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Borneo Post
05-07-2025
- General
- Borneo Post
Sabah Forestry Dept gets grant to save endangered trees
An elegant palm, Adonidia dransfieldii. KOTA KINABALU (July 5): The Sabah Forestry Department has secured a conservation grant totalling £45,000 (approximately RM270,000) over three years (2025–2027) working with Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI), the world's largest network for plant conservation, headquartered in the United Kingdom. The conservation project, titled 'Conserving Critically Endangered Adonidia dransfieldii and Saurauia sammanniana in Sabah', represents a significant milestone in global recognition of Sabah's commitment to conserving its unique and threatened plant biodiversity. Adonidia dransfieldii and Saurauia sammanniana are both listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Among more than 500 threatened tree species in Sabah, these two have been identified as facing some of the highest risk of extinction, highlighting the urgent need for targeted conservation action to prevent their disappearance from the wild. A rare treelet, Saurauia sammanniana. The technical and financial assistance provided by BGCI for this work is part of BGCI's Tree Conservation Programme, dedicated to saving the world's threatened tree species in their natural habitats, funded by Fondation Franklinia and many other international donor organisations. Malaysia is one of four Southeast Asian countries to receive funding this cycle from Fondation Franklinia (2025 to 2027), under the Global Trees: Action for all tree species – Tree Conservation Action Project. 'Receiving this international grant is not only a proud moment for us, but a testament to the critical importance of Sabah's unique biodiversity. These two endemic species are only found in Sabah and may face serious threats due to habitat loss and lack of in-situ protection. The department has been actively committed to biodiversity conservation efforts, more so, for the rare and threatened species, in line with the Sabah Forest Policy 2018,' said Datuk Frederick Kugan, the Chief Conservator of Forests. Over the next three years, the project will implement a comprehensive conservation strategy based on five core objectives: Identification and mapping of wild populations – Field surveys will be conducted to locate and document remaining wild populations of the two species. Propagation and ex situ conservation – The department aims to achieve at least 65% success in seed and cutting propagation, leading to the establishment of genetically representative ex situ collections in Sabah. In situ population reinforcement – At least 20 individuals of each species will be planted back into their natural habitat to strengthen wild populations. Capacity building and public awareness – Training workshops for conservation staff and education activities for local communities will be held to raise awareness and build local capacity. Development of conservation action plans – Species-specific action and propagation plans will be developed and published for national and global use. Sabah Forestry Department will lead all project activities, with technical mentoring and oversight provided by BGCI. The department is also responsible for reporting progress annually through BGCI's GlobalTree Portal, ensuring transparency and data sharing across the global conservation community. 'This collaboration places Sabah on the global conservation map and reinforces our role as a key guardian of Borneo's endemic flora. It's not just about saving plants. It's about protecting the natural heritage that sustains our ecosystems and communities,' said Alviana Damit, Project Coordinator and Assistant Research Officer at the Forest Research Centre. Kugan would like to thank BGCI and Fondation Franklinia for this opportunity and the department looks forward to working with local stakeholders, communities and international partners in protecting these irreplaceable species for future generations.
Cision Canada
22-05-2025
- Business
- Cision Canada
International Day for Biological Diversity 2025: Shanghai Electric Highlights Global Efforts in Biodiversity Protection, Promoting Harmony with Nature
The Company's innovative technology and management support a world where nature thrives and harmony endures. SHANGHAI, May 22, 2025 /CNW/ -- Shanghai Electric (SEHK:2727, SSE:601727) marked International Day for Biological Diversity 2025 on May 22, themed Harmony With Nature and Sustainable Development, by sharing its practice to integrate ecological protection throughout the entire engineering cycle. From the deserts of Dubai to Romania's forests, and from Malaysia's Selangor coast to Turkey's Yumurtalik district, the Company has contributed its expertise to global biodiversity conservation through community collaboration, technological innovation, and international cooperation. The projects underscores the Company's leadership in environmental, social, and governance practices, which the report of 2024 has been released by passed April. Shanghai Electric, as a leading energy equipment manufacturer and green engineering provider, incorporates biodiversity protection into the top-level design of its global projects. The Company evaluates local sensitive species, and takes proactive measures to reduce environmental impact during projects. It promotes ecological balance and biodiversity protection in operating and project areas and regularly evaluates the effectiveness of these efforts. Shanghai Electric promotes biodiversity protection in Dubai's deserts and Romania's forests Shanghai Electric's Dubai Solar Thermal Project established a biodiversity protection system before construction, identifying sensitive species habitats and limiting operations with fences and paths. Cleanup efforts raised employee awareness of local ecosystems, culminating in a 2024 joint desert cleanup with municipal officials. In Romania, the Skurtu photovoltaic project was designed to protect local forests by routing cables connecting the north and south blocks around a small forest and