Global Forest Watch News

Gorillas, chimpanzees, orangutans -- our great ape cousins teeter on the precipice of extinction. And it’s not much of a secret that we humans have had a lot to do…

Few places on Earth escape the reach of humankind, and those areas are dwindling, according to a new study. Between 2000 and 2013, the world lost a Venezuela-sized expanse of…

While 2016 lacked the drama of Indonesia's 2015 fire and haze crisis, surging deforestation in Earth's largest rainforest and ongoing destruction of forests for industrial plantations meant that it was…

Massive forest fires in the Congo and Amazon, surging deforestation in Brazil, and tentative steps toward reform in Indonesia and Myanmar: there were no shortage of major happenings in tropical…

Brazil will restore 22 million hectares of land in what’s being called “the largest restoration commitment ever made by a single nation." “We are a country of forests,” said Rachel Biderman,…

Try to get your head around this one. There is this beautiful natural forest area in West Kalimantan, called Sungai Putri, which roughly translates as the River of the Princess.…

One of the world’s largest aerospace companies is enlisting its satellites in the fight to save forests. That’s the aim of Starling, a new service developed by Airbus Defence and…

The Norwegian government is providing World Resources Institute (WRI) with 115 million kroner ($13.85 million) over the next three years to strengthen Global Forest Watch, a platform for monitoring the…

The Rainforest Alliance, an NGO that pioneered eco-certification as a mechanism for reducing the impact of consumption on the environment, today named Nigel Sizer as its new President. Sizer, an…

There has been a 25% increase in the number of wildfires in Brazil since January 2015. According to the country’s National Institute of Space Research, or INPE, this year 220,000 fires…

When a buildup of hot gases and magma burst through the rock and ice covering Mount St. Helens in 1980, the ensuing eruption leveled huge swaths of the surrounding pristine…

Some key findings from a recent technology meeting identifying challenges and opportunities for applying new technologies to monitoring forests and preventing illegal logging.

This week data from Guido van der Werf of the Global Fire Emissions Database showed that carbon emissions from fires raging across Indonesia's peatlands have surpassed 1.4 billion tons of…

With political pressure mounting on plantation companies, including threats of fines and legal action by the Indonesian and Singaporean governments and boycotts in consumer countries, palm oil and timber giants…

Activists have documented a palm oil company destroying lowland rainforest in Sumatra's endangered Leuser Ecosystem. Last month, Rainforest Action Network (RAN) reported that PT. Tualang Raya was clearing rainforest in…

While fires in Borneo and Sumatra are garnering most of the headlines for the choking air pollution they are causing across Southeast Asia, New Guinea is also experiencing widespread fire…

Highly anticipated data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) shows that global forest loss has slowed significantly over the past five years relative to the…

This month, Ash Dykes is setting off on a 1,800-mile trek along the length of Madagascar to attract conservation attention to the critically endangered northern sportive lemur.

Global forest loss amounted to 18.7 million hectares (46 million acres) in 2014, a decline of about 9 percent relative to 2013 and 20 percent compared to 2012, according to…

The arrest warrant came after Sarawak Report published stories detailing how a sum of about $700 million was transferred to the personal bank accounts of Malaysian Prime Minister after the general elections in 2013.

The development of REDD+ in Indonesia as an experiment in bringing together carbon abatement, equity development and biodiversity protection is continuing to attract global attention.

Researchers have found a new species in the cloud forests of the Peruvian Andes.

Global Forest Watch, a platform that maps a wide range of forest data, is now optimized for mobile users, potentially extending the tool for ground-based forest monitoring and deforestation detection.…

In the heart of the Peruvian Amazon, a global craving for precious metals has changed life for local communities. As prices remain relatively high and it retains its reputation as…

A win for Siberian tigers came last week as a major logging company, together with local authorities and an international conservation NGO, announced plans to dismantle unused logging roads in part of the Russian Far East. They hope this move will make it harder for poachers to access the last refuge of the world's largest cats.

A new study finds ecological restoration may help save one of the most imperiled ecosystems on the planet - while still allowing room for agriculture.

From the flukes of whales to the stripes of zebras, biologists use patterns to identify individual animals and monitor populations. But what do you do when you can't see those…

Your car tires may be treading over forests and wildlife in Southeast Asia. As the global demand for tires soars, so does the demand for natural rubber sourced from Hevea…

This article is the second in a two-part series on Sierra del Divisor, a proposed national park in one of the most remote corners of the Peruvian Amazon that is…

This article is the first in a two-part series on Sierra del Divisor, a proposed national park in one of the most remote corners of the Peruvian Amazon that is…