COP27 - Can We Move Forward

Under the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the 27th Conference of the Parties (COP27) opened in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, on November 6 and runs through the 18th. World leaders, climate campaigners, and climate stakeholders are gathered amid challenging world economic dynamics, including the global impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the resulting energy crisis in Europe, fluctuating energy prices, and ongoing extreme weather events. The individuals gathered in Sharm el Sheikh will be attempting to create a realistic path forward that has some chance of success in addressing climate change

Climate Change and COP26

A brief primer on what, how, and why of the current global attention to climate change and this latest meeting of countries in Glasgow at COP26

Letter from the President: Biodiversity and the Smallest Floral Kingdom

As attention to global biodiversity heats up because of the upcoming December meeting (COP15) of the Convention on Biological Diversity in Montreal, media stories on the state of the globe’s biodiversity are becoming more numerous. Humans love lists, and someone would inevitably produce a list of countries ranked according to their biodiversity. Swiftest, a data analytics company interested in the insurance and travel industries, has recently created a country-by-country biodiversity ranking. Their list includes 201 countries (193 member countries in the UN). The list is based on a relatively simple index that counts all the species of five groups of animals – birds, amphibians, fish, mammals, and reptiles – as well as the number of plant species. Each country’s score is determined on a 0-100 scale based on the total number of each of the five animal groups, with a 0-50 scale for plants. The highest possible score is, therefore, 550. Brazil ends up on top of the list with a total score of 512.34 (a result that is not that surprising given the species richness of the Amazon basin), while San Marino (a tiny country of 61 km2 located in Italy) is at the bottom with a score of 5.47

Plastic Waste and the World’s Seas

The modern plastics industry may have been a boon to consumers, but the world is drowning in non-degradable plastic waste

Protein Production and Consumption

For those interested in data and understanding current global challenges, this article reports on data from Our World in Data website and on a recent article that addresses the very confusing issue of the greenhouse gases produced through different sources of protein production. Conflicting reports have argued that protein sourced from meat and fish either is, or is not, a major source of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions

Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza

The avian flu virus was the agent that caused the devastating worldwide influenza pandemic in 2018 that killed an estimated 50-100 million people, and health authorities continue to pay close attention to periodic outbreaks of avian flu. Currently, an H5N1 influenza virus is leading to millions of wild birds and domestic poultry deaths. Recently, this virus spread in a mink farm in Spain, raising the stakes that it might be able to spread among humans. While the current avian flu pandemic is a major economic problem for global farms and a major animal welfare concern for domestic poultry and wild bird populations, it is just a mutation away from becoming a major human health problem. Intensive animal farming systems could lead to the evolution of a new pandemic avian flu virus. While the world is discussing the global warming potential of modern food systems, it should also pay attention to the potential pandemic threats from concentrated animal feeding operations

COP 15 - Can We Meet Biodiversity Goals & Targets?

The 15th Conference of Parties (COP15) for the UN Convention on Biological Diversity was held in two parts (in Kunming, China, in October 2021 and in Montreal, Canada, in December 2022). One primary goal for COP15 was the development of a Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) covering the coming decade (from 2023 through 2030). The GBF produced by the participating countries at COP15 included four long-term global goals for 2050 linked to the 2050 Vision for Biodiversity, along with 23 global targets for immediate action and completed by 2030. One outcome of the negotiations was the identification of the need to increase public awareness of the global biodiversity crisis leading to sustained activities to halt and reverse global biodiversity loss

The United Nations, Animal Welfare and the Environment

A sustainable global future requires the world to address the well-being of not only people but animals and the environment. This view is also the founding premise for WellBeing International (WBI). A one-minute video produced by WBI includes the following message. “A responsible caretaker of our world must safeguard people, animals, and the environment for each element is tightly connected and depends on the well-being of the others.” WBI is encouraged by the recent resolution on the nexus between the well-being of people, animals, and the environment passed at the fifth United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-5). However, considerable effort will still be needed to ensure that the requested report on the nexus between animal welfare-environment-sustainable development is comprehensive. Furthermore, the report’s findings should influence and be integrated with the UnitedNations Environment Programme (UNEP) work plan and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Inactivation of pathogens on food and contact surfaces using ozone as a biocidal agent

This study focuses on the inactivation of a range of food borne pathogens using ozone as a biocidal agent. Experiments were carried out using Campylobacter jejuni, E. coli and Salmonella enteritidis in which population size effects and different treatment temperatures were investigate

Making Peace with Nature

The loss of intact global wilderness areas is leaving little productive land for wild animals. United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) in its Making Peace with Nature report identifies eight specific areas where transformative change is required. The report also identifies three levers that can be used to promote and implement these changes. The world has lost half of its forests and wild grasslands to the growth of crops and domestic animal grazing over the last century. This loss is driven largely by what we eat. Our diets need to be changed to achieve the transformation called for in Making Peace with Nature