When a 65-year-old oak tree in Steve Parker’s yard died from fungal disease, he did not cut it into firewood or haul it away. He did not erase it. He cut the tree into disks and then turned them into records that play birdsong –– a touching tribute to the years that the tree was house and home to birds and all manners of creatures.

Parker, a Texas-based sound artist known online as @parkerstevesounds played the disks of wood on a Victrola-style turntable, and from the it the wooden records emit layered avian soundscapes, transforming dead wood into a living archive. He called the project Funeral for a Tree.

I once worked on a similar project in clay. I created a series of vessels designed to hold seeds. While shaping each one, I spoke to it — prayers, fragments of thought, small conversations with the material itself. I recorded my voice and the surrounding landscape of sound into the walls of the ceramic. Today’s machines cannot retrieve those recordings. But future instruments — capable of hearing at finer scales — may. The vessels are simply waiting for the right ears.

Trees are not neutral objects. Their rings hold records of rainfall, drought, heat, and cold. Their fibers contain chemical traces of stress, recovery, and time. In scientific terms, trees are environmental witnesses. In Parker’s hands, they become storytellers.

The project was later exhibited at Ivester Contemporary in East Austin, Texas where visitors encountered both the wooden records and the physical remains of the tree itself. The installation did not explain the tree. It allowed people to sit with it.

In a time when climate loss is reported in numbers — hectares, parts per million, extinction rates — Funeral for a Tree insists on intimacy. It is easy to talk about forests. It is harder to mourn a single trunk. It’s like people fighting for Gaza or Iran or places thousands of miles beyond their city limits, but they don’t have time to call their grandmother or check on the sick boy down the street.

Parker’s work invites us to create rituals and intimacy with objects and meaning close to our homes and hearts.

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I have my own little slice of paradise in a forest in Canada. It would be unsettling to say the least if the developers started carving up and developing the Crown Land, protected by law, around my land.

But this is what’s happening now in Iran, an a world-protected forest.

The story starts in a village called Sark, located in the Ponel–Khalkhal area, where road construction has begun to connect a newly built villa complex, and part of the UNESCO-protected Hyrcanian forests has been destroyed according to local reports in Iran.

Environmentalists speak of trees being cut down and heavy machinery entering the area. They say this organized destruction threatens the future of the Hyrcanian forests.

“I am an Architect and Restorer and an Urban Regeneration Expert working in the field of sustainable development, and I have spent years advocating for the preservation of my country’s heritage,” says Green Prophet contributor Ronak Roshan. (She’s called out the Aga Khan and their ecological award out for greenwashing in Iran).

“Recently, we were informed by the local community that road construction is underway in the Hyrcanian Forests to enable the development of luxury villas. Our field observations and initial documentation show clear signs of land-use change, unauthorized construction, and the expansion of private holding companies into forested areas, agricultural lands, and the buffer zones of this fragile ecosystem,” she says.

“Such activities pose a serious threat to the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the site, endangering its ecological integrity, landscape continuity, and long-term conservation,” says Roshan,

While in just the past few months new warnings have been issued about the intensifying destruction of the Hyrcanian forests, field reports from the village of Sark in the Ponel–Khalkhal corridor in Gilan show that large-scale road construction has begun in the heart of the region’s ancient forests.

According to environmental activists, this work is being carried out in order to create an access route for a villa complex known as “Behesht Complex” (Paradise Complex).

According to information from informed sources, in order to obtain permits to continue construction of the Behesht villa complex, a road is being built so that afterwards the responsible authorities can justify construction “within the road corridor” and issue permits for the expansion of the complex.

Following this request, the felling of thousand-year-old Hyrcanian trees and the destruction of pristine vegetation has begun. Only a few families live in Sark village, and for years they have used a wooden bridge for their comings and goings. But now, parts of the forest are under pressure from road construction and site preparation for building, including earth removal, mountain cutting and alteration of the topography.

At the same time, environmental activists have sent a formal letter to UNESCO, warning about the planned destruction of the Hyrcanian forests, a World Heritage site, and calling for urgent international action.

