JAKARTA — Indonesia’s courts have ordered plantation companies to pay more than 21 trillion rupiah ($1.3 billion), an amount 28 times the environment ministry’s entire annual budget, for forest and…
MUARA KATE, Indonesia — More than eight months after the bloody killing of an Indigenous elder in eastern Borneo, police in Indonesia have yet to name a suspect, while community…
MEXICO CITY – About two dozen police officers, government officials and a data specialist sat side by side in a command center in northern Bogotá, Colombia’s capital. For two weeks,…
For nearly two decades, Alejandro González has stood on the front lines of marine conservation in Mexico, from the coral-fringed reefs of Cabo Pulmo to the remote volcanic outposts of…
JAKARTA — Indonesia has launched a sweeping and militarized crackdown on illegal forest use, reclaiming millions of hectares of land — but civil society groups warn the campaign is displacing…
JAKARTA — Indonesian civil society groups are challenging a controversial law they say enables forced evictions, weakens environmental protections, and encourages elite-driven megaprojects at the expense of ordinary citizens. Two…
JAKARTA — Two of Indonesia’s most prominent environmental experts are facing a lawsuit that activists say is part of a wider trend of silencing scientists who testify against environmental violators.…
LUANG PRABANG, Laos — “No coffee, no coffee,” repeated the security guard. His smile stood in stark contrast to his faded camouflage fatigues and the machine gun slung over his…
In the heart of the Brazilian Amazon, local communities are leading the charge against environmental crime — and they’re succeeding. Our new peer-reviewed study published in Conservation Biology has found…
A recent report surveying seizures of pangolin scales and elephant ivory over the past decade has found a sharp decline following the COVID-19 pandemic. Using data from media reports, public…
LILONGWE — In 2021, Malawian authorities found Lin Yunhua and 14 other members of an international trafficking syndicate in possession of pangolin scales, rhino horns, and elephant and hippo ivory.…
Samoa, an archipelagic country composed of nine islands in the South Pacific Ocean, is on the frontline of climate change. Rising sea levels, ocean warming and acidification all pose significant…
COLOMBO — After a 15-year long legal battle, Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court has put a stop to a controversial road construction project extending from Puttalam in the North West to Northern…
A glut of social media videos featuring captive Asian small-clawed otters in the mid-2000s led to what wildlife trade experts term “the pet otter boom.” Demand for the species exploded,…
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…
JAKARTA — For years, Mikael Ane, an Indigenous farmer from the island of Flores in eastern Indonesia, has faced prison not for harming the environment, but for trying to protect…
A special commission tasked with addressing land disputes and Indigenous rights in Chile delivered a historic final report to the president earlier this month, making a series of recommendations meant…
LUBUMBASHI, Democratic Republic of Congo — At 4 a.m. on April 27, soldiers shattered the peace of a village in a mining region the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Lualaba province.…
ASAHAN, Indonesia – On Nov. 11, 2024, Alfi Simatupang, a police officer in Asahan district on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, was arrested along with two soldiers and a civilian…
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…
One morning in early April 2024, Elías Naal Hernández set out with his fishing net to try his luck in the waters of Isla Aguada, off the coast of southeastern…
MANTANGAI, Indonesia — The last time Remie recalled a good harvest season here in Central Kalimantan province was in 2018, when 20-liter bags of rice seed were piled against the…
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…
COLOMBO — The Palk Bay and the Gulf of Mannar have long served as rich fishing grounds, providing bountiful harvests to Sri Lanka’s northern coastal communities. However, fishing activity in…
Historically, most countries regulated their biological resources via the agriculture ministry, using laws specific for managing forests, wildlife and fish. Many were inspired by commitments made via United Nations treaties,…
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…
Primatologists and conservation organizations have launched a 10-year action plan to improve the outlook for langur monkeys in the Sundaland biodiversity hotspot, a region of Southeast Asia that spans Brunei,…
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.…
In the early hours of Dec. 22, 2024, fishermen working in the Talara Sea in northern Peru hauled in their nets. But instead of the day's catch, they found oil…
On a busy morning in November 2024, a dramatic scene unfolded in a supermarket in Banani, Dhaka. Government officials, armed with security personnel, launched a joint operation to crack down…
It’s November, springtime in Cancas, a coastal community in northern Peru, and the sea is calm; it only gets rough at the beginning of summer, which in the Southern Hemisphere…
JAKARTA — Residents of the Indonesian province of South Sumatra are seeking protection from the country’s National Human Rights Commission after reportedly facing intimidated for filing a lawsuit against three…
