Attacks on Cambodian environmental journalist continue to pile up
BANGKOK — Ouk Mao, a Cambodian environmental journalist, was reporting on the continued logging of Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary when he was attacked on March 24 by a group of men…
Community Forests News
Report shows policy gaps in safeguarding the carbon rights of forest communities
An absence of government legal and policy reforms is impacting the rights of Indigenous, Afro-descendant peoples and local communities associated with carbon programs in 33 countries in Asia, Africa and…
Cable car project in Nepal under fire for flawed environmental review
KATHMANDU — The environmental impact assessment for a controversial cable car project in an area of Nepal held sacred by Indigenous communities has been found to be riddled with errors…
‘It has been worth it’: The local women saving Yucatán’s mangroves
The women of Chelem, a fishing community on the northern coast of the Mexican state of Yucatán, hadn’t planned to work in mangrove restoration. At first, it was simply an…
Mangroves mount a fragile green revival in Iraq’s toxic south
BASRA, Iraq — The air in Basra carries a strange weight: part saline mist from the nearby Persian Gulf and part acrid smoke from the towering oil refineries that loom…
Indigenous Dayak community makes strides on Borneo toward forest autonomy
MEKAR RAYA, Indonesia — Yulius Yogi kneels under the forest canopy here on the island of Borneo, surveying land he plans to reclaim for his Dayak Simpan Indigenous community. “Our…
Forest communities craft recommendations for better ART TREES carbon credit standard
For Indigenous peoples and local communities across Central and South America, financial opportunities from voluntary carbon markets come with both benefits and risks. Working with the Rainforest Foundation Norway and…
In Uganda, a women-led reforestation initiative fights flooding, erosion
KASESE DISTRICT, Uganda — In western Uganda’s Kasese district, where the Rwenzori Mountains meet the sprawling plains of Queen Elizabeth National Park, Janet Nyakairu Abwoli is on a mission to…
Ogoni women restore mangroves and livelihoods in oil-rich Niger Delta
A women-led reforestation effort has planted millions of mangrove trees with a high survival rate across swamps in Nigeria’s oil-rich and severely degraded Niger Delta. For decades, the Ogoni people…
IPBES report highlights Indigenous & local knowledge as key to ‘transformative change’
Indigenous and local knowledge systems’ ability to nurture human-nature interconnection can play an important role in creating the type of transformative change needed to address the underlying causes of biodiversity…
After trial and error, Mexican fishers find key to reforesting a mangrove haven
When David Borbón first arrived in the village of El Delgadito in 1980, it was a paradise with seemingly unlimited natural resources. He continued to return seasonally to fish for…
Nepal created a forest fund to do everything; five years on it’s done nothing
KATHMANDU — In October 2019, Nepal’s government introduced a new Forest Act. The law laid the basis for the establishment of the Forest Development Fund (FDF) with an extensive mandate…
Communities launch new Thawthi Taw-Oo Indigenous Park amid Myanmar civil war
Amid Myanmar’s ongoing civil war, Karen and other ethnic minority communities have officially launched the Thawthi Taw-Oo Indigenous Park, a new community-led conservation area in the northern Kayin state. The…
Biodiversity credit approaches multiply as concerns cloud confidence
In the two years since biodiversity credits garnered a prominent mention in the 2022 Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) aimed at halting the loss of wildlife, a flurry of projects and…
Experts map biodiversity richness on Afro-descendent peoples’ lands
A new atlas by human rights groups assessed tree cover and biodiversity hotspots on lands belonging to Afro-descendant peoples in 15 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Rights…
Thailand’s budding mangrove restoration plans spark both hope and concern
BANGKOK, Thailand — Standing on a coastal boardwalk overlooking the upper Gulf of Thailand, Wisut Leksomboon points to two mature mangrove trees whose branches intertwine like lovers’ limbs. “We found…
Reporter who revealed deforestation in Cambodia now charged with deforestation
STUNG TRENG, Cambodia — It was late in the afternoon of Sept. 16 when Ouk Mao finally answered his phone. The environmental journalist had spent much of that Monday making…
Do Indigenous peoples really conserve 80% of the world’s biodiversity?
