Wildlife Promise » germanom

Shell Oil Threatens Polar Bear Habitat

germanom — Wed, 19 May 2010 13:22:02 +0000

The iconic polar bear already faces many threats- from melting sea ice, shrinking food supply, and climate change. The polar bear was even listed as a threatened species is 2008. To make matters worse, Shell Oil may soon start drilling in critical polar bear habitat.

This summer, Shell Oil will begin offshore drilling in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas in the North Slope of the Arctic, unless we speak up.

Speak up now!

Last year, 10,000 NWF supporters pushed the U.S. Department of Interior to finalize a proposal that would designate 202,541 square miles of critical habitat for the polar bear. Under the Endangered Species Act, this would require our government to protect polar bears in this habitat from the threats posed by offshore drilling, and a potentially catastrophic oil spill.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reported, "A major Beaufort Sea oil spill would have major effects on polar bears and their primary prey, ringed seals." In an oil spill disaster, polar bears would be particularly at risk for hypothermia, oil poisoning and starvation. The challenges presented by a harsher Arctic ecosystem make an oil spill like the BP disaster even more likely. Offshore drilling in critical polar bear habitat is an unacceptable risk.

The fact that these plans have not been halted in the wake of the BP spill, which is still spewing oil in the Gulf, is outrageous. Our government must include Shell Oil in the moratorium on offshore drilling and stop the plans for drilling in the Arctic.

Stop Shell Oil from drilling in the Arctic this summer! Take action now!

NWF is celebrating Endangered Species Day on May 21, by highlighting ways that you can learn about and advocate for endangered species. Visit www.nwf.org/esday to get a free polar bear photo for your Facebook profile and show your support for endangered and threatened wildlife.

Scientists Say Billions of Birds are Changing Migration Habits

germanom — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 19:27:11 +0000

The world’s birds are already finding their own ways to adapt to the effects of climate change. In addition to migrating at different times to newly hospitable locations, they may also shorten their migrations, using their energy on eating and breeding, rather than on flying.

Miguel Ferrer, an ornithologist at Spain’s Doñana National Park, told a recent gathering of about 200 scientists that about 70 percent of the world’s migrating birds, 20 billion in total, have changed their migration habits over the past few decades. Some birds have stopped migrating altogether.

“Long-distance migrators are traveling shorter distances; shorter-distance migrators are becoming sedentary,” Ferrer said. “That has a knock-on effect on almost everything they do, from breeding habits to feeding habits to their genetic diversity, which in turn affects other organisms in their food chain. It’s a huge behavioral change, forced on them by rising temperatures.”

The biggest reason behind this behavioral shift is climate change.

“Climate change and environmental change are simultaneously forcing migratory birds to adapt extremely quickly”, says Ian Newton, a Royal Society member and longtime researcher.

The adaptation process was necessary during the Ice Age, when species needed to change habits in order to adapt to a changing climate. However, if this adaptation process is needed much faster than previously, the process may be no where near as successful.

“Average annual temperatures are moving northward at a rate of four kilometers (about 2 miles) a year,” Mr Ferrer estimates, “so the normal summer temperature in your city 12 months ago is now normal four kilometers further north. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but that’s 20 times quicker than temperatures changed in the last Ice Age. At the same time, because birds are migrating less, one traditional path for genetic development, when they strayed from their migration paths by accident and had to adapt, is being closed off.”

FWS Submits Wind Turbine Guideline Recommendations to Interior Secretary

germanom — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 19:18:49 +0000

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today transmitted a set of final recommendations on how to minimize the impacts of land-based wind farms on wildlife and its habitat to Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar.

These recommendations represent the agreement of the 22 diverse members of the Wind Turbine Guidelines Federal Advisory Committee and were reached during a process of more than two years.

Secretary Salazar plans to review the recommendations and take them under advisement over the next year as he directs the Service to develop guidelines for evaluating wind energy development on public and private lands.

The document contains both policy recommendations and recommended voluntary guidelines for siting and operating wind energy projects in order to avoid or minimize potential impacts to wildlife and habitat.

Highlights of the Committee’s recommendations include:
-A decision-making framework that guides all stages of wind energy development;
-Reliance on the best available science when assessing renewable energy projects and their potential environmental impact; and
-Use of landscape-scaled planning that recognizes the need to think long-term about protecting our nation’s economic and natural resources.

You can read the recommendations here.

Three Days Until the Invasion…

germanom — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 16:34:50 +0000

In just three days, the climate invasion will begin…

Are you prepared for the itching, stinging and biting?

Stay tuned…

United Nations Rejects Shark Protections

germanom — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 17:56:08 +0000

As an addition to previous decisions regarding coral, Atlantic bluefin tuna, polar bears and tigers, the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) on Tuesday voted down three out of four proposals to protect sharks.

