By James Anderson Hundreds of fires have sprung to life in Alaska’s forests and grasslands this week, according to Alaskan authorities and confirmed by satellite-based data on Global Forest Watch. Stories in the Washington Post, Mashable, and elsewhere have reported on the blazes, which have followed a record month of hot temperatures and low snowpack […]

By James Anderson Growing up in America’s Midwest, I was raised with a healthy fear of tornadoes. These swirling columns of air can cut through buildings, scatter cars, and wreak massive damage on the economy and human lives. Apparently, according to the data on Global Forest Watch, they can also leave a trail of destruction […]

By Octavia Payne Typhoon Haiyan, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Yolanda, struck the Leyte islands in early November 2013. Recorded as the Philippines’ deadliest typhoon in modern history, Haiyan left 6,300 fatalities in its wake and another 11 million affected. Path of Typhoon Haiyan. Red dots indicate Category 5 classification (winds ≥157 mph, ≥252 km/h) as the […]

Forest and brush fires claimed at least 29 lives last week in the southeastern Siberian province of Khakassia, Russia. Thousands more have been displaced from their homes by the encroaching flames. According to news reports, the fires may have been started by local farmers burning their fields.  Strong winds may have caused the fires to […]

The Leuser Ecosystem on the Indonesian island of Sumatra is a hotspot for endangered biodiversity, described by Mongabay as “the only place on Earth where rhinos, orangutans, tigers and elephants live in the same habitat.” A broad area of the Leuser Ecosystem is designated a “National Strategic Area” for Indonesia, and is mapped as a […]

500 scientists urged the government of Quebec to stick to its conservation commitments concerning the Plan Nord, which covers 75% of land above the 49th parallel in Quebec, 50% of which will be protected by industry, mining and energy development by new parks and wildlife preserves. That’s a lot of Intact Forest Landscape potentially protected […]

By James Anderson Weeks after Indonesia’s Parliament voted to ratify a regional treaty to combat haze, forest and land-clearing fires continue to burn across the country. The animation below shows an area east of the city of Sampit in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. NASA’s Active Fire data indicates the presence of fires within the last 24 […]

The King Fire near Sacramento, California has spread rapidly, resulting in the evacuations of thousands. NASA’s Active Fire data picks up the fire clearly, and when viewed on Global Forest Watch, you can also see that much of the affected area is managed forests with a patchwork of clearcuts and tree plantations. Wind direction data […]

  Most of the fires detected in this map are burning in grass or cropland areas. Reports assert the fires are the result of both large and small-scale farmers attempting to manage the land in the most cost-effective way possible. However, in Angola, 80% percent of farmers are smallholders, which could explain the extensive use […]