Conservation News ~ 11 December 2020

• New ‘sea dragon’ species discovered by an amateur fossil hunter off English coast
• New species are more likely to evolve in areas where few already exist
• Biden gets earful from progressives on environment jobs
• NMFS extends East Coast vessel speed limits to protect right whales
• Federal government looks to open up dunes sagebrush lizard habitat to oil and gas
• Giant Manta becomes first Manta ray to be listed as an endangered species
• Earth is still sailing into climate chaos but its course could shift
• Herd opportunity: hundreds of elephants return to DRC’s Virunga
• Artificial intelligence finds surprising patterns in Earth’s biological mass extinctions
• Ecuador finds nest of huge, endangered sea turtle
• Only 40% of world’s forest have high ecological integrity, a new index reveals
• Court rejects White House Arctic drilling proposal in ‘Huge Victory for Polar Bears and our Climate’
• Turkish fishermen offered bounty for silver-checked toadfish
• Human-made materials now outweigh Earth’s entire biomass
• Bauxite mining threatens India’s lone wolf sanctuary and an interstate river
• The wild population of European Bison has grown to over 6,200
• New study helps pinpoint when earth’s plate subduction began
• New species of iridescent snake discovered in Vietnam
• Trump’s Aberdeenshire golf resort dunes lose special environment status
• Green Recovery from COVID can slow climate change
• Endangered woodpecker species recovering two years after Hurricane Michael
• Monarch butterfly endangered decision nears as numbers dwindle
• Sea Shepherd discover new whale species in Mexico
• Oregon land board moves forward on Elliot State research forest proposal
• $14 million from the USAID to develop ecotourism in the Noubale-Ndoki park
• Wetland stakeholders develop a management plan for the wise use and conservation of the Bang Pakong River
• IUCN promotes resilience in the face of pandemic impacts in Mexico, Central America and Caribbean
• IUCN launches the Global Standard for Nature-Based Solutions in Asia
• Paul Sein Twa, co-founder of KESAN and Salween Peace Park in Myanmar, receives Goldman Environmental Prize
• In China, public support grows to rein in the wild trade in the wake of the pandemic
• Dogs in Brazil are being trained to sniff out COVID in humans
• Deep=sea ‘gold rush’: secretive plans to carve up the seabird decried
• New York’s $225 Billion Pension Fund is dropping fossil fuel stocks
• Shift to a not-so-frozen north is well underway, scientists warn
• Ahead of anticipated US climate treaty return, Norway boosts support for rainforest protection
• Lizards and snakes bring halt to work on Tesla plant near Berlin
• Coalition calls on Service to maintain endangered status for red-cockaded woodpecker
• Bald eagles are no longer endangered in Vermont, experts say, after 30 years of recovery
• First babies of endangered whale species born off Florida, Georgia
• Reptiles smuggled from Mexico found at German airport stitched inside dolls
• Deforestation wiped out 8% of Amazon in 18 years
• Colombian environmental official assassinated in southern Meta department
• Coca-cola, Pepsi and Nestle named top plastic polluters for third year in a row
• Investors can now trade water futures
• Money to burn – study finds fire-prevention incentives in Indonesia don’t work
• Japan’s capsule with asteroid samples retrieved in Australia
• New study finds Humboldt Bay is among the most important places in the entire hemisphere for migratory shorebirds
• Loose DNA in seawater offers a new measure of marine populations
• The curse of ‘white oil’: electric vehicles’ dirty secret
• House passes bill to ban exploitation of Big Cats
• EPA overrides scientists’ calls for tougher pollutant limit
• Breakthrough material makes pathway to hydrogen use for fuel cells under hot, dry conditions
• Scientists discover new species on seafloor
• New plant species from Amazonia region named after Dresden botanist
• Animals are using Utah’s largest wildlife overpass earlier than expected
• International lawyers draft plan to criminalize ecosystem destruction
• Mount Everest: China and Nepal agree on new, taller height
• African ministers of the environment commit to support a greed COVID recovery plan
• Gharials bounce back in Punjab but the real test is breeding
• Rare Pygmy Possums just got rediscovered after fears that bushfires wiped them out
• Natural selection plays major role in an organism’s capacity to evolve and adapt
• EU renewables energy policy subsidizes surge in logging of Estonia’s protected area
• Worker feared dead as landslide hits quake-prone dam in orangutan habitat
• Earth spent 500 million years creating and eating dead continents
• Biological diversity evokes happiness
