Carbon righteousness – how to ensure the poor benefit from REDD
The International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) has issued a new reports on REDD+: Carbon righteousness: how to lever pro-poor benefits from REDD+ This briefing discusses the opportunities and challenges involved in the creation of a new form of private property that can be bought and sold in domestic and international markets — the ‘carbon right’. It looks at how equity and fairness can be built into this new...
In search of rare carnivorous plants in the Philippines (video)
The Discovery of Nepenthes leonardoi: An intrepid journey to the Philippines reveals a spectacular new Nepenthes species on an unexplored mountain full of surprise… unchartered territory, little known tribes, newly discovered Drosera and a brand new Nepenthes.
If you love or hate crows
Guest post by the American Society of Landscape Architects Lyanda Lynn Haupt is an award-winning author, speaker, and naturalist based in Seattle. Her latest book, “Crow Planet: Essential Wisdom from the Urban Wilderness“, which David Sedaris called “completely charming and informative,” received the 2010 Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Award. Haupt blogs at The Tangled Nest. Your new book, “Crow Planet:...
Global tropical forest carbon map
Forest carbon stock from Saatchi et al. 2011. Click image to enlarge New global carbon map for 2.5 billion ha of forests (05/31/2011) Tropical forests across Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia stored 247 gigatons of carbon — more than 30 years’ worth of current emissions from fossil fuels use — in the early 2000s, according to a comprehensive assessment of the world’s carbon stocks. The research, published in the...
Activism: vote for an Ocean Hero!
Green anemone at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Ocean conservation organization, Oceana, is asking for votes for its 3rd Annual Ocean Heroes Contest. According to their webstie: “On World Oceans Day, Oceana honors those who have made a significant, ongoing contribution to ocean conservation. This year, hundreds were nominated, and a panel of experts selected the following finalists. Vote now for your...
Greenwashing scandal hits Conservation International
Questions are being raised about Conservation International (CI), one of the world’s largest conservation groups, after it was the target of a “sting” video by Don’t Panic magazine. Reporters from Don’t Panic posed as representatives from Lockheed Martin, an arms manufacture, and secretly recorded conversations with CI development representative. They asked whether CI could help Lockheed Martin build a...
Brazil’s largest miner to fund destructive Amazon dam
Vale, a Brazilian mining company that frequently touts its environmental stewardship, will invest $1.4 billion in the controversial Belo Monte dam. The project will flood nearly 200 square miles (500 square kilometers) of rainforest and impact up to 50,000 indigenous people.
Pictures: Happy Cinco de Mayo
To Celebrate Mexico’s Independence Day (Cinco de Mayo), here are some photos of beach sunrises in and around...
Photos: Meerkats celebrating Easter
Keepers at ZSL London Zoo use Easter eggs as an enrichment activity for meerkats. The keepers filled a giant “egg” with mealworms — beetle larvae — and provided colored hard-boiled eggs to the group of eight meerkats. “Not only does the act of cracking open the eggs give the meerkats good enrichment but the hard-boiled eggs are a tasty and healthy treat,” said Caroline Westlake, a keeper at ZSL. Photos...
Photo: A giant tree
Me in front of a giant kapok or ceiba tree on Barro Colorado Island in Panama. This is nowhere near the largest kapok tree I’ve ever seen — they get considerably bigger — but it is nonetheless gigantic. The same ceiba, which is called “The Big Tree”, seen from a distance. The same ceiba tree seen from a boat on Lake Gatun (e.g. Panama Canal). Looking up the trunk of the kapok tree Again, me for...
Pictures: Saving threatened frogs
Hand-feeding a sick Hyloscirtus colymba tree frog. The Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project is racing to save amphibians as the deadly chytrid fungus spreads down Central America. The disease is presently between Panama City and Colon. Juvenile Atelopus certus. Pristimantis species. Undescribed Pristimantis species. Juvenile Atelopus certus. Atelopus limosus. More photos to come. All photos by Rhett A....
Oyster reefs a cheaper and more effective way to clean coastal waters
This post originally appeared ASLA’s “The Dirt” blog as Oyster-Tecture in Action Sustainable designer Neil Chambers, author of “Urban Green: Architecture for the Future,” made the case for using natural systems to clean and manage water at a conference organized by The Economist. In Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, beach tourism had been negatively impacted by heavy water pollution. Instead of re-engineering...
Photo: big-eared endangered monkey born at zoo
A three-week old baby white-naped mangabey (Cercocebus atys lunulatus) has been named ‘Hope’ given that her species is vanishing from the wild. Photo by: James Godwin, ZSL. Born at the Zoological Society of London’s (ZSL) London Zoo, this white-naped mangabey (Cercocebus atys lunulatus) represents one of the Africa’s most imperiled monkeys and is apart of the European Endangered species Programme (EEP). The...
The importance of good tree-climbing skills (video)
Imagine for a moment that you live in a tropical rain forest and that calorie-rich palm tree fruits are an important part of your diet. Cutting a palm down for its fruit would be pretty shortsighted, right? Still, you might do just that–if the fruit dangled 20 meters above the rain forest floor, you lacked climbing skills, and you were hungry. But, if you had climbing skills–and gear when you needed it–and if...
‘My Pantanal’: short film about jaguars and a young cowboy in Brazil (video)
My Pantanal Written and Directed by Andrea Heydlauff Produced by Panthera tan‘My Panal’ is a film about a boy named Aerenilso, who lives on a fazenda (ranch) in the Pantanal, the world’s largest and wildest wetland, in Brazil. Aerenilso shows us what it is like to be a Pantaneiro (a cowboy), riding his horse, doing his chores, and exploring this incredible landscape that is teeming with wildlife, including the jaguar. We hear and see...
Rainforest stream in Borneo
A rainforest stream in Gunung Palung National Park, West Kalimantan in Indonesian Borneo. Photo taken by Rhett A. Butler in March 2011.
Photos: baby gorilla takes first steps
Nicknamed ‘Tiny’, a three-month old baby male gorilla took his first steps a the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) Zoo. Tiny had not left his mother since birth, but the 12-year-old mom, named Mjukuu, encouraged him to begin exploring his home. While Tiny is beginning to get his first teeth, keepers say he has awhile to go before reaching a full-sized silverback male. Photos courtesy of...
Video: uncontacted tribe captured on film from the sky
Filmed by the BBC in collaboration with Brazil’s Indian Affairs Department (FUNAI), new footage shows an uncontacted indigenous tribe from the air. Living on the border of Brazil and Peru the tribe is threatened by illegal Peruvian loggers. To read more about the tribe: Incredible new photos of uncontacted tribe in the...
Trailer: Patagonia Rising
Patagonia Rising Trailer from brian lilla on Vimeo. From film-maker Brian Lilla: “Patagonia Rising investigates a plan to build five large hydroelectric dams on two of the world’s purest free-flowing rivers in Chile. Tracing the hydrologic cycle of the Baker River from ice to ocean, Patagonia Rising brings voice to the South American cowboys, Gauchos, caught in the crossfire of future energy demands.” Having just...
Last chance to see: Visit Tanzania before “The Migration” is destroyed
With the government bent on building a road that scientists say will reduce the wildebeest herd by 500,000 animals, 2011 is the year to visit Tanzania to witness one of the world’s most incredible wildlife spectacles: the migration of more than a million wildebeest, zebra, and other animals across the Serengeti.
