topic: Sustainable Forest Management

topic: Sustainable Forest Management

Social media activity version | Lean version

Mangrove forestry only sustainable when conservation zones respected: Study
- The need to preserve mangroves and the ecosystem services they sustain, while also providing for the social and economic needs of the people who depend on them, is one of coastal conservation’s greatest conundrums.
- New research based on long-term data from a mangrove production forest in Malaysia suggests that, in some cases, it is possible to reconcile mangrove protection with resource needs — but only when the correct management is implemented and enforced.
- The study highlights the need for well-protected conservation areas within forest production landscapes to boost natural forest regeneration, sustain wildlife and balance overall levels of carbon storage.
- The authors also warn that management models that seek to maximize profits at the expense of such sensitive conservation areas could undermine the resilience of the overall landscape and diminish sustainability over time.

Nepal’s tigers & prey need better grassland management: Interview with Shyam Thapa
- Researcher Shyam Thapa, who recently completed his Ph.D. in ecology, highlights flaws in traditional grassland management methods, particularly in Bardiya National Park.
- Thapa’s findings suggest the need for improved grassland management to enhance the health and numbers of tiger prey species.
- He emphasizes the importance of tailored management approaches based on grassland functionality.
- Implementing his study’s recommendations could potentially increase herbivore numbers in tiger habitats, reducing human-wildlife conflicts, Thapa says.

Indigenous Filipinos fight to protect biodiverse mountains from mining
- The global transition to renewable energy is driving a boom in applications to mine nickel and other critical minerals in the Victoria-Anepahan Mountains in the Philippines’ Palawan province.
- The Indigenous Tagbanua are organizing to halt these mining plans before they begin, along with downstream farmers, church and civil society groups.
- Concerns raised by the Tagbanua and other mining opponents include loss of land and livelihood, reduced supply of water for irrigation, and damage to a unique and biodiverse ecosystem.

Report links pulpwood estate clearing Bornean orangutan habitat to RGE Group
- NGOs have accused PT Mayawana Persada, a company with a massive pulpwood concession in Indonesian Borneo, of extensive deforestation that threatens both Indigenous lands and orangutan habitat.
- In a recent report, the NGOs also highlighted links that they say tie the company to Singapore-based paper and palm oil conglomerate Royal Golden Eagle (RGE).
- RGE has denied any affiliation with Mayawana Persada, despite findings of shared key personnel, operational management connections, and supply chain links.
- The report also suggests the Mayawana Persada plantation is gearing up to supply pulpwood in time for a massive production boost by RGE, which is expanding its flagship mill in Sumatra and building a new mill in Borneo.

‘Healthy humans without a healthy planet is a logical fallacy’: Interview with Dr. Sakib Burza
- Brought up watching nature’s grandeur in Indian Kashmir, Dr. Sakib Burza’s early inspiration in medicine began at home before he went on to work with Indigenous and local communities in tropical forest regions.
- Having worked in communities responding to the impacts of droughts and climate shocks, he says improved planetary health is crucial for better human health, and that health problems are often the symptoms of climate change or environmental problems.
- At Health In Harmony, he leads medical projects with rainforest communities through the concept of radical listening and supporting their medical needs and livelihoods.
- In an interview with Mongabay, Dr. Burza lays out his argument for how and why the health of people and the planet are connected, and actions that can improve the state of both.

Freeing trees of their liana load can boost carbon sequestration in tropical forests
- Lianas are woody, vining plants, many of which thrive in areas where forest has been disturbed — often to the detriment of the trees they use to climb towards the sun.
- New research shows that liana cutting is a low-cost natural climate solution that can boost the amount of carbon absorbed by a tree.
- The study’s results indicate that freeing just five trees per hectare of their liana load could remove 800 million tons of C02 from the atmosphere over a 30 year period if applied across 250 million hectares of managed forest.
- Liana cutting is also seen as a way for foresters and conservationists to work together, improving both the forest’s power to sequester carbon and the quality of the timber that is being logged, as well as a way to generate income for local communities.

Bird-friendly maple syrup boosts Vermont forest diversity & resilience
- A relatively new program in Vermont is helping both maple syrup-producing farms and their customers to improve forest habitat preferred by a diversity of bird species.
- Launched in 2014, the Bird-Friendly Maple Project furnishes a logo to qualifying farms for use on their products, if they can demonstrate that the forests where they tap sugar maple trees contain a diversity of trees and shrubs, which improves the woodlands’ structure and foraging and nesting opportunities for birds.
- Creating a biologically diverse farm is a major tenet of the sustainable agriculture technique of agroecology, because it leads to greater resilience and health of the farm, its farmers and its wildlife.
- Maple syrup operations included in the program cover 7,284 hectares (18,000 acres) of forests via 90 participating farms as the program is now being replicated in New York, Massachusetts and Maine.

Forest restoration to boost biomass doesn’t have to sacrifice tree diversity
- Restoring degraded forests to boost biodiversity, store carbon and reconnect fragmented habitats is a burgeoning area of tropical forest conservation.
- But uncertainty remains around the long-term impacts of various restoration approaches on forest biodiversity and functioning, with experts suggesting, for instance, that overly focusing on biomass accumulation for climate mitigation can come at the expense of species diversity.
- A new study in Malaysian Borneo has found that actively restoring logged forest plots with a diversity of native timber species, coupled with management of competitive vegetation, actually boosted adult tree diversity after nearly two decades compared to plots left to regenerate naturally.
- While the results add to a growing body of evidence that active restoration can lead to biodiversity gains, the authors caution that restoration approaches must be conducted in ecologically sensitive ways to avoid unintended outcomes.

Calls for FSC to drop Canada’s Paper Excellence over ties to deforester
- Green groups have gathered mounting evidence that Canada’s biggest pulp and paper company, Paper Excellence, is effectively controlled by notorious Indonesian deforester the Sinar Mas Group, via its subsidiary, Asia Pulp & Paper.
- They are now calling on the Forest Stewardship Council, which certifies millions of hectares of Paper Excellence-managed forests as well as 42 of the company’s mills, to cut ties with it.
- APP was in 2007 “disassociated” from the FSC and remains barred from membership due to “destructive forestry practices”; its control of Paper Excellence should lead to the same outcome for the Canadian company, activists say.
- Both companies have denied allegations of controlling ties — despite the fact that Paper Excellence’s sole shareholder is the son of the APP chair and previously directed APP’s China business, among other revelations.

Indonesian activist Gita Syahrani wins $3m award for work on sustainable growth
- Global philanthropy Climate Breakthrough has awarded Indonesian environmental activist Gita Syahrani $3 million in grants along with capacity-building resources to support her projects in developing alternative economic models for local governments across Indonesia.
- Gita has for many years focused on supporting district governments protect peatlands and forests while developing policies for sustainable economic growth.
- Gita said she is keen to explore and include approaches that are more mindful and spiritual in encouraging more people to be active in protecting, rehabilitating and recovering the balance between people and the environment.
- Gita is the second Indonesian awardee of Climate Breakthrough grants, following environmentalist Arief Rabik in 2019; her fellow awardee this year is Jane Fleming Kleeb of the U.S., a prominent activist against the Keystone XL pipeline.

Independent project steps in as government slow to map Indonesian ancestral lands
- An independent initiative in Indonesia, the Ancestral Domain Registration Agency (BRWA), has ramped up its efforts in mapping customary lands by identifying 26.9 million hectares (66.5 million acres) — an area twice the size of Java — of land claimed by Indigenous communities.
- But the government’s efforts in recognizing these customary lands is lagging behind, with only 3.73 million hectares (9.21 million acres) formally recognized; that’s just 14% of what the BRWA has mapped.
- And this formal recognition is still largely limited to local governments, with the central government having only issued land certificates for customary lands in two provinces, 12 hectares (29 acres) of land certified in West Sumatra and 699.7 hectares (1,728 acres) in Papua.

Report alleges APP continues deforestation 10 years after pledge to stop
- A new Greenpeace report alleges that pulp and paper giant APP continues to clear forests and develop peatlands 10 years after adopting its landmark 2013 pledge to stop destroying natural forests for its plantations.
- The report identifies 75,000 hectares (185,300 acres) of deforestation in APP supplier concessions or companies connected to APP between February 2013 and 2022 — an area the size of New York City.
- APP has also changed the start date of its no-deforestation policy from 2013 to 2020, which would allow the company at some point in the future to accept new suppliers that deforested between 2013 and 2020.
- APP denies allegations of continued deforestation and says its suppliers have ceased forest conversions since 2013; the company also says it has committed to peatland restoration.

Nepal’s tiger conservation gets tech boost with AI-powered deer tracking
- Endangered tigers in Nepal heavily rely on spotted deer as their primary prey, making their conservation crucial.
- Researchers in Nepal are using vertical cameras and AI technology to track and profile individual spotted deer (Axis axis), similar to the methods used for tigers.
- However, the project has faced challenges, including low recapture rates and difficulty in distinguishing individual deer in the wild.

Restoring degraded forests may be key for climate, study says
- Scientists have found that focusing on restoring degraded forests, which cover more than 1.5 billion hectares (3.7 billion acres) globally, can enhance forest carbon stocks more efficiently than replanting in deforested areas, with natural regrowth being a cost-effective method.
- In Central America’s “Five Great Forests,” there’s a goal to restore 500,000 hectares (1.2 million acres) by 2030. The study identified 9.8 million hectares (24.2 billion acres) as top restoration priorities, with 91% being degraded forests.
- Restoring just 5% of these priority zones was calculated to potentially sequester 113 million tons of CO2, equivalent to taking more than 20 million cars off the road for a year.
- The research emphasizes the importance of involving local communities in restoration planning and suggests that current forest management practices, like those in the timber industry, need to adapt for more sustainable outcomes.

Forest restoration can fare better with human helping hand, study shows
- A two-decade-old experiment in the tropical rainforest of Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, is beginning to reveal that human-assisted restoration of logged forests can increase the speed of an ecosystem’s recovery.
- The researchers also found that planting a diverse suite of seedlings, instead of only one species, led in just one decade to greater biomass and forest complexity.
- The study provides more weight to the argument that greater forest species diversity in general — and specifically for restorations — delivers more ecosystem services, possibly including carbon sequestration.
- However, there is the possibility that the particular life cycle of the type of trees used in this study — hardwood tropical species from the Dipterocarpaceae family, chiefly found in Southeast Asia — could have especially enhanced diversity in this case.

As fires threaten Indonesian forests, actions like agroforestry promotion are needed (commentary)
- Indonesia contains the world’s third largest swath of rainforest, but the country’s forested areas have been declining sharply each year.
- Alongside the usual causes, fire has also become a significant driver of deforestation: since 2001, fires have accounted for 10% of forest loss, and this trend is currently intensifying amid the El Niño weather phenomenon, which brings drier conditions.
- “Promoting and supporting agroforestry, alongside other sustainable land use practices, can be a powerful step toward preserving Indonesia’s forests, mitigating climate change, and safeguarding the well-being of both local communities and the global environment,” a new op-ed via the country’s Ministry of Finance argues.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Skepticism as Cambodia expands protected areas by more than a million hectares
- Cambodia expanded the coverage of its protected areas by 1.06 million hectares (2.62 million acres) in July and August, a flurry of subdecrees shows.
- However, civil society groups have expressed skepticism about the lack of consultation involved in the process and the ability of authorities to police this much larger area, given the ineffective enforcement of existing protected areas.
- Much of the newly protected land appears to be corridors neighboring existing protected areas, where homes and farms are already established.
- This has raised concerns about a surge in conflicts over land and access to natural resources, particularly affecting Indigenous communities.

Conservationists work to restore last remnant of a once-great Ugandan forest
- Earlier this year, conservation group Nature Uganda launched a forest restoration project aimed at restoring degraded areas and reducing illegal harvesting of forest products in Mabira Central Forest Reserve.
- A remnant of a much larger forest ecosystem, Mabira is home to 300 bird species, 23 reptile species, and 360 different species of plants.
- A community forest management scheme has successfully engaged nearby communities in self-regulating use of forest resources, but delays in renewing the scheme threaten that progress.
- “When we enter these agreements,” says one community leader, “we promote the sense of ownership so that we can share the roles of making the forest available and managing it sustainably.”

Communities not the true threat to Mabira Forest: Q&A with Ugandan conservationist Achilles Byaruhanga
- Mabira is a surviving fragment of lowland forest that’s now an important refuge for a diverse range of animals and plants in central Uganda.
- The NGO Nature Uganda, led by Achilles Byaruhanga, is working with communities and government agencies to preserve and restore degraded sections of the forest reserve.
- Having seen off a government plan to clear a third of the forest to grow sugarcane, Byaruhanga says community use of Mabira is not necessarily a threat.
- By supporting alternative income activities that replace commercial harvesting of firewood and other forest products for sale in nearby Kampala, and helping local communities reduce their own demand for wood, Byaruhanga says the forest can be preserved.

New farmers foundation supports deforestation-free products in Indonesia
- Palm oil farmers in Indonesia have established a new foundation to help farmers around the country in protecting forests and selling their sustainable products to the global market.
- The foundation was established after the Indonesian palm oil farmers union, SPKS, carried out a pilot project in six villages in western Borneo.
- The pilot project proved that smallholders could cultivate palm oil without clearing forests by implementing the high carbon stock (HCS) approach, but they needed incentives and benefits.
- This is where the new foundation, called the Farmers For Forest Protection Foundation (4F), comes in by providing farmers with both financial and non-financial support, like training.

‘Sustainability is a continuous journey’: Q&A with RSPO’s Joseph D’Cruz
- The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), the industry’s leading certifier of ethical compliance, has long faced scrutiny over its sustainability guidelines and how it responds to member companies’ frequent violations.
- Today, the organization is headed by veteran development professional Joseph D’Cruz, a self-professed newcomer to the industry who says he wants the RSPO to be less reactive and more proactive.
- In a wide-ranging interview with Mongabay, D’Cruz discusses why sustainability should be seen as an unending journey rather than an end goal, how the gap between sustainable and “conventional” palm oil is closing, and what role governments must play in driving greater sustainability.
- “When you watch the progress of platforms like the RSPO, sometimes on the outside it might seem frustratingly slow,” he says. “But that’s because you got to bring everybody along and that’s a very tricky challenge sometimes.”

Translocation hurdles prompt new efforts to save rare swamp deer in Nepal
- Swamp deer, a rare and threatened species, have disappeared from Chitwan National Park after a failed translocation attempt.
- A new study maps the potential habitat of swamp deer in Nepal’s western Terai and suggests ways to conserve and restore the habitat.
- Researchers and officials stress the need for improving connectivity between habitats in Nepal and India and creating a second population of swamp deer in Chitwan.

Forests in the furnace: Cambodia’s garment sector is fueled by illegal logging
- An investigation has found factories in Cambodia’s garment sector are fueling their boilers with wood logged illegally from protected areas.
- A Mongabay team traced the network all the way from the impoverished villagers risking their lives to find increasingly scarce trees, to the traders and middlemen contending with slim margins, up to the factories with massive lots for timber supplies.
- The garment industry association denies that any of its members uses forest wood, but the informal and opaque nature of the supply chain means it’s virtually impossible to guarantee this.
- This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center’s Rainforest Investigations Network where Gerald Flynn was a fellow. *Names have been changed to protect sources who said they feared reprisals from the authorities.

Brazil nut harvesting proves a win-win for forest and community livelihood
- In the Calha Norte region of Brazil’s Pará state, home to the broadest mosaic of conservation units and Indigenous territories on the planet, communal Brazil nut harvesting is proving to be a winning opportunity for the future of the Amazon Rainforest.
- Communities of nut gatherers living on the banks of the Paru River have practiced their traditional nut-gathering lifestyle for generations, grounded in the understanding that without an intact forest, there are no Brazil nuts.
- Some 300,000 people throughout the Brazilian Amazon depend on the Brazil nut production chain for their living.
- The nut market, however, has not yet recovered from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and a severe drought in 2016.

