{"id":286151,"date":"2026-08-12T11:06:38","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T01:06:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sustainabilitybites.com\/dbytes\/?p=286151"},"modified":"2026-08-12T11:06:41","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T01:06:41","slug":"dbytes-731-12-august-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainabilitybites.com\/dbytes\/dbytes-731-12-august-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Dbytes #731 (12 August 2026)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

\u201cWhen data contradicts a cherished belief, cognitive dissonance kicks in like an immune system rejecting foreign tissue. The mind doesn\u2019t weigh evidence neutrally. It searches for flaws, discounts sources, and finds alternative interpretations. It protects the story it has already told countless times about itself and the world.\u201d
Dangerfield and Scott, <\/em>Evidence isn\u2019t enough<\/a><\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

-~<>~-

In this issue of Dbytes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Australia has pledged to restore nature. But could we ever bring back lost ecosystems?
2. Unexpected expansion and regrowth in Earth\u2019s mangrove forests over the past four decades
<\/strong>3. Government Pulls Funding for the Arctic Report Card
4. Why science must reinforce its social contract
5. Who Gets to Decide the Fate of a Pristine Alaskan Rainforest?
<\/strong>6. Is native forest logging good for the climate?
7. Hothouse Earth is arriving faster than predicted
<\/strong>8. Butterflies are on the move as the planet warms<\/strong>

<\/strong>-~<>~-

1. Australia has pledged to restore nature. But could we ever bring back lost ecosystems?
<\/strong>
Nature is not doing well in Australia. Many unique mammals, birds and insects are struggling. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. In response, the federal government signed a global pledge in 2022 to protect and restore nature. The global goal is to restore 30% of degraded ecosystems. But Australia only proposes to have \u201cpriority degraded areas [\u2026] under effective restoration by 2030\u201d. The terms are not defined, no 30% target is included, and there is no method proposed to measure success. With 2030 less than four years away, it\u2019s time to ask hard questions. What does it actually mean to restore nature? What would success look like? And what would it cost?

https:\/\/theconversation.com\/australia-has-pledged-to-restore-nature-but-could-we-ever-bring-back-lost-ecosystems-286141<\/a>

-~<>~-

2. Unexpected expansion and regrowth in Earth\u2019s mangrove forests over the past four decades
<\/strong>
Mangrove forests are coastal habitats that serve as nurseries for economically important fisheries. Natural disturbances such as cyclones and shore erosion, together with aquaculture, palm plantation, and rice paddy expansion, have led to global declines in mangrove forest cover, spurring national and international pledges to restore it. Zhang et al. created a 30-meter-resolution annual dataset from satellite imagery to assess how mangrove occurrence and canopy cover have changed from 1984 to 2023. Mangroves declined globally before 2010, but have mostly recovered since then, with both forest loss and degradation (declining canopy cover) rates slowing over time. Mangroves are mostly expanding into new habitats, but also regenerating in former habitat, suggesting hope for ecosystem recovery.

Unexpected expansion and regrowth in Earth\u2019s mangrove forests over the past four decades | Science<\/a>

-~<>~-

3. Government Pulls Funding for the Arctic Report Card
<\/strong>
The Trump administration is pulling funding from NOAA\u2019s Arctic Report Card, an annual, peer-reviewed report about the state of the region, which is warming more quickly than anywhere else on Earth. The report\u2019s authors learned of the news in a Monday afternoon meeting. The lack of federal support could mean that the report will not be made available to the public.

Government Pulls Funding for the Arctic Report Card – Eos<\/a>

-~<>~-

4. Why science must reinforce its social contract
<\/strong>
Questions of public trust can be addressed only through better communication and research that meets society\u2019s interests.

