Global Scans · Environment · Weekly Summary

WHAT'S NEXT:? Our natural environment is under ever-increasing threat. Landscape and ocean adaptation plus stabilizing biodiversity strategies will play an important role in maintaining global food productivity as climate changes. Evidence is mounting that any economic strategy that ignores carbon pollution will impose tremendous costs on the global economy and will result in fewer jobs and less economic growth over the long term. The global market for commercial "Earth observation" data is expected to hit $3.5 billion by 2024. Battles over environmental regulation could become particularly pointed in the coming years.

• [New] Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) will work with provinces and territories to improve the functioning of carbon credit markets, in order to help unlock additional decarbonization projects throughout Canada. Friends of Science Calgary
• [New] IoT is projected to empower an environment that will enhance numerous aspects of normal everyday life, as well as providing professional applications that will play a role in increasing the world economy once it achieves the critical mass that comes from being applied to a wide variety applications. PubMed Central (PMC)
• [New] The introduction of harmful aquatic organisms to new environments by ships has been identified as a major threat to the world's oceans and to the conservation of biodiversity. Witherbys
• [New] Effective and efficient processing of geospatial data is essential for a wide range of Digital Earth applications such as climate change, natural hazard prediction and mitigation, and public health. SpringerLink
• [New] A failure to protect domestic production would leave the UK reliant on more expensive and greater-polluting imports, and threaten thousands of jobs, particularly in small communities. Kent Online
• [New] In the future, China will take multiple measures and make unremitting efforts to continuously improve its business environment and steadily promote higher-level opening-up. Australian Associated Press
• [New] The proteins extracted by the NTU researchers were found to be rich in antioxidants, which could not only protect human skin from pollutants but could also extend the shelf life of cosmetics like body lotions and moisturisers. ScienceDaily
• [New] Some industry groups and local officials are dissatisfied with EPA's new rules, questioning the economic burden placed on water systems and manufacturers and predicting that certain manufacturing industries will seek residence in countries with less stringent environmental protections. JD Supra
• [New] Contractors will be required to use products certified to ecolabels such as EPA's Safer Choice which meet strict criteria for human health and the environment by using effective, safer chemical alternatives, as well as certain Green Seal certifications. JD Supra
• [New] Medic West Africa 2024 will serve as a catalyst for progress, fostering an environment where collaboration leads to tangible improvements in patient care and healthcare delivery across West Africa. Guardian Nigeria
• [New] Environmental crimes like land grabbing, illegal deforestation, and poaching hinder climate action, deter investment in sustainable practices, and threaten biodiversity across major biomes worldwide. Mongabay Environmental News
• [New] Geopolitical events including the war in Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas war, as well as U.S. political polarization, could be creating an environment that may very well be creating risks that could eclipse anything since World War II. San Diego Union-Tribune
• [New] Geoengineering methods that change the planet's radiative forcing - aiming to reduce the amount of energy that reaches the surface of the Earth - could increase the incidence of fires in the Arctic, when combined with very high greenhouse gas emissions. Carbon Brief
• [New] The recognition of the threat plastic pollution poses to human health, ecosystem functioning, and the marine environment keeps the South African members of the INC hard at work. SAnews
• [New] Another AI enterprise, the Earth Species Project, hopes to create dialog with other species and build chatbots that could translate human language into hummingbird or humpback. Reasons to be Cheerful
• [New] The depletion of ozone, a gas with ultraviolet radiation absorption properties, could increase the amount of radiation that reaches the earth's surface, subsequently heating the planet. IIBEC
• [New] Despite ongoing efforts, biodiversity is deteriorating worldwide at an unprecedented rate including in Mongolia threatening the well-being of all living being and the environment. UNDP
• [New] Communities across the United States depend on federal agencies such as the EPA to use the best available science to protect us from public health and environmental hazards. The Equation
• [New] The adoption of AI technologies has the potential to align with the sustainability objectives of the Serbian hotel industry, fostering economic, social, and environmental benefits. MDPI
• [New] In the near future exciting new EU projects powered by HPC systems will come online to make a digital twin of the Earth, which will better simulate and predict environmental and climate-related changes and help decision makers to better plan and cope with impacts. Shaping Europe's digital future
• [New] There are multiple disruptive forces shaping the global operating environment, including climate change, technological innovation, demographic shifts, and the rising influence of non-state actors. MIT OpenCourseWare
• [New] For the past quarter century, a remote corner of southwest New Zealand has provided a predator-free sanctuary for threatened species, including the world's only flightless parrot and a lizard that's found nowhere else on Earth. CNN

Last updated: 20 April 2024