
The Planet Is Burning — But Proven Solutions Are Within Reach
In 2024, the world lost 6.7 million hectares of tropical primary rainforest, the highest level of loss in at least two decades. That's nearly double the destruction recorded in 2023. Fires were the main culprit, fueled by record heat, prolonged drought, and a failure to enforce environmental protections. But, amid the devastation, there is a powerful truth that is too often overlooked: we already know how to stop this.
New data from the University of Maryland's GLAD lab, published by Global Forest Watch, shows that the tropics lost forest at a blistering pace of 18 football fields per minute in 2024. The 3.1 gigatons of carbon released into the atmosphere from this single year of forest destruction was greater than India's entire annual fossil fuel emissions. The world's primary rainforests, vital for regulating climate, storing carbon, and preserving biodiversity, are disappearing before our eyes.
In Cambodia, where Wildlife Alliance has worked for more than two decades, we have helped protect over 1.4 million hectares of rainforest in the Cardamom Mountains, one of Southeast Asia's last intact forest ecosystems. This isn't symbolic protection; tangible, measurable, boots-on-the-ground conservation has kept the forest standing. Independent evaluations have shown that Wildlife Alliance's direct protection model is among the most effective in Southeast Asia at preventing deforestation in real-time. By integrating satellite surveillance, ranger deployment, and community incentives, we have created a replicable approach that can be adapted for other threatened forests around the world. Our approach combines law enforcement, technology, and community engagement through direct partnerships with the Cambodian government, Indigenous communities, and local authorities. We fund and manage ranger patrols, build capacity for rapid enforcement, and use satellite data to detect threats before they escalate.
The result? In the areas we patrol and manage, satellite data shows forest clearance has fallen to near zero.
We are not alone. In 2024, Indonesia and Malaysia reduced their primary forest loss. Their success was also no accident. It was the product of consistent government policies, corporate accountability, and better fire prevention. In southern Bolivia, the Charagua Iyambae Indigenous Territory showed what's possible when early warning systems and community land governance are taken seriously. Despite the flames raging across Latin America, this area stayed intact thanks to foresight, training, and local leadership.
Yet such examples remain the exception, not the rule.
Smoke from wildfires blankets forests south of the Orinoco River, Venezuela (March 26, 2024)
Alarmingly, Global Forest Watch reports that the 2024 fire season devastated forests across Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Nicaragua, and Mexico, much of it tied to agricultural expansion, mining, and weak governance. Bolivia saw a 200% increase in forest loss. Brazil alone accounted for 42% of all tropical forest destruction, with illegal soy and cattle farming driving deforestation deep into the Amazon. In Central America, forest fires burned through protected areas and Indigenous lands, often with ties to organized crime.
In Africa's Congo Basin, the world's second-largest rainforest, forest loss also reached record highs, driven by charcoal production, smallholder agriculture, and land pressures made worse by violent conflict. These are complex challenges. But complexity is not an excuse for inaction.
Too often, international climate finance goes to ideas still being tested or to 'capacity building' projects with little real-world enforcement impact. Meanwhile, field-tested models like ours, which deliver verifiable results, struggle to scale due to a lack of funding. The gap between rhetoric and reality is growing wider every year.
If we are serious about halting and reversing deforestation by 2030 — a promise made by over 140 countries in the Glasgow Leaders' Declaration — we must act differently.
First, we need more vigorous enforcement. Whether through national ranger programs or Indigenous-led patrols, the world must invest in proper protection on the ground. This includes satellite monitoring, rapid-response teams, and legal action against illegal deforestation.
Second, we must scale what works. Proven conservation models — as in Cambodia, Bolivia's Indigenous territories, and parts of Indonesia — need finance to expand. These efforts must be rewarded based on verified results, not good intentions.
Third, the global community must confront the reality that commodity production and deforestation remain tightly linked. Cattle, soy, palm oil, and mining continue to push deeper into tropical forests. Voluntary commitments are not enough; market countries must enforce laws like the EU Deforestation Regulation and ensure companies are not profiting from environmental destruction.
Fourth, Indigenous communities must be empowered and financed as frontline protectors of the world's forests. They are already doing this work, often without support or recognition. The world must back them, not just with words, but with resources, legal protection, and land rights.
