The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Global Monitoring Laboratory on Monday released data showing the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increased by 3.75 parts per million in 2024. That…Continue readingIs the planet losing one of its best ways to slow climate change?
Tag: land use change
Nearly 2 million hectares of forests suitable for endangered koalas have been destroyed since the iconic species was declared a threatened species in 2011, according to analysis for Guardian Australia. The…Continue readingRevealed: nearly 2m hectares of koala habitat bulldozed since 2011 – despite political promises to protect species
Papua New Guinea will “immediately” lift a ban on forest carbon credit schemes, the Pacific nation’s climate minister told AFP on Thursday, opening up its vast wilderness to offset global emissions.…Continue readingPapua New Guinea lifts ban on forest carbon credits
The natural process of locking away carbon dioxide (CO2) appears to be in decline—and climate change will accelerate as a result, a University of Strathclyde study warns. Researchers found that the…Continue readingClimate change ‘will accelerate’ owing to decline in natural carbon storage, says study
Edelman, the world’s largest public relations agency, is in talks to work with the Cop30 team organising the UN climate summit in the Amazon later this year despite its prior connections…Continue readingCop30 in talks to hire PR firm that worked for lobby seeking weaker Amazon protections
Deforestation in Indonesia rose in 2024 for a third year running, a local environmental NGO said Friday based on satellite image analysis and fieldwork. Indonesia has one of the world’s highest…Continue readingIndonesia deforestation rises for third year running
Wildfires in Brazil last year consumed a total area larger than all of Italy, a monitor reported Wednesday, as the country continues to battle blazes often set by farmers and ranchers…Continue readingBrazil saw 79% jump in area burned by fires in 2024
Some A$13 billion in taxpayer dollars and 30 years of policy reform have failed to arrest the devastating decline in the health of Australia’s most important river system, the Murray-Darling Basin,…Continue readingLandmark study reveals stark failure to halt Murray-Darling River decline
Land degradation is expanding worldwide at the rate of 1m sq km every year, undermining efforts to stabilise the climate, protect nature and ensure sustainable food supplies, a study has highlighted.…Continue readingLand degradation expanding by 1m sq km a year, study shows
For a while, it looked like Zambia had achieved a status that almost any nation would envy. Drawing hydropower from the massive Zambezi River and its tributaries, the country could meet…Continue readingWhy hydropower is failing this nation — and could fail others
Relying on natural carbon sinks such as forests and oceans to offset continued fossil fuel emissions will not stop global heating, the scientists who developed net zero have warned. Each year,…Continue readingCountries could use nature to ‘cheat’ on net zero targets, scientists warn
Global carbon emissions from fossil fuels have reached a record high in 2024, according to new research by the Global Carbon Project science team. The 2024 Global Carbon Budget projects fossil…Continue readingFossil fuel CO₂ emissions increase again in 2024
A major new study reveals that carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from forest fires have surged by 60% globally since 2001, and almost tripled in some of the most climate-sensitive northern boreal…Continue readingGlobal CO₂ emissions from forest fires have increased by 60% since 2001
The boreal forests here in the Sami homeland take so long to grow that even small, stunted trees are often hundreds of years old. It is part of the Taiga –…Continue readingWhat happens to the world if forests stop absorbing carbon? Ask Finland
More than 80% of countries have failed to submit plans to meet a UN agreement to halt the destruction of Earth’s ecosystems, new analysis has found. Nearly two years ago, the…Continue readingAbout 80% of countries fail to submit plans to preserve nature ahead of global summit
It begins each day at nightfall. As the light disappears, billions of zooplankton, crustaceans and other marine organisms rise to the ocean surface to feed on microscopic algae, returning to the…Continue readingTrees and land absorbed almost no CO₂ last year. Is nature’s carbon sink failing?
One of the largest types of carbon offset projects the Australian government is using to meet climate change targets and reduce carbon in the atmosphere is failing to do so, new…Continue reading‘Widespread noncompliance and poor performance’ in world’s largest nature-based carbon removal projects
Global wildlife populations have plunged by an average of 73% in 50 years, a new scientific assessment has found, as humans continue to push ecosystems to the brink of collapse. Latin…Continue readingCollapsing wildlife populations near ‘points of no return’, report warns
On average, “the background extinction rate” will bump off about one species, per million species, per year. But what we’re seeing now is a bit more extreme. “If we look at…Continue readingLiving in a ‘mass extinction’
In announcing Australia’s support for fossil gas all the way to 2050 and beyond, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has pushed his government’s commitment to net zero even further out of reach.…Continue readingSleight of hand: Australia’s Net Zero target is being lost in accounting tricks, offsets and more gas
Deforestation in Brazil’s Cerrado region, a vast tropical savanna renowned for its rich biodiversity, increased sharply in 2023 and overtook that of the Amazon, according to a report published Tuesday. In…Continue readingDeforestation in Brazil’s Cerrado higher than in Amazon: Report
The seeds of New Zealand’s recent forestry boom were planted in 2019, when the country’s emissions trading scheme required companies to use only domestic measures to compensate for CO2. In practice,…Continue readingMillions more trees isn’t the climate fix New Zealand thought
Rangelands cover 80 million square kilometers—more than half the land surface of earth. Mostly natural grasslands used by livestock and wild animals to graze, they also include scrubland, mountain plateaus, deserts…Continue readingDemise of rangelands ‘severely underestimated’: Report
Britain’s rivers are under the spotlight because of an untreated sewage crisis, and the pendulum of floods and droughts that are the hallmark of a warming world. But hidden within these…Continue readingOpinion: We have forgotten what a ‘natural’ river even looks like
Rob Blakers says he was ‘surprised then furious’ that trees in foraging and feeding habitat for birds, whose numbers are down to just 750, were being destroyed.Continue readingWildlife photographer arrested in Tasmanian forest where swift parrot habitat is being logged
Earth lost an area of carbon-absorbing rainforest larger than Switzerland or the Netherlands in 2022, most of it destroyed to make way for cattle and commodity crops. That is nearly a…Continue readingFootball pitch of tropical forest lost every 5 seconds
More than 800m trees have been cut down in the Amazon rainforest in just six years to feed the world’s appetite for Brazilian beef, according to a new investigation, despite dire…Continue readingMore than 800m Amazon trees felled in six years to meet beef demand