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		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/old-growth-forests/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Sat, 08 Aug 2026 14:23:17 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<title>News on Old Growth Forests</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/old-growth-forests/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Taiwan’s tallest tree found with help of citizen science</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/taiwans-tallest-tree-found-with-help-of-citizen-science/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/taiwans-tallest-tree-found-with-help-of-citizen-science/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Jun 2026 19:46:44 +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/20/2026/06/08192242/Team_climbing_The_Heaven_Sword-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320778</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[East Asia and Taiwan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Forest Destruction, Forests, Green, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Indigenous Peoples, Old Growth Forests, Rainforests, Research, Trees, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Deep in Taiwan&#8217;s misty mountains, researchers have confirmed the tallest tree in the country: a thousand-year-old fir tree higher than a 20-story building, which they’ve named &#8220;the heaven sword of the Da&#8217;an River.&#8221; Climbers scaled the tree and dropped a measuring tape from the top to the forest floor during the Lunar New Year holiday [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Deep in Taiwan&#8217;s misty mountains, researchers have confirmed the tallest tree in the country: a thousand-year-old fir tree higher than a 20-story building, which they’ve named &#8220;the heaven sword of the Da&#8217;an River.&#8221; Climbers scaled the tree and dropped a measuring tape from the top to the forest floor during the Lunar New Year holiday in January 2023. The tree measured 84.1-meters (276-feet). The findings have been published in Frontiers in Forests and Global Change. A team of ecologists, geologists, remote-sensing specialists, professional climbers and Indigenous people that calls itself the &#8220;Taiwan tree seekers” began the search in 2014. “The common characteristics [of the team] are probably that we are all tree lovers and like adventures,” Rebecca Chia-Chun Hsu, lead author from Division of Forest Ecology, Institute of Taiwan Forestry Research, told CNN. &#8216;The Heaven Sword&#8217;, Taiwan&#8217;s tallest tree, measures 84.1 meters. Photo courtesy of Steven Pearce. Taiwan is one of the few places on Earth where trees can grow this tall. The island sits where the tropics meet the subtropics, and its mountains host several giant conifer species. The species behind the new record, Taiwania cryptomerioides, is known to the Indigenous Rukai people as &#8220;the tree that hits the moon.&#8221; Although nearly 60% of Taiwan is covered in forest, loggers cleared much of the island&#8217;s old-growth forest between 1912 and 1991. However, its steep slopes were too dangerous to reach, and pockets of ancient forest survived. Still, finding the tallest tree amid the rugged terrain was a task. Taiwan&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/taiwans-tallest-tree-found-with-help-of-citizen-science/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/taiwans-tallest-tree-found-with-help-of-citizen-science/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320778</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Chile’s ancient conifers host underground web of life that sustains forests: Study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/chiles-ancient-conifers-host-underground-web-of-life-that-sustains-forests-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/chiles-ancient-conifers-host-underground-web-of-life-that-sustains-forests-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Apr 2026 10:26:36 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sofia Moutinho]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/09101258/61_Chile_Fungi_DJI_0270-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317250</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Chile, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Carbon Sequestration, Conservation, Deforestation, Ecosystems, Forest Carbon, Forest Loss, Forests, Fungi, Logging, Old Growth Forests, Planetary Boundaries, Plants, Protected Areas, Research, Temperate Forests, and Trees]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In an isolated valley within Alerce Costero National Park in southern Chile, one tree towers above all others. At 30 meters (100 feet) high, this alerce abuelo or grandpa alerce, is estimated to be more than 2,400 years old. Its massive trunk and branches are covered in lichens, mosses and even other woody plant species [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In an isolated valley within Alerce Costero National Park in southern Chile, one tree towers above all others. At 30 meters (100 feet) high, this alerce abuelo or grandpa alerce, is estimated to be more than 2,400 years old. Its massive trunk and branches are covered in lichens, mosses and even other woody plant species that take root in the crevices of its bark. But beneath it, hidden underground, lies another hidden treasure: a community of fungi known as arbuscular mycorrhizae. These kinds of fungi establish unique partnerships with plants that are fundamental to keeping forests alive. More than 80% of all terrestrial plants are associated with these fungi, which form underground networks, penetrating roots and creating specialized structures called arbuscules that supply nutrients and water to the plant in exchange for carbon and sugars. Now, for the first time, scientists have sampled and analyzed the fungal community beneath alerce trees (Fitzroya cupressoides) in the Chilean national park, the country’s largest protected area for temperate coastal forests. Their research revealed that the ancient alerce abuelo hosts two and a quarter times more fungal diversity than its smaller, younger counterparts, highlighting the uniqueness of this old tree. “All the diversity you see above in the tree branches also happens belowground,” says lead author Camille Truong, a mycologist with the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria and the University of Melbourne in Australia and the study’s lead author. “All these root systems and the soil offer a habitat for thousands of fungi, and also&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/chiles-ancient-conifers-host-underground-web-of-life-that-sustains-forests-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/chiles-ancient-conifers-host-underground-web-of-life-that-sustains-forests-study/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317250</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>An invasive guava is muscling out Madagascar’s forests — and lemurs are helping</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/an-invasive-guava-is-muscling-out-madagascars-forests-and-lemurs-are-helping/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/an-invasive-guava-is-muscling-out-madagascars-forests-and-lemurs-are-helping/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Mar 2026 18:44:49 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ryan Truscott]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/31182852/Natalee-Phelps_0508-scaled-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316665</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Madagascar, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Forests, Habitat Loss, Lemurs, Mammals, Old Growth Forests, Primary Forests, Primates, Rainforests, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Madagascar is renowned for its lemurs, which are threatened due to hunting and deforestation. Restoring native forests to ensure their survival is critical, but once damaged, forests in Madagascar are vulnerable to takeover by invasive guava trees — whose seeds the lemurs themselves are helping to spread. When the delicious strawberry guavas (Psidium cattleyanum) are [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Madagascar is renowned for its lemurs, which are threatened due to hunting and deforestation. Restoring native forests to ensure their survival is critical, but once damaged, forests in Madagascar are vulnerable to takeover by invasive guava trees — whose seeds the lemurs themselves are helping to spread. When the delicious strawberry guavas (Psidium cattleyanum) are in fruit, lemurs will choose them over native fruit, says Amy Dunham, a biologist at Rice University in the U.S. On her last visit to Ranomafana National Park, in southeastern Madagascar, Dunham, who has been doing fieldwork there for more than 30 years, filmed an endangered Milne-Edwards’ sifaka (Propithecus edwardsi), a large lemur with a dark-brown and cream-colored coat, a black hairless face, and penetrating orange eyes. The sifaka was sitting in a thick guava patch munching on one of the ruby-red fruits. “For me, [the video] captures a big part of the picture,” Dunham says. “An endangered lemur can benefit from an invasive plant that is simultaneously undermining the long-term biodiversity and functioning of the forest.” Dunham and colleagues carried out a study in Ranomafana in 2024 that found that where strawberry guavas, originally from Brazil, had taken hold, they created thick, impenetrable patches in areas of forest that had been disturbed as far back as the 1930s. These thickets, which Dunham refers to as “monocultures,” drain key nutrients from the soil, suppress the growth of native plants, and strip away the diversity of insects and other invertebrates. The loss of insect diversity means&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/an-invasive-guava-is-muscling-out-madagascars-forests-and-lemurs-are-helping/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/an-invasive-guava-is-muscling-out-madagascars-forests-and-lemurs-are-helping/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-316665</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Satellite data show forest loss persists in Brazilian Amazon’s most deforested reserve</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/satellite-data-show-forest-loss-persists-in-brazilian-amazons-most-deforested-reserve/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/satellite-data-show-forest-loss-persists-in-brazilian-amazons-most-deforested-reserve/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Dec 2025 21:51:05 +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/20/2025/12/30212511/AP20236730024384-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=312370</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Cattle, Environment, Fires, Forests, Green, Habitat Loss, Old Growth Forests, Pasture, Primary Forests, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Ranching, Slash-and-burn, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Brazil’s Triunfo do Xingu Environmental Protection Area encompasses an area of Amazon Rainforest more than half the size of Belgium. Or at least it used to. The embattled reserve has lost around half of its primary forest cover since it was created in 2006, according to satellite data from the University of Maryland’s Global Land [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Brazil’s Triunfo do Xingu Environmental Protection Area encompasses an area of Amazon Rainforest more than half the size of Belgium. Or at least it used to. The embattled reserve has lost around half of its primary forest cover since it was created in 2006, according to satellite data from the University of Maryland’s Global Land Analysis and Discovery (GLAD) lab and visualized on monitoring platform Global Forest Watch. The data show 2024 had the highest rate of forest loss, rocketing 400% over 2023. Preliminary data show forest loss continued in 2025, concentrated in the northern portion of the 1.7-million-hectare (4.2-million-acre) reserve, where most of the largest tracts of forest remain. Satellite data from the University of Maryland show primary forest loss jumped 400% between 2023 and 2024. Image by Mongabay. Google Timelapse shows forest loss advancing rapidly through Triunfo do Xingu. This has given Triunfo do Xingu the dubious distinction of being the protected area with the highest rate of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. The main cause? Cattle. Triunfo do Xingu lies in the heart of Brazil’s cattle country, where cows outnumber people 38 to one. To feed this legion of cattle, ranchers carve pasture from forest, often using slash-and-burn techniques to clear areas and renew degraded soil. During a visit in 2023, Mongabay reporters observed the charred remains of sawed-down trees, and were told by local small-scale famers and officials that fires set by ranchers can spread out of control, consuming crops, homes and forest alike. “They