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The mangrove forests protecting the Pearl River delta: a photo journey

Katherine Cheng

October 16, 2020 |

China Dialogue |

Photojournalism |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Hong Kong

The Mai Po Nature Reserve in Hong Kong shows how the protection of mangrove forests is possible. These ecosystems are seen as a way to combat the effects of climate change since the forests can help prevent flood damage and store carbon. Yet, urban development, overfishing, and aquaculture pollution continue to threaten the recovery of mangrove forests in this region.

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Ex-logger leads firefighters defending Indonesia's peatlands

Harry Jacques

October 14, 2020 |

Thomson Reuters Foundation |

Multi-Media |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Indonesia, Rawa Mekar Jaya, Riau

An Indonesian government program called Masyarakat Peduli Api, or “Fire Care Community,” aims to improve community responses to wildfires and restore peatlands — valuable ecosystems that store carbon. Through community engagement and education, this volunteer fire brigade patrols the peatlands and addresses small fires before they spread. The program remains underfunded, but residents recognize the importance of their work.

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Fighting Wildfires With Fire

Richard Schiffman

September 30, 2020 |

Wall Street Journal |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States

The absence of an active "fire culture" in the American West has contributed greatly to the scale of catastrophic wildfires fueled by decades of aggressive fire-suppression tactics. In Florida, Australia, and pockets of experimentation in California, ancient practices of controlled burns – frequent low-intensity burns – minimize the buildup of dead-tree fuel on the ground. Such human-set fires have been known to go out of control. And their smoke can be a health hazard. But Native American and other indigenous cultures have shown the overall benefits of letting forests burn.

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The Residents Setting California on Fire in Order to Save It

Kate Wheeling

September 30, 2020 |

Future Human |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, California

Fire Forward trains Californians to conduct controlled burns, setting fires to make future wildfires less destructive. With state and federal resources skewed heavily toward suppression of wildfires, the prevention-minded approach of controlled burns – informed by forest management science and inspired by ancient Native American practices – depends on informing and training more people to conduct controlled burns independent of government. Fire Forward's scale makes it more of a demonstration project than an effective response to the overall problem, but it grew during 2020's historic wildfires.

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Europe's New Trick Against Wildfires: Let It Burn

Lauren Millan Lombraña

September 29, 2020 |

Bloomberg |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Portugal

Led by Portugal and Spain, European nations have shifted their responses to wildfires from a heavy emphasis on suppression to a more prevention-based approach. Climate change has increased fire risk greatly. By letting smaller fires burn, to reduce the fuel available to future megafires, and with other forest-management methods, Mediterranean countries have had no large blazes so far in 2020. Portugal, three years after a massive fire killed at least 120, registered its lowest number of fires in a decade. In Spain, prevention includes Fire Flocks, herds of sheep and goats whose grazing cleans up forests.

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The Sudbury model: How one of the world's major polluters went green

Sara Miller Llana

September 24, 2020 |

The Christian Science Monitor |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Canada, Sudbury, Ontario

After being known as a polluted mining town, politicians, scientists, industry officials, and residents of Sudbury, Ontario, were able to come together to restore its land. After 40 years and $33.5 million, they are about halfway through recovering about 200,000 acres of land. So far, they’ve been successful at restoring air quality, neutralizing soil to allow for replanting, and restocking lakes with fish. While some locals think the mining companies should have done more, the collaborative spirit could be a model for other communities looking to improve the environment.

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The Big Dance: Saving the Great Bear Rainforest

Andrew MacLeod

September 24, 2020 |

The Tyee |

Multi-Media |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Canada, British Columbia

Finding common ground between environmentalists, logging companies, and indigenous communities to protect the Great Bear Rainforest in Canada took years of discussion and even a dance at an Elton John concert. But these groups were able to negotiate an agreement to make 3.1 million hectares of rainforest off limits to logging, allow 500,000 hectares available for forestry, and strengthen First Nations rights. The process could be a model for what reconciliation can look like among competing interests.

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As Concerns Over Climate Change Rise, More Developers Turn to Wood

Keith Schneider

September 22, 2020 |

The New York Times |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Spokane, Washington

Eastern Washington University recently built the first tall wood office building in the state joining hundreds of other large “mass-timber” projects in the United States. This growing industry constructs panels, beams, and columns from trees that need to be thinned to curb wildfires in forests. While wood buildings can be more expensive to build than ones constructed from concrete and steel, environmentalists are on board because wood can store carbon, which can help offset greenhouse gas emissions.

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The art of fire: reviving the Indigenous craft of cultural burning

Kelly Boutsalis

September 20, 2020 |

The Narwhal |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: Tsilhqot'in Nation, Canada

A 3-year pilot is developing a traditional fire management program for First Nation communities using cultural burns, a practice banned for over a century. Cultural burns are used to reinvigorate the landscape so that seeds and berries grow and animals return. The low intensity, slow burns also reduce wildfire risks and other issues linked to climate change, such as infestations. Stories about cultural burns are being recorded from tribal elders to preserve the rich cultural knowledge about traditional fire management techniques. First Nations hope to be able to use cultural burns on their tribal lands.

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Could 80,000 family woodlot owners be the key to saving the Acadian forest?

Lindsay Jones

September 19, 2020 |

The Narwhal |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: Canada, New Brunswick

Community Forests International created a carbon project to preserve Acadian forest. They measured and quantified carbon storage on small family-owned forest land, certified it by third-party standards, and sold the carbon offsets to an architecture and engineering firm. A conservation easement was also put on the land to ensure the forest’s longevity. The organization has stored enough carbon dioxide to equal the greenhouse gas emissions of 8,229 passenger vehicles driven for a year in three Wabanaki-Acadian forest preserves. The money raised helped buy some of the land to practice sustainable agriculture.

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