Most Voters in Eight Western States Support Conservation Over Oil and Gas Drilling on Public Lands: Poll

In the newest edition of Colorado College’s Conservation in the West Poll, nearly three-quarters — 72 percent — of respondents from eight states said they supported boosting outdoor recreation and the protection of water, clean air and wildlife habitat by their congressional representatives over maximizing oil and gas drilling on public lands.

The 14th annual survey by the Rockies Project showed that 67 percent of voters in eight Mountain West states — Montana, Colorado, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada — are concerned about the future of water, land and wildlife.

“Majorities of voters view issues like loss of habitats and declining fish and wildlife populations, inadequate and polluted water supplies, microplastics, uncontrollable wildfires, air pollution, loss of pollinators, and loss of natural spaces as extremely or very serious problems in their state,” a press release from Colorado College said.

More than half of Western voters — 66 percent — believe the impacts of the climate crisis over the past decade have been significant in the state where they live. And 85 percent of voters — including 96 percent of Democrats, 87 percent of Independents and 74 percent of Republicans — say issues that involve clear air and water, public lands and wildlife are important to their decision of who to vote for.

“There may be a lot that divides voters across the country, but in the West there is nearly universal consensus in favor of conservation,” said Katrina Miller-Stevens, associate professor at Colorado College and director of the State of the Rockies Project, in the press release.

When asked their preference for what congressional representatives should put more emphasis on, 70 percent were in favor of protecting air quality, clean water and wildlife habitats while also providing opportunities for recreation on public lands.

That is in contrast to just over a quarter of voters — 26 percent — who would rather more domestic energy production be ensured by maximizing the availability of public lands for oil and gas exploration and mining. It was the first time in the history of the poll that the prioritization of conservation over maximized energy production received a majority of support from both Independents and Republicans.

“Westerners do not want to see a rollback of national monument protections and there is no mandate for oil and gas development. Voters from all political ideologies are united in support of public land conservation in the West,” Miller-Stevens said, as Inside Climate News reported.

Other areas of conservation also received overwhelming support, including a 78 percent majority in favor of more emphasis being placed on the preservation of wildlife migration routes, limiting more development in order to safeguard wildlife habitats and providing highway crossings for animals. This was in comparison with one-fifth of voters who said they wanted more emphasis to be placed on land use that was “economically productive,” like new development, oil and gas production, roads or ranching.

“By contrast, most voters see no conflict between clean energy production and preserving natural areas for wildlife habitat and the character of local communities. 75 percent of voters in the West agree we can increase clean energy production while preserving natural areas, while only 20 percent say we need to choose between production and preservation,” the press release said.

The Conservation in the West Poll showed that the outdoors, including public lands, are an important part of Western lifestyles. Sixty-two percent of respondents said that they had visited national public lands three-plus times over the past year, while just 12 percent said they had not spent time on public lands.

“Western voters also view connecting with nature as vital for their wellbeing. 93 percent say spending more time outdoors would help counter growing rates of anxiety, depression and mental health problems in young people, with 67 percent agreeing it would help a lot,” the press release said. “The deep connection between Westerners and the outdoors, along with the importance placed on protecting public lands, are reflected in strong support for a variety of conservation policies among Westerners.”

Light pollution was also important to voters, with 89 percent saying they supported managing public lands in a way that ensures there are more outdoor spaces that are free from light pollution “to better see the stars at night.”

When asked about policies that regulate the production of oil and gas on public lands, Westerners were overwhelmingly in support of conservation. Ninety percent said they were in favor of requiring that gas and oil companies foot the bill for land restoration and clean-up after drilling is completed, rather than requiring state and federal governments to do so.

“A lot of the actions that the Trump administration has taken or has proposed to take are pretty far out of step with what Westerners want to see in terms of our public lands,” said Rachael Hamby, Center for Western Priorities’ policy director, as reported by Inside Climate News. “If elected officials are straying too far from what their constituents want to see, they’re going to have to answer to their voters.”

The 2025 Conservation in the West Poll confirms what we already know—Westerners overwhelmingly support protecting public lands, clean water, and wildlife www.coloradocollege.edu/…/conserva…

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— Western Watersheds Project (@westernwatersheds.bsky.social) February 19, 2025 at 4:02 PM

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Green Groups Sue Trump Over Proposed Oil and Gas Drilling in Protected Waters

Conservation groups, including the Center for Biological Diversity, Oceana, Greenpeace and the Natural Resources Defense Council, filed two separate lawsuits against the Trump administration on Wednesday.

Both complaints focus on the administration’s moves to open more of the nation’s waters to drilling for oil and gas.

“President Trump’s executive order would roll back millions of acres of ocean protection, jeopardizing our coastal economies and the people who rely on healthy, thriving oceans,” said Joseph Gordon, Oceana campaign director, in a press release from the Center for Biological Diversity. “Leaders in both political parties, thousands of businesses, and millions of Americans support permanently protecting our coasts from offshore drilling. We are confident the court will continue to uphold the bipartisan tradition of presidents safeguarding these coastlines and protecting the people who live and work among them.”

