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Environment + Sustainability

An oil palm plantation at edge of rainforest with a boarder of trees that were logged to clear land for agricultural expansion.
Photo Credit
Richcarey via iStock
Crafting strategies to stop deforestation will require understanding the factors that accelerate and arrest it.

Declines in deforestation aren’t driven by corporate sustainability pledges

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giant kelp in the water

Disturbance has a greater effect on giant kelp productivity than does resource availability
A group of elephants prepare to cross a road as oncoming headlights can be seen in the distance.
Photo Credit
Davide Antoniani via iStock
Elephants and humans could be headed for a collision in Southern Africa as climate change and bears down and more land comes under cultivation.

Human expansion will fuel more conflict with elephants without careful planning
sand dunes against an ocean background

California has lost more than half of its coastal sand dunes, first-ever comprehensive assessment reveals
A woman tends to casava while carrying a baby on her back.
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Annie Spratt via Unsplash
Rain forecasts and drought warnings can save lives in regions like Sierra Leone, where subsistence farming is still a major part of society.

New rainfall dataset enhances global monitoring of extreme weather
A field of potatoes framed by wildflowers in the foreground and forest in the background.
Photo Credit
Grigorev_Vladimir via iStock
Agriculture and timber production need not come at the expense of carbon storage and biodiversity.

Better land use and management could improve biodiversity, climate and economic development
a young lady with a yellow bandana sits at a table, smiling at the camera
Photo Credit
Courtesy Image

Schmidt Family Foundation renews multi-year funding of UCSB’s Environmental Solutions Fellows Program
nighttime photo of cars in the foreground, wildfire in the background

Six roads to safety: New study finds a critical threshold for wildfire survival
A deer looks a pair of hikers walking down a snow-covered trail.
Photo Credit
Gary Bendig via Unsplash
Our presence affects animals beyond merely how we’ve modified the landscape.

Data on human and wildlife movement during the pandemic suggest new ways for us to coexist
Snags cover a mountainside under white puffy clouds.
Photo Credit
Cavan Images via iStock
Forests can’t offset emissions as a carbon store if trees are constantly succumbing to droughts, pests and fires.

Carbon markets underestimate the risks U.S. forests face from climate change
a gray whale blows in in the San Francisco Bay
Photo Credit
Darrin Allen © NOAA Permit #26532
The new technology will detect whales by sensing the heat of their blows with thermal imaging

New AI system uses cameras and thermal sensors to steer ships clear of gray whales in the San Francisco Bay
Concrete pours onto the ground on a construction site.
Photo Credit
Chaiyaporn1144 vis iStock
Cement production is an overlooked source of carbon emissions in public discourse.

Basalt could be the key to greener and cheaper cement
Whale fluke, with cargo ship in background
Photo Credit
Asha de Vos

Global workshop focuses on protecting whales from ship strikes
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