Report: Forest-razing biomass plant in Indonesia got millions in green funds
- An Indonesian oil and gas company is using government money to clear rainforest for a biomass power plant, according to a new report.
- The project has received a total of $9.4 million from two Ministry of Finance agencies, including one tasked with managing environmental protection funds from international donors.
- Criticism of Medco’s activities reflects a broader debate over whether clear-cutting rainforest can ever be considered sustainable, even when done in the name of transitioning a major coal-producing country away from fossil fuels.

Indonesian project shows how climate funding can — and should — go directly to IPLCs
- Three of Indonesia’s largest Indigenous and civil society organizations have launched a new initiative that will be first to channel climate funds directly to Indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs) on the frontlines of protecting forests, restoring land and ensuring food security.
- The initiative, called the Nusantara Fund, is part of a pledge by five countries and 17 private donors to distribute $1.7 billion, announced at the COP26 climate summit in 2021.
- The current climate investment model often excludes local communities, with only 7% of the roughly $322 million disbursed in the first year of the pledge going directly to IPLC organizations.
- The Nusantara Fund seeks to correct this faulty model by distributing funds directly to IPLCs and letting them manage and monitor the funding by themselves, based on the fact that they’re the ones who know best what their needs are.

EU deforestation tracking regulation sparks division among groups, producers
- The EU is poised to adopt a regulation that bans the trade of commodities from deforestation and illegal sources as the European Parliament recently passed the law.
- The proposed law continues to be divisive, with palm oil producing countries like Indonesia and Malaysia calling the regulation too stringent and unfair, whereas civil society groups say the bill is too weak.
- In a recent joint statement, a group of 44 Indonesian CSOs say the EU regulation only focuses on eliminating deforestation from its supply chain, without addressing the root causes of deforestation in producing countries.

Biogas project offers lifelines to Kenyan community, forest, and rare species
- For decades, forest reserves in Kenya’s central highlands have been under pressure from surrounding communities seeking firewood, timber and space for farmland.
- This pressure has left the Eburu Forest an isolated refuge for wildlife, including the critically endangered mountain bongo.
- Sustained efforts by Rhino Ark, an environmental NGO, have built local communities’ awareness of the importance of the forest, but with few alternatives for fuel in particular, encroachment into the reserve continues.
- The NGO says it hopes the installation of household biogas systems will reduce pressure on the forest for firewood, while improving health and producing organic fertilizer for participating households.

Rare hispid hares feel the heat from Nepal’s tiger conservation measures
- The deliberate burning of grasslands in Nepal to maintain tiger habitat poses a threat to another endangered species: the elusive and little-known hispid hare.
- The burning is meant to promote the growth of fresh grass shoots for tiger prey, and to prevent grasslands from turning into forests.
- However, intact grasslands are important habitat for hispid hares, which need dense ground cover for resting, feeding and mating.
- Researchers say the annual grassland burning should be done selectively and outside of the hare’s breeding season to save the species.

A Philippine resin trade proves sustainable for forests, but not tappers
- Almaciga resin, also known as Manila copal, is used as an additive in industrial products like varnish and linoleum, as well as traditionally for starting fires, caulking boats and fumigating against mosquitoes.
- If practiced responsibly, harvesting almaciga resin offers an ecologically sustainable income stream for the Indigenous people and local communities best positioned to protect the Philippines’ diminishing natural forests.
- However, a string of middlemen, little transparency about pricing, and lack of access to formal financial institutions means that the communities that rely on tapping resin for cash remain mired in poverty.

With new EU rules ahead, Indonesia adds sustainability to its timber legality system
- The Indonesian government is rebranding its timber legality system to include timber sustainability in anticipation of an upcoming deforestation-free regulation by the European Union.
- Right now, the EU bans only the trading of illegal timbers within Europe under its timber regulation, but it’s in the process of issuing a new regulation that will forbid not only illegal timbers, but also timbers and other commodities that are sourced from deforestation and forest degradation.
- Indonesia’s timber legality system is the only one in the world recognized by the EU, meaning the country’s timbers could enter Europe without due diligence.
- With new no-deforestation requirements to be imposed by the EU, Indonesia is adding sustainability components into its timber legality system.

EU’s anti-deforestation trade rule should be more women-friendly (commentary)
- Europe’s recent move to ban “deforestation-risk commodities” from their market was welcomed by activists, but how will it affect millions of small producers in the Global South, and women in particular?
- Women represent the majority of small agricultural producers around the world, and if lawmakers take a ‘gender-blind’ approach to the regulation, it could end up marginalizing them and instead promote the interests of powerful export-oriented agricultural producers.
- This could have unintended consequences for rural and Indigenous women and deepen existing structural inequalities, a new op-ed reasons.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

‘More responsible forest management is needed’: Q&A with FSC’s Kim Carstensen
- The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is widely considered the gold standard for certifying sustainable forest use, but has frequently been criticized for failing to uphold the standards that it touts.
- Kim Carstensen, the FSC’s director-general, says some of the complaints have a basis, and that while the FSC will never be the perfect system in everyone’s view, it’s still “the best that can be done” and “provides the basis for a lot of opportunities to be created.”
- In an interview with Mongabay, Carstensen discusses long-awaited updates to the FSC’s rules, how to deal with problematic member companies, and why certification should be more than just a logo.

FSC-certified paper plantation faces farmer backlash in Colombia
- Smurfit Kappa Cartón de Colombia (SKCC), a paper company with multiple plantations certified by the FSC ethical wood label, is facing backlash from Indigenous and local farmers over land disputes and environmental impacts.
- Mongabay was able to confirm three cases of plantations violating Colombia’s legal forest code. Communities living close to the company’s paper plantations say they are to blame for water shortages and a decrease in biodiversity and soil fertility.
- There is little agreement over the effects of these plantations on water availability, but many activists and academics say agroforestry or silvopasture systems can be alternative solutions to increase biodiversity and contribute to farmers’ livelihoods.
- A SKCC forestry division manager said SKCC carries out rigorous legal and background analyzes of the properties to operate according to the law and practices respect for the environment.

How unsustainable is Sweden’s forestry? ‘Very.’ Q&A with Marcus Westberg and Staffan Widstrand
- Sweden has a gigantic forest products industry, and its national forestry agency claims their operations to be the most sustainable in the world.
- However, the truth on the ground is that the industry relies heavily on clearcutting natural forests, many of which are quite old, and replanting those with monocultures of trees, some of which are non-native.
- “Only 3% of Sweden’s forestry doesn’t involve clear-cutting. That should be pretty shocking to anyone who hears it, given Sweden’s reputation as a leader of so-called green practices,” two top conservation photographers tell Mongabay in a wide-ranging interview.
- This is made possible in part by the Swedish forestry model, which allows companies to police their own practices. Further, these companies claim the cutting of old growth forests and replanting with tree monocultures is not only carbon neutral, but ‘carbon negative,’ which is not supported by science.

Funding, titling project for Indigenous-led organizations launched
- One of the latest conservation funding mechanisms, the Community Land Rights and Conservation Finance Initiative (CLARIFI), plans to channel funds directly to Indigenous and locally-led organizations and title at least 400 million hectares (988 million acres) of land to reduce deforestation.
- According to organizers, this will avoid 1.1 to 7.4 GtCo2e (gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent) of emissions as 33% of the Earth’s tropical forest carbon is at risk without recognizing community rights to land.
- At least $10 billion is needed to boost legally recognized territories, but much is required to attain the other goals of the initiative, says Dr. Solange Bandiaky-Badji, coordinator of Rights and Resources Initiative.
- Organizers will be holding planning meetings in the Congo Basin and Latin America in May and June to deliver a total of $25 million to Indigenous-led initiatives and test its funding project.

Just outside Mexico City, community-run forests provide eco services, livelihoods
- About an hour and a half from Mexico City, communities in the municipalities of Texcoco and Tepetlaoxtoc de Hidalgo use forest management as a tool to sustain themselves and conserve their forests.
- Their sustainable timber-harvesting activity is authorized by the forestry agency, and they complement it with other activities such as collecting edible mushrooms and medicinal plants, or ecotourism.
- These ejidos, or communally managed lands, are also diligently managed to minimize fire risk, through initiative such as pruning and creating firebreaks.
- “We make use of the forest, yes, but we take care of it,” says one of the community members. “This is for everyone: for the youth to come, for the environment.”

FSC-certified Moorim Paper linked to massive forest clearing in Indonesia’s Papua
- A subsidiary of South Korean paper company Moorim has cleared natural forests a tenth the size of Seoul in Indonesia’s Papua region over the past six years, a new report alleges.
- The report, published by various NGOs, alleges that the cleared areas consisted of primary forests serving as a habitat for threatened species and a source of livelihood for Indigenous Papuans.
- Moorim’s Indonesian subsidiary, PT Plasma Nutfah Marind Papua (PNMP), which holds the concession to the land, also allegedly cleared the forests without obtaining the free, prior and informed consent of the Indigenous and local communities.
- Moorim has denied the allegations, but the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), which certifies its paper products as being sustainably sourced, says it has begun assessing the case to determine whether there’s enough substantial information to indicate a violation of its policies.

NGOs alert U.N. to furtive 2-million-hectare carbon deal in Malaysian Borneo
- Civil society organizations have complained to the United Nations about an opaque “natural capital” agreement in the Malaysian state of Sabah on the island of Borneo.
- The agreement, signed behind closed doors in October 2021, involved representatives from the state government and Hoch Standard Pte. Ltd., a Singaporean firm. But it did not involve substantive input from the state’s numerous Indigenous communities, many of whom live in or near forests.
- The terms ostensibly give Hoch Standard the right to monetize carbon and other natural capital from Sabah’s forests for 100 years.
- Along with the recent letter to the U.N., the state’s attorney general has questioned whether the agreement is enforceable without changes to key provisions. An Indigenous leader is also suing the state over the agreement, and Hoch Standard may be investigated by the Singaporean government after rival political party leaders in Sabah reported the company to Singapore’s ambassador in Malaysia.

From teak farms to agroforestry: Panama tests reforestation strategies
- Panama is racing to restore 50,000 hectares (124,000 acres) of forest by 2025 to meet its carbon emissions reduction targets under the Paris climate agreement. The nation’s public and private sectors have embarked on various forest restoration and reforestation efforts to meet that goal.
- The government is currently financially incentivizing teak plantations, an industry that proponents say is a win-win for the economy and environment, but which critics say pushes out native tree species, reduces biodiversity, and can indirectly even contribute to further deforestation.
- A long-running research project overseen by the Smithsonian Institute is studying agroforestry and other innovative techniques to help determine which ones offer the best ecological, social and economic silviculture outcomes.
- Included in this groundbreaking work is research into restoring tropical forests on land degraded by cattle, efforts to improve forest hydrology, and silviculture techniques that could replace teak with other more eco-friendly high value trees.

California redwood forest returned to Indigenous guardianship, conservation
- Ownership of a 215-hectare (532-acre) redwood forest along California’s north coast was returned to Sinkyone tribes and has been renamed Tc’ih-Léh-Dûñ.
- The InterTribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council is working with Save the Redwoods League, which donated the land, to protect California’s remaining old-growth forest, along with endangered species such as the northern spotted owl and marbled murrelet.
- The 30-year conservation plan and land transfer deal is funded by the Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) in order to offset habitat loss that may result from the company’s activities.
- Indigenous forest conservation principles, such as controlled burnings, will be included in the tribal protected area – an inclusion that should be seen in the 30×30 initiative to protect 30% of lands and ocean by 2030, says Save the Redwoods League and the tribal council.

‘Central African Forests Forever’: Meindert Brouwer’s book looks to solutions
- “Central African Forests Forever” is a new, 17-chapter book by independent conservationist and writer Meindert Brouwer.
- One unique aspect of the book is the author’s focus on how Chinese pioneers in sustainable forest management have put forth solutions to safeguard the rainforests of Central Africa, the world’s second-largest after the Amazon.
- Brouwer’s book is available in French, English, and Chinese, and is free to download online.

As Indonesia retakes land from developers, conservation is an afterthought
- President Joko Widodo’s administration announced last week that it was cancelling millions of hectares worth of logging, plantation and mining concessions.
- Environmental activists say this presents an opportunity to conserve these lands, which cover a combined area larger than Belgium, by redistributing them to local and Indigenous communities, and protecting areas still home to rainforest.
- However, some senior government officials say the concessions should be reissued to other companies to develop, and indicate that lands redistributed to communities will also be open to investors.

For Mekong officials fighting timber traffickers, a chance to level up
- Global wildlife trade authority CITES held a virtual workshop for customs agents and inspections officials in the Lower Mekong region of Southeast Asia on the physical inspection of timber shipments in October.
- The region’s forests are home to around 100 species of trees for which CITES restricts trade to protect their survival.
- But attendees also note that the ability to accurately identify tree species, as well as the knowledge to spot suspicious shipments, is low in the region.
- Improving that capacity will help to address illegal logging in the region, advocates say.

An Indigenous community in India’s Meghalaya state offers lessons in climate resilience
- The Indigenous food system of the Khasi community in Nongtraw village in Meghalaya offers lessons in climate resilience and sustainable food systems, says a United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation report.
- The traditional food production system is supported by jhum (shifting cultivation), home gardens, forest and water bodies and shies away from the use of synthetic chemicals. It is based on community-led landscape management practices, regulated by local governance.
- Factors such as the emergence of cash crop production (broom grass), the impact of India’s public distribution system on the local subsistence system and over-reliance on market-based products are weakening the food system’s resilience.
- Research priorities on Indigenous food systems should include systematic documentation of a wide variety of Indigenous foods known to the Indigenous communities, their contribution to food security and dietary diversity.

‘Collaboration is key’ to address big environmental challenges, says Daniel Katz
- In 1986 Daniel Katz set out to save tropical rainforests by co-founding the Rainforest Alliance to develop a global certification standard for forest products and crops. Katz hoped this approach would create economic incentives for companies to adopt more sustainable practices and provide sustainable livelihoods for local people.
- Over the next 35 years, the Rainforest Alliance grew into one of the world’s best known environmental brands and brought the idea of eco-certification into the mainstream.
- Since founding the Rainforest Alliance, Katz has served in a range of roles, from board member to management advisor to Senior Program Director at the Overbrook Foundation. In those capacities, he’s been a keen observer of how the conservation sector has evolved.
- In a wide-ranging interview with Mongabay, Katz spoke about trends in conservation, obstacles the sector still needs to overcome, and the importance of collaboration. He also offered advice for conservation entrepreneurs.

In southern Colombia, Indigenous groups fish and farm with the floods
- The Tikuna, Cocama and Yagua peoples in southern Colombia live on a two-pronged sustainable food system that involves artisanal fishing and communal planting synchronized with the different flooding seasons.
- The food systems have allowed the 22 communities in the area to live sustainably without damaging the forest’s extremely high rates of biodiversity, according to a report from the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
- The communities have faced some challenges in recent decades due to outside pressures to commercialize their activities, raising doubts about how to maintain sustainable practices.
- This article is part of an eight-part series showcasing sustainable food systems covered in the most comprehensive report to date of the diets and food production practices of Indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs).

Amid a furniture boom, timber certification is just a start, say experts
- For furniture consumers and manufacturers alike, ensuring timber is both legal and sustainable is tricky in Southeast Asia, where supply chains are blighted by illegal logging, poor forest management and scant law enforcement.
- In an effort to improve timber sustainability in the region’s furniture supply chains, the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) and the ASEAN Furniture Industries Council (AFIC) recent launched a four-year collaboration to promote timber certification.
- While the collaboration is a positive step, experts say even more needs to be done to prevent illegally sourced timber from entering the region’s domestic supply chains and local markets that largely operate informally and under less scrutiny than export markets.
- Experts also point out that timber certification is not a guarantee of deforestation-free products, and call on companies to publicly commit to deforestation-free supply chains and transparent reporting.