In their letter, environmental activists write that this destruction is not limited to Gilan. They say this trend has been continuously ongoing for several decades and, especially after events such as the “Gilan, Capital of Construction” conference, has accelerated under the influence of certain individuals.

The activists have asked UNESCO to order an immediate halt, send a fact-finding mission to the affected areas, and issue an official statement of condemnation.

In Shahrivar (August–September) of this year as well, road construction from Tarom County to Shaft County, along the Dayleh-Sar highlands, began with tree cutting and destruction of the natural terrain, without obtaining any legal permits from the relevant authorities. As a result, 8.5 kilometres of rangeland and forest land in Shaft were destroyed.

The Hyrcanian forests form a long belt of about 850 kilometres, stretching from the Gorgan plain to parts of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Nineteen percent of the total area of the Hyrcanian forests registered with UNESCO—about 58,000 hectares—belongs to Gilan.

Environmental activists in Iran often face significant personal risk when speaking out about illegal land grabs, deforestation, or the destruction of protected areas. In recent years, several high-profile environmentalists have been detained, interrogated, or imprisoned on broad national-security charges, sometimes without transparent legal proceedings.

International human rights groups have repeatedly expressed concern that environmental advocacy in Iran can be treated as political dissent, leaving local activists vulnerable to surveillance, harassment, and pressure from security institutions. This has created a climate in which many citizens are afraid to report ecological damage, making the documented cases of forest destruction even more alarming given the courage required to bring them to light.

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In a key moment for global nature policy, the world’s governments have sketched the roadmap for the first collective review of the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) — the landmark pact adopted in 2022 to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030.

At the 27th meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA-27) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), held in Panama City, Parties agreed that the upcoming global review must be “facilitative, not punitive” — designed to build momentum and accountability rather than impose sanctions. The organization has used the acronym CBD, one of the key molecules in cannabis. Don’t be confused.

The meeting, attended by 800 delegates from around the world, focused on shaping the outline of the global progress report on the KMGBF’s 23 targets for 2030 — the targets which all 196 Parties to the CBD approved in 2022. The session also emphasised tighter coordination across climate, biodiversity and desertification treaties — underscoring a growing recognition that nature-loss, greenhouse-gas emissions and dry-land degradation are interlinked crises needing unified solutions.

As Panama’s Environment Minister, Juan Carlos Navarro, stated: “science-based decisions that deliver concrete results for people and life on Earth.” The agreed blueprint will guide the review process towards measurable outcomes and meaningful policy shifts rather than box-ticking.

The review – scheduled for 2026 in the lead-up to COP 17 (Yerevan, Armenia, October 2026) – will be anchored around five core axes:

1. Assess how countries are developing and implementing biodiversity plans, how inclusive and regionally representative they are, and how coordination, support and capacity-building are working.
2. Measure collective progress toward the KMGBF’s 23 global targets, comparing national and global goals, assessing successes, challenges and contributions from non-state actors.
3. Evaluate progress toward the Framework’s four overarching goals: summarising data and indicators, linking to targets, and offering science-based, non-binding options to address obstacles.
4. Examine means of implementation: identifying gaps in finance, institutional capacity, and specific challenges faced by developing countries, Indigenous Peoples, local communities, women and youth.
5. Review global cooperation: how multilateral agreements, institutions and non-governmental actors contribute to advancing the Framework’s vision for nature.

In the words of CBD Executive Secretary Astrid Schomaker: “This review is a vital checkpoint for the world’s commitment to nature. It allows us to see, with evidence and transparency, how far we’ve come … and where we must accelerate.” Still, she cautioned: “We’re running out of time … We must speed up our efforts and move towards taking action.”

Why This Matters for CleanTech, Finance & the Middle East-North Africa (MENA) Region

For the cleantech and sustainability sector — especially in the MENA region and emerging markets — this review sends critical signals that nature-positive investments will increasingly be measured not just by carbon outcomes, but by biodiversity, ecosystem service, and community outcomes as well.

