Open Newswire

Year the U.S. Forest Service was created to manage and protect the country's National Forests: 1905

A small gesture from a locally famous community walker has ripple effects throughout the Adirondacks and beyond

Plan to transfer 140,000 acres of the Kisatchie National Forest to Grant Parish sparked outrage from conservationists and parish leaders.

KATHMANDU — Nepali officials are preparing to hand over the government’s ambitious new zoo to the country’s leading wildlife conservation body. Whether that body is up to the task is up for debate. Discussions around the proposed zoo in Suryabinayak municipality in central Nepal, which would span 259 hectares (640 acres) of community-managed forests on […]

Some have migrated from the Valparaíso region, but others have organised to remain in the face of advancing forest fires The post She left after the fire: A Chilean community’s struggle to stay appeared first on Dialogue Earth.

SYDNEY, Australia. At dusk on the edge of the bush in Australia’s Heathcote National Park, a spotted-tailed quoll lowers its tawny head to the ground, pink nose twitching. The dense forest, the scent of damp earth and eucalyptus leaf litter gives way, abruptly, to heat and a chemical tang. Ahead: open space. Noise. Light. A […]

This coverage is made possible through a partnership between Verite News and Grist, a nonprofit environmental news organization. A Republican U.S. senator’s proposal to break up Louisiana’s only national forest is drawing widespread outrage, including from the local government set to receive the land. Sen. Bill Cassidy has quietly drafted legislation to transfer about 140,000 […]

Experiment shows the Amazon can recover after fires, but the new forest is a “poorer” version of its former self.

Mangrove forests could help sequester more than five million metric tons of nitrogen pollution from coastal ecosystems across the Earth if they are restored and protected, a recent study found. Nitrogen pollution typically comes from synthetic fertilizers largely used in agriculture or from human waste seeping into water sources. Nitrogen is an essential nutrient for […]

The two CT labs focus on managing invasive insects—like spongy moths, spotted lanternflies, Asian long-horned beetles—to protect trees.

The International Organization for Migration and the Boticário Group Foundation for Nature Conservation announced a partnership aimed at strengthening public policies for climate adaptation in Brazilian municipalities. The initiative promotes so-called Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) as a strategy to reduce the impacts of extreme events and prevent the forced displacement of populations affected by floods, landslides, droughts, heat waves, coastal erosion, and wildfires. Notícias relacionadas:Deforestation in Brazil’s Atlantic forest biome down 28% in one year.Brazil’s deforestation falls 42% in 2025.Most Brazilian biomes saw lower deforestation in 2024.The institutions have produced a joint document offering practical recommendations to assist municipal governments in adopting NBS. Débora Castiglione, a representative of the International Organization for Migration, a United Nations agency, explained that the proposal seeks to integrate environmental and humanitarian agendas. “The partnership reinforces the idea that conserving nature is an investment in protecting people, and that promoting integrated public policies that anticipate risks and strengthen community resilience is among the most effective ways to prevent future disaster-induced displacement,” Castiglione noted. Juliana Baladelli Ribeiro, project manager at the Boticário Group Foundation, stated municipalities need support through information that can be translated into practical measures. “We need to expand municipalities’ access to tools, knowledge, and technical support networks needed to implement Nature-Based Solutions. Knowledge is the first step toward overcoming technical, institutional, and cultural barriers,” Ribeiro said. Vulnerability Data used by the institutions point to a scenario of growing vulnerability. Information from the AdaptaBrasil platform, released in 2024, indicates that 66 percent of Brazilian municipalities have low or very low capacity to adapt to extreme weather events. To address these challenges, the initiative highlights measures such as mangrove conservation and restoration, riparian forest recovery, the expansion of urban green spaces, and slope revegetation. Beyond the humanitarian dimension, the issue also has economic consequences. The World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2026 ranks forced displacement among the top ten risks facing the global economy over the next two years. “Adopting Nature-Based Solutions is a strategic, viable, and effective way to address the impacts of climate change on human mobility,” Ribeiro pointed out. Initiatives The Boticário Group Foundation also leads initiatives aimed at training public officials. One of them is the Solução Natureza Project Incubator, developed in partnership with the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, the Center for Management and Strategic Studies, and the Urban Bioconnection Alliance. The initiative currently provides technical support to 29 Brazilian municipalities. Another initiative is the free course “Ecosystem-Based Adaptation in Municipal Public Policy Instruments,” developed in partnership with the Center for Sustainability Studies at the Getúlio Vargas Foundation, the German development agency GIZ, and the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change. The program is offered online by the National School of Public Administration. The initiative also highlights the Natureza ON platform, a digital tool developed by the Boticário Group Foundation in partnership with MapBiomas and Google Cloud technology. The platform combines environmental and urban data to identify at-risk areas and recommend nature-based solutions tailored to each territory.

