Deforestation: Why Poverty is the Root Cause
The stop-deforestation campaigns have a broad range of targets. Depending on who’s talking and what action and reaction are sought from the audience, livestock farming, soy production, timber logging, and palm oil production are presented as the main culprits. No
Just 7 Commodities Replaced an Area of Forest Twice the Size of Germany Between 2001 and 2015
New analysis shows that just seven agricultural commodities — cattle, oil palm, soy, cocoa, rubber, coffee and plantation wood fiber — accounted for 26% of global tree cover loss from 2001 to 2015. These agricultural commodities replaced 71.9 million hectares
These Shocking Images from Copernicus Satellites Show That Climate Change Is Here
This article featuring Copernicus satellites' images, is the first of a monthly series about climate change. Every month we will collect and share with our readers some of the most interesting images that have been acquired by the satellites of Copernicus – the
10 Major Companies Responsible for Deforestation
A recent analysis by the Zoological Society of London found that over half of the 100 most significant tropical timber and pulp companies do not publicly commit to protecting biodiversity and only 44% have yet to publicly commit to zero deforestation. As of
Connecting the People Growing a Trillion Trees the Right Way
Everyone is talking about trees. In January, the World Economic Forum founded the Trillion Trees initiative (1t.org), an effort to protect and grow enough trees to fight climate change and build healthy rural landscapes and economies. Around the same time, major
We Lost a Football Pitch of Primary Rainforest Every Six Seconds in 2019
The tropics lost 11.9 million hectares of tree cover in 2019, according to data from the University of Maryland, released today on Global Forest Watch. Nearly a third of that loss, 3.8 million hectares, occurred within tropical primary rainforests, areas of mature
A Perennial Plan to Preserve the Planet
There is a high level and increasing amount of carbon in the atmosphere, and this is a key driver for the negative impacts of climate change as the greenhouse effect around the planet intensifies. The increased amount of carbon dioxide
Don’t Blame Bats for COVID-19. Blame Humans
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought the spread of zoonotic diseases to the fore, with evidence mounting that bats infected another animal, an ‘intermediate host’, perhaps pangolins, which subsequently transmitted the virus to humans. Endangered bats are being culled in China and Indonesia,
Reforestation: The New Norm
Reforestation is one of the baseline methods utilized by public institutions, corporations, and private individuals alike to offset climate change. Included in almost every key piece of climate legislation, the goal of reforestation is to plant millions of acres of
Female Mayor ‘Warriors’ of the Amazon Inspire COP25 Delegates With Stories of Resilience
At the Women Mayors of Amazon session held at COP25 on December 6, women Mayors in four vulnerable municipalities in the Amazon rainforest vividly illustrated the challenges they face. This is the second article in our COP25 series. This article, first
Environment: Make this Christmas count
As the climate continues to heat up at alarming rates, we’re becoming more aware of how our festive excesses are harming the planet, especially that season staple – the Christmas tree. By the time the season is over, millions of
The Amazon Burns Down – Fires threaten Earth’s Largest Rainforest
The Amazon rainforest is burning up. Fires have been raging at an unprecedented rate, over 70,000 fires affecting 4.6 million acres were recorded in the first six months of 2019. That's a 62% increase over last year according to Brazil's