Patrick Waeber
@powaeber.bsky.social
Scientist, conservationist, and activist exploring the intersections of nature, society, and sustainability. Passionate about diversity, complexity, and the beauty of change. Big fan of forests and their untold stories. 🇺🇦🇵🇸🇲🇬🏳️🌈 .. more
Scientist, conservationist, and activist exploring the intersections of nature, society, and sustainability. Passionate about diversity, complexity, and the beauty of change. Big fan of forests and their untold stories. 🇺🇦🇵🇸🇲🇬🏳️🌈
Environmental science
47%
Biology
13%
‘Grim future’ for Great Barrier Reef unless global heating kept to 2C, study finds
University of Queensland modelling says reef will suffer ‘rapid coral decline’ in coming decades but could still recover if targets met
www.theguardian.com
"If we stay on the pathway we’re treading, it’s a very bad and grim future for corals…” --Prof Peter Mumby, University of Queensland
🌊
#CoralBleaching
#GreatBarrierReef
#ClimateCrisis
#Keep1_5Alive
🌊
#CoralBleaching
#GreatBarrierReef
#ClimateCrisis
#Keep1_5Alive
Some animals are more equal than others: the dark side of researching popular species
Studying charismatic species increased the likelihood of negative workplace experiences for younger colleagues, women and researchers.
theconversation.com
“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” -- George Orwell 🐘🐍
In research too. The charismatic few get the funds, the fame, the data. The rest fade unseen, unheard, unstudied.
#ExtinctionBlindspot
#ResearchBias
#ConservationInequality #InstitutionalPush
In research too. The charismatic few get the funds, the fame, the data. The rest fade unseen, unheard, unstudied.
#ExtinctionBlindspot
#ResearchBias
#ConservationInequality #InstitutionalPush
Combining remote sensing with local knowledge is vital for understanding forest change in West Africa - Scientific Reports
Scientific Reports - Combining remote sensing with local knowledge is vital for understanding forest change in West Africa
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Satellites & people agree when forests fall, #Deforestation. Not when they fade, #Degradation.
🌳 Deforestation shows in pixels. Degradation endures in memory.
Local eyes see what sensors miss. This matters for governance.
#LocalKnowledge #WestAfrica #REDDplus #TechnocraticError #ClimateJustice
🌳 Deforestation shows in pixels. Degradation endures in memory.
Local eyes see what sensors miss. This matters for governance.
#LocalKnowledge #WestAfrica #REDDplus #TechnocraticError #ClimateJustice
In 2024, the climate crisis worsened in all ways. But we can still limit warming with bold action
We are living in a hotter, more chaotic world, with more emissions, fires and fossil fuel consumption.
theconversation.com
🌍 2024 pushed the planet harder. Hottest year. Record fires. Rising seas. Melting ice 🖤
The crisis worsened on all fronts. Yet warming can still be limited if action is fast and fair. 💙
#ClimateCrisis
#HeatRecords
#SeaLevelRise
#IceMelt
#ExtremeWeather
#COP30Belem
The crisis worsened on all fronts. Yet warming can still be limited if action is fast and fair. 💙
#ClimateCrisis
#HeatRecords
#SeaLevelRise
#IceMelt
#ExtremeWeather
#COP30Belem
The nature extinction crisis is mirrored by one in our own bodies. Both have huge implications for health
Modern life is waging a war against ecosystems around us and inside us. Keeping our own microbes healthy is another reason to demand action to preserve the natural world
www.theguardian.com
“We are all walking ecosystems". 🌍 🌎 🌏
The extinction crisis outside mirrors what happens inside us.
Lose nature, lose microbes, lose health. 🌿🧬💔
#BiodiversityHypothesis #Microbiome
#Nature
#Health
The extinction crisis outside mirrors what happens inside us.
Lose nature, lose microbes, lose health. 🌿🧬💔
#BiodiversityHypothesis #Microbiome
#Nature
#Health
🪶 As COP30 Belém nears, this study reminds us nature is not only about species counts but about energy and function. Restoring “ecological power” should guide climate and biodiversity talks. Energy flow is life flow. Leaders, listen.
#COP30Belem #Biodiversity #ClimateAction #NatureBasedSolutions
#COP30Belem #Biodiversity #ClimateAction #NatureBasedSolutions
Energy flows reveal declining ecosystem functions by animals across Africa - Nature
An ecosystem energetics approach, quantifying trophic energy flows across species, offers a unified framework for linking animal biodiversity loss to changes in ecosystem function and Earth system pro...
www.nature.com
A new “ecosystem energetics” approach measures animal-driven energy flows in real units of power (kJ/m²/year). It links biodiversity intactness to living functions like seed dispersal and carbon cycling. It shows how wildlife literally powers the planet.
#EcosystemEnergetics #PlanetaryBoundaries
#EcosystemEnergetics #PlanetaryBoundaries
🐘 Elephant numbers fell from some 20+ million to under half a million since 1700. Rhinos, lions and other giants followed. Losing them reshapes how energy, water and nutrients move through land.
