Greening the Community is a collaborative project between Indalo Nursery, Community Conservation Fund Africa and the Wilderness Foundation Africa. It aims to bring nature back to the KwaNobhule township but also to encourage residents to green the space in which they live, their community and ultimately their country and planet. The pivot behind the project is John … [Read more...]
Time to declare this gorilla haven a national park
The Cameroon Prime Minister’s office announced the suspension of logging plans in Ebo forest on Tuesday, 11 August. The suspension of logging plans, which Greenpeace Africa called “a massacre”, leaves the fate of Ebo forest and the rights of local Banen communities entirely unclear. Ebo forest is essential for more than 40 local Banen communities. Amidst a global coronavirus … [Read more...]
Plans for logging in Ebo Forest denounced by civil society
Greenpeace Africa and local communities denounce a decision by the Government of Cameroon to open up 68,385 hectares of pristine rainforest to logging. The fate of a 65,007 ha zone of Ebo, also threatened with logging, remains unclear and must also be spared from chainsaws. The 14 July decree to log a zone about half the size of London blatantly ignores requests by local … [Read more...]
Kenyan tea farmers switching to renewable energy
The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting many Kenyan communities, which depend on the tea sector, as the tea sector's output and demand in tea is falling. However, an innovative Kenyan project running three years is continuing to create thousands of healthier homes, supporting small and medium-sized enterprises, while reducing the demand for firewood which helps reduce … [Read more...]
EU must tackle forest destruction to reduce the risk of pandemics
While the world continues to grapple with the devastating consequences of Covid-19, WWF is calling for urgent action to address the key drivers it has identified which will cause future zoonotic disease outbreaks. In a new report Covid-19: Urgent Call to Protect People and Nature, WWF identifies a number of environmental factors which drive the emergence of zoonotic … [Read more...]
The reemergence of Europe’s biggest wild cat
Here is some good news about humans learning to live in peace with nature. Indeed, both CAN thrive together. This is the only sustainable future. The Eurasian lynx was once quite common in most of Europe. However, their abundance has been dramatically reduced in the last two centuries due to hunting, landscape changes and deforestation. With the 11th of June celebrated as … [Read more...]
The slow, steady return of Europe’s biggest wild cat
After several decades of low numbers, the return of the lynx to the European forests is slow but steady. The Eurasian lynx was once quite common in most of Europe. Nevertheless, most original populations became extinct, or their abundance has been dramatically reduced in the last two centuries due to hunting, landscape changes, and habitat fragmentation that hinder … [Read more...]
Victory for nature and the rule of law in Bulgaria
The Bulgarian Supreme Administrative Court suspended the execution of Pirin National Park's new management plan, which would have allowed construction in 66% and logging in 48% of the national park and World Heritage Site. WWF-Bulgaria has been fighting to prohibit new logging and construction in Pirin National Park since November 2016, activities that would endanger many … [Read more...]
Amazon rainforest fires leave São Paulo in the dark
Forest fires have dramatically increased in the Brazilian Amazon this year in the wake of soaring deforestation rates, raising concerns among environmentalists about the fate of the planet’s largest tropical forest. The number of active fires amounted to 74,155 between January 1 and August 20, a spike of 85 percent compared to the same period in 2018, according to data from … [Read more...]
Octopus fishing in False Bay is killing Bryde’s whales
Octopus fishing off the coast of Cape Town is supposedly being carried out for ‘research purposes’. But no research has been published and the gear being used is killing not just octopi, but also Bryde’s whales. Read the full article at Daily Maverick. … [Read more...]
Journalist dies in clash over dirty coal in Germany
Over the last week, the German Police have deployed thousands of officers, backed up by water cannons and armoured vehicles, to evict hundreds of climate activists trying to defend the last remnants of an ancient forest in Germany from being destroyed by RWE, which wants to expand the biggest open coal mine in Europe. And yesterday this brutal eviction ended in tragedy when … [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...]
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...]
