Snapshot: Forests in The Gambia
See DAN ROIZER’s image…
WWF urges pandemic reset to stop forest loss for harmful food production
Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaThomson Reuters Foundation The world has lost tropical forest equivalent to the size of California over a 13-year period, green group WWF said this week, calling for COVID-19 recovery plans to revitalise conservation efforts. In a new report, WWF analysed 24 deforestation hotspots across Asia, Latin America and Africa, and found that more than 43 […]
Tree-planting rush overlooks climate benefits from natural forest recovery
Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaThomson Reuters Foundation Leaving cleared tropical forests to regrow naturally has the potential to absorb a quarter of global carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels each year, researchers said last week. A study led by the World Resources Institute, a US-based thinktank, looked at and mapped the potential carbon-storing benefits of letting cut […]
Kenya’s forest communities face eviction from ancestral lands – even during pandemic
Nairobi, KenyaThomson Reuters Foundation Forest-dwelling communities in Kenya are being forcibly evicted from their ancestral lands, as temperatures plummet and coronavirus cases soar, land rights campaigners said on Thursday. The Community Land Action Now, a network of more than 130 Indigenous community groups, said the evictions by the Kenya Forest Service had left hundreds of […]
Indonesia’s push to cut red tape sparks forest fire concerns
Jakarta, IndonesiaThomson Reuters Foundation Indonesia’s plans to cut red tape to attract investment could lead to an increase in forest clearing and fires, environmentalists warned on Wednesday, as lawmakers continued to debate the measures ahead of a scheduled recess this week. Indonesian President Joko Widodo submitted a draft of the so-called “omnibus laws” to parliament […]
Wow!: Pakistan’s tree-planting push has a sweetener – more honey
IMRAN MUKHTAR, in an article from Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports an a beneficial side-effect of a tree planting program in eastern Pakistan…
UN charts new territory with project to track all Myanmar’s forests
Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaThomson Reuters Foundation A new five-year project in Myanmar will for the first time document all forests in the South-East Asian nation – including places affected by ethnic tensions – to pinpoint deforestation risks and boost conservation, the United Nations said. The joint Myanmar-Finland project, launched last week with funding of €8 million, […]
Cash payments to cut poverty in Indonesian villages help forests too
Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaThomson Reuters Foundation A social protection scheme to help poor Indonesians living in rural areas by giving them cash also reduced deforestation by 30 per cent, researchers said on Friday, fuelling hope that efforts to tackle poverty and protect forests can work in tandem. The study analysed Indonesia’s national anti-poverty program – which […]
Pandemic piles pressure on world’s shrinking forests
Rome, ItalyThomson Reuters Foundation Forests face an increased risk of being cut down and degraded as a result of the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, a senior UN official said on Friday. For millions of poor people who have lost casual work in cities and are returning to their homes in rural areas, “the […]
FLYING HIGH: BRAZILIAN TRIBE KEEPS WATCH OVER FOREST WITH DRONES
FABIO TEXEIRA. of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports on how a Brazilian tribe is using new technologies to guard against deforestation…