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 […]
Water-related conflicts set to rise amid demand growth and climate impacts
Bogota, ColombiaThomson Reuters Foundation From Yemen to India, and parts of Central America to the African Sahel, about a quarter of the world’s people face extreme water shortages that are fueling conflict, social unrest and migration, water experts said on Wednesday. With the world’s population rising and climate change bringing more erratic rainfall, including severe droughts, competition […]
New platform matchmakes funders, tree planters to protect forests
Bogota, ColombiaThomson Reuters Foundation A new online platform aims to connect people who can plant trees with investors with millions of dollars to spend, its backers said, in a bid to stem deforestation worldwide. TerraMatch, launched last week, aims to boost efforts to protect forests and plant trees, critical tactics in the fight against climate […]
Cities face 100 million “new poor” in post-pandemic world – experts
Bogota, ColombiaThomson Reuters Foundation About 100 million people living in cities worldwide will likely fall into poverty due to the coronavirus pandemic, urban experts said on Wednesday, calling for mapping tools to identify vulnerable communities and investment focusing on slum areas. Densely populated cities are poised at the frontline of the contagious outbreak, hard hit […]
Flood prevention could bring “huge” payoff as global risks rise
London, ReutersThomson Reuters Foundation Asia faces surging threats from coastal and river flooding as climate change brings more intense rainfall and rising seas – but investing now in dikes and other measures to stem risks could have big financial payoffs, researchers said on Thursday. India, for instance, could save about $US250 per $1 spent on […]
Rising seas could make US coastal flooding a daily peril by 2100
London, UKThomson Reuters Foundation Many coastal areas of the United States could see floods that now happen about twice a century occur almost daily by the turn of the century, as ocean levels rise because of planetary warming and ice melt, scientists warned on Thursday. By 2050 – just 30 years from now – almost […]
MONEY TREES: US CITIES FIND NEW WAYS OF VALUING URBAN FORESTS
CAREY L BIRON, writing for Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports on the trend for seeing trees as a city utility…
Gotta catch ’em all: Pokemon-style app aims to save Indonesia’s forests
Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaThomson Reuters Foundation An Indonesian crowdsourcing app is tapping into the competitive spirit of its users by creating Pokemon Go-type games to help map land across the sprawling archipelago and protect forests and Indigenous people, organisers said on Friday. The Urundata application uses publicly available satellite images to create games where users visit an area […]
Rising seas, wild weather threaten to drown US airports by 2100
New York City, USThomson Reuters Foundation Some of the world’s busiest airports, including in US cities such as New Orleans, Palm Springs in California and Key West, could be underwater by the end of the century if unchecked global warming pushes up sea levels, researchers said Wednesday. An analysis by the Washington-based World Resources Institute […]
Asian pulp giants pressed to paper over rivalry to save rainforest
Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaThomson Reuters Foundation Asia’s pulp and paper giants – which supply materials for stationery, tissues and toilet roll – are being urged by environmentalists to follow the palm oil industry in stepping up collaboration to tackle forest loss and fires in Indonesia. Singapore’s APRIL Group and its main rival Indonesia’s Asia Pulp & […]