All businesses depend on and impact nature; All can be positive agents of change; Report highlights methods and 100+ actions to measure and respond to business impacts and dependencies for businesses, governments, financial actors and civil society

Manchester, UK —  Every business depends on biodiversity, and every business impacts biodiversity. The growth of the global economy has been at the cost of immense biodiversity loss, which now poses a critical and pervasive systemic risk to the economy, financial stability and human wellbeing. This is a central finding of a landmark new report published today by the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).

Even companies that might seem far-removed from nature or that do not see themselves as nature-based rely, directly or indirectly, on material inputs, regulation of environmental conditions – such as flood mitigation and water supply – and non-material contributions such as spaces for tourism, recreation, education, and spiritual, aesthetic and cultural values. But businesses often bear little or no financial cost for their negative impacts and many cannot currently generate revenue from positive impacts on biodiversity.

Approved by representatives of the more than 150 member Governments of IPBES, during the 12th session of the IPBES Plenary, hosted in Manchester, United Kingdom, the IPBES Methodological Assessment Report on the Impact and Dependence of Business on Biodiversity and Nature’s Contributions to People (known as the Business and Biodiversity Report), finds that businesses are central to halting and reversing biodiversity loss, but that many often lack information to address their impacts and dependencies, as well as the risks and opportunities relating to biodiversity and nature’s contributions to people.

Enabling environment necessary for business action

Prepared over three years by 79 leading experts from 35 countries and all regions of the world, drawn from science and the private sector, in consultation with Indigenous Peoples and local communities, the Report finds that the current conditions in which businesses operate are not always compatible with achieving a just and sustainable future, and that these conditions also perpetuate systemic risks.

Businesses often face inadequate or perverse incentives, barriers that hinder efforts to reverse nature’s decline, an institutional environment with insufficient support, enforcement and compliance, as well as significant gaps in data and knowledge. These combine with business models that result in ever-increasing material consumption and an emphasis on reporting quarterly earnings, to contribute to the degradation of nature around the world. The Report makes the point that fundamental change is possible and necessary to create an enabling environment to align what is profitable for business with what is beneficial for biodiversity and people.

“This Report draws on thousands of sources, bringing together years of research and practice into a single integrated framework that shows both the risks of nature loss to business, and the opportunities for business to help reverse this,” said Matt Jones (UK), one of three Co-chairs of the Assessment. “This is a pivotal moment for businesses and financial institutions, as well as Governments and civil society, to cut through the confusion of countless methods and metrics, and to use the clarity and coherence offered by the Report to take meaningful steps towards transformative change. Businesses and other key actors can either lead the way towards a more sustainable global economy or ultimately risk extinction…both of species in nature, but potentially also their own.”

Business-as-usual Incentives are Driving Nature’s Decline

Current conditions perpetuate business-as-usual and do not support the transformative change necessary to halt and reverse biodiversity loss. For example, large subsidies that drive losses of biodiversity are directed to business activities with the support of lobbying by businesses and trade associations. In 2023, global public and private finance flows with directly negative impacts on nature, were estimated at $7.3 trillion, of which private finance accounted for $4.9 trillion, with public spending on environmentally harmful subsidies of about $2.4 trillion. 

In contrast, $220 billion in public and private finance flows were directed in 2023 to activities contributing to the conservation and restoration of biodiversity, representing just 3% of the public funds and incentives that encourage harmful business behaviour or prevent behaviour beneficial to biodiversity.

“The loss of biodiversity is among the most serious threats to business”, said Prof. Stephen Polasky (USA), Co-chair of the Assessment. “Yet the twisted reality is that it often seems more profitable to businesses to degrade biodiversity than to protect it. Business as usual may once have seemed profitable in the short term, but impacts across multiple businesses can have cumulative effects, aggregating to global impacts, which can cross ecological tipping points. The Report shows that business as usual is not inevitable – with the right policies, as well as financial and cultural shifts, what is good for nature is also what is best for profitability. To get there, the Report offers tools for choosing more effective measurements and analysis.”

Measuring Impacts and Dependencies  

The Report finds that a wide range of methods and data exist for measuring business impacts and dependencies, which can already inform decisions and action, but that more is known about applying methods for assessing impacts than for measuring dependencies. The application and uptake of methods is found to be low and uneven across and within business sectors and locales, with less than 1% of publicly reporting companies mentioning their impacts on biodiversity in their reports.

A recent survey among financial institutions representing 30% of global market capitalisation value found that the three most cited barriers to greater uptake of nature-related risk assessment and management are: a) access to reliable data, b) access to reliable models and c) access to scenarios. Prof. Polasky said: “Too often, businesses spend more time trying to decipher complex, competing frameworks for compliance and reporting than taking meaningful action. One of the powerful features of this Report is that it helps to decipher which methods, metrics and policy tools are appropriate for the scope of business, helping bring clarity and coherence to how businesses measure and report on their interactions with nature. We are moving the conversation from voluntary sustainability pledges to a science-based roadmap for system change.” 

The authors emphasize that no single method to measure and manage impacts and dependencies is suitable for all business decisions, and which aspects should be measured depends on context and the action or decision being informed – multiple methods or metrics will often be necessary. The Report proposes three overarching characteristics that can be used to assess which methods are most appropriate for any business, of any size or sector: coverage (geographic as well as the extent of impacts and dependencies included); accuracy (the degree to which results correctly describe what they are designed to measure); and responsiveness (the ability of the method to detect changes that can be attributed to the actions and activities of the business).

Decisions at the operational level require site-specific information, generated through ‘bottom-up’ approaches including location-based observations, participatory monitoring and mapping, and spatial analysis built on these data sources. Approaches more appropriate at the portfolio, corporate and value chain levels include ‘top-down’ methods such as life cycle approaches and macro-scale environmental economic models. Depending on the purpose of measurement, they can be conducted with lower spatial resolution data but wider geographic coverage.

Another key finding is that business could improve the measurement and management of impacts and dependencies through appropriate engagement with science and Indigenous and local knowledge. “Data and knowledge are often siloed,” said Prof. Ximena Rueda (Colombia), Co-chair of the Assessment. “Scientific literature is not written for businesses and a lack of translation and attention to the needs of business has slowed uptake of scientific findings. Among business there is also often limited understanding and recognition of Indigenous Peoples and local communities as stewards of biodiversity and, therefore, holders of knowledge on its conservation, restoration and sustainable use.” 

Industrial development threatens 60% of Indigenous lands around the world and a quarter of all Indigenous territories are under high pressure from resource exploitation, but Indigenous Peoples and local communities often find themselves marginalised in business research and decision-making. “Respectful collaboration resulting in the sharing and better use of data, scientific insights and Indigenous and local knowledge can translate into better management of business risk and opportunities,” said Prof. Rueda.

Priorities and options for business action

The Report makes it clear that all businesses, including financial institutions, have a responsibility to act and could take further actions, given an enabling environment, on their impacts and dependencies on biodiversity and nature’s contributions to people, including ecosystem services. Although trade-offs exist that prevent some transformative actions, the authors point to many actions that businesses can take now that benefit business and biodiversity – such as increasing efficiency and reducing waste and emissions. Specific options for business action that can be taken now to address their impacts and dependencies on nature are included as a table below.

“Better engagement with nature is not optional for business – it is a necessity”, said Prof. Rueda. “This is vital for their bottom line, long-term prosperity and the transformative change needed for a more just and sustainable futures. To avoid greenwashing though, it is essential that businesses have transparent and credible strategies, which clearly demonstrate their actions and how they contribute to biodiversity outcomes  and that they publicly disclose their impacts and dependencies as well as their lobbying activities”.

The Report explores both actions that can be taken by businesses themselves within their control and ‘signalling’ actions that can publicly influence and inspire action by others. Actions of each type can be pursued by businesses across four decision-making levels: corporate, operations, value-chain and portfolio.

The authors acknowledge that while there is a large existing knowledge base to guide action by businesses, there are also important gaps in knowledge and its application that constrain the ability of all actors to fully understand and effectively manage business activities. The Report groups these gaps as follows: business-relvant data; data accessibility and transparency; incomplete evidence; low adoption of methods and limitations of methods – suggesting five sets of actions to address these priorities.

100+ Concrete Actions for Governments, Financial Actors & Civil Society

Another central message of the Report is that businesses cannot, by themselves, deliver the scale of change needed to halt and reverse biodiversity loss. Collaboration, collective and individual actions are essential to create an enabling environment where businesses contribute to a just and sustainable future.

Five specific components are identified as central to such an enabling environment: policy, legal and regulatory frameworks; economic and financial systems; social values, norms and culture; technology and data; and capacity and knowledge. The Report provides more than 100 specific examples of concrete actions that can be taken, across each of these five components, by businesses, governments, financial actors and civil society. A table of these actions is attached. 

“Better stewardship of biodiversity is central to managing risk across the whole of the economy and throughout societies – it’s not some distant environmental issue, but a core challenge now in every boardroom and cabinet-room,” said Prof. Polasky. “We need to move beyond the fallacy of a binary choice between governments and decision-makers being either pro-environment or pro-business. All business depends on nature, so actions that conserve and sustainably use nature can also be those that help businesses thrive in the long-term. One of the innovations of this Report is that it provides a template for accelerating collaboration and collective actions at all levels among and by governments, financial actors,  other actors including civil society, Indigenous Peoples and local communities, consumers, NGOs, international organisations, and academia in addition to the action needed by businesses and financial institutions themselves.”

Vital Guidance to Achieve Global Goals

Speaking about the significance of the Business and Biodiversity Report, Dr. David Obura, Chair of IPBES said: “This first-ever fast-track IPBES Assessment Report was delivered with urgency as we begin the second half of this decade, at the request of our Governments, as a vital contribution to efforts by businesses, governments, financial actors and the whole of society to meet the goals and targets of the Global Biodiversity Framework, the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. It relates very directly to Target 15 of the Global Biodiversity Framework, which focuses on businesses, but ultimately to all our shared global goals because businesses are at the centre of how our economies, and large parts of our society, depend on and impact nature”.

“We thank the Co-chairs and all the authors of this Assessment,” said Dr. Luthando Dziba, Executive Secretary of IPBES. “This Report builds very directly on the insights and evidence of many earlier IPBES Assessments – particularly the 2019 Global Assessment, the 2022 Values Assessment and the 2024 Nexus and Transformative Change Assessments – offering much-needed clarity and coherence to guide actions by business and all decision-makers. Nature is everybody’s business and the conservation, restoration and sustainable use of biodiversity is central to business sustainability and success.”

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By the Numbers – Key Statistics and Findings from the Report

• $1.18 trillion-$130.11 trillion: Growth of the global economy between 1820 and 2022 (in 2011 dollars)
• +100% vs -40%: Average per capita increase in human produced capital since 1992, versus reduction in stocks of natural capital
• $7.3 trillion: Global public and private finance flows in 2023 with directly negative impacts on nature, of which private finance accounted for $4.9 trillion, with public spending on environmentally harmful subsidies of about $2.4 trillion
• $220 billion: Global public and private finance flows directed in 2023 to activities contributing to the conservation and restoration of biodiversity.
• <1%: Publicly reporting companies that mention biodiversity impacts in their reports
• 60%: Share of Indigenous lands globally threatened by industrial development
• 25%:Share of Indigenous territories under high pressure from resource exploitation
• At least 8: Number of countries (along with the European Union) in which central banks have analysed their financial institutions’ exposure to dependencies on biodiversity

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IPBES Partner Comments

Nature remains one of the most undervalued foundations of our global economy, despite underpinning food systems, supply chains, and long-term prosperity. At a time when some may question the role of science, IPBES continues to lead the way and provide independent, authoritative evidence – because science-based decision making is not optional, it is essential. 

The first-ever Business and Biodiversity Assessment reinforces this role. It will give decision-makers clear evidence of how businesses depend on nature, how they impact it, and what this means for risk, resilience, and long-term value. By identifying risks early, we can help prevent escalating costs – higher food prices, rising insurance premiums, and economic instability – affecting families and communities worldwide. 

Time is not on our side, but this Assessment offers a clear pathway on how we can align economic decision-making with environmental reality, delivering lasting benefits for people and for the planet.

Inger Andersen, Executive Director, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

Businesses across the agrifood systems both depend on and significantly impact biodiversity.  To build a resilient future, we need to transform these systems to ensure the Four Betters: better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life, leaving no one behind.

By effectively assessing and managing their relationship with nature, businesses can strengthen their resilience, drive innovation, and establish themselves as leaders in the global economy. Every business along the value chain has a role in advancing sustainable practices that support biodiversity. Key actions include scaling up investments in innovative, biodiversity-friendly technologies across production, processing, distribution and consumption, as well as implementing robust systems to monitor and report the impacts of their business operations.

As a UN Collaborative Partner of IPBES, FAO supports agrifood businesses in enhancing their biodiversity performance, meeting recognized standards, and conducting risk-based due diligence.

This new IPBES assessment offers a timely analysis of such measures, providing crucial data for decision-makers dedicated to building agrifood systems that are more efficient, more inclusive, more resilient and more sustainable.

QU Dongyu, Director-General, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

Biodiversity underpins every economy and every society. It generates jobs and income, regulates the climate, and sustains food, water, and health systems. Yet its very dependability hides the scale of our reliance on its continued stability. Too often, biodiversity is an invisible and expendable asset on a balance sheet. That is changing. Awareness is now accelerating of the risks to development if biodiversity fails—and of the economic opportunities and future prosperity that emerge where it thrives.

This IPBES Business and Biodiversity Assessment makes a vital contribution to exposing and explaining how business, economies, and development ambitions depend on biodiversity. Through our Nature Pledge, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) works alongside countries and our many partners to align economic progress with the protection and restoration of Nature. Our initiatives such as the Biodiversity Finance Initiative (BIOFIN) and our work supporting the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures reveal growing investor and policymaker demand for actionable information. UNDP therefore strongly welcomes the assessment’s focus on advancing categorization, methodologies, standardization, and other dimensions essential to scaling the value and integration of biodiversity into decision-making.

Nature-positive business transformation—aligned with global biodiversity commitments and strengthened through collaboration with governments, local communities, and Indigenous Peoples—is a fast-track to resilient, inclusive, and sustainable development. This approach is now far from optional. It is essential to our collective future.

Alexander De Croo, Administrator, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

Businesses are inseparable from the ecosystems they operate in: they both depend on them and profoundly impact them. As significant drivers of today’s planetary crises, businesses have contributed to climate change, biodiversity loss and cultural erosion. At the same time, they have a critical role to play in advancing more sustainable solutions, a role already reflected in a growing number of initiatives.  

UNESCO’s World Network of Biosphere Reserves is a strong example. These sites serve as living laboratories where biodiversity conservation, resilient livelihoods, cultural diversity and human wellbeing can reinforce one another. Through this network, UNESCO contributes in a concrete way to the implementation of the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, by promoting solutions rooted in places, communities and long-term balance between people and nature.

UNESCO is particularly proud to have contributed to this assessment by supporting the inclusion of Indigenous and local knowledge. Indigenous Peoples and local communities are often among the first to experience the impacts of unsustainable and extractive business practices, and frequently bear disproportionate social, cultural and ecological costs. At the same time, their knowledge, values and governance systems offer important insights into economic models that prioritize balance, reciprocity and long-term stewardship of nature. Recognizing and respecting these knowledge systems is a necessary condition for building sustainable, inclusive and effective responses to biodiversity crisis worldwide. 

In this context, UNESCO warmly welcomes this new IPBES assessment as an important contribution to advancing our shared understanding and collective action for biodiversity.

Khaled El-Enany, Director-General, United Nations Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)

The IPBES Business and Biodiversity report is a crucial contribution to the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, particularly its Target 15, which is about businesses assessing and disclosing biodiversity-related risks and impacts. This is key not only to a better understanding of the centrality of biodiversity to value chains, but also to taking action to change business models, reduce negative and increase positive biodiversity impacts.

All businesses depend on nature. Some are very obviously exposed to risks stemming from resource depletion or environmental degradation; others may need to dig deeper to understand the breadth of their dependencies and impacts on biodiversity. Hidden risks can range from breaching regulatory frameworks to damaging the company’s brand. 

In any case, biodiversity is never a marginal issue. It lies at the crux of what makes companies thrive or flounder: value chain resilience.

In too many boardrooms and offices around the world, there is a still a dearth of awareness of biodiversity protection as a business investment.  And too often, public policy still incentivises behaviour that drives biodiversity loss.

Transformative change is both necessary and possible. With the right business mindset supported by the right incentives, thriving in harmony with nature is within reach. 

Congratulations to IPBES on showing the way. 

Astrid Schomaker, Executive Secretary,  Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)

* * * * *

For enquiries and interviews please contact:

The IPBES Media Team

ipbes.media@gmail.com; 

www.ipbes.net

+1-416-878-8712 or or +1-850-252-3931

IPBES has now released the Summary for Policymakers (SPM) of the Business and Biodiversity Report. The SPM presents the key messages and policy options, as approved by the IPBES Plenary. To access the SPM, photos, ‘B-roll’ and other media resources go to: https://ipbes.canto.de/v/IPBES12Media. As always with IPBES assessments, the full Report (including all data) will be published once the necessary edits have been made based on the final approved version of the Summary for Policymakers –in a matter of a months after the launch of the Summary for Policymakers.

