50,000 years old forest discovered under water

Rafal Chudy Near the coast of Alabama, scuba divers discovered a primeval underwater forest. The cypress forest was protected in an oxygen-free environment for more than 50 thousands years. Most likely, the forest was uncovered from ocean sediments by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.  Ben Raines, one of the first divers who explored the underwater forest,… Continue reading 50,000 years old forest discovered under water

Global deforestation is decreasing. Or is it?

Nicolas Raymond/Flickr Photos/Lush forest scenery in Killarney Park, Ireland. HDR composite from multiple exposures/www.freestock.ca

Jeremy Leon Hance A new look at the complex picture of land use change suggests that when it comes to forests, we’re far from being out of the woods. Orignially posted at Ensia, magazine showcasing environmental solutions in action. Republished by SixDegrees on arrangement with Ensia under Creative Commons’ Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported license.  It started, as many… Continue reading Global deforestation is decreasing. Or is it?

Paris climate talks: Russia will use its huge forests as a bargaining chip

Hundreds of billions of trees can store a lot of carbon. Featured photo: Tatiana Bulyonkova/Flickr Photos/CC BY-SA

Marianna Poberezhskaya, Nottingham Trent University Russia’s strategy at the talks-It will want strong recognition of the role forests play in the climate with 640 billion trees in a good position to negotiate emissions reductions. Russia has a reputation as one of the more difficult states involved in international climate negotiations – and don’t expect things… Continue reading Paris climate talks: Russia will use its huge forests as a bargaining chip

Rubber company expelled from Forest Stewardship Council

Rubber giant expelled from the world’s leading forest certification body, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) due to illegal land and forest clearance in Cambodia. In November 2014, Global Witness, that works on corruption in natural resource management complained to the FSC about illegal activities of Vietnam Rubber Group (VRG). FSC found that the state-owned company had illegally destroyed at least… Continue reading Rubber company expelled from Forest Stewardship Council

Earth’s forests though better managed continue to shrink, says FAO

Borneo, Malaysia, forests and rains

Forests, the size of South Africa, or 129 million hectares lost in last 25 years, mostly tropical Brazil reported the largest annual loss while China reported the largest annual gain India chops most wood, 88 % of which is firewood Forests contributes about USD 600 billion annually to global GDP, or about 0.8 percent of global GDP 12.7 million people… Continue reading Earth’s forests though better managed continue to shrink, says FAO