excavating roads to avoid farmland. Located in Teleorman County, the 56.03MWp project will supply green power to about 48,000 homes and reduce annual carbon emissions by 4,150 tons, demonstrating Shanghai Electric's commitment to environmental protection across diverse global projects. Innovative technology empowers ecological restoration The Shanghai Electric-built Hunutlu Thermal Power Plant in Turkey is located in a biodiversity hotspot, home to reptiles and invertebrates listed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The plant employs ultra-low emissions technology that cuts dust, sulfur, and nitrogen, and ensures zero discharge of desulfurization wastewater, protecting Black Sea coastal waters. Its advanced system treats and recycles wastewater for uses such as agricultural irrigation. During construction, Shanghai Electric and project partners implemented turtle protection measures, including forming a volunteer team to clear beach debris and remove obstacles for nesting. To further safeguard sea turtles, the plant limits construction noise and restricts nighttime lighting toward the sea, minimizing environmental disruption and highlighting a strong commitment to biodiversity and ecological responsibility. Community collaboration in Malaysia raises biodiversity protection awareness In October 2024, Shanghai Electric's Malaysia Selangor Regenerated Energy Power Station Project Department joined a beach cleanup led by Malaysia's Department of Environment to raise awareness of environmental protection and reduce coastal pollution. The initiative aimed to protect marine biodiversity around Selangor. In addition to participating in cleanup efforts, the team promoted Shanghai Electric's environmental and occupational health policies, emphasizing green, smart energy, and ecological sustainability. The project department also highlighted efforts to manage environmental safety risks. Its contributions earned multiple environmental protection certificates from Selangor, with local authorities recognizing its commitment to sustainability and responsible development in the region. Shanghai Electric is continuing to promote biodiversity in 2025 having launched several successful campaigns in 2024, emphasizing harmony between industrial development and ecological protection. The Company plans to leverage its strengths in clean technology and green manufacturing to advance "Harmony with nature and sustainable development."
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
International Day for Biological Diversity 2025: Shanghai Electric Highlights Global Efforts in Biodiversity Protection, Promoting Harmony with Nature
The Company's innovative technology and management support a world where nature thrives and harmony endures. SHANGHAI, May 22, 2025 /CNW/ -- Shanghai Electric (SEHK:2727, SSE:601727) marked International Day for Biological Diversity 2025 on May 22, themed Harmony With Nature and Sustainable Development, by sharing its practice to integrate ecological protection throughout the entire engineering cycle. From the deserts of Dubai to Romania's forests, and from Malaysia's Selangor coast to Turkey's Yumurtalik district, the Company has contributed its expertise to global biodiversity conservation through community collaboration, technological innovation, and international cooperation. The projects underscores the Company's leadership in environmental, social, and governance practices, which the report of 2024 has been released by passed April. Shanghai Electric, as a leading energy equipment manufacturer and green engineering provider, incorporates biodiversity protection into the top-level design of its global projects. The Company evaluates local sensitive species, and takes proactive measures to reduce environmental impact during projects. It promotes ecological balance and biodiversity protection in operating and project areas and regularly evaluates the effectiveness of these efforts. Shanghai Electric promotes biodiversity protection in Dubai's deserts and Romania's forests Shanghai Electric's Dubai Solar Thermal Project established a biodiversity protection system before construction, identifying sensitive species habitats and limiting operations with fences and paths. Cleanup efforts raised employee awareness of local ecosystems, culminating in a 2024 joint desert cleanup with municipal officials. In Romania, the Skurtu photovoltaic project was designed to protect local forests by routing cables connecting the north and south blocks around a small forest and excavating roads to avoid farmland. Located in Teleorman County, the 56.03MWp project will supply green power to about 48,000 homes and reduce annual carbon emissions by 4,150 tons, demonstrating Shanghai Electric's commitment to environmental protection across diverse global projects. Innovative technology empowers ecological restoration The Shanghai Electric-built Hunutlu Thermal Power Plant in Turkey is located in a biodiversity hotspot, home to reptiles and invertebrates listed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The plant employs ultra-low emissions technology that cuts dust, sulfur, and nitrogen, and ensures zero discharge of desulfurization wastewater, protecting Black Sea coastal waters. Its advanced system treats and recycles wastewater for uses such as agricultural irrigation. During construction, Shanghai Electric and project partners implemented turtle protection measures, including forming a volunteer team to clear beach debris and remove obstacles for nesting. To further safeguard sea turtles, the plant limits construction noise and restricts nighttime lighting toward the sea, minimizing environmental disruption and highlighting a strong commitment to biodiversity and ecological responsibility. Community collaboration in Malaysia raises biodiversity protection awareness In October 2024, Shanghai Electric's Malaysia Selangor Regenerated Energy Power Station Project Department joined a beach cleanup led by Malaysia's Department of Environment to raise awareness of environmental protection and reduce coastal pollution. The initiative aimed