Timika – “The recent drone attack on a Catholic church in Intan Jaya has claimed civilian lives and severely traumatized the local population. As Friars Minor of the Justice and Peace Commission, we express our deep concern about the increasing violence against places of worship and unarmed residents. We reaffirm that the protection of human life, the dignity of indigenous communities, and the sanctity of religious sites must be respected without exception. We call for an independent investigation and the immediate provision of safety and humanitarian aid to all affected families,” Father Alexandro Rangga , head of the Justice and Peace Commission of the Friars Minors of Indonesian Papua, told Fides. On May 17, a bomb exploded in the courtyard of St. Paul's Catholic Church in the village of Mbamogo, in the Intan Jaya regency of Central Papua province after Sunday Mass. Four civilians were injured in the explosion. Numerous worshippers were in the churchyard at the time of the explosion. According to several eyewitnesses, the explosive device was detonated by a drone. Hundreds of civilians fled into the forests, exacerbating tensions in the region. The Indonesian military has denied any involvement, calling it a possible "provocation" intended to sow chaos and increase tensions between the military and the population. The Central Papua police have launched an investigation to determine the circumstances and those responsible. Father Yanuarius Yance Yogi, a local Catholic parish priest, coordinated the evacuation of the injured and expressed his concern for the safety of worshippers. Tino Mote, president of the Catholic Youth of Central Papua, called for a transparent investigation and appealed to Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto to intervene "with serious peace measures." The faithful of the Catholic community in the Diocese of Timika are deeply shocked. The region has been scarred for decades by conflict between Indonesian security forces and Papuan separatist groups. Father Alexandro Rangga, head of the Justice and Peace Commission, expressed his concern about the widespread violence: “Shootings, security operations against civilians, the deaths of children, women, students, and members of indigenous communities, as well as the recent bombings near places of worship, have not only triggered a wave of refugees but have also caused deep wounds and pain. This situation shows that Papua is trapped in a cycle of suffering and has not yet found a path to true peace.” “The ongoing conflict has robbed the Papuan people of their sense of security, their future, and their right to life,” he adds. “Papuan children and women are the face of humanity; they are a wounded image of God himself, who should live and grow up in a peaceful environment, receive a proper education, and live without the shadow of violence and the noise of weapons.” The Franciscans reject the militarization of civilian areas: “The excessive presence of armed forces in civilian areas,” he notes, “has so far caused trauma, fear, displacement, and new vulnerabilities for the communities. We call for an independent investigation of all incidents involving civilian casualties, with full respect for the principles of justice and ensuring the moral and material accountability of those responsible. As stated in the Encyclical ‘Pacem in Terris,’ true peace is founded solely on truth, justice, love, and freedom. Without justice, peace becomes enforced silence.” “We call on all believers to intensify their prayers for peace in Papua, to show solidarity with the victims, and to become peacemakers within the community,” the Franciscan concluded. “We believe that Papua is not a cursed land, but a land of life. Papua must not be a place of endless war. Papua is our common home.” Currently, a low- to medium-intensity conflict is raging in the Indonesian province of Papua , concentrated mainly in the region’s central highlands. Indonesian military operations have intensified in recent years, causing massive population displacement: since the beginning of 2026 alone, over 105,000 internally displaced persons have been registered, mostly indigenous Papuans fleeing into the forests. The local population accuses the military of killing civilians, burning villages, attacking churches and schools, and severely violating human rights. The military denies this, claiming to be fighting only armed separatists.While the political group Organisasi Papua Merdeka is active on the ground, armed separatists carry out attacks and ambushes against security forces, infrastructure, and sometimes even miners, whom they consider "intruders." The main demands of the Papuan population are independence or at least greater autonomy within the framework of recognition of their Melanesian identity, which is distinct from Indonesian identity. Indonesia, for its part, considers the province of Papua an indivisible part of its territory and views the movement as a separatist and terrorist threat. A key factor in this resource-rich region is the control over natural resources , which are exploited by large multinational corporations with concessions from the Indonesian central government, without benefiting the local population. Another factor in the conflict is the central government's decades-long policy of transmigration . This has reduced the indigenous Papuans to a minority and exacerbated tensions over land and resources. In this complex situation, there are allegations of torture, human rights violations, enforced disappearances, and impunity on the part of the security forces. The Catholic and Protestant churches in Papua play a vital role in protecting human dignity and human rights, as well as in promoting dialogue and peace. The Indonesian province of Papua, the western part of the large island of New Guinea, was a Dutch colony until 1962, before being integrated into Indonesia in 1969 through a referendum in which only about 1,000 elected representatives participated without a popular vote. Since then, independence groups have been waging a political struggle and advocating for the demands of the local population.

