location: Eastern Europe

location: Eastern Europe

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Prague zoo keeps polar bears cool with ice cubes as European summer heatwave hits
PRAGUE (AP) — Keepers at Prague Zoo used tons of ice on Thursday to give its animals some much-needed relief as yet another heat wave hit Europe. Polar bears Aleut and Gregor wasted no time and were rolling in the beds of ice cubes after entering their outside enclosure. The twins looked to have fun with the […]
Polar bears off the ice: Photo of the week
A polar bear, captured above, sits on a grassy expanse on Kolyuchin Island in the Chukotka district of far-eastern Russia. Several bears made themselves at home in the empty buildings of a Soviet-era research station, abandoned by humans in 1992. Photographer Vadim Makhorov took photos using a drone operated from an expedition vessel about 1 […]
Endangered Persian leopards persist across borders, despite hunters and landmines
- There are fewer than 1,100 Persian leopards left in the wild, with 80% — perhaps 732 individuals — concentrated in Iran. A handful remain in Russia, the Caucasus and countries across Central Asia.
- This leopard subspecies is endangered and declining, driven to the brink of extinction in habitats across its range across southwestern and Central Asia.
- More than half of all recorded leopard deaths are from retaliatory killings by local communities, who poison, trap or shoot leopards in response to livestock predation. They can also be maimed or killed by snares and traps intended for other, smaller prey.
- The Persian leopard now occupies around one-quarter of its historical range. Their habitat is fragmented and crisscrossed by dangerous roadways and broken by international borders that are fenced or laced with landmines.

How grape farmers are restoring Armenia’s wine heritage while safeguarding ecosystems
- Winemaking in the area that is now Armenia has a history going back 6,000 years.
- However, the practice nearly vanished from Armenia during the Soviet era, in the 20th century.
- Wine producers in Armenia are now working to rebuild their craft, establishing “vertical” vineyards in mountainous provinces like Vayots Dzor.
- Many producers employ organic farming techniques to protect neighboring ecosystems, such as using cover crops instead of fertilizer to restore soil nitrogen.

The European wildcat hovers between recovery and local extinction
- European wildcats are making a comeback in the Czech Republic, where they’re critically endangered. Conservationists found evidence of this species breeding in the Lusatian Mountains.
- Though these wildcats, similar in size to large domestic cats, aren’t at risk range-wide, some populations face local extinction.
- Experts note that positive recovery in Central European countries is countered by declines and a lack of basic population data elsewhere.

Chernobyl’s radioactive landscape is a testament to nature’s resilience and survival spirit
CHERNOBYL, Ukraine (AP) — Wildlife is thriving again four decades after the nuclear disaster at Ukraine’s Chernobyl power plant in what became the exclusion zone created by the forced mass evacuations of the population. Wolves, bears and lynx have rebounded in the radioactive landscape, along with a rare breed of horses native to Mongolia. Scientists […]
After harsh winter, Ukrainians find joy in releasing bats rescued from war
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — As night falls over a nature park on the edge of Kyiv, children crowd around volunteers who carefully open cloth bags and release bats into the twilight. As each one takes flight, snapping through the air, more than 1,000 spectators cheer and applaud — families, off-duty soldiers, and bat enthusiasts, a few […]
From forest to flatpack, IKEA faces timber traceability test under EUDR
- As the EU’s Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) nears implementation this year, furniture giant IKEA may need stronger traceability systems to prove its timber isn’t linked to post-2020 deforestation.
- Although nearly all IKEA wood is FSC-certified or recycled, past investigations show this voluntary scheme can miss illegal or unsustainable logging.
- The EUDR requires geolocation data and stricter due diligence than existing certifications or regulations, but repeated delays and possible rule changes have created uncertainty for companies like IKEA preparing to comply.
- Industry watchdogs say high-profile companies like IKEA can “do more” to champion the landmark regulation and implement leading wood traceability systems, rather than relying solely on existing — voluntary— certification schemes.

Are wolves scared of us?
The “big bad wolf,” as portrayed in popular culture, still has a healthy fear of humans, a new study reveals. As wolves return to parts of their historical ranges in Europe and North America, there’s growing concern that the predators are becoming less fearful of people. But a recent study from Poland shows that wolves […]
FSC to vote on new traceability rules amid fraud allegations
- Timber trade experts allege the Forest Stewardship Council lacks the ability to proactively detect fraud throughout its global supply chains.
- They hope the body will change, with a vote on whether to lay the groundwork for a new volume tracking system slated for this coming week.
- The FSC has dismissed some broad estimates of fraud within its network as unsubstantiated, but a senior FSC official who spoke to Mongabay on condition of anonymity said it remains widespread.
- A new report by Earthsight estimates the value of FSC fraud at billions of dollars per year and says the body’s reputation for ensuring sustainability is on the line.

