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…
Waste News
Ancient eco-friendly pilgrimage brings modern threats to Sri Lanka wildnerness
Kataragama, SRI LANKA — For centuries, barefoot pilgrims have walked through the arid jungles and lush forests of Sri Lanka’s east and south, following a sacred route to a fabled…
‘It’s our garden’: PNG villages fight to prevent mine waste dumping in the sea
Three communities in Papua New Guinea are waiting for the country’s Supreme Court to decide whether their concerns about the dumping of mine waste in the sea near their homes…
In Yaoundé, fecal sludge flows through ‘Caca Junction’ streets
Major streets of Yaoundé, the political capital of Cameroon, have turned into open sewers. Every day, hundreds of cubic meters of liquid waste — enough to fill more than an…
Central Java villages take fast fashion to the cleaners at Indonesia’s Supreme Court
SUKOHARJO, Indonesia — Sarmi recalls the unusual blight that fell over Gupit village around 2017, when doves and finches appeared to vanish from the sky. “With pollution that acrid and…
Landslide deaths again highlight safety failures in Indonesia’s nickel industry
JAKARTA — A deadly landslide in an Indonesian industrial park has reignited concerns over poor safety and environmental standards in the country’s booming nickel sector, a key supplier of battery…
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…
Drowned lands and poisoned waters threaten Peru’s campesinos and their livestock
Ever since the Upamayo Dam on Peru’s Lake Chinchaycocha was built in 1932, floods have become a frequent occurrence in the area for several months a year. From January to…
Chauffeur at Indonesia energy nonprofit drives uptake of biogas by Java farmers
SLEMAN, Indonesia — A decade ago, Suyono’s neighbors found his antics collecting the goat and quail droppings outside his home verging on the strange. Today, it’s become the norm in…
Chitwan city using Indo-Nepal wildlife corridor for waste dump
CHITWAN, Nepal — One of Nepal’s biggest cities on the northwestern fringes of Chitwan National Park has been dumping its municipal waste in a forest that serves as an international…
Kenya revives poisoning campaign to curb invasive Indian house crows
NAIROBI ― Introduced to East Africa in 1891, in Zanzibar, to deal with domestic food waste, Indian house crows are now wreaking havoc in Kenya: killing native small birds, likely…
Shipbreaking pollutes Türkiye’s coast despite European cleanup efforts
ALIAĞA, Türkiye — Every day, as dusk settles over the Aegean Sea, small vans ferrying workers homeward bustle in and out of Aliağa, a town nestled against lush, forested hills…
Studies link stronger dengue outbreak in Bangladesh to climate change
When eight-year-old Samin developed a fever a few days ago, his parents thought it was the seasonal flu. However, in two days, his condition worsened as he began to complain…
How ‘waste colonialism’ underpins Asia’s plastic problem (commentary)
‘Out of sight, out of mind’ is a typical approach to waste and is one of the main reasons why the waste trade persists. The world discovered that toxic waste…
Startups replace plastics with mushrooms in the seafood industry
Mycologists believe the solution to some of our biggest pollution issues is under our feet. Humble fungi are now being used as meat alternatives, eco-friendly leather and to help break…
Bangladesh’s new government implements strong measures to eliminate single-use plastic
The newly formed government in Bangladesh is about to implement the existing law regarding plastic usage by strictly banning — initially — single-use plastic and, gradually, all possible plastic uses.…
In the battle against plastic pollution, Asia’s informal workers are critical allies (commentary)
Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy, a waste worker from Binh Dinh, Vietnam, has worked in the waste collection industry for four decades. She has spent every day at the landfill –…
What will the Brazilian food industry do about plastic packaging?
Plastic waste is a global problem, and the food sector is one of its main drivers. It only takes a quick visit to a supermarket to realize this: With the…
Biden-Harris Administration must strengthen position on plastic reduction treaty (commentary)
With a final round of negotiations on a global plastics treaty set to take place later this year in Busan, South Korea, an autopsy is premature, especially with the dynamics…
In the wake of Bangladesh’s deadliest dengue outbreak, researchers respond
In Bangladesh, regular cycles of heat and rain have long cultivated dense populations of insects, and, by extension, the diseases they carry. Dengue fever was first confirmed in Bangladesh 60…
Protecting Nigeria one child & one tree at a time: Interview with Doyinsola Ogunye
Driven to protect the planet one child, one tree and one recycled piece of plastic at a time, environmental advocate Doyinsola Ogunye is helping children, youth and women in Nigeria…
Bangladesh incinerator project sparks row between government & contractor
A disagreement between the Bangladesh government and the contractor China Machinery and Engineering Corp. (CMEC) has apparently stalled the implementation of the first-ever waste-to-power project in Bangladesh's capital, Dhaka. This…
Can the circular economy help the Caribbean win its war against waste?
The Caribbean Basin is drowning in waste, especially plastic trash that’s contaminating rivers and the surrounding sea.
Scientists explore nature’s promise in combating plastic waste
Biological solutions offer hope for tackling human-caused pollution — but only if government and industry significantly support getting those solutions out of the lab and into the real world.
As plastic talks wrap up in Canada, fishers in Indonesia count the costs
PULAU SERIBU, Indonesia — Mustaghfirin unmoors his boat every day in the Thousand Islands archipelago, two hours’ sailing from the Jakarta coast, and sets off into a sea filled with…
Bioplastics as toxic as regular plastics; both need regulation, say researchers
As negotiators meet this week for the fourth round of global plastics treaty talks, scientists warn that both plant-based and petroleum-based plastics are toxic, with both needing tough regulation to protect public health.
Beneath the surface, a toxic tide threatens Bangladesh’s water lifeline
Imagine a mother in a rural village drawing water from a well with her pitcher. This seemingly ordinary water holds her family's future — for drinking, cooking and bathing. But…
Pollution poses big risks to global clean water supplies, study shows
Nitrogen pollution from agriculture and human waste, along with other pollutants including plastics, could make clean water scarce in many watersheds worldwide, potentially contributing to declines in public health.
Fashioning a circular future for traditional and alternative leather
Historically, the leather industry has created large amounts of pollution and waste, while using huge amounts of water. But some companies are cleaning up their act, even as synthetic and biobased alternatives multiply.
Communities on troubled Java river mold future from plastic waste
BOGOR, Indonesia — At the age of 60, Siti Salamah started making changes at her family home in the city of Bogor, just south of Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital. “We always…
Indonesian utility PLN ordered to disclose coal plants’ emissions data
JAKARTA — The Indonesian government’s freedom-of-information clearinghouse has ordered state-owned electricity utility PLN to disclose emissions data for some of the country’s biggest coal-fired power plants. The decision by the…
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
- Global tracking study reveals marine megafauna hotspots lie largely unprotected
- 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
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
