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The scale of destruction is immense, with some estimates suggesting an area equivalent to 14,400 football fields have been consumed by flames in Izmir province alone.

(The Center Square) – Thousands of personnel and volunteers from across Texas have come to assist with recovery efforts and debris removal in Kerr County and surrounding areas in response to the historic July 4 flood. After a torrential downpour caused the Guadeloupe River to rise 26 feet in 45 minutes early Friday morning, a tidal wave of destruction crashed through Kerr and surrounding counties. Before that happened, the state was monitoring weather patterns and Gov. Greg Abbott and the Texas Division of Emergency Management moved assets into Central Texas on Wednesday. Additional resources were surged on Thursday; weather warnings were issued both days. By Friday, more than 1,500 personnel and more than 925 vehicles and equipment assets across 20 state agencies were in emergency response mode. TDEM deployed an incident management team to support deployed emergency response resources, including multiple task forces, and continues to oversee recovery efforts. More than 850 people were rescued in the initial hours of operations, the majority by the Texas Military Department. Texas National Guard rescued 525 people, 366 by air evacuations conducted by UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter pilots and crew, and 159 by ground. Another 20 were rescued in San Sabo County and five in Burnet County, Texas Military Department Adjutant General Major General Thomas Suelzer said Tuesday. Lt. Col. Ben Baker with Texas Game Wardens said 300 game wardens have been involved in recovery efforts. They’ve searched 26 river miles, made 440 rescues and recovered 30 dead bodies. Texas Department of Public Safety’s Special Operations Group “continues to work alongside local and state partners with ongoing rescue and recovery efforts in the Texas Hill Country, including searching through debris and storm damaged areas. Our teams will be in Kerr County to assist as long as we are needed,” Texas DPS said. Texas DPS Colonel Director Freeman Martin said 258 DPS troopers were assigned in Kerrville alone, including highway patrol, a tactical marine unit, criminal investigators, Texas Rangers, SWAT, victim’s services, among others. After members of the public were given a number to call to report missing people, hundreds of calls came in, he said at a news conference on Tuesday. Through painstaking work, DPS troopers working with others in law enforcement, cross checked names with trailer parks, RV camps, hotels and other rental properties, with the calls that came in and arrived at a total of 161 missing in Kerr County alone, he said. “A lot of work is being done,” Martin said. Most of what they were able to do is because DPS was fulling funded by the Texas legislature, he said. Funding enabled DPS to acquire six replacement helicopters, which are being used for recovery efforts, he said. “We have a lot of resources,” he said, in addition to the assistance they are receiving from the FBI, DEA, Border Patrol, Coast Guard, Department of Homeland Security and others. “Everyone is working together, unified,” he said. Search and rescue efforts are ongoing in Burnet, Kendall and Travis counties, he said. All three missing in Williamson County were recovered, deceased. Ten are confirmed missing in Travis County. Multiple teams from several Texas A&M System agencies are also actively involved in recovery efforts as part of the 20-state agency effort. “As we struggle to grasp the magnitude of the loss felt by so many of our fellow Texans – and even as we all offer up our prayers for the victims and their families and the parents, friends and loved ones of those still missing – the brave men and women from across the Texas A&M University System were risking their lives to save others caught in dangerous flooding across Central Texas and the Hill Country,” the Texas A&M University System said. They include Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service task forces using swiftwater rescue boats to assist with flood rescues and evacuations and a Public Works Response Team assessing and assisting with public works infrastructure needs in Kerrville. Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service agents are supporting agricultural and livestock needs; a Veterinary Emergency Team is providing veterinary medical support for animals impacted by flooding. More than 75 Texas A&M Forest Service personnel and 153 Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System members are on the ground. Saw teams are clearing debris and restoring access in impacted areas; overhead personnel are working alongside local officials on damage assessments and incident coordination. Abbott said on Tuesday, “Texas will not stop until we finish the job. We will not stop until we identify, recover every single body. Will not stop until every road is rebuilt, every inch of debris is removed. “We will not stop because we are a state that cares about our people, cares about our communities, and we'll be with them every step of the way.”

Acteon, having accidentally seen the goddess Diana and her nymphs bathing, begins to change into a stag. Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. George S. Amory, Object Number: 64.208. Could you ever be truly alone in the woods of ancient Greece or Rome? According to myth, the ancient world was filled with wild animals, terrifying monsters, and mischievous deities. Among them were nymphs: semi-divine female figures that personified elements of the natural world. But nymphs offer us more than just stories of sexy nature spirits. They can reveal how ancient people thought about their world and connected with their landscape through mythology. Personifying elements of nature Nymph was a broad category in myth. It encompassed almost every semi-divine woman and girl in myth, including a number of goddesses. The sea goddess Thetis and the underworld river Styx were both sea nymphs as well as goddesses. Nymphs were typically portrayed as young, exceptionally beautiful women in art and literature. The word “nymph” in ancient Greek could even be used to mean “young girl” or “unmarried woman” when applied to mortal women. Despite this etymological connection, many nymphs were married or mothers or gods. Amphitrite was the wife of Poseidon, and her sister Metis, the personification of wisdom, was Zeus’ first wife, according to Hesiod’s Theogony. Maia was the mother of Hermes, the messenger god. What links all nymphs was their connection with the natural world. Nymphs typically personified elements of nature, like bodies of water, mountains, forests, the weather, or specific plants. This carving derives from a passage in The Iliad that describes the nereid Thetis, mother of the hero Achilles, and other nereids carrying newly forged armour to her son. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Bothmer Purchase Fund, 1993, Object Number: 1993.11.2 The nymph Daphne One of the most quintessential nymphs was Daphne (or Laurel, in Latin). According to the Roman poet Ovid in his poem the Metamorphoses, Daphne was a stunningly beautiful nymph who lived in the forest. Daphne had chosen to follow in the footsteps of Artemis (Diana), the goddess of the hunt, by being a huntress and abstaining from sex and marriage. But her beauty would be her downfall. One day the god Apollo saw Daphne and immediately tried to pursue her. Daphne did not feel similarly and fled through the forest. Apollo chased and nearly caught her. But Daphne’s father Peneus, a river god, saved his daughter by transforming her into the laurel tree. Like many nymphs, Daphne’s myth was an origin story for her namesake tree and its significance to the god Apollo. But her story also followed one of the most common tropes in nymph myths – the trope a nymph transformed into her namesake after running away from a male deity. Different nymphs for trees, water, mountains, stars There were even special names for different types of nymph. Daphne was a dryad, or tree nymph. Oreads (mountain nymphs) are referenced in Homer’s Iliad. There were three different types of water nymph: the saltwater oceanids and nereids, and the freshwater naiads. Nymphs lived in the wilderness. These untamed places could be dangerous but they also held precious natural resources that nymphs personified, such as special trees and springs. Spring nymphs personified one of the most precious resources of all: freshwater. It was hard to find freshwater in the ancient world, especially in places without human infrastructure. Cities were often built around springs. The nymph Arethusa was the personification of the spring Arethusa in Sicily. Today, you can visit the Fountain of Arethusa in modern day Syracuse. No matter where you looked in the ancient landscape, there were nymphs – even in the sky. The Pleiades and Hyades were two sets of daughters of the god Atlas who eventually were transformed into stars. Their myths gave an origin for two sets of constellations that were used for navigation and divination. The Pleiades and Hyades constellations were visible to the naked eye, and can still be seen today. This painting depicts the god Bacchus (the Roman equivalent of the wine god Dionysus) lounging with some nymphs in a landscape. Abraham van Cuylenborch/The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Object Number: 25.110.37 The divine presence in nature Although myths may feel like a fictional story told to kids, nymph myths show that ancient myth is inseparable from the ancient landscape and ancient people. The natural world was imbued with a divine presence from the gods who physically made it – Gaia (Earth) was literally the soil underfoot. Nymphs were a part of this divine presence. This divine presence brought with it a very special boon: the gift of inspiration. Some writers (such as Plato) referred to this sort of natural inspiration as being “seized by the nymphs” (νυμφόληπτος or nympholeptus). Being present in nature and present in places with nymphs could bring about divine inspiration for philosophers, poets and artists alike. So, if you ever do find yourself alone in a Grecian wood, you may find yourself inspired and in good company – as long as you remain respectful. Kitty Smith is a member of the Australian Society for Classical Studies and of Australasian Women in Ancient World Studies.