The rejected proposals would have required countries to strictly regulate, not ban, trade in several species of scalloped hammerhead, oceanic whitetip and spiny dogfish sharks.

The hammerhead and whitetip proposals, introduced by the United States and the small Micronesian island of Palau, received majority support. However, the treaty behind CITES requires that measures be approved by a two-thirds vote.

Tom Strickland, the head of the U.S. delegation, dubbed these votes a "major loss for marine conservation."

A proposal from the European Union and Palau to protect porbeagle sharks passed with a vote of 86 to 42, with 8 delegates abstaining.

China, which is the world's largest consumer of shark, for sharkfin soup, and Japan led the opposition.

"We will continue to pursue our efforts to protect sharks from eradication by the decadent and cruel process of shark-finning," Stuart Beck, Palau's ambassador to the United Nations, said. "I am sure that, properly prepared, bald eagle is delicious. But, as civilized people, we simply do not eat it."

Juan Carlos Vasquez, a spokesman for the convention, said that the votes on the hammerhead and the porbeagle could be reopened on Thursday and possibly overturned at the final session of the conference, since the margin of passage was so narrow.

Fortunately, on Monday, delegates voted to uphold a 21-year ban on international trade in ivory, rejecting efforts by Tanzania and Zambia to sell part of their stocks.

United Nations Reject Coral Protections

germanom — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 21:10:12 +0000

Delegates at the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) rejected yesterday a proposal that would have regulated the trade of red and pink coral worldwide.

The proposal, offered by the United States and Sweden, would have regulated for the first time red and pink coral, which is used for the jewelry, home decor and homeopathic medicine market.

Environmentalists and scientists argue that coral, which are living animals, are seriously threatened by rising carbon dioxide emissions that are warming the ocean and making it more acidic. Since nearly 30 percent of the world's tropical coral species have disappeared since 1980, it is argued that the species cannot afford the added pressure of commercial harvest.

"Corals are the building blocks of many ocean ecosystems, and the science is clear: They are at great risk," said Dawn Martin, president of SeaWeb. "And now, since action was not taken at CITES, red and pink coral populations will continue to decline at an alarming rate."

The countries that traditionally lobby for marine resources, specifically Japan, Iceland, Libya and Tunisia, spoke out against the proposal, arguing that it would jeopardize fishing jobs. Passage in CITES requires two-thirds of the delegate votes, and the measure failed on a secret ballot with 64 in favor, 59 opposing and 10 abstaining.

This decision comes three days after a similar rejection of a proposed ban on exporting Atlantic bluefin tuna and the polar bear trade.

In a more positive decision, the 175 countries gathered at CITES unanimously voted to ban the international trade of Kaiser's spotted newt. According to the World Wildlife Fund, about 1,000 of the salamander are left, and about 200 are traded each year. The black and brown Iranian newt is a often sought as a pet, traded via the internet.

This proposal makes the Kaiser's spotted newt the first species threatened by electronic commerce to receive environmental protection.

United Nations Rejects Ban on Bluefin Tuna Exports and International Polar Bear Trade

germanom — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 22:10:13 +0000

Yesterday, on March 18th, 2010, the United Nations rejected a proposal to ban export of the Atlantic Bluefin Tuna. This U.S.-backed proposal was defeated after major lobbying by the Japanese. Japan imports 80 percent of Bluefin Tuna, and claimed that a ban on the fish would devastate its economy and the economies of other, poorer nations.

Stocks of Atlantic bluefin tuna are down 75 percent, due largely to the Japanese sushi market. Fishing nations in Africa, Asian, Latin America and the Caribbean worried that any ban would damage their fishing markets and that fears of the tuna stock’s collapse were overstated.

“It’s pretty irresponsible of the governments to hear the science and ignore the science,” said Susan Lieberman, director of international policy with the Pew Environment Group in DC. “Clearly, there was pressure from the fishing interests. The fish is too valuable for its own good.”

From the moment the proposal was presented, it was clear that there was not much support. Only the United States, Norway and Kenya supported the proposal outright. The European Union asked that its implementation be delayed until May 2011, so that authorities had time to respond to concerns about overfishing.

Japan has acknowledged that tuna stocks are in trouble, but stated that the UN should have no role in regulating the species. Japan expressed a willingness to accept lower quotas for bluefin tuna. However, a similar tuna ban was withdrawn in 1992 under the condition that fishing nations would improve their practices. Since then, tuna numbers have still plummeted.

The UN’s decision on bluefin tuna came just hours after after delegates rejected a U.S. proposal to ban the international sale of polar bear skins and parts. The U.S. argued that the sale of polar bear skins is exacerbating the loss of the bear’s sea ice habitat due to climate change.

“There is virtually no controversy in the scientific community that rapid global warming is threatening the polar bear and rampant overharvesting is threatening the bluefin tuna,” said John Kostyack, NWF’s Executive Director of Wildlife Conservation and Global Warming. “Yet for some nations and some industries, it is difficult to confront this reality because it threatens short-term profits. Thankfully in this case the U.S. government was on the side of sound science and looking out for our children and grandchildren, who always pay the price for our shortsighted behavior.”

