Thai court rules gold mine liable, but villagers face uncertain justice
BAN KHAO MO, Thailand — On March 24, 2026, residents of this small community achieved a landmark legal victory. Ten years into a class action suit against the Chatree gold…
Mining News
American Samoa said ‘no’ to deep sea mining, Washington heard ‘faster’ (commentary)
At 7:45 a.m. one recent January day in American Samoa, a delegation from Greenpeace and Pacific Island partners sat in a small radio studio explaining why we had traveled thousands…
US-Indonesia trade deal slammed as ‘extractive colonialism’ over mining, fossil fuels
JAKARTA — Environmental activists are sounding the alarm over a new trade agreement between the U.S. and Indonesia that they warn could accelerate mining expansion, fossil fuel dependence and forest…
4 months after DRC mine spill, residents remain impacted
More than four months after a wastewater spill from a mine in Lubumbashi, a city located in the DRC’s copper and cobalt belt, residents say they are still facing impacts…
Behind the scenes of the Amazon’s gold rush: Director Richard Ladkani on the making of ‘Yanuni’
Austrian director and cinematographer Richard Ladkani knew little about the Amazon Rainforest before he decided to make a film about it. It was 2019. Fires raged across the Amazon. Ladkani…
Outlook for migratory species worsens amid habitat loss & avian flu, report finds
From shorebirds flying between their Arctic breeding grounds and southerly foraging ranges to freshwater fish returning to native spawning streams, migratory animals are struggling. About half of all migratory species…
Brazil Supreme Court opens path to mining in Indigenous land for first time
On Feb. 3, at the request of an association of the Indigenous Cinta Larga people in the Amazon, the Brazilian Supreme Court authorized the possibility of mining exploration and exploitation…
Sumatra officials stress environment checks continue in wake of deadly cyclone
PADANG, Indonesia — Environmental inspectors in Indonesia say they’re continuing to monitor compliance by mining and other companies on the island of Sumatra amid ongoing public outcry three months after…
Mining rush for critical minerals threatens Amazon land reform settlements
Families awaiting land reform in the Amazon now face a surge in mining that can destroy their chance at a decent life.
Sumatra province plan to permit ‘community’ mines alarms civil society
PADANG, Indonesia — The government of West Sumatra plans to move forward with a legal pathway for up to 300 small mines operating illegally in the heavily forested province, joining…
Seven years after Brazil’s worst dam disaster, mining operations bounce back
BRUMADINHO, Brazil — In the rural community of Jangada, in the municipality of Brumadinho in Brazil’s Minas Gerais state, the water that supplies local families comes from springs that emerge…
Scrutiny grows over DRC-US minerals deal, even as other African nations sign up
On Feb 4, the U.S. hosted the Critical Minerals Ministerial, a summit bringing together delegations from more than 50 countries, including seven African countries, with the aim of securing access…
Indigenous concerns surface as U.S. agency considers seabed mining in Alaskan waters
A U.S. federal agency is considering allowing companies to lease more than 45.7 million hectares (113 million acres) of waters off Alaska for seabed mining. Alaska is the latest of several…
Landslides claim more than 220 lives in DRC’s Rubaya coltan mining site
More than 220 people were killed in two successive landslides on Jan. 28 and 29 in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The victims were artisanal miners known as “diggers.” The…
Mines, dams move in as protection slips in a Cambodian wildlife sanctuary
In Sre Chhuk village, a quiet patch in northeast Cambodia where the Mekong’s smaller veins trace the edge of a fading wildlife sanctuary, Vorn Pang and Sao Thorn once believed…
Successful campaign proves Ghana’s forests are worth more than gold (commentary)
On Dec. 10, 2025, Ghana’s government revoked one of the worst pieces of environmental legislation in our country’s history. The Environmental Protection (Mining in Forest Reserves) Regulations passed in 2022…
What’s happening with the global treaty to trace critical minerals?
