News
New Web Site to Track CO2 Levels As Planet Approaches 400 PPM
24 Abr 2013
As atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide approach the milestone of 400 parts per million (ppm), a scientist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography has launched a Website that will publish daily readings of CO2 concentrations, an online resource he hopes will drive home the urgent threat of rising greenhouse gas emissions. Ralph Keeling, director of the Scripps CO2 program and son of the first scientist to measure CO2 concentrations, hopes the daily tracker will attract more attention...
Cloud Forest Protection Critical To Keep Tropical Dams Running
24 Abr 2013
These forests filter about half the water that flows to dams in tropical regions.
Funding boost for forestry and agroforestry in Brazil
24 Abr 2013
A $72 million loan from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) will boost the forestry and agroforestry sectors of the Brazilian Amazon state of Acre.
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Log exports threaten Indonesia forests
24 Abr 2013
The government's plan to extend the moratorium on forest clearance may prove pointless as it also plans to restart log exports, a move activists say will only make illegal logging more rampant....
Brazil's success in reducing deforestation will be hard to replicate
23 Abr 2013
The sharp reduction in deforestation in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso since the mid-2000s will be difficult to replicate in other tropical countries where commodity production is a major driver in forest loss, argues a new study published in a special issue of the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B.
RSPO failing to meet sustainability objectives for palm oil production, says WWF
23 Abr 2013
An initiative that aims to improve the social and environmental performance of palm oil production is faltering in its mission by failing to establish strong performance standards on greenhouse gas emissions and pesticide use, argues a new statement issued by WWF, the initiative's biggest green supporter.
Oil palm plantations in Indonesia: are they sustainable?
22 Abr 2013
Oil palm provides opportunities for people to improve their incomes. However, oil palm expansion is accompanied by environmental costs, rapid immigration, urbanization and a challenge to food supply. It is these indirect effects that bring into question long-term sustainability, say Suseno Budidarsono, Ari Susanti and Annelies Zoomers Palm oil developments have had a [...]
Locals need more legal rights in big African land deals - report
22 Abr 2013
Laws protecting international investors are strong but laws “tend not to be very effective in protecting the rights of poor communities,” researchers note
Last 30 years were the warmest in the last 1,400 years
22 Abr 2013
From 1971 to 2000, the world's land areas were the warmest they have been in at least 1,400 years, according to a new study in Nature Geoscience. The massive new study, involving 80 researchers from around the world with the Past Global Changes (PAGES) group, is the first to look at continental temperature changes over two thousand years, providing insights into regional climatic changes from the Roman Empire to the modern day. According to the data, Earth's land masses were generally cooling...
Indonesia reaches 18% emission reduction
21 Abr 2013
Environment Minister Balthasar Kambuaya said Indonesia had cut 18 percent of its greenhouse gas emission of its total 26 percent target. “We have cut accumulation of 18 percent since last year,” Balthasar said after inaugurating the Third Indonesia Climate Change Education Forum and Expo here on Thursday.
Balthasar said more than 80 percent of the green house gas emission reduction came from the forestry and peat land sectors. “The government also conducts other efforts...