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Protect This Place: Latin America’s Gran Chaco Forest

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Friday, December 13, 2024

The Place: The Gran Chaco covers 303,782 square miles spanning Paraguay, Bolivia, Argentina, and Brazil. It is the second-largest natural forest in Latin America and has experienced some of the highest levels of deforestation on Earth. Why it matters: The Gran Chaco is home to 25 different Indigenous communities at risk of displacement from their ancestral lands by deforestation and land conversion, leaving them with nowhere else to go. Its great variety of ecosystems are also home to endemic, endangered, and threatened plants and wildlife, including around 3,400 species of plants, 150 mammals, and 500 bird species. Several IUCN Red List species, such as jaguars, peccaries, solitary eagles, giant anteaters, and lowland tapirs, are facing habitat loss within the Paraguayan Chaco, as land use change poses an increased threat to their survival. A Gran Chaco resident. Photo: Quadriz The threat: The rapid forest loss within the Gran Chaco is primarily driven by the expansion of commercial agriculture, particularly beef and soybean production, with Paraguay emerging as a top 10 exporter of these commodities. Contributing to this trend are the largely private ownership of the majority of the Paraguayan Chaco and a legal framework that allows up to 75% of privately owned forest land to be deforested for agricultural purposes. Agricultural fields seen from the air, carving up the Gran Chaco. Photo: Quadriz My place in this place: I have been working as country manager of Quadriz Paraguay since February 2021. As a nature lover, I have a particular fascination with the Chaco, as a wildly unique haven of biodiversity and a vital carbon sink that is often overlooked internationally. I have experienced the joy of conservation work. Seeing the beauty of my country and the animals we share it with has been a privilege that has fueled my dedication to the protection of the forest for generations to come. Who’s protecting it now: In response to this crisis, initiatives like the Corazón Verde del Chaco (Green Heart of the Chaco) project, developed by my organization Quadriz, are working to protect native forests and provide safe havens for wildlife. This project safeguards 124 square miles (32,000 hectares) of Gran Chaco forest and offers landowners an economic alternative to commercial agriculture through carbon credits. What this place needs: To conserve the Gran Chaco for future generations and prevent further biodiversity loss, we need to support a constructive dialogue between landowners and impact investors. By raising awareness and increasing understanding of the environmental, ecological and economic value of the Chaco, we can boost conservation efforts. Formal recognition of the very real threat facing the unique ecology of the Gran Chaco has provided the foundations for research and pilot programs. Now ongoing collaboration and awareness are required. Lessons from the fight: My work with Quadriz has taught me that both public policy and carbon policy frameworks are effective instruments to prevent deforestation and biodiversity loss. But speed and scale are limiting factors. To overcome these we need partnerships that channel climate finance to ensure immediate forest conservation actions that generate multiple benefits for the community. Another important lesson is to celebrate and share the images we have been able to capture of jaguars, snakes, birds, and the landscape’s natural beauty to convey what a truly spectacular place the Paraguayan Chaco is and underscore the importance of our work to protect it. Follow the fight: We regularly share news and updates on our project’s progress, conservation updates and snapshots of our work on our website, LinkedIn, and Instagram. Scroll down to find our “Republish” button Previously in The Revelator: Protect This Place: Saving India’s Shola Sky Islands The post Protect This Place: Latin America’s Gran Chaco Forest appeared first on The Revelator.

Beef and soybean agriculture are carving up this massive forest, which spans four countries and has some of the world’s highest deforestation rates. The post Protect This Place: Latin America’s Gran Chaco Forest appeared first on The Revelator.

The Place:

The Gran Chaco covers 303,782 square miles spanning Paraguay, Bolivia, Argentina, and Brazil. It is the second-largest natural forest in Latin America and has experienced some of the highest levels of deforestation on Earth.

Why it matters:

The Gran Chaco is home to 25 different Indigenous communities at risk of displacement from their ancestral lands by deforestation and land conversion, leaving them with nowhere else to go. Its great variety of ecosystems are also home to endemic, endangered, and threatened plants and wildlife, including around 3,400 species of plants, 150 mammals, and 500 bird species. Several IUCN Red List species, such as jaguars, peccaries, solitary eagles, giant anteaters, and lowland tapirs, are facing habitat loss within the Paraguayan Chaco, as land use change poses an increased threat to their survival.

