Most recent 40 articles: Union of Concerned Scientists - Tropical Forests
|
Where in the World Is Palm Oil Deforestation? - Union of Concerned Scientists - Tropical Forests  (May 27, 2021) |
|
May 27, 2021 · Tropical forests have always held great allure for me. Growing up in Iowa, my most memorable experiences of the tropics happened at home, where I poured over every issue of National Geographic, read books by explorers and dreamed of going to the same places myself. In university, I began working in tropical forests and was hooked! I had the privilege of working with researchers and indigenous groups in Madagascar and the Ecuadorian Amazon, where I learned about the biodiversity of these ecosystems and the wonderful cultures of people that inhabit them. Sadly, I was also seeing firsthand the magnitude and complexity of the threats facing tropical forests, including petroleum ... Read more ... |
|
|
Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon in 2016: the Lazy Dragon Woke Up - Union of Concerned Scientists - Tropical Forests  (May 21, 2021) |
|
May 21, 2021 · In Brazil, deforestation in the Amazon has been compared to a starved dragon. However, this dragon has been under control in the past. Deforestation in the region declined 70% from 2005 (19,014 km2) to 2014 (5,012 km2) in response to different strategies described in the literature. But the monster was not killed, it was just taking a nap. Since 2012, the annual rate of deforestation has stayed at around 5,000 km2 (4,571 km2 in 2012, 5,891 km2 in 2013, 5,012 km2 in 2014 and 6,207 km2 in 2015), according to data from the PRODES 2016 database. Unfortunately, in 2016 the sleepy dragon woke up. On November 29, the Brazilian government released data on deforestation in 2016 showing that ... Read more ... |
|
|
Restoring America's Wetland Forest Legacy - Union of Concerned Scientists - Tropical Forests  (May 21, 2021) |
|
May 21, 2021 · Like many white, middle-class, suburban kids, I grew up with one foot in the forest. To me, that small woodlot, a green buffer along a half-polluted tributary, was a paradise unmatched by any other forest in the world. Unfortunately, like many other tracts of land across the United States, my childhood forest is gone - cleared for a housing development. Wetlands, including wetland forests, are the “filters” of our natural system, combating pollution, removing excess nutrients, and securing fresh drinking water for surrounding and downstream communities. Photo: Dogwood Alliance. Even small forests across the United States work to provide “ecosystem services” - ... Read more ... |
|
|
Forest Service Budget Cuts Will Deprive US Communities of Forestry Science that Improves Climate Resilience - Union of Concerned Scientists - Tropical Forests  (Feb 28, 2020) |
|
Feb 28, 2020 · "Trees are the answer." The maxim was on a sticker on my PhD mentor's office door at Arizona State University (ASU). But what was the question? Turns out, there were a lot of them. That sticker, that door, and that office are no longer there (it was all remodeled some time ago and Dr. Harlan went on a different adventure). But the message constantly reminds me of how valuable trees and forests are. The U.S. Forest Service knows this well, and has been "caring for the land and serving the people" by sustaining the health, diversity, and productivity of forests in the United States since 1876 (originally it was a congressionally-mandated Office of the Special Agent in the U.S. ... | By Juan Declet-Barreto Read more ... |
|
|
Forest Service Budget Cuts Will Deprive US Communities of Forestry Science that Improves Climate Resilience - Union of Concerned Scientists - Tropical Forests  (Feb 28, 2020) |
|
Feb 28, 2020 · “Trees are the answer.” The maxim was on a sticker on my PhD mentor’s office door at Arizona State University (ASU). But what was the question? Turns out, there were a lot of them. That sticker, that door, and that office are no longer there (it was all remodeled some time ago and Dr. Harlan went on a different adventure). But the message constantly reminds me of how valuable trees and forests are. The U.S. Forest Service knows this well, and has been “caring for the land and serving the people” by sustaining the health, diversity, and productivity of forests in the United States since 1876 (originally it was a congressionally-mandated Office of the Special Agent in the U.S. ... Read more ... |
|
|
Amazon Deforestation and Brazilian President Bolsonaro’s Attack on Science - Union of Concerned Scientists - Tropical Forests  (Aug 19, 2019) |
|
Aug 19, 2019 · Science is always a potential threat to authoritarian rulers, because it uncovers truths that contradict their lies. Recently we’ve seen a dramatic example of this conflict in Brazil, where the director of the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) has been fired by the country’s new President, Jair Bolsonaro, for releasing data showing a substantial increase in Amazon deforestation. INPE has been providing the world with measurements of deforestation, based on detailed analysis of satellite photos, for more than 30 years, and has become the standard source for this information. It’s INPE’s data that demonstrated how Brazil dramatically diminished its Amazon ... Read more ... |
|
|
Amazon Deforestation in Brazil: What Does it Mean When There’s no Change? - Union of Concerned Scientists - Tropical Forests  (Sep 07, 2018) |