Voices from the Land
Indigenous peoples are experiencing firsthand the impacts of the environmental and climate crises on their lands and communities. This commentary series, produced by the collective Passu Creativa with the support of Earth Alliance, is written by Indigenous leaders from around the world, including Goldman Prize winners, political officials, and representatives of grassroots movements. These leaders […]
Study busts big bad myth that wolves are growing fearless of humans
- As wolves return to parts of their historical ranges in Europe and North America, there’s growing concern that the predators are becoming less fearful of people.
- But a recent study from Poland shows that wolves still fully fear people, a finding that extends to other top predators and wildlife elsewhere around the world, where the fear of humans is “ingrained.”
- In May, wolves were moved to a lesser protected status in the EU, partly based on the argument that the canids are becoming fearless of humans.
- However, the study’s authors say that safety from wolves requires behavioral change on the part of humans, including keeping food and livestock secure and away from the canids.

Europe’s competition over Indigenous Sámi resources: Voices from the land (commentary)
- In northern Europe, Indigenous Sámi people continue to compete with neighboring nations for the same resources and lands, says Áslat Holmberg, former president of the Saami Council, political leader and advocate for Indigenous rights.
- He argues that this is part of continual colonial control, taking shape in the form of mines, energy projects, top-down conservation efforts and politics taking more land from Sámi reindeer herders and fishers or overriding Sámi rights in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia.
- “Our lands are seen as a storeroom of resources, just waiting to be plundered,” Holmberg writes in this opinion piece. “We are told that we must contribute and give more of our lands for the sake of the planet. But we have already given so much. Many of our communities are stretched to their limits.”
- This commentary is part of the Voices from the Land series, a compilation of Indigenous-led opinion pieces. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.

Last chance to save Europe’s greatest old-growth forest? (commentary)
- You don’t need to travel to the Amazon to experience the essence of a primeval forest, a new op-ed argues: Poland’s Białowieża Forest harbors the best-preserved fragments of lowland deciduous and mixed forests in the European Lowlands, where natural processes have unfolded undisturbed for more than 12,000 years.
- But the forest’s location on the Polish-Belarusian border, coupled with the ongoing geopolitical crisis and attitudes of populist politicians towards nature conservation, poses a significant threat to its survival.
- The current Polish government has a unique opportunity to place the Białowieża Forest under permanent protection, with consultations now underway regarding an Integrated Management Plan for this UNESCO World Heritage Site, but the key question is whether the government will seize this opportunity or bow to commercial interests, again.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Czech zoo welcomes 4 rare Barbary lion cubs whose population is extinct in the wild
DVUR KRALOVE, Czech Republic (AP) — Four Barbary lion cubs were born recently in a Czech zoo, a vital contribution for a small surviving population of the rare lion that is extinct in the wild. The three females and one male were seen playing in their outdoor enclosure at Dvůr Králové Safari Park on Wednesday, enjoying themselves […]
‘Substantial’ transshipment reforms adopted at North Pacific fisheries summit
- The annual meeting of the North Pacific Fisheries Commission (NPFC), a multilateral body that manages most non-tuna fisheries in the region’s international waters, was held March 24-27 in Osaka, Japan.
- In a bid to deter illegal fishing, the NPFC’s nine members agreed to require independent observers on ships that transfer fish at sea.
- The parties agreed to study the impact of bottom fishing on ocean habitats and to protect two small areas on one seamount. They also increased transparency in the NPFC compliance process and reduced the total allowable catch for two key pelagic species.

Regulation loopholes fuel illegal wildlife trade from Latin America to Europe
- Between 2017 and 2023, nearly 2,500 animals from 69 species were seized from illegal trade shipments from Latin America into Europe, a recent IFAW report shows.
- More than 90% of the seized wildlife were live animals, mostly amphibians, reptiles and birds destined primarily for the exotic pet trade.
- Nearly 75% of the seized species were not CITES-listed despite many of them being rare and endemic and protected in their native range.
- Conservationists say traffickers abuse some loopholes in current EU wildlife trade regulations and call for better monitoring and enforcement, including building a comprehensive, species-level database of wildlife that enters and leaves the continent.