The negotiations were intense, says Julia Peña Niño, the Colombia country manager at the Natural Resource Governance Institute. At the seventh U.N. Environment Assembly (UNEA-7) in Nairobi last December, behind…
Peru to invest $7.6 billion to continue critical minerals extraction
Peru plans to reinforce its mining sector this year with billions of dollars in investment across several ongoing projects, some of them with a history of environmental damage. The Ministry…
Worries grow for Sulawesi farmers as nickel mining company plans expansion
LOEHA RAYA, Indonesia — The road to the headquarters of the Loeha Raya Farmers’ Cooperative is inundated from the monsoon, and a baby cayman splashes around in a puddle formed…
The long struggle of women farmers to halt a zinc mine in North Sumatra
SILIMA PUNGGA-PUNGGA DISTRICT, Indonesia — Rainim Purba first heard the rumor in 1996. Back then, in her mid-30s, villagers were saying a zinc mining company was going to operate near…
DRC plans to export 100,000 metric tons of copper to the US
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) shared with the U.S. administration a list of state-backed projects for investment consideration in which critical minerals like copper, manganese and lithium are being…
Indonesia revokes forest and mine permits over role in deadly Sumatra landslides
JAKARTA — The Indonesian government has revoked the permits of 28 companies over environmental violations that authorities say exacerbated the deadly floods and landslides that struck the island of Sumatra…
Indonesia sues 6 companies over alleged links to deadly floods & landslides
JAKARTA — In the wake of the deadly floods and landslides that struck Indonesia in late 2025, the nation’s environment ministry has sued six companies, seeking 4.8 trillion rupiah ($284…
Colombia poised for another drop in deforestation in 2025, data show
Deforestation in Colombia appears to have declined in 2025, with notable reductions in several departments that have historically struggled with forest loss. An estimated 36,280 hectares (89,650 acres) of forest…
Hopes and fears as Guinea exports iron ore from Simandou mines
On Dec. 2, 2025, Guinea celebrated a milestone when a ship loaded with iron ore departed from the newly constructed port of Morebaya on the Atlantic coast. The shipment of…
In the race for DRC’s critical minerals, community forests are on the frontline
LIKASI, Democratic Republic of Congo — North of the limits of the Lukutwe community forest concession, two armed soldiers stepped in front of Valery Kyembo and his visitors. Wearing a…
Ghana repeals legislation that opened forest reserves to mining
After facing sustained pushback from environmental groups, Ghana revoked a 2022 law that had empowered the president to allow mining in the country’s forest reserves. In December, the Minister for…
Indonesia’s illegal gold boom leaves a toxic legacy of mercury pollution
MERANGIN, Indonesia — There wasn’t much Aris Adrianto felt he could do when the gold miners’ heavy vehicles broke into Bukit Gajah Berani, here in this remote pocket of Sumatra’s…
Indonesia launches sweeping environmental audits after Sumatra flood disaster
JAKARTA — The Indonesian government has announced what it describes as a sweeping, science-based effort to reassess environmental governance, zoning and corporate accountability in the wake of floods and landslides…
Urban sprawl and illegal mining reshape a fragile Amazon frontier
MITÚ, Colombia — Beneath the rising sun, people from nearby Indigenous communities navigate across the Vaupés River in traditional wooden canoes toward Mitú, a rapidly expanding town in the Colombian…
After Cyclone Senyar, Indonesia probes whether development amplified scale of disaster
JAKARTA — Best known as the home of the world’s rarest great ape, the mountainous Batang Toru forest landscape on the island of Sumatra has become a test case for…
Mercury, dredges and crime: Illegal mining ravages Peru’s Nanay River
On a small airplane, José Manuyama, a professor, frowns and shakes his head with anguish while thousands of feet below, five dredges operated by illegal miners excavate the Nanay River…
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
- Talks to reduce funding for overfishing remain stalled at WTO meeting
- New strategy to reverse Kenya’s shark decline tries to bring fishers on board
- Mongabay shark meat exposé wins national journalism education award in Brazil
- Indigenous concerns surface as U.S. agency considers seabed mining in Alaskan waters
Amazon Conservation
- Researchers eye jaguar conservation wins under Brazil Indigenous stewardship project
- ‘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
Land rights and extractives
- As traditional forest governance erodes in Peru, ‘ghost permits’ fill the vacuum
- What’s happening with the global treaty to trace critical minerals?
- In the race for DRC’s critical minerals, community forests are on the frontline
- Lithium mining may threaten a precious resource — water: Voices from the land (commentary)
Endangered Environmentalists
- José Albino Cañas Ramírez, a defender of Indigenous territories, aged 44
- 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
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
- Flores’ geothermal ambitions collide with justice, culture & local resistance
- 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
