Posts Tagged ‘ecosystems’
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Climate Change is Everywhere
"So much for global warming!” I must have heard some variation of this comment 10 times during the “snowpocalypse” that buried Washington, DC in snow in early February. The record-breaking weather has caused many climate change skeptics to revive their arguments, prompting heated responses from climate activists like Bill McKibben of 350.org and Al Gore. As a writer for CI, I wanted to add my two cents to this much larger conversation. The belief that a large snowfall disproves the occurrence of climate change confirms much more about the inaccuracy of the widely-used term “global warming” than it does about the actual ... -
Extra! Extra! The New Issue of Team Earth Magazine Has Arrived
Where can you find stunning photographs and inspiring stories highlighting CI’s work around the globe? What does it mean when CI says we are taking our activities to a whole new scale? It means this—Among other things, the new issue of Team Earth will: summarize the outcomes from December’s United Nations meetings in Copenhagen, and examine the next steps we must take to tackle climate change; explore how partner organizations in southern Africa are working with CI to save elephants while improving human livelihoods; reveal CI’s ambitious new plan to save the world’s oceans; and visit the forests and farms of Tanzania, where CI’s TEAM ... -
Cerrado Project Update: Voices from the Field
While Fernando and Artur were planting trees on a farm in Mineiros (see last Thursday’s blog post), I spent a couple of hours collecting some video footage and interviewing local stakeholders. I had the opportunity to talk to Renato Alves, project coordinator of the NGO Oréades, CI-Brazil´s local partner. In the video below (in Portuguese), he explains the carbon project. Mirella Domenich is the communications manager of Conservation International Brazil. After filming the video above, she joined in to help plant many native trees! VIDEO: Renato Alves explains the carbon project (em português)[flv:http://blog.conservation.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Mineiros_entrevista_Renato.flv 511 287] Em português Enquanto Fernando e Artur plantam sementes de árvores ... -
Tree Planting in the Cerrado
Today was the third day of our team’s visit to the Emas-Taquari carbon project in Mineiros, Brazil, which CI-Brazil is implementing with partner organization Oréades. At six o'clock this morning, Artur, Mirella and I met the Oréades staff members, an headed out to the field, where we would be planting one hectare of plants native to the Cerrado, the Brazilian savannah. Two hours later, after traveling almost 90 kilometers (56 miles) along a road surrounded by soy plantations, we arrived at the farm that would receive the first seedlings of the carbon sequestration project. I immediately smelled the fertilizer we would ... -
In the Field: Reforesting the Brazilian Savanna
We are on our way to the city of Mineiros, in the Brazilian state of Goiás, where CI-Brazil is implementing a reforestation project in the Emas-Taquari Biodiversity Corridor. Based on the voluntary carbon market, this project is just one of many climate change mitigation initiatives that CI is supporting across the globe. Over 300 miles (483 kilometers) from our office in Brasília, Mineiros is located in the Brazilian savanna region known as the Cerrado. The Cerrado comprises 21 percent of the country and is the most extensive woodland-savanna in South America. It supports a unique array of drought- and fire- adapted ... -
Through the Magnifying Glass
[caption id="attachment_2262" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="© CI/Piotr Naskrecki"][/caption] As the saying goes, it’s the little things in life that really matter. Literally. I’m talking about the millions of tiny creatures that go unnoticed each day by most of us. Dr. E.O. Wilson and David Liittschwager’s recent article in the February issue of National Geographic Magazine, “Within One Cubic Foot,” really brings these creatures to life for us. The close-up photos of hundreds of colorful and spectacular species bring this microscopic world to our eyes. In just one cubic foot, Liittschwager documented an incredible array of biodiversity: more than 600 individual organisms in a coral ... -
Hiroshima, the Cold War, and the Giant Salamander of Hope
[caption id="attachment_2191" align="alignright" width="250" caption="Rob McNeil and a giant Japanese salamander"][/caption] Last week I was in Japan looking for giant salamanders (Andrias japonicus), and for two days I stayed in the charming and bustling city of Hiroshima. Visiting Hiroshima for the first time is a peculiar experience. As a 36 year-old who grew up in fear of nuclear Armageddon during the 1980s, the word Hiroshima evoked two frightening images for me: a mushroom cloud and the shattered dome of the one building that still stood after the attack. The human horrors that those images captured were so frightening that I experienced them ... -
On World Wetlands Day, Recognition for Abrolhos Marine National Park
Today, as we celebrate World Wetlands Day, we are very happy to share the news that the Abrolhos Marine National Park—a critical protected area for biodiversity conservation on the northeastern coast of Brazil—was designated a Ramsar site, joining the global list of Wetlands of International Importance. World Wetlands Day marks the date of the signing of the Convention on Wetlands in 1971, in the Iranian city of Ramsar. The so-called ‘Ramsar Convention’ is an intergovernmental treaty that embodies the commitments of 159 member countries to maintain the ecological character of their wetlands and to plan for their sustainable use. There are ... -
Pollinators in Peril
As the global extinction crisis continues, we are constantly discovering new ways in which the world’s many species interact with our own lives, even if we don’t realize it. The loss of one species can have consequences far beyond the simple absence of one kind of ant or frog. Case in point: the global decline of wild pollinators—bees, butterflies, and other insects. Survival of wild, native insect pollinators is not just a matter of concern for insect lovers like me; it’s also an issue for food production worldwide. Pollinators are in decline for a wide variety of causes, including loss of ... -
Support for Species
The most recent version of the IUCN Red List (published in November 2009) revealed that species extinction continues at a dangerous rate. More than 17,000 species—36 percent of the total of number of species assessed—are currently threatened with extinction, a startling number which underscores the need for immediate action. This week in Paris, the United Nations is holding one of several celebrations and conferences to launch the International Year of Biodiversity, drawing attention to the escalating plight of the world’s species as countries prepare for the Convention on Biological Diversity’s October meeting in Nagoya, Japan—a meeting which will set new ...
