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		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/boreal-forests/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
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	<title>News on boreal forests</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/boreal-forests/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Communities join global push to protect European, Arctic &#038; US peatlands</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/local-communities-join-global-push-to-protect-european-arctic-us-peatlands/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/local-communities-join-global-push-to-protect-european-arctic-us-peatlands/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Feb 2026 16:55:38 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sonam Lama Hyolmo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/05091906/Gray-Jay-Admiral-Rd-feeders-Sax-Zim-Bog-MN-IMG_1096-scaled-e1770283761208-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=313759</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Arctic, Canada, Europe, Finland, Minnesota, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, boreal forests, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Culture, Environment, food security, Indigenous Peoples, Land Use Change, Landscape Restoration, Peatlands, Restoration, Rewilding, Rivers, Wetlands, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[After her father’s death, Bigga-Helena Magga and her sister were determined that their ancestral homeland, Alttokangas, a Sámi boreal forest and peatland in Finland’s Inari municipality, would not be turned into a commercial forestry operation. “We chose to take care and protect our inherited site located along the Ivalojoki river, which held great significance to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[After her father’s death, Bigga-Helena Magga and her sister were determined that their ancestral homeland, Alttokangas, a Sámi boreal forest and peatland in Finland’s Inari municipality, would not be turned into a commercial forestry operation. “We chose to take care and protect our inherited site located along the Ivalojoki river, which held great significance to Sámi culture and way of life,” said Magga, a Sámi leader from the Ivalo community. What began as a personal restoration project gained momentum in 2024, when it was formally recognized as the first Indigenous and community conserved area (ICCA) in Sámi lands located in Finland. That same year, they joined an effort to create what may be the world’s first coordinated restoration hubs across boreal and Arctic peatlands in Europe and North America. A key goal is for communities across Canada, the U.S. and Europe’s Arctic to work simultaneously to find a shared framework for restoration that conserves peatlands’ rich soil carbon and mitigates climate change. Kunnijänkkä intact peatland facing Northeast, the Pallas-Ounas National Park visible on the horizon. Image courtesy of Mika Honkalinna / Snowchange Cooperative. The initiative, part of the Climate Breakthrough Award program, builds on peatland conservation and restoration work led by Snowchange Cooperative, a Finland-based organization that launched its first landscape rewilding project in 2018. At the time, the effort restored peatlands from eight sites totaling 8,800 hectares (21,745 acres) to 188 sites in 2024, affecting up to 62,000 hectares (153,205 acres) in Finland. The program expands on this initiative&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/local-communities-join-global-push-to-protect-european-arctic-us-peatlands/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/local-communities-join-global-push-to-protect-european-arctic-us-peatlands/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-313759</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Why Sweden’s forest policy matters to the world (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/why-swedens-forest-policy-matters-to-the-world-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/why-swedens-forest-policy-matters-to-the-world-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Nov 2025 23:04:49 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Emil Siekkinen]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
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					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=309137</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Europe, European Union, Global, and Sweden]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, boreal forests, Business, carbon, Climate, Climate Change, Commentary, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Forest Carbon, Forestry, Forests, Soil Carbon, and Timber]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The deep, dark forests of northern Europe supplied people with wood, timber and food for millennia. They gave rise to myths, legends and fairy tales, and offered refuge to the persecuted. Over time, though, the forests themselves became subjugated, forced to submit to the will of humankind as forestry turned into a mighty machinery. Sweden [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The deep, dark forests of northern Europe supplied people with wood, timber and food for millennia. They gave rise to myths, legends and fairy tales, and offered refuge to the persecuted. Over time, though, the forests themselves became subjugated, forced to submit to the will of humankind as forestry turned into a mighty machinery. Sweden is one of the world’s largest exporters of forest-based products: paper, timber, cardboard and biofuels travel across the globe, ending up in your packaging, your books, in your homes. Decisions made in Sweden about how forests are managed ripple outward far beyond the kingdom&#8217;s borders. That is why the Swedish government’s recent forestry inquiry should matter not just to those living in Sweden, but to anyone concerned about the global climate crisis. The inquiry’s central message is clear: increase forest growth, harvest more biomass, and thereby contribute to the green transition. This might sound promising. More trees mean more carbon absorbed, more wood products to replace unsustainable products. But the plan overlooks the most important part of the forest: the soil. Sweden&#8217;s oldest boreal forests are carpeted with berries and lichens, which reindeer rely on for winter forage. Photo courtesy of Staffan Widstrand. Most of the carbon in a forest is not in the trees we see, but locked into the ground, in roots, humus, fungi, microbes, and the intricate networks of life below. When forestry is intensified — through shorter rotation times, clear-cutting, heavy machines compacting the earth, and the removal of branches and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/why-swedens-forest-policy-matters-to-the-world-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-309137</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Will the new EU environment leader change Sweden&#8217;s conservation direction? (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/sweden-conservation-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/sweden-conservation-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Nov 2024 16:40:47 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Daniel Bengtsson]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
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					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=289778</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Europe, European Union, and Sweden]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[boreal forests, Commentary, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Forests, and Governance]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The evidence is irrefutable: Sweden has spent the last few years trying to frustrate any EU-proposed measures to protect forests. A brief – and far from comprehensive – snapshot of this unhappy record reads as follows: In 2021, a leaked EU Forest Strategy draft revealed European Commission (EC) plans to reduce the clear-cutting that’s ravaged [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The evidence is irrefutable: Sweden has spent the last few years trying to frustrate any EU-proposed measures to protect forests. A brief – and far from comprehensive – snapshot of this unhappy record reads as follows: In 2021, a leaked EU Forest Strategy draft revealed European Commission (EC) plans to reduce the clear-cutting that’s ravaged Europe’s forests. Sweden expressed its opposition– and the final wording on clear-cuts was severely weakened. In 2023, Sweden was one of only five Member States to vote against the EU’s Nature Restoration Law, which sets binding targets to end the spiral of destruction afflicting the EU’s ecosystems, including by improving the health of Europe’s chronically degraded forests. Again in 2023, Sweden opposed a policy designed to protect the planet: the Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) Regulation, which accounts for emissions from land and forests. The Swedish government explicitly stated that it would not support the LULUCF proposals because of the restrictions they placed on Swedish forestry. Sweden’s stance on the groundbreaking EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) has also been marked by obstruction. The law aims to address the biggest driver of deforestation on the planet: clearing land for agricultural production, and was passed with huge public support and an overwhelming democratic mandate. Earlier this year, Sweden’s agricultural ministry (along with others) called for its implementation to be delayed – which the European Commission recently heeded by proposing a one year delay for the law’s application. To these examples can be added others, including Sweden’s efforts to bulldoze key revisions out of the Renewable Energy&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/sweden-conservation-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-289778</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Tropical forest loss puts 2030 zero-deforestation target further out of reach</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/tropical-forest-loss-puts-2030-zero-deforestation-target-further-out-of-reach/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/tropical-forest-loss-puts-2030-zero-deforestation-target-further-out-of-reach/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Apr 2024 12:26:01 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hayat Indriyatno]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/09/13160907/canada-fire-wildfire-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=280650</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Illegal Deforestation, Global Forests, Indonesian Fisheries, and Indonesian Palm Oil]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Asia, Bolivia, Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, Colombia, Congo Basin, Democratic Republic Of Congo, Indonesia, Laos, Latin America, Nicaragua, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, boreal forests, carbon, Carbon Emissions, Climate, Climate Change, data, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Drought, Environment, Fires, Forest Carbon, forest degradation, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Monitoring, Palm Oil, Plantations, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Remote Sensing, Threats To Rainforests, Trees, Tropical Deforestation, Tropical Forests, and Zero Deforestation Commitments]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — The tropics continue to lose primary forest at an alarming rate, with an area of tree cover half the size of Panama disappearing in 2023, new data from the University of Maryland&#8217;s GLAD lab show. Primary forest loss last year amounted to 3.7 million hectares (9.1 million acres), according to the data, available [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — The tropics continue to lose primary forest at an alarming rate, with an area of tree cover half the size of Panama disappearing in 2023, new data from the University of Maryland&#8217;s GLAD lab show. Primary forest loss last year amounted to 3.7 million hectares (9.1 million acres), according to the data, available on the Global Forest Watch (GFW) platform managed by the World Resources Institute (WRI). And while this marks or 9% decrease from 2022, it’s virtually unchanged from the 2019 and 2021 deforestation rates. On average, over the past two decades, the world has consistently lost 3 million to 4 million hectares (7.4 million to 9.9 million acres) of tropical forest every year. This leaves the planet well off track from achieving zero deforestation by 2030, a global target agreed to by 145 countries at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow in 2021. Forest loss, particularly in the tropics, releases huge volumes of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Halting and reversing forest loss by the end of the decade is considered essential to meeting the Paris Agreement goal of capping the global average temperature rise at 1.5° Celsius (2.7° Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels. &#8220;Forests are critical ecosystems for fighting climate change, supporting livelihoods, and protecting biodiversity,” said WRI president and CEO Ani Dasgupta. “The world has just six years left to keep its promise to halt deforestation. This year’s forest loss numbers tell an inspiring story of what we can achieve when leaders prioritize action, but the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/tropical-forest-loss-puts-2030-zero-deforestation-target-further-out-of-reach/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/tropical-forest-loss-puts-2030-zero-deforestation-target-further-out-of-reach/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-280650</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How to reward tropical forest conservation: Interview with Tasso Azevedo</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/how-to-reward-tropical-forest-conservation-interview-with-tasso-azevedo/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/how-to-reward-tropical-forest-conservation-interview-with-tasso-azevedo/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Mar 2024 12:57:54 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jenny Gonzales]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/03/22095714/featured-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=280166</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Atlantic Forest, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, boreal forests, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Policy, Forests, Funding, Rainforests, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Tasso Azevedo, one of the creators of Tropical Forests Forever, details the financial instrument envisaged to reward conservation.