Of the world's remaining forests, only 40% have high ecological integrity, according to data from a newly developed index.Ecological integrity is a measure of human impact, looking at factors from infrastructure to tree-cover loss.High-integrity forests are found mostly in Canada, Russia, the Amazon, Central Africa, and New Guinea; of the remaining high-integrity forests, only 27% are currently in nationally designated protected areas.Conserving ...

As the world warms and the atmosphere becomes increasingly fertilised with carbon dioxide, trees are growing ever faster. But they're also dying younger – and overall, the world's forests may be losing their ability to store carbon. That's the key finding of our new study, published in the journal Nature Communications. In a world without humans, forests would exist in equilibrium, taking roughly as much carbon out of the atmosphere as they lose....

Planting new forests is recognised as a powerful natural climate solution, but the best way to achieve this is still a matter for debate.New research suggests natural regrowth could be the most effective approach.Letting nature take its course promotes native species and biodiversity at a fraction of the cost of manual tree-planting. Susan Cook-Patton was planting a native red oak seedling in her backyard. As she finished and stepped back to admi...

The coronavirus pandemic, suspected of originating in bats and pangolins, has brought the risk of viruses that jump from wildlife to humans into stark focus. These leaps often happen at the edges of the world's tropical forests, where deforestation is increasingly bringing people into contact with animals' natural habitats. Yellow fever, malaria, Venezuelan equine encephalitis, Ebola – all of these pathogens have spilled over from one species to ...