set&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/satellite-data-show-forest-loss-persists-in-brazilian-amazons-most-deforested-reserve/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/satellite-data-show-forest-loss-persists-in-brazilian-amazons-most-deforested-reserve/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-312370</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Photos: Top new species from 2025</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/photos-top-new-species-from-2025/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/photos-top-new-species-from-2025/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Dec 2025 14:22:20 +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/20/2025/12/29141103/Screenshot-2025-12-28-at-5.12.22-PM-1-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=312133</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Andes, Angola, Atlantic Ocean, Brazil, Cerrado, Global, Himalayas, India, Peru, and Tanzania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Acoustic, Amphibians, Animals, Biodiversity, Captive Breeding, Climate Change, Cloud Forests, Conservation, Deep Sea, Deforestation, DNA, Ecosystem Services, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Farming, Forests, Fungi, Habitat Loss, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Indigenous Peoples, Invasive Species, Marine, Mining, Oceans, Old Growth Forests, Pollution, Protected Areas, Ranching, Research, Science, Snakes, Species, Species Discovery, Swamps, Threatened species, Traditional Knowledge, Traditional People, Trees, Tropical Forests, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The world still holds its secrets. Hidden under wet rocks, in the ocean&#8217;s twilight crevices, and in the minutiae of the genetic code are creatures unknown and unnamed by the human species. Every year, scientists find hundreds of new animals, insects, plants and fungi. This year, researchers described a tiny new marsupial, a new Himalayan [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The world still holds its secrets. Hidden under wet rocks, in the ocean&#8217;s twilight crevices, and in the minutiae of the genetic code are creatures unknown and unnamed by the human species. Every year, scientists find hundreds of new animals, insects, plants and fungi. This year, researchers described a tiny new marsupial, a new Himalayan bat, an ancient tree, a bright blue butterfly, a parrot snake, and a fairy lantern plant, among others. &#8220;I think most people believe that we know most species on Earth,&#8221; Mario Moura, a professor at the Federal University of Paraíba in Brazil, told Mongabay, &#8220;but in the best-case scenario, we know 20% of Earth&#8217;s species.&#8221; Some estimate that only 10% of all the species on the planet have been described. Unfortunately, many species may be threatened with extinction before they’re even formally named — victims of human activities like development and climate change. Some of these species could be food or medicine for humans, but each plays a unique role in Earth’s interconnected web of life. “We’re understanding more and more that every species on the planet has a role, and in one way or another, is linked to our well-being through the part they play in ecosystems,&#8221; said Boris Worm, a marine conservation biologist who co-authored a study that quantifies the number of undescribed species on land and in the ocean. “We can’t protect them … if we don’t know them.&#8221; Atlantic manta ray (Mobula yarae) with a diver off the coast of Mexico. Originally&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/photos-top-new-species-from-2025/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-312133</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In California’s redwoods, scientists rebuild lost ecosystems high up in the canopy</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/in-californias-redwoods-scientists-rebuild-lost-ecosystems-high-up-in-the-canopy/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/in-californias-redwoods-scientists-rebuild-lost-ecosystems-high-up-in-the-canopy/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Dec 2025 14:14:51 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Marlowe Starling]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/24171113/2048px-California_Scrub-Jay_38808625355-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=311969</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[California, North America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[carbon, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Forest Recovery, Forest Regeneration, Forests, Logging, Old Growth Forests, Plants, Restoration, Sustainable Forest Management, Temperatures, Trees, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Van Eck Forest in northwestern California is home to iconic coast redwood trees, which store more above-ground carbon per acre than any other forest type. The oldest trees can grow to heights of more than 90 meters (300 feet) and may be more than 2,000 years old. But due to the region’s extensive logging, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Van Eck Forest in northwestern California is home to iconic coast redwood trees, which store more above-ground carbon per acre than any other forest type. The oldest trees can grow to heights of more than 90 meters (300 feet) and may be more than 2,000 years old. But due to the region’s extensive logging, which reduced old-growth redwood forests to just 5% of their original extent, very few large, old redwood trees (Sequoia sempervirens) exist today. Consequently, there are also fewer fern mats high up in the forest canopy: large masses of leather-leaf ferns (Polypodium scouleri), a keystone species that stores water, mitigates forest temperatures and provides habitat for other plants and animals. To help restore these historic forests, a conservation nonprofit and a university are experimenting with ways to transplant the mats back into redwood treetops. In a collaboration that began in 2021, the Pacific Forest Trust and scientists from California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, are taking fern mats that have fallen from old-growth trees and replanting them in younger trees to restore the canopy layer. As they grow over decades and centuries, these mats collect decomposing plant matter and germinate seeds, creating swaths of arboreal gardens that are home to salamanders, insects, birds and rare lichens. “It’s like having a little garden up there,” said Laurie Wayburn, co-founder and president of the Pacific Forest Trust. A great horned owl, a common redwood forest resident. Image by B. Washburn via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0). ‘Putting back the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/in-californias-redwoods-scientists-rebuild-lost-ecosystems-high-up-in-the-canopy/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-311969</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>DRC hit by record deforestation in 2024, satellite data show</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/drc-hit-by-record-deforestation-in-2024-satellite-data-show/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/drc-hit-by-record-deforestation-in-2024-satellite-data-show/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Nov 2025 17:19:35 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ruth Kamnitzer]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/26160309/chimpu-baby-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310220</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, and Democratic Republic Of Congo]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Conflict, data, Deforestation, Fires, Forest Loss, Forests, Human Rights, Illegal Logging, Logging, Old Growth Forests, Primary Forests, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Remote Sensing, Resource Conflict, Slash-and-burn, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Africa’s great Congo Basin rainforest, often called the Earth’s second lung, covers an area about the size of India. Millions of people depend directly on the forest for food, energy and income. It is home to our closest relatives and some of the planet’s most threatened wildlife — gorillas (Gorilla sp.), chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), bonobos [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Africa’s great Congo Basin rainforest, often called the Earth’s second lung, covers an area about the size of India. Millions of people depend directly on the forest for food, energy and income. It is home to our closest relatives and some of the planet’s most threatened wildlife — gorillas (Gorilla sp.), chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), bonobos (Pan paniscus), okapi (Okapia johnstoni), forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis) and more. The humid forest with towering trees and extensive peatlands also helps regulate our global climate, taking in greenhouse gases emitted far beyond the forest’s borders. Sixty percent of the Congo Basin rainforest lies within the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and around 70% of the DRC was covered in natural forest as of 2020, according to data visualized on the Global Forest Watch (GFW) platform. From 2002 to 2024, the DRC lost 7.1% of its forest cover, according to GFW satellite data, and experienced the third-largest absolute amount of primary forest loss globally, behind Brazil and Indonesia. (This estimate may be conservative and the actual amount even higher, according to GFW, as previous methods it had used to measure tree cover loss between 2001 and 2015 likely led to underestimations.) Annual primary forest loss in the DRC grew steadily over the past five years and spiked to a record high of 590,000 hectares (1.5 million acres) in 2024, according to GFW data. That’s up from 530,000 hectares (1.3 million acres) of primary forest loss in 2023 and 510,000 hectares in 2022. The data show&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/drc-hit-by-record-deforestation-in-2024-satellite-data-show/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-310220</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Why are Amazonian trees getting ‘fatter’?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/why-are-amazonian-trees-getting-fatter/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/why-are-amazonian-trees-getting-fatter/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Nov 2025 12:08:15 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Suzana Camargo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Xavier Bartaburu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/24120054/2048px-Brazil_nut_tree_in_the_rainforest-castanheira-amazonia-peruana-My-Favorite-Pet-Sitter-CC-BY-2.0-via-Wikimedia-Commons-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310071</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Carbon Dioxide, Climate Change, Conservation, Environment, Forests, Old Growth Forests, Plants, Rainforests, and Trees]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[How have the trees in Amazonia reacted to the rise in CO2 emissions in recent centuries? It is common knowledge that, of all greenhouse gases, CO2 is the most responsible for global warming. The most recent report released by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) showed that the concentration of carbon in Earth’s atmosphere rose more [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[How have the trees in Amazonia reacted to the rise in CO2 emissions in recent centuries? It is common knowledge that, of all greenhouse gases, CO2 is the most responsible for global warming. The most recent report released by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) showed that the concentration of carbon in Earth’s atmosphere rose more in 2024 than in any other year since it began measuring in 1957. Climate scientists unanimously agree that last year’s increase was provoked by human activities, especially the burning of fossil fuels like oil, coal and natural gas. But to the surprise of researchers involved in a study recently published in Nature Plants, mature forests in Amazonia have shown much resilience in response to the climate changes resulting from the excess carbon in the atmosphere. This is important because trees are known to be natural CO2 sinks because they absorb it during photosynthesis. In addition, the trees in the Amazon Rainforest are getting “fatter” over time: The average trunk sizes are increasing 3.3% every decade. “We wouldn’t normally expect the average size of trees in an old-growth forest to change over time, since their growth and death rates generally remain stable,” explains Rebecca Banbury Morgan, a researcher at the University of Bristol’s School of Biological Sciences in the United Kingdom and co-author of the article. “We compared our observations with the fact that we weren’t expecting any changes and found that the average size of trees was increasing. This means that the trees today are&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/why-are-amazonian-trees-getting-fatter/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/why-are-amazonian-trees-getting-fatter/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-310071</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Last chance to save Europe&#8217;s greatest old-growth forest? (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/last-chance-to-save-europes-greatest-old-growth-forest-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/last-chance-to-save-europes-greatest-old-growth-forest-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Sep 2025 14:31:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Alan Weiss]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/03/10153021/feature1-768x450.