Trade-offs between climate mitigation, land use and biodiversity are under scrutiny — meaning renewable energy, agritech, restoration and finance innovations must integrate biodiversity risk and opportunity. Developing countries, women, youth and Indigenous or local communities are now front and centre in measuring progress — policy, finance and technology must align accordingly.

Regional collaboration across climate, biodiversity and land-degradation architectures is gaining traction. Firms and funds operating in the MENA region should watch how cooperation, data-sharing and financing evolve.

For investors and entrepreneurs, the 2026 review offers a milestone for aligning new business models, green bonds or nature-based finance with emerging global biodiversity standards and expectations.

The upcoming KMGBF review is more than bureaucratic box-checking. It is a strategic inflection point: whether countries will shift from ambition to delivery, whether the private sector and civil society scale nature-positive business models, and whether global architecture for biodiversity, climate and land degradation will evolve toward coherence.

For the MENA region — facing climate stress, rapid land-use change, water scarcity and ecosystem vulnerability — this means stepping up. Governments, investors, start-ups and NGOs must align to the emerging agenda: biodiversity as a core pillar of sustainable development and climate action, not a side-note.

If we seize this moment, the 2026 review can catalyse a new wave of finance (see Green Finance mechanisms in the UAE), innovation and policy coherence — and move us closer to the vision of a nature-positive world by 2050. If not, the checkpoint risks becoming another missed opportunity while ecosystems, livelihoods and economies continue to degrade.

Biodiversity primer articles on Green Prophet

Where is the world’s most biodiversity? Follow the rain

How plants buffer against climate change (drylands biodiversity)

Yemen’s Socotra is the Galapagos of the Indian Ocean

How SPNI is Rewilding Cities and Rebuilding Resilience

A Guide to Rewilding Your Cities

Coral reefs and light pollution

Forests can bounce back after acid rain

Tropical forests are chemical factories

Sinkholes and Shrinking Shores: The Race to Rescue the Dead Sea

When greenwashing overwrites ecology at the superadobe Majara Residence, Hormuz Island

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Epic Games, the online games kids will do anything to play (you know the names… Fortnite and Rocket League) –– even if they need to line up and play at the library computer. This online gaming company has decided they will use company profits to help save an Old Growth Forest in North Carolina. This makes environmentalists everywhere proud. 

The founder of Epic Games decided to donate 7500 acres of land in the Appalachian Mountains to be preserved as a haven for wildlife forever. According to press reports the donation includes the largest American Chestnut restoration project in the country, extensive boulder fields, rich coves full of biodiversity, old growth forests, six waterfalls, and a system of rare heaths.

In addition to overseeing Epic’s Fortnite and Rocket league goods franchises Tim Sweeney has decided to be a Green Prophet and a conservation philanthropist. The land he has bought and donated is considered “priceless”. 

It is the vision of philanthropists who can have an impact on the planet for hundreds of years into the future. 

“As we watch so much of our region get carved into sub-divisions, strategic acquisition of large parcels of land is increasingly important — and increasingly hard to accomplish. In twenty years this gift might be one of the few sites in Western North Carolina that still looks like it looked one hundred years ago, or one thousand years ago,” said aid Carl Silverstein, executive director of the land trust who will manage the forest.

“These parcels include some of the most sought-after conservation acres in the eastern United States, including over 100 miles of pristine creeks and streams. We really are honored to be entrusted with the responsibility to steward this vast mountain complex,” he added. 

Philanthropists play an important role in land conservation in the United States and countries like Scotland where people with vision 100 or 200 years into the future or more – understand that if private individuals don’t take action by preserving big swaths of land, it will be divided up for private use ruining the “wild” in wildlife. 

Welcoming biologists 

“This project is a conservationist’s dream come true,” said Marquette Crockett also from the land trust. “Pristine roadless land that has not been tim­bered over is almost impossible to find in the Southern Appalachians in 2021, but this assemblage contains so much that we value, from old growth forests to high-elevation open areas in an undisturbed condition. My phone will ring off the hook from biologists who want to visit and study this unparalleled preserve. We look forward to welcoming them to the mountain.”