This Summary for Policymakers should be cited as: IPBES (2026). Summary for Policymakers of the Methodological Assessment Report on the Impact and Dependence of Business on Biodiversity and Nature’s Contributions to People. Jones M., Polasky S., Rueda X., Brooks S., Carter Ingram J., Egoh B. N., von Hase A., Kohsaka R., Kulak M., Leach K., Loyola R., Mandle L., Rodriguez-Osuna V., Schaafsma M. and Sonter L. J. (eds.). IPBES secretariat, Bonn, Germany. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15369060

About IPBES:

Often described as the “IPCC for biodiversity”, IPBES is an independent intergovernmental body comprising more than 150 member Governments. Established by Governments in 2012, it provides policymakers with objective scientific assessments about the state of knowledge regarding the planet’s biodiversity, ecosystems and the contributions they make to people, as well as the tools and methods to protect and sustainably use these vital natural assets. For more information about IPBES and its assessments visit www.ipbes.net

Video introduction to IPBES: www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOiGio7YU-M

Additional videos:

• IPBES Thematic Assessment Report on the Interlinkages among Biodiversity, Water, Food and Health (2024): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8H6aW_j2oSA 
• IPBES Thematic Assessment Report on the Underlying Causes of Biodiversity Loss and the Determinants of Transformative Change and Options for Achieving the 2050 Vision for Biodiversity (2024): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpCjEU9cPr0
• IPBES Thematic Assessment on Invasive Alien Species and Their Control (2023): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ybg4qxfoUIo 
• PBES Assessment of the Diverse Values and Valuation of Nature (2022): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jju7gD2XYE&t=238s 
• IPBES Assessment on the Sustainable Use of Wild Species (2022): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZflgQkb3c8Q&t=12s 
• IPBES Global Assessment of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (2019): https://youtu.be/7eYK5ibTOMA 
• IPBES Assessment of Land Degradation and Restoration (2018): www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCt7aai17Nk 
• IPBES Regional Assessments of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (2018): www.youtube.com/watch?v=kR0HeepbWCc 
• IPBES Assessment of Pollinators, Pollination and Food Production (2016): www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwkYbeiwK5A 
• IPBES Assessment of Scenarios and Models of Biodiversity (2016):  www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZfcDmtGa9I

Follow IPBES on Social Media: https://linktr.ee/ipbes  

Listen to our podcast: https://bit.ly/IPBESPodcast 

Coverage highlights

Businesses face extinction unless they protect nature, major report warns
BBC News via Yahoo! News, United States (47,489,908)

When ‘transformative change’ meets political reality
Financial Times (Moral Money Column), United Kingdom (22,400,000)

More than 150 Countries Agree That Focus on GDP Harms Nature
Bloomberg, United States (21,825,285)

Companies told to protect nature now or face extinction themselves
Reuters newswire via MSN, United States (99,756,141)

Biodiversity loss: businesses also risk “extinction,” warn scientists
Les Echos, France (6,875,153)

Investing in life: what lies behind a biodiversity portfolio
Les Echos (commentary), France (6,875,153)

U.N. body confirms what we have known for decades: Companies that pillage nature risk extinction
Reuters (commentary), United States (45,139,177)

“Biodiversity loss is one of the most serious threats to businesses,” scientists warn
France Télévisions via francetv info, France (25,060,401)

Report: Without nature conservation, companies risk their future
Deutsche Presse Agentur newswire via t-online.de, Germany (18,210,152)

Time to align economic practice with ecological reality: the critical need to include nature in macroeconomic models
London School of Economics, United Kingdom 

This Is What Collapse Feels Like: Nothing
Medium, United States (45,225,719)

“Those who destroy nature endanger their own economy.”
Focus Online, Germany (13,461,430)

“Change course or die out”
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (Print Edition), Germany (263,910)

The economy that devours the planet
El País, Spain (36,902,599)

Analysis: “Biodiversity loss is one of the most serious threats to businesses,” warns a report
Libération, France (11,000,000)

UN report aims to map out ways to make business and biodiversity both sustainable
Globe and Mail, Canada (6,600,000)

World Biodiversity Council: Environmental protection must be good for business
Der Tagesspiegel, Germany (14,248,647)

Business and biodiversity: moving forward together – Businesses play a central role in restoring nature
Asahi Shimbun, Japan (33,632,776)

Global organization sounds biodiversity alarm: $113 trillion spent on nature annually
Nikkei Business, Japan (3,289,618)

Why financial leadership on nature matters for sustainable growth
World Economic Forum, Switzerland (2,808,455)

Environment: Many investments have a negative impact on biodiversity
Mainichi Shimbun, Japan (22,931,492)

Less than 1% of companies worldwide report impacts on biodiversity, says UN study.
Valor Econômico, Brazil (3,632,054)

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New method also detects molecular signs of photosynthesis almost 1 billion years earlier than previously documented; Combining chemistry and AI, pioneering method could revolutionize search for extraterrestrial life

Pairing cutting-edge chemistry with artificial intelligence, a multidisciplinary team of scientists today published fresh chemical evidence of Earth’s earliest life – concealed in 3.3-billion-year-old rocks – and molecular evidence that oxygen-producing photosynthesis was occurring over 800 million years earlier than previously documented.

In a groundbreaking study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, scientists from the Carnegie Institution for Science and several partner universities and institutions analyzed over 400 samples, including ancient sediments, fossils, modern plants and animals, and even meteorites, to see if life’s signature still exists in rocks long after the original biomolecules are gone.

Using high-tech chemical analysis to break down both organic and inorganic materials, Michael L. Wong, Anirudh Prabhu, and colleagues trained AI to recognize chemical ‘fingerprints’ left behind by life – signals that can still be detected even after billions of years of geological wear and tear.

The results prove the possibility of distinguishing materials of biological origin (like microbes, plants and animals) from materials of non-living origin (like meteoritic or synthetic carbon) with over 90% accuracy. 

Impressively, these methods teased out chemical patterns unique to biology in rocks as old as 3.3 billion years.  Previously, no such traces had been found in rocks older than about 1.7 billion years.  The results, therefore, roughly double the window of time in which organic molecules preserved in rocks can reveal useful information about the physiology and evolutionary relationships of their original organisms.

The work also provides molecular evidence that oxygen-producing photosynthesis (the process used by plants, algae and many microorganisms to harness sunlight) was at work at least 2.5 billion years ago. This finding extends the chemical record of photosynthesis preserved in carbon molecules by over 800 million years.

Besides helping find evidence of Earth’s earliest life, this work advances a potential way to identify traces of life beyond our planet.

Life’s evidence in ancient cells battered to near obliteration

Earth’s earliest life left behind little in the way of molecular traces. The few fragile remnants such as ancient cells and microbial mats were buried, crushed, heated, and fractured within Earth’s restless crust before being thrust back to the surface. These transformations all but obliterated biosignatures holding vital clues to the origins and early evolution of life.

Paleobiologists who search for signs of Earth’s most ancient life have long relied mainly on fossil organisms, including microscopic fossils of single cells and filaments, and the mineralized remains of cellular structures such as microbial mats and mound-like stromatolites, which provide convincing evidence of life as far back as 3.5 billion years ago. However, such remains are few and far between. 

A second line of evidence relies on the preservation of diagnostic biomolecules in ancient rocks. Life’s hardiest organic molecules – those derived from cell membranes or some metabolic processes – have been found in sediments as old as 1.7 billion years, while much older carbon-rich rocks preserve isotopic signatures that hint at a vibrant biosphere 3.5 billion years ago.

However, most ancient rocks preserve neither fossil cells nor any surviving biomolecules. The vast majority of ancient carbon-bearing sediments have been heated and altered in ways that break every diagnostic biomolecule into countless small fragments. Those fragments have proven too small and too generic to provide any clues about ancient life – until now.

The new work is based on the hypothesis that life’s molecules are rigorously selected for their biological functions (in keeping with a new law of nature proposed in 2023). Unlike the random distribution of molecules found in carbon-rich meteorites and other abiotic organic mixtures, life makes a few kinds of molecules in high abundance. Each chemical in a living cell has its own function. The new work suggests that the distribution of biomolecular fragments found in old rocks still preserves diagnostic information about the biosphere, even if no original biomolecules remain. 

Indeed, this new research shows that life left behind more than anyone ever realized — faint chemical “whispers” locked deep inside ancient rocks. 

The 406 measured samples came from seven major groups:

• Modern animals: vertebrates (e.g. fish) and invertebrates (e.g. insects).
• Modern plants: including both their photosynthetic parts (e.g. leaves) and non-photosynthetic parts (e.g. roots and sap).
• Fungi: including mushrooms and yeast.
• Fossil materials: e.g. coal, ancient wood, and shale rich in preserved algae.
• Meteorites: carbon-rich space rocks that could resemble prebiotic material.
• Synthetic organic materials: made in labs to simulate early-Earth chemistry.
• Ancient sediments: ranging from hundreds of millions to over 3 billion years old, with uncertain origins.

The team used pyrolysis–gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (Py-GC-MS) to release trapped chemical fragments from each sample. They then used a specific type of machine learning model called “random forest,” which builds hundreds of decision trees to classify data and to extract latent ecological and taxonomic patterns. This is the first study to combine Py-GC-MS data with supervised machine learning to identify biosignatures in multi-billion-year old rocks.

Says team member Dr. Robert Hazen, Senior Staff Scientist at the Carnegie Institution for Science: “Think of it like showing thousands of jigsaw puzzle pieces to a computer and asking whether the original scene was a flower or a meteorite.”

“Rather than focus on individual molecules, we looked for chemical patterns, and those patterns could be true elsewhere in the universe,” Dr. Hazen added. 

“Our results show that ancient life leaves behind more than fossils; it leaves chemical ‘echoes.’ Using machine learning, we can now reliably interpret these echoes for the first time.”

The paper concludes: “Information-rich attributes of ancient organic matter, even though highly degraded and with few if any surviving biomolecules, have much to reveal about the nature and evolution of life.”

A pioneering model

The model’s performance was tested in three main ways:

1. Modern living animals and plants vs non-life samples

Could the model distinguish life-based organic matter from non-living origins (like meteorites or synthetic chemistry)?

• Yes, with up to 98% accuracy on known samples.
• When applied to ancient rock samples, the model found strong evidence for life in multiple 3.3-billion-year-old formations.

2. Photosynthetic vs Non-photosynthetic

Could the model detect signs that an organism once used sunlight for energy?

• Yes, with 93% accuracy.
• The method identified photosynthetic signatures in rocks as old as 2.52 billion years.

3. Plant vs Animal

Could it distinguish plant-based life from animal-based life?

• Yes again, with 95% correct classification in modern samples.
• This type of classification is harder in ancient rocks due to the scarcity of animal fossils in the model’s training set. This is a point of improvement for future work.

Seeing through the fog of time

One key insight was that age makes detection harder. Younger samples from the last 500 million years retained strong biotic signals. For rocks 500 million to 2.5 billion years old, about two-thirds still showed life signatures. But in rocks older than 2.5 billion years, just 47% retained detectable evidence of life.

For each sample, the model didn’t just report “life” or “non-life,” it gave a probability score. If a sample scored above 60% for “biotic,” it was considered a strong hit.

This probability-based approach allows for nuance. For example, a coal sample that had been heated to over 400°C might have lost most of its biological markers and landed in the “uncertain” range. But well-preserved ancient samples—especially those that hadn’t been exposed to intense heat or pressure—still scored confidently in the “biotic” zone.

The authors were also careful not to claim a sample was biotic unless it truly stood apart from abiotic materials, reducing the risk of false positives.

Among the ancient samples that stood out as clear positives:

• Biotic material in 3.33-billion-year-old sediments from e.g. South Africa’s Josefsdal Chert
• Photosynthetic life in 2.52-billion-year-old rocks from e.g. South Africa’s Gamohaan Formation

Why this matters for science, and space exploration

The results suggest that machine learning applied to degraded organic matter can help resolve long-standing debates about the evolution of life on Earth in deep time.

This method could also assist in the search for signs of extraterrestrial life.  If AI can detect biotic “fingerprints” on Earth that survived billions of years, the same technique might work on Martian rocks or even samples from Jupiter’s icy moon Europa.

The authors are careful not to overstate their conclusions. They acknowledge:

• The need for larger, more balanced sample sets, especially more fossil animals and diverse abiotic materials
• Some samples still fall into a gray zone, with mid-range probability scores that don’t allow firm conclusions.
• The method is complementary, not a replacement, for traditional techniques like isotope analysis or fossil morphology.

The team plans to refine their models, explore different types of machine learning, and test their approach on rocks from Earth’s Mars-like deserts.

“This study represents a major leap forward in our ability to decode Earth’s oldest biological signatures,” says Dr. Hazen. “By pairing powerful chemical analysis with machine learning, we have a way to read molecular ‘ghosts’ left behind by early life that still whisper their secrets after billions of years. Earth’s oldest rocks have stories to tell and we’re just beginning to hear them.”

Adds Dr. Wong: “Understanding when photosynthesis emerged helps explain how Earth’s atmosphere became oxygen-rich, a key milestone that allowed complex life, including humans, to evolve.”

“This represents an inspiring example of how modern technology can shine a light on the planet’s most ancient stories and could reshape how we search for ancient life on Earth and other worlds. In future, we plan to test materials like anoxygenic photosynthetic bacteria — possible analogs for extraterrestrial organisms. This is a powerful new tool for astrobiology.”

Says co-first author Dr. Anirudh Prabhu of Carnegie Science: “These samples and the spectral signatures they produce have been studied for decades, but AI offers a powerful new lens that allows us to extract critical information and better understand their nature. Even when degradation makes it difficult to spot signs of life, our machine learning models can still detect the subtle traces left behind by ancient biological processes.”

“What’s exciting is that this approach doesn’t rely on finding recognizable fossils or intact biomolecules. AI didn’t just help us analyze data faster, it allowed us to make sense of messy, degraded chemical data. It opens the door to exploring ancient and alien environments with a fresh lens, guided by patterns we might not even know to look for ourselves.”

********

Further comments

“For decades, we’ve searched ancient rocks for traces of life using a limited set of tools. What’s remarkable about this study is that it adds whole new dimensions – not just better instruments, but better questions. Machine learning helps us uncover biological signals that were effectively invisible before. It’s a leap forward in our ability to read the deep-time record of life on Earth.”

Co-author and paleobiologist Andrew H. Knoll, Harvard University

“For decades, organic geochemists have been examining the rock record looking for the diagnostic molecules that could tell us something about the nature of life at that time. These new techniques allow the data to speak for themselves in new ways, and for scientists to find new patterns faster than ever before.”

Co-author H. James Cleaves II, Howard University, Washington DC 

* * * * *

Fact box

• Technique used: Pyrolysis Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (Py-GC-MS)
• Samples analyzed: Over 400 (modern, fossil, meteorite, and synthetic)
• Machine learning success rates:
  • 98% accuracy distinguishing modern life from non-life
  • 95% accuracy distinguishing plants from animals
  • 93% accuracy distinguishing photosynthetic organisms
     
• Oldest signs detected:
  • Life: 3.33 billion-year-old rocks (Josefsdal Chert, South Africa)
  • Photosynthesis: 2.5 billion-year-old rocks (Gamohaan Formation, South Africa)
     
• Potential future applications:
  • Searching for life on Mars, Europa, or other worlds
  • Improving understanding of early Earth ecosystems

********

The full dataset and code are publicly available through the Open Science Framework and github, inviting further research and exploration into ancient biosignatures. Open data repository: 10.17605/OSF.IO/G93CS; Github: https://github.com/PrabhuLab/PyGCMS-Biosign-ML 

News release in full: click here

Coverage highlights

Food, water, energy crises, human tragedies in 2023-2025 detailed in sweeping analysis

Fuelled by climate change and relentless pressure on land and water resources, some of the most widespread and damaging drought events in recorded history have taken place since 2023, according to a UN-backed report launched today.

Prepared by the U.S. National Drought Mitigation Center (NDMC) and the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), with support from the International Drought Resilience Alliance (IDRA), the report, “Drought Hotspots Around the World 2023-2025,” available at https://bit.ly/4kkHApR, provides a comprehensive account of how droughts compound poverty, hunger, energy insecurity, and ecosystem collapse.

“It is here, escalating, and demands urgent global cooperation. When energy, food, and water all go at once, societies start to unravel. That’s the new normal we need to be ready for.”

“This is not a dry spell,” says Dr. Mark Svoboda, report co-author and NDMC Director. “This is a slow-moving global catastrophe, the worst I’ve ever seen. This report underscores the need for systematic monitoring of how drought affects lives, livelihoods, and the health of the ecosystems that we all depend on.”

“The Mediterranean countries represent canaries in the coal mine for all modern economies,” he adds. “The struggles experienced by Spain, Morocco and Türkiye to secure water, food, and energy under persistent drought offer a preview of water futures under unchecked global warming. No country, regardless of wealth or capacity, can afford to be complacent.”

A wide-ranging crisis

The new report synthesizes information from hundreds of government, scientific and media sources to highlight impacts within the most acute drought hotspots in Africa (Somalia, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Botswana, Namibia), the Mediterranean (Spain, Morocco, Türkiye), Latin America (Panama, Amazon Basin), Southeast Asia, and beyond.

Africa: 

• Over 90 million people across Eastern and Southern Africa face acute hunger. Some areas have been enduring their worst ever recorded drought.
• Southern Africa, already drought-prone, was devastated with roughly 1/6th of the population (68 million) needing food aid in August 2024. 
• In Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Malawi, maize and wheat crops have failed repeatedly.  In Zimbabwe alone, the 2024 corn crop was down 70% year on year, and maize prices doubled while 9,000 cattle died of thirst and starvation. 
• In Somalia, the government estimated 43,000 people died in 2022 alone due to drought-linked hunger. As of early 2025, 4.4 million people – a quarter of the population – face crisis-level food insecurity, including 784,000 expected to reach emergency levels.
• Zambia suffered one of the world’s worst energy crises as the Zambezi River in April 2024 plummeted to 20% of its long-term average. The country’s largest hydroelectric plant, the Kariba Dam, fell to 7% generation capacity, causing blackouts of up to 21 hours per day and shuttering hospitals, bakeries, and factories.

Mediterranean:

• Spain: Water shortages hit agriculture, tourism, and domestic supply. By September 2023, two years of drought and record heat caused a 50% drop in Spain’s olive crop, causing its olive oil prices to double across the country. 
• Morocco: The sheep population was 38% smaller in 2025 relative to 2016, prompting a royal plea to cancel traditional Eid sacrifices.
• Türkiye: Drought accelerated groundwater depletion, triggering sinkholes that present hazards to communities and their infrastructure while permanently reducing aquifer storage capacity.

Latin America

• Amazon Basin: Record-low river levels in 2023 and 2024 led to mass deaths of fish and endangered dolphins, and disrupted drinking water and transport for hundreds of thousands. As deforestation and fires intensify, the Amazon risks transitioning from a carbon sink to a carbon source.
• Panama Canal: Water levels dropped so low that transits were slashed by over one-third (from 38 to 24 ships daily between October 2023 and January 2024), causing major global trade disruptions. Facing multi-week delays, many ships were rerouted to longer, costlier paths via the Suez Canal or South Africa’s infamous Cape of Good Hope. Among the knock-on effects, U.S. soybean exports slowed, and UK grocery stores reported shortages and rising prices of fruits and vegetables.

Southeast Asia

• Drought disrupted production and supply chains of key crops such as rice, coffee, and sugar. In 2023-2024, dry conditions in Thailand and India, for example, triggered shortages leading to a 8.9% increase in the price of sugar and sweets in the US.

