forest ecosystem News

Forests offer much more than Sunday walks, clean air and water, wild birds and mushrooms. In addition to being home to numerous species, forests are vital to the overall health of our environment. The European Environment Agency's (EEA) new short assessment provides an overview of their state and their main threats. Fifth in the series of ' ...

Apr. 6, 2010

By European Environment Agency (EEA)

Tourists would be willing to pay for increased biodiversity and reduced clear-felling in forests, a recent Finnish case study suggests. In a survey of over 900 visitors to Lapland, most stated that they felt landscape quality and biodiversity were important, and that they would be happy to pay their share for preserving these qualities. Forests provide numerous ecosystem services. In addition to ...

Oct. 10, 2013

By European Commission, Environment DG

Two new leaders, Nigel Sizer and Robert Winterbottom, added to roster Two international forest experts, with more than 45 years combined experience, have joined the World Resources Institute’s (WRI) People and Ecosystems Program. Dr. Nigel Sizer, who worked at WRI earlier in his career, returns to lead the ...

Mar. 16, 2011

By World Resources Institute WRI

We must take notice of the hydrological ecosystem services of tropical forests to avoid "mega-droughts" and devastating wildfires in Amazonian forests, says Brazilian conservation biologist Carlos Peres. The severe droughts of 1997, 1998, 2005 and 2010 changed the general view that tropical forests can resist fire destruction because of the moisture stored underneath heavy canopies, Peres says. ...

Feb. 8, 2011

By SciDev.Net

Tourists would be willing to pay for increased biodiversity and reduced clear-felling in forests, a recent Finnish case study suggests. In a survey of over 900 visitors to Lapland, most stated that they felt landscape quality and biodiversity were important, and that they would be happy to pay their share for preserving these qualities. Forests provide numerous ecosystem services. In addition to ...

Oct. 10, 2013

By European Commission, Environment DG

Forests may need to be converted to more drought-tolerant mixtures of tree species to prevent significant die-off under climate change, predicts a new study which modelled German forests. The researchers indicate that climate change is likely to lead to significant forest damage, which could be reduced through adaptive management. Protecting forest goods and services under the uncertain ...

Jul. 4, 2013

By European Commission, Environment DG

Due to climate change, parts of the world will face droughts that will affect forest health. Scientists from INRA, in collaboration with WSL1 (Switzerland) and European colleagues, studied the resistance of forests to drought according to the diversity of tree species. Contrary to what was commonly accepted by scientists, species diversity does not systematically improve tree resistance to ...

Sep. 30, 2014

By INRA - French National Institute of Agronomical Research

A ‘lost’ lake in Mali and a Kenyan forest that is the water tower for key rivers and lakes in East Africa are among two country projects aimed at bringing significant degraded and denuded ecosystems back from the brink. The projects are among several being drawn up and spearheaded by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), in cooperation with governments, to demonstrate that re-investing in damaged ...

Oct. 6, 2008

By United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

So much attention is paid to the consequences of climate change that we often forget that global warming is only a part of our appreciation of the damage caused to the world's ecosystem. The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), an association of 195 multinationals dealing exclusively with sustainable development, has been involved in the UN's Millennium Ecosystem Assessment ...

Jun. 26, 2007

The largest-ever global study on The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) was released today in Nagoya, Japan, at the Convention on Biodiversity's 10th Conference of the Parties. The study, Mainstreaming the Economics of Nature, was led by a top international banker (Pavan Sukhdev) and sponsored by the U.N. and a host of countries. It finds that nature provides trillions of dollars in ...

Oct. 19, 2010

By GLOBE Foundation

While global financial markets crumble, a new form of markets is on the rise. Ecosystem markets, exchanges of nature's various services, are adding new dimensions to conservation. In addition to using regulation to restrict development, more countries are turning to the invisible hand of the market to protect biodiversity, clean waterways, and fight climate change. In a nutshell, market-based ...

Jan. 13, 2009

By Worldwatch Institute

Ecosystems provide businesses with numerous benefits or "ecosystem services." Forests supply timber and wood fiber, purify water, regulate climate, and yield genetic resources. River systems provide freshwater, power, and recreation. The report, The Corporate Ecosystem Services Review, developed ...

Jun. 24, 2008

By GLOBE Foundation

New maps and a report released today by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and Dogwood Alliance reveal the ecological threat a major wood pellet manufacturing mill in Ahoskie, North Carolina, poses to surrounding endangered forests. The facility, operated by the South’s largest exporter of wood pellets, Enviva, produces approximately 400,000 tons of wood pellets per year to ship ...

Aug. 27, 2013

By Natural Resources Defense Council

Years of industrial and agricultural growth have left an indelible imprint on many formerly vibrant US ecosystems. While nature is adept at resilience, the depletion and contamination of natural resources, especially water, may affect human health and wellbeing, a new report suggests.  Released last week by the federally funded environmental think tank The Heinz Center, The State of the Nation's ...

Jun. 27, 2008

By Worldwatch Institute

Using markets to protect and restore ecosystems – and the many services they provide – is gradually becoming a reality. Market-based systems have already protected hundreds of thousands of acres of land while still meeting human economic and development needs. They can help ensure that environmental benefits, ...

Jul. 26, 2011

By World Resources Institute WRI

Ecosystem market experts from Environmental Defense Fund will address a conference by the American Forest Foundation and World Resources Institute to examine success factors in ecosystem markets, a fast-growing opportunity for private landowners to gain a new revenue source by protecting and restoring imperiled ecosystems.  The goal of the ...

Jun. 27, 2011

By Environmental Defense Fund

The economic benefits of restoring natural ecosystems outweigh the costs, according to new research. The study examined the financial costs and benefits of restoring a range of ecosystems, including those found in marine, inland and coastal habitats, and concludes that in most cases the large value of ecosystem services provides a net economic benefit. Natural ecosystems provide a vast array of ...

Dec. 14, 2013

By European Commission, Environment DG

Global warming may dominate headlines today. Ecosystem degradation will do so tomorrow. To prepare businesses for this new landscape, three organizations today launched a set of guidelines designed to help companies proactively develop strategies to manage risks and opportunities arising from ecosystem degradation. The guidelines, called the Corporate Ecosystem Services Review ( 3.5 MB) were ...

Mar. 17, 2008

By World Business Council for Sustainable Development

Climate change is already altering the environment. Long-lived ecosystems such as forests are particularly vulnerable to the comparatively rapid changes in the climate system. A new international study published this week in Nature Climate Change shows that damage from wind, bark beetles, and wildfires has increased drastically in Europe’s forests in recent years. Europe’s ...

Aug. 4, 2014

By Wageningen University and Research Centre

Mercury is a global pollutant arising from many sources, including biomass burning (BMB), which includes both wildfires and intentional fires to clear land. A recent study estimates that mercury emissions from BMB make up 8 per cent of total global mercury emissions. Mercury emissions from BMB have received growing attention. Forests in particular act as mercury sinks because atmospheric mercury ...

Jun. 19, 2009

By European Commission, Environment DG