#BREAKING: We’re taking the Trump administration to court! Oceana, alongside other environmental groups, is challenging President Trump's attempts to revoke ocean protections & open up millions of acres to offshore drilling. More 👉 oceana.ly/3EMOhSt

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— Oceana (@oceana.bsky.social) February 20, 2025 at 12:08 PM

One group of plaintiffs is challenging a Trump executive order to repeal the protection of hundreds of millions of acres of United States coastal waters from oil and gas leasing executed by former President Joe Biden during his final days in office, a press release from the Center for Biological Diversity said.

The other group is requesting that the court reinstate a prior federal court ruling invalidating the first Trump administration’s attempt to undo offshore drilling protections implemented during the Obama administration.

We're suing the Trump administration over an illegal order to revoke offshore oil drilling protections from most U.S. coastlines. “A nearly identical effort by the first Trump administration to expand drilling was stopped by Earthjustice in federal court.”

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— Earthjustice (@earthjustice.bsky.social) February 19, 2025 at 5:07 PM

“We defeated Trump the first time he tried to roll back protections and sacrifice more of our waters to the oil industry. We’re bringing this abuse of the law to the courts again,” said Steve Mashuda, managing attorney for oceans at Earthjustice, in a press release from the nonprofit legal organization. “Trump is illegally trying to take away protections vital to coastal communities that rely on clean, healthy oceans for safe living conditions, thriving economies, and stable ecosystems.”

Biden invoked the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to withdraw areas off the Atlantic, eastern Gulf, Pacific and Alaska from the possibility of oil and gas leasing. Eight other administrations, including Trump’s first, have done the same.

We filed our first lawsuit of the year against the Trump administration for revoking protections that cover more than 625 million acres of the ocean. When Trump tried to hand over our oceans to Big Oil in 2017, we sued—and won. We’re headed to court to fight back again.

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— NRDC (@nrdc.org) February 19, 2025 at 3:35 PM

The law does not, however, permit a president from revoking withdrawals by prior presidents. A federal court confirmed this before, when Trump tried to undo protections for parts of the Atlantic and the Arctic Ocean set by the Obama administration.

“Trump’s putting our oceans, marine wildlife, and coastal communities at risk of devastating oil spills and we need the courts to rein in his utter contempt for the law,” said Kristen Monsell, the Center for Biological Diversity’s oceans legal director. “Offshore oil drilling is destructive from start to finish. Opening up more public waters to the oil industry for short-term gain and political points is a reprehensible and irresponsible way to manage our precious ocean ecosystems.”

The lawsuits will likely be the first of many filed by environmental groups against the current administration, reported The Guardian. In his first month in office, Trump has frozen funds for climate-related spending programs while attempting to roll back many of Biden’s environmental protections.

“The Arctic Ocean has been protected from US drilling for nearly a decade, and those protections have been affirmed by the federal courts,” said Sierra Weaver, a senior attorney for Defenders of Wildlife, a plaintiff in one of the lawsuits, as The Guardian reported. “Though these coastlines have been protected, the administration is showing no restraint in seeking to hand off some of our most fragile and pristine landscapes for the oil industry’s profit.”

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Brazil Joins OPEC+ Ahead of Hosting UN Climate Summit

Brazil’s National Council for Energy Policy has approved the joining of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC+) just months before the country is set to host the United Nations COP30 climate change summit.

The approval was in response to a 2023 invitation from OPEC.

“OPEC welcomes the decision approved today by the National Energy Council of the Federative Republic of Brazil (CNPE) that formally paves the way for the participation of Brazil as a Member of the Charter of Cooperation (CoC) between oil producing countries,” a press release from OPEC said. “The decision comes after an initial announcement made by HE Hon. Alexandre Silveira, Minister of Mines and Energy of Brazil, at the 36th OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting (ONOMM) on 30 November 2023.”

OPEC was initially established with 12 members in 1960 to stabilize oil markets and coordinate production. Since then, 10 other significant oil-producing countries have joined the organization.

Alexandre Silveira, Brazil’s mines and energy minister, said that Brazil, as a member of OPEC, will not have any binding obligations to the group, such as cuts to production, or participate in decision-making, as The Associated Press reported. The country’s participation will involve being a member of the Charter of Cooperation forum, where nations discuss industry-related issues.

“We should not be ashamed of being oil producers. Brazil needs to grow, develop and create income and jobs,” Silveira said.

Brazil will join OPEC+, [cartel] of oil-exporting nations, months before hosting UN climate summit #COP30 – 'We should not be ashamed of being oil producers,' said Brazilian energy minister HT @carbonbrief.org www.cbc.ca/news/busines…

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— Damian Carrington (@dpcarrington.bsky.social) February 19, 2025 at 5:31 AM

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has worked to battle Amazon deforestation and protect Indigenous rights, but has also said new oil revenues could be used to finance the country’s green energy transition.

