Global Stewardship

What happened: A study in the journal Endangered Species Research (Nov. 5 issue), led by Zoe Rand of the University of Washington, gives the first population assessment of Antarctic blue whales in more than 20 years. The team estimates about 4,018 whales in 2024, up from roughly 418 after the last reported catch in 1973, with growth of about 4.5% a year. The model puts their pre-whaling population at around 205,900.

Why it matters: The largest animal ever known was hunted down by 99.8%; the study shows protection is working, but the authors say a return to pre-whaling numbers will take more than a century.

How much agreement is there? Broad agreement that the recovery is real and welcome. The uncertainty is in the counting: the estimate's range runs from about 1,900 to 8,400 whales, and Phys.org notes few ship surveys have been done in the Southern Ocean since 2004.

Could someone help? Monitoring is the gap researchers point to: ship surveys are rare and costly, and scientists are working on ways to count whales by listening for them (acoustic monitoring).

What happened: University of Bergen researchers report in Communications Earth & Environment that 20 years of satellite data (2002-2022) show the water in and around the Great Pacific Garbage Patch getting brighter in blue and green wavelengths than the surrounding ocean, likely turning it cyan. Simulations with natural causes like phytoplankton didn't explain it well; adding microplastics did, CNN reports.

Why it matters: If it holds up, satellites could become a cheap way to estimate tiny plastic pieces that are otherwise counted by hand, and help solve where most ocean plastic ends up.

How much agreement is there? Some disagreement on the cause, not on the plastic problem. The authors say it is not yet proven that plastic is directly and exclusively behind the color shift and want to take measurements in the patch; an outside expert, Richard Thompson, calls detecting a plastic signal 'very challenging' but the findings important.

Could someone help? Cutting single-use plastic and joining beach and river cleanups keeps plastic from reaching the gyres; confirming the result needs direct measurements in the patch, which the team calls tricky and expensive.

What happened: Researchers from Chicago's Field Museum measured skulls and teeth of 121 Madagascar flying fox specimens collected over 150 years in nine museums and found a clear drop in size beginning around 1980, when hunting likely became commercial, Popular Science reports on the study in the Journal of Mammalogy. The bats, with wingspans up to five feet, eat fruit and are legally considered vermin, and are also hunted for food.

Why it matters: If hunters remove the largest, older, breeding-age bats, that can hurt the whole population, the researchers say.

How much agreement is there? Some disagreement. The study shows a correlation, not proof: the authors say deforestation, climate change and shifting fruit seasons may also play a part.

Could someone help? Old museum specimens made the discovery possible, a reason to support natural history collections and the field biologists who use them.

What happened: In a Nov. 3 interview with UN News, Denise Brown, the UN resident and humanitarian coordinator in Sudan, said a weeks-long pattern of drone strikes appears to target civilian infrastructure, especially energy and fuel. She said a hospital outside Khartoum lost power and stopped dialysis for 25 patients, hundreds of aid trucks are stuck for lack of fuel, and markets and displacement sites have been hit. WFP convoys have been hit seven times this year, and WFP is cutting both the number of people it serves and its rations.

Why it matters: Rainfall shortfalls are adding hunger to a war that has already displaced millions, and Brown says people would die without aid that now can't move.

How much agreement is there? Broad agreement that attacking civilian infrastructure is a violation of international humanitarian law; Brown says she does not know where the strikes originate.

Could someone help? Brown's ask is funding: donations to established humanitarian agencies working in Sudan, and pressure on governments to fund the response.

What happened: The UN Biodiversity Conference (COP17) in Yerevan closed on Oct. 31 with about 50 decisions. The main one, the Yerevan Pathway, responds to a UN review finding the world off track on its 2030 nature targets: it asks countries to revise their plans, subject to available funding, with a focus on marine, coastal and inland waters. The CBD says nearly $2 billion in new funding was announced, and Climate Home reports that, for the first time, emerging economies such as China and Gulf states were invited to volunteer as donors.

Why it matters: At current national goals, about 26% of land and 12% of seas would be protected by 2030, short of the 30% target, Climate Home reports.

How much agreement is there? Some disagreement. The COP17 president said the summit achieved more than expected; Steven Guilbeault said it 'falls short' of 2030 commitments, and Greenpeace and WWF said finance remains unresolved.

Could someone help? More than 60 countries still lack a national biodiversity plan; citizens can press their own government on its plan and on subsidies that harm nature.