Visiting the temperate rainforest of the Pacific Northwest
When most people think of rainforests, the first thing that comes to mind is tropical rainforests like those found in the Amazon, Borneo, and the Congo. But rainforests also exist…
Rhett Butler News
How technology is helping save rainforests
Yesterday I gave a talk at Cisco Systems in San Jose on "How Technology is Helping Save Rainforests". Here's a brief recap. After giving background on Mongabay, I provided a…
Luxury nature travel with a philanthropic twist
A hundred years ago, nature-oriented travel to places like tropical Africa and Asia was often associated with big game hunting. Today cameras have mostly replaced guns as nature-lovers travel to…
Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon pacing 88% higher than last year’s rate
Satellite analysis by a Brazil-based NGO indicates that deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon continues to pace well ahead of last year, when the government passed a weakened version of its…
In landmark ruling, Indonesia’s indigenous people win right to millions of hectares of forest
Court ruling invalidates Indonesian govt's claim to customary forest areas In a landmark ruling, Indonesia's Constitutional Court has invalidated the Indonesian government's claim to millions of hectares of forest land,…
Indonesian palm oil giant cutting deforestation from supply chain
Indonesian palm oil giant Golden Agri-Resources (GAR) is continuing to reduce deforestation under its 2011 forest conservation policy despite ongoing forest destruction by other palm oil producers in the sector,…
For Mother’s Day, pictures of mama animals with babies
One of the highlights of traveling to exotic places is seeing mother animals with their babies, so here is a collection of some pictures I've taken over the years. They…
Debate heats up over California’s plan to reduce emissions via rainforest protection
As the public comment period for California's cap-and-trade program draws to a close, an alliance of environmental activists have stepped up a heated campaign to keep carbon credits generated by…
Sweat equity: How to bootstrap your startup
NOTE: This post refers to starting up an organization in a marginal niche market: environmental media. The advice may not apply if you're working in a potentially lucrative sector like…
Social media beating Google as a source of web site traffic
Every month I tally the most popular articles on the news section. It should come as no surprise that the most popular articles are usually the ones that have done…
Luxurious/upscale orangutan tourism in Borneo
On my way back from the visit to the Katingan peat swamp in Central Kalimantan, I stayed a night at the "Eco Village" that is part of the Rungan Sari…
Launching an environmental news site overseas
Just over a year ago, the Indonesian-language version of Mongabay went live (the official launch was May 19. 2012, but the site was live before that). Mongabay.co.id was the first…
Captioning pictures
In recent days several readers have asked about the status of the pictures from Aceh and Kalimantan I took last month. Well the pictures are all technically online, but aren't…
Documenting a flight over Borneo’s rainforest (photos)
In November 2012 I had an amazing opportunity to do a flyover of parts of Sabah in Malaysian Borneo. We went from Sandakan to the Danum Valley Research Center, flying…
Indonesian palm oil industry would support land swaps to protect forest, while expanding production
Indonesian palm oil companies would support land swaps as a means to reduce carbon emissions from deforestation while simultaneously expanding production, representatives from the country's largest association of palm oil…
Palm oil intimidation tactics
The palm oil industry in Indonesia gets a lot of criticism these days from civil society on issues ranging from deforestation, pollution, wildlife-killing, to social conflict. Writing for Mongabay, I…
To win concessions in Aceh, mining company hires official being investigated for graft
A Toronto Stock Exchange-listed mining company has hired an official being investigated for corruption under its effort to convince the Aceh provincial government to re-zone protected forest areas for a…
“Offsetting” carbon emissions from travel, web site traffic
While directly reducing greenhouse gas emissions is a far more effective approach to fighting climate change than "offsetting" them by buying carbon credits, I readily acknowledge that I'm presently not…
Mining company working with Indonesian govt to strip forest of protected status
A Toronto-listed mining company says it is working closely with the Indonesian government to strip the protected status of some 1.2 million hectares of forest on the island of Sumatra.…
Funding environmental reporting trips
There is a common misconception that my reporting trips are sponsored by NGOs, state tourism boards, or other entities. In fact, I fund Mongabay.com-related travel through revenue generated via advertising…
Planning exotic travel
I'm frequently asked how I go about making my travel arrangements. Well the answer is it takes a great deal of time to research and make logistical arrangements for some…
Fighting deforestation—and corruption—in Indonesia
The challenge of trying to save Indonesia's forests The basic premise of the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+) program seems simple: rich nations pay tropical countries for preserving…
Entire planet will soon have rapid deforestation detection system
World Resources Institute (WRI) today previewed a long-awaited tool that could revolutionize global forest monitoring, reports the UN Forum on Forests, which is meeting this week in Istanbul, Turkey. Global…
Investigation clears APP of deforestation allegations in Borneo
Two logging companies that supply Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) with timber have not violated the Indonesian forestry giant's new zero deforestation commitment, according to a field investigation by The…
APP conservation policy came after it pulped most of its forests
Asia Pulp & Paper's widely heralded forest conservation policy came after the forestry giant had already cleared nearly all of the legally protected forests within its concessions in Sumatra, alleges…
Improving community healthcare helps protect rainforests in Borneo
Providing high quality healthcare to communities around a rainforest park in Indonesian Borneo may be helping reduce chronic illegal logging, suggests a new assessment published by a conservation group. The…
Indonesian governor proposes opening protected areas to logging
Aceh province, Indonesia. Image courtesy of Sumatran Forest and Google Earth. The governor of Indonesia's Aceh Province on the island of Sumatra has proposed opening up more than 50,000 hectares…
After Indonesian paper giant commits to no deforestation, pressure mounts on its biggest competitor
Peat drainage canal and stacks of MTH harvested from forest clearance by APRIL wood supplier PT. RAPP in Kampar peninsula. Some CITES-protected ramin trees were “saved” and left standing. Photo…
Activists blast World Bank on continued support of industrial rainforest logging
Logging in Borneo. All photos by Rhett A. Butler Two environmental activist groups blasted the World Bank over its reported decision to block a probe into its support of industrial-scale…
Amazon river ecosystems being rapidly degraded, but remain neglected by conservation efforts
The Amazon Basin, showing the main river sub-basins, including the Araguaia-Tocantins. Numbers indicate Llanos de Moxos savannas (1),Maranon-Ucayali palm swamps (2), Bananal savannas (3), Negro campinas (4), Roraima savannas (5),…
China’s forest privatization move threatens pandas
Giant Panda. China's decision to open up collective forest for sale by individuals to outside interests will put 345,700 hectares or 15 percent of the giant panda’s remaining habitat at…
Carbon release, storage by rainforests may increase by 50b tons for each degree of climate warming in the tropics
Tropical rainforest. Faster plant growth due to higher concentrations of carbon dioxide may offset increased emissions from forest die-off in the tropics, asserts a new study based on climate modeling.…
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
- First-ever assessment highlights threats to Atlantic cold-water corals
- Major coral loss in Vietnam’s first marine protected area: Study
- When heat waves hit, clownfish shrink to survive, study finds
- Samoa’s new marine spatial plan protects 30% of the country’s ocean
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
- Indigenous Amazonians win landmark ruling against mercury pollution in Colombia
- Indigenous Bajo suffer child deaths & toxic sludge amid green energy push
- ‘Colombia’s Amazon peoples provide solutions’: Interview with José Homero Mutumbajoy
- Should mining companies consider no-go zones where isolated Indigenous peoples live? (Commentary)
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