“A Perfect Storm” of El Niño and climate change

The 2023–2024 El Niño event amplified already harsh climate change impacts, triggering dry conditions across major agricultural and ecological zones. Drought’s impacts hit hardest in climate hotspots, regions already suffering from warming trends, population pressures, and fragile infrastructure.

“This was a perfect storm,” says report co-author Dr. Kelly Helm Smith, NDMC Assistant Director and drought impacts researcher. “El Niño added fuel to the fire of climate change, compounding the effects for many vulnerable societies and ecosystems past their limits.”

Co-author Dr. Cody Knutson, who oversees NDMC drought planning research, underlined a recent OECD estimate that a drought episode today carries an economic cost at least twice as high as in 2000, with a 35% to 110% increase projected by 2035.

“Ripple effects can turn regional droughts into global economic shocks,” she adds. “No country is immune when critical water-dependent systems start to collapse.”

Women, children among the most affected

Most vulnerable to the effects of drought: Women, children, the elderly, pastoralists, subsistence farmers, and people with chronic illness.  Health risks include cholera outbreaks, acute malnutrition, dehydration, and exposure to polluted water.

The report highlights in particular the disproportionate toll on women and children.

In Eastern Africa, forced child marriages more than doubled as families sought dowries to survive. Though outlawed in Ethiopia, child marriages more than doubled in frequency in the four regions hit hardest by the drought. Young girls who marry can bring their family income in the form of a dowry while lessening the financial burden of providing food and other necessities.

In Zimbabwe, entire school districts saw mass dropouts due to hunger, costs, and sanitation issues for girls.

In the Amazon, the drought upended life for remote Indigenous and rural communities. In some areas, the Amazon River fell to its lowest level ever recorded, leaving residents stranded – including women giving birth – and entire towns without potable water.

“The coping mechanisms we saw during this drought grew  increasingly desperate,” says lead author Paula Guastello, NDMC drought impacts researcher. “Girls pulled from school and forced into marriage, hospitals going dark, and families digging holes in dry riverbeds just to find contaminated water — these are signs of severe crisis.”

“As droughts intensify, it is critical that we work together on a global scale to protect the most vulnerable people and ecosystems and re-evaluate whether our current water use practices are sustainable in today’s changing world,” Guastello says.

Says Deputy Executive Secretary of UNCCD Andrea Meza: “The report shows the deep and widespread impacts of drought in an interconnected world: from its rippling effects on price of basic commodities like rice, sugar and oil from Southeast Asia and the Mediterranean; to disruptions in access to drinking water and food in the Amazon due to low river levels, to tens of millions affected by malnutrition and displacement across Africa.”

“The evidence is clear”, adds Meza. “We must urgently invest in sustainable land and water management, land-use planning and integrated public policies to build our  resilience to drought or face increasingly harsh consequences.”

Public policies and international cooperation frameworks must urgently prioritize drought resilience for the sake of societies and economies.”

Wildlife killed en masse

• Beyond the 200 endangered river dolphins and thousands of fish lost to the Amazon drought, impacts on wildlife include:
• 100 elephants died in Zimbabwe’s Hwange Park due to starvation and limited access to water between August and December 2023.
• Hippos were stranded in dry riverbeds in Botswana in 2024.
• Some countries last year culled wild animals (e.g., 200 elephants in Zimbabwe and Namibia) to feed rural communities and protect ecosystems from overgrazing.

Lessons and recommendations

The report calls for urgent investments in drought preparedness, including:

• Stronger early warning systems and real-time drought and drought impact monitoring, including conditions contributing to food and water insecurity.
• Nature-based solutions such as watershed restoration and indigenous crop use.
• Resilient infrastructure, including off-grid energy and alternative water supply technologies.
• Gender-responsive adaptation, ensuring that women and girls are not further marginalized.
• Global cooperation, especially in protecting transboundary river basins and trade routes.

“Drought is not just a weather event – it can be a social, economic, and environmental emergency,” says Dr. Smith. “The question is not whether this will happen again, but whether we will be better prepared next time.”

“Drought has a disproportionate effect on those with fewest resources. We can act now to reduce the effects of future droughts by working to ensure that everyone has access to food, water, education, health care and economic opportunity.”

“The nations of the world have the resources and the knowledge to prevent a lot of suffering,” Dr. Smith adds. “The question is, do we have the will?”

* * * * *

By the Numbers:

• 68 million: People needing food aid in Southern Africa
• 23 million: People facing acute hunger in Eastern Africa
• 70%: Maize crop lost in Zimbabwe (2024)
• Up to 21 hours/day: Power outages in Zambia
• 200+: Endangered river dolphins killed by heat in the Amazon (Sept 2023)
• 38: Daily Panama Canal transits before drought; 24 during drought
• 50%: Olive oil production drop in Spain
• 1 million+: People in Somalia displaced due to drought (2022); 4.4 million at crisis-level hunger (early 2025); 1.7 million children suffering acute malnutrition (Apr–Jun 2025)
• 70%: Victoria Falls water level drop compared with 2023 (Zambia side, 2024)
• 100+: Drought-related elephant deaths in Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park
• 1,600+: Estimated number of sinkholes in Türkiye due to groundwater depletion
• Nearly doubled: Price increase of maize in Zambia
• €22.84 billion: Spain’s investment in irrigation and water infrastructure

* * * * *

About the report

The National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and the UN Convention to Combat Desertification sought to document drought’s recent impacts comprehensively to inform global policy and better prepare societies for future droughts.  The report draws on over 250 peer-reviewed studies, official data sources, and news reports across more than a dozen countries and regions.

*****

News release in full, click here

Coverage highlights

Recent droughts are ‘slow-moving global catastrophe’ – UN report, BBC, United Kingdom (144,490,956)

Droughts worldwide pushing tens of millions towards starvation, says report, The Guardian, United Kingdom (80,836,345)

Earth has seen some of its worst droughts ever recorded in last two years, report finds
CBS News, United States (online reach 43,927,397)

Seca é ‘catástrofe global em câmera lenta’, alerta relatório da ONU, G1, Brazil (62,344,597)

Drought claims victims and fuels social injustices: the UN warns, La Repubblica, Italy (18,488,679)

UN agency report: The world faces severe drought challenges, news.sina.com.cn / 新浪新闻, China (17,922,693)

UN-backed report warns of escalating global drought risk, calls for urgent action, 新华网 (Xinhua), China (2,479,924)

El mapa mundial de la sequía sitúa a España en primera línea de una “catástrofe global”, El Mundo, Spain (22,880,882)

„Eine langsam voranschreitende globale Katastrophe: Wo Wassermangel Menschen am härtesten trifft, Der Tagesspiegel, Germany (9,207,919)

UN schlagen Alarm: Dürre-Bericht sieht fortschreitende globale Katastrophe, dpa via ZEIT online, Germany (4,196,119)

Eventos recordes de seca ocorreram nos últimos dois anos, alerta ONU, Folha de S. Paulo, Brazil (8,765,184)

Record temperatures, failed crops, and power outages: the triple impact of climate change-induced droughts, Infobae, Argentina (97,611,329)

UN-backed report warns of escalating global drought risk, calls for urgent action, IANS newswire via ProKerala.com, India (10,017,911)

How climate change-fuelled drought hit India’s sugar production, India Today, India (39,529,942)

Global drought exacerbates famine and displaces millions, Al Jazeera Arabic Online, Qatar (8,817,968)

Recent droughts are “global catastrophe in slow motion”, SAPO, Portugal (6,257,857)

Climate change is causing increasingly devastating droughts, Presse Canadienne newswire via MSN Canada, Canada (3,375,680)

Full coverage summary, click here

Bonn/Ulaanbaatar – Degradation of Earth’s extensive, often immense natural pastures and other rangelands due to overuse, misuse, climate change and biodiversity loss poses a severe threat to humanity’s food supply and the wellbeing or survival of billions of people, the UN warns in a stark report today.

Authors of the Global Land Outlook Thematic Report on Rangelands and Pastoralists, launched May 21 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia by the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (and available post-embargo at www.unccd.int), say up to 50% of rangelands are degraded.

Symptoms of the problem include diminished soil fertility and nutrients, erosion, salinization, alkalinization, and soil compaction inhibiting plant growth, all of which contribute to drought, precipitation fluctuations, and biodiversity loss both above and below the ground.

The problem is driven largely by converting pastures to cropland and other land use changes due to population growth and urban expansion, rapidly rising food, fibre and fuel demands, excessive grazing, abandonment (end of maintenance by pastoralists), and policies that incentivise overexploitation.

What are rangelands?

The rangelands category of Earth’s land cover consists mostly of the natural grasslands used by livestock and wild animals to graze and forage. 

They also include savannas, shrublands, wetlands, tundra and deserts.  

Altogether, these lands constitute 54% of Earth’s land cover, account for one sixth of global food production and represent nearly one third of the planet’s carbon reservoir.

“When we cut down a forest, when we see a 100-year-old tree fall, it rightly evokes an emotional response in many of us. The conversion of ancient rangelands, on the other hand, happens in ‘silence’ and generates little public reaction,” says UNCCD Executive Secretary Ibrahim Thiaw. 

“Sadly, these expansive landscapes and the pastoralists and livestock breeders who depend on them, are usually under-appreciated,” Mr. Thiaw adds. “Despite numbering an estimated half a billion individuals worldwide, pastoralist communities are frequently overlooked, lack a voice in policy-making that directly affects their livelihoods, are marginalised, and are even often seen as outsiders in their own lands.”

Mongolia Environment Minister H.E. Bat-Erdene Bat-Ulzii says: “As custodian of the largest grasslands in Eurasia, Mongolia has always been cautious in transforming rangelands. Mongolian traditions are built on the appreciation of resource limits, which defined mobility as a strategy, established shared responsibilities over the land, and set limits in consumption. We hope this report helps focus attention on rangelands and their many enormous values – cultural, environmental, and economic –  which cannot be overstated. If these rangelands cannot support these massive numbers of people, what alternatives can they turn to?”

Mongolia will host the 17th UNCCD Conference of the Parties meeting in 2026, the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (IYRP), declared by the United Nations General Assembly on Mongolia’s initiative.

Two billion people – small-scale herders, ranchers and farmers, often poor and marginalised – depend on healthy rangelands worldwide. 

Indeed, in many West African states, livestock production employs 80% of the population. In Central Asia and Mongolia 60% of the land area is used as grazing rangelands, with livestock herding supporting nearly one third of the region’s population.

Ironically, the report underlines, efforts to increase food security and productivity by converting rangelands to crop production in mostly arid regions have resulted in degraded land and lowered agricultural yields.

The report calls out “weak and ineffective governance,” “poorly implemented policies and regulations,” and “the lack of investment in rangeland communities and sustainable production models” for undermining rangelands.

An innovative approach

The new report’s 60+ expert contributors from over 40 countries agree that past estimates of degraded rangeland worldwide – roughly 25% – “significantly underestimates the actual loss of rangeland health and productivity” and could be as much as 50%. 

Rangelands are often poorly understood and a lack of reliable data undermines the sustainable management of their immense value in food provisioning and climate regulation, the report warns.

The report details an innovative conceptual approach that would enable policy-makers to stabilise, restore and manage rangelands.  

The new approach is backed by experience detailed in case studies from nearly every world region, drawing important lessons from successes and missteps of rangeland management.

A core recommendation: protect pastoralism, a mobile way of life dating back millennia centred on the pasture-based production of sheep, goats, cattle, horses, camels, yaks, llamas or other domesticated herbivores, along with semi-domesticated species such as bison and reindeer.  

Says Mr. Thiaw: “From the tropics to the Arctic, pastoralism is a desirable default and often the most sustainable option that should be incorporated into rangeland use planning.”

The economic engine of many countries 

Rangelands are an important economic engine in many countries and define cultures. Home to one quarter of the world’s languages, they also host numerous World Heritage Sites and have shaped the value systems, customs and identities of pastoralists for thousands of years. 

The report includes detailed analyses of individual countries and regions.

For example, livestock production accounts for 19% of Ethiopia’s GDP, and 4% of India’s. 

Brazil – with over 250 million cattle — produces 16% of the world’s beef, valued at $7.6 billion in 2019.

In Europe, many rangelands have given way to urbanization, afforestation and renewable energy production. 

In the United States, large tracts of grassland have been converted to crops, while some Canadian grasslands have been left fragile by large-scale mining and infrastructure projects.  There are also positive developments noted, such as growing efforts in both countries to reintroduce bison – an animal of great cultural importance to indigenous peoples – to promote rangeland health and food security. 

World areas most acutely affected by rangelands degradation, ranked in descending order:

Central Asia, China, Mongolia

The replacement of government management and oversight with privatization and agricultural industrialization left herders abandoned and dependent on insufficient natural resources causing widespread degradation.

The gradual restoration of traditional and community-based pastoralism is leading to critical advances in sustainable rangeland management.”

North Africa and Near East

The impact of climate change in one of the world’s driest regions is pushing pastoralists into poverty and degrading the rangelands on which they rely.

Updated traditional institutions, such as Agdals – reservoirs of fodder used to feed animals in periods of critical need and allowing for the regeneration of natural resources – and incipient supportive policies are improving the way rangelands are managed.

Sahel and West Africa

Conflict, power balance and border issues have interrupted livestock mobility leading to rangelands degradation.

Unified policies, recognition of pastoralists’ rights and cross-border agreements are reestablishing mobility for animal herders, crucial for landscape restoration. 

South America

Climatic change, deforestation linked to industrialised agriculture and extractive activities, and land use conversion are South America’s main drivers of rangeland degradation.

Multifunctionality and diversity of pastoralist systems hold the key for restoring some of the most interesting rangelands in the world, including the Pampa, the Cerrado and Caatinga savannahs, and the Puno Andean systems.

East Africa

Migration and forced displacement caused by competing uses of land (such as hunting, tourism, etc), are evicting pastoralists from their traditional lands, causing unanticipated degradation consequences.

Women-led initiatives and improved land rights are securing pastoralists’ livelihoods, protecting biodiversity, and safeguarding the ecosystem services provided by rangelands.

North America

The degradation of ancient grasslands and dry rangelands threatens the biodiversity of iconic North American ecosystems such as the tall-grass prairies or the southern deserts.

The incorporation of indigenous people to rangeland governance is a clear step to help recover these historic landscapes.

Europe

Policies favouring industrial farming over pastoralism and misguided incentives are causing rangelands and other open ecosystems to be abandoned and degraded.

Political and economic support, including legal recognition and differentiation, can turn the tide and help address critical environmental crises such as the rising frequency and intensity of wildfires and climate change.

South Africa and Australia

Afforestation, mining, and the conversion of rangelands to other uses are causing the degradation and loss of rangelands.

The co-creation of knowledge by producers and researchers, and respect for and use of traditional wisdom held by indigenous communities, open new paths for restoring and protecting rangelands. 

Paradigm shift

Halting the deterioration requires a paradigm shift in management at every level – from grassroots to global, the report concludes. 

Pedro Maria Herrera Calvo, the report’s lead author, says: “The meaningful participation of all stakeholders is key to responsible rangeland governance, which fosters collective action, improves access to land and integrates traditional knowledge and practical skills”. 

Achieving “land degradation neutrality” (Sustainable Development Goal 15.3) – balancing the amount and quality of healthy land to support ecosystem services and food security – also requires cross-border cooperation.  

Pastoralists with generations of experience in achieving life in balance with these ecosystems should help inform this process at every step, from planning to decision-making to governance, the report says.  

Solutions must be tailored to the characteristics and dynamics of rangelands, which vary widely from arid to sub-humid environments, as seen in West Africa, India or South America.

The report notes that traditional assessment methods often undervalue the real economic contribution of rangelands and pastoralism, highlighting the need for the innovative approach recommended. 

Among key recommendations: 

• Integrated climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies with sustainable rangeland management plans to increase carbon sequestration and storage while boosting the resilience of pastoralist and rangeland communities
• Avoid or reduce rangeland conversion and other land use changes that diminish the diversity and multifunctionality of rangelands, especially on indigenous and communal lands
• Design and adopt rangeland conservation measures, within and outside protected areas, that support biodiversity above and below ground while boosting the health, productivity, and resilience of extensive livestock production systems

• Adopt and support pastoralism-based strategies and practices that help mitigate harms to rangeland health, such as climate change, overgrazing, soil erosion, invasive species, drought, and wildfires
• Promote supportive policies, full people’s participation and flexible management and governance systems to boost the services that rangelands and pastoralists provide  to the whole society.

Additional key figures

• 80 million sq. km: Area of the world’s terrestrial surface covered by rangelands (over 54%)
• 9.5 million sq. km: Protected rangelands worldwide (12%)
• 67 million sq. km (45% of Earth’s terrestrial surface): Rangelands’ area devoted to livestock production systems (84% of rangelands), almost half of which are in drylands.  Livestock provide food security and generate income for the majority of the 1.2 billion people in developing countries living under the poverty threshold
• 1 billion: animals across more than 100 countries maintained by pastoralists, supporting 200 million households while providing about 10% of world meat supply, as well as dairy, wool and leather products 
• 33%: global biodiversity hotspots found in rangelands
• 24%: proportion of world languages found in rangelands
• 5,000 years ago: When pastoralism first emerged as a land-use system in sub-Saharan Africa 

REGIONAL FACTS & FIGURES

• Over 25% and 10%: Supply of world beef and milk, respectively, provided by Latin America’s cattle industry
• Over 25%: GDP of Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Chad attributed to livestock production
• Over 50%: land in the Middle East and North Africa regions deemed degraded (25% of arable land)
• 60%: area of Central Asia and Mongolia used as grazing rangelands, with livestock herding supporting nearly one third of the region’s population
• 40%: area of China covered by pastoral lands. (Notably, the country’s livestock population tripled between 1980 and 2010 to 441 million livestock units)
• 308 million hectares: area of the contiguous United States covered by rangelands, 31% of the country’s total land area, with ~55% of rangelands privately owned

Comments

“Imbalance between the supply of and demand for animal forage lands leads to overgrazing, invasive species, and the increased risk of drought and wildfires – all of which accelerate desertification and land degradation trends around the world.”

“We must translate our shared aspirations into concrete actions – stopping indiscriminate conversion of rangelands into unsuitable land uses, advocating for policies that support sustainable land management, investing in research that enhances our understanding of rangelands and pastoralism, empowering pastoralist communities to preserve their sustainable practices while also gaining tools to thrive in a changing world, and supporting all stakeholders, especially pastoralists, to implement measures that effectively thwart further degradation and preserve our land, our communities, and our cultures.”

