"A SINGLE PIONEERING SHOOT catches my eye as it creeps up my neighbour's otherwise bare and neatly painted fence. Hated by many and overlooked by most, this is common ivy with nowhere to hide. If you stare at it long enough, the repeating pattern of the leaves, branching left then right then left again, is quite mesmerising (just don't let the neighbours see you).
Meanwhile and far away, the next UN Climate Change Conference (running from 30th November to 12th December) is about to go ahead. While this issue of BBC Wildlife is on sale, COP28 will be undertaking the first "global stock take" of how member states are measuring up to the 2015 Paris Agreement, the historic pledge to keep mean global temperatures to 1.5°C of warming, and not exceed 2°C. Reading more like a romantic milestone, the conference headline announces that "it has been seven years since Paris" and with just seven years left to achieve its targets, is the honeymoon well and truly over?
This story is from the December 2023 edition of BBC Wildlife.
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This story is from the December 2023 edition of BBC Wildlife.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
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