is the only way we can save Nature, which we are part of, and upon which we depend absolutely.

Solutions

Solutions to Exinction of Species are many and include making and enforcing laws protecting species and their habitats, ending the use of fossil fuesl, reducing and eliminating Pollution, Pesticides, Overpopulation, Population Growth, Development, etc.

Preserving the genetic diversity of ancient trees

Even as we discover the incredible benefits of the world's most ancient trees, we are losing them to climate change.

In 2005, several of the centuries-old ponderosa pine trees on my 15 acres (0.06 sq km) of forest in the northern Rocky Mountains in Montana suddenly died. I soon discovered they were being brought down by mountain pine beetles, pernicious killers the size of the eraser on a pencil that burrow into the tree.

The next year the number of dying trees grew exponentially. I felt powerless and grief-stricken as I saw these giant, sky-scraping trees fading all around me, realising there was nothing I could do to stop it.

While the native bugs were the proximate cause, the underlying reason for the unprecedented mortality in my home state and throughout the Rockies was that winters had stopped getting really cold. When I first moved to Montana in the late 1970s, temperatures of -34C (-30F) or even below -40C (-40F) were common in winter, sometimes for weeks at a time. The coldest temperature on record in Montana is –57C (-70F). These days wintertime minimum temperatures rarely get below -18C (0F) or so. If they do, it is usually just for a day or two. That's not nearly cold enough to kill pine beetles, which make their own natural antifreeze.

Toxic 'forever chemicals' found in British otters

Toxic "forever chemicals" used in non-stick saucepans and food packaging have been found in otters across England and Wales, according to a study.

The substances, called PFASs, are also used in waterproof clothing, stain resistant products and fire retardants.

The chemicals are linked to pregnancy complications, liver disease, cancer and other illnesses.

Scientists say concentrations of these compounds in otters are a guide to levels of pollution in the environment.

The substances can leach out from products, getting into drains and sewage treatment works - from which they can then escape and contaminate the environment more widely.

PFAS substances are present in farmland sludge, which can wash from fields into rivers. Factories and landfill sites are another source for the chemicals.

Denmark recently banned their use in food packaging paper.

Used since the late 1940s, PFAS chemicals - which are divided into compounds called perfluoroalkyls and polyfluoroalkyls - help to make products water, grease and stain resistant.

They are known as "forever chemicals" because they don't break down easily in the environment. They contaminate fish, which can then be ingested by animals and humans. PFAS compounds can also get directly into drinking water.

CITES bans lead to subsequent improvements in mammalian species’ IUCN status, relative to species in which trade was not banned

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) bans international trade in species threatened with extinction. We investigate the effects of these bans on species’ endangerment, as assessed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Our analysis exploits changes in CITES bans between 1979 and 2017. We find that CITES bans lead to subsequent improvements in mammalian species’ IUCN status, relative to species in which trade was not banned. These effects are primarily due to improvements in the status of commercially targeted species. On the other hand, CITES bans lead to deteriorations in reptilian species’ IUCN status. We find that major spikes in trade volume occurred in anticipation of the bans on reptilian species but not in anticipation of those on mammalian species.

wilderness lost from 1993 to 2015 worldwide

A tenth of the world's wilderness has vanished in the past two decades, research shows. New maps show "alarming losses" of pristine landscapes, particularly in South America and Africa, according to World Conservation Society scientists. They argue in Current Biology that wild areas are ignored in international conservation agreements, despite their ecological and cultural value.

About 20% of the world's land area is classed as wilderness. By this, scientists mean landscapes free of large-scale human disturbances such as housing, development and industry. The majority of these untouched spaces are found in North America, north Asia, north Africa and Australia. They are often home to indigenous peoples as well as endangered plants and animals.

James Watson of the University of Queensland, Australia, and the US Wildlife Conservation Society in New York said wilderness areas "are completely ignored in environmental policy". "International policy mechanisms must recognise the actions needed to maintain wilderness areas before it is too late," said Prof Watson. "We probably have one to two decades to turn this around."

Climate Engineering Danger - Not a solution.

Any attempts to engineer the climate are likely to result in "different" climate change, rather than its elimination, new results suggest.

Prof Ken Caldeira, of Stanford University, presented research at a major conference on the climate risks and impacts of geoengineering.

These techniques have been hailed by some as a quick fix for climate change.

But the impacts of geoengineering on oceans, the water cycle and land environments are hotly debated.

They have been discussed at a meeting this week of 12,000 scientists in Vienna.

Researchers are familiar with the global cooling effects of volcanic eruptions, seen both historically and even back into the deep past of the rock record.

With this in mind, some here at the European Geosciences Union General Assembly have been discussing the possible worldwide consequences of pumping sulphate aerosols into the stratosphere to attempt to reflect sunlight back into space and cool the planet.

Vietnamese rhino horn traffickers charged in South Africa

Two Vietnamese nationals in South Africa have been charged with the illegal possession of 41kg (90lbs) of rhino horn, police have told the BBC. Officials say it is the largest amount of black market rhino horn to be seized in South Africa. The men, believed to be linked to an international poaching ring, had been under surveillance before their arrest at a Johannesburg airport, police say. Nearly 900 rhino have been killed in South Africa since January. Rhino horn can sell for up to $65,000 (£47,500) per kg - which is nearly double the price of gold - with China and Vietnam being the largest markets. Police say the illegal haul was found by a dog that specialises in sniffing out rhino horn at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg on Sunday. 'National crisis' Paul Ramaloko, spokesperson for South Africa's organised crime fighting unit, told the BBC it was equivalent of 20 rhino horns with an estimated value of $358,000. Some South Africans have staged protests calling for more action against poaching. "Rhino poaching is regarded as a national crisis - for this reason those found guilty of the crime are dealt with harshly," he said. It is believed that the horns were most likely to have been removed from animals in South Africa's Kruger National Park, but tests need to be done to determine their origin, officials say.

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Solutions to Extinction of Species. Click the Read More link after each Snippet to read the complete article!

March 2023 - Ocean treaty: Historic agreement reached after decade of talks

Leaders meet to try to pass a UN treaty to protect oceans - August 2022

Kenya: Wildlife trafficking suspect seized after $1m reward

How rangers are using AI to help protect India's tigers in 2022