In Colombia, guerrilla groups decide the fate of the Amazon
Colombia President Gustavo Petro took office in 2022 with ambitious plans to combat climate change and lead a clean energy transition — a major challenge for a country that has…
Logging News
NGOs, officials trade blame as Malaysian forest conservation project is scrapped
With an internationally backed project to protect core forest in Malaysia’s Sarawak state now quashed at the request of the state’s forest department, both NGOs and Sarawak forestry officials cite…
Indonesia biomass zone for Japan and S. Korea energy razes rainforest in Sulawesi
POHUWATO, Indonesia — Heavy trucks roll toward a semiremote coastline here on Indonesia’s Sulawesi Island before idling alongside a waiting barge, which will later make a vast shipment of wood…
New survey puts human face on pollution caused by U.S. wood pellet mills
Forest biomass companies working in the U.S. Southeast in 2023 produced 9.54 million metric tons of wood pellets for export at their 28 mills scattered across the region. That’s a…
‘Treat us as partners, central actors’: Interview with Indigenous activist Joan Carling
Joan Carling has made it her life’s mission to fight for the rights of her fellow Indigenous peoples. She has led anti-mining campaigns in the Philippines and faced death threats.…
In Costa Rica, sustainable tourism is no longer enough for conservation
LIMÓN, Costa Rica — On board Jurgen Stein’s two-seat gyrocopter, tourists can see the rainforest like never before. From the sky, the Selva Bananito Reserve looks like an endless stretch…
Revealed: Biomass firm poised to clear Bornean rainforest for dubious ‘green’ energy
LABAN NYARIT, Indonesia — Ipu Angit’s close relationship with the forest here in the interior of Borneo is evident as he identifies the plants and trees he uses to meet…
Delay of EU Deforestation Regulation may ‘be excuse to gut law,’ activists fear
Forest defenders were stunned and concerned by the European Commission’s recent proposal for a 12-month delay in implementation of the EU’s new law to reduce global deforestation and forest degradation.…
NGOs push EU to label Sarawak as ‘high risk’ source of timber, palm oil
A coalition of Indigenous and human rights groups are hoping new European Union trade regulations could help pressure timber and oil palm industries in Malaysia’s Sarawak state into respecting Indigenous…
Cambodian environment minister bans logging at tycoon’s Cardamoms hydropower project
PHNOM PENH — In a rare move to combat forest crimes, Cambodian Environment Minister Eang Sophalleth on Sept. 2 banned all forest clearance at the site of a dam project in…
Reporter who revealed deforestation in Cambodia now charged with deforestation
STUNG TRENG, Cambodia — It was late in the afternoon of Sept. 16 when Ouk Mao finally answered his phone. The environmental journalist had spent much of that Monday making…
As logging intensifies forest fires, Wet’suwet’en fight to protect old growth
WET’SUWET’EN, Canada — The pilot flew over squares of clear-cuts and tree plantations, then rolled the helicopter around Hudson Bay Mountain in north-central British Columbia. We were following directions from…
Report links killings to environmental crimes in Peru’s Amazon
Ten years ago, four Indigenous Asháninka environmental defenders were murdered in the forests near their community of Saweto in Peru’s Amazon Ucayali region. In 2023, a court in Pucallpa found…
Mining company tied to Cambodian military officials grabs community forest
STUNG TRENG, Cambodia — Rain poured down in torrential sheets as Ouk Mao guided reporters through the winding dirt tracks that were, in August, rutted with deep trenches of mud and…
Peruvian logger loses FSC label after latest clash with isolated Mashco Piro
The Forest Stewardship Council has suspended its certification of a controversial logging company in the Peruvian Amazon accused of encroaching on the traditional territory of the Mashco Piro, an Indigenous group…
Indonesia’s Farwiza Farhan among Ramon Magsaysay awardees for protecting Leuser Ecosystem
JAKARTA — Indonesian conservationist Farwiza Farhan says she couldn’t contain her tears when she learned that the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation had selected her as a recipient of its Emergent…
Logging done sustainably doesn’t have to harm ecosystem services, study finds
Researchers have found that low-intensity logging of a tropical forest has no negative impacts on key ecosystem services such as the carbon storage and food availability for wildlife. But even…
Sumatran province brings hammer down on illegal oil wells after fatal blasts
PALEMBANG, Indonesia — A law enforcement crackdown against widespread opportunist oil extraction has shuttered at least 95 illegal wells following a spate of deaths in Indonesia’s South Sumatra province, police…
After isolated tribes’ rare appearance in Peruvian Amazon, big questions remain for their future
As images of dozens of isolated Indigenous Mashco Piro men and boys on a beach in the Peruvian Amazon sparked huge worldwide media coverage, questions remain about whether the government…
Activists ask for help combatting violence against Nicaragua’s Indigenous communities
Increasing violence in northern Nicaragua this year has displaced rural families and led to calls for more drastic action from the international community, which activists say hasn’t done enough to…
In Cambodia, Indigenous villagers lose forest & land amid carbon offset project
This is the second article in our two-part series on Indigenous land rights and the Keo Seima REDD+ project. This series was co-written by a Cambodian journalist whose name is…
What’s at stake for the environment in Venezuela’s upcoming election?
