A catastrophe that might offer a glimpse of hope for Indonesia (commentary)
It was 27 December 2004. I was sitting at my computer in my office in Jakarta, Indonesia, my mind busy with plans for the New Year party I had organized…
Logging News
In California’s redwoods, scientists rebuild lost ecosystems high up in the canopy
The Van Eck Forest in northwestern California is home to iconic coast redwood trees, which store more above-ground carbon per acre than any other forest type. The oldest trees can…
Researchers find concerning gaps in global maps used for EUDR compliance
A recent scientific review of forest maps used to ensure compliance with the European Union’s Regulation on Deforestation-free products, known as the EUDR, suggests that most may over- or underestimate…
All new roads lead to increased deforestation in Ecuador’s Indigenous territory
Between March and May 2025, at least eight children from the Achuar Indigenous community died of leptospirosis in the southern Ecuadorian Amazon. The disease is preventable with access to safe…
Malaysian companies dominate PNG forest-clearance permits: report
Papua New Guinea’s rainforests, which span 28.2 million hectares (69.6 million acres), are among the most biodiverse in the world, hosting an estimated 5-8% of all species. The country also…
Top-down projects, exotic trees, weak tenure: Congo Basin restoration misses the mark
The Congo Basin, the world’s largest tropical rainforest after the Amazon, is under mounting pressure. The Congo’s vast green canopy, stretching across six countries and storing more carbon than the…
What’s at stake for the environment in Honduras’ presidential election?
Honduras will hold elections Nov. 30 for president and all 128 seats in Congress. The winners will hold office for the next four years, shaping the country’s environmental policies at…
DRC hit by record deforestation in 2024, satellite data show
Africa’s great Congo Basin rainforest, often called the Earth’s second lung, covers an area about the size of India. Millions of people depend directly on the forest for food, energy…
Peru Indigenous patrols see success & struggles in combating illegal miners
For several years, illegal gold mining, loggers and other invaders have impacted the territory of the Indigenous Wampís people (or Huambisa) of the northern Peruvian Amazon. To combat these threats…
Suriname’s plan to capitalize on carbon: Q&A with President Jennifer Geerlings-Simons
PARAMARIBO, Suriname — With the U.N. Climate Change Conference coming up next week, Suriname finds itself at the center of a global debate about how to reduce carbon emissions and…
Drax pellet mill wins appeal to raise pollution limits in small Mississippi town
In April 2025, the town of Gloster, Mississippi, population 858, won a significant battle against the giant global wood pellet maker Drax, when the permitting board of the Mississippi Department…
Report urges full protection of world’s 196 uncontacted Indigenous peoples
“My children died. My mother died. My husband died. My brothers, my sisters, my aunts and uncles. I saw the bones sticking out of their rotting corpses inside the longhouse.…
New cluster of Tapanuli orangutans discovered in Sumatra peat swamp
CENTRAL TAPANULI, Indonesia — Since it was first described by scientists in 2017, the Tapanuli orangutan, one of the world’s rarest great apes, was believed to live only in the…
In Indonesia’s Mentawai Islands, youths blend ancestral and world faiths to protect forests
Off the western coast of Sumatra, the Mentawai Islands rise from the Indian Ocean in a patchwork of emerald forests and winding rivers. The canopy shelters endemic macaques and gibbons,…
More than half the world’s forests fragmented in 20 years — but protection works: Study
“If you can imagine walking into a huge, 1,000-kilometer square [386-square-mile] tropical forest … it's moist and damp [with] rich soil and an overstory. You imagine walking into a 10-meter…
Isolated tribes under threat as Peru votes down Yavarí Mirim Indigenous Reserve
Officials in Peru last week voted against a proposal to create an Indigenous reserve in the country’s Amazonian region, where isolated tribes face threats from logging, mining and drug trafficking.…
Guatemala closes oil field, increases security in Maya Biosphere Reserve
Officials in Guatemala have announced plans to occupy a recently closed oil field with the aim of increasing enforcement in protected areas badly hit by organized crime. The Xan oil…
‘Let’s understand the value of the forest’ says Liberia’s Silas Siakor
Rainforests have long played a central role in Liberia. Home to hundreds of thousands of people, they’re a source of sustenance, a site for cultural practice and habitat for forest…
Liberia has a new plan to protect its rainforests. Can it work?
