#forests

What happened: The parliament of New South Wales, Australia, passed legislation on Oct. 23 to create the Great Koala National Park on the state's Mid North Coast. It adds 178,000 hectares of state forest and other public land to existing parks, creating a protected area of 475,000 hectares that Mongabay says is home to 12,000 koalas and more than 100 other threatened species. The Gumbaynggirr and Dunghutti people will help guide its management.

Why it matters: Koalas were declared endangered in NSW in 2022, and a 2020 parliamentary inquiry warned they could disappear from the state by 2050. Most of the added land was earmarked for native timber harvesting.

How much agreement is there? Some disagreement. Conservation groups and WWF-Australia call it a historic win. The fight is over funding: long-term money will come largely from carbon credits sold to emitting industries, which critics including Greens lawmakers and The Australia Institute call flawed offsets. Some also object to motorsport and other recreation allowed in parts of the park.

Could someone help? Local groups are still campaigning to add excluded koala habitat such as Pine Creek, and volunteers can join koala surveys and habitat work in the region.

What happened: On Oct. 16, Brazil's space research institute INPE and its environment ministry released the PRODES estimates for August 2025 to July 2026. Amazon clearing fell to 3,335 km², down about 42% from 5,731 km² the year before. That is the lowest figure since monitoring began in 1988. The Cerrado savanna fell about 24% to 5,517 km², its lowest since its series began in 2001. Environment minister João Paulo Capobianco credited science-led policy and cooperation between governments.

Why it matters: In 2021, clearing in the Amazon reached more than 13,200 km², roughly four times this year's figure. Mongabay notes that the numbers land in the middle of Brazil's presidential runoff, so forest policy is on the ballot.

How much agreement is there? Some disagreement. The drop itself isn't disputed. Scientist Carlos Nobre called it "very positive." The open question is whether the forest is actually recovering. A Nature study led by INPE's Luciana Gatti, published the same week, estimates that from 2010 to 2024 fires made the Amazon release about 1.17 billion tonnes more CO2 a year than it absorbed. Gatti says the problem is human activity, made worse by drought.

Could someone help? The Nature study's authors call for halting deforestation, cutting fires and restoring forest; restoration and fire-prevention groups in the Amazon are where donors and volunteers can plug in.

During the 2023–24 El Niño, three-quarters of the world's tropical forests faced extreme heat and drought at the same time for an average of six months, according to a study led by Ghent University ecologist Johanna Van Passel that analyzed 12 datasets covering nearly 16 million square kilometers. Using 24 Earth system models, the team found that under a less optimistic emissions scenario, the record temperatures of 2023 and 2024 become the annual norm in most tropical regions by 2043. Drought projections vary more by region.