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Faced with the global challenge of ending the deforestation of tropical forests without enough resources for the task, at the end of 2023, the Brazilian government launched a mechanism to encourage forest conservation. How? Creating a payment system per hectare of preserved or recovered forest to those responsible for its preservation. If a hectare ends up deforested instead of preserved, the opposite happens: Landowners no longer receive the equivalent of 100 times the value of the preserved hectare. “Tropical forests are essential for biodiversity,” Minister of Environment and Climate Change Marina Silva said at the launch of the mechanism at COP28, in the United Arab Emirates. “They are a great repository of countless species and responsible for water balance. We need mechanisms to protect them. In addition to laws, efforts and incentives within each national state, it is essential to have a global payment mechanism for the ecosystem services provided by tropical forests. Around 80 countries that have tropical forests, including vulnerable ones, [must be] paid for each hectare of forest preserved and for each hectare of forest restored,” Silva said. Tasso Azevedo, creator of the Amazon Fund and MapBiomas, an annual land cover and land use mapping system, believes that it is essential to create a global payment mechanism for the ecosystem services provided by tropical forests. Image courtesy of MapBiomas Brasil. The Brazilian government estimates $250 billion is needed to launch the initiative, especially from sovereign wealth funds. “Why do we talk about sovereign wealth funds? Worldwide, sovereign&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/how-to-reward-tropical-forest-conservation-interview-with-tasso-azevedo/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-280166</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Biden&#8217;s new sanctions on Russia should include timber exports (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/bidens-new-sanctions-on-russia-should-include-timber-exports-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/bidens-new-sanctions-on-russia-should-include-timber-exports-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Feb 2024 16:35:51 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Etelle HigonnetTara Ganesh]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/02/26183424/boreal-forest-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=279202</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Belarus, Europe, European Union, Russia, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[boreal forests, Business, Commentary, Conflict, Deforestation, Environment, Forests, Governance, Temperate Forests, Timber, timber trade, and Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Russia&#8217;s dictator Vladimir Putin has seemingly just had jailed opposition leader Aleksei Navalny assassinated. Navalny incarnated the best chance for democracy and human rights in Russia. He was a beacon of hope; a bright light in the darkness of corruption and violence that characterizes Putin&#8217;s Russia. His death is a tragedy that demands robust responses [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Russia&#8217;s dictator Vladimir Putin has seemingly just had jailed opposition leader Aleksei Navalny assassinated. Navalny incarnated the best chance for democracy and human rights in Russia. He was a beacon of hope; a bright light in the darkness of corruption and violence that characterizes Putin&#8217;s Russia. His death is a tragedy that demands robust responses from world leaders – especially from the E.U. and from U.S. President Joe Biden, who had long warned that Putin would face devastating consequences if Navalny were to die in prison. The new U.S. sanctions announced Friday, targeting hundreds of entities and individuals, are a sign that his administration will live up to its word – but they could go further in key areas. We propose a response that would simultaneously teach Putin a clear and painful lesson, and help save the planet from climate change. The U.S. should immediately bar Russian timber, pulp &amp; paper imports, as the E.U. and U.K. have already done. Amur tigers are among the creatures found in Russia&#8217;s taiga forest habitat. Image courtesy of WCS Russia &amp; Sikhote-Alin Reserve. Why is this crucial? Because timber represents more than half of all remaining U.S. imports of Russian goods, in terms of number of shipments. All of Russia’s forests are state-owned, with dues from logging flowing to it. Some forests are even under control of Russia’s military, which is also allowed to log and sell timber in its forests. Since the war began, U.S. Customs data show the nation has imported close to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/bidens-new-sanctions-on-russia-should-include-timber-exports-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-279202</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Forest conservation ‘off-track’ to halt deforestation by 2030: New report</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/forest-conservation-off-track-to-halt-deforestation-by-2030-new-report/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/forest-conservation-off-track-to-halt-deforestation-by-2030-new-report/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Oct 2023 07:36:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/10/24072423/DSC_9721-1-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=274565</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, boreal forests, Climate, Climate Change, Conservation, Conservation Finance, Deforestation, Ecosystem Services, Environment, Finance, forest degradation, Forestry, Forests, Green, NGOs, Old Growth Forests, Primary Forests, Rainforests, Saving Rainforests, Solutions, Temperate Forests, Threats To Rainforests, Traditional People, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A new report reveals that deforestation increased by 4% worldwide in 2022, dimming the prospects of ending forest loss by 2030. The spike indicates rates are trending “in the wrong direction,” Erin Matson, a lead author of the Forest Declaration Assessment, said during an Oct. 19 press call. “The question that comes to mind is [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A new report reveals that deforestation increased by 4% worldwide in 2022, dimming the prospects of ending forest loss by 2030. The spike indicates rates are trending “in the wrong direction,” Erin Matson, a lead author of the Forest Declaration Assessment, said during an Oct. 19 press call. “The question that comes to mind is why?” said Matson, who is a senior consultant at the Netherlands-based advisory company Climate Focus. “The answer becomes obvious when you look at what we invest in. We are investing in activities that are harmful for forests at far higher rates than we are investing in activities that are beneficial for forest.” Clearance for food and feed crops like soybeans, as well as for pastureland for cattle, drives most tropical deforestation. The annual assessment, released by a group of civil society and research groups Oct. 23, compares progress toward commitments to forest conservation made by countries and the private sector, including the 2030 goal, with “baseline” deforestation rates from 2018-2020. At the 2021 United Nations climate conference (COP26) in Glasgow, United Kingdom, 145 countries pledged “to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030,” after a similar commitment, the New York Declaration on Forests from 2014, missed its initial target of halving deforestation by 2020. The 2022 Forest Declaration Assessment found that deforestation had diminished in 2021, even as observers noted the need to cut back on deforestation more quickly for the benefit of biodiversity and human communities, as well halt the release&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/forest-conservation-off-track-to-halt-deforestation-by-2030-new-report/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/forest-conservation-off-track-to-halt-deforestation-by-2030-new-report/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-274565</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Even without human-driven deforestation, climate change threatens some forests</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/09/even-without-human-driven-deforestation-climate-change-threatens-some-forests/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/09/even-without-human-driven-deforestation-climate-change-threatens-some-forests/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Sep 2022 11:30:30 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ashoka Mukpo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Ashoka]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/07/23111807/GP1SU5JE_PressMedia-768x432.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=260222</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Carbon Offset Markets]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[boreal forests, Carbon Market, Carbon Offsets, Climate Change, Climate Science, Deforestation, Fires, Forest Carbon, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Forests, Impact Of Climate Change, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, Trees, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[When it comes to climate solutions, trees are in vogue right now. From the Trillion Tree Campaign to the stream of vigorous — if somewhat vague — promises made at last year’s COP26 climate conference to halt global deforestation, harnessing the carbon-sequestering power of forests has become a goal of governments, cities, and policymakers across [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[When it comes to climate solutions, trees are in vogue right now. From the Trillion Tree Campaign to the stream of vigorous — if somewhat vague — promises made at last year’s COP26 climate conference to halt global deforestation, harnessing the carbon-sequestering power of forests has become a goal of governments, cities, and policymakers across the world. Even oil companies are getting in on the action. But while much ink has been spilled on the potential benefits of tree planting in the fight against climate change, less is known about how the forests we already have will react to a hotter environment. Some scientists say that’s a critical gap in our knowledge of how trees could figure into the global climate agenda. Sinking resources into a costly forest restoration project might not make sense, for example, if it’s in a region that’s likely to see climate-related die-offs or a high risk of fire during its life span. A new study published in the journal Science aims to start filling that gap. Using a combination of ecosystem and climate models, along with satellite data on existing disturbances, its authors found that some types of forest showed up as particularly sensitive to climate risks — even when human-driven deforestation was removed as a variable. They say those findings could help policymakers develop a more nuanced understanding of what threats the planet’s forests face, and what role they can be expected to play in the global climate agenda. “The future of Earth’s forests&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/09/even-without-human-driven-deforestation-climate-change-threatens-some-forests/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/09/even-without-human-driven-deforestation-climate-change-threatens-some-forests/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-260222</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Forest fires are getting worse, 20 years of data confirm</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/forest-fires-are-getting-worse-according-to-new-20-year-analysis/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/forest-fires-are-getting-worse-according-to-new-20-year-analysis/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Aug 2022 19:35:09 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/07/23110217/GP1SU5JA_PressMedia-768x432.