Recently, Lula has pushed the nation’s environmental regulator to allow exploratory drilling close to the Amazon River delta, one of the planet’s most biodiverse regions.

Brazil is the seventh-largest producer of oil in the world, with roughly 4.3 million barrels per day — four percent of global output, according to the United States Energy Information Administration. Last year, crude oil became Brazil’s biggest export, surpassing soy.

The U.S. is the biggest producer of oil in the world, pumping out almost 22 million barrels a day. In comparison, Saudi Arabia — OPEC’s largest producer — produces approximately 11 million barrels.

Oil expert Luís Eduardo Duque Dutra, a chemistry professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, said that Brazil’s energy council had also approved its membership in the International Renewable Energy Agency and the International Energy Agency.

“This helps keep track of the global situation, matching the country’s growing importance after developing pre-salt (offshore oil) reserves and its wind and solar energy potentials,” Dutra told The Associated Press.

Lula’s interest in increasing Brazil’s oil production has been met with criticism as the country prepares to host COP30 in November.

“Brazil’s entrance to any OPEC body is another sign of the government’s setback,” said Climate Observatory spokesperson Suely Araújo, as reported by The Associated Press.

Opening new areas to fossil fuel exploration “indicates that we are choosing solutions from the past in the face of a huge challenge for the present and the future,” Araújo added.

The post Brazil Joins OPEC+ Ahead of Hosting UN Climate Summit appeared first on EcoWatch.

Top U.S. Prosecutor Resigns After Trump-Appointed Official Orders Investigation Into Biden Climate Funding

Denise Cheung, the top criminal prosecutor with the United States Attorney’s Office in Washington, DC, resigned on Tuesday after she declined to follow an order from a Trump-appointed superior at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to start a grand jury investigation, people with knowledge of the matter said, as CNN reported.

Acting U.S. Attorney General Emil Bove initially gave the instruction to Ed Martin — a Donald Trump nominee for U.S. Attorney in DC. — for Cheung to direct an investigation of a Biden EPA funding decision, then freeze the funding.

Cheung, a long-time employee of the Department of Justice, did not feel there was sufficient evidence to comply with the order and was asked to resign.

“Earlier yesterday, I was asked to review documentation supplied by the Office of the Deputy Attorney General to open a criminal investigation into whether a contract had been unlawfully awarded by an executive agency before the change in Administration and to issue grand jury subpoenas pursuant to this investigation,” Cheung wrote in her resignation letter on Tuesday, as seen by CNN.

As Cheung noted in the letter, she and other experienced prosecutors did not believe there was enough evidence to meet the threshold requirements to conduct a grand jury investigation. Bove insisted that the DOJ had met that threshold.

Top US prosecutor quits over pressure to investigate Biden climate spending: Denise Cheung resigns after Trump appointees demand she open grand jury investigation into EPA grants A top federal prosecutor has quit after refusing to launch what she called a politically driven investigation …

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— The Guardian Climate News (unofficial) (@guardian-climate.bsky.social) February 18, 2025 at 5:07 PM

In the resignation letter to Martin, Cheung wrote that she and other prosecutors believed there was insufficient evidence despite senior officials citing an undercover Project Veritas video, reported The Guardian.

“When I explained that the quantum of evidence did not support that action, you stated that you believed that there was sufficient evidence,” Cheung wrote to Martin. “You also accused me about wasting five hours of the day ‘doing nothing’ except trying to get what the FBI and I wanted, but not what you wanted.”

Cheung noted her obligation to follow the law and the code of legal ethics, as well as her sworn oath of office.

“When I started as an AUSA, I took an oath of office to support and defend the Constitution, and I have executed this duty faithfully during my tenure, which has spanned through numerous Administrations,” Cheung wrote in a farewell email to colleagues. “I know that all of the AUSAs in the office continue to honor their oaths on a daily basis, just as I know that you have always conducted yourself with the utmost integrity.”

The dispute originated from a claim by EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin last week regarding $20 billion in EPA funding being held in an account at Citibank.

The funding at issue was earmarked for eight nonprofits in charge of climate change mitigation projects as part of the Inflation Reduction Act.

Zeldin has criticized what he called “rushed” funding for the climate organizations, saying he would attempt to claw back funding in conjunction with the DOJ and return it to the U.S. Treasury Department.

“We will review every penny that has gone out the door. I will be referring this matter to the inspector general’s office, and will work with the Justice Department as well,” Zeldin said, as The Hill reported.

A former official at the EPA who was responsible for implementation of the funding told CNN that it had not been rushed or set up in a nefarious manner.

The EPA and the U.S. Treasury had set up an arrangement with the bank to distribute the funding to the grantees, and while it was the first time that type of agreement was employed by the EPA, it is a process that the Treasury Department had been using for years.

