Deforestation-free and carbon-negative alternatives for palm oil

A team of scientists from EPFL and Switzerland's WSL research institute has studied the conversion of savannas into oil palm plantations as a deforestation-free way of growing these plantations. What's more, if improved management ...

New sensing technologies to study elusive flying bats

How can we understand the activity of wild bats? Mostly soundless, flying in the dark, bats feed at night and evade our senses. Many bats can use echolocation to hunt and can avoid the traditional nets used to capture them; ...

India's oil palm goals raise fears of deforestation

India's newly announced plan to move from being the world's biggest importer of palm oil to that of major producer of the crop may be at the cost of large-scale deforestation of ecologically sensitive areas.

How palm oil became the world's most hated, most used fat source

Palm oil is everywhere today: in food, soap, lipstick, even newspaper ink. It's been called the world's most hated crop because of its association with deforestation in Southeast Asia. But despite boycott campaigns, the world ...

New oil palm map to inform policy and landscape-level planning

IIASA researchers have used Sentinel 1 satellite imagery from the European Space Agency to produce a map of the extent and year of detection of oil palm plantations in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand that will help policymakers ...

Saving the world with Christmas cookies?

Despite all warnings, people continue to ruthlessly exploit land resources around the world, planting monocultures and setting up large-scale infrastructure. Social ecologist Anke Schaffartzik analyses the political and economic ...

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