Deforestation notches up along logging roads on PNG’s New Britain Island
The loss of forest in an island province in Papua New Guinea (PNG) surged in August, according to satellite data. The target of these forays is likely timber, at least…
Math campus multiplies threats to Rio de Janeiro’s dwindling Atlantic Forest
RIO DE JANEIRO – Horto, a secluded neighborhood in the south of Rio de Janeiro with a view of the famed Christ the Redeemer statue, is enveloped by forest. Tropical…
Paper giants’ expansion plans raise fears of greater deforestation in Indonesia
JAKARTA — Activists are warning of “severe environmental and social risks” from plans by two of the world’s largest paper companies to significantly expand their operations in Indonesia. Both Asia…
‘Acts of poaching and other crimes’: Cameroon plans a new road in Lobéké National Park
On October 6, Cameroon's minister of forestry and wildlife, Jules Doret Ndongo, will appear at a one-day conference focused on protecting the richly biodiverse forests of Central Africa. Yet his…
The Pantanal is burning again. Will it be another devastating year?
The fires that tore through South America’s Pantanal region in 2020, destroying 30% of its area, are still scorched in memory. And now, the world’s largest wetland that fans out…
Illegal logging reaches Amazon’s untouched core, ‘terrifying’ research shows
One of the main fears about the Brazilian Amazon is beginning to materialize: logging is starting to move from the periphery of the rainforest toward the core of the biome,…
Should tree plantations count toward reforestation goals? It’s complicated
It's as if a professional cleaner has been let loose in the rainforest. The whistles of birds and croaks of frogs have been vacuumed up, the messy understory cleared away.…
Environmental activist ‘well-hated’ by Myanmar junta is latest to be arrested
As demonstrations and deadly crackdowns continue to roil Myanmar following the military coup in February, land and environmental defenders are increasingly under threat. In the seven months since protests erupted,…
Spike in deforestation detected in Papua concession linked to South Korea’s Moorim
JAKARTA — Clearing of natural forests has been detected on land licensed to a subsidiary of South Korean paper company Moorim in Indonesia’s easternmost region of Papua, indicating an increase…
Italian firms flout EU rules to trade in illegal Myanmar timber, report says
Negligible fines and inadequate enforcement are turning Italy into a hotspot for illegal Myanmar timber in spite of EU sanctions and regulations against the latter's timber trade, according to a…
North American paper industry merger sets off environmental alarms
JAKARTA — The planned expansion of one of the largest pulp and paper producers in North America will threaten Canada’s boreal forest, the most carbon dense woodland in the world,…
Next to India’s capital, a village looks to the past for its forest’s future
DELHI NCR — Sunil Harsana says he always knew there were paintings in the caves near his home in Mangar, a village on the outskirts of India’s capital, New Delhi.…
Indonesian pulpwood firms told to protect peat are doing the opposite: Report
JAKARTA — Pulpwood companies obliged to restore the degraded peatlands inside their concessions in Indonesia are instead continuing to cultivate the land, a new investigative report says. The report by…
An Ecuadoran town that survived illegal miners now faces a licensed operator
In 2017, the name “La Merced de Buenos Aires,” or simply “Buenos Aires,” became famous throughout Ecuador. This small parish located high in the Andean province of Imbabura was invaded…
In Brazil’s Acre, smoke from fires threatens health, could worsen COVID-19
The spread of fires in a Brazilian state that’s still mostly swathed in Amazon rainforest is raising alarms about risks to public health, compounding what’s already one of the worst…
A bad fire year predicted in Brazil’s Acre state. What’s to be done?
The Brazilian state of Acre, nestled along the border with Peru and Bolivia in the Amazon, has been called “the place where the wind makes the curve,” a saying that,…
EU sanctions no ‘silver bullet’ against Myanmar’s illegal timber trade, experts say
The European Union has imposed new sanctions on a state-owned timber enterprise in Myanmar following the coup in February, as part of an international effort targeting businesses whose profits are…
Protected areas keep adjacent lands safe, but face losing their own protection
Slowing the pace of mass extinctions and the climate crisis requires that nature be protected. But when it comes to protected areas, some have argued that safeguarding one area can…
Tiger habitat threatened by Malaysian royals’ mining plans
An environmental report has revealed the Malaysian royal family is requesting permission from the Department of Environment for a new iron ore mine in the middle of one of the…
Deforestation soars 40% in Xingu River Basin in Brazilian Amazon
A hundred and ninety-six trees per minute. That’s how fast the forest was being cleared in Brazil’s Xingu River Basin between March and April this year. A total of 29,191…
In the Colombian Andes, a forest corridor staves off species extinction
In 2006, the world's leading hummingbird photographer, Luis Mazariegos, visited La Mesenia, an isolated village in Colombia’s western Andes. He had no idea that besides taking a picture of the…
Forest loss in mountains of Southeast Asia accelerates at ‘shocking’ pace
Southeast Asia is home to roughly half of the world’s tropical mountain forests. These highland ecosystems support massive carbon stores and tremendous biodiversity, including a host of species that occur…
Bigger is badder when it comes to climate impact of farms in the Amazon
A 20-year analysis of satellite data shows significant temperature differences in agricultural lands in southern Amazonia, depending on farm size.
In less than a generation, legal mining in Colombia deforested over 120,000 hectares
Legal mining in Colombia is a significant driver of deforestation, contributing to the destruction of 121,819 hectares (301,021 acres) of forest from 2001 to 2018. During that time, deforestation from…
Study shows it took the Amazon as we know it over 6 million years to form
The asteroid impact 66 million years ago that killed more than 75% of all species on Earth, including all non-avian dinosaurs, triggered an ecological catastrophe that took the neotropical rainforests…
‘We guard the forest’: Carbon markets without community recognition not viable
Nature-based solutions to tackle the climate crisis, specifically through the global carbon market, are attracting major public and private investment. Yet, according to new research by the NGO Rights and…
Podcast: Reforestation is booming, but deforestation rose last year
Today we discuss newly released data for 2020 that shows an increase in deforestation even as efforts to replant forests are sprouting up all over the world. Listen here: Mongabay…
Indonesian omnibus law’s ‘whitewash’ of illegal palm oil shocks its architects
JAKARTA — Lawmakers in Indonesia have expressed shock — shock! — that a controversial bill they passed into law last year amid near-universal criticism legitimizes illegal deforestation for oil palm…
Indonesia’s bid to control deforestation wildly off-target, experts say
JAKARTA — Indonesia has laid out an ambitious plan to tackle deforestation, the main factor contributing to the country being one of the top global greenhouse gas emitters. But experts…
Landmark decision: Brazil Supreme Court sides with Indigenous land rights
In a ruling that could strengthen Indigenous land rights claims across Brazil, the nation’s Supreme Court has sided with the Guarani Kaiowá, allowing the possible reopening of a case involving their territory claim.