A Gran Chaco resident. Photo: Quadriz

The threat:

The rapid forest loss within the Gran Chaco is primarily driven by the expansion of commercial agriculture, particularly beef and soybean production, with Paraguay emerging as a top 10 exporter of these commodities. Contributing to this trend are the largely private ownership of the majority of the Paraguayan Chaco and a legal framework that allows up to 75% of privately owned forest land to be deforested for agricultural purposes.

Agricultural fields seen from the air, carving up the Gran Chaco. Photo: Quadriz

My place in this place:

I have been working as country manager of Quadriz Paraguay since February 2021.

As a nature lover, I have a particular fascination with the Chaco, as a wildly unique haven of biodiversity and a vital carbon sink that is often overlooked internationally.

I have experienced the joy of conservation work. Seeing the beauty of my country and the animals we share it with has been a privilege that has fueled my dedication to the protection of the forest for generations to come.

Who’s protecting it now:

In response to this crisis, initiatives like the Corazón Verde del Chaco (Green Heart of the Chaco) project, developed by my organization Quadriz, are working to protect native forests and provide safe havens for wildlife. This project safeguards 124 square miles (32,000 hectares) of Gran Chaco forest and offers landowners an economic alternative to commercial agriculture through carbon credits.

What this place needs:

To conserve the Gran Chaco for future generations and prevent further biodiversity loss, we need to support a constructive dialogue between landowners and impact investors. By raising awareness and increasing understanding of the environmental, ecological and economic value of the Chaco, we can boost conservation efforts.

Formal recognition of the very real threat facing the unique ecology of the Gran Chaco has provided the foundations for research and pilot programs. Now ongoing collaboration and awareness are required.

Lessons from the fight:

My work with Quadriz has taught me that both public policy and carbon policy frameworks are effective instruments to prevent deforestation and biodiversity loss.

But speed and scale are limiting factors. To overcome these we need partnerships that channel climate finance to ensure immediate forest conservation actions that generate multiple benefits for the community.

Another important lesson is to celebrate and share the images we have been able to capture of jaguars, snakes, birds, and the landscape’s natural beauty to convey what a truly spectacular place the Paraguayan Chaco is and underscore the importance of our work to protect it.

Follow the fight:

We regularly share news and updates on our project’s progress, conservation updates and snapshots of our work on our website, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

Scroll down to find our “Republish” button

Previously in The Revelator:

Protect This Place: Saving India’s Shola Sky Islands

The post Protect This Place: Latin America’s Gran Chaco Forest appeared first on The Revelator.

Read the full story here.
Photos courtesy of

Related News

Australia has new laws to protect nature. Do they signal an end to native forest logging?

What do Australia’s new nature laws mean for native forests? The reforms closed a loophole that stopped legal scrutiny of logging. But we need the full detail.