Are you seeing more bright lights in the big city so far this summer? It’s no cause for concern — it’s just fireflies, also called lightning bugs, which New York has seen plenty of this season. They’re in the forests of Prospect Park and the tall grasses near the waterfront. They’re floating through the Ramble […] The post Seeing More Fireflies in New York City This Year? You’re Not Alone. appeared first on THE CITY - NYC News.

Farmers Shubhash Chandra Bose from Latehar, Pinki from Saraikala, and Chandradeo Ghami from Bokaro districts in Jharkhand were struggling with similar issues – changing rainfall patterns, declining agricultural production, increased use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides, land degradation, changes in the quantity and quality of forest produce, and climate-induced migration. After dealing with these pressing […]

Rubber tapping in the forest was once the main Amazonian economic activity, and now an Indigenous group is bringing it back.

From pollinating plants to dispersing seeds, birds play a variety of crucial roles that help to keep ecosystems in balance. But when we degrade and fragment their habitats, some species disappear much quicker than others — taking their specific ecosystem functions with them. New research from Papua New Guinea, one of the world’s last havens […]

The BRICS countries published a joint statement on Monday (Jul. 7) calling on wealthier countries to increase their contributions toward climate finance targets. The fundraising initiative, called the Baku to Belém Roadmap for $1.3 trillion, highlights the importance of reaching this figure by COP30 in November. “We express serious concern about the ambition and implementation gaps in developed countries’ mitigation efforts prior to 2020. We urge these countries to urgently address these gaps, revise and strengthen their 2030 targets in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), and achieve net-zero GHG emissions significantly before 2050—preferably by 2030—and net-negative emissions immediately thereafter,” reads an excerpt from the document. Notícias relacionadas: BRICS Academies of Science propose network for climate solutions. Brazil, France expected to make new climate declaration ahead of COP30. “Climate finance is not charity,” says COP30 director. The defense of multilateralism was one of the central themes of the group’s meeting at the Leaders’ Summit in Rio de Janeiro. In this context, BRICS reaffirms the role of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Paris Agreement as the primary platforms for international cooperation to address climate change. The group maintains that the mobilization of resources is the responsibility of developed countries toward developing countries. It acknowledges that while there are common global interests, countries have differing capacities and responsibilities. The text points out that there is sufficient global capital to address climate challenges, but it is unevenly allocated. It also emphasizes that funding from the wealthiest countries should be provided through direct transfers, rather than mechanisms that worsen the economic challenges faced by recipient nations. “We emphasize that financing for adaptation should be primarily concessional and donation-based, accessible to local communities, and must not substantially increase the indebtedness of developing economies,” the document stresses. Public resources provided by developed countries would be directed to the operational entities of the UNFCCC Financial Mechanism, including the Green Climate Fund, the Global Environment Facility, the Adaptation Fund, the Loss and Damage Response Fund, the Least Developed Countries Fund, and the Special Climate Change Fund. Alongside public capital, private investment in climate finance is advocated to support the use of blended finance mechanisms. “We emphasize that the Tropical Forests Forever Fund (TFFF), proposed for launch at COP30, has the potential to be a promising blended finance instrument, capable of generating predictable and long-term funding flows for the conservation of standing forests,” the statement said.

How one tree gets planted three times — and still apparently looks good on a dashboard.