Around half of West Africa’s remaining rainforests are in the small coastal nation of Liberia. They’re home to species like western chimpanzees and pygmy hippos, valuable stands of hardwood —…
Philippines’ new forest policy wins business backing but alarms green groups
MANILA — The Philippine government has rolled out a sweeping forest land reform that officials say will attract investment while promising sustainability. The initiative, dubbed the Sustainable Forest Land Management…
Deforestation & illegal roads advancing fast in Colombia’s largest natural area
In Colombia, the construction of illegal roads continues to damage protected areas. In Chiribiquete National Park, 525 hectares (1,297 acres) of forest were lost throughout 2024 up until March 2025…
Old forests, new fires, and a scientific standoff over active management
This is the second installment of Mongabay's coverage of active management tools for forest fires. Read Part 1. Photographs of forests in the western U.S. from the mid-1800s show a…
Fixing forests or fueling fires? Scientists split over active management
This is the first installment of Mongabay's coverage of active management tools for forest fires. Read Part 2. On Sept. 8, 2020, a brush field in southern Oregon, in the…
Who is clearing Indonesia’s forests — and why?
JAKARTA — While most tropical countries experienced record-high deforestation rates in 2024, Indonesia’s forest loss is slowing, bucking a global trend. But beneath the headline figures lies a troubling mystery:…
Uncovering forest loss in gorilla park six months after M23 offensive in the DRC
Six months ago, the M23 rebel group seized Goma, one of the largest cities in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. In the time since, local activists and…
More than 10,000 species on brink of extinction need urgent action: Study
Extinction is an overwhelming concept, difficult to grasp in its enormity and finality. Thousands of species are barreling toward that grim fate, unless we help. A comprehensive new study provides…
‘Insignificant risk’ EUDR proposal threatens fight against deforestation, critics say
A last-minute proposal to revise the European Union’s sweeping antideforestation law has conservationists worried about yet another delay to the law’s implementation and weaker oversight of supply chains. The EU…
Hope and frustration as Indonesia pilots FSC’s logging remedy framework
JAKARTA — Indonesia is testing whether one of the world’s most powerful timber certifiers can deliver justice — or merely a reset — to forest communities harmed by industrial logging.…
In the Andes, decentralization fails to address environmental harm
The Andean nations are unitary republics by history and constitution. Consequently, the push to devolve power to lower jurisdictions is less obvious and its degree of implementation variable. Over the…
Forest connectivity key to preserving PNG’s spectacular rainforest birds: Study
From pollinating plants to dispersing seeds, birds play a variety of crucial roles that help to keep ecosystems in balance. But when we degrade and fragment their habitats, some species…
Panama boosts protections in the Darién Gap, but deforestation threats still loom
METETÍ, Panama — Thousands of people used to cross the Darién Gap every day. Emerging from the rainforest, they would stop in small towns across southern Panama, where migrant reception…
Protecting the Darién Gap: Interview with Panama national parks director Luis Carles Rudy
METETÍ, Panama — Darién National Park covers around 575,000 hectares, or 1.42 million acres, of rainforest at Panama’s southern border with Colombia, where Central and South America meet. It’s one…
Special series
Forest Trackers
- Satellite data show burst of deforestation in Myanmar rare earth mining hotspots
- Narco airstrips beset Indigenous communities in Peruvian Amazon
- 15 illegal narco-trafficking airstrips found near Peru Indigenous communities
- Satellite data show bursts of deforestation continue in Indonesian national park
Oceans
- Methane chasers: Hunting a climate-changing gas seeping from Earth’s seafloor
- Scientists call for stronger action to save Indonesia’s vanishing seagrass meadows
- Antarctic conservation summit closes with stalemate on MPAs & krill fishing rules
- Norway’s proposal to double krill harvests raises tension at Antarctic conservation summit
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
- Lithium mining may threaten a precious resource — water: Voices from the land (commentary)
- Indigenous guardians successfully keep extractives out of Ecuador’s Amazon forests
- Amid Venezuela’s illegal gold heist are armed groups, gangs & elites, report says
- Indigenous women in Peru use technology to protect Amazon forests
Endangered Environmentalists
- A killing with precedent: Kaiowá man’s murder fits a pattern in Brazil
- Environmental & rights activists flee and hide as M23 captures DRC’s cities
- Environmental journalist in Cambodia shot and killed by suspected logger
- Vietnam sentences yet another energy expert over renewables research
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