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=305360</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Europe, European Union, and Poland]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Commentary, Conservation, Deforestation, Forests, Governance, Old Growth Forests, Temperate Forests, Trees, Wildlife, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Białowieża Forest is unparalleled in the world. It harbors the best-preserved fragments of lowland deciduous and mixed forests in the European Lowlands, where natural processes, including all stages of forest ecosystem dynamics, unfold undisturbed by human interference over vast areas. Yet, only 36% of the Białowieża Forest on the Polish side is protected within [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Białowieża Forest is unparalleled in the world. It harbors the best-preserved fragments of lowland deciduous and mixed forests in the European Lowlands, where natural processes, including all stages of forest ecosystem dynamics, unfold undisturbed by human interference over vast areas. Yet, only 36% of the Białowieża Forest on the Polish side is protected within the Białowieża National Park and its related nature reserves. The rest is managed commercially, underscoring the urgent need to minimize human impact. In light of climate change and the biodiversity crisis, placing the entire Białowieża Forest under permanent protection should be a matter of course. Conveying the uniqueness of this place cannot be achieved merely by listing species, providing statistics on protected areas, or enumerating natural attractions. Such data is readily available online, yet it pales in comparison to the haunting sound of wolves (Canis lupus lupus), howling at dusk, the swift current of the Narewka River, the rustling of ancient oaks, and the watchful eyes of a pine marten (Martes martes) surveying the forest from a spruce windfall. Here, you can admire the rare three-toed woodpecker (Picoides tridactylus), the vibrant cinnabar moth (Tyria jacobaeae), and the elusive pygmy owl (Glaucidium passerinum). To truly feel the primal pulse and witness the captivating beauty of the Białowieża Forest, you must visit. This forest, embodying the distinct traits of a primeval ecosystem, has existed for 12,000 years. It might not have survived to this day if Polish kings had not placed it under their protection. In modern&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/last-chance-to-save-europes-greatest-old-growth-forest-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/last-chance-to-save-europes-greatest-old-growth-forest-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-305360</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Beyond reforestation, let’s try ‘proforestation’</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/beyond-reforestation-lets-try-proforestation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/beyond-reforestation-lets-try-proforestation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Mar 2025 16:39:55 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sruthi Gurudev]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/03/26162107/Pinus-strobus-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=296518</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[North America and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, carbon, Carbon Dioxide, Carbon Sequestration, Conservation, Deforestation, Ecosystems, Environment, Forest Carbon, Forest Destruction, Forestry, Forests, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Logging, Old Growth Forests, Protected Areas, Reforestation, Soil Carbon, and Trees]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Edward Faison, an ecologist at the Highstead Foundation, stood quietly in a patch of forest that stretched for miles in all directions. Above him, the needles from white pine trees swayed — common in the Adirondack Forest Preserve in northern New York state. He stepped past downed wood and big, broken snags, observing how the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Edward Faison, an ecologist at the Highstead Foundation, stood quietly in a patch of forest that stretched for miles in all directions. Above him, the needles from white pine trees swayed — common in the Adirondack Forest Preserve in northern New York state. He stepped past downed wood and big, broken snags, observing how the forest functioned with minimal interference. “These forests have been essentially unmanaged for over 125 years. To see them continue to thrive and accumulate carbon, recover from natural disturbances and develop complexity without our help reveal just how resilient these systems are,” Faison says. Protected from logging in 1894 by an act of the New York Legislature, the Adirondack Forest Preserve (AFP) is a model of natural forest growth, or letting forests simply “get on with it.” The largest trees, white pines (Pinus strobus), are more than a century old and stretch more than 150 feet tall and are 4-5 feet in diameter. The AFP, the largest wilderness preserve in the eastern United States, is a prime example of what researchers have come to call “proforestation.” Coined in 2019 by Tufts University professor William Moomaw and Trinity College professor of applied science Susan Masino, the term proforestation describes the process of allowing existing forests to continue growing without human interference until they achieve their full ecological potential for carbon sequestration and biological diversity. Proforestation is considered a natural climate solution, i.e., a strategy to steward the Earth’s vegetation to increase the removal of carbon dioxide (CO2)&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/beyond-reforestation-lets-try-proforestation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/beyond-reforestation-lets-try-proforestation/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-296518</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Reforesting Malawi’s ‘Island in the Sky’ to save its vanishing woodlands</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/reforesting-malawis-island-in-the-sky-to-save-its-vanishing-woodlands/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/reforesting-malawis-island-in-the-sky-to-save-its-vanishing-woodlands/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Feb 2025 00:14:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ruth Kamnitzer]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/02/27235116/2-Kazembe_-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=295133</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Regenerative landscapes]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, Malawi, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Dry Forests, Endangered Species, Environment, Fires, Forests, Green, Old Growth Forests, Plants, Primary Forests, Reforestation, Savannas, Timber, Trees, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In March 2023, Tropical Cyclone Freddy hit Malawi, unleashing six months of rain in six days. Freddy was the largest and longest-lasting tropical cyclone ever recorded, and the impacts were catastrophic. In Malawi, more than 600 people died, and more than 650,000 were displaced. Communities around Mount Mulanje, in the country’s south, were some of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In March 2023, Tropical Cyclone Freddy hit Malawi, unleashing six months of rain in six days. Freddy was the largest and longest-lasting tropical cyclone ever recorded, and the impacts were catastrophic. In Malawi, more than 600 people died, and more than 650,000 were displaced. Communities around Mount Mulanje, in the country’s south, were some of the hardest hit. Once heavily forested, parts of the mountain have been left denuded or bare from illegal logging, fires and demand for firewood. Without trees to slow the rain’s descent, slopes turned to rivers of rocks and mud, destroying villages and smothering fields. For many, Cyclone Freddy was a turning point, says Kondwani Chamwala, an environmental educator whose family home sits in the mountain’s shadow. “The communities, most of them are now seeing the importance of protecting what is there,” he says. Often called the “Island in the Sky,” Mt. Mulanje rises steeply out of the plains like a rocky fortress. It’s massive, about 64,000 hectares (158,000 acres) around, with a broad, high-altitude plateau from which rise 13 peaks, the tallest reaching an elevation of 3,002 meters (9,849 feet). Miombo woodlands, a type of forest common across parts of Southern Africa, dominate the lower slopes. But as you ascend, you enter an otherworldly place: fog-laden forests and grasslands, home to nearly 70 endemic plant species. Nine major rivers originate on the mountain’s slopes, and there are hundreds of streams. In local lore, it’s a place of spirits. Mount Mulanje, known as the ‘Island in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/reforesting-malawis-island-in-the-sky-to-save-its-vanishing-woodlands/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-295133</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How the U.S. got no old growth forest protections from the Biden Administration (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/how-the-u-s-got-no-old-growth-forest-protections-from-the-biden-administration-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/how-the-u-s-got-no-old-growth-forest-protections-from-the-biden-administration-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Jan 2025 17:39:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Dominick A. DellaSala]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/02/11145221/GP04ZBU-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=292638</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[North America and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Commentary, Conservation, Environment, Forests, Governance, Nature-based climate solutions, Old Growth Forests, and Solutions]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Wikipedia defines a &#8216;nothing-burger&#8217; as “a situation that receives a lot of attention but which, upon closer examination, reveals to be of little to no real significance.” That unfortunately applies to the Forest Service’s national old-growth amendment (NOGA), which despite President Biden’s executive order directing the agency to conduct an inventory of mature and old-growth [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Wikipedia defines a &#8216;nothing-burger&#8217; as “a situation that receives a lot of attention but which, upon closer examination, reveals to be of little to no real significance.” That unfortunately applies to the Forest Service’s national old-growth amendment (NOGA), which despite President Biden’s executive order directing the agency to conduct an inventory of mature and old-growth forests (hereafter called “old”) on federal lands for “conservation purposes,” did nothing to move the needle on old forest protections. While the president was a signatory to the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration to end deforestation and forest degradation globally by 2030, and was committed to the Paris Climate Agreement, including maintaining “carbon sinks and reservoirs,” the Biden Administration is now ending without a single forested acre protected by NOGA, and the related Northwest Forest Plan amendment, with severe forest degradation consequences. All sides are to blame for a failed NOGA policy that was the result of: (1) definition paralysis that delayed action; (2) rebranding strategies by the timber industry that positioned logging as the solution to all “forest health” issues rather than the problem itself; (3) questionable agency threat assessments that supported the industry narrative; and (4) the lack of a unified vision for forest protection by conservation groups. Let me break the failure to act down, piece by piece. Redwood forests in California are among the oldest and tallest in the U.S. