Dear friends and co-fighters!

Welcome to the next issue of Positive News.

Let you spread it among your friends and co-fighters in your countries and around the Earth.

We will be glad to receive and publish your positive news from the fields and offices.

Welcome to send us photos of your country's Nature Reserves.

Sviatoslav Zabelin, SEU coordinator

Digest of Socio-Ecological Union International for April 14, 2022. №47

The Astrakhan State Natural Biosphere Reserve is located in the lower reaches of the Volga Delta, established on April 11, 1919 by the decision of Scientific Commission at Astrakhan University. As a natural object of state significance, it was approved by the resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the Russian Federation on November 24, 1927.

In 2023, killer whales and belugas are not threatened by trapping in Russia. Since 2019, Sakhalin Environment Watch has been able to consistently prevent the capture of killer whales, belugas and dolphins in the Far Eastern Seas of Russia for any purpose. And there were such attempts – for example, in 2020 Russian Fishing Agency tried to drag in the materials of the total allowable catch a permit to catch 4 killer whales and 10 belugas in the Sea of Okhotsk for "scientific research". But then we were all able to achieve the exclusion of these plans and protected the cetaceans. In March, Russian Fishing Agency again began the traditional procedure of public discussions of materials of plans for the extraction of aquatic biological resources for 2023. We have thoroughly analyzed them, and we can say with confidence that there are no more catches of any whales and dolphins there. This means that Russian Fishing Agency has already stopped even attempts to resume the capture of killer whales and belugas, both for commercial and entertainment (i.e. cultural and educational) and for scientific purposes.

And this is a serious victory of civil society in the name of nature, humanity and ethical attitude to animals. Starting from 2019, the production of belugas in Chukotka for the needs of the indigenous population is also zero. Literally, not a single animal has suffered from traditional hunting. Read more

A scheme to reintroduce brown bears to the Pyrenees is showing signs of success, with 70 individuals identified in 2021, the highest number for a century. The population has increased from 52 in 2018, according to figures produced by the cross-border group that monitors the bears in France and Spain, with half the creatures living in the Catalan Pyrenean regions of Vall d’Aran, Pallars Sobirà and Alta Ribagorça. Overall, the population is thinly spread over an area of 6,500 sq km. The study identified 34 females, 32 males and four others whose gender was not determined, with 15 pups born over the course of last year. There have been a 114 newborns since the scheme was launched in 1996.

Brown bears were near extinct in the Pyrenees until the scheme introduced new animals to the region from Slovenia in 1996. Photograph: Stefan Korshak/EPA

The brown bear was near extinct in the Pyrenees when three bears from Slovenia were introduced 26 years ago. The last native specimen was shot in 2004 and two years later four females were introduced, also from Slovenia. Read more

For the first time in the 21st century in Russia, the number of red-listed Far Eastern leopards recorded in the wild has reached 120 individuals, said Viktor Bardyuk, director of the Land of the Leopard National Park.

"Today the population has moved away from the dangerous line, the number of leopards is growing. Data for 2021 show an increase in the number of leopards, 121 adult leopards and 14 kittens were recorded last year on the territory of the National Park. In 2020, 110 adults were recorded," Bardyuk said at a press conference in Vladivostok on Tuesday. The national Park "Land of the Leopard" was established on April 5, 2012. By that time, there were only about 35 individuals of these red-book predators, and the population size shrank to the southwest of Primorye, Bardyuk recalled. Read more

Humpback whales have been removed from Australia's threatened species list 60 years after the practice of whaling, which is when the mammals are hunted for food and other products like oil, largely came to an end. Humpback whales, which were once on the brink of extinction, have seen a remarkable improvement in their numbers.

"At the height of the global whaling industry there were as few as 1500 humpback whales in Australian waters, today that population is believed to be as many as 40,000 individuals and growing," said Australia's environment minister Sussan Ley. Read more

Gabon’s environment minister has announced an immediate end to the logging of the Massaha ancestral forest in the country’s northeast, setting his administration a two-month deadline to finalize technical questions for permanent protection of the site. The move follows his visit to Massaha to gain a better understanding of the motives behind the community’s request to declassify the logging concession and grant it protected area status.

“We came to Massaha to understand the demands of the population, worried about logging that will destroy the sacred sites, so we came to reassure them” — Lee White (right), Gabon’s Minister of the Environment. Image courtesy of Ivindo FM.

Minister Lee White also ordered the Chinese company that holds the logging concession, Transport Bois Négoce International (TBNI), to “leave quickly” and “preserve the area.”This is a precedent-setting case in the country’s management of forests, representing the first time an area will be declared protected at the request of the resident community. Read more

Yorkshire Peat Partnership celebrates another successful year. As Yorkshire Peat Partnership  heads into the new restoration season, we take a moment to celebrate our achievements from the previous (2019-2020) season with our annual report. In our 2019-2020 season, we: - brought over 5,000 hectares of peatland into restoration management; - blocked 156 km of eroding grips and gullies; - planted over 76,000 sphagnum moss plugs, 132,000 crowberry plugs and 173,000 cottongrass plugs; - surveyed over 6,500 hectares of peatland on foot.

This important work helps to re-establish healthy blanket bog in Yorkshire’s drained and damaged uplands. As well as helping to hold water and peat on the moors and keeping millenia of carbon locked in the ground, this provides valuable habitat for some fascinating and beautiful wildlife. By replanting our peatlands with native bog vegetation, we stabilise the peat and protect it from erosion; we create wet conditions that allow important food species like cranefly to thrive, supporting the food web; we produce cover for ground nesting birds and shelter for invertebrates; we connect wild networks that allow species like otters to move between river catchments. Yorkshire Wildlife Trust’s Peat Programme Manager, Dr Tim Thom said:

“Blanket bog covers around 96,000 hectares in North Yorkshire – our restoration work is making so much space for nature to survive and thrive. Ecosystem services are an important consideration but when we discuss wild places purely in terms of the benefits they afford us, we diminish them. Our beautiful Yorkshire blanket bogs are worth looking after. Read more

Because of animal lovers like you, HSI and our partners launched Vets for Ukrainian Pets, a program that will provide free veterinary treatment in 38 European countries for the pets of Ukrainian refugees.

We will reimburse each treating veterinarian up to 250 Euros per animal for emergency care and lifesaving surgery as needed, medication for animals with acute and chronic illnesses and finally the required rabies vaccinations, microchips and medical exams needed for safe passage of dogs, cats, horses or other pet animals through the EU. Read more

A new government was installed in Greenland - a broad coalition consisting of the two big traditional government parties Inuit Ataqatigiit and Siumut. So far, the new government has no plans to change the uranium ban, even though Siumut clearly is in favour of uranium mining.

Chairman of the Naalakkersuisut Mute B. Egede and Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen speak to the media at the airport in Nuuk, Greenland March 14, 2022. Christian Klindt Soelbeck/Ritzau Scanpix/via REUTERS/File Photo

On this topic, the coalition agreement says the following: “Regarding the uranium question, everything will continue as it is today, and if changes are to take place, it must on the basis of a referendum. Such a referendum must be done in an adequate and mutually satisfactory way”. Greenland's new coalition partner won't seek changes to uranium ban | Reuters Niels Henrik Hooge