The Elephant
The climate change and environmental emergency: a comprehensive resource for journalists, politicians, policy makers, activists and citizens
The ElephantThe climate change and environmental emergency: a comprehensive resource for journalists, politicians, policy makers, activists and citizens
Visit: news.mongabay.com
DRC communities turn up heat on EU lenders funding palm oil giant PHC
2024-08-12 in MongabayOn May 24, 2024, clashes broke out between members of a local community and security guards at an oil palm plantation in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the latest such incident in a long-running dispute over some 58,000 hectares, or 143,000 acres, of land. A source in the town of Lokutu […]
Animal apocalypse: Deadly bird flu infects hundreds of species pole-to-pole
2024-08-06 in MongabayBrown skuas and south polar skuas, two gull-like species that nest in Antarctica, are sometimes called the “pirates of the Southern seas.” These migratory seabirds are fierce, competitive predators that hunt or scavenge anything, from eggs and adult birds to seafood, mammals or garbage. “They’re really tough animals — and they’re dying,” says Antonio Quesada, […]
Tagged under: Antarctic
UK’s Drax targets California forests for two major wood pellet plants
2024-05-06 in MongabayThe biomass energy industry centered in the U.S. Southeast is now seeking expansion to California, with U.K. wood pellet maker Drax joining a state-funded nonprofit to increase pellet exports to Asia — a plan forest advocates oppose.
IKEA blamed for Romanian forest destruction
2024-04-25 in MongabayIKEA is under scrutiny over its wood sourcing practices after two reports linked the furniture giant to destructive logging in some of Europe’s last ancient forests. The recent investigations, conducted separately by Greenpeace and fellow environmental groups Agent Green and the Bruno Manser Fonds (BMF), focus on IKEA’s procurement of wood from ecologically sensitive areas […]
Planetary boundary pioneer Johan Rockström awarded 2024 Tyler Prize
2024-02-29 in MongabayThe 2024 Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement has gone to Johan Rockström who led the team of international researchers who originated the planetary boundary framework in 2009.
Rewilding Ireland: ‘Undoing the damage’ from a history of deforestation
2024-02-27 in MongabayRewilding advocate Eoghan Daltun was unsatisfied with life in Dublin, so he sold his property and bought a farm on the Beara Peninsula of southwestern Ireland. His plan was simple: remove the invasive plant species and then put up a fence to keep out the goats and nonnative sika deer. The land did the rest, […]
Tagged under: Rewilding
Detailed NASA analysis finds Earth and Amazon in deep climate trouble
2023-12-21 in MongabayStudy finds Earth could reach 2° Celsius (3.6° Fahrenheit) above preindustrial levels by 2040 and shows regional climate variables in fine detail. These findings, along with others, are very worrying for the Brazilian Amazon.
Tagged under: Amazon Rainforest | Brazil
Science panel presents COP28 with blueprint for saving the Amazon
2023-12-13 in MongabayFive policy briefs released at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai call for urgently protecting the Amazon Rainforest from degenerating into a dry savanna, providing insights about what drives destruction and degradation in the region and solutions for securing the basin’s sustainable future. The reports were published Dec. 9 by the Science Panel for the […]
Tagged under: COP28 | Amazon Rainforest
South Africa’s penguins heading toward extinction; will no-fishing zones help?