Cheung’s departure comes during a period of upheaval across the DOJ, as prosecutors deemed untrustworthy by the Trump administration are dismissed and the president’s political appointees clash with long-time federal prosecutors.

In her departure email, Cheung encouraged colleagues to “fulfill your commitment to pursuing Justice without fear or prejudice,” as The Hill reported.

I'm leading my colleagues in writing to the DOJ Inspector General after Denise Cheung was forced to resign after defying her Trump-appointed superiors and refusing to freeze climate bank funding in the absence of any crime. You need your climate bank money and we need answers.

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— Senator Ed Markey (@markey.senate.gov) February 19, 2025 at 8:06 PM

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Gap Between Water Supply and Demand to Widen as Climate Warms: Study

Stronger water management efforts will be essential to overcoming the gap between supply and demand as the planet continues to warm, according to a new analysis by Lorenzo Rosa, principal investigator at Carnegie Science, and Matteo Sangiorgio, a researcher at the Polytechnic University of Milan.

For the study, the pair of researchers quantified issues of water scarcity under 1.5 and three degrees Celsius of global heating above pre-industrial levels, a press release from the Carnegie Institution of Science said.

“Water scarcity is one of the greatest challenges facing humanity this century,” Rosa said in the press release. “About 4 billion people reside and about half the world’s irrigated agriculture is in regions that experience water scarcity for at least one month each year.”

Life on Earth cannot exist without water. It is necessary for human health, food and energy security, environmental resilience, economic development and a wide range of human activities. Even though it is so important, in many places on our planet, demand for water exceeds available supply.

When water consumption is greater than the natural availability of water at any time during a month, it is referred to as a “water gap.” As time goes on, this kind of unsustainable use leads to depleted rivers, lakes, aquifers, groundwater and other natural water reserves.

“Water gaps are already an issue for communities around the world, resulting in either inadequate supplies of water or environmental degradation,” Rosa explained. “And as climate change further disrupts precipitation patterns and alters the water cycle, it will add even more stress.”

A sailing boat lays stranded on the dried-up bottom of Liptovska Mara freshwater reservoir that is at 40% of its normal capacity due to winter droughts, near Liptovsky Mikulas in Slovakia on Feb. 18, 2025. Robert Nemeti / Anadolu via Getty Images

Earlier research approached the subject by quantifying groundwater depletion or other reductions in water availability globally, while other studies looked at unsustainable use of water at the regional level.

This study combined the two strategies in order to fully comprehend the scope of the problem and make well-informed water management policies and plans going forward.

“We must be able to balance environmental resilience and the growing need for water in a warming world with a burgeoning population,” Rosa emphasized. “As cities grow, pollution, industrial water use, and irrigation will all increase, which will, in turn, exacerbate the water gap.”

Sangiorgio and Rosa quantified water gaps for scenarios under baseline, 1.5 and 3 degrees Celsius of warming, accounting for factors such as surface and groundwater depletion and water requirements for aquatic ecosystems.

The findings showed that there are already almost 458 billion cubic meters in water gaps annually. They are predicted to grow by 6% under a 1.5 degrees Celsius warming scenario and by 15% if the planet warms by 3 degrees Celsius.

“Even relatively modest increases in the water gap can put pressure on ecosystems and lead to severe shortages for agricultural use, resulting in food insecurity,” Rosa said.

Options to consider for water resources managers and lawmakers in order to increase water supplies include enhancing water storage capabilities by investing in resilient infrastructure, reusing treated wastewater, desalinating saltwater and bringing in water from other areas.

Farmers can prepare for the potential of water scarcity by planting crops that are less water intensive while investing in irrigation technologies that are more efficient.

“While water scarcity can affect entire regions, the most severe consequences are borne by the most vulnerable and impoverished populations, underscoring the important influence of economic and institutional factors in determining water scarcity,” the authors wrote in the study. “Under global warming, this fragile balance between supply and demand is likely to worsen, leading to a future where water resources struggle to meet growing societal and environmental needs. Consequently, many areas face a widening water gap, which threatens not only economic development and societies but also the health of aquatic ecosystems.”

The study, “Global water gaps under future warming levels,” was published in the journal Nature Communications.

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UK Agency Developing Early Warning System for Major Climate Tipping Points

The United Kingdom’s Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) plans to invest 81 million pounds in the development of an ambitious early warning system designed to detect climate tipping points.

The new system will use drones, plankton bloom patterns and cosmic ray detection combined with artificial intelligence and detailed, cutting-edge computer models, reported The Guardian.

“Major parts of the Earth system are at risk of crossing climate tipping points within the next century, with severe consequences for biodiversity, food security, agriculture, and humanity. Despite the potential impact, we’re poorly equipped to characterise the long-term trends of our climate systems, or predict the future risk of runaway, self-perpetuating change,” ARIA said in a press release. “Combining expertise in observation and modelling with innovative sensing systems, we’ll look to develop a proof-of-concept for an early warning system for climate tipping points that is affordable, sustainable and justified.”