Kenya’s Indigenous Ogiek partner with government rangers to restore Mau Forest
- The Ogiek people of Kenya have for more than a century faced eviction from their ancestral lands in the Mau Forest, on which they have long depended for their material and cultural needs.
- Three years ago, some community members decided to start working with the Kenyan Forest Service to restore the forest complex and promote conservation coupled with sustainable livelihoods such as beekeeping.
- Today, using this biocultural approach, volunteer community members have planted more than 60,000 native trees in four different blocs within the forest, including the endangered parasol tree (Polyscias kikuyuensis) and African cherry tree (Prunus Africana).
- The KFS has been relying on Ogiek knowledge of the terrain and geography of the forest to provide intelligence on the routes used by illegal loggers and those starting forest fires.

Indigenous people get less than 1% of climate funding? It’s actually worse (commentary)
- The lead author of a Rainforest Foundation Norway report showing how little funding goes to Indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs) for tenure and forest management writes that the reality is even worse than the “less than 1%” soundbite often shared.
- Over 10 years, $2.7 billion was given to support IPLCs’ tenure rights and forest management, which equals 0.74% of total development aid allocated to address climate change.
- Researchers further discovered that 17% of the funding to IPLC tenure and management went to projects that specifically included an IPLC organization, thus representing 0.13% of aid designated to climate change.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

Bornean communities locked into 2-million-hectare carbon deal they don’t know about
- Leaders in Sabah, a Malaysian state on the island of Borneo, signed a nature conservation agreement on Oct. 28 with a group of foreign companies — apparently without the meaningful participation of Indigenous communities.
- The agreement, with the consultancy Tierra Australia and a private equity-backed funder from Singapore, calls for the marketing of carbon and other ecosystem services to companies looking, for example, to buy credits to offset their emissions.
- The deal involves more than 2 million hectares (4.9 million acres) of forest, which would be restored and protected from mining, logging and industrial agriculture for the next 100-200 years.
- But land rights experts have raised concerns about the lack of consultation with communities living in and around these forests in the negotiations to this point.

Indonesia’s flip-flop on zero-deforestation pledge portends greater forest loss
- Indonesia says it never actually agreed to end deforestation by 2030 when signing up to a global pledge to halt and reverse forest loss at the U.N. climate summit in Glasgow.
- The country’s forestry minister, Siti Nurbaya Bakar, says the pledge is unfair if it means that the country has to stop clearing its forests, since it still has to develop its economy to improve the welfare of its people.
- She says the government must not stop developing “in the name of carbon emissions, or in the name of deforestation.”
- Environmentalists say this indicates Indonesia has no intention of respecting the pledge; and in light of recent weakening of environmental safeguards, the country might see deforestation continue well into the future.

Brazil farming co-op carves a sustainable path through agribusiness stronghold
- Coopcerrado, a farmer’s cooperative of 5,000 families, won the United Nations’ Equator Prize under the category of “New Nature Economies” due to its more than two decades of work in developing a farmer-to-farmer model of mutual support for training, commercializing and setting up organic and regenerative businesses in the Brazilian Cerrado.
- The Cerrado savanna, a biodiversity hotspot holding 5% of the world’s biodiversity is also among one of the most threatened, with almost half of the biome destroyed for agriculture and a process of desertification already underway, scientists say.
- To save the Cerrado, farmers and traditional extractivist communities have developed an expandable model of collective support in knowledge and resource-sharing while restoring the biome and providing an income for thousands of vulnerable families.
- Bureaucratic and logistic hurdles in Brazil traditionally leave small farmers and traditional communities out of mainstream markets and industries, but bridging this gap has been one of the keys to the cooperative’s success.

Brazil punching below its weight in getting forest products to the world
- Brazil may have given its name to the Brazil nut, but it exports less than 6% of the global export market of the nut, while Bolivia supplies 52%.
- That’s one of several key findings from new research that shows that Brazil, home to a third of all tropical forests, is punching well below its own weight when it comes to the value of its exports of forest-derived commodities.
- Experts highlight several key obstacles preventing production and export of these commodities from being scaled up, including logistics, lack of technical expertise and equipment, and costly certification requirements for breaking into markets like the EU.
- Proponents say ramping up production and exports of forest commodities could be the key to achieving economic and social development in the Brazilian Amazon, as well as a way of reviving vast swaths of degraded and abandoned areas.

Ending Amazon deforestation a top priority on Colombian minister’s D.C. visit
- In an interview with Mongabay, Colombian environment minister Carlos Eduardo Correa provided insights about his recent visit to Washington, D.C., where he held meetings with U.S. government officials and conservation organizations.
- On his first international trip amid the pandemic, the minister reiterated his commitment to protect forests in one of the most biodiverse countries in the world.
- Colombia’s climate goals include reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 51% and achieving zero deforestation by 2030, and achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.

Palm oil grower looks to make amends for past deforestation in Indonesia
- A major palm oil grower in Indonesia plans to rehabilitate 38,000 hectares (94,000 acres) in Borneo and New Guinea to make up for its past deforestation and peatland clearing.
- The recovery by KPN Plantation will be achieved through peat rewetting, reforestation, and assisting local communities to secure land tenure and access rights.
- Environmentalists have lauded the plan, but noted that challenges remain in the monitoring and implementation of the plan.

Gabon becomes first African country to get paid for protecting its forests
- Gabon recently received the first $17 million of a pledged $150 million from Norway for results-based emission reduction payments as part of the Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI).
- Gabon has 88% forest cover and has limited annual deforestation to less than 0.1% over the last 30 years, in large part possible due to oil revenues supporting the economy.
- With oil reserves running low, Gabon is looking to diversify and develop its economy without sacrificing its forests by building a sustainable forest economy supported by schemes such as CAFI.

Some guitar makers in pursuit of sustainable manufacturing
- Guitar manufacturers use a small volume of some of the rarest exotic woods, but have come under the most pressure to adopt sustainable practices because of their high profile.
- Over the past decade, manufacturers like Czech-based Furch Guitars and Taylor Guitars in the U.S. have rolled out initiatives such as tree replanting and funding for forest communities in the areas they source their timber from.
- Furch Guitars CEO Petr Furch says the sustainability drive is about more than just the material used to make the instruments, but also the carbon footprint of the manufacturing process.
- The company says it has shifted to 100% renewable energy at its Velké Němčice plant, and reduced its carbon footprint by two-thirds in the process.

Coffee sustainability check: Q&A with Sjoerd Panhuysen of Coffee Barometer report
- Coffee enjoys a reputation as a sustainable crop, but for many of the people who cultivate it, it’s a “poverty crop” that’s economically unviable, says Sjoerd Panhuysen, lead author of the annual Coffee Barometer report for Ethos Agriculture.
- Panhuysen says that while the coffee industry as a whole is booming, most of the profits are concentrated at the retail end of the chain, with exporters making less than a tenth of the revenue.
- Another inequity is that while women perform much of the production activities, men tend to benefit more from training in sustainable production practices, income and other benefits derived from coffee sales, he says.
- In this Q&A with Mongabay, Panhuysen identifies the growth regions for sustainable coffee, the need for clear indicators of sustainability progress, and the importance of developing solutions from the bottom up.

First the savior, now the villain: Fire suppression is often overhyped in the American west (commentary)
- In this commentary, Dr. Paul C. Rogers, a forest ecologist and Director of the Western Aspen Alliance at Utah State University, argues that forest managers’ “goal should not be to stop wildfire but to reduce conflicts with it.”
- “Recent history has not yet shown us mega-droughts surpassing individual decades or mega-fires scorching tens of millions of acres, but without reversal of humanity’s fossil fuel habits future use of those hyper-monikers may be well placed.”
- “When vegetation is dry and winds are high, no amount of money, retardant, water, human fodder, or forest thinning is going to stop them. In the end, our best strategy is to understand, and then practice, living with inevitable fire and not continuing to think we are masters of forests or flames.”
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

Mob killing of Malagasy officer spotlights risks faced by forest guardians
- A law enforcement officer was fatally wounded and two civilians killed on Jan. 20 when a mob accosted him and three others as they tried to apprehend suspected illegal loggers in a village in northeastern Madagascar.
- The confrontation was exacerbated by the presence of trained mercenaries who villagers sometimes enlist to protect them against cattle raiders, local media reported.
- Madagascar, a megadiverse island off Africa’s eastern coast has suffered dramatic forest loss in recent years, but reliance on community-led conservation is fraught, given their lack of power and resources.
- At the front line of the fight to preserve its natural riches but at the lowest rung of the enforcement apparatus are Madagascar’s forest guards and law enforcement officers like Lahatra Rahajaharison, who died in the attack.

Paper giant APP failing its own sustainability goals, report alleges
- A new report urges bank and buyers to stop doing business with Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), one of the world’s biggest paper producers, for its alleged failure to uphold its own sustainability commitments.
- The report, by the Environmental Paper Network (EPN), a coalition of NGOs, lists a litany of violations — from destruction of tropical peat ecosystems to the prevalence of burning to persistent community conflicts — associated with APP’s operations in Indonesia.
- The company has denied the allegations, saying it continues to make strides in restoring peat areas of its concessions and resolving land disputes with local and Indigenous communities.
- However, the EPN points to a lack of transparency and verifiable progress in both APP’s sustainability commitments and resolution of conflicts.

Companies must account for quality, not just quantity, when it comes to forests (commentary)
- With the explosion of net-zero commitments as a part of corporate sustainability plans, forests are having a moment in the spotlight. More and more companies are beginning to recognize the value of intact forests in reaching net-zero emissions.
- However, new research shows that despite these commitments, forests are still dwindling, with devastating effects on the climate, ecosystem services, and biodiversity.
- In the opinion piece, the authors Dr. Julie Nash at Ceres and Dr. Jamison Ervin at UNDP, make the business case for preserving intact forests. They outline the importance of forests beyond their use as carbon offsets, and call for investors to assess the quantity and quality of forest commitments in corporate sustainability plans.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

Poor governance fuels ‘horrible dynamic’ of deforestation in DRC
- Forests in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have been disappearing at increasing speed, with annual deforestation rates exceeding 1 million hectares (2.5 million acres) in the past five years and believed to have surged during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Poor governance and corruption are considered the biggest obstacles to protecting the country’s forests from the pressures of subsistence agriculture and fuelwood collection, as well as the expansion of legal and illegal industrial operations.
- Progress on improving forest management has been made through the implementation of community forest legislation and a new law concerning Indigenous people’s right to their forests, but their implementation remains far from ideal.

As minister and activists trade barbs, Madagascar’s forests burn
- Forest fires are blazing across Madagascar, including in its protected areas, home to some of the world’s rarest species, from critically endangered lemurs to hundreds of endemic snails.
- In Manombo Special Reserve, known for sheltering more than 50 species of snails found nowhere else on Earth, woodland the size of 800 Olympic swimming pools went up in smoke last month.
- In nearby Befotaka-Midongy National Park, one of the largest stretches of evergreen forest in Madagascar, more than 1,000 fires were reported this year.
- A heated debate has erupted online about the fires, with some activists criticizing the environment ministry, while the ministry says the blame is shared by NGOs that manage most of the country’s protected areas.

France’s tropical forest conservation efforts: an interview with AFD’s Gilles Kleitz
- Since hosting the United Nations Climate Change Conference in 2015 which resulted in the Paris Climate Agreement, France has become a leading proponent for tropical forest conservation. This effort has included establishing a National Strategy to Combat Imported Deforestation (SNDI) to effectively apply a zero deforestation policy to commodities produced at the expense of forests in the tropics.
- One of the key institutions charged with implementing the SNDI abroad is the Agence Française de Développement (AFD), France’s overseas development agency. AFD programs in tropical forests have not always been without controversy—NGOs have alleged that AFD has supported companies which contribute to deforestation—but AFD says it has incorporated this criticism as well as findings from research institutions into safeguards it now applies to the projects it finances.
- Accordingly, AFD’s emphasis around tropical forests in recent years has shifted toward conservation and “sustainable forest management”, which includes establishing forest management plans to reduce the impact of logging operations in places like the Congo Basin.
- To provide some context on AFD’s current approaches and priorities, Mongabay spoke with Gilles Kleitz, head of Agriculture, Water and Biodiversity at the French Development Agency.

Mexico: Four decades of community lessons from the forests of Durango
- Almost 44 years ago, the General Emiliano Zapata Union of Ejidos and Forest Communities (UNECOFAEZ) was founded in the Mexican state of Durango.
- UNECOFAEZ’s sustainable forest management has made profitable community development possible, benefiting 10,500 families in Durango, in addition to guaranteeing the conservation of nearly a million hectares of forest.
- A tree nursery, high school, credit union, workshops, infrastructure improvements, ecotourism projects and more have all been financed by the union’s community management of forests.

Madagascar minister calls protected areas a ‘failure,’ seeks people-centric approach
- Madagascar’s environment minister has criticized the way protected areas are managed in the country, setting the stage for a potential overhaul of the system to make conservation more people-centric.
- The stand has flustered some in the conservation community in Madagascar because it could mean reorienting their efforts in one of the planet’s most biodiverse countries, which is also extremely poor with high rates of environmental destruction.
- At a two-day meeting in late June, protected area managers, including a quasi-governmental agency and several international and local NGOs, shared details of their work, financial position, and challenges, with ministry officials.
- The ministry is expected to collate and analyze this information as a first step toward a broader evaluation and potential overhaul of the protected area system that could happen this year.

Life among the turtles: Traditional people struggle inside an Amazon reserve
- The Brazilian Amazon’s Trombetas River is well known for its exceptional biodiversity, including nesting turtles. In 1979, to protect flora and fauna there, the REBIO Trombetas was founded; it’s a highly restrictive form of conservation unit where today only very limited economic activity is permitted.
- The two traditional communities inside the reserve — the Último Quilombo and Nova Esperança Quilombo (Afro-Brazilian communities of runaway slave descendants) — complain that the government has unfairly penalized them for conducting forest and river livelihoods including Brazil nut collecting and fishing.
- Local residents also contend that while they’re fined for such minor infractions, MRN, the world’s fourth largest bauxite mining company, located near the REBIO, has done extensive ecological damage due to ore ship traffic and water pollution, which severely impacts turtle populations.
- In fact, MRN’s mines, ore processing and bauxite waste lagoons are located inside the Saracá-Taquera National Forest, a protected area known as a FLONA, on the Trombetas River. MRN has been fined often for its environmental violations there, fines it has appealed and not yet paid; the firm says it’s operating within the law.

Guardians of Mexico’s community forests confront climate change
- Droughts, insect infestations, and fires are increasingly common in Mexico’s forests.
- Communities whose residents manage these forests can develop strategies to protect their forests and ecosystems, which are critical in the fight against climate change.
- The community forest management strategy can also provide livelihoods and boost economies, experts say.

New report asks, do land titles help poor farmers?
- A new report by the Oakland Institute, a policy think tank, outlines cases of land privatization around the world.
- The report’s authors caution that privatizing land, especially when it has been traditionally managed communally, could sideline the interests of Indigenous groups and local communities.
- They cite evidence that governments and agencies see private land titles as a way not to help poor farmers, but rather to “unlock the economic potential of the land.”

Forest restoration, not just halting deforestation, vital to Amazon
- The Brazilian state of Maranhão has lost more than three-quarters of its original forest cover and the remaining old-growth forest is severely threatened, with the “Amazon forest [in the state’s west] on the edge of collapse,” say researchers. This threat heightens the importance of conserving secondary forest in the state.
- But new zoning of Legal Amazonia in Maranhão’s west passed in May will reduce the amount of standing forest farmers must preserve, which could lead to largescale legal deforestation of secondary forests and reward previous illegal deforestation.
- The State Forest Policy currently being debated for passage by the Maranhão parliament could implement safeguards to protect secondary forests (though likely won’t). Without those safeguards, warn researchers, these forests that provide important ecological services and economic benefits could further disappear.
- Scientists say that agroforestry and forest restoration should be prioritized by the Brazilian national and state governments in order to generate sustainable livelihoods and protect secondary forests, aiding in climate change mitigation, water and soil conservation, and providing sustainable livelihoods.

