Deforestation Fueling Global Warming, Extinction Deforestation is one of the largest contributors to global warming, climate change and the extinction of endangered species. The conversion of ancient rainforests into plantations for commodities, including palm plantations, is the driving factor behind deforestation. Global tree cover loss reached a record 29.7 million hectares (73.4 million acres) in […]
Many countries have made commitments to restore huge areas of forest as part of the Bonn Challenge, organized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. For example, Costa Rica has promised to preserve 1 million hectares (3,861 square miles) of forest by 2020—about 20 percent of the nation’s total area. However, a new paper […]
Deforestation Compounding Global Warming By Danna Smith, Executive Director, Dogwood Alliance For the last ten years or more our national climate change conversation has been dominated by fossil fuels. We do need to rapidly transition away from burning coal, gas and oil for energy if we are to solve the climate crisis. However, it is […]
Hunger, Poverty Add To Migration And Conflict Every year, 12 million hectares of land are degraded because of drought and desertification. The Food and Agriculture Organization Of The United Nations hopes to reverse that trend and return land to agriculture production. A major EU-funded FAO-programme called Action Against Desertification has paved the way for large-scale […]
Rainforest Destruction Not Enriching Brazil Many scientists blame deforestation, generated in large part by agriculture, for global climate change and disrupted rain patterns in the Amazon. Clearing Amazonian forest to create new pastures is illegal now in Brazil, but a cash-strapped government is struggling to enforce the law. The Brazilian Amazon demonstrates that environmental destruction […]
Top Court Demands Halt To Amazon Deforestation By Anastasia Moloney, Thomson Reuters Foundation Colombia’s highest court told the government to take urgent action to protect its Amazon rainforest and stem rising deforestation, in what campaigners said was an historic moment that should help conserve forests and counter climate change. In their ruling on Thursday, the […]
Trees, Forests Undervalued According to some estimates, approximately 41 million trees are cut down every day—much faster than we are replanting them. The consequences of deforestation and land degradation include climate change, biodiversity loss, and declines in ecosystem services that support hundreds of millions of people. In response, governments around the world have committed to restore […]
World Economic Forum Promoting New Avenues Palm oil is the fastest-growing commodity on the planet. Sales are expected to exceed $88 billion by 2022. Unfortunately, the industry and its supporters are still blowing smoke about deforestation, biodiversity and climate change. There’s a better way forward and we can help make it a reality. Palm oil […]
Gabon Will Conserve Rain Forests Gabon has signed an $18 million deal with donors to tackle deforestation and cut its carbon emissions by half as part of a wider plan to protect the tropical forests of the Congo Basin. One of the world’s most forested countries, Gabon is the second African nation, after the Democratic […]
Deforestation and Climate Change Indonesia and Malaysia, which produce more than 80 percent of the world’s palm oil, are resisting proposals by European parliamentarians that could limit their access to the second biggest palm oil market after India. Government ministers from Malaysia and Indonesia, along with some regional palm oil producers, met in Jakarta on […]