Tag - forests

 
 

FORESTS

The annual white paper on forests and forestry includes a special section on pollen allergies for the first time.
JAPAN
Jun 4, 2024
Government white paper includes goal of halving cedar pollen in 30 years
The annual report on forests and forestry, adopted at a Cabinet meeting on the day, includes a special section on hay fever for the first time.
Pine trees in a coniferous forest Canterbury, New Zealand
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
May 28, 2024
Millions more trees isn’t the climate fix New Zealand envisaged
The result of a project linking incentives for forestry development and emissions trading turned out to be less effective than hoped.
Toshihiro Kinjo (center), a research support technician at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, inspects an audio recording device in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, on April 3 as Masako Ogasawara, a research support specialist at OIST, looks on.
PODCAST / deep dive
May 23, 2024
What does climate change sound like in Okinawa?
This week, Japan Times climate editor Chris Russell joins us to discuss what researchers at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology are listening to.
A drone view of fire and smoke from burning vegetation rising in a rainforest in Canta, state of Roraima, Brazil, on Feb. 29.
ENVIRONMENT
May 21, 2024
Brazil's Amazon fires off to record 2024 start as green union blames firefighting budget cut
A record drought, brought on by the El Nino climate phenomenon and global warming, is thought to be behind the fires.
Orangutans at Malaysia's National Zoo in Kuala Lumpur in 2021. The orangutan is critically endangered, with a population of less than 105,000 on the island of Borneo, according to conservation group WWF.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 9, 2024
Malaysia eyes 'orangutan diplomacy' with nations that import palm oil
But concerned wildlife advocates are calling for alternative measures to protect the ape's habitat and improve the sustainable production of the commodity.
Pollen from cedar tree forests in Nagano Prefecture. The government faces an uphill battle in reducing cedar trees amid a labor shortage in the forestry industry.
JAPAN / Science & Health
May 2, 2024
Japan's pollen countermeasures face challenges amid slow cedar logging
A persistent labor shortage and tepid demand for timber stand in the way of the government's aim of reducing the trees responsible for hay fever.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida rides on a forestry processor during an inspection of afforestation in Hitachiomiya, Ibaraki Prefecture, in October.
JAPAN
Apr 26, 2024
Japan groups eye online market to promote use of domestic lumber
The process of reforestation has faced obstacles, primarily stemming from the considerable burdens placed on forest owners.
Toshihiro Kinjo (center), a research support technician at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, inspects an audio recording device in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, on April 3 as Masako Ogasawara, a research support specialist at OIST, looks on.
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife / OUR PLANET
Apr 21, 2024
Hearing the impact of climate change in Okinawa, one bird call at a time
From Okinawa to Australia, “passive acoustic monitoring” projects are feeding scientists with data about changes to ecosystems and biodiversity.
Shintaro Tajima (left) and his son, Daisuke, pose in their forest in Hita, Oita Prefecture, in January. At their feet is wasabi growing in clusters.
BUSINESS / Companies / Regional Voices: Kyushu
Mar 18, 2024
Oita forestry firm signs carbon trade deal with Line operator
LY, which operates Line and Yahoo services, will purchase 1,500 tons of carbon credit per year from Tajima Forest for 10 years.
Awang Suang trims weeds from palm trees on his small plantation in Membakut, Malaysia on Feb. 12. He has been cultivating oil palms for more than 50 years after switching from rubber trees. Palms require less labor and produce more frequent harvests — roughly every two weeks, year round — providing a steadier income, he explained.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Mar 18, 2024
Can Europe save forests without killing jobs in Malaysia?
A new regulation aims to rid the palm oil supply chain of imports that come from former forestland.
Firefighters tackle a forest fire ravaging the Bolivian Amazon, in San Buenaventura, Bolivia, in November 2023.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Mar 18, 2024
Reading the ruins of Amazon fires, scientists see crisis ahead
Fanned by drought, high winds and human felling, the forest is suffering unprecedented early-year fires.
Mercian's vineyard in Koshu, Yamanashi Prefecture
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
Mar 18, 2024
Major Japanese beverage groups focusing more on sustainability
Initiatives have diversified to include water source preservation as well as winery tours under the theme of the U.N.'s Sustainable Development Goals.
A man sits near the remains of burnt houses following the spread of wildfires in Vina del Mar, Chile, on Saturday.
WORLD
Feb 4, 2024
Wildfires threaten 2 Chilean cities, destroying 1,000 homes and killing 46
The disaster comes as Colombia battles its own blazes the mountains around Bogotá, in what officials say is the hottest January there in 30 years.
An old growth forest near Fort St. James, British Columbia, Canada, in an area where pellet producer Drax is permitted to cut.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy / OUR PLANET
Jan 14, 2024
Japan's thirst for biomass is having a harmful impact on Canada's forests
Experts and activists say biomass is not the climate solution it might appear to be on the surface and is far from being sustainable.
Workers plow a field at the site of an economic land concession outside Praeus K'ak village in Cambodia's Preah Vihear province on Dec. 6.
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 24, 2023
'Doom for forests': Fears over new Cambodia land grants
Thousands are affected by economic land concessions (ELCs) — land grants to businesses that experts say have driven deforestation and dispossession.
Sacks of coffee beans at a storage unit in the Sidama region of Ethiopia.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 20, 2023
Coffee firms switch sources, evading impact of EU deforestation law
Under the new law, importers of various commodities and products that use them must prove goods did not originate from deforested land.
Researchers prepare to conduct a mapping survey of a reforested area on a hillside near Chiang Mai, Thailand.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Dec 18, 2023
In Thailand, drones help solve forest carbon capture riddle
Drones are part of an increasingly sophisticated arsenal used by scientists to understand forests and their role in the battle against climate change.
People in New York watch drones creating a 3D display outside the United Nations Headquarters calling attention to the Amazon rainforest and climate change.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Nov 29, 2023
Amazon rainforest destruction slows sharply year to date, report says
Destruction across the Amazon rainforest so far this year has slowed dramatically, down 55.8% from the same period a year ago.
Bears doing yoga? If you’re in the city, why not?
PODCAST / deep dive
Nov 16, 2023
Bear goes the neighborhood? Japanese wildlife is on the move.
This week, Alex K.T. Martin joins us to discuss why people are encountering bears, boars and other wildlife in the most unlikely of places.
Armando Aroca, environmentalist, former guerrilla and current nursery manager of the Common Community Multi Active Cooperative (COMUCCOM) farm, points to a mural with the image of murdered environmentalist Jorge Santofimio in Puerto Guzman, Colombia, on June 27.
ENVIRONMENT
Nov 16, 2023
How the murders of activists hurt Colombian ecological preservation
Conservationists are targeted as their work poses a threat to illegal activities

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?