In Mexico, groups push for reforms to law promoting sustainable forest use
- In June 2018, a law was approved that, despite having some success such as boosting community forest management, also had serious omissions, while paving the way for land use change in forested areas around cities.
- Comprised of various stakeholders, the National Forestry Council has presented an initiative to reform this legislation.
- Mexican legislators will consider these changes in the coming months.

Conservation insights from an enormous aspen clone: Q&A with ecologist Paul Rogers
- Pando is the name of a 40-hectare (100-acre) aspen forest in central Utah whose 47,000 stems share a single genome. It’s thought to be the largest and one of the oldest organisms on Earth.
- In discovering that Pando might be dying, ecologist Paul C. Rogers came to realize that the problems troubling the famous giant were a microcosm of the problems troubling aspen forests across the Northern Hemisphere, and with them the highly biodiverse set of organisms they support.
- That sparked a collaboration among aspen researchers from eight countries, who propose a conservation strategy they’re calling ‘mega-conservation.’ It aims to protect common ecosystems distinguished by a species that, like aspen, supports uncommon levels of biodiversity while facing common threats.
- Mongabay spoke with Rogers about Pando, mega-conservation, and the wisdom of thinking like an aspen forest.

Community forest enterprises provide win for forests and people: Study
- A new study by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) looked at community natural resource management in Mexico, Guatemala, Nepal and Namibia.
- The research highlights the importance of government recognition of communities’ rights to manage natural resources and promoting investment in these initiatives.
- The communities still struggle to obtain sustained government support in some cases, and rights to consultation are often sidelined in favor of large infrastructure projects.

Ecuador’s Kichwa implement innovative approach to rainforest conservation
- Through a unique combination of market-based approaches to conservation and traditional agroforestry practices they are diversifying their sources of income while protecting the Amazon rainforest.
- Innovative partnerships with the Aliados Foundation and Lush Cosmetics’ Charity Pot have allowed this Kichwa community to expand their efforts.

Aiming for conservation and development in a corner of Mexico’s Mayan jungle
- A rural community in southeastern Mexico agreed last year to certify 35,000 hectares (86,500 acres) of their communally managed land as a voluntary conservation area.
- Learning from the example of another commune, or ejido, in neighboring Campeche state, the Laguna OM ejido hopes to both conserve their forest and secure an income through activities such as sustainable logging and ecotourism.
- The process has been marred by bureaucratic hurdles, but the community remains diligent about meeting all requirements and achieving its goals.
- Ejido leaders say they hope the conservation program works for both the environment and for the community, by creating jobs and opportunities that will stem the exodus of young people to other areas in search of a livelihood.

Healing the world through ‘radical listening’: Q&A with Dr. Kinari Webb
- Kinari Webb is a medical doctor and founder of Health in Harmony, a nonprofit aimed at curbing global warming by protecting rainforests and empowering the human communities that live within them.
- Over the past 10 years, Health in Harmony has helped lift communities in Indonesian Borneo from poverty by providing sustainable, local livelihoods that have dramatically reduced their reliance on logging.
- Webb says she and her colleagues were able to accomplish this by listening to what communities really needed and to their ideas about possible solutions; she says Health in Harmony’s model could be applied to other communities around the world, even those in developed countries.
- On a larger scale, Webb says governments need to stop prioritizing economic growth; she says the COVID-19 crisis highlights the danger of reliance on global supply chains, and that working together and moving toward a “regenerative economy” would help humanity weather future pandemics — as well as prevent them from happening in the first place.

Through biomimicry, Brazil seeks tech innovations inspired by nature
- From spiderweb-inspired shampoo to a hotel whose architecture is based on the thermal properties of toucan beaks, scientists and companies in Brazil are betting on nature’s intelligence to create innovative solutions that reduce impacts on the planet.
- By valuing multifunctional design and being able to integrate materials that nature acknowledges in productive cycles, biomimicry reinforces the optimization of resources and aligns itself with the principles of a circular economy.
- Biomimicry began to be systematically implemented in the 1990s, initially to achieve energy efficiency; examples include buildings in Zimbabwe and Australia inspired by the circulation of air inside termite hills, the principle of whale fins applied to the generation of wind energy, and antiseptic walls that imitate shark skin.
- In Brazil, many immersion courses are now offered in the Amazon and Cerrado biomes that focus on innovative materials, and biomimicry consultants and startups are emerging in the market: In 2018, Nucleário became the first Brazilian company to win a prize from the Biomimicry Institute for its technology that protects trees in reforestation projects, based on the principles of winged seeds and bromeliads.

Watchdogs lament palm oil giant Wilmar’s exit from forest conservation alliance
- Wilmar International, the world’s biggest palm oil trader, has quit the steering group of the High Carbon Stock Approach (HCSA), which helps agribusiness identify forest areas for protection.
- It cited governance and financial problems within the group — which includes members from agribusiness, civil society and environmental watchdogs — as justification for its April 2 exit.
- But other steering group members and watchdogs say it appears Wilmar is trying to shirk its conservation and sustainability commitments as an HCSA member, and that its exit hurts efforts to boost sustainability in the sector.
- The HCSA mechanism is used by agribusiness to distinguish forest areas that should be protected from degraded areas that can be developed, in a bid to minimize deforestation.

Indonesia risks timber trade with EU after scrapping license rules
- The European Union says a move by Indonesia to no longer require that wood exports be verified as coming from legal sources threatens the timber trade between the two sides.
- The EU has since 2016 put its trust in Indonesia’s timber certification scheme, the SVLK, to ensure that the wood it imports from the Southeast Asian nation isn’t illegally logged.
- But Indonesia’s trade ministry says it’s scrapping the SVLK requirement for exporters in a bid to boost business amid a slowdown caused by the COVID-19 outbreak.
- Industry experts have slammed the move, saying it undermines hard-won gains for the reputation of Indonesian timber and weakens the country’s position in trade negotiations.

Indonesia ends timber legality rule, stoking fears of illegal logging boom
- Indonesia’s trade ministry has scrapped a requirement for wood exporters to obtain licenses verifying their wood comes from legal and sustainably managed sources.
- The SVLK verification system took a decade to develop and implement and has been accepted by some of the most stringent market regulators for timber legality, including the EU.
- Scrapping the licensing requirement constitutes a major setback for Indonesia’s timber industry and could open the door to more illegal logging, experts warn.
- The forestry ministry, which oversees the logging industry and the SVLK system, was not consulted about the trade ministry’s decision, and says it will ask for the new rule to be revised.

The commons, community and conservation: Q&A with anthropologist Leticia Merino
- Leticia Merino began studying community forestry 30 years ago, a management approach developed in Mexico that involves communities organizing to conserve their forests and at the same time generating income from it.
- The best way to conserve and regenerate these ecosystems is not reforestation, says Merino, now a renowned anthropologist.
- Community forest management has been proven to be an effective and non-exclusionary method of maintaining biodiversity, she says.
- Merino spoke with Mongabay Latam about her life and her award-winning work in the field of community forestry.

For Mexico’s forgotten cloud forests, sustainability and protection are key
- Secondary cloud forests are vital to hydrological cycles and the prevention of soil erosion.
- However, in Mexico, the expansion of livestock and agriculture has increased their vulnerability.
- Researchers from the Institute of Ecology at Mexico’s University of Veracruz suggest that encouraging sustainable forest management in these ecosystems will help ensure that they don’t disappear.

‘Unless impunity is fought, we will not get anywhere’: Q&A with community forestry expert Lucía Madrid
- Lucía Madrid works with communities in Mexico to implement and improve natural resource management programs.
- Madrid says community-led forest management programs have the power to both reduce deforestation and promote rural development on communal land.
- However, she says environmental law and enforcement must also be strengthened to effectively tackle the illegal deforestation plaguing the country.

Video: Abraham Khouw, the professor who joined the Save Aru movement
- Professor Abraham Khouw is one of dozens of academics in the Indonesian city of Ambon who lent his expertise to the Save Aru movement in the mid-2010s.
- The movement formed after a company called the Menara Group got permits to clear nearly two-thirds of the Aru Islands’ rainforest for a giant sugar plantation.
- The academics lent extra firepower to the fight against the plantation, which was mainly driven by local indigenous communities.

Video: Mika Ganobal, the civil servant who risked his job to save his homeland
- Several years ago, a plantation company nearly broke ground on a plan to clear more than half of the rainforest in Indonesia’s Aru Islands.
- Local residents organized against the project. One of the leaders of the effort to stop it was a local bureaucrat named Mika Ganobal.
- Watch our video profile of Mika below.

Mexico: Community forestry boosts conservation, jobs, and social benefits
- More than 2,000 communal landholdings known as ejidos, and communities, have organized themselves to carry out sustainable management of forests in their territory.
- In states such as Oaxaca, Michoacán, Durango, Chihuahua and Quintana Roo there are examples of communities that have managed to conserve forests and their biodiversity, while generating jobs and other benefits for the population.
- Mining, organized crime, illegal timber trafficking, and the tax regime are just some of the challenges facing community forest management in Mexico.

Deforestation for potential rubber plantation raises concerns in Papua New Guinea
- The project, ostensibly for a 125-square-kilometer (48-square-mile) rubber plantation, began in mid-2018.
- Satellite imagery shows that Maxland, working with a local landowner company, has built logging roads and deforested patches of the Great Central Forest on Manus Island.
- Like Papua New Guinea as a whole, Manus is home to a wide variety of unique wildlife — just one aspect of the forest on which human communities have depended for thousands of years.
- Government forestry and environment officials were aware of the importance of the forest and a local forest management committee protested the project before it began, but it’s been allowed to continue anyway.

Madagascar’s bold reforestation goal lacks a coherent plan, experts say
- Madagascar’s president is pushing an ambitious plan to plant trees on 40,000 hectares (99,000 acres) of land every year for the next five years.
- But conservation experts point to shortcomings in the plan, including the use of disincentives and imposition of targets to compel NGOs and other organizations to get on board.
- There’s also the very real risk that in racing to meet the target, fast-growing non-native species will be prioritized, including acacia and pine, over slow-growing endemic species.
- Conservationists have called for a more collaborative approach to the replanting initiative to seek community buy-in and ensure the long-term effectiveness of the program.

10 takeaways from Indonesia’s grassroots #SaveAru success
- The Save Aru campaign is one of Indonesia’s most successful grassroots movements in recent years.
- The people of Indonesia’s Aru Islands managed to defeat a plan to turn more than half of their archipelago into a massive sugar plantation.
- This month, Mongabay and The Gecko Project published a narrative article about the movement. Here are 10 takeaways from the article.

Saving Aru: The epic battle to save the islands that inspired the theory of evolution
- In the mid-1800s, the extraordinary biodiversity of the Aru Islands helped inspire the theory of evolution by natural selection.
- Several years ago, however, a corrupt politician granted a single company permission to convert most of the islands’ rainforests into a vast sugar plantation.
- The people of Aru fought back. Today, the story of their grassroots campaign resonates across the world as a growing global movement seeks to force governments to act on climate change.

World’s biggest meatpackers buying cattle from deforesters in Amazon
- JBS, Marfrig and Frigol, among the world’s biggest meat producers, have been buying cattle from ranches associated with illegal deforestation and slave labor, an investigation by Repórter Brasil has found.
- The ranches in question are located in southern Pará state, the epicenter of the fires currently ravaging the Amazon, providing further evidence of the link between deforestation for cattle pasture and forest fires.
- The three companies say the information that would have flagged the ranches as problematic were not publicly available at the time they made their purchase, and point to their commitments to not source from ranches linked to environmental crimes.
- But a lack of animal traceability allows ranchers to use legalized farms to conceal sales of cattle raised in illegal areas through false declarations of origin, in a practice known as “cattle washing.”

Study shows how to protect more species for less money in western Amazon
- A new study identifies nearly 300 areas for proposed protection in the western Amazon that would give the most bang for the buck in terms of the number of species conserved in this biodiversity hotspot.
- The researchers considered management and lost-opportunity costs in their analyses, and found that the presence of indigenous communities in protected areas can actually bring down the costs of conservation.
- While the estimated cost for protecting these proposed areas is just $100 million a year — less than a hundredth of the GDP of the countries in the western Amazon — the researchers say there needs to be clear political will to implement such a solution.

New initiative aims to jump-start stalled drive toward zero deforestation
- Over the past decade there has been a rise in corporate zero-deforestation commitments, but very few companies have shown progress in meeting their goals of reducing deforestation in their supply chains by 2020.
- The Accountability Framework Initiative, launched by a group of 14 civil society organizations, is the latest tool to help companies make progress, and hold them accountable, on their zero-deforestation commitments.
- The Accountability Framework Initiative is expected to be especially important for markets like Europe, where demand for crops like soy has been linked to rising deforestation in places like the Brazilian Cerrado.

Dam in Ethiopia has wiped out indigenous livelihoods, report finds
- A dam in southern Ethiopia built to supply electricity to cities and control the flow of water for irrigating industrial agriculture has led to the displacement and loss of livelihoods of indigenous groups, the Oakland Institute has found.
- On June 10, the policy think tank published a report of its research, demonstrating that the effects of the Gibe III dam on the Lower Omo River continue to ripple through communities, forcing them onto sedentary farms and leading to hunger, conflict and human rights abuses.
- The Oakland Institute applauds the stated desire of the new government, which came to power in April 2018, to look out for indigenous rights.
- But the report’s authors caution that continued development aimed at increasing economic productivity and attracting international investors could further marginalize indigenous communities in Ethiopia.

Altered forests threaten sustainability of subsistence hunting
- In a commentary, two conservation scientists say that changes to the forests of Central and South America may mean that subsistence hunting there is no longer sustainable.
- Habitat loss and commercial hunting have put increasing pressure on species, leading to the loss of both biodiversity and a critical source of protein for these communities.
- The authors suggest that allowing the hunting of only certain species, strengthening parks and reserves, and helping communities find alternative livelihoods and sources of food could help address the problem, though they acknowledge the difficult nature of these solutions.

’Unprecedented’ loss of biodiversity threatens humanity, report finds
- The U.N.’s Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services released a summary of far-reaching research on the threats to biodiversity on May 6.
- The findings are dire, indicating that around 1 million species of plants and animals face extinction.
- The full 1,500-page report, to be released later this year, raises concerns about the impacts of collapsing biodiversity on human well-being.

Deforestation diminishes access to clean water, study finds
- A recent study compared deforestation data and information on household access to clean water in Malawi.
- The scientists found that the country lost 14 percent of its forest between 2000 and 2010, which had the same effect on access to safe drinking water as a 9 percent decrease in rainfall.
- With higher rainfall variability expected in today’s changing climate, the authors suggest that a larger area of forest in countries like Malawi could be a buffer against the impacts of climate change.

Malaysian state chief: Highway construction must not destroy forest
- The chief minister of Sabah, one of two Malaysian states on the island of Borneo, said that the Pan Borneo Highway project should expand existing roads where possible to minimize environmental impact.
- A coalition of local NGOs and scientific organizations applauded the announcement, saying that it could usher in a new era of collaboration between the government and civil society to look out for Sabah’s people and forests.
- These groups have raised concerns about the impacts on wildlife and communities of the proposed path of the highway, which will cover some 5,300 kilometers (3,300 miles) in the states of Sabah and Sarawak.

Proximity to towns stretches giraffe home ranges
- A recent study found that female giraffes that live close to towns have larger home ranges than those living further afield.
- The study’s authors believe that large human settlements reduce giraffes’ access to food and water.
- The team cites the importance of understanding the size of the area that giraffe populations need to survive to address the precipitous decline in the animal’s numbers across Africa in the past 30 years.

Guyana: The school where indigenous youth learn about their land
- The Bina Hill Institute’s Youth Learning Centre is the only tertiary educational institution in Guyana’s hinterland.
- Started in 2002, the center was set up to be an incubator for future indigenous leaders who can return to and help develop their communities.
- Studies at the center focus on areas relevant to life in Guyana’s interior: agriculture, natural resource management, forestry, tourism, traditional crafts, and one of the local indigenous languages, Makushi.
- Despite challenges such as sparse funding and its remote location, the center has made a name for itself in Guyana’s conservation field and surrounding communities.

