Info, news & views for anyone interested in biodiversity conservation and good environmental decision making

“Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, under which the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) was adopted, have committed to—and hold primary responsibility for—action to halt and reverse the loss of biodiversity…
…Data suggest that action on the KMGBF to date remains highly insufficient.”
Milner-Gulland et al [see item 1]

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In this issue of Dbytes

1. A Critical Year for Nature: Now Is the Time to Accelerate Action on the Global Biodiversity Framework
2. Unlocking industrial decarbonisation through integrated land-use planning
3. Rights of nature in socio-legal perspective: from law to practice
4. Australia and COP31: key issues ahead of the 2026 climate summit
5. Plantations are the future of timber. Biodiversity cannot be an afterthought
6. Australian researchers launch “breakthrough” online tool to track climate damage of new fossil fuel projects
7. Birds are building nests with our rubbish. Can we offer them something better?
8. On Bogongs and Hoverflies: why do we know so little about insect populations?

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1. A Critical Year for Nature: Now Is the Time to Accelerate Action on the Global Biodiversity Framework

In October 2026, Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) will convene for COP17 to review progress against the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) adopted in 2022. A global report provides a summary of collective progress, primarily drawing from government self-reporting at the halfway mark to 2030, the target year for taking urgent action to halt and reverse nature loss. Data suggest that action on the KMGBF to date remains highly insufficient. Simultaneously, the decline of biodiversity is continuing, with a real danger of reaching irreversible tipping points. We highlight four key needs to help turn this around: (i) an independent mechanism to track national and local efforts on nature to complement formal government reporting; (ii) an approach for prioritizing the most impactful potential country actions, incorporating principles of fairness and ability to act; (iii) broader whole-of-society dialogue in and across countries on what works and what is needed; and (iv) a platform to facilitate context-specific scientific insights to support country-level and global action. To turn these needs into opportunities, we propose specific tools already under development which could complement existing CBD mechanisms to reinforce and account for collective action during these critical next few years.

The Society for Conservation Biology

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2. Unlocking industrial decarbonisation through integrated land-use planning

New Climateworks Centre analysis finds integrated land use planning could help meet the growing electricity needs of heavy industry while managing impacts on biodiversity and agriculture. Modelling for Queensland for example, finds high value biodiversity areas could be protected for around 1% more in system costs, while less than 0.2% of agricultural production would be affected. The analysis highlights the value of coordinating industrial demand, renewable generation and transmission. These connections also feature in the sector-by-sector analysis and modelling that informed the Authority’s 2035 Targets Advice.

Unlocking industrial decarbonisation through integrated land-use planning – Climateworks Centre

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3. Rights of nature in socio-legal perspective: from law to practice

As the ecological crisis deepens, there is a growing call from lawyers and activists to revise the very foundations on which environmental law is built. One increasingly prominent proposal is to grant nature its own inherent rights. Lawmakers across the world have formally recognised rights of nature (RoN) and communities have started using rights language to nurture new relationships with nature. A thriving literature studies the socio-political dynamics underlying and emanating from this development. This paper reviews how this scholarship assesses the origins and impacts of such rights and lays out a research agenda for future inquiry. It identifies two dominant research paradigms and outlines a third, yet to be fully developed one. The first views RoN through the lens of contentious politics over their legal formalisation and enactment. The second situates them within (counter-)hegemonic discourses, probing their ability to disrupt entrenched ontologies. The third highlights how everyday practices interact with RoN. Rather than locating change in political victories or structural ruptures, this approach situates it in the endogenous shifts of routines in communities, movements, and organisations. The paper argues that dynamics of norm translation and routinisation can both reproduce but also resist dominant forms of governing nature.

Full article: Rights of nature in socio-legal perspective: from law to practice

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4. Australia and COP31: key issues ahead of the 2026 climate summit

Each year, parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meet at a Conference of the Parties (COP) to discuss and advance global action on climate change. Türkiye will host COP31 in Antalya from 9–20 November 2026. Prior to this, Australia will co-host a leaders’ event and pre-COP meeting in partnership with Pacific countries in Funafuti, Tuvalu, and Nadi, Fiji from 5–8 October. This research note sets out Australia’s role in COP31 and key issues shaping the COP31 agenda. Australia’s role as President of Negotiations has been described as giving Australia and the Pacific ‘unprecedented influence’ on global negotiations.

Australia and COP31: key issues ahead of the 2026 climate summit

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5. Plantations are the future of timber. Biodiversity cannot be an afterthought

As plantations supply more of Australia’s timber, how they are established and harvested will increasingly shape biodiversity. Good management can make a substantial difference. Native forest logging is winding back across Australia, so plantations will need to carry a growing share of the nation’s wood supply. Approximately one third of global timber is sourced from timber tree plantations, even though plantations cover only approximately 3 per cent of the area of forests globally. The primary objective of timber tree plantations is to grow forest products like timber and wood derivatives such as paper pulp and woodchips. However, plantations can sometimes have important values for biodiversity.

Plantations are the future of timber. Biodiversity cannot be an afterthought | Pearls and Irritations

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6. Australian researchers launch “breakthrough” online tool to track climate damage of new fossil fuel projects

Joining the dots between the impacts on the world of a new fossil fuel project’s carbon-dioxide emissions has just got a bit easier with the release of what Australian researchers have dubbed a “breakthrough” open-access online tool. The Carbon Impacts Tracer tool, building on a study published last year by six universities in Australia and the UK, allows the public to explore the link between new sources of CO2 to extra warming and the resulting estimated impacts on eight social and environmental categories. These impacts range from future coral reef and glacier loss, to crop impacts and the pushing of more people beyond a “human climate niche”.

Australian researchers launch “breakthrough” online tool to track climate damage of new fossil fuel projects

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7. Birds are building nests with our rubbish. Can we offer them something better?

It’s spring, and Australian birds are building their nests. But with what? Alongside grass and twigs, birds are collecting our rubbish. In 2023, a global study found litter in the nests of 176 different bird species, with common culprits including cigarette butts, plastic bags and fishing nets. The risks these materials pose for birds – and particularly chicks – include choking, poisoning and entanglement. In Australia, birds are already doing it tough, with a biodiversity crisis and the arrival of bird flu. People might wonder: what can be done to help our feathered friends? One approach is to try and make better nest-building materials more readily available to birds, particularly at this crucial time of year. Our experimental project Peckable Architecture is designed to do just that.

Birds are building nests with our rubbish. Can we offer them something better?

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8. On Bogongs and Hoverflies: why do we know so little about insect populations?

Bogong moths have been in the news the last few weeks. Huge numbers were recorded over large areas of New South Wales, which is very exciting news after a few years of potential decline and an IUCN listing. They were observed en masse in Sydney, central coast, southeast coast and through the central north regions (around Tamworth and Manilla) – they were probably elsewhere too, but people need to report observations to be ‘observed’.

On Bogongs and Hoverflies: why do we know so little about insect populations? – Ecology is not a dirty word

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About Dbytes

Dbytes is a weekly eNewsletter presenting news and views on biodiversity conservation and environmental decision science. ‘D’ stands for ‘Decision’ and refers to all the ingredients that go into good, fair and just decision-making in relation to the environment.

From 2007-2018 Dbytes was supported by a variety of research networks and primarily the ARC Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions (CEED). From 2019 Dbytes is being produced by David Salt (Ywords). David was formerly the Editor of Decision Point, the research magazine of CEED.

Dbytes is supported by the Global Water Forum.

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