Sat 01 August 2020:
Vietnam bans import of wildlife products to reduce risk of further pandemics
ANKARA (AA) – July saw a number of reports about illegal wildlife trade and species that are under threat of extinction as well as Vietnam’s ban of import of wildlife products.
Here is a look at environmental developments, reports, events, and stories during that month compiled by Anadolu Agency.
July 1:
– The area of EU forest harvested increases by 49% from 2016 to 2018, compared to 2011 to 2015, according to study published in journal Nature Research.
– The number of fires in the Amazon rainforest rises 20% in June to a 13-year-high for the month, with a total of 2,248 fires detected — up from 1,880 in June 2019, according to Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE) data.
– Sydney, Australia Mayor Clover Moore announces city’s shift to 100% renewable electricity. “That’s what real climate action looks like,” she says on Twitter.
July 2:
– World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and international wildlife watchdog TRAFFIC’s latest report documents online trafficking — mostly reptile and bird species — in Belgium and the Netherlands between July and September 2019.
– Turkey launches Environment, Nature and Animal Protection Branch Directorate, which will focus on wildlife protection, the interior minister announces.
– Representatives of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Group of Earth Observations (GEO), UN Environment Program (UNEP) gather at Geneva Environment Dialogues to discuss COVID-19 impact on climate science.
– The UN’s Global E-Waste Monitor releases its report, saying a record 53.6 million tonnes (59.1 US tons) of e-waste was produced globally in last year.
July 4:
– Japanese alpine plants are threatened by the invasion of dwarf bamboo species in the mountainous regions of the country, according to Kyodo news agency.
– Duke Energy and Dominion Energy cancel Atlantic Coast Pipeline that was to stretch across US states of West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina.
July 5:
– Turkish Airlines saves soil amounting to 63 football fields by recycling hazardous waste and prevents cutting of 3,648 trees by recycling non-hazardous waste in 2019, according to the national flag carrier.
July 9:
– The Wildlife Conservation Society captures the first images of the Cross River, the world’s rarest gorillas, together with several infants in southern Nigeria.
July 10:
– India launches a solar power plant to stop reliance on imports from neighbors China and Pakistan.
July 11:
– Almost all species of lemur, native to Madagascar, face extinction, warns the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
July 13:
– Pakistan achieves UN Sustainable Development Goal for protecting environment and holding off climate change a decade before the deadline, according to the UN Development Program (UNDP) and Pakistan’s Climate Change Ministry.
July 14:
– Indonesia approves the construction of a road by a coal company that would cut through Sumatra’s Harapan forest that hosts tigers and elephants, according to media reports.
July 17:
– Samsung announces a halt to money support for Adani’s climate-wrecking port and coal project two days after climate activists gather outside the company’s building in Sydney, Australia as part of the “Stop Adani [coal projects in Australia]” campaign.
July 20:
– A court in Malawi sentences nine members of a wildlife trafficking gang in Africa’s south to a total of over 56 years, according to the UK-based Environmental Investigation Agency.
– Experts add the North Atlantic right whale to the list of critically endangered species, one step from extinction.
July 21:
– Investment management service Friends Fiduciary goes “fossil free” in all funds as it announces that it will exclude fossil fuel companies from all its portfolios.
July 22:
– Katta O’Donnell, a 23-year-old law student, sues the Australian government for failing to disclose climate change-related risks to investors in its sovereign bonds, according to reports.
July 23:
– Malaysian authorities seize eight tonnes (8.8 US tons) of red sanders logs, native to southern India, in the country’s second known seizure of the valuable timber.
– The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) unveils a “Global Standard,” providing the first-ever set of benchmarks for nature-based solutions to global challenges which will help governments, businesses and civil society to maximize potential to help address climate change and biodiversity loss.
July 24:
– Exceptional and prolonged Siberian heat fuels terrible Arctic fires and a rapid shrinking of sea ice coverage along Russia’s Arctic coast, says the World Meteorological Organization.
– Vietnam bans the import of wildlife and wildlife products to reduce the risk of further pandemics.
July 27:
– The illegal wildlife trade in Brazil undermines conservation efforts and economic growth, but poor data collection and co-ordination hamper enforcement efforts, says TRAFFIC’s Wildlife trafficking in Brazil report.
– Cameroon gives a green light to logging concession in Ebo Forest, a gorilla habitat, according to reports.
– Seven young climate activists ranging from 18 to 28 years old are to take a formal seat at the UN table in the Secretary-General’s new Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change, announces the UN.
– Deutsche Bank says it will no longer finance new projects in the Arctic region or oil sands projects — the latest bank action on fossil fuels.
July 28:
– Australia’s bushfires killed or displaced nearly 3 billion animals, including mammals, reptiles, birds and frogs during period dubbed the “Black Summer,” according to the interim report, Australia’s 2019-2020 Bushfires: The Wildlife Toll.
– Celebrated annually to increase awareness about protection of natural resources, World Nature Conservation Day is observed around the world.
July 29:
– More than 1,000 areas across England are in breach of air pollution limits, according to a Friends of the Earth study and Air Quality News reports.
– International Tiger Day is marked worldwide to raise awareness on the state of the tiger population.
July 30:
– Estimates place 2020 as likely to be warmest or second-warmest year on record, according to the Carbon Brief.
By Burak Bir | Anadolu agency
