JAKARTA — Indonesia’s deforestation surged in 2025, rising 66% from the previous year, marking a sharp reversal after several years of decline, according to new data from the NGO Auriga…
On paper, the sea is increasingly protected. Governments have designated vast marine protected areas (MPAs) and pledged to conserve 30% of the ocean by 2030. Maps shaded in reassuring blues…
The plight of the emperor penguin might be more dire than previously thought. For the first time, scientists have used satellite data to discover new locations in Antarctica where the…
To the cartographers of the modern conservation world, the forests of northeastern Gabon can appear almost empty. Satellite images show a deep green canopy stretching across the Congo Basin.…
Plans are afoot to launch large mega-constellations of AI data centers into Earth orbit. That ambition, pursued by multiple space industry leaders, coincides with a warning from scientists of potentially…
Debates about ocean protection tend to orbit national governments and multilateral treaties. Fisheries quotas, shipping rules, and marine reserves are usually negotiated by states. Yet much of the activity that…
A deceptively simple question underlies many global environmental policies: where, exactly, are the world’s forests? A new study suggests the answer depends heavily on which map one consults—and that the…
Africa’s great Congo Basin rainforest, often called the Earth’s second lung, covers an area about the size of India. Millions of people depend directly on the forest for food, energy…
As the European Union’s Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) approaches its implementation, companies involved in supply chains for soy and other commodities reaching the EU market will soon have to prove that…
BANGKOK — The Mekong countries of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam lost a combined area of tree cover of nearly a million hectares in 2024, or an area almost…
Josep “Pep” Canadell, executive director of the Global Carbon Project, says he believes countries large and small need to think twice before pledging to collectively plant billions of trees as…
In May 2012, a satellite transmitter was attached to a subadult female white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) by OCEARCH as part of its shark expeditions in Gansbaai, a fishing town in…
Myanmar’s Kachin state, near the border with China, is a global hub for rare earth minerals. But the dearth of regulations over mining these resources has come at a steep…
JAKARTA — Indonesia’s 2025 fire season is spiraling into one of the worst in recent memory, with a sharp spike in hotspots and toxic haze already choking parts of Malaysia.…
Political will is among the most important factors in preventing tropical deforestation, according to a group of experts surveyed for a new study — with strong political commitment often arising…
The skies overhead are already teeming with satellites. But their orbiting numbers will skyrocket in the near future as the commercial and international space race takes off. Three projects alone…
Samoa, an archipelagic country composed of nine islands in the South Pacific Ocean, is on the frontline of climate change. Rising sea levels, ocean warming and acidification all pose significant…
A new report adds to the already overwhelming case that protected areas and Indigenous territories in the Amazon Rainforest serve as a critical carbon sink. The report, based on satellite…
Basic logic dictates that the more accurate and detailed knowledge one has about a problem, the better one can solve it. Take Europe’s forests. The bigger picture is clear: over…
When James Sheppard set out to deploy tiny backpacks fitted with satellite transmitters to track endangered thick-billed parrots in 2019, doubts abounded. His colleagues were concerned it wasn’t going to…
The EU Deforestation Regulation, or EUDR, will require companies importing certain products into the European Union to trace the origins of these products all the way back up the supply…
Over the last two decades, about 130,000 hectares, or 3,210,000 acres, of forest have been lost annually for coffee cultivation. Pressure on areas suitable for coffee growing, usually forest-rich habitats,…
Satellite data have long told us where forests are and how they’re faring. Lidar, laser-based radar mounted on planes or satellites like the International Space Station, has helped us map…
When the Indonesian government established Tesso Nilo National Park in 2004 on a former logging concession, little could it have known that the legacy of logging and deforestation would continue…
Marcos Terán has worked in and around the Matos River in Bolivia for years, collecting data and collaborating with local communities as part of his organization’s conservation initiatives. Designated a…
As Esri nears its 60th anniversary, Jack Dangermond exemplifies how geographic information systems (GIS) have grown from a specialized field into a critical tool for modern planning, environmental management, and…
The Airbus Foundation and the Connected Conservation Foundation have announced the third edition of the Satellites for Biodiversity Award, which aims to encourage the use of cutting-edge satellite data to…
July is the peak of melt season in the Arctic. The sun is high and shines for almost 24 hours a day. Air and water temperatures rise above freezing. Rapid…
Can satellites and blockchain technology solve the woes of the beleaguered carbon market? Although challenges abound, there’s potential ahead, according to a new report. Published as a collaboration between Earth…
A series of recently published data is shining a new light on patterns of deforestation in the Amazon, revealing where crops, cattle ranching and mining are encroaching on the rainforest.…
Call it the force’s doing, but it has been surprises galore for the GEDI mission. In early 2023, the lidar mission that maps the Earth’s forests in 3D was to…
The Airbus Foundation and the Connected Conservation Foundation have announced the winners of the second edition of their Satellites for Biodiversity Award. The four winners of the award are international…
