Why should a bank in Europe care about the haze in Singapore or forest fires in Indonesia? First: credit risk. If a bank finances a plantation involved in open burning, the borrowing company can face fines and other penalties under Singapore’s Transboundary Haze Act. Similarly, banks can see a deterioration in their client’s credit profile […]

The theme of this year’s Asia-Pacific Forestry Week is “Growing our Future,” and it focuses on the need to integrate forestry into the wider context of sustainable development. This is an issue that is especially relevant to Vietnam. Wood is one of our country’s most valuable resources. The livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people […]

2015 may be remembered as the year of climate, but the ocean came a close second. After being used, abused and taken for granted, I am relieved to see signs that we are finally taking notice of the ocean. However, from the vantage of a boardroom or house of parliament, too often the ocean is […]

The theme this year’s World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos is the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which promises hyper-connectivity and technological breakthroughs. But will a faster, busier, more urban world simply sidestep the world’s wild places and natural systems? The answer: it must not. Nature, including forests, is more important to this revolution than the most […]

Strange as it may appear, I cannot hide my excitement to read in the World Economic Forum’s 2016 global risk report the great emphasis on the risks posed by climate change. Quoting WEF, the top finding is “the potential for climate change to exacerbate water crises, with impacts including conflict and more forced migration, calling […]

The 2016 World Economic Forum Annual Meeting follows an extraordinary year with the first-ever truly global response to some of the most challenging problems in our relationship with the planet. The “Anthropocene” made headlines earlier this month, as scientists presented further evidence that we have entered a new era in Earth’s history – one in […]

When you think about the changing climate and the impact this has on the marine environment, your first thought might be melting polar ice caps. Yet corals are among the most sensitive ecosystems and may be the most affected by climate change in the near future. In Hawaii, with water temperatures 3 to 4 degrees higher than […]

Much is made of what we don’t know about the ocean. In many ways, it remains impenetrable and mysterious, even in today’s technological era. This is why, perhaps, we continue to be so deeply fascinated and inspired by its might. Through studies produced by WWF and other organizations, as well as expert meetings like the […]

I work to protect fresh water, but the reality is, I don’t get my feet wet as often as I’d like. But there are days when I get to leave the desk and computer behind, and remember why I’m in this fight. Last week I had one of those days, as I cheered the athletes at […]

The upcoming Global Forest Resources Assessment – FRA2015 – slated for release on Monday will no doubt reconfirm what many of us have seen with our own eyes: devastating deforestation in the tropics over the past 25 years. Looking forward, the picture isn’t any rosier. In his new book,  On the Edge: The State and […]