When the European Union’s new anti-deforestation law threatened to expose the environmental costs of logging in North America’s forests, the American paper industry, supported by the U.S. government, mobilized an intense lobbying effort to weaken the legislation. According to lobbying disclosures, the American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA), a leading trade group representing paper and wood product manufacturers, have spent nearly $11 million dollars on lobbying efforts since 2023, including on the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). This year, the group — which represents companies such as Procter & Gamble and International Paper — has already spent $1,3 million on lobbying. AF&PA’s in-house lobbyists — Julie Landry, David Ross, and Clara Cozart — have repeatedly met with members of Congress as well as representatives from the Department of Agriculture, the Forest Service, the State Department, the Commerce Department, and the U.S. Trade Representative to discuss the EUDR. Officials from those agencies went on to tour European capitals pressing for exemptions to Europe’s landmark deforestation rules. The campaign escalated last year as the EU revised the final details of the new law, which is set to take effect in December. According to the new rules, companies selling wood, paper, and certain other commodities in Europe must prove their products have not contributed to deforestation or forest degradation. Industry groups have called for the creation of a “no-risk” category with loosened due-diligence requirements. At stake is relations with a major trading partner. The U.S. exported $879.7 million worth of forest products to…This article was originally published on Mongabay

The world’s mangrove forests, critical coastal ecosystems feared to be on the brink of collapse, are making an unexpected recovery overall, according to research published in June 2026 by scientists at Tulane University in New Orleans in the U.S. The study found that as deforestation and degradation have slowed down over the past decade around the globe, the woody plants have managed to bounce back in many areas. The study analyzed satellite data from the past four decades. It found that unexpected expansion and regrowth across the world began counterbalancing mangrove forest loss around 2010. The rate of gain has nearly outpaced losses, resulting in about a cumulative 1% global decline since the 1980s. The recovery is predominantly driven by expansion of mangroves into new areas rather than recovery of existing forests. Most previous studies on the issue have used radar, which struggles to distinguish mangroves from other ecosystems. This research created a 30-meter resolution annual data set from Landsat satellite images to more accurately identify mangroves around the world from 1984 to 2023. The study also found that mangroves are becoming less degraded. Within mangroves, a greater proportion are closed-canopy forests, which means they are denser, retain more carbon and help secure shorelines. These closed-canopy sections increased from about 50% of mangroves worldwide in the 1980s, to about 58% by 2023. “Our study shows some new ideas about [mangrove] recovery. We find that deforestation and degradation rates are slowing down,” said lead author of the study Zhen Zhang, a…This article was originally published on Mongabay