World nations launch historic fund to protect nature, and other nature and climate stories you need to read this week

The United Nations called for national contributions to help support goals, including protecting 30% of global land and coastal areas by the end of the decade.

The fund builds on an earlier international agreement by governments at the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, which has been informally dubbed the Paris Agreement for Nature.

Leading donors Canada and the UK have pledged $147.20 million (200 million Canadian dollars) and $12.60 million (£10 million) respectively.

“We are off to a good start. We now call for further pledges from countries and from other sources so that the first projects under the new fund can be launched next year,” David Cooper, acting executive secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity told Reuters.

The so-called Global Biodiversity Framework requires at least $200 million from at least three donors by December of this year to be considered operational, according to US-based non-profit campaign group Avaaz.

This leaves a funding shortfall of around $40 million from at least one additional donor, to kick-start planned projects. The fund will prioritize the world’s least developed nations and small island states, with a fifth of available funding aimed at indigenous communities.

Normally one of the planet’s wettest regions, the Central American republic is in the grip of an extreme drought that has caused water levels to drop in the Panama Canal.

Many ships face delays trying to navigate the canal, which links the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. And restrictions are in place on vessels carrying heavy loads, which are unusual during the region’s rainy season usually lasting from May to December.

Similar delays are impacting shipping in Northwest Turkiye’s Dardanelles Strait, where intense wildfires halted more than 150 ships to allow helicopters and planes to scoop up water to fight the two-day blaze.

Turkish authorities have announced a partial reopening of the shipping route linking the Aegean and Black seas, as firefighters successfully brought the blaze under control.

The climate crisis is increasing both the intensity and frequency of droughts and other extreme weather events, which enhances the likelihood of further disruption to shipping in future.

The planet’s global average surface temperature has increased by around 1°C since pre-industrial times, with the rate of warming since 1981 almost twice as fast as previously.

Athens is under threat from wildfire as hundreds of blazes across Greece have killed at least 20 people and caused several thousand people nationwide to flee their homes.

Tropical rainforests could get too hot for plants to absorb sunlight, a new study says. As temperatures exceed 46.7°C, the ability of leaves to photosynthesize starts to fail, with serious consequences for the future of the planet’s forests.

A tiny river fly thought to be extinct has been rediscovered, leading scientists to breed the species in captivity at Chester Zoo in the UK, ready to be released back into the wild.

Indonesia’s two rare tropical glaciers could disappear by 2026 as the El Niño weather pattern extends the Southeast Asian nation’s dry season, the country’s geophysics agency says.

Economic losses from recent devastating Hawaiian wildfires could reach $6 billion, including the cost of property damage, contents and business disruptions, according to risk modelling agency Moody’s RMS.

Ecuador’s referendum result sees a majority vote to stop oil drilling in the country’s Amazonian national park, Ecuador’s National Electoral Commission reports. The region is home to one of the most biodiverse ecosystems in the world.

Brazil is set to issue $2 billion in ESG sovereign bonds in September to secure a financial base for the country’s ecological transition plans, according to a Finance Ministry official.

Extreme temperatures are forcing Spain’s external workers to change their labour hours, as the country’s policymakers emulate Gulf States in banning outside work during periods of excessive heat.

How can we ensure future climate policies don’t alienate developing nations, as the COP28 climate talks loom in the United Arab Emirates? The energy trilemma of affordability, availability and sustainability will be key here.