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The development and deployment of new technologies to deliver the world’s energy needs from renewable sources are essential if we are to reduce our dependency on fossil fuels. To stop or reverse climate change and to provide the world’s growing human population with the energy it needs, then hydro-, oceanic, wind and solar power must to be part of the mix.

Government Ministers, business leaders and senior representatives from international organizations met today in the Philippines for frank talks on mitigating the detrimental impact of pollution on wildlife and ecosystems. The outcome - delegates pledged to step up efforts to combat pollution - will send a powerful signal to other leaders, ahead of the Third Session of the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA3), which takes place in December, in Nairobi, Kenya. It will also stimulate debate at this week’s Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Migratory Species (COP12).

Dubbed the ‘Serengeti of the North,’ Central Asia stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to China in the east and from Afghanistan in the south to Russia in the north. The vast deserts, semi‑deserts, grasslands and high mountains of Central Asia and adjacent regions, support some of the world’s last remaining large mammal migrations. Yet, unlike its African counterpart, it has been largely overlooked by conservation efforts.

The effects of climate change are being felt with extreme weather events such as the wildfires in British Columbia, floods in Eastern Canada and hurricanes of unprecedented severity battering North America and the Caribbean. Wildlife is also suffering the consequences, and migratory animals already at greater risk because of their dependence on a fragile chain of sites to sustain them are more vulnerable than sedentary species.

Two influential UN-related wildlife bodies are proposing to join forces on a new initiative to halt the serious decline of Africa’s great carnivores. The Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) will submit their plan to the CMS COP12 wildlife summit in Manila later this month. Proposals for inclusion of the Lion and Leopard on CMS Appendix II will also be discussed at the meeting.

A new intergovernmental task force to curb the illegal killing of birds crossing one of the world’s greatest migration paths will be high on the agenda at this year’s largest wildlife summit, which takes place in Manila next month. The East Asian-Australasian Flyway spans 22 countries from the Russian Federation to Alaska in the USA in the north, through much of Eastern Asia to the Western Pacific and Australia and New Zealand in the south.

Results from the first global scientific review of the impacts of wind farms on bird and bat populations could help guide the design and location of such facilities to reduce animal mortality from collisions. The study, published in September 2017, related collision rate to species-level traits and turbine characteristics to measure the potential vulnerability of 9,538 bird and 888 bat species globally.

Guidelines to ensure marine animals are better protected from boat-based wildlife watching will be presented at a major migratory species summit in Manila later this month. Leisure cruising to view whales, dolphins, sharks, rays and turtles, as well as seabird colonies is a fast-growing commercial activity worldwide, with positive impacts on local economies.

Migratory species rely on a network of interlinked habitats throughout their journeys, including for feeding, resting and breeding. But their dependence on multiple sites makes them particularly vulnerable: When one or more of these habitats is fragmented by a road or dam, for example, or destroyed by human activity, such as agriculture or mining, it can impact on the species’ long- term survival.

Half of Canada’s wildlife species are in “serious and significant decline” according to a recent report by the World Wildlife Fund, which cites climate change as a key driver. The Living Planet Report Canada says: “Impacts are being felt across the country, from warmer and more acidic oceans to shifting seasons (and corresponding life-cycle events for wildlife species). Different species are feeling the effects in different ways. The most vulnerable species are long-lived, slow to reproduce, require specialized habitats and foods, and are unable to move in response.”