Conservation News ~ 19 June 2020

• New species of orchid native to Singapore discovered in Bukit Timah Reserve
• New Species from World’s largest spider group found in Sri Lanka for first time
• 38 endangered Brazilian tree species illegally traded, poorly tracked
• Iceland is undoing carbon emissions for good, turning C02 into stone
• A robot sloth will survey endangered species
• World has six months to avert climate crisis, says energy expert
• Forest loss escalates biodiversity change
• White House blocks tribes from protecting their waters
• Mangrove collapse inevitable unless emissions are curbed
• Chimps prefer human crops and it’s better for them
• From a Philippine conflict hotspot, a new insect-eating plant emerges
• Indonesia struggles to restore peatlands as fires strangle national parks
• Canadian grocery store grows its own organic veggies on rooftop
• PG&E ordered to pay $4 million for Camp fire that killed 84
• Federal approval of oil well at Carrizo Plain National Monument sparks outrage
• Globally renowned Kayapo Chief Paiakan passes away due to COVID
• Creator of Conservation Biology, Michael Soule, passes away
• New Jersey announces $400 million offshore wind port
• SD Zoo baby pygmy hippo makes splashy debut
• Planting non-native trees accelerates the release of carbon back into the atmosphere
• Most of BCs massive old trees are ghosts, existing only on paper
• European Rewilding Network becomes Belgian rewilding initiative
• Gujarat now home to 674 lion, 29% increase in population
• New species of mimicking spider camouflaged like a dried-up leaf discovered in China rainforest
• BC mine proposed in critical caribou habitat shows how endangered species fall through the cracks
• Trans Mountain pipeline spills up to 50,000 gallons of oil on indigenous land in BC
• Peru declares new conservation area protecting almost 200 species found nowhere on the planet
• Brazilian government taken to court for assault on environment, climate
• Scottish salmon farmers to be banned from shooting seals
• Wildlife advocated sue Forest Service over rising wolf body count in Washington
• Lawsuit launched challenging Endangered Species Act denial for imperiled Sage Grouse
• Senate Passes the Great American Outdoors Act
• Emissions from 13 dairy firms match those of entire UK
• Climate models underestimate CO2 emissions from permafrost by 14 percent
• World’s rarest seal finds refuge on notorious prison island
• 40k Conservationists ask Utah to spare Endangered Mexican Gray Wolf
• As EPA steps back, states face wave of requests for environmental leniency
• A possible record number of Blue Whales at the Farallones
• Supreme Court clears way for Atlantic Coast Pipeline to cross Appalachian trail
• New species extinction target proposed for global nature rescue plan
• A new species of diamond frog from Northern Madagascar
• Victorian government found to have failed to protect critically endangered grasslands
• Magnetic Sponge MOF captures carbon with record energy efficiency
• Ag Secretary announces Forest Service Policy changes during Missoula stop
• Amazon River dolphin risks extinction if Brazil moratorium not renewed
• New jumping spider species in the Philippines
• NOAA Chief violated ethics code in furor over White House tweet
• 1,000 California Condor recently tagged
• Extremely rare white Killer Whale named Iceberg
• EPA’s new rule will protect polluters, not the environment
• Poachers arrested for killing Endangered Silverback Gorilla
• Nevada takes important step to protect Endangered Fish
• Supreme Court leaves Clean Water Act intact
• Effective conservation science must shift away from doomsday views and toward solutions
• Experts see environmental, social fallout in Indonesia’s infrastructure push
• Vietnamese agribusiness firm HAGL accused of clearing indigenous land in Cambodia
• Conservation Fund acquires iconic Pine Forest in Western Maine
• Novel endemic dogfish species discovered from Japan
• Bipartisan Bill could help boost Florida’s growing EV market
• Interior to push drilling in Florida waters after November election
• Sea cucumber smuggler sentenced to 8 months in jail
• 90 percent of US could be powered by renewables in 2035
• Anti-poaching dog beloved by Prince Harry retires after catching 200 criminals
• Climate crisis to blame for $67bn of Hurricane Harvey damage
• Environment Ministry unlocked many protected areas during the lockdown
• Scientists discover that a squid can edit its own genetic code
• Cape Leopard Trust shares rare sighting of three leopard cubs
• Channel Island Fox has remarkable recovery story
• New Zealand recognized all animals as sentient beings
• BHP halts plans to destroy 40 sacred sites to make way for $4.5bn mine after public outcry
• Robotic dolphin causing stir in aquariums while solving ethical dilemma
• BC opens Sunshine Coast forest – home to Canada’s oldest trees – to logging
• UK’s barn owls are growing in number, thanks to humans
• Almost complete loss of early salmon runs at Fraser River slide in BC last year
• French government to launch legal action against bear killers
• New breeding pair brings glimmer of hope for world’s rarest primate
• A nose-horned dragon lizard lost to science for over 100 years has been found
• South African proposal to breed wildlife for slaughter courts disaster
• Botanists study spots 42 new tree species in 10 years
• Newly discovered spider species in Madagascar named after climate activist Greta Thunberg
• Rwenzori Mountains Park partners with WWF to protect Endangered Species
• Rare Gorilla Rafiki killed by Uganda hunters
• 14 straight months of rising Amazon deforestation in Brazil
• Nature’s slow lanes offer hope for species feeling heat of climate change, other pressures
• EPA loses major Clean Water Act case on Toxic Spill dispersants
• Charges dropped against 22 Wet’seuwet’en Land Defenders
• The International Space Station jut became a powerful tool for tracking animal migration
• Agile, sickle-clawed new species of velociraptor-like dinosaur unearthed in Patagonia
• China’s COVID interventions reduced nitrogen dioxide levels
• Colombian farmers, ranchers join business to turn the tide on Amazon deforestation
• An armada of 65k sea turtles caught on drone cam, flock to Great Barrier Reef
• Indonesia to allow back destructive seine and trawl nets in waters
• In Philippines Palawan, top cop linked to assault on environmental officer
• Indigenous-led conservation signals path forward for Canada’s first marine protected area network