Piplantri, the village that plants trees for women

Piplantri, the village that plants trees for women

Piplantri, a small Indian village located in the north-western Rajasthan State, celebrates female newborns with planting trees. It is a countertrend compared to the Indian subcontinent, where the birth of a girl child is generally considered anything but a blessing.       Due to prenatal ultrasounds, able to indicate foetus’ gender, millions of female

Cutting down rainforests is 100 times more expensive than protecting them

Cutting down rainforests is 100 times more expensive than protecting them

Between 2009 and 2012 Brazil and Indonesia were given 346 million dollars by the U.N. – mostly from Norway and Germany – to preserve rainforests. But this good piece of news is completely omitted in the report written by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), according to which in the same period those countries have spent

Forests absorb more CO2 but emissions rise faster

Forests absorb more CO2 but emissions rise faster

In order to curb CO2 emissions and global warming, the vegetation on the Earth is doing its best. Over the last decade, trees and plants all over the world have stored 4 billion tonnes more of greenhouse gases, thanks to reforestation projects in China, to an increase of forests in some countries of the former

Cherry trees are blossoming, Japan celebrates hanami

Cherry trees are blossoming, Japan celebrates hanami

Sakura means cherry tree in Japanese. Hanami is a yearly tradition celebrated in the capital, Tokyo, and other cities where these plants decorate the streets, and takes place between the end of March and the beginning of April. The object of everyone’s attention is the thousand-year-old recurrence of cherry trees blossoming, which captivates the entire

Palm oil: what you need to know about health and environment

Palm oil: what you need to know about health and environment

Palm oil is an edible oil plant that is a common ingredient in many consumer products, and it has become the most widely produced vegetable oil worldwide. Palm oil global consumption increased sharply: in 2014 it amounted to 56.63 million metric tonnes, and it is expected to exceed 60 million in 2015, according to studies by The

Europe’s complicity in illegal deforestation

Europe’s complicity in illegal deforestation

The European countries foster illegal deforestation around the world, despite they are among those who violate international laws and conventions the less. In order to meet the demand of agricultural products in Europe, between 2000 and 2012, the equivalent of a soccer field was illegally deforested every 2 minutes, violating national laws of those countries

10 things you may not know about tapirs

10 things you may not know about tapirs

Tapir is a funny animal, similar to a crossbreed between a wild boar and an ant eater, with the squat body of the former and the long nose of the latter. In Brazil, idiots are named “tapirs”. Yet, these large herbivores are extraordinary animals with a highly biological importance. Here are 10 facts that will make