Pandas, slugs and ants give clues to making greener biofuels
In a world aiming to shift to greener energy, could slugs, ants and even pandas help show the way? Scientists believe the animals' unique ability to break down tough plant material, including bamboo, could provide clues to ramping up production of plant-based biofuels, one substitute ...
Burning large amounts of wood from forests can cut greenhouse gas pollution — but only alongside policies that encourage new trees to quickly absorb carbon dioxide. That is the conclusion of new research published in Science Advances, which seeks to counter the prevailing view that ...
Close to tipping point, Amazon forest could collapse within 50 years
The Amazon rainforest is nearing a threshold that, once crossed, would see one of the world's largest and richest ecosystems morph into arid savanna within half a century, scientists said Tuesday. Another major ecosystem, Caribbean coral reefs, could die off in only 15 years if ...
Bush fires burned a fifth of Australia's forest, study finds
Australia's wildfires have destroyed more than a fifth of the country's forests, making the blazes "globally unprecedented" following a yearslong drought linked to climate change, researchers said Monday. Climate scientists are currently examining data from the disaster, which destroyed swathes of southeastern Australia, to determine ...
JAXA and U.N. food agency join hands on global monitoring of forests
Amid deepening concerns over climate change, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization agree to cooperate on monitoring forests and mangroves around the world by using data from observation satellites.
Plant a trillion trees: U.S. lawmakers offer fossil fuel-friendly climate fix
Republican lawmakers on Wednesday proposed legislation setting a goal for the United States to plant a trillion trees by 2050 to fight global warming, a plan intended to address climate change by sucking carbon out of the air instead of by cutting emissions. The proposed ...
Deforestation in the Amazon rainforest in Brazil more than doubled in January compared with the previous year, according to official data published Friday. More than 280 square kilometers (110 square miles) were cleared, an increase of 108 percent. It was the largest area cleared in ...
Indonesian president orders officials to find a permanent solution to forest fires
Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo on Thursday ordered government officials to find a permanent solution to prevent devastating annual forest fires, mainly started by humans but made worse by climate change. Indonesia last year suffered the worst forest blazes in four years; 1.6 million hectares ...
Mexican authorities said on Saturday they are investigating the possible murder of a tour guide working at a famous butterfly reserve in the western state of Michoacan, just two days after its former environmental activist was buried. Raul Hernandez's body was found in the area ...
Indigenous Peruvians win suit to block oil exploration in their Amazon region
A Peruvian judge ruled that the government exclude an indigenous region of the Amazon near the border with Brazil from any oil exploration and exploitation, a legal group said on Wednesday, in a win for native communities that have long fought against oil and ...
Secret mission saves Australia's 'dinosaur trees' from bush fires
A secret operation by specialist firefighters has saved the world's last stand of Wollemi pines, a prehistoric species known as "dinosaur trees," from Australia's unprecedented bush fires, officials said. Fewer than 200 of the trees exist in the wild, hidden in a gorge in the ...
Florida plans biggest purchase of Everglades land in a decade to protect it from drilling
Florida has reached a deal with a private real estate firm to buy a large swath of environmentally sensitive wetlands in the heart of the Everglades to spare the tract from oil drilling, the governor announced on Wednesday. Florida's agreement to purchase 20,000 acres (8,094 ...
