WWF-UK’s Post

#Bolivia🇧🇴 has 60 million hectares of Amazon rainforest, and although it is the country with the second highest amount of forest loss after #Brazil🇧🇷, it tends to go unnoticed internationally. This investigation is the fifth installment of the series "#Mapping #Environmental #Crimes in the #Amazon #Basin," in partnership with the Igarapé Institute. In this study, we address how #deforestation, #gold #mining, and #wildlife #trafficking are generating unprecedented impacts in the Bolivian #Amazon🌴🌳 . https://bit.ly/3wgFHrg

Peatlands serve as carbon storehouses and wetlands habitat for diverse communities of wildlife. They need to be protected especially from extraction and development. For example, the Ring of Fire, a proposed mining development in a 2127 km² region of the Hudson Bay Lowlands ( Harris et al. 2021 ), could lead to a loss of 130-250 Mt C from peatlands, the equivalent of the emissions from 1.3 million cars over the course of their lifetime.

#LinkedIn friends #HappyMonday Continuing our series on #strategicpartnerships, today I spoke with Alfredo, CEO of #CIVIS. #CIVIS is our partner involved in the excellent work we're carrying out in #Bolivia, a country rich in #naturalresources, boasting vast #biodiversity in the #Amazon and #Andes regions, and harboring a wide variety of plant and animal species. Its reserves of #naturalgas and #oil significantly contribute to the country's economy. The presence of minerals such as #tin, #silver, #zinc, and #lithium fuels the #mining industry. Additionally, Bolivia's extensive #tropicalforests provide crucial #ecosystem services. #BusinessPartners #StrategicAlliances #InternationalCollaboration #BolivianRiches #EnvironmentalWealth #EconomicContributions #NaturalResourceAbundance #EcosystemProtection #LinkedInConnections #MondayMotivation

2023 Wildfires: Now That the Initial Economic Shock Is Over, It’s Time to Rebuild the Forest Although Canada’s wildfires have mostly died down and left the headlines, their repercussions on the lumber supply may be felt for many months and even years to come. This note looks at this year’s unprecedented wildfire season and how it’s affected the economies of Quebec and Canada as a whole. So far, the overall impact has been limited and fleeting, even though the wildfires took a heavier toll on some regions and sectors (such as sawmills and mining) than others. We’ll also discuss the medium- and long-term effects on lumber inventories and the forest industry, which was facing economic uncertainty even before the fires broke out. https://lnkd.in/e7GsyiPp

As promised, here a first glimpse of my journey along the Mayo-Chinchipe River. We started where the river joins the Marañon river, which eventually joins the mighty Amazon River. How amazing is that (or is it just the geographer in me that gets excited?)! On the photo you can recognize the Mayo-Chinchipe by its brown colour. The colour comes from sediments that are carried away by the water. These sediments are a visible sign of erosion happening upstream. Erosion is partially natural, but it is accelerated by deforestation, mining activities, and intensive cultivation of coffee and rice. Our partners Protos Andes and NCI Peru showed me this place today as a reminder that whatever you do upstream has an impact downstream. They are working hard to protect designated areas within the catchment to help ensure the river can provide ecosystem services within AND beyond the catchment. #JoinForWater #ProtosAndes #NCI #transboundarycatchmentmanagement #righttowater

Gordon Edwards, Brennain Lloyd, Wendy O’Connor (WTNFN) and company all insist that places like Dryden, Kenora and Winnipeg will be “downstream” of a DGR at the Revell site, despite being hundreds of meters deeper than the surface elevation of those cities and surrounding watersheds. Can we find other examples where a watershed or lake is “downstream” of a much deeper mine, and learn something about the consequences of that? Certainly: The world’s largest salt mine, at Goderich in Ontario, excavated a few hundred meters BELOW Lake Huron – which to Edwards & co. means that Lake Huron is “downstream” of the salt mine. Seriously. You can’t make this stuff up. And, just to be sure, the salt mine is NOT making Lake Huron water salty, despite being “in the watershed”.

Corn Belt Ports Last Quarter the Northern Grain Belt Ports made some big waves and by February 2024 will be caught up with the other three Corn Belt Port Regions that had a two year head start. We appreciate all who volunteered their time and resources to make this happen. We all anticipate big things out of the Northern Grain Belt Ports.

What is “responsible mining?” This article provides several viewpoints, although not all, about where we should be accessing the needed minerals to power our world and what defines responsible mining. As Nancy Langston, a distinguished professor at Michigan Technological University states about mining within the Lake Superior watershed in the article, “We have critical minerals needs. We also have [a] critical watershed.” Minnesota’s critical mineral resources are all within well-known watersheds - Lake Superior, Rainy River (BWCA), and the Upper Mississippi River. This heightened attention to the projects is an asset to them, particularly given that they are being proposed in part to support clean energy, and we would hope that all project proponents throughout the world would have as much care and concern surrounding the watersheds in which they operate. We want to hear your viewpoints on what it means to mine responsibly, so please give the article a read and share your thoughts with us in the comments. #mining #criticalminerals #copper #nickel #cleanenergy #water #minnesota

Coming together to protect these wetlands that we have very few of now would be in our best interest as a species.

https://lnkd.in/gmG5_pXR My latest article for Mining Magazine focuses on the Chevron Deference case heard by the U.S. Supreme Court on January 17, 2024. While many in the mining industry favorably anticipate the potential for the conservative bench to strike down federal agency overreach, the flip side is that mining opponents might gain greater opportunity to challenge federal mining leases and permits. Under the Chevron Deference doctrine, mining opponents can challenge federal agency decisions only to the extent an agency fails to follow NEPA/environmental impact statement (EIS) procedures and makes a reasoned and lawful decision. Opponents cannot ask the court to override a properly made agency decision, such as issuance of a mining lease or permit. They can only ask for the agency to remedy any shortcomings in its analysis. Without the Chevron Deference doctrine, mining opponents might be able to ask the court to impose different outcomes.