- There are many important conservation and environmental stories Mongabay isn’t able to cover.
- Here’s a digest of some of the significant developments from the week.
- If you think we’ve missed something, feel free to add it in the comments.
Tropical forests
Questions arise about new agreement to protect the Congo Basin’s peatlands (REDD Monitor).
Dozens of ancient villages, possibly home to 1 million people, found in the Amazon rainforest (New Scientist).
Laughing gas emissions from peatlands no laughing matter for climate change (University of Birmingham/EurekAlert).
More than 3 billion people at risk as a result of biodiversity and ecosystem services loss from land degradation (IPBES/EurekAlert, Reuters, The Wall Street Journal).
Research aims to find the carbon footprint of Easter eggs and other chocolate (University of Manchester/EurekAlert).
The Brazilian government may open the Amazon rainforest up to sugarcane farming (The Guardian).
New research looks for alternatives to the use of fire in Indonesia’s oil palm sector (CIFOR Forest News).
Questions about who controls forests still hamper the strategy to address climate change and economic development known as REDD+ after a decade (CIFOR Forest News).
Indigenous communities in Papua, seeking infrastructure development, accuse Greenpeace of driving away investors (The Jakarta Post).
Wildlife would benefit if authorities in Cameroon and Nigeria worked together (All Africa).
Other news
New video explores the threats that may be pushing cheetahs toward extinction (The Revelator).
At least 130 of 150 short-finned pilot whales stranded in Australia have died (The Atlantic, The Guardian).
Drones give scientists new insights into reindeer migration (The New York Times).
A judge has thrown out ExxonMobil’s opposition to an investigation into the company’s statements and research on climate change (The New York Times).
A new study finds that “salvage logging” is sometimes done under the guise of protecting forests, when in reality it’s used to harvest timber (University of Würzburg/EurekAlert).
Scientists uncover the reasons for whales’ enormous sizes (Stanford’s School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences/EurekAlert).
A third of wildlife species in the U.S. could go extinct, researchers find (The Guardian).
Endangered North Atlantic right whales may not have had any new calves this year (Phys.Org).
A new study has identified 280 spots around the world where managers could reintroduce carnivores as part of ecosystem restoration efforts (Phys.Org).
The ice in western Greenland is melting faster than it has in at least four centuries (Dartmouth College/Phys.Org).
In less than 100 years, the Sahara has grown by 10 percent, according to a new study (University of Maryland/Phys.Org).
Climate-change deniers could be emboldened by U.S. president’s rhetoric (Mother Jones).
Even as the lions of Gir in India make a comeback, the government hasn’t approved any new areas for their protection since 2008 (Indian Express).
Sea urchins evolve to stay ahead of climate change (Pacific Standard).
Will salt save us from climate change? New research hints that salt injections into the troposphere could cool the climate (Science Magazine).
Banner image of a caribou by Are G Nilsen [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons.
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