In Peru, a new president is faced with old conservation challenges
MANU NATIONAL PARK, Peru — There was movement in the understory deep in the dense rainforest off Trail 6. We saw a shadow scurry left to right, followed by more…
Articles by Justin Catanoso
Justin Catanoso is a professor of the practice at Wake Forest University and director of its journalism program from 2011-2016. His environmental reporting is often supported by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting in Washington, D.C., and the Center for Energy, Environment and Sustainability at Wake Forest.
UN forest accounting loophole allows CO2 underreporting by EU, UK, US
Scientists say burning woody biomass is not carbon neutral, yet the United Nations IPCC appears to be ignoring its own guidelines, so substantial emissions aren’t getting counted. But nature knows.
Pope’s message to Amazonia inspires hope, but will it bring action?
Visit by Pope Francis to Peru brought needed attention to Amazon deforestation and indigenous suffering due to illegal mining, but will the pontiff’s words be a game changer?
Consensus grows: climate-smart agriculture key to Paris Agreement goals
The Global Landscape Forum met in Bonn this week and advocated for altering farming practices planet-wide to boost food security, profitability and soil carbon sequestration.
A reflection on COP23: Incremental progress but no industrialized country’s top priority (commentary)
I remember well the vibrancy that December evening in 2015 when word spread on the last day of the 21st UN climate summit that there would be an agreement —…
COP23: Leaders vie for protection of ‘incredibly important’ African peatland
BONN, Germany – A few weeks ago, international scientists, government officials and forest advocates visiting a remote community in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) confirmed the presence of…
COP23: Alliance pledges an end to coal; other key summit goals unmet
19-nation pledge would reduce coal use by 3 percent; COP23 failed to see developed nations ramp up carbon targets, or offer real pathway for financing climate aid to developing nations.
COP23: U.S., wealthy nations curtail climate aid for developing world
In Bonn, Trump administration delegation provides cover for developed nations to stall financing for climate adaptation and loss for world’s most impacted developing nations.
COP23: Trump team leads ‘surreal’ coal-gas-nuke climate summit panel
Trump advisors and fossil fuel industry reps argued that “energy security and economic development” trumped climate action; they were met with derision and disbelief by the COP23 audience.
COP23: Voices from America’s Pledge; in their own words
U.S. subnationals – states, cities, companies and colleges – spoke out Saturday at COP23 in open rebellion against Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement.
U.S. subnationals shoulder climate role in Bonn, Trump sidelined
There was standing-room-only at a COP23 event as the world watched U.S. senators, governors, mayors and corporations take on responsibility shirked by Trump and federal government.
Global climate change increasing risk of crop yield losses and food insecurity in the tropical Andes
Climate scientists have long observed the adverse impacts of global warming on forest tree and plant species in tropical regions, which force upslope migrations as these species struggle to repopulate…
COP23: Trump, U.S. govt. seen as irrelevant to global climate action
As negotiations begin in Bonn, the U.S. Fourth National Climate Assessment, and a World Meteorological Organization report negate Trump’s climate denialism; US isolated at COP23.
Carbon sequestration role of savanna soils key to climate goals
Grassland researchers attending the COP23 climate summit opening in Bonn next week could urge creation of REDD-style initiatives to encourage savanna conservation.
Colombia, an example to world, balances conservation and development
In an exclusive Mongabay interview, Luis Gilberto Murillo, Colombia’s minister of the environment, tells how his nation has become a global leader in forest conservation.
Colombian president honored in Washington, D.C. for efforts to protect biodiversity
WASHINGTON, D.C. – He prowled the stage like a puma moving through Colombia’s rainforest. With a deep knowledge of ecosystems ranging from marine to savanna to high mountains, he spoke…
On poaching in South Africa, education “has saved more wildlife than any guard with a gun”
HOEDSPRUIT, South Africa – Vince Barkas, a grizzled high-school dropout with a sharp tongue and piercing blue eyes, is at war in the grasslands and savannas here in northeast South…
People of all faiths face climate change with hope, action, urgency
On May 24, a grim-faced Pope Francis handed a signed copy of Laudato Si to President Trump during his visit to Rome. The U.S. president, who has called climate change…
China flexes its new climate action muscles in Bonn; Trump administration blinks
Flexing new muscles as the undisputed leader in global climate action, China is making it clear that if the Trump Administration follows through on its threat to withdraw from the…
Trump failure to lead on climate doesn’t faze UN policymakers in Bonn
Kaisa Kosonen, a political advisor on climate action for Greenpeace in Germany is prepping for the mid-year United Nations climate conference in Bonn, running May 8-18. But she pauses to…
Special series
Endangered environmentalists
- Number of murdered environmental activists rose once again in 2017
- Indonesia to investigate death of journalist being held for defaming palm oil company
- Madagascar: Yet another anti-trafficking activist convicted
Indonesias forest guardians
- Papuan chef Charles Toto serves up sustainability and environmental protection in a platter
- In eastern Indonesia, a forest tribe pushes back against miners and loggers
- Faith in the forest helps Indonesia’s Dayaks keep plantations, loggers at bay
Amazon infrastructure
- Ruralists in Brazilian congress put nation’s protected areas at risk
- Chinese / Western financing of roads, dams led to major Andes Amazon deforestation
- Temer’s deforestation policies put Paris goals at risk, scientists warn
Asian rhinos
- In protecting the Javan rhino, locals gain a ‘more meaningful life’
- Rhino poop gives villagers in India a conservation incentive
- In its fight against rhino poachers, India lets the dogs out
