Mountain forests are being lost at an accelerating rate, putting biodiversity at risk, warns study

Worryingly, the rate of mountain forest loss seems to be accelerating: the annual rate of loss increased by 50% from 2001–2009 to 2010–2018, when we…

To help dry-forests, fire needs to be just the right intensity, and happen more than once

One blaze can’t restore species composition to its historical norm in a forest that evolved amid frequent, low-severity fires, the scientists found. “Landscapes have likely…

Extreme wildfires are turning the world’s largest forest ecosystem from carbon sink into net-emitter

The new study showed a significant increase in emissions from boreal fires over the past two decades. Things were particularly dramatic in 2021, when they…

Fighting for their lives: the world’s forests in figures

Half the wetlands in Europe lost in past 300 years, researchers calculate

Forests recovering from logging act as a source of carbon

Researchers found that unlogged forested areas are generally carbon neutral, but that moderately and heavily logged tropical forest areas are a carbon source. They estimate…

Flying insect numbers plunge 64% since 2004, UK survey finds

Scientists behind car number plate study say ‘potentially catastrophic’ decline must be reversed.

Calls for tougher regulations as Queensland, Australia records highest rate of land clearing in country

Conservation groups warn not enough is being done to protect ecosystems as state government data shows more than 400,000ha of land was cleared in 2019-20.

Australia’s carbon offset scheme fraudulent

Claim by academics, including former integrity chair of Australia’s carbon credit scheme, raises further doubts about system. ‘The wild west approach needs to end,’ says…

Study uncovers widespread and ongoing clearcutting of Swedish old forests

Almost one fourth of Sweden’s last unprotected old-growth forest was logged between 2003 and 2019. At this rate, all of these ecologically unique and valuable…

Global carbon emissions at record levels with no signs of shrinking

The analysis, by the Global Carbon Project, calculates Earth’s “carbon budget“, which is how much CO₂ humans have released, and how much has been removed…

EU accused of climate accounting tricks

There’s some hocus-pocus going on with the emissions reduction numbers the European Union is proudly touting at the COP27 climate summit, climate campaigners allege. The…

Phantom Forests: Why Ambitious Tree Planting Projects Are Failing

Everybody likes trees. There is no anti-tree lobby. A global push to go beyond conservation of existing forests and start creating new ones goes back…

Last stand in the Amazon

Despite decades of social and environmental campaigns aimed at protecting the Amazon, the threats now are greater than they have ever been, thanks to the…

Colombia’s battle against Amazon deforestation: ‘The jungle is disappearing’

Colombia lost more than 174,000 hectares of woodland in 2021 — an area 30 times the size of Manhattan — with illegal clearances fuelling the…

EU slammed over failure to protect marine life from ‘destructive’ fishing

The waters of the EU are in a “dismal” state, with only a third of fish populations studied in the north-east Atlantic considered to be…

Industrial mining in Indonesia accounts for 45% of global tropical deforestation

Out of 26 countries, Indonesia accounted for 58.2% of the tropical deforestation directly caused by industrial mining activities. The data covered 26 countries representing 76.7%…

‘Nothing left to burn’: Wildfires blaze through the Arctic

Smoke from hundreds of wildfires has darkened skies over the Alaskan interior this summer with the state experiencing its fastest start to the fire season…

Brazil records worst day for Amazon fires in 15 years

The number of forest fires in the Brazilian Amazon hit a nearly 15-year high this week, according to official figures that provided the latest warning…

Climate change driving unprecedented forest fire loss

Forest fires supercharged by climate change are burning twice as much global tree cover as 20 years ago. The equivalent of 16 football pitches are…

Global heating has caused ‘shocking’ changes in forests across the Americas

Forests from the Arctic to the Amazon are transforming at a “shocking” rate due to the climate crisis, with trees advancing into previously barren tundra…

New study finds global forest area has declined by 81 million hectares from 1960 to 2019

A team of researchers have found that the global forest area has declined by 81.7 million hectares from 1960 to 2019, equivalent to an area…

