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Daily Archives: April 15, 2021

Just 3% of world’s ecosystems remain intact, study suggests

Where Might We Find Ecologically Intact Communities? Front. For. Glob. Change, 15 April 2021 | https://doi.org/10.3389/ffgc.2021.626635

“Conservation efforts should target the few remaining areas of the world that represent outstanding examples of ecological integrity and aim to restore ecological integrity to a much broader area of the world with intact habitat and minimal species loss while this is still possible. There have been many assessments of “intactness” in recent years but most of these use measures of anthropogenic impact at a site, rather than faunal intactness or ecological integrity. This paper makes the first assessment of faunal intactness for the global terrestrial land surface and assesses how many ecoregions have sites that could qualify as Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs – sites contributing significantly to the global persistence of biodiversity) based on their outstanding ecological integrity (under KBA Criterion C). Three datasets are combined on species loss at sites to create a new spatially explicit map of numbers of species extirpated. Based on this map it is estimated that no more than 2.9% of the land surface can be considered to be faunally intact. Additionally, using habitat/density distribution data for 15 large mammals we also make an initial assessment of areas where mammal densities are reduced, showing a further decrease in surface area to 2.8% of the land surface that could be considered functionally intact. Only 11% of the functionally intact areas that were identified are included within existing protected areas, and only 4% within existing KBAs triggered by other criteria. Our findings show that the number of ecoregions that could qualify as Criterion C KBAs could potentially increase land area up to 20% if their faunal composition was restored with the reintroduction of 1–5 species. Hence, if all necessary requirements are met in order to reintroduce species and regain faunal integrity, this will increase ecological integrity across much of the area where human impacts are low (human footprint ≤4). Focusing restoration efforts in these areas could significantly increase the area of the planet with full ecological integrity…”

EFF Partners with DuckDuckGo to Enhance Secure Browsing and Protect User Info on the Web

EFF: “Boosting protection of Internet users’ personal data from snooping advertisers and third-party trackers, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) today announced it has enhanced its groundbreaking HTTPS Everywhere browser extension by incorporating rulesets from DuckDuckGo Smarter Encryption. The partnership represents the next step in the evolution of HTTPS Everywhere, a collaboration with The Tor Project and… Continue Reading

Google Earth Engine Timelapse Video

“Earth Timelapse is a global, zoomable video that lets you see how our planet has changed since 1984. On this page, you’ll find a curated selection of videos that highlight different types of planetary change, including urban expansion, mining impacts, river meandering, the growth of megacities, deforestation, and agricultural expansion. Videos are available to download… Continue Reading

Reuters puts its website behind a paywall

The New York Times: “Reuters will begin charging for access to its website as it tries to capture a slice of the digital subscription business. The company, one of the largest news organizations in the world, announced the new paywall on Thursday, as well as a redesigned website aimed at a “professional” audience wanting business,… Continue Reading

Reading in the Age of Distrust

Project Information Literacy: “As soon as they begin college, course reading awaits them. Often students will be required to read texts closely, not just to glean important facts and figures, but to arrive at understanding through context, inference, and making connections of their own.For college students in America today, these reading competencies are not only… Continue Reading

Law Street Media Debuts New Outlet for Expert Law and Industry Articles

Factcase: “Law Street Media, Fastcase’s industry-focused legal news service, today introduces “Featured Viewpoints,” a new channel for articles authored by legal and industry professionals. Starting today, the Featured Viewpoints articles will be published on Law Street Media’s website and included in its daily news feeds accompanying its current distribution of legal news. The addition of… Continue Reading

Substack and Legal Publishing

Lexblog: “Can the new email newsletter publishing platform, Substack make inroads into the legal publishing arena? When the New York Time’s Ben Smith reports this morning that Danny Lavery, the publisher of a blog and newsletter, just signed a two year, $430,000 contract with Substack and that his wife, Grace Lavery, a professor at UC-Berkeley, who edits another… Continue Reading

Mass, Computer-Generated, and Fraudulent Comments

The Administrative Conference of the United State – Mass, Computer-Generated, and Fraudulent Comments: “This project seeks to identify agency best practices for handling mass, computer-generated, and fraudulent comments in rulemakings. Treating each type of comment separately, it examines both the legal and practical issues associated with processing and responding to such comments. It also considers… Continue Reading