We need an Indigenous conservation state of mind (commentary)
Scientists agree that the biodiversity crisis we face today may be one of the most disruptive events in Earth’s history. The response so far has been for hundreds of billions…
Commentary News
Environmental journalism as the link between local and global (commentary)
December 2009, Copenhagen, three in the morning. Tired of waiting for any official announcement from the COP15 presidency, a journalist friend and I decided to sleep right there in the…
Why is a landscape approach needed for funding the global environmental agenda? (commentary)
There have been 29 United Nations Climate Change Conferences (UNFCCC COPs) so far. The first COP meeting was held in Germany in 1995, and the 29th meeting of the Conference…
Let’s rethink debt-for-nature swaps toward greater sustainability & integrity (commentary)
As we've watched the biodiversity COP in Colombia and then the climate COP negotiations in recent weeks, the urgency of addressing the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss…
Help farmers adopt agroecology to protect biodiversity and climate (commentary)
Agriculture and nature are closely intertwined, with millions of farmers around the world relying on nature-based activities as their source of livelihoods. Yet the adverse impacts of agriculture on the…
How ‘waste colonialism’ underpins Asia’s plastic problem (commentary)
‘Out of sight, out of mind’ is a typical approach to waste and is one of the main reasons why the waste trade persists. The world discovered that toxic waste…
I’m boycotting COP29 because local Indigenous action matters more (commentary)
The first United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that I worked on was in 2009. I didn’t actually go but rather volunteered for Farhana Yamin representing the Marshall…
Will ‘Trump Part II’ be the wakeup call needed toward more effective conservation? (commentary)
What a week. The global biodiversity conference in Cali, Colombia (COP16) had just concluded. And then Trump got re-elected as President of the United States. Clearly the latter puts an…
Will the new EU environment leader change Sweden’s conservation direction? (commentary)
The evidence is irrefutable: Sweden has spent the last few years trying to frustrate any EU-proposed measures to protect forests. A brief – and far from comprehensive – snapshot of…
Do forest conservation pledges work? (commentary)
In late September 2014 a besuited and bearded Leonardo DiCaprio stood at the grey marble dais in the UN General Assembly in New York and declared somberly that world leaders…
Is the delay of Europe’s deforestation regulation a cause for regret, or an opportunity? (commentary)
A European Commission project to counter deforestation and forest degradation associated with "the making available on the Union market as well as the export" of certain agricultural products was unveiled…
Africa needs COP29 funding & international finance reform to manage climate change (commentary)
It is always puzzling to witness the immense hype surrounding COPs (conferences of the parties to international conventions or treaties). Back in 2009, Barack Obama had just been elected U.S.…
With rare mammal tourism, observing means conserving (commentary)
At the turn of this century, seeing a wild jaguar was exceptionally difficult. People driving through the Jaguar Ecological Reserve in the Pantanal in Brazil would very occasionally get a…
Inclusive tracking and recognition of area-based conservation helps people & planet (commentary)
To help address the biodiversity crisis, momentum has been gaining around establishing and tracking protected areas (PAs) and Other Effective area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs) to achieve 30-by-30, the conserving of…
At COP16, the ocean needs action, not more promises (commentary)
Our ocean is being hit hard by global warming. Marine heatwaves are devastating coral reefs, triggering the largest global mass bleaching event on record last year, while ocean wildlife —…
Carbon markets must recognize Indigenous ‘high forest, low deforestation’ areas (commentary)
For us, protecting our forests is like protecting our families. They are our homes. They give us life. For decades, we’ve witnessed deforestation destroy large areas of tropical forests, where…
Botanical gardens play key role in biodiversity & climate conventions (commentary)
As world leaders and scientific institutions from across the globe gather to discuss the biodiversity crisis at COP16 and climate change at COP29 this fall, it’s critical that they do…
Indigenous territories & peoples are key to achieving COP16’s 30×30 target (commentary)
It is time to recognize that the Western conservation model has serious historical flaws and cannot achieve global targets alone. We, Indigenous peoples, offer another way. It is just a…
At COP16, conservationists will be neighbors with the legacy of fortress conservation (commentary)
The world’s leading conservationists will flock to Cali, Colombia, this October for the U.N. biodiversity conference, COP16. Within Cali’s bustling urban environment, it’s easy to forget that the city lies…
Act now or lose the Pantanal forever (commentary)
The Pantanal, the world’s largest tropical wetland, is on fire. This precious ecosystem, teeming with unique flora and fauna, should be treasured. Instead, it is being pushed to extinction by…
Why biodiversity credits cannot work (commentary)
The earth is on the brink of a sixth extinction crisis, making it urgent to expand programs to conserve nature and its biodiversity, especially in tropical countries with the highest…
With Europe’s move to delay tropical forest protections, everything burns (commentary)
