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 […]
Contact: Beth King, kingb@si.edu, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute 14 Feb 2011 Sleeping Beauty’s kingdom was overgrown by vines when she fell into a deep sleep. Researchers at the Smithsonian in Panama and the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee received more than a million dollars from the U.S. National Science Foundation to discover why real vines […]
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 Peter Michael, The Courier-MailFebruary 08, 2011 12:01AM WORLD Heritage rainforest and surviving populations of endangered southern cassowaries and dugong were hit hard by Cyclone Yasi, scientists warn. Some of Queensland’s top tropical experts met for the first time yesterday to assess the ecological impact of the Category 5 cyclone described as “far worse and […]
February 01, 2011 (mongabay.com) – Indonesia’s Ministry of Forestry has approved conversion of some 3 million hectares of natural forest in Papua province, on the island of New Guinea, according to new analysis by Greenomics Indonesia, an environmental group. Data from Greenomics Indonesia indicates 17 companies have been granted concessions to clear natural forest in […]
By Jeremy Hance, www.mongabay.comFebruary 02, 2011 Growing populations, expanding agriculture, commodities such as palm oil and paper, logging, urban sprawl, mining, and other human impacts have pushed many of the world’s great forests to the brink. Yet scientists, environmentalists, and even some policymakers increasingly warn that forests are worth more standing than felled. They argue […]
Contact: Hannah Isom, h.isom@leeds.ac.uk, University of Leeds3 Feb 2011(University of Leeds) New research shows that the 2010 Amazon drought may have been even more devastating to the region’s rainforests than the unusual 2005 drought, which was previously billed as a one-in-100 year event. Analyses of rainfall across 5.3 million square kilometres of Amazonia during the […]
ScienceDaily (Jan. 29, 2011) — Scientists from Stony Brook University are reporting new evidence that cultivating coca bushes, the source of cocaine, is speeding up destruction of rainforests in Colombia and threatening the region’s “hotspots” of plant and animal diversity. The findings, which they say underscore the need for establishing larger protected areas to help […]
NEW YORK, 24 Jan 2011 (AFP) – International accords on saving vulnerable forests are having little impact because they do not attack the core causes such as growing demand for biofuels and food crops, a new report said. With Africa and South American alone losing 7.4 million hectares (18.3 million acres) of forest a year, […]
By Nick Sundt11/23/2010 The Amazon region is experiencing the third extreme drought in a dozen years — and it may turn out to be the worst on record. The droughts coupled with recent research findings, suggest that rising atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases will rapidly increase the frequency and severity of droughts in the region. […]
