CONSERVATION NEWS

A new initiative in the Eastern Himalayas aims to raise US$1 billion to accelerate — and scale up — local conservation work, providing resources to plant 1 billion trees, and protect and restore 1 million hectares by 2030.

The government of Peru signed a deal to redirect more than US$ 20 million it owes to the United States into the conservation of some of the most biodiverse areas on Earth.

Eight Amazonian nations have agreed to create an alliance to protect the world’s largest rainforest, following decades of rising deforestation and warnings of a “tipping point” that could alter the ecosystem — and Earth’s climate.

A new study found that seaweed forests may play a bigger role in fighting climate change than previously thought — absorbing as much climate-warming carbon as the Amazon rainforest. But not all seaweed forests are created equal.

Protected forests keep significantly more climate-warming carbon out of the atmosphere than unprotected forests, according to a new study. The research illustrates just how important protected areas are in the fight to curb climate change.