Why science must reinforce its social contract | Nature<\/a>

-~<>~-

5. Who Gets to Decide the Fate of a Pristine Alaskan Rainforest?
<\/strong>
More than half a century ago, the U.S. Congress transferred 44 million acres of public lands in Alaska to for-profit Native corporations, which have been free to exploit those lands, including by logging them. Last year, the state\u2019s congressional delegation introduced a new bill, the Alaska Native Landless Equity Act, which would transfer an additional 115,000 acres from the Tongass National Forest \u2014 the world\u2019s largest temperate rainforest \u2014 to five newly formed Native corporations. Those lands contain 80,000 acres of ancient forest, including 60,000 roadless acres. Should the bill pass, many environmental activists fear much of that land will be clearcut.

Who Gets to Decide the Fate of a Pristine Alaskan Rainforest? – Yale E360<\/a>

-~<>~-

6. Is native forest logging good for the climate?
<\/strong>
Australia\u2019s buildings are made largely from plantation timber, not native forest wood. That simple fact is missing from a claim now circulating that logging native forests is good for the climate.

Is native forest logging good for the climate? | Spinifex | The Fifth Estate<\/a>

-~<>~-

7. Hothouse Earth is arriving faster than predicted
<\/strong>
New climate data and risk modelling suggest global heating is accelerating far faster than expected, with catastrophic consequences unless fossil fuel use is rapidly reduced.

Hothouse Earth is arriving faster than predicted | Pearls and Irritations<\/a>

-~<>~-

8. Butterflies are on the move as the planet warms
<\/strong>
Around the world, ongoing environmental changes are prompting many butterfly species to relocate and search for new homes, a process referred to as species range shifts or species redistribution. As temperatures, rainfall and habitats change, butterflies can relocate over long distances, or even move vertically up and down mountain ranges. Our new global study found one in ten known butterfly species has already shifted in range. So, where are they going \u2013 and why?

Butterflies are on the move as the planet warms: new research<\/a>

-~<>~-

About Dbytes

<\/strong>Dbytes is a weekly eNewsletter presenting news and views on biodiversity conservation and environmental decision science. \u2018D\u2019 stands for \u2018Decision\u2019 and refers to all the ingredients that go into good, fair and just decision-making in relation to the environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/a>.

If you have any contributions to Dbytes (ie, opportunities and resources that you think might be of value to other Dbyte readers) please send them to David.Salt@anu.edu.au<\/a>. Please keep them short and provide a link for more info.

Anyone is welcome to receive Dbytes. If you would like to receive it, simply visit
https:\/\/sustainabilitybites.com\/dbytes\/<\/a>
enter you email and press the follow button. (IT’S FREE so if you see any value in it please recommend it to your friends!)

David Salt<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and you can follow me on twitter (X) at
@davidlimesalt or the Global Water Forum on @GWFWater
Or Blue Sky at @susbites.bsky.social<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In this issue of Dbytes
\n1. Australia has pledged to restore nature. But could we ever bring back lost ecosystems?
\n2. Unexpected expansion and regrowth in Earth\u2019s mangrove forests over the past four decades
\n3. Government Pulls Funding for the Arctic Report Card
\n4. Why science must reinforce its social contract
\n5. Who Gets to Decide the Fate of a Pristine Alaskan Rainforest?
\n6. Is native forest logging good for the climate?
\n7. Hothouse Earth is arriving faster than predicted
\n8. Butterflies are on the move as the planet warms<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":286152,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[59],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-286151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dbytes-online"],"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/sustainabilitybites.com\/dbytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/image731-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sustainabilitybites.com\/dbytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sustainabilitybites.com\/dbytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sustainabilitybites.com\/dbytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sustainabilitybites.com\/dbytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sustainabilitybites.com\/dbytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=286151"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sustainabilitybites.com\/dbytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286151\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":286153,"href":"https:\/\/sustainabilitybites.com\/dbytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286151\/revisions\/286153"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sustainabilitybites.com\/dbytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/286152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sustainabilitybites.com\/dbytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=286151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sustainabilitybites.com\/dbytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=286151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sustainabilitybites.com\/dbytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=286151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}