#Megafauna
#Wildlife
#Ecosystems
#Africa
#IUCN
#Megafauna
#Wildlife
#Ecosystems
#Africa
#IUCN
🦓 Scientists tracked energy flow in almost 3,000 animal species across Africa. This is the first map showing how losing animals changes how nature works. Big herbivores like elephants lost over 70 percent of their “power”.
#Biodiversity
#Ecology
#Africa
#Biodiversity
#Ecology
#Africa
Finance is never neutral. It shapes the futures it claims to fund.
🔥 TFFF is bold. It could finally fund real forest protection. But it also shows how unequal the system remains. Saving the planet should not depend on the same markets and debts that helped drive the crisis.
#TFFF #ClimateJustice #Rainforests #SystemChange
#TFFF #ClimateJustice #Rainforests #SystemChange
⚖️ Critics say the plan leans on an unfair system. Poor countries still repay debts. Some of that money feeds the fund that protects forests. It sounds fair, but it isn’t. The same system that trapped them in debt is now used to finance a global good.
#TFFF #DebtJustice #ClimateFairness #GlobalSouth
#TFFF #DebtJustice #ClimateFairness #GlobalSouth
🪶 And who gets paid? Often not the people who guard the forest. Funds go to governments. Not to Indigenous or local custodians. Without clear rules, money can vanish into politics while those living with the trees see little change.
#TFFF #IndigenousRights #ForestCustodians #ClimateJustice
#TFFF #IndigenousRights #ForestCustodians #ClimateJustice
🌲 Loopholes remain. Selective logging, land reclassification, or shifting baselines can hide real losses. Forests may look intact from space while biodiversity and carbon quietly fade.
#TFFF #Forests #ClimateMonitoring #Loopholes #ForestLoss #ClimateIntegrity #Deforestation #Degradation
#TFFF #Forests #ClimateMonitoring #Loopholes #ForestLoss #ClimateIntegrity #Deforestation #Degradation
🛰️ Forest protection is tracked from space. Satellites and AI spot changes in forest cover, down to the hectare. Payments depend on proof: no deforestation, no degradation. Yet even with advanced tools, no system is foolproof.
#TFFF #Forests #AI #RemoteSensing #ClimateMonitoring #Costly #Complex
#TFFF #Forests #AI #RemoteSensing #ClimateMonitoring #Costly #Complex
📉 TFFF runs on global markets. Investors put money in, and returns pay countries that keep their forests standing. But if markets crash, that flow stops. The fund loses value, payments freeze, and protection fails. One shock could break the model.
#TFFF #FinanceRisk #Rainforests #ClimateFunds
#TFFF #FinanceRisk #Rainforests #ClimateFunds
💰 “TFFF signals that forest protection is finally being treated as a global public good worthy of ambitious financial commitment. It is the best chance we have to fund a halt to tropical deforestation.”
--Matthew Owen, Cool Earth
#TropicalForests #Deforestation #ClimateAction
--Matthew Owen, Cool Earth
#TropicalForests #Deforestation #ClimateAction
Carbon Offsets Are Failing. Can a New Plan Save the Rainforests?
Brazil is set to unveil an ambitious international plan that would provide up to $4 billion a year to countries that protect their tropical forests. Proponents see it as a potential game-changer for f...
e360.yale.edu
🧵 The Tropical Forests Forever Fund, hope or trap?
🌳 Carbon offsets are failing. Can a new plan save the rainforests? The Tropical Forests Forever Fund aims to treat forest protection as a global public good, backed by long-term finance. Ambitious. Risky. Needed.
#Rainforests #TFFF #COP30Belem
🌳 Carbon offsets are failing. Can a new plan save the rainforests? The Tropical Forests Forever Fund aims to treat forest protection as a global public good, backed by long-term finance. Ambitious. Risky. Needed.
#Rainforests #TFFF #COP30Belem
Lithium mining may threaten a precious resource — water: Voices from the land (commentary)
This series, Voices from the Land, brings together opinion pieces led and written by Indigenous peoples from around the world. Through these commentaries, we share our lived realities and reflections ...
news.mongabay.com
In the salt flats of Salinas Grandes, where salt shaped land and life, lithium mining now drains water for batteries.
Communities resist.
They defend water.
They defend culture.
They defend their right to a future.
#Lithium #LithiumBrine #WaterIsLife #IndigenousRights #JustTransition #Argentina
Communities resist.
They defend water.
They defend culture.
They defend their right to a future.
#Lithium #LithiumBrine #WaterIsLife #IndigenousRights #JustTransition #Argentina
Rare reptiles are moving up mountains as the world warms. They can’t keep doing it forever
Isolating the impacts of climate change is hard. But a new study shows how ancient fossils can help.
theconversation.com
Mountain-dragons (Rankinia diemensis) and their reptile kin are being forced upward by warming peaks. There’s no higher ground left to flee to. Hope lies in keeping cool refuges linked and alive.
