Order of the National Green Tribunal in the matter of In Re: News Item titled "Are missing palm trees causing more lighting deaths in Bihar appearing in ‘The Times of India’ dated 29.05.2025". The original application was registered suo-motu based on the news item titled "Are missing palm trees causing …
Many of the tropical forest countries that have made important progress over the past 10 years to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and sustainably manage forests (a set of actions collectively known as REDD+) are now assessing how to strategically engage in carbon markets as a source of …
This report, produced by the Tropical Forest Alliance, tracks the relationship between the rising demand for food and agricultural products and deforestation and paints a picture of increasing demands on tropical forest landscapes. It explores how commodity-driven deforestation occurs under conditions of competing pressures from food security, rural development, global …
This study reviews the status of the legal recognition of the rights of Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and Afro-descendant Peoples to the carbon in their lands and territories across 31 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Together, these countries hold almost 70% of the world’s tropical forests and the …
Global resource use could double by 2050, representing an opportunity for tropical timber producers, according to a study published by ITTO. It forecasts that tropical industrial roundwood production will increase substantially by mid-century but says the sector needs a boost if it is to maximize its contribution to carbon-neutral production. …
Tropical forests around the world are being destroyed at an alarming rate, even in 2020 when the global economy slowed dramatically during the pandemic. A new report offers insight into a primary driver of this deforestation – and our unwitting complicity as consumers. In its report, Illicit Harvest, Complicit Goods, …
This analysis shows that the vast majority of tropical forested countries seeking to benefit from international forest carbon markets have yet to define in law and in practice the rights of Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and Afro-descendant Peoples over carbon in their customary lands and territories.
A new report shows that Indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs) in tropical forest countries are not getting enough funding to preserve ecosystems despite their key role as environmental guardians. Not only are local communities underfunded, but some of the donations from the OECD club of rich countries do not …
A new report evaluates the state of human rights among Indigenous peoples in five tropical forest countries: Brazil, Colombia, Peru, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Indonesia. One of the key findings is that governments in these countries are prioritizing the expansion of the energy sector, infrastructure, mining and logging, …
Linear infrastructure development is an important driver of forest fragmentation leading to habitat and biodiversity loss as well as disruption of critical ecosystem processes. The tropical forests of India are increasingly impacted by infrastructure development. Little quantitative information is available on the extent of fragmentation due to linear infrastructure on …
Intact tropical forests, free from substantial anthropogenic influence, store and sequester large amounts of atmospheric carbon but are currently neglected in international climate policy. We show that between 2000 and 2013, direct clearance of intact tropical forest areas accounted for 3.2% of gross carbon emissions from all deforestation across the …
Despite some ambitious commitments from major corporate stakeholders to reduce deforestation, awareness of the risks associated with commodities like timber, palm oil, cattle and soy is not spreading to suppliers, according to a new report from CDP. 38% of purchasing organizations and 77% of suppliers lack deforestation commitments. 63% of …
The coastal and sub-montane forest of Eastern Africa is ranked as one of the world's most endangered biodiversity hotspots. The East Usambara landscape represents one of the larger forest blocks within this hotspot, and contains species such as the critically-endangered long-billed tailorbird and the endangered Usambara weaver. Approximately 135,000 people …
The largest tropical rainforest on the planet, the Amazon plays a critical role as a storehouse of carbon and mediator of the global water cycle and holds a greater share of the world’s known biodiversity than any other ecosystem. However, according to “Nearing the Tipping Point: Drivers of Deforestation in …
The years 2016 and 2017 were especially bad for the world’s tropical forests as dry, hot weather led to widespread fires that, along with activities like clear-cutting for agriculture, resulted in record levels of forest destruction. Last year was generally wetter and had fewer fires, so forest loss was expected …
A paper published in Science today outlines a new “Global Deal for Nature,” officially launching an effort to establish science-based conservation targets covering all of planet Earth, including terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems. The Global Deal for Nature proposes a target of 30 percent of the planet to be fully …
The tropics have suffered substantial forest loss, and elevated deforestation rates have been closely linked to large-scale land acquisitions(LSLA). Having a timely and accurate understanding of global LSLA pattern will be critically important for concluding related policies and actions. Here, we investigate global LSLA networks and find that land acquisitions …
According to a recent report, mining companies currently have claims on 11 percent of all intact rainforests left in the world, meaning 590,000 square kilometers (227,800 square miles) of pristine tropical forest ecosystems are at risk. That’s an area larger than France. Oil and gas concessions, meanwhile, cover 8 percent …
Timber harvest from tropical regions generates seven billion dollars annually in exports and is estimated to occur across 20% of the area of remaining tropical forests. This timber harvesting is estimated to account for more than one in eight of all greenhouse gas emissions from tropical forests. Yet there is …
Recent analysis shows that forests are essential to meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement, and contribute to climate stability through multiple pathways across local to global scales. Reducing emissions from deforestation, enhancing the role of forests as carbon sinks through restoration, and recognizing the noncarbon pathways through which forests …
Tropical rainforests play a critical role in regulating the global climate system—they represent the Earth's largest terrestrial CO2 sink. Because of its broad geographical expanse and year-long productivity, the Amazon is key to the global carbon and hydrological cycles. Climate change could threaten the fate of rainforests, but there is …