2023-10-17 in MongabayCAPE TOWN — The endangered African penguin (Spheniscus demersus) could be extinct in the wild in just over a decade. To protect the bird’s food supply and slow its population collapse, South Africa is throwing a protective no-fishing cordon around its main breeding colonies. But the devil is in the details, and conservationists say time […]
Tagged under: Fish | Collapse | Africa | Extinction
Cut down once again: Uncontrolled logging puts new Sahel reforestation projects at risk
2023-10-06 in MongabayThis report was produced with the support of the Rainforest Journalism Fund in partnership with the Pulitzer Center. MOKOLO, Cameroon — The sun is already beating down this morning, a Saturday in July, at Mansour-Sabongari village. Young locals sit chatting in the shade of a forest plantation developed by the Reforestation 1400 project. The project […]
Jakarta snags ‘most polluted’ title as air quality plunges and officials dither
2023-08-17 in MongabayJAKARTA — Millions of residents of Jakarta have for the past several weeks suffered from some of the worst air pollution recorded anywhere in the world. Even President Joko Widodo has been affected by the problem — a problem his own administration refused to address even after being ordered to do so by a court […]
Mycorrhizal fungi hold CO2 equivalent to a third of global fossil fuel emissions
2023-06-13 in MongabayPlants and fungi struck a deal way back when. More than 400 million years ago, plants began trading sugar made from sunlight (a.k.a. carbon) for some of the soil nutrients gathered by mycorrhizal fungi. Nearly 90% of all land plants are now part of this arrangement, so scientists estimated that the amounts of carbon flowing […]
Indigenous chief shot in head in Brazil’s ‘palm oil war’ region; crisis group launched
2023-05-16 in MongabayThis story was supported by the Pulitzer Center’s Rainforest Investigations Network where Karla Mendes is a fellow. A prominent Indigenous leader was shot in the head on May 14 in the Brazilian Amazon, intensifying the cry for justice in a dubbed “palm oil war” region where violence against land activists keeps systematically soaring without […]
Tagged under: Amazon Rainforest | Activism | Brazil
Invisible destruction: 38% of remaining Amazon forest already degraded
2023-02-13 in MongabayWhen we speak about destruction of the Amazon, deforestation data are often the reference. Over the last few decades, it is the rates of clear cutting that are best documented, making headlines and guiding environmental protection strategies. “Historically, deforestation was the main driver of land use change in the Amazon. Between 1975 and 1985, almost […]
Tagged under: Deforestation | Amazon Rainforest | Land Use | Trees
Biden-Lula meeting: The time is right for U.S. and Brazil to work together for Amazonia (commentary)
2023-02-10 in MongabayThe Amazon rainforest and its people have gone through tough times recently. For the last four years, under Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, the region has experienced increasing deforestation and the dismantling of agencies intended to protect the environment and support indigenous communities. With the recent election of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, or “Lula,” Brazilians […]
Tagged under: Deforestation | Joe Biden | Rainforests | Amazon Rainforest | Brazil
Liberian courts rubber-stamp export shipment of illegal logs
2023-01-27 in MongabayLast week, a timber company won a controversial lawsuit against Liberia’s Forestry Development Authority when a court ordered the agency to allow a shipment of illegal logs to be exported overseas. Liberian environmental groups say the ruling is emblematic of a breakdown of the laws regulating the country’s logging sector under the current president, George […]
Tagged under: Trees
From Japan to Brazil: Reforesting the Amazon with the Miyawaki method
2023-01-24 in MongabayWhen Takushi Sato left Japan for Belém, Brazil, in 1971, he never imagined what he would go through. By 2000, as the manager of a timber company that shipped Brazilian wood to Japan, he was tired of being extorted by officials from IBAMA, the environmental protection agency, to get the required export documents, he recalled. […]
Tagged under: Amazon Rainforest | Brazil | Japan
Wildfires are climbing up the snowiest mountains of the western U.S.
2022-12-14 in MongabayIn the western United States, natural periods of fire and snow are cyclical. The summer brings wildfire season, and the winter brings ski season. But as the globe warms, these cycles have become erratic and less reliable, with dramatic impacts on the region’s vital water supply. Now, researchers have shown that severe wildfires are diminishing […]
Tagged under: Wildfires
Arctic sea ice loss to increase strong El Niño events linked to extreme weather: Study
2022-10-24 in MongabayAs Arctic sea ice begins melting out fully in summer, the frequency of strong El Niños could increase by 35% by century's end, causing extreme weather events to increase, says recent modeling study.
