Thomson Reuters Foundation – The Amazon is battling record early-year fires, fueling fears of a worse climate crisis to come as blazes kill vegetation that is key to absorbing planet-warming carbon dioxide. Fanned by drought, high winds and human felling, the forest is suffering unprecedented fires this early in the year, satellite images show, with … Read more
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — An elderly man has died from Alaskapox, the first known fatality from the recently discovered virus, state health officials said. The man, who lived in the remote Kenai Peninsula, was hospitalized last November and died in late January, according to a bulletin last week from Alaska public health officials. The man was … Read more
When you walk through a fresh clearcut in British Columbia, you are surrounded by a “one-dimensional, dead landscape,” says Michelle Connolly of Conservation North, a volunteer conservation group based in the Canadian province. The forest’s soft, mossy ground, the birdcalls and the cool moisture in the air are gone. In their place, twigs and debris … Read more
NEW DELHI: Logged forests and climate change are driving birds in tropical mountains to higher elevations due to rising temperatures, a research by the Indian Institute of Science has found. While smaller bird species are able to withstand higher temperatures, and thus colonise these logged forests better, the larger ones appeared to be increasing in … Read more
Asian elephants show many traits which are thought to be associated with low agonistic competition. (Image: kids.nationalgeographic.com) Human Modified Food And Elephants: Elephant herds compete more for food in anthropogenically created grasslands than in forests even if the former has an abundance of food, according to a new study which highlights how human activities can … Read more
By Taiwo Adebayo | Associated Press OMO FOREST RESERVE, Nigeria — Men in dusty workwear trudge through a thicket, making their way up a hill where sprawling plantations lay tucked in a Nigerian rainforest whose trees have been hacked away to make room for cocoa bound for places like Europe and the U.S. Kehinde Kumayon … Read more
The U.S. Forest Service, an agency with a long history of prioritizing timber production, has taken a first step toward protecting the nation’s most ancient forests from logging. The agency on Tuesday announced a proposal to amend management plans for all 128 national forests and grasslands across the country to better conserve carbon-rich “old-growth” forests, … Read more
BILLINGS: The Biden administration is moving to conserve groves of old-growth trees on federal land by revising management plans for national forests and grasslands across the U.S. as climate change amplifies the threats they face from wildfires, insects and disease.Agriculture Sec. Tom Vilsack said the goal was to provide an “ecologically-driven” approach to older forests … Read more
Chiang Mai, Thailand – On a hillside overlooking cabbage fields outside the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai, a drone’s rotors begin to whir, lifting it over a patch of forest. It moves back and forth atop the rich canopy, transmitting photos to be knitted into a 3D model that reveals the woodland’s health and … Read more
SAO PAULO – Destruction across the Amazon rainforest so far this year has slowed dramatically, down 55.8% from the same period a year ago in a major turnaround for the region vital to curbing climate change, according to an analysis provided to Reuters. The analysis by the nonprofit Amazon Conservation’s MAAP forest monitoring program offers … Read more