The secret to a town’s perfect potatoes? Its well-preserved forest.
- Concepción Chiquirichapa, a town in southwestern Guatemala, is renowned for its excellent potatoes.
- The rise of potato agriculture there is due, in part, to the use of leaf litter as an organic fertilizer and a steady supply of high-quality water from the local forest, which the town began restoring and protecting four decades ago.
- As potato farming spreads and the local population grows, the town is attempting in several ways to protect its natural resources.
- This is the third part of Mongabay’s three-part profile of the Concepción community’s effort to restore the forest of Siete Orejas.

Ancient spirituality guides a Maya town’s conservation efforts
- Guided by the teachings and beliefs of their ancestors, the indigenous residents of Concepción Chiquirichapa in southwestern Guatemala look to their local mountain, Siete Orejas, as a source of spiritual energy.
- Twenty-two altars exist on Siete Orejas in spots where the mountain’s energy dwells, according to Mayan belief. The town’s spiritual connection with the mountain has for the past 40 years motivated the community to restore and protect the mountain’s forests.
- Mongabay joined a local Maya spiritual guide in a fire ceremony on the mountain to ask for wisdom and the blessing of the Creator.
- This is the second part of Mongabay’s three-part profile of the Concepción community’s effort to restore the forest of Siete Orejas.

How a Mayan town restored its sacred cloud forest and water supply
- Guided initially only by knowledge inherited from their ancestors, the people of Concepción Chiquirichapa in southwestern Guatemala began conserving their forest four decades ago.
- The participation of local people has been key to converting pastureland on the Siete Orejas mountain into a green and leafy forest that sustains the area’s economy and water supply.
- The sustainable use of forest resources is central to the town’s approach. People can gather food, natural medicine, and leaf litter for use as fertilizer, so long as they do not harm the forest.
- This is the first part of Mongabay’s three-part profile of the Concepción community’s effort to restore the forest of Siete Orejas.

Guyana signs on to forest management agreement with the EU
- After six long years, Guyana has signed on to an agreement with the EU that should prove instrumental in securing a profitable position for the small Latin American country in the global legal logging industry.
- The agreement will eventually allow Guyana to issue logging licenses under the EU’s Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (EU FLEGT) initiative.
- Government leaders in the EU and Guyana also anticipate that the agreement and partnership will lead to improved forest management and a decrease in illegal logging.

The biggest rainforest news stories in 2018
- This is our annual rainforests year in review post.
- Overall, 2018 was not a good year for the planet’s tropical rainforests.
- Rainforest conservation suffered many setbacks, especially in Brazil, the Congo Basin, and Madagascar.
- Colombia was one of the few bright spots for rainforests in 2018.

Māori community reconnects youth with their ancestral forests
- Māori have urbanized rapidly over the last century, undergoing a general disconnection from the environment.
- To buck that trend, members of the Tūhoe tribe in the community of Ruatāhuna, New Zealand, have been teaching their young people about their traditional culture and forest knowledge.
- They’re changing the format of their local schools to reflect a Tūhoe worldview, and have set up a “forest academy” for teenagers.
- This is the third part of Mongabay’s three-part profile of the Ruatāhuna community’s effort to restore their ancestral forest.

What makes a forest healthy? Māori knowledge has some answers.
- Working with its elders and other traditional knowledge holders, the Māori community of Ruatāhuna, New Zealand, has articulated its own, culturally relevant system for monitoring the health of the ancient Te Urewera temperate rainforest it calls home.
- For instance, the community regards the size of flocks of kererū or wood pigeon (Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae) as a key indicator of forest health, and assesses it by the amount of awe an observer feels when witnessing a large flock at close range.
- The community feels a sense of urgency to document this kind of traditional knowledge before the elders who hold much of it pass on.
- This is the second part of Mongabay’s three-part profile of the Ruatāhuna community’s effort to restore its ancestral forest.

Ten years on, Amazon Fund receives applause, criticism, faces new tests
- Launched in 2008, the Amazon Fund became one of the first UN REDD+ initiatives, funneling money from developed nations (with Norway as the major donor) to forest sustainability projects in Brazil, a developing nation in the Amazon basin.
- By creating a national framework to garner international resources based on results, the Amazon Fund established REDD+ as a legitimate way of achieving global cooperation to curtail greenhouse gas emissions through rainforest conservation.
- With the Fund now 10 years old, Mongabay spoke to experts about its accomplishments, shortfalls and suggestions for the future. Analysts share the view that future projects could become more innovative, encouraging not only limits to deforestation, but offering economic incentives for local communities to create a sustainable forest driven economy.
- The problem to date, say analysts, is that while the Fund has done good work, it has become the only major economic resource available for curbing deforestation in a nation where the government of Michel Temer has turned away from sustainable forestry goals, while Jair Bolsonaro, taking office in January, seems far less inclined to conserve Amazon forests.

A Māori community leans on tradition to restore its forest
- Deep in New Zealand’s vast Te Urewera forest, which is famously endowed with a legal personality, the Māori community in Ruatāhuna is working to restore and sustain its forests and way of life.
- Having regained control of their land after decades of logging by outside interests, members of the Tūhoe community are trying to bring back conifers in the Podocarpaceae family, which they refer to as the chiefs of the family of Tāne, the god of forests and birds.
- Other initiatives include controlling invasive species, developing a community-based forest monitoring system centered on traditional values and knowledge, establishing a “forest academy” for local youth, and setting up a profitable honey enterprise to provide jobs and eventually fund forest restoration.
- This is the first part of Mongabay’s three-part profile of the Ruatāhuna community’s effort to restore its ancestral forest.

Guatemala: An indigenous community rejects, then accepts, a protected area
- When the Guatemalan government designated the Río Sarstún Multiple Use Area in 2005, the local people said it never properly contacted or consulted the indigenous Q’eqchi’ living in the area.
- The Q’eqchi’ initially opposed the designation, and vociferously, for fear it would infringe on their rights to the land.
- Eventually, the government gave them a role managing the zone.
- Now, more than a decade after the Río Sarstún Multiple Use Area came into being, the relationship between the Guatemalan government and local communities is settling into a symbiotic groove, and conservation initiatives are having a noticeable effect on the forests and wildlife.

For Kenya’s Yiaku, medicinal herbs are their forest’s blessing and curse
- The Yiaku, hunter-gatherers turned herders who live deep inside Mukogodo Forest in central Kenya, have relied on herbal remedies for ages, with knowledge passed orally from one generation to the next.
- However, high demand for the herbs from neighboring communities is exposing the forest to new threats — a trend mirrored across the country.
- Recognizing that traditional knowledge is crucial to forest conservation, the government has taken steps to protect it, at least on paper. However, the Yiaku have received little support, even as their most knowledgeable elders pass on and their community becomes increasingly assimilated to their pastoral neighbors.
- This is the third story in Mongabay’s three-part profile of the Yiaku’s management of their ancestral forest.

Kenya: Bees help indigenous Yiaku defend and monitor their ancestral forest
- The Yiaku, former hunter-gatherers who live in Mukogodo Forest in central Kenya, have kept bees since ancient times.
- They consider honey a valuable commodity and use it not only as food but in traditional rituals and medicine. Beekeeping is also part of the community’s customary system of forest management, helping the Yiaku defend the forest against intruders and monitor its health.
- The Yiaku’s use of beekeeping and other traditional practices to conserve their forest has earned them recognition and autonomy from the Kenyan government, which in 2008 granted the community full responsibility for managing the forest.
- This is the second part of Mongabay’s three-part profile of the Yiaku’s management of their ancestral forest.

Forestry reforms could fall short without PM’s backing in Ukraine
- Ukraine’s prime minister called for “a massive crackdown” on his country’s timber sector after allegations of widespread corruption and illegality.
- The London-based NGO Earthsight first revealed the potential illegalities in a July 2018 report, and since then, independent investigations from WWF Ukraine and the EU’s Technical Assistance and Information Exchange have corroborated Earthsight’s findings.
- A reform package that would allow for independent enforcement of Ukraine’s forestry laws and increased transparency has been approved by the country’s cabinet of ministers, but it still lacks the signature and public backing of Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman.

A forest of their own: The Yiaku as Kenya’s model forest stewards
- The Yiaku people have inhabited and watched over Mukogodo Forest for centuries, as hunter-gatherers who have lately embraced herding. But it is only in the past decade that the Kenyan government has officially given them rights to the forest, as well as full responsibility for managing it.
- The forest has thrived under the Yiaku’s care, according to officials, a stark contrast to other forests in the country, which are being lost to illegal logging and agricultural encroachment.
- The Kenyan government, which has a decidedly mixed record when it comes to protecting both forests and the rights of forest-dwelling indigenous groups, is hailing the Yiaku’s approach as a model for other communities around the country. However, the Yiaku face a suite of challenges, including intensifying drought, threats of encroachment by neighboring groups, and their own dwindling connection to their traditional culture.
- This is the first part of Mongabay’s three-part profile of the Yiaku’s management of their ancestral forest.

US could cut emissions more than one-fifth through ‘natural climate solutions’ like reforestation
- A new study looks at the natural solutions that could help the US do its part to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius (approximately 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), the goal adopted by the 195 countries who signed the Paris Climate Agreement in December 2015.
- Researchers analyzed 21 natural climate solutions and found that all of them combined could reduce global warming emissions by an amount equivalent to about 21 percent of US net emissions in 2016.
- Of the 21 natural solutions the researchers studied, increased reforestation efforts had the largest carbon storage potential, equivalent to keeping 65 million passenger cars off the road.

Restore wolves or slaughter deer to save Japanese forests?
- Without wolves, an important apex predator, Japan faces a booming deer population that has upset the ecological balance of the country’s forests.
- The sika deer, which researchers say occupy two-thirds of Japanese national forests, pose a particular threat.

Chinese demand wiping out forests in the Solomon Islands: New report
- Logging companies are harvesting timber from the forests of the Solomon Islands at about 19 times the sustainable rate, according to an analysis by the watchdog NGO Global Witness.
- More than 80 percent of the Solomons’ log exports go to China.
- Global Witness is calling on China to build on its efforts to develop its “Green Supply Chain” by requiring companies to verify that the timber they import comes from sustainable and legal sources.

Kenya’s Mijikenda people revive sacred homesteads to protect the forest
- Kenya’s Mijikenda indigenous people have long revered and protected the forests surrounding their ancestral homesteads, known as kayas, which dot the country’s southeastern coast.
- Today, the 45 kayas and their surrounding forests face many threats. Illegal logging, mining, agricultural encroachment, land grabbing, and a spate of murders targeting the very elders who protect them have all worn away at the kayas’ biological and cultural integrity.
- In response, the Mijikenda, with the help of outside NGOs, have launched new efforts to protect the kaya forests, starting with an effort to revitalize their traditional culture among the younger generation.

Traditional groups sowing sustainable crops could save Venezuelan park
- Starting in 2009, Afro-Venezuelan and Indigenous peoples and Phynatura, an NGO, signed a series of conservation agreements which are helping safeguard 570 squares miles of largely pristine forest in the Venezuelan Amazon south of the Orinoco River from illegal mining, timber harvesting and wildlife poaching. In 2017, that area was absorbed into Caura National Park.
- The new park conserves the region’s biodiversity and forests, but its founding didn’t automatically protect the ancestral homelands of the indigenous people living there. However, these 52 indigenous communities in El Caura are claiming a legal right to continue to live and pursue sustainable livelihoods within the park. The government has yet to grant their claim.
- Some of these traditional communities are involved in the sustainable agroforestry livelihood projects, with a variety of innovative crops being grown. Agroforestry is seen by local people as offering an alternative income over mining and deforestation.
- Among non-timber crops grown are tonka (a bean used as a flavoring and in cosmetics), quina (also known as cinchona bark, formerly used to treat malaria and now a common ingredient in cocktails), and copaiba oil (a folk medicinal credited with anti-inflammatory qualities). Cocoa, to be made into fine chocolates, and orchids are included among potential exports.

‘High risk’ that China’s timber from PNG is illegal: New report
- China, as the main destination for Papua New Guinea’s timber, could help tackle illegality in PNG’s forestry sector with stricter enforcement, according to a new report from the watchdog NGO Global Witness.
- The report contends that companies operating in Papua New Guinea continue to harvest timber unsustainably, often in violation of the laws of a country that is 70 percent forest.
- Global Witness calls for a moratorium on logging operations and a review of permits to harvest timber.
- The organization also argues that Chinese companies should increase their own due diligence to avoid purchasing illegally sourced timber.

Indigenous peoples control one-quarter of world’s land surface, two-thirds of that land is ‘essentially natural’
- A new study makes a significant contribution to the growing body of research showing that recognizing the land rights of and partnering with indigenous peoples can greatly benefit conservation efforts.
- An international team of researchers produced a map of the terrestrial lands managed or owned by indigenous peoples across the globe, which in turn allowed them to assess “the extent to which Indigenous Peoples’ stewardship and global conservation values intersect.”
- The researchers determined that indigenous peoples have ownership and use or management rights over more than a quarter of the world’s land surface — close to 38 million square kilometers or 14.6 million square miles — spread across 87 countries and overlapping with about 40 percent of all terrestrial protected areas on Earth.

EU demand siphons illicit timber from Ukraine, investigation finds
- Corrupt management of Ukraine’s timber sector is supplying the EU with large amounts of wood from the country’s dense forests.
- The London-based investigative nonprofit Earthsight found evidence that forestry officials have taken bribes to supply major European firms with Ukrainian wood that may have been harvested illegally.
- Earthsight argues that EU-based companies are not carrying out the due diligence that the EU Timber Regulation requires when buying from “high-risk” sources of timber.

Private sector leaders seek to ramp up investment in sustainable landscapes with help of public partners
- At the Global Landscapes Forum’s third investment case symposium, held at the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, top investors, business leaders, and policymakers gathered to present their efforts and advice on how to build a critical mass of work that will lead to a stronger investment case for sustainable landscapes and restoration.
- Over 200 people attended the symposium to discuss ways to speed up the pace of financial investments aimed at creating more resilient, fair, profitable, and climate-friendly landscapes. Conversations, disagreements, and challenges arose over how to combine efforts that will lead to lasting change.
- Accounting for natural capital, putting a price on carbon, and processes to secure land tenure rights emerged as key issues.

Lessons for developing countries in expansion of Madagascar’s protected area network
- Between 2003 and 2016, protected area coverage in Madagascar was quadrupled, from 1.7 to 7.1 million hectares. Whereas most protected areas (PAs) established in Madagascar prior to 2003 were managed solely by the Malagasy government, post-2003 PAs adopted a variety of new management and governance systems.
- The aggressive growth of Madagascar’s PA system and the diversity of approaches employed make for a particularly poignant case study, according to the authors of a recent paper published in the journal Biological Conservation that looks at what other developed countries can take away from Madagascar’s experience.
- The researchers hope that the successes achieved and the challenges identified via their examination of Madagascar’s efforts to expand its PA system might help inform how global protected area coverage continues to expand.

Camera trap videos capture biodiversity of conservation area in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula
- Many ejidos, such as Ejido Caoba in the state of Quintana Roo on the Yucatán Peninsula, run sustainable forestry enterprises on their land, harvesting and selling wood for the benefit of the entire community and replanting the trees they cut down in order to ensure the health of the ecosystem as a whole.
- One way to measure how well an ecosystem has been maintained is through the levels of biodiversity the land is capable of sustaining — and by that measure, Ejido Caoba’s efforts to preserve the ecosystem appear to be quite successful, as the camera trap videos below suggest.
- After this year’s harvest of timber and non-timber forest products comes to an end, the ejido will once again install the camera traps in harvest areas in order to continue monitoring wildlife populations on their land. But for now, you can enjoy these videos captured in November and December 2017.