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler for Mongabay. Paralysis over old growth forest definition The NOGA process initially got bogged down in a so-called&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/how-the-u-s-got-no-old-growth-forest-protections-from-the-biden-administration-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/how-the-u-s-got-no-old-growth-forest-protections-from-the-biden-administration-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-292638</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Satellite data show bursts of deforestation continue in Indonesian national park</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/satellite-data-show-bursts-of-deforestation-continue-in-indonesian-national-park/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/satellite-data-show-bursts-of-deforestation-continue-in-indonesian-national-park/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Nov 2024 19:43:41 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/11/30193103/sumatra_9232-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=290970</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Forest Trackers]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Riau, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Critically Endangered Species, data, Elephants, Endangered Species, Environment, Green, Habitat Loss, Industrial Agriculture, National Parks, Old Growth Forests, Palm Oil, Primary Forests, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Remote Sensing, Satellite Imagery, Tigers, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[When the Indonesian government established Tesso Nilo National Park in 2004 on a former logging concession, little could it have known that the legacy of logging and deforestation would continue years after granting it official protection. The park, which was expanded in 2009, now covers more than 80,000 hectares of land in Sumatra’s Riau province, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[When the Indonesian government established Tesso Nilo National Park in 2004 on a former logging concession, little could it have known that the legacy of logging and deforestation would continue years after granting it official protection. The park, which was expanded in 2009, now covers more than 80,000 hectares of land in Sumatra’s Riau province, and is one of the last tracts of lowland forest blocks that remains on the island. Tesso Nilo National Park is home to nearly 3% of the world’s mammals, according to World Wildlife Fund (WWF) – Indonesia, including the Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae) and the Sumatran elephant (Elephas maximus sumatranus), both critically endangered. It also boasts more than 4,000 plant species within its borders — one of the highest levels of lowland plant diversity in the world. As few as 400 Sumatran tigers (Panthera tigris sumatrae) may persist in the wild. Image by Rhett A. Butler / Mongabay. However, for decades since its designation of a national park, Tesso Nilo has experienced unabated deforestation, driven by illegal logging, establishment of palm oil plantations within the national park, and encroachments in the form of villages. A 2018 investigation from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) found that nearly three-fourths of Tesso Nilo is converted into palm oil plantations, and related deforestation has continued to destroy primary forest in the park. Satellite data from monitoring platform Global Forest Watch (GFW) show Tesso Nilo lost 78% of its primary forest cover between 2009 and 2023. And preliminary data&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/satellite-data-show-bursts-of-deforestation-continue-in-indonesian-national-park/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/satellite-data-show-bursts-of-deforestation-continue-in-indonesian-national-park/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-290970</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Reserve in Brazilian Amazon struggles as &#8216;aggressive&#8217; deforestation spreads</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/reserve-in-brazilian-amazon-struggles-as-aggressive-deforestation-spreads/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/reserve-in-brazilian-amazon-struggles-as-aggressive-deforestation-spreads/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Nov 2024 02:10:13 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ruth Kamnitzer]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/11/27020136/brazil_1261-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=290745</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Forest Trackers]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Cattle, Environment, Fires, Forest Loss, Forests, Green, Habitat Loss, National Parks, Old Growth Forests, Primary Forests, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Ranching, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[When created in 2006, the Triunfo do Xingu Environmental Protection Area in the Brazilian Amazon was supposed to preserve the region’s rich biodiversity and nearby protected areas. Instead, the reserve has lost over 40% of its rainforest, and become a conduit for deforestation into nearby protected areas. Now, satellite data and imagery indicate deforestation in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[When created in 2006, the Triunfo do Xingu Environmental Protection Area in the Brazilian Amazon was supposed to preserve the region’s rich biodiversity and nearby protected areas. Instead, the reserve has lost over 40% of its rainforest, and become a conduit for deforestation into nearby protected areas. Now, satellite data and imagery indicate deforestation in Triunfo do Xingu is continuing to soar in 2024 — and is spreading into nearby protected areas. The Triunfo do Xingu reserve encompasses some 1.7 million hectares (4.2 million acres) — an area more than half the size of Belgium — and sits in the verdant Xingu Basin, a biodiverse region home to 28 conservation areas and 18 Indigenous territories. Within the reserve, landowners are allowed to clear up to 20% of their land, but must leave the remaining forest intact. But satellite data and imagery reveal a far higher rate of deforestation. From 2006 to 2023, the reserve lost 41% of its primary (old growth) forest cover, according to the Global Forest Watch (GFW) platform. That’s equivalent to 617,000 hectares of forest, or 6,170 square kilometers (2,382 square miles). Primary forest loss peaked in 2020, with nearly 70,000 hectares of forest destroyed. Deforestation declined somewhat in 2021 and 2022, but remained relatively high, with more than 50,000 hectares of forest lost each year. In 2023, deforestation dropped again, with 30,000 hectares lost that year. But this year, clearing appears to have sped up again. From January to November deforestation alerts from the Global Forest&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/reserve-in-brazilian-amazon-struggles-as-aggressive-deforestation-spreads/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/reserve-in-brazilian-amazon-struggles-as-aggressive-deforestation-spreads/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-290745</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A Nigerian reserve, once a stronghold for chimps, is steadily losing its forest to farming</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/a-nigerian-reserve-once-a-stronghold-for-chimps-is-steadily-losing-its-forest-to-farming/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/a-nigerian-reserve-once-a-stronghold-for-chimps-is-steadily-losing-its-forest-to-farming/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Nov 2024 23:55:48 +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/20/2024/11/21232817/Rotscheitelmangabe_Cercocebus_torquatus_Tierpark_Hellabrunn-6-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=290459</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Forest Trackers]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Nigeria, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Apes, Cacao, Endangered Species, Environment, Farming, Fires, Forest Loss, Forests, Green, Habitat Loss, Industrial Agriculture, Monkeys, Old Growth Forests, Plantations, Primary Forests, Primates, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Slash-and-burn, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Oluwa Forest Reserve, located in southwestern Nigeria, contains some of the last large swaths of old growth — also called “primary” — forest in the region. These forests are home to a rich diversity of wildlife, including endangered species and subspecies such as red-capped mangabeys (Cercocebus torquatus), Nigerian white-throated guenons (Cercopithecus erythrogaster pococki), white-bellied pangolins [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Oluwa Forest Reserve, located in southwestern Nigeria, contains some of the last large swaths of old growth — also called “primary” — forest in the region. These forests are home to a rich diversity of wildlife, including endangered species and subspecies such as red-capped mangabeys (Cercocebus torquatus), Nigerian white-throated guenons (Cercopithecus erythrogaster pococki), white-bellied pangolins (Phataginus tricuspis), and Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes ellioti). But Oluwa and its wildlife are under increasing threat from both smallholder farmers and large-scale plantations. The reserve, established in 1918, has been severely impacted by land encroachment, with thousands of farmers converting forested areas into farms. This has led to significant deforestation, with satellite data from online monitoring platform Global Forest Watch (GFW) showing the reserve lost 18% of its primary forest between 2002 and 2023. Only about half of Oluwa Forest Reserve was covered in primary forest as of 2001. Eighteen percent of that which remained was cleared between 2002 and 2023, with large areas of further loss in 2024. Preliminary data from GFW, as well as satellite imagery, show ongoing clearing of the reserve’s remaining primary forest. Satellite data from the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) indicate the reserve has experienced an “unusually high” number of fires in 2024 — the highest since measurement began in 2012. Oluwa is situated in the humid tropics, where nearly all fires are caused by human disturbance such as slash-and-burn agriculture — also known as “shifting cultivation” — and for industrial plantation expansion. Research shows that&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/a-nigerian-reserve-once-a-stronghold-for-chimps-is-steadily-losing-its-forest-to-farming/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/a-nigerian-reserve-once-a-stronghold-for-chimps-is-steadily-losing-its-forest-to-farming/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-290459</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As logging intensifies forest fires, Wet’suwet’en fight to protect old growth</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/as-logging-intensifies-forest-fires-wetsuweten-fight-to-protect-old-growth/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/as-logging-intensifies-forest-fires-wetsuweten-fight-to-protect-old-growth/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Sep 2024 16:17:49 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Erica Gies]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/09/23153832/An-old-growth-clear-cut-on-Kwakwaka%CA%BCwakw-territory-northern-Vancouver-Island.