Multiplayer player video games can be violent and addictive but there are options for steering your kids towards games that encourage cooperative play.

Video games like crypto can also be terrible for the environment from the carbon emissions released by the servers that run the games –– well, for the air conditioners that cool the servers that run the games. While there are companies in Helsinki using “greener” solutions and companies buying carbon credits, donation land to land trusts like this is just as good or maybe even a better than a short-term solution. And I hope the game developers will show off this gift to their players. Because the real values in life are connected to nature and our place in it. 

If you don’t love video games for your kids: games like Minecraft are based on multiple player interaction but before you go there there is a single-player Creative mode on the “Peaceful” setting, where there is no interaction with others in the game and therefore no conflict. But eventually as kids develop in the game, most kids will want to play with others, and multiplayer gaming invites some risks.

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You don’t hear that often about environmental lawyers. But they are out there, and they do a good deal of things to help the community. Environmental lawyers are often mistaken for people who do nothing else but protect natural parks. In reality, they can do way more than that, and they are an essential part of the law system. So, what are environmental lawyers and how do they help out the world?

What Is an Environmental Lawyer?

An environmental lawyer is someone who advocates for the environment. They do things to make sure they protect nature while making it possible to live a healthier and safer life as humans. 

Apart from that, they are people who work with air quality, rare animals, and anything related to environmental issues. They are specialists in their area, and they know a lot about biological and geological systems, as well as law. On top of that, they are aware of the way humans impact the planet and know what could be done to reduce that impact. 

If you already are an attorney, you can become an environmental lawyer too as long as you make sure to acquire enough knowledge in science and biology. You must also obtain the right credentials and licenses. For instance, William, who used to be a Springfield probate attorney, gave up on that particular path in order to become an environmental lawyer. Now, he is getting involved in a lot of actions that seek to help out the environment and the people living in it. 

What Does an Environmental Lawyer Do?

Besides legal and court matters, an environmental lawyer will also handle several issues related to the ecosystem, wildlife, flora, etc. These might include:

• Animal rights
• Protection for different species
• Air and water quality
• Climate change innovation and laws
• Use of sea and public land
• Better ways to manage waste
• Agriculture and farming problems
• Proper hazardous waste disposal
• Biodiversity protection
• Wetlands preservation
• Future green strategies
• Clean technology

Environmental lawyers also have the responsibility to represent their clients properly and make sure they research, assess, and strategize cases accordingly. The attorney should be aware of the local laws, as these may be different from state to state. 

Also, they may work with the Environmental Protection Agency. The most important environmental laws are The Clean Water Act, The Clean Air Act, The Montreal Protocol, The Endangered Species Act, and the Reformation Plan No. 3 of 1970. 

Last, but not least, environmental lawyers can help with matters like feedlots and wetland regulation, selling or buying contaminated real estate, zoo animal preservation, and others. 

The Bottom Line

Environmental lawyers are necessary because they are the ones working towards a better world – a world where we take care of nature and animals. They care about the ecosystem and also want humans to breathe cleaner air and have cleaner water. So, environmental lawyers are necessary as they work hard for every community.

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Take the time to smell the roses. Chances are you’ve heard this quote about spending some enjoy the simple pleasures of taking a stroll through a field, garden, or any form of nature. If you’ve ever walked through a park or forest, you can attest to some of their benefits.

While these benefits may be intrinsic and felt, researchers are trying to understand why spending time in nature affects mental health. Mental Health has been at the forefront of medical research due to its pervasiveness among children and adults. While research has been around for some time, mental health is becoming less of a taboo topic, and more people are coming forward with their mental health problems.

Benefits of Nature

Research shows that spending time in nature affects overall mental health. Below are some of the mental health benefits of nature.