Greenpeace International ends its Forest Stewardship Council membership
- Greenpeace International announced on March 26 that it would not renew its membership with the FSC.
- The environmental organization says the FSC is not meeting its aims of protecting forests and ensuring that human rights are respected.
- Greenpeace and the FSC both say they intend to continue to engage with each other, despite the end of a long formal relationship.

Carol Van Strum, crusader against Agent Orange, wins prestigious environmental award
- The international David Brower Lifetime Achievement Award for outstanding environmental and social justice work was presented to Strum on March 1, 2018.
- Strum is the author of “A Bitter Fog,” which tells the story of the fight she helped lead against aerial herbicide spraying in the Five Rivers area of Oregon, which led to a temporary ban on aerial pesticide spraying on federal forests.
- Though the ban was rescinded, the work done by Strum and others on the issue contributed to a new national forest policy that favors selective harvests without herbicides.

Selective logging reduces biodiversity, disrupts Amazon ecosystems: study
- Reduced-impact logging, also called selective logging, which gained popularity in the 1990s, aims to balance biodiversity impacts with global demand for timber by extracting fewer trees. But the success of this approach is coming under increasing scrutiny.
- A new study in the Brazilian Amazon found that dung beetle communities, and their important role as “ecosystem engineers,” is severely disrupted by even low-level timber extraction, with sharp reductions in species richness.
- Multitudes of studies on birds, mammals, amphibians and invertebrates around the globe demonstrate the same finding: that even low-levels of timber extraction have significant impact on species diversity.
- This extensive research suggests that selective logging techniques should be shelved in favor of “land-sparing” timber extraction strategies, which create a patchwork of highly logged sites and intact forest reserves.

Papua New Guinea gets its largest-ever conservation area
- On November 29, government officials declared the establishment of the Managalas Conservation Area. It is Papua New Guinea’s largest conservation area, encompassing 3,600 square kilometers of rainforest.
- Local communities, with the support of governments and non-profit organizations, have been working towards its incorporation as a protected area for 32 years.
- Managalas Conservation Area will be protected from large-scale agricultural and logging operations while allowing the communities that live there to use forest resources and grow crops in a sustainable manner.
- But stakeholders say mining is not officially excluded from the Conservation Arena’s management plan, and are worried about future encroachment by mining companies.

Camera traps reveal surprises in Peru
- Scientists set 72 camera traps and audio recorders to compare biodiversity across certified forested areas and forests that are not certified for sustainable use.
- The first few images reveal the presence of jaguars, pumas, jaguarundis, tapirs, red deer, tufted capuchins and even bush dogs, which are elusive and difficult to find.

As Indonesia pushes flagship land reform program, farmers remain wary
- Under a flagship agrarian reform program, the Indonesian government aims to give indigenous and other rural communities greater control over 127,000 square kilometers of land.
- President Joko Widodo earlier this month handed out 35-year land leases to farmers across Java as part of the social forestry program.
- The farmers, however, are concerned about the sustainability of the program, citing worries about getting bank loans, as well as a lack of maps and planning.

Leading US plywood firm linked to alleged destruction, rights violations in Malaysia
- An investigation has found that Liberty Woods, the top importer of plywood in the US, buys wood from a Malaysian company that has faced numerous allegations of environmentally unsustainable logging and indigenous rights violations.
- Environmental NGOs have accused the timber industry in Sarawak, on the island of Borneo, of clearing too much forest too quickly, polluting streams and rivers and failing to obtain consent to log from local communities.
- Satellite imagery analysis in 2013 showed that, between 2000 and 2012, Malaysia had the world’s highest deforestation rate.
- In Sarawak, where logging company Shin Yang is based, only 5 percent of forests remain relatively untouched.

Does forest certification really work?
- Based on a review of 40 studies of variable quality, we found that certified tropical forests can overall be better for the environment than forests managed conventionally.
- But there wasn’t enough evidence to say if certified tropical forests are better than, the same as, or worse than conventionally managed tropical forests when it comes to people.
- We also found that profits and other economic benefits can be hard to come by for certified logging companies working in tropical forests.
- This is part of a special Mongabay series on “Conservation Effectiveness”.

Zero tolerance of deforestation likely only way to save Amazon gateway
- In a new paper, conservationists urgently call for a policy of zero deforestation and sustainable agroforestry in Maranhão, one of Brazil’s poorest states, before its remaining Amazon forests are lost.
- The region’s forests are home to unique and endangered species, including the jaguar (Panthera onca), Black bearded saki (Chiropotes satanas), and kaapori capuchin (Cebus kaapori), one of the world’s rarest primates.
- It is also inhabited by some of the most vulnerable indigenous groups in the world, including uncontacted indigenous communities.
- Though 70 percent of remaining forest lies within protected areas, illegal logging and slash-and-burn agriculture are persistent problems, threatening already fragmented wildlife habitat and forcing indigenous tribes off ancestral land.

Big animals can survive reduced-impact logging — if done right
- Employing camera traps to survey Amazonian mammals in Guyana, researchers found that large mammals and birds did not see a lower population of target species in reduced-impact logging areas as compared to unlogged areas. For some species, like jaguars and pumas, population numbers actually rose.
- The research was conducted in an unusually managed swath of forest: Iwokrama. Spreading over nearly 400,000 hectares (close to 990,000 acres) – an area a little smaller than Rhode Island – Iwokrama Forest is managed by the not-for-profit Iwokrama organization and 16 local Makushi communities.
- Looking at 17 key species in the area – including 15 mammals and two large birds – the researchers found that populations didn’t change much between logged and unlogged areas, a sign that Iwokrama’s logging regime is not disturbing the area’s larger taxa.

Delicate Solomon Island ecosystem in danger of heavy logging
- Foreign and domestic companies are making a push – at times using allegedly unethical means – for the timber found on the island of Nende in the Santa Cruz chain of the Solomon Islands.
- The island’s old-growth forests are home to animals like the Santa Cruz shrikebill, which is found nowhere else on Earth.
- Concerns have been voiced that logging could wreak havoc on the ecosystem, from the watersheds in the mountains down to the coral reefs ringing the island, if large-scale logging is allowed to proceed.

Corruption drives dealings with logging companies in the Solomon Islands
- The old-growth forests on the island of Nende anchor a unique ecosystem that hold creatures found nowhere else and that have supported communities for centuries.
- Logging companies are eager to harvest the island’s timber, which could be worth as much as SI$10 million ($1.26 million).
- Scientists worry that logging would destroy everything from the mountain sources of the island’s fresh water to the reefs where sedimentation as a result of logging could kill coral.
- Conservation groups and sources from within the provincial government have charged that the companies are using coercion and bribes to convince landowners and development organizations to back their plans to log Nende’s forests.

Ebo forest great apes threatened by stalled Cameroon national park
- Cameroon’s Ebo forest is home to key populations of tool-wielding Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzees, along with an unspecified subspecies of gorilla, drills, Preuss’s Red Colobus, forest elephants, and a great deal more biodiversity.
- The forest is vulnerable, unprotected due to a drawn-out fight to secure its status as a national park. Logging and hunting threaten Ebo’s biodiversity. The Cameroonian palm oil company Azur recently began planting a 123,000 hectare plantation on its boundary.
- The Ebo Forest Research Project (EFRP) has been working successfully to change the habits of local people who have long subsisted on the forest’s natural resources — turning hunters into great ape guardians. But without the establishment of the national park and full legal protection and enforcement, everyone’s efforts may be in vain.

Paying for healthcare with trees: win-win for orangutans and communities
- In 2016, the Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) was declared Critically Endangered by the IUCN. Orangutan habitat is fast disappearing due to deforestation caused by industrial agriculture, forest fires, slash and burn agriculture, and logging.
- One of the most important remaining P. pygmaeus populations, with roughly 2,000 individuals, is in Indonesia’s Gunung Palung National Park. Alam Sehat Lestari (Healthy Nature Everlasting, or ASRI) is partnering with U.S. NGO Health in Harmony and effectively reducing illegal logging in the park via a unique healthcare offering.
- When communities were asked what was needed to stop them from logging conserved forest, the people answered: affordable healthcare and organic farming. Expensive medical costs were forcing people to log to pay medical bills, while unsustainable agricultural practices depleted the soil, necessitating the use of costly fertilizers.
- The two NGOs opened an affordable health clinic, and later a hospital, offering discounted medical service to communities that stop logging. Forest guardians, recruited in every village, encourage people to curb deforestation. They also monitor illegal activity and reforestation, while offering training in organic farming methods. And the program works!

A Sumatran king’s 1,400-year-old vision for sustainable landscape planning
- Indonesia’s South Sumatra is an epicenter of the annual peat fires that ravage the archipelago country.
- The province has become a staging ground for projects like KELOLA Sendang, which is intended to promote sustainable landscape management in an important tiger habitat.
- More than a millennium ago, the ruler of the Srivijaya kingdom put forth his own vision for sustainable prosperity — one of which today’s policymakers could take heed.

Delays continue over signing of Guyana-EU trade agreement to combat illegal logging
- Part of the process involves setting up a Voluntary Partnership Agreement, or VPA – a trade agreement between the EU and a timber-producing country to ensure legal sourcing.
- Negotiations, which take place under the auspices of the EU’s Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT), are expected to continue for much of 2017.
- Delays with VPA’s are not unheard of, but a new deadline on the Guyana trade agreement has been pushed back to the end of 2017.

Successful forest protection in DRC hinges on community participation
- Forest covers at least 112 million hectares of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
- Studies from 2013 show that subsistence agriculture and the need for firewood threaten DRC’s forests, and new investments in the countries forests by industrial outfits could contribute to the problem.
- DRC’s leaders have signed on to international agreements and have begun to receive millions of dollars to finance projects aimed at keeping DRC’s forests standing, protecting global climate and reducing poverty.

Ethiopia looks to carbon trading as it gears up to be net carbon neutral by 2025
- The massive Oromia region constitutes over 34 percent of Ethiopia’s landmass and is home to more than 33 million people.
- The Oromia program will receive $68 million in various benefits through two World Bank program for the next decade.
- Ethiopia will use the program to build on existing landscape protection and project approaches to REDD+ as they scale up and finance improved land use across Oromia.

Forest protection funds flow to DRC despite ‘illegal’ logging permits
- Since signing agreements with the government of Norway and the Central African Forests Initiative, Greenpeace says leaders in Congo have approved two concessions on 4,000 square kilometers of forest.
- DRC expects to receive tens of millions of dollars from CAFI and the Norwegian government for forest protection and sustainable development.
- Greenpeace and other watchdog groups have called for an investigation into how these concessions are awarded and an overhaul of donor funding.

NGO takes action to save great apes in Cameroon’s Lebialem Highlands
- The Lebialem Highlands, in Cameroon’s southwest, is a rugged mountainous and plateaued region still inhabited by the Critically Endangered Cross River gorilla, the Endangered Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee and the Vulnerable African forest elephant.
- While the Cameroon government has taken action by protecting swathes of forest in the region, they admit to being unable to fully protect this habitat from incursions by surrounding communities, who go to the protected lands to farm, harvest bushmeat, hunt, log and mine.
- The Environment and Rural Development Foundation (ERuDeF), an NGO, has stepped in to help protect Highlands conserved areas — including the Tofala Hills Wildlife Sanctuary and the still to be created Mak-Betchou Wildlife Sanctuary.
- Supported by the Rainforest Trust-USA, ERuDeF is also working to improve local village economies and livelihoods in order to take pressure off of wildlife.

Logging in certified concessions drove intact forest landscape loss in Congo Basin
- A study published in the journal Science Advances this month found that, between 2000 and 2013, the global area of intact forest landscape declined by 7.2 percent.
- Certification of logging concessions, which aims to ensure sustainable forest management practices, had a “negligible” impact on slowing the fragmentation of intact forest landscapes (IFLs) in the Congo Basin, according to the study.
- According to Corey Brinkema, president of the Forest Stewardship Council US, the findings of the study may be noteworthy, but they don’t apply to how FSC operates today.

‘Revolutionary’ new biodiversity maps reveal big gaps in conservation
- The research uses the chemical signals of tree communities to reveal their different survival strategies and identify priority areas for protection.
- Currently, the Carnegie Airborne Observatory’s airplane provides the only way to create these biodiversity maps. But the team is working to install the technology in an Earth-orbiting satellite.
- Once launched, the $200 million satellite would provide worldwide biodiversity mapping updated every month.

Guyana focuses deforestation prevention efforts on conservation and management
- Almost 90 percent of Guyana’s roughly 750,000 residents live in coastal areas outside of the forests, which contributes to the preservation of the country’s intact forest landscape.
- Over the past two decades, deforestation rates in Guyana have ranged from between 0.02 percent to 0.079 percent – far less than many other tropical countries.
- Gold mining appears to be the biggest threat to Guyana’s forests, driving approximately 85 percent of the country’s deforestation in 2014.

Indigenous traditional knowledge revival helps conserve great apes
- Deforestation and hunting continue to put Africa’s great apes at risk. National parks and other top down strategies have met with limited success. Many conservationists are trying alternative strategies, especially harnessing the power of indigenous taboos and other traditional knowledge to motivate local communities to protect great apes.
- In remote parts of Africa, taboos against hunting have long helped conserve gorilla populations. However, those ancient traditions are being weakened by globalization, modernization and Christianity, with anti-hunting taboos and other traditional beliefs being abandoned at a time when they are most needed to conserve great apes.
- Primatologist Denis Ndeloh Etiendem suggests a unique approach to reviving indigenous taboos and traditional beliefs — the creation of videos and films in which these beliefs are presented as a prime reason for conserving wildlife. He also urges that African environmental and general educational curricula focus not on endangered dolphins or whales, but on wildlife found in interior Africa.
- Development specialist Dominique Bikaba emphasizes the importance of moving away from top down federal management, and to local management of community forests by indigenous communities, whose leaders mesh traditional beliefs with modern conservation strategies. Prime examples are successes seen at Burhinyi Community Forest in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Local NGOs: Ecosystem services, not orangutans, key to saving Leuser
- Sumatra’s Leuser ecosystem covers 2.6 million hectares, encompasses two mountain ranges, three lakes, nine river systems and three national parks. It boasts 10,000 species of plant and 200 species of mammal — dozens found nowhere else on earth. Of the 6,000 orangutans left in Sumatra, 90 percent live in Leuser.
- But the region has been under siege by the government of Aceh, which has repeatedly tried to sell off concessions to oil palm companies that encroach on the borders of conserved lands.
- While international environmental NGOs have focused on saving Leuser’s orangutans, local NGOs have had far more success focusing on the US $23 billion in ecosystem services provided by the preserve — including flood prevention, water supply, agro-ecology, tourism, fire prevention, carbon sequestration, and more.
- Many rural Sumatrans see orangutans not as important endangered species to be protected, but rather as garden and farm pests. Local organizers like Rudi Putra and T.M. Zulfikar are building a homegrown Sumatran conservation movement that relies heavily on litigation over the potential loss of Leuser’s ecosystem services.

FSC certification gives boost to rainforest community
- The 371,000-hectare Iwokrama forest reserve was awarded FSC certification in October 2016.
- Iwokrama is renowned for its collaborative forest management approach with surrounding communities, including the Amerindian community of Fairview.
- Fairview is the only Amerindian community within the Iwokrama forest and is closely involved in a portion of its management.

Are conservation policies a driver of deforestation in Tanzania?
- Authors of this article believe that conservation initiatives are among the causes of deforestation in Tanzania, which has one of the highest deforestation rates in East Africa.
- The authors believe that “attribution of deforestation to the actions of poor and land dependent rural citizens of Tanzania are…unfair, damaging and unhelpful in directing conservation action.”
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.

This is why your coffee beans matter to the planet
- Coffee is one of the world’s most traded commodities and last year, 148 million 132-pound bags of coffee were produced globally.
- Southwest Ethiopia is home to the important Coffea Arabica, the genetic root of Arabica coffee.
- Commercial coffee is descended from a small number of plants which have been bred for a number of specific characteristics such as high yields.

