Did deforestation and tropical storms cause Haiti’s earthquake?

A tropical storm system over Haiti Long before Haiti’s January 12, 2010 earthquake devastated the capital Port-Au-Prince and much of the surrounding towns and villages, the country was already wrestling with a legacy of environmental degradation and deforestation that has denuded what was once a richly forested landscape. This deforestation has been identified as a primary culprit in Haiti’s stunted development. It has limited crop production... Read More

A Jungle Trek in Gunung Leuser National Park, Indonesia

A very, very large tree (Photo: S. Neil Larsen) What I thought a rainforest was “supposed” to be like has been shaped by years of watching nature documentaries and various Hollywood films on the subject (Indiana Jones, Medicine Man, Ferngully, etc.). I expected hoards of insects buzzing about and creepy-crawlies ready to pounce on you at a moments notice. I also expected dense underbrush necessitating a machete to move through. It turns... Read More

Biodiversity conservation can reduce poverty, study finds

Shameless self-promotion: The knowledge review I had been working on for The Nature Conservancy has been published. Does Conserving Biodiversity Work to Reduce Poverty: A State of Knowledge Review can be downloaded from ConserveOnline.  Read More

Assessing Environmental Recovery and Opportunity in Haiti

Denuded hillsides in rural Haiti (Photo: Scott MacKenzie) The long road to recovery is under way in Haiti, but it will be an arduous and difficult journey. Beyond the devastation wrought by the earthquake, the country will have to continue to deal with many of the ills that plagued it prior. It is well known by now that Haiti had (and continues to have) the highest poverty levels in the western hemisphere. The nation severely lacks even the most basic... Read More

A Look at Haiti’s Environmental Vulnerability

The following short video from worldfocus was published in February, 2009, but is as relevant today as ever. Prioritizing ecological restoration and supporting environmentally sound infrastructure and development projects will be critical if the country’s long term recovery efforts are to reduce vulnerability to natural disasters such as the earthquake on January 12, 2010, or the hurricanes and tropical storms of August-September 2008.  Read More

Weekly gRound-Up: 1/17/2010

This week, we wanted to focus the gRound-up on the earthquake disaster in Haiti, highlighting some articles that discuss the underlying environmental issues there. Deforestation in Haiti This video report by the New York Times shows how the cycle of deforestation and poverty is perpetuated Haiti. How to rebuild Haiti Jeffery Sachs, director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University, writes in the Washington Post on how basic infrastructure can... Read More

Rampant Illegal Logging in Indonesia Detrimental for Human Rights, Report Concludes

A tree in the forest in North Sulawesi, Indonesia Indonesia: Illegal logging is not only leading to rainforest destruction, but is also exacerbating poverty, causing human rights to be violated. Unless the Indonesian government can rein-in corruption, future efforts to stop deforestation (such as REDD) are likely to fail. Human Rights Watch has just released a report titled Wild Money that details how rampant corruption in Indonesia’s forestry... Read More

Photo Contest Winner Announced

Paige Olmsted’s photo from Sarawak, Borneo is the winner of the 2009 Project Groundswell photo contest. Her photo captured 23% and a majority of the 273 votes cast. She will be receiving a copy of the BBC Planet Earth DVD box set in the mail. Congratulations Paige! Thank you to all who submitted photos and those that took the time to vote. Dear Links Directory  Read More

Home – The Movie

I just finished watching a stunning visual documentary by Yann Arthus-Bertrand called HOME. The film, released last summer and available to watch free online, shows our planet in all of its natural beauty through high definition aerial photography. But accompanying this natural beauty, are images depicting a wide range of the global environmental problems routinely discussed here such as deforestation, climate change, water shortages, and poverty. By... Read More

Will REDD be a Cause of Conflict?

Indonesia is welcoming a newly emerging forest carbon mechanism, Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD), as a means to mitigate climate change. Nearly 20% of global CO2 emissions are released into the atmosphere as a result of deforestation, and many see the prevention of these emissions as relatively inexpensive way to combat climate change. Under REDD, industrialized nations will be able to offset their carbon emissions by... Read More