The global movement to avoid palm oil is growing. In the one year since the International Palm Oil Free Certification Accreditation Programme (POFCAP) was launched in Australia, it has declared 705 products from 18 countries free of the controversial vegetable oil, and is helping shoppers make informed choices as they browse supermarket shelves. Certified palm oil-free … [Read more...]
Scientists urge Indonesian president to nix dam in orangutan habitat
Twenty-five of the world’s top environmental scientists have lambasted plans to construct a hydroelectric dam in northern Sumatra, Indonesia, because it would threaten the rarest species of great ape on Earth. The scientists, members of the Alliance of Leading Environmental Researchers & Thinkers (ALERT), outlined their concerns in a letter addressed to President Joko … [Read more...]
China is about to get its first vertical forest
They could be the breath of fresh air that pollution-choked cities desperately need. Vertical forests – high-rise buildings covered with trees and plants – absorb carbon dioxide, filter dust from pollution and produce oxygen. They’re also an ingenious way of planting more trees and creating habitats for wildlife in cities that are squeezed for space. China, a nation … [Read more...]
Climate change suspected in unprecedented African baobab die out
The Zimbabwean sacred baobab, Panke, was more than 2,400 years old when all its stems toppled and died in 2010-11. It is one of a number of ancient African baobabs that have died since 2017 across southern Africa, according to new research published in Nature Plants. The region is home to the oldest and largest African baobabs. Baobabs have broad trunks, or multiple stems … [Read more...]
Why India is the world’s deadliest country for forest rangers
On February 20, 2017, range forest officer (RFO) Daulat Ram Lader was having his ritual after-dinner tea with wife Pushpa when there was a knock at the door. Lader was posted at Lailunga, Dharamjaigarh forest division, in Chhattisgarh’s Raigarh district. Lader opened the door and stepped out to speak with the visitors. An hour later, his body, hacked to death, was found some … [Read more...]
Forest restores biodiversity and lowers temperature at Indian campus
The summer temperatures in Bangalore this year have been cause for particularly high concern among its residents, with some claiming that daytime temperature shot up to 41 degrees Celsius one day in April. This summer has surely felt hotter than most old Bangaloreans remember it ever being. But, there are some parts of the city that have kept the unrelenting heat away. Walk … [Read more...]
A tiny beetle and its deadly fungus is threatening SA’s trees
Sandton is Johannesburg’s economic hub – home to numerous companies’ headquarters and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. And now it has a new, unwelcome resident: a tiny beetle that could lay waste to several tree species found in the suburb and potentially the wider Johannesburg area. This is particularly concerning, as Johannesburg is considered one of the world’s largest urban … [Read more...]
Illegal logging returns to Congo forests despite carbon threat
The Congolese Minister of Environment, Amy Ambatobe, has reinstated 6,500 km² of logging concessions that were cancelled in August 2016 by the then Environment Minister Robert Bopolo following instructions from then Prime Minister Augustin Matata Ponyo. The three concessions reinstated on 1 February 2018 were awarded to the Chinese-owned logging companies Forestière pour le … [Read more...]
Mining’s big environmental footprint in the Amazon
The impact mining has on deforestation of the Amazon rainforest is much greater than previously thought, according to a new study by the University of Vermont. What are the major components of mining’s huge environmental footprint in the Amazon, and what can be done to improve the situation? The Amazon rainforest in South America has large quantities of copper, tin, nickel, … [Read more...]
Writing love letters to our rapidly dwindling forests
This summer, the world lost a Nebraska-size chunk of forests. Logging, expanding palm oil plantations and wildfires are to blame. This continuing deforestation trend could have devastating implications for the climate. Simply put, forests aren’t merely pretty places. We need them. Dense tropical forests keep the climate stable by sucking up large amounts of human carbon … [Read more...]
How do we prevent wildfires in drought-killed forests?
With 17 large wildfires in California igniting in 24 hours this week, October is shaping up to be a brutal month for wildfires, as it often is. It’s too soon to know what caused multiple conflagrations spreading across Northern California’s wine country, but elsewhere in the state dead and dying trees have been the subject of much concern. The five-year drought in California … [Read more...]
Ghana environmentalists demand long-overdue forest protection
Ghana Environmentalists are demanding that government immediately approves the more than five-year-old Timber Procurement Policy aimed at helping save the country’s forests. The policy which was drafted by the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources requires that government agencies and state contractors use only legally harvested timber and legitimately produced timber … [Read more...]
Stricter control of invasive species essential in Africa
Invasive alien species harm ecosystems, economies and human health across the globe. In Africa, alien trees reduce water yield in regions that are severely water stressed. Fishes introduced for aquaculture reduce native biodiversity and alien whiteflies spread diseases in cassava that can lead to famine. Many of these species were introduced intentionally for use as pets, … [Read more...]