Reforms to Australia’s nature laws have passed federal parliament. A longstanding exemption that meant federal environment laws did not apply to native logging has finally been removed from the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. Native forest logging will now be subject to national environmental standards – legally binding rules supposed to set clear goals for environmental protection. This should be a win for the environment, and some have celebrated it as an end to native forest logging in Australia. But the reality is such celebrations are premature. We don’t have all the details of the new standards, or know how they will be enforced and monitored. Business as usual? Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt has told the forestry industry, including in Tasmania, that native forest operations will continue as usual. In an interview with ABC Radio Hobart, he said the changes keep day-to-day forestry approvals with the state government, but introduce stronger federal oversight. If that is the case, the logging of habitat for endangered species, such as the swift parrot, will continue, pushing these species closer to extinction. The Tasmanian government has shown no signs of willingness to change its current approach. And if “business as usual” logging persists, the environment reforms will fall far short of what Australia’s forests – and their plants and animals – need. Uncertain standards We don’t yet know what the national forestry standards will contain. But the draft standards for some threatened and endangered forest species aren’t enough to arrest ongoing declines, based on drafts I’ve seen that are yet to be publicly released. Crucially, we can’t meet the habitat requirements for many forest-dependent species by simply replanting previously cleared land. This is because the trees in replanted forests won’t be mature for several hundred years. Many forest-dwelling species live in holes and hollows that occur only in mature trees. In other words, allowing loggers to “offset” the forests they damage by replanting other areas is broadly impossible. This reinforces longstanding concerns about the limitations of biodiversity offsets as a way to conserve endangered forests and animals. Swift parrots are fast-flying migratory parrots. They are critically endangered, partly because the forests they nest in are being logged. Thirdsilencenature/Flickr, CC BY-ND Industry pushback Parts of the forest industry are already seeking to rebrand damaging practices such as mechanical thinning (the removal of large numbers of trees), as forms of so-called “active management” to create healthy forests. The Australian government’s Timber Fibre Strategy makes extensive reference to the use of “active management”. However, the scientific evidence shows the opposite: such activities can degrade forest structure (by removing key understorey vegetation), facilitate the invasion of weed species, and undermine the ecological integrity of forests. Different forests Australia has a vast range of different forest types, and many support a variety of animals and plants threatened by forestry operations. Effective national standards therefore need to be detailed and sophisticated to deal with such complexity. This will take considerable time to design. And it’s possible each species and forest type will need a different set of standards. These will need to account not only for the direct impacts of logging – such as the death of animals when their habitat trees are felled – but also indirect impacts. For example, logging can increase fire risk, promote the spread of weeds and feral animals into disturbed areas, and trigger long-term changes in vegetation structure. Developing national standards is only part of the challenge. Implementing them will demand significant new resources, as well as robust monitoring to ensure governments and logging contractors actually stick to the rules. Better recovery Many of Australia’s threatened species don’t have up-to-date recovery plans that will guide the best way to prevent their extinction. And when plans do exist, there is often a lack of resourcing to put them into action. Without substantial investment, many plants and animals will fall between the cracks, and these new environmental standards will not deliver the change so desperately needed. They must be matched with careful monitoring of species in forests and properly-funded plans for their recovery. A simple solution There is a straightforward way to avoid the ecological, administrative, and financial problems created by native forest logging – stop it altogether. The evidence shows ending native forest logging would deliver significant benefits for biodiversity, forest ecosystems, and reduce fire risks. It also would benefit government finances because taxpayers would no longer need to subsidise an economically unviable industry that currently loses large amounts of money. The environment law reforms are to be welcomed. But the devil will be in the detail as to whether hopes for better environmental outcomes and improved forest conservation are realised. David Lindenmayer receives funding from the Australian Government, NSW Government and the Victorian Government. He is a Councillor with the Biodiversity Council and a Member of Birdlife Australia, the Ecological Society of Australia, and the Australian Mammal Society. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, Fellow of the American Academy of Science, Fellow of the Ecological Society of America, and Fellow of Royal Zoological Society of NSW.

Forests
Nature
Business

Mischievous Hands': Indonesians Blame Deforestation for Devastating Floods

By Ananda TeresiaSOUTH TAPANULI, Indonesia, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Indonesian Reliwati Siregar gestured angrily at deforestation around her home on the...