Timber trade watchdog urges Poland to halt imports of Myanmar ‘blood timber’
- Environmental law watchdog ClientEarth is demanding immediate action from authorities in Poland to crack down on imports of sanctioned Myanmar teak into the country.
- Imports of the highly coveted timber into Poland persist, the group says, despite EU sanctions imposed on Myanmar’s state-controlled timber monopoly following the 2021 military coup and brutal crackdown on citizens.
- The imports also flout EU Timber Regulations, as well as risk exacerbating high rates of deforestation in the conflict-torn country.
- The continued imports come as Poland assumes a new leadership role on the European Council and delays to the implementation of the EU’s new antideforestation regulations.

Things are looking up for near-extinct Siberian cranes (cartoon)
The critically endangered Siberian Crane gets a bit of a breather, thanks to the securing of its stopover sites along the Russia-China migratory path, according to the International Crane Foundation. The crane population has doubled in a span of a decade. Read more about it here: Near-extinct Siberian crane is recovering thanks to habitat protection
Camera trap films two rare black wolves in Poland
A camera trap placed inside a forest in Poland has filmed two rare black wolves crossing a stream, SAVE Wildlife Conservation Fund Poland announced recently. Originally set up to record beavers that were building a dam in the water, the camera ended up capturing the black wolves on film twice: once in the summer of […]
World’s tiniest transmitter finds nesting area of rarest migratory shorebird
Using the world’s smallest known satellite transmitter, conservationists were able to track a spoon-billed sandpiper, thought to be the world’s rarest migratory shorebird. The transmitter revealed new stopovers and nesting areas for an individual known as K9. “K9 led us to a newly discovered breeding location and habitat, which could be a game-changer for Spoon-billed […]
Near-extinct Siberian crane is recovering thanks to habitat protection
Over the past decade, the population of the critically endangered Siberian crane has increased by nearly 50%, according to the International Crane Foundation. The foundation said the boost in the snowy-white Siberian crane’s (Leucogeranus leucogeranus) numbers is the result of efforts to secure the migratory bird’s stopover sites along its eastern flyway, or migratory route, […]
With COP29 letdown, climate activists pin their hopes on Brazil
After the recently concluded COP29 climate summit in Azerbaijan failed to raise the amount of funds sought by developing countries for climate initiatives, civil society groups are calling on Brazil, the next host for the conference in 2025, to step up and lead. “Rich countries have failed to honor their responsibilities, and shown up with […]
Push for traceability of critical minerals gains traction at COP29
Certain minerals and elements, including cobalt, copper, lithium and nickel, are crucial for the manufacture of renewable energy technologies, including electric vehicles and solar panels. However, the extraction and processing of those minerals often takes place in developing countries, far from public scrutiny and without consent from local communities, which can be left with the […]
Young climate advocates against carbon markets at COP29
Negotiators at the ongoing U.N. climate talks in Baku, Azerbaijan, have adopted a controversial provision on carbon trading that critics say will enable rich countries and companies to simply pay to continue emitting. The adoption of Article 6 from the Paris Agreement will outline ways that countries and companies can trade emissions on a carbon […]
Growing fossil fuel presence at COP concerns many
The increasing presence of lobbyists for coal, oil and gas at the global climate talks is raising concerns about the United Nations’ ability to adequately design policies aimed at phasing out fossil fuels. The number of fossil fuel lobbyists at the United Nations annual climate summit has significantly increased over the past four years. In […]
African Development Bank chief calls for ‘green-rich’ continent to also be ‘cash-rich’
- The head of the African Development Bank has made the case for valuing Africa’s natural wealth more fairly, given its importance in the global fight against climate change.
- Akinwumi Adesina notes that the continent’s GDP in 2018 was estimated at $2.5 trillion, yet the value of its natural capital was assessed at $6 trillion.
- “It is high time that we incorporate the value of Africa’s natural capital into our assessments of GDP. It is time for Africa to be both green-rich and cash-rich,” Adesina said.
- This approach is seen as one of the most effective ways to position Africa on a sustainable financial and economic trajectory for greater development.