-Credit-Mya-Van-Woudenberg-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=287704</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Global Forests and Indigenous-led conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[British Columbia, Canada, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Culture, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Policy, Fires, Forests, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Logging, Old Growth Forests, Politics, Rainforests, and Science]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[WET’SUWET’EN, Canada — The pilot flew over squares of clear-cuts and tree plantations, then rolled the helicopter around Hudson Bay Mountain in north-central British Columbia. We were following directions from David de Wit, the acting director of the Office of Wet’suwet’en, who was navigating from a map of traditional trails in their territory. On the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[WET’SUWET’EN, Canada — The pilot flew over squares of clear-cuts and tree plantations, then rolled the helicopter around Hudson Bay Mountain in north-central British Columbia. We were following directions from David de Wit, the acting director of the Office of Wet’suwet’en, who was navigating from a map of traditional trails in their territory. On the ground, the trails are marked by culturally modified trees, circles carved into bark, proof of the Wet’suwet’en Nation’s history in this area. As we approached Caas Tl’aat Kwah (aka Serb Creek), a 15,054-hectare (37,200-acre) watershed that has not yet been logged or mined, the forest stitched together in a blanket of deep green, cleaved only by yellow-green wetlands threaded with glacial blue streams. “We want to conserve it for future generations,” says Charlotte Euverman, the Wet’suwet’en woman leading a fight to save this area, which includes a traditional gathering and feasting site. “We have to leave them something.” Like most First Nations here, the Wet’suwet’en never signed treaties with Canada or the province. Nevertheless, the latter took the land and leased forested areas to logging companies. Today just 20% of British Columbia’s old-growth forests remain. In 2020, after decades of activist pressure, the province released its Old Growth Strategic Review, a report that identified about a quarter of the remaining old growth as high risk for logging and recommended a pause while land use decisions were made. Yet four years on, logging has been deferred in less than half of the high-risk area. First Nations&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/as-logging-intensifies-forest-fires-wetsuweten-fight-to-protect-old-growth/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/as-logging-intensifies-forest-fires-wetsuweten-fight-to-protect-old-growth/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-287704</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Raw materials become high-value bioeconomy goods at an Amazon science park</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/raw-materials-become-high-value-bioeconomy-goods-at-an-amazon-science-park/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/raw-materials-become-high-value-bioeconomy-goods-at-an-amazon-science-park/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Aug 2024 07:00:51 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sarah Brown]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/08/05143906/Luis-Adriano-Nascimento-LOA-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=285638</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, Business, Community Development, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Economics, Environment, Food, Forests, Green, Indigenous Peoples, Old Growth Forests, Primary Forests, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Saving Rainforests, Seagrass, Solutions, Sustainability, Sustainable Development, Technology, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Ahead of hosting 2025’s COP30 climate summit, Belém is betting on the development of products such as honey-based spirits, digital glasses from local wood and jambu-infused medicine at a local tech park.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BELÉM, Brazil — Two white-coated lab technicians, surrounded by whirring machines and sterile workstations, drip liquids into beakers and analyze data on computer screens. A collection of Amazonian fruits and seeds are spread out on a lab bench. In front are mini bottles of essential oils extracted from these resources. Behind them are sheets of bioplastic that could be future plastic alternatives. These are the creations of the Amazon Oils Laboratory, LOA, which produces natural oils and butters from plants and seeds found in the Brazilian Amazon Rainforest for use in foods, cosmetics and health products for several large national and multinational companies. They also develop bioplastics and biofuels from oil extraction waste, which can amount to up to five times the oil produced. “We’ve been investigating ways to promote the production of biodiesel from alternative sources, such as inedible oils or those with limited use in human food,” Luís Adriano Nascimento, a chemist and vice coordinator at the LOA, told Mongabay. “It’s a circular economy, making the most of all this potential. It’s waste that can be turned into an income.” It’s just one example of research and developments from the Guamá Science and Technology Park (PCT) in Belém in the state of Pará. The park’s 12 laboratories, or research and development centers, are a hub of applied research exploring all sorts of forest-based solutions for market demands and supporting sustainable entrepreneurship across a wide range of sectors, including pharmaceuticals, technology, cosmetics and energy. “The idea is to have&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/raw-materials-become-high-value-bioeconomy-goods-at-an-amazon-science-park/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/raw-materials-become-high-value-bioeconomy-goods-at-an-amazon-science-park/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-285638</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Brazil’s Amazon, land invasions — and fires — threaten a protected reserve</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/in-brazils-amazon-land-invasions-and-fires-threaten-a-protected-reserve/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/in-brazils-amazon-land-invasions-and-fires-threaten-a-protected-reserve/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Aug 2024 23:06:17 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ana Ionova]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/08/05222332/LencoisSLS-Abr14_0169-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=285748</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Forest Trackers]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Cattle, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Global Warming, Green, Habitat Loss, Indigenous Peoples, Land Conflict, Old Growth Forests, Primary Forests, Primates, Protected Areas, Rainforests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BOM JARDIM, Brazil – Amid corn fields and pastures, miles of barbed wire enclose an island of pristine rainforest, likely next in line to be razed. Just beyond, in the Gurupi Biological Reserve, a web of dusty roads splinters the canopy, leading deep into one of the last slices of protected forest in this part [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BOM JARDIM, Brazil – Amid corn fields and pastures, miles of barbed wire enclose an island of pristine rainforest, likely next in line to be razed. Just beyond, in the Gurupi Biological Reserve, a web of dusty roads splinters the canopy, leading deep into one of the last slices of protected forest in this part of the Brazilian Amazon — and signaling that it, too, is under attack. The Gurupi Biological Reserve stretches 341,650 hectares (844,235 acres) across the southwestern corner of Brazil’s Maranhão state. Under federal protection since 1988, this region of dizzying biodiversity offers habitat to countless species like the red brocket deer (Mazama americana), the golden parakeet (Gauruba guarouba) and the Kaapori capuchin (Cebus kaapori), one of the world’s most critically endangered primates. It was here, in 2017, where researchers rediscovered the Belem curassow (Crax fasciolata pinima), a large, pheasant-like bird with a funky hairdo that was presumed extinct for 40 years. Researchers believe fewer than 50 mature Belem curassows (Crax fasciolata pinima) still exist in the wild. Image of a preserved specimen by Huub Veldhuijzen van Zanten/Naturalis Biodiversity Center via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0). The reserve is also part of a crucial ecological corridor made up of seven protected areas, some of them home to Indigenous people living in voluntary isolation from the outside world. The Gurupi reserve is meant to shield especially vulnerable regions that lie beyond it from invasions and illicit exploitation. “What’s left of the Amazon forest in Maranhão is within this&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/in-brazils-amazon-land-invasions-and-fires-threaten-a-protected-reserve/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/in-brazils-amazon-land-invasions-and-fires-threaten-a-protected-reserve/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-285748</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>History repeats as logging linked to Cambodian hydropower dam in Cardamoms</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/history-repeats-as-logging-linked-to-cambodian-hydropower-dam-in-cardamoms/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/history-repeats-as-logging-linked-to-cambodian-hydropower-dam-in-cardamoms/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Jun 2024 10:45:50 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerald FlynnVutha Srey]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/06/27061617/DJI_0933-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=283745</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Carving up the Cardamoms]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, Cardamom Mountains, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Carbon Credits, Carbon Market, Carbon Offsets, Clean Energy, Climate Change, Conservation, Conservation Finance, Conservation Solutions, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corruption, Dams, Deforestation, Development, Drivers Of Deforestation, Energy, Environment, Environmental Policy, Forest Carbon, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Forests, Governance, Hydroelectric Power, Illegal Logging, Illegal Trade, Logging, Old Growth Forests, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Redd, Renewable Energy, Roads, Selective Logging, Threatened species, Threats To Rainforests, Timber, timber trade, Tropical Deforestation, and Wildlife Rangers]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This is the first of a two-part Mongabay series about hydropower dams in the Cardamom Mountains. Read Part Two. PURSAT/KOH KONG, Cambodia — Rumbling south down a rutted dirt track in the western Cambodian province of Pursat, past prone excavators and makeshift worker encampments, the green slopes of the Cardamom Mountains loomed suddenly from around [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This is the first of a two-part Mongabay series about hydropower dams in the Cardamom Mountains. Read Part Two. PURSAT/KOH KONG, Cambodia — Rumbling south down a rutted dirt track in the western Cambodian province of Pursat, past prone excavators and makeshift worker encampments, the green slopes of the Cardamom Mountains loomed suddenly from around the bend. In early April, days before Khmer New Year, Cambodia’s most celebrated holiday, the access road on which we traveled was all but abandoned, and checkpoints into the Stung Meteuk hydropower dam remained unmanned. Hugging the Thai border, the road runs a bumpy, hilly and desolate 65 kilometers (40 miles) from Pursat province’s Thma Da commune down to Pak Khlang commune in Koh Kong province, with few signs of life along the way. Here, in this remote stretch of mountainous rainforest, history appears to be repeating itself as Mongabay has uncovered illegal loggers operating under the cover of hydropower construction. There are no residents living near the construction site, which is sandwiched between the unnamed border road to the west and the dense forests of the 362,000-hectare (895,000-acre) Phnom Samkos Wildlife Sanctuary to the east. To the south of the dam, an outpost of bored Cambodian soldiers from Battalion 303 are stationed along the border road, while to the north sits the M.D.S. Thma Da Special Economic Zone (SEZ), which has repeatedly been tied to human trafficking. Illegal logging routes sprawl out of the Stung Meteuk dam construction site, leading into Phnom Samkos Wildlife&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/history-repeats-as-logging-linked-to-cambodian-hydropower-dam-in-cardamoms/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/history-repeats-as-logging-linked-to-cambodian-hydropower-dam-in-cardamoms/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-283745</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Forest and climate scientists fear Biden delay on mature forest protection</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/forest-and-climate-scientists-fear-biden-delay-on-mature-forest-protection/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/forest-and-climate-scientists-fear-biden-delay-on-mature-forest-protection/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Mar 2024 14:51:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Justin Catanoso]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/10/04163042/BANNER-IMAGE-photo-1-768x453.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=279475</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[North America and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Carbon Sequestration, Climate Change, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forest Carbon, Forestry, Forests, Governance, Logging, Old Growth Forests, Politics, Primary Forests, and Protected Areas]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[45.6 million hectares of old-growth and mature forest on U.S. federal lands store huge amounts of carbon, but less than a quarter is safe from logging; Two hundred scientists have asked President Biden to fully protect them now.