Hacker News with Generative AI: Conservation

Ethiopia nature-based project to give 50% of proceeds to locals (qcintel.com)
A German-backed carbon credit marketplace has launched a project in Ethiopia that aims to earn carbon and biodiversity credits...
'All the birds returned': How China led the way in water and soil conservation (theguardian.com)
It was one of China’s most ambitious environmental endeavours ever.
Department of Agriculture's National Plant Germplasm System Under Threat (nytimes.com)
In a climate-controlled bunker in an unremarkable building in rural Aberdeen, Idaho, there are shelves upon shelves of meticulously labeled boxes of seed.
Butterfly population in US shrinking by 22% over last 20 years, study shows (theguardian.com)
Butterflies may be among the most beloved of all creatures, routinely deified in art and verse, but they are in alarming decline in the United States with populations plummeting by a fifth in just the past two decades, according to the most comprehensive study yet of their fortunes.
'All the birds returned': How China led the way in water and soil conservation (theguardian.com)
It was one of China’s most ambitious environmental endeavours ever.
The long flight to teach an endangered ibis species to migrate (newyorker.com)
Our devastation of nature is so deep and vast that to reverse its effects, on any front, often entails efforts that are so painstaking and quixotic as to border on the ridiculous.
First analysis finds America's butterflies disappearing at "catastrophic" rate (apnews.com)
America’s butterflies are disappearing because of insecticides, climate change and habitat loss, with the number of the winged beauties down 22% since 2000, a new study finds.
How to Build a Thousand-Year-Old Tree (noemamag.com)
As the world faces an accelerating crisis of biodiversity loss and spiking rates of extinction, Britain’s protected natural areas are getting an explicit new assignment.
US butterflies 'all in trouble' as their numbers rapidly decline, report finds (usatoday.com)
Over the past 20 years the U.S. butterfly population has declined 22%, a dramatic loss that has scientists concerned.
After 120 years, Yellowstone bison are a single breeding population (phys.org)
Researchers from the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (VMBS) have discovered that bison in Yellowstone National Park—the only group of American bison that has continually existed as wildlife in the United States—now consist of a single large, interbreeding population derived from multiple historic bison herds.
"Wooly mice" a test run for mammoth gene editing (arstechnica.com)
On Tuesday, the team behind the plan to bring mammoth-like animals back to the tundra announced the creation of what it is calling wooly mice, which have long fur reminiscent of the woolly mammoth.
Cuts to US national parks and forests met with backlash (bbc.com)
The Trump administration's steep cuts to staff at national parks, forests and wildlife habitats have triggered a growing backlash, as public access and conservation efforts in these remote wild landscapes fade away.
Patagonia CEO: Trump Shouldn't Sell Our Public Lands (time.com)
Public lands have been described as America’s “best idea.” They are natural sanctuaries, sources of generational inspiration and for some, ancestral homelands. Every citizen has a right to experience them and a paired responsibility for their welfare and protection. So, recent news coming from Washington, D.C.—possible plans to sell off our public lands and the firing of the staff needed to protect and access them—has the outdoor sports community’s attention.
More than half of countries are ignoring biodiversity pledges (theguardian.com)
More than half the world’s countries have no plans to protect 30% of land and sea for nature, despite committing to a global agreement to do so less than three years ago, new analysis shows.
Bald eagles are thriving again after near extinction (newsweek.com)
The bald eagle, once teetering on the brink of extinction, has made a significant comeback in the United States.
Amazon deforestation declines to lowest level in a decade (tdynews.com)
Brazil has reported a significant reduction in deforestation in the Amazon rainforest, with the loss of trees decreasing by 31% over the past year.
The return of the buffalo is reviving portions of the ecosystem (nativesunnews.today)
“Bringing buffalo back to their ancestral homelands is essential to restoring the ecosystem.”~ Executive Director for Tanka Fund Dawn Sherman
Botanical gardens have reached peak capacity (cosmosmagazine.com)
In an analysis of a century’s worth of data on botanical gardens and arboreta, researchers reveal that global living plant collections have reached capacity, impacting their ability to meet scientific and conservation goals.
Mapping Antarctica’s hidden ice-free lands: a blueprint for conservation (unsw.edu.au)
UNSW researchers unveil a new map and classification system that will help protect the unique plants and animals of Earth’s most remote and fragile continent.
In Praise of Subspecies (aeon.co)
To lump or to split? Deciding whether an animal is a species or subspecies profoundly influences our conservation priorities
How to Tell a Leopard from Its Roar (nautil.us)
Making a Shazam for conservationists
One of four lynx captured in Scottish Highlands dies (theguardian.com)
One of the four lynx captured in the Scottish Highlands this week has died.
Great Whales Can Live a Lot Longer Than We Thought – If We Leave Them Alone (theguardian.com)
Bowhead whales may not be the only species that can live to 200 years old. Researchers have found that the industrial hunting of great whales has masked the ability of these underwater giants to also live to great ages
Ireland has lost almost all its native forests (worldsensorium.com)
Baby red handfish 'thriving' in captive-breeding program in Tasmania (abc.net.au)
A Tasmanian marine research project has handed "one of the world's rarest fish" a lifeline.
Chlamydia could make koalas extinct. Can a vaccine save them in time? (bbc.com)
This hospital is ground zero of a grim chlamydia epidemic which is killing thousands of koalas and making even more sterile, pushing the national icons to the brink of extinction.
Painstaking work to conserve Ireland's oldest paper documents begins (theguardian.com)
Work has begun to conserve and digitise one of the oldest paper documents still in existence on the island of Ireland.
Bird flu kills more than half the big cats at a Washington sanctuary (cnn.com)
Saving the Apple's Ancient Ancestor in the Forests of Kazakhstan (smithsonianmag.com)
Found in the Tian Shan mountains, Malus sieversii could hold the secret to making other species of the fruit more stress-resistant
When Two Hemispheres Collide: Where to Now for Rewilding in Ireland? (worldsensorium.com)
When Two Hemispheres Collide: Where to now for rewilding in Ireland?