The perils of relying on high-tech networks in a warmer world (commentary)
Smart cities are held up as beacons of hope in meeting the climate crisis. This is because they reduce greenhouse gas emissions by paring back energy use and urban waste.…
Articles by Simon Pollock
Simon Pollock is an Australian-based climate change writer. Before his current roles working on climate change ODA program management and communications in Australia, he was a member of the startup team that launched Al Jazeera English Television from its Asia HQ in Kuala Lumpur. Simon’s interest in development and environmental issues stemmed from observation of how the two do not always mix during six years in Beijing as a Kyodo News reporter.
After Paris: Charting the ‘psychological distance’ of climate change
The recently concluded United Nations climate change conference in Paris has captured the world’s attention – but for how long?
Will REDD+ help save Indonesia’s forest, or create ‘carbon cowboys’ instead?
The development of REDD+ in Indonesia as an experiment in bringing together carbon abatement, equity development and biodiversity protection is continuing to attract global attention.
Haze chokehold spurring efforts to save Indonesia’s forests
Many Southeast Asians are wondering if they will have to withstand another blanket of haze from rainforest fires as Indonesia enters its annual dry season.
Special series
Forest Trackers
- License to Log: Cambodian military facilitates logging on Koh Kong Krao and across the Cardamoms
- Forest behind bars: Logging network operating out of Cambodian prison in the Cardamoms
- Indigenous communities in Argentina’s Chaco fear another heavy fire season in 2023
- As tourism booms in India’s Western Ghats, habitat loss pushes endangered frogs to the edge
Oceans
- Europe’s top science panel supports call for moratorium on deep-sea mining
- A Southeast Asian marine biodiversity hotspot is also a wildlife trafficking hotbed
- Experts, activists unite to blast Indonesia’s U-turn on sea sand exports
- As one Indian Ocean tuna stock faces collapse, nations scramble to save others
Amazon Conservation
- Boosted with fresh donations, Amazon Fund reboots stalled projects
- Majority of Brazil’s Congress votes to restrict Indigenous land advances
- Protected areas store a year’s worth of CO₂ emissions, study reveals
- Indigenous land rights key to curbing deforestation and restoring lands: Study
Land rights and extractives
- Dams and plantations upend livelihoods in Ethiopia’s Lower Omo River Valley
- Fish deaths near Rio Tinto mine in Madagascar dredge up community grievances
- Award-winning, Indigenous peace park dragged into fierce conflict in Myanmar
- Logging permit threatens Quilombola bioeconomic ‘paradise’ in the Amazon
Endangered Environmentalists
- Indigenous chief shot in head in Brazil’s ‘palm oil war’ region; crisis group launched
- ‘You don’t kill people to protect forests’: New Thai parks chief raises alarm
- Vietnam’s environmental NGOs face uncertain status, shrinking civic space
- ‘We lost the biggest ally’: Nelly Marubo on her friend Bruno Pereira’s legacy
Indonesia's Forest Guardians
- Pioneer agroforester Ermi, 73, rolls back the years in Indonesia’s Gorontalo
- After 20 years and thousands of trees planted, Kalimantan’s veteran forester persists
- Aziil Anwar, Indonesian coral-based mangrove grower, dies at 64
- A utopia of clean air and wet peat amid Sumatra’s forest fire ‘hell’
Conservation Effectiveness
- Learning to live with — and love — bears and eagles in Colombia’s cloud forest
- Africa’s land and forest restoration initiative gathers pace in Malawi
- Study shows Kenyan elephant shrew may be adapting to human disturbance, drought
- Saving forests to protect coastal ecosystems: Japan sets historic example
Southeast Asian infrastructure
- Indonesia’s new capital ‘won’t sacrifice the environment’: Q&A with Nusantara’s Myrna Asnawati Safitri
- Small farmers in limbo as Cambodia wavers on Tonle Sap conservation rules
- To build its ‘green’ capital city, Indonesia runs a road through a biodiverse forest
- Robust river governance key to restoring Mekong River vitality in face of dams