SOUTH TAPANULI, Indonesia, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Indonesian Reliwati Siregar gestured angrily at deforestation around her home on the island of Sumatra, where landslides and floods brought by a tropical storm killed more than 700 people in its deadliest disaster since a cataclysmic tsunami in 2004."Mischievous hands cut down trees ... they don't care about the forests, and now we're paying the price," Siregar said at a temporary shelter near her home in Tapanuli, the worst-hit area, with about a quarter of the death toll, government data shows.The landslides buried homes and crippled rescue and relief efforts, while floodwaters washed ashore dozens of logs, Siregar said."The rain did cause the flood, but it's impossible for it to sweep away this much wood," the 62-year-old added, her voice rising in disgust. "Those raindrops do not cause wood to fall."Environmental experts and regional leaders said the tropical storm in the Malacca Strait that hit Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand last week, killing more than 800 people, was just one of many worsened by climate change.But deforestation in Sumatra led to a disproportionately deadly toll, they said.  "Yes, there were cyclonic factors, but if our forests were well-preserved ... it would not have been this terrible," Gus Irawan Pasaribu, a local government leader in Tapanuli, told Reuters by telephone.Pasaribu said he had already protested to the forestry ministry over licences issued for the use of forest area for projects, but it ignored his pleas.Indonesia's forestry and environment ministries did not reply to Reuters requests for comment.Media said the attorney general's office is leading a task force to check if illegal activities contributed to the disaster, and that the environment ministry would query eight companies in industries such as logging, mining and palm plantations, after logs washed ashore in some areas of Sumatra.They did not identify the companies or projects.Masinton Pasaribu, another local government official in Tapanuli, blamed the clearing of natural forests to make way for palm plantations, which yield palm oil, one of Indonesia's main exports.Authorities in the archipelago, home to many dense tropical forests, have looked to reverse some of the destruction but lean heavily on its vast natural resources to fuel economic growth.Monitoring group Global Forest Watch says North Sumatra lost 1.6 million hectares of tree cover over the period from 2001 to 2024, or the equivalent of 28% of the tree-covered area.From 2001 to 2024, Sumatra as a whole has lost 4.4 million hectares (11 million acres) of forest, an area bigger than Switzerland, said David Gaveau, founder of deforestation monitor Nusantara Atlas."This is the island of Indonesia that has had the most deforestation," he said, adding that global warming was the biggest factor in the deadly floods, though deforestation had a secondary role.Environment-focused group JATAM said its analysis of satellite imagery showed construction for the China-funded 510MW Batang Toru hydropower plant, planned to begin operating in 2026, contributed to the destruction."This situation can no longer be explained merely by the narrative of 'extreme weather,' but must be understood as a direct consequence of upstream ecosystem and watershed destruction by extractive industries," it said in a statement.Reuters could not reach North Sumatra Hydro Energy, which runs the plant, to seek comment. Its parent, China's SDIC Power Holdings, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Another environment-focused non-government group, Walhi, sought revocation of a government permits for the hydropower plant in a 2018 lawsuit in a state administrative court, but the court rejected the suit in 2019, media say."This disaster was caused not only by natural factors but also ecological factors, namely mismanagement of natural resources by the government," Walhi said.JATAM said legal permits to convert forests into extraction zones covered about 54,000 hectares (133,000 acres), a majority of them for mining.Among the permit holders is PT Agincourt Resources, which operates the Martabe gold mine in the Batang Toru ecosystem.In a statement to Reuters it said making a direct link between the floods and the mine's operations was "a premature and inaccurate conclusion". Instead, it pointed to extreme weather, the overflowing river, and a blockage of logs at one point in its course."Usually just a few ... but now, there's more than ever," said Yusneli, 43, a resident of the West Sumatran city of Padang, who goes by one name, as she described the alarm caused by the number of logs washing ashore. (Reporting by Yudhistira in Tapanuli, Ananda Teresia, Fransiska Nangoy, Stanley Widianto, Zahra Matarani and Heru Asprihanto in Jakarta and Johan Purnomo, Willy Kurniawan and Aidil Ichlas in Padang; Writing by Gibran Peshimam; Editing by Josh Smith and Clarence Fernandez)Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

Forests
Climate
Government

European Parliament Supports Year-Long Deforestation Law Delay

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The European Parliament on Wednesday voted in favour of delaying the implementation of the European Union's deforestation law...

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The European Parliament on Wednesday voted in favour of delaying the implementation of the European Union's deforestation law by one year.Companies will have an additional year to comply with new EU rules to prevent deforestation, the European Parliament said in a statement.Large operators and traders must respect the obligations of this regulation as of December 30, 2026, and micro and small enterprises from June 30, 2027.The ban on imports of cocoa, palm oil and other commodities linked to forest destruction is a key pillar in the EU's green agenda.The world-first policy aims to end the 10% of global deforestation fuelled by EU consumption of imported soy, beef, palm oil and other products, but has become a politically contested part of Europe's green agenda.But it faces pushback from some industries and countries that say the measures are costly and logistically challenging.Critics have previously warned of environmental setbacks.Food majors such as Nestle, Ferrero and Olam Agri back the law. They warned last month that delaying it endangers forests worldwide and is contrary to the EU's aim of simplifying business rules.Advocacy group Business For Nature called the delay "a profound failure of political courage".(Reporting by Charlotte Van Campenhout, editing by Bart Meijer and Ed Osmond)Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

