Author | Lightnews

Reposted by Felix Finkbeiner

Ian Mitchell @ianmitchell1.bsky.social · Feb 25

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer just cut the UK aid budget from 0.5% of GNI to 0.3% in 2027 to fund increases in defence spending.

He says he’s making tough choices, but cutting funding for the world’s poorest people is the easiest—and cruellest—choice he could make (1/4)

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Reposted by Felix Finkbeiner

Jesse Chase-Lubitz @jessechaselubitz.bsky.social · Feb 25

Following along at the resumed #COP16 meetings today in #Rome on biodiversity.

These are expected to be a streamlined version of the official meetings in October. The pressure is on delegates to conclude the unfinished business of Colombia.

Today’s focus: resource mobilization

@devex.com

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Felix Finkbeiner @felixfinkbeiner.bsky.social · Jan 30

Any ideas how we could improve this?

Felix Finkbeiner @felixfinkbeiner.bsky.social · Jan 30

Today, we are also integrating the data into our Plant-for-the-Planet platform. That way, donors can see if their trees may have been affected.

Here's an example: pp.eco/plant-for-ghana

pp.eco

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Felix Finkbeiner @felixfinkbeiner.bsky.social · Jan 30

The app notifies you if NASA or ESA satellites detect forest fires in or near your project sites for free. Projects in over 100 countries use FireAlert.

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Felix Finkbeiner @felixfinkbeiner.bsky.social · Jan 30

Our restoration partner projects around the world are battling forest fires every day.

To help them, we introduced the FireAlert app two years ago.

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Felix Finkbeiner @felixfinkbeiner.bsky.social · Jan 8

2. Understanding which landscapes can regenerate naturally and which need interventions to help in their recovery

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Felix Finkbeiner @felixfinkbeiner.bsky.social · Jan 8

Land abandonment will be a major development over the next 100 years, and we should be much more intentional about managing that development by:
1. Redirecting agricultural production to already converted land so we don’t destroy new primary ecosystems

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Felix Finkbeiner @felixfinkbeiner.bsky.social · Jan 8

This presents an enormous opportunity: We can gradually restore healthy, vibrant ecosystems every year.

But that’s much easier said than done. Dan Charles wrote about what abandoned agricultural land looks like in practice.

Farmers are abandoning land worldwide. What should happen to it?

Ecologists differ on whether to steer recovery or let nature take its course

www.science.org

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Felix Finkbeiner @felixfinkbeiner.bsky.social · Jan 8

About 25 years ago, we unknowingly passed one of the biggest ecological milestones: agricultural productivity outpaced population growth.

Since then, we use a little less farm land every year. In Europe alone, half the size of Germany has been abandoned.

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Felix Finkbeiner @felixfinkbeiner.bsky.social · Jan 7

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Felix Finkbeiner @felixfinkbeiner.bsky.social · Jan 7

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Felix Finkbeiner @felixfinkbeiner.bsky.social · Jan 7

A tiny ambulance. Fighting forest fires with an app and machetes. Millions of bars of chocolate and planted trees.

2024 was an exciting year at Plant-for-the-Planet! May 2025 be even better.

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Felix Finkbeiner @felixfinkbeiner.bsky.social · Dec 25

Are things getting a little too harmonious over the holidays? May I suggest reigniting one of the ecology-classics? Here’s a brief summary so you can enter well-armed

Sparing vs Sharing: The Great Debate Over How to Protect Nature

What is the best way to save nature – to cordon off areas for parks and open space or to integrate conservation measures on working lands? Recent research makes a case for each of these approaches and...

e360.yale.edu

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Felix Finkbeiner @felixfinkbeiner.bsky.social · Dec 20

A lot more research is needed to figure out which of the many policies are most effective. Looking forward to learning more!

(It's not a paywall. You just need to create a free account.)

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Felix Finkbeiner @felixfinkbeiner.bsky.social · Dec 20

How they are repeating the success now:
“Experts say Lula’s government simply switched the lights back on”, Chase-Lubitz writes.
1. Key institutions like IBAMA and INPE received major budget increases.
2. The environment ministry received a lot more influence.

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Felix Finkbeiner @felixfinkbeiner.bsky.social · Dec 20

How did the Brazilian government succeed in the early 2000s:

1. Rapidly expanding protected areas and indigenous land
2. Upgrading to real-time satellite data to detect deforestation as the basis for enforcement
3. Temporarily freezing ag. subsidies to high deforestation municipalities

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Felix Finkbeiner @felixfinkbeiner.bsky.social · Dec 20

@jessechaselubitz.bsky.social reports how President Lula is rapidly cutting deforestation. It would be an unprecedented public policy success, if not for the fact that this is the second time he is achieving this.

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Felix Finkbeiner @felixfinkbeiner.bsky.social · Dec 20

“I think that when we finish 2024, overall deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon will be between 60% and 65% less than deforestation in 2022,” said Carlos Nobre.

How did Brazil slash deforestation — and can others recreate the win?

The comeback of Lula and Silva capitalized on the policies they once built. Their success can be a model for climate development — and show where financing does the most good.

www.devex.com

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Felix Finkbeiner @felixfinkbeiner.bsky.social · Dec 17

Gerade probegesessen, denn gleich werde ich bei Wir in Bayern (@brkommunikation.bsky.social) kochen.

Währenddessen besprechen wir, ob wir die Regenwaldabholzung bis 2030 wirklich stoppen können und was die Klimakonferenz gebracht hat. Wenn dich das interessiert, dann schalte doch um 16:15 ein.

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Felix Finkbeiner @felixfinkbeiner.bsky.social · Dec 17

The m&m was born in a mix of WW2 military procurement and nepotism within Hersheys. That and more I learned in this excellent history of the US chocolate industry

Mars Inc. (the chocolate story)

Podcast Episode · Acquired · 16/12/2024 · 3h 53m

podcasts.apple.com

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Felix Finkbeiner @felixfinkbeiner.bsky.social · Dec 16

Download for Android: play.google.com/store/apps/d...
Download for iPhones: apps.apple.com/us/app/id669...
Learn more: tracer.eco

Felix Finkbeiner @felixfinkbeiner.bsky.social · Dec 16

It’s our duty to ensure that rainforest protection doesn’t harm the most vulnerable communities. The EU Deforestation Regulation risks just that. So we built EUDR Tracer – the free tool for smallholders and cooperatives. We are testing it now. Please let me know if you have any suggestions!

EUDR Tracer – the free app for cooperatives

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Felix Finkbeiner @felixfinkbeiner.bsky.social · Dec 10

Above are the 41 species we’re planting in the project – about 14 million so far – and the seed dispersers they attract.