COP24: Summit a step forward, but fails to address climate urgency
Poland climate meeting addressed some issues, including Paris rulebook, but fell far short. UN’s António Guterres to convene special September climate action meeting in New York.
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.
COP24: Will they stay or will they go? Brazil’s threat to leave Paris
Jair Bolsonaro pledged to leave the Paris accord during his presidential run. But his Amazon agribusiness and mining expansion plans may pose a far bigger threat to forests and global climate.
COP24: Nations complicit in ignoring bioenergy climate bomb, experts say
Burning wood pellets, once deemed as carbon neutral, produces big CO2 emissions instead. But developed nations are cooking the books on bioenergy, toying with climate disaster.
COP24: Trumpers tout clean coal; protesters call it ‘climate suicide’
Demonstrators, subnationals, NGOs and COP24 delegates have moved beyond the Trump administration delegation’s public farce advocating coal as a viable climate solution.
COP24: US, Russia, Saudis downplay IPCC report in display of disunity
Vulnerable nations were eager to praise the IPCC report, the US was not. Environmental activist Tom Steyer sees another blue wave as the only route to global climate action.
COP24: World’s nations gather to grapple with looming climate disaster
As scientists’ warnings over climate catastrophe mount, will nonstate actors at COP24 in Poland be able to goad nations to finally take decisive climate change action?
Land rights, forests, food systems central to limiting global warming: report
Land-based options offer the best solutions to help nations meet their Paris carbon reduction goals and limit warming to 1.5 degrees C, says study in response to new IPCC climate report.
‘Guardians of the forest:’ Indigenous peoples come together to assert role in climate stability
SAN FRANCISCO – A half mile from the din of the Global Climate Action Summit and its 4,000 attendees in San Francisco, indigenous peoples from around the world came together in…
Putting the action in the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – The second day of California Governor Jerry Brown’s three-day Global Climate Action Summit on September 13 put a hard emphasis on action, whether in speeches at…
Climate mitigation has an ally in need of recognition and land rights: indigenous peoples in tropical countries
As global warming continues to outpace the tepid international response, a range of environmentalists are raising their collective voice to demand full rights and recognition for those long associated with…
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…
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.
Special series
Endangered environmentalists
- Arson attack in Indonesia leaves activist shaken
- For embattled environmental defenders, a reprieve of sorts in 2018
- 7 convicted of killing Honduran indigenous activist Berta Cáceres
Indonesias forest guardians
- Giant pines a tourist draw, cash cow for Yogyakarta farmers
- In West Papua, a development plan that doesn’t require clearing forest
- Smartphone app helps indigenous communities fight deforestation
Amazon infrastructure
- Bolsonaro government takes aim at Vatican over Amazon meeting
- Amazon at risk: Brazil plans rapid road and rail infrastructure expansion
- New appointments, new policies don’t bode well for Brazilian Amazon
Asian rhinos
- India-Nepal agreement to boost transborder conservation of rhinos, tigers
- Nepal court blocks road construction in rhino stronghold of Chitwan Park
- Conservation couture: Batik artisans make rhinos a fashion statement
