Trees
To Reduce Mortality From High Heat in Cities, a New Study Recommends Trees
Nearly 40 percent of the thousands of deaths that can be attributed to high heat levels in cities could have been avoided through increased tree coverage, a recent study from Barcelona’s Institute of Global Health found. Past studies have linked urban heat with increased mortality rate and hospital admissions for adults and children. This link […]
Read MoreStudy Shows Protected Forests Are Cooler
Measured at a global scale, protected forests with legal limits on human activity are significantly cooler than neighboring forests that lack protections, scientists reported in a new Science Advances study today. The researchers compared land surface temperatures and warming rates in protected areas to those in unprotected zones across five major biomes—boreal, temperate and tropical […]
Read MoreCountries Want to Plant Trees to Offset Their Carbon Emissions, but There Isn’t Enough Land on Earth to Grow Them
Countries’ climate pledges rely on “unrealistic” and “extensive” amounts of land for carbon removal projects like tree planting schemes, a new report from the University of Melbourne said. A landmass larger than the entire United States, about 1.2 billion hectares, would be needed for countries to deliver on those plans, which largely ignore who lives […]
Read MoreHow close is the Amazon tipping point? Forest loss in the east changes the equation
Scientists warn that the Amazon is hurtling toward a tipping point, beyond which it would begin to transition from lush tropical forest into a dry, degraded savanna, unable to support the immense diversity of life that call the world’s largest rainforest home. This change could be triggered when 25% of the forest has been lost […]
‘Protection too small, pressure too high’ for tree species globally, study finds
Trees play a critical role in supporting life on Earth, and over the past few years, everyone from governments to companies to celebrities has been talking about tree planting as a solution to climate change and a boon to biodiversity. But, according to recent research, we could also do a much better job of protecting […]
Luxury wood market driving extinction of rare ipê trees, report warns
Whether walking along a beach boardwalk, installing new hardwood floors or sitting out on a friend’s deck, there’s a good chance you’ve already come across the wood of the rare ipê trees. These are among the most popular species supplying a global luxury wood market, an increasing driver of deforestation in the Amazon Basin. Demand […]
Mexican firm profits from reforestation, empowers Indigenous people
Local stories in Michoacán tell how, when the Spanish invaded what would later be known as Mexico in the 1500s, they found Indigenous communities tapping pine trees and using the resin in sizzling-bright torches and lamps that lit the Aztec Empire capital of Tenochtitlan, today’s Mexico City. The Spanish appropriated the resin to use as […]
New restoration “Playbook” calls for political, economic, and social change
International forest and climate experts have released a “playbook” for ecosystem restoration with a set of 10 principles that they say, if followed, could be a game-changer. The Political Ecology Playbook, published in the journal Global Environmental Change, recognizes that issues such as climate change and forest loss are not just biophysical and environmental problems, […]
Scientists urge Biden to remove logging, fossil fuels, biomass from budget bills
More than 100 scientists have issued a letter urging U.S. President Biden and Congress to remove provisions promoting logging, forest biomass and fossil fuels from the multitrillion-dollar infrastructure and reconciliation (Build Back Better) bills.
When it comes to carbon capture, tree invasions can do more harm than good
Trees are a logical solution to climate change, but allowing or encouraging trees to spread into areas where they don’t typically grow, such as tundra and grasslands, can actually do more harm than good. A newly published review paper in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment asks the question: “Should tree invasions be […]