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=259342</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Global, and Russia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, boreal forests, Carbon Emissions, Climate Change, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Fires, Forest Destruction, Forests, Green, Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Across Russia, Europe, Indonesia, the Amazon Basin, North America, Australia, and beyond, we have watched fires blaze across landscapes, causing immense damage to life and land. Now, a new analysis confirms what many have witnessed firsthand and in the news: forest fires are getting worse. Researchers at Global Forest Watch, an environmental monitoring platform developed [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Across Russia, Europe, Indonesia, the Amazon Basin, North America, Australia, and beyond, we have watched fires blaze across landscapes, causing immense damage to life and land. Now, a new analysis confirms what many have witnessed firsthand and in the news: forest fires are getting worse. Researchers at Global Forest Watch, an environmental monitoring platform developed by the World Resources Institute, reviewed 20 years of satellite data on tree cover loss to identify what they call stand-replacing fires, those that burn all or most of a forest’s living overstory trees. These may be caused by wildfires, fires escaped from agricultural burning, or fires set by humans. Tree cover loss from fire over the past 20 years is shown in pink. Time-lapse provided by World Resources Institute (WRI) via GFW. Compared to 2001, fires are now causing 3 million more hectares (7.4 million acres) of tree cover loss per year, amounting to an area larger than Belgium. In 2021, fires were responsible for more than one-third of all tree cover loss for the year, making it one of the worst years on record. Russia, Canada, the U.S., Brazil and Australia had the highest tree cover loss due to fire over the past 20 years. The GFW analysis of fire data from the Global Land Analysis &amp; Discovery (GLAD) lab at the University of Maryland was released Aug. 17 and built upon a study on forest loss due to fire from 2001 through 2019 published earlier this year. These analyses provide the most&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/forest-fires-are-getting-worse-according-to-new-20-year-analysis/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/forest-fires-are-getting-worse-according-to-new-20-year-analysis/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-259342</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>We’ve crossed the land use change planetary boundary, but solutions await</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/weve-crossed-the-land-use-change-planetary-boundary-but-solutions-await/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/weve-crossed-the-land-use-change-planetary-boundary-but-solutions-await/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Aug 2022 19:25:09 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/04/28152446/siberia_GP1SU5IY_PressMedia-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=258868</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Covering the Commons and Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon and Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Biodiversity, boreal forests, Climate Change, Deforestation, Earth Science, Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Policy, Farming, Fires, Food, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Forest Regeneration, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Global Warming, Globalization, Governance, Green, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, International Trade, Land Use Change, Landscape Restoration, Pollution, Rainforests, Research, Restoration, Supply Chain, and Sustainability]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Just weeks after visiting a patch of Malaysian rainforest, Mongabay founder Rhett A. Butler learned it had been logged for wood chips to supply a paper plant. A teenager at the time, Butler recalls being devastated. “This place of wonder and beauty was lost forever,” he wrote in a 2018 story. “The orangutan, the hornbills, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Just weeks after visiting a patch of Malaysian rainforest, Mongabay founder Rhett A. Butler learned it had been logged for wood chips to supply a paper plant. A teenager at the time, Butler recalls being devastated. “This place of wonder and beauty was lost forever,” he wrote in a 2018 story. “The orangutan, the hornbills, the butterflies, and even the leeches would have to make do in their dramatically changed environment. “I was at a loss for words when I would try to explain my sadness to my grade-school friends,” he went on. “Why, they asked, did I care about the destruction of a distant mosquito-ridden forest? … So I started writing.” Eventually, this writing morphed into Mongabay.com, the website you’re now reading that draws millions of views per month and daily tells the story of our rapidly transforming planet. That story is largely one of land systems change: humans altering the land, destroying forests and other habitats, only to replace it with pastures and plantations, mines, roads and other infrastructure. Land systems change is one of the nine planetary boundaries first defined by an international group of scientists at the Stockholm Resilience Centre (SRC) in 2009. The planetary boundary framework suggests that Earth has critical operating systems, each precariously balanced like a vehicle descending safely down a steep mountain road. But once humanity violates a planetary boundary, we risk destabilizing Earth’s operating systems and potentially heading over an existential cliff beyond which life as we know it, and humanity&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/weve-crossed-the-land-use-change-planetary-boundary-but-solutions-await/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/weve-crossed-the-land-use-change-planetary-boundary-but-solutions-await/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-258868</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How unsustainable is Sweden&#8217;s forestry? &#8216;Very.&#8217; Q&#038;A with Marcus Westberg and Staffan Widstrand</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/how-unsustainable-is-swedens-forestry-very-qa-with-marcus-westberg-and-staffan-widstrand/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/how-unsustainable-is-swedens-forestry-very-qa-with-marcus-westberg-and-staffan-widstrand/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Jun 2022 20:25:08 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/06/17202018/MarcusWestberg-1-e1655497424245-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=257443</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Europe, European Union, and Sweden]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Bioenergy, boreal forests, Climate Change, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporate Social Responsibility, Deforestation, Forestry, Forests, Greenwashing, Sustainability, and Sustainable Forest Management]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Over a decade ago I traveled around Sweden to view its forestry practices – the country has a gigantic forest products industry that largely transforms trees into paper products and biomass pellets for electricity generation – yet the national forestry agency claimed it to be the most sustainable forestry program in the world. What I [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Over a decade ago I traveled around Sweden to view its forestry practices – the country has a gigantic forest products industry that largely transforms trees into paper products and biomass pellets for electricity generation – yet the national forestry agency claimed it to be the most sustainable forestry program in the world. What I found was strikingly different, as I reported for Yale Environment 360, &#8220;Sweden’s Green Veneer Hides Unsustainable Logging Practices.&#8221; I wanted to know what has changed since 2011, and queried two Swedes who are very involved with this ongoing issue: award-winning photojournalist Marcus Westberg and top conservation photographer/National Geographic Explorer Staffan Widstrand, who are active under the banner of Skogsmissbruket, i.e. &#8216;forest abuse,&#8217; an awareness raising project on Swedish forestry. They collaborated on their responses via email, which have been lightly edited for accuracy and brevity. Mongabay: Can you say what Sweden’s forestry model is and why that has led to logging of its very old boreal forests, and their replanting with monocultures of trees? Marcus Westberg and Staffan Widstrand: Sweden’s approach is both devastating and devastatingly simple: treat forests like agricultural fields. Harvest whatever is there, plough the ground, plant new tree plants, and repeat, hopefully. These plantations are highly effective if what you want only is to produce large volumes of low-quality wood, and provided that these plantations survive until harvesting age. Which is not a given, since they are very susceptible to bark beetles, moose browsing, fungus attacks, drought, storm and fire. It&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/how-unsustainable-is-swedens-forestry-very-qa-with-marcus-westberg-and-staffan-widstrand/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/how-unsustainable-is-swedens-forestry-very-qa-with-marcus-westberg-and-staffan-widstrand/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-257443</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>2021 tropical forest loss figures put zero-deforestation goal by 2030 out of reach</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/04/2021-tropical-forest-loss-figures-put-zero-deforestation-goal-by-2030-out-of-reach/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/04/2021-tropical-forest-loss-figures-put-zero-deforestation-goal-by-2030-out-of-reach/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Apr 2022 11:27:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hayat Indriyatno]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/04/28152446/siberia_GP1SU5IY_PressMedia-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=255219</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Global Forests]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Amazon, Asia, Bolivia, Brazil, Congo Basin, Democratic Republic Of Congo, Gabon, Indonesia, Latin America, Republic of Congo, Russia, Southeast Asia, and Tropics]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, boreal forests, Climate, Climate Change, data, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Extreme Weather, Fires, Forest Carbon, forest degradation, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Forests, Palm Oil, Peatlands, Permafrost, Plantations, Primary Forests, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Saving Rainforests, Solutions, Threats To Rainforests, Tipping points, Tropical Deforestation, Tropical Forests, and Zero Deforestation Commitments]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Tropical forest loss remained consistently high in 2021 with no sign of slowing down, despite commitments by companies and governments to curb deforestation, according to new data from the University of Maryland. The data, available on the Global Forest Watch platform managed by the World Resources Institute (WRI), show that tropical countries lost [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Tropical forest loss remained consistently high in 2021 with no sign of slowing down, despite commitments by companies and governments to curb deforestation, according to new data from the University of Maryland. The data, available on the Global Forest Watch platform managed by the World Resources Institute (WRI), show that tropical countries lost 11.1 million hectares (27.5 million acres) of tree cover in 2021, an area the size of Cuba. Of this total tree loss, 3.75 million hectares (9.3 million acres) occurred in tropical primary forests, the world’s most biologically diverse ecosystems. This means the planet is not on its way to halting and reversing forest loss by 2030, as pledged by 141 countries during last year’s COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, experts say. A handful of countries, most notably Indonesia and Gabon, saw their rates of primary forest loss decline significantly in recent years. But this was offset by high deforestation rates in other tropical countries, such as Brazil and Bolivia. As a result, the tropics still lost 10 football pitches of primary forest per minute in 2021, in the process releasing 2.5 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases (GHG). That’s equivalent to the annual fossil fuel emissions from India. While the tropics lost 11% less primary forest in 2021 than in 2020, the figure was still almost the same as in 2019. This means that loss of primary tropical forests remains “stubbornly persistent throughout the years,” said Rod Taylor, the global director of WRI’s forests program.