Forests. We can't live without them. If they burn, we die. Many forests are at risk today. The Amazon has been so damaged that it may shift from being a…
Poll shows voters agree next U.S. President must do more for wildlife and conservation (commentary)
America’s Endangered Species Act was weakened in 2019 through a series of sweeping changes. In March, previous protections were put back in place, and now a new poll shows conservatives…
In the battle against plastic pollution, Asia’s informal workers are critical allies (commentary)
Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy, a waste worker from Binh Dinh, Vietnam, has worked in the waste collection industry for four decades. She has spent every day at the landfill –…
Social media influencers’ bad behavior with marine wildlife is risky for animals, too (commentary)
Many of us have likely come across that viral video on social media – a young woman touching the back of a large, possibly pregnant, great white shark, swimming alongside…
The Amazon is ablaze again. What it means for us (commentary)
In 2019, the world watched in horror as images of the Amazon rainforest ablaze flooded the news. Over 70,000 wildfires raged uncontrollably, killing wildlife, filling hospitals with patients struggling to…
Brazil’s race to approve the end of the Amazon: The BR-319 highway needs a new environmental impact assessment (commentary)
The proposed reconstruction of Brazil’s BR-319 (Manaus-Porto Velho) highway (Figure 1) needs a new environmental impact assessment (EIA). No rational decision can be made on going ahead with this project…
Indigenous communities can decide for themselves on carbon market risks (commentary)
The voluntary carbon market (VCM) has had a rough year. A hotly contested but eye-popping critique of the efficacy of allegedly up to 90% of carbon credits captured attention in…
At Climate Week and beyond, investing in community conservation pays big dividends (commentary)
How do you secure the future of one of Africa’s most endangered large mammals, a species with only an estimated 3,000 remaining in the wild? You protect its habitat –…
Global ‘Slow Food’ movement embraces agroecology (commentary)
I have spent more than 20 years visiting communities and working with farmers around Uganda and across East and southern Africa. I have come to realize that there are many…
Brazil’s BR-319 highway disaster: Yet another maneuver (commentary)
On September 14, Brazil’s National Department of Transportation Infrastructure (DNIT) submitted to the Federal Regional Court of the 1st Region (TRF1) a consultancy report that DNIT had contracted from Engespro…
Why the EU must stand firm on its plan to help protect the world’s forests (commentary)
A pioneering law under attack The world’s governments have long acknowledged the need to halt and reverse the loss of the planet’s precious forests, not least because of the contribution…
Special series
Forest Trackers
- Satellite data show bursts of deforestation continue in Indonesian national park
- Fires rip through Indigenous territories in Brazilian Amazon
- Monitoring group cracks down on deforestation in Cameroon gorilla sanctuary
- Western Kenya’s most important water-capturing forest is disappearing, satellites show
Oceans
- Conservationists see progress for swordfish, problems for sharks at Atlantic fisheries summit
- As tidal power rides a wave of clean energy optimism, pitfalls persist
- Plan for close season rings alarm bells for Liberia’s artisanal fishers
- Lab-grown corals resisted bleaching during Caribbean’s worst marine heat wave
Amazon Conservation
- ‘World’s largest’ carbon credit deal in the Amazon faces bumpy road ahead
- New conservation model calls for protecting Amazon for its archaeological riches
- Brazil dredges Amazon rivers to ease drought isolation, raising environmental concerns
- ‘We need white men on our side to save the Amazon from destruction,’ 92-year-old Indigenous Chief Raoni says
Land rights and extractives
- Brazil sets a date to remove illegal miners from Munduruku land, more details await
- Peruvian logger loses FSC label after latest clash with isolated Mashco Piro
- A national park and its rangers in Bolivia endure persisting road construction, illegal mining
- Can nations ever get artisanal gold mining right?
Endangered Environmentalists
- Vietnam sentences yet another energy expert over renewables research
- Mother Nature Cambodia activists sentenced to prison — again
- Mongabay video screening at Chile’s Supreme Court expected to help landmark verdict in Brazil
- Indonesian activist freed in hate speech case after flagging illegal shrimp farms
Indonesia's Forest Guardians
- On a Borneo mountainside, Indigenous Dayak women hold fire and defend forest
- Fenced in by Sulawesi national park, Indigenous women make forestry breakout
- In Borneo, the ‘Power of Mama’ fight Indonesia’s wildfires with all-woman crew
- Pioneer agroforester Ermi, 73, rolls back the years in Indonesia’s Gorontalo
Conservation Effectiveness
- How effective is the EU’s marquee policy to reduce the illegal timber trade?
- How sharing and learning from failures can transform conservation (commentary)
- Is planting trees as good for the Earth as everyone says?
- Failure in conservation projects: Everyone experiences it, few record it
Southeast Asian infrastructure
- An ‘ocean grab’ for a property megaproject leaves Jakarta fishers grounded
- Study: Indonesia’s new capital city threatens stable proboscis monkey population
- Indonesia’s new capital ‘won’t sacrifice the environment’: Q&A with Nusantara’s Myrna Asnawati Safitri
- Small farmers in limbo as Cambodia wavers on Tonle Sap conservation rules