A tract of land near Yellowstone National Park, which had been identified as a potential gold mining site in 2023, has been added to the roster of public lands after The Conservation Fund, the United States Forest Service and the Greater Yellowstone Coalition came together to make the transaction happen, which including purchasing land as […]

Conservation biologist Dimby Raharinjanahary spent years walking through Madagascar’s forests, counting some of the island’s most visible species, such as lemurs and birds. Raharinjanahary was head of monitoring and research for the country’s national parks service from 2012 to 2018, when monitoring still relied largely on tracking a handful of species as indicators of forest […]

“We spend three to four hours in the forest every day… we know which leaves and flowers to pluck, and how many tubers to uproot,” Shanti,* a woman from Sahala village in north Odisha, told us during a conversation in 2023. Her statement captured the ethic of care that shapes how people in the village attend to the forest’s needs along with their own. These slow, careful, and dexterous everyday actions practised by women in tribal and forest-dependent communities have shaped forests across India for generations—improving biodiversity, reducing fire risks, and sustaining ecosystem service flows. However, over time, these knowledge practices have been dismissed and sidelined as ‘unscientific’. This has happened through both dominant state models of forest management and emerging climate discourses, policies, and crucially, ‘nature-based’ solutions such as carbon markets. Valued at USD 10 billion in 2025, voluntary carbon markets (VCMs) function by putting a price on carbon, allowing countries, companies, and individuals to offset their carbon dioxide emissions by buying carbon credits from projects that reduce or

While Nepal celebrates tripling its wild tiger population, rural women in forest-edge communities face escalating danger. A demographic shift driven by large-scale migration of men abroad has in part forced women to take on nearly all agricultural and household responsibilities. Described as the “feminization of agriculture,” the shift has pushed women into high-risk forest edges […]

The Nepal government has proposed the creation of a park to house “problem” tigers – individuals involved in human fatalities. The big cats would be moved from current overcrowded holding centers to a 50-hectare (124-acre) facility, planned for the Durganar–Tikauli forest near Chitwan National Park, according to authorities, reports Mongabay’s Abhaya Raj Joshi and contributor […]