And finally, forest protection must be treated as a frontline climate solution. Forests are carbon sinks, natural air conditioners, and buffers against extreme weather. Letting them burn undermines every other climate goal.
The forest loss in 2024 should be a turning point, shaking us out of complacency. But we've seen data like this before and still the money, policies, and enforcement needed to turn the tide remain insufficient.
Wildlife Alliance stands ready to help scale what works. We don't need another conference or another set of promises. We need action grounded in science, delivered in partnership, and driven by urgency.
The forests are burning. We have the tools to stop it. The question is not whether we know what to do but whether we will do it.
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Forbes
35 minutes ago
- Forbes
Drones Deliver Millions Of Mosquitos to Prevent Bird Extinctions In Hawai‘i
Mosquito 'birth control' delivery efforts mark a major technological advance for conserving critically endangered Hawai'ian honeycreepers. 'Ākohekohe (Palmeria dolei), or crested honeycreeper, is endemic to the island of Maui in Hawaiʻi. ... More The ʻākohekohe is susceptible to mosquito‐transmitted avian malaria and only breeds in high‐elevation wet forests. It is critically endangered with fewer than 2,000 individuals alive today. (Via USFWS / public domain.) In a brilliant demonstration of multidisciplinary collaboration, a conservation program to save Hawai'i's critically endangered native bird species has taken another step forward. After a team of scientists developed sterile male mosquitoes, the next challenge was to safely deliver them to where they would be most effective in Hawai'i. Sterile male mosquitoes are created by infecting them with the bacteria, Wolbachia. This bacteria, which naturally occurs in many wild insect species, interferes with reproduction in mosquitoes by 'sterilizing' the males when introduced into mosquito populations like Aedes aegypti. When sterile male Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes mate with invasive wild female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, the resulting eggs cannot be fertilized and thus, cannot hatch, thereby reducing the mosquito population. Wolbachia is a maternally transmitted bacterium, where female Wolbachia-carrying Aedes aegypti pass ... More the bacterium to their offspring, thus generating a stable line of Wolbachia-Aedes mosquitoes. Rearing this line of mosquitos in captivity allows humans to easily produce large numbers of incompatible male Wolbachia-Aedes mosquitoes for release. (Credit: The National Environment Agency of Singapore / Public Domain) Male mosquitoes (regardless of whether they carry Wolbachia) do not bite or transmit disease, and feed only on plant juices and nectar for survival and energy. On the other hand, female mosquitoes do bite because they need a fresh blood meal to produce eggs. Additionally, because Wolbachia-Aedes mosquitoes are not genetically modified, and because Wolbachia bacteria naturally occur in 60% or more wild insects, these mosquitoes are safe. Where did these 'sterile' male mosquitoes originate? 'These males are descendants of mosquitoes originally collected from Hawai'i and it has taken multiple mosquito generations to breed up enough IIT mosquitoes to supply the project's needs,' said scientific outreach specialist Emma Shelly, who works as the Outreach Manager with Birds, Not Mosquitoes. This is a multi-agency partnership, spearheaded by the American Bird Conservancy, that is working to protect native Hawaiian honeycreepers from extinction caused by avian diseases, particularly avian malaria, transmitted by invasive mosquitoes. The effort uses the Incompatible Insect Technique (IIT) as a biological 'birth control' method to reduce the spread of mosquito-borne diseases by reducing local mosquito populations by more than 80% (ref). It has been used successfully in a wide range of places and situations around the world to control a variety of mosquito-borne diseases, ranging from dengue fever to malaria. Do free-roaming female mosquitoes prefer to mate with these IIT male mosquitoes? 'So all things being equal, matings would occur at random,' Ms Shelly told me in email. 'But all things aren't equal because the project is heavily skewing the odds in favor of the incompatible males by releasing them in such large numbers that the wild male mosquitoes are overwhelmed. In this scenario, wild females have significantly more opportunities to encounter IIT males and mate with them.' This technique is known as 'overflooding' and the 'overflooding ratio' (how many IIT males it takes to overwhelm wild males in a given area) is a key component of the project. In Hawai'i, that ratio is 10:1. Not only can drones deliver missiles to protect beleaguered civilians from Russian terrorists, but drones can also deliver pods full of IIT male mosquitoes to protect critically endangered Hawai'ian honeycreepers from avian malaria. But the drones used in these biological battles are not the same as those used against Russia, as you might have guessed. 