Maryam Niamir-Fuller, Co-Chair, International Support Group for the UN’s International Year for Rangelands and Pastoralists – 2026

For the sake of future generations and economic stability, we need to improve awareness of and safeguard the immense value of rangelands. Due to their dynamic nature, predicting the consequences of rangelands degradation on economics, ecology, and societies is challenging. Managers require authoritative insights into the response of rangelands to different disturbances and management approaches, including policy tools that better capture the broad social importance of rangelands.

Carlos Manuel Rodríguez, CEO and Chairperson, Global Environment Facility 

“More than half of the world’s land mass is rangeland – and yet these landscapes and the people who inhabit and manage them have been largely neglected. They are a main source of food and feed for humanity, and yet they are also the world economy’s dumping ground.  It is time to shift perspective – from ‘a rangeland problem’ to ‘a sustainable rangeland solution’.

UN International Year of Rangelands & Pastoralists (IYRP) Working Group

“Pastoralists produce food in the world’s harshest environments, and pastoral production supports the livelihoods of rural populations on almost half of the world’s land. They have traditionally suffered from poor understanding, marginalization, and exclusion from dialogue. We need to bring together pastoralists and the main actors working with them to join forces and create the synergies for dialogue and pastoralist development

UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO)

“To have any chance of meeting global biodiversity, climate and food security goals, we simply cannot afford to lose any more of our rangelands, grasslands and savannahs. Our planet suffers from their ongoing conversion, as do the pastoralists who depend on them for their livelihoods, and all those who rely on them for food, water and other vital ecosystem services. The Global Land Outlook reinforces that too little political attention or finance is invested in protecting and restoring these critical ecosystems. National and sub-national authorities must take place-based action to safeguard and improve the health and productivity of rangelands, grasslands and savannahs – to benefit people and planet.”

Joao Campari, Global Food Practice Leader, World Wildlife Fund

* * * * * 

About UNCCD

The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) is an international agreement on good land stewardship. It helps people, communities and countries create wealth, grow economies and secure enough food, clean water and energy by ensuring land users an enabling environment for sustainable land management. Through partnerships, the Convention’s 197 parties set up robust systems to manage drought promptly and effectively. Good land stewardship based on sound policy and science helps integrate and accelerate achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, builds resilience to climate change and prevents biodiversity loss. 

https://unccd.int

About the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists

On the initiative of Mongolia, the United Nations General Assembly has designated 2026 the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (IYRP 2026) to enhance rangeland management and the lives of pastoralists. With this declaration, UN Member States are called upon to invest in sustainable rangeland management, to restore degraded lands, to improve market access by pastoralists, to enhance livestock extension services, and to fill knowledge gaps on rangelands and pastoralism. The IYRP 2026 will coincide with the UNCCD COP17 to be hosted by Mongolia.

https://iyrp.info

Media coverage highlights

Agence France Presse, Demise of rangelands ‘severely underestimated’: report https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-13441605/Demise-rangelands-severely-underestimated-report.html

Agence France Presse (French version) via Orange actu, France (3,114,035), La dégradation des grands pâturages mondiaux est “gravement sous-estimée”, alerte l’ONU (The degradation of the world’s great pastures is “seriously underestimated”, warns the UN) https://actu.orange.fr/societe/environnement/la-degradation-des-grands-paturages-mondiaux-est-amp-quot-gravement-sous-estimee-amp-quot-alerte-l-onu-CNT000002dVn8N.html

Reuters, United Kingdom, Half of world’s pastures degraded by overuse, climate change, UN report says, https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/half-worlds-pastures-degraded-by-overuse-climate-change-un-report-says-2024-05-21

Reuters Portuguese, Metade das pastagens do mundo está degradada por uso excessivo e clima, mostra relatório da ONU (Half of the world’s pastures are degraded by overuse and climate, UN report shows) https://www.terra.com.br/noticias/mundo/metade-das-pastagens-do-mundo-esta-degradada-por-uso-excessivo-e-clima-mostra-relatorio-da-onu,824cede2269d9c4bfb5fbe0c31add9c46utdeu33.html

Deutsche Presse Agentur (DPA), Germany 1) Natur: UN: Graslandschaften in Not(UN: Grasslands in need) https://www.focus.de/wissen/diverses/natur-un-graslandschaften-in-not_id_259961607.html; 2) Fast die Hälfte der Graslandschaften in schlechtem Zustand(Almost half of the grasslands are in poor condition) https://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/natur/uno-bericht-fast-die-haelfte-der-graslandschaften-in-schlechtem-zustand-a-1bb638fc-e973-4dd4-99b8-b7a8f6d47c4b

Agencia EFE, Spain, La degradación de los pastizales del planeta ponen en riesgo el suministro de alimentos (The degradation of the planet’s grasslands puts the food supply at risk) https://www.infobae.com/america/agencias/2024/05/21/la-degradacion-de-los-pastizales-del-planeta-ponen-en-riesgo-el-suministro-de-alimentos

Xinhua Chinese, China, 联合国报告呼吁加强保护牧场 (UN report calls for greater protection of rangelands) https://www.163.com/dy/article/J2NQM4BJ05346RC6.html

Xinhua English, Silent demise of rangelands threatens climate, food security: UN report https://english.news.cn/20240521/0692447051764f068998b629cd2023e6/c.html

Press Trust of India, India ‘Silent demise’ of rangelands threatens climate survival of billions worldwide UN report, https://www.theweek.in/wire-updates/national/2024/05/21/del40-env-rangelands.html

BBC, United Kingdom (98,593,830), starts at 45’09’ https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w172zb8w3kb84ys

Radio France International (RFI), France, Les pâturages, des terres fragiles qu’il faut préserver https://www.rfi.fr/fr/podcasts/questions-d-environnement/20240521-les-p%C3%A2turages-des-terres-fragiles-qu-il-faut-pr%C3%A9server

The Indian Express, India (60,889,380) Pastoralists in India need better access to land and rights recognition, says UN report https://indianexpress.com/article/india/pastoralists-india-land-un-report-9342969/

Down to Earth, India, Rangelands are facing a ‘silent demise’, suffering losses as high as 50% https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/agriculture/rangelands-are-facing-a-silent-demise-suffering-losses-as-high-as-50–96257

Full coverage summary, click here

News release in full, click here

Two billion tons of sand and dust, equal in weight to 350 Great Pyramids of Giza, enter the atmosphere every year; UNCCD experts attribute over 25% of the problem to human activities; Wreaks havoc from Northern and Central Asia to sub-Saharan Africa; Health impacts poorly understood

Sand and dust storms are an under-appreciated problem now “dramatically” more frequent in some places worldwide, with at least 25% of the phenomenon attributed to human activities, according to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

Accompanied by policy recommendations, the warning comes as a five-day meeting takes place in Samarkand, Uzbekistan to take stock of global progress in the Convention’s implementation. The UNCCD is one of three Conventions originated at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. The other two address climate change (UNFCCC) and biodiversity (UN CBD).

The meeting, 13-17 November (www.unccd.int/cric21) , includes a high-level session on 15 November hosted by the Government of Uzbekistan on ways to address the impacts of sand and dust storms on global agriculture, industry, transportation ​, water and air quality​, and human health​.

Says Ibrahim Thiaw, UNCCD’s Executive Secretary: “The sight of rolling dark clouds of sand and dust engulfing everything in their path and turning day into night is one of nature’s most intimidating spectacles. “It is a costly phenomenon that wreaks havoc everywhere from Northern and Central Asia to sub-Saharan Africa.”

“Sand and dust storms present a formidable challenge to achieving sustainable development. However, just as sand and dust storms are exacerbated by human activities, they can also be reduced through human actions,” adds Thiaw. ​

While sand and dust storms (SDS) are a regionally common and seasonal natural phenomenon, the problem is exacerbated by poor land and water management, droughts, and climate change, according to UNCCD experts.

And fluctuations in their intensity, magnitude, or duration “can make SDS unpredictable and dangerous.”

With impacts far beyond the source regions, an estimated 2 billion tons of sand and dust now enters the atmosphere every year, an amount equal in weight to 350 Great Pyramids of Giza.

In some areas, desert dust doubled in the last century.

“Sand and dust storms (SDS) have become increasingly frequent and severe having substantial transboundary impacts, affecting various aspects of the environment, climate, health, agriculture, livelihoods and the socioeconomic well-being of individuals. The accumulation of impacts from sand and dust storms can be significant,” says Feras Ziadat, Technical Officer at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), Chair of the UN Coalition on Combating Sand and Dust Storms.

“In source areas, they damage crops, affect livestock, and strip topsoil. In depositional areas atmospheric dust, especially in combination with local industrial pollution, can cause or worsen human health problems such as respiratory diseases. Communications, power generation, transportation, and supply chains can also be disrupted by low visibility and dust-induced mechanical failures. The United Nations Coalition on Combating Sand and Dust Storms, chaired by FAO, was created in 2019 to lead global efforts to address SDS.”

In their Sand and Dust Storms Compendium (https://bit.ly/3slJ6mE) and accompanying SDS Toolbox (https://bit.ly/3QSPWcI), the UNCCD, FAO and partners offer guidance on approaches and methodologies for collecting and assessing SDS data, monitoring and early warning, impact mitigation and preparedness, and source mapping and anthropogenic source mitigation at sub-national, national, regional and global levels.

The SDS discussion forms part of the agenda of this year’s meeting in Uzbekistan of the UNCCD’s Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the Convention (CRIC 21) and global progress in delivering the Convention’s strategic objectives. It marks the first time since its establishment that UNCCD has agreed to one of its most significant meetings in Central Asia.

The meeting comes at a critical juncture, as recent statistics published via UNCCD’s new data dashboard (https://data.unccd.int) shows the world now losing nearly 1 million square kilometers of healthy and productive land every year – some 4.2 million square kilometers between 2015-2019, or roughly the combined area of ​​five Central Asian nations: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

During the meeting (at 18:00 local time / 13:00 GMT, Tuesday 14 November) UNCCD and FAO experts will launch three reports:

Sand and dust storms. A guide to mitigation, adaptation, policy and risk management measures in agriculture (https://bit.ly/40zSEad)
Contingency planning process for catalysing investments and actions to enhance resilience against sand and dust storms in agriculture in the Islamic Republic of Iran (https://bit.ly/3QP8pqF) and
Preparing for sand and dust storm contingency planning with herding communities: a case study on Mongolia (https://bit.ly/3swg8Rd)

Other items on the CRIC 21 agenda include promoting sustainable land management, ensuring fair land rights for women, and tackling droughts and wildfires exacerbated by climate change and environmental degradation.

Background: Sand and dust storms

Sand and dust storms (SDS) are known by many local names: the sirocco, haboob, yellow dust, white storms, or the harmattan.

While SDS can fertilize both land and marine ecosystems, they also present a range of hazards to human health, livelihoods and the environment.

SDS events typically originate in low-latitude drylands and sub-humid areas where vegetation cover is sparse or absent.

They can also occur in other environments, including agricultural and high-latitude areas in humid regions, when specific wind and atmospheric conditions coincide. SDS events can have substantial transboundary impacts, over thousands of kilometers. Unified and coherent global and regional policy responses are needed, especially to address source mitigation, early warning systems, and monitoring.

SDS often have significant economic impacts: for example, they cost the oil sector in Kuwait an estimated US$ 190 million annually, while a single SDS event in 2009 resulted in damage estimated at US$ 229 – 243 million in Australia.

The major global sources of mineral dust are in the northern hemisphere across North Africa, the Middle East and East Asia. In the southern hemisphere, Australia, South America and Southern Africa are the main dust sources.

More than 80% of Central Asia is covered by deserts and steppes which, coupled with climate change and lasting droughts, represent a major natural source of sand and dust storms.

The dried-up Aral Sea is a major source of SDS, emitting more than 100 million tons of dust and poisonous salts every year, impacting the health not just of the people living in the vicinity, but far beyond and generating annual losses of US$ 44 million.

Recognition of SDS as a disaster risk appears to be high in North-East Asia, parts of West Asia and North America but less prominent elsewhere.

Low recognition of SDS as a disaster risk is likely due to the lack (in many cases) of significant immediate direct human fatalities or injuries from individual SDS events, and limited consolidated documentation on their long-term health, economic or other impacts.

SDS and health

SDS can be life-threatening for individuals with adverse health conditions.

Fine dust particles are carried to high tropospheric levels (up to a few kilometers high) where winds can transport them over long distances.

The health implications of SDS have been under increased research for decades, with most studies conducted in East Asia, Europe and the Middle East. There has been a lack of studies in West Africa.

A particular focus of this research has been SDS modification of air pollution.

The cause-and-effect between sand and dust in the atmosphere and health outcomes remains unclear and requires more extensive study. What can be said is that at-risk members of a population, especially those with pre-existing cardiopulmonary issues, including childhood asthma, may have a higher mortality or morbidity rate during a dust storm.

SDS can also impose major costs on the agricultural sector through crop destruction or reduced yield, animal death or lower yields of milk or meat, and damage to infrastructure.

For annual crops, losses are due to burial of seedlings or crops under sand deposits, loss of plant tissue and reduced photosynthetic activity as a result of sandblasting. This can lead to complete crop loss in a region or reduced yield.

There may also be a longer-term effect on some perennial crops due to tree or crop damage (such as lucerne/alfalfa crowns being damaged).

On a positive note, SDS dust can contain soil nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, as well as organic carbon. Some places benefit from this nutrient deposition on land, and mineral and nutrient deposition on water, particularly ocean bodies. When deposited, these can provide nutrients to downwind crop or pasture areas. These limited benefits, however, are far outweighed by the harms done.

Globally, the main large dust sources are dried lakes; Local sources include glacial outwash plains, volcanic ash zones and recently plowed fields.

The multi-faceted, cross-sectoral and transnational impacts of SDS directly affect 11 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals yet global recognition of SDS as a hazard is generally low due in part to the complexity and seasonally cumulative impact of SDS, coupled with limited data .

Insufficient information and impact assessments hinder effective decision-making and planning to effectively address SDS sources and impacts.

UNCCD helps governments create policies to promote the scaling-up of sustainable land management practices and to find and use the latest science to develop and implement effective mitigation policies.

Working with The Regional Environmental Center for Central Asia , (https://bit.ly/46aAhKq) UNCCD assists countries vulnerable to drought and sand and dust storms in Central Asia to develop and implement risk reduction strategies at national and regional level. UNCCD encourages countries to adopt a comprehensive risk reduction strategy with monitoring and early warning systems to improve preparedness and resilience to these environmental disasters.

Among the measures most needed are

A multi-sector approach bolstered by information-sharing, short- and long-term interventions, engaging multiple stakeholders, and raising awareness of SDS.

Land restoration, using soil and water management practices to protect soils and increase vegetative cover, which have been shown to significantly reduce the extent and vulnerability of source areas, and reduce the intensity of typical SDS events.

Early warning and monitoring, building on up-to-date risk knowledge, and forecasting, with all stakeholders (including at-risk populations) participating to ensure that warnings are provided in a timely and targeted manner

Impact mitigation, through preparedness to reduce vulnerability, increase resilience, and enables a timely, effective response to SDS events

* * * *

The UNCCD is an international agreement on good land stewardship. It helps people, communities and countries create wealth, grow economies and secure enough food, clean water and energy by ensuring land users an enabling environment for sustainable land management. Through partnerships, the Convention’s 197 parties set up robust systems to manage drought promptly and effectively. Good land stewardship based on sound policy and science helps integrate and accelerate achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, builds resilience to climate change and prevents biodiversity loss.

The UNCCD Secretariat led the creation of the SDS Compendium document in collaboration with the UNCCD Science-Policy Interface (SPI), the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the World Health Organization (WHO), the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), UN Women, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), and external experts and partners.

