Plastic, from home and abroad, spills into Türkiye’s waters
ADANA, Türkiye — Along the final stretch of the Seyhan River, in southern Türkiye, plastic bits in various colors dot the water and sediment. When the river bends, shredded plastic,…
Plastic News
Promising breakthrough creates plastics that self-deconstruct on cue: Study
Plastics have a gigantic built-in problem: They’re tenacious, which is very good for a milk jug or a car bumper. But they don’t easily break down, which is bad for…
Recycling startups test limits of private solutions to deluge of waste in Lagos
OJUELEGBA, Nigeria — On the bustling streets of this central Lagos neighborhood, it’s easy to buy a drink. Hawkers weave between buses and motorcycles with wheelbarrows of bottled water and…
Plastic household waste burned as fuel on rise in Global South, risking health
Burning plastic waste for household fuel, or to manage household waste, may be far more prevalent in poor urban areas in developing countries than previously thought, raising serious environmental pollution…
Top ocean news stories of 2025 (commentary)
2025 was a key year for ocean policymaking, marking the midway point in the U.N. Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. The past 12 months brought landslide multilateral wins…
Boom in burning waste for fuel could put human health and environment at risk
As the world desperately searches for a way out of its global climate change and plastic pollution crises, nations are increasingly turning to burning municipal waste to make fuel as…
Another threat to reefs: Microplastic chemicals may harm coral reproduction
As the sliver of a new moon shines over Kāneʻohe Bay, Oʻahu, millions of tiny orbs ascend from a reef and swirl in the water column. These spheres are bundles…
‘Silent epidemic of chemical pollution’ demands radical regulatory redo, say scientists
An international team of scientists has issued a stark warning that current toxicology and chemical regulatory regimes are failing to protect public health and the environment from a host of…
New ventures set out to tackle the plastic choking Bangladesh’s ECAs
The amount of single-use plastic that gets recycled as a measure to manage plastic pollution is insignificant in Bangladesh. However, some small-scale ventures working in this sector are trying to…
Lost at sea, found in Latin America: the journeys of discarded plastic bottles
Sandwiched between the frigid swells of the Pacific and the warm pulses of Latin American cities lie stretches of turquoise beaches that attract migrating whales and beachgoers alike. But these…
Lethal dose of plastic for seabirds and marine animals ‘much smaller than expected’
New research has found that even small amounts of plastic can be deadly to seabirds, sea turtles and marine mammals. While previous research has established that plastic can lead to…
‘Alarming’ levels of toxins found in free-range eggs near dumpsites globally
A recent study has found “alarming” levels of toxic chemicals in free-range eggs around the globe. The finding is based on more than a decade of analyses of eggs on…
Can courts combat plastic pollution? Lessons from Indonesia (commentary)
In 2022, the United Nations Environment Assembly adopted a new resolution laying the first groundwork toward a new legally binding international agreement to end plastic pollution. The treaty will contain…
As Sri Lanka struggles with ghost nets, volunteer youth lead seabed cleanup
COLOMBO —Galle Face Beach in Sri Lanka’s commercial capital, Colombo, is a popular spot among city dwellers, watched over by lifeguards assigned by the coast guard unit of the Sri…
Ocean acidification threatens planetary health: Interview with Johan Rockström
Initiated in 2024, the Planetary Health Check is a comprehensive, science-based global initiative dedicated to measuring and maintaining Earth systems critical to life as we know it. These annual reports…
Consumed by convenience: The culture of disposability
When Saabira Chaudhuri began covering consumer-goods companies for The Wall Street Journal, she thought she was writing about marketing campaigns, product launches, and quarterly results. What she found instead was…
As plastics treaty talks break down, are there paths to a breakthrough?