Forests
Business
Nature

Two College Students Are Building a Robot to Replant Burned Forests

Marta Bernardino and Sebastião Mendonça invented Trovador, a six-legged, A.I.-powered robot that can plant trees in hard-to-reach, wildfire-damaged terrain

Two College Students Are Building a Robot to Replant Burned Forests Marta Bernardino and Sebastião Mendonça invented Trovador, a six-legged, A.I.-powered robot that can plant trees in hard-to-reach, wildfire-damaged terrain Nineteen-year-olds Marta Bernardino and Sebastião Mendonça are developing a robot capable of reaching and reforesting areas where humans have been unable to. Trovador For 19-year-olds Marta Bernardino and Sebastião Mendonça, the forest was the intimate, untamed backdrop of their childhood. “It was a living playground where we built worlds, a sanctuary where the concepts of ‘importance’ were felt instinctively rather than taught,” says Bernardino. As children growing up near Lisbon, the two always believed that the forest would remain a constant in their lives. But with each year, they watched as fires ravaged the forests not far from their homes, leaving behind scorched gray hillsides. Desperate to revive these forests, the two then-high school students set out to create Trovador—a robot capable of reaching and reforesting areas where humans have been unable to. The state of Portugal’s forests A 2024 study by Carlos C. DaCamara, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Lisbon, revealed that between 1980 to 2023, over 1.2 million acres burned in wildfires across mainland Portugal, equivalent to 54 percent of its territory. In 2017, the country recorded 32,000 acres of tree cover loss, with wildfire accounting for 75 percent of that destruction, the highest in a year to date. Moreover, Portugal is the southern European nation most affected by wildfires, based on the scale of burned areas and the sharp rise in recent wildfires. To begin their project, Bernardino and Mendonça set out to understand the current methods used for reforestation and the reasons behind the forests’ slow recovery. “The initial, passive hope that nature would heal itself was shattered when we learned the soil was too damaged and the fires too frequent for recovery,” Bernardino adds. Though volunteers and community members strived to revive the burned forests, it was physically impossible to reach the most vulnerable parts, which happened to be on steep, treacherous slopes. “The defining moment came,” Bernardino says, “when a project leader articulated the brutal truth: the terrain itself was the enemy, making manual replanting a dangerous and often impossible task.” She continues, “The inspiration was no longer a feeling of loss, but a cleareyed recognition of a flawed system. We saw that existing solutions—from volunteer planting to drone seed-dropping—were failing to meet the scale and complexity of the problem.” Quick facts: The impact of climate change on wildfires Between 2003 and 2023, extreme wildfire activity worldwide increased by 2.2-fold. Wildfire seasons are lengthening too, starting earlier in the spring and lasting longer into the fall. Over 60 percent of forests in Portugal lie on steep, rugged terrain, where planting is unsafe and labor is scarce, Bernardino explains. Tractors can’t handle slopes, and they compact the soil. Using heavy vehicles for reforesting can disturb the oxygen and water supply to plants and soil microorganisms. Such disturbances can cause substantial damage to the soil systems, which in certain cases can be long-lasting and even irreversible, harming the productivity of the forest and the overall functionality of the ecosystem. Drone-based aerial seeding is one viable alternative highly considered today for reforestation. However, the technique has its own challenges. While it’s competent in precision identification of suitable locations for reforestation, the method typically uses thousands of seeds per acre (at least 4,000) for blanket seedings, making it less economical. “Drones, while flexible, scatter seeds with low precision—wasting one of the most scarce natural resources,” Bernardino adds. One pilot project focusing on certain conifer species found their survival rate when dropped from drones fell between 0 and 20 percent. “Since the early 2000s, Portugal has lost over half of its forest cover, triggering erosion, water loss and biodiversity collapse,” Bernardino explains. “This crisis hits rural communities hardest: places like Fundão and Alentejo, where forests provide food, water, income and cultural identity. As ecosystems vanish, so do livelihoods.” And the rapid loss of forest cover isn’t limited to Portugal—it extends around the globe. Recent data from the University of Maryland’s Global Land Analysis & Discovery (GLAD) lab, reported in the World Resources Institute’s “Global Forest Review,” found that an unprecedented 16.6 million acres of primary rainforest was lost in the tropics in 2024. Researchers at the GLAD lab estimate that tropical primary forests vanished at an accelerated pace of 18 soccer fields every minute last year. The loss—largely caused by massive forest fires—is almost double that of 2023. “The problem itself became our blueprint,” recounts Bernardino, “and we dedicated