NASA Johnson/flickr, CC BY-NC Since 2019, the UK has been committed to the target of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Legally binding net zero targets form the basis for national efforts to meet the international goals of limiting global warming to “well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels” and ideally to 1.5°C. These goals, launched in 2015 as part of the UN’s Paris agreement, set the stage for climate action in a warming world. Much like the “reduce-reuse-recycle” sustainability initiative, various climate actions fit within three Rs — reduce, remove and reflect. These actions were the subject of a recent debate in the UK parliament. My colleagues and I have reviewed how these three Rs differ in scope, scale and state of knowledge. Our analysis reveals that a range of climate interventions may complement intensified mitigation efforts (to reduce greenhouse gas emissions), but more research is urgently needed. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is at centre stage. This is non-negotiable. Emissions reduction must be deep, rapid and sustained if we are to limit global warming to less than 2°C. These drastic cuts demand an ensemble cast, players from all sectors, from energy to agriculture. The energy to power modern society accounts for almost 75% of our greenhouse gas emissions. We need a prop change at centre stage: an energy transition from fossil fuels to renewables. This requires electrification and energy efficiency measures — both are central to managing the growth in energy demand sustainably. At stage right, greenhouse gas removal offers a supporting role by removing historical emissions and offsetting residual emissions from sectors lagging behind in the energy transition (such as shipping and aviation). A number of academics have stressed that a range of removal methods is required to achieve net zero emissions and halt the rise in global temperature. Conventional carbon removal methods, such as forestation or the restoration of peatlands and wetlands, are vital. However, due to resource constraints (such as land and water security) and ecosystem impacts of global warming, we need to scale new methods rapidly to meet Paris agreement targets. These include ways to capture and store carbon on land and at sea. Novel methods have many challenges, however, related to their effectiveness (including storage durability and permanence), unintended environmental consequences, economic costs and demands on natural resources. The challenges constraining the scale-up of novel removal methods must be addressed if we are to achieve net zero and halt global warming. The consequences of climate change are outpacing efforts to abate it. With each year, the likelihood of exceeding 1.5 and 2°C warming increases, posing major risks to society and Earth’s ecosystems. That’s why the third R — reflect — needs to be assessed. UK funds controversial climate-cooling research Sunlight reflection methods have been in the wings on stage left. In the context of limiting global warming to 1.5°C, they have been considered feasible in theory, but fraught with challenges in practice. As the chance of exceeding 1.5°C in the coming years increases, this form of climate intervention needs further consideration. Experts brought together by the UN Environment Programme have concluded that, although this intervention is “not a substitute for mitigation”, it is “the only option that could cool the planet within years”. The most studied methods to reflect sunlight are called stratospheric aerosol injection and marine cloud brightening. These methods mimic natural processes that cool the earth by reflecting sunlight, be it through the release of reflective aerosols into the upper atmosphere, or the addition of droplet-forming salt crystals into marine clouds in the lower atmosphere. Five geoengineering trials the UK is funding to combat global warming Sunlight reflection methods pose immense challenges with respect to research, ethics and governance. There are many scientific uncertainties about how these interventions will influence the climate. There is also no global regulatory framework in place. Any legislation needs to be based on scientific evidence and informed decisions. Shining the spotlight Meeting climate goals requires an ensemble cast performing actions across the warming world stage. Emissions reduction is indispensable and should remain centre stage in climate policy. Climate interventions at stage right and left — in the form of greenhouse gas removal and sunlight reflection — need responsible and responsive direction. Their risks and benefits need to be assessed. Before curtains are drawn, let’s make sure every climate action — reduce, remove and reflect — gets a fair hearing. Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like? Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead. Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. Join the 45,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far. Dante McGrath does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Deforestation figures can be frustrating to look at, but there are a number of success stories when it comes to protecting tropical forests that we can learn from, Crystal Davis, global program director at the World Resources Institute, says in a recent Mongabay video. “We know what works. We know how to do it,” Davis […]