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/04/2021-tropical-forest-loss-figures-put-zero-deforestation-goal-by-2030-out-of-reach/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/04/2021-tropical-forest-loss-figures-put-zero-deforestation-goal-by-2030-out-of-reach/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-255219</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>What countries are leaders in reducing deforestation? Which are not?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/11/glasgow-declaration-what-countries-are-leaders-in-reducing-deforestation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/11/glasgow-declaration-what-countries-are-leaders-in-reducing-deforestation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Nov 2021 20:03:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/11/05191028/kalbar_drone_1904410-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=249038</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[boreal forests, Climate Change, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Forests, Green, Primary Forests, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Remote Sensing, Satellite Imagery, Saving Rainforests, Solutions, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On Tuesday, November 2, 2021, 127 countries signed the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use, pledging to “halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation” by 2030. The declaration, which was accompanied by some $19.2 billion in related funding commitments, was endorsed outside the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On Tuesday, November 2, 2021, 127 countries signed the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use, pledging to “halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation” by 2030. The declaration, which was accompanied by some $19.2 billion in related funding commitments, was endorsed outside the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process and is therefore legally non-binding. The 127 signatories account for about 90% of global tree cover and 85% of the world’s primary tropical forests, including the nine top countries in terms of forest area. The Glasgow Declaration thus represents a much larger constituency than the 20 sub-national jurisdictions and 39 countries which signed the New York Declaration on Forests in 2014 and accounted for 39-44% tree cover and 39-55% of primary tropical forests. Note: The figures for the New York Declaration includes only national-level signatories&#8211;sub-national jurisdictions that signed independently of national governments are excluded from the charts. Including sub-national jurisdictions pushes the primary forest share from 39% to 55%. Note: The figures for the New York Declaration includes only national-level signatories&#8211;sub-national jurisdictions that signed independently of national governments are excluded from the charts. Including sub-national jurisdictions pushes the primary forest share from 39% to 44%. Like the Glasgow Declaration, the New York Declaration was also a voluntary commitment, but it included a broader array of companies and NGOs. Yet the New York Declaration signatories missed badly in their collective ambition to halve deforestation by 2020 — tree cover loss in their territories rose by 13.8% from&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/11/glasgow-declaration-what-countries-are-leaders-in-reducing-deforestation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/11/glasgow-declaration-what-countries-are-leaders-in-reducing-deforestation/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-249038</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Do forest declarations work? How do the Glasgow and New York declarations compare?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/11/how-do-the-u-n-forest-declarations-compare/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/11/how-do-the-u-n-forest-declarations-compare/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Nov 2021 05:03:47 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/11/04042745/kalbar_drone_190203_1800-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=248970</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[boreal forests, Climate Change, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Forest Carbon, Forests, Governance, Green, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Nature-based climate solutions, Rainforests, Restoration, Saving Rainforests, Solutions, Temperate Forests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[[Part II &#8211; What countries are leaders in reducing deforestation?] On November 2, 2021 at the 26th U.N. Climate Change Conference (#COP26), 127 countries signed the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use which commits them to eliminate forest loss by 2030 as part of their collective efforts to combat climate change. The declaration, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[[Part II &#8211; What countries are leaders in reducing deforestation?] On November 2, 2021 at the 26th U.N. Climate Change Conference (#COP26), 127 countries signed the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use which commits them to eliminate forest loss by 2030 as part of their collective efforts to combat climate change. The declaration, which was accompanied by some $19.2 billion in related funding commitments, came seven years after the New York Declaration on Forests, under which 39 countries pledged to halve deforestation by 2020 and end it by 2030. How do these two declarations compare? Deforestation in Borneo. Photo credit: Rhett A. Butler Scope The New York Declaration on Forests, which was signed during U.N. Climate Week rather than that year&#8217;s COP, included 39 country-level signatories as well as a number of sub-national jurisdictions, private companies, and NGOs. At the country level &#8212; therefore excluding sub-national jurisdictions like states and provinces &#8212; signatories representing 39% of both global tree cover and primary tropical forest cover that existed in 2010. That translates to 1.5 billion hectares of tree cover and 391 million hectares of primary tropical forest, according to 2021 data from Global Forest Watch and Matthew Hansen of the University of Maryland (all data presented in the rest of this piece are from that source). The Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land was signed by 127 countries (as of November 3, 2021) which represent about 90% of 2010 global tree cover and 85% of 2010 primary tropical&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/11/how-do-the-u-n-forest-declarations-compare/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-248970</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>North American paper industry merger sets off environmental alarms</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/09/north-american-paper-excellence-domtar-industry-merger-sets-off-environmental-alarms/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/09/north-american-paper-excellence-domtar-industry-merger-sets-off-environmental-alarms/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Sep 2021 14:12:17 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/10/26120331/caribou-canada-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=246633</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Canada, Indonesia, North America, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[boreal forests, Business, Conflict, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, forest degradation, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Forestry, Forests, Indigenous Peoples, Land Conflict, Logging, Peatlands, Pulp And Paper, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Timber, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — The planned expansion of one of the largest pulp and paper producers in North America will threaten Canada’s boreal forest, the most carbon dense woodland in the world, environmentalists warn. Earlier this year, Canadian paper and packaging company Paper Excellence announced its plan to acquire U.S. competitor Domtar, which is one of the largest pulp producers [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — The planned expansion of one of the largest pulp and paper producers in North America will threaten Canada’s boreal forest, the most carbon dense woodland in the world, environmentalists warn. Earlier this year, Canadian paper and packaging company Paper Excellence announced its plan to acquire U.S. competitor Domtar, which is one of the largest pulp producers in the world. Domtar is one of North America’s top producers of so-called freesheet paper, which is used for everything from business memos to copy paper. On July 29, more than 81% of Domtar’s stakeholders voted in favor of the merger, paving the way for Paper Excellence to enter the U.S. market. By purchasing Domtar, Paper Excellence will gain control over eight pulp and paper mills in the U.S and nine “manufacturing and converting facilities” in 15 U.S. states. Commenting on the planned merger, expected to be completed before the end of 2021, Paper Excellence said it’s “enthusiastic about entering the American market.” If the plan goes through, Paper Excellence will also become the largest pulp producer in Canada. This has raised concerns among environmentalists, who fear that the acquisition will result in the clearing of boreal forest in Canada, home to more than 600 Indigenous communities and threatened species like the boreal caribou. For one, they are worried that the merger would reduce Domtar’s environmental safeguards, transparency and accountability. This is because Paper Excellence is reportedly affiliated with Indonesian conglomerate Sinar Mas group and its subsidiary, Asia Pulp &amp; Paper (APP). APP has a long&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/09/north-american-paper-excellence-domtar-industry-merger-sets-off-environmental-alarms/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-246633</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Report: Illegal Russian lumber flooded Europe despite timber laws</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/12/report-illegal-russian-lumber-flooded-europe-despite-timber-laws/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/12/report-illegal-russian-lumber-flooded-europe-despite-timber-laws/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Dec 2020 12:58:15 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Daniel]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/09/01191055/Taiga_Landscape_in_Canada-507x330.