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…
Iconic musician Paul Simon announces tour supporting biodiversity
DURHAM, North Carolina - Listening to Paul Simon talk is a little like listening to him sing. His voice is melodic and soothing; his words are thoughtful and evocative, capable…
Many tree species in eastern US may be unable to adapt to changing climate, study finds
Evidence continues to mount for the toll climate change is taking on the ecosystems of the United States’ national parks and forests from coast to coast. The latest study, published…
Trump vows Paris Agreement pull out; world unites behind green economy
MARRAKESH, Morocco — The 22nd United Nations climate summit began as a wonky, low-profile affair. Nearly 200 nations, finally agreeing to keep the world from burning up, began writing the…
Morocco plants millions of trees along roads to fight climate change
MARRAKESH, Morocco – On the new highway that runs southeast from Marrakesh and ascends toward the snow-capped Atlas Mountains, the roadside shows evidence of climate-change progress. Recently planted trees at…
Forest advocates say zero-carbon goals too reliant on unrealistic tech
MARRAKESH, Morocco – Forest preservation advocates, for decades the overlooked stepchildren in United Nations climate negotiations, find themselves at the center of a raging debate in the 22nd UN summit…
Trump election leaves COP22 climate delegates aghast, shaken but firm
The stunning election of Donald Trump as the next president of the United States left delegates meeting at the 22nd United Nations Climate Summit in Marrakesh, Morocco, aghast and shaken,…
Beyond Paris: COP22, a critical nuts-and-bolts carbon-cutting summit
The first question I ask officials heading to Marrakesh, Morocco for this November’s United Nations Climate Summit known as COP22: How do you top Paris? “There is a lot of…
Peru’s new environmental policies: What are they and will they work?
In the waning days of President Ollanta Humala’s administration, Peru’s National Congress approved a set of innovative climate change-related policies designed to reduce deforestation, protect watersheds and biodiversity, and provide…
Emmylou Harris links climate change to refugee crisis, lends her voice
ROME, Italy: As she immersed herself in yet another global humanitarian crisis — with the intent of lending a hand and her voice — iconic Americana singer-songwriter Emmylou Harris pointed…
Climate negotiators focus on carbon credits, underplay human rights
BONN, Germany – Finding a workable compromise that allows a long-lived UN program to both reduce carbon emissions while also protecting the lives and lands of indigenous and impoverished people…
Special series
Forest trackers
- Fueled by impunity, invasions surge in Brazil’s Indigenous lands
- Chinese demand and domestic instability are wiping out Senegal’s last forests
- Solomon Islands environmental defender faces life sentence for arson charge
- Threatened species caught in crossfire of ongoing land conflict in Myanmar
Oceans
- ‘Tamper with nature, and everyone suffers’: Q&A with ecologist Enric Sala
- New paper highlights spread of organized crime from global fisheries
- Study: Chinese ‘dark fleets’ illegally defying sanctions by fishing in North Korean waters
- Game changer? Antarctic ice melt related to tropical weather shifts: Study
Amazon conservation
- Crimefighting NGO tracks Brazil wildlife trade on WhatsApp and Facebook
- The Amazon’s Yanomami utterly abandoned by Brazilian authorities: Report
- Conserve freshwater or land biodiversity? Why not both, new study asks
- As fire season ends, Brazil cited for failed Amazon and Pantanal policies
Land rights and extractives
- Podcast: Indigenous land rights and the global push for land privatization
- Peruvian Indigenous groups thwart oil drilling in their territory — for now
- Years after defeating a giant gold mine, activists in Colombia still fear for their lives
- Court allows referendum on mining in the Ecuadoran Andes to go forward
Endangered environmentalists
- Indonesian fishers opposed to dredging project hit by ‘criminalization’ bid
- Life as an Amazon activist: ‘I don’t want to be the next Dorothy Stang’
- In Philippines’ Palawan, top cop linked to assault on environmental officer
- Deaths, arrests and protests as Philippines re-emerges from lockdown
Indonesias forest guardians
- Why I stand for my tribe’s forest: It gives us food, culture, and life (commentary)
- Reforesting a village in Indonesia, one batch of gourmet beans at a time
- Restoring Sumatra’s Leuser Ecosystem, one small farm at a time
- Indigenous Iban community defends rainforests, but awaits lands rights recognition
Conservation effectiveness
- A Malagasy community wins global recognition for saving its lake
- In mangrove restoration, custom solutions beat one-size-fits-all approach
- World’s protected areas lack connections, recent study finds
- Failure in conservation projects: Everyone experiences it, few record it
Southeast asian infrastructure
- Activists in Malaysia call on road planners to learn the lessons of history
- Road-paving project threatens a wildlife-rich reserve in Indonesia’s Papua
- Planned road projects threaten Sumatran rhino habitat, experts say
- Deforestation threatens to wipe out a primate melting pot in Indonesia
