• Bushmeat hunting in central Africa still classified as unsustainable by TRAFFIC based on data from FAOSTAT (the UN Food and Agriculture Organization database).
• Winner of the Most Depressing Lead of the Year: “Species of plants, animals and other categories of living things are disappearing. And millions of people still live in extreme poverty.”
• Runner-up, division of Applied Ecology: “U.S. researchers say they’ve determined it will not be easy to scientifically predict the spread of invasive plants and animals.”
• On ecology and economics.

With the economy down, poaching appears to be on the rise.

After seeing Ryan Branciforte from the Bay Area Open Space Council talk today, I’m going to take a deep breath. First, and personally, because they have an insanely great tool now set up to prioritize open space acquisitions in the Bay Area — they’re trying to protect 90% of the most endangered habitats! That rules, especially since we’re such a biodiversity HOTSPOT. But in the larger context, despite some huffing and puffing on NPR and other venues, I bet a lot of land trust type organizations are pretty much salivating right now. Land in the U.S. is cheap(er) these days, and if these folks were smart and organized (a la BAOSC) they’ve been gearing up for a big buy.