ourselves to creating a solution that embraced all the constraints: steep terrain, high survival rates and autonomy.” A firefighter tackles the flames next to a road as vegetation burns during a wildfire in Vila Real, Portugal, this past August. David Oliveira/Anadolu via Getty Images Designing a solution In 2023, Bernardino and Mendonça set out to create Trovador—a six-legged robot able to walk on rugged slopes and plant trees. Their first €15 ($17) prototype, built from recycled parts, planted 28 percent faster than humans with a 90 percent survival rate. The saplings also thrived without any post-planting care. The two are currently working to improve the efficiency of the robot and hope that their current prototype is able to handle longer operations on steeper terrains. “We build all-terrain robots that carry baby trees on their backs and plant them autonomously across difficult terrain,” says Bernardino. The innovators didn’t expect the wave of interest that followed their initial prototype. As a top finalist for National Geographic’s 2024 Slingshot Challenge, they won a grant of $10,000, and the invention was also featured in the magazine as one of the world’s most promising youth-led climate solutions. “On the tech side, the robotics world took notice, too—we became the youngest ever to receive Europe’s top award for Robotics for Sustainability,” says Bernardino. The hexapod robot is capable of climbing slopes of up to 45 degrees while detecting and simultaneously avoiding any boulders in its way. Trovador is also equipped to carry and plant up to 200 saplings per hour. Unlike a tractor, it barely makes an indent on the ground thanks to its light movement, preserving pore space for air and water in the soil. A depth camera attached to it maps any obstacles and allows it to slightly adapt its trajectory in real time. It also uses artificial intelligence and sensors to analyze the pH and humidity of the soil, after which Trovador will follow a three-step dig-place-tamp sequence to plant rooted saplings instead of seeds. “The sequence is validated to hit up to 85 to 90 percent survival in field trials and literature,” says Bernardino. With built-in sensors, Trovador uploads real-time data like GPS coordinates of each plant, soil humidity and battery life to a cloud, allowing the team to monitor the robot remotely. Moreover, during future soil analysis, the robot will be trained to skip the dry ground and steer planting to micro-niches with better odds. Bringing a viable product to market Miguel Jerónimo, a landscape architect and coordinator of Renature projects at the Group for Studies on Spatial Planning and the Environment, an independent environmental organization in Portugal, is optimistic about the tool. “Trovador appears to be an innovative project with potential, particularly as it was developed by two young students who turned a low-cost prototype into a possible approach to one of Portugal’s environmental challenges,” says Jerónimo. “The concept of a six-legged robot designed to move across steep slopes and dense vegetation offers a practical framework for reforestation in areas that are unsafe or difficult for people to access.” While Jerónimo is hopeful about the success of Trovador, he’s equally apprehensive about the robot’s durability in the actual field. “Moving from an experimental prototype to a reliable field-ready tool will require robust testing to ensure it can handle the rough, humid and heavily vegetated conditions typical of Portuguese forests,” he says. “Operational endurance, mobility in dense vegetation and ease of maintenance are areas that need further exploration before the system can be considered ready for broad use.” Additionally, the price tag on the tool also needs to be taken into account. “Keeping production costs low will be essential,” the landscape architect points out. “The robot must be affordable if it is to become a useful and accessible instrument in large-scale reforestation efforts rather than a one-off innovation.” However, Bernardino and Mendonça already have some ideas on how to make it affordable. Instead of selling the Trovador robot itself, the team plans to first market it as a platform that they operate as a service, selling “trees-in-the-ground.” By 2026, they hope to make the robot robust and user-friendly enough to deploy it in large-scale plantations. “Clients [like] municipalities, insurers, forestry firms or NGOs can open our app, outline a polygon, choose native species and receive a quote,” Bernardino elaborates. “Pricing is expected to be a big step up from the current methods, up to six times cheaper than manual crews and four times more cost‑effective than drones once seed wastage is factored in.” The innovators are narrowing in on a minimum viable product. For the next few months, the Trovador team intends to improve the tool based on feedback they received after field testing it in Lisbon this past summer. Both Bernardino and Mendonça’s hopes and ambitions remain high. With the robot, they aspire to make “reforestation that is fast, precise, audit-ready and scalable to the millions of hectares climate models say we must restore this decade,” says Bernardino. Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.