‘We are not asking for handouts,’ Rwandan President Kagame says at COP29
BAKU, Azerbaijan – The debate around international climate finance is often interpreted to mean developing countries demand wealthier nations cover the growing climate bill. However, at the ongoing U.N. Climate Change Conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, African leaders argue they are not seeking free money. Instead, they want the world to recognize the true value of […]
African leaders at COP29 demand funding without further debt
BAKU, Azerbaijan — As developing countries grapple with increasing floods, droughts and other climate-related impacts, their limited financial resources are under considerable strain. This situation often leaves many governments with little choice but to borrow money to address the devastating effects of climate change. Developing countries have historically produced very few of the carbon emissions […]
At COP29, US envoy upbeat despite looming climate policy changes
Baku, Azerbaijan The outcome of the recent elections in the United States looms large on the United Nations Climate Change Summit, which opened in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. As thousands of delegates gathered at the Olympic Stadium in Baku, the venue of this year’s meeting, questions lingered regarding the role and leadership […]
Mining drove 1.4m hectares of forest loss in last 2 decades: Report
Global mining activity is increasingly destroying forests, including protected areas, according to a recent analysis. Between 2001 and 2020, nearly 1.4 million hectares (3.5 million acres) of tree cover, an area a third the size of Denmark, was lost from mining-related activity, the analysis from the World Resources Institute (WRI) found. The associated greenhouse gas […]
IKEA blamed for Romanian forest destruction
- IKEA is facing scrutiny over its wood sourcing practices after two damning reports linked the furniture giant to destructive logging in some of Europe’s last ancient forests.
- The investigations by Greenpeace and fellow environmental groups Agent Green and the Bruno Manser Fonds focus on IKEA’s procurement of wood from ecologically sensitive areas in Romania’s Carpathian Mountains.
- Inter IKEA Group, the franchisor responsible for the IKEA supply chain, and Ingka told Mongabay they “strongly disagree” with the findings and that the operations complied with national and European laws.

Biden’s new sanctions on Russia should include timber exports (commentary)
- U.S. President Joe Biden responded to the death of dissident Aleksei Navalny with new sanctions that target hundreds of Russian entities and individuals, but these could go further in key areas that are also good for the planet.
- Timber represents more than half of all remaining U.S. imports of Russian goods: all of Russia’s vast forests are state-owned, and some are even under control of its military. Customs data show the U.S. has imported close to $2 billion of timber from Russian companies since the war began.
- “The U.S. should immediately bar Russian timber, pulp & paper imports, as the E.U. and U.K. have already done,” a new op-ed argues.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.

Freeze on Russian collaboration disrupts urgently needed permafrost data flow
- Accelerating Arctic warming threatens to thaw more and more carbon-rich permafrost and release vast amounts of greenhouse gases into the Earth’s atmosphere, but scientists don’t know when such a tipping point event might occur.
- The potential for large and abrupt permafrost emissions adds urgency to better understanding the factors that could turn permafrost from a carbon sink into a carbon source.
- However, more than half of all Arctic permafrost lies under Russian soil, and a two-year freeze on collaborations between Russian scientists and the international scientific community — prompted by the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022 — is disrupting data flows and hamstringing the polar research community.
- Despite an uncertain geopolitical landscape, scientists are determined to close the data gap with work-arounds such as pivoting to “proxy” field sites, ramping up remote sensing with AI, and mining archived data for new insights. But reintegrating Russian research with other Arctic research is a priority of the scientific community.

Nature-based recovery needed for Ukraine’s damaged protected areas (analysis)
- A group of ecologists has published the first interim analysis of the impacts of Russia’s invasion on Ukraine’s protected areas, which has been an environmental disaster.
- Conservationists and international policy makers must reckon with the damages from this invasion and support Ukraine in a nature-positive post-war recovery.
- This article is an analysis. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Long-term wildlife impacts at Chornobyl, Fukushima may yield ‘a new ecology’
- The world’s worst nuclear power plant accidents to date, at Chornobyl, Ukraine, in 1986, and Fukushima, Japan in 2011, and the human exclusion zones created around them have given scientists a unique opportunity to study the effects on wildlife of radiation and of reduced pressure from people.
- Chornobyl disaster findings regarding the impacts on exclusion zone organisms vary: Some point to a resurgence of the studied wildlife in the absence of humans, while others indicate radiation negatively impacting certain animal populations.
- Fukushima radiation impacts are statistically harder to detect. But scientists have made similar observation to Chornobyl: Some, but not all, species appear to thrive from reduced human pressure.
- Radioactive contamination moves in ecosystem-specific ways, depending on factors such as water flow. A combination of radioactive contamination and reduced human activity in nuclear exclusion zones may be giving rise to “a new ecology,” with nature overall neither suffering nor thriving, simply different in the impacted areas.

