CG Extra August 2020

It's astonishing to us that we're already working ahead on the November/December issue of the print magazine. Thinking about fall and winter is just unfathomable right now — plus who wants to give up these beautiful summer nights?

We've continued to look at how the pandemic is affecting our natural world and communities, but also to bring you the CanGeo content you know and love — like could cancer have killed the dinosaurs and shocking information about the loss of the polar bears.

Here's a look at a few of our top stories this month. As always, we welcome your feedback and comments — just hit 'Reply'!

‘Absolutely catastrophic:’ Hit hard by pandemic, ecotourism needs help

The COVID-19 pandemic has devastated tourism — the World Tourism Organization calls it “the worst crisis that international tourism has faced since records began.” Worldwide, up to 120 million direct tourism jobs may be lost in 2020. As an industry that operates seasonally in remote locations, ecotourism has been hit hard.

Many communities involved with ecotourism have minimal health infrastructure and are especially vulnerable to COVID-19. Homalco Culture and Wildlife Tours, an arm of Homalco First Nation, has run fall bear viewing tours for several decades at salmon-spawning rivers near Campbell River, B.C.; recently, the company has expanded to offer summertime cultural tours. Most of their visitors come from outside Canada. This season, all summer tours are cancelled and the staff camp in Bute Inlet is closed. Fall bear viewing is likely cancelled too.

Read more about the industry's struggles in this story by Julia Duchesne.

Study finds reef sharks ‘functionally extinct’ from 20 per cent of the world’s reefs

Sharks are the apex predator of the sea, but they also play an important role in marine ecosystems, helping to balance marine food chains and remove diseases from the water. Due to unregulated fishing, however, many shark species are in severe decline with an estimated 100 million sharks being killed each year for their fins and meat.

Revealing an alarming loss of shark species, a new global study has found that reef sharks are ‘functionally extinct’ in nearly 20 per cent of surveyed reefs.

Learn about the study here.

More than just a game: Iroquois Nationals fight for inclusion in the 2022 World Games

For the Haudenosaunee, lacrosse is a game of peace and respect. The sport, known to them as the Creator’s Game, embodies the values that have been instilled in their culture forever: playing the game means playing with a clear heart and mind.

When their professional lacrosse team was told they would be barred from competing in the 2022 World Games in Birmingham, Alabama, despite coming in third at the qualifying men’s world championships, they did not angrily call for other teams to boycott. Instead, the Iroquois Nationals are calling on a peaceful, respectful and diplomatic resolution.