Climate ‘adds fuel to Asian wildfire emissions’

In the last decade, Asian farmers have cleared tens of thousands of square miles of forests to accommodate the world’s growing demand for palm oil, an increasingly popular food ingredient, reports Science Daily.
Ancient peatlands have been drained and lush tropical forests have been cut down.
As a result, the landscape of equatorial Asia now lies [...]

Study links forest fires to climate shift

A warming climate will fuel larger, more frequent wildfires in the Sierra Nevada and other parts of the West, and the fires will contribute to climate change, according to a new study reported in Insurance Journal.
More than 20 international scientists, in the report published in the journal Science, said fire is not only a consequence [...]

Challenge to plant methane link

The recent finding that plants could be a major source of the atmosphere’s methane is challenged by new research, reports BBC News environment correspondent Richard Black.

A 2006 study suggested plants could account for almost half of the global production of the greenhouse gas.
But a UK-based team now reports that under normal conditions, plants just convey [...]

US shade trees cut bills and emissions

Shade trees on the west and south sides of a house in California can reduce a homeowners’ energy bills by about $25, a study has concluded.
The survey, involving 460 homes in the Sacramento area, is described as the “first large-scale study to use utility billing data to show that trees can reduce energy consumption”.
“Everyone knows [...]

Amazon deforestation trend ‘on the increase’

Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon forests has flipped from a decreasing to an increasing trend, ScienceDaily reports.
Commenting on the figures released by the country’s space agency INPE, Brazilian environment minister Carlos Minc confirmed that the government was set to announce forest related carbon emission reduction targets.
He added that he hoped that the scheme would link halting [...]

Forests and farms ‘can fight climate change’

The problem of global warming from greenhouse gases calls for a stronger involvement of agriculture and farming communities, as well as forestry and forest users in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has said.
“Agriculture and deforestation are major contributors to climate change, but by the same token farmers and [...]

Prince calls for rainforest bills

Prince Charles has called for rich countries to pay an annual “utility bill” for the benefits given to the world by its rainforests, the BBC News website reports.
Speaking in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, the prince called rainforests the “world’s greatest public utility”.
They act as an air conditioner, store fresh water and provide work, he said.
The [...]