to protect marine biodiversity around Selangor. In addition to participating in cleanup efforts, the team promoted Shanghai Electric's environmental and occupational health policies, emphasizing green, smart energy, and ecological sustainability. The project department also highlighted efforts to manage environmental safety risks. Its contributions earned multiple environmental protection certificates from Selangor, with local authorities recognizing its commitment to sustainability and responsible development in the region. Shanghai Electric is continuing to promote biodiversity in 2025 having launched several successful campaigns in 2024, emphasizing harmony between industrial development and ecological protection. The Company plans to leverage its strengths in clean technology and green manufacturing to advance "Harmony with nature and sustainable development." For more information on Shanghai Electric's ESG practices, please visit its official website or view its 2024 ESG report. View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Shanghai Electric View original content to download multimedia:
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Monkeys are kidnapping babies of another species on a Panamanian island, perplexing scientists
Sign up for CNN's Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. At first, behavioral ecologist Zoë Goldsborough thought the small figure seen on the back of a capuchin monkey in her camera trap footage was just a baby capuchin. But something, she said, seemed off. A closer look revealed the figure's unexpected coloration. She quickly sent a screenshot to her research collaborators. They were perplexed. 'I realized that it was really something that we hadn't seen before,' Goldsborough said. Further observation of the video and cross-checking among researchers revealed that the small figure was actually a monkey of a different species — a baby howler. 'I was shocked,' Goldsborough said. As Goldsborough searched through the rest of her footage, she noticed the same adult monkey — a white-faced capuchin nicknamed 'Joker' for the scar on his mouth — carrying a baby howler monkey in other clips, too. Then, she noticed other male capuchins, known scientifically as Cebus capucinus imitator, doing the same thing. But why? Using 15 months of camera-trap footage from their research site on Jicarón Island, a small island 55 kilometers (34 miles) off the coast of Panama and part of Coiba National Park, Goldsborough's collaborators from the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, University of Konstanz, and Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, among others, studied the odd behavior to find an answer. They found that, starting with Joker, four subadult and juvenile male capuchin monkeys had abducted at least 11 infant howler monkeys between January 2022 and March 2023. With no evidence of the capuchins eating, caring for or playing with the infants, the study authors suspect the kidnapping behavior is a kind of 'cultural fad' — and potentially a symptom of the monkeys' unique conditions in the ecosystem of Jicarón. They reported their initial findings Monday in the journal Current Biology. Still, many questions remain. And unraveling the mystery could be crucial, the researchers said. The howler population on Jicarón is an endangered subspecies of mantled howler monkeys, Alouatta palliata coibensis, according to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, a global assessment of species' vulnerability to extinction. Additionally, howler monkey moms give birth only once every two years, on average. Examining the capuchin kidnapper case 'was kind of like a roller coaster where we kept having different interpretations, and then we would find something that proved that wrong,' said Goldsborough, the study's lead author and a doctoral student with the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior and University of Konstanz. Jicarón Island is uninhabited by humans. With no electricity and a rocky terrain, scientists have to haul their gear and other materials to the island with boats when the tides are right, making in-person observations of the skittish capuchin monkeys difficult. That's why they use camera traps: hidden, motion-triggered cameras that capture photos and videos of the ground-dwelling capuchins. But there's a major limitation to their work: You don't know what you can't see, and the camera traps don't capture what's happening in the treetops, where howler monkeys live. So, the study team couldn't definitively confirm how, when, or why capuchins abducted the babies. At first, the researchers thought it was a rare, one-time case of adoption. Monkeys have been known to 'adopt' abandoned infants of the same or other species. But Joker wasn't caring for the howlers — he was just carrying them on his back, with no clear benefit to himself, until the infants eventually perished of starvation without access to breast milk. It's an odd behavior for male primates, said Pedro Dias, a primatologist at Veracruzana University in Mexico who studies Mexico's mantled howler monkeys and was not involved in the research. In primatology, it's fairly common to find females adopting or abducting infants to then care for them as a maternal instinct, he said. But on Jicarón, the males were not providing maternal care. When behavioral ecologist Corinna Most first read about the Jicarón monkey kidnappings, she suspected something else was going on. 