Mario Schjetnan and Grupo de Diseño Urbano Win 2025 Cornelia Hahn Oberlander International Landscape Architecture Prize, ArchDaily, October 15
The Oberlander Prize jury said Mexican landscape architect Mario Schjetnan, FASLA, and Grupo de Diseño Urbano are a “strong voice for social engagement and environmental justice in tandem with the art of landscape architecture.” Their portfolio of projects are a model for “delivering public landscapes as essential infrastructure in a rapidly urbanizing world.”
The Nature Finance Myth We Must Bust to Save Biodiversity, Forbes, October 15
New research from the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership finds that conservation finance projects are typically viewed as providing low returns. But these projects are just one small part of nature finance. There are much greater opportunities with embedding nature into “everyday financial decisions,” which offers “real potential for rapid scaling.” Banks can better assess nature risk in their loan processes and insurers can offer better terms for nature-based solutions.
Record Leap in CO2 Fuels Fears of Accelerating Global Heating, The Guardian, October 15
The World Meteorological Organization reports that the global average concentration of carbon dioxide increased by 3.5 parts per million (ppm) to 424 ppm in 2024, the largest increase since measurements began in 1957. Scientists point to a number of factors for the growth in emissions: continued use of fossil fuels, expanding wildfires, and the diminished capacity of natural carbon sinks like oceans and forests to absorb carbon.
Biodiversity Loss Due to Land Use Change Could Be Highly Underestimated: Study, Mongabay, October 14
The world’s largest ornithological study found that clear-cutting Colombian forests to create pastures resulted in 60 percent more damage to biodiversity than previously thought. The research has implications for global efforts to achieve 30 x 2030 goals, because it finds that each landscape and its biodiversity is different, so protecting biodiversity can only be achieved through customized approaches.
Reed Hilderbrand’s Cambridge Urban Forest Master Plan Puts Time-Tested Climate Science into Practice, The Architect’s Newspaper, October 1
Landscape architects and city governments in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Philadelphia, and elsewhere seek to reverse urban tree loss through ambitious urban forest plans. The goal of these plans is to protect existing trees, increase tree canopy, expand trees in underserved neighborhoods, and engage communities in long-term stewardship.
Pope Leo Condemns Climate Change Critics, BBC News, October 1
“Some have chosen to deride the increasingly evident signs of climate change, to ridicule those who speak of global warming, and even to blame the poor for the very thing that affects them the most,” said the Pope at a conference marking the 10th anniversary of Laudato Si’, the encyclical on the environment and climate change written by Pope Francis.