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Two hundred leading U.S. forest ecologists and climate scientists are calling on the Biden Administration to do much more, and much sooner, to protect old-growth and mature forests on federal lands to combat climate change. Their urging comes after Biden’s announcement in December of the first nationwide amendment in more than a hundred years to change all 128 U.S. Forest Service management plans in order to protect stands of old-growth trees as carbon reservoirs. The signed letter received at the White House Feb. 24, and also received by the secretaries of agriculture and interior, calls for an immediate moratorium on logging of not only old-growth forests, but also mature forests with trees 100 years old or older on federal lands. Those mature forests are currently managed by the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for multiple use — including logging, wildfire mitigation, recreation and wildlife and ecosystem protection. “Because of the global loss of mature and old-growth forests… and their importance in mitigating the climate and biodiversity crisis on federal lands,” the letter states, “we fully support calls by fellow scientists for a moratorium on logging in these critically important forests.” The letter continues: “We are concerned that the administration’s proposed old-growth amendment does not alter or prescribe any substantive standards for the management of old forests that … remain vulnerable to dozens of timber sales nationally.” Old-growth forest along a highway on the Olympic peninsula in Washington state. The nation’s mature forests need deeper protections on both&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/forest-and-climate-scientists-fear-biden-delay-on-mature-forest-protection/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/forest-and-climate-scientists-fear-biden-delay-on-mature-forest-protection/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-279475</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>Elephants invade as habitat loss soars in Nigerian forest reserve</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/elephants-invade-as-habitat-loss-soars-in-nigerian-forest-reserve/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/elephants-invade-as-habitat-loss-soars-in-nigerian-forest-reserve/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Aug 2023 21:33:15 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Orji Sunday]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/08/21212108/Loxodontacyclotis-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=272446</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Forest Trackers]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Apes, Cacao, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Farming, Fires, Forests, Gorillas, Green, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Illegal Logging, Logging, Mongabay Data Studio, National Parks, Old Growth Forests, Poverty, Primary Forests, Primates, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Tropical Forests, Wildlife, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Where southeastern Nigeria abuts western Cameroon, dense rainforest still shelters iconic, threatened megafauna like critically endangered African forest elephants (Lloxodonta cyclotis) and Cross River gorillas (Gorilla gorilla diehli), as well as endangered drill monkeys (Mandrillus leucophaeus) and Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes ellioti). But as human incursions cut apart habitat, wildlife is increasingly straying into farmland and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Where southeastern Nigeria abuts western Cameroon, dense rainforest still shelters iconic, threatened megafauna like critically endangered African forest elephants (Lloxodonta cyclotis) and Cross River gorillas (Gorilla gorilla diehli), as well as endangered drill monkeys (Mandrillus leucophaeus) and Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes ellioti). But as human incursions cut apart habitat, wildlife is increasingly straying into farmland and human settlements, according to local reports. Areas near Nigeria&#8217;s Afi River Forest Reserve in the state of Cross River are reportedly particularly affected by straying elephants. “These elephants have been invading farms. These are personal farms. So the people are really suffering,&#8221;  Leonard Akam told Mongabay over the phone. Akam is the head of Boje, one of the largest communities near the reserve. “The destruction an elephant can cause in a day is more than the job of three people. It is just like a bulldozer paving a path.” This increase in human-wildlife conflict comes as habitat in the Afi River reserve and other nearby protected areas is disappearing. Satellite data from Global Forest Watch show the reserve lost more than 5% of its primary forest cover between 2002 and 2022, with preliminary data for 2023 suggesting deforestation has skyrocketed further this year. This deforestation is whittling away the habitat of a multitude of species, including Mona monkeys (Cercopithecus mona), yellow-backed duikers (C. silvicultor), blue duikers (Philantomba monticola), bay duikers (Cephalophus dorsalis), red river hogs (Potamochoerus porcus) and African brush-tailed porcupines (Atherurus africanus). The region&#8217;s most iconic resident is arguably the Cross River gorilla, Africa’s&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/elephants-invade-as-habitat-loss-soars-in-nigerian-forest-reserve/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/elephants-invade-as-habitat-loss-soars-in-nigerian-forest-reserve/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-272446</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Poverty-fueled deforestation of Nigerian reserve slashes hope for rare chimps</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/poverty-fueled-deforestation-of-nigerian-reserve-slashes-hope-for-rare-chimps/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/poverty-fueled-deforestation-of-nigerian-reserve-slashes-hope-for-rare-chimps/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Jul 2023 22:51:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Orji Sunday]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/07/10223137/2020-07-04_-_Schimpanse_Pan_troglodytes_-_Tierpark_Gettorf-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=270744</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Forest Trackers]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Nigeria, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Animals, Apes, Cacao, Chimpanzees, Corruption, Deforestation, Environment, Fires, Forest Loss, Forests, Governance, Green, Habitat Loss, Illegal Logging, Logging, Mammals, Mongabay Data Studio, Monkeys, Old Growth Forests, Primary Forests, Primates, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Satellite Imagery, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Formed in 1938 on a swath of primary forest nearly four times the size of Paris, Nigeria’s Akure-Ofosu Forest Reserve is home to a diverse array of wildlife. These include red-capped mangabeys (Cercocebus torquatus), putty-nosed monkeys (Cercopithecus nictitans), mona monkeys (Cercopithecus mona), and Nigerian white-throated guenons (Cercopithecus erythrogaster pococki). But perhaps the reserve’s most iconic [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Formed in 1938 on a swath of primary forest nearly four times the size of Paris, Nigeria’s Akure-Ofosu Forest Reserve is home to a diverse array of wildlife. These include red-capped mangabeys (Cercocebus torquatus), putty-nosed monkeys (Cercopithecus nictitans), mona monkeys (Cercopithecus mona), and Nigerian white-throated guenons (Cercopithecus erythrogaster pococki). But perhaps the reserve’s most iconic resident is the endangered Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes ellioti). With fewer than 6,000 individuals estimated to remain in the wild today, according to the IUCN, P. t. ellioti is the rarest chimpanzee subspecies in the world. In 2007, primatologists Babafemi Ogunjemite and John Oates spotted 33 nests in the 39,400-hectare (97,400-acre) reserve, noting that the area has “potential as a chimpanzee conservation site.” Hunters and long-term settlers told Mongabay in 2021 that they remembered seeing  and hunting chimpanzees in the reserve in the 1990s and early 2000s. However, the subspecies’ current status in Akure-Ofosu remains unclear, with no recent scientific observations of chimpanzees recorded. Amid this scientific obscurity, the persistence of chimpanzees in Akure-Ofosu grows less likely with each passing day due to human encroachment. Between 2001 and 2022, the reserve lost nearly half of its old-growth forest cover, according to satellite data visualized on the forest-monitoring platform Global Forest Watch. Preliminary data for 2023 show ongoing deforestation is concentrated in the southern portion of the reserve. In 2021, during a Mongabay field visit to Akure-Ofosu, cocoa farms were spread across the landscape like lush, green clouds, each farm separated by markers and trails through&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/poverty-fueled-deforestation-of-nigerian-reserve-slashes-hope-for-rare-chimps/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/poverty-fueled-deforestation-of-nigerian-reserve-slashes-hope-for-rare-chimps/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-270744</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The U.S. has cataloged its forests. Now comes the hard part: Protecting them</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/the-u-s-has-cataloged-its-forests-now-comes-the-hard-part-protecting-them/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/the-u-s-has-cataloged-its-forests-now-comes-the-hard-part-protecting-them/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Apr 2023 15:19:47 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Justin Catanoso]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/04/27144841/DellaSala-on-the-trall-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=267980</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Conservation Potential]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[North America and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Climate Change, climate finance, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forestry, Forests, Governance, Logging, Old Growth Forests, Politics, Primary Forests, Protected Areas, and Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Environmental groups doled out general praise, with caveats, for a new inventory by the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) that identified 112.8 million acres (45.6 million hectares) of old-growth and mature forest on their lands – bigger than the size of California. “[This is] a pathway to protecting mature and old-growth [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Environmental groups doled out general praise, with caveats, for a new inventory by the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) that identified 112.8 million acres (45.6 million hectares) of old-growth and mature forest on their lands – bigger than the size of California. “[This is] a pathway to protecting mature and old-growth trees and forests … to improve the climate resilience of federally managed forests,” a coalition of environmental NGOs wrote in a press release. The Forest Service and BLM released the inventory on April 20 in connection with President Joe Biden’s 2022 Earth Day executive order as part of his multi-pronged climate strategy to halve U.S. carbon emissions by 2030. Many of the nation’s most productive, biodiverse and even some of its oldest forests remain a prime target for wood products and wood pellet industries across the country. “This is hopeful news for our country’s magnificent old trees, our climate and the wildlife that depends on these crucial ecosystems,” Randi Spivak, public lands policy director for the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement. “The Forest Service routinely targets mature and old-growth tree for logging. I hope this [inventory] signals desperately needed change at the agency.” But it’s not clear how much of that 112.8 million acres of federal land will be fully protected until the U.S. develops official rules following a 60-day public comment period. Meanwhile, a word search of the detailed, 63-page old-growth forest report by the Forest Service and BLM doesn’t reveal&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/the-u-s-has-cataloged-its-forests-now-comes-the-hard-part-protecting-them/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/the-u-s-has-cataloged-its-forests-now-comes-the-hard-part-protecting-them/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-267980</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Even in recovery, previously logged tropical forests are carbon sources: Study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/01/even-in-recovery-previously-logged-tropical-forests-are-carbon-sources-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/01/even-in-recovery-previously-logged-tropical-forests-are-carbon-sources-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Jan 2023 11:05:30 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/01/25105020/Eddy-covariance-tower_Maria-Mills-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=264950</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, Malaysia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, carbon, Carbon