#Africa - #Rewilding To Restore #Ecosystems

Restoring #ecosystems to benefit #wildlife and human communities

"Rewilding is the large-scale restoration of ecosystems to a point where nature can take care of itself. This approach aims to reinstate natural processes and, where appropriate, responsibly reintroduce ‘extirpated’ (meaning locally extinct) species. These key species are not only crucial to shaping their landscapes and habitats, but also provide essential ecosystem services.

"In Africa, human activities such as #agriculture, #urbanisation, and #deforestation have significantly altered natural landscapes, leading to habitat loss and species decline. African Parks and its partners seek to reverse these trends by reintroducing keystone species – in other words, species that play critical roles in maintaining the structure and function of these ecosystems. Such rewilding efforts also address the urgent need to mitigate climate change. Intact and fully-functioning ecosystems, such as forests and wetlands, act as carbon sinks, absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and helping to regulate the global climate. Additionally, rewilding can enhance ecosystem services such as water purification, soil fertility, and #pollination, which are essential for human wellbeing."

Learn more:
https://www.africanparks.org/rewilding-restore-ecosystems

#SolarPunkSunday #Adaptation #ForestRehabilitation #WaterIsLife #SoilIsLife #Reforestation #NatureBasedSolutions

3 #African Cities Restore #Nature to Revitalize Their #Rivers

By Eden Takele, Marc Manyifika, Japheth Habinshuti, Adane Kebede, Alemakef Tassew, Amanda Gcanga, Mulalo Mbedzi and Nikara Mahadeo, March 12, 2025

"Africa’s cities, from large metropolises to smaller towns, are increasingly characterized by growing #UrbanSprawl. #Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, is expanding by about 2,000 people and 5 hectares (10 football fields) every day, according to a World Bank estimate. #Kumasi, an intermediary city in #Ghana, is growing more than 5% every year — at least twice as fast as the capital city, Accra.

As cities and surrounding farmlands expand further into their hinterlands, they encroach upon watersheds essential to water supply and climate resilience.

Watersheds are the natural area of land that drain into a common body of water. The consequences of their degradation are threefold. Without tree cover and healthy soils to absorb rainfall, cities may lose a critical source for groundwater recharge, leading to water shortages. Not only does the quantity of water suffer, so does its quality. Without strong roots to protect and anchor the soil, sediment and the chemicals within it are washed into nearby water bodies, often the primary source for a city’s drinking water. That same runoff can turn into floodwater.

How Natural Infrastructure Supports #WaterSecurity.

Many cities that once depended on their watersheds for water now face both increasing scarcity and heightened vulnerability to #extremeWeather. There are, however, #NatureBasedSolutions to help alleviate these problems.

Through a combination of upland foresting and urban greening, watershed restoration efforts are starting to deliver positive results in three African cities..."

Read more:
https://www.wri.org/insights/nature-based-solutions-river-restoration-african-cities

#SolarPunkSunday #DireDawa #Ethiopia #Kigali #Rwanda #NyabarangoRiver #Africa #MoreTrees #RiverRestoration #WaterIsLife #ClimateChange

How #LandRestoration is strengthening #ecosystems and #communities across #Africa

June 16, 2025

"Across Africa, land degradation and #ClimateChange are converging to create a growing crisis. Unsustainable land use, #deforestation and #SoilErosion have left millions of hectares barren, stripping communities of the natural resources they rely on. Meanwhile, the impacts of climate change – shifting rainfall patterns, rising temperatures and more frequent #droughts and #floods – are compounding pressures on #agriculture and water resources.

"Today, an estimated 65 percent of Africa's land is impacted by land degradation and drought, affecting more than 400 million people and causing economic losses exceeding US$70 billion each year.

"Governments across the continent are increasingly prioritizing land restoration as a national and regional imperative by pioneering policies, partnerships and investments to reverse degradation and strengthen #ClimateChangeAdaptation and #resilience. This brings tangible benefits for both people and nature, helping to secure food systems, create economic opportunities and strengthen communities against #ClimateShocks.

With support from the Global Environment Facility’s Least Developed Countries Fund and UNDP, #Ethiopia, #Rwanda and #Senegal are transforming degraded landscapes into a source of stability and productivity, their experience offering a replicable model for other nations confronting similar challenges."

