In the midst of the climate emergency, the world is facing a connected crisis: the stunning loss of biodiversity. Land use, pollution and the climate crisis are driving what may be the largest mass extinction event since the dinosaurs. The World Wildlife Fund estimates that the planet has seen an average 68% drop in mammal, bird, fish, reptile and amphibian populations since 1970. In some areas it's even worse. Latin America and the Caribbean have seen a mind boggling 94% drop in biodiversity in that same time period. 

Jennifer Tauli Corpuz, Managing Director of Policy and Advocacy Lead at Nia Tero, says, “A million species are at risk of going extinct. And if you don't do anything about that then we are in trouble.” The UN believes that in the coming decades, the climate crisis will be the driving force behind biodiversity loss.

In order to help address species collapse, over 190 countries – signatories to the United Nations Framework Convention on Biodiversity – recently agreed to an ambitious new plan, called 30x30, which aims to conserve 30% of the world’s land and waters by 2030. This 30x30 proposal is included in the Kunming-Montréal Global Biodiversity Framework, adopted in December. 

Tayna Sanerib, International Legal Director at the Center for Biological Diversity, says, “Conserving 30% of our habitat and our oceans is gonna provide amazing mitigating impacts, not just for biodiversity loss but also for climate.” 

Notably, the United States is not one of the signatories to the United Nations Framework Convention on Biodiversity. The US Senate has failed to ratify the Convention on Biological Diversity. Despite that, the Biden Administration does have its own 30x30 plan to address species collapse. 

Currently about 17% of land is protected and even less of the oceans are protected. So reaching 30% of both land and water by 2030 is an ambitious goal. Numerous studies show Indigenous people have a disproportionately positive impact on maintaining habitat and species health. 

Jennifer Tauli Corpuz, from the Kankana-ey Igorot People in the Philippines, says, “Biodiversity is declining everywhere. However, it is declining at a much slower rate in indigenous peoples’ territories.” One of the reasons Indigenous people are better stewards of the environment is what their culture chooses to prioritize. Corpuz says, “For indigenous peoples, we regard ourselves as rich if we are able to maintain a healthy relationship with nature.”

On land, countries and governments can enact regulations to help slow the trajectory of biodiversity loss. But there are huge parts of the ocean that fall under no national jurisdiction, complicating efforts to preserve fishing and marine biodiversity. Ian Urbina, author of The Outlaw Ocean and Director and Founder of The Outlaw Ocean Project, says, “It's largely an ungoverned space and therefore the best and the worst of human nature manifest.”

Fishing in the high seas has become more difficult and unpredictable because of the climate emergency. When coupled with the lack of laws and regulations, fishing practices can be very damaging to species and ecosystems. Overfishing and climate change have caused near shore stocks to collapse and driven fishing operations farther out into the sea. Urbina says, “Distant water fishing vessels that are on the high seas have been allowed both legally and just culturally and in policy to operate by different sets of rules. And going dark being invisible is normalized.” 

There are some Non-governmental Organizations working out in the ocean to curb damaging behavior, some examples being Greenpeace, Earthrace and Sea Shepherd. Urbina says, “To a large degree they are filling the gap that the government has left. But it's not the solution that the planet needs, the governments need to really get involved.”

This episode is supported in part by Resources Legacy Fund.

Ozark Highlands Radio is a weekly radio program that features live music and interviews recorded at Ozark Folk Center State Park’s beautiful 1,000-seat auditorium in Mountain View, Arkansas.  In addition to the music, our “Feature Host” segments take listeners through the Ozark hills with historians, authors, and personalities who explore the people, stories, and history of the Ozark region.

This week, Ozark original multi-instrumentalist, composer, educator, audio engineer and OHR host, our very own Mark Jones recorded live at Ozark Folk Center State Park.  Also, interviews with Mark as well as with his long time friend, country music superstar Marty Stewart.

Anyone who listens to Ozark Highlands Radio will be familiar with the fun loving and friendly voice of Mark Jones, the keeper of our “Vault.”  In August of 2021, we lost Mark to Covid-19.  His passing was a profound loss to all of us, both professionally and personally.  Please join us as we pay tribute to the life and legacy of our dear friend, Mark Jones.