A new commentary piece in the journal Nature has caused an uproar in the conservation world and has prompted scientists to call for rigorous study. According to the authors, the…
Why the Maxakali people are calling on their spirits to recover the Atlantic Forest
MAXAKALI INDIGENOUS LAND, Brazil — Instead of cattle, the Indigenous. And nothing else changes in the landscape as soon as one crosses the sign announcing the entrance to the Maxakali…
Indigenous peoples won in court — but in practice, they face a different reality
After years of delays, the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (AfCHPR) will soon meet for the first time to discuss Kenya’s failure to implement rulings recognizing the Ogiek…
As Malawi government struggles to protect a forest, communities show the way
ZOMBA PLATEAU, Malawi — The Zomba Forest Reserve is a tale of two faces. A large part of the northern section of the plateau is stripped to its last undergrowth…
Nepal’s first community-based red panda conservation area sparks hope
KATHMANDU — A hilly town close to Nepal’s eastern border with India has declared an area under its jurisdiction as the country’s first community-based red panda (Ailurus fulgens) conservation area,…
Indonesia expands IPLC land recognition — but the pace is too slow, critics say
JAKARTA — President Joko Widodo recently issued Indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs) in Indonesia more than 1 million hectares (2.47 million acres) of land titles, under his flagship social…
Brazil’s ‘Mothers of the Mangroves’ protect an ecological and cultural heritage
Hundreds of women from traditional communities in the Brazilian Amazon use education and local knowledge to protect the world’s largest continuous belt of preserved mangroves.
In the Sundarbans, women are embracing mangrove restoration as an alternative livelihood
Dwelling near the erosion-prone riverbank of the mighty Pasur River, 43-year-old Shumi Mondol understands the importance of a mangrove barrier. Next to her cottage in Loudob in Khulna’s Dacope subdistrict,…
Photos: For Kenya’s Maasai, a new faith may undo age-old conservation traditions
LOITA FOREST, Kenya — Wrapped in fingers of moss, where the spindly upper branches of giant trees tickle the clouds, a highland tropical forest conceals secret groves. These are where…
The Wixárika community’s thirteen-year legal battle to stop mining in their sacred territory
Along the journey of every pilgrimage, the road to Wirikuta brims with offerings: lit candles, arrows, and jícaras (bowls made from the hardened skin of the jícara, or calabash gourd).…
Guardians of the sacred: Ethiopian Orthodox monks on spiritual forest conservation
BAHIR DAR, Ethiopia — The Zege Peninsula, a hidden gem on the southern shore of Lake Tana, is a serene escape in Ethiopia’s north. As the boat glides across the…
Borneo’s Dayak adapt Indigenous forestry to modern peat management
PULANG PISAU, Indonesia — Bandi paddled through the black swamp, passing alongside banks of high brush outside Kalawa village here in the south of Borneo Island. The narrow canoe, known…
Beekeeping helps villagers tend coastal forests in Thai mangrove hotspot
BAN NAI NANG, Thailand — Carefully prying open the lid of a wooden bee box, Ali Madwang gazes intently into the cavity as sunlight illuminates the scene within. A hubbub…
As Big Tech eyes the carbon market, will it work this time?
Tech giants are joining forces and having a go at the beleaguered voluntary carbon market. In an attempt to offset their greenhouse gas emissions, or at least a part of…
Cambodian companies tied to abuses promoted by UN program, rights group alleges
PHNOM PENH — A rights group in Cambodia has accused a United Nations project of promoting private sector actors tied to human rights and environmental abuses. The U.N. Development Programme’s…
Special series
Forest Trackers
- Narco airstrips beset Indigenous communities in Peruvian Amazon
- 15 illegal narco-trafficking airstrips found near Peru Indigenous communities
- Satellite data show bursts of deforestation continue in Indonesian national park
- Fires rip through Indigenous territories in Brazilian Amazon
Oceans
- Southeast Asia’s fisheries thrive despite decades of overfishing warnings: Study
- Peruvian fishers sue for additional compensation after big December oil spill
- Smuggling networks exploit migrant debt to fuel tiger poaching in Malaysia, study shows
- Community-based conservation cuts thresher shark fishing by 91% in Indonesia: Study
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
- ‘Colombia’s Amazon peoples provide solutions’: Interview with José Homero Mutumbajoy
- Should mining companies consider no-go zones where isolated Indigenous peoples live? (Commentary)
- 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
Endangered Environmentalists
- Environmental & rights activists flee and hide as M23 captures DRC’s cities
- Environmental journalist in Cambodia shot and killed by suspected logger
- Vietnam sentences yet another energy expert over renewables research
- Mother Nature Cambodia activists sentenced to prison — again
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