Editor's note: This is part of a series of stories on the June 2 primary election in California. The stories include comments from candidates who agreed to interviews with The Center Square. (The Center Square) – Two candidates for the heavily rural Congressional District 13 seat spoke to The Center Square in recent weeks about affordability, Medi-Cal and why they’re running for office against incumbent Rep. Adam Gray, D-Merced. The district is in the middle part of California. Daniel Garibay Rodriguez In the nearly one year since the passage of the federal government’s 2025-26 budget, also known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Californians in the rural Central Valley have been negatively impacted, Democratic candidate Daniel Garibay Rodriguez told The Center Square. “It’s affecting mental health. It’s affecting social services. It’s affecting the workforce,” Rodriguez, a behavioral health manager, said. “I’m really against it because it does not deliver for the working-class people. It delivers for corporations, Big Pharma. We need to come up with creative solutions to fill those gaps.” As someone who works in behavioral health, Rodriguez said he wants to see federal taxpayer dollars pay for community mental health clinics, increases in union wages, social services programs and affordable housing. He also said he supports tax breaks for individuals. “There’s no way individuals should be paying more taxes than corporations,” Rodriguez said. “That’s a big problem in the Central Valley. A lot of corporations have come into the Central Valley by exploiting our labor, our land, our people, our water, and there’s no investment in return.” Rodriguez also opposed tariffs championed by President Donald Trump, which Rodriguez said were paid for by small businesses and farmers – which the Central Valley is full of. “In the Central Valley, the working class and farmers and small businesses are paying the price for those tariffs,” Rodriguez said. “The federal government needs to be able to come in and help small businesses with funding, helping with fertilizer, lowering costs and taking away those federal taxes on gas.” Since the U.S.-Israel conflict with Iran started, gasoline prices have risen dramatically in California, which has the nation's highest prices. AAA reported the statewide average was $6.15 a gallon on Wednesday. The average price in Merced County, where Rodriguez lives, was $6.06 a gallon. “Oil companies are making record profits, but we’re the ones who are struggling and paying the price for this,” Rodriguez said. According to the Federal Elections Commission, Rodriguez has not received any campaign contributions. Vin Kruttiventi Vin Kruttiventi, a Republican candidate for the District 13 race and business owner, said he favors lower taxes, both for individuals and corporations. Conversely, he said, he opposes a cut in tax breaks for corporations. “When you tax corporations more, they have less to invest into the community,” Kruttiventi said. “We need more companies to be investing in the Central Valley. We need to not penalize them with more taxes.” Many companies are leaving California, Kruttiventi said, which he views as a big problem for the state’s economy. Another problematic issue is the rising affordability crisis in the state, particularly for families who can’t afford a decent life in California, he said. “We’re failing our kids because they can’t afford a home,” Kruttiventi said. “When I talk to high schoolers here in the valley, they complain they don’t have enough jobs to put themselves through college. So there is a real crisis that needs to be addressed.” Kruttiventi also said he agrees with the federal government’s immigration enforcement policies, which he said is needed to deport illegal immigrants. “What I would like to see is focus more on the criminal illegals first, rather than a blanket enforcement,” Kruttiventi said. He also said he sees mid-decade redistricting and gerrymandering as a national issue. After Texas’ mid-decade redistricting measure passed the Lone Star State’s Legislature in the summer of 2025, California pushed ahead with its own redistricting election in November. That election, in which voters approved maps that could give Democrats the opportunity to pick up five new seats in the U.S. House in the midterm elections this November, spurred other states, including Tennessee, Ohio, North Carolina, Utah, Florida and Missouri, to do the same. “True representation is what’s needed for the people,” Kruttiventi said. “Politics should be the last thing when we govern to make life easier for our people.” Kruttiveni has received $876,117.68 in campaign contributions, according to the Federal Elections Commission. He contributed the two biggest monetary amounts to his campaign – $238,466.54 and $192,398.04, respectively. The next few largest contributors to his campaign are McShane LLC, which gave four contributions between $45,000 and $48,271.50. McShane LLC also gave many other contributions under $45,000. Kruttiventi contributed to his own campaign several other times, according to campaign filings, although TLC Postal Center contributed $7,338.08. Cops Voter Guide Inc. gave $6,969, and Frontline Strategies LLC donated $6,025. Rep. Adam Gray The current representative for California’s Congressional District 13, Adam Gray, was elected in November 2024 and is serving his first term in Congress. In his year and a half as a congressman, Gray, D-Merced, has introduced seven bills in the U.S. House. None has passed yet, according to the federal government’s bill tracker. Gray voted against a bill that aims to reduce taxes and increase spending for certain taxpayer-funded programs, voted in opposition to Congress’s budget bill that set budgetary levels for 2026-2034, and voted in favor of a bill that sought to implement new requirements for managing forests on federal land, among other legislation. Gray received a total of $2.93 million in campaign contributions through May 20, according to the Federal Elections Commission, with the largest contribution by far coming from the JFW Fund. That group, which advocates for electing a Democratic majority in Congress in 2026, gave Gray $48,000. Other campaign contributors to Gray’s re-election campaign included the Gray Whitesides Victory Fund, which contributed $40,000; Jeffries Battleground Protection Fund, which gave $30,980, and Frontline Protection Fund, which contributed $26,000. Other groups that gave between $10,000 and $20,000 included the Blue Dog Victory Fund, Democracy Summer 2026, the California House Majority Fund, the Blue Wave California Victory Fund and additional contributions from the JFW Fund. Gray and his campaign team did not respond to The Center Square's request for an interview.

Bill Cassidy wants to transfer 140,000 acres of Kisatchie National Forest to Grant Parish, but parish officials are opposed.

Jonathan Schilling, a mycologist with the U of MN, discusses wood-eating fungi. The dead and dying trees series is produced by Mark Jacobs.