|
Sep 07, 2018 · I was recently invited by the editors of the journal Tropical Conservation Science to write an update of a 2013 article on deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon that I had published with Sarah Roquemore and Estrellita Fitzhugh. They asked me to review how deforestation has changed over the past five years. The most notable result, as you can see from the graph in the just-published article (open-access), is that overall it hasn’t changed. And that’s actually quite surprising. During the late 90s and early 2000s the deforestation rate in the Brazilian Amazon averaged about 20,000 square kilometers per year, driven by the rapid expansion of cattle pasture and the commercial ... Read more ... |
|
|
The Natural Ways to (Help) Solve the Climate Problem - Union of Concerned Scientists - Tropical Forests  (Nov 07, 2017) |
|
Nov 07, 2017 · This week marks the beginning of the annual U.N. climate negotiations in Bonn, chaired by the nation of Fiji, and this year it’s going to be different. At most of the negotiating sessions from the early 90s up to the Paris Agreement in 2015, the emphasis was, reasonably, on reaching a broad consensus on how to prevent dangerous climate change. But Paris achieved that, and all the world’s countries, with one exception - the United States - have accepted that agreement. So now the question is, how can we make it work? A real challenge - particularly since a key delegation to the talks is now led by the climate-denialist Trump administration. A new scientific paper, published two ... Read more ... |
|
|
Beef, Palm Oil and Taking Responsibility: A Comment That TheOilPalm Wouldn’t Publish - Union of Concerned Scientists - Tropical Forests  (Apr 13, 2017) |
|
Apr 13, 2017 · Back in December, I wrote a blog post about the importance of beef as the largest driver of deforestation. The following month, the Malaysian Palm Oil Council wrote a blog on their site, TheOilPalm.org, arguing that my blog proved that palm oil had been unfairly blamed for deforestation, and demanding an apology. Here’s a comment explaining why they’re wrong: “When I read the post by the Malaysian Palm Oil Board concerning my blog about the importance of beef as the leading driver of deforestation, I recalled a lesson that I learned many, many years ago. I’m now 67 years old, which means that it has been more than six decades since my parents taught it to me. It was ... Read more ... |
|
|
Are Business’ Zero-Deforestation Palm Oil Pledges Being Kept? Here’s How We’ll Know - Union of Concerned Scientists - Tropical Forests  (Jan 24, 2017) |
|
Jan 24, 2017 · One important development of the past decade is the large number of corporate commitments to eliminate deforestation and exploitation from their supply chains. In response to the demands of civil society, and recognizing the critical value of their brands’ images to their bottom lines, dozen of companies have pledged to become deforestation- and exploitation-free by specific dates - often 2020 or sooner. But how can we - the consumers who buy their products and insisted that they act - know whether they’re actually doing what they promised? The key is a two-step process: Traceability and Transparency. First, corporations need to find out how their supply chains extend all the ... Read more ... |
|
|
Ending Tropical Deforestation: Have We Got Our Priorities Backwards? - Union of Concerned Scientists - Tropical Forests  (Dec 14, 2016) |
|
Dec 14, 2016 · In working to change the world, there’s always a need to keep asking ourselves whether we’re focusing on what’s most important. This certainly applies to the effort to end tropical deforestation, which is why I and my UCS colleagues have put a lot of emphasis on figuring out what causes - and in particular, which businesses - are the main drivers of deforestation. Unfortunately, a recent study indicates that that global corporations that have committed to ending the deforestation they cause, have got their priorities backwards. And it suggests that the NGO community - and that definitely includes me - may have had our priorities wrong too. The study, by Climate Focus and ... Read more ... |
|
|
Restoring U.S. Forests by Mid-Century - Union of Concerned Scientists - Tropical Forests  (Nov 14, 2016) |
|
Nov 14, 2016 · As both scientists (in many published papers) and political leaders (in the Paris Agreement) have now recognized, to stop global warming - to keep the global temperature from increasing indefinitely - we need to peak and then reduce emissions rapidly. We need to get our release of global warming pollution into the atmosphere, down to a level below the amount that carbon sequestration by the biosphere takes out of the atmosphere. This means that we have to work incredibly hard on two parallel tracks, simultaneously. On the one hand, cut pollution drastically. And on the other hand, regrow the biosphere. At the annual climate negotiations going on in Marrakech, Morocco, various ... Read more ... |
|
|
America's Top Brands, Cattle, and Deforestation - Union of Concerned Scientists - Tropical Forests  (Sep 13, 2016) |
|