Tagged under: Extreme Weather | Arctic | Ice Melting | El Niño
With rights at risk, Indigenous Brazilians get on the ballot to fight back
2022-09-27 in MongabayIt was 35 years ago that Ailton Krenak, while painting his entire face with the black dye of the jenipapo fruit, protested against violence against Indigenous peoples in one of Brazil’s highest seats of power: the speaker’s podium in the lower House of Congress. “There is Indigenous blood in every hectare of Brazil’s 8 million […]
Tagged under: US Politics | Brazil | Activism
‘Amped-up citizen science’ to save the world: Q&A with Conservation AI Hub’s Grant Hamilton
2022-08-19 in MongabayConservation apps have emerged in recent years as an efficient and cost-effective way to get citizens to monitor and document wildlife across the world. But an Australian initiative is going one step further. In a bid to detect and save the country’s dwindling koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) population, Conservation AI Hub has, since the beginning of […]
Tagged under: Bolsonaro | Amazon Rainforest | Wildlife
Climate change amplifies the risk of conflict, study from Africa shows
2022-07-13 in MongabayIn October 2021, the city of Guriel in Somalia’s Galguduud region became the epicenter of fierce fighting between the national army and a paramilitary group that left more than 100 people dead and displaced another 100,000. In November, the government declared a national emergency as drought intensified over 80% of the country, including in Galguduud. […]
Tagged under: Drought | Conflict | Climate Change | Africa
Amazon deforestation is off to the fastest start to a year since 2008
2022-07-08 in MongabayDeforestation in the Brazilian Amazon is off to the fastest start for the first half of any year since 2008 according to government data published today. Deforestation alert data from Brazil’s national space research institute INPE shows that 3,988 square kilometers of forest have been cleared within the Brazilian Amazon since January 1, a 17 […]
Tagged under: Deforestation | Amazon Rainforest | Brazil | Trees
From land mines to lifelines, Lebanon’s Shouf is a rare restoration success story
2022-03-23 in MongabaySHOUF BIOSPHERE RESERVE, Lebanon — Late afternoon light falls across Talal Riman’s weathered face as he stands under the ancient cedars he’s tended for almost three decades in Lebanon’s Shouf Biosphere Reserve (SBR). Riman used to defend these trees against would-be loggers and human-caused forest fires with a pump-action shotgun. Now, the SBR team protects […]
Tagged under: Forest Fires | Trees
Activists vow to take EU to court to fight its forest biomass policies
2022-03-14 in MongabayThe EU remains committed to burning forests to make energy, despite conclusive scientific evidence of its climate destabilizing impacts. In a new strategy, forest advocates plan to take the EU to court to fight that policy.
Tagged under: Activism | Trees
‘Everything is on fire’: Flames rip through Iberá National Park in Argentina
2022-02-24 in MongabayThe fires were still several miles away, but Talía Zamboni and her colleagues wanted to work fast. Early in the morning on Feb. 23, they traveled to San Alonso Island in Argentina’s Iberá National Park, where several giant river otters were being housed in a large enclosure, awaiting their release into the wild. But today […]
Tagged under: Argentina | Rivers
Indonesia’s biodiesel program fuels deforestation threat, report warns
2021-06-09 in MongabayJAKARTA — A new report has added to growing concerns that Indonesia’s ambitious program to increase its use of palm oil-based biodiesel will drive greater deforestation across the country. The report, by London-based nonprofit CDP, an international platform for the disclosure of environmental risks, warns of conflicting policies and lack of transparency around biofuel regulations […]
Tagged under: Deforestation | Indonesia
“Securing Indigenous guardianship of vital ecosystems”: Q&A with Nia Tero CEO Peter Seligmann
2021-02-23 in MongabayOne of the dominant trends in conservation over the past 20 years has been growing recognition of the contributions Indigenous peoples have made toward conservationists’ goals of protecting biodiversity, wild places, and ecosystem functions. Lands stewarded by Indigenous peoples and local communities sequester at least a sixth of forest carbon and house 80% of terrestrial […]
Tagged under: Trees
European public roundly rejects Brazil trade deal unless Amazon protected
2021-02-16 in MongabayAn average 75% of respondents in 12 European nations say the gigantic EU-Mercosur trade pact should not be ratified if Jair Bolsonaro’s Brazil doesn’t end Amazon deforestation; EU governments are listening.
Tagged under: Deforestation | Bolsonaro | Amazon Rainforest | Brazil
A wet Amazon may be more resilient to a drying climate than thought: Study
2021-02-03 in MongabayIn some of the wettest parts of the Amazon rainforest, dry air may increase plant photosynthesis rates — a response that contradicts the assumptions of many climate models, according to a recent study published in Science Advances. When conditions are dry, plants attempt to retain water by closing the tiny pores on their leaves called […]
Tagged under: Amazon Rainforest | Rainforests
Deforestation rises with incomes in developing economies
2017-01-30 in MongabayEconomists have for the first time shown a definitive link between rising incomes and a corresponding uptick in deforestation using satellite mapping data. For a long time, economists have assumed that this more-or-less predictable pattern exists in developing economies, but it’s been difficult to prove. “Until now, nobody had found a way of testing it […]
Tagged under: Deforestation
Extinction, like climate change, is complicated
2007-03-26 in MongabayImpact of global warming on extinction debated Extinction is a hotly debated, but poorly understood topic in science. The same goes for climate change. When scientists try to forecast the impact of global change on future biodiversity levels, the results are contentious, to say the least. While some argue that species have managed to survive […]
Tagged under: Global Warming | Extinction
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