Deforestation last year rose to the highest level since 2015 in Brazil’s Cerrado, prompting scientists to raise alarm over the state of the world’s most species-rich savanna, a major carbon sink that helps to stave off climate change.

The Cerrado, which is spread across several states of Brazil and is one of the world’s largest savannas, is often called an “upside-down forest” because of the deep roots its plants sink into the ground to survive seasonal droughts and fires.

Destruction of these trees, grasses and other plants in the Cerrado is a major source of Brazil’s greenhouse gas emissions, although it is far less densely forested than the more famous Amazon rainforest that it borders.

Deforestation and other clearances of native vegetation in the Cerrado rose 8% to 8,531 square kilometers in the 12 months through July, Brazil’s official period for measuring deforestation, according to national space research agency Inpe.

That is more than 10 times the size of New York City’s land area of 783.84 square km.

“It’s extremely worrying,” said Mercedes Bustamante, an ecologist at the University of Brasilia.

Bustamante also criticized the government for a lack of transparency for announcing the deforestation data on New Year’s Eve.

The added destruction is particularly concerning, scientists say, when considering that roughly half of the Cerrado has been destroyed since the 1970s, mostly for farming and ranching.

“You’re transforming thousands of square kilometers annually,” said Manuel Ferreira, a geographer at the Federal University of Goias.

“Few other places on earth have seen that rapid of a transformation.”

Ferreira said that new plant and animal species are regularly being discovered in the Cerrado and that many are probably being eradicated before they can be studied.

After falling from highs in the early 2000s, deforestation in the Cerrado has been creeping up again since right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro took office in 2019, calling for more farming and development in sensitive ecosystems.

Last month, a Brazilian soy lobby group said that data showed farmers were increasingly using previously cleared land in the Cerrado rather than deforesting wholly new areas to plant the cash crop.

More than half of Brazil’s soy farmland is in the Cerrado.

Bustamante and other scientists blame Bolsonaro for encouraging deforestation with his pro-development rhetoric and for rolling back environmental enforcement.

Bolsonaro’s office did not immediately respond to request for comment. He has previously defended his policies as a means to lift the interior of the country out of poverty and pointed out that Brazil has preserved far more of its territory than Europe or the United States.

“Deforestation is the most naked and raw indicator of the terrible environmental policy of this government,” said Ane Alencar, the science director at the non-profit Amazon Environmental Research Institute.

Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, has blamed the President Muhammadu Buhari administration for not doing enough to address the black soot environmental pollution affecting Port Harcourt.

A cloud of soot has enveloped many areas of the state capital for years, putting a strain on the lives of numerous residents.

The cause of the soot has been attributed to the activities of illegal bunkering and artisanal crude oil refiners.

Governor Wike said in his New Year’s Day address on January 1, 2022 that his government is ‘overly concerned’ by the the problem.

He said the numerous requests made to the Federal Government for intervention to stop those responsible for the environmental disaster have been largely ignored.

“Unfortunately, the Federal Government has remained inexplicably silent over our request and even complicit to a large extent with the security agencies actively aiding, encouraging and protecting the artisanal refiners to continue with their harmful activities unabated,” he said.

He said his government will continue to engage the Federal Government, as well as appeal to illegal crude oil refiners to stop their operations in consideration of their serious environmental and health implications.

The 58-year-old said he’s also directed the Chairman of Port Harcourt City Local Government Council to go after all the illegal crude oil refining sites along Creek road and adjoining areas of the city and shut them down with immediate effect.

The soot situation has led to numerous protests over the past six years, with residents complaining about the terrible effects it’s been having on their health and daily lives.

Residents of Port Harcourt and other parts of Rivers State last month signed a petition to renew calls for the government to effectively address the deadly pollution.

Preparations are in full swing to welcome tourists in March to a new destination station Eco-tourism village, located in the daunting mountains of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Kaghan valley and a few kilometers off the Monroe Trail.

The village, the government’s first initiative in tourism industry to implement the zero-waste roadmap, is a two-hour scenic jeep drive from the Monroe Trail and a six-day adventurous trek for the hikers.

In addition to parking the spot has been added with the horse stables set up at the beginning of Monroe Trek near Shankiari in Saran Valley.

The tourists’ accommodations are almost ready to welcome them to spend their memorable days and nights in the breathtaking scenes of the nature, not disturbed as yet by the human encroachers.

There information and awareness desks are also ready to guide visitors about different locations and how to ensure and keep the environment clean.

To prevent people from rain and snowy weather sheds/ shelters are also ready.

He said cooking areas, washrooms and cozy rooms built with the natural wood were operational to receive tourists in March after its formal inauguration.

Syed Ali a frequent tourist with family from Islamabad to Northern Areas, said, ” it’s good news that the tourists are being attracted to new destination but relevant authorities need to give special attention to the Mansehra-Naran-Jalkhad road which links KP with Gilgit-Baltistan as it has blacktopping and potholes,”.

He stressed to ensure missing facilities in the area and complete rehabilitation of MNJ Road and arteries leading to other exotic places to make the government’s tourism vision a complete success.

The Minister for Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam in a recent event expressing his resolve to establish three more eco-friendly spots said, “The eco-tourism project is a unique and practical way to reduce the environmental footprint of the tourism industry in Pakistan”.

The Eco-tourism village is hoped to become a centre of attraction as Kaghan Valley is one of the most breath-taking valleys that attracts millions of visitors from within country and abroad annually.

The valley has popular spots like Babusar Top, River Kunhar, Saiful Muluk national park along with Saiful Muluk and Ansoo lake, Kiwai, Shogran, Siri-Paye, Makra Peak, Naran, Noori Top, Pyala Lake.

By the establishment of Eco-tourism village, the number of tourists are expected to increase many folds, especially in the summer season.

Significantly more water cleanup efforts are possible in Iowa in 2022 thanks in part to the state’s $1.24 billion budget surplus, multiple environmental advocates say.

The Raccoon River, which supplies much of the metro’s water, is one of the “most endangered” in the nation because of pollution, according to an American Rivers report released last year.

The Greater Des Moines Partnership also made the fund one of its top legislative priorities this year, calling it a “pro-growth” policy.

The first 3/8 of a future one-cent sales tax increase must go to the trust fund.

The plan didn’t win legislative support but she has continued to call for water quality improvements, including a $75 million grant program that was unveiled last month.

By the numbers: Iowa could reduce overall taxes while simultaneously funding the trust, Iowa Environmental Council (IEC) director Brian Campbell told Axios.

Iowa’s got more than $2 billion in surplus or taxpayer relief funds, the largest in the state’s history.

The trust would cost Iowans about $220 million a year, according to sales tax collections recorded in the most recently completed fiscal year.

The IEC, the largest environmental coalition in the state, estimated in 2019 that a voluntary clean water program would take hundreds of thousands of years to achieve the desired goals.

The IEC will preview its legislative priorities on Wednesday.

Hundreds of people on Monday blocked roads in several locations in Serbia demanding that the authorities scrap any plans for lithium mining, which ecologists say would devastate the environment.

Several minor incidents were reported as angry drivers sought to push through the crowds that halted traffic in the northern city of Novi Sad and several more locations throughout the country.

The blockade was not formally organized in the capital, Belgrade, where a few dozen right-wing protesters tried to block the motorway but dispersed shortly after.

The demonstration comes amid a holiday week in Serbia when many people are away.

Populist Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has described the protest as political. He said on Monday that there will be no lithium mining until more studies are done.

Protest organizers have dismissed the arguments by the authorities, saying that the current project by the Rio Tinto company must be formally abolished or more protests will follow. The company has carried out explorations.