SciDev.Net

Biofuels are neither a panacea nor a pariah, says a major UN report, but they must not be grown on productive cropland.

Developing countries have been funded to take part in the Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation scheme.

A study shows that areas for environmental protection significantly reduce fires in the Brazilian Amazon.

Tropical forests that grow back following deforestation are unexpectedly rich in plant and animal life that can help conservation efforts.

The discovery of a variety of Anopheles mosquito - a malaria vector - in Panama has led to calls for intensifying malaria prevention.

A study shows how rising oil and gas demand is leading to major exploration in the Western Amazon, threatening the forest and indigenous people.

Mangroves are of great economic value to the Mexican fishing industry and should be protected, say researchers.

Brazil is set to launch a satellite, carrying a British-made high-tech camera, in 2011 for various applications including environmental observation.

Researchers have called for more planning and better collaboration to make two of China's environmental programmes more sustainable.

Protected conservation areas attract human settlement rather than drive people away, which could threaten biodiversity, finds a study.

According to the UN, destruction of mangroves in Myanmar contributed heavily to the damaged caused by cyclone Nargis last week.

An inadequate response to early warnings and destruction of mangrove forests worsened the devastation of cyclone Nargis, say experts.

Carefully designed reward schemes for reducing deforestation could prove lucrative for tropical forest conservation, say researchers.

Two environmental organisations have struck an investment deal that will help conservation and research in Guyana's rainforests.

A round-up of news from or about South Asia for the period 1–15 March 2008.

A round up of news from or about Sub-Saharan Africa for the period 25 February–12 March 2008.

Two new research papers indicate that biofuel production can carry an unrecognised cost by indirectly increasing carbon emissions.

Two Latin American countries, Colombia and Costa Rica, have made the top ten of an environmental management rating.

After 15 years of negotiations, Chile has approved a law to promote forestry research and sustainable use of its native forest.

Developing countries will be helped to protect their forests from deforestation — and then sell the emissions cuts — under a new scheme.