Dioxide, Carbon Emissions, Carbon Sequestration, Climate Change, Conservation, Degraded Lands, Emission Reduction, Environment, Forest Carbon, Forests, Green, Logging, Old Growth Forests, Politics, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Research, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Tropical forests play a key role in our efforts to stabilize the global climate. As a readymade means of ameliorating our continued greenhouse gas emissions, tree-clad tropical landscapes provide us with some much-needed hope. But as we relentlessly degrade and disturb them, how are we affecting their crucial capacity to lock away carbon dioxide from [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Tropical forests play a key role in our efforts to stabilize the global climate. As a readymade means of ameliorating our continued greenhouse gas emissions, tree-clad tropical landscapes provide us with some much-needed hope. But as we relentlessly degrade and disturb them, how are we affecting their crucial capacity to lock away carbon dioxide from the atmosphere? This is a question scientists have investigated for decades. Recent studies, for instance, have revealed that intense deforestation and fires have transformed parts of the Brazilian Amazon from massive carbon sinks to sources. While the situation in the Amazon is cause for concern, frustratingly little is known about the true forest carbon balance in other parts of the world, such as Southeast Asia. Now, a new study indicates that logged forests in Malaysian Borneo are a “significant and persistent” net source of carbon emissions for at least one decade after disturbance. Based on their results, the authors say that rates of carbon sequestration in recovering tropical forests around the world could be “considerably lower than currently estimated.” A logging gap in Malaysian Borneo. Although new trees will colonize the gap, emissions from deadwood and disturbed soil result in net carbon emissions. Photo courtesy of Zoe G. Davies The findings, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, counter the commonly held belief that recovering and degraded forests become net carbon sinks due to the rapid regrowth of trees and other vegetation on newly vacated land. This reasoning is premised on studies that&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/01/even-in-recovery-previously-logged-tropical-forests-are-carbon-sources-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/01/even-in-recovery-previously-logged-tropical-forests-are-carbon-sources-study/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-264950</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Study identifies priority forests in Oregon for max conservation benefit</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/01/study-identifies-priority-forests-in-oregon-for-max-conservation-benefit/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/01/study-identifies-priority-forests-in-oregon-for-max-conservation-benefit/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Jan 2023 18:35:18 +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/20/2023/01/24174748/wolverine-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=264912</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[North America, Oregon, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Carbon Sequestration, Climate Change, Conservation, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forest Carbon, Forest Destruction, Forests, Green, Logging, Old Growth Forests, Protected Areas, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The haunting deep-green forests of Oregon are more than a backdrop for angsty teen vampires in the Twilight series. These coastal temperate rainforests on the west coast of the United States are some of the most important carbon storage facilities in the world and, at a local scale, shelter 80% of the drinking water for [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The haunting deep-green forests of Oregon are more than a backdrop for angsty teen vampires in the Twilight series. These coastal temperate rainforests on the west coast of the United States are some of the most important carbon storage facilities in the world and, at a local scale, shelter 80% of the drinking water for the state’s residents. A recent study published in Frontiers in Forests and Global Change is the first to determine which forests are the highest priority for conservation by analyzing data on drinking water sources, biodiversity, carbon storage and forest resilience. “Here&#8217;s a map that shows you where&#8217;s the biggest bang for your buck and what we need to protect first,” Beverly E. Law, the study’s lead author and professor emeritus of global change biology and terrestrial systems science in the College of Forestry at Oregon State University, told Mongabay. “We&#8217;ve laid out what needs to be done, where we need to start, and where we need to look first.” Most (67%) of the high-priority forests, researchers found, are on federal lands. Some of these areas include forestlands around the Devil’s Staircase Wilderness and Elliot State Forest in the Coast Range; Eagle Cap Wilderness in the Blue Mountains; Kalmiopsis Wilderness in the Klamath Mountains; and Crater Lake National Park in the Cascade Mountains. A map of the high-priority forests for conservation in Oregon. Figure from Law et al 2022. A highlight of some of the areas in Oregon that researchers say should be completely protected to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/01/study-identifies-priority-forests-in-oregon-for-max-conservation-benefit/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/01/study-identifies-priority-forests-in-oregon-for-max-conservation-benefit/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-264912</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Beef is still coming from protected areas in the Amazon, study shows</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/10/beef-is-still-coming-from-protected-areas-in-the-amazon-study-shows/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/10/beef-is-still-coming-from-protected-areas-in-the-amazon-study-shows/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Oct 2022 15:18:40 +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/20/2020/03/05133140/Cattle_brazil_1493-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=261629</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Animals, Cattle, Deforestation, Environment, Fires, Forests, Green, Habitat Loss, Industrial Agriculture, Old Growth Forests, Pasture, Primary Forests, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Ranching, Soy, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Some of the world’s largest beef exporters are still buying cattle that grazed in protected areas of the Amazon rainforest, despite commitments to stop this practice, according to a new study. The report, published today in the journal Conservation Letters found that millions of cattle grazed in protected areas (PAs) in the Brazilian states of Mato [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Some of the world’s largest beef exporters are still buying cattle that grazed in protected areas of the Amazon rainforest, despite commitments to stop this practice, according to a new study. The report, published today in the journal Conservation Letters found that millions of cattle grazed in protected areas (PAs) in the Brazilian states of Mato Grosso, Pará and Rondônia between 2013 and 2018. &#8220;Protected areas are the cornerstone of Brazil&#8217;s conservation efforts and are arguably the most effective way that we have to conserve forests and the biodiversity inside of them,&#8221; Holly Gibbs, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the senior author of the study said in a press release. &#8220;That meatpackers are continuing to buy from properties in areas that are under strict protection is alarming.&#8221; A rancher herds cattle in Mato Grosso, Brazil. Image by Bernard DUPONT via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0). In Brazil, many meatpacking companies have made public commitments to stop sourcing beef from farms with illegal deforestation or that are not following environmental regulations. Those commitments, known as zero-deforestation cattle agreements, were first signed in 2009. The four largest meatpacking companies (JBS, Bertin, Minerva and Marfrig) also signed agreements to limit buying from protected areas. Despite those pledges, nearly 1.1 million cattle were bought directly from protected areas and another 2.2 million spent at least a portion of their lives grazing in PAs and were then sent to finishing or “fattening” farms before being sold to meatpackers, according to the study. To follow&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/10/beef-is-still-coming-from-protected-areas-in-the-amazon-study-shows/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/10/beef-is-still-coming-from-protected-areas-in-the-amazon-study-shows/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-261629</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New study identifies mature forests on U.S. federal lands ripe for protection</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/10/new-study-identifies-mature-forests-on-u-s-federal-lands-ripe-for-protection/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/10/new-study-identifies-mature-forests-on-u-s-federal-lands-ripe-for-protection/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Oct 2022 17:00:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Justin Catanoso]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/10/04163042/BANNER-IMAGE-photo-1-768x453.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=261107</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[North America and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[carbon, Carbon Sequestration, Climate Change, Climate Science, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forest Carbon, Forests, Green, LiDAR, Logging, Mapping, Old Growth Forests, Protected Areas, Research, Temperate Forests, and Timber Laws]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A new map finds that roughly a third of U.S. mature forests are on federal lands, which President Biden appears eager to protect to store carbon. But much mature forest is also privately held, especially in the Southeast, and is at risk. ]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In a major new study, a team of scientists has published what it calls the first-ever, map-based assessment of existing mature and old-growth forests in the continental United States. Such forests are critical to fighting climate change and data like this is deemed vital to President Biden’s climate action agenda. But the new research also shows how much mature forests on both federal and private lands in the U.S. are seriously at risk — offering a conservation opportunity to the Biden administration. The peer-reviewed study, published in Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, found that older forests — estimated to be 80 years old or older — make up about 167 million acres, or 36%, of all forests in the contiguous 48 states. The new study included this map generated by researchers showing mature and old-growth forests by region across the U.S. Image courtesy of Dominick DellaSala / Wild Heritage. Significantly, about a third of those older forests, or roughly 58 million acres, are on federal lands managed by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the National Park Service (NPS). The rest are controlled by non-federal entities, including private owners. The research noted that even though U.S. national parks are fully protected from logging, just 24% of U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management forests are similarly protected, with the rest being at various levels of risk. The study calls for all mature and old-growth forests on federal lands to become fully protected.