Early warning system for climate tipping points given £81m kickstart: Ambitious UK project aims to forecast climate catastrophes using fleets of drones, cosmic ray detection, patterns of plankton blooms and more An ambitious attempt to develop an early warning system for climate tipping p…

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— The Guardian Climate News (unofficial) (@guardian-climate.bsky.social) February 18, 2025 at 9:07 AM

ARIA has awarded roughly $102 million to 27 project teams with a goal of finding signals that warn of the biggest climate disasters that could be triggered by the climate crisis.

ARIA’s early warning system program will be focused on two major tipping points: the collapse of the subpolar gyre (SPG) ocean current — a part of the crucial Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) — and the melting of Greenland’s ice sheet.

The collapse of ocean currents like AMOC would lead to global weather pattern changes, triggering extreme weather and wreaking havoc on the world’s food supplies, while the collapse of Greenland’s ice sheet would cause significant and potentially damaging sea level rise.

“In a similar way to how we use monitoring stations to detect and warn for tsunamis, we’re aiming to establish networks of climate monitoring systems to detect early signs of critical shifts in our climate,” said Sarah Bohndiek and Gemma Bale, who co-lead the ARIA program, as The Guardian reported. “Through these systems, we can equip decision-makers with the data they need to confront the threat of abrupt climate change head on.”

Sarah Bohndiek, 1 of 2 scientists leading the #ClimateChange program at ARIA, warned the world was less prepared for climate #TippingPoints than it was for #COVID19. “What would happen if we cross one of the climate tipping points?"

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— Carbon Tracker Initiative (@carbontracker.bsky.social) January 2, 2025 at 5:30 AM

At least 16 tipping points have been identified by scientists, some of which may have already been passed, from the thawing of permafrost in the north to a shift in west Africa’s monsoon.

ARIA hopes to come up with an early warning system capable of forecasting tipping points a decade ahead of time, where possible.

Professor Tim Lenton, an ARIA team leader and director of the Global Systems Institute at University of Exeter, said a warning like ARIA is proposing would incentivize the world to speed up climate action, since even if it wasn’t possible to stop a particular tipping point, having advance notice would give society time to prepare.

One of the program’s teams is developing small, high-speed drones to be used to gather better data in Greenland.

“Greenland is the fastest melting place on Earth, but this ice loss has knock-on effects for both North Atlantic ocean currents and fisheries. This crucial research will help us to understand how much freshwater the ice sheet is releasing, and what the subsequent effects will be on the ocean currents that bring warm waters and weather to the UK,” said Kelly Hogan of the British Antarctic Survey in the press release.

Another ARIA team is working on making devices that can move vertically through the ocean to collect data on the SPG.

“The UK and northern Europe could experience much harsher winters, similar to parts of Canada [if the SPG collapses], while the east coast of the U.S. could see dramatic sea level rises,” said Dr. Bieito Fernández Castro, a lecturer at University of Southampton who leads the SPG project, as reported by The Guardian.

One of the projects will develop detailed computer simulations of real-world data to evaluate the reliability of prospective early warning signals.

“We will make use of real-world examples of past tipping points to better understand these events,” said David Thornalley, a professor of ocean and climate science at University College London.

Another team will develop models to pinpoint where and when climate tipping points might happen.

“Forecasting tipping points is a formidable challenge,” said Dr. Reinhard Schiemann, associate professor of climate science at University of Reading. “But the fantastic range of teams tackling this challenge from different angles, yet working together in a coordinated fashion, makes this programme a unique opportunity.”

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World’s Richest Nations Are ‘Exporting Extinction’ With Demand for Agricultural and Forestry Imports: Study

The richest countries in the world are “exporting extinction” by destroying 15 times more biodiversity globally than they do within their own borders, according to a new Princeton University study.

The researchers found that 13.3 percent of biodiversity loss worldwide came from the consumption of high-income countries, a press release from Princeton said.

“Biodiversity loss has accelerated at an alarming rate in recent decades, driven largely by human activities such as clearing forests to grow crops or harvest timber. While countries often degrade ecosystems within their own borders through these activities, they also play a significant role in driving habitat loss overseas by outsourcing agricultural production, i.e., importing food or timber from other countries, thereby leading those other countries to destroy their forests to produce the exports,” the press release said.

The study is the first to quantify the degree of countries’ contributions to worldwide biodiversity loss when they shift the environmental impact of their consumption abroad.

The researchers looked at how 24 high-income countries impacted 7,593 forest-dependent animal species, from mammals and reptiles to birds. They integrated economic trade data with deforestation maps derived from satellites and information on species’ ranges from 2001 to 2015. By integrating the information, they were able to pinpoint severe biodiversity loss “hotspots” and quantify how much of each species’ habitat loss was attributable to the individual country’s imports.

