21st Century Challenges

The number of fires destroying Amazon rainforests are increasing, a study from University of Exeter Geography Department has found. A team of scientists said fires in the region could release similar amounts of carbon as deliberate deforestation.

A multi-billion dollar deal tabled at the Copenhagen climate summit could lead to conflicts in forest-rich nations, a report has warned. The study by the Rights and Resources Initiative said the funds could place "unprecedented pressure" on some areas.

The PRP has just released a new online, interactive booklet that describes how rainforests are in the front line in the fight against climate change and explains how a new form of international collaboration could help to reduce tropical deforestation, with many benefits for developed and developiong countries

A new analysis has shown that payments to reduce carbon emissions from the forests could generate more income than palm oil production on deforested land.

Africa's forests are disappearing faster than those in other parts of the world because of a lack of land ownership, a report says.

Plants and trees are growing faster because of rising carbon dioxide levels, potentially buying Earth more time to address global warming, according to scientists.

Forests' role as massive carbon sinks is "at risk of being lost entirely", top forestry scientists have warned.

Prince Charles tells world leaders that they must 'strain every sinew' to find ways to halt the destruction of forests across the world

The Prince of Wales will meet world leaders and the heads of international institutions on Wednesday to discuss solutions to protect the planet's threatened rainforests.

World forests face the dual challenge of climate change and the global economic crisis, a key UN report says.

Scientists say 4C rise would kill 85% of the Amazon rainforest. Even modest temperature rise would see 20-40% loss within 100 years

A third of the Amazonian 'carbon sink' is doomed whether or not emissions are cut, Copenhagen conference is told

Trees in the tropics are getting bigger, which means they are soaking up an extra 5bn tonnes of CO2 a year

Brazil's attempt to double its share of the global market for beef will carry a heavy environmental cost, report warns

Brazil plans to boost spending and programmes to significantly slow the rate of destruction of the Amazon rainforest by 2017, aiming to reduce global warming by slashing the amount of carbon dioxide emitted when trees are burned.

International proposals to protect forests as a way of tackling climate change could displace millions of indigenous people and fail to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, environmentalists warn.

The Prince of Wales travels to the Harapan rainforest is on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, where illegal loggers have cut vast swaths out of the forest over the years.

Excerpts from speech given by Marina Silva at Razing the Rainforest event, 22 October 2008

Concerns over the destruction of the Brazilian rainforest resurfaced at the weekend after it emerged that deforestation jumped by 64% over the last 12 months, according to official government data

The biggest ever fund set up to battle deforestation was launched today, targeting the vast Congo basin rainforest in central Africa. The fund is intended to provide African governments and people living in the rainforest with a viable alternative to logging, mining, and felling trees for firewood and subsistence farming

The forests of Papua New Guinea are being chopped down so quickly that more than half its trees could be lost by 2021, according to a new satellite study of the region

Prince Charles launches an organisation which calls for a new green economics that recognises the world's rainforests are worth more alive than dead