Tag Archives: biosphere

Earth

Quickening Ecological Restoration On St. Kitts

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May, 2024. UNESCO. On International Day for Biological Diversity, we highlight the remarkable efforts underway to accelerate ecological restoration at St. Mary’s Biosphere Reserve on the island of St. Kitts. Home to thousands of species, this UNESCO-designated site spans vast marine areas, forested ridges, agricultural hills, cloud forests, mangroves, and coral reefs. Despite its rich biodiversity, 32% of the land is degraded, necessitating urgent restoration efforts. St. Mary’s is the first site to benefit from the expertise of volunteer scientists from the UNESCO Earth Network project, aimed at collecting key data, implementing restoration plans, and identifying sustainable livelihood opportunities.

St Mary’s Biosphere Reserve’s main challenges

Like many Caribbean islands, the socio-economic history of St Kitts and Nevis was marked by a heavy dependence on the lucrative sugar trade. Thanks to governmental efforts to diversify the economy since 1970s, the federation turned to tourism development, which brought unprecedented opportunities to improve the livelihood of locals. However, when the tourism industry came to a near standstill between 2020 and 2021, St Kitts and Nevis saw a 14.5% drop in its GDP, followed by another 4.3% contraction in 2021.

In addition, as a Small Developing State (SIDS), it faces a number of natural challenges accentuated in the last decade by climate change, with more frequent and violent natural disasters, including hurricanes and seismic events. The effects of climate change highlight the need to protect tropical forests and promote resilient and biodiversity-friendly agriculture.

What does agriculture have to do with biodiversity conservation?

UNESCO/Joan de la Malla

One of the primary goals of St Mary’s Biosphere Reserve is to conserve biodiversity, particularly one of the most emblematic species of the area, the critically endangered leatherback turtle. It may not seem obvious, but this goal is closely related with sustainable agricultural practices.

As explained by Dr Kimberly Steward (Ross University), leachate and chemicals used in farming end up on the beach and affect nesting zones as well as the algae, food and refuge for the leatherback and other turtle species.

What were the objectives of the UNESCO Earth Network mission to the biosphere reserve?

UNESCO/Joan de la Malla

With the generous support of the Government of Italy, the Earth Network project embarked on a mission to St. Mary’s Biosphere Reserve site to promote and work on ecological restoration. The initiative addressed specific challenges associated with agricultural practices, tools and methods of the St. Mary’s Biosphere Reserve site: cultivation, preservation and monetization of sustainable and biodiversity-led agriculture processes.

Furthermore, an inventory of biodiversity loss, i.e., soil-erosion, tropical forest depletion, diminished mangrove cultivation, extent of fauna and different species of birds, bees and other pollinators etc., was prepated. The mission also analysed potential employment opportunities based on sustainable, biodiversity-friendly agriculture practices and tools, i.e., better use of tropical forests as sources of new fruit and vegetable cultivation, and introducing new seed varieties more tolerant to heat and drought; and examined opportunities for the creation of small enterprises associated with sustainable use of natural resources and biodiversity.

Development of the mission and its first achievements

UNESCO/Joan de la Malla

The mission was conducted in two phases, both led by volunteer expert, Dr. Haydi Berrenstein. The first field mission took place from 20 – 24 February 2023 to collect data, assess the situation and exchange with local experts, as well as to interview local stakeholders.

A second mission took place in August 2023, when the Earth Network volunteer expert and local community members worked together to formulate technical advice towards an ecological restoration plan in line with available good practices and assess the feasibility of a local biodiversity inventory.

Additionally, in August 2023, a plan to improve their practices began to be implemented, through the creation of a Seed Bank, the development of natural fertilizers and a whole Biodiversity Agricultural Reforestation plan. The overall aim is to embrace better use of tropical forests, enhance the cultivation of new fruits and combat soil erosion.

Furthermore, the knowledge generated through the mission was consolidated and included in the UNESCO Biodiversity Portal, which provides real-time data from UNESCO-designated sites, as well as top-notch solutions.

Featured image- St. Kitts/Nevis natural springs.

Culture

Ukraine: UNESCO Statement Following UN General Assembly Resolution

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Paris, France 3 March – Following the adoption by the United Nations General Assembly of the Resolution on Aggression against Ukraine, and in light of the devastating escalation of violence, UNESCO is deeply concerned by developments in Ukraine and is working to assess damage across its spheres of competence (notably education, culture, heritage and information) and to implement emergency support actions.

The UNGA Resolution reaffirms the paramount importance of the UN Charter and commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity, and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders, and it demands “that the Russian Federation immediately cease its use of force against Ukraine.”

The Director-General, Audrey Azoulay, fully concurs with the opening remarks made by the Secretary-General at the Special Session of the General Assembly, during which he said that “this escalating violence — which is resulting in civilian deaths, including children – is totally unacceptable.”

