To defend Puerto Rico’s right to peace is to defend Venezuela’s right to exist, argues MICHELLE ELLNER
Burning issues
A new study has found that forests destroyed by wildfires emit carbon long after the flames die, with implications for post-fire management, write NATASCHA KLJUN and JULIA KELLY
EVEN in Earth’s high northern-latitude forest, climate change is predicted to make wildfires more frequent and severe.
Earth’s far north hosts the boreal forest, a vast green belt that stretches from North America to Siberia. The boreal forest is one of the world’s largest CO₂ sinks. Over the past few thousand years it has removed around one trillion tonnes of carbon from the air, storing it in the trees and soil. Because of the large amount of carbon stored in the boreal forest, fires here can release much more CO₂ into the air than forest fires elsewhere, amplifying climate change.
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What has worked well – and what needs to change – for the convention that controls trade in endangered species? DAN CHALLENDER and MICHAEL ’T SAS-ROLFES explain
Addressing new climate challenges will require co-ordinated efforts by governments and local authorities for both drought and flood risks — and it’s people power that will be key to getting policy implemented, writes DOUG SPECHT
A green campaigner’s new book argues that large landowners have used their self-proclaimed role as ‘stewards of the countryside’ to deflect attention from the environmental damage that their activities cause. Professor CHRISTOPHER RODGERS reports
The biodiversity summit in Colombia showed national governments are struggling to address the complexity of challenges that need to be overcome if we’re to preserve the natural world, writes HARRIET BULKELEY



