Trees & reforestation

Good news for wildlife conservation, elephants in Congo national park

Republic of Congo to catalyze investment in high-integrity forests

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Conservation authorities in the Republic of Congo have launched a plan to invest in the protection of “high-integrity forests” in Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park, treating these ecosystems as an asset class. The new initiative aims to fill a funding gap to protect the ROC’s forests by selling high-integrity forest (HIFOR) units, defined as representing “one hectare of healthy, high integrity tropical forest actively conserved within a large landscape for decades.”

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Aerial view of forest with cleared areas

Honduras launches plan to eliminate deforestation by 2029

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Honduras this year launched a plan to eliminate deforestation by 2029, with a special focus on recovering land used by criminal groups for timber trafficking. The plan aims to evict groups living and working in protected areas and to “neutralize and establish control” of roads where timber is trafficked. Officials have already carried out hundreds of operations and arrested dozens of people tied to organized crime.

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Trees

Norway’s forests have more than tripled in a hundred years

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Over the course of the last hundred years, Norwegian forests have tripled in size according to a new report. The survey from Statistics Norway shows that forest growth continued for the whole of the 20th and much of the 21st century, but has begun tapering off as spruce saplings planted by schoolchildren in the 1960s are now fully mature and beginning in some cases to die or be logged.

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Mangrove tree in water above and below sea surface

Bangladeshi women embrace mangrove restoration as an alternative livelihood

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The vast Sundarbans mangrove forests along the southern coast of Bangladesh act as a shield and protect the coastal people and their livelihoods from tropical cyclones and tidal surges. In the last couple of years, the number of mangroves in the zone has increased as the government and some NGOs have introduced programs to plant mangrove trees on the coastal embankments as protection measures. Women from coastal villages, who know the ecosystem well, have been at the forefront of these reforestation projects and have also become entrepreneurial with mangrove forest resources.

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Mangrove tree in the waters around Nosy Be Madagascar

Madagascar’s mangroves are rebounding after decades of deforestation

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A new analysis of satellite imagery dating as far back as 1972 reveals that mangroves in Madagascar are rebounding after decades of deforestation. The island’s total mangrove cover is down 8% compared with 1972, but a closer look at the data shows that the rate of loss has been declining and even reversed in the last decade. Between 2009 and 2019, Madagascar’s mangrove cover increased by 5%, with mangrove forests expanding even more in protected areas — showing that conservation efforts are working.

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Colombia flag

Deforestation in Colombia falls to lowest level in 23 years

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The amount of forest loss fell from 1,235 sq km in 2022 to 792 sq km in 2023 – a 36% decrease, official figures revealed. Most of the environmental gains were in the Amazon rainforest, where the Colombian government is focusing much of its conservation efforts. The two main successes have been reaching agreements where farmers are paid to protect the land and negotiations with armed groups who are the de facto authority in deforestation hotspots.

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A person preparing for planting the plant

Campesinos plant nearly a million trees in deforestation hotspot in the Colombian Amazon

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More than 700 campesinos from the municipality of Cartagena del Chairá have started restoring more than 11,000 acres of degraded rainforest in one of Colombia’s deforestation hotspots. In collaboration with researchers from SINCHI, the Amazonian Scientific Research Institute, and the Association of Community Action Boards, the families have recorded more than 600 plant and more than 100 animal species in the area.

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Aral Sea time lapse 1989 2014

Uzbekistan plants millions of acres of forest where the Aral Sea once lay

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Instead of trying to restore what used to be the world’s third largest lake, officials from the Uzbekistan Forestry Agency and locals are trying to plant a new forest where it once rested. The main purpose of the afforestation project it to curb the harmful sandstorms and improve the ecosystem by planting desert-tolerant plants. The initiative has so far planted 4.2 million acres of forest, with up to 494,000 acres of new forest planned for 2024.

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Plant coming out of concrete

‘Absolute miracle’ breakthrough provides recipe for zero-carbon cement

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Concrete is the world’s most used building material, and making it is a particularly dirty business – concrete production alone is responsible for about 8% of total global CO2 emissions. But according to new research from the University of Cambridge, throwing old concrete into steel-processing furnaces not only purifies iron but produces “reactivated cement” as a byproduct. If done using renewable energy, the process could make for completely carbon-zero cement.

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Young saplings

Microsoft signs another reforestation-based carbon removal megadeal

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Microsoft and nature-based climate solutions startup re.green have announced one of the largest-ever carbon removal agreements, with Microsoft purchasing 3 million tons of carbon removal credits over a 15-year period, generated through re.green’s reforestation projects in Brazil. The deal marks the second large-scale Brazil reforestation-focused carbon removal agreement for Microsoft, following a 1.5 million ton offtake deal with Brazil-based Mombak in December 2023, forming part of the tech giant’s initiative to become carbon negative by 2030.

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