For Immediate Release From PEW Environment!
As the COVID-19 pandemic took hold last spring and people around the world went into lockdown, a certain type of news story started to spring up—the idea that, in the absence of people, nature was returning to a healthier, more pristine state. There were viral reports of dolphins in the canals of Venice, Italy, and pumas in the streets in Santiago, Chile. But new research shows that the true effect of suddenly removing people from so many environments has turned out to be much more complex.
“It was surprising how variable the responses were,” says Amanda Bates, an ecologist at Memorial University in Newfoundland and Labrador who led an international team of more than 350 researchers in an effort to study how lockdowns have affected the natural world. “It’s impossible to say,” says Bates, whether the consequence of people’s sudden disappearance “was positive or negative.”
The team collected and analyzed data from hundreds of scientific monitoring programs, as well as media reports, from 67 countries. As many would expect, they did find evidence of nature benefiting from the sudden drop in air, land, and water travel.
Wildlife also benefited from reduced air and noise pollution as industry, natural resource extraction, and manufacturing declined. There was less litter found on beaches and in parks, and beach closures in some areas left the shoreline to wildlife. In Florida, for example, beach closures led to a 39 percent increase in nesting success for loggerhead turtles. Ocean fishing fell by 12 percent, and fewer animals were killed by vehicles strikes on roads and in the water. Ocean noise, which is known to disrupt a variety of marine animals, dropped dramatically in many places, including in the busy Nanaimo Harbour in British Columbia where it fell by 86 percent.
But there were also many downsides to the lack of humans. Lockdowns disrupted conservation enforcement and research efforts, and in many places illegal hunting and fishing increased as poor, desperate people looked for ways to compensate for lost income or food. The ecotourism activities that provide financial support for many conservation efforts dried up, and many restoration projects had to be cancelled or postponed. Parks that were open to visitors were inundated by abnormally large crowds. And in many places, hikers expanded trails, destroyed habitats, and even trampled endangered plants.
The researchers estimate that delays to invasive species control programs caused by lockdowns will have a huge impact. Failure to remove invasive mice from remote seabird nesting islands could lead to the loss of more than two million chicks this year alone.
The scale of these negative impacts was unexpected, says Bates. “I thought we were going to see more positive impacts,” she says, adding that it highlights just how much some ecosystems depend on human support to keep them viable. “I don’t think some of these systems would be persisting without our intervention.”
And some of the changes led to complex cascades, where it was difficult to disentangle the positive from the negative. Snow geese, for example, are usually hunted to stop them feeding on crops during their northward migration across the United States and Canada. But this year, they faced less hunting pressure, and so arrived in the high Arctic larger and healthier than usual, according to hunters in Nunavut. It might be good for the geese, but they also graze fragile Arctic tundra and degrade the habitat for other species, so more geese will have knock-on effects on the rest of the ecosystem that could persist for years.
As the world slowly gets back to normal, the data collected during this time of disruption will be useful in developing more effective forms of conservation that take into account all the ways that humans influence their surroundings, says Rebecca Shaw, chief scientist for the World Wildlife Fund. “The cool thing will be to watch how these responses change over time as human mobility gets back to normal, and to use the information to better design conservation actions to increase biodiversity both near and far, away from human populations,” she says.
Alison Woodley, senior strategic advisor at the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, agrees. She says the positive impacts that were seen are likely to be temporary shifts, and so finding ways to develop more resilient conservation systems will be vital. “The common thread is the need for long-term, stable, and adequate funding to make sure that conservation is resilient and that the positive aspects of conservation are overcoming the negative,” she says.
That will benefit not just nature, but humans as well, says Woodley. There is a growing realization that protecting nature offers our best defense against future pandemics, by reducing the contact and conflict between humans and animals that can lead to viruses jumping from one species to another.
“Preventing future pandemics and restoring our life support system requires decisions and management by people to protect large areas of land and ocean,
Read and learn more HERE!:
https://www.hakaimagazine.com/news/are-cov... ********
Uneaten Oysters Provide Pearl Of An Environmental Solution During COVID-19 Pandemic!
(Environmental groups are buying uneaten oysters to build living shorelines.)
Environmental groups and oyster farmers have found a silver lining -- or a pearl -- amid the ravages of the pandemic.
Millions of oysters that went unsold when restaurants closed are finding a new life back in the ocean, where advocates say they'll help the environment and help coastal communities combat climate change.
Seafood and shellfish demand crashed during the pandemic. By the time restaurants began to reopen, many oysters had grown too big to eat.
But environmental groups quickly recognized a way to use those oysters in coastal communities. The Nature Conservancy and Pew Charitable Trusts announced plans to buy millions of unsold oysters and return them to the ocean as living reefs.
"We were just sitting on top of these huge oysters, just kept getting bigger and bigger by the day, and we, we couldn't sell them. So they came in with a program, the SOAR program, and bought a lot of oysters from these guys. And it was a real lifesaver," said Matt Welling, the owner of Lucky 13 Oysters in Long Island, New York.
The SOAR program, which stands for Supporting Oyster Aquaculture and Restoration, brought together the Nature Conservancy and Pew Charitable Trusts. They plan is to spend $2 million on more than 5 million surplus oysters -- enough to rebuild 27 acres of shellfish reefs.
Read, watch, and learn more HERE!:
https://abcnews.go.com/US/uneaten-oysters-... ********
Our Ocean: Protect And Conserve Our Blue Planet
The ocean is vital to life on Earth. It connects and sustains us in multiple ways. And it currently faces major threats.
In celebration of World Ocean Day we call on leaders around the world to protect and conserve our marine environment for humanity.
The ocean shows her beauty
In each and every wave
She is boundless, bold, and brave.
Beneath the surface
Deep within her waters
And along her shores roam
Millions of creatures that call her home.
With every ebb and flow
We know
She brings life
And brings joy
She transports us
And transforms us
She brings nourishment
And flourishment.
Her gifts to us are all that we need
To eat,
To live,
To breathe.
Let us honor her with action
Her future won’t wait
It’s not too late.
One drop in the ocean
Can cause a ripple effect
A wave of change and respect
Once put in motion
Together, we can protect our ocean.
Over 100 countries around the world have committed to conserving our ocean.
Help us conserve and protect at least 30% of our global ocean by 2030.
Read and learn more HERE!:
https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-... ********
How Much Do You Know About Recycling and Composting Plastic?
The global plastic pollution problem is enormously challenging. The material is used in a huge range of products—from food packaging and children’s toys to car tires, household appliances, and commercial packaging—and at the current rates of production, use, and disposal, the annual amount of plastic waste entering Earth’s ecosystems could almost triple by 2040. Still, plastic pollution is a solvable problem—and you can help.
Take this quiz to see if you’re ready to help break the plastic wave.
Read and learn more HERE!:
https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-... VISIT: pewenvironment.org
Posted By: agnes levine
Tuesday, June 8th 2021 at 3:13PM
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