'The drones we use are more common for activities requiring a moderate payload for a drone, like LiDAR, magnetometers, or cinema cameras. They are usually somewhat larger and fly much slower,' Adam Knox, drone pilot and Aerial Deployment of Mosquitoes Project Manager for American Bird Conservancy, told me in email. 'One of the drones we use, the Freefly AltaX is used for movies (can carry a RED Epic or similar) as well as aerial ignition deployment for controlled wildfire burns.' What makes these particular drones particularly well-designed to carry out their mosquito-delivery job? 'The drones needed to have adequate range and endurance to reach the 3000 acre site that extends over mountainous terrain carrying the payload system and then return home, so much of the testing has been focused on demonstrating this,' Mr Knox explained in email. Are these drones guided by autopilot or by humans? 'Both,' Mr Knox replied in email. 'A human pilot flies the aircraft manually during takeoffs and landings to precisely navigate around hazards in the forest, then once above the tree canopy, the aircraft is switched into an autopilot mode which allows it to carry out the preplanned mission as the pilot monitors the flight.' The male mosquitoes are delivered in biodegradable pods. Each drone carries up to 23 mosquito pods in one flight, and each pod contains about 1,000 insects. 'The pods are made of a sterilized biodegradable paper pulp and are not reusable,' Mr Knox explained in email. 'Once released from the air, they fall to the forest floor where they provide protection to the mosquitoes until they're ready to fly away. The pods then begin to break down once exposed to the elements.' A drone carrying a biodegradable mosquito pod, loaded and ready to deliver. (Credit: Adam Knox, ... More image appears here courtesy of the American Bird Conservancy.) This effort is the first known instance of specially-designed mosquito pods being dropped by drones. One of several pod design challenges that had to be met before the drone delivery service could be launched was the pods needed to maintain a controlled temperature. Unlike other insect species that have been released directly from drones in other parts of the world, these male mosquitoes are fragile and require containment in temperature-controlled pods. 'It's extremely exciting to have reached this project milestone,' Mr Knox remarked in email. 'The first drone deployments took place in April 2025. It took a lot of hard work and reliance on strong partnerships to reach the point where we could successfully demonstrate the utility and potential of drone aircraft as a tool for this important work, especially in one of the more challenging environments in the world.' The mosquito deliveries occur over thousands of acres of remote, mountainous terrain that have significant elevational changes, strong winds, and frequent rain. The drones and their release systems had to be tested in these demanding conditions to validate their ability to carry out the basic components of the mission. Can you imagine dropping mosquitoes in this landscape without falling to your death? Aerial view of ... More the rugged terrain, steep walls and waterfalls at Koolau Forest Reserve East Maui, Hawaii. (Credit: Forest and Kim Starr / CC BY 3.0 US) Originally, mosquito deliveries began in 2023 with twice weekly helicopter deployments into remote forests on Maui and Kaua'i, but drone deployments are so much safer for the humans delivering the mosquitoes. 'This opens up a lot of possibilities now and into the future,' Mr Knox pointed out. 'With a drone, we have more flexibility with deployment timing in areas that generally have very unpredictable weather, and it's safer because no humans need to ride in the aircraft as pilot and crew to deploy the mosquitoes.' Your job looks like it's fun. Is it? 'My parents got me a Tyco Wild Thing as my first RC car when I was probably 5 or 6 years old and since then I have been into the RC hobby on and off throughout my life, spanning cars, planes, helicopters and drones,' Mr Knox replied in email. 'To be able to have my professional pursuits overlap with a hobby that brings me joy is something many only dream about so I feel incredibly lucky to have the opportunity to apply this skillset and knowledge toward helping some of the most endangered wildlife on the planet.' "What we're doing is difficult and it has required a lot of long days for dozens of people scattered across the country working together over multiple years now,' Mr Knox replied in email. 'It's been worth every ounce of effort with what we've been able to learn while getting these specialized IIT mosquitoes out into some of the most challenging landscapes imaginable in order to give these birds a fighting chance at recovery.' Even as these IIT mosquitoes are being delivered to their targets, are there other conservation efforts ongoing? 