Friday, Dec 20

Dear Reader,

Dot recently met a young man on an exchange from Bolivia to my city. He was delighted to tell me about his home country, including this Feel-Good Friday piece of news: Bolivia has created Arroyo Guarichona, a home to important freshwater reserves, floodplains, grasslands, forests, and endemic species. The protected area spans almost 1,300 square miles and is the product of cooperation between local communities, rural farmers, and Indigenous peoples. It is a critical ecosystem for the health of the Amazon and home to the critically endangered blue-throated macaw, the yacare caiman, and the endangered Rio Beni titi monkey. 

But I’ve got more Feel-Good Friday conservation news:

The EU has put forth conservation measures prohibiting bottom fishing at five sites in the Baltic Sea, and Norway’s plans to open large areas of its Arctic seabed for metals/minerals exploration was thwarted.  And that’s not all. China (which is producing electric vehicles at an astonishing pace), has created a massive greenbelt around its largest desert as part of a national effort to end desertification, a huge undertaking that spans 190,000 square miles and has taken 46 years to plant with trees. 

Conservationally,

Dot