Search

The article highlights how agribusiness lobbying undermines European Union's Green Deal, leading to policies favoring growth over environmental concerns, risking sustainability goals.

The article focuses on concerns that the surge of far-right parties in recent European Parliament elections could potentially impact the European Union's science funding and green policies, despite pro-European groups maintaining a majority.

The article focuses on the substantial shortfall in global progress toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and Aichi Biodiversity Targets by 2030, with climate anomalies threatening to surpass the 1.5 Celsius warming target set in the Paris Climate Agreement.

An editorial is presents the European Commission's response to violent protests by farmers, resulting in a derogation in the Common Agricultural Policy, withdrawal of bills related to pesticide use reduction and emission targets, indicating a lack of commitment to green policies, which could exacerbate Europe's environmental challenges.

The article examines how states organize themselves internally to address climate change. Topics covered include the definitional categories for climate institutions, the ways that states address three core climate governance challenges, including through coordination, building consensus, and strategy development, and the ways that institutions and national political contexts influence and shape each other.

The article discusses the US pledge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 52 percent by 2030. It highlights using carbon capture and sequestration, maintaining reliability with higher renewables shares, and designing environmental policies to encourage decarbonization. It also involves renewables deployment, degree of electrification, and mitigation outside the power and transport sectors.

The article focuses on potential challenges for scientists in 2024, including political upheaval and policy disputes, ongoing uncertainties related to the U.S. election and European green policies, the emergence of treatments for Long Covid, the impact of El Niño on global temperatures.

The article discusses the national climate strategies presented in 2021 at the 26th Conference of Parties as part of the 2015 Paris Agreement. Topics covered include a strengthening of ambition through 2030, the long-term temperature outcomes of the updated nationally determined contributions (NDC), and emissions scenarios using the Global Change Analysis.

The article informs that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACE) have departed from precedent to support the deregulation of the U.S. waterways in the repeal of the 2015 Clean Water Rule (CWR) and its replacement with the 2020 Navigable Waters Protection Rule (NWPR). It mentions about the decentralization of environmental policy; and mentions that former U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has repealed and replaced the CWR.

Protected areas are intended to safeguard biodiversity in perpetuity, yet evidence suggests that widespread legal changes undermine protected area durability and efficacy. We documented these legal changes—protected area downgrading, downsizing, and degazettement (PADDD) events—in the United States and Amazonian countries and compiled available data globally. Governments of the United States and Amazonian countries enacted 269 and 440 PADDD events, respectively. Between 1892 and 2018, 73 countries enacted 3749 PADDD events, removing 519,857 square kilometers from protection and tempering regulations in an additional 1,659,972 square kilometers; 78% of events were enacted since 2000. Most PADDD events (62%) are associated with industrial-scale resource extraction and development, suggesting that PADDD may compromise biodiversity conservation objectives. Strategic policy responses are needed to address PADDD and sustain effective protected areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the impact of ammonia on air pollution in the U.S. Topics include research led by atmospheric scientist Jeff Collett, the role of agricultural sources and automobiles in urban areas in causing air pollution, and air quality regulations affecting ammonia emissions in Great Britain. Possible U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) policies are noted.

The article discusses the use of clean energy and the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the U.S. private sector, so as to prevent global warming, including in regard to the relationship between economic growth and GHG mitigation. An overview of the role that U.S. government policy plays in encouraging the use of clean energy is provided. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses the goal of Denmark to become the first carbon-neutral nation by 2050. Focus is given to the EcoGrid project, in which the power utility Østkraft is using cutting-edge smart grid technologies to make more efficient use of wind power. Other topics include the challenges faced by Denmark in its energy transition, which include persuading the country's European neighbors to upgrade their electrical grids to allow for easier sharing of renewable energy.

The article looks at the proposed goal of India to reduce the emissions intensity of its economy, or the amount of carbon dioxide emitted per unit of gross domestic product, by between 20% and 25% by the year 2020. Topics discussed include the country's climate pledge, or Intended Nationally Determined tribution (INDC), per capita emissions, carbon intensity, and annual emissions.

