Top conservation issues to watch out for in 2023

December 2nd, 2022 – What should people who care about nature conservation pay attention to?

Every year since 2009, scientists and conservationists from around the world, led by researchers from the University of Cambridge, have come together to answer this question. Its goal is to “provide novel information that society and decision-makers may wish to consider in legislation, planning and actions that contribute to environmental sustainability and threat mitigation.”

This year’s group presented 15 top issues that fall into four main categories: resource use, disturbance of organisms and habitats, technological innovations, and politics and law. Almost half of the issues that bubbled to the top are linked to climate change.

Here are the group’s key conservation considerations for 2023:

Chitin, a complex molecule found in shellfish, insects, and fungi, can be broken down into a treasure trove of useful chemicals. As people seek alternatives to plastics, new medicines, battery technologies, and more, this ubiquitous molecule is seeing growing demand. The biodiversity benefits of technologies that reduce the Earth’s environmental impact are clear. But there are also threats from the potential for increased harvesting of marine organisms. Proactive strategies such as harvesting chitin from insects fed organic waste could help maximize benefit while minimizing harm.

Demand for lithium is skyrocketing as efforts to electrify more things increase the need for batteries. Some environmentalists are concerned that the pressure will lead to the development of new, less environmentally friendly mines and the development of subprime wells with more severe environmental impacts. But if we use improved extraction technologies, we could protect more vulnerable ecosystems by getting more out of conventional mines and maybe even out of garbage, seawater and degraded land.

Emerging technologies generate electricity by using biological molecules to break down other biological molecules, releasing electrons in the process. These technologies open the door to energy storage in organic compound batteries. Such batteries could pack more power into a given space than conventional battery technologies. And they could potentially have biodiversity benefits by reducing the environmental impact of battery production and disposal, which include toxic metals. However, if we delve deeper into this approach, other implications – positive or negative – could emerge.

Rich in nitrogen and as ubiquitous as a substance can be, human urine holds a huge opportunity to reduce the need to manufacture and transport chemical fertilizers, which require a lot of energy and contribute to climate change. What is needed is a system for collecting and distributing data, bypassing the “ew” factor. If such systems are put in place, they could not only harvest the nutrients from urine, but also reduce environmental impacts when they’re incorporated into wastewater streams that are sent to treatment plants — or sometimes bypass them and pollute waterways that support native animals and plants . On the other hand, they could lead to overuse of fertilizers, damage ecosystems and exacerbate climate change.

Man-made fertilizers have done a tremendous job of alleviating hunger, but at a huge cost to the environment: they require fossil fuels to make them, produce greenhouse gases that warm the planet, and pollute water and air. A workaround is to grow plants that get nitrogen from bacteria that live in or near their roots and can literally pull the substance out of thin air — a process known as “nitrogen fixation.” Until recently, this talent was limited to a relatively small number of crop species, such as soybeans and cowpeas. But now scientists are applying modern tools of biology to expand capabilities, genetically engineering plants to make them better at taking up nitrogen and using synthetic biology to create new forms of nitrogen-fixing bacteria. If this ability grows and is applied in the real world, it can reduce the adverse environmental effects of using artificial fertilizers, thereby reducing their damage to wildlife and wildlife.

The natural cycle of saltwater through the top layer of the oceans distributes nutrients needed by marine life and helps determine weather and climate around the world. As the atmosphere, and thus the sea surface, warms, this circulation accelerates and moves toward the surface, altering the circulation patterns that ocean life and coastal communities – including humans – have evolved to thrive on. Scientists fear the changes will make the oceans less able to mitigate climate change and support marine ecosystems. They could also make ocean movements and temperature regimes less predictable, disrupting fisheries and marine aquaculture, and thus changing how humans affect marine organisms.