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/10/new-study-identifies-mature-forests-on-u-s-federal-lands-ripe-for-protection/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/10/new-study-identifies-mature-forests-on-u-s-federal-lands-ripe-for-protection/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-261107</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New tech aims to track carbon in every tree, boost carbon market integrity</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/09/new-tech-aims-to-track-carbon-in-every-tree-boost-carbon-market-integrity/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/09/new-tech-aims-to-track-carbon-in-every-tree-boost-carbon-market-integrity/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Sep 2022 02:42:36 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Carolyncowan]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/09/19022943/CTrees-map_Globalcarbon-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=260416</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Denmark, France, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Artificial Intelligence, carbon, Carbon Credits, Carbon Emissions, Carbon Market, Carbon Sequestration, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Environment, Forest Carbon, Forests, Innovation, Mapping, Old Growth Forests, Plantations, Primary Forests, Rainforests, Reforestation, Satellite Imagery, Trees, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Users of a new digital platform from nonprofit CTrees will be able to track in near-real-time the carbon stored and emitted in the world’s forests. The platform is borne out of two decades of research and development by a team of the world’s leading climate scientists and data engineers. It’s being touted as the first-ever [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Users of a new digital platform from nonprofit CTrees will be able to track in near-real-time the carbon stored and emitted in the world’s forests. The platform is borne out of two decades of research and development by a team of the world’s leading climate scientists and data engineers. It’s being touted as the first-ever global system for calculating the amount of carbon in every tree on the planet. “Forests are extremely important to mitigate climate change because they absorb a major part of the carbon in the atmosphere annually,” Sassan Saatchi, a senior scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory who collaborated with colleagues in the U.S., Brazil, Denmark and France to develop the platform, told Mongabay. However, because trees are so efficient at stashing away carbon dioxide, they release vast quantities of carbon back into the atmosphere when forests are degraded, felled or burned. Recent studies have shown that many forests are nearing a tipping point that compromises their ability to store carbon, with parts of Southeast Asia and the Amazon already net carbon emitters due to multiple human-induced stressors. Pine trees in the Sierra Nevada, U.S. Photo by Rhett A. Butler for Mongabay Due to this weighty influence on atmospheric carbon, forest conservation and restoration have become major components of climate change mitigation efforts through climate policy initiatives that rely on forests to offset carbon emissions. But up until now, the world has lacked a globally consistent and transparent means of quantifying and tracking forest carbon. The new CTrees platform&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/09/new-tech-aims-to-track-carbon-in-every-tree-boost-carbon-market-integrity/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/09/new-tech-aims-to-track-carbon-in-every-tree-boost-carbon-market-integrity/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-260416</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>British Columbia delays promised protections as old growth keeps falling</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/09/british-columbia-delays-promised-protections-as-old-growth-keeps-falling/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/09/british-columbia-delays-promised-protections-as-old-growth-keeps-falling/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Sep 2022 17:06:36 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Justin Catanoso]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/09/14130747/6a-Torrance-Coste-stands-on-a-stump-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=260304</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Canada and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, carbon, Carbon Sequestration, Climate Change, Conservation, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forest Carbon, Forest Destruction, Forests, Governance, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Indigenous Peoples, Logging, Old Growth Forests, Plantations, Politics, Primary Forests, Soil Carbon, Temperate Forests, Timber, and Trees]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Critics say that “the white rhinos of old-growth forests” in British Columbia are rapidly being felled by timber companies, even as the provincial government largely postpones its 2020 pledge to protect the remaining ancient forests.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[VANCOUVER ISLAND, BRITISH COLUMBIA — We drive for hours on rutted, gravel-strewn logging roads of this Pacific Coast island’s unpopulated southern outback. Trucks loaded with freshly cut red cedar and hemlock rumble past us in clouds of dust. Finally, we arrive at a cut block in the Upper Caycuse Valley. It’s one of many watersheds here that once towered with ancient trees shading biodiverse ecosystems. Some were cut decades ago. This 10-hectare block was cut last year. More old growth trees — critical carbon sinks 250 years and older — will fall soon. Steep ridgelines remain forested, but much of the rest of this formerly lush, rare coastal rainforest is decimated. What’s left: jagged stumps, roughed-in dirt roads, eroded runoff gullies and haystack-high slash piles of tangled limbs and roots waiting to be burned. It feels like a war zone; a crime scene. “It’s hard coming back here. This is my second time since it was cut; I had to steel myself to see this,” says Torrance Coste, my guide on this July day and a forest advocate with the British Columbian environmental group Wilderness Committee. Logged mountainside in Upper Caycuse Valley BC with slash piles. The many slash piles at this site and others are burned, causing extensive carbon emissions. Photo by Justin Catanoso Coste climbs atop a splintered cedar stump wider than his truck. He counts the rings, stopping at around 500 — a now missing giant that was already 270 years old when in 1792, Britain’s Captain&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/09/british-columbia-delays-promised-protections-as-old-growth-keeps-falling/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/09/british-columbia-delays-promised-protections-as-old-growth-keeps-falling/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-260304</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Congo, a carbon sink like no other risks being carved up for oil</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/07/in-congo-a-carbon-sink-like-no-other-risks-being-carved-up-for-oil/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/07/in-congo-a-carbon-sink-like-no-other-risks-being-carved-up-for-oil/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Jul 2022 07:46:45 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/07/28065727/In-Congo-a-carbon-sink-like-no-other-risks-being-carved-up-for-oil-6-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=258640</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Global Forests]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, Congo Basin, Democratic Republic Of Congo, and Republic of Congo]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, Agriculture, Animals, Biodiversity, carbon, Carbon Emissions, Carbon Offsets, Climate Change, Climate Science, Community Forests, Conservation, Earth Science, Environment, Forest Carbon, Forests, Global Warming, Impact Of Climate Change, Logging, Mitigation, Oil, Oil Drilling, Old Growth Forests, Peatlands, Primary Forests, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Research, Rivers, Saving Rainforests, Science, Soil Carbon, Solutions, Swamps, Threats To Rainforests, Traditional People, Tropical Conservation Science, Tropical Forests, Tropics, and Wetlands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The world’s largest bank of the partially decomposed plant matter known as peat in the tropics is even more extensive than initially thought, according to a new study. The peatlands of the Congo Basin cover some 167,600 square kilometers (64,710 square miles) in the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The world’s largest bank of the partially decomposed plant matter known as peat in the tropics is even more extensive than initially thought, according to a new study. The peatlands of the Congo Basin cover some 167,600 square kilometers (64,710 square miles) in the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a team of scientists reported July 21 in the journal Nature Geosciences. The new maps confirm that the area, sometimes called the Cuvette Centrale, is about the size of England and Wales combined, which is 15% bigger than the estimates from the original mapping of the area. “It’s a massive area. That’s for sure,” Bart Crezee, the study’s lead author and a postgraduate researcher at the University of Leeds in the U.K., told Mongabay. Part of the research team traveling in a dugout canoe on the Ruki River in the DRC. Image courtesy of Bart Crezee/University of Leeds. Little was known about the location, size and carbon contents of these peatlands deep in the world’s second-largest rainforest before a team of scientists shared their maps based on satellite imagery and extensive on-site fieldwork in a 2017 paper in the journal Nature. Peat forms when the water that swamps the mix of soil and plant matter on the floor of this forest chokes off oxygen to bacteria and fungi, arresting the normal decomposition that would occur in a less soggy rainforest. As a result, much of the carbon in these bits of plants gets locked away in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/07/in-congo-a-carbon-sink-like-no-other-risks-being-carved-up-for-oil/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-258640</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Authorities and Yobin communities clash as deforestation spikes in Indian national park</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/07/conflict-brews-between-authorities-and-yobin-communities-as-deforestation-spikes-in-indian-national-park/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/07/conflict-brews-between-authorities-and-yobin-communities-as-deforestation-spikes-in-indian-national-park/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Jul 2022 18:54:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/07/15183353/Red_Panda_24104713027-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=258300</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Forest Trackers]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, South Asia, and Tropics]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Butterflies, Conflict, Critically Endangered Species, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Fellows, Governance, Habitat Loss, Indigenous Peoples, Mammals, Mongabay Data Studio, National Parks, Old Growth Forests, Primary Forests, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Species Discovery, Tigers, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the sprawling Himalayas, amidst snow-peaked mountains, is a vast swathe of evergreen forest home to majestic tigers, elusive clouded leopards, charismatic hornbills, mystical giant squirrels, enchanting butterflies and bizarre orchids. Comprising some 1,900 square kilometers (734 square miles) in the state of Arunachal Pradesh in Northeast India, Namdapha National Park is India’s third-largest national [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the sprawling Himalayas, amidst snow-peaked mountains, is a vast swathe of evergreen forest home to majestic tigers, elusive clouded leopards, charismatic hornbills, mystical giant squirrels, enchanting butterflies and bizarre orchids. Comprising some 1,900 square kilometers (734 square miles) in the state of Arunachal Pradesh in Northeast India, Namdapha National Park is India’s third-largest national park and is considered one of Asia’s last large wildernesses as well as a biodiversity hotspot that harbors more than 1,000 floral and some 1,400 faunal species. Murali Krishna Chatakonda, a professor at the Amity Institute of Forestry and Wildlife, India, studies the diversity, ecology and conservation issues of small mammals in the park. “Namdapha is home to some of the unique species [like the] Namdapha gliding squirrel, white-bellied heron, western hoolock gibbon, tiger, marbled cat, clouded leopard, [and] red panda,” Chatakonda said.  “The list is pretty long.” The rufous-necked hornbill (Aceros nipalensis) is found in Namdapha National Park. Image by Aparajita Datta via Wikimedia Commons (CC 3.0). Conservation organization Birdlife International considers Namdapha National Park to be an Important Bird Area, with several rare species, including wren-babblers (genus Napothera) and critically endangered slender-billed vultures (Gyps tenuirostris). Namdapha is also home to the only-once-seen Namdapha flying squirrel (Biswamoyopterus biswasi) and the critically endangered Chinese pangolin (Manis pentadactyla). There is also a wealth of reptile, amphibian and insect diversity in the park. The endangered hermit&#8217;s spittoon (Sapria himalayana) is also found here. A close cousin of the corpse flower (Rafflesia arnoldii), which has the largest single&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/07/conflict-brews-between-authorities-and-yobin-communities-as-deforestation-spikes-in-indian-national-park/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-258300</doi>				</item>
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