* * * * *

Media coverage highlights

Agence France Presse, via Yahoo! News, United States (60,271,710) Threat from sand and dust storms spreading: UN https://news.yahoo.com/threat-sand-dust-storms-spreading-085241715.html

Reuters, United Kingdom (54,756,031)
Worsening sand, dust storms driving global land loss, says UN https://www.reuters.com/article/global-environment-sandstorms/worsening-sand-dust-storms-driving-global-land-loss-says-un-idUSL1N3CG0OS

Deutsche Presse Agentur, via t-online, Germany (21,641,104) Naturkatastrophe | UN-Experten warnen vor Sandstürmen: “Unterschätztes Problem “Natural disaster | UN experts warn of sandstorms: “underestimated problem” https://www.t-online.de/nachrichten/panorama/vermischtes/id_100281608/un-experten-warnen-vor-sandstuermen-unterschaetztes-problem-.html

EuroNews, Belgium ‘Unpredictable and dangerous’: What is human activity doing to sand and dust storms?
https://www.euronews.com/green/2023/11/15/unpredictable-and-dangerous-what-is-human-activity-doing-to-sand-and-dust-storms

Europa Press, Spain, via Infobae, Argentina (70,894,996) Aumenta la frecuencia de tormentas de polvo, en parte por causa humana Increases the frequency of dust storms, partly due to human cause https://www.infobae.com/america/agencias/2023/11/15/aumenta-la-frecuencia-de-tormentas-de-polvo-en-parte-por-causa-humana/

Agencia EFE, Spain, via Infobae, Argentina (70,894,996) Aumenta la frecuencia de tormentas de arena y polvo en el mundo, advierte la ONU Increases the frequency of sand and dust storms in the world, warns the UN https://www.infobae.com/america/agencias/2023/11/15/aumenta-la-frecuencia-de-tormentas-de-arena-y-polvo-en-el-mundo-advierte-la-onu/

Libération, France (9,050,211)
La fréquence des tempêtes de sable et de poussière «en forte hausse», avertit l’ONU The frequency of sandstorms of sand and dust “upstairs”, warns the UN https://www.liberation.fr/environnement/climat/la-frequence-des-tempetes-de-sable-et-de-poussiere-en-forte-hausse-avertit-lonu-20231115_IB63KDBQJFFGNFUOWPVMB7WMNQ/

Correio Braziliense, Brazil (8,755,803) Temporais de poeira cada vez mais frequentes Increasingly frequent dust storms
https://www.correiobraziliense.com.br/ciencia-e-saude/2023/11/6655232-relatorio-mostra-o-impacto-das-mudancas-climaticas-na-saude-humana.html

Radio France International, France (8,047,661) Pourquoi la désertification et les tempêtes de sable inquiètent? Why desertification and sandstorms worry? https://www.rfi.fr/fr/podcasts/questions-d-environnement/20231115-pourquoi-la-d%C3%A9sertification-et-les-temp%C3%AAtes-de-sable-inqui%C3%A8tent

ORF Online, Austria (7,591,460) Sandstürme sind unterschätztes Problem Sandstorms are underestimated problemhttps://science.orf.at/stories/3222137/

ANTARA News, Indonesia (7,220,692) PBB: Lahan produktif hilang akibat badai pasir, debu yang memburuk UN: Productive land is lost due to sandstorm, deteriorating dusthttps://www.antaranews.com/berita/3824529/pbb-lahan-produktif-hilang-akibat-badai-pasir-debu-yang-memburuk

GEO, France (7,117,832) 350 pyramides de Khéops par an : pourquoi tant de sable et de poussière s’élèvent-ils vers l’atmosphère ? 350 pyramids of khéops per year: why so much sand and dust rise to the atmosphere?https://www.geo.fr/environnement/desertification-350-pyramides-kheops-par-an-pourquoi-tant-de-sable-et-poussiere-elevent-vers-atmosphere-vents-217532

Le Temps, Switzerland (2,600,762) Les tempêtes de sable se multiplient en raison du changement climatique, alerte l’ONU Sandstorms are increasing due to climate change, alerts the UN https://www.letemps.ch/sciences/les-tempetes-de-sable-se-multiplient-en-raison-du-changement-climatique-alerte-l-onu

RTBF, Belgium (5,577,094) with AFP/Belga newswires
Climat: l’ONU alerte contre l’augmentation “dramatique” des tempêtes de sable Climate: the UN alerts against the “dramatic” increase in sandstorms https://www.rtbf.be/article/climat-l-onu-alerte-contre-l-augmentation-dramatique-des-tempetes-de-sable-11286973

Protothemanews, Greece (4,604,704) ΟΗΕ: Γιατί οι καταιγίδες άμμου και σκόνης γίνονται χειρότερες – Ο κόσμος χάνει σχεδόν 1 εκατομμύριο τ.χλμ. γης UN: Why sand and dust storms get worse – people lose almost 1 million sq. Km. land https://www.protothema.gr/environment/article/1435735/oie-giati-oi-kataigides-ammou-kai-skonis-ginodai-heiroteres-o-kosmos-hanei-shedon-1-ekatommurio-thlm-gis/

Bnn, India (1,691,953) Story 1) Land Degradation: A Global Crisis Worsened by Human Activities https://bnn.network/breaking-news/climate-environment/land-degradation-a-global-crisis-worsened-by-human-activities; Story 2) Desertification Threatens Global Economy and Security, Says UNCCD https://bnn.network/breaking-news/climate-environment/desertification-threatens-global-economy-and-security-says-unccd/

UzDaily, Uzbekistan (52,582) 25% песчаных и пыльных бурь вызывает человеческая деятельность 25% of sand and dusty storms caused by human activity http://www.uzdaily.uz/ru/post/81273

Imag, Ukraine (32,083) «Для Узбекистана проблема песчаных и пыльных бурь актуальна как никогда» — глава Минэкологии“For Uzbekistan, the problem of sandy and dust storms is more relevant than ever” – the head of the Ministry of Ecology https://imag.one/news/dlya-uzbekistana-problema-peschanyh-i-pylnyh/14137343

Full coverage summary, click here

News release in full, click here

A United Nations University report finds that drastic changes are approaching if risks to our fundamental socioecological systems are not addressed.

The Interconnected Disaster Risks Report 2023 published by the United Nations University – Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) warns of six risk tipping points ahead of us:

• Accelerating extinctions
• Groundwater depletion
• Mountain glaciers melting
• Space debris
• Unbearable heat
• Uninsurable future

Systems are all around us and closely connected to us: ecosystems, food systems, water systems and more. When they deteriorate, it is typically not a simple and predictable process. Rather, instability slowly builds until suddenly a tipping point is reached and the system changes fundamentally or even collapses, with potentially catastrophic impacts.

A risk tipping point is defined in the report as the moment at which a given socioecological system is no longer able to buffer risks and provide its expected functions, after which the risk of catastrophic impacts to these systems increases substantially. These diverse cases illustrate that risk tipping points extend beyond the single domains of climate, ecosystems, society or technology. Instead, they are inherently interconnected, and they are also closely linked to human activities and livelihoods.

Many new risks emerge when and where our physical and natural worlds interconnect with human society. One example of a risk tipping point that the report explains is groundwater depletion. Underground water reservoirs called aquifers are an essential freshwater resource around the world, and they supply drinking water to over 2 billion people. Around 70 per cent of groundwater withdrawals are used for agriculture, oftentimes when there is not sufficient water from above-ground sources available. Today, aquifers help to mitigate half of the losses in agriculture caused by drought, a phenomenon which is only expected to increase in the future due to climate change. But the report warns that now it’s the aquifers themselves that are approaching a tipping point:

More than half of the world’s major aquifers are being depleted faster than they can be naturally replenished. If the water table falls below a level that existing wells can access, farmers can suddenly find themselves without the ability to access water, which puts entire food production systems at risk of failure. Some countries, such as Saudi Arabia, have already surpassed this groundwater risk tipping point, others, like India, are not far from it.

“As we indiscriminately extract our water resources, damage nature and biodiversity, and pollute both Earth and space, we are moving dangerously close to the brink of multiple risk tipping points that could destroy the very systems that our life depends on,” said Dr. Zita Sebesvari, Lead Author of the Interconnected Disaster Risks Report and Deputy Director of UNU-EHS. “Additionally, we also lose some of our tools and options to deal with future disaster risk.”

The analysis reveals the cases share similar root causes and drivers which are embedded in our actions and behaviours that increasingly put pressure on our systems until they are pushed to the brink of collapse. Reaching these points means new risks will be introduced, many of which we do not yet know of.

“As we approach these tipping points, we will already begin to experience the impacts. Once, crossed it will be difficult to go back,” warned Dr. Jack O’Connor, Lead Author and Senior Expert at UNU-EHS. “Our report can help us see risks ahead of us, the causes behind them, and the urgent changes required to avoid them.”

The report does not just define and identify risk tipping points, but it also proposes a new framework to avoid or mitigate the consequences. Solutions fall into two categories: Avoid solutions, which target root causes and drivers of risk to avoid risk tipping points altogether and Adapt solutions, which help prepare or better address the negative impacts of risk tipping points if they cannot be avoided.

For both Avoid and Adapt solutions, there are two type of actions. Delay actions work within the existing “business as usual” system and aim to slow down the progression toward risk tipping points or the worst impacts. But the ideal action is to Transform, which involves a fundamental reimagining of a system into something stronger and more sustainable than before.

In the case of the “Unbearable heat” risk tipping point described in the report, it is human-induced climate change that is causing a global rise in temperatures, leading to more frequent and intense heat- waves that will in some areas reach temperatures in which the human body can no longer survive. An Adapt-Delay solution would aim to counteract this risk by installing air conditioners, for example. The air conditioners will delay when the risk tipping point is reached for the people in the area, but will not address the heat itself. An Avoid-Transform solution, on the other hand, would aim to halt the emissions of greenhouse gasses and at the same time drive societal change toward low-carbon ways of living so the tipping point can ultimately be avoided.

The report finds that solutions being implemented today tend to focus on Delay rather than Transform, although increasing focus is being put on transformative change to achieve global goals on transitioning to a more sustainable future. It will require more game-changing solutions to move us away from a future of multiplying risk tipping points.

Transformative solutions will also require considerable societal and personal effort, and the report highlights overall changes we can each make to our behaviours and values.

“Real transformative change involves everyone,” said Sebesvari. “The report serves as a timely reminder before the UN Climate Conference that we must all be part of the solution.”

* * * * * 

Brief summaries of the 6 risk tipping points included in the report

Accelerating extinctions:

Intense human activities – including land use change, overexploitation, climate change, pollution and introduction of invasive alien species – have created a rate of species extinction at least 10 to 100 times Earth’s natural rate.

Ecosystems are built on intricate connections between species. If one species goes extinct, it can have knock-on effects on many others. The risk tipping point in this context is when an ecosystem loses key species that are strongly connected, triggering cascading extinctions of dependent species, which can eventually lead to the collapse of an entire ecosystem.

An example is the gopher tortoise, which digs burrows that are used by more than 350 other species for breeding, feeding, protection from predators and avoiding extreme temperatures. One of these species is the endangered dusky gopher frog. If the gopher tortoise goes extinct, as foreseen, the dusky gopher frog is one species that will likely follow. But because the dusky gopher frog helps control insect populations and prevent pest outbreaks in longleaf pine forest ponds, its extinction would again trigger a number of negative effects that may become unstoppable.

Groundwater depletion

The risk tipping point in this context is the loss of access to freshwater resources in underground reservoirs known as aquifers.

Aquifers supply drinking water to over 2 billion people, and around 70 per cent of withdrawals are used for agriculture. More than half of the world’s major aquifers are being depleted faster than they can be naturally replenished. The tipping point in this case is reached when the water table falls below a level that existing wells can access, putting entire food production systems at risk of failure.

Some countries have already experienced the effects. Saudi Arabia was the world’s 6th-largest wheat exporter in the mid-1990s based on large-scale groundwater extraction for irrigation, but wells ran dry and the nation had to turn to wheat imports. India and other countries are currently nearing this risk tipping point, with global impacts expected to ripple through the world’s food systems, economy and environment. Also affected are the very structure of society, the well-being of future generations, and the ability to manage future agricultural losses due to climate change-driven drought.

Mountain glaciers melting

Glaciers retreat when the ice mass that formed many years ago melts faster than it is replaced by snow. Due to global warming, the world’s glaciers are now melting twice as fast than they did in the past two decades. Between 2000 and 2019, glaciers lost 267 gigatons of ice per year, which is roughly equivalent to the mass of 46,500 Great Pyramids of Giza.

Glaciers store large amounts of freshwater. Meltwater from glaciers and snow supplies water for drinking, irrigation, hydropower and ecosystems to entire regions. The risk tipping point in this context is “peak water” – the point when a glacier produces the maximum volume of water run-off due to melting. After this point, freshwater availability will steadily decline.

Peak water has been reached or is expected to occur within the next 10 years for many small glaciers in Central Europe, Western Canada and South America. In the Andes, where peak water has already passed for many glaciers, communities are grappling with unreliable water sources for drinking and irrigation. For example, Peru’s Quelccaya glacier, once the world’s largest tropical ice cap, has shrunk by 31 per cent in the last 30 years contributing to periodic dry season water scarcity and widespread impacts.

An estimated 90,000+ glaciers of the Himalayas, Karakorum and Hindu Kush mountains are currently at risk of reaching the tipping point, threatening the nearly 870 million people that rely on them.

Space debris

Space has a garbage problem. This is because when satellites become defunct, they are left in the Earth’s orbit as space debris. Out of 34,260 objects tracked in orbit today, only around 25 per cent are working satellites. The rest are junk – broken satellites or discarded rocket stages. Additionally, there are likely around 130 million pieces of debris too small to be tracked, measuring between 1 mm and 1 cm.

Space debris travels at over 25,000 km per hour, and even the smallest debris can cause significant damage if it collides with something, creating even more debris. This is why other objects, such as the International Space Station or satellites, need to regularly conduct maneuvers to avoid it. The problem worsens as more and more objects are launched into space and debris accumulates.

The risk tipping point in this context is the point at which the Earth’s orbit becomes so full of debris that
one collision sets off a chain reaction of collisions. If that were to happen, the orbit could become unusable, which would threaten our ability to operate satellites, for example to monitor the weather and environmental changes, and to receive early disaster warnings.

More than 100,000 new spacecraft could be launched into orbit by 2030, greatly increasing the risk of this tipping point.

Unbearable heat

Human-induced climate change is causing a global rise in temperatures, leading to more frequent and intense heatwaves, and this is only expected to become more severe. Extreme heat was responsible for an average of 500,000 excess deaths annually in the last two decades, disproportionally affecting those who are particularly vulnerable due to their age, health conditions or profession, for example. There are weather stations in the world that have already recorded temperatures beyond the tipping point for what a human body can survive in. If this threshold is crossed for more than six hours, even a young and healthy body will suffer extreme consequences.

The tipping point in this context is a so-called “wet-bulb temperature” above 35°C. A wet-bulb temperature is a measurement which combines temperature and humidity, relevant because high humidity worsens the effects of heat as it hinders the evaporation of sweat, which is needed to maintain a stable core body temperature and avoid organ failure and brain damage.

Wet-bulb temperatures have crossed this critical threshold in at least two weather stations, one in the Persian Gulf and one in the Indus River Basin. Research indicates that by 2070, parts of South Asia and the Middle East will regularly surpass this threshold. By 2100 more than 70 per cent of the global population may be exposed to deadly climate conditions for at least 20 days per year.

Uninsurable future:

Since the 1970s, damages as a result of weather-related disasters have increased sevenfold, with 2022 alone seeing $313 billion in global economic losses and severe disasters forecast to double globally by 2040. Additionally, the number and size of at-risk areas are predicted to expand as climate change shifts the range of hazards like wildfires and storms into new areas.

These changes also affect the insurance industry. Where extreme weather events increasingly wreak havoc, insurance premiums have climbed as much as 57 per cent since 2015, and some insurance companies in at-risk areas have decided to limit the amount or type of damages they can cover, cancel policies or leave the market altogether. For instance, it is predicted that more than half a million Australian homes will be uninsurable by 2030, primarily due to increasing flood risk.

The risk tipping point in this context is reached when insurance becomes unavailable or unaffordable, leaving people without an economic safety net when disasters strike, which opens the door to increasing socioeconomic consequences, particularly when it is the most vulnerable parts of the population that cannot afford to move to safer areas.

* * * * * 

About the Interconnected Disaster Risks report (#InterconnectedRisks)

Interconnected Disaster Risks is an annual science-based report designed to be accessible for the general public. It is published by the United Nations University – Institute for Environment and Human Security, and was first released in 2021. The idea for the report was developed based on the recognition that disasters are occurring at an ever-faster rate and, despite progress being made in how we prepare and respond to them, we are continuously being caught out by new extremes and new emerging threats. The report analyses several concrete examples of disasters each year and explains how they are inter- connected with each other and with human actions. It seeks to shed light on the interconnections that might otherwise be missed, and describes how we can develop solutions to use these connections to our advantage. The report is based on thorough scientific analysis and includes technical background reports for each of the cases, which together with the main report and executive summary are made available on interconnectedrisks.org.

About the United Nations University – Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS)

Based in Bonn, Germany, UNU-EHS conducts research on risks and adaptation related to environmental hazards and global change. The institute’s research promotes policies and programmes to reduce these risks, while taking into account the interplay between environmental and societal factors. Research areas include climate change adaptation by incorporating insurance-related approaches, environmentally- induced migration and social vulnerability, ecosystem-based solutions to adaptation and disaster risk reduction, and models and tools to analyse vulnerability and risks linked to natural hazards, with a focus on urban space and rural-urban interfaces.

* * * * *

Media coverage highlights:

Agence France Presse, France, via Daily Mail, United Kingdom (87,359,497) UN report warns of catastrophic risks to Earth systems https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-12670145/UN-report-warns-catastrophic-risks-Earth-systems.html

AFP French, via Sud Ouest, France (8,145,308) Débris spatiaux, chaleur insupportable… Un rapport de l’ONU alerte sur six risques catastrophiques pour la planète Space debris, unbearable heat … a UN alert report on six catastrophic risks for the planet  https://www.sudouest.fr/environnement/climat/debris-spatiaux-chaleur-insupportable-un-rapport-de-l-onu-alerte-sur-six-risques-catastrophiques-pour-la-planete-17207629.php

Reuters, via Daily Mail, United Kingdom (87,359,497) World on brink of environmental tipping points, UN says https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/reuters/article-12670117/World-brink-environmental-tipping-points-UN-says.html

Agenia EFE, via Infobae, Argentina (60,708,789)Informe de la ONU alerta de “calor insoportable” y agotamiento de las aguas subterráneas UN Report Alert of “Unbearable Heat” and Underground Waters Exhaustion https://www.infobae.com/america/agencias/2023/10/25/informe-de-la-onu-alerta-de-calor-insoportable-y-agotamiento-de-las-aguas-subterraneas/

CBS News,Online and national TV report, United States (37,446,105) Otis batters Mexico as U.N. climate report warns Earth close to multiple “risk tipping points” https://www.cbsnews.com/video/how-climate-change-leaks-into-hurricane-season/

Forbes United States 69,090,272 Here Are 6 Tipping Points The UN Warns Could Soon Spell Disaster For Humanity—From Space Junk To Disappearing Water https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2023/10/25/here-are-6-tipping-points-the-un-warns-could-soon-spell-disaster-for-humanity-from-space-junk-to-disappearing-water/

Le Monde France 25,370,042Un rapport de l’ONU alerte sur six risques catastrophiques pour la planèteA UN report alert on six catastrophic risks for the planet https://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2023/10/25/un-rapport-de-l-onu-alerte-sur-six-risques-catastrophiques-pour-la-planete_6196405_3244.html

O Globo Brazil 18,416,024Derretimento no Polo Norte, calor insuportável e detritos espaciais: ONU aponta seis riscos catastróficos para o planetaMelting in the north pole, unbearable heat and spatial debris: UN points to six catastrophic risks to the planethttps://oglobo.globo.com/mundo/clima-e-ciencia/noticia/2023/10/25/derretimento-no-polo-norte-calor-insuportavel-e-detritos-espaciais-onu-aponta-seis-riscos-catastroficos-para-o-planeta.ghtml

Le Parisien France 17,476,308Fonte des glaciers, débris spatiaux, eaux souterraines… l’ONU alerte sur six risques catastrophiques pour la TerreMelting glaciers, spatial debris, groundwater … The UN alert on six catastrophic risks for the earthhttps://www.leparisien.fr/environnement/climat/fonte-des-glaciers-debris-spatiaux-eaux-souterraines-lonu-alerte-sur-six-risques-catastrophiques-pour-la-terre-25-10-2023-PNRFJO6XYRCUTBVW4OETFY5Y5I.php

Los Angeles Times, via Yahoo! News, United States 58,017,212U.N. report warns of catastrophic climate tipping points. California is nearing severalhttps://news.yahoo.com/u-n-report-warns-catastrophic-100035185.html

