A 145,000 sq km area of peatland swamp forest has been discovered in the Congo Basin, writes Tim Radford, and it holds a record 30 Gt of carbon, equivalent to 20 years of US fossil fuel emissions. Now the race is on to protect it from damaging development that would emit that carbon over coming decades.
… World's biggest tropical carbon sink found in Congo rainforest Tim Radford | 16th January 2017 News Congo Forests Emissions Climate Change Science congo-cut.jpg A 145,000 sq km area of peatland …
A bill to quadruple the UK's aid funding to a profit-driven 'private equity' company owned by the government comes before MPs today for its third reading, writes Global Justice Now. Trouble is the investments do little or nothing for the poor, and instead entrench corporate power in health, education and infrastructure. Parliament should seize this last chance to reject the new law.
… oil plantations in Democratic Republic of Congo, failing to provide decent wages and … "Land Conflicts and Shady Finances Plague DR Congo Palm Oil Company Backed by Development … "Land Conflicts and Shady Finances Plague DR Congo Palm Oil Company Backed by Development …
As we remember the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki this month 71 years ago, we have largely forgotten the racist propaganda that made it possible, writes LINDA PENZ GUNTER. We have likewise sanitised history to exclude the voices of African Americans who loudly protested the use of nuclear weapons, connecting them to American colonialism abroad and racism at home.
… obtaining uranium from the Belgian-controlled Congo to France's testing a nuclear weapon in …
The over-hunting of wildlife in the Amazon has an unexpected knock-on effect: the reduced seed dispersal reduces the forest's capacity to store carbon in its biomass, increasing emissions from apparently 'intact' rainforest areas.
… in the rainforests of West Africa and the the Congo Basin may be causing the forests long …
Thirty new heat tolerant varieties of bean - a staple food crop around the world's tropical regions - will help people survive in a world as much as 4C warmer that it is now, writes Alex Kirby - and look: no genetic modification!
… Malawi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, followed by Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya. …
The rainforest habitat of chimpanzees and other great apes is being destroyed by the expansion of palm oil projects in central Africa, according to new evidence from Greenpeace.
… conflict and environmental damage." The Congo Basin is the world's second largest …
Forensic analysis of DNA in ivory seized by police and customs officials reveals where it comes from, writes Samuel Wasser, giving valuable information to law enforcers. But this powerful tool is only as effective as the national authorities, and Tanzania, a major ivory hotspot, has been very slow to respond to warnings.
… northeastern Gabon, northwestern Republic of Congo, and southeastern Cameroon, and the …
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.
… from their land in countries such as Kenya, Congo, Papua New Guinea or Brazil. The Paris …
From slave labour to armed conflict, our thirst for natural resources has created serious problems for Africa. Pádraig Carmody’s latest book attempts to unravel the moral morass, says Mark Newton
… conflict is the Democratic Republic of Congo, where for decades, coltan, copper and …
Food and water shortages and sharp price hikes in the necessities of life are driving civil unrest and rebellion across the Middle East and North Africa, writes Nafeez Ahmed. Adding to the problem, many of the afflicted countries are of strategic importance for their oil and gas, putting them on the front line of destabilizing 'counter-terrorism' operations.
… Republic of Yemen* Democratic Republic of Congo Sudan* Central African Republic Nigeria* …
The outbreak of Ebola in West Africa had everything to do with logging, deforestation and the disruption of traditional agro-forestry by large scale industrial agriculture, writes Rob Wallace. The only long term solution to this terrible disease may lie in forest conservation, the restoration of agroecological farming systems, and the exclusion of agribusiness investment.
… palm oil can be found in the Amazon and the Congo Basin, the two largest rainforests in …
Mainstream climatologists predict a 15% fall in rainfall over the Amazon if it is stripped of its rainforest. But the 'biotic pump' theory, rooted in conventional physics and recently confirmed by experiment, shows that the interior of a forest-free Amazon will be as dry as the Negev desert. We must save the Amazon before it enters a permanent and irreversible dessication.
… rainforests, such as in the Chocó, the Congo, the Amazon Basin and seasonally, once …