Abe Streep ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up for Dispatches, a newsletter that spotlights wrongdoing around the country, to receive our stories in your inbox every week. On Monday, June 23, a crowd of about 2,000 people surrounded the Eldorado Hotel & Spa in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where members of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet had come for a meeting of the Western Governors’ Association. “Not for sale!” the crowd boomed. “Not one acre!” There were ranchers and writers in attendance, as well as employees of Los Alamos National Laboratory, all of whom use public land to hike, hunt and fish. Inside the hotel ballroom where the governors had gathered, Michelle Lujan Grisham, the New Mexico governor, apologized for the noise but not the message. “New Mexicans are really loud,” she said. On the street, one sign read “Defend Public Lands,” with an image of an assault rifle. Others bore creative and bilingual profanities directed at Trump, Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, who oversees most of the country’s public acreage, and Sen. Mike Lee, the Republican from Utah, who on June 11 had proposed a large-scale selloff of public lands. Lee, who chairs the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, was not in Santa Fe, so the crowd focused on Burgum, who earlier that afternoon had addressed the governors about energy dominance and artificial intelligence. “Show your face!” the crowd chanted. But he had already departed the hotel through a back door. That night, a hunting group projected an image of him on the exterior wall of the hotel. “Burgled by Burgum,” it read. In the weeks before the meeting, the possibility of selling off large swaths of public lands had seemed as likely as at any time since the Reagan administration. On June 11, Lee had introduced an amendment to the megabill Congress was debating to reconcile the national budget. The amendment mandated the sale of up to 3 million acres of land controlled by the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management, with the vast majority of proceeds going to pay for tax cuts. Although Lee had framed his measure as a solution to the West’s acute lack of affordable housing, it would have allowed developers to select the land they most desired. Under the amendment’s original language, the ultimate power to nominate parcels for sale fell to Burgum and Brooke Rollins, head of the Department of Agriculture, which oversees the U.S. Forest Service. In the days after the Santa Fe protest, the outcry from hunting and outdoor recreation groups escalated across the West and the Senate parliamentarian ruled that Lee’s amendment violated the chamber’s rules. Republican lawmakers from Montana opposed the amendment; Burgum also distanced himself from it. (“It doesn’t matter to me at all if it’s part of this bill,” he told a reporter on June 26.) By the time Burgum made his comments, Lee’s effort seemed doomed, and days later he announced that he was removing the amendment; public land advocates celebrated. “This win belongs to the hunters, anglers, and public landowners,” wrote Patrick Berry, the president of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers. But the celebration may have been premature. In a social media post announcing his decision, Lee indicated that he would revisit the issue: “I continue to believe the federal government owns far too much land,” he wrote. And powerful forces still support privatization. At the Santa Fe gathering, Rollins had been asked during a press conference about the effort to sell federal land. She told reporters she wasn’t familiar with the specifics of Lee’s amendment but supported his broader vision and suggested such efforts will continue regardless of the fate of the amendment. “Half of the land in the West is owned by the federal government,” said Rollins. “Is that really the right solution for the American people?” The circumstances that led to Lee’s proposal continue to simmer. The American West has an acute lack of affordable and attainable housing. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, Colorado, with a population of 6 million, is lacking 175,000 rental units for people who earn up to 50% of area median income. New Mexico, which has one-third of Colorado’s population, is lacking 52,000 such rentals; Utah, 61,000. But nowhere is the issue as acute as in Nevada, where Las Vegas and Reno are encircled by public land. The state of 3.27 million is estimated to lack 118,000 such rentals. The lack of housing emerged as a lever for Lee, who has sought to challenge federal control of public lands since he was first elected to the Senate in 2010. A year after winning his seat, he introduced a bill to sell a limited amount of public land, saying, “There is no critical need for the federal government to hold onto it.” In 2013, he and others in his state’s delegation wrote a letter demanding the transfer of federal lands to Utah and angrily accusing the Bureau of Land Management, which manages 245 million acres nationwide, of “obvious abuse.” And in a 2018 address at a think tank, he compared federal land managers — and people who recreate on public acreage — to feudal lords, ruling from far-off kingdoms on the coasts. He also denounced “elite publications” that advocated for the protection of public lands, and he used the language of political war to describe the conflict over federal land: “It will take years, and the fight will be brutal.” (Lee’s office did not respond to detailed questions from ProPublica.) But this spring, Lee found support from unlikely places: the coastal elites he previously railed against seemed open to some of his ideas. The arguments in favor of privatization and development use a word of the season: abundance. Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson’s bestselling book of the same name argues that burdensome regulatory processes have crushed the American housing market. While the authors focus on increasing supply in urban areas, in April, The New York Times ran an op-ed calling for building housing on public lands. That same week, the Times Magazine, in a piece titled “Why America Should Sprawl,” framed outward growth, including through the sale of public lands, as all but inevitable. The American Enterprise Institute, a free-market think tank, has estimated that the nation could build 3 million homes by opening federal land. In December, AEI leaders advocated for federal land sales in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, promising that disposal could “usher in housing abundance and prosperity.” When pitching his land-sale bill, Lee adopted a more moderate tone than in years past, focusing squarely on housing. On June 20, he posted on X, “This is to help American families afford a home.” On June 23: “Housing prices are crushing families.” The next day: “This land must go to American families.” But it’s challenging to build affordable housing on public land for a host of reasons, among them the high cost of infrastructure such as water pipelines and the cumbersome bureaucratic processes involving land agencies. But a primary obstacle is the price of that land itself: When it’s sold at market rate, it’s extremely difficult for developers to create affordable homes. “High land costs alone can kill an otherwise great affordable housing project,” said Waldon Swenson, vice president of corporate affairs for Nevada HAND, which builds affordable rental housing. In fact, past public land sales have created very little affordable housing. There’s just one prominent test case, in Nevada, where a 1998 law enables the sale of federal land at market rate in the Las Vegas Valley and at steeply discounted prices throughout the state if it’s to be used for affordable housing. Though municipalities can buy BLM land at $100 per acre to create affordable housing, the law has so far created just about 850 affordable units on 30 acres of land. By contrast, the law’s market-value mechanism has enabled the sale of more than 17,000 acres of land at an average of more than $200,000 per acre. In March, the BLM sold 42 acres for $16.6 million. Meanwhile, according to a recent analysis, rents in Clark and Washoe counties have respectively risen by 56% and 47% since 2018. Lee’s amendment did little to address these issues and lacked any definition of affordable or attainable housing. Furthermore, it allowed private developers to nominate parcels for sale — at market rate only. “It would be an unmitigated disaster,” wrote Mark Squillace, a professor of natural resources law at the University of Colorado law school. John Leshy, a former solicitor for the Department of the Interior during the Clinton administration and an emeritus professor at the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco, said that the bill was “not a well-designed scheme to get more acres out there built with affordable houses.” Leshy, the author of “Our Common Ground: A History of America’s Public Lands,” added, “I think it is just a ploy to get your toe in the door to start selling off lots of federal land.” Congress’ stance toward public land shifted as settlers moved westward, violently displacing tribal nations. During the homesteading era, the General Land Office — a precursor to the BLM — was tasked with disposing of federal lands to states. But in the late 19th century, states began to request that Congress set aside lands for national forests. As a condition of its statehood, in 1896 Utah relinquished any claim to ownership of “unappropriated public lands” — an acknowledgment that appears in its state Constitution. As the conservation movement took off in the early 20th century, lawmakers and presidents set aside more public land. In 1976, Congress passed the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, which codified the BLM’s role in stewarding lands and declared that they would remain public unless their sale served “the national interest.” Lee has lamented the impact of those historic changes on Utah, where 42% of the state is BLM land, saying in a 2018 speech, “Manifest destiny had left us behind, in some respects.” A movement in the 1970s tried to reverse those historical currents when Western ranchers and lawmakers calling themselves “Sagebrush Rebels” sought to claim federal lands for states. They found sympathetic ears in Washington, D.C.: Ronald Reagan, during a 1980 campaign stop in Salt Lake City, said, “Count me in as a rebel.” Once elected, he nominated as secretary of the Interior James Watt, an attorney who favored transfer of public lands to the states. Reagan also came to rely on an economic adviser named Steve H. Hanke, who arrived at the White House from Johns Hopkins University. Hanke