KATHMANDU — Recently, one morning in Kathmandu, senior lawyer Padam Bahadur Shrestha reclined in his cluttered second-floor office in a neighborhood near Nepal government’s administrative headquarters Singha Durbar. On one…
Starbucks has defended its little-known Swiss subsidiary handling its ethical coffee sourcing after a critical report accused it of “major global tax avoidance.” The report, released by the Centre for…
Agarwood, a fragrant resinous wood commonly referred to as oud, is a prized constituent in incense, perfumes, medicines and ornaments and remains in high demand across East Asia and the…
JAKARTA — Indonesia’s efforts to ensure its commodity exports are free of deforestation are ramping up as the European Union Deforestation Regulation, or EUDR, nears enforcement. One of the biggest…
Every year, during the Northern Hemisphere spring and autumn, the skies over Lebanon are dotted with millions of birds on their epic migrations. From soaring Egyptian vultures (Neophron percnopterus) to…
JAKARTA — Prosecutors in Indonesia have charged four judges and two lawyers accused of bribery in a recently concluded trial involving palm oil giants Permata Hijau, Wilmar and Musim Mas.…
A Mongabay investigation that revealed an illegal cattle boom amid a record-high number of killings of Indigenous Guajajara has been cited by Brazilian authorities to remove thousands of head of cattle from the Arariboia Indigenous Territory in the Amazon Rainforest.
Villagers in Cameroon have denounced the use of tear gas by authorities to break up their protest on March 25 against the replanting of oil palm trees by the plantation…
The New Arab and The Shift co-published a set of edited versions of this investigation. As the sun hung low over the Nile, casting golden ripples across the water, we…
Panamanian authorities seized six longliner vessels on Jan. 20 for fishing illegally in protected waters. They also opened an investigation into an additional 10 vessels that surveillance data showed had…
YAOUNDÉ — In the village of Apouh, in southwestern Cameroon’s Edéa municipality, a group of women has remained steadfast in its fight against palm oil giant Socapalm. For several years,…
JAKARTA — Indonesia’s largest environmental group, Walhi, has filed a formal complaint with the Attorney General’s Office, accusing 47 companies of environmental destruction and corruption. The companies, which operate in…
More than a year late, the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation has finally submitted its response to an investigation that found evidence of grave human rights violations at the Salala…
KATHMANDU, Nepal — Wildlife crime continues to plague Nepal, even as the law enforcement strives at the forefront. The country functions both as a source and transit hub for wildlife…
According to the Brazilian Federal Police, Bruno Heller is one of Amazon's largest deforesters and relied on legal and technical advice, including a fake contract, bribing police officers, and near-real-time monitoring of deforestation work through satellite imagery, investigators said.
JAKARTA — Prominent Indonesian environmental forensic expert Bambang Hero Saharjo faces yet another potential lawsuit for serving as a state witness against alleged violators, this time in a high-profile tin…
NIEUWOUDTVILLE, South Africa — It is the devil’s breath, this wind, blowing dry and mercilessly across a plain left threadbare by decades of overgrazing. With this wind at their backs,…
KATHMANDU — Nepal’s Supreme Court has concluded hearings in a petition filed against controversial measures to open up protected areas to development. A ruling in the case, dubbed as one…
Nov. 1 marked the five-year anniversary of the killing of Indigenous forest guardian Paulo Paulino Guajajara and the attempted killing of fellow guardian Laércio Guajajara in an alleged ambush by loggers in the Arariboia Indigenous Territory in the Brazilian Amazon; the suspects haven’t been tried yet.
BOGOTÁ, Colombia — While music played in Bogotá's streets and a sense of victory filled the air after a long protest, Ana Graciela received a new appointment on her calendar: the…
Labor abuses on foreign-flagged fishing vessels in Indonesia's remote eastern seas continue to claim lives, with Indonesian crew members bearing the brunt of exploitation amid weak law enforcement, a new…
JAKARTA — Indonesian prosecutors have launched an investigation into the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, as there are indications of corruption related to the palm oil industry. The attorney general’s…
In a surprise move, the well-known environmental advocate Hoàng Thị Minh Hồng was released from prison in Vietnam on Saturday. Hồng was sentenced on Sept. 28, 2023, to three years…
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…
Ten years ago, four Indigenous Asháninka environmental defenders were murdered in the forests near their community of Saweto in Peru’s Amazon Ucayali region. In 2023, a court in Pucallpa found…
Until recently, the Hanoi-based nonprofit where Hưng works as a legal advocate distributed its research online, freely circulating information it intended to support policies on climate change and other environment…
LOLIONDO, Tanzania — Whistleblowers speaking to Mongabay have reported instances of poaching over decades in Tanzania linked to a luxury hunting firm catering to the United Arab Emirates’ elites and…
In Bolivia’s Madidi National Park, the Andes and the Amazon meet. Their landscapes gaze upon each other, converge and embrace with the full force of their diverse and vast vegetation.…
PALEMBANG, Indonesia — A law enforcement crackdown against widespread opportunist oil extraction has shuttered at least 95 illegal wells following a spate of deaths in Indonesia’s South Sumatra province, police…
KATHMANDU — The list of alleged crimes and lies is long: accusations of forging local signatures, signing children's names on contracts, creating false reports, bulldozing through farmlands under the cover…
According to a report from Brazilian think tank the Escolhas Institute, up to 73% of all mercury used in Brazil's gold mines is of unknown origin; the country’s environmental agency states practically all mines in Brazil use illegal mercury.
In 2023, Socfin hired a consultancy to investigate longstanding allegations of human rights violations and environmental damage raised by communities living around the Belgian transnational company’s oil palm and rubber…
