Human rights groups have accused a proposed hydropower project on Guatemala’s Icboray River of serious human rights violations. The 24-megawatt Santa Rita Dam is scheduled to be built in the Alta Verapaz department in central Guatemala. The construction is backed by the World Bank, several European banks and the Guatemalan government. Despite allegations of human rights violations, … Read more
US President Donald Trump’s campaign promises to overhaul climate change policies have begun to take shape with talks with climate skeptics critical to supporting the US government’s views. The removal of the climate change regulations of the Paris Agreement, which would have been of great benefit to the United States, seems to be a throwback to … Read more
Even if the world does its best to reduce carbon emissions and combat climate change, rising carbon dioxide concentrations will continue to harm the oceans for decades to come. A new paper argues that marine protected areas (MPAs) are a cost-effective way to mitigate the worst that climate change has brought to the oceans. MPAs, where … Read more
Clean and renewable energy has limitless potential to help stop the rapidly advancing global warming. But unless we drastically stop using fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas, that is just a possibility. And now, in a new paper published in the journal Joule, 139 countries have come up with policies to transition to … Read more
Four-fifths of wild orangutans in Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo, live outside national parks and protected areas, according to a new study by the Indonesian government . The study, called the 2016 Orangutan Population and Habitat Feasibility Assessment, was led by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry. This is the third survey, published last month and following … Read more
The Earth is now on the verge of a sixth mass extinction, and few scientists doubt that humanity is to blame. Despite the challenges we face, “what I want to encourage is that there is still something we can do,” says biologist Thomas Lovejoy. “In contrast to other mass extinctions, one species is responsible for this … Read more
The certification body, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), has taken steps to allow timber companies that have been logging since 1994 to apply for certification. Since its inception 23 years ago, FSC has refused to certify logging companies. This is to convert it to a timber plantation. This was not changed by the passage of Motion 7 by the General … Read more