Ethiopia has set out to plant 5 billion tree seedlings this year. The planting is part of the country’s larger reforestation initiative spearheaded by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. Launched in 2019, the Green Legacy initiative aims to combat environmental degradation, build resilience, and transition into a green society. The nation has lost nearly 97 percent of its native…

Adán Vez Lira, a prominent defender of an ecological reserve in Mexico, was shot while riding his motorcycle  in April. Four years earlier, the renowned activist Berta Cáceres was shot dead in her home in Honduras by assailants taking direction from executives responsible for a dam she had opposed. Four years before that, Cambodian forest and land activist Chut…

Some fires won't die. They survive underground during the winter and then reemerge the following spring, as documented in places like Alaska. They're called "overwintering," "holdover," or "zombie" fires, and they may have now awoken in the Arctic Circle — a fast-warming region that experienced unprecedented fires in 2019. The European Union's Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service is now watching…