Ethiopia’s vulnerable tropical forests are key to securing future of wild coffee
- Wild Ethiopian coffee is worth three times as much as non-wild coffee on the commercial market.
- Southwest Ethiopia’s vulnerable forests are the center of of wild coffee’s genetic diversity.
- Wild Ethiopian coffee represents an insurance plan of sorts for the commercial coffee market.

Voluntary certification standards have far to go, say experts
- Certification should be combined with other standard public policies to promote sustainable forest management principles, say experts.
- Experts point to a need for more relationship building between voluntary certification schemes and public institutions.
- Effective certification requires the cooperation of policy makers, certification schemes, companies, academics and other stakeholders.

Researchers say addressing the second D in REDD can benefit the climate while ensuring timber harvests
- An international team of researchers analyzed the potential for timber production and carbon emission reductions under two logging techniques over a 40-year period of selective logging.
- They published their results this month in the journal Frontiers in Environmental Science along with their recommendations that the world address tropical forest degradation — the second “D” in the UN’s REDD+ program (which stands for Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation).
- Tropical deforestation is responsible for 10 percent of manmade greenhouse gas emissions every year — but that doesn’t include emissions from unnecessarily destructive logging, which also reduces commercial timber stocks and makes forests more prone to burning and clearing, the authors of the study wrote.

Borneo conservationists and top oil palm firm work to help orangutans
- Oil palm production in Borneo is booming, resulting in major deforestation and putting Critically Endangered orangutans at risk. But the industry and conservationists have historically not worked well together to solve the problem.
- In an attempt at a solution, Orangutan Foundation International and PT SMART — Indonesia’s largest oil palm group — have joined forces to teach administrators, management and workers to value and protect orangutans.
- PT SMART and PT Lontar Papyrus, a major wood pulp supplier, have agreed to a Zero Tolerance/No Kill policy for orangutans and other protected species, and OFI is running an ongoing training program to initiate employees to the initiative.

10 conservation “fads”: how have they worked in Latin America?
- A 2013 editorial in the journal Conservation Biology described 10 conservation methods that emerged since the late 1970’s as fads, “approaches that are embraced enthusiastically and then abandoned.”
- The fads on the list were: the marketing of natural products from rain forests, biological diversity hotspots, integrated conservation and development projects, ecotourism, ecocertification, community-based conservation, payment for ecosystem or environmental services, REDD+, conservation concessions, and so-called integrated landscapes.
- Mongabay consulted seven conservation experts on how the 10 fads played out in Latin America, a region that is not only a hotbed of biodiversity but also of conservation activity.

Controversial park plans in Guatemala’s Maya Biosphere Reserve
- Mirador-Rio Azul National Park is one of the best-conserved protected areas in Guatemala’s Maya Biosphere Reserve, where illegal logging and agriculture, forest fires, looting, and drug trafficking have contributed to deforestation.
- A plan to increase tourism to the area and redraw the boundaries of the park and adjacent community forest concessions aims to prevent these threats from compromising the area’s rainforest and important archaeological sites.
- Yet the plan has drawn widespread opposition from local communities, environmental NGOs, and the government agency charged with managing the reserve. Opponents say the plan would threaten the region’s ecology, local livelihoods, and community forest concessions that have successfully protected the rainforest.

Communities lead the way in rainforest conservation in Guatemala
- The Maya Biosphere Reserve, which covers one-fifth of Guatemala, is one of the most important tropical forest areas north of the Amazon and contains dozens of ancient Mayan archaeological sites.
- The best way to protect the reserve’s rainforest—better than national parks—has turned out to be nine community concessions, forest allotments where locals earn a living from the carefully regulated extraction of timber and plants.
- However, the community concessions’ future remains unclear, with contracts set to expire in the coming years and powerful forces opposing them.

Successes and many challenges in Guatemala’s Maya Biosphere Reserve
- The Maya Biosphere Reserve, which covers one-fifth of Guatemala, is one of the most important tropical forest areas north of the Amazon.
- The reserve is a gem of biological and cultural heritage, with more than 500 species of birds, numerous endangered and iconic wildlife species, and dozens of ancient Mayan archaeological sites.
- The reserve’s multiple-use zone has generally succeeded at reducing deforestation and providing sustainable livelihoods for communities living there. But deforestation remains a huge problem in the reserve as a whole, pushed along by complex factors, including illegal settlement by landless migrants, oil development, and the presence of drug traffickers, cattle ranchers, and other armed groups.

Grim forecast for paper giant’s wood supply raises deforestation fears
- Asia Pulp & Paper spent decades eating through Indonesia’s vast rainforests. Then in 2013, it promised to stop logging natural forests and rely on plantation timber exclusively.
- The company’s huge new mill in Sumatra, though, will require vast quantities of wood when it starts operating this year.
- A new NGO report suggests the company will have to resume deforestation or risk shattering financial losses. APP has dismissed those concerns, promising to import wood chips if needed.

Designing the ideal wildlife corridor for Malaysia’s orangutans
- Wildlife corridors are critically important to perpetuating species in a fragmented landscape. Such corridors offer genetic mixing opportunities for large, wide-ranging mammals, especially when they’re trying to mate across vast agricultural landscapes.
- Malaysian oil palm development has devastated the country’s forests. SAFE, a cooperative project between ecologists, the oil palm industry, and a Sabah landowner, is researching the ideal design for functional wildlife corridors within plantations.
- As the Kalabakan River network is being converted to oil palm plantations, scientists will be gathering ongoing data on several existing riverine corridors, with a variety of widths and habitat characteristics, to see which ones work best for wildlife over time.

An agribusiness revolution is needed to save Africa’s last great apes
- Since 2005 up to 227,000 square kilometers (87,645 square miles), an area nearly the size of Ghana, has been acquired in sub-Saharan Africa for large-scale agricultural and forestry concessions. And more concessions are on the way.
- With oil palm production poised to explode in Africa, conservationists are scrambling to set up standards for the industry, an effort complicated by by the extreme poverty and corrupt power elites found in many nations.
- If Africa’s priceless natural heritage is to be preserved, including its great apes, then a revolution in agricultural practices is needed which will demand a cooperative effort by governments, agribusiness and conservationists.

Maroon 5 musicians voice support for community forestry in Guatemala
- Concerned that wood used in guitars and other instruments be sustainably sourced, members of the American bands Maroon 5 and Guster visited Guatemala’s Maya Biosphere Reserve in December.
- While there they met with governmental officials, the Association of Forest Communities of Peten, and locals involved in the harvest, processing, and export of certified wood from community forest concessions.
- Citing reduced deforestation and benefits to communities in the concessions, the musicans urged Guatemalan president Jimmy Morales to extend the concessions’ contracts, several of which are set to expire within the next decade.

New study finds insufficient degraded land for further strong oil palm expansion in Kalimantan
- Major palm oil companies say they can increase production without destroying more forests, in part by expanding into degraded lands only.
- A new study, though, finds that may be easier said than done in Kalimantan, which lies at the center of the industry’s boom in Indonesia.
- If palm oil demand keeps growing at a high rate, degraded land alone won’t be able to accommodate the expansion that will be necessary to satisfy it, the researchers found.

Palm oil’s new frontier: averting a Great Ape catastrophe in Cameroon
- Cameroon, with its vast bio-diverse forests and key great ape habitat, is being eyed as a prime site for oil palm production, making it a center of agro-industry development in Africa. Conservationists hope to avoid mistakes made in Asia.
- Conservationists in Africa are working to implement oil palm standards that will limit deforestation, protect biodiversity, limit carbon emissions, and benefit smallholders, while also supporting economic growth and job creation.
- A key to Africa’s sustainable oil palm production is the implementation of mutually agreed upon industry-wide, and possibly nationwide, sustainable standards for siting and development of plantations.
- Standards being tested are: the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) that identifies High Conservation Value areas; a system favored by WWF using integrated land-use planning / smallholders; and Zero Deforestation (ZD) favored by Greenpeace.

Major legal system breakdowns threaten great apes of Africa, Asia
- A comparison of the legal systems in Asian and African developing nations finds similar regulatory defects putting great apes greatly at risk in the face of rapid agribusiness development.
- Gabon, Liberia, Indonesia and Myanmar, for example, have all created conserved areas — protections deeply flawed by a lack of institutional capacity, inadequate funding, and poor enforcement.
- These nations, like other developing countries, suffer from a top-down concentration of political and legal power with centralized urban elites far from the backcountry where environmental and societal harm unfolds.
- The conservation laws of developing nations do not well address the leading cause of great ape decline: an explosion in habitat loss — the chief result of industrial agricultural expansion.

Leuser’s Legacy: how rescued orangutans help assure species survival
- Agribusiness is rapidly razing the prime forest habitat of Sumatra’s 14,600 remaining orangutans; replacing it with vast stretches of oil palm plantation. The species’ population is predicted to plummet unless a way is found to protect their habitat.
- SOCP, the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program, is working to rescue orangutans left without their forest homes by new oil palm plantations; relocating the animals to intact forests not included in proposed concessions.
- This story moves beyond the statistics of wildlife conservation and follows the lives of a single family of orangutans: blind parents Leuser and Gober, and their offspring Ganteng and Ginting — animals left homeless then rescued.

Hope for monkey on brink of extinction: new population found in Vietnam
- Grey-shanked doucs live in the forest canopy of the Central Highlands of Vietnam. Their numbers have been severely reduced by habitat loss and fragmentation, along with hunting for food and the pet trade.
- Fauna & Flora International (FFI) researchers located the 500+ animals in several subpopulations within the Kon Tum forest, which provides important connectivity to protected areas to the south and north, and across the border into Cambodia.
- FFI Vietnam is now developing a conservation strategy which may include ecotourism and forest patrols for the newly discovered population. Vietnam is home to 11 Critically Endangered primate species, and a priority for primate conservation in Southeast Asia and the world.

Oil palm company takes lead on sustainable agriculture in Gabon
- To meet global demand for palm oil, companies are rapidly shifting their focus from Southeast Asia to Africa, where conservationists and some companies are working together to avoid mistakes made in Indonesia and Malaysia. One such company is Olam-Gabon, which is teaming up with researchers to site new plantations to minimize biodiversity impacts.
- Some companies are increasingly using Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil standards (RSPO), developed in collaboration with conservation groups, to allow a nuanced approach to site selection that looks at ecosystems, biodiversity, key species, landscapes, carbon sequestration and human use.
- The challenge is finding a balance that allows for new palm oil plantation creation, providing economic growth for developing companies, along with jobs, while maximizing safeguards to protect forests and biodiversity.

Indonesia’s antigraft agency strives to rein in the mining sector
- Indonesia’s anticorruption agency has become involved in a number of initiatives to improve governance of natural resources in the archipelago.
- One such effort, focused on the mining sector, involves 12 provinces and has resulted in the cancellation of hundreds of permits.
- This initiative, known as Korsup Minerba, recently produced an assessment of the provinces’ progress in reining in the miners under their watch.

Communities and cutting-edge tech keep Cambodia’s gibbons singing
- The Central Indochina Dry Forest ecoregion is rapidly being consumed by large agribusiness concessions, threatening the Pileated Gibbon, Asian Elephant, Fishing Cat and many other unique animals.
- SMART, a new cutting edge law enforcement monitoring tool, developed by a consortium of conservation organizations including the Wildlife Conservation Society, is now helping strengthen wildlife protection standards in Cambodia. The number of Pileated Gibbon poaching cases have fallen drastically as a result.
- A Cambodian moratorium on new agricultural concessions, a plan for a major new protected area that will connect prime Pileated Gibbon habitat, and vibrant community engagement in conservation are all brightening the future for this Endangered gibbon.

Indonesian palm oil giant joins no-deforestation pledge amid criticism from politicians
- Astra Agro Lestari is the sixth company to join the Indonesia Palm Oil Pledge.
- The company was targeted by environmentalists before it promised to eliminate deforestation from its supply chain last year.
- Some Indonesian politicians continue to slam the zero-deforestation trend as an affront to the country’s sovereignty and a danger to small farmers.

Study gauges use of tea as buffer crop to curb mountain gorilla raids
- Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda is home to an estimated 400 mountain gorillas, nearly half of the global population.
- The park is surrounded by agricultural plots which the gorillas raid, making gorilla-human conflict a continual problem that threatens conservation efforts.
- Tea plantations — widely regarded as good gorilla buffer crops — were planted on Bwindi borders, but failed to end the raids. A study found the problem: gorilla-attracting herbaceous plants interspersed with the tea. A tea mono-crop reduces crop raids.

Does sustainable forest management actually protect forests?
- A team of scientists is questioning whether sustainable forest management (SFM) is as effective as believed, based on their analysis of timber concessions in the Central African nation of the Republic of Congo.
- In a recent study, they find that timber concessions operating under forest management plans (FMPs) showed higher rates of deforestation than concessions without them.
- However, other experts in the field of tropical forestry say the study is overly simplistic, arguing that FMP performance alone should not be used as a barometer of SFM success or failure.

Four major US brands to drop controversial sustainable forestry certification scheme
- Xerox, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Delta Dental and Bigelow Tea have expanded on their commitments to support responsible forestry by distancing their brands from the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, a controversial paper and wood certification scheme.
- More than 30 companies have committed to stop promoting SFI to date, including numerous Fortune 500 companies.
- The global market for certified forest products was worth more than $20 billion in 2013.

Study finds local people do forest monitoring as well as scientists
- A recent study found that trained and motivated local people can accurately monitor their local environment just as effectively as trained scientists.
- The use of community volunteers is most effective when it highlights community benefits, data accuracy, and fosters wide community support.
- The study authors urge government and scientific agencies to implement training and programming in local communities as a cost effective alternative to expensive scientific surveys.

Agroforestry in spotlight ahead of Jokowi’s trip to New York
- Researchers gathered in Bogor this week to promote the tenets of agroforestry ahead of next week’s signing of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
- Agroforestry, in practice, aims to diversify crop arrangement to make land more resilient while also adding trees to sequester carbon.
- Projects from Indonesia and elsewhere were on display, with the goal of providing an evidence base for future engagement in SDG processes.

Selective logging causes long-term changes to forest structure

Logging in Gabon. Photos by Rhett A. Butler Selective logging is causing long-term changes to tropical forests in Africa by facilitating the growth of weeds and vines, which reduces plant diversity and diminishes carbon storage, reports a new paper published in the journal Ecological Research. The paper, led by Roberto Cazzolla Gatti of the University […]
Boosting the conservation value of 4M sq km of rainforest logging concessions

Short of buying back logging concessions, switching from conventional logging approaches to reduced impact logging techniques across existing forestry concessions may be the best way boost biodiversity in areas earmarked for timber extraction, argues paper. Logging in Borneo. Photos by Rhett A Butler. Logging is one of the most important drivers of deforestation. However unlike […]
An impossible balancing act? Forests benefit from isolation, but at cost to local communities

The indigenous people of the Amazon live in areas that house many of the Amazon’s diverse species. The Rupununi region of Guyana is one such area, with approximately 20,000 Makushi and Wapishana people living in isolation. According to a recent study published in Environmental Modelling & Software, a simulation model revealed a link between growing […]
How do we save the world’s vanishing old-growth forests?

Scientists say both rich and developing countries must recognize primary forests as a conservation priority. Primary rainforest in Imbak Canyon in the state of Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. The forest is home to pygmy elephants, clouded leopard, orangutans, banteng, and proboscis monkeys among thousands of other species. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. There’s nothing in the […]
Next big idea in forest conservation? DNA fingerprinting trees to stem illegal logging

Innovation in Tropical Forest Conservation: Q&A with Dr. Chuck Cannon As a professor at Texas Tech, Dr. Chuck Cannon has been, among other things, working to create a system of DNA fingerprinting for tropical trees to undercut the global illegal logging trade. “If we just enforced existing laws and management policies, things would be pretty […]
Ecologists are underestimating the impacts of rainforest logging
- Ecologists may be underestimating the impact of logging in old-growth tropical forests by failing to account for subtleties in how different animal groups respond to the intensity of timber extraction, argues a paper published today in the journal Current Biology.
- The study, led by Zuzana Burivalova of ETH Zurich, is based on a meta-analysis of 48 studies that evaluated the impact of selective logging on mammals, birds, amphibians, and invertebrates in tropical forests.
- “Sustainable forestry” may be far from sustainable for biodiversity at current intensities in some forests.