was more strident about getting rid of public lands than Watt; he has written that public lands “represent a huge socialist anomaly in America’s capitalist system.” Hanke helped drive an ambitious effort to dispose of national forests and grazing lands, and in 1982 the Interior Department announced plans to sell millions of acres — as much as 5% of the public estate — in order to reduce the national debt. Hanke later joined The Heritage Foundation, entrenching the idea of privatizing lands at the conservative think tank and predicting that Americans would come around to his way of thinking. Since then, the foundation has regularly advocated for selling public lands. (The foundation did not respond to inquiries from ProPublica.) Lee is deeply tied into The Heritage Foundation, which he has called “a guiding light for generations.” In 2016, The Heritage Foundation suggested that Trump nominate Lee to the Supreme Court. Among Utah’s leadership, his positions on federal land are widely held. Last year, the state attorney general filed suit to the United States Supreme Court, seeking to seize 18.5 million acres of federal public land. The court declined to hear the case. Public lands are popular, especially among hunters, hikers and off-roaders, and periodic efforts to sell them have incurred wrath. In 2017, Jason Chaffetz, the former Utah representative, retracted a disposal bill after a backlash. Last December, a survey of 500 Utah voters commissioned by the nonprofit Grand Canyon Trust found that a majority of both Democrats and Republicans supported preserving national monuments in the state. In its preelection policy recommendation known as Project 2025, The Heritage Foundation called for the privatization of everything from public education, using school-choice programs, to Medicare, by automatically enrolling patients in insurer-run plans. But it notably didn’t call for the privatization of the public estate. Instead, Lee has recently focused the debate on affordable housing. In 2022 and 2023, Lee introduced legislation to sell Western lands called the HOUSES Act. The bill was more prescriptive than his reconciliation amendment: It only allowed states and municipalities to nominate lands for disposal, rather than developers, and it required that 85% of nominated parcels be developed as residential housing, at a minimum of four homes per acre, or as parks. But like his amendment to the reconciliation bill, Lee’s HOUSES Act lacked a definition of affordable housing, and critics suggested that it would lead to the building of mansions. In both 2022 and 2023, when Lee reintroduced the bill, it did not pass out of committee. But it caught the attention of Kevin Corinth, then the staff director on the Joint Economic Committee, which advises Congress on financial matters. After leaving the Capitol, Corinth joined the American Enterprise Institute, which began focusing on building housing on federal lands. This March, AEI held an event with powerful developers to discuss its ideas, which it called “Homesteading 2.0.” Edward Pinto, a former Fannie Mae executive who helps oversee AEI’s housing research, said during the event that the proposal “grew out of an effort that Sen. Lee undertook with the HOUSES Act.” AEI advocates for dense development of single-family homes, but its ultimate vision remains opaque: The group has spoken of creating unregulated “freedom cities” far from existing infrastructure, and its proposals for 3 million houses seem ambitious. Headwaters Economics, a nonprofit group in Montana, published an analysis finding that existing public land could support less than 700,000 new homes; Nicholas Irwin, the research director for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas’ Lied Center for Real Estate, said he found Headwaters’ numbers more convincing. When I asked Pinto for a real-world example that illustrates his hopes for the West, he pointed to Summerlin, a planned community in Las Vegas, and Teravalis, a forthcoming development in Buckeye, Arizona, a rapidly expanding city at Phoenix’s edge. Both are owned by Howard Hughes Holdings, a developer based in Texas. Housing in Summerlin is not easily attainable — its median home price approaches $700,000. Teravalis, meanwhile, was first proposed more than 20 years ago and has been beset by delays, in part due to ongoing litigation with the state, which claims that the developer has not proven that it can obtain a sufficient water supply. A spokesperson for Howard Hughes Holdings, which bought the development in 2021, wrote that the company is “working with local stakeholders around long-term water policy to support the full build out of Teravalis for more than 300,000 residents over several decades.” Earlier this year, Pershing Square Holdings, which is controlled by the billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, purchased $900 million of stock in the company. (Ackman, a prominent supporter of Trump’s 2024 campaign, is now the executive chairman of Hughes’ board of directors. Through a spokesperson, he declined to comment for this article.) Teravalis’ first lots sold for a steep $777,000 per acre without homes on them, and Hughes’ plans are for 2.8 dwellings per acre — less than a quarter of the figure that Pinto cited as ideal for naturally affordable housing. Hughes is currently planning a grand opening for November. The company did not say how much homes would cost, but a spokesperson wrote in a statement, “The need for new housing in the Phoenix West Valley is urgent, and Teravalis will help meet that demand.” When given the option, developers often pursue the profit margins of high-end housing. In 1998, Congress passed a law, the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act, that allows any of the state’s municipalities to request the sale of federal lands for affordable housing. (SNPLMA relies on the Department of Housing and Urban Development to define affordable housing, which it says are units within reach of those making up to 80% of the area’s median income.) Still, to date, only about 900 acres have been set aside for affordable housing projects under the law — and only 30 of those acres have been developed into homes where low-income residents can actually live. It’s unclear why so few affordable housing projects have been built at a time when they are so desperately needed. Clark County Commissioner Marilyn Kirkpatrick attributed it to bureaucratic delays: “It’s taken a long time to get through the process with the BLM.” According to Maurice Page, executive director of the Nevada Housing Coalition, the average time the BLM takes to review projects has recently dropped — from between three and five years to one. Only at that point can a developer close a deal. Tina Frias, CEO of the Southern Nevada Home Builders Association, said such delays can be crippling. In 2023, the BLM began selling Nevada land for affordable housing for $100 per acre. (Previous SNPLMA affordable housing sales had averaged nearly $35,000 per acre.) Still, local authorities have not requested the transfer of many parcels in recent years. According to the BLM, only three new affordable housing projects are moving toward approval. In a statement, a spokesperson for the agency wrote, “BLM Nevada can only offer land after it has been nominated by an eligible entity and BLM has confirmed that there are no encumbrances or restrictions on the parcel. In many cases, the restrictions referenced by stakeholders originate with the nominating entities themselves.” SNPLMA’s affordable housing mechanism is also poorly understood. Alexis Hill, the chair of Washoe County’s board of commissioners, which includes Reno, told me she didn’t know whether the affordable housing provision applied there. (It does.) When I asked Biden’s former BLM director, Tracy Stone-Manning, who now leads The Wilderness Society, whether the $100-per-acre provision was applicable statewide, she said she did not know. Squillace, the Colorado law professor, also admitted he wasn’t sure how widely the provision applied. Steve Aichroth, the administrator of the Nevada Housing Division, acknowledged a disconnect between agencies. His office is hiring an official to work with municipalities and the BLM. “If you came back to us in about a year we’d have better answers,” he said. In the meantime, both of the state’s Democratic senators, Jacky Rosen and Catherine Cortez Masto, have proposed legislation that would open federal acreage for housing and transfer it to trust land for tribal nations — while protecting other territory for conservation. The governor, Joe Lombardo, a Republican, recently signed a bill to invest $183 million of state money in developing housing for lower- and middle-class residents. Elsewhere in the West, New Mexico is leasing state lands to develop apartments. In Utah, the state housing office is encouraging cities to change zoning requirements to increase density; it is also using public funds to finance private developments and looking to build on state lands. Before Lee pulled his amendment, I spoke with Steve Waldrip, who directs housing strategy for Utah Gov. Spencer Cox. During our conversation, Waldrip expressed concern that the hyperpoliticized debate around a broad federal land sell-off was hampering focused efforts to alleviate the region’s housing crisis. “There’s no silver bullet that’s going to solve the affordability crisis,” he said. But some continue to believe a simple solution exists. After Lee’s amendment died, I spoke with Pinto, who directs AEI’s efforts to push for housing on federal lands. He struck a conciliatory tone, given the political climate. (The sweeping GOP bill passed Thursday without Lee’s amendment.) At the moment, Pinto said, there doesn’t appear to be an easy route to sell large swaths of public land for development. “The path forward is to have a much more targeted approach.” In Nevada, such a thing is already happening. Last year Clark County bought 20 acres from the BLM for $2,000, and the county’s plan is to turn that land into single-family houses for first-time homebuyers. This spring, a new affordable housing development opened in Las Vegas — an apartment complex for people 55 and older with rent starting at $573. The project was built by a developer called Ovation on former public land that was transferred through SNPLMA. It had taken a while — the deal was first proposed in February 2020. But recently, the pace of transfers has picked up. Ovation says it’s also working on a similar project in the city of Henderson. It was nominated for BLM approval last February and, according to Jess Molasky, the company’s chief operating officer, “We hope to be in the ground in the first quarter of next year.” Gabriel Sandoval contributed research.

Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. As governments and corporations scramble to meet climate pledges, the search for reliable and scalable carbon removal strategies has turned increasingly toward forests. But while tree planting captures the public imagination, a new study suggests a simpler, less […]

KATHMANDU — A decade ago, people from Salija village in western Nepal traveled several hours into the uphill forests to gather firewood and feed for their livestock, Shakhamani Khorja recalls. “[Now], we have a forest growing on about 13 hectares [32 acres] of land less than a kilometer [0.6 miles] away that helps meet our […]

(The Center Square) – California Gov. Gavin Newsom Monday praised quick recovery efforts and thanked firefighters and other first responders on the six-month anniversary of the devastating Palisades and Eaton fires. Newsom and other elected officials, along with First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom, addressed reporters at Pasadena City College, where they voiced support for the governor's earlier request to Congress for $40 billion in federal aid. Officials also expressed their condolences for the victims of Independence Day flooding in Kerry County, Texas, where at least 99 people have died. The news conference focused on rebuilding efforts for those affected by the Los Angeles County wildfires, which started Jan. 7. The Eaton Fire burned more than 14,000 acres in Altadena, an unincorporated community outside Pasadena. The Palisades Fire burned over 23,000 acres in Los Angeles. The fires destroyed 12,048 homes and cost 30 lives, Newsom noted. “It goes without saying that disasters test us." Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger went to the podium and held a copy of “LA County Forward: Blueprint for Rebuilding.” Barger, who chairs the Board of Supervisors, said the county’s rebuilding efforts have included removing permit fees for rebuilding homes, accelerating permitting and inspections, pre-approving designs to reduce waits for contractors and investing in infrastructure. U.S. Rep. Judy Chu, D-Monterey Park, whose district includes Pasadena and Altadena, told reporters she wouldn’t stop fighting for a $40 billion federal aid package to help victims of the Eaton and Palisades fires “with no strings attached.” She promised to get residents everything they need to recover and rebuild. An aid package could also include relief for those affected by the flooding in Texas and other disasters, U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Sherman Oaks, noted later. He added that homes rebuilt in Los Angeles and the Pasadena area would be built better because construction will follow the 2008 state fire code. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass didn’t attend Monday’s news conference after deciding instead to go to the city’s MacArthur Park to find out when federal agents on horseback would be leaving the area. Local media reports showed Bass, who was surprised by news of the agents, talking to an official on a cellphone handed to her at the park by an agent in a U.S. Border Patrol uniform. Speaking on Bass’ behalf in Pasadena was Deputy Mayor Rachel Freeman. “We all woke up with the same thought. It’s hard to believe it’s been six months since one of the worst disasters in state history,” Freeman said. “I cannot thank firefighters and first responders enough,” said Freeman, who also expressed her gratitude to Newsom, Barger and lawmakers in Sacramento and Washington, D.C. “Many wondered how we could possibly come back. We stand here after six months of resilience, of neighbors supporting neighbors,” Freeman said, praising efforts by community organizations, chambers of commerce and residents. “Construction is well underway in the Palisades,” Freeman said. Newsom said he issued executive orders to ensure collaboration among agencies, promote debris removal and remove regulatory barriers to rebuilding. “Debris removal is 96% complete,” the governor said. “This has been one of the fastest removals in debris removal in history,” he said, praising work by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Newsom also praised fellow Democrat Joe Biden, who was president when the fires broke out, for coming to Los Angeles and securing Federal Emergency Management money. “He said the answer was yes before we asked the question,” Newsom said. “That’s something I can assure you that we can’t take for granted.” “The baton was passed to the Trump administration. They have honored that commitment,” Newsom said. But U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, D-California, noted President Donald Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops during the Los Angeles protests over raids on illegal immigrants took them away from their duties assisting with responses to wildfires. Padilla added 150 of those National Guard members were returned to the state’s control as California experiences its peak wildfire season. Current blazes include the Madre Fire, which has burned more than 80,000 acres, primarily on Los Padres National Forest and Bureau of Land Management properties in San Luis Obispo County (north of Santa Barbara). It is the largest fire so far this year in California.

Several law enforcement agencies have begun searching Idaho’s Sawtooth National Forest for Travis Caleb Decker, who is a suspect in the disappearance and death of his three children, after law enforcement officials received a tip that Decker may be in the area. The U.S. Marshals Service is requesting assistance from members of the public who […]

(The Center Square) — The Madre Fire, the largest wildfire this year in California, continued to burn over the holiday weekend, growing to 80,603 acres as of Monday afternoon. Fire crews are hoping to contain the flames before temperatures begin to rise later in the week. The Madre Fire started Wednesday near State Route 166 east of Santa Maria, by the border between Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties. The fire is burning in a low residential area, primarily in Los Padres National Forest and Bureau of Land Management in San Luis Obispo County, threatening 50 residential homes. As of 11:53 a.m. Pacific time Monday, the fire had been 30% contained, and evacuation orders and warnings remained in place, according to a Cal Fire Madre Fire incident report. The maximum temperatures in the area of the fire were estimated to be around 80-90 degrees, and 10-15 mph wind and 30 mph gusts of wind were predicted to be blowing mostly from the west, according to a Madre Fire daily update report. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection report also said temperatures in the area will rise later in the week with valleys reaching temperatures in the 100s. Darren McMillin, a spokesman for response efforts for the Madre Fire, told The Center Square Monday that fire crews are working 24/7 to connect different areas of containment to make as much progress before the weather begins to worsen. “By the end of Tuesday, we are hoping to have all these things buttoned up so when it does get hot, dry and windy, we are in a really good place,” McMillin said. McMillian also said the fire crews have already made a lot of progress and they are in a much better place than they were a couple of days ago. “They are getting in there with dozers and handlines and crews and just connecting those dots,” McMillin said. “And they are making a lot of progress so we are optimistic.” Cal Fire told The Center Square Monday that despite the progress fire crews are making on the fire, the department can't predict how much of the fire will be contained in the next few days. That is because containing a wildfire can be a slow process because it is not only about putting down containment lines, but making sure the lines hold. Cal Fire has assigned 1,472 personnel, 38 fire crews, 28 water tenders, 16 helicopters and many more resources to the Madre Fire. Cal Fire has also reported one confirmed firefighter injury and one confirmed destroyed structure caused by the fire. The cause of the fire is still under investigation. California's previously largest wildfire this summer, the Wolf Fire in Riverside County, is now 95% contained and has charred 2,387 acres as of Monday afternoon, according to the Cal Fire website. Evacuation orders have been lifted, but excavation warnings remain place for the areas immediately surrounds the fire's perimeter. Cal Fire also said firefighters are performing mop up and suppression repairs on the area affected by the Wolf Fire, as well as looking for hot spots and putting down containment lines.

A video showing an unconscious woman surrounded by a few policemen is being shared on social media (here, here, and here). The post is being shared with the claim that six boys raped a woman from Jharkhand and murdered her and then dumped her body in a forest. Let’s verify the truth behind the video [...] The post A video from a film shoot is falsely shared as a real incident of sexual assault and murder appeared first on FACTLY.

