International Conservation & Development

On March 17, the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Ministry of Land and Resources released the first-ever results of a nationwide soil pollution survey that took place from 2005 to 2013. International media have commended the release, which revealed startling statistics such as one-fifth of arable land is polluted and contaminated with inorganic chemicals like cadmium, nickel and arsenic. On the surface, it seems, soil pollution, which was once a “state secret,” is no longer.

They're the blue blobs ­unnerving swimmers on [Australia's] Gold Coast beaches. The catostylus mosaics jellyfish, which have been spotted washed up on local beaches and floating in ­waterways over the past two weeks, aren’t new to the Coast and there’s little risk of harm. ... American biodiversity scientist Dr Healy Hamilton had to battle through the jellies to do research in the Broadwater for the past week. “It was like we had to swim through clouds of ­jellyfish to find seahorses and pipefish,” she said.

Don’t expect the landmark U.S.-China climate change agreement to nudge the world’s rising thermostat downward much on its own, scientists say. While they hail it as a start, experts who study heat-trapping carbon dioxide don’t see the deal, announced Wednesday in Beijing, making significant progress without other countries joining in. ...

Paying attention to the twinned threats of climate change and species extinction requires ingenuity, cash, and nimble legal mechanisms. Two novel solutions—REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) and Biodiversity Offsetting—comprise potentially win-win solutions.

The U.S. and other nations were applauding this weekend’s climate change agreement on Monday, but the deal’s difficult negotiations showed all too clearly the major hurdles that lie ahead as officials try to reach a much more sweeping pact next year in Paris. The 196 nations gathered in the Peruvian capital agreed that each country should offer a plan next year for reducing its own greenhouse gas pollution. In a major win for the U.S. position, developing nations like China and India are also encouraged under the deal to join richer countries in agreeing to make cuts.

To conservationist Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, getting coastal communities involved in plans to protect their waters is critical for protecting the planet's oceans. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, she talks about her work in one Caribbean island and how it shows how such a strategy can get results.

Nicole Gross-Camp (2007) was recently awarded an Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation (ESPA) early careers fellowship in conjunction with the University College London’s Department of Anthropology. The 32-month long fellowship will support Nicole’s research entitled, Understanding the influence of community-based conservation on wellbeing and ecosystem services in Tanzania. Read more

Kevin Kennedy was quoted in a New York Times article about the climate pact reached between the United States and China in November 2015. “It shows that the two big dogs in the room are taking the issue seriously,” said Kevin Kennedy of the World Resources Institute, a think tank. “It provides a real opportunity for the start of what could become a race to the top.” ...

A new report on REDD+ and indigenous peoples, written by PPEL members has been recently published. The report, titled Indigenous Peoples and REDD+: A Critical Perspective was commissioned by Indigenous People’s Biocultural Climate Change Assessment Initiative (IPCCA), a NGO based in Cusco, Peru. IPCCA works closely with indigenous communities around the world to assess local strategies for climate change mitigation and adaptation. The report is deeply informed by political ecology literatures on the commodification of nature, environmental governance, and indigenous rights.