Learn more:
https://climatepromise.undp.org/news-and-stories/how-land-restoration-strengthening-ecosystems-and-communities-across-africa

#SolarPunkSunday #FoodSecurity #Adaptation #TerraceGardening #ForestRehabilitation #WaterIsLife #SoilIsLife #Reforestation #NatureBasedSolution

#Colorado residents face earliest #WaterRestrictions ever — a harbinger of worse to come

Nearly every snow basin in the Mountain West had one of its warmest winters on record and is well behind normal for water supplies.

March 27, 2026, 9:11 AM EDT
By Evan Bush

"As a result of a #SnowDrought and a #HeatWave that have both set records, some Colorado residents face the earliest restrictions on their water use ever imposed.

"#DenverWater announced Wednesday that it is seeking a 20% cut in water use, asking people to turn off automatic watering systems until mid-May and restricting the watering of trees and shrubs to twice a week.

" 'The situation is quite serious,' said Todd Hartman, a spokesperson for the utility. 'We’re in such a dire situation that we could be coming back to the public in two or three months and saying you’re limited to one day a week.'

"It is the earliest in the year that Denver Water has ever issued a restriction, Hartman said.

"Colorado’s #snowpack peaked at extremely low levels on March 12 — nearly a month earlier than usual — then cratered during the recent heat wave that cooked nearly every state in the West.

" 'We already had the lowest snowpack we’ve seen since at least 1981, and now, with the heat wave conditions, we’ve already lost about 40% of the statewide snowpack' since the March 12 peak, said Peter Goble, Colorado’s assistant state climatologist. 'Conditions are looking more like late April or early May.' "

Read more:
https://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/colorado-earliest-water-restrictions-ever-snow-drought-rcna265377

#USWx #WesternUS #Drought #ClimateCrisis #WaterIsLife #ClimateChange

No surprise. #ChelliePingree voted against HR556, #JaredGolden voted for it.

Protect #Wildlife from Toxic #LeadAmmunition [and #FishingTackle]

"#HR556, a bill to prevent federal agencies from prohibiting or regulating the use of toxic lead ammunition and fishing tackle on certain public lands and waters, passed the House of Representatives on March 18. However, we are not done fighting this bill! Lead ammunition is a well-documented threat, leading to illness and death for millions of birds and other wild animals each year. Since there is no safe level for lead exposure, hunters, anglers, and their families can also be harmed. Please contact your US representative about their vote on H.R. 556 and urge your senators to oppose this bill."

https://awionline.org/action-center#/535

Bill Status and details:

H.R.556 — 119th Congress (2025-2026)

Protecting Access for Hunters and Anglers Act of 2025

"This bill bars the Fish and Wildlife Service (#FWS), the Bureau of Land Management (#BLM), and the Forest Service from prohibiting or regulating the use of lead ammunition or tackle on federal land or water. The bill makes exceptions for specified existing regulations and where the FWS, the BLM, or the Forest Service determines that a decline in wildlife population at the specific unit of federal land or water is primarily caused by the use of lead in ammunition or tackle, based on the field data from such unit, and the state approves the regulations."

House Roll Call Vote 93 119th Congress - 2nd Session (2026)

Passed - Yea: 215 | Nay: 202
(R 208-1 Pres=0 NV=9, D 7-201 Pres=0 NV=6, I 0-0 Pres=0 NV=0)

Full voting roster:
https://www.congress.gov/votes/house/119-2/93

#USPol #MainePol #ProtectWildlife #ProtectNature #LeadPoisoning #WaterIsLife #SoilIsLife #NatureIsLife

With First-of-Its-Kind Bill, #BernieSanders and #AOC Propose #Moratorium on New #AI #DataCenters

“These massive facilities are sucking up precious #water resources, paving over #farmland, driving #ClimateChange, and disrupting the fabric of communities,” said one supporter of the new legislation.

by Jake Johnson, Mar 25, 2026

"Two of the leading progressives in the US Congress, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, announced legislation on Wednesday that would impose a nationwide moratorium on the construction of new artificial intelligence data centers amid mounting concerns over their insatiable consumption of power and water resources, impacts on the climate, and other harms.

"Sanders’ (I-Vt.) office said in a press release announcing the #ArtificialIntelligence #DataCenterMoratorium Act that the construction pause would remain in effect 'until strong national safeguards are in place to protect workers, consumers, and communities, defend privacy and #CivilRights, and ensure these technologies do not harm our #environment.'

