Deforestation

The report, marked “Cabinet in Confidence”, was commissioned by the government in January 2019 under an agreement between the Liberals and Nationals to review land clearing if applications exceeded 20,000ha a year. The commission handed it to the government in July, but released it only after the Independent MP Justin Field threatened legal action. … [Read more...] about NSW land-clearing approvals increased 13-fold since laws relaxed in 2016

Writing in the Guardian on Wednesday, he says the BBC had given "the appearance of scientific authority to those with no supporting credentials". He questions why a senior corporation figure had long meetings about climate change with Nigel Lawson and Peter Lilley, both prominent UK sceptics. His criticism was echoed by other green campaigners, and academics. … [Read more...] about BBC coverage of IPCC climate report criticised for sceptics’ airtime

Deforestation experts said while health concerns must be a priority, the policy could have grave environmental consequences. “Weakening enforcement definitely means a greater risk of deforestation for obvious reasons,” said the environmental economist Sergio Margulis, the author of a paper on the causes of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. … [Read more...] about Brazil scales back environmental enforcement amid coronavirus outbreak

For 500 years, this has been a place of ruins. First with the European invasion, which brought a particularly destructive form of civilisation, the death of hundreds of thousands of indigenous men and women and the extinction of dozens of peoples. More recently, with the clearance of vast swaths of the forest and all life within it. Right now, in 2019, we are witnessing the beginning of a new, disastrous chapter. The area of trees being cleared has surged this year. In July, the deforestation rate was an area the size of Manhattan every day, a Greater London every three weeks. This month, fires are incinerating the Amazon at a record rate, almost certainly part of a scorched-earth strategy to clear territory. Why is this happening now? Because of a change in power. … [Read more...] about In Bolsonaro’s burning Brazilian Amazon, all our futures are being consumed

Photo of lead author Steven Jasinski conducting field work. One of its claws bore a scar from a fight with one of its kin - probably over food or a mate - it also suffered a rib injury in the attack, which had healed … [Read more...] about Last of the raptors? Newly discovered feathered dinosaur that lived in New Mexico 67 million years ago had five-inch claws and hunted like a cheetah with a whiplash-like tail