In addition, she calls for the “protection of Ukrainian cultural heritage, which bears witness to the country’s rich history, and includes its seven World Heritage sites – notably located in Lviv and Kyiv; the cities of Odessa and Kharkiv, members of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network; its national archives, some of which feature in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register; and its sites commemorating the tragedy of the Holocaust.”

“We must safeguard this cultural heritage, as a testimony of the past but also as a vector of peace for the future, which the international community has a duty to protect and preserve for future generations. It is also to protect the future that educational institutions must be considered sanctuaries.”

Consistent with its mandate, UNESCO demands the immediate cessation of attacks on civilian facilities, such as schools, universities, memorial sites, cultural and communication infrastructures, and deplores civilian casualties, including students, teachers, artists, scientists and journalists. These include women and children, girls especially, disproportionately impacted by the conflict and displacement. 

In the field of education, Resolution 2601 adopted in 2021 by the UN Security Council states that UN Member States are to “prevent attacks and threats of attacks against schools and ensure the protection of schools and civilians connected with schools, including children and teachers during armed conflict as well as in post-conflict phases”. The General Assembly Resolution of 2 March expresses grave concern at reports of attacks on civilian facilities including schools. In this regard, UNESCO strongly condemns attacks against education facilities, with the damaging of at least seven institutions in the past week, including the attack on 2 March on Karazin Kharkiv National University.

The nationwide closure of schools and education facilities has affected the entire school-aged population — 6 million students between 3 and 17 years old, and more than 1.5 million enrolled in higher education institutions. The escalation of violence hampers the protective role of education, and the impact may be far-reaching including in neighbouring countries.

In the field of culture, UNESCO underlines the obligations of international humanitarian law, notably the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and its two (1954 and 1999) Protocols, to refrain from inflicting damage to cultural property, and condemns all attacks and damage to cultural heritage in all its forms in Ukraine. UNESCO calls also for the full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 2347.

In this respect, UNESCO is gravely concerned with the damages incurred by the city of Kharkiv, UNESCO Creative City for Music, and the historic centre of Chernihiv, on Ukraine’s World Heritage Tentative List. UNESCO deeply regrets reports of damage to the works of the celebrated Ukrainian artist, Maria Primachenko, with whose anniversary UNESCO was associated in 2009.

UNESCO condemns also the attack that affected the Babyn Yar Holocaust memorial, the site of one of the largest mass shootings of Jews during World War II, and calls for the respect of historic sites, whose value for education and remembrance is irreplaceable.

In order to prevent attacks, UNESCO, in close coordination with the Ukrainian authorities, is working to mark as quickly as possible key historic monuments and sites across Ukraine with the distinctive emblem of the 1954 Hague Convention, an internationally recognised signal for the protection of cultural heritage in the event of armed conflict.  In addition, UNESCO has approached the Ukrainian authorities with a view to organising a meeting with museum directors across the country to help them respond to urgent needs for safeguarding museum collections and cultural property. In cooperation with UNITAR/UNOSAT, UNESCO will be monitoring the damages incurred by cultural sites through satellite imagery analysis.

In the field of access to information and freedom of expression, UNESCO recalls its previous statement underlining obligations under UN Security Council Resolution 2222 to protect media professionals and associated personnel. It further notes, as in the same resolution, “media equipment and installations constitute civilian objects, and in this respect shall not be the object of attack or of reprisals, unless they are military objectives”.

In this respect, UNESCO is deeply concerned about reports of the targeting of media infrastructure, including the shelling of Kyiv’s main television tower on 1 March 2022, with multiple reported fatalities, including at least one media worker, as well as cases of violence against journalists and attempts to restrict access to the Internet.

In a conflict situation, free and independent media are critical for ensuring civilians have access to potentially life-saving information and debunking disinformation and rumours.

At the request of a group of Member States, the UNESCO Executive Board will hold a Special Session on 15 March “to examine the impact and consequences of the current situation in Ukraine in all aspects of UNESCO’s mandate”.

UNESCO designations and sites in Ukraine

Featured image: One of the 7 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Ukraine (Crimea): Ruins of Chersonesos. Photo: Dmitry A. Mottl Creative Commons.

Earth

How Termites Challenge Darwinism Theory of Evolution

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Modern science lacks a unifying, interdisciplinary theory of life. In other words, current theories are unable to explain why life is the way it is and not any other way.

Dr. David Grinspoon writes about Charley Lineweaver’s review of “Scientists Debate Gaia,” a collection of essays gathered from an American Geophysical Union conference and by the published by MIT press. Charles H. Lineweaver is a Senior Fellow at Australia National University’s Planetary Science Institute.

Gaia author James Lovelock
Gaia author James Lovelock

He explained that James Lovelock (shown) proposed the Gaia hypothesis, in which Earth is an organism or system capable of self-regulation. He wondered: Can the existence of life be recognized from the chemical composition of a planet’s atmosphere? What would the Earth be like now, if life had never evolved on it? Would there be oxygen in the air? Would the surface temperature be hot like Venus or cold like Mars? In the mid-60’s, NASA consulted James Lovelock to assist in developing instruments for the Viking spacecraft to detect life on Mars.

