'He's in our hearts': Family and friends still seek answers one year after Nathan Wise’s disappearance
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
As deforestation and wildfires driven by a changing climate take their toll on the world's forests, a new study has found that the global forest area per capita has fallen by more than 60 per cent over the past few decades.
The researchers, led by a team based in Japan, outlined their findings in a study published in Environmental Research Letters on Monday. From 1960 to 2019, the researchers say global forest area had declined by 81.7 million hectares, which is slightly larger than the entire island of Borneo in Southeast Asia.
When factoring in the growth of the world's population, that loss in forest area over the past 60 years represents a 60 per cent decrease per capita.
"The continuous loss and degradation of forests affects the integrity of forest ecosystems, reducing their ability to generate and provide essential services and sustain biodiversity. It also impacts the lives of at least 1.6 billion people worldwide, predominantly in developing countries, who depend on forests for various purposes," the authors wrote.
In lower income countries, forest gains were overwhelmingly outweighed by forest losses. More than half of the world's forest losses were in Brazil, home to the Amazon rainforest. In the last 60 years, the country had a net loss of 43.9 million hectares of forest area.
Satellite data showed that in the first half of 2022, a record amount of Brazil's Amazon was deforested.
Higher income countries often had net forest gains, although Canada was an exception to this trend. Since 1960, the country has lost 8.6 million hectares and gained only 5.7 million hectares, resulting in a net loss of 2.9 million hectares.
"For the top net forest-losing countries in terms of area over the past 60 years … the dominant drivers of forest loss are unprecedented commercial logging, industrial-scale clearing for mining, expansion of oil palm plantations, decentralization of forest management and socio-political transitions, among others," the authors added.
Forests are also under threat from wildfires, as scientists say the effects of climate change has made some areas around the world hotter and drier, making them more susceptible to extreme fires. Firefighters in California are currently battling the largest wildfire in the state so far this year. Fires have also threatened communities in B.C.'s interior, prompting evacuations.
"There is a profound need to reverse, or at least flatten, the global net forest loss curve by conserving the world’s remaining forests and restoring and rehabilitating degraded forest landscapes," the researchers said in the study.
The headline of this story has been corrected to say global forest area has fallen 60 per cent per capita since 1960, according to the study, not 60 per cent. The article now also correctly states data that global forest area declined by 81.7 million hectares during the period examined in the study, not 81.7 hectares.
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
Dozens of Ontarians are expressing frustration in the province’s health-care system after their family doctors either dropped them as patients or threatened to after they sought urgent care elsewhere.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
Amazon's paid subscription service provides free delivery for online shopping across Canada except for remote locations, the company said in an email. While customers in Iqaluit qualify for the offer, all other communities in Nunavut are excluded.
The fire burning near Fort McMurray grew from 25 hectares to 5,500 hectares over the weekend.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin began a Cabinet shakeup on Sunday, proposing the replacement of Sergei Shoigu as defence minister as he begins his fifth term in office.
Police are searching for a male suspect after a man was “slashed in neck” on Sunday morning in downtown Toronto and died.
There were some scary moments for several people on a northern Ontario highway caught on video Thursday after a chain reaction following a truck fire.
Health Canada announced various product recalls this week, including electric adapters, armchairs, cannabis edibles and vehicle components.
English, history, entertainment, math and geography: high school trivia teams could be quizzed on any of it when they compete at the Reach for the Top Nationals in Ottawa in June.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.
A small Ajax dessert shop that recently received a glowing review from celebrity food critic Keith Lee is being forced to move after a zoning complaint was made following the social media influencer’s visit last month.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'
The Regina Police Service says it is the first in Saskatchewan and possibly Canada to implement new technology in its detention facility that will offer real-time monitoring of detainees’ vital health metrics.
Just as she had feared, a restaurant owner from eastern Quebec who visited Montreal had her SUV stolen, but says it was all thanks to the kindness of strangers on the internet — not the police — that she got it back.