Years of illegal logging by the ‘timber mafia’ and the Taliban cleared forests, allowing raging floodwater to flow unimpeded, experts say. By Alex Rodriguez, Los Angeles TimesOctober 13, 2010 Reporting from Chail, Pakistan — People here remember when hundreds of Pakistani Taliban militants roamed through the forested ridges flanking the Chail River, armed not with […]
WWFOct 12, 2010 A video camera trap installed by WWF and several of its partners has captured footage linking the destruction of a crucial Sumatran tiger forest to the expansion of palm oil plantations in Indonesia’s Riau Province. Videos and photos captured in May and June of 2010 – just released to the public for […]
www.mongabay.comOctober 12, 2010 Brazil will auction large blocks of the Amazon rainforest to private timber companies as part of an effort to reduce demand for illegal logging, reports Reuters. The government will grant 1 million hectares (2.5 million acres) of logging concessions by the end of the year, according to Antonio Carlos Hummel, head of […]
By Rhett A. Butler, www.mongabay.comOctober 06, 2010 A new global assessment of forest stocks by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) shows a sharp acceleration of primary forest loss since 2005 despite gains in the extent of protected areas. FAO’s Global Forest Resources Assessment 2010 reveals some 13 million hectares of forest were cleared […]
By John Platt Oct 5, 2010 04:00 PM One of the world’s most critically endangered birds, Kenya’s taita apalis (Apalis fuscigularis), has suddenly and inexplicably become much, much rarer, according to BirdLife International. The organization, which has funded research into the species through its Preventing Extinctions Program, says that field work conducted in 2009 and […]
The future of Britain’s conker crop is at risk from an “alien invader” that is attacking horse chestnut trees across the country. New research has found that the leaf miner moth, which weakens trees by making them shed their leaves early, is spreading faster than feared and has now hit as far west as Cornwall […]
By Ken Ward Jr.September 30, 2010 CHARLESTON, W.Va. — An independent science advisory team has issued a draft report [pdf] that supports the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s conclusion that mountaintop removal is causing serious damage to Appalachian streams. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s independent Science Advisory Board earlier this week issued a draft of its […]
By Michael FinneranHampton VA (SPX) Sep 29, 2010 This summer, wildfires swept across some 22 regions of Russia, blanketing the country with dense smoke and in some cases destroying entire villages. In the foothills of Boulder, Colo., this month, wildfires exacted a similar toll on a smaller scale. That’s just the tip of the iceberg. […]
By Jeremy Hance, www.mongabay.com September 27, 2010 A new study in the open access journal of Tropical Conservation Science finds that the Kasagala forest reserve in central Uganda is losing important tree species and suffering from low diversity of species. Researchers believe that forest degradation for charcoal and firewood has put heavy pressure on this […]
By Jeremy Hance, www.mongabay.com September 27, 2010 Spreading over three central African nations—Cameroon, Central African Republic, and Republic of Congo—the Sangha tri-national landscape is home to a variety of actors: over 150,000 Bantu people and nearly 20,000 pygmies; endangered species including forest elephants and gorillas; and, not least, the Congo rainforest ecosystem itself, which here […]