'Yes, there are,' Mr Knox replied in email. 'The San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance has two facilities in Hawai'i where small populations of several endangered bird species are being kept and captively bred. The sooner mosquitoes are suppressed, the sooner these critically endangered birds can be returned to the wild and begin to re-establish themselves.' Whilst the IIT mosquito effort is currently the best tool we have for controlling invasive disease-carrying mosquitoes, it works hand in hand with other conservation efforts being led on the ground by Birds, Not Mosquitoes partners, including habitat restoration and invasive species and predator control. A critially endangered Hawai'ian Kiwikiu (Pseudonestor xanthophrys) or hookbilled honeycreeper. ... More There are fewer than 200 of these birds remaining. (Credit: Robby Kohley, image appears here courtesy of the American Bird Conservancy.) The mosquito, Aedes aegypti, was initially introduced to the Hawaiian Islands sometime after 1882 by whaling ships, so any ecological role these insects may fill either as prey or pollinators is a recent development. Which is another way to say that it is extremely unlikely that any native bird species has become dependent upon them as a critical food resource. But this invasive mosquito species is quite efficient at transmitting a variety of debilitating diseases to humans, such as dengue, chikugunya, Zika virus, and malaria, just to name a few. Originally, the Aedes aegypti mosquito was restricted to Hawai'i's lower elevations, which allowed some of Hawai'i's honeycreepers to live at higher elevations and thus survive. However, climate change has allowed mosquitoes to expand their range upwards, so now all of Hawai'i's remaining native bird species are in danger of vanishing forever. 'Without significantly reducing invasive mosquito populations, multiple native bird species will disappear forever in the near future,' said Chris Farmer, the American Bird Conservancy's Hawai'i Program Director. How many native Hawai'ian bird species have been driven extinct by avian malaria so far? 'At least 33 species of honeycreeper are now extinct, and many of the 17 that remain, including the Kiwikiu and ʻĀkohekohe on Maui, and ʻAkekeʻe on Kauaʻi, are highly endangered,' Dr Farmer replied. 'Last year, the ʻAkikiki became functionally extinct in the wild, and mosquitoes could cause other species to quickly decline and vanish if no action is taken.' The ʻakikiki (Oreomystis bairdi), also called the Kauaʻi creeper, is now functionally extinct, ... More thanks to avian malaria spread by invasive mosquitoes. (Credit: Robby Kohley, image appears here courtesy of American Bird Conservancy.) 'Reducing invasive mosquito populations is absolutely critical in preventing the extinction of Hawai'i's vulnerable honeycreepers,' Dr Farmer continued. 'We have the technology to break the avian disease cycle in Hawai'i, and a fighting chance to restore populations. We are the generation that can save honeycreepers like Maui's Kiwikiu, and with a population of less than 150 individuals, these drone and mosquito suppression advancements have come just in time.' I highly recommend that you watch this moving video, Vanishing Voices, which shows how ABC is working with its Birds, Not Mosquitoes partners to prevent the extinction of the iconic native bird species in Hawai'i. This wonderful, hopeful video shares the gorgeous songs of these vanishing birds. © Copyright by GrrlScientist | hosted by Forbes | Socials: Bluesky | CounterSocial | LinkedIn | Mastodon Science | MeWe | Spoutible | SubStack | Threads | Tumblr | Twitter
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
Emperor penguin populations declining faster than expected
Emperor penguin populations in Antarctica have shrunk by almost a quarter as global warming transforms their icy habitat, according to new research on Tuesday that warned the losses were far worse than previously imagined. Scientists monitoring the world's largest penguin species used satellites to assess sixteen colonies in the Antarctic Peninsula, Weddell Sea and Bellingshausen Sea, representing nearly a third of the global emperor penguin population. What they found was "probably about 50-percent worse" than even the most pessimistic estimate of current populations using computer modelling, said Peter Fretwell, who tracks wildlife from space at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS). Researchers know that climate change is driving the losses but the speed of the declines is a particular cause for alarm. The study, published in the journal Nature Communications: Earth & Environment, found that numbers declined 22 percent in the 15 years to 2024 for the colonies monitored. This compares with an earlier estimate of a 9.5-percent reduction across Antarctica as a whole between 2009 and 2018. Warming is thinning and destabilising the ice under the penguins' feet in