Marine fishermen using nets or traps have long employed lights near the surface to attract squid and other target species. Now some are beginning to use the same approach at shallower depths. The shift can be beneficial in increasing the catch. But depending on the circumstances, it could also increase or decrease the likelihood of non-target species being caught along with the desired species. Could the approach also disrupt biology or ecology by shedding light on the darkness of the deep? No one knows – but from a biodiversity perspective, it’s worth finding out.

Coasts meet climate change

Wetlands along seashores provide rich habitat for a variety of fish, birds, and other plants and animals. They also benefit humans by protecting land from storms, providing habitat for food species, and more. Struck by human development for decades, they now face another threat: rising sea levels due to climate change. There is hope that they could be partially saved by sedimentary deposits creating new substrate or by moving inland. However, recent studies suggest that this will not be enough to offset the loss due to climate change and sea level rise. If not, we will see less habitat for fish spawning, stopovers for migratory birds, and more as Earth’s atmosphere continues to warm.

Sustaining Microcommunities

Advancing technology to identify microbes shows that biodiversity is not just about plants and animals: the unseen communities around us are becoming more homogeneous as humans passively or actively alter microbial mixes that range from protecting coral reefs to improving our own health pass. This could affect the ability of plants, animals and biological communities to benefit from the presence of microorganisms. And forecasters predict that we will be more actively involved in shaping microcommunities in the future, which will have implications for politics and science.

Perkinsea, a protist that kills tadpoles, appears to be spreading from North America to other parts of the world. Scientists have found similar microbes in Central America, South America and Europe. As the amphibian trade continues and climate change may make more areas habitable for frogs, toads and their relatives, researchers warn that if these prolific insectivores disappear, the disease could spread further and faster, disrupting the balance of ecosystems.

condition, registered

Biodiversity protection is attracting increasing attention these days as companies, financial institutions and other private entities, either voluntarily or by government mandate, are beginning to identify and report on their impacts on wildlife and what they are doing about it. As more and more people jump on the accountability bandwagon, formal structures are emerging, such as the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures. Together, these trends bode well for biodiversity, with its potential to improve both transparency and action.

Machine learning meets environmental protection

Drug developers are now using machine learning to custom design drugs to treat different diseases and to test different options they develop for efficacy and safety. Could a similar approach be used to reduce threats to species and ecosystems from agricultural chemicals such as herbicides and pesticides? Conservation biologists are beginning to explore the possibility of applying the iterative process to the development and testing of manufactured substances intended for release into the environment. If successful, this approach could help reduce harm to native species such as pollinators, or to ecosystems at large, by identifying and minimizing risks before a chemical is approved for use.

As anyone who has ever rubbed their hands together to warm up knows, heat is a form of energy. Scientists and engineers are working hard to use this principle to develop a new type of battery that uses heat to generate electricity. These so-called thermophotovoltaic systems could help reduce the need for fossil fuels, conventional batteries and large, centralized power plants, all of which have adverse impacts on biodiversity. Current iterations are not very efficient. But the technology keeps getting better, and thermal batteries could eventually become economical enough to lessen the damage that existing power generation systems are doing to ecosystems.

Plastic accumulates in huge heaps in the ocean, while garbage dumped or washed into the sea is caught up in circulatory eddies. It is often believed that these “stains” are harmful to marine life. But sampling shows that they are in fact rich in organisms that live at the interface of air and water. Although not natural, these communities can have some positive benefits in terms of producing food for fish, turtles and other animals. As we strive to rid the ocean of debris, it would be good to think about how we can protect these communities in the process.

Take that, tree plantations

Interest in capturing carbon and growing biomass for fuel is an incentive for people to plant huge swaths of single-species trees in bare land. As desirable as even monoculture plantations may be for climate change mitigation, they pose a challenge in the form of relatively poor habitat and the risk of spreading non-native invasive species into native forests and disrupting ecosystems there. One way to prevent this is to make the plantation trees sterile using genome editing. However, this too can have disadvantages, as the funds spent in this way are not available for other, potentially more beneficial activities, and genome editing could inadvertently cause trouble for native species as well.