Land degradation due to human activities is a major contributor to climate change, creating a sixth mass extinction and undermining the wellbeing of two-fifths of humanity. These are the stark warnings from a global scientific assessment report on land degradation and restoration, published on 26 March 2018, which states that deforestation alone is contributing about...
An interdisciplinary project bringing together Leeds researchers on social policy and decarbonisation has secured three years of EU Horizon 2020 research funding to explore how energy “prosumerism” can help to build a more sustainable future. Dr Mark Davis (School of Sociology and Social Policy) and Dr Stephen Hall (School of Earth and Environment) will be...
Carbon emissions from the Brazilian Amazon are increasingly dominated by forest fires during extreme droughts rather than by emissions from fires directly associated with the deforestation process, according to a study in Nature Communications. The authors suggest that recurrent 21st century droughts may undermine achievements in reducing emissions from deforestation in this region. Lead author...
Wetter winters and coastal erosion linked to climate change are threatening the sport of golf, according to a new report that University of Leeds scientists have contributed to. Professor Piers Forster, Director of the Priestley International Centre for Climate, provided evidence to the report by the Climate Coalition, along with research associate Kate Sambrook. “We’ve...
A study led by the University of Leeds has found that no country currently meets its citizens’ basic needs at a globally sustainable level of resource use. The research, published in Nature Sustainability, is the first to quantify the sustainability of national resource use associated with meeting basic human needs for 151 countries. Each country’s...