Sep 13, 2016 · Along with the rest of the world, I was transfixed by the Olympics last month in Rio. Besides the athletic feats of strength and prowess, I found myself fascinated by drama surrounding the games. I cringed when I heard a commentator give credit for a woman winning a gold medal to her husband and coach, was outraged when comments criticized athletes’ decisions about (not) putting hands over their hearts during national anthems, and was mostly just confused about why an athlete would lie about a robbery. One other story that particularly caught my fancy was hearing about the hundreds of Olympic athletes who went to McDonald’s in the Olympic village. Rumor has it that athletes ... Read more ... |
|
|
Peak Oil, Peak Coal, Peak Deforestation, Peak Emissions…. and Why They’re Not Nearly Enough - Union of Concerned Scientists - Tropical Forests  (Aug 23, 2016) |
|
Aug 23, 2016 · Recent data related to our global emissions of heat-trapping gases suggest that humanity may have reached a turning point, or even several. We may be moving from increasing emissions, to peaking and starting to decline. We could be close to such peaks, or even have passed it, for several of the main sources of greenhouse gases, including coal and deforestation - perhaps even for humanity’s total emissions. If so, this would be a momentous occasion, reversing centuries of growing global warming pollution. But before we start celebrating, we should realize that peaking is not nearly enough. Before looking at the data, it’s useful to remember that even if you have reached a ... Read more ... |
|
|
Four Questions about a Fast Food Giant’s Role in Tropical Deforestation - Union of Concerned Scientists - Tropical Forests  (Aug 01, 2016) |
|
Aug 01, 2016 · Restaurant Brands International (RBI), the third largest fast-food operator in the world, recently released its first Sustainability Framework to the public. Formed in 2014, RBI is the parent company of both Burger King and Canadian donut giant Tim Hortons, and this international corporation operates in almost 100 countries and has more than $23 billion in sales. Its 13-page Sustainability Framework outlines RBI’s “areas of focus and priorities for the near future” and is full of information on RBI’s intentions and past efforts around five categories: food values, responsible sourcing, best people, communities, and the environment. So I took a close look at RBI’s commitments ... Read more ... |
|
|
Book Review: The Global Climate and a Defense of Beef - Union of Concerned Scientists - Tropical Forests  (Jun 28, 2016) |
|
Jun 28, 2016 · Now for the other side of the argument. In this second of my series of three reviews of books and movies, I’ll consider a book that presents a spirited defense of beef. In fact, that’s its title: Defending Beef, by Nicolette Hahn Niman. The book paints a picture of a better beef system, less damaging to the climate and the environment generally than the current system is. This is a vision I applaud, and one that my colleagues in the UCS Food and Environment program are researching. However, the book also raises scientific issues that I feel are worth exploring, since the dominant beef production system we have in place today, both globally and domestically, has some real problems. Read more ... |
|
|
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Biodiesel (Charts and Graphs Included!) - Union of Concerned Scientists - Tropical Forests  (Jun 22, 2016) |
|
Jun 22, 2016 · Most discussions about biofuels center on ethanol, but biodiesel - a diesel-substitute made from vegetable oils and animal fats - is increasingly important as well. But where does biodiesel come from, and what does it mean for the climate? Like most important things, the answers aren’t black or white - but they’re critical to get right. Figure 1: Most biodiesel is made from vegetable oil. The chart shows oils and fats used to produce biodiesel in the U.S. in 2015 (Source EIA Monthly Biodiesel Production Report ) More than 80 percent of biodiesel is made from vegetable oil (the rest is mostly animal fats). The soybean and canola oil that make up the majority of biodiesel ... Read more ... |
|
|
Movie Review: There's a Vast Cowspiracy about Climate Change - Union of Concerned Scientists - Tropical Forests  (Jun 10, 2016) |
|
Jun 10, 2016 · Movie night at my house last weekend, featuring Cowspiracy. The name says it all. The 2014/2015 movie by that name - “The Film That Environmental Organizations Don’t Want You to See,” according to its website - has uncovered an immense conspiracy between governments and the world’s biggest environmental organizations, to deceive the public about the principal cause of global warming. But the film’s premise is based on badly flawed - and almost unanimously rejected - interpretations of science. Let me explain… According to Cowspiracy, the major source of global warming pollution isn’t fossil fuels like coal, oil, and natural gas, as the world’s scientists are telling us. No, ... Read more ... |
|
|
Beef and the Paris Agreement: Changing What We Eat to Stop Causing Climate Change - Union of Concerned Scientists - Tropical Forests  (May 04, 2016) |
|
May 04, 2016 · On Earth Day two weeks ago, 171 countries officially signed the Paris Agreement on climate change. In doing so, they agreed to the long term goal of ending humanity’s damage to the climate - that is, reducing our emissions of global warming pollution to zero - in the second half of this century. One encouraging part of the ongoing scientific discussion about how to achieve this ambitious goal, is that we’re finally starting to take seriously the impact of what people eat. Three recent studies show that it makes a big difference, to the climate as well as to our health. As I’ve written before - in this blog, in UCS reports and in the scientific journal Nature Climate Change - ... Read more ... |