The lead up to Venezuela’s presidential election, scheduled for this Sunday, July 28, hasn’t been about the candidates’ experience or the viability of their policies. The focus has been on…
How Europe’s only Indigenous group is inspiring a greener Christianity
In Arctic Norway, among the Indigenous Sámi people, there is a custom: When cutting down a tree, tap its trunk three times. On the one hand, it’s simply practical advice:…
Sumatra pulp & paper giants violate zero-deforestation pledge, activists allege
JAKARTA — Activists allege that two of the world’s biggest pulp and paper companies have violated their zero-deforestation pledge by clearing natural forests and peatlands in Indonesia. An investigation by…
As logging booms in Suriname, forest communities race to win land rights
Suriname has some of the largest, most intact rainforests in the world. The Amazon covers around 93% of its surface area, making it one of the only countries with a…
Hydropower dams further undermine REDD+ efforts in Cambodia
This is the second of a two-part Mongabay series about hydropower dams in the Cardamom Mountains. Read Part One. PURSAT/KOH KONG, Cambodia — “Fifteen years ago, this whole village was…
History repeats as logging linked to Cambodian hydropower dam in Cardamoms
This is the first of a two-part Mongabay series about hydropower dams in the Cardamom Mountains. Read Part Two. PURSAT/KOH KONG, Cambodia — Rumbling south down a rutted dirt track…
Zambian forest reserve rebounds with a little assistance
In 2019, there were around 100 families living in the Katanino Forest Reserve, cutting down trees to produce charcoal in mud-covered kilns, and selling the fuel by the bag on…
How effective is the EU’s marquee policy to reduce the illegal timber trade?
It’s extremely difficult, perhaps impossible, to determine the full extent of the illicit production and trade of timber worldwide. Illegal loggers and the shadowy networks that trade in timber outside…
Water is key as study shows restoration of drained tropical peat is possible
JAKARTA — In 2015, Indonesian forestry giant Asia Pulp & Paper announced it would retire thousands of hectares of its commercial timber plantation in Sumatra, with the ultimate goal of…
Cambodian companies tied to abuses promoted by UN program, rights group alleges
PHNOM PENH — A rights group in Cambodia has accused a United Nations project of promoting private sector actors tied to human rights and environmental abuses. The U.N. Development Programme’s…
‘Non-market’ solutions to deforestation need more support, advocates say
If funders want to protect the planet’s forests, they should stop focusing on market-based solutions like carbon trading, according to a report released May 29 by the Rainforest Foundation UK,…
Special series
Forest Trackers
- 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
- Fires rip through Indigenous territories in Brazilian Amazon
Oceans
- Southeast Asia’s fisheries thrive despite decades of overfishing warnings: Study
- Peruvian fishers sue for additional compensation after big December oil spill
- Smuggling networks exploit migrant debt to fuel tiger poaching in Malaysia, study shows
- Community-based conservation cuts thresher shark fishing by 91% in Indonesia: Study
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
- ‘Colombia’s Amazon peoples provide solutions’: Interview with José Homero Mutumbajoy
- Should mining companies consider no-go zones where isolated Indigenous peoples live? (Commentary)
- 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
Endangered Environmentalists
- 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
- Mother Nature Cambodia activists sentenced to prison — again
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
