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…
Funding News
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…
‘Scratching the surface’ of Nepal butterfly research: Interview with Sanej Suwal
KATHMANDU — Nepal is home to a diversity of butterfly species, with 692 identified. More than two dozen species and subspecies have been found to be endemic to Nepal. Despite…
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…
COP16: ‘A fund unlike any other’ will pay tropical nations to save forests
CALI, Colombia — The hunger for new, reliable forms of finance to save biodiverse forests in developing tropical countries was palpable here at a jam-packed event during the COP16 United…
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 –…
In Nicaragua, activists challenge the value of international ‘green’ financing
Nicaragua has spent the last several years shuttering over a thousand civil society organizations, universities, media outlets and other organizations, often for criticizing President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice…
Short on funds and long on risk, Venezuelan conservation groups worry for future
Conservation has become a near-impossible task in many parts of Venezuela. Government funding has dried up, political pressure has scared away international donors, and criminal groups continue to overpower the…
Banks backing Mekong hydropower failing on due diligence, report reveals
Major banks operating in Thailand and Vietnam aren’t doing enough to address the environmental and human rights consequences of their investments in large-scale hydropower dams along the Mekong River, according…
New online tool is first to track funding to Indigenous, local and Afro-descendant communities
Developers have rolled out the first ever interactive online tool to track all funding for Indigenous peoples, local communities and Afro-descendant peoples’ forest stewardship and land tenure. The Path to…
Brazil’s Cerrado is main beneficiary of 2021 pledge to end deforestation
An alliance announced at the 2021 U.N. climate summit in Scotland has already allocated $240 million for projects that align increased agricultural productivity with environmental preservation in Brazil. The IFACC,…
How to reward tropical forest conservation: Interview with Tasso Azevedo
Tasso Azevedo, one of the creators of Tropical Forests Forever, details the financial instrument envisaged to reward conservation.
Brazil’s Amazonian states push for court reforms in bid for justice
Amazonian states have gone largely unrepresented at the top of the Brazilian judicial system for decades, a political distortion that has spurred calls for reform.
Cornell receives $35m gift for research at nexus of wildlife and health
If there’s one field of research that speaks to humanity’s relationship with the natural world, it’s the interface between wildlife and health. Human alteration of the planet through deforestation, climate…
The conservation sector must communicate better (commentary)
The Business of Conservation conference was held in Rwanda in August 2023. In the lead up, my social media feeds were full of NGOs I follow advertising their attendance and…
Western hoolock gibbon conservation in Bangladesh urgently needs funding (commentary)
Western hoolock gibbons (Hoolock hoolock), native to the forests of northeastern India, western Myanmar, and eastern Bangladesh, are among the world's most threatened primates, listed as endangered on the IUCN…
Guyana Amerindian communities fear Venezuela’s move to annex oil-rich region
In December, the Venezuelan government launched a series of measures and legislation to cement the country’s annexation of Guyana’s oil and mineral-rich Essequibo region. This is prompting fears among dozens…
2023’s top 10 Indigenous news stories (commentary)
1. Indigenous women play a growing role as leaders Indigenous women are emerging as leaders in addressing climate change, confronting their invisibility within patriarchal structures. In a landmark event in…
For forests, COP28 was better than expected, but worse than needed
A special announcement interrupted the “Halting and Reversing Forest Loss by 2030” event during Nature, Land Use and Oceans Day at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai: COP28 president Sultan…
COP28 cements goal to halt forest loss in 7 years, but where’s the money?
Despite the COP28 climate summit agreeing on groundbreaking language on forests, countries are still no nearer to closing the “finance gap” necessary to stop the destruction of rainforests, according to…
Can blue bonds boost investment in ocean conservation? (commentary)
The green bond market’s remarkable success, currently valued at over US $500 billion, shows how bond finance is an effective way to raise substantial capital for climate-related investments. Following on…
Gorilla permit fraud dents community-led conservation efforts in Uganda
Tourists from around the world pay top dollar for a once-in-a-lifetime chance to hobnob with gorilla families in Uganda’s montane forests. Part of the rationale for the steep prices is…
More capacity building funds needed for small nonprofit conservation groups (commentary)
I have worked as a grant writing professional for about 24 years and am also the part-time co-director of a small, U.S.-based wildlife conservation nonprofit called One Earth Conservation (OEC)…
African NGOs seek more funds, trust, and autonomy in global partnerships
In the conservation world, partnerships between the big international NGOs, or BINGOs, and local grassroots organizations are often marriages of unequals. And as with any union, the biggest pain points…
What’s next for the new Global Biodiversity Fund? (commentary)
In recent decades, escalating threats to global biodiversity have led to urgent calls for international intervention. COP15, the 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological…
Peru signs $20-million debt-for-nature swap with focus on Amazon rainforest
Peru signed a deal last week that will redirect millions of dollars of international debt to environmental efforts in the Amazon rainforest, a move that could help it meet long-term…
Big promises to Indigenous groups from new global nature fund — but will it deliver?
VANCOUVER — The devastating wildfires in the interior of British Columbia, Canada, in mid-August, forced the province into a state of emergency and gloom. But just a few days later,…
Skepticism as Cambodia expands protected areas by more than a million hectares
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — A flurry of subdecrees released through the end of July and early August show that the Cambodian government has approved he addition of more than a…
Nepal’s BP Highway threatens endemic, critically endangered lizard
KATHMANDU — On a hot and humid day in Bardibas, a town in the lowlands of Nepal, the sun beats down on the dusty roads where vans, cars and motorcycles…
Effort to save rare Colombian monkey looks to crowdfund its conservation
For 38 years, Colombian-based NGO Fundación Proyecto Tití has successfully run a reforestation program to protect the critically endangered cotton-top tamarin and its tropical dry forest habitat in northwestern Colombia.…
Indonesia’s Mandalika megaproject still trampling on Indigenous community’s rights: Report
JAKARTA — Reports of human rights violations continue to mount around a major tourism development on the Indonesian island of Lombok, two years since the United Nations first flagged problems…
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
