deforestation

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    Amazon Rainforest on the Brink of Turning Into a Net Carbon Emitter, Study Warns

    Amazon Rainforest on the Brink of Turning Into a Net Carbon Emitter, Study Warns

    Tropical forests are guardians against runaway climate change, but their ability to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is wearing down. The Amazon, which accounts for more than half of the world’s rainforest cover, is on the verge of turning into a carbon source. Deforested peat forest in West Kalimantan, Indonesia. Rhett A. Butler / […]

    Cocaine Production Is Destroying Colombia National Park Old-Growth Rainforest

    Cocaine Production Is Destroying Colombia National Park Old-Growth Rainforest

    By René Mora, Translated by Romina Castagnino Catatumbo Barí National Natural Park protects the unique, remote rainforest in northeastern Colombia. Satellite data show the park lost 6.2% of its tree cover between 2001 and 2019, with several months of unusually high deforestation in 2020. Sources say illegal coca cultivation is rapidly expanding in and around […]

    Amazon Rainforest Will Collapse by 2064, New Study Predicts

    Amazon Rainforest Will Collapse by 2064, New Study Predicts

    The future of the world’s largest rainforest looks bleak. A new report for Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development concluded that the Amazon rainforest will collapse and largely become a dry, shrubby plain by 2064. Development, deforestation and the climate crisis are to blame, study author and University of Florida geologist Robert Toovey Walker […]

    Flying Foxes: Australia’s Love-Hate Relationship With Fruit Bats

    Flying Foxes: Australia’s Love-Hate Relationship With Fruit Bats

    By Georgina Kenyon Earlier this year, the term “bat tornado” started appearing in the Australian and international media. It all started with a BBC report from the town of Ingham in the northeastern state of Queensland, where the population of flying fox bats had apparently “exploded” over the last two years, leaving residents fed up […]

    It’s Time to Rethink What We Eat, Annual Meat Consumption Report Argues

    It’s Time to Rethink What We Eat, Annual Meat Consumption Report Argues

    “Industrial meat production is not only responsible for precarious working conditions, it also pushes people off their land, leads to deforestation, biodiversity loss and the use of pesticides — and is also one of the main drivers of the climate crisis.” Such were the words of Barbara Unmüssig of green think tank, the Heinrich Böll […]

    Child Labor Linked to Palm Oil in Girl Scout Cookies, Snack Brands

    Child Labor Linked to Palm Oil in Girl Scout Cookies, Snack Brands

    Tens of thousands of children in Indonesia and Malaysia work to harvest the palm oil that ends up in several beloved Western snacks, including Girl Scout cookies. An in-depth Associated Press report published recently used U.S. customs records and the most up-to-date information from producers, traders and buyers to link palm oil harvested using child […]

    503 New Species Identified in 2020, Including Endangered Monkey

    503 New Species Identified in 2020, Including Endangered Monkey

    A lungless worm salamander, an armored slug and a critically endangered monkey were a few of 503 new species identified this year by scientists at London’s National History Museum. “Once again, an end of year tally of new species has revealed a remarkable diversity of life forms and minerals hitherto undescribed,” Dr. Tim Littlewood, executive […]

    11 Top Books on the Environment and Conservation Published in 2020

    11 Top Books on the Environment and Conservation Published in 2020

    By John C. Cannon Books have provided a welcome refuge in 2020. The global pandemic has, in many cases, turned even routine travel into a risk not worth taking, and it has left many longing for the day when we will once again set off for a new destination. At the same time, this year […]