Fires and greenhouse gases fuel drying of the Amazon
The burning of vegetation and the release of climate-warming gases into the atmosphere are conspiring to dry out the Amazon rainforest, according to a new study. “We observed that in…
Madagascar calls for assistance as fires imperil its protected areas
Fires razed more than 1,300 hectares (3,200 acres) of forestland in Madagascar’s Ankarafantsika National Park in August and September — four times the size of New York City’s Central Park.…
In the rice-rich Mekong region, will husk briquettes take hold?
Sanu Kaji Shrestha was wandering along a Cypriot coastline 10 years ago, enjoying some downtime from a workshop he was leading on green energy technology, when he decided to collect…
As biomass energy gains traction, southern US forests feel the burn
Stretching across the southeastern U.S., wetland forests provide ecosystem services totaling $500 billion, according to a 2018 report by environmental watchdog group Dogwood Alliance. Today, America’s natural wetland forests exist…
Fighting climate change with bioenergy may do ‘more harm than good’
As nations try to stem emissions to keep the world from warming more than 2 degrees Celsius in line with their commitments towards the Paris Accord, replacing fossil fuels with…
Adding the voice of forestry to the environmental movement (commentary)
Last month, over 100 senior academics and researchers signed on to a knee-jerk letter from an industry lobby group criticising a Chatham House report that highlighted the serious damage industrial…
NASA scientists find connection between fires and droughts in sub-Saharan Africa
Over the last several decades, the Northern Sub-Saharan African region has been hit by a number of severe droughts and the associated societal impacts, such as food shortages that result…
A bleak future for the U.S. ‘wood basket’? Southern forests under threat
The forests in the southern U.S. have been hotbeds of logging over the past two centuries, and currently supply 12 percent of the world's wood products and 19 percent of…
Biomass: a burning issue for European and U.S. forests
European Union subsidies for energy production through woody biomass burning are pushing forests in Europe and the U.S. to their breaking points, according to a new report.
Reduced Amazon deforestation may be saving thousands of human lives
New research indicates that a dip in deforestation rates may have prevented the deaths of 1,700 people per year.
Biomass burning accounts for 18% of CO2 emissions, kills a quarter of a million people annually
Biomass burning takes many forms: wildfires, slash-and-burn agriculture, clearing forests and other vegetation, and even industrialized burning for energy production. Yet this burning—mostly manmade but also natural—takes a massive toll…
Special series
Endangered environmentalists
- Iran sentences eight conservationists convicted of spying
- Watchdog denounces arrests of four anti-mining activists in Indonesia
- Activists fighting for their lands swept up in Philippines crackdown
Indonesias forest guardians
- Reforesting a village in Indonesia, one batch of gourmet beans at a time
- Restoring Sumatra’s Leuser Ecosystem, one small farm at a time
- Indigenous Iban community defends rainforests, but awaits lands rights recognition
Amazon infrastructure
- Brazil works behind scene to greenlight Manaus-Boa Vista transmission line
- Yanomami Amazon reserve invaded by 20,000 miners; Bolsonaro fails to act
- Amazon infrastructure puts 68% of indigenous lands / protected areas at risk: report
Asian rhinos
- Malaysia’s last Sumatran rhino dies, leaving Indonesia as the final refuge
- Indonesia plans IVF for recently captured Sumatran rhino
- Malaysian attempt at Sumatran rhino IVF fails on low quality of sperm