• French Guiana soy biofuel power plants risk massive Amazon deforestation
• Sale of Arctic Refuge oil and gas leases in set for early January
• Plants compete for underground real estate affects climate change and food production
• New frog genus found in Andaman Islands
• On the hunt for alternatives to shark squalene vaccines
• Rare Nevada plant damaged by wild animals, not humans, feds say
• Study shows promising material can store solar energy for months or years
• 17 sentenced to imprisonment for illegal trade in wildlife products
• UKs first all-electric car charging forecourt opens in Essex
• Address water scarcity ‘immediately and boldly’ urges UN agriculture agency chief
• Climate crisis to triple flooding threat low-income US homes by 2050
• A grassroots push to save disappearing birds and bees forces change in Germany
• National Zoo’s panda cub takes first steps
• Endangered Sea Turtles are recovering after ‘cold stunning’ event
• Madagascar moves to reopen domestic trade in non-precious timber
• LA began 2020 with a clean-air streak but ended with its worst smog in decades
• Gorongosa National Park is being reforested via coffee and agroforestry
• The Greenland Ice Sheet is fast losing mass and there may be no way to stop it
• In rare show of solidarity, 14 key nations commit to protect oceans
• Africa’s environment ministers pledge support for green COVID recovery
• Cut fossil fuels production to ward off ‘catastrophic warming
• Singapore approves sale of cell-based chicken meat
• Layers of regulations to protect European seas not working, audit finds
• Overfishing of sharks in the Red Sea sparks outcry
• 3 major UK retailers are banning glitter this Christmas
• Nissan leaves White House’s fight against California car rules
• Blue hydrogen use will boost fossil fuels industry. Ottawa warned
• Endangered Vancouver Island marmots are making a comeback
• Japan plans to join the pack and ban sales of new gasoline cars by 2030
• Whale Sharks huge bodies mean they’ve never really been cold-blooded
• US Army Corps reports a large oil spill into the Colombia River
• Two centuries of Monarch butterflies show evolution of wing length
• Endangered animals threatened by pandemic as ecotourists stay home
• Every major bank has now ruled out funding Arctic drilling
• Ecuador finds nest of huge endangered sea turtle
• Vegan investment fund goes public in Canada
• New species of Dancing springtail discovered in Krka
• New species of bat has been found and it flapped around 16 million years ago
• New marine protection zone will help endangered penguins and more
• DNR announces wolf season after removal from endangered species list
• US plans to protect thousands of mils of coral reefs in Pacific and Caribbean
• California campgrounds to close when COVID stay at home order starts
• Offshore drilling set to begin off Florida alarms environmentalists
• Extremely rare white cougar highlights a quirk of the species
• Washington whale research group buys ranch to help local orcas
• White House appoints NOAA climate skeptic to panel selecting National Medal of Science winners
• KwaZulu-Natal poaching increases since lockdown level 1
• Atlas reveals birds pushed further north amid climate crisis
• Ecuador’s palm oil law a boon for producers, but not people and planet
• Colorado High School students post video pleading with local authorities to ban fracking
• Satellites can see the pollution trails from individual ships
• Crowds of Indian farmers gather for days to protest new agriculture laws
• Hidden structure found in essential metabolic machinery
• Norway bumps rate to protect rainforest amid anticipated US climate return
• As Amazon deforestation hits 12 year high, France rejects Brazilian soy
• Humanity’s construction footprint in the seas amounts to 32,000 square kilometers
• Common tire chemical implicated in mysterious deaths of at-risk salmon
• New York state assembly passes ban on toxic chemicals in food packaging
• UN will build global coalition for carbon neutrality in 2021
• Minnesota gives final green light to disputed oil pipeline
• Researchers uncover key clues about the solar system’s history
• Tiny treetop flowers foster incredible beetle biodiversity
• A mining company is about to receive sacred Apache land
• The Great Barrier Reef is now officially in critical condition
• Epic study looks at what’s killing the rainforest’s trees
• Up to 48 species saved from extinction by conservation efforts
• Confiscated parrots fly free again over DR Congo forests
• Researchers call for restoring human-forest connections in the Boundary Waters
• China just powered up its artificial sun fusion reactor
• Scientists just mapped 1 million new galaxies in 300 hours
• World is doubling down on fossil fuels despite climate crisis