PLANET IN PERIL

World Resources Institute New satellite-based data highlight the challenges of reducing forest loss in two of the world’s largest forest-rich countries. Story here. Slashing in Canada - a practise where trees standing in the way of agricultural production are bulldozed, then burned. PinP photo.

The Washington Post PinP photo. The planet’s forests are vital to us all. For one thing, without them, global warming would be a lot worse. Details here. RELATED:  Only “Heroic Efforts” Will Spare Earth’s Mighty Boreal Forest From the Worst Ravages of Climate Change "

by David Suzuki - Common Dreams My hometown, Vancouver, is in a rainforest, so we celebrate sunny days. People I talk to are enjoying the recent warm, dry weather , but they invariably add, "This isn't normal" — especially with all the smoke from nearby forest fires. Story here.

World Resources Institute Indonesian President Joko Widodo reaffirmed his commitment to climate leadership this week by renewing Indonesia’s national forest moratorium , which prohibits new licenses to clear key forest areas. While the environmental benefits are well-recognized, the move should also be hailed as a win for businesses and local producers. Story here.

World Resources Institute Canada, home to two of the Whooping Crane Summer Ranges, topped the list of countries with the most forest loss. The loss is likely due to sweeping boreal forest fires in the Wood Buffalo National Park. Story here. Related: " Only 'Heroic Efforts' Will Spare Earth’s Mighty Boreal Forest From the Worst Ravages of Climate Change - Experts."

theguardian Forest fires destroyed vast areas of woodland in Canada and Russia between 2011 and 2013, greatly contributing to greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change, satellite data reveals. Story here. Related: Only 'Heroic Efforts' Will Spare Earth's Mighty Boreal Forest From the Worst Ravages of Climate Change.

MotherJones They gobble up trees and send politicians into a frenzy. But do the bugs know more about climate change than we do? Story here. Related:   Only “Heroic Efforts” Will Spare Earth’s Mighty Boreal Forest From the Worst Ravages of Climate Change - Experts.   

by Larry Powell   Like a giant green scarf,  the boreal forest  embraces the globe. It's home to a cold but living, breathing community of plants, animals and humans. Marked by mountains, over a million lakes and other waterways, muskeg and human settlements, it sprawls over the vast expanse of the northern hemisphere. Every third tree on the planet (mostly evergreen) is found there, making it one of Earth's largest remaining ecosystems. One-half of this immense, wooded habitat is found in Russia. One third of it is here in Canada, where it occupies more than half of our entire land mass. The rest is shared by Alaska and Scandinavia. Part of the "boreal plains" of western Canada. A PinP photo.                              An Important Gathering - an Ominous Conclusion Every two or three years, the International Boreal Forestry Research Association (IBFRA) meets to assess the overall health of the region.  Delegates include government and univer

the guardian Spread of new roads in developing nations is a greater danger than the dams, mines, oil well or cities they connect, as they open up untouched habitats to poachers, illegal loggers and land speculators, study says. Story here.

The New York Times - Andrew Nikiforuk An intact bit of  Boreal forest in Ontario. Larry Powell PinP photo. ENVIRONMENTALISTS typically fret about the prospect of adding monstrous new amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere if the Keystone XL pipeline is approved, and for good reason. Less attention is paid to the vast stretches of boreal forest already laid bare by tar sands development. In this opinion piece in the New York Times, preeminent Canadian journalist Andrew Nikiforuk poses this disturbing question…. how much more must we lose? Story here.

        THE  HILL TIMESonline The latest government information about the scope of deforestation by Canada's oil and gas sector - predominantly the Boreal Plain forest destroyed by Alberta oilsands mining and production - will not be published until a year after the next federal election, according to information from the federal Natural Resources department. Story here.

Climate Progress. "Jasper," a Rock Mountain national park in Alberta, Canada. "P in P" photo. The Rocky Mountain forests that traverse the West are under unprecedented danger from climate-related impacts according to a new report from the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) and the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization. The Rockies include national parks like Yellowstone, Grand Teton, and Glacier National Park, and are facing a “triple assault — tree-killing insects, wildfires, and heat and drought — that could fundamentally alter these forests as we know them.” Story here.

The Huffington Post P in P photo. Add another black mark to Canada’s environmental image around the world: The country now leads the planet in the degradation of untouched forests, according to a study from Forest Watch.  Story here.

ScienceDaily If you guessed that trees are all that's being affected by the recent infestation of the pine bark beetle, guess again. Full story here.

iPolitics While this may not come as a shock to Neil Young, who’s  compared the oil sands to Hiroshima , a national study suggests that  Alberta has disturbed more natural landscape than any other province . The analysis by Global Forest Watch adds that Wild Rose Country also has two of the three areas in Canada where the rate of disturbance is the highest. Those disruptions included everything from roads to seismic lines to clearcuts to croplands. “This is a simple monitoring analysis that should be done and could very easily be done by the feds,” the report’s author Peter Lee said Monday. “(But) they’re not doing it.”

by Larry Powell Trees around the world, including places like Canada's boreal forest, are dying from drought induced by our changing climate - and have been for years. This has been recognized in peer-reviewed studies, including one by a team of experts at the University of Quebec, published in the respected journal, NatureClimateChange,   two years ago. The Canadian Rockies. PLT photo But a more recent study, this one reported in the Canadian Journal of Forest Research  suggests further trouble ahead, this time in another eco-system. This time, a team of US researchers analyzed the relationship between growth and climate on the six most abundant subalpine tree species (growing on the higher slopes) in California's Sierra Madre mountains - and how that relationship evolved for well over a century.  In an e-mail to PLT, one of the researchers, Christopher Dolanc of the University of California, Davis, states, "Increasing drought-stress may eventually stun

Globe and Mail As resource companies look to northern forests in search of untapped minerals and energy, scientists and conservancy groups say too little heed is being paid to the environmental wealth created by Canada’s boreal regions. Full story here.

the guardian For centuries we've treated forests poorly. Yet we're only just learning how crucial trees are to our survival. Details here. Making way for more farmland in Manitoba, CA. PLT photo. 

The Guardian Bishop of Liverpool says trees should be taken out of the political cycle to preserve 'green and pleasant land' Details here. Ash trees in Canada. PLT photo Please also read: "What Were You Thinking? An open letter to the former ministers who appear to have let a devastating tree disease into the UK ," by George Monbiot

Manitoba Wildlands "...almost all the Alberta herds — most of which are in the same region as the oilsands — are very unlikely to survive." A July 28, 2011 Federal Court decision forced the Federal Minister of the Environment, Peter Kent to revisit his March 2011 decision to refuse emergency protections for woodland caribou in Alberta affected by oil sands development. The Canadian Government was given until September 1, 2011 to implement a draft recovery strategy for woodland caribou.