Mark Alan Jones was born in 1955 to Country Music Hall of Fame & Grand Ole Opry performers Louis "Grandpa" Jones and Ramona Jones in Nashville, Tennessee.  As a young man, he toured across the country with his famous parents making appearances on the Grand Ole Opry and the television show "Hee Haw.”  He performed with numerous other artists including the Willis Brothers, the Wright Brothers, and Jimmy Driftwood's Rackensack Folklore Society.  He also worked as a sound engineer for the Statler Brothers.

Mark toured with renowned guitarist, Doyle Dykes, playing in churches throughout America.  He was a regular performer at the Grandpa Jones Dinner Theatre in Mountain View, Arkansas, and was a founding member of the Arkansas Beanfest.  Mark spent several years playing banjo and running sound and lights at Silver Dollar City and Shepherd of The Hills Outdoor Drama in Branson, Missouri.  He also worked as a performer and sound engineer at the Ozark Folk Center in Mountain View, Arkansas.

Throughout his life, Mark taught private music lessons helping to preserve traditional folk music.  Even though his life was deeply engrained in music, he enjoyed working with the intellectually disabled and often used his musical talent as a therapeutic tool.  Mark is a 2021 inductee of the George D. Hay Society Hall of Honor.

In this week’s “From the Vault” segment, musician, educator, and country music legacy Mark Jones offers archival recordings of himself and a few of his friends demonstrating his true passion, the clawhammer banjo.  Hear Mark playing the tunes Mountain Whippoorwill, Cripple Creek and John Hardy, from the Ozark Folk Center State Park archives.

Author, folklorist and songwriter Charley Sandage presents an historical portrait of the people, events and indomitable spirit of Ozark culture that resulted in the creation of the Ozark Folk Center State Park and its enduring legacy of music and craft.  This week, Charley celebrates 50 years of the Buffalo National River.  This episode continues our tour of places “you shouldn’t miss” and other remarkable spots along the 135 miles of America’s first national river, as well as where to find information about park events, facilities and services.  Featured are interviews with park ranger & interpreter and Buffalo National River Partners Board member Kevin Middleton and Buffalo National River Partners Board Chairperson Terrie Martindale.

It’s been nearly one year since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark ruling that protected abortion rights for half a century. Many states have passed laws severely restricting or banning abortion. And in states like Texas, pregnant patients are being put in peril. 

Freelance journalist Sophie Novack reports on the hard decisions Texas doctors and nurses are making in the aftermath of the state’s ban. Providers are facing impossible choices when it comes to caring for pregnant patients with medical complications. Some fear that performing an abortion, even to save the life of a mother, could lead to criminal prosecution. 

Reveal reporter Laura C. Morel has spent the last year investigating anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers. Now that abortions are severely restricted or banned in much of the country, these centers are trying to fill some of the health care gap that’s emerged in conservative areas. In states that continue to allow abortions, crisis pregnancy centers have doubled down on their mission to discourage patients from terminating their pregnancies – often using deceptive practices to lure them into their facilities. Morel talks to a Florida woman who describes her experience at a Jacksonville crisis pregnancy center, where a volunteer deceived her into thinking it was an abortion clinic. As Morel and episode host Nadia Hamdan discover, deceiving pregnant women is part of these centers’ long history. 

Finally, we explore how a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court decision has made it harder to regulate anti-abortion centers – and how the lack of regulation harms clients. Morel tells the story of an anti-abortion nurse in Kentucky who reported infection control problems at the crisis pregnancy center where she volunteered, only to find that the facility is allowed to operate in a regulatory gray zone.

Sarafina El-Badry Nance joins Planetary Radio to discuss her new book, Starstruck: A Memoir of Astrophysics and Finding Light in the Dark. Then we check in with Bruce Betts for What's Up and an update on this week's beautiful night sky.

ClassicalWorks (Episode 182)

“It ain’t over till it’s over.” That’s Yogi Berra’s ageless line, in the title now of a summer hit movie just to prove Yogi was right about pretty much everything. He was a most valuable player in his New York Yankees uniform and a most beloved, most creative, most quotable source of American language and American wisdom. We got it first-hand in a radio studio with that dear man almost 25 years ago.