Nepal, March 16 -- Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli surprised everyone with his address to government officials and environmental enthusiasts in late December 2024. He questioned the necessity of the country's nearly 46 percent forest cover, even suggesting that reducing it to 30 percent would suffice. The rest of the land could then be used to grow food.

In the United States, the Trump administration ordered an expansion of logging activities across the 113 million hectares of protected national forests and other public land. He asserted that increased cutting of trees would help curb wildfires, protect communities and benefit the logging industry through reduced reliance on imported timber. In Brazil, a 60 percent increase in deforestation...