#ClimateCrisis
#BiodiversityLoss #ConservationPalaeobiology #Conservation
#PalaeoRefugia
#ClimateCrisis
#BiodiversityLoss #ConservationPalaeobiology #Conservation
#PalaeoRefugia
Female lynx poached in Switzerland
Unknown persons have poached a lynx in Switzerland.
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A female lynx shot in Fribourg. Wild. Silent. Free. Killed by cowardice and ignorance. She harmed no one, took only what the forest gave. We lost respect for the wild.
#Lynx
#Switzerland
#Poaching
#JusticeForWildlife
#Lynx
#Switzerland
#Poaching
#JusticeForWildlife
Mosquitoes found in Iceland for first time as climate crisis warms country
Three specimens discovered in what was previously one of the few places in the world without the insects
www.theguardian.com
Mosquitoes found in Iceland 🇮🇸 for the first time. Probably carried by wind or ship. Warmer winters and more ponds now let them breed. Even near the Arctic. A small sign of a big shift.
#ClimateCrisis
#WarmingNorth
#NewNormal
#DiseaseRisk
#ThawingWetlands
#ClimateCrisis
#WarmingNorth
#NewNormal
#DiseaseRisk
#ThawingWetlands
“Lost” giant rat found alive in Papua mountains after 30 years
In the mist-shrouded mountains of New Guinea, a Czech researcher has achieved a world-first — capturing photos, video, and data of the elusive Subalpine Woolly Rat, Mallomys istapantap. Once known onl...
www.sciencedaily.com
🐀 Known only from one museum specimen, the Subalpine Woolly Rat (Mallomys istapantap) was found alive in Papua’s highlands after 30 years 🌿
Science rediscovered it. Indigenous hunters made it possible. Knowledge flows strongest when shared 💚
#Biodiversity #IndigenousKnowledge #LocalKnowledge
Science rediscovered it. Indigenous hunters made it possible. Knowledge flows strongest when shared 💚
#Biodiversity #IndigenousKnowledge #LocalKnowledge
A freshwater fish named Arnie just swam a record 530 miles, mostly upstream, Australian scientists say
The Murray cod, named Arnie after Australia's recently retired Olympic champion Ariarne Titmus, was first tagged in 2022.
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🐟 “Arnie” the Murray cod (Maccullochella peelii) swam 530 miles upstream. A record journey across Australia’s Murray-Darling rivers. When rivers stay connected. Water flows. Life flows 💪
#RiverConnectivity
#Monitoring
#Australia
#Biodiversity
#RiverConnectivity
#Monitoring
#Australia
#Biodiversity
Reposted by Patrick O. Waeber
We are constantly told by the media and authorities that these are both 'forest'.
One is a complex, diverse native ecosystem, full of life. The other is an industrial monoculture deadzone.
They could not be more different.
One is a complex, diverse native ecosystem, full of life. The other is an industrial monoculture deadzone.
They could not be more different.
3/3
Common knowledge is the invisible glue of strategy, trust, and social order.
1️⃣ Coordination: shared expectations
2️⃣ Equilibrium: stable cooperation
3️⃣ Strategy collapses: when the loop breaks
#CommonKnowledge #GameTheory
#Trust
#Cognition
Common knowledge is the invisible glue of strategy, trust, and social order.
1️⃣ Coordination: shared expectations
2️⃣ Equilibrium: stable cooperation
3️⃣ Strategy collapses: when the loop breaks
#CommonKnowledge #GameTheory
#Trust
#Cognition
2/3
That infinite loop makes cooperation possible, and misunderstanding inevitable.
Why? Because
1️⃣ We never reach infinite depth.
2️⃣ Shared context is assumed, not proven.
3️⃣ Language is ambiguous.
#CommonKnowledge #Communication
#Cognition
#Trust
That infinite loop makes cooperation possible, and misunderstanding inevitable.
Why? Because
1️⃣ We never reach infinite depth.
2️⃣ Shared context is assumed, not proven.
3️⃣ Language is ambiguous.
#CommonKnowledge #Communication
#Cognition
#Trust
How do you know what I know you know? Steven Pinker on common knowledge
From using words to overthrowing regimes, shared awareness is necessary for people to coordinate. The cognitive scientist explains to Nature how it works.
share.google
1/3
🧠 Steven Pinker’s concept of common knowledge:
“It is the state in which I know something, you know it, I know that you know it, you know that I know it, I know that you know that I know that you know it, and so on, ad infinitum.”
#CommonKnowledge
share.google/Xwl0FOWUf6uz...
🧠 Steven Pinker’s concept of common knowledge:
“It is the state in which I know something, you know it, I know that you know it, you know that I know it, I know that you know that I know that you know it, and so on, ad infinitum.”
#CommonKnowledge
share.google/Xwl0FOWUf6uz...