Climate Change Adaptation Task Force Releases Progress Report

germanom — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 22:16:55 +0000

In 2009, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), the
Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), and the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) initiated the Interagency
Climate Change Adaptation Task Force, which includes representatives
from more than 20 Federal Agencies.

When President Obama signed the Executive Order on Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy and Economic Performance, he told the Task Force to develop, within one year, Federal recommendations for adapting to climate change impacts both domestically and internationally.

Today, the Climate Change Adaptation Task Force of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, released an Interim Progress Report, which outlines the Task Force’s progress to date and recommends key
components to include in a national strategy on climate change
adaptation.

These six components include:

Integration of Science into Adaptation Decisions and Policy
Communications and Capacity-building
Coordination and Collaboration
Prioritization
A Flexible Framework for Agencies
Evaluation

John Kostyack, Executive Director of Wildlife Conservation and Global Warming at NWF, said:

“This report emphasizes what we have known for a long time. We need an all hands on deck response if we are to succeed in safeguarding America’s communities, wildlife and natural assets from the impacts of climate change.

“From the alarming news that migratory birds are declining to recent extreme winter weather events, the omens of climate change are all around us. The sobering reality is we have piped so much carbon pollution into the atmosphere already that we will be dealing with the unavoidable consequences of climate change for decades to come.

“We applaud the Obama administration for working on a national strategy to safeguard people and wildlife from the impacts of the climate change. However, planning alone will not be enough to meet the challenge of climate change. Congress must pass comprehensive energy and climate legislation that substantially reduces carbon pollution and includes robust and dedicated funds for safeguarding natural systems and human communities from the increasing effects of climate change on our country.”

Statement on Passing of FWS Director Sam Hamilton

germanom — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 21:19:24 +0000

Sam Hamilton, the director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, died on Saturday of an apparent heart attack, while skiing with friends in Colorado.

On September 1st, 2009, after 30 years of service within the agency, Hamilton was sworn in as the 15th director of the Fish and Wildlife Service. In his nearly six months as agency’s director, Hamilton had begun
several major policy shifts, including an effort to develop a
comprehensive response to climate change’s threats on plants and
animals and develop conservation projects on the landscape scale.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has not yet named an interim director to oversee the agency, which has a $2 billion budget and is charged with protecting endangered species,
migratory birds and a 96-million-acre network of wildlife refuges.

Key leaders will meet this afternoon to determine how to proceed, Fish and Wildlife Service spokesman Chris Tollefson said.

National Wildlife Federation has released the following statement:

Washington, DC (February 22) – National Wildlife Federation is deeply saddened to learn of the untimely death of Sam Hamilton, the Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

“The conservation world has suffered a great loss with the passing of Sam,” said Larry Schweiger, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation. “Throughout his career at the Fish and Wildlife Service, Sam proved to be a visionary leader. His dedication to wildlife conservation was unparalleled and his passion for his work was inspiring.”

Sam Hamilton was the 15th Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service where he led agency efforts to conserve fish and wildlife and their habitats. Prior to his appointment as Director, he served as Southeast Regional Director where he helped establish the first Fish and Wildlife Service strategic plan for climate change. This plan included a program to mitigate carbon dioxide emissions through habitat restoration and the concept of Landscape Conservation Cooperatives, which has since been adopted by Secretary Salazar as a Department-wide initiative to help safeguard wildlife and ecosystems from harmful climate change impacts.

“Sam committed his more than 30 year professional career to being a champion for wildlife for our children’s future. Though we will miss him greatly, his legacy will live on in the wildlife and wild places Sam worked tirelessly to protect.”

Do Your Kids Draw? Enter Their Masterpieces in the Endangered Species Day Art Contest

germanom — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 21:26:32 +0000

Do you know a child who loves to play outside and learn about nature? Do your kids draw amazing pictures of animals, birds, fish or plants?

Join the Endangered Species Day Art Contest!

The National Endangered Species Day Art Contest is organized
by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Endangered Species Coalition, the
Association of Zoos and Aquariums, and the Ogden Museum of Southern
Art/University of New Orleans.

This contest provides young people with an opportunity to
learn about endangered species and express their knowledge and support through
their artwork.

The deadline for
entries is March 26^th.

Winners will be chosen in four categories: Kindergarten-Grade 2, Grades
3-6, Grades 7-9, and Grades 10-12. From these, one national winner will be chosen
who will be honored with a special trophy, designed by a gifted young
artist. The national winner will also be flown to and recognized at a reception in Washington, DC in May.

Enter the Endangered Species Day Art Contest today!

For more exciting information about Endangered Species Day,
visit www.endangeredspeciesday.org