Forests
Norway at loggerheads with DR Congo over forest protection payments
International donors have frozen funding to conserve the world’s second largest rainforest, with the DRC environment minister said to have gone “rogue”
US, EU biggest importers of illegal Amazon ipe timber: report
Dodgy credits allow exporters to ship the valuable timber overseas, to unsuspecting consumers who are unaware the timber may be illegal
Tokyo 2020 Olympics confirms use of rainforest timber in stadium build
Admission prompts calls for transparency over Tokyo 2020 supply chain with timber sourced from deforestation hotspot
Documents reveal UK push to water down EU biomass regulations
Brexit-bound UK won big concessions for power stations that burn wood, while new research claims the technology will undermine carbon cuts for half a century
Peru ends era of ‘roadless wilderness’ in its Amazon rainforests
Roads spread destruction and deforestation in the Amazon, now Peru, driven by neoliberal imperatives, plans a highway for one of the regions most sensitive forests
The Brazilian state letting illegal Amazon loggers keep logging
In Mato Grosso, logging permits are issued that allow export to European markets, even to those charged with crimes by federal authorities
Logging surge threatens a quarter of Estonia’s forest, warn conservationists
Baltic state lobbied for flexibilities in EU rules to enable a dramatic increase in forestry, turning its thriving woodland into a net emitter of carbon by 2030
Will these hand-painted signs be enough to stop a dam in the Amazon?
With indigenous land demarcations frozen across Brazil, illegal mining and hydro dams threaten the Amazon. Communities are taking matters into their own hands
It’s war in the Amazon, says Brazil’s top environmental law enforcer
Local politicians are colluding with gangs to undermine rainforest protection, Luciano Evaristo tells delegates at UN climate talks in Bonn
Climate finance helps ayahuasca culture protect remote Amazon forest
Six hours from the nearest road, German climate money funds a hallucinogenic festival that tips the scales in a culture war between indigenous villagers and cattle ranchers
Brazil’s carbon emissions rose 8.9% in 2016, despite recession
After a surge in illegal deforestation, Brazil’s carbon emissions have risen for the third year running, according to a new study
Brazilian Amazon lost 660,000 hectares of forest in last year
Temer government claimed a victory as deforestation rate declines slightly, but green groups said announcement was no cause for celebration
Amazon forest fires pushing climate change ‘beyond human control’
Leading Amazon scientist highlights ‘grave problems’ in Brazil’s management of the world’s most important forest as climate-driven fires eat it away
Forest diamonds
How family rivalry and the Catholic church helped miners devastate an indigenous Amazon territory
Norway, France urged to block DR Congo forestry project
NGOs warn that a project supposed to reduce deforestation could have the opposite effect, opening up large areas to industrial logging
Finland’s plan to increase logging is a danger to the climate
Finland’s government has attempted to discredit scientists who criticised its increased logging programme, writes Hanna Aho from NGO Fern
Even Boeing-747 tanker jets can’t win our total war on fires
The more effectively we suppress fires, the worse they become. As climate change makes the world more combustible, we need a new approach
Brazil prepares to grant land rights to criminals who stripped Amazon
Brazil’s government is set to roll back protections on vast areas of the Amazon that would legitimise land claims often made under fake names to avoid prosecution
Brazil’s Temer urged to veto rollback of forest protections
Nearly 600,000 hectares of land could lose protected status under a law approved by Congress, an area twice the size of the US’ Yosemite national park
Brazilian indigenous leader appeals for solidarity against land grabs
Guarani-Kaiowá leader Ladio Veron is touring Europe to raise awareness of violence and environmental destruction by agribusiness