FairWild Foundation’s Post

On #WorldWaterDay Mighty Earth is highlighting the Cerrado savannah in Brazil. Dinamam Tuxá, an Indigenous leader from Brazil who was recently in France with APIB said, “The Cerrado has several springs that feed very important hydrographic basins. And this diversity includes not only biodiversity but also the diversity of peoples, who have been protecting it.” The Cerrado is often called an upside-down forest: it stores around 13.7 billion tons of carbon in its soil and immense deep root system, equivalent to that of a tropical forest. It is also a major water source, but rampant soy expansion to feed beef, pork, chicken and other livestock in intensive farming systems means it is becoming drier and hotter. We need to safeguard the vast but largely unprotected Cerrado savannah, which is home to 5% of the world’s plants and animal species. Deforestation and conversion in this precious biome are increasing at an alarming rate. #Cerrado #ProtecttheCerrado #savethecerrado #brazil #brasil #deforestation #enddeforestation #foodsystems #meatindustry #soyindustry #water #nature

✨✨✨How about deciding to be a hero this new year? ✨✨✨ 🦋🦉🐦🐝#1 Choose to be a hero to butterflies, birds & bees. STOP BUYING 'CIDES: herbicides, pesticides, fungicides, and rodenticides. 🌿🌾🏵#2 Choose to be a hero to our environment. START CREATING OUR OWN ECO-AMAZING 'YARDENS' (yard + garden) at home with regionally-adapted/native/endemic/American plants. 📣📣📣#3 Choose to be a hero to our communities. USE ECO YARD SIGNS TO COMUNUCATE our environmental efforts to neighbors and to the municipalities that decide how public landscapes around us are managed. 🚫#4 Choose to be a hero to rivers, marshes, and all wildlife. STOP BUYING THE PLASTICS that fill our landscapes, lives, and bodies. 🫐🫛🍒🥒🍏#5 Choose to be a hero to our families. REGENERATE OUR SOIL, GROWING FRUITS & VEGETABLES AT HOME that nourish ourselves, our families, wildlife, and pollinators. Tell me what you think! #lesslawnmorefood #5choices #ecogardening #diyclimateactions #healthysoilhealthylife #wildscaping #lessplastic #climateactionsathome #climateactionseveryday #ourgardenourchoice #wildliffriendlygardening

🐝 World Bee Day 20 May 🐝 Theme for 2024: "Bee engaged with Youth." 🐝Pollination is, however, a fundamental process for the survival of our ecosystems. Nearly 90% of the world’s wild flowering plant species depend, entirely, or at least in part, on animal pollination, along with more than 75% of the world’s food crops and 35% of global agricultural land. Not only do pollinators contribute directly to food security, but they are key to conserving biodiversity. 🐝 The goal is to strengthen measures aimed at protecting bees and other pollinators, which would significantly contribute to solving problems related to the global food supply and eliminate hunger in developing countries. #World bee day #Sknau #ICAR #RARI #Nature #Ecofriendly #insect #Pollination #Food #Honey #20May

Beef production is fueling deforestation globally—and Australia is no exception. Over half the country's land is used for grazing, with some of the most at-risk forests cleared for space to raise cattle. This impacts habitats of threatened species like Koalas and Pink Cockatoos. https://lnkd.in/eJhWD8aG Australia’s beef industry is a major driver of deforestation, with over 16,000 hectares of forest cleared in recent years to make way for cattle. The Australian Conservation Foundation is urging supermarkets like Coles and Woolworths to commit to deforestation-free beef sourcing, following in the footsteps of international brands like Aldi and Tesco. It's time to shift away from the destructive practices of animal agriculture and invest in sustainable alternatives that protect our planet's forests and wildlife. #Deforestation #SustainableFood #EndAnimalAgriculture #RewildYourFridge

Much to reflect on here as a model to compensate farmers who may be willing to consider voluntary closure of agricultural activities. The devil will be in the detail, which I haven't explored yet, but the current nutrient exceedances (for both water and air quality) affecting designated sites are often closely associated with historic or legacy agricultural activities which are located in sensitive locations (where permissions would not be granted under current legislative framework for an equivalent new proposal). The option to provide financial compensation for closure of sites that meet pre-defined criteria is certaintly one to give some thought to as part of a strategic approach to restoration and mitigation. A sensitive issue but, handled correctly, could be a proportionate response. For example, in some cases (air quality critical load exceedance being a good example) a small number of local sources can contribute a disproportionate nutrient load due to their proximity to a designated site. These legacy sites can constrain capacity for growth across a large number of sites within an associated 'impact risk zone' even where process contributions are relatively modest. With no easy fixes... we need to consider all options if we have any hope of delivering potentially conflicting government targets in respect of economic growth and nature restoration.

