Isangi, Lulingu, Mapendo and Ndjingala: these are the names of four Grauer’s gorillas (Gorilla beringei graueri) that conservationists reintroduced to the wild in October 2024. After years in a sanctuary,…
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…
At the world’s first global congress of Indigenous peoples and local communities from forest basins, representatives began preparations to increase direct finance to community forest conservation — especially in the…
JAKARTA — United Nations rights officials have raised the alarm over alleged human rights abuses and environmental destruction linked to a massive plantation project in the Indonesian district of Merauke.…
COLOMBO — Nestled in the eastern edge of Sri Lanka’s Uva province, Nilgala stands out as a landscape of remarkable ecological and cultural importance. Long overlooked in mainstream conservation efforts…
In 1978, renowned ecologist Dan Janzen jumped into a ravine in Costa Rica, broke three ribs, and spent the first month of the rainy season watching the tropical dry forest…
Mambélé, CAMEROON — When most 18-year-olds envision their future, few imagine carrying heavy loads through dense equatorial forest. Yet for Marlyse Bebeguewa, now a 38-year-old forest monitoring consultant in Cameroon’s…
If tropical rainforests are the lungs of the Earth, then 2024 was a year of respiratory failure. Fires, fueled by climate extremes and human recklessness, tore through vast stretches of…
MEXICO CITY — In 2024, six Latin American countries were in the top 10 nations with the highest loss of tropical primary forest, according to recent data from the University…
A recent report surveying seizures of pangolin scales and elephant ivory over the past decade has found a sharp decline following the COVID-19 pandemic. Using data from media reports, public…
The most deforested biome in Brazil, the Cerrado lost 700,000 hectares (1.7 million acres) of native vegetation in 2024. Now, it is about to receive a thermoelectric plant 30 kilometers…
Protected areas such as national parks, nature reserves and Indigenous lands are the foundation of biodiversity conservation. However, climate change is threatening their effectiveness in safeguarding wildlife, ecosystem services and…
JAKARTA — A stormy saga over nickel mining in one of the most biodiverse marine regions in the world appears to be far from over, even after the Indonesian government…
Tropical forests help regulate the global climate, host irreplaceable biodiversity and provide fresh water resources. Plus forests in general are the source of livelihoods for more than a billion people — so our…
The vital role forests play in providing habitat for biodiversity, storing carbon and supporting cultures also buttresses global society economically and socially, according to a new report by authors at…
In 2006, Farina Othman heard a loud boom when she was observing a group of Bornean elephants in a forest in the Lower Kinabatangan area, one of the largest floodplains…
More than half of all mangrove areas worldwide may face “severe and widespread risk” from climate change-intensified tropical cyclones and rising sea levels by 2100, according to newly published research.…
Brazil, which accounts for large reserves of nickel, graphite, rare earths, lithium and niobium, would be one of the most affected countries.
The EIA is an integral (high-profile) component of regulatory process that has evolved over the last couple of decades to extend ‘upstream’ into the planning process and ‘downstream’ into the…
On the evening of May 9, 2019, conservationist and teacher Itakwu Innocent narrowly survived an assassination attempt outside his home in Kubong-Bette, a small farming village in the southeastern Nigerian…
In 2024, the world lost almost 6.7 million hectares (16.5 million acres) of primary tropical forest, the fastest rate ever recorded. The world’s forests are still falling prey to mining,…
EAST HALMAHERA, Indonesia — Police in Indonesia’s North Maluku province arrested 27 people and charged 11 of them with weapons offenses and commercial obstruction in late May following conflict with…
SINGAPORE — The EU’s landmark anti-deforestation law is under fire for a risk classification system that critics say overlooks illegal logging and governance failures — potentially undermining the very goal…
Indonesia, one of the most biodiverse nations on Earth, appears to be gearing up to renew official estimates of its remaining wildlife populations, following nearly two decades without official updates…
Guinea-Bissau is a mangrove country. These unique coastal forests cover around 326,000 hectares (about 806,000 acres), or 9% of the national territory — the highest proportion in the world. They…
In the center of the village is a soccer field. Around it, in nicely painted wood, are the main community buildings of the roughly 1,000 Kapohn Indigenous people who live…
JAKARTA — Industrial plantations of trees to make paper and wood pellets are causing widespread and persistent environmental and social violations in Indonesia, despite claims to the contrary by the…
Indonesia’s highest court has overturned the acquittal of an accused translator who facilitated transactions in the international trade of poached rhino horns. The Supreme Court in Indonesia recently sentenced 72-year-old…
YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia — Rahayu Oktaviani revered the work of Canadian primatologist Biruté Galdikas while a student in the mid-2000s, aspiring to join her hero in protecting the Bornean orangutan, which…
Indonesia’s environment ministry plans to curb deforestation and push for environmental rehabilitation in response to industrial nickel mining on Kabaena Island, where severe ecological damage and the cultural and economic…
JAKARTA — For years, Mikael Ane, an Indigenous farmer from the island of Flores in eastern Indonesia, has faced prison not for harming the environment, but for trying to protect…
Tropical forest loss skyrocketed in 2024, with vast swaths of primary forest consumed by fire, according to new satellite data from the University of Maryland’s Global Land Analysis and Discovery…