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=237984</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Global Commodities]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[China, Europe, European Union, Japan, and Russia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[boreal forests, Corruption, Deforestation, Environment, Forests, Governance, Illegal Logging, Logging, Timber, Timber Laws, and timber trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Timber linked to one of Russia’s largest illegal logging scandals has entered the E.U. despite rules meant to tackle the illicit trade, according to a new report. The report, titled Taiga King, by UK-based environmental group Earthsight alleges more than 100,000 tons of timber from Khabarovsk Krai in Russia’s far east made its way into [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Timber linked to one of Russia’s largest illegal logging scandals has entered the E.U. despite rules meant to tackle the illicit trade, according to a new report. The report, titled Taiga King, by UK-based environmental group Earthsight alleges more than 100,000 tons of timber from Khabarovsk Krai in Russia’s far east made its way into Europe via the BM Group, a conglomerate headed by Alexander Pudovkin, who was arrested last year and is being investigated along with two officials who are accused of abuse of office. According to prosecutors, Pudovkin admitted to paying bribes to the officials in return for government subsidies and access to timber concessions. He has denied wrongdoing and is due to stand trial. Prosecutors also allege Pudovkin was handed contracts without public tender and his company received state funding for a sawmill project that it never completed. The BM Group’s offices in Khabarovsk, near the Chinese border in Siberia, were raided by Russia’s domestic spy agency, the FSB, in March 2019. The FSB seized computer hardware and a safe in the raid and subsequently a criminal investigation was launched. The law enforcement action led to BM Group’s removal from Russia’s federal list of priority investment projects, which allow a select group of firms to sidestep public auctions for logging rights. “Pudovkin’s BM Group milked this lucrative status for all it was worth, setting up no fewer than five sawmill ventures between 2008 and 2017. Together, they handed over combined rights to cut more than two million&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/12/report-illegal-russian-lumber-flooded-europe-despite-timber-laws/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-237984</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>EU renewable energy policy subsidizes surge in logging of Estonia&#8217;s protected areas (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/12/eu-renewable-energy-policy-subsidizes-surge-in-logging-of-estonias-protected-areas-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/12/eu-renewable-energy-policy-subsidizes-surge-in-logging-of-estonias-protected-areas-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Dec 2020 14:59:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Siim Kuresoo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/12/07143644/Tarvasjo%CC%83gi-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=237632</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Denmark, Europe, European Union, and Latvia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, Bioenergy, boreal forests, Carbon Sequestration, Climate Change, Commentary, Conservation, Energy, Environment, Environmental Policy, Forest Carbon, Forests, Global Warming, Politics, Renewable Energy, and Temperate Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The survival of Europe’s most valuable – and threatened – wildlife and habitats depends on Natura 2000. Natura 2000 sites are meant to be environmental havens, shielded from the relentless spread of buildings, logging, roads and agriculture across Europe. Spanning almost 18% of the European Union’s land mass, they are the largest network of protected [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The survival of Europe’s most valuable – and threatened – wildlife and habitats depends on Natura 2000. Natura 2000 sites are meant to be environmental havens, shielded from the relentless spread of buildings, logging, roads and agriculture across Europe. Spanning almost 18% of the European Union’s land mass, they are the largest network of protected areas in the world, and a cornerstone of the EU’s efforts to protect nature and biodiversity. Yet in Estonia, in the last 10 years the government has issued logging permits for 82,000 hectares of forest – the equivalent to 115,000 football fields – which have been designated protected habitats under Natura 2000. Responsibility for this destruction, however, doesn’t solely lie in Estonia. Perversely, the EU itself is the architect of another policy which is helping to destroy the very nature which should be protected under Natura 2000. See related: Are forests the new coal? Global alarm sounds as biomass burning surges Subsidies fuel destruction This policy is the Renewable Energy Directive, which allows Member States to subsidize burning woody biomass under the banner of ‘green energy.’ In Estonia these subsidies are helping fuel a dramatic surge in logging: in 2016-18 the logging intensity was 85% higher than in 2004-15, a study published in the journal Nature shows. In the past decade or so, logging volumes in Estonia have almost tripled, and because of this, Estonia’s habitats are expected to become a net source of carbon by 2034. At least half of the wood logged is&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/12/eu-renewable-energy-policy-subsidizes-surge-in-logging-of-estonias-protected-areas-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-237632</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Photos show scale of massive fires tearing through Siberian forests</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/07/photos-show-scale-of-massive-fires-tearing-through-siberian-forests/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/07/photos-show-scale-of-massive-fires-tearing-through-siberian-forests/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Jul 2020 15:15:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Claire Alberts]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Elizabethalberts]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/07/23143921/GP1SU5IY_PressMedia-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=232892</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Russia and siberia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Black Carbon, boreal forests, Carbon Dioxide, Climate, Climate Change, data, Deforestation, Extreme Weather, Fires, Forest Carbon, Forest Loss, Forestry, Forests, Heatwave, Impact Of Climate Change, Remote Sensing, Temperate Forests, and Weather]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This week, Greenpeace International released a series of dramatic photos revealing megafires burning in the Krasnoyarsk region of Siberia, Russia. The images, captured on July 16 by drone, show red flames tearing through the Siberian boreal forests, razing trees and producing large plumes of hazardous smoke. This year, the fire season started early in Russia [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This week, Greenpeace International released a series of dramatic photos revealing megafires burning in the Krasnoyarsk region of Siberia, Russia. The images, captured on July 16 by drone, show red flames tearing through the Siberian boreal forests, razing trees and producing large plumes of hazardous smoke. This year, the fire season started early in Russia after an unusually hot winter and spring, which led to extreme temperatures in remote Siberian towns. By June 17, Verkhoyansk, a town located in the Arctic region of Siberia, recorded a reading of more than 38° Celsius (100° Fahrenheit) — the highest temperature ever documented north of the Arctic Circle. A fire burning through forest in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, in July 2020. Image by Greenpeace International. Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, is just one region where fires are burning throughout Russia in 2020. Image by Greenpeace International. According to satellite monitoring data from Russia’s ISDM-Rosleskhoz forest fires monitoring system, the burning began in February, but picked up speed in March. Since the start of 2020, it’s estimated that fires have burnt through 20 million hectares (49 million acres) of the Russian landscape, which is an area bigger than Greece, and about 10.9 million hectares (27 million acres) of forest, according to Greenpeace International. For context, the global extent of tree loss in 2019 was 11.9 million hectares. That means fires this year have affected an area of forest in Russia nearly equivalent to the planet&#8217;s tree loss last year even though it&#8217;s only mid-July. In Krasnoyarsk, where the photographs&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/07/photos-show-scale-of-massive-fires-tearing-through-siberian-forests/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-232892</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Siberian heat drives Arctic ice extent to record low for early July</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/07/siberian-heat-drives-arctic-ice-extent-to-record-low-for-early-july/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/07/siberian-heat-drives-arctic-ice-extent-to-record-low-for-early-july/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Jul 2020 14:08:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gloria Dickie]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/07/10122019/BANNER-IMAGE-si-768x448.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=232372</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Arctic, Arctic Ocean, Russia, and siberia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[boreal forests, Carbon Emissions, Climate, Climate Change, Climate Science, Controversial, data, Disasters, Environment, Extreme Weather, Fires, Forest Carbon, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Global Warming, Green, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Impact Of Climate Change, Infrastructure, Methane, Permafrost, Pollution, Remote Sensing, Research, Sea Ice, Temperatures, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Temps as high as 100 degrees Fahrenheit in Siberia have triggered record Arctic sea ice melt, raging wildfires, permafrost thaw, and an Arctic oil spill.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Arctic sea ice extent July 9, 2020. Image courtesy of University of Bremen. The record-setting heat wave that swept through Arctic Siberia in June has yielded a wide-range of deleterious effects in the expansive polar and sub-polar region, triggering raging wildfires, thawing permafrost, and now, spurring the rapid melt-out of Arctic sea ice. Last month, Siberian temperatures spiked, reaching a record average more than 5 degrees Celsius (9 degrees Fahrenheit) hotter than normal, according to recently released data from the European Union. The remote town of Verkhoyansk in northeast Siberia recorded a reading of more than 38 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit) on June 17, the highest temperature ever recorded north of the Arctic Circle. Under this metaphorical blow torch, ice extent in the seas that border Siberia has plummeted in recent days, pushing the Arctic region as a whole into the record books. Between July 2 and July 7, sea ice extent across the Arctic Ocean went from being at its fifth lowest extent for this time of year since satellite record-keeping began in 1979, melting into first place, slightly below even the calamitous year of 2012 which eventually saw sea ice hit a record low at the end of the summer melt season in September. As of July 9, sea ice extent in the global Arctic sits at just 8.310 million square kilometers (3.2 million square miles). If that melting momentum carries forward (and nobody knows if it will), 2020 could nab the title of the lowest ice&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/07/siberian-heat-drives-arctic-ice-extent-to-record-low-for-early-july/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-232372</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Conservation insights from an enormous aspen clone: Q&#038;A with ecologist Paul Rogers</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/06/conservation-insights-from-an-enormous-aspen-clone-qa-with-ecologist-paul-rogers/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/06/conservation-insights-from-an-enormous-aspen-clone-qa-with-ecologist-paul-rogers/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Jun 2020 14:36:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[James Dinneen]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/06/05140532/i-T5PdF88-X2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=231085</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[boreal forests, Climate Change, Conservation, Drought, Ecology, Ecosystems, Forest Loss, Forests, Innovation, and Sustainable Forest Management]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[With its groves of pockmarked white bark and trembling green medallion leaves, Pando looks like any other aspen forest. But the approximately 47,000 stems that form its giant body share a single genome. Spanning more than 40 hectares (100 acres) in central Utah and weighing at least 5,800 tons, the famous aspen clone is thought [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[With its groves of pockmarked white bark and trembling green medallion leaves, Pando looks like any other aspen forest. But the approximately 47,000 stems that form its giant body share a single genome. Spanning more than 40 hectares (100 acres) in central Utah and weighing at least 5,800 tons, the famous aspen clone is thought to be the largest and one of the oldest organisms on Earth. For the past 10 years, Paul C. Rogers, director of the Western Aspen Alliance and adjunct associate professor of ecology at Utah State University, has studied Pando —Latin for “I spread” — for insights into the ecology of quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides). Previously, Rogers spent nearly two decades studying North American aspen forests and lichens as an ecologist with the U.S. Forest Service. In 2018, Rogers co-authored a study that found Pando might be dying, and it might be people’s fault, at least indirectly. In addition to stresses from fire suppression and drought extended by climate change, cattle and a surplus of mule-deer linked to the eradication of wolves were munching on new aspen stems before they had a chance to grow. Over time, this left Pando without any new growth, just aging stems. In his conversation with Mongabay, Rogers compared the forest to a “town of only old people.” Headlines about the decline of Pando abounded. But Rogers saw a bigger story behind Pando’s demise: the problems troubling the famous giant were a microcosm of the problems troubling aspen forests across the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/06/conservation-insights-from-an-enormous-aspen-clone-qa-with-ecologist-paul-rogers/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-231085</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The thinning fabric of Earth’s forest cover (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/09/the-thinning-fabric-of-earths-forest-cover-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/09/the-thinning-fabric-of-earths-forest-cover-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Sep 2019 18:06:51 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Tom Evans]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/09/24135854/amazon-768x451.