Public health, explained: Sign up to receive Healthbeat’s free national newsletter here. At the start of her pregnancy with her now 10-month-old daughter, Marica Lowe was consumed by fear. She was so worried for her safety and that of her unborn baby that she holed up in her bedroom most days. She even skipped Mardi Gras, the vibrant but notoriously crowded festival that is normally the highlight of her year. But as spring began, and the streets filled with flowering trees, Lowe reconnected with what had lured her to move to New Orleans from her hometown of New York City two years earlier: nature. “The first time I visited New Orleans, I went on a walk, and I saw limes growing on the tree,” Lowe said. “Fruit doesn’t grow on trees in New York, so that really drew me here.” She organized a community “sensory walk” through Couturie Forest, a 60-acre nature preserve. The aim was to take in the beauty of the natural environment by listening to birdsong, smelling fragrant plants, touching tree bark, and grounding themselves in the earth. It was the second trimester of her pregnancy, and something unexpected happened. As she led the group through the forest, she experienced a profound mental shift, feeling peaceful and centered. “I felt connected to nature. I felt protected. I felt more excited. I felt connected to my baby,” recalled Lowe, 39, who is now the wellness director at Dream House Lounge in New Orleans, a nonprofit organization committed to expanding access to mental and spiritual wellness services. “It just was life-giving.” Keturah Queen, GirlTREK recruitment specialist, takes part in a midday group walk through New York City with her young daughter. Research increasingly shows that women who participate in nature-based activities have healthier pregnancies — information that is especially critical for Black women, who nationwide have a maternal mortality rate that is more than three times the rate for white women, according to the Policy Center for Maternal Mental Health. In New York City, the disparity is even greater: Black women face a ninefold higher risk of dying from pregnancy-related complications than white women — and research shows that more than 80% of these deaths are preventable. For Black women, though, getting out into nature can be a challenge. Decades of discriminatory housing policies and disinvestment have resulted in many Black women living in communities with limited access to parks and green spaces, walkable streets, vegetation, or shade trees. These inequalities don’t just degrade the quality of life in these neighborhoods, they contribute to physical and psychological health disparities that disproportionately affect Black women of childbearing age. In response, health advocacy groups and community-focused birth workers are creating opportunities for Black women to connect with nature, recognizing it as a vital tool in maternal health and wellness. “When a Black pregnant woman walks through a park or sits under a tree, she’s not just relaxing — she’s reclaiming a piece of her health and her power,” said Keturah Queen, recruitment specialist at GirlTREK, a national health justice movement that aims to combat systemic racism and extend Black people’s lives through nature walks for women. “Nature gives us a chance to reset.” Research shows link between green space and maternal health Queen, 40, joined GirlTREK in 2016, when her first child turned 1. Hoping to lose weight and connect with like-minded women, she began walking regularly and along the way, cultivated a deep love for nature. “When I got involved with GirlTREK, I started to plan nature walks,” Queen said. “And then I found myself being at such a place of calm, feeling stress-free and just loving to be under the skies, or just in the grass, barefoot walking — different things that brought me joy.” A 2023 study led by a multidisciplinary team of researchers from the University of California, Irvine, among other institutions, found a measurable link between green space and maternal mental health. Analyzing more than 415,000 singleton births in Southern California, researchers found that for every 10% increase in visible street-level greenery, the risk of postpartum depression dropped by more than 4%. Marica Lowe explores the natural corners of Tremé in New Orleans during her third trimester of pregnancy. One in eight women who have recently given birth experience symptoms of postpartum depression, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Black women are much more susceptible. Without treatment, the condition can affect a mother’s well-being, her ability to care for her baby, and even the child’s development, including sleep, feeding, and behavior. The health impacts of green space also extend to physical complications during pregnancy. Pregnant women residing in urban areas with sparse tree coverage face more than twice the risk of hypertensive disorders such as preeclampsia, a study by the March of Dimes Prematurity Research Center at the University of Pennsylvania found. Preeclampsia — a condition that typically develops after 20 weeks of pregnancy involves high blood pressure and can lead to organ damage — affects about 1 in 25 pregnancies, and Black women are more than 50% more likely than white women to develop it. Surviving childbirth: NYC nonprofit equips patients to track vital signs, advocate for their health The same study found that those living within 100 meters of areas with less than 10% tree canopy had more than twice the odds of developing complications related to hypertension — especially non-Hispanic Black women — compared to those living near green spaces with more than 30% tree cover. Black neighborhoods across the country have steadily lost trees over the years — a trend driven by environmental neglect, which closely ties to the legacy of housing discrimination. “People who are Black, people who have historically been marginalized, live in neighborhoods that continue to experience disinvestment and dispossession,” said Dr. Max Jordan Nguemeni, an assistant professor in general internal medicine and health services research at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles. In his latest research, Nguemeni is examining whether there is a direct link between tree canopy coverage and health outcomes before and after pregnancy in underserved Black neighborhoods. He and his team began by analyzing data from a tree-planting initiative in Philadelphia, where some predominantly Black neighborhoods received new trees and others with similar demographics did not. Marica Lowe soaks up the sun at Pontchartrain Park in New Orleans with her then 8-month-old daughter, Orí Jenovah Lowe, during their daily time outdoors. Nguemeni’s study aims to determine whether differences in green space impacted not just the broader Black community, but Black pregnant women in particular. This focus on environmental factors and the effects of these disparities resonates deeply with Michele Akosua Chin-On, a New York City doula, private duty nurse, and co-founder of Our Bodies Our Births After Birth. She has witnessed firsthand how environmental and systemic stress affects Black mothers — from elevated cortisol and blood pressure to lower vitamin D levels linked to depression and higher-risk pregnancies. “These inequalities are like a visceral pain,” she said. “It’s proof that Black women are not heard, taken care of and seen. If you nurture a mother, you nurture a nation.” GirlTREK recruiting for Harlem walking group Chin-On is committed to helping Black women reconnect with nature throughout their motherhood journey — a message she often shares with the women she supports, including 26-year-old Amanah Brookins, whom she encourages to spend time outdoors, especially during her postnatal recovery period. “When you walk out in nature, and you’re touching Mother Earth, and you’re looking up, you see that you’re part of the moon, you’re part of the sunshine, you’re part of life,” Chin-On said. “When you see flowers actually reproducing these beautiful buds, that’s symbolic. You’re one with the universe and one with motherhood.” Proposed NYC Council measure aims to reduce overdose-related pregnancy deaths Brookins, along with her husband and firstborn, used to live in Jamaica. Her home there was surrounded by a river, a garden, and a plethora of trees. “Getting that fresh air and that sun on your skin not just prepared my body physically, but just lifted my mood,” she said. But in September 2024, early in her pregnancy with her second child, Brookins moved back to New Jersey and began working 11-hour shifts at a call center in Essex County. “By the time you get out of work, it’s already dark outside. You haven’t spent any time in the sun,” Brookins said. “You’re just behind a desk all day, and it’s not only just the physical aspects of having pains throughout the day, like your feet swelling up, but just mentally and emotionally, it’s taxing.” Determined to maximize her income before her baby’s arrival, Brookins delayed starting maternity leave until less than two weeks before giving birth — a difficult choice, as the long indoor hours had become a source of increased loneliness and stress. As GirlTREK, founded in 2010, expands, Queen is recruiting for a new Harlem walking group specifically for Black mothers, who she said because of pressures and responsibilities are vulnerable to “the three deadly I’s: isolation, inactivity, and injustice.” “We find that women who are in isolation, their health is failing more, because they feel like they’re doing it by themselves,” she said. “They’re overwhelmed, they’re stressed out, and some of them don’t have an outlet.” Walking with a “sister friend” alleviates stress, boosts social skills, and motivates women to have a set structure, as well as an accountability partner — fostering trust and deepening their connection with nature, Queen said. “How many times do we just not feel like it? But if you have someone who’s encouraging you, pulling you along, that’s just life-saving within itself.” Queen, Lowe, and Brookins — alongside organizations like WE ACT for Environmental Justice and Outdoor Afro — emphasize that the movement to connect Black pregnant women with nature must go beyond individual healing. They are demanding urgent policy changes that confront the environmental consequences of structural racism. They call for halting development in urban green spaces and investing in community gardens, parks, and walkable areas that support Black families’ health and well-being. ‘This Side Up’ onesies and crib distribution: Infant sleep safety efforts central in Queens Lowe’s advocacy for environmental justice was strengthened by negative medical experiences she had during her pregnancy. Her doctor kept warning her about potential complications as a Black woman, statements that felt impersonal and disconnected. “The doctor kept telling me these things that were statistics around my age, around like just being Black and the things that could happen, all these risk factors,” Lowe said. “And in the last conversation I had with the doctor, I was just like, ‘Are you talking about me, or are you talking about the statistics? Because I’m in great health.’” Nature became her remedy, a break from the unjust but common realities Black women across the United States face within the health care system. During checkups and even in labor, Lowe’s heart rate never spiked — something she attributes to the calming effects of her connection to nature. “It helped to regulate both me and my baby,” she said. This story was produced in partnership with the Health & Science Reporting Program at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY.