“Tracing the impacts that countries have on the environment outside of their borders is difficult to do,” said lead author of the study Alex Wiebe, a doctoral student in Princeton’s Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, in the press release. “By combining satellite imagery with economic and biodiversity data, we are now able to measure and map exactly where countries impact species around the world for the first time.”

A scarlet-bellied mountain tanager. Alex Wiebe

The findings revealed that deforestation driven by the countries’ imports of crops and timber from beyond their borders caused over 13 percent of range loss for forest-dependent vertebrates worldwide, in addition to domestic biodiversity loss.

Each of these nations caused an average level of biodiversity loss that was 15 times higher than their own domestic impacts. The United States, France, Germany, China and Japan were among the top contributors. Eighteen of the two dozen countries had higher global than domestic effects on biodiversity loss.

“By importing food and timber, these developed nations are essentially exporting extinction,” said David Wilcove, the study’s co-author and a professor of ecology, evolutionary biology and public affairs at Princeton. “Global trade spreads out the environmental impacts of human consumption, in this case prompting the more developed nations to get their food from poorer, more biodiverse nations in the tropics, resulting in the loss of more species.”

The findings also showed that nations tend to have the biggest impact on species living in the nearest tropical regions.

U.S. consumption had the largest effect on Central American wildlife, while consumption by Japan and China strongly impacted Southeast Asia’s rainforest species.

The results also highlighted the harmful impacts international trade has on endangered species. The researchers discovered that over half of the ranges of a quarter of critically endangered species were lost due to international consumption over the course of the study period.

“By increasingly outsourcing their land use, countries have the ability to affect species around the world, even more than within their own borders,” Wiebe explained.  “This represents a major shift in how new threats to wildlife emerge.”

Wilcove highlighted the necessity of collaboration between exporting and importing countries in order to improve habitat conservation and boost the sustainability of trade practices.

”Global trade in food and timber is not going to stop,” Wilcove said. “What’s important is for the importing nations to recognize the environmental impacts this trade has on the exporting countries and to work with those countries to reduce those impacts. All nations stand to benefit by promoting habitat protection and sustainable agriculture because biodiversity benefits all nations.”

The study, “Global biodiversity loss from outsourced deforestation,” was published in the journal Nature.

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Reintroducing Wolves to Scottish Highlands Could Boost Woodlands, Study Finds

The reintroduction of wolves to the Scottish Highlands could help expand native woodlands, which could in turn absorb and sequester one million additional tons of carbon dioxide annually, according to a new study.

The research, led by scientists at the University of Leeds, modeled wolves’ potential impact in four areas of Scottish Wild Land, where increasing populations of red deer feeding on tree saplings is suppressing the natural regeneration of woodland trees, a press release from the University of Leeds said.

“There is an increasing acknowledgement that the climate and biodiversity crises cannot be managed in isolation,” said Dominick Spracklen, a professor of biosphere-atmosphere interactions in the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Leeds, in the press release. “We need to look at the potential role of natural processes such as the reintroduction of species to recover our degraded ecosystems and these in turn can deliver co-benefits for climate and nature recovery.”

To estimate that the reintroduction effort to areas in the Southwest, Northwest and Central Highlands, as well as in the Cairngorms, would result in a total wolf population of approximately 167 wolves, the team used a predator-prey model. That number of wolves would be sufficient to reduce populations of red deer enough to allow trees to grow back naturally.

Reintroducing wolves to Scottish Highlands could help expand native woodlands, says study – Researchers say the animals could keep red deer numbers under control, leading to storage of 1m tonnes of CO2 www.theguardian.com/environment/…

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— Damian Carrington (@dpcarrington.bsky.social) February 17, 2025 at 4:19 AM

With wolves keeping the red deer population in check, native woodland could expand to take up 1.1 million tons of carbon dioxide per year, or roughly five percent of the United Kingdom’s carbon removal target for woodlands. The UK Climate Change Committee has said that is the amount needed to achieve net-zero by 2050.

The researchers estimate the presence of each wolf would result in an uptake of 6,702 tons of carbon each year, giving each of the predators a carbon valuation “worth” of roughly $194,554.

The findings of the study, “Wolf reintroduction to Scotland could support substantial native woodland expansion and associated carbon sequestration,” were published in the journal Ecological Solutions and Evidence.

The research is the first time wolf reintroduction’s potential impacts on woodland expansion and the resulting carbon storage have been assessed in the UK. According to the research team, the results are further evidence that large carnivores play an important role in providing essential nature-based solutions to address the climate crisis.

Scotland eradicated its wolves roughly 250 years ago, which left red deer without natural predators. Red deer numbers in the country have exploded in the past century, despite ongoing management, with the most recent estimates as high as 400,000.

A lack of natural regeneration of trees has led to the decline and loss of Scotland’s native woodlands. Today, the country’s levels are some of the lowest in Europe, with just four percent of it covered in native woodland.

