The effect of losing intact tropical forests is more devastating on the climate than previously thought, researchers report.

A new international study reveals that between 2000 and 2013, the clearance of intact tropical forests led to much higher levels of carbon being emitted into the atmosphere than first believed—resulting in a 626% increase in the calculated impact on climate.

Power relationships, local knowledge and transparency in integrated landscape approaches

Integrate knowledge holders. Understand power relationships and address imbalances to ensure marginalized groups are heard. Promote transparency in decisions and actions in landscape restoration work. Address governance and ensure transparency in motives and “political visions.”

• During the launch, Environment and Forestry PS Betty Maina called for concerted efforts to help achieve the government’s target of getting 10 per cent forest cover by 2022.

• Environmental activist Benson Wemali on Friday told the Star more than 70 per cent of Kenyans lack knowledge on forest conservation.

Kenyans are largely ignorant of the importance of forests in the country and that is why they attach little importance to afforestation, an environmental organization has said.

• The people of Indonesia’s Aru Islands fended off a land grab that would have led to the destruction of a vast area of rainforest, through a sophisticated grassroots campaign that held power to account.
• The campaign holds lessons for rural communities facing similar threats, but their prospects have been diminished by new legislation that strengthens the hand of the powerful and corrupt.

• When undisturbed tropical forests are lost the long-term impact on carbon emissions is dramatically higher than earlier estimates suggest, according to a new study.
• Between 2000 and 2013, about 7 percent of the world’s intact tropical forests were destroyed, leading not just to direct carbon emissions but also “hidden” emissions from logging, fragmentation and wildlife loss.

To more effectively guard forests and stem climate change, "simply designating a place as protected can't be the beginning and the end of a conservation effort"

LONDON - Expanding the planet's protected natural areas to safeguard vanishing forests and other ecosystems, and the species they protect, is unlikely to be effective on its own as human encroachment into reserves grows, scientists warned Tuesday.

Protecting land from development provides numerous ecological and social benefits, but many people debate whether it hurts or helps local economies. Some worry that land protection will inhibit economic growth by restricting local resource use or building opportunities.

• Indonesian companies were given until March this year to disclose their “beneficial owners” under a 2018 presidential regulation, but less than 1 percent have complied.
• In the easternmost corner of the country, investors hidden by layers of corporate secrecy continue to bulldoze an intact rainforest and have nearly finished building a giant sawmill.

The 12-day long 14th Conference of Parties (COP14) to United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) concluded with thought-provoking discussions on land management, restoration of degraded land, drought, climate change, renewable energy, women empowerment, gender equality, water scarcity and various other issues. India was the proud host of UNCCD COP14,which witnessed widespread participation from over 9000 participants from all across the globe at India Expo Centre & Mart, Greater Noida from 2nd to 13th September 2019.

An online project aims to map all of the world's indigenous lands to secure legal rights and alert communities to the threats of illegal logging and mining

BANGKOK - An online project mapping all of the world's indigenous lands will help secure legal rights, and alert communities to the potential threats of illegal logging and mining, land and indigenous rights groups said on Friday.

LETICIA, Colombia (Reuters) - Seven Amazonian countries on Friday signed a pact to protect the world’s largest tropical forest via disaster response coordination and satellite monitoring, amid recent fires that torched thousands of square miles of the jungle.

The presidents of Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru, the vice-president of Suriname and the natural resource minister of Guyana attended the one-day summit in the jungle city of Leticia in southern Colombia.

Human rights groups say about 60,000 settlers are being targeted, in the latest effort to halt the destruction of what is referred to as Kenya's key water tower

NAIROBI - Thousands of people are being removed from Kenya's largest forest, a senior official said on Thursday, in a controversial move aimed at saving the country's most important "water tower", which has been decimated by decades of corruption.