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=222820</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, boreal forests, Climate Change, Commentary, Conservation, Environment, forest degradation, Forest Fragmentation, Forests, Fragmentation, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Rainforests, Research, Temperate Forests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Forests don’t have it easy. Even when they escape being cleared for farmland, pastures, or cities, many of them are battered by a variety of other human pressures. Damage to forests (often termed degradation) is by definition less severe in a given location than outright deforestation, but it affects much larger areas — and so, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Forests don’t have it easy. Even when they escape being cleared for farmland, pastures, or cities, many of them are battered by a variety of other human pressures. Damage to forests (often termed degradation) is by definition less severe in a given location than outright deforestation, but it affects much larger areas — and so, in aggregate, may be just as big a problem for the global environment. The ever-smaller number of forests that remain truly intact and free from degradation are a precious resource, pivotal in addressing the twin challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss as well as offering many other benefits to people. But are we taking good care of them? Not yet. Imagine being parachuted into the heart of one of our last big rainforests and hiking out to a settled area. For the first part of your walk (for many days, if you were lucky) the forest would be in its more or less natural state, and you would see a high, dense canopy; a mostly open, shady understory; and many signs of large-bodied wildlife. Well before you reached the forest edge, though, huntable animals would become sparser, logging trails more frequent, the canopy more open, trees smaller, and the understory would be more overgrown, hotter, and drier. Approaching the forest edge, you would fight through low, jungly thickets dotted with tree stumps but lacking most larger animals. As you moved into the surrounding farm lands you would notice sad, scattered forest fragments with a&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/09/the-thinning-fabric-of-earths-forest-cover-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/09/the-thinning-fabric-of-earths-forest-cover-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-222820</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Trekking the boreal forest for biodiversity</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/04/trekking-the-boreal-forest-for-biodiversity-insider/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/04/trekking-the-boreal-forest-for-biodiversity-insider/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Apr 2019 23:59:55 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/04/10173114/sweden-banner-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=217355</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Europe, European Union, and Sweden]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Biodiversity, boreal forests, Certification, Citizen Science, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Environment, Forests, Logging, and Solutions]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Near the Arctic Circle in late summer 2011, I waited at a petrol station on the outskirts of a large tract of Sweden’s boreal forest. My Volvo had completely cooled down by the time a red hatchback rolled up fitting the description I was looking for. Out leapt a man in full camo gear, squinting [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Near the Arctic Circle in late summer 2011, I waited at a petrol station on the outskirts of a large tract of Sweden’s boreal forest. My Volvo had completely cooled down by the time a red hatchback rolled up fitting the description I was looking for. Out leapt a man in full camo gear, squinting in the late summer sun, who then came straight for me. Glad to learn he was not a soldier but rather a Finnish conservationist with a fetish for military gear, I shook his hand while his gang emptied themselves from the vehicle and set about filling water jugs and buying essential food staples while we discussed logistics. A Finnish citizen scientist glumly surveys a recently logged tract adjacent to a biodiversity-rich boreal forest. Photo by Erik Hoffner. I’d inserted myself into the activities of a corps of old-growth forest activists that had trained themselves to identify rare species (especially fungi and lichens) that frequent the high conservation value areas we’d be sleeping among for the next few nights. Proof of their tiny presence was used by this group associated with the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SSNC) to keep biologically-significant tracts intact (under the 1993 Forestry Act, of the 70,000 forest plots proposed annually for logging, the Swedish Forest Agency had just six weeks to respond to each landowner’s notification of intent to log a particular tract. If their staff did not respond in time, which was often the case, cutting was allowed to commence).&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/04/trekking-the-boreal-forest-for-biodiversity-insider/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/04/trekking-the-boreal-forest-for-biodiversity-insider/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-217355</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New space lasers offer best 3D look at global forests yet</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/01/new-space-lasers-offer-best-3d-look-at-global-forests-yet/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/01/new-space-lasers-offer-best-3d-look-at-global-forests-yet/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Jan 2019 10:00:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[David Klinges]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sue Palminteri]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/01/17125216/multilayered_forest-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=214716</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Global Forests]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[boreal forests, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, data, Forests, LiDAR, Mapping, Monitoring, Remote Sensing, Satellite Imagery, Sensors, Solutions, Technology, Tropical Forests, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[GLO-4060 QZA-16/0047.4]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Researchers and forest managers working to record and reduce the rapid loss of forests are now armed with a new tool to monitor vegetation across the globe. In December 2018, a SpaceX rocket launched the NASA-engineered Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) sensor up to the International Space Station to gather data on the structure and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Researchers and forest managers working to record and reduce the rapid loss of forests are now armed with a new tool to monitor vegetation across the globe. In December 2018, a SpaceX rocket launched the NASA-engineered Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) sensor up to the International Space Station to gather data on the structure and extent of forests. Scientists have increasingly relied on remote sensing methods to estimate the extent of forest landscapes, in particular collecting data from space at a large scale. Over the next several years, GEDI will provide the most accurate lidar (light detection and ranging) data on tropical and temperate forests ever to be collected from space. Satellite lidar systems determine vegetation structure by emitting lasers down to Earth at a known distance from the planet’s surface and measuring the time it takes for the lasers to return to their origin. As the satellite orbits the Earth, its lasers bounce off different features of a landscape. Shorter return times correspond to taller features, such as the top of a forest canopy, while longer return times correspond to shorter features, such as grassy plains. Where elevation of an area is known, very precise heights of vegetation features can be determined across the landscape. NASA’s Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) sensor launched to the International Space Station in December 2018 offers a 3D view of temperate and tropical forests. Video by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. The benefit of GEDI’s lidar is its ability to collect forest structure&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/01/new-space-lasers-offer-best-3d-look-at-global-forests-yet/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-214716</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Forestry reforms could fall short without PM’s backing in Ukraine</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/11/reforms-to-root-out-illegal-logging-in-ukraine-need-pms-backing/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/11/reforms-to-root-out-illegal-logging-in-ukraine-need-pms-backing/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Nov 2018 11:29:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/11/28051157/6-ES-sawmill-Staryi-Sambir.0ca672ac07d24a91bd0364f71d47b468-768x450.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=212730</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Eastern Europe, Europe, and Ukraine]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[boreal forests, Conservation, Corruption, Deforestation, Economics, Environment, Environmental Law, Forestry, Forests, Governance, Illegal Logging, Law, Logging, NGOs, Pulp And Paper, Sustainability, Sustainable Forest Management, Temperate Forests, Timber, Timber Laws, timber trade, and Trees]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Ukraine appears to have stalled in a “massive crackdown” on corruption and illegality in its timber sector, according to the group that exposed the practices. Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman launched the measures in July, following revelations from a report published by the U.K.-based investigative NGO Earthsight. “The facts are terrible,” Groysman said in a government [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Ukraine appears to have stalled in a “massive crackdown” on corruption and illegality in its timber sector, according to the group that exposed the practices. Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman launched the measures in July, following revelations from a report published by the U.K.