Mighty Earth is part of a global coalition urging soy traders not to gut the historic Amazon Soy Moratorium (ASM) and maintain commitment to zero deforestation in the threatened biome by the end of this decade. Established 18 years ago, the ASM has been a successful mechanism to protect the Brazilian Amazon from agricultural expansion, particularly the growing of soy to feed intensively reared farm animals. It’s a voluntary agreement in which big agribusinesses such as Bunge and Cargill agreed to not buy soy from any area of the Amazon deforested after July 2008. And to ensure that soy growing is confined to existing agricultural land.   There’s a slew of new regional and national laws in Brazil that threaten the ASM but given what the country has experienced this year with unprecedented fires and droughts, it's critical that the mechanism is preserved and the Amazon protected. Read the NGO manifesto here:  https://lnkd.in/edq6fuyA More from Mighty Earth here: https://lnkd.in/ecuSUtuZ WWF-Brasil Greenpeace Brasil ICV - Instituto Centro de Vida João Gonçalves Jordan McDonald Boris Patentreger Gemma Hoskins Isabel Fernández Cruz Alex Wijeratna Glenn Hurowitz Carole Mitchell #Amazon #SoyMoratorium #soy #Brazil #Brasil #environment #Nature #wildlife #IndigenousCommunities #ecosystems #soyindustry 

Degrowth in action. Downscaling human activities that destroy vital nature, but not forgetting to embed a just transition. Funding is also required for upscaling alternative forms of provisioning nutrition that are in balance with nature. These are most likely to be community cooperatives or not for profit enterprises.

#BREAKING: Today, beef industry group, Cattle Australia, has released its Land Management Commitment Information Paper for consultation. The paper proposes various options for an industry-wide response to increasing demand for deforestation-free products. Unfortunately, the proposals create exemptions for agriculture that leave a bulldozer-sized door open for the destruction of threatened species habitat. For example, the paper advocates for regenerated forest up to 34 years old to be excluded from the definition of deforestation. It also attempts to make use of ‘agricultural land use’ loopholes—meaning more than 126 million hectares of forest (an area over twice the size of France) would be at risk of being bulldozed while still claiming to be deforestation-free. “Cattle Australia’s blatant attempt to create deforestation loopholes will not get the beef industry any closer to solving its deforestation problem," said Hannah Schuch, Queensland Campaigns Manager for the Wilderness Society. “Beef retailers–like Coles and Woolworths–have a social and financial responsibility to align their companies’ deforestation-free targets with international best practice and nothing less. They must not be fooled by Cattle Australia’s marketing exercise to continue bulldozing koala habitat.” Read the full media release: https://lnkd.in/gCRqixbf #deforestation #beefindustry #landclearing #koalas #australia #environment #conservation

DID YOU KNOW? Bees are crucial pollinators, responsible for pollinating crops that produce the food we eat. Beyond that, in The Bahamas, bees play a vital role in maintaining biodiversity and sustaining our delicate ecosystems. Let's celebrate these tiny heroes and raise awareness about their indispensable role in preserving our environment! Here are some actions you can take to help preserve bees: 🐝 Plant nectar-bearing native flowers 🐝 Buy honey and other hive products from your local beekeeper 🐝 Limit or eliminate the use of pesticides 🐝 Don't harm bees if they enter your home. Open windows and doors to let them escape. #SaveTheBees #BeeAware

The #European #Commission approves the 700 million plan of the Dutch government to close livestock facilities. The Dutch case is a telling example of the impossible harmonization of large factory farms with EU environmental law. It's also a vibrant testimony of the need, in order to address the ecological crisis, to not just expand #sustainable activities but to also dismantle unsustainable ones. Still, the Dutch government's plan seems far from being perfect. #1. The scheme is apparently focused on helping out SME's, who definitely need support to transition to other activities. However, the financial burden of accelerating asset stranding in the #livestock industry seems to fall only on #taxpayers. Another interesting option would have been to ask those operators who remain on the market to contribute to pay the cost of exit of their former competitors and partners. Irish beef producers initiated such an agreement in the 1990's (for merely financial reasons, it had nothing to do with sustainability). However, at that time the European Commission ruled against this #anticompetitive agreement, as its very purpose was to inflate sale prices to consumers. Precisely because remaining market actors may benefit from the reduction of the number of producers, it would have seemed fair to ask them to contribute financially. # 2. This plan may bolster the economic consolidation and the geographical concentration of the livestock industry in the #Netherlands. Absent an overall cap on production, this may come to the detriment of ecosystems and of the small #farmers which the plan does not cover, not to speak of #animals. However, let's wait until the Commission's decision is made public to form a more rigorous opinion on this thought-provoking policy. But to tailor this kind of policy, one definitely needs to endorse a holistic approach integrating both #competition and #sustainability perspectives...