Natural tree regeneration has been largely restricted to fenced areas where deer are excluded. More intensive deer management has been proven to help trees regenerate, with seedling numbers rising when deer numbers are lower than four per square kilometer.

Western Europe’s wolf population is now more than 12,000, with wolves occupying 67 percent of their historical range in Europe, including in Central Europe’s human-dominated landscapes.

The researchers said the financial benefits of carbon uptake and storage that would come from reintroducing wolves to the Scottish Highlands would be added to other proven ecological and economic impacts of wolf reintroduction, such as ecotourism, a reduced number of deer-vehicle accidents, fewer cases of deer-associated Lyme disease and fewer deer culls.

“Our aim is to provide new information to inform ongoing and future discussions about the possibility of wolf reintroductions both in the UK and elsewhere,” said farmer and author Lee Schofield, who co-authored the study. “We recognise that substantial and wide-ranging stakeholder and public engagement would be essential before any wolf reintroduction could be considered. Human-wildlife conflicts involving carnivores are common and must be addressed through public policies that account for people’s attitudes for reintroduction to be successful.”

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‘Wild Concerto’ by Former Police Drummer Stewart Copeland Blends Nature Sounds With Music

In a new collaboration between former Police drummer Stewart Copeland and British naturalist Martyn Stewart — titled Wild Concerto — the chirps of Arctic terns blend with other wildlife calls and orchestral music to create a multi-layered soundscape.

The unique composition by Copeland, a seven-time Grammy award-winner, drew on Stewart’s field recordings, reported The Guardian.

Copeland said none of the recordings of nature had been re-tuned or manipulated in any way.

“All the bird and animal sounds are exactly as they were, but I put them in positions so that they add up to a melody and rhythm,” Copeland said. “Instead of sopranos and tenors, I’m working with hyenas, wolves and a chorus of birds. Their voices bring an unparalleled authenticity to the music.”

The “collaboration between nature and music” — including a frog-saxophone duet and a piano nocturne accompanied by the hoot of an Asian barred owlet — will be performed on tour by Copeland, the nature recordings and the 30-musician Kingdom Orchestra.

‘The synergy is amazing’: Stewart Copeland album fuses nature and music

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— The Guardian (@theguardian.com) February 14, 2025 at 4:55 AM

“They all have their own individual, often atonal melodies but when you put a flute against a red-breasted nuthatch, for example, the synergy is amazing,” Copeland said. “I picked out sounds that I felt were the soloists, like the wolves, and others that were more atmospheric, like the wild winds of Antarctica, and treated them in a similar way to a trombone or a guitar… The wolves are howling with great soul, great passion, and accompanied by a trombone following their line. It’s jazz, the jazz wolf of the Arctic tundra.”

Wild Concerto was inspired by the Arctic to Antarctica migration of Arctic terns, as well as some of the animals and birds they potentially encounter on their journey.

Over the course of six decades, Stewart captured many of the natural sounds that have been featured in natural history shows like Blue Planet, as well as roughly 150 films, such as Frozen and Cold Mountain.

“Many of these species are endangered and their sounds could vanish in our lifetime. Through the Wild Concerto, their voices are immortalised,” Stewart said.

Stewart, who has been called “the David Attenborough of sound,” has an archive of nearly 100,000 recordings from more than 60 countries.

“I was so sceptical about sticking natural sounds with music. So many saunas and salons play new age music with pianos and oceans and I thought that’s what it was going to sound like. But I was just gobsmacked,” Stewart said.

Stewart hopes the pioneering composition will raise awareness of species that have gone extinct, are endangered or have been impacted by noise pollution to the extent that a clean recording cannot be made of their calls.

“Two-thirds of the species in my library are now basically extinct. Twenty-five or 30 years ago, when I wanted to record one pristine hour of sound, it took about three or four hours to do that with minimal editing,” Stewart said. “Today, if I want to record an hour’s pristine sound, it takes about 2,000 hours to get that because there are so many manmade sounds in the environment… There’s about 10 endangered species on the album… poison dart frogs, wolves, Galápagos tortoise.”

Stewart’s entire archive has been donated to nonprofit The Listening Planet. Co-founded with Amanda Hill, Stewart’s niece, the charity promotes conservation, celebrates biodiversity and “reminds the world why nature’s voice is worth listening to.”

The artwork for the Wild Concerto album cover was created by Diana Beltrán Herrera and consists of intricate layers of beautifully crafted paper figures.

Wild Concerto will be released by Platoon Records in April. On Earth Day — April 22 — Copeland and fellow composer Arash Safaian will meet at London’s Kings Place to discuss their composition and the more extensive relationship between nature and music, before Copeland embarks on a nationwide tour in October.

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Climate Crisis Is Causing a Chocolate Market Meltdown: Study

According to a new report by independent research group Climate Central, the climate crisis has driven weeks of hot temperatures in West Africa’s “cocoa belt,” where roughly 70% of the cocoa in the world is produced, impacting harvests and likely causing record chocolate prices.