Could biodiversity be a key to better forest carbon storage in Europe?
- A new project is reintroducing key species into Europe’s forests to help restore natural balance and boost the ability of woodlands to store carbon. But there are concerns that unless such reintroductions are made on a much wider, landscape scale, they will have little positive impact in a region so dominated by humans.
- Others argue that the best way to improve Europe’s carbon storage potential is via heavy forest management, even going so far as to clear-cut some older stands and replace them with fast-growing new forests to encourage rapid carbon uptake, and using thinnings from timber operations to burn as biomass to make energy.
- This heavy management approach has raised deep concerns within the scientific community. Many researchers say this method ignores the growing body of evidence that plantation forest monocultures are not only bad for biodiversity and store less carbon, but also increase the risk of spreading devastating diseases.
- A middle ground could see more natural management of some forests where timber is harvested, while other woodland areas are left undisturbed, with a mixture of tree species, deadwood allowed to rot where it falls, and native animals reintroduced to help restore a natural balance and healthy ecosystems.

Sámi rights must not be sacrificed for green energy goals of Europe (commentary)
- Last week, the European Commission released the Critical Raw Materials Act for minerals used in renewable energy and digital technologies.
- It mandates that EU countries should be extracting “enough ores, minerals and concentrates to produce at least 10% of their strategic raw materials by 2030,” and part of that looks likely to come from mines on Indigenous Sámi land.
- Mines already sited there have caused pollution, devastated ecosystems, poisoned reindeer forage, and taken away their reindeer grazing areas. “How can this transition be sustainable if it destroys our land and violates our Indigenous and human rights?” a new op-ed asks.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Ukrainian biologists fight to protect conservation legacy
- As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues into a second year, conservation biologists have been forced to implement new solutions to protect their country’s conservation legacy.
- Dangerous conditions have made it difficult to go afield and survey threatened species such as the sandy blind mole-rat, the Black Sea bottlenose dolphin, wetland birds and native plants, so finding ways to work away from field sites and conservation areas, has become key.
- Missile strikes, fires and thefts have threatened both digital and physical conservation data, spurring the scientific community to digitize and upload as much information as possible to an international biodiversity database.
- So far, 310,600 records have been added to the database, and physical assets like Kherson’s entire herbarium have been moved to safety in western Ukraine.

Russian invasion hinders global biodiversity conservation, study shows
- A new policy paper outlines the impacts of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on biodiversity and conservation efforts.
- The authors found that the escalation of the war has isolated Russia, a key party to many international conservation agreements and a vital country for protecting biodiversity because of its diverse habitats, as well as the threatened and migratory species it hosts.
- That isolation has impeded international cooperation on species conservation, they write.
- The invasion has also shifted the priorities of many countries faced with the knock-on effects of the war, such as potential food shortages.

Ukrainian ecologists say nature will suffer no matter war’s result (commentary)
- “As Ukrainian ecologists, we are constantly reminded of the extent to which war itself is at war with nature.”
- In a new commentary, two scientists linked to the Ukraine War Environmental Consequences Work Group share their views on the current and future ecological restoration work that will be needed in their country.
- Scientists and communicators linked to the group also hail from Russia and Belarus, countries which are engaged in the conflict against Ukraine: this is unusual and touching, the authors say. “The project has a huge democratic weight: when we’re trying to do the right thing for people and for nature, nationality doesn’t matter.”
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.

The EU banned Russian wood pellet imports; South Korea took them all
- In July 2022, the European Union responded to the war in Ukraine by banning the import of Russian woody biomass used to make energy. At roughly the same time, South Korea drastically upped its Russian woody biomass imports, becoming the sole official importer of Russian wood pellets for industrial energy use.
- The EU has reportedly replaced its Russian supplies of woody biomass by importing wood pellets from the U.S. and Eastern Europe. But others say that trade data and paper trails indicate a violation of the EU ban, with laundered Russian wood pellets possibly flowing through Turkey, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan to multiple EU nations.
- EU pellet imports from Turkey grew from 2,200 tons monthly last spring to 16,000 tons in September. Imports from Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan reportedly rose too, even though neither has a forest industry. A large body of scientific evidence shows that woody biomass adds significantly to climate change and biodiversity loss.
- Enviva, the world’s largest woody biomass producer, which operates chiefly in the Southeast U.S., may be the big winner in the Russian biomass ban. Since the war began, Enviva has upped EU shipments, and also announced a 10-year contract with an unnamed European customer to deliver 800,000 metric tons of pellets annually by 2027.

