N4C Weekly Brief: Mar 13 – 19

FEATURED NEWS

Policies tackling deforestation pose investor risk, report says
Reuters, Simon Jessop, 13 March

Reuters covers a new report from the Inevitable Policy Response, a forecasting group set up by the U.N.-backed Principles for Responsible Investment, showing that national policies to halt nature loss and deforestation across the world’s biggest economies have doubled to 22 over the last year and pose a serious risk to unprepared investors. According to the analysis companies in the food supply chain could lose as much as 26 percent of their value by 2030 with the sector average 7%, an equivalent of $150 billion.

Why forest restoration needs a 100-year plan and Indigenous multi-gen leadership [Commentary]
World Economic Forum, Florent Kaiser, 14 March

The World Economic Forum publishes an article from the Executive Director of Global Forest Generation calling for the world to adopt a 100-year vision for restoring nature with Indigenous communities in the lead to protect nature for generations into the future. Carbon Brief covers a new study that finds logging companies have “acquired” roughly one million hectares of Indigenous peoples’ territory in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since 2000, emphasizing the need for Indigenous people to have more power to protect their traditional lands.

Companies Must Work Together to Rebuild Trust in the Carbon Market [Commentary]
Time, Dan Lambe, 8 March

Time shares a commentary from Dan Lambe, CEO of the Arbor Day Foundation and author of the book Now is the Time For Trees, voicing the need for companies engaging in climate action to support continued improvements in nature-based carbon markets to prevent the worst impacts of climate change and allow nature to heal. S&P Global carries an editorial from its team highlighting that corporate-led action for nature-based solutions has significant room for growth and that time is running out to meet the full climate action potential from these solutions. BusinessGreen shares a commentary rom Maria Mendiluce, CEO of the We Mean Business Coalition, revealing why corporate action to make carbon markets more robust is a vital mechanism for raising corporate climate ambition. Rich Gilmore, CEO of Carbon Growth Partners, shared excitement from the nature-based voluntary carbon market community around the strong endorsements from both the Science-Based Targets initiative and the University of Oxford of the urgent need for corporate investment in protecting and restoring ecosystems to achieve net zero globally. In new and updated guidance, both organizations emphasised that nature-based carbon credits are a key component of a credible and responsible corporate climate plan, beyond internal emission reductions.

Seven times size of Manhattan: the African tree-planting project making a difference
The Guardian, Jonathan Watts, 13 March

The Guardian covers Trees for the Future, a programme persuading farmers across several African nations to plant biodiverse forest gardens that feed the family, protect the soil and expand tree cover. The United Nations Environment Programme has awarded the initiative the status of a World Restoration Flagship effort for restoring a combined area of more than 41,000 hectares, about seven times the size of Manhattan. The initiative includes part of the African Union’s Great Green Wall initiative, a planned 8,000km-wide barrier of vegetation to hold back the deserts that are encroaching across the Sahel region. Trees for the Future has ambitious plans to use reforestation to combat poverty. By 2030, it aims to create 230,000 jobs and plant a billion trees.

To detect illegal roads in remote areas, AI comes into play
Mongabay, Abhishyant Kidangoor, 15 March

Mongabay covers a new artificial intelligence model trained to analyze satellite images and pick out roads in rural and remote areas that might identify illegal deforestation activities. Illegal roads, which fall outside the purview of environmental governance, often cut through dense forests and cause harm to the biodiversity living in fragile ecosystems and illicit activity that clears more forests. A new study published in the journal Remote Sensing describes how the model could help law enforcement protect nature.

SPOTLIGHT – Financial impacts in the age of global climate action – Brazil Case Study

Join Innovation Forum for a special event held in partnership with Orbitas, a Climate Advisers initiative, bringing together international stakeholders to discuss the financial risks and emerging opportunities that current actions to transition to a low-carbon future will bring. The event will focus on Brazil and the effects on the country’s key agricultural sectors, cattle and soy, as well as wider global value chains.

Join the event to discover new analysis on where and who will be successful in Brazil’s soy and cattle sectors under different climate scenarios, and to hear from the producers, traders, buyers and investors collaborating to drive transformation.

REGISTER

SPOTLIGHT – Action for Nature In The Household and Personal Care Products Sector

Business for Nature, the World Economic Forum and The World Business Council for Sustainable Development have developed new guidance for 12 sectors, including the Household and Personal Care Products sector. In a new video promoting the guidance established for this sector the partners share how prioritizing water stewardship, responsible sourcing, behavioural change, nature conservation and circularity practices, this sector could unlock $62 billion per year of additional value by 2030 and ensure it contributes to a nature-positive future.

Watch the video using the links below and see the guidance documents for the Household and Personal Care Products sector here to learn more.

FOR YOUR INFORMATION

Environmental Paper Network shares that a coalition of leading environmental organizations released a report that sheds light on the alarming resurgence of deforestation in Indonesia, driven by PT Mayawana Persada in Indonesian Borneo. The evidence presented in the report documents the largest current case of deforestation among all pulpwood and oil palm plantation companies in Indonesia

Feedback Global publishes a report mapping the global financial flows to the world’s largest 55 industrial livestock companies – spanning the beef, dairy, pork, poultry, and animal feed sectors – as an update to Feedback’s 2020 report, Butchering the Planet.

