It’s a new name for a new geologic epoch—one defined by our own massive impact on the planet. That mark will endure in the geologic record long after our cities have crumbled. By Elizabeth KolbertPhotograph by Jens Neumann/Edgar RodtmannMarch 2011 The path leads up a hill, across a fast-moving stream, back across the stream, and […]
By Rhett A. Butler, www.mongabay.com March 07, 2011 Expansion of industrial oil palm plantations across Malaysia and Indonesia have laid waste to vast areas of forest and peatlands, exacerbating greenhouse gas emissions and putting biodiversity at risk, reports a new satellite-based analysis that maps mature oil palm estates across Peninsular Malaysia, Borneo, and Sumatra. The […]
By Jonathan Watts28 February 2011 One of the world’s most advanced rainforest restoration projects may be going up in smoke in southern China. A short while ago, I received a frantic phone call from Bulang Mountain in Xishuangbanna, where scientists and conservationists are fleeing 30m-high flames that, they said, were consuming trees in seconds. Witnesses […]
ScienceDaily (Feb. 28, 2011) — Lodgepole pine, a hardy tree species that can thrive in cold temperatures and plays a key role in many western ecosystems, is already shrinking in range as a result of climate change — and may almost disappear from most of the Pacific Northwest by 2080, a new study concludes. Including […]
Temporal disaggregation of the moderate spatial resolution forest cover loss map for Riau province, Sumatra. Landsat band 5 is displayed in grayscale with dark tones representing forest cover. Colors mark the year of MODIS-detected forest cover loss. Image and caption courtesy of Broich 2011 Kalimantan and Sumatra lost 5.4 million hectares, or 9.2 percent, of […]
February 25, 2011 (mongabay.com) – Kalimantan and Sumatra lost 5.4 million hectares, or 9.2 percent, of their forest cover between 2000/2001 and 2007/2008, reveals a new satellite-based assessment of Indonesian forest cover. The research, led by Mark Broich of South Dakota State University, found that more than 20 percent of forest clearing occurred in areas […]
By Jeremy Hance, www.mongabay.comFebruary 16, 2011 Last August, a group of conservation agencies launched the Search for Lost Frogs, which employed 126 researchers to scour 21 countries for 100 amphibian species, some of which have not been seen for decades. After five months, expeditions found 4 amphibians out of the 100 targets, highlighting the likelihood […]
February 14, 2011 (Reuters) – A court in Ecuador’s Amazon jungle ordered Chevron Corp to pay more than $8 billion in damages on Monday in a closely watched environmental suit, the plaintiffs’ lawyer said. But the U.S. oil company vowed to appeal, meaning the long-running case dating from drilling in the South American nation during […]
By Sally Davies6 Feb 2011 The president of the Philippines, Benigno Aquino, has imposed a nationwide ban on logging after floods which affected a high proportion of the country. The president said that too much logging was resulting in these areas being more susceptible to flooding and landslides. However, it is expected that it will […]
By Evan Abramson, Yale Environment 360February 8, 2011 For thousands of years, nomadic herdsmen have roamed the harsh, semi-arid lowlands that stretch across 80 percent of Kenya and 60 percent of Ethiopia. Descendants of the oldest tribal societies in the world, they survive thanks to the animals they raise and the crops they grow, their […]