Between July of 2022 and February of last year, cocoa prices jumped by 136 percent, partially due to climate extremes in the region, a press release from Climate Central said.

Climate change, due primarily to burning oil, coal, and methane gas, is causing hotter temperatures to become more frequent in the four West African countries responsible for producing approximately 70% of the world’s cacao — the key ingredient in chocolate,” the report, Climate change is heating up West Africa’s cocoa belt, said. “While many factors, such as precipitation and insect-borne infections, can affect cacao trees, excessive heat can contribute to a reduction in the quantity and quality of the harvest — potentially increasing global chocolate prices and impacting local economies in West Africa.”

💔Climate change is melting our relationship with chocolate 🍫 In 2024 alone, human-caused climate change added 6 extra weeks of heat stress above the ideal temperature in many cacao-growing regions. More from a new Climate Central attribution science report ⤵ www.youtube.com/shorts/eyKOk…

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— Climate Central (@handle.invalid) February 12, 2025 at 2:05 PM

The bean pods of the cacao plant are used to produce cocoa, and they thrive under specific ranges of rainfall and temperature. Warm to hot temperatures as high as 90 degrees Fahrenheit are best for cacao growth, but any higher and the quantity and quality of the harvest can be affected.

The analysis looked at how human-caused climate change has impacted the frequency of the cocoa belt’s daily maximum temperatures over the past decade (2015 to 2024).

The study focused on 44 of the major cacao-growing regions in the top four cocoa-producing countries: Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon and Nigeria. Other major producers of cocoa include Brazil, Chile, Peru, Indonesia and Ecuador, but they were not included in the analysis.

Climate change had the largest impact on cacao-growing regions in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire — two countries which produce more than half the world’s cocoa, supporting millions of workers and farmers’ livelihoods. In both these countries, an average of roughly 40 days of daily maximum temperatures higher than 90 degrees Fahrenheit were added in the past 10 years due to climate change.

Nigeria and Cameroon saw an average of 14 and 18 more days, respectively, of cacao-limiting heat each year due to global heating.

Most — 28 of 44 — of the areas analyzed in the study experienced a minimum of six extra weeks of heat that limited cacao growth annually.

“Growing cocoa is a vital livelihood for many of the poorest people around the world and human-caused climate change is putting that under serious threat,” said Osai Ojigho, policy and public campaigns director at Christian Aid, as The Guardian reported.

Changing rainfall patterns can put additional strain on cacao growth, Climate Central said. Well-distributed and adequate rainfall is necessary for cacao plants, which do best in areas with yearly rainfall totals from 59 to 79 inches and with dry spells that last three months or less.

Much of the annual variation in cocoa production can be attributed to rainfall fluctuations. Climate change is predicted to increase frequent and/or large transitions between very wet and very dry conditions in many parts of the globe, including in West Africa, which could potentially affect cocoa production. Last year’s worldwide cocoa price increase was caused by inconsistent rainfall patterns.

Since late 2023, failed cacao harvests have contributed to a major jump in cocoa prices on the New York and London markets where cocoa is traded, reported The Guardian.

On Wednesday, cocoa prices on the New York exchange had soared to over $10,000 a tonne after a mid-December peak of more than $12,500. For decades, New York prices have mostly been steady at $2,000 to $3,000 per tonne.

Swiss chocolatier Lindt & Sprüngli said in January that it would raise prices once again to offset the rising cost of cocoa.

Future threats to cocoa production also include smuggling, illegal mining and cacao swollen shoot virus, which impact the quality and quantity of cacao harvests, creating added challenges for farmers and driving up the price of chocolate.

Heat above 90 degrees Fahrenheit not only limits chocolate production, but is dangerous for the farmworkers who harvest cocoa.

“Extreme heat compounds other dangerous and physically-demanding working conditions, including exposure to chemicals, lifting heavy loads, and long hours. Many cocoa farmers make less than $1 equivalent per day and are older adults or children — both groups that are at higher risk of heat-related illness,” the press release said. “Since about 90% of cocoa is produced by small-scale operations, the changing climate is a significant factor that directly harms the lives and livelihoods of cocoa farmers.”

Adaptations — including breeding more heat- and drought-resistant plants, shading cacao plants with taller trees and shifting production to locations that are likely to have more suitable future conditions — can help farmworkers cope with changing climate conditions, but can’t fully prevent the disruptions and challenges of cocoa production.

According to Narcisa Pricope, a geosciences professor at Mississippi University, cacao is facing an “existential threat” largely due to cacao-producing regions’ increasingly dry conditions.

Pricope said the biggest factor in the aridity was greenhouse gas emissions.

“Collective action against aridity isn’t just about saving chocolate – it’s about preserving the planet’s capacity to sustain life,” Pricope said, as The Guardian reported.

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