"Sanders and #OcasioCortez (D-NY) are set to formally introduce their legislation at a press conference on Wednesday at 4 pm ET.

"Food & Water Watch (#FWW), which last year became the first national organization in the US to call for a total moratorium on the approval of new AI data centers, celebrated the first-of-its-kind bill and called on other members of Congress to 'move quickly to sponsor, champion, and pass' it. FWW’s groundbreaking call for a national AI data center moratorium was later echoed by hundreds of advocacy organizations at the state and national levels.

" 'We need a halt to the explosive growth of new AI data center construction now, because political and community leaders across the country have been caught completely off guard by this aggressive, profit-hungry industry,' Mitch Jones, FWW’s managing director of policy and litigation, said in a statement Wednesday. 'It has yet to be determined if—not how—the industry can ever operate in a manner that sufficiently protects people and society from the profusion of inherent hazards and harms that data centers bring wherever they appear.' "

Read more:
https://www.commondreams.org/news/ai-data-center-moratorium

#AWS #NoDatacenters #NoAI #NoNukesForAI #UnrestrictedGrowth #WaterIsLife #NoisePollution #AISucks #USPol

No more #Maine #DataCenters for now, lawmakers say

Lawmakers advanced a measure that drew attention last month when one senator said it could kill a previously unannounced project in Sanford.

by Daniel Kool, Posted March 5, Updated March 6, 2026

"Maine lawmakers voted Thursday to advance a bill that would stop the development of new data centers in the state for more than a year.

"The bill, #LD307, would create a temporary limitation on data centers with electric loads of at least 20 megawatts by preventing the state, local governments and quasi-governmental agencies from issuing permits or other approvals until 90 days after the first session of the 133rd Legislature adjourns.

"That will likely be around October 2027, the bill’s sponsor, said Rep. Melanie Sachs, D-Freeport.

"That would give a new “Data Center Coordination Council,” also created by the bill, time to study and review the potential impacts of building the centers in Maine. The Department of Energy Resources would be responsible for convening the body.

"Sachs has said the restriction is designed to address future growth without impeding projects that are already well underway, such as one pegged for the former Loring Air Force Base.

"Members of the Legislature’s Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee have debated the bill for weeks.

"On Thursday, they voted 8-5 in favor of passing the bill with amendments, sending it to the broader Legislature. The committee vote fell along party lines, with Democrats supporting the measure."

Read more:
https://www.pressherald.com/2026/03/05/no-more-maine-data-centers-for-now-lawmakers-say/

#SanfordME #JayME #LewistonME #WiscassetME #AWS #NoDatacenters #NoAI #MainePol #UnrestrictedGrowth #WaterIsLife #NoisePollution

#JuniperRidge Landfill can expand, state says again after judge orders reconsideration

by Marie Weidmayer, March 23, 2026

Excerpt: "The Juniper Ridge Landfill can expand, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection decided for a second time — but a judge must sign off first.

"A new public benefit determination allows the #OldTown landfill to expand, the #ConservationLawFoundation said Monday. The foundation and #PenobscotNation sued the #MaineDEP in November 2024 over the proposed expansion.

"The department had to reconsider allowing the expansion after a judge ruled in January that the Maine DEP did not complete 'critical' fact finding during the public benefit determination. The Maine DEP decided Oct. 2, 2024, there is a public benefit to the expansion and expanding the landfill is not inconsistent with #EnvironmentalJustice.

"Penobscot County Superior Court Judge Bruce Mallonee will reconsider the application because the case is still pending, Maine DEP spokesperson David Madore said. The department can resume processing the expansion application and will have a public hearing, he said.

" 'This decision does not reflect the lived reality of our people,' Penobscot Nation Chief #KirkFrancis said. “Our voices and our knowledge of this place must be meaningfully considered when those in power make decisions that will impact our land and community.'

"The lawsuit is still pending in Penobscot County Superior Court. The foundation and Penobscot Nation are determining next steps."

Read more:
https://www.bangordailynews.com/2026/03/23/penobscot/penobscot-police-courts/landfill-expansion-juniper-ridge/

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/8dI8S

#MainePol #CasellaWasteSystems #WaterIsLife #SoilIsLife #PFAS #MaineFirstNations #Pollution #ForeverChemicals

RE: https://ecoevo.social/@GreenShores/116211137451664562

Tagging for #SolarPunkSunday !

#Watersheds #Estuaries #WaterIsLife #RestoreWetlands #Restoration