Based on current performance tropical forests, the world's most biodiverse ecosystems, are set to be reduced to species-impoverished fragments by the end of the century, writes Simon Lewis. But it's not inevitable. Decisive action by the world's governments in Paris in December could secure desperately needed change.
… Act now, or tropical forests will be a sorry sight in 2100 Simon Lewis | 24th August 2015 Comment Forests Economics COP21 Unfccc Biodiversity … Based on current performance tropical forests, the world's most biodiverse …
It's not just Indonesia's forests and peatlands that are burning - the Amazon is suffering almost as badly, with over 18,000 fires last month in Brazil alone, write Jos Barlow & Erika Berenguer. The future is looking hot and fiery.
… Erika Berenguer | 2nd December 2015 News Forests Climate Change COP21 Emissions Amazon … It's not just Indonesia's forests and peatlands that are burning - the … emissions, here in the Amazon we are watching forests burning unchecked, releasing carbon …
The burning forests and peatlands of Indonesia are once again casting a pall of choking smoke across the region, in the process releasing billions of tonnes of carbon. Promises to solve the problems stand betrayed - and COP21 commitments to tackle the problem are being weakened.
… rip The Ecologist | 21st September 2015 News Forests Indonesia Fire Emissions COP21 Farming … Change. singapore-smoke-cut.jpg The burning forests and peatlands of Indonesia are once … More than 100,000 hectares of peatland forests are destroyed each year for oil palm …
Hidden away in the pages of UN-speak that make up the Paris Agreement are the makings of global carbon market in which a host of exotic emissions derivatives can be freely traded, writes Steffen Böhm. And it's all going to be a huge and expensive distraction from the real and urgent task of cutting emissions.
As COP21 reaches its endgame, there are plans to build 2,440 coal-fired power plants around the world, write Mowdud Rahman & Greig Aitken. Their completion would send global temperatures, and sea levels, soaring. Yet Bangladesh, the world's most 'climate vulnerable' large country, has plans for a 1.3GW coal power plant on the fringes of its World Heritage coastal wetlands.
Coal plant threatens world's largest mangrove forest - and Bangladesh's future Mowdud Rahman Greig Aitken | 10th December 2015 News COP21 Climate Change Energy Fossil Fuels Coal Biodiversity …
Paris has been awash with hype about 'CO2 recycling' and 'carbon neutral' or even 'carbon negative' technologies based on burning millions of trees, writes Rachel Smolker. But the alchemical notion that waste carbon can be spun into corporate gold is hitting serious reality checks. It's time to ditch the fantasies and progress the real solutions: like caring for land, soils, forests and grasslands.
… Change Fossil Fuels Biomass Ipcc Agroecology Forests Farming Emissions drax-cut.jpg Paris … real solutions: like caring for land, soils, forests and grasslands. When the IPCC … offsets for polluters as in the case with forests and 'reducing emissions from …
As Paris prepares for COP21 in Paris, Marc Brightman finds that the city is in the grip of a benign but ignorant authoritarianism that is ready to trample on much-loved green spaces like the Bois Dormoy, reclaimed from dereliction by the multicultural local community, which represent real solutions to the global problems of food, climate, the future of our cities, and our place in nature.
… June 2015 News Cities Climate Change Unfccc Forests Commons Society France COP21 …
'Climate Smart Agriculture' advocates were out in force at the just concluded climate talks in Bonn, writes Pavlos Georgiadis. But their finely crafted corporate message presents a real threat to genuine agroecological solutions to the interlinked food, farming and climate crises.
… 2015 Comment Food Farming Climate Change Forests Unfccc COP21 oil-palm-borneo-cut.jpg … and the loss of carbon-rich biomes - forests, woodlands, wetlands, steppes and …
‘Climate Smart Agriculture' can be applied to anything from industrial monocultures to agroecology, writes Helena Paul - and fertiliser, biotech and agribusiness corporations are seizing the chance to cash in. Now COP21 host France is proposing to use soils as a giant carbon sink - a fine idea in itself, but not if it's used to 'offset' continued fossil fuel emissions, and to greenwash industrial agriculture.
… promoting climate change while destroying forests, water, soils, and biodiversity. Yet … on: indigenous peoples' rights and tropical forests; oil exploitation in the tropics; …
In this joint statement to COP21 Amnesty International and Greenpeace International call on all governments to protect human rights by including making respect for human rights an explicit purpose of any agreement, while agreeing to phase out fossil fuels and deliver 100% renewables for all by 2050.
… as well as the protection and restoration of forests and other ecosystems. So far, however, …
The most significant feature of COP21 is the topics that never even made it onto the agenda for discussion, writes Steffen Böhm. And the biggest of all the growth-driven economic system that ultimately thwarts all efforts at sustainability, as it drives ever increasing consumption of energy and resources.
… as well as timber from Norwegian and Baltic forests . One reason the British took over the …
How to reconcile the Paris Agreement's target to deliver a temperature rise 'well under 2C', with its wholly inadequate mechanisms? Easy, writes Myles Allen: Make fossil fuel producers 'take back' their carbon so as to fit within a global carbon budget. And for fossil fuel producers in the rich world, that means there is no time to lose - specially to meet a 1.5C target.
… now, that means re-injection underground : forests can't be relied on over geological …
The greatest danger of the Paris conference is that the global South will be bullied into to accepting a terrible deal rather than leave with none at all, writes Brian Tokar. That gives civil society an essential role - to support the resistance of developing country representatives inside the summit to an unjust and ineffective agreement imposed on them by the rich, powerful, high-emitting nations.
… would be offered incentives to protect their forests and raise agricultural productivity. …
As the Paris climate summit falls under the brutal double cosh of terrorism and a heavy-handed security response targeted at climate campaigners, creative non-violent responses are taking shape to express the collective will of the billions who cannot be there, writes Nadine Bloch: the need for equitable solutions to the climate crisis, as a first step towards a healthy, peaceful, sustainable planet.
COP21 actions go ahead: 'We are not defending nature - we are nature defending itself' Nadine Bloch | 28th November 2015 News COP21 Climate Change War Protest France Unfccc we-are-nature-cut.jpg As …