'They're probably eating these babies,' said Most, an adjunct associate professor at Iowa State University who studies baboons, of her initial thoughts. Abduction for predation isn't uncommon in the animal world, added Most, who was not involved with the research. But as she learned more about the team's observations, she was surprised to find that wasn't happening in this case, either. Instead, the capuchins toted around the baby howlers for days with few interactions — no play, minimal aggression and little interest. Why they would exert the energy to steal babies is largely unclear, said study coauthor Brendan Barrett, a behavioral ecologist and Goldsborough's adviser. However, it's important to note that these island capuchins evolved in a different environment from their mainland relatives, explained Barrett. Capuchins are 'destructive, explorative agents of chaos,' he said. Even on the mainland, they rip things apart, hit wasp nests, wrestle with each other, harass other species and poke around just to see what happens. On an island without predators, 'that makes it less risky to do stupid things,' Barrett said. Island capuchins can also spread out since they don't need strength in numbers for protection, allowing them to explore. With this relative safety and freedom, Jicarón's capuchin monkeys might be a bit bored, the researchers proposed. Boredom, it turns out, could be a key driver of innovation — particularly on islands, and particularly among younger individuals of a species. This idea is the focus of Goldsborough's thesis research on Jicarón and Coiba's capuchins, the only monkey populations in these areas that have been observed using stones as tools to crack nuts. Consistent with the abductions, it's only the males who use tools on Jicarón, which remains a mystery to the researchers. 'We know that cultural innovation, in several cases, is linked to the youngest and not the oldest,' Dias said. For example, evidence of potato-washing behavior in macaques on Japan's Koshima Island was first observed in a young female nicknamed Imo. There are a few possible reasons for this, Dias explained. Adolescence is a time during which primates are independent from their mothers, when they start to forage and explore on their own. At that stage the monkeys also aren't fully integrated into their group's society yet. Over-imitation — a tendency in human children to imitate the behavior of others even if they don't understand it — could possibly be at play as well, Most said. This over-imitation isn't found in other animals, Most emphasized, but, 'I almost feel like this is what these other capuchins are doing,' perhaps as a way to socially bond with Joker, she observed. Most said she has usually thought that necessity, rather than free time, is the mother of invention in nature. But 'this paper makes a good case for (the idea that) maybe sometimes animals that are really smart, like capuchins, just get bored,' she noted. People and other primates famously share a certain level of intelligence defined by tool usage and other metrics, but some shared traits could be less desirable, Goldsborough said. 'One of the ways we are different from many animals is that we have many of these sort of arbitrary, nearly functionless cultural traditions that really harm other animals,' she added. As a kid growing up in the northeastern United States, Barrett said he used to catch frogs and lightning bugs in mason jars while exploring the outdoors. While he never meant to hurt them, he knows those activities usually aren't pleasant for the animal. It's possible that the capuchins' kidnapping behavior is similarly arbitrary — if not moderately entertaining for them. Barrett and Goldsborough said they hope this new behavior fades away, much like fads among humans come and go. Or perhaps the howler monkeys will catch onto what's happening and adapt their behavior to better protect their babies, Goldsborough added. 'It kind of is like a mirror that reflects upon ourselves,' Barrett said, 'of us seemingly doing things to other species that can harm them and seem atrocious that have no real purpose.'
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Scientists floored after tracking eagle's flight throughout vast journey: 'Flying by instinct'
Researchers discovered that the Pallas's fish eagle returns to the same spot in an Indian national park for its annual breeding season. According to the Hindu, the eagle has been flying to Assam's Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve to breed for five years in a row. It's one of the largest fishing eagles and is listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The tracked individual, a bird called Ider, exhibits reverse migration habits. Kaziranga acts as its home base for breeding, but it flies back to Mongolia after each breeding season. Two months after hatching, the baby birds are strong enough to fly to Mongolia as well. Dr. Sachin Ranade, one of the scientists tracking the flight patterns from the Bombay Natural History Society, said, "They don't need parental guidance, flying by instinct to navigate the [Central Asian Flyway]." Ranade explained, "We observed two chicks in the tagged bird's nest. Although we cannot say how many chicks it has sired, we can conclude it bred every year in Kaziranga for five successive years." According to the Hindu, it's estimated that only 2,500 mature Pallas's eagles exist in the wild. Seeing it return to Kaziranga each year is a positive sign for the species. Kaziranga's field director, Sonali Ghosh, noted, "Kaziranga is one of the best locations on Earth to observe this bird." It's also one of the safest places. Kaziranga is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a protected area, home to some of India's rarest creatures. One-horned rhinos, elephants, wild water buffalo, tigers, and swamp deer all reside here. Seeing the Pallas's eagle breed here means the young birds will have a safe place to grow before flying to Mongolia. Places like Kaziranga are essential for protecting biodiversity. The more species within an ecosystem, the more resilient it is. All creatures, including humans, rely on biodiversity for food and water security, disease control, and climate stability. Protecting birds like this eagle and preserving areas like Kaziranga help foster a cooler, healthier planet. According to the New Indian Express, Ghosh said in a statement that this development "highlights the importance of Kaziranga as a critical habitat for migratory birds [and] the need for continued conservation efforts to protect such endangered species." Hopefully, the Pallas's eagles will safely return to Kaziranga for many more breeding seasons. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