Wildlife Conservation Society shares a new paper published in Conservation Letters that finds funding of field conservation research stations worldwide has been drastically reduced since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, raising the alarm for more than 170 conservation researchers representing 157 field stations in 56 countries. The authors contend that field research stations have a high return on investment and are essential and highly effective tools for biodiversity conservation.

Birdlife International releases a press release detailing how proposed changes to the EU’s Common Agriculture Policy is an attack on the spirit of the law’s bare minimum standards to protect nature to tackle pressing biodiversity and climate emergencies.

Food and Land Use Coalition launches a new course called “Agroforests: Regenerating through Syntropic Agriculture” at the Medellín Chamber of Commerce. This is the latest educational resource from the Regeneración en Acción platform, which aims to bring together individuals and organizations interested in regeneration.

IUCN shares a briefing document on synthetic biology in relation to nature conservation.

The Nature Conservancy covers recent research on how the seaweed aquaculture industry could maximize its climate benefits to become a nature-positive food system.

UNEP reports on a new $379 million initiative from the governments of Ecuador, India, Kenya, Laos, Philippines, Uruguay, and Vietnam to combat pollution from the use of pesticides and plastics in agriculture.

Woodwell Climate Research Center covers an open letter signed by 195 experts, including Woodwell’s own scientists, in forest ecosystems, climate change, and the carbon cycle, that urges the Biden Administration to immediately declare a moratorium on all logging in mature and old-growth forests on federal lands.

WBCSD announces the launch of the Built Environment Market Transformation Action Agenda, which brings together built environment stakeholders from all along the value chain to overcome the key barriers preventing us from achieving a net zero built environment.

WWF announces a collaboration with DreamWorks to raise awareness about the plight of the real wildlife depicted in the film Kung Fu Panda 4.

EDF and Arup share a report outlining zero-emission strategies for supply chains and energy systems surrounding US port terminals.

IEA shares an update to its Global Methane Tracker, providing its latest estimates of emissions from across the sector – drawing on the more recent data and readings from satellites and ground-based measurements – and the costs and opportunities to reduce these emissions. It also tracks current pledges and policies to drive down methane emissions and progress towards these goals.

The Community Advisory Panel of the UN-backed Biodiversity Credit Alliance released a 20-page draft document of recommendations on biodiversity credits, which will be open for comment until April 10, 2024.

World Economic Forum shares guidance on the role of the household and personal care products sector, including video and a social media toolkit.

Mighty Earth publishes a report analyzing recent deforestation linked to soy that took place from September to December 2023 in the Amazon and Cerrado biomes in Brazil to monitor deforestation in Brazilian supply chains.

We Mean Business Coalition shares the results of its survey of 180 executives from 27 countries across sectors, including industry, technology and finance, on corporate attitudes to the voluntary carbon markets (VCMs). The analysis shows a lack of recognition and incentivization, coupled with questions over carbon market integrity are holding back corporate climate finance.

New in Biodiversity Finance releases a February – March 2024 summary of key market trends and private sector transactions in biodiversity finance.

CASE STUDY

N4C is compiling an index of NBS case studies, together with an interactive map, to highlight action on the ground. Each week, we will be choosing a case study to present, to help give concrete examples of work being done to bring NBS theory into practice.

Livelihoods-NEWS Mangrove Restoration Project 

WHERE: SUNDARBAN, WEST BENGAL, INDIA
TYPE OF NCS SOLUTION: ADAPT  

The Sundarbans are an archipelago of islands that constitute the largest contiguous estuarine mangrove forest in the world. The project planted more than 16 million mangroves to strengthen the existing man-made embankments that protect the communities’ homes and farmlands from flooding and support local biodiversity. The mangroves further produce timber and increase food supply. In 2018, the project created the Badabon Harvest brand with a group of farmers to help them improve their revenues through livestock breeding, the commercialization of organic products, improvement of agricultural practices, and fish farming.

LEARN MORE

NUMBER OF THE WEEK – 7.1 MtCO2e/yr

The annual carbon dioxide emissions that could be sequestered by meeting the full potential for reforestation in Tanzania by 2050.  Tanzania is one of several countries where the Trees for the Future initiative, recently designated as a UNEP World Restoration Flagship effort, is helping aid farmers in planting biodiverse forest gardens that feed the family, protect the soil and expand tree cover. See more details on the potential for natural climate solutions in N4C’s naturebase.

GOOD NEWS

China’s urban jungles: How city parks are winning the battle against concrete

A new study from the Journal of Remote Sensing on the evolving landscape of Chinese cities, showcases an optimistic trend where the greening of urban cores effectively counters the loss of vegetation due to sprawling urban expansion. The findings reveal a pivotal shift post-2011, with more than 60% of the cities analyzed demonstrating a substantial recovery of greenness.

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