• Sustainability

A Delicate Balance: Building Back Tourism In Ways That Support Nature and Communities

• #COVID
• communities
• healing
• nature
• pandemic
• tourism
• wildlife

By Ashira Morris, ODP Staff Writer “Nature is healing” memes aside, the past year of paused travel has had an unexpected downside for wildlife worldwide. In some countries, fewer tourists and cruise ships have given animals a reprieve, like whales off the coast of Alaska no longer subjected to five months of constant cruise ship […]

• People

The Cornerstone of Community Engagement Within Conservation

• communities
• community engagement
• conservation
• extinction crisis
• living planet
• Maasai
• wildlife

By Azzedine T. Downes,  President and CEO, International Fund for Animal Welfare At key moments in any movement, it is important to take a step back and take stock. For those of us actively engaged in the race against extinction, this is one of those moments. I lead the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), […]

• Ocean

Climate change is an increasing challenge for fishing industry

• climate change
• cod
• communities
• fish
• fisheries
• Gulf of Mexico
• management
• ocean acidification
• ocean warming
• oysters

Warming ocean temperatures are causing massive changes for fishermen, some of which may force them out of business, according to several recent stories examining the impacts of climate change on the fishing industry. 

Why This Matters:  Warming waters that shift fish populations make a barely viable business downright impossible for many small and medium-sized fishing operations.  Not to mention the additional fuel and time it takes to chase fewer fish, that are now found farther from ports.  Watching this play out is painful in U.S. fishing communities, but for many parts of the world, it could become a real food security crisis.  The U.S. government currently is very lethargic in changing its fisheries management schemes even as the evidence of shifting fish populations grows.  Given the challenges of climate change, a more engaged approach to fisheries management that takes climate change into account is needed.  It will benefit the fishermen and the fish populations as well.