Land degradation and deforestation
News & Blogs
Moving past tree planting, expanding our definition of forests and restoration
What is a forest? And how do you restore one? These seemingly simple questions were interrogated – with a focus on solutions – during a panel discussion at the 2017 Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation Meeting, recently concluded in Merida, Mexico. A group of experts on Latin American forests examined both the conservation and restoration […] Continue Reading
Malawi Turns a Corner on Solving Its Deforestation Crisis
Nearly a year ago, the New York Times ran a devastating story about the deforestation crisis in Malawi and its impact on residents of Lilongwe, Malawi’s capital city. Illegal cutting of nearby forests was causing water shortages and disrupting the city’s hydroelectric power supply, forcing the government to deploy soldiers to protect the forests. The root of […] Continue Reading
Vanishing Land Fuels ‘Looming Crisis’ Across Africa
Kenya has a land problem. Africa itself has a land problem. The continent seems so vast and the land so open. The awesome sense of space is an inextricable part of the beauty here — the unadulterated vistas, the endless land. But in a way, that is an illusion. Population swells, climate change, soil degradation, erosion, poaching, […] Continue Reading
Trees for food security
Trees for Food Security Project goal is to enhance food security for resource-poor people in rural Eastern Africa through research that supports national programmes to scale up the use of trees within farming systems in Ethiopia and Rwanda and then scale out successes to relevant ago-ecological zones in Uganda and Burundi. Through the project, 5 […] Continue Reading
Two billion care, do you?
Two billion people live in the drylands, which cover 41 percent of the world’s land area. Far from being bare and lifeless, these drylands contain trees and forests essential to the lives of people and animals, supplying basic needs such as food, medicine, wood, energy, and fodder for livestock. But every minute, we lose 23 […] Continue Reading
Landsat-based tool helps spot deforestation
Deforestation is a global problem, more so in the developing and the underdeveloped world, thanks to ineffective laws and corrupt administrations in some parts of the world. But help is at hand. Now, when a new road appears in the dense forests of Peru, or a patch of forest is felled Malaysia, anyone with an […] Continue Reading