Environment News
Hurricane Dorian floods island as it swipes North Carolina then heads north
KITTY HAWK, N.C. Hurricane Dorian briefly made landfall on the Outer Banks of North Carolina on Friday, hitting the beach-fringed barrier islands with powerful winds and battering waves days after reducing parts of the Bahamas to rubble. | Video
Relief efforts ramp up amid fear of 'staggering' death toll in storm ravaged Bahamas
Charities, government agencies and even cruise ships loaded with supplies and volunteers rushed emergency aid to the storm-ravaged Bahamas on Saturday amid fears of a "staggering" death toll left in the wake of Hurricane Dorian.
Brazil deforestation rises in August, adding to Amazon fire worries
BRASILIA/SAO PAULO Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon rainforest rose for the fourth straight month in August from a year earlier, according to preliminary government data released on Friday, adding to concerns over fires already ravaging the region.
Australia's east coast battles more than 100 bushfires, 21 homes destroyed
MELBOURNE Australian firefighters battled strong winds and fast-moving blazes on Saturday as they worked to contain out-of-control bushfires that have destroyed at least 21 homes across two states on the country's east coast.
Deforestation must be seen as global threat: pope in Madagascar
ANTANANARIVO Pope Francis said on Saturday rapid deforestation and reduction in biodiversity in individual countries should not be treated as local issues since they threaten the future of the whole planet.
Amazon countries sign forest pact, promising to coordinate disaster response
LETICIA, Colombia Seven Amazonian countries on Friday signed a pact to protect the world's largest tropical forest via disaster response coordination and satellite monitoring, amid recent fires that torched thousands of square miles of the jungle.
Biofuel plan faces fresh backlash from U.S. agricultural trade groups
NEW YORK U.S. agricultural trade groups on Friday told the Trump administration a proposed biofuel reform package falls short of expectations, four sources familiar with discussions said, complicating plans the administration had for presenting the proposal to President Donald Trump.
Madagascar forest destruction wiping out humans' tiniest relative
KIRINDY FOREST, Madagascar As a shocked world watches fires ravage the Amazon, slash-and-burn farmers are wreaking proportionally worse destruction half a world away in Madagascar, driving humanity's smallest relative - the Madame Berthe’s mouse lemur - to extinction. | Video
U.S. launches antitrust probe into California automaker agreement
WASHINGTON The U.S. Justice Department is investigating whether the decision of four automakers in July to reach a voluntary agreement with California to adopt state emissions standards violated antitrust law, people briefed on the matter said on Friday.
Big Oil undermines U.N. climate goals with $50 billion of new projects: report
LONDON Major oil companies have approved $50 billion of projects since last year that will not be economically viable if governments implement the Paris Agreement on climate change, think-tank Carbon Tracker said in a report published on Friday.