Forests
Climate
Food

Old-Growth Forest in New Jersey at Center of Affordable Housing Debate

When Roy Oser moved into his North Jersey condo in 2018, he thought he was buying into a quiet retirement: a manageable backyard pressed against a pristine forest, a stable community and the promise that the woods next door would remain untouched. A former attorney, Oser even did his due diligence—reviewing planning documents and noting […]

Billionaire Zygi Wilf’s proposed development of 496 apartments on the Second Watchung Ridge pits state housing mandates against environmental concerns over flooding, water quality and wildlife habitat.By Ryan KrugmanWhen Roy Oser moved into his North Jersey condo in 2018, he thought he was buying into a quiet retirement: a manageable backyard pressed against a pristine forest, a stable community and the promise that the woods next door would remain untouched.

Forests
Water

Suggested Viewing

We Trees

Ever wonder what trees think of us now that we have created a climate disaster? This 2-minute film answers that question. As Bill McKibben recently tweeted about the film, “Who speaks for trees? In this short and elegant video, the trees themselves.” It has been screened at Green Fest (Serbia), The Colorado Environmental Film Festival, The Wildlife Conservation Film Festival and Winner of Merit at the Nature Without Borders Film Festival.

Forests
Chemicals
Climate

The Windshield Effect

As a child, Julian and his mother, Sylvie, could spend hours out in nature admiring the soundtrack of the plentiful insects. One day, a grown Julian is out on a run in those same woods and when he takes off his ear buds, realizes he cannot hear anything at all. A trip to the audiologist assures him there is nothing wrong with his ears, but he is still left shaken. Back in the forest, he comes to the realization that the insects themselves have gone silent in a mass die off. Also known as the "Windshield Phenomenon" that documents how bugs no longer splatter on windshields as we drive as insect populations are down more than 45% over the last 4 decades.

Forests
Extinction
Nature

LEAVES

An academic woman in Texas becomes concerned when a massive red oak in her backyard seems to be ailing, though she isn’t sure why it bothers her so much. At the same time, in her small cottage, her attention to her work is distracted by news reports she sees and hears. They tell in graphic terms of the out-of-control forest fires up and down the West Coast. Her attention is further pulled in the direction of other stories about the worsening conditions of the world’s rainforests which she discovers are disappearing at the astounding rate of 200,000 acres a day. Suddenly such stories are all she seems to hear and see on the radio or television or on her computer. But when she hears/sees a science report about how trees actually communicate with each other, she begins to realize there may be a connection between her tree and what she is learning from the news. She begins to recall a strong connection she herself has with that tree and allows that connection to regrow…..

Pollution
Forests
Inspirational

El Monte (The Woodland)

In Sierra Maestra, Cuba, José Manuel explains to his granddaughter Malena his world view through deep knowledge of natures' mysteries. Plants and people have great resemblances and must respect each other. José Manuel hopes that Malena inherits the knowledge that he obtained from the father and she becomes a great mountain tree.

Forests
Nature
Family

Dipsas Speaks

Dipsas Speaks is a poetic reflection on the human-wildlife conflict in the Andean Amazon cloud forest of Ecuador, one of the most biodiverse places on the planet. Dipsas klebbai, a snake, observes changes in her world. 100% wildlife cast.

Forests
Conservation
Animals

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