Since 1988, Brazilians have cleared more than 153,000 square miles of Amazonian rain forest, devastating the environment and driving global climate change forward ever faster. Recently, however, Brazil has changed its course, reducing the rate of deforestation by 83 percent since 2004. At the same time, it has become a test case for a controversial international climate-change prevention strategy that places a monetary value on the carbon stored in forests.
This in-depth study of twelve producer, processing and consumer countries demonstrates that actions taken by governments, civil society and the private sector over the last ten years in response to illegal logging and related trade have been extensive and had a considerable impact.
Peru has avoided the development problems seen in other extraction-dependent economies, but experts say the country faces governance hurdles, especially on the environment.
Loss of forests is a major contributor to greenhouse-gas emissions. Plans to devise a policy tool for using trees for carbon dioxide sequestration are now under way.
Peru's rainforest may be the next region of major deforestation unless measures are taken to avoid it, says environmental advocate Bruce Cabarle. He notes that a new international agreement on climate change is essential to efforts by countries to combat deforestation.
Authors: Bente Foereid, Astley Hastings, Pete Smith, and Jessica Bellarby
Agriculture is one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases. Greenpeace’s new report Cool Farming details the destructive practices resulting from industrial agriculture and presents workable solutions to help reduce its contribution to climate change.
A pillar of China’s communist economic model, land collectivization, faces mounting pressure from farmers for reform, pitting rural forces against the tide of development.
This article tells the story of farmers and herders in Niger who are working together to stop the advance of the Sahara Desert, avoiding conflicts such as the case in Darfur where competition for resources has reached deadly level.
Two years ago the Asian tsunami devastated the Indonesian province of Aceh. A huge amount of rebuilding has been done but thousands of the poorest Acehnese families have yet to be re-housed; the wave washed away their land and also many documents showing who owned land in Aceh. According to this report from the development charity Oxfam the question of who owns what land is now an urgent issue that must be solved if Acehnese society is to be rebuilt on a secure footing.
Authors: Anthony L. Westerling, Hugo G. Hidalgo, Daniel R. Cayan, and Thomas W. Swetnam
A report published in Science shows that large wildfire activity increased suddenly and markedly in the mid-1980s, with higher large-wildfire frequency, longer wildfire durations, and longer wildfire seasons. The cause: increasing temperatures and climate change.
An accurate estimate of carbon fluxes associated with tropical deforestation from the last two decades is needed to balance the global carbon budget. In this paper, the various challenges associated with accurately estimating carbon emissions from deforestation is reviewed.
The Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty "was signed in Madrid on October 4, 1991 and entered into force in 1998. It designates Antarctica as a 'natural reserve, devoted to peace and science' ".
The Council on Foreign Relations' David Rockefeller Studies Program—CFR's "think tank"—is home to more than seventy full-time, adjunct, and visiting scholars and practitioners (called "fellows"). Their expertise covers the world's major regions as well as the critical issues shaping today's global agenda. Download the printable CFR Experts Guide.
Special operations play a critical role in how the United States confronts irregular threats, but to have long-term strategic impact, the author argues, numerous shortfalls must be addressed.
The author analyzes the potentially serious consequences, both at home and abroad, of a lightly overseen drone program and makes recommendations for improving its governance.
An authoritative and accessible look at what countries must do to build durable and prosperous democracies—and what the United States and others can do to help. More
Through an in-depth analysis of modern Mexico, Shannon O'Neil provides a roadmap for the United States' greatest overlooked foreign policy challenge of our time—relations with its southern neighbor. More