The article reports that a new approach to negotiations in curbing emissions has raised hopes that the United Nations climate change conference in Paris, France in November 2015 will agree to meaningful climate steps. It says that negotiators hope that the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) approach will prevail where the Kyoto strategy failed. It mentions that with the INDC approach, nations pledged to limit their emissions.

Although it has far-reaching consequences for humanity, attention to climate change impacts on the ocean lags behind concern for impacts on the atmosphere and land. Understanding these impacts, as well as society's diverse perspectives and multiscale responses to the changing oceans, requires a correspondingly diverse body of scholarship in the physical, biological, and social sciences and humanities. This can ensure that a plurality of values and viewpoints is reflected in the research that informs climate policy and may enable the concerns of maritime societies and economic sectors to be heard in key adaptation and mitigation discussions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers science news briefs as of February 16, 2018. Topics include the development of immature human egg cells in the laboratory reported online in the "Molecular Human Reproduction" journal, the dismissal of astrophysicist Christian Ott before his position start at the University of Turku's Tuorla Observatory in Finland amid protest, and a revised process for environmental impact assessment fo development projects released by the Canadian government.

In 2010, the international community, under the auspices of the Convention on Biological Diversity, agreed on 20 biodiversity-related "Aichi Targets" to be achieved within a decade. We provide a comprehensive mid-term assessment of progress toward these global targets using 55 indicator data sets. We projected indicator trends to 2020 using an adaptive statistical framework that incorporated the specific properties of individual time series. On current trajectories, results suggest that despite accelerating policy and management responses to the biodiversity crisis, the impacts of these efforts are unlikely to be reflected in improved trends in the state of biodiversity by 2020. We highlight areas of societal endeavor requiring additional efforts to achieve the Aichi Targets, and provide a baseline against which to assess future progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article suggests the need for a marine biodiversity protection plan by China to better address the threats to marine life including ecosystems deterioration and loss of biodiversity. Significant actions taken by China include a 10-year fishing ban in inland waters and a summer fishing moratorium in oceans. Since the existing marine protected areas (MPA) system failed to keep up with the demand for effective protection, it cites the need to boost optimization and integration of existing MPA.

The article looks at the aspects of the national renewable or non-fossil energy targets of China. Topics discussed include the conversion method used by China to convert primary electricity into standardized units, power plant coal consumption (PPCC) method, and China's international pledge to lower carbon intensity by 60 to 65% from 2005 levels.

The article presents a profile of the environmental conditions of Lake Urmia, a salt lake in Iran which is experiencing rapid recession and deterioration. Topics addressed include discussion of how the lake has lost 90 percent of its size between 2000 and 2014, description of the lake's significance culturally and ecologically to the region, and an overview of the environmental protection policies and restoration efforts underway by the Iranian government.

An editorial is presented on the climate destructions in Europe, Asia, and North America caused by flooding, searing temperatures, and raging fires. It expresses the view that sixth physical science assessment report (AR6) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), UN discussions and have become a crucial means to take stock of the latest scientific developments, how much global warming ultimately occurs if the atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration doubles.

The article informs that according to a study conducted by Colmer et al., document trends in the spatial distribution of airborne particulate matter smaller in diameter. It mentions that most and least polluted tracts in 1981 remain the most and least polluted in 2016, with disadvantaged communities more likely to have higher pollution ranks at any given time in the U.S. It also mentions about U.S. federal policy-making on environmental justice.

The article reports that the U.S. President Joe Biden's administration moved to undo three of former President Donald Trump's signature environmental policies, and the Environmental Protection Agency will reconsider limits on air pollution composed of fine particles of less than 2.5 microns wide.

An opinion piece is presented that argues in favor of government policies related to ecological restoration and offers four principles related to this restoration. Topics discussed include the role of restoration in the increase of ecological integrity, the sustainability of ecological restoration, and the societal benefits to restoration.

The article presents research on the effects to the Chinese ecosystem of the construction of seawalls along Chinese coastal wetlands and offers evidence suggesting that their construction will threaten biodiversity and ecosystem services. Topics include the importance of coastal wetlands in China, causes for the loss of the wetlands including government policy and economic growth, and policy recommendations for maintaining minimum coastal wetlands areas.

