When something is free, people use a lot of it. Economists are urging governments to compute values for natural resources – wildlife, plants, air, water – to create motives for protecting them.
Coastal areas in West Africa are under intense pressure from demographic growth, economic expansion and ongoing climate change.
IRD
Olusegun Dada, Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD); Frédéric Ménard, Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD); Pierre Morand, Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD), and Rafael Almar, Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD)
Around the world, fragile coastal ecosystems are under intense pressure, and understanding and managing their complex interactions requires an integrated and interdisciplinary approach.
Working landscapes, including farms, forest and rangelands, will be key to meeting conservation goals.
(Jerry Meaden/flickr)
Biosphere reserves are the living labs in which people and nature learn how to live and thrive together. Four pilot sites in Africa show the programme’s promise.
We think of mountains as remote and little affected by human activity. Unfortunately, the negative impacts of what we do has important implications for nature, wildlife and human society.
Eelgrasses covered with small snails, which keep the leaves clean by feeding on algae that live on them.
Jonathan Lefcheck
Healthy seagrasses form underwater meadows teeming with fish and shellfish. A successful large-scale restoration project in Virginia could become a model for reseeding damaged seagrass beds worldwide.
A mixed-conifer forest in the central Sierra Nevada after restoration, with unthinned forest in the background.
Roger Bales
Restoring western forests – thinning out small trees and dead wood – is an important strategy for reducing the risk of massive wildfires. But these projects aren’t fast, easy or cheap.
Michael Obersteiner, University of Oxford; David Leclère, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), and Piero Visconti, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)
Wildlife populations have plummeted by 68% since 1970. But we have a plan to turn things around.
Wildflowers proliferating in overgrown roadsides during the coronavirus pandemic are providing habitat for pollinators.
(Shutterstock)
Natural assets produce important city services and complement engineered infrastructure. Investing in natural assets can help protect our environment, reduce municipal service costs and create jobs.
Cities can prepare for climate change emergencies by adding green spaces to help manage stormwater, heat stress and air quality.
(Shutterstock)
The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the lack of green space available to those living in urban areas. Cities must be managed as ecosystems to make them more liveable and resilient.
This 2020 budget is not the pivot to a green rebuild many had hoped for. But its short-term focus on caring for people’s health leaves the door open to stronger climate action down the track.
Mangroves along Mexico’s Yucatan coastline.
Michael Beck
Michael Beck, University of California, Santa Cruz and Pelayo Menéndez, University of California, Santa Cruz
A new study estimates that mangroves prevent over $65 billion in damage from coastal storms every year, and says mangrove protection should be funded in the same way as infrastructure like seawalls.
Matthew Hall, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington
Our prevailing relationship with nature is based on framing the living world as a set of natural resources. This utility-based worldview perpetuates the drivers of ongoing biodiversity loss.
Wetlands are an important resource that needs to be taken better care of.
Nawarddeken Academy’s self-built school is an example of reinvesting funds from payment for ecosystem services to meet critical community needs in innovative ways.
Image: Bjorn Everts/Nawarddeken Academy