-based investigative NGO Earthsight. “The facts are terrible,” Groysman said in a government statement from July 18. “I will continue to unmask all the shadow schemes that are in effect. And I will struggle to prevent such schemes. The fight will be fruitful.” Site of a recent clearing near Zakarpattia, Ukraine. Image © Earthsight. But in the months since, progress has petered out, as a package of “meaningful reforms” still lacks the prime minister’s signature, according to Sam Lawson, Earthsight’s executive director. “If he signs off on this reform process, then there’s some hope,” Lawson told Mongabay. Until now, though, much of the response has involved stepped-up enforcement to ensure that timber leaving the country has the right documentation, he said. “[The corruption] is more deep-rooted than that.” Earthsight&#8217;s investigation shed light on corruption in Ukraine&#8217;s forestry sector. Video © EarthsightLawson and his team at Earthsight spent two years digging into long-standing allegations of illegal logging in Ukraine. At the center of the issue is the State Forestry Resource Agency, or SAFR. With 60,000 employees, it wields tremendous power in Ukraine, according to the report. SAFR, through a web of state forestry enterprises, generates 83 percent of Ukraine’s timber — an industry that accounts for around 2 percent&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/11/reforms-to-root-out-illegal-logging-in-ukraine-need-pms-backing/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/11/reforms-to-root-out-illegal-logging-in-ukraine-need-pms-backing/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-212730</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Earth has more trees now than 35 years ago</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/08/earth-has-more-trees-now-than-35-years-ago/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/08/earth-has-more-trees-now-than-35-years-ago/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Aug 2018 20:03:51 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/08/16005135/brazil_-3.838606_-58.296111-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=209371</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Cerrado, Chaco, China, Congo Basin, Global, Paraguay, and Russia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Afforestation, Agriculture, boreal forests, Deforestation, Deserts, Drivers Of Deforestation, Dry Forests, Forest Recovery, Forests, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Impact Of Climate Change, Montane Forests, Rainforests, Remote Sensing, Satellite Imagery, Temperate Forests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Despite ongoing deforestation, fires, drought-induced die-offs, and insect outbreaks, the world&#8217;s tree cover actually increased by 2.24 million square kilometers — an area the size of Texas and Alaska combined — over the past 35 years, finds a paper published in the journal Nature. But the research also confirms large-scale loss of the planet&#8217;s most [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Despite ongoing deforestation, fires, drought-induced die-offs, and insect outbreaks, the world&#8217;s tree cover actually increased by 2.24 million square kilometers — an area the size of Texas and Alaska combined — over the past 35 years, finds a paper published in the journal Nature. But the research also confirms large-scale loss of the planet&#8217;s most biodiverse ecosystems, especially tropical forests. The study, led by Xiao-Peng Song and Matthew Hansen of the University of Maryland, is based on analysis of satellite data from 1982 to 2016. The researchers broke land cover into three categories: tall vegetation consisting of trees of at least five meters (16 feet) in height; short vegetation under five meters in height including shrubs, grass, and agricultural crops; and &#8220;bare ground&#8221;, including urban areas, sand, tundra, and rock. While the classification may seem simplistic, powerful conclusions can be drawn from the data, including assessing agricultural expansion, climate-driven expansion and contraction of ecosystems, and forest clearing and recovery. &#8220;The results of this study reflect a human-dominated Earth system,&#8221; the researchers write. &#8220;Direct human action on landscapes is found over large areas on every continent, from intensification and extensification of agriculture to increases in forestry and urban land uses, with implications for the maintenance of ecosystem services.&#8221; Google Earth image showing deforestation around Igarapé Lage, in Rondônia, Brazil. Data from this study will be integrated Global Forest Watch, a platform for tracking trends in forests. Overall, the study found that tree cover loss in the tropics was outweighed by tree&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/08/earth-has-more-trees-now-than-35-years-ago/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-209371</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>EU demand siphons illicit timber from Ukraine, investigation finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/07/eu-demand-siphons-illicit-timber-from-ukraine-investigation-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/07/eu-demand-siphons-illicit-timber-from-ukraine-investigation-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Jul 2018 04:51:38 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/07/16184955/5-ES-Cherni-3-768x450.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=208407</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Global Forest Reporting Network]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Eastern Europe, Europe, and Ukraine]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, boreal forests, Certification, Conservation, Corruption, Deforestation, Economics, Environment, Forestry, Forests, Illegal Logging, Logging, Mammals, Pulp And Paper, Sustainability, Sustainable Forest Management, Temperate Forests, Timber, Timber Laws, timber trade, Trees, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Lax due diligence by European companies is driving the illegal harvest of timber in Ukraine, one of the largest suppliers to the continent, according to a report published July 14. “It’s a huge source of high-risk timber coming into the EU,” said Sam Lawson, who directs the London-based investigative non-profit Earthsight. Ukraine holds some of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Lax due diligence by European companies is driving the illegal harvest of timber in Ukraine, one of the largest suppliers to the continent, according to a report published July 14. “It’s a huge source of high-risk timber coming into the EU,” said Sam Lawson, who directs the London-based investigative non-profit Earthsight. Ukraine holds some of Europe’s largest tracts of unspoiled forests. But those forests, home to brown bears (Ursus arctos arctos), wolves (Canis lupus lupus), and bison (Bison bonasus), also supply more “high-risk timber” to the EU than all countries in the tropics combined, Lawson said. Earthsight carried out a two-year probe into the country’s timber sector, digging through court documents and customs records, interviewing industry staff and government officials, and conducting on-the-ground and under cover investigations. Video © Earthsight. The effort uncovered evidence of corruption on the part of government-run “state forestry enterprises” and department heads in Ukraine. They also traced the tendrils of that corruption to large sawmills, suppliers and retailers in the EU — companies that Earthsight says are falling short of their responsibility to verify that the wood they buy comes from trees cut down in accordance with the law. That means that a significant proportion of the wood found in products around the continent come from illegally harvested sources, Lawson told Mongabay. “It gets used in absolutely everything,” he said. “You can barely look around you without seeing something that could have Ukrainian wood in it.” The timber industry is a huge source of income for the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/07/eu-demand-siphons-illicit-timber-from-ukraine-investigation-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/07/eu-demand-siphons-illicit-timber-from-ukraine-investigation-finds/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-208407</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Why intact forests are important</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/02/huge-gamble-scientists-urge-prioritization-of-intact-forests/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/02/huge-gamble-scientists-urge-prioritization-of-intact-forests/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Feb 2018 18:12:45 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/02/26180902/belize_7501-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=204116</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Global Forest Reporting Network]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, boreal forests, Degraded Lands, Environment, Forest Fragmentation, Forests, Habitat Loss, Hunting, Logging, Old Growth Forests, Primary Forests, Rainforests, Research, Roads, Temperate Forests, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[G-1710-55576]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[When it comes to habitat quality and ecosystem services, research has shown that natural landscapes do it best. A new study, published today in Nature, adds fodder to this argument, describing how intact forests are critically important for mitigating climate change, maintaining water supplies, safeguarding biodiversity and even protecting human health. However, it warns that [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[When it comes to habitat quality and ecosystem services, research has shown that natural landscapes do it best. A new study, published today in Nature, adds fodder to this argument, describing how intact forests are critically important for mitigating climate change, maintaining water supplies, safeguarding biodiversity and even protecting human health. However, it warns that global policies aimed at reducing deforestation are not putting enough emphasis on the preservation of the world’s dwindling intact forests, instead relying on a one-size-fits-all approach that may end up doing more harm than good. Intact forests are large areas of connected habitat free from human-caused disturbance. From the Amazon rainforest in South America to the taiga that rings the Arctic, the Earth’s intact forests provide a diverse array of unbroken habitats for many – if not most – of the planet’s terrestrial wildlife. But intact forests are disappearing. An analysis released last year found that, overall, the world lost more than 7 percent of its intact forest landscapes in just over a decade, a trend that appears to be accelerating. Zooming in, the analysis reveals bigger losses for specific regions: 10.1 percent in Africa, 13.9 percent in Southeast Asia, nearly 22 percent in Australia. At the country level, Paraguay came out particularly bad, losing almost 80 percent of its intact forest landscapes between 2000 and 2013. Satellite data show only a few tracts of intact forest remain in Paraguay. The driving force behind these losses varies depending on location, but agriculture, logging and road&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/02/huge-gamble-scientists-urge-prioritization-of-intact-forests/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/02/huge-gamble-scientists-urge-prioritization-of-intact-forests/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-204116</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Study reveals forests have yet another climate-protection superpower</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/01/study-reveals-forests-have-yet-another-climate-protection-superpower/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/01/study-reveals-forests-have-yet-another-climate-protection-superpower/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Jan 2018 18:24:57 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/01/16182235/peru_165381-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=202939</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Global Forest Reporting Network]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[boreal forests, carbon, Carbon Sequestration, Climate, Climate Change, Environment, Global Warming, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Mitigation, Natural Gas, Politics, Rainforests, Research, Temperate Forests, Trees, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[G-1710-55576]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As big carbon storehouses, forests have the power to influence the climate. So much so that the protection and expansion of forests is a key part of the Paris Agreement, which seeks to lower greenhouse gas emissions and stave off the worst effects of global warming. A new study, published last week in Nature Communications, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[As big carbon storehouses, forests have the power to influence the climate. So much so that the protection and expansion of forests is a key part of the Paris Agreement, which seeks to lower greenhouse gas emissions and stave off the worst effects of global warming. A new study, published last week in Nature Communications, finds forests may have an even bigger cooling effect on climate than we thought. And that without them, the world may be heating up more quickly than expected. Living vegetation emits gases that can react and combine with other gases in the atmosphere. Some of these, called biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs), affect the formation of other compounds like aerosol, ozone and methane, the presence of which can influence atmospheric temperature. For their study, an international team of researchers led by the University of Leeds in the UK looked at these reactive compounds to see what kind of a temperature changes they induce. To do this, they simulated boreal, temperate and tropical forest conditions and calculated different warming and cooling effects through computer modeling. They discovered that while trees emit gases that can