According to a recent study released by the Texas Forest Service, as many as 500 million trees in the state – roughly 10 percent of the state’s forests – succumbed to heat and water stress over the past year as a result of 2011’s unrelenting drought. The study does not include the 4 million acres already
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The Canadian chapter of Greenpeace yesterday released a report that highlights the dangers of the large-scale use of wood and tree harvesting for heating, electricity generation or liquid biofuels. The report is called ‘Fuelling a Biomess’ and it argues that burning woody biomass on an industrial scale could severely
Forests Absorb One-Third of Fossil Fuel Emissions, Landmark Study Finds
written by Yale Environment 360
Forests play an even greater role in Earth’s climate system than previously known, according to the most comprehensive assessment yet of the carbon storage potential of the world’s wooded areas.
Between 1990 and 2007, the planet’s tropical, temperate, and boreal forests absorbed about 2.4
A new report finds that the area of sustainably managed forest in the world’s tropical regions increased from 36 million hectares (89 million acres) to 53 million hectares from 2005 to 2010, but that 90 percent of the planet’s tropical forests remain either poorly managed or not managed at all.
Scientists have compiled the first map detailing the height of forests worldwide, an inventory they hope will provide new insights into global carbon storage. The map — compiled from data collected over seven years using NASA satellite laser technology that can measure vertical “slices” of different tree heights in forests —
While many environmentalists were disappointed after the Copenhagen Accord , one positive development was a renewed focus on forestry. Over the past several months there has been a growing commitment from countries including the United States, Norway, Britain, and Japan, to make significant financial contributions to forests, carbon offsets, and climate change.
Eighty percent of people polled held positive opinions about forestry offset projects, up from 58 percent in 2009, according to the second Forest Carbon Offsetting Report. It focuses on corporations’ attitudes regarding forest offsets from forestry projects.
EcoSecurities, Conservation International, the Climate, Community & Biodiversity Alliance, the Norton Rose Group and ClimateBiz produced the report, which gathered in-depth responses from more than 200 organizations around the world.
Among the report’s findings:
Rampant illegal logging in Indonesia is undermining the sustainability and strength of the forest products industry in Indonesia and the United States and thwarting efforts to preserve forests to slow global warming, according to a new report.
The report by the BlueGreen Alliance and several U.S. environmental and labor organizations said that 40 to 55 percent of Indonesia’s timber is harvested illegally, often from protected areas.
Widespread illegal logging in Indonesia and elsewhere has depressed timber prices worldwide, costing the logging, wood, paper and cabinetry industries more than $1 billion in the U.S. alone, the report said.
Biofuels in Europe are struggling to meet the most basic thresholds for sustainability, according to the Times of London, which claims to have seen a government study that shows fossil fuels are better for the environment than “green fuels” made from crops.
The findings show that the United Kingdom’s biofuels mandate would result in millions of acres of forest being logged or burnt down and converted to plantations.
The study finds that some of the most basic crops used to make biofuels fail to meet the minimum sustainability standard set by the European Commission.
The European Commission confirmed on Thursday that it believes legally binding sustainability criteria for biomass used to generate heat and power are not necessary in Europe, thus ending a long process by which the European Union body has debated the utility of a supranational scheme.
The Commission, however, adopted a report on sustainability requirements for the use of solid biomass and biogas in electricity, heating, and cooling. The report makes recommendations on sustainability criteria to member states and encourages them to introduce schemes at the national level.
This strategy minimizes the risk of the development of varied and possibly incompatible criteria at the national level, leading to barriers to trade and limiting the growth of the bio-energy sector in the European Union.