their breeding grounds. In recent years some colonies have lost all their chicks because the ice has given way beneath them, plunging hatchlings into the sea before they were old enough to cope with the freezing ocean. Fretwell said the new research suggests penguin numbers have been declining since the monitoring began in 2009. That is even before global warming was having a major impact on the sea ice, which forms over open water adjacent to land in the region. But he said the culprit is still likely to be climate change, with warming driving other challenges for the penguins, such as higher rainfall or increasing encroachment from predators. "Emperor penguins are probably the most clear-cut example of where climate change is really showing its effect," Fretwell told AFP. "There's no fishing. There's no habitat destruction. There's no pollution which is causing their populations to decline. "It's just the temperatures in the ice on which they breed and live, and that's really climate change." - 'Worrying result" - Emperor penguins, aka Aptenodytes forsteri, number about a quarter of a million breeding pairs, all in Antarctica, according to a 2020 study. A baby emperor penguin emerges from an egg kept warm in winter by a male, while the female in a breeding pair embarks on a two-month fishing expedition. When she returns to the colony, she feeds the hatchling by regurgitating and then both parents take turns to forage. To survive on their own, chicks must develop waterproof feathers, a process that typically starts in mid-December. The new research uses high resolution satellite imagery during the months of October and November, before the region is plunged into winter darkness. Fretwell said future research could use other types of satellite monitoring, like radar or thermal imaging, to capture populations in the darker months, as well as expand to the other colonies. "We really do need to look at the rest of the population to see if this worrying result transfers around the continent," he said, adding however that the colonies studied were considered representative. He said there is hope that the penguins may go further south to colder regions in the future but added that it is not clear "how long they're going to last out there". Computer models have projected that the species will be near extinction by the end of the century if humans do not slash their planet-heating emissions. The latest study suggests the picture could be even worse. "We may have to rethink those models now with this new data," said Fretwell. But he stressed there was still time to reduce the threat to the penguins. "We've got this really depressing picture of climate change and falling populations even faster than we thought but it's not too late," he said. "We're probably going to lose a lot of emperor penguins along the way but if people do change, and if we do reduce or turn around our climate emissions, then then we will save the emperor penguin." klm/gil

Associated Press
6 hours ago
- Associated Press
Emperor penguins show dramatic decline in one region of Antarctica, satellite photos show
WASHINGTON (AP) — The population of emperor penguins in one part of Antarctica appears to be declining faster than previously thought, according to a new analysis of satellite imagery released Tuesday. The estimated population of 16 penguin colonies — visible in satellite photos taken between 2009 and 2024 – had declined 22% during that period mainly because of climate change that's shrinking the amount of available sea ice. It's unclear whether this drop is seen across the continent, scientists said. 'Sea ice is very important for the penguins because they breed on sea ice and forage on sea ice,' said Peter Fretwell with British Antarctic Survey, who helped analyze the data. Scientists previously estimated that the total emperor penguin population declined about 10% across all of Antarctica over the past decade and a half. The latest survey included a region covering the Antarctic Peninsula, Weddell Sea and Bellingshausen Sea. 'It's absolutely alarming that the numbers are so much worse than predicted,' said Daniel Zitterbart, a penguin researcher at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, who was not involved in the study. There are uncertainties in the latest estimate. The analysis relies on a calculation of how densely the penguins are clustered in each area where they're detected in a single satellite photo taken each year. The colonies studied represent about 30% of the total emperor penguin population, which lives only in Antarctica. The loss of stable sea ice may be affecting the penguins in ways beyond shrinking their breeding grounds. 'More predators like leopard seals and orcas may be able to come in closer to the colonies if sea ice breaks up earlier in the year,' said Fretwell. Warming ocean temperatures and changing rainfall patterns may also impact the survival of penguin chicks, he added. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.