Times of India India 29,331,020UN Report: Planet moving towards irreversible ‘Tipping Points’ https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/un-report-planet-earth-moving-towards-irreversible-tipping-points/photostory/104704023.cms

Scientific American United States 5,796,435We Are Racing Toward Earth’s Catastrophic Tipping Pointshttps://www.scientificamerican.com/article/we-are-racing-toward-earths-catastrophic-tipping-points/

La Presse Canada 4,010,657Nouveau rapport des Nations unies Le monde se rapproche de nombreux « points de basculement »New United Nations Report Le Monde approaches many “shift points”https://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/environnement/2023-10-25/nouveau-rapport-des-nations-unies/le-monde-se-rapproche-de-nombreux-points-de-basculement.php

ICI Radio-Canada, Canada (4,486,869)Voici 6 points de bascule dont l’humanité se rapproche Here are 6 tipping points that humanity is getting closer https://ici.radio-canada.ca/recit-numerique/7216/rapport-onu-risques-points-bascule-glaciers-aquiferes-chaleur

Le Figaro, France (29,235,065) Chaleur insupportable, fonte des glaciers… Un rapport de l’ONU alerte sur les risques catastrophiques pour la planète Unbearable heat, casting of glaciers … A UN alert report on catastrophic risks for the planet https://www.lefigaro.fr/sciences/chaleur-insupportable-fonte-des-glaciers-un-rapport-de-l-onu-alerte-sur-les-risques-catastrophiques-pour-la-planete-20231025

Deutsche Welle Germany 16,594,754Klima-Kipppunkte: Sind Katastrophen noch abzuwenden?Climate tipping points: Are disasters still to be averted?https://www.dw.com/de/klima-kipppunkte-sind-katastrophen-noch-abzuwenden/a-67209113

Рамблер (Rambler), Russia (22,371,230) В Университете ООН назвали шесть переломных моментов, которые изменят мир The University of the UN called six turning points that will change the world  https://news.rambler.ru/tech/51655297-v-universitete-oon-nazvali-shest-perelomnyh-momentov-kotorye-izmenyat-mir/

Deutsche Presse Agentur, via t-online, Germany (21,513,343) Klima | Von Artensterben bis Hitze – Report zeigt Risiko-Kipppunkte Climate | From species death to heat – report shows risk tipping points https://www.t-online.de/nachrichten/panorama/wissen/id_100266750/von-artensterben-bis-hitze-report-zeigt-risiko-kipppunkte-.html

The Guardian, United Kingdom (3,254,937) Climate crisis threatens ‘tipping point’ of uninsurable homes, says UN  https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/oct/25/climate-crisis-threatens-tipping-point-of-uninsurable-homes-says-un

UK Press Association, via London Evening Standard, United Kingdom (17,051,522) Earth ‘approaching cliff edge’ of six tipping points, says UN  https://www.standard.co.uk/news/science/earth-united-states-india-saudi-arabia-b1115844.html

Radio France International (RFI) France 6,780,245 World on brink of tipping points that could be catastrophic for humanity   https://www.rfi.fr/en/environment/20231025-world-on-brink-of-tipping-points-that-could-be-catastrophic-for-humanity

CGTN China 5,297,573UN report warns of catastrophic risks to Earth systems UN report warns of catastrophic risks to Earth systems https://news.cgtn.com/news/2023-10-26/UN-report-warns-of-catastrophic-risks-to-Earth-systems-1oddj42dGk8/index.html

Press Trust of India India 125,708 UN report warns India heading towards groundwater depletion tipping pointhttps://www.ptinews.com/news/national/677045.html

IndoAsia News Service, via ProKerala.com India 8,126,852 UN University report warns about risk tipping points https://www.prokerala.com/news/articles/a1472334.html

Pravda – Правда.ру (RUS) Russia 4,252,827 Доклад организации объединенных наций перечислил 6 ключевых угроз для человечества The United Nations report transferred 6 key threats to humanity  https://www.pravda.ru/news/science/1899938-doklad_organizacii_obedinennykh_nacii_preduprezhdaet_ob_ugrozakh/

ANSA.it Italy 17,228,184 Da estinzioni al caldo, sei pericoli per il futuro secondo l’Onu  From extinctions to heat, six dangers for the future according to the UN  https://www.ansa.it/sito/notizie/topnews/2023/10/25/da-estinzioni-al-caldo-sei-pericoli-per-il-futuro-secondo-lonu_d599e676-2715-4a1d-9d3a-239b49ccf440.html

Anadolu Agency Turkey 7,166,031BM Üniversitesi, felaket riskleri raporunda “6 kritik nokta” uyarısı verdi UN University gave a “6 critical point” warning in the disaster risks report  https://www.aa.com.tr/tr/gundem/bm-universitesi-felaket-riskleri-raporunda-6-kritik-nokta-uyarisi-verdi/3032304

SAPO Portugal 7,327,485ONU alerta sobre seis riscos catastróficos para o planet UN warns about six catastrophic risks to the planet  https://viagens.sapo.pt/viajar/noticias-viajar/artigos/onu-alerta-sobre-seis-riscos-catastroficos-para-o-planeta

Belga newswire, via Le Soir, Belgium (3,381,380) Débris spatiaux, menaces sur les systèmes d’assurances… un rapport de l’ONU alerte sur des risques peu connus pour la planète Space debris, threats to insurance systems … a UN alert report on risks little known for the planet https://share.belga.press/news/f1fb03fd-93af-4f7e-85ce-e30cbe02d7a7

New Scientist, United Kingdom (3,499,332) These 6 tipping points could be catastrophic for humanity, says the UN  https://www.newscientist.com/article/2399226-these-6-tipping-points-could-be-catastrophic-for-humanity-says-the-un/

ABC, Spain (19,741,888) Las seis inquietudes del Informe de la Universidad de Naciones Unidas sobre el futuro del planeta The six concerns of the United Nations University report on the future of the planet  https://www.abc.es/antropia/seis-inquietudes-informe-universidad-naciones-unidas-sobre-20231025110006-nt.html

FAZ, Germany (15,807,368)Artensterben, Weltraummüll, Hitze Species death, space waste, heat https://www.faz.net/aktuell/wissen/interconnected-disaster-risks-report-zeigt-risiko-kipppunkte-19267107.html

ABC Online, Australia (14,445,211) UN warns humanity facing threats from space, climate change, but it’s not too late to act https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-25/un-report-warns-tipping-points-crisis-humanity-must-take-action/103014684

ORF Online, Austria (7,020,339) Sechs Risiken drohen zu kippen Six risks threaten to tip over https://science.orf.at/stories/3221849/

Coverage summary in full, click here

News release in full: click here

Using hydrophones to eavesdrop on a reef off the coast of Goa, India, researchers have helped advance a new low-cost way to monitor changes in the world’s murky marine environments.

Reporting their results in the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (JASA), the scientists recorded the duration and timing of mating and feeding sounds – songs, croaks, trumpets and drums – of 21 of the world’s noise-making ocean species.

With artificial intelligence and other pioneering techniques to discern the calls of marine life, they recorded and identified

• a medium sized “grunter,” loudest at dusk, Terapon theraps (photo, right, at eol.org/media/15232663l audio https://bit.ly/41LQmn);
• fish of the Sciaenidae family (audio: https://bit.ly/3KWtawy);
  choruses of plankton-eating fish species (audio: https://bit.ly/3oAsGo5); and
• snapping shrimp (audio: https://bit.ly/3mTQ0gd), including commercially-valuable tiger prawns.

Some species within the underwater community work the early shift and ruckus from 3 am to 1.45 pm, others work the late shift and ruckus from 2 pm to 2.45 am, while the plankton predators were “strongly influenced by the moon.”

Also registered: the degree of difference in the abundance of marine life before and after a monsoon.

The paper concludes that hydrophones are a powerful tool and “overall classification performance (89%) is helpful in the real-time monitoring of the fish stocks in the ecosystem.”

The team, including Bishwajit Chakraborty, a leader of the International Quiet Ocean Experiment (IQOE), benefitted from archived recordings of marine species against which they could match what they heard, including:

• A cacophony of spawning tiger perch: (audio: https://bit.ly/3LkZYkj), and
• Snapping shrimp (audio: https://bit.ly/41NZWH2), whose sounds baby oysters reportedly like to follow
• Also captured was a “buzz” call of unknown origin (https://bit.ly/3GZdRSI), one of the oceans’ countless marine life mysteries.

A contribution to the International Quiet Ocean Experiment, the research will be discussed at an IQOE meeting in Woods Hole, MA, USA, 26-27 April.

Advancing the Global Library of Underwater Biological Sounds (GLUBS)

That event will be followed April 28-29 by a meeting of partners in the new Global Library of Underwater Biological Sounds (GLUBS), a major legacy of the decade-long IQOE, ending in 2025.

GLUBS, conceived in late 2021 and currently under development, is designed as an open-access online platform to help collate global information and to broaden and standardize scientific and community knowledge of underwater soundscapes and their contributing sources.

It will help build short snippets and snapshots (minutes, hours, days long recordings) of biological, anthropogenic, and geophysical marine sounds into full-scale, tell-tale underwater baseline soundscapes.

Especially notable among many applications of insights from GLUBS information: the ability to detect in hard-to-see underwater environments and habitats how the distribution and behavior of marine life responds to increasing pressure from climate change, fishing, resource development, plastic, anthropogenic noise and other pollutants.

“Passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) is an effective technique for sampling aquatic systems that is particularly useful in deep, dark, turbid, and rapidly changing or remote locations,” says Miles Parsons of the Australian Institute of Marine Science and a leader of GLUBS.

He and colleagues outline two primary targets:

• Produce and maintain a list of all aquatic species confirmed or anticipated to produce sound underwater;
• Promote the reporting of sounds from unknown sources
  Odd songs of Hawaii’s mystery fish

In this latter pursuit, GLUBS will also help reveal species unknown to science as yet and contribute to their eventual identification.

For example, newly added to the growing global collection of marine sounds are recent recordings from Hawaii, featuring the baffling

• Mystery fish
• 1 (audio: https://bit.ly/3LjHDUJ),
• 2 (audio: https://bit.ly/3UW24u0), and
• 3 (audio: https://bit.ly/3KWtVpo), now part of an entire YouTube channel (https://bit.ly/3H5Ly54) dedicated to marine life sounds in Hawaii and elsewhere (e.g. this “complete and total mystery from the Florida Keys”: https://bit.ly/41w1Xbc (Annie Innes-Gold, Hawai’i Institute of Marine Biology; processed by Jill Munger, Conservation Metrics, Inc.)

Says Dr. Parsons: “Unidentified sounds can provide valuable information on the richness of the soundscape, the acoustic communities that contribute to it and behavioral interactions among acoustic groups. However, unknown, cryptic and rare sounds are rarely target signals for research and monitoring projects and are, therefore, largely unreported.”

The many uses of underwater sound

Of the roughly 250,000 known marine species, scientists think all fully-aquatic marine mammals (~146, including sub-species) emit sounds, along with at least 100 invertebrates, 1,000 of the world’s ~35,000 known fish species, and likely many thousands more.

GLUBS aims to help delineate essential fish habitat and estimate biomass of a spawning aggregation of a commercially or recreationally important soniferous species.

In one scenario of its many uses, a one-year, calibrated recording can provide a proxy for the timing, location and, under certain circumstances, numbers of ‘calling’ fishes, and how these change throughout a spawning season.

It will also help evaluate the degradation and recovery of a coral reef.

GLUBS researchers envision, for example, collecting recordings from a coral reef that experienced a cyclone or other extreme weather event, followed by widespread bleaching. Throughout its restoration, GLUBS audio data would be matched with and augment a visual census of the fish assemblage at multiple timepoints.

Oil and gas, wind power and other offshore industries will also benefit from GLUBS’ timely information on the possible harms or benefits of their activities.

Other IQOE legacies include:

• Manta (bitbucket.org/CLO-BRP/manta-wiki/wiki/Home), a mechanism created by world experts from academia, industry, and government to help standardize ocean sound recording data, facilitating its comparability, pooling and visualization.
• OPUS, an Open Portal to Underwater Sound being tested at Alfred Wegener Institute in Bremerhaven, Germany to promote the use of acoustic data collected worldwide, providing easy access to MANTA-processed data, and
• The first comprehensive database and map of the world’s 200+ known hydrophones recording for ecological purposes

Marine sounds and COVID-19

The IQOE’s early ambition of humanity’s maritime noise being minimized for a day or week was unexpectedly met in spades when the COVID-19 pandemic began.

New IQOE research to be considered at the April meeting includes a paper, Impact of the COVID‑19 pandemic on levels of deep‑ocean acoustic noise (https://bit.ly/3KZTaIt) documenting a pandemic-related drop of 1 to 3 dB even in the depths of the abyss. With a 3 dB decrease, sound energy is halved.

Virus control measures led to “sudden and sometimes dramatic reductions in human activity in sectors such as transport, industry, energy, tourism, and construction,” with some of the greatest reductions from March to June 2020 – a drop of up to 13% in container ship traffic and up to 42% in passenger ships.

Other IQOE accomplishments include achieving recognition of ocean sound as an Essential Ocean Variable (EOV) within the Global Ocean Observing System, underlining its helpfulness in monitoring

• climate change (the extent and breakup of sea ice; the frequency and intensity of wind, waves and rain)
• ocean health (biodiversity assessments: monitoring the distribution and abundance of sound-producing species)
• impacts of human activities on wildlife, and
• nuclear explosions, foreign/illegal/threatening vessels, human activities in protected areas, and underwater earthquakes that can generate tsunamis

The Partnership for Observation of the Global Ocean (POGO) funded an IQOE Working Group in 2016, which quickly identified the lack of ocean sound as a variable measured by ocean observing systems. This group developed specifications for an Ocean Sound Essential Ocean Variable (EOV) by 2018, which was approved by the Global Ocean Observing System in 2021. IQOE has since developed the Ocean Sound EOV Implementation Plan, reviewed in 2022 and ready for public debut at IQOE’s meeting April 26.

One of IQOE’s originators, Jesse Ausubel of The Rockefeller University’s Programme for the Human Environment, says the programme has drawn attention to the absence of publicly available time series of sound on ecologically important frequencies throughout the global ocean.

“We need to listen more in the blue symphony halls. Animal sounds are behavior, and we need to record and understand the sounds, if we want to know the status of ocean life,” he says.

The program “has provided a platform for the international passive acoustics community to grow stronger and advocate for inclusion of acoustic measurements in national, regional, and global ocean observing systems,” says Prof. Peter Tyack of the University of St. Andrew’s, who, with Steven Simpson, guide the IQOE International Scientific Steering Committee.

“The ocean acoustics and bioacoustics communities had no experience in working together globally, and coverage is certainly not global; there are many gaps. IQOE has begun to help these communities work together globally, and there is still progress to be made in networking and in expanding the deployment of hydrophones, adds Prof. Ausubel.

A description of the project’s history and evaluation to date is available at https://bit.ly/3H7FCbN.

Encouraging greater worldwide use of hydrophones

According to Dr. Parsons, “hydrophones are now being deployed in more locations, more often, by more people, than ever before,”

To celebrate that, and to mark World Oceans Day, June 8, GLUBS recently put out a call to hydrophone operators to share marine life recordings made from 7 to 9 June, so far receiving interest from 124 hydrophone operators in 62 organizations from 29 countries and counting. The hydrophones will be retrieved over the following months with the full dataset expected sometime in 2024.

They also plan to make World Oceans Passive Acoustic Monitoring (WOPAM) Day an annual event – a global collaborative study of aquatic soundscapes, salt, brackish or freshwater – the marine world’s answer to the U.S. Audubon Society’s 123-year-old Christmas Bird Count.

Interested researchers with hydrophones already planned to be in the water on June 8 are invited to contact Miles Parsons (m.parsons@aims.gov.au) or Steve Simpson (s.simpson@bristol.ac.uk).

* * * * *

Media coverage highlights

BBC, UK (522 million) Future Planet: The people eavesdropping on the ocean https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230815-how-undersea-sounds-help-us-understand-ocean-life

UK Press Association via The Daily Mail (83,490,174), Scientists eavesdrop on underwater creatures to gain insights on ocean life https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/pa/article-12016539/Scientists-eavesdrop-underwater-creatures-gain-insights-ocean-life.html

Agencia EFE, Spain, via Forbes Mexico (2.84 million) La inteligencia artificial se pone a escuchar los hábitos de la vida marina
(Artificial intelligence listens to the habits of marine life)
https://www.forbes.com.mx/la-inteligencia-artificial-se-pone-a-escuchar-los-habitos-de-la-vida-marina/

Meteoweb, Italy (966,000)
Anche i pesci rispondono alla Luna: lo studio
(Even fish respond to the moon: the study)
https://www.meteoweb.eu/2023/04/pesci-rispondono-luna/1001234154/

Vice / Motherboard, USA (23,547,525) Scientists Recording Ocean Sounds Picked Up a Mysterious ‘Buzz’ They Can’t Identify
https://www.vice.com/en/article/wxjdqb/mysterious-ocean-buzz-soud

Visão – Sapo newswire, Portugal Investigadores ‘ouvem’ zumbido estranho no fundo do mar (Investigators hear strange sounds at the bottom of the sea) https://visao.sapo.pt/exameinformatica/noticias-ei/ciencia-ei/2023-04-27-investigadores-ouvem-zumbido-estranho-no-fundo-do-mar/

Yahoo! News Taiwan, Taiwan (10,753,841)海底魚蝦也會發聲？ 科學家號召全球加入水下生物聲音圖書館計畫 (Will fish and shrimp also speak? Scientists call on the world to join underwater biological sound library programs) here

ORF Online, Austria (7,397,979) Unterwassermikrofone belauschen FischeUnderwater microphones eavesdrop on fish https://science.orf.at/stories/3218981/

MSN France, France (244,797) Dans l’océan Indien, des sons non identifiés intriguent les scientifiques (In the Indian Ocean, unidentified sounds intrigue scientists) https://www.msn.com/fr-fr/actualite/technologie-et-sciences/dans-loc%c3%a9an-indien-des-sons-non-identifi%c3%a9s-intriguent-les-scientifiques/ar-AA1argbx

Down To Earth, India (713,481)Sonorous submarine: Technology used to study fish in Goa can help find how sea life responds to climate change  https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/wildlife-biodiversity/sonorous-submarine-technology-used-to-study-fish-in-goa-can-help-find-how-sea-life-responds-to-climate-change-88987

Gazete Duvar, Turkey (7,313,044)
Okyanusta tanımlanamayan bir ‘vızıltı’ keşfedildiAn unidentified ‘buzz’ was discovered in the ocean https://www.gazeteduvar.com.tr/okyanusta-tanimlanamayan-bir-vizilti-kesfedildi-haber-1615486

Futurezone, Germany (1,076,142)Ozean: Forscher zeichnen rätselhaftes Geräusch auf – niemand hat es je zuvor gehört (Ocean: Researchers record puzzling sound – nobody has ever heard of it before) https://www.futurezone.de/science/article448822/ozean-forscher-zeichnen-raetselhaftes-geraeusch-auf-niemand-hat-es-je-zuvor-gehoert.html

Coverage summary in full: click here

News release in full, click here

The rapidly-growing bottled water industry can undermine progress towards a key sustainable development goal: safe water for all, says a new United Nations report.  