|
|
What's Driving Deforestation Now? - Union of Concerned Scientists - Tropical Forests  (Apr 14, 2016) |
|
Apr 14, 2016 · UCS has just created a new set of web pages summarizing the latest scientific information on the drivers of tropical deforestation. Even though we published a 120-page book about this issue, The Root of the Problem, just five years ago, there is so much new information that what we wrote then is rapidly becoming out of date. And some of these new studies have changed scientists’ minds about the problem in important ways. So, what is driving tropical deforestation today - not five or fifteen or fifty years ago? Where is the forest being cleared, who is doing it, and why? How important are palm oil plantations or soybean farmers compared to loggers or cattle ranchers? What ... Read more ... |
|
|
How to Keep New Year's (and Deforestation-Free) Resolutions - Union of Concerned Scientists - Tropical Forests  (Dec 30, 2015) |
|
Dec 30, 2015 · New Year’s is possibly my least favorite time of the year - it reminds me of getting older, everything that I didn’t get done in the past year, and that I still don’t know much Spanish. But this year, inspired by my colleagues, my brother-in-law, and the movie Fed Up, I will be reducing the amount of sugar in my diet. It’s that time of the year again. To give myself every advantage, I’m planning ahead. I looked up tips and tricks for keeping New Year’s resolutions. As I began to write down the findings listed on multiple websites, I realized that everything advised for keeping personal resolutions has a corollary in the corporate world for making and following ... Read more ... |
|
|
How to Sound like an Expert on the Paris Climate Agreement - Union of Concerned Scientists - Tropical Forests  (Dec 16, 2015) |
|
Dec 16, 2015 · The historic climate agreement adopted in Paris ushered in a new chapter in the way we address climate change. The agreement is multifaceted and written in dense legal language, so it’s difficult to get a sense of what it - and the negotiations - are all about. Many people are probably wondering how to answer the question “what does it mean?” when asked by their family/friend/co-worker. Here are some answers to a few basic questions that will satisfy your curiosity and help you to sound like an expert. Yes, we have. Under the United Nations, the two most important previous agreements were the Framework Convention on Climate Change in 1992 (the “Convention”), and the Kyoto ... Read more ... |
|
|
The Long-Term Goal We Need: The Science of Climate Neutrality - Union of Concerned Scientists - Tropical Forests  (Dec 08, 2015) |
|
Dec 08, 2015 · We’re halfway through the two weeks of the climate change negotiations here in Paris, and one contentious part of the draft text being negotiated is Article 3.1, entitled “Collective Long-Term Goal.” This will be a fundamental to the Paris Agreement, because it will establish what the nations of the world agree to be their ultimate objective in terms of global warming. Will it be to limit it to 1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average, or 2 degrees, or - God forbid - no limit at all? But beyond the number, there’s another important scientific issues being debated in this section. It’s expressed in three concepts that are part of the draft text, but “bracketed” - ... Read more ... |
|
|
Brazil’s Progress in Reducing Deforestation – Is It Over? - Union of Concerned Scientists - Tropical Forests  (Nov 30, 2015) |
|
Nov 30, 2015 · Shortly before I arrived here in Paris for the climate negotiations, Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research released the annual figure on Amazon deforestation for 2014–2015. This number comes out each year about this time, and is eagerly awaited as a sign of whether the dramatic progress that Brazil made over the past decade in reducing deforestation by three-fourths, is continuing. The new figures show that it’s not. Last year we saw a decrease of 18%, but this year that was essentially wiped out by an increase of 16%. Thus we’re almost exactly back to where things were two years ago, with an annual deforestation level of 5,831 km2, versus 5,891 km2 in ... Read more ... |
|
|
The Land Sector in INDCs: What We Have and What We Need as Paris Climate Talks Begin - Union of Concerned Scientists - Tropical Forests  (Nov 25, 2015) |
|
Nov 25, 2015 · As the world’s political leaders come to Paris for the international climate negotiations (COP21), how do things look with respect to the land sector (agriculture and forests), which is responsible for nearly ¼ of global greenhouse gas emissions? Over the past year, the Union of Concerned Scientists has been analyzing how countries included the land sector in their “Intended Nationally Determined Contributions” (INDCs). What are their plans and how could they be made better? Overall, the intended contributions are disappointing. It’s clear that the sum of the INDCs doesn’t add up to what the world needs to keep global temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius. Their ... Read more ... |
|
|