The Leuser ecosystem in northern Sumatra is home to some of the world’s rarest and best-loved animals. Thanks to a new government moratorium on land clearing, conservationists have enjoyed a big win.
Despite increases in some areas, Australia’s tree cover is at its lowest level in 40 years.
Tree image from David Lade www.shutterstock.com
After some unusually wet years, our landscape and ecosystems have once again returned to poorer conditions that were last experienced during the Millennium Drought.
An Indonesian oil palm smallholder sells fruit bunches to a trader.
Lesley Potter
Over the past few years many companies have committed to sustainable palm oil. But that is threatened by a growing alliance between industry and government.
A recently-logged ranch on the edge of the Amazon rainforest.
Frontpage / shutterstock
As Brazil struggles through a political and economic crisis, its soybean farmers are thriving. Their growing clout could trigger new deforestation and undercut the nation’s climate change pledges.
The extinction threat you haven’t heard of: several South American birds teeter on the brink of existence due to habitat loss. And history is not the best guide for how to save them.
Major development banks are funding logging, mining and infrastructure projects that are having enormous impacts on nature. Here, forests are being razed along a newly constructed road in central Amazonia.
William Laurance
Big new investors such as the Asian Infrastructure Development Bank are key players in a worldwide infrastructure, and that could be bad news for the environment.
Farming land in New South Wales.
from www.shutterstock.com
Growing population, growing demand for food, climate change: Australia’s rural lands are facing a number of pressures. So how can we sustainably use them in the future?
The forests of Sao Tome and Principe are being lost at an alarming rate.
Ricardo Lima
We’re going to have to adapt to climate change, but some of the options on the table could do more harm than good if they destroy the ecosystems that protect us.
New data have revealed a disturbing trend in forest loss: the hearts of the world’s forests are disappearing. To stop them bleeding out, we’ll have to say ‘no’ to some developments.
Young secondary forest in Costa Rica, with old-growth trees visible in the background.
Susan G. Letcher
Susan Letcher, Purchase College State University of New York
Forests that grow back after being cleared for agriculture or by logging grow back much faster than old-growth forests, soaking up carbon and providing vital habitat.