Skylarks are a red-listed species, which means they are of high conservation concern in the UK. WildlifeWorld/Shutterstock Nature in the UK appeared to receive a rare funding boost in the June spending review, with the government setting a spending target of up to £2 billion a year for England’s environmental land management (ELM) scheme by 2028-29. By steering public funds toward farmers who restore hedgerows, soils and wetlands, England’s ELM programme is meant to renew landscapes that absorb carbon, support pollinators and keep water clean while helping rural businesses stay viable in a changing climate. If delivered in full, the package would elevate the UK’s post-Brexit model of investing public money in shared ecological care (rather than payments based on acreage) to one of the most generously funded in the world. Yet, scrutinise the details and a more complicated story emerges. Get your news from actual experts, straight to your inbox. Sign up to our daily newsletter to receive all The Conversation UK’s latest coverage of news and research, from politics and business to the arts and sciences. The review has trimmed the day-to-day budget of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) in real terms. Defra now faces the unenviable task of signing and monitoring thousands of new ELM agreements with fewer staff and shrinking data resources. Without the capacity to check whether fields really have become richer in skylarks or streams clearer of fertiliser, large sums could be delayed or misdirected. Scale is another challenge. An independent analysis published in 2024 estimated that roughly £6 billion every year across the UK is needed to bring agriculture in line with the Environment Act targets for habitat restoration and net zero commitments. Even the full £2 billion promised for England would meet only about half of that evidence-based need. And the “up to” £400 million for trees and peatlands is not new money: it is funding that was first promised in 2024 and the payment schedule has still not been confirmed. Money could be paid to farmers for allowing woodlands to regenerate. Richard Hepworth, CC BY While the review earmarked £4.2 billion for flood and coastal defence, it does not specify how much of that will support nature-based measures such as floodplain restoration, or the creation of saltmarshes or riparian woodlands. The Environment Agency is consulting on a funding model that could embed such solutions, but the Treasury papers are silent on who will pay for that shift. Tech spending dwarfs habitat investment Contrast this with the sums heading to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. Roughly £30 billion is earmarked for nuclear fission, fusion research and carbon-capture hubs. These projects are heavy on concrete and steel (materials with a hefty carbon cost) but have no immediate ecological benefit. While new low-carbon technologies are crucial, thriving and resilient soils, wetlands and woodlands nourish food systems, safeguard water and hold vast stores of carbon – benefits that deepen and become more cost-effective over time. Nature-based solutions can also revitalise local economies. The Office for National Statistics estimates that replacing the benefits flowing from the UK’s forests, rivers and soils – flood buffering, crop pollination, cleaner air, recreation and more – would cost about £1.8 trillion, a figure that only hints at their deeper, immeasurable value. Yet the review sets out no plan to safeguard these life-support systems, or to factor their decline into the Treasury’s green book (the rule book used to appraise public investments) or the Bank of England’s stress tests, which check how shocks could ripple through the financial system. This is also a matter of fairness and public health. Growing evidence shows that regular contact with nature lowers the risks of heart disease and anxiety, while improving children’s cognitive development. These are benefits with a value that defies any price tag. Yet the places with the fewest trees and parks tend to be the same post-industrial towns ministers want to “level up”. The review is silent on biodiversity net gain (the flagship policy meant to channel private finance into local habitats) and on a proposed national nature wealth fund that could blend public and private capital for large-scale restoration. Housing money could repeat past mistakes One line in the spending review could still shift the balance. The chancellor has earmarked £39 billion for building social and affordable housing over the next decade. If every development delivers at least a 10% net gain for biodiversity onsite, and if schemes build in climate-smart design (living roofs, shade-giving street trees, permeable surfaces) with local residents, Britain could pioneer the world’s first large-scale, nature-positive, net-zero housing programme. Without those safeguards, “levelling up” risks repeating old mistakes: sealing green space under concrete today and paying tomorrow to retrofit drainage, shade and parks. Green space is scarce on this new housing estate near Cardiff, Wales. Shutterstock That risk is heightened by the government’s planning and infrastructure bill, now before parliament. In an open letter to MPs, economists and ecologists warn that the bill would let developers “pay cash to trash” irreplaceable habitats by swapping onsite protection for a levy, a move they describe as a “licence to kill nature”. At the next UN climate summit, Cop30 in Brazil in November 2025, the UK will have to show the world that its domestic spending matches its international rhetoric. More than 150 UK researchers made that point in an open letter to the prime minister, urging him to put nature at the centre of the UK’s Cop30 stance. Converting the Treasury’s headline figures into habitat gains and locking robust rules into both the planning bill and the housing drive would give ministers credible proof of progress when they update the UK’s climate and nature pledges on the Cop30 stage. The spending review may have nudged farm policy in the right direction and set a new higher water mark for nature-positive agriculture. Yet amid the squeeze on Defra, the recycling rather than expansion of tree and peat budgets and the continued dominance of technology over habitat, nature still comes a distant second to hard infrastructure in the UK growth model. There is still time to change course. Guaranteeing Defra’s capacity, publishing a timetable for the tree-and-peat fund, reserving part of the flood budget for community-led nature-based solutions and hardwiring strong biodiversity net gain rules into housing and planning reforms would turn headline promises into projects that enrich daily life while stewarding public money wisely. Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like? Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead. Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. Join the 45,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far. Nathalie Seddon receives funding from UKRI and the Leverhulme Trust and sits on the UK Climate Change Committee. She is also a trustee of the Circular Bioeconomy Alliance and is a non-executive director of the social venture, Nature-based Insights.