He concluded that it wasn’t necessary to send a spacecraft to Mars. All you needed was to determine the composition of the Martian atmosphere –- if life was there, the atmosphere should be in chemical disequilibrium as it is on Earth. Recent observations, have detected methane on Mars indicating life.

Determining what life is and how to recognize it is the Holy Grail of astrobiology. To make progress, we need to explore the Martian subsurface and analyze the atmospheres of the nearest terrestrial planets. Lovelock’s Gaian chemical equilibrium test for the presence of life is fundamental to these efforts. Both NASA and ESA are putting their astrobiological money into interferometric infrared spectroscopy to look for the traces of chemical disequilibrium in planetary atmospheres as the primary biomarker.

Don't be fooled by your perspective- we all live on a rotating ball traveling through space!
Don’t be fooled by your perspective- we all live on a rotating ball traveling through space!

Lovelock thought that terrestrial life didn’t just passively produce chemical disequilibrium. There seemed to be some element of control or regulation. In 1978, he published a book called “Gaia” that described how the entire biosphere behaves like a living creature suggesting our Earth is alive.

Gaian science and astrobiology have very similar programs. Astrobiologists look at the stars and ask “What has life done to the planets out there and how can we recognize it?” Gaian scientists have been looking at the Earth for decades asking “What has terrestrial life done to our planet and how can we recognize it?” Astrobiology and Gaian science often remain separate fields of inquiry. Astrobiology attracts mainly astronomers and biologists, while Gaian science attracts atmospheric chemists, geologists and concerned ecologists.

The thin Martian atmosphere is mainly composed of carbon dioxide. Planetary scientists have studied the atmosphere of Mars for any signs of gases such as methane that could be generated by life. In this collection, Gaian scientists believe that over the past four and a half billion years, the Sun’s luminosity has increased by about 30 percent, but the temperature of the Earth’s surface doesn’t seem to have followed in step. Lovelock hypothesized that the biosphere regulates the Earth’s surface temperature. There are two obvious ways to do this: Regulate the albedo (light reflected by the planet) and/or regulate the abundances of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Creationist Cartoon

Lovelock invented the parable of Daisyworld to demonstrate that the biosphere could regulate the albedo. A nice Gaian extension of this idea is J. Scott Turner’s analysis of the thermo-regulation of termite colonies. So if a termite ecosystem can evolve to do it, why can’t a big one like the Earth? Thus, Gaia does what good scientific ideas are supposed to do. It extends and extrapolates a fundamental theory, from individuals to groups to ecosystems, up to the entire biosphere.

The central debate of this book is: How can Gaia (Earth) be selfish? How can it do anything “for” itself? Will it protect itself from human destruction of the environment by causing earthquakes, earth lights, an ice age, or a great flood?

Tyler Volk’s book “Gaia’s Body” “Gaia is Life in a Wasteworld of By-products.” He proposed that the atmosphere is one giant waste dump. Life produces wastes, and these wastes build up and affect the environment. They become intolerable for some forms of life, but then along come new forms of life who take advantage of these waste products. Volk’s point is that poop just happens. Thus the effects of the biosphere’s wastes are certainly “by” but not necessarily “for” the biosphere..

Volk suggests using cycling ratios to measure “by and for the biosphere” and to determine how beneficial for life something may be. A cycling ratio is the amount of an element cycling through the Earth and biosphere, divided by the amount that would be cycling through the Earth in the absence of life. Volk estimates the cycling ratio of carbon to be about 200 times more carbon flowing through the veins of Gaia than would be cycling through an Earth without life from plate tectonics and volcanism.

A collection of observations by the Earth Observing System flagship Terra were stitched together into a seamless true-color mosaic of every square kilometer (.386 square mile) of our planet.

Dorion Sagan and Jessica Hope Whiteside’s “Gradient Reduction Theory: Thermodynamics and the Purpose of Life” discussed the second law of thermodynamics as the purpose of life. Agnostics looking for purpose in their lives would do well to digest this chapter with Lovelock’s suggestion that agnostics worship Gaia to fill their religious vacuum. There is grandeur and universality in this thermodynamic view of life that can be applied to life anywhere in the universe.

I’d like to see Gaian scientists recognize that Gaia is part of a larger whole – that the Earth is not a closed system and that Gaia has a mother. We begin to wonder whether our Galaxy is a life form called Galactea.

“It is a must read for any life form that is even pretending to look for extraterrestrial life. /

– See more at: http://www.astrobio.net/ Note: It’s logical Mother Earth or Gaia feels totally threatened by environmental abuse from Earth’s humans and that those humans who are not loving to Mother Earth may be removed.

*Main image for this post courtesy of http://fourthdimension-celestialdreams.blogspot.ca