FORESTS NEWS
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COVID-19 poses challenges for forest communities
Learning to live with SARS-COV2 coronavirus
Chasseur Zorro Ndeli dans la réserve de Tumba – Ledima en République démocratique du Congo. Photo : Ollivier Girard/CIFOR
Investigative work into deadly viruses and wild meat in Africa shines light on the conundrum faced by communities dependent on wild meat for their dietary protein, fat and micronutrients. Learn more about the way deforestation and forest degradation exacerbates the spread of such diseases as COVID-19 and Ebola as they are transmitted from animals to humans, then person to person and what governments can do about it.
13 Jan 2021
Harness ‘power of landscapes’ to fix health and environmental challenges, report says
Governments must act on the vast benefits of conservation and support the rights of people living in biodiverse landscapes to re-establish environmental equilibrium and protect humanity from the consequences of climate change and biodiversity loss, a...
17 Nov 2020
As the pandemic pushes millions toward poverty, forests and trees can safeguard livelihoods
Daniel C. Miller is associate professor of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. With the coronavirus pandemic driving millions of people into poverty, no stone should go unturned in the search...
29 Oct 2020
U.N. expert urges transformative change to bend curve on biodiversity loss
The rate of deforestation has dropped by a third over the past 10 years compared to the previous decade, according to a landmark report on international biodiversity targets. The achievement, which falls short of a goal agreed by governments, offers a...
29 Sep 2020
COVID-19 pandemic offers opportunity to rethink status quo conservation efforts
The coronavirus pandemic creates an opportunity to rethink generally accepted underperforming business-as-usual approaches to conservation, say more than 20 conservation and development professionals in an editorial published by environmental news provider...
25 Sep 2020
Insecurity, COVID-19 hit women-led shea sector on eve of Africa free trade deal
Women have dominated shea production and sales for centuries in West Africa, managing trees, gathering nuts, roasting and crushing kernels to create rich butter used in cooking, cosmetics and medicines. This women-led shea market value chain now faces...
19 Sep 2020
U.N. green cities initiative to promote forestry and sustainable food systems
A new green cities initiative will encourage governments to kickstart large-scale transformative changes to improve food security, nutrition and the wellbeing of people in and around urban centers, said the director general of the U.N. Food and Agriculture...
14 Sep 2020
Can healthy ecosystems prevent pandemics?
Charlotte Milbank is an interdisciplinary Ph.D. candidate in epidemiology and geography at Britain’s University of Cambridge. Any views expressed are her own. The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown deserved spotlight on the complex interactions and interdependencies...
10 Sep 2020
‘Land and seascapes’ approach gives Galapagos an edge in confronting coronavirus outbreak
Scott Henderson is the vice president of the Sustainable Landscapes and Seascapes program at Conservation International. Any opinions expressed are his own. A visitor to the Galápagos Islands at the turn of the millennium would have found an archipelago...
20 Aug 2020
Earth Overshoot Day 2020 arrives later due to pandemic-related slowdown in clearing forests
The global coronavirus lockdown has delayed Earth Overshoot Day mainly because of a decrease in wood harvesting and CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion, according to the Global Footprint Network. This year, the day lands on Aug. 22, more than three...
17 Jul 2020
Q+A: Rollback of environmental protections continues during COVID-19 pandemic, expert says
As the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown limits civic participation, some officials are dismantling ecosystem protections, an environmental governance expert has said. Rachel Golden-Kroner, a social scientist with Conservation International who studies the cyclical...
