On May 29, 2019, the Renewable Natural Resources Foundation (RNRF) presented a meeting titled “Deep Seabed Mineral Mining and the U.S.: Diplomatic, Legal, and Environmental Aspects,” hosted by the American Geophysical Union in its newly renovated headquarters in Washington, D.C. Speakers were Greg O’Brien, U.S. Department of State; Kerry Kehoe, U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric…

The Arctic Council, a high-level intergovernmental forum comprised of the eight countries with territory in the Arctic Circle, ended its ministerial on May 14, 2019, without a joint declaration spelling out its priorities. This was because the United States objected to any mention of climate change or the Paris Climate Agreement. President Trump intends to…

A new report released by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) gives a harrowing summary of the challenges to sustaining the Earth’s biodiversity. The most comprehensive assessment of its kind, this report estimates that one million species are threatened with extinction due to five factors (listed in descending order of impact):…

Bill Moran, publisher of the Science family of journals of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), hosted the Washington Round Table on Public Policy of the Renewable Natural Resources Foundation (RNRF) on May 6, 2019. He spoke about issues and recent developments related to implementing Open Access to research published in scientific…

The United Nations Secretary-General will host a summit on climate change on 23 September 2019 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. The purpose of the summit is twofold. First, it will mobilize political will to raise real ambition for the achievement of the Paris Agreement goals. Second, it will demonstrate transformative action in…

Dr. Richard Denison, Lead Senior Scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund, during an RNRF Washington Round Table on Public Policy, discussed threats to the implementation of the reforms to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) enacted in 2016. The event was held on April 16, 2019 at EDF’s Washington, D.C. office. Denison began the lecture…

Our world is facing an unprecedented challenge By 2050 the world population is predicted to increase to almost ten billion people whom we must nourish on a planet of finite resources. It is well-documented that to do this we need to transform our global food system – from the way we farm and fish to…

The Mossy Red-eyed Frog is among hundreds of species threatened with extinction at the hands of chytrid fungus. Jonathan Kolby/Honduras Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Center It started off as an enigma. Biologists at field sites around the world reported that frogs had simply disappeared. Costa Rica, 1987: the golden toad, missing. Australia, 1979: the gastric brooding frog,…

The National Climate Assessment The Global Change Research Act of 1990 mandates that the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) deliver a report to Congress and the President no less than every four years that “1) integrates, evaluates, and interprets the findings of the Program . . .; 2) analyzes the effects of global change…

On December 6, 2018, the Department of the Interior announced its decision to replace the landmark 2015 Greater Sage-Grouse conservation agreement with a new set of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) plans that more heavily favor oil and gas development. “A fractured approach to sagebrush conservation will not work. The best chance to protect sage-grouse and more than 350…