@UQ_News research published in @TheLancetPlanet finds that #pandemics are linked to #ecosystem and #biodiversity declines, with viruses jumping from animals to humans. Urgent #publichealth and #conservation policies needed #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect

http://palmoildetectives.com/2024/09/08/protect-nature-to-avoid-future-pandemics/

Protect Nature to Avoid Future Pandemics

Research from University of Queensland and published in The Lancet: Planetary Health finds that the COVID-19 pandemic is linked to the decline of ecosystems and biodiversity, creating a cycle that …

^{Palm Oil Detectives}

A request to the #eDNA #environmentalDNA community. We are working on a project related to eDNA and ethics and looking for feedback from the user community. Please help us and complete this survey. https://forms.office.com/r/P6R57BAbZq Please pass it along to other users.

If you are a #conservation biologist, #ecology practitioner #molecularecology etc. or have been thinking of using the tool, we would like to hear from you.

In the last few years it is likely that PepsiCo has been using in its production palm oil from deforested land claimed by the Shipibo-Konibo people in eastern Peru, a new investigation has found.

by Andrew Wasley, Aramís Castro, Elisângela Mendonça
https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/snack-giant-pepsico-sourced-palm-oil-from-razed-indigenous-land-investigation/

#News #Environment #Conservation #Investigation #IndigenousPeoples #FoodIndustry #PalmOil #LandRights

#Road building almost always precedes #forest loss, and road density is by far the strongest correlate of #deforestation out of 38 #biophysical and #socioeconomic factors.
Findings of the study imply that the most vital #conservation function of protected areas is limiting roads and road-related environmental disruption. They suggest that burgeoning, poorly studied ghost roads are among the gravest of all direct #threats to #tropical forests.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07303-5

#asia #nature #environment

Ghost roads and the destruction of Asia-Pacific tropical forests - Nature

An effort to map roads in the Asia-Pacific region finds that there are 3.0–6.6 times more roads than other sources suggest, and that unmapped ‘ghost roads’ are a major contributor to tropical forest loss.

^Nature

‘Precision fermentation’ start-ups pursue palm oil alternatives

#PalmOil #Deforestation #Orangutan #Conservation
https://www.ft.com/content/cfe2070f-c8f2-4145-9944-b72d6c7fa8ae

#Genomic analyses reveal #poaching hotspots, trade routes of most trafficked endangered mammal.

#conservation

https://phys.org/news/2023-12-genomic-analyses-reveal-poaching-hotspots.html

Genomic analyses reveal poaching hotspots, trade routes of most trafficked endangered mammal

UCLA scientists and colleagues have created a genetic source-to-destination map of the most trafficked mammal in the world—the pangolin—using samples from living white-bellied pangolins and scales from the animals confiscated at illicit markets.

^{David Colgan (Phys.org)}

As oil palm plantations encroach on rainforests, wild primates increasingly enter them to forage, where they face the threat of being eaten by feral dogs, killed for raiding crops, or caught by traffickers for the pet trade.

A new study from Peninsular Malaysia finds that exposure to oil plantations also significantly increases the risk of death among infant southern pig-tailed macaques.

by Spoorthy Raman
https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/shocking-mortality-of-infant-macaques-points-to-dangers-of-oil-palm-plantations/

#NEws #Conservation #Environment #Wildlife #PalmOil

‘Shocking’ mortality of infant macaques points to dangers of oil palm plantations

For 12 years, primatologist Nadine Ruppert and her colleagues have had one recurring task on their calendar: tagging along with a group of southern pig-tailed macaques in Segari, Peninsular Malaysia, as these primates hop between native rainforests a…

^{Isabel Esterman (Conservation news)}

"The Coalition will strip funding from the Environmental Defenders Office if it wins the next federal election, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has promised."

https://abc.net.au/news/2024-01-30/dutton-commits-to-defunding-environmental-defenders-office/103403866
#EDO #Biodiversity #climate #law #destruction #conservation #ExtinctionCrisis

Dutton commits to defunding Environmental Defenders Office under Coalition government

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton says he would end funding to the Environmental Defenders Office if the Coalition wins government at the next federal election, accusing the group of engaging in unethical "lawfare" that frustrates mining and energy proj…

^{Jake Evans (ABC News)}

#NewSpecies!
New freshwater crab from #indonesia just pinched us:

Lepidothelphusa menneri

Treatment: http://treatment.plazi.org/id/03DE879E-FFF9-FFBE-1FBF-FE0DFCFB7405
Publication: http://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5397.2.3
#Zootaxa

#FAIRdata
#science #OA #openaccess #biology #taxonomy #ecology #biodiversity #nature #wildlife #conservation #animals #invertebrates #arthropods #crustacea #crabs

The one thing that wasn’t a shit show in 2023: a huge undercover multinational operation that led to the conviction of dealers who are responsible for half the world’s pangolin trade

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-66375281

#Wildlife #Conservation

How undercover sting outwitted pangolin traffickers

How charity investigators went undercover to outwit a global wildlife trafficking gang.

