This is part five of a series on the operation to evict illegal gold miners from Munduruku Indigenous territories. Read part one, part two, part three, and part four. “We’re…
From Lucas do Rio Verde, a major agricultural hub in the state of Mato Grosso, the railway would be built from scratch, advancing into the Amazon’s Arc of Deforestation.
The most deforested biome in Brazil, the Cerrado lost 700,000 hectares (1.7 million acres) of native vegetation in 2024. Now, it is about to receive a thermoelectric plant 30 kilometers…
The citizens of the Pan Amazon have a common complaint: the politicians and bureaucrats who manage the affairs of state neither understand their needs nor care about their aspirations. This…
Tropical forests help regulate the global climate, host irreplaceable biodiversity and provide fresh water resources. Plus forests in general are the source of livelihoods for more than a billion people — so our…
This story is the first article of a two-part Mongabay mini-series exploring possible climate futures. Read Part One. Humanity stands at a critical juncture in the climate emergency: As countries…
The vital role forests play in providing habitat for biodiversity, storing carbon and supporting cultures also buttresses global society economically and socially, according to a new report by authors at…
In 2006, Farina Othman heard a loud boom when she was observing a group of Bornean elephants in a forest in the Lower Kinabatangan area, one of the largest floodplains…
JAKARTA — The Indonesian government has revoked four out of five nickel mining permits in the Raja Ampat archipelago following a public outcry over mining in one of the world’s…
JAKARTA — The Indonesian government has suspended nickel mining in the Raja Ampat archipelago, citing multiple environmental violations by companies operating in the ecologically sensitive islands. The move follows viral…
Brazil, which accounts for large reserves of nickel, graphite, rare earths, lithium and niobium, would be one of the most affected countries.
In the late 1990s, academics developed a variant of the environmental impact assessment (EIA) methodology known as a strategic environmental assessment (SEA). Originally conceived as a super-EIA, the scope of…
While oil prospects in the Amazon north shore attract international attention, the offer of exploration blocks around Indigenous territories goes unnoticed in Mato Grosso state.
The EIA is an integral (high-profile) component of regulatory process that has evolved over the last couple of decades to extend ‘upstream’ into the planning process and ‘downstream’ into the…
On May 19, the head of IBAMA, Brazil’s federal environmental agency, overrode the technical opinion of the agency’s licensing department and issued a decision allowing proposed oil drilling in the…
Banks in Latin America are under increasing pressure to develop financial policies that support the transition to a greener economy. Emerging regulations are targeting industries tied to carbon emissions, deforestation…
SINGAPORE — The EU’s landmark anti-deforestation law is under fire for a risk classification system that critics say overlooks illegal logging and governance failures — potentially undermining the very goal…
ANTANANARIVO — At the end of April, a team of researchers scouring a scarred area of spiny forest in southwestern Madagascar came across three individuals of a critically endangered chameleon…
The Brazilian environmental agency, IBAMA, approved a license to blast a natural rock barrier on the Tocantins River in Pará state to enable boats to pass during the dry season, as part of wider efforts to build a massive waterway for commodities.
The new rules, considered unconstitutional by experts, would benefit around 80% of the ventures with a self-licensing process that exempts environmental impact studies and mitigation measures.
Guinea-Bissau is a mangrove country. These unique coastal forests cover around 326,000 hectares (about 806,000 acres), or 9% of the national territory — the highest proportion in the world. They…
Poverty and poor border controls have allowed young women to be trafficked into the sex trade catering to illegal gold miners in Brazil’s border areas with countries like Guyana and Venezuela.
KATHMANDU — Nepal’s Supreme Court has refused to extend the suspension of a controversial cable car project at a pilgrimage site in the country’s eastern hills, sparking concerns of confrontation…
YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia — Rahayu Oktaviani revered the work of Canadian primatologist Biruté Galdikas while a student in the mid-2000s, aspiring to join her hero in protecting the Bornean orangutan, which…
SRI JAYAWARDENEPURA KOTTE, Sri Lanka — In the soft first light of dawn, wildlife photographer Priyanath Kotalawela observed a golden silhouette gliding across the wet grasslands in the Thalangama Wetland,…
A Catholic priest, Pedro Porras, was the first to research and document the Amazon rainforest’s Upano Valley culture dating back 2,500 years.
Indonesia’s environment ministry plans to curb deforestation and push for environmental rehabilitation in response to industrial nickel mining on Kabaena Island, where severe ecological damage and the cultural and economic…
Suriname, one of the most forested countries in the world, will hold elections this weekend for parliament and set up a vote for the next president. The outcome could determine…
JAKARTA — Indonesia’s push to meet its ambitious biofuel targets by expanding oil palm plantations could cost the country billions in environmental damage and social conflict, a new analysis by…
Some of the most conflictive issues in the Pan Amazon revolve around construction of major infrastructure, industrial development, and mining. In the 1970s, when the Tranzamazônica (BR-230) was being built…
Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva lives in a “disinformation space,” to use the term coined by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to describe U.S. President Donald Trump. Lula is…
Agricultural expansion in two Brazilian states has cleared a U.K -sized area of jaguar habitat, nearly a fifth of which occurred in the last decade alone, a new report shows.…