Conservation News ~ 20 March 2020

• Cambodia scraps plans for Mekong hydropower dams
• Three new species of chameleons emerge from century-old entanglement
• Mexico’s deadly toll of environment and land defenders catalogued in report
• Lawsuit seeks to finalize Endangered Species protection for Eastern Black Rail
• Win for conservation as African black rhino number rise
• China’s revised forest law could boost efforts to fight illegal logging
• Study finds that sea turtles might be eating plastic because it smells like food
• Arctic permafrost moving toward crisis, abrupt that a growing risk
• The National Park Service has waived entrance fees
• The coronavirus pandemic drastically reduced carbon emissions
• Ancient worm finally pegged as new genus
• As virus shuts down cities in Europe, pollution drops
• Urban coyotes eat lots of cats and human garbage, poop study finds
• Two new species of sawsharks found in West Indian Ocean
• As Italy quarantines over coronavirus, dolphins appear in Venice canals
• Amazon rainforest reaches point of no return
• Researchers engineer the world’s first aerogels made from scrap tires
• Birth of wild tapir offers hope for Brazil’s endangered ecosystem
• Vietnam considers wildlife trade ban in response to coronavirus pandemic
• Ecuador’s tallest waterfall suddenly disappeared
• Madagascar off pace to meet Aichi targets
• Lack of farmer training worsens Sri Lanka’s growing human-wildlife conflict
• Dick’s Sporting Goods to phase out hunting department in over 400 stores
• Mysterious ancient sea-worm pegged as new genus after half-century waste basket
• Houston Toad/Endangered Species Act – Center for Biological Diversity Judicial Challenge to US
• Palm oil firm has farmers jailed for harvesting from land it stole from them
• Critics push back as cable car project for Indonesia’s Rinjani is revived
• Smaller fragments of forest at risk of greater levels of deforestation
• Costa Rican caterpillar decline spells trouble for ecosystems
• 4 Black teens build robot that can remove all plastics in every ocean worldwide
• YC graduate Genecis Bioindustries turns food waste into compostable plastics
• New plant species discovered in south China
• EPA announces new biological evaluations for pesticides under Endangered Species Act
• Chile’s biosphere reserves get supersized but protection isn’t a given
• San Francisco’s Michelin-starred restaurant Lazy Bear goes vegan for nine days
• NASA screens vegan film The Game Changers to prepare for vegan future in outer space
• Satellite images reveal a dramatic drop in pollution during the corona virus quarantine
• New fish species accidentally discovered on film
• Endangered tiger salamander making a comeback in Maryland
• 17 large-scale solar projects planned in Upstate New York
• Biodiversity hotspot in India’s Western Ghats reveals yet another undescribed species
• VW says it will drop 30k ID.3 electric cars at once, will be cheaper than gas cars
• Two suspected rhino poachers shot dead in KwaZulu-Natal game park
• Australia MPs dismayed at NSW forestry logging unburnt habitat after bushfires
• White House is thwarted by court in bid to log biggest national forest
• Western Lowland Gorillas may be territorial
• Brazil drastically reduces controls over suspicious Amazon timber exports
• Fish stock plunder costing SA billions
• Vietnam’s new conservation plan prioritizes trees and people – emissions? Not so much
• Pipeline company to pay more than $60 million for 2015 oil spill near Santa Barbara
• Florida poised to protect Gulf of Mexico’s largest seagrass bed
• Major steps taken to implement the Endangered Species Act
• San Diego Zoo researchers retrieve rhino’s eggs to recover critically endangered species
• Supreme Court rejects Trans Mountain legal challenges
• Conservationists cautiously optimistic after Bolivian government changes hands
• Wind and solar plants will soon be cheaper than coal in all big markets around world
• Heat stress may affect more than 1.2 billion people annually by 2100
• Peruvian women unite against toxic metals pollution and win human rights prize
• Chinese company claims eating dogs shows ‘cultural confidence’
• Neom, Saudi Arabia’s $500 billion megacity, reaches its next phase
• Six-fold jump in polar ice loss lifts global oceans
• Next generation water splitter could help renewable power the globe
• Young mountain lion killed trying to cross the 101
• Wales launches 5m pound national forest scheme
• Virginia becomes the first state in the South to target 100% clean power
• A new mantis species rises from the ashes of Brazil’s national museum
• New species of Musk Shrew discovered in Indonesia
• Complaint alleges oil company left Peru communities’ environment in ruins
• Record-high global tree cover loss driven by agriculture