^{By Steve Swann (BBC News)}

New species concept just dropped ... no, wait, it actually seems useful. Wayne Maddison & Jeannette Whitton published in @SystBiol's #DiamondOA BSSB so it's free to read and free to authors. Even if the concept itself doesn't take off, I think lots of lectures are going to use the figures and ideas.

https://ssbbulletin.org/index.php/bssb/article/view/9358

#Systematics #SpeciesConcepts #Evolution #Conservation #OpenAccess

Human actions have led to the deaths of more than 100,000 Bornean orangutans since 1999, mainly for crop protection, bushmeat or the illegal wildlife trade.

For the first time in 15 years, researchers surveyed residents of Kalimantan, the Indonesian section of Borneo, to find out why people kill the great apes and whether conservation projects help protect them.

by Madeline Reinsel
https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/killings-of-bornean-orangutans-could-lead-to-their-extinction/

#News #Conservation #Environment #Wildlife #Orangutans #GreatApes #Animals

Killings of Bornean orangutans could lead to their extinction

Only about 100,000 Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) remain, less than half of their original numbers.

^{Rhett Butler (Conservation news)}

#Beef, #soy and #PalmOil products linked to #deforestation still imported into #UK | Deforestation | The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/nov/06/beef-soy-palm-oil-products-deforestation-imported-uk-climate

#Environment #Biodiversity #Conservation

Beef, soy and palm oil products linked to deforestation still imported into UK

Campaigners accuse government of failing to stick to promises made at Cop26 climate summit in 2021

^{Helena Horton (The Guardian)}

Carbon-rich peatlands continue to be cleared and drained in an Indonesian protected wildlife reserve known as the “orangutan capital of the world,” with 26 kilometers (16 miles) of new canals dug so far in 2023, up from 9 km (5.6 mi) in 2022, according to an investigation by the advocacy group Rainforest Action Network (RAN).

by Hans Nicholas Jong
https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/deforestation-for-palm-oil-continues-in-indonesias-orangutan-capital/

#News #Conservation #Environment #Indonesia #Deforestation #PalmOil

Deforestation for palm oil continues in Indonesia’s ‘orangutan capital’

JAKARTA — Despite various commitments from global brands and the government to protect Indonesia’s Leuser Ecosystem, home to some of the rarest species on Earth, development of new palm oil plantations and drainage of carbon-rich peatlands continue i…

^{karencoates (Conservation news)}

Travelling in #Sabah, it's struck me how many #conservation initiatives are funded by #palmoil companies, who have been a major source of #deforestation in the state. I had also noticed many conservationists working with palm oil plantations, in part because they need to access them to better study the #wildlife that are increasingly found to be roaming there. This threw up questions that led to my latest published story: https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2023/6/28/can-plantations-value-more-than-profit-some-in-malaysia-think-so

#edwrites #Malaysia

Can plantations value more than profit? Some in Malaysia think so

Plantation owners in the Borneo state of Sabah are setting aside land for conservation but some remain sceptical.

^{Emily Ding (Al Jazeera)}

Over in #Malaysia, meanwhile, the #SwampSunday #News has #RimbaWatch, a #Conservation group, raising concerns over plans to clear #Peat #Swamp #Forests in #Pahang state. Why? #PalmOil, naturally...

https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2023/07/06/minister-vows-to-scrutinise-palm-oil-project-affecting-peat-swamp-forest-in-pahang/78219

Prosecutors in Indonesia have still not charged the majority of men implicated in a slave-labor scandal at a local official’s oil palm plantation.

The New York Times reported that only 13 of some 60 men, including military and police officers, remain free despite dozens of victims and witnesses accusing them of human trafficking and torture.

by Mongabay.com
https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/alleged-torturers-roam-free-as-indonesia-struggles-to-bring-charges-in-palm-oil-slavery-case/

#News #Conservation #Environment #Indonesia #PalmOil

Alleged torturers roam free as Indonesia struggles to bring charges in palm oil slavery case

Only 13 of some 60 men implicated in a human trafficking case in which Indonesian drug users were imprisoned under the guise of a rehabilitation program and forced to work on a palm oil plantation have been charged, with the local district attorney c…

^{Philip Jacobson (Conservation news)}