Andrew Rowan, DPhil Archive

European bison | Photo credit: szczepank, AdobeStock

Jan 05, 2023 Measuring Biodiversity and Biodiversity Trends

Posted at 14:19h In Animal Well-being, Articles, Public Awareness/Attitudes, Sustainability/Biodiversity, WellBeing News, Wild Animals - By Andrew Rowan, DPhil

The report on the recent international meeting on biodiversity in Montreal describes some political considerations and challenges as the world attempts to protect and sustain biodiversity. But what is biodiversity, and how is it changing around the globe?Biodiversity refers to the variety and variability of...

Coral reef | Photo credit: whitcomberd, Adobe Stock

Jan 05, 2023 COP 15 – Can We Meet Biodiversity Goals & Targets?

Posted at 14:18h In Articles, Environment Well-being, Letter from the President, Public Awareness/Attitudes, Sustainability/Biodiversity, WellBeing News - By Andrew Rowan, DPhil and Kathleen Rowan CEO, WellBeing International

IntroductionInitially scheduled to be held in Kunming, China, in 2020, the 15th meeting of the Conference of Parties (COP15) for the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and its additional protocols was postponed because of the COVID pandemic and rescheduled into two parts. The first part...

Fruits and vegetables in a market in India | Photo credit: saiko3p, AdobeStock

Dec 06, 2022 The Global Food System and Sustainability

Posted at 16:09h In Articles, Land Management, Public Awareness/Attitudes, Sustainability/Biodiversity, Well-being, WellBeing News - By Andrew Rowan, DPhil

In the last few years, several major reports have all called for changes in the world’s food system – usually emphasizing the need to shift to diets that emphasize plant-based nutrition – to ensure a sustainable future for the planet. These reports include:-2015 WHO...

Dec 06, 2022 The Well-Being Nexus

Posted at 16:00h In Animal Sentience, Animals, Letter from the President, Sustainability/Biodiversity, Well-being, WellBeing News - By Andrew Rowan, DPhil

Progress following the Passage of the 2022 Animal Welfare, Environment and Sustainable Development Resolution at the UN Environment Assembly In March of this year (2022), the UN Environment Assembly passed a Resolution (EA.5/Res.1) that requested the Executive Director of the UN Environment Program (UNEP) in Nairobi,...

Geese flying | Photo credit: tntemerson | iStock

Nov 10, 2022 The Nexus Between Animal Welfare, Environment, and Sustainable Development

Posted at 18:25h In Animal Sentience, Animals, Articles, Environment Well-being, Ethics, Regulation, Law, Sustainability/Biodiversity, WellBeing News - By Andrew Rowan, DPhil

The Nexus between Animal Welfare, the Environment, and Sustainable Development was the focus of a Resolution (sponsored by six African states and Pakistan) passed by consensus at the Fifth United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-5) in March of 2022. The Resolution requested the United Nations Environment...

Lab mouse | Photo credit: fotografixx, iStock

Nov 10, 2022 Slowly but Steadily, Animals are being Replaced in Safety Testing

Posted at 18:21h In Articles, Ethics, Regulation, Law, Laboratory Animals, Public Awareness/Attitudes, WellBeing News - By Andrew Rowan, DPhil

Periodically, WellBeing News (WBN) carries a story on using animals to test the safety of chemicals (see May 2021 and December 2021). Advocacy campaigns to switch from animal tests to non-animal alternatives started over a hundred years ago. Public policy initiatives and technological advances leading...

Hot summer in the city | Photo credit: Tomwang112, iStock

Nov 10, 2022 COP27 – Can We Move Forward?

Posted at 16:44h In Environment Well-being, Ethics, Regulation, Law, Letter from the President, Sustainability/Biodiversity, WellBeing News - By Andrew Rowan, DPhil and Kathleen Rowan CEO, WellBeing International

Under the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the 27th Conference of the Parties (COP27) opened in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, on November 6 and runs through the 18th. World leaders, climate campaigners, and climate stakeholders are gathered amid challenging world economic dynamics,...

Pincushion protea | Photo credit: RapidEye, iStock

Oct 03, 2022 Biodiversity and the Smallest Floral Kingdom

Posted at 12:21h In Articles, Environment Well-being, Letter from the President, Sustainability/Biodiversity - By Andrew Rowan, DPhil and Kathleen Rowan CEO, WellBeing International

As attention to global biodiversity heats up because of the upcoming December meeting (COP15) of the Convention on Biological Diversity in Montreal, media stories on the state of the globe's biodiversity are becoming more numerous. Humans love lists, and someone would inevitably produce a list...

Oct 03, 2022 Advocacy & Funding for Farmed Animal Welfare

Posted at 12:14h In Animal Sentience, Animal Well-being, Articles, Farm Animals, WellBeing News - By Andrew Rowan, DPhil

Campaigns focusing on farmed animal welfare are relatively recent events of global animal advocacy, even though the UK animal protection movement is frequently identified as being launched when Richard Martin introduced his Cruel Treatment of Cattle Act in 1822. However, farmed animal advocacy only began...

Oct 03, 2022 Measuring Well-Being

Posted at 12:07h In Articles, Human Well-being, WellBeing News - By Andrew Rowan, DPhil

WellBeing News has published articles on the challenges of measuring human well-being and reported on the growing number of organizations involved in such efforts. One recently established organization is the Happier Lives Institute, founded in 2019 and based in Oxford (UK), to explore the most...