A summary is presented of the article "The uncertain future of protected lands and waters" by Rachel E. Golden Kroner, Siyu Qin, Carly N. Cook, and others which was published in the same issue concerning a decline in protected areas and the impact of downgraded protected areas on biodiversity and species richness.

The article focuses on the 2015 Paris Agreement's nationally determined contributions (NDCs) in keeping global warming down to below two degrees Celsius above the preindustrial mean. It discusses the use of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies to keep global temperatures low with CDR currently done through bioenergy with carbon capture and storage and wide-scale afforestation. It comments on the role of cultural practices and moral attachments in ensuring the accountability of NDCs.

The article discusses the report from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Service (IPBES) on the threat of extinction. It mentions the impact of human activities on land areas, how IPBES can assist governments in developing policy, and the need for specific support of solutions.

The authors discuss why the introduction of legal rights for nature could product natural systems better that reforming existing preservation laws. They cite the interest theory of rights to support rights for animals and rights of nature before offering a framework for implementing rights-of-nature laws.

The article discusses the efforts to mitigate climate change and global warming, including through what is referred to as natural climate solutions (NCS) and other methods of mitigating carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. An overview of government policies to prevent climate change, including on energy and industry emission reduction, is provided.

The article reports on a federal lawsuit by youth against the U.S. government regarding the federal government's lack of action to prevent climate change. Topics include the role of expert witnesses in the case, the attribution of extreme weather events and forest fires to climate change, and the role of carbon dioxide emission reduction as a possible remedy in the case.

The article examines how the possible election of far-right presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro could affect science and environmentalism in the country as Bolsonaro has indicated a preference for development over climate and biodiversity concerns.

The article reports on the decision of the U.S. to formally withdraw from the Paris agreement to control greenhouse gas emissions.

The article offers information on the European Commission announced The European Green Deal, a plan to facilitate a transition to sustainability with the goal of making Europe climate neutral by 2050. It reports the plans include preserving and restoring biodiversity and reducing net emissions of greenhouse gases.

The article discusses announcement made by U.S. President Donald Trump for the controversial changes to environmental policies has suffered a legal setback; and U.S. Dept. of the Interior will move ahead with plans to sell leases to drill for oil in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.

The article informs on environmental challenges at global, regional, and local levels faced by China and India, and mentions that governments of China and India should facilitate science diplomacy, starting with the Himalaya region.

An editorial is presented on efforts of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for environmental policies. Topics discussed include jeopardize regulations that keep the environment safe to live in, and correct course back to sound policy-making; plans to issue a supplement to its 2018 proposed rule, Strengthening Transparency in Regulatory Science, and new rules that could eliminate public health studies from consideration.

The article offers information related to the impact of amazon fires on Brazil’s agribusiness. Topics discussed include series of disastrous changes to its environmental policies including cuts to government agencies that enforce environmental protection laws; impact of fires set by farmers leads to an increase in deforestation and affects protected areas and indigenous lands; and create new pastures and plantations is both environmentally and economically unsustainable.

The article reports the German federal government announced in September of 2019 a 100 million euro action plan for insect biodiversity protection which will include the phasing out of use of the weed killer glyphosate, include measures to lessen light pollution, and add protection for insect-rich habitats.

The article reports that U.S. President Donald Trump ordered the Forest Service to end restrictions imposed on logging in the Tongass National Forest in southeastern Alaska, and comments former presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama enacted protections to stop logging of old-growth forest.

The article offers information on issues concerning the benefits of policies on wetland protection as well as clean water regulations in the U.S. It discusses the disparity between the benefits in two conflicting regulatory impact analyses in relation to the country's Clean Water Act and the 2015 Waters of the U.S. rule.

The article discusses the use of retrospective analysis on U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rules and regulations, including in gauging the accuracy of regulatory impact analyses (RIAs) on environmental policy. An overview of the use of RIA on the EPA's 1998 Cluster Rule, which was created to reduce pollutants and emissions from paper and pulp mills, is provided.