Into the Wasteland, part 3: Buried in Europe’s recycling
- The European Commission estimates that the illegal handling of recycling and other wastes represents around 15-30% of the total EU waste trade, generating EUR 9.5 billion annually.
- Our team visits a facility in Poland that's supposed to be handling U.K. recycling but finds it shuttered and infested with rats.
- We also speak with the 'James Bond of waste trafficking' who reveals that much recycling is being 'laundered' via the Netherlands and shipped on to countries where such resources are often dumped, not recycled.
- This is the final episode in Mongabay's three-part, “true eco-crime” series, where investigative reporters trace England’s -- and Europe's -- towering illegal waste problem.

Black Sea dolphin deaths prompt ecocide allegations against Russia
- On Dec. 7, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of ecocide during COP15, the U.N. biodiversity summit in Montreal, following unprecedented reports of dead dolphins and porpoises washing up on Black Sea beaches since Russia invaded Ukraine.
- On Dec. 2, researchers reported the first scientific analysis of changes in cetacean deaths and movement patterns since the war began in February.
- Mounting evidence is slowly painting a clearer picture of the mass mortality of Black Sea cetaceans.
- But estimates of the death toll vary and scientists diverge on whether research has progressed far enough to scientifically conclude the war’s effect.

Bolivia looks to opaque methods, firms to build lithium powerhouse
- As fossil fuel use aggravates climate breakdown, companies and governments are looking to lithium-ion batteries to replace carbon-intensive technologies. Lithium prices have hit all-time highs, pushing the market to seek more sources to meet forecasted demand.
- To fill the gap, companies have turned to Bolivia, whose 2019 election was marred by turmoil exacerbated by allegations of foreign powers seeking its lithium that some called an attempted coup.
- Six foreign firms expect a decision from the Bolivian government about which will earn the opportunity to use new technologies, collectively called direct lithium extraction, to speed up the country’s production of the world’s largest recorded reserves of lithium.

EU’s winter energy crisis intensifies pressure on forests (commentary)
- An energy crisis sparked by the war in Ukraine is intensifying pressure on Europe’s already besieged forests.
- Faced with having to choose whether to heat or eat, demand for firewood has surged as people return to this pre-industrial means of survival to get them through the coming winter. Big companies who burn wood for energy have also been lobbying policymakers to support their industry in the face of fossil fuel shortages.
- “Instead of pumping billions of euros of taxpayers’ money every year into burning biomass…financial support should be redirected towards policies which work: for people, for forests and our climate,” a new op-ed argues.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

Forest fires are getting worse, 20 years of data confirm
- Fires are now causing an additional 3 million hectares (7.4 million acres) of tree cover loss per year than they did in 2001, according to a newly released Global Forest Watch analysis that examined fires that burn all or most of a forest’s living overstory trees.
- The majority of all fire-caused tree cover loss in the past 20 years (nearly 70%) occurred in boreal regions. Although fires are naturally occurring there, they are now increasing at an annual rate of 3% and burning with greater frequency and severity and over larger areas than historically recorded.
- Fires are not naturally occurring in tropical rainforests, but in recent years, as deforestation and climate change have degraded and dried out intact forests, fires have been escaping into standing tropical rainforests. GFW findings suggest fires in the tropics have increased by roughly 5% per year since 2001.
- Researchers say there is no “silver bullet” solution for forest fires, but experts call for more spending on planning and preparation.

Tigers may avoid extinction, but we must aim higher (commentary)
- “I was extremely skeptical that the world could achieve the grandly ambitious goal set at the 2010 Global Tiger Summit of doubling tiger numbers, or reaching 6,000 individuals, by 2022,” the author of a new op-ed states.
- But because of the overly ambitious goal set in 2010, the world is cautiously celebrating a win for the species, with the IUCN recently estimating the species’ numbers have increased by 40% during that time, from 3,200 in 2015 to 4,500 this year.
- When tiger range states and scientists gather for the second Global Tiger Summit this year, they must take stock of this unusual success and work to give tigers space, protect said spaces from poaching, and scale-up efforts.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

