Stories related to: deforestation

An "unprecedented" combination of ills is threatening the Amazon, and if nothing is done to ease the pressure on the world’s largest rainforest, more than half of it could be gone or withered in 20 years, Rhett Butler writes for Yale Environment 360 . After a three-year decline, forest clearing doubled in the latter part of 2007 to help feed the insatiable demand of the growing economies in China, India, Russia, and elsewhere. More »

More than 30 years after Xerox guru George Pake predicted a "paperless office" by 1995, the dream is as elusive as ever. That's because the very computers that made paper theoretically obsolete, BusinessWeek notes, also brought us printers and copiers on practically every desktop. "The decision to print has gotten much closer to the owner of the document," says a paper economist. More »

The gas production, need for space, and food requirements required by organic and free-range livestock hurt the environment more than their traditional counterparts, the BBC reports. Organic poultry can heat the earth some 45% more than indoor poultry, one group said; and a UN division found that farm animals heat the Earth more than transport. The reports have led experts to push indoor "precision husbandry." More »

Brazil is launching a new crackdown against the loggers who are destroying the Amazon rainforest at alarming rates, the Washington Post reports. After several years of decline, deforestation is surging as cattle ranchers clear land and loggers cut down trees for charcoal to fuel steel mills abroad. But Brazil will have to find another way for the region's people to make a living; in some towns, 70% of citizens work in the logging industry. More »

Rainforests continue to vanish at "alarming" rates worldwide despite decades of scientific warnings, experts say. Tropical trees are falling at 60 acres per minute—up 10 from a generation ago—accounting for roughly 20% of Earth's carbon emissions. Environmental leaders plan to preserve forests with a carbon trading system, but hurdles to success remain high, the AP reports. More »

The deforestation of the Amazon jungle is speeding up, and Brazil may be unable to stop it, Time magazine reports. Over the last five months an estimated 2,700 square miles of forest have been cleared—more than twice the size of Rhode Island. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has reacted with tough new regulations banning deforestation in some areas, but many fear they can't be enforced in the wild and against owners whose identity is unknown. More »

The triumph of the Bali summit may be its plan to stop deforestation, but rich and poor nations are still clashing over details, the Washington Post reports. A dozen developing countries want incentives to stop tree-cutting, but some developed nations wince at paying them for actions not taken. "The problems tend to start when you get down to the small print," said a UN official. More »

Hurricane Katrina killed 320 million trees in Mississippi and Louisiana, and the die-off is affecting the atmosphere as well as the landscape. Decaying trees will release about 367 million tons of carbon dioxide, equal to the amount released in a whole season of US forest fires, the LA Times reports. "In some areas, it was 100% damage," says one expert. More »

Southeast Asia's sun bear is now the sixth of eight bear species facing extinction worldwide, the Telegraph reports. Experts admit they know little about the bear, but blame deforestation, hunting, and fearful villagers for menacing the species. "We estimate that sun bears have declined by at least 30 per cent over the past 30 years (three bear generations)," said one specialist. More »

A major UN report says the health and wealth of millions of people around the world are at risk because of worsening environmental problems, BBC reports. The UN report cited deforestation, overfishing, shortages of drinking water, and rising greenhouse gas levels among the biggest problems. And it criticized a "remarkable lack of urgency" to fix them. More »

Indian environmental activists are taking aim at the traditional Hindu funeral pyre, which can burn over 800 pounds of wood while mourners watch the rite that is believed to free soul from body. Now a nonprofit group is peddling a "green cremation system," which uses a raised metal grate to improve air flow and cut the amount of wood needed. More »

With China's deserts spreading another 950 square miles each year, the government is evicting families and replanting farms to stem the tide, the Christian Science Monitor reports from Gansu province. With 20% of the world's population but 7% of its arable land, China's decades-old problem has worsened due to overfarming, deforestation and global warming. More »

The World Bank is planning a $250-million fund to pay countries to refrain from cutting down tropical forests. The plan, which won approval at the G-8 summit last week, depends on companies to contribute to the fund, but that's not likely to happen unless rules governing carbon emissions credits are changed to include spared forests, the Wall Street Journal reports. More »

Destruction of rainforests is a bigger source of global warming than all the planes, cars and factories in the world, concludes a study reported today in the Independent . It's not just the loss of forests, which absorb CO2, that's the problem. It's the rampant burning of those forests that actually pumps more CO2 into the atmosphere than any sector except energy. More »

Policy and behavior changes can help limit greenhouse-gas emissions and slow climate change, say experts at a UN conference in Bangkok—and at a reasonable price. Some curbs on emissions may even enhance global GDP, but time is short. Within 10 to 20 years, global emissions should begin dropping to avoid serious impact on the climate. More »