Based on an analysis of literature and data from 109 countries, the report says that in just five decades bottled water has developed into “a major and essentially standalone economic sector,” experiencing 73% growth from 2010 to 2020. And sales are expected to almost double by 2030, from US$ 270 billion to $500 billion.

Released a few days prior to World Water Day (March 22), the report by UN University’s Canadian-based Institute for Water, Environment and Health concludes that the unrestricted expansion of the bottled water industry “is not aligned strategically with the goal of providing universal access to drinking water or at least slows global progress in this regard, distracting development efforts and redirecting attention to a less reliable and less affordable option for many, while remaining highly profitable for producers.”

Says Kaveh Madani, UNU-INWEH’s new Director: “The rise in bottled water consumption reflects decades of limited progress in and many failures of public water supply systems.”

When the Sustainable Development Goals were agreed in 2015, he notes, experts elsewhere estimated an annual investment of US$ 114 billion was needed from 2015 to 2030 to achieve a key target: universal safe drinking water. 

The report says providing safe water to the roughly 2 billion people without it woulds require an annual investment of less than half the US$ 270 billion now spent every year on bottled water.

“This points to a global case of extreme social injustice, whereby billions of people worldwide do not have access to reliable water services while others enjoy water luxury.”

Tap water perceptions

The study quotes surveys showing bottled water is often perceived in the Global North as a healthier and tastier product than tap water – more a luxury good than a necessity. In the Global South, sales are driven by the lack or absence of reliable public water supplies and water delivery infrastructure limitations due to rapid urbanization.

In mid- and low-income countries, bottled water consumption is linked to poor tap water quality and often unreliable public water supply systems – problems often caused by corruption and chronic underinvestment in piped water infrastructure.

Beverage corporations are adept at marketing bottled water as a safe alternative to tap water by drawing attention to isolated public water system failures, says UNU-INWEH researcher and lead author Zeineb Bouhlel, adding that “even if in certain countries piped water is or can be of good quality, restoring public trust in tap water is likely to require substantial marketing and advocacy efforts.”

Not necessarily safe

Dr. Bouhlel notes that the source of bottled water (municipal system, surface, etc.) the treatment processes used (e.g. chlorination, ultraviolet disinfection, ozonation, reverse osmosis), the storage conditions (duration, light exposure, temperature), and packaging (plastic, glass), can all potentially alter water quality. This may be inorganic (e.g. heavy metals, pH, turbidity etc.), organic (benzene, pesticides, microplastics, etc.) and microbiological (pathogenic bacteria, viruses, fungus and parasitic protozoa).

According to the report, “the mineral composition of bottled water can vary significantly between different brands, within the same brand in different countries, and even between different bottles of the same batch.”

The report lists examples from over 40 countries in every world region of contamination of hundreds of bottled water brands and all bottled water types.

“This review constitutes strong evidence against the misleading perception that bottled water is an unquestionably safe drinking water source,” says Dr. Bouhlel.

Water bottlers generally face less scrutiny than public water utilities

Co-author Vladimir Smakhtin, past Director of UNU-INWEH, underscores the report’s finding that “bottled water is generally not nearly as well-regulated and is tested less frequently and for fewer parameters. Strict water quality standards for tap water are rarely applied to bottled water, and even if such analyses are carried out, the results seldom make it to the public domain.”

Bottled water producers, he says, have largely avoided the scrutiny governments impose on public water utilities, and amid the market’s rapid growth, it is “probably more important than ever to strengthen legislation that regulates the industry overall, and its water quality standards in particular.”

With respect to the industry’s environmental impacts, the report says there is “little data available on water volumes extracted,” largely due to the lack of transparency and legal foundation that would have forced bottling companies to disclose that information publicly and assess the environmental consequences.”

“Local impacts on water resources may be significant,” the report says. 

In the USA, for example, Nestlé Waters extracts 3 million litres a day from Florida Springs; in France, Danone extracts up to 10 million litres a day from Evian-les-Bains in the French Alps; and in China, the Hangzhou Wahaha Group extracts up to 12 million litres daily from Changbai Mountains springs. 

Regarding plastic pollution, the researchers cite estimates that the industry produced around 600 billion plastic bottles and containers in 2021, which converts to some 25 million tonnes of PET waste – most of it not recycled and destined for landfills – a mass of plastic equal to the weight of 625,000 40-ton trucks, enough to form a bumper-to-bumper line from New York to Bangkok.

According to the report, the bottled water sector used 35% of the PET bottles produced globally in 2019; 85% wind up in landfills or unregulated waste.

By the numbers 

Among the report’s many insights, derived from data analysis and other information assembled from global studies and literature:

• Over 1 million bottles of water are sold worldwide every minute
• Annual spending per capita worldwide is US$ 34
• Worldwide annual consumption of the three main bottled water types – treated, mineral, and natural – is estimated at 350 billion litres
• The estimated US $1.225 trillion in bottled water revenues represent 17 to 24% of the global market for non-alcoholic packaged beverages
• The biggest market segment (with 47% of global sales) is treated bottled water, which could originate from public water systems or surface water, and that undergoes a disinfection treatment such as chlorination
• Citizens of Asia-Pacific are the biggest bottled water consumers, followed by North Americans and Europeans 
• 60% of global sales are in the “Global South” (Asia-Pacific, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean)
• By country, the USA is the largest market, with around US$ 64 billion in sales, followed by China (almost US$ 45 billion) and Indonesia (US$ 22 billion). Together, these three countries constitute almost half of the world market. Other top countries by sales: Canada, Australia, Singapore, Germany, Thailand, Mexico, Thailand, Italy, Japan
• The average cost of a bottle of water in North America and Europe is around US$ 2.50, more than double the price in Asia, Africa and LAC ($0.80, $0.90 and $1, respectively). Australia, the fifth largest market, has the highest average price: $3.57 per unit.
• Bottled water per litre can cost 150 to 1,000 times more than the price a municipality charges for tap water.
• Biggest per capita consumers: Singapore and Australia. Citizens of Singapore spent $1,348 per capita on bottled water in 2021, Australians $386
• According to previous studies, about 31% of Canadians, 38% of Americans, and 60% of Italians use bottled water as their primary drinking source. In the Dominican Republic, 60% of households use bottled water as their primary water source, with a strong correlation between income and bottled water consumption. About 80% of Mexicans use bottled water, and 10% use home-purified water as their primary drinking water source; roughly 90% cite health concerns for doing so
• Egypt is the fastest-growing market for treated bottled water (40% per year). Seven other countries from the Global South are among the top 10 fastest-growing markets: Algeria, Brazil, Indonesia, United Arab Emirates, India, Morocco, and Saudi Arabia.
• In Europe, Germany is the biggest bottled water market; in Latin America and the Caribbean, Mexico is the biggest market; in Africa, it’s South Africa.
• Treated water appears to be the market’s largest component by volume, while natural waters appear to generate the most profit.
• Five companies – PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, Nestlé S.A., Danone S.A, and Primo Corporation have combined sales of $65 billion, over 25% of the global total
• Earlier studies of water withdrawals declared in India, Pakistan, Mexico and Nepal showed total estimated withdrawals by Coca-Cola and Nestlé in 2021 at 300 and 100 billion litres, respectively

* * * * * 

UNU-INWEH

http://bit.ly/1vjfKAS

The UNU Institute for Water, Environment and Health is a member of the United Nations University family of organizations. It is the UN Think Tank on Water created by the UNU Governing Council in 1996. Its mission is to help resolve pressing water challenges of concern to the UN, its Member States and their people, through knowledge- based synthesis of existing bodies of scientific discovery; cutting edge targeted research that identifies emerging policy issues; application of on-the-ground scalable solutions based on credible research; and relevant and targeted public outreach.  UNU-INWEH is hosted by the Government of Canada and McMaster University.

******

News release in full, click here

CNN, United States (134,312,034) The plastic water bottle industry is booming. Here’s why that’s a huge problem  https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/16/world/plastic-water-bottles-un-report-climate

Reuters, via Daily Mail, United Kingdom (76,772,682) Rising bottled water consumption signals safe drinking water goal is under threat, says U.N. think tank https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/reuters/article-11868165/Rising-bottled-water-consumption-signals-safe-drinking-water-goal-threat-says-U-N-think-thank.html

Agence France Presse, France, a) French, via La Croix, France (2,705,128) La moitié des ventes d’eau en bouteille suffirait à fournir de l’eau potable à tous, selon l’ONU https://www.la-croix.com/environnement/moitie-ventes-deau-bouteille-suffirait-fournir-leau-potable-tous-selon-lONU-2023-03-16-1201259394

b) English via Radio France International (6,120,000) Half of bottled water sales would be enough to give universal access to drinking water (UN)
https://www.rfi.fr/es/m%C3%A1s-noticias/20230316-mitad-de-ventas-de-agua-embotellada-alcanzar%C3%ADa-para-dar-acceso-universal-al-agua-potable-onu

c) Spanish, via La Nación, Argentina (21,474,486)
Mitad de ventas de agua embotellada alcanzaría para dar acceso universal al agua potable (ONU) https://www.lanacion.com.ar/agencias/mitad-de-ventas-de-agua-embotellada-alcanzaria-para-dar-acceso-universal-al-agua-potable-onu-nid16032023/

Bloomberg, United States (30,080,279) Bottled Water Sales Exceed Cost of Providing Safe Water for All, UN Says  https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-03-16/bottled-water-boom-detracts-from-safe-drinking-water-focus-un-warns

Agencia EFE, via MSN.com, United States (185,235,630) Hay millones de personas sin agua potable. La ONU acusa a las embotelladoras  https://www.msn.com/es-us/noticias/others/hay-millones-de-personas-sin-agua-potable-la-onu-acusa-a-las-embotelladoras/ar-AA18IbbX

Australian Associated Press, Australia, via Daily Mail, United Kingdom (76,772,682) a) Unquenched Aussie thirst for world’s most costly water https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/aap/article-11868183/Unquenched-Aussie-thirst-worlds-costly-water.html
b) Australians are thirsty for pricey bottled water: UN https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/aap/article-11868181/Australians-thirsty-pricey-bottled-water-UN.html

Belga, Belgium, from AFP, via Sudinfo (3,804,253)
La moitié des ventes d’eau en bouteille suffirait à fournir de l’eau potable à tous, affirme l’ONU https://www.sudinfo.be/id634776/article/2023-03-16/la-moitie-des-ventes-deau-en-bouteille-suffirait-fournir-de-leau-potable-tous

Algemeen Nederlands Persbureau (ANP), Netherlands, via Noordhollands Dagblad, (1,036,049)  Instituut: fleswater zit ontwikkeling leidingwater in de weg  https://www.noordhollandsdagblad.nl/cnt/dmf20230316_54723590

News sites, original stories (different reporters)

La Nación, Argentina (21,474,486)
Aumento de consumo de agua embotellada hace peligrar objetivo de agua potable de onu: expertos https://www.lanacion.com.ar/agencias/aumento-de-consumo-de-agua-embotellada-hace-peligrar-objetivo-de-agua-potable-de-onu-expertos-nid16032023/

El Español, Spain (33,831,415) El negocio del agua o cómo el ‘boom’ de la embotellada disfraza el fracaso de proveerla de forma segura https://www.elespanol.com/enclave-ods/historias/20230316/negocio-embotellada-disfraza-fracaso-proveerla-forma-segura/748925300_0.html

El Confidencial, Spain (28,465,479)
El desastre global del agua embotellada: más cara y contaminante (y no es más saludable) https://www.elconfidencial.com/tecnologia/ciencia/2023-03-16/desastre-agua-embotellada-cara-saludable_3593902/

L’Obs, France (5,784,242) L’eau en bouteille est-elle un obstacle au développement durable?  https://www.nouvelobs.com/sciences/20230316.OBS70921/l-eau-en-bouteille-est-elle-un-obstacle-au-developpement-durable.html

Les Echos, France (5,297,982) La charge des Nations Unies contre l’eau vendue en bouteille https://www.lesechos.fr/monde/enjeux-internationaux/la-charge-des-nations-unies-contre-leau-vendue-en-bouteille-1916470

Público, Portugal (2,865,936)
Água engarrafada não é mais segura que a da torneira, diz relatório da ONU https://www.publico.pt/2023/03/16/azul/noticia/agua-engarrafada-nao-segura-torneira-relatorio-onu-2042389

Investing, Spain (2,221,188)

Aumento de consumo de agua embotellada hace peligrar objetivo de agua potable de ONU: expertos https://es.investing.com/news/commodities-news/aumento-de-consumo-de-agua-embotellada-hace-peligrar-objetivo-de-agua-potable-de-onu-expertos-2372980

MeteoWeb, Italy (1,340,114)

Uno studio svela il lato oscuro dell’industria dell’acqua in bottiglia  https://www.meteoweb.eu/2023/03/acqua-potabile-acqua-imbottigliata-industria-ambiente-inquinamento/1001215591/

The New Daily, Australia (1,017,563) ‘One of the biggest scams’: Study uncovers the downsides of bottled water fad  https://thenewdaily.com.au/life/health/2023/03/17/bottled-water-environmental-toll/

ABC National Radio, Australia

Full coverage summary, click here

By 2030: Protect 30% of Earth’s lands, oceans, coastal areas, inland waters; Reduce by $500 billion annual harmful government subsidies; Cut food waste in half

Nearing the conclusion of a sometimes fractious two-week meeting, nations of the world today agreed on a historic package of measures deemed critical to addressing the dangerous loss of biodiversity and restoring natural ecosystems.

Convened under UN auspices, chaired by China, and hosted by Canada, the 15th Conference of Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity adopted the “Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework” (GBF), including four goals and 23 targets for achievement by 2030.

Among the global targets for 2030:
 

• Effective conservation and management of at least 30% of the world’s lands, inland waters, coastal areas and oceans, with emphasis on areas of particular importance for biodiversity and ecosystem functioning and services. The GBF prioritizes ecologically-representative, well-connected and equitably-governed systems of protected areas and other effective area-based conservation, recognizing indigenous and traditional territories and practices. Currently 17% and 10% of the world’s terrestrial and marine areas respectively are under protection.
• Have restoration completed or underway on at least 30% of degraded terrestrial, inland waters, and coastal and marine ecosystems
• Reduce to near zero the loss of areas of high biodiversity importance,including ecosystems of high ecological integrity
• Cut global food waste in half and significantly reduce over consumption and waste generation
• Reduce by half both excess nutrients and the overall risk posed by pesticides and highly hazardous chemicals
• Progressively phase out or reform by 2030 subsidies that harm biodiversity by at least $500 billion per year, while scaling up positive incentives for biodiversity’s conservation and sustainable use
• Mobilize by 2030 at least $200 billion per year in domestic and international biodiversity-related funding from all sources – public and private
• Raise international financial flows from developed to developing countries,in particular least developed countries, small island developing States, and countries with economies in transition, to at least US$ 20 billion per year by 2025, and to at least US$ 30 billion per year by 2030
• Prevent the introduction of priority invasive alien species, and reduce by at least half the introduction and establishment of other known or potential invasive alien species, and eradicate or control invasive alien species on islands and other priority sites
• Require large and transnational companies and financial institutions to monitor, assess, and transparently disclose their risks, dependencies and impacts on biodiversity through their operations, supply and value chains and portfolios

Warns the GBF: “Without such action, there will be a further acceleration in the global rate of species extinction, which is already at least tens to hundreds of times higher than it has averaged over the past 10 million years.”

The framework’s four overarching global goals
 

GOAL A

• The integrity, connectivity and resilience of all ecosystems are maintained,enhanced, or restored, substantially increasing the area of natural ecosystems by 2050;
• Human induced extinction of known threatened species is halted, and, by2050, extinction rate and risk of all species are reduced tenfold, and the abundance of native wild species is increased to healthy and resilient levels;
• The genetic diversity within populations of wild and domesticated species,is maintained, safeguarding their adaptive potential.

GOAL B

• Biodiversity is sustainably used and managed and nature’s contributions to people, including ecosystem functions and services, are valued, maintained and enhanced, with those currently in decline being restored, supporting the achievement of sustainable development, for the benefit of present and future generations by 2050.

GOAL C

• The monetary and non-monetary benefits from the utilization of genetic resources, and digital sequence information on genetic resources, and of traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources, as applicable, are shared fairly and equitably, including, as appropriate with indigenous peoples and local communities, and substantially increased by 2050, while ensuring traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources is appropriately protected, thereby contributing to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, in accordance with internationally agreed access and benefit-sharing instruments.

GOAL D

• Adequate means of implementation, including financial resources, capacity-building, technical and scientific cooperation, and access to and transfer of technology to fully implement the Kunming-Montreal global biodiversity framework are secured and equitably accessible to all Parties, especially developing countries, in particular the least developed countries and small island developing States, as well as countries with economies in transition,progressively closing the biodiversity finance gap of $700 billion per year,and aligning financial flows with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and the 2050 Vision for Biodiversity.

Held at Montreal’s Palais des Congrès Dec. 7-19, representatives of 188 governments on site (95% of all 196 Parties to the UN CBD, as well as two non-Parties – the United States and The Vatican), finalized and approved measures to arrest the ongoing loss of terrestrial and marine biodiversity and set humanity in the direction of a sustainable relationship with nature, with clear indicators to measure progress.

In addition to the GBF, the meeting approved a series of related agreements on its implementation, including planning, monitoring, reporting and review;resource mobilization; helping nations to build their capacity to meet the obligations; and digital sequence information on genetic resources.