warm the atmosphere (e.g., they can increase the formation of ozone and methane), gases that had a cooling effect had a greater overall impact. &#8220;We found that the cooling impacts of these gases outweigh the warming impacts, meaning that reactive gases given out by forests have an overall cooling effect on our climate,&#8221; said study coauthor Dominick Spracklen, a professor at the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/01/study-reveals-forests-have-yet-another-climate-protection-superpower/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-202939</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Illegal logging shows little sign of slowing</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/12/illegal-logging-shows-little-sign-of-slowing/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/12/illegal-logging-shows-little-sign-of-slowing/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Dec 2016 21:35:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/12/30213223/kalteng_0303-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=192048</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Global Forests]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Democratic Republic Of Congo, Global, and Indonesia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[boreal forests, Crime, Environment, Forest Destruction, Forests, Habitat, Habitat Loss, Illegal Logging, Land Rights, Logging, Organized Crime, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Temperate Forests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A report released earlier this month presents the most comprehensive scientific analysis of illegal logging ever published. Its findings indicate a third of the tropical timber traded globally comes from illegal deforestation, and that regulation loopholes along with an uptick in organized criminal networks are bolstering the illicit activity. The report, titled &#8220;Illegal Logging and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A report released earlier this month presents the most comprehensive scientific analysis of illegal logging ever published. Its findings indicate a third of the tropical timber traded globally comes from illegal deforestation, and that regulation loopholes along with an uptick in organized criminal networks are bolstering the illicit activity. The report, titled &#8220;Illegal Logging and Related Timber Trade – Dimensions, Drivers, Impacts and Responses&#8221; was produced by more than 40 scientists around the world, and was coordinated by the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) in association with the Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF). &#8220;Forestry crime including corporate crimes and illegal logging account for up to $152 billion every year, more than all official development aid combined,&#8221; said Erik Solheim, Head of UN Environment, one of the partner organizations supporting the assessment. It finds that bilateral trade agreements between producer and consumer countries – e.g., the European Union&#8217;s Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade Action Plan (FLEGT) that requires timber products imported into the EU be legally harvested – have prompted shifts in the timber trade to less restrictive domestic markets. The researchers also found jumps in exports to India and China, which have less stringent regulations and are now the biggest importers of both legal and illegal tropical wood. The report states illegal logging present in all tropical nations, but highlights Brazil, Indonesia, and Malaysia as the world&#8217;s dominant timber producer countries. Indonesia tops the list, generating around 65 million cubic meters of wood-based products in 2013, around&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/12/illegal-logging-shows-little-sign-of-slowing/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-192048</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Study points to El Niño-like global connections between forests</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/12/study-points-to-el-nino-like-global-connections-between-forests/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/12/study-points-to-el-nino-like-global-connections-between-forests/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Dec 2016 20:15:22 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/12/07073027/peru_aerial_0749-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=191531</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon and Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[boreal forests, Climate Change, Conservation, Deforestation, Dry Forests, Environment, Fires, Forests, Rainforests, Research, Temperate Forests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[When a forest falls prey to disease, pests, drought or clearing by humans, the impacts ripple well beyond that local ecosystem, according to a new study. Much like the well-known phenomenon of El Niño, it turns out that removing forest on one part of the globe touches off changes in other areas. &#8220;El Nino is [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[When a forest falls prey to disease, pests, drought or clearing by humans, the impacts ripple well beyond that local ecosystem, according to a new study. Much like the well-known phenomenon of El Niño, it turns out that removing forest on one part of the globe touches off changes in other areas. &#8220;El Nino is a sloshing around of hot water in the tropical Pacific, but we know that it has these climate impacts that can reach across the globe,” said Abigail Swann, an ecoclimatologist at the University of Washington in Seattle. For example, “In parts of the US, we see noticeably warmer or drier or rainier conditions,” despite being far away, Swann said. Several of the study&#8217;s authors take measurements of live and dead trees in central New Mexico. They found that die-offs in the western U.S. could affect forests in Siberia. Photo courtesy of Abigail Swann/University of Washington Now, for the first time, Swann and her colleagues have documented what are known as “teleconnections” resulting from changes to the surface of the Earth. They published their findings online in the journal PLOS ONE on November 16. Scientists know that forests hold sway over how energy moves through the atmosphere. Their disappearance at northern latitudes can increase how much sunlight is reflected back into the atmosphere, causing a cooling effect. Conversely, deforestation in the tropics tends to heat things up in the immediate surroundings and messes with rainfall patterns in other parts of the world. Swann said that she and her&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/12/study-points-to-el-nino-like-global-connections-between-forests/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-191531</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Russia&#8217;s Far East: then and now</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/10/russias-far-east-then-and-now/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/10/russias-far-east-then-and-now/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Oct 2016 00:32:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/09/01185714/Tiger-T27_2009-749x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=189832</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Global Forest Reporting Network]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia and Russia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Big Cats, boreal forests, Deforestation, Environment, Forests, Hunting, Interviews, Logging, Poaching, Primary Forests, Temperate Forests, Tigers, Timber, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[If history teaches us anything, it’s that nothing stays the same. A century ago, a Russian military surveyor, Vladimir Arsenyev, wrote about his treks through the wilds of Primorye. This coastal swath of forests and mountains in Far East Asia had only become Russian territory in 1860 and, when Arsenyev visited, was still largely inhabited [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[If history teaches us anything, it’s that nothing stays the same. A century ago, a Russian military surveyor, Vladimir Arsenyev, wrote about his treks through the wilds of Primorye. This coastal swath of forests and mountains in Far East Asia had only become Russian territory in 1860 and, when Arsenyev visited, was still largely inhabited by Chinese hunters, Korean farmers and nomadic indigenous groups, the Nanai and the Udege. Not only that: it was populated with tigers, leopards, bear, musk deer and the world’s biggest owl, the Blakiston’s fish owl. Through his writing, Arsenyev, much beloved in Russia today, captured a pre-Russian, pre-Soviet, pre-industrial snapshot of this wilderness. Now, one of Arsenyev’s most famous books, Across the Ussuri Kray, has been translated into English in full for the first time by Jonathan Slaght, a biologist with the Wildlife Conservation Society. Slaght may be an unconventional choice to handle such a translation, but given his twenty years of working in the region with its wildlife – including with Blakiston’s fish owl and Amur tigers – Slaght has his own inimitable view of Primorye’s distinct biodiversity, unique culture and volatile history. Blakiston&#8217;s fish owl, a salmon-eating owl, and the world&#8217;s biggest. Photo by Jonathan Slaght “[The book] is a snapshot of the cultural and natural landscape in a fascinating corner of the world a hundred years ago, right before indomitable human settlement changed it forever,” Slaght told Mongabay in an interview (printed in full below). When Arsenyev first arrived in Primorye in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/10/russias-far-east-then-and-now/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-189832</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Canada&#8217;s eastern boreal forest could become a climate change refuge</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/09/canadas-eastern-boreal-forest-could-become-a-climate-change-refuge/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/09/canadas-eastern-boreal-forest-could-become-a-climate-change-refuge/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Sep 2016 01:10:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[William H. Funk]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/09/01191051/0915-spruce-forest-495x330.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=189372</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Global Forest Reporting Network]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Canada, Europe, Global, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[boreal forests, Climate Change, Environment, Fires, Forests, Global Warming, Insects, Primary Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[With climate change driving species in the Northern Hemisphere ever further up the latitudinal ladder, a recent study released in the journal Science finds that Canada’s eastern boreal forests may act as crucial ecological reservoirs, islands of cooler habitat for the dominant tree species, black spruce (Picea mariana), and the panoply of plant and animal life [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[With climate change driving species in the Northern Hemisphere ever further up the latitudinal ladder, a recent study released in the journal Science finds that Canada’s eastern boreal forests may act as crucial ecological reservoirs, islands of cooler habitat for the dominant tree species, black spruce (Picea mariana), and the panoply of plant and animal life that depend on it. Stretching around the northern third of the planet from Siberia to the Yukon, Finland to Alaska, global boreal ecosystems – also referred to as &#8220;taiga&#8221; – comprise 1.9 billion hectares – 14 percent of the world’s land and 33 percent of its remaining forests. These hardy evergreen forests still contain “a large fraction of the planet’s remaining unmanaged forests,” according the Science study, “responsible for ~20% of the total carbon sequestrated annually by forest ecosystems.” Boreal forests are home to iconic wildlife like grey wolves, brown bears, snowshoe hare, moose, and lynx. They also have their fair share of endangered species such as woodland caribou and whooping cranes, found in the boreal regions of North America, and Siberian tigers and Blakiston&#8217;s fish owl in Russia. But while the boreal is vast, human activities are putting parts of it at risk.  The forest monitoring platform Global Forest Watch shows intact boreal forest has declined and is particularly patchy in Eurasia. In the Canadian province of Alberta, the thirst for oil has led to the razing of more than a quarter-million hectares of forest as companies seek to exploit the tar sands that lie beneath. Another&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/09/canadas-eastern-boreal-forest-could-become-a-climate-change-refuge/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-189372</doi>				</item>
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