As biomass burning surges in Japan and South Korea, where will Asia get its wood?
- In 2021, Japan and South Korea imported a combined 6 million metric tons of wood pellets for what proponents claim is carbon-neutral energy.
- Large subsidies for biomass have led Japan to import massive amounts of wood pellets from Vietnam and Canada; two pellet giants, Drax and Enviva, are now eyeing Japan for growth, even as the country may be cooling to the industry.
- South Korea imports most of its pellets from Vietnamese acacia plantations, which environmentalists fear may eventually pressure natural forests; South Korea wants to grow its native production sixfold, including logging areas with high conservation value.
- Vietnam may soon follow Japan and South Korea’s path as it phases out coal, and experts fear all this could add massive pressure on Southeast Asian forests, which are already among the most endangered in the world.

Amid war, Ukrainians are tracking Russia’s crimes against the environment
- With civilian and political welfare as the Ukrainian government’s number one priority, environmental destruction has largely been overlooked during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
- But civilians and experts alike have rallied together to record more than 100 separate instances of “crimes against the environment,” with the aim of bringing Russia to justice under international courts after the war.
- From the destruction of fuel and gas depots to the long-term effects of ecosystem services on Ukraine, known as the “breadbasket of the world,” environmental impacts can also become humanitarian crises, activists warn.

2021 tropical forest loss figures put zero-deforestation goal by 2030 out of reach
- The world lost a Cuba-sized area of tropical forest in 2021, putting it far off track from meeting the no-deforestation goal by 2030 that governments and companies committed to at last year’s COP26 climate summit.
- Deforestation rates remained persistently high in Brazil and the Democratic Republic of Congo, home to the world’s two biggest expanses of tropical forest, negating the decline in deforestation seen in places like Indonesia and Gabon.
- The diverging trends in the different countries show that “it’s the domestic politics of forests that often really make a key difference,” says leading forest governance expert Frances Seymour.
- The boreal forests of Eurasia and North America also experienced a spike in deforestation last year, driven mainly by massive fires in Russia, which could set off a feedback loop of more heating and more burning.

Contorted energy politics of the Ukraine crisis (commentary)
- The Russian invasion of Ukraine has driven energy prices to the highest levels in years, spurring a global energy crisis.
- Nikolas Kozloff, a writer who authored “No Rain in the Amazon: How South America’s Climate Change Affects the Entire Planet,” examines America’s response, which he argues is so far shaping up to be a missed opportunity to transition toward greener energy sources.
- “The Ukraine crisis has the potential to finally nudge the world towards a long overdue clean energy future,” he writes. “However, the Biden administration seems to have calculated that pursuing short-term political gains must take priority.”
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Tiger politics and tiger conservation: Where the stakeholders are going wrong (commentary)
- With so many countries, organizations and industries involved, tiger conservation has strayed far from the initial goals and into politics over the decades.
- At the next Global Tiger Summit, scheduled for Sep. 5, the key concerns the participants need to address include past mistakes and lessons learned, besides reviewing new projects, funding, and management plans.
- All Tiger Range Countries and stakeholders need to collaborate with transparency and equal involvement from all parties, with an unbiased organization having full mandate, knowledge, capacity, ambition, network and the means to lead tiger conservation at the forefront.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Photography, nature, truth and war: Q&A with top photographer Ami Vitale
- Mongabay contacted award-winning photographer and former war correspondent Ami Vitale to hear her thoughts about the power of photography at this pivotal time in places like Ukraine.
- In a new interview, Vitale shares her views and also news of a photography sale that she and other National Geographic photographers have donated prints to, toward providing relief to victims of the war.
- “Photography can remind us all that we have a lot more in common than we often realize. If we…dig beneath the headlines and take the time to understand, a universal truth emerges. We are all connected to one another,” she says.
- Photos from the print sale are available until May 10th.

Where does the Greater Mekong’s illegal timber go?
- Not all lumber is created equal; within the Greater Mekong region, high-quality hardwoods such as Burmese teak and rosewood are particularly valuable and have been logged almost to commercial extinction.
- Burmese rosewood is highly sought after in China for furniture, while Burmese teak is popular in the European shipbuilding sector as decking for superyachts.
- Recognizing their role in Myanmar’s illegal timber trade, European Union member states developed a common position in 2017 acknowledging imports of Myanmar timber into the EU to be against the law due to their high risk of illegality.
- However, shipments continue to leak into the region through countries where enforcement is weaker, including Italy and Croatia.