Events this August raise a critical question: Can the United Nations process to combat global plastic pollution ever reach agreement? Or is some other way forward necessary? The Intergovernmental Negotiating…
New coalition focuses on ‘reuse’ to tackle top polluter Indonesia’s plastic waste problem
JAKARTA — Thirteen organizations and businesses have launched the Indonesian Reuse Association, or AGUNI, a coalition dedicated to building a sustainable reuse system to curb the country’s worsening waste crisis.…
Participants in the negotiations on plastic pollution are determined to finalize a treaty
GENEVA — Delegates, experts, and stakeholders from 184 countries and 619 organizations are determined to finalize the treaty on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment. They made this clear…
As UN plastic treaty talks face possible deadlock, what are the ways forward?
Historically, most United Nations agreements have been reached by consensus. But based on recent events, this no longer seems likely for achieving a fully effective global treaty on plastic pollution,…
Burning, burying and banning: Indonesia’s cities struggle to manage their garbage
Haryanto surveys a sandy patch the size of roughly half a soccer field. Overlooked by a 40-meter (130-foot) lighthouse, the clearing is a stone’s throw from the Pacific Ocean, where…
Open burning of plastic is an escalating public health threat, say experts
When Tiwonge Mzumara-Gawa was a child, her mother sent her to market with a basket woven from grasses. “But now we don't do that,” she says, because plastic has taken…
Oil and plastic pollution from shipwreck raises concerns, legal scrutiny in India
As shiny, pearl-like white plastic pellets rode wave after wave and piled up on the beaches of Thiruvananthapuram in India’s southern state of Kerala, local residents were first bemused, then…
Twin ship disasters in India threaten widespread pollution on Sri Lankan coasts
COLOMBO — Sri Lanka is once again facing a significant marine environmental crisis, as tiny plastic pellets, commonly known as nurdles, have begun washing ashore along the island’s northern coastline.…
With areca leaves and rice bran, Bangladesh replaces single-use plastic tableware
Bangladeshi people love to throw a party, as the disposable tableware industry has increasingly seen. They get together or organize social gatherings often, be it to celebrate festivals or go…
New EU plastic pellet rules greeted with caution
A coalition of leading European environmental groups has cautiously welcomed a “landmark” agreement by lawmakers in Brussels on new rules aimed at curbing a major source of microplastic pollution in…
Plastic-eating seabird chicks show signs of organ failure and cognitive decline
For years, Jack Auty studied how inflammation in the human body drives diseases, ranging from stroke to sepsis to Alzheimer's, at the Tasmanian School of Medicine. But a visit to…
Award-winning film highlights lasting damage from X-Press Pearl disaster in Sri Lanka
COLOMBO — Beneath Sri Lanka’s serene waters, a pearl oyster cherished her pearl, living in harmony. But disaster struck when a blazing ship sank, poisoning the sea. Entangled in debris,…
In Panama, Indigenous Guna prepare for climate exodus from a second island home
UGGUBSENI and ISBERYALA, Guna Yala, Panama — “Our ancestors fought for this land,” says Jair Goporas, 21. He leans forwards into the dim glow of a bare bulb, his eyes…
Indonesia bets on ‘reuse’ to curb plastic waste and build a circular economy
JAKARTA — With the Islamic month of Ramadan now over, a familiar sight has returned to the streets of daytime Jakarta: street vendors serving up chicken porridge, and everyone from…
Bangladesh continues promotion of biodegradable bags amid battle against polythene
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…
Plastic pollution cuts into fishers’ livelihoods in Ecuador and Peru
Plastic waste is increasingly causing problems for fishers. Fishnets bring up bottles, propellers get tangled in bags, water pumps get clogged with debris, and boats collide with bags of trash.…
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
- Mongabay shark meat exposé wins national journalism education award in Brazil
- Indigenous concerns surface as U.S. agency considers seabed mining in Alaskan waters
- Methane chasers: Hunting a climate-changing gas seeping from Earth’s seafloor
- Scientists call for stronger action to save Indonesia’s vanishing seagrass meadows
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
- 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)
- Indigenous guardians successfully keep extractives out of Ecuador’s Amazon forests
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