For example, The Global Environment Facility was requested to establish, as soon as possible, a Special Trust Fund to support the implementation of the Global Biodiversity Framework (“GBF Fund”). The fund would complement existing support and scale up financing to ensure the timely implementation of the GBF with adequate, predictable and timely flow of funds.

Digital sequence information on genetic resources – a dominant topic at COP15 –
has many commercial and non-commercial applications, including pharmaceutical product development, improved crop breeding, taxonomy, and the monitoring of invasive species.

COP15 delegates agreed to establish within the GBF a multilateral fund for the equitable sharing of benefits between providers and users of DSI, to be finalized at COP16 in Türkiye in 2024.

The agreement also obligates countries to monitor and report every five years orless on a large set of “headline” and other indicators related to progress against the GBF’s goals and targets.

Headline indicators include the percent of land and seas effective conserved, the number of companies disclosing their impacts and dependencies on biodiversity,and many others.

The CBD will combine national information submitted by late February 2026 and late June 2029 into global trend and progress reports.

* * * * *

Emphasized throughout the approved documents are the needs to foster the full and effective contributions of women, persons of diverse gender identities, youth,indigenous peoples and local communities, civil society organizations, the private and financial sectors, and stakeholders from all other sectors.

Also emphasized: the need for a “whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach” to implementing the GBF.
 

Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework: 23 targets
 

TARGET 1

Ensure that all areas are under participatory integrated biodiversity inclusive spatial planning and/or effective management processes addressing land and sea use change, to bring the loss of areas of high biodiversity importance, including ecosystems of high ecological integrity, close to zero by 2030, while respecting the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities.

TARGET 2

Ensure that by 2030 at least 30 per cent of areas of degraded terrestrial, inland water, and coastal and marine ecosystems are under effective restoration, in order to enhance biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services, ecological integrity and connectivity.

TARGET 3

Ensure and enable that by 2030 at least 30 per cent of terrestrial, inland water,and coastal and marine areas, especially areas of particular importance for biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services, are effectively conserved and managed through ecologically representative, well-connected and equitably governed systems of protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures, recognizing indigenous and traditional territories, where applicable,and integrated into wider landscapes, seascapes and the ocean, while ensuring that any sustainable use, where appropriate in such areas, is fully consistent with conservation outcomes, recognizing and respecting the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities including over their traditional territories.

TARGET 4

Ensure urgent management actions, to halt human induced extinction of known threatened species and for the recovery and conservation of species, in particular threatened species, to significantly reduce extinction risk, as well as to maintain and restore the genetic diversity within and between populations of native, wild and domesticated species to maintain their adaptive potential, including through in situ and ex situ conservation and sustainable management practices, and effectively manage human-wildlife interactions to minimize human-wildlife conflict for coexistence.

TARGET 5

Ensure that the use, harvesting and trade of wild species is sustainable, safe and legal, preventing overexploitation, minimizing impacts on non-target species and ecosystems, and reducing the risk of pathogen spill-over, applying the ecosystem approach, while respecting and protecting customary sustainable use by indigenous peoples and local communities.

TARGET 6

Eliminate, minimize, reduce and or mitigate the impacts of invasive alien species on biodiversity and ecosystem services by identifying and managing pathways of the introduction of alien species, preventing the introduction and establishment of priority invasive alien species, reducing the rates of introduction and establishment of other known or potential invasive alien species by at least 50 percent, by 2030, eradicating or controlling invasive alien species especially in priority sites, such as islands .

TARGET 7

Reduce pollution risks and the negative impact of pollution from all sources, by2030, to levels that are not harmful to biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services, considering cumulative effects, including: reducing excess nutrients lost to the environment by at least half including through more efficient nutrient cycling and use; reducing the overall risk from pesticides and highly hazardous chemicals by at least half including through integrated pest management, based on science, taking into account food security and livelihoods; and also preventing,reducing, and working towards eliminating plastic pollution.

TARGET 8

Minimize the impact of climate change and ocean acidification on biodiversity and increase its resilience through mitigation, adaptation, and disaster risk reduction actions, including through nature-based solution and/or ecosystem-based approaches, while minimizing negative and fostering positive impacts of climate action on biodiversity.

TARGET 9

Ensure that the management and use of wild species are sustainable, thereby providing social, economic and environmental benefits for people, especially those in vulnerable situations and those most dependent on biodiversity,including through sustainable biodiversity-based activities, products and services that enhance biodiversity, and protecting and encouraging customary sustainable use by indigenous peoples and local communities.

TARGET 10

Ensure that areas under agriculture, aquaculture, fisheries and forestry are managed sustainably, in particular through the sustainable use of biodiversity,including through a substantial increase of the application of biodiversity friendly practices, such as sustainable intensification, agroecological and other innovative approaches contributing to the resilience and long-term efficiency and productivity of these production systems and to food security, conserving and restoring biodiversity and maintaining nature’s contributions to people,including ecosystem functions and services.

TARGET 11

Restore, maintain and enhance nature’s contributions to people, including ecosystem functions and services, such as regulation of air, water, and climate,soil health, pollination and reduction of disease risk, as well as protection from natural hazards and disasters, through nature-based solutions and ecosystem-based approaches for the benefit of all people and nature.

TARGET 12

Significantly increase the area and quality and connectivity of, access to, and benefits from green and blue spaces in urban and densely populated areas sustainably, by mainstreaming the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, and ensure biodiversity-inclusive urban planning, enhancing native biodiversity, ecological connectivity and integrity, and improving human health and well-being and connection to nature and contributing to inclusive and sustainable urbanization and the provision of ecosystem functions and services.

TARGET 13

Take effective legal, policy, administrative and capacity-building measures at all levels, as appropriate, to ensure the fair and equitable sharing of benefits that arise from the utilization of genetic resources and from digital sequence information on genetic resources, as well as traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources, and facilitating appropriate access to genetic resources,and by 2030 facilitating a significant increase of the benefits shared, in accordance with applicable international access and benefit-sharing instruments.

TARGET 14

Ensure the full integration of biodiversity and its multiple values into policies,regulations, planning and development processes, poverty eradication strategies,strategic environmental assessments, environmental impact assessments and, as appropriate, national accounting, within and across all levels of government and across all sectors, in particular those with significant impacts on biodiversity,progressively aligning all relevant public and private activities, fiscal and financial flows with the goals and targets of this framework.

TARGET 15

Take legal, administrative or policy measures to encourage and enable business,and in particular to ensure that large and transnational companies and financial institutions:

(a) Regularly monitor, assess, and transparently disclose their risks,dependencies and impacts on biodiversity including with requirements for all large as well as transnational companies and financial institutions along their operations, supply and value chains and portfolios;

(b) Provide information needed to consumers to promote sustainable consumption patterns;

(c) Report on compliance with access and benefit-sharing regulations and measures, as applicable;

in order to progressively reduce negative impacts on biodiversity, increase positive impacts, reduce biodiversity-related risks to business and financial institutions, and promote actions to ensure sustainable patterns of production.

TARGET 16

Ensure that people are encouraged and enabled to make sustainable consumption choices including by establishing supportive policy, legislative or regulatory frameworks, improving education and access to relevant and accurate information and alternatives, and by 2030, reduce the global footprint of consumption in an equitable manner, halve global food waste, significantly educe overconsumption and substantially reduce waste generation, in order for all people to live well in harmony with Mother Earth.

TARGET 17

Establish, strengthen capacity for, and implement in all countries in biosafety measures as set out in Article 8(g) of the Convention on Biological Diversity and measures for the handling of biotechnology and distribution of its benefits as set out in Article 19 of the Convention.

TARGET 18

Identify by 2025, and eliminate, phase out or reform incentives, including subsidies harmful for biodiversity, in a proportionate, just, fair, effective and equitable way, while substantially and progressively reducing them by at least500 billion United States dollars per year by 2030, starting with the most harmful incentives, and scale up positive incentives for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.

TARGET 19

Substantially and progressively increase the level of financial resources from all sources, in an effective, timely and easily accessible manner, including domestic,international, public and private resources, in accordance with Article 20 of the Convention, to implement national biodiversity strategies and action plans, by2030 mobilizing at least 200 billion United States dollars per year, including by:

(a) Increasing total biodiversity related international financial resources from developed countries, including official development assistance, and from countries that voluntarily assume obligations of developed country Parties, to developing countries, in particular the least developed countries and small island developing States, as well as countries with economies in transition, to at least US$ 20 billion per year by 2025, and to at least US$ 30 billion per year by 2030;

(b) Significantly increasing domestic resource mobilization, facilitated by the preparation and implementation of national biodiversity finance plans or similar instruments according to national needs, priorities and circumstances

(c) Leveraging private finance, promoting blended finance, implementing strategies for raising new and additional resources, and encouraging the private sector to invest in biodiversity, including through impact funds and other instruments;

(d) Stimulating innovative schemes such as payment for ecosystem services,green bonds, biodiversity offsets and credits, benefit-sharing mechanisms, with environmental and social safeguards

(e) Optimizing co-benefits and synergies of finance targeting the biodiversity and climate crises,

(f) Enhancing the role of collective actions, including by indigenous peoples and local communities, Mother Earth centric actions and non-market-based approaches including community based natural resource management and civil society cooperation and solidarity aimed at the conservation of biodiversity

(g) Enhancing the effectiveness, efficiency and transparency of resource provision and use;

TARGET 20

Strengthen capacity-building and development, access to and transfer of technology, and promote development of and access to innovation and technical and scientific cooperation, including through South- South, North-South and triangular cooperation, to meet the needs for effective implementation,particularly in developing countries, fostering joint technology development and joint scientific research programmes for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and strengthening scientific research and monitoring capacities,commensurate with the ambition of the goals and targets of the framework.

TARGET 21

Ensure that the best available data, information and knowledge, are accessible to decision makers, practitioners and the public to guide effective and equitable governance, integrated and participatory management of biodiversity, and to strengthen communication, awareness-raising, education, monitoring, research and knowledge management and, also in this context, traditional knowledge,innovations, practices and technologies of indigenous peoples and local communities should only be accessed with their free, prior and informedconsent20, in accordance with national legislation.

TARGET 22

Ensure the full, equitable, inclusive, effective and gender-responsive representation and participation in decision-making, and access to justice and information related to biodiversity by indigenous peoples and local communities,respecting their cultures and their rights over lands, territories, resources, and traditional knowledge, as well as by women and girls, children and youth, and persons with disabilities and ensure the full protection of environmental human rights defenders.

TARGET 23

Ensure gender equality in the implementation of the framework through a gender-responsive approach where all women and girls have equal opportunity and capacity to contribute to the three objectives of the Convention, including by recognizing their equal rights and access to land and natural resources and their full, equitable, meaningful and informed participation and leadership at all levels of action, engagement, policy and decision-making related to biodiversity.

Coverage highlights

New York Times, “Countries Adopt a Sweeping Agreement to Protect Nature” https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/19/climate/biodiversity-cop15-montreal-30×30.html

Many others: As of Dec. 21:

9,377 different news sites in 181 countries published one or more articles in 72 languages
77,767 online news articles have been capturedTotal potential impressions: 430 billion, of which 297 billion (69%) were in China 
# articles / potential impressions by country:

United States 17,596 (potential impressions: 41 billion)

China: 13,665 (297 billion)

Canada: 12,566 (9 billion)

UK: 4,156 (10.4 billion)

Germany: 3,010 (6.7 billion)

France: 2,723 (9 billion)

India: 2,656 (7.9 billion)

Japan: 1,997 (16 billion)

Brazil: 1,123 (3 billion)

Korea: 1,095 (3.7 billion)

Sweden: 1,056 (560 million)
Spain: 982 (2.3 billion)

Switzerland: 632 (1.2 billion)

Türkiye: 576 (1.2 billion)

Coverage summary in full, click here

News release in full, click here

As part of global efforts to slow climate change by tackling methane, the UN today announced a new satellite-based system to detect emissions of the climate warming gas and allow governments and businesses to respond.

The Methane Alert and Response System (MARS), launched at the 27^th United Nations Climate Change Conference, is a data-to-action platform set up as part of the UNEP International Methane Emissions Observatory (IMEO) strategy to get policy-relevant data into the right hands for emissions mitigation. 

Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, contributing at least a quarter of today’s climate warming. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, we must cut methane emissions at least 30% by 2030 – the goal of the Global Methane Pledge – to keep the 1.5°C temperature limit within reach.

Developed in the framework of the Global Methane Pledge Energy Pathway – with initial funding from the European Commission, the US Government, Global Methane Hub, and the Bezos Earth Fund – MARS will allow UNEP to corroborate emissions reported by companies and characterize changes over time. MARS will be implemented with partners including the International Energy Agency, and the UNEP-hosted Climate and Clean Air Coalition.

“As UNEP’s Emissions Gap Report showed before this climate summit, the world is far off track on efforts to limit global warming to 1.5°C,” said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP.

“Reducing methane emissions can make a big and rapid difference, as this gas leaves the atmosphere far quicker than carbon dioxide. The Methane Alert and Response System is a big step in helping governments and companies deliver on this important short-term climate goal.”

In addition to supporting MARS, the Global Methane Hub and the Bezos Earth Fund are providing funding for other UNEP IMEO activities. These include baseline studies and initial work on agricultural methane emissions, where integrating multi-scale ground measurements with emerging satellite capacity is expected to provide improved quantification. 

First public global system connecting methane detection to notification processes 

MARS will be the first publicly available global system capable of transparently connecting methane detection to notification processes. It will use state-of-the-art satellite data to identify major emission events, notify relevant stakeholders, and support and track mitigation progress.

Beginning with very large point sources from the energy sector, MARS will integrate data from the rapidly expanding system of methane-detecting satellites to include lower-emitting area sources and more frequent detection. Data on coal, waste, livestock and rice will be added gradually to MARS to support Global Methane Pledge implementation.

“Cutting methane is the fastest opportunity to reduce warming and keep 1.5°C within reach, and this new alert and response system is going to be a critical tool for helping all of us deliver on the Global Methane Pledge,” said John Kerry, U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate.

Components of the Methane Alert and Response System 

MARS will use data from global mapping satellites to identify very large methane plumes and methane hot spots and attribute the emissions to a specific source. UNEP will then notify governments and companies about the emissions, either directly or through partners, so that the responsible entity can take appropriate action. 

If requested, MARS partners will provide technical or advisory services such as help in assessing mitigation opportunities. UNEP will continue to monitor the event location and make the data and analysis available to the public between 45 and 75 days after detection. 

Additional comments

“We are seeing methane emissions increase at an accelerated rate. With this initiative, armed with greater data and transparency, companies and governments can make greater strides to reduce methane emissions and civil society can keep them accountable to their promises,” said Dr. Kelly Levin, Chief of Science, Data and Systems Change at the Bezos Earth Fund.

“The science is clear. We need to reduce global methane emissions by at least 30 per cent by 2030, to keep 1.5°C alive. Fortunately, action on methane emissions is one of the most cost effective and impactful actions a country can take,” said Marcelo Mena, CEO Global Methane Hub.

“Therefore Global Methane Hub is pleased to partner with UNEP and the Bezos Earth Fund, on providing critical resources – to the MARS initiative – that can enable the identification and rapid response to major methane emissions from the energy sector, as well as take the first steps in enabling satellite observations to address methane emissions from the agricultural sector.”

“To keep the global temperature rise limited to 1.5 degrees, it is crucial that we tackle methane emissions,” said Frans Timmermans, Executive Vice President of the European Commission. “These emissions often peak in specific areas for limited amounts of time, for example in the energy sector due to leaks, venting, and flaring. Early detection of these peaks makes it possible to respond faster. The Methane Alert and Response System does just that. Thanks to funding and free satellite data from Copernicus, the European Union’s Earth Observation programme, the system will enable every country to take rapid action to reduce methane emissions.”

Said Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency: “The Methane Alert and Response System is an important new tool to help pinpoint major methane leaks. As IEA analysis has highlighted, transparency is a vital part of the solution to tackle the methane problem, and this new system will help producers detect leaks and stop them without delay if and when they occur.”

Coverage highlights

The White House, United States (7,411,454) FACT SHEET: President Biden Announces New Initiatives at COP27 to Strengthen U.S. Leadership in Tackling Climate Change https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/11/11/fact-sheet-president-biden-announces-new-initiatives-at-cop27-to-strengthen-u-s-leadership-in-tackling-climate-change/

The Associated Press via The Washington Post, United States (69,597,834) UN to seek out methane emitters with data from space  https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/un-to-seek-out-methane-emitters-with-data-from-space/2022/11/11/fdb339be-6192-11ed-a131-e900e4a6336b_story.html

Reuters, via Yahoo! News, United States (65,235,264) COP27: U.N. to hunt sources of climate-warming methane from space https://news.yahoo.com/cop27-u-n-hunt-sources-050244256.html

Endgadget, via Yahoo! News, United States (65,235,264) UN initiative will use satellites to detect methane emission hotspots https://news.yahoo.com/un-global-methane-detection-system-070057307.html

Yale Environment 360 via Yahoo! News, United States (65,235,264) UN Launches Satellite-Based System to Pinpoint Global Methane Hot Spots https://news.yahoo.com/un-launches-satellite-based-system-161900323.html

China News Agency via Sohu 搜狐新闻, Mainland China (64,389,184) COP27边会：多国专家呼吁采取紧急措施加强全球甲烷排控  https://www.sohu.com/a/604711381_123753

The Indian Express, India (54,343,514) COP27: UN to set up system to track methane emissions from space https://indianexpress.com/article/world/climate-change/cop27-united-nations-satellite-methane-monitoring-system-8263980/

Naver, Korea (44,416,857) COP27 Methane Detection  https://n.news.naver.com/mnews/article/077/0005773635

ABC News, United States (22,852,738) UN launching satellite-based system to detect methane https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/launching-satellite-based-system-detect-methane/story?id=93055245

MarketWatch, United States (23,546,449) Jeff Bezos helping fund U.N. effort to tag and alert methane emitters with data from space https://www.marketwatch.com/story/jeff-bezos-helping-fund-u-n-effort-to-tag-and-alert-methane-emitters-with-data-from-space-11668171352

Euronews, France (21,703,341) Decarbonisation, methane and record highs: 5 key things that happened today at COP27 https://www.euronews.com/green/2022/11/11/decarbonisation-methane-and-record-highs-5-key-things-that-happened-today-at-cop27

China Daily – Global, Mainland China (245,309) Experts urge immediate action on methane mitigation  http://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202211/11/WS636dec57a3104917543292fa.html

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