In 2016, rain forest conservation needs to focus on these two things

[Extract] January 14, 2016 — When you look to the year ahead, what do you see? Ensia recently invited eight global thought leaders to share their vision for the environment as it relates to business, culture, ecosystems, energy, food, health, water and the world (see more). In this installment, William Laurance, distinguished research professor and Australian Laureate at James Cook University, answers the question: "In 2016, what should be the focus of efforts to conserve rain forests?

The path to renewables is the path of lasting peace in the Caucasus

[Extract] In early November, a cautious ceasefire was brokered between Azerbaijan and Armenia, ending one of the world’s longest-running and most intractable conflicts. The significance of this agreement and the stability it promises for the entire Caucasus, long fraught with ethnic and religious tensions, cannot be understated. But in the wake of 30 years of war, maintaining this fragile peace poses a significant challenge. An unprecedented opportunity for regional energy cooperation, however, unthinkable during the conflict, presents the first piece of the puzzle. Renewables are the second

China's appetite for wood takes a heavy toll

[Extract] More than half of the timber now shipped globally is destined for China. But unscrupulous Chinese companies are importing huge amounts of illegally harvested wood, prompting conservation groups to step up boycotts against rapacious timber interests

Why scientists fear the AIIB

[Extract] As most chinadialogue readers will know, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) plans to catalyse investments in transport, energy and other projects across half the planet. I recently led a critique (http://alert-conservation.org/scientists-critique-aiib-transport-strategy/) by 34 leading environmental scientists, geographers, economists and development specialists of the AIIB's vision (http://www.aiib.org/en/policies-strategies/download/transport/2018_May_AIIB-Transport-Strategy.pdf) for funding and promoting transport projects. Our researchers hail from 16 industrial and developing nations and represent every major region of the globe, including China

Massive road and rail projects could be Africa's greatest environmental challenge

[Extract] Africa's natural environments and spectacular wildlife are about to face their biggest challenge ever. In a paper published today in Current Biology, my colleagues and I assess the dramatic environmental changes that will be driven by an infrastructure-expansion scheme so sweeping in scope, it is dwarfing anything the Earth’s biggest continent has ever been forced to endure

Reconciliation through ecological collaboration (commentary)

Peace is always kinder to the environment than war. But in the South Caucasus, restoring the environment together may help strengthen peace

The scariest part of climate change isn’t what we know, but what we don’t

[Extract]"It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future": so goes a Danish proverb attributed variously to baseball coach Yogi Berra and physicist Niels Bohr. Yet some things are so important — such as projecting the future impacts of climate change on the environment — that we obviously must try

The global road-building explosion is shattering nature

[Extract] If you asked a friend to name the worst human threat to nature, what would they say? Global warming? Overhunting? Habitat fragmentation? A new study suggests it is in fact road-building

Around the world, environmental laws are under attack in all sorts of ways

[Extract] As President Donald Trump mulls over whether to pull out of the Paris climate agreement, it is hard to imagine that he’s listening to the experts. US climate researchers are being so stifled, ignored or blackballed that France has now offered sanctuary to these misunderstood souls

The case for introducing rhinos to Australia

[Extract] Rhinos in Australia might seem like an insane proposition – after all, we’ve had historically bad luck with introduced species. But on reflection it’s not quite as crazy as it sounds. There are five species of rhinoceros in the world: two in Africa and three in Asia. The world of all five species is being rapidly destroyed and shredded, their savanna and forest habitats sliced apart by clearings, fences, roads, and other obstructions