The Russian invasion of Ukraine has sparked Europe’s largest armed conflict since WWII… In addition to the staggering human and economic toll of Putin’s war, Ukraine’s forests are particularly at risk. The most immediate wartime threat facing Ukraine’s forests is posed by wildfires. Between the start of the Russian invasion on February 24 and the end of May, more than 160,000 hectares of Ukrainian forest burned down in regions affected by hostilities. With …Russian forces seeking to systematically destroy Ukraine’s natural and industrial resource base, this grim trend looks set to continue. There are also major war-related problems in forested areas that have already been liberated by the Ukrainian military. In late March and early April, Russian troops were forced to retreat from northern Ukraine… As they withdrew …they left behind thousands of hectares of mined forests. It will be decades before these areas can be demined.

Hungary waived environmental regulations protecting native forests from logging, showing the increasingly extreme steps the government is willing to take to prepare for next winter’s energy shortages. The rise in energy prices after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have forced the government to partly scrap one of Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s signature policies, the generous subsidies on household consumption. Hungary risks having shortages despite Orban’s maintaining the closest links to Russian President Vladimir Putin among European Union members. An emergency government decree published late Thursday eases the way for the clearcutting of native tree species – which include oak and beech – in protected forests, while also relaxing other restrictions on loggers. The government has also instructed schools to check if they can switch to wood from gas for their heating. The retail price of firewood climbed 18% in June compared to a year ago, according to the Hungarian statistics office. 

Fire has burnt through forests for hundreds of millions of years, but now unprecedented wildfires are burning hotter and longer partly due to climate change. Declining rainfall and longer droughts are making forests so dry that localized lightening can spark a small fire that transforms into an inferno before firefighters can limit the damage. …Controlled or “prescribed” burning of forest vegetation, most often in the cooler months, helps lessen wildfire hazards by reducing the amount of kindling available to fuel fires. In fire-prone nations like the United States, Australia, Portugal, Spain, Canada, France and South Africa, it’s been a tried and tested fire management strategy for decades. …technology has become increasingly important when trying to suppress mega-blazes. Satellites managed by the likes of NASA are already helping firefighters keep track of moving fires across the planet. More recently, however, drones are becoming a more localized high-tech fire suppression gadget.  

CAIRO – Egypt will soon launch a presidential campaign of planting 100 million trees nationwide, announced the cabinet in a statement on Sunday. The “100 million trees” campaign comes under the auspices of President Abdel Fattah El Sisi as part of Egypt’s efforts regarding the climate file, coinciding with the 27th session of the Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27) due to be held in the Egyptian city of Sharm el Sheikh in November, the statement said. Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouli said that this initiative will begin with extensive planting on both sides of highways, and we also aim to increase the green areas in urban cities, the statement continued. …The Minister of Local Development Mahmoud Shaarawy said, at the meeting, that there are 9,900 sites with a total area of 6600 acres that have been pinpointed nationwide to be suitable for tree forests or gardens.

What does the term “tree hugger” mean?  Today in the West, it’s often used as a flippant pejorative (or worn as a badge of honour), but it stems from a story of stunning defiance and vicious bloodshed.  In 1730, a reported 363 Bishnoi people in India sacrificed their lives to stop their trees from being cut down, inadvertently laying the foundation for a strategy of peaceful resistance that has come to be used the world over.  The tale of the Bishnoi, and later the Chipko movement that it inspired, would even go on to provide a “beacon” during the early years of Australia’s environmental protest movement.  The Bishnoi are a Hindu community from northern and north-western India who adhere to the teachings of Guru Jambhoji, according to historian, environmentalist and author Nanditha Krishna.  “[Bishnoi] started in a little desert village called Samrathal Dhora in Rajasthan in 1485,” Dr Krishna says.