Spending time in nature can support recovery by lowering stress levels and giving patients a calmer setting for daily routines. In Texas, access to consistent care can shape long-term outcomes for people living with severe mental illness. Families who explore treatment for schizophrenia in Texas often look for programs that combine clinical support, structured routines, and ongoing follow-up. A stable plan makes it easier to manage symptoms and protect daily functioning.

Boosting Mood

A few minutes a day taking a walk in nature has been shown to boost moods. In a 2015 Stanford study, participants were asked to take a 90-minute stroll. Half of them walked in a natural area while the other half strolled in an urban area.

The study examined how settings affected ruminations–the ability to think repetitively about a negative aspect in one’s life. Researchers measured participants’ brain activity and heart rate before and after the stroll.

The results show that participants who strolled through a natural area experienced less brain activity in the subgenual prefrontal cortex. The subgenual prefrontal cortex is the part of the brain where emotions are regulated and the most affected area by bipolar disorder and depression.

While researchers didn’t hypothesize why they saw this trend, it’s a clear indication that spending time in nature helps one’s mental and physical health.

Physiological Benefits

Spending time in nature doing activities such as forest bathing or the Wim Hof Method by swimming in ice water can provide physiological and psychological benefits for many people. Aside from getting a dose of Vitamin D and breathing, which are well-documented, researchers have found other health benefits that are more difficult to explain.

A 2010 study based in Korea showed that people who spent time in nature lowered their blood pressure levels, decreased heart rate, and reduced anxiety and stress. Other studies have mirrored these results and claim lessened muscle tension and decreasing migraines and headaches.

Some studies show that just experiencing nature through photos or videos can produce similar effects.

Treating Mental Disorders

Exposing patients to natural environments is an essential aspect of mental health treatment facilities, often incorporating walkways or natural paths adjacent to the center. Monasteries would build their cloisters on land surrounded by greenery and natural forests.

Multiple studies have shown that patients with ADHD, schizophrenia, and Major Depressive Disorder have experienced significantly reduced symptoms after spending 50 minutes walking through nature.

Final Thoughts

Nature can be an effective way to treat your symptoms and promote good mental health. However, it should not be a substitute for traditional therapy but should be a part of your mental health journey. If you have symptoms of mental disorders or feel anxious or depressed, reach out to a licensed therapist today.

The post Mental Health Benefits of Nature appeared first on Green Prophet.

When we think of climate change, we tend to think about greenhouse gases, fossil fuels and pollution. Most of us don’t think about fungi. But Kathleen Treseder does. Treseder, an ecologist at the University of California, Irvine, studies how fungi can affect climate and vice-versa. “Fungi are important to consider,” she says.

“They can influence nearly every aspect of ecosystems, especially processes that occur in soils.”

New research from her lab shows that fungi can have different lifestyles in response to climate change. These findings can be incorporated into computational models that simulate ecosystems.

“We may be able to better predict shifts in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and climate change,” says Treseder. “That can help us estimate how much, when and where climate change will affect human societies.”

It’s important to be able to forecast which places will be hit by climate change and how quickly. These early warnings can help preparations, such as building sea walls or flood channels, or direct the development of new crop varieties.

Fungi are carbon cycling superstars

Fungi are terrific decomposers. They break down organic material to get nutrients and energy. In doing so, they turn complex chemicals into simpler elements, such as carbon. In fact, “fungi are an integral part of the global carbon cycle,” says Treseder. “They can move carbon from decomposing material into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide.”

But fungi don’t just release carbon. They can also store it. For example, environmental stress can cause fungi to strengthen their cell walls. They do so by using organic compounds that contain carbon. These carbon compounds can stay in soils for years to decades or even longer.

Treseder’s research explores how fungi decide whether to use limited energy and resources to decompose material or for other processes. “No one can do everything well, and the same goes for fungi,” says Treseder. “If fungi invest resources into one activity like decomposition, then those resources won’t be available to support another activity like tolerating environmental stress.”

These resource allocation decisions become even more important in a world with changing climate. “For example, will more extreme climates select for fungi that tolerate stress well, but cannot decompose dead material as efficiently?” says Treseder. “If so, then their production of carbon dioxide might decrease, slowing climate change.”