The catfight within tiger conservation: Why all stakeholders need to start working together (commentary)
- After 12 years of tiger conservation efforts across borders, the Global Tiger Recovery Program (GTRP) ends in 2022 with most tiger range countries coming in with failed attempts at saving their tigers.
- Tiger conservation can be successful only if the six stakeholder groups involved in it — Intergovernmental organizations (IGOs), governments, NGOs, financiers, forums, and media — came together with shared goals.
- The next Global Tiger Initiative summit at Vladivostok in 2022 will be the ideal moment to repair the flaws of the previous GTI and create true cooperation with all the stakeholders, with full support of all tiger range countries.
- The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

COP26: Surging wood pellet industry threatens climate, say experts
- With the U.N. climate summit (COP26) in its second week, Earth is on track to warm by 2.7° Celsius (4.86° Fahrenheit) by 2100, a catastrophic forecast based on projected carbon emissions. However, analysts say that those projections exclude major emissions currently escaping from biomass-burning power plants.
- A carbon accounting loophole in global climate change policy classifies burning woody biomass for energy as “carbon neutral,” and is accepted by the U.N. and many of the world’s nations. But scientists have proven otherwise, even as the forestry industry gets massive subsidies to produce millions of tons of wood pellets annually.
- Those subsidies are fueling rapid growth of the biomass industry, as forests are cut in the U.S., Canada, Eastern Europe, Russia, Vietnam, and Malaysia. The E.U. and U.K. are the largest biomass energy market, but with rapid expansion now occurring in Japan and South Korea, the biomass boom is just beginning.
- Scientists and activists say that to avoid disastrous global warming impacts, forest large biomass subsidies must end, which will make the industry unprofitable and free up funding for real climate solutions. But the topic is not even on the COP26 agenda, and action on the biomass burning issue anytime soon seems unlikely.

Novel chemical entities: Are we sleepwalking through a planetary boundary?
- The “novel entities” planetary boundary encapsulates all toxic and long-lived substances that humans release into the environment — from heavy metals and radioactive waste, to industrial chemicals and pesticides, even novel living organisms — which can threaten the stability of the Earth system.
- Humans have invented more than 140,000 synthetic chemicals and we produce them in vast quantities: around 2.3 billion tons annually. Yet, only a few thousand have been tested for their toxicity to humans or other organisms. That leaves humanity essentially flying blind to potential chemical interactions and impacts.
- Global treaties such as the Stockholm Convention, Minamata Convention, and Basel Convention, limit production and/or trade of some environmentally persistent toxic and hazardous chemicals. But progress is slow: Decades after DDT’s impacts were reported, it is still regularly used in developing nations.
- NGOs call for an international tax on basic chemicals production, with the funds supporting countries devising and implementing regulations to protect human health and the environment. A 0.5% international fee could raise $11.5 billion yearly, vastly surpassing current global funding for chemicals management.

Though nefarious, Russian hack of JBS should prompt environmental debate over meat “oligopoly” (commentary)
- The recent cyberattack on Brazilian meatpacking giant JBS attracted a lot of attention, but Author Nikolas Kozloff said that most of analysis and discussion neglected to focus on broader issues associated with the industry.
- “Public discussion has missed the mark by focusing far too narrowly on mere supply chain issues: however nefarious, the JBS hack exposes wider concerns ranging from food justice to animal rights to public health to the environment and climate change,” Kozloff.
- “It is highly ironic, and that is putting it mildly, that it has taken Russian cyber-crime to highlight such systemic and underlying problems, yet perhaps such high-profile incidents might succeed in prompting long-overdue debate.”
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

‘Laundering machine’: Furniture giant Ikea implicated in logging protected Siberian forests
- The world’s biggest furniture retailer, Ikea, has for years sold children’s furniture made from wood linked to illegal logging in protected forests in Russia, an Earthsight investigation has found.
- The brand’s popular Sundvik children’s range are among the items likely tainted with illegal wood. Investigators estimate that shoppers around the world have on average been purchasing an Ikea product containing the suspect Russian lumber every two minutes.
- Using undercover meetings, visits to logging sites, satellite imagery analysis and scrutiny of official documents, court records and customs data, Earthsight traced wooden furniture on sale in Ikea stores around the world to forests in Siberia, finding that they were controlled by companies owned by one of Russia’s wealthiest politicians, Evgeny Bakurov.

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