A Greenpeace volunteer firefighting team was attacked overnight by armed men in southern Russia, says the activist group. In a statement issued Friday, Greenpeace said that a staff member and…
Illegal logging and cattle ranching in the Amazon, oil palm plantations in Indonesia, and other drivers of tropical deforestation may get all the press, but forest destruction is not limited…
Forests are vital ecosystems that provide crucial habitat to wildlife and help regulate everything from regional hydrological cycles to the global climate. But conservationists, forestry officials, and other decisionmakers often…
The quiet of Europe's last old-growth lowland forest is being interrupted by the whirr whirr whirr of chainsaws – and trees, some hundreds-of-years old, are coming down by government decree.…
On the outskirts of Silicon Valley, in an unincorporated part of Los Gatos in the heart of the Santa Cruz Mountains, I’m scaling a 200-foot tall, somewhere between 600-1000 year…
More than a decade ago, China enacted one of the largest forest conservation programs in the world. But has it worked? It has, according to an analysis published recently in…
This weekend saw the designation of 20 new UNESCO biosphere reserves around the world. Included in these is the brand new Tsá Túé International Biosphere Reserve, the first in northern…
Today is International Forest Day, which was launched by the United Nations March 21, 2012 to promote the importance of forests and trees. In recognition of the designation, below are…
According to a new study, strict wildfire control has changed the forests in the eastern U.S. over the past century, leading to less drought resistance. Researchers are warning this could make…
new study of market-based forest conservation schemes in Chile provides rare insight into the effectiveness of this relatively new approach to preventing deforestation. The schemes, known as non-state, market-driven (NSMD)…
Researchers published a paper last month in the journal Nature Climate Change predicting widespread death of needleleaf evergreen trees in the Southwest United States by the year 2100 due to…
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.
Rampant deforestation is threatening some of Europe's last old-growth forests.
Forests around the world are whittled away as trees are felled for lumber, land is cleared for agriculture, and fires ravage landscapes. Protected areas are established as a way to prevent…
U.S. flooring company Lumber Liquidators Inc. (NYSE:LL) will pay $13.2 million to resolve a federal investigation into its timber sourcing practices. Under the settlement, announced Wednesday, Lumber Liquidators will plead…
Highly anticipated data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) shows that global forest loss has slowed significantly over the past five years relative to the…
When it comes to the world's forests, two of the commonly asked questions are "How many trees are on Earth?" and "How many trees are cut down each year?" A…
Global forest loss amounted to 18.7 million hectares (46 million acres) in 2014, a decline of about 9 percent relative to 2013 and 20 percent compared to 2012, according to…
Inside Central American rainforest. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Thanks to the world’s voracious appetite for crops like coffee, palm oil, rice, rubber, soy and tea, large-scale agriculture is one…
We'd been hiking through deep snow all day with the mercury well below zero, not an uncommon occurrence during winter in eastern Poland. Still I was sweating, covered in several…
A group of prominent researchers, philanthropists, and activists are calling for a doubling of the planet's native forest canopy by 2035 as a way to make a "U-turn" on global…
Redwoods in Big Basin State Park, California. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. If you Google "rainforest," you're almost assured to get a page of search results mostly about the tropics.…
Autumn leaves in Pittsfield State Park, Massachusetts. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Soil plays a big role in the global carbon cycle, but how much or how quickly forest soil…
Camera trap of Amur leopard. The Amur leopard evolved its thick coat to keep warm in the cold, long winters. Photo by: WWF. Most of the world's big predators are…
China's Heilongjiang province, which borders Russia to its north and east, contains 18.5 million hectares of state forest - more natural forest than any other province in the country. However,…
Clear-cut logging in Alaska. Photos by Rhett A. Butler. Seven conservation societies have joined a campaign to push the Obama administration to end old-growth forest logging in Alaska's Tongass National…
Tim Kovar on an Amazon sunset climb. Courtesy of Tim Kovar. The bulk of life in the rainforest is found the leafy layers of the canopy. But little was known…
100 million trees are cut down every year to make dissolving pulp for clothing, toothpaste, food Dissolving pulp is not just a threat to the forests of Indonesia. It is…
Scientists say both rich and developing countries must recognize primary forests as a conservation priority. Primary rainforest in Imbak Canyon in the state of Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. The forest is…
Increased tree cover in Chile is due in large part to expansion of wood fiber farms At first glance, the statistics tell a hopeful story: Chile’s forests are expanding. According…