Boy mushroom hunting uncovers ancient “Bel Air” tombstone in Israel

To answer these questions, Treseder traveled to Alaska and Costa Rica. Experiments were set up in Alaskan Boreal forests and the cloud forests of Costa Rica. “

“We chose these locations because they are both endangered by climate change,” says Treseder. “Northern ecosystems are warming particularly fast. Clouds are disappearing from the mountaintops of Costa Rica.”

Treseder and colleagues exposed areas of the forests to drought-like conditions or more mellow environments. They collected soil samples from the different experimental areas.

Then they analyzed products made by fungal genes. These gene products served as indicators for whether the fungi were investing more resources toward decomposition or strengthening cell walls.

“We found that where drought stress increased, the amount of fungi that invested more in strengthening cell walls and less in decomposition tended to increase,” says Treseder. In contrast, in more moderate conditions, the reverse occurred. Fungi that decomposed more efficiently became more common.

These findings suggest that fungi might store more carbon as global climate becomes more extreme. On the other hand, they might release more carbon dioxide in moderate climates. “These opposing feedbacks would not have been apparent without examining trade-offs among fungal traits,” says Treseder.

Treseder is working to incorporate these findings into new and existing models of climate change. One particular area of focus are Earth system models that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change uses for its official predictions. “We hope our research improves predictions of future trajectories of climate change,” says Treseder.

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There is something romantic about living off the grid and off our own devices. Every summer I go to Northern Canada with my kids and experiment with off-grid living ideas and applications. While we own 200 acres and the last home on the grid for miles and miles, it is tempting to cut off from the polluting power industry and power our own needs from the sun and Mother Earth. 

Maybe you have been reading the books about Hassan Fathy (and his vision for vernacular architecture in the Middle East – the opposite of what we see in Abu Dhabi and Dubai today)or are following people who want independence from the rat race, like this English woman who built an off-grid home in Turkey for less than $4000. 

Some of my off-grid friends use solar panels. Some have been too ambitious and too inexperienced and ended up wasting $20,000 on solar energy systems when they didn’t drain the batteries correctly in the winter when they weren’t using them. If you are planning on generating clean energy and then selling it back to the grid because you are still on it and want to make the system better, make sure you do a lot of research first. Look for companies like this Texas-based First Choice Power. Not all electric companies are transparent and not all will agree to buy back your power. This is important to know if storing it is a limitation for you. 

Using Off-grid Wind Power

If you live in area that is close to a large lake, sea or open space, home wind turbines might be an option for you. I have seen small installations on rooftops in cities like Tel Aviv, and even in dense urban areas there is still energy worth collecting. Maybe it’s enough to power a lightbulb, but like turning off the tap when you are not brushing your teeth, every drop counts. 

Using Off-Grid Solar Energy

As much as I’ve learned up until now, home solar panels require quite a bit of electrical know how. So try to find a local handyman or woman who can help you if you can’t install or operate the system yourself. Running home solar panels (systems running as low as a few hundred dollars to several thousand) does require a constant state of awareness especially if you have a small system and can expect cloudy or rainy days in your future. A friend of mine was stumped as to why her battery kept draining. By the end of the day she didn’t have enough power to light lights in her living room. By chance we stumbled on a light left on in one of her cottages! That was after she did a thorough electrical overview with her specialist friend. 

But as much as work as it might be and the hassles that come with it, even when you make mistakes, you learn something from it. A friend of mine once said that energy from the sun and energy we collect from nature is the best vibrational energy out there we can collect. Why not? It’s made just for us. To think about us damming rivers, burning coal, burning oil and even natural gas — all limited resources, it just doesn’t make sense. A small leap and investment can take you to a new way of life and will certainly make your neighbors very curious. 

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An Islamic bank in Jordan, Sanabel, has bought up over a quarter of a Congo forest for ‘sustainable projects’

When I first read about the acquisition of 500,000 hectares of high value forest in the Democratic Republic of Congo by an Islamic investment bank in Jordan, I thought one thing: land grab.

