- 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.
- Mongabay does not vet the news sources below, nor does the inclusion of a story on this list imply an endorsement of its content.
Tropical forests
A recent study suggests that 32 species of orchids that once existed in Bangladesh can no longer be found there (The Revelator).
The forests of the Central African Republic are the latest battleground in the struggle over whether to pursue economic development or protection against climate change (The New York Times).
A new study links human activity to a “collapse” of biodiversity in tropical forests and coral reefs (Yahoo Sports, The Hill).
A South Sudanese-owned coffee company has been accused of forcing a local community from its home in Uganda (farmlandgrab.org).
Climate change-driven droughts are diminishing cocoa yields in Côte d’Ivoire (GreenBiz).
Forests are losing their capability to absorb CO2 in the tropics, mostly as a result of deforestation (TruthOut, CIFOR Forests News).
Other news
The Trump administration has twisted interpretations of wildfire science to support increased logging (The Guardian).
A researcher lays out critical facts about ocean warming (The Revelator).
The Trump administration has put forth a rule ending prosecutions for the accidental killing of birds (The Washington Post).
China is getting rid of plastic bags in major cities by 2020 (The Guardian).
Central banks are preparing for economic fallout from climate change (The New York Times).
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is letting cities dump more untreated sewage into rivers (The New York Times).
The Chinese government has changed its fishing laws to clamp down on fleets harvesting fish in foreign waters (China Dialogue).
Ship strikes are threatening whale sharks, according to a recent study (Hakai Magazine).
Climate activist Greta Thunberg calls for ending, not offsetting, carbon emissions at Davos (REDD-Monitor).
Iceland may be seeing a shift in opinions about whaling (The Revelator).
Norway has outlawed deforestation, becoming the first country to do so (Times of India).
Acidifying oceans are weakening the shells of Dungeness crabs (The Guardian).
Research has revealed high levels of a powerful climate-warming gas in India and China, despite bans on emissions in those countries (The Guardian).
New images show the melting of a behemoth glacier in Antarctica in progress (The Atlantic, The Washington Post).
Banner image of Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica courtesy of NASA via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain).
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