Conservation News ~ 2 October 2020

• Judge Removes Public Lands Boss for Serving Unlawfully
• Area of zero tolerance enlarged to protect endangered vaquita
• Land defenders are killed in the Philippines for protesting Canadian mining
• At least 28 extinctions prevented by conservation action in recent decades
• Nordstrom officially bans fur and exotic animal skins
• Marion conservation area renamed to honor Iowa Native American pioneer in women’s rights
• 40 percent of world’s plants at risk of extinction
• Oregon State researcher IDs 4 new species of wasp that lived 25 million years ago
• New ‘forever chemicals’ contaminating the environment
• Lawsuit filed to put Louisiana Black Bear back on endangered species list
• New NY state law adds level of protection to endangered species
• Brazil revokes mangroves protections, triggering alarms
• Coral’s resilience to warming may depend on iron
• Study finds a Mexico-sized swath of intact lost to human pressure
• California bans rodenticide in a win for California wildlife
• A quarter of all reptile species, many of them endangered, are sold online
• New species of millipede discovered at Caw Caw
• Toxins in plastic blamed for heath, environment hazards
• Revival of endangered bird provides bit of good environmental news
• Vietnam creates new nature reserve, possible home to elusive ‘Asian unicorn’
• Brazil moves toward transfer of deforestation/fire monitoring to military
• Indonesia’s new intelligence hub wields data in the war on illegal fishing
• World leaders endorse ‘Pledge for Nature’ to address planetary emergency
• A Philippine stingless bee helps boost coconut yields and empower women
• Archaelogists determined the step-by-step path taken by the first people to settle the Caribbean Islands
• US emissions reductions slowed after US pulled out of Paris Accord
• World leaders urged to ban all trade in wild animals and birds for eating to prevent pandemics
• World leaders pledge to protect 30% of the planet by 2030
• New study shows converting to electric vehicles alone won’t meet climate targets
• Canada pledges to stem biodiversity loss and ensure pandemic recovery is ‘green’
• Joe Biden to make almost every policy a climate change policy
• Two new species of wetland plant discovered from Western Ghats
• New species of cockroach-killing wasps discovered in 25-million-year-old amber
• China fires back at US over environment, South China Sea
• Mussel species in Virginia could be added to Endangered Species Act
• Saudi Arabia sends blue ammonia to Japan in world-first shipment
• White House to reopen largest National Forest to development, rejecting environmental and cultural importance
• In lead up to biodiversity summit, big commitments to nature
• Plastic-eating enzyme ‘cocktail’ heralds new hope for plastic
• Shark fin trafficking ring busted as trade ban comes into effect in Florida
• Mass elephant die-off caused by cyanobacteria
• Canada’s Liberal government to spend $10B on clean energy infrastructure to fuel pandemic economic recovery
• REI Co-op achieves 14-year carbon neutrality commitment, announces ambitious new climate pattern
• India makes Amazon pay for plastic pollution
• Ray at Kagoshima aquarium revealed as new species
• Feds to relax protections for red-cockaded woodpecker since 1970
• New partnership brings high-resolution satellite imagery of the tropics to all
• World’s plants and fungi a frontier of discovery, if we can protect them: Report
• World’s protected areas lack connections, recent study finds
• Brazilian dry forests are chronically degraded even in non-deforested areas
• Kenya earmarks $3.7 million to boost rhino protection
• The massive ocean blob anomaly has our fingerprints all over it
• A new mass extinction has been discovered, wiping out life 233 million years ago
• 20 new species of fauna recorded on Pulua Ubin, including new type of spider
• New beetle species named after Alexandria resident James Sherald
• Sen. Udall introduces ‘Plastic Pellet Free Waters Act’
• Mining companies stand to win from Peru-China FTA that neglects environment
• Ikea faces Swiss complaint over wood believed to have been illegally logged
• Researchers show conscious processes in birds’ brains for the first time
• 30 retired elephants will live out their days at Nassau County wildlife refuge
• Koala may be given endangered listing as numbers plummet
• US House passes sweeping clean energy bill
• Emails show how pesticide lobby influenced US position in health talks
• Relocated Isle Royale wolves form groups, reduce moose herd
• Seismic blasting efforts halted in Atlantic Ocean
• Around 2500 new species to arrive in Europe by 2050 causing damage to biodiversity
• 3 new damselflies discovered in Western Ghats
• Charleston naturalist gets to name new millipede species after discovery at Caw Caw center
• AZA celebrates funding for endangered species and announces 2020 Honors and Awards
• SELC flags Endangered Species Act violation in EPA rule harming clean water
• Graeme Worboys passes away
• Climate change is transforming how plants grow
• Study shows warming ocean, vicious carbon cycle
• Antarctic and high seas protection can save half the planet
• A machine-learning assist to predicting hurricane intensity
• NASA monitors Carbon Monoxide from California Wildfires
• Comet discovered to have its own Northern Lights
• School-Bus sized asteroid to safely zoom past earth
• NASA’s new Mars rover will use x-ray to hunt fossils
• New sea level satellite arrives at California launch site
• Nuclear fusion reactor could be here as soon as 2025