Cattle walk along an illegally deforested area in an extractive reserve near Jaci-Parana, Rondonia state, Brazil. Deforestation is a global problem and while it has varied causes the trade in illegal timber is a major factor.
(AP Photo/Andre Penner)
We argue for an orderly transition from ‘timber mining’ to managed forestry in the tropics. Here’s a five-step plan to improve forest fates, with benefits for the climate, biodiversity and people.
Satellite data shows wildfires are destroying large areas of timber-producing forests around the world. These fires are becoming more destructive with each passing year.
Labrador Tea is one of the boreal plants that are classified as pests or weeds. The plant is important to Indigenous communities for its healing properties.
(J. Baker)
Some boreal plant species are classified — and treated — as weeds, affecting Indigenous communities’ access to important cultural, medicinal and ceremonial resources.
A scout from Kenya’s forest protection unit walks past mangrove tree stumps in Malindi.
Simon Maina/AFP via Getty Images
Paolo Omar Cerutti, Center for International Forestry Research – World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF) and Silvia Ferrari, Center for International Forestry Research – World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF)
Timber parks, where the paperwork for loads of timber is inspected, can help stem the financial losses from illegal exports.
The Sooty blue butterfly (Zizeeria knysna), a common yet easily missed resident species in grassland habitats.
Charl Deacon
Butterflies are sentinel species – their interactions with landscapes help scientists understand other insects better.
View of an endangered indigenous tree felled by illegal loggers in the Nakuru forest area of Kenya.
James Wakibia/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
About 60% of Mexico’s forests are managed by local communities. A scholar who has studied the forests for 30 years explains how this system protects the forests and the people who oversee them.
Shorea smithiana, a rainforest tree vulnerable to habitat loss. Sepilok, Sabah, Malaysia.
David Bartholomew
Observations collected since the 1980s in the Amazon, Central Africa and Southeast Asia show we are not giving tropical forests enough time to recover after logging.
Emerald ash borer larva cut these feeding galleries on the trunk of a dead ash tree in Michigan.
corfoto via Getty Images
Biological control strategies curb pests using other species that attack the invader. A biologist explains why it can take more than a decade to develop an effective biological control program.
Native deciduous trees are rare in Australia, which means many of the red, yellow and brown leaves we associate with autumn come from introduced species.