Scientists rush to save 1,000-year-old trees on the brink of death

No organism on Earth is known to live as long as the Great Basin bristlecone pine. The oldest documented tree, a well-hidden specimen nicknamed “Methuselah,”…

Amazon deforestation hits six-year high in Brazil

Deforestation of the Amazon hit a new record during the first half of 2022. Satellite data showed more than 3,980 square kilometers, an area five…

Nature restoration no substitute for cutting fossil fuels

Restoring degraded environments, such as by planting trees, is often touted as a solution to the climate crisis. But our new research shows this, while…

Experts warn the NSW South Coast marine environment is undergoing a ‘dynamic state of change’

Scientists estimate that Australia’s east coast estuaries are warming four times faster than anywhere else in the world. Prof Maria Byrne from the Sydney Institute…

Emissions warning: calls to stop ‘skyrocketing’ land clearing in NSW

Land clearing in New South Wales (NSW), Australia continues to exceed the long-term average. 51,400 hectares (127,012 acres) of woody vegetation was cleared across the…

Australia’s tropical rainforests have been dying faster for decades in ‘clear and stark climate warning’

Australia’s tropical rainforest trees have being dying at double the previous rate since the 1980s, seemingly because of global heating, according to new research that…

Tropical dry forests disappearing rapidly around the globe

Since 2000, more than 71 million hectares of dry forest have been destroyed, an area about twice the size of Germany. Many hotspots of deforestation…

Brazil deforestation shatters April record

Satellite images show a total area of destroyed forest cover of 1,012.5 square kilometres (391 square miles) from April 1 to 29, with the last…

‘Relentless’ destruction of rainforest continuing despite Cop26 pledge

Pristine rainforests were once again destroyed at a relentless rate in 2021, according to new figures, prompting concerns governments will not meet a COP26 deal…

Amazon rainforest tipping point is looming

The Amazon is approaching a tipping point, data shows, after which the rainforest would be lost with “profound” implications for the global climate and biodiversity.…

Brazil: deforestation jumps in world’s largest savanna as scientists raise alarm

Deforestation last year rose to the highest level since 2015 in Brazil’s Cerrado, prompting scientists on Monday to raise alarm over the state of the…

‘Carbon bomb’: Queensland, Australia, reveals big jump in land clearing

Queensland landholders are clearing the equivalent of about 1,000 Melbourne Cricket Grounds a day, including endangered ecological regions, according to state government data that raises…

Drought and heatwaves in Australia cause widespread tree death

The drought and heatwaves that seared eastern Australia in the lead-up to the 2019-20 black summer bushfires killed as much as 60% of the trees…

Brazil Amazon deforestation up 22% in a year; a 15 year record

The 13,235 square kilometers (5,110 square miles) of forest lost from August 2020 to July 2021 was the largest swath since 14,286 square kilometers were…

Wildfires are ravaging forests set aside to soak up greenhouse gases

The wildfires in the American West are burning vast expanses of specially protected forests — those that are part of carbon-offset projects meant to counterbalance…

Pakistan’s mission to plant 10 billion trees across the country

It’s all part of an effort that started in 2015, when Imran Khan — then a provincial politician and now Pakistan’s prime minister — backed…

Deforestation in Brazilian Amazon hits highest annual level in a decade

Area lost is 57% higher than in the previous year and is the worst since 2012. “Deforestation is still out of control,” Carlos Souza, a…

Amazon rainforest now emitting more CO₂ than it absorbs

“The positive feedback, where deforestation and climate change drive a release of carbon from the remaining forest that reinforces additional warming and more carbon loss is…

The scientists fighting to save the ocean’s most important carbon capture system

Kelp are essentially the ocean’s equivalent of trees, capturing up to 20 times more carbon per acre than land forests. They also provide a vital habitat for…

Upward expansion and acceleration of forest clearance in the mountains of Southeast Asia

Total mean annual forest loss in Southeast Asia was 3.2 million hectares per year during 2001–2019, with 31% occurring on the mountains, and is accelerating.