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A Conservationist Sees Signs of Hope for the World’s Rainforests by Rhett Butler: Yale Environment 360
After decades of sobering news, a prominent conservationist says he is finally finding reason to be optimistic about the future of tropical forests. Consumer pressure on international corporations and new monitoring technology, he says, are helping turn the tide in efforts to save forests from Brazil to Indonesia.
In the mid-1990s I visited a magnificent tract of lowland rainforest in Malaysian Borneo. Some of my fondest memories are from that forest: hiking under the towering trees, wading in the crystal-clear streams, and delighting in its spectacular wildlife, including hornbills and endangered orangutans. But a few months after my visit, those trees were torn down, and the forest was obliterated. Today that area is an oil palm plantation.
The destruction of that forest set me on an odyssey that led to the creation of Mongabay.com, which has become a popular and influential website that closely tracks trends in the world’s tropical forests. For a decade-and-a-half, I have devoted tens of thousands of hours to the cause of protecting forests, engaging with the world’s leading forest experts and visiting scores of forests around the world. During that time, I’ve continued to witness incredible destruction, and there has been reason for despair. But lately — for the first time, really — I’ve started seeing cause for optimism about future of forests.
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Can we have our cities and biodiversity, too? | Ensia
Can we have our cities and biodiversity, too? | Ensia.
October 23, 2014 — We are entering the most extensive and rapid phase of urban growth ever experienced. Not only are urban populations expected to double in just a few decades, physical urban space is expected to increase at an even faster pace. Estimates suggest that by 2050 a land area the size of South Africa, more than 1.2 million square kilometers, will be engulfed by cities, straining natural resources and ecosystems. And much of this development will occur adjacent to biodiversity-rich areas.
While continuing urbanization will pose challenges, it can also provide opportunities. Reconciling biodiversity and urban areas through conscious choices and innovative development has proven to be beneficial for human and environmental health. When done right, harm to the environment is minimized, cities become more resilient to severe weather, and the effects of climate change may even be mitigated. The potential of cities is vast.
The Cities and Biodiversity Outlook project seeks to draw attention to that potential and to successful examples of cities capitalizing on it. Based on scientific work from the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity, the Stockholm Resilience Centre and Local Governments for Sustainability, the CBO developed a list of 10 key messages about biodiversity and urbanization and produced the short film above, An Urbanizing Planet.
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