My latest for @mongabay.com: Planting trees helps fight climate change & restore biodiversity. But a new study finds that land-intensive carbon removal projects like reforestation or bioenergy crops often overlap with global biodiversity hotspots.
A two-column status table titled "Stage" and "Start Date" tracks the timeline of a manuscript submission from its preliminary data submission on October 8, 2025, to its eventual withdrawal on March 2, 2026. The log reveals a lengthy and repetitive administrative process, particularly between October 26, 2025, and February 19, 2026, where the status cycled more than ten times between "Contacting Potential Reviewers" and "Waiting for Reviewer Assignment," suggesting significant difficulty in securing peer reviewers. Following these numerous failed attempts to move into the active review phase, the final entry shows the manuscript was officially withdrawn on March 2, 2026, at 09:08:18.
My first paper had to be mailed to Stockholm, Sweden, and then mailed to reviewers around the world. Everything by mail! It was submitted, reviewed, revised, typeset, and published in 3 months. I feel bad for early-career scientists who can't find a single reviewer after 5 months. It's gotta change.
Essential reporting by @readfearn.bsky.social for @theguardian.com
As humid heat intensifies, millions worldwide face serious health risks
Outdoor workers, especially builders & farm labourers, are on the frontline
Such extremes are deadly not only for people, but other mammals too #ClimateCrisis
For a decade, the Shared Socioeconomics Pathways #SSP are used for scenario research related to climate change mitigation.
Now, GDP & population projections were updated by @iiasa.ac.at & the team at the #OECD, and the #ScenarioServices team set up a new interactive app to explore the scenarios!
👇 Last week, we published a study in Nature Climate Change on the implications that #CDR may have on biodiversity (see detailed post below).
⏳ In case you are interested but don’t have time to read it, here is a two-page research briefing: rdcu.be/e2vSY
📑 Underlying study: doi.org/10.1038/s415...
After four months, the journal has not found a single reviewer for my PhD student's manuscript. The academic peer review system is broken.
I think we all should:
1. Review three papers for every one that we submit.
2. Promptly declined to review a paper when the request arrives.
#AcademicChatter
Climate solutions can clash with nature: 1.5°C pathways may place land-intensive CDR on up to 13% of high-biodiversity areas.
Protecting hotspots could remove over half of planned CDR land, unless we design climate action for nature too.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
CO₂ removal requires careful site selection to avoid harm to #biodiversity, a new study shows. At the same time, researchers find that the cooling effects of #CDR can benefit biodiversity: www.pik-potsdam.de/en/news/late...
@tyndallcentre.bsky.social @uniofeastanglia.bsky.social
The study also reveals a similar tension in the opposite direction: under strict enforcement of the internationally agreed Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, more than 50% of land allocated for CDR deployment could become unavailable.
The authors argue that climate refugia, areas relatively unaffected by climate change, and biodiversity hotspots are both at risk.
The study also found that non-high income countries have a disproportionately high land allocation for forestation in climate refugia areas.
The paper concludes that limited use and careful siting of CDR can limit its negative biodiversity consequences and may even bring direct benefits to biodiversity – either through avoided warming or direct co-benefits.
Explore the full study, by @rubenpruetz.bsky.social, Sabine Fuss, Gaurav Ganti and @joerirogelj.bsky.social: buff.ly/7DEQwrR
Countries' carbon dioxide removal plans pose substantial threats to biodiversity, new research reveals.
Analysis by the scientists shows that up to 13% of global areas of high biodiversity importance are allocated for land-intensive CDR deployment. 🧵
@natclimate.nature.com
@pik-potsdam.bsky.social
@iiasa.ac.at
@humboldtuni.bsky.social
@tyndallcentre.bsky.social
@imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social
@leefomgeving.bsky.social
@joerirogelj.bsky.social
Team: Joeri Rogelj, Gaurav Ganti, Jeff Price, Rachel Warren, Nicole Forstenhäusler, Yazhen Wu, Andrey L. D. Augustynczik, Michael Wögerer, Tamás Krisztin, Petr Havlík, Florian Kraxner, Stefan Frank, Tomoko Hasegawa, Jonathan Doelman, Vassilis Daioglou, Florian Humpenöder, Alexander Popp, Sabine Fuss
Interesting for scientists working with scenarios: As part of our study, we made the gridded land allocation data for the original SSP-RCP scenarios from the participating model frameworks publicly available. 🔓👍
This project, which began more than three years ago, was made possible by a large, cross-institutional, multidisciplinary team of scientists who brought together diverse expertise and rich datasets. 👩🔬👨🔬
With our study, we provide entry points for more biodiversity-sensitive and equitable siting of CDR in climate action planning and scenario development. 🎯🤝
Thus, we need to:
- cut emissions deeply to limit CDR dependence. This can give us wiggle room to minimize risks. 🏛️🇺🇳
- refine model-based land allocation patterns to take biodiversity better into account. 📍🧩
- further study positive and negative implications of CDR and how they are distributed. 🔦🗺️
Nonetheless, we also show how, if implemented carefully, CDR may substantially benefit biodiversity by reducing warming-related habitat loss. ✅🛡️
Strikingly, biodiversity areas are disproportionately allocated in non-high income countries – countries that have contributed little to causing climate change. ⚖️🌡️
We find that scenarios allocate substantial parts of critical biodiversity areas for CDR. Many of these overlaps fall in places where CDR is considered unsuitable from an #ecosystem perspective. ❌❌
To work at scale, these CDR approaches would require millions of square kilometres of land, thereby potentially interfering with critical biodiversity areas. ⚠️⚠️
In our #study, we present a multi-model scenario assessment of CDR‘s spatial overlap with areas of high biodiversity importance. 🌏🌍
Many scenarios outlining how long-term global warming could still be limited to #1.5°C rely heavily on #CDR, particularly via planting forests and bioenergy with carbon capture and storage. 🌳🌾
In a new study, published today in Nature Climate Change, we explore how carbon dioxide removal (CDR) – approaches that take CO2 out of the atmosphere – may affect #biodiversity. 🦎🐌 doi.org/10.1038/s415...
How should climate science and policy respond to a potential exceedance of 1.5°C? We provide our perspective on this in a new @Nature comment 🔗 nature.com/articles/d41586-026-00247-y led by Gaurav Ganti with Sabine Fuss, @joerirogelj.bsky.social, @setupelz.bsky.social & Keywan Riahi 1/
Split-screen image on a deep green background. Left side contains a statement from Dr David Obura, IPBES Chair, regarding the US withdrawal from IPBES and extinction threats to over 1 million species. Right side shows a photograph of a man wearing glasses, dressed in a dark jacket and grey shirt, seated at a conference table with a microphone. The IPBES logo appears at the bottom with the tagline "Science and Policy for People and Nature". The design features white typography on the dark green background, creating a professional contrast. Several small pins or badges are visible on the speaker's jacket.
“We cannot withdraw from the fact that over 1 million species of plants and animals face extinction.”
IPBES remains committed to its mandate to provide the most credible science and evidence about biodiversity to all decision makers and actors.
— @davidobura.bsky.social , @ipbes.net Chair
The Nobel Prize committee should announce the World Cup winner tomorrow
This COP has been deeply disappointing. It claimed to be a COP of action, but all comments on fossil fuels, and even most comments on deforestation that this COP was supposed to highlight, have been removed from the final text. Being literally on fire at one point was a fitting metaphor.
Published today in Earth System Science Data: The Global Carbon Budget 2025
essd.copernicus.org/preprints/es...