Over the last couple of years, countries across the MENA region have been buying tracts of land all over Africa. Worried about the rising cost of food as well as declining natural resources locally, they have been trying to make sure that their eggs (so to speak) aren’t all in one basket. Egypt has bought up land in Sudan, Saudi Arabia has staked a claim on land in Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates has farms in Sudan, Morocco and Algeria.

However, this latest land acquisition by Sanabel is a little more interesting as it claims to come with some green credentials. According to news reports, Sanabel which is Jordan’s first Islamic investment bank is considering a number of “Sharia’ compliant forestry activities” for the land it has purchased. These range from afforestation and reforestation projects, and protecting the land from deforestation and sustainable agro-forestry projects.

I have written about the ethical aspects of Islamic banking in the past and also the important role they could be playing in protecting the planet, so it’s great to see some action being taken. Indeed Al-Sanabel Chairman and CEO Khaldoun Malkawi explained that these activities are entirely compatible with Islamic banking principles since they simultaneously help to fight climate change by protecting biodiversity, reducing poverty and promoting corporate social responsibility.

Sanabel did however also add that this purchase is part of their plans to capitalise on the rapidly growing carbon trading market. This means that the company “will develop forest carbon credits projects that will protect the role of forests in mitigating climate change.”

As such Sanabel will be hoping to get companies to pay them to preserve the forestland in Congo and protect it from deforestation in return for carbon credits which help them meet their carbon reduction targets.

This is, however, where it gets a little messy.

Firstly, the carbon credit market has been widely criticised for allowing business to continue spewing lots of emissions. It turns out that buying carbon credits from schemes such as the one that Sanabel will be running is a lot cheaper and easier for businesses than actually cutting their own emissions.

So instead of protecting the environment and helping tackle global warming, these scheme just help companies continue their destructive practices.

The second issue that needs to be considered is the displacement of poor people living in these forests. For example, 70,000 indigenous people living in the western region of Gambella in Ethiopia were forced to relocate as the land had been living on was bought up by foreign investors. Saudi Star Agriculture Development was one of the companies implicated in this forced displacement.

Land ownership is a hugely contested issue and passing on ownership to a foreign government can only make the situation more complicated.

So while I’m happy to see Islamic banks consider green projects, I think they need to do better next time. They need to show that they aren’t out just to make a quick buck and also that they take their environmental responsibilities seriously.

Update March 2020: the website/Facebook page for Sanabel is down.

Images of Congo forest via bobulix/flickr.

For more on African land grab see:
Egypt to Grab Sudanese Land To Meet Its Wheat Needs
Africa Up For Sale, Is The Middle East Buying?
Arab States Buy Up Vast Tracts Of African Farmland

The post Jordanian Bank Sanabel Buys One Quarter of a Congo Forest appeared first on Green Prophet.

We all know the story. The Three Wise Men (Magi) traveled to Bethlehem upon the birth of baby Jesus and laid gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh at his feet. The story is so engrained in the consciousness of Christians that many people burn frankincense in front of nativity scenes during Christmas time in order to relive this collective memory.

But a new study published in Britain’s Journal of Applied Ecology warns that this tradition is at risk of extinction. After studying dozens of Boswellia tree populations in Ethiopia, from which much of the world’s frankincense is derived, scientists predict that within the next 15 years, 50 % of the world’s supply will be lost. And by 2060, 90% of resin that produces the aromatic scent of many Christmases past will be completely sapped.

Even though the Boswellia tree is exceptionally hardy, Frans Bongers, who co-authored this alarming study, told the BBC that “the forests that remain are declining because the old individuals are dying continuously, and there [are] no new individuals coming into the system. That means that the forests are running out of trees.” Oman and Yemen cut down the trees systematically, and in Ethiopia they are being cleared for agriculture.

Fire, grazing, and beetle attacks are other factors putting frankincense at further risk. Are gold and myrrh next?

Via BBC, ABC

image via aleutia, flickr

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