Next big idea in forest conservation? Rewards for reforestation

Innovation in Tropical Forest Conservation: Q&A with Susie McGuire and Dr. Ed Louis Jr. Ed Louis (left) and Susie McGuire (right) with aye-aye. Photo courtesy of the Madagascar Biodiversity Partnership and Conservation Fusion. Susie McGuire and Dr. Edward Louis Jr. are the powerhouse team behind the Madagascar Biodiversity Partnership (MBP), an NGO that involves local […]
Next big idea in forest conservation? The ‘double-edged sword’ of democracy

Innovation in Tropical Forest Conservation: Q&A with Dr. Douglas Sheil The Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda hosts nearly half of the world’s remaining mountain gorillas. Photo courtesy of Douglas Sheil. Dr. Douglas Sheil considers himself an ecologist, but his research includes both conservation and management of tropical forests. Currently teaching at the Norwegian University of […]
PhD students ‘thrilled’ to rediscover mammal missing for 124 years

In 1890 Lamberto Loria collected 45 specimens—all female—of a small bat from the wilds of Papua New Guinea. Nearly 25 years later, in 1914, the species was finally described and named by British zoologist Oldfield Thomas, who dubbed it the New Guinea big-eared bat (Pharotis imogene) after its massive ears. But no one ever saw […]
Zero-deforestation commitments pose acute challenges for commercial giants in the palm oil industry

Nothing can ruin the intensely enjoyable experience of digging into a spoonful of the delectable hazelnut spread, Nutella, than turning over the can to examine its ingredient list. Right there, front and center, is palm oil: its production directly imperils Critically Endangered orangutans, among thousands of other species. But attempts to regulate palm oil production […]
Legal logging concessions drive illegal logging in Peru, threatening forests and indigenous people

Logging barge traveling down the Amazon River in northern Peru. According to new study, many of these giant logs may have come from unauthorized areas, including protected areas and indigenous territories, outside of legal concessions. Credit: Clinton N Jenkins Nearly 70 percent of “officially inspected” logging concessions in Peru have had their permits canceled or […]
Scientists: well-managed forest restoration benefits both biodiversity and people

In November this year, the world was greeted by the dismaying news that deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon jumped 28% in the past year. The year 2013 also holds the dubious distinction of being the first time since humans appeared on the planet, that carbon concentrations in the atmosphere rose to 400 parts per million. […]
REDD+ carbon market stabilizes, but risk of supply glut looms

The state of the REDD+ carbon market in 2012 Logging, conversion to plantations and agriculture, and other drivers of deforestation account for roughly ten percent of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions The market for carbon credits generated under projects that reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) showed signs of stabilizing in 2012 after a […]
Redeeming REDD: a conversation with Michael Brown

In Redeeming REDD: Policies, Incentives and Social Feasibility for Avoided Deforestation, anthropologist Michael Brown relays a constructive critique of the contemporary aims, standards and modalities for mitigating climate change by reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD). Brown advocates for REDD as a viable mechanism for the long-term pro-poor conservation and restoration of tropical forests […]
World’s most cryptic feline photographed in logging concession

The bay cat is arguably the world’s least-known member of the cat family (Felidae). Although first described by scientists in 1874, no photo existed of a living specimen until 1998 and a wild cat in its rainforest habitat wasn’t photographed until five years later. Given this, scientists with Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and Imperial […]
World’s biggest companies lay out path toward zero-deforestation commodities

With a backdrop of fires raging across oil palm and timber plantations in Sumatra, business and political leaders convened in Indonesia to discuss a path forward for producing deforestation-free commodities by 2020. The gathering in Jakarta was the first meeting of the Tropical Forest Alliance 2020, a public-private push to implement the zero deforestation target […]
Greenpeace launches series of case studies critiquing forest certification standard

Activist group Greenpeace says it will publish a series of case studies highlighting examples of good and bad practice among operations certified under the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), an eco-standard for forest products. Greenpeace, an FSC member since the body was found in 1993, says that as the standard has expanded, the risk to its […]
Solving ‘wicked problems’: ten principles for improved environmental management

As agriculture continues to expand at the expense of forests in the tropics, humanity struggles to meet environmental protection goals. Despite global efforts towards sustainable agriculture and some progress towards the gazetting of protected areas, there are as yet no general and effective solutions for meeting both conservation goals and food needs, and thus the […]
Featured video: local communities successfully conserve forests in Ethiopia

A participatory forest management (PFM) program in Ethiopia has made good on forest preservation and expansion, according a recent article and video interview (below) from the Guardian. After 15 years, the program has aided one community in expanding its forest by 9.2 percent in the last decade, while still allowing community access to forest for […]
International Paper commits to working with longtime foe to protect endangered forests

In another sign that the global paper industry may be steering toward more sustainable practices following years of bruising activist campaigns and pressure from buyers, International Paper (IP) has committed to identifying and protecting endangered forests and high conservation value areas in the southern U.S. The company, which is the world’s largest paper maker, will […]
Still hope for tropical biodiversity in human modified landscapes

As primary forests become increasingly rare and expensive to protect, many ecologists are looking to better management of Human Modified Landscapes (HMLs) to shepherd and shield biodiversity in the tropics. Secondary forests, selectively logged forests and lands devoted to sustainable agriculture already play an important role in conservation efforts. However, the idea that HMLs will […]
Malaysian NGOs boldly demand forest conservation action in Borneo

In an unusually bold statement catalyzed by the deaths of 14 rare elephants, six Malaysian NGOs today called on the Sabah state government to pursue “a more conservation focused agenda” in managing the state’s forests. The call-to-action, addressed to Sabah’s chief minister Musa Aman, focuses on three core recommendations: setting aside more forest areas for […]
Selective logging changes character of tropical forest

Editor’s note: this story should have been published 12/12/2011 but due to a technical glitch never went online. We just noticed its unpublished status today. Our apologies to Velho and Krishnadas (2011). Selective logging is usually considered less harmful than other forestry practices, such as clear cutting, but a new study in mongabay.com’s open access […]
Rosewood in Belize: the truth behind the smoke

Rosewood logging in Belize. Photo by: Will Maheia. In Belize, the uncontrolled and often illegal harvesting of rosewood has been, and still is, one of the major environmental issues in the country. In March of last year, the government established a moratorium on the export and extraction of rosewood, however illegal harvesting continued. On Friday […]
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 rainforest logging. Greenpeace and Global Witness issued a statement condemning last Friday’s decision by The World Bank Board of Directors not to pursue a review […]
Scientists point to research flaw that has likely exaggerated the impact of logging in tropical forests

Logged forest in Malaysian Borneo. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. The impact of logging on tropical forest species has likely been exaggerated by statistical problems, according to a new study in Conservation Biology. Reviewing 77 studies on how logging affects tropical biodiversity, scientists found that 67 percent were flawed by a technical problem known as […]
Greenpeace says U.S. logging company has broken landmark boreal forest agreement

UPDATE: GREENPEACE RETRACTS ALL ALLEGATIONS. In a statement Greenpeace has retracted its allegations that Resolute Forest Products was logging in critical caribou habitat. Here’s the statement in fulll: “On 6 December 2012, Greenpeace Canada made statements regarding Resolute Forest Products which incorrectly stated that Resolute had breached the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement by approving and […]
Borneo may lose half its orangutans to deforestation, hunting, and plantations

Future hanging in balance? Borneo orang-utan. Photo by Rhett Butler. Borneo will likely lose half of its orangutans if current deforestation and forest conversion trends continue, warns a comprehensive new assessment by an international team of researchers. The study, published in the journal PLoS ONE, overlays orangutan distribution with land use regulations in Malaysian and […]
Saving ‘Avatar Grove’: the battle to preserve old-growth forests in British Columbia
- A picture is worth a thousand words: this common adage comes instantly to mind when viewing T.J. Watt’s unforgettable photos of lost trees.
- For years, Watt has been photographing the beauty of Vancouver Island’s ancient temperate rainforests, and documenting their loss to clearcut logging.
- The photographer and environmental activist recently helped co-found the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA), a group devoted to saving the island’s and British Columbia’s (BC) last old-growth while working with the logging industry to adopt sustainable practices.
- This February the organization succeeded in saving Avatar Grove—which was only discovered in 2009—from being clearcut.

Experts: sustainable logging in rainforests impossible

Logging in Gabon, Central Africa. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Industrial logging in primary tropical forests that is both sustainable and profitable is impossible, argues a new study in Bioscience, which finds that the ecology of tropical hardwoods makes logging with truly sustainable practices not only impractical, but completely unprofitable. Given this, the researchers recommend […]
Industrial logging leaves a poor legacy in Borneo’s rainforests

This is an expanded version of an article, titled A Desperate Effort to Save the Rainforest of Borneo, that appeared last month on Yale e360. Rainforest in Sabah. All photo by Rhett A. Butler. For most people “Borneo” conjures up an image of a wild and distant land of rainforests, exotic beasts, and nomadic tribes. […]
Experts dispute recent study that claims little impact by pre-Columbian tribes in Amazon

The Amazon forest along the Tambopata River in Peru. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. A study last month in the journal Science argued that pre-Columbian peoples had little impact on the western and central Amazon, going against a recently composed picture of the early Amazon inhabited by large, sophisticated populations influencing both the forest and […]
Congolese experts needed to protect Congo Basin rainforests

Professor Baboko teaching a geography class at the Djolu Technical College of Rural Development. Photo courtesy of: Ingrid Schulze. This summer, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is expected to approve a new higher education strategy which the country has developed with the World Bank and other international donors. The shape of this educational reform […]
Over 700 people killed defending forest and land rights in past ten years

José Cláudio Ribeiro da Silva speaking at a TEDx Amazon in 2010, just a few months before he and his wife were assassinated for their activism. On May 24th, 2011, forest activist José Cláudio Ribeiro da Silva and his wife, Maria do Espírito Santo da Silva, were gunned down in an ambush in the Brazilian […]
Indigenous rights rising in tropical forests, but big gaps remain

Children in Dani village in West Papua, Indonesia. The Indonesian constitution gives the government ownership over all land and natural resources. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. In the last twenty years, rights for indigenous forest dwellers have expanded significantly, according to a new report by the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI). Covering nearly thirty tropical […]
Can loggers be conservationists?

Sawmill in Indonesia. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Last year researchers took the first ever publicly-released video of an African golden cat (Profelis aurata) in a Gabon rainforest. This beautiful, but elusive, feline was filmed sitting docilely for the camera and chasing a bat. The least-known of Africa’s wild cat species, the African golden cat […]
Featured video: How to save the Amazon
The past ten years have seen unprecedented progress in fighting deforestation in the Amazon. Indigenous rights, payments for ecosystem services, government enforcement, satellite imagery, and a spirit of cooperation amongst old foes has resulted in a decline of 80 percent in Brazil’s deforestation rates. A new video Hanging in the Balance by the Skoll Foundation […]
Police hired by loggers in Papua New Guinea lock locals in shipping containers

A bulldozer rumbles over a recently deforested area in Pomio District, East New Britain, Papua New Guinea. Photo by: Paul Hilton/Greenpeace. Locals protesting the destruction of their forest in Papua New Guinea for two palm oil plantations say police have been sent in for a second time to crack-down on their activities, even as a […]
How best to monitor biodiversity in REDD+ projects?

Butterflies feeding on minerals in Uganda. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. If done well, REDD+ projects (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) may not only save carbon rich forests, but also protect embattled biodiversity. But what’s the best way to ensure both and carbon and species are preserved under REDD+, a program that proposes […]
After illegal logging allegations, certifier lodges complaint against paper giant APP

Rainforest in Sumatra. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Less than a week after Greenpeace released evidence that protected tree species were being illegally logged and pulped at an Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) mill in Sumatra, a major certifier, the Program for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC), has lodged a complaint and asked for […]
Innovative program seeks to safeguard Peruvian Amazon from impacts of Inter-Oceanic Highway

An interview with Arbio Left bank: Arbio’s concession area. Photo by: Arbio. Arbio was begun by Michel Saini and Tatiana Espinosa Q. in the Peruvian Amazon region of Madre de Dios. The project focuses on a protective response to the increased encroachment and destructive land use driven by development. The recent construction of the Inter-Oceanic […]
Majority of protected tropical forests “empty” due to hunting

WARNING: Graphic photos below. Hunter in the Colombian rainforest. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Protected areas in the world’s tropical rainforests are absolutely essential, but one cannot simply set up a new refuge and believe the work is done, according to a new paper in Bioscience. Unsustainable hunting and poaching is decimating tropical forest species […]
Big trees, like the old-growth forests they inhabit, are declining globally

Already on the decline, demise of giant trees may be hastened by global warming. Already on the decline worldwide, big trees face a dire future due to habitat fragmentation, selective harvesting by loggers, exotic invaders, and the effects of climate change, warns an article published this week in New Scientist magazine. Reviewing research from forests […]
Logging of primary rainforests not ecologically sustainable, argue scientists

Tropical countries may face a risk of ‘peak timber’ as continued logging of rainforests exceeds the capacity of forests to regenerate timber stocks and substantially increases the risk of outright clearing for agricultural and industrial plantations, argues a trio of scientists writing in the journal Biological Conservation. The implications for climate, biodiversity, and local economies […]
Economic slowdown leads to the pulping of Latvia’s forests

Aerial view over Latvian forests—please note almost all cutting patches are fresh, not yet regenerated. Photo by: R.Matrozis, 2007. The economic crisis has pushed many nations to scramble for revenue and jobs in tight times, and the small Eastern European nation of Latvia is no different. Facing tough circumstances, the country turned to its most […]
Levi’s new forest policy excludes fiber from suppliers linked to deforestation

Editor’s note: this story has been corrected since originally posted. See the box below for details. Rainforest in Sumatra Levi Strauss & Company had issued a new policy that will exclude fiber from controversial sources from its products. The move will effectively bar Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) as a supplier, according to the Rainforest […]
REDD advances—slowly—in Durban

A program proposed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and degradation made mixed progress during climate talks in Durban. Significant questions remain about financing and safeguards to protect against abuse, say forestry experts. REDD+ aims to reduce deforestation, forest degradation, and peatland destruction in tropical countries. Here, emissions from land use often exceed emissions […]
Large tract of old growth redwood forest protected in the San Francisco Bay Area

California redwoods. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. 8,532 acres of redwood forest and wildlife habitat in the Santa Cruz mountains will be protected after a coalition of San Francisco Bay Area conservation groups bought the land — the largest private landholding in in Santa Cruz County — for $30 million from building materials giant CEMEX, […]
Locals key to saving primate-rich wetlands in Cote D’Ivoire

One of the world’s top 25 most endangered primates: the roloway monkey (Cercopithecus diana roloway) photographed in the Munich Zoo. Saved from being converted into a vast palm oil plantation by PALM-CI in 2009, the Ehy Tanoé wetlands and forest in the Cote D’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) is home to three gravely endangered primates and as […]
Agriculture group to spend 10 years on forest research

Forest destruction for cattle ranching in the Peruvian Amazon. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Recognizing the global importance of the world’s vanishing forests, a 10-year-long research program will focus on the interconnection between agriculture and forests. Conducted by CGIAR, a global agriculture group concerned with sustainability, the research program will look at ways to decrease […]
Malaysian sustainable timber certification fails Dutch standards

Logging truck carrying timber out of the Malaysian rainforest. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. An independent panel in the Netherlands has found that the Malaysian Timber Certification Scheme (MTCS) falls short of Dutch standards for sustainable forestry. The final decision comes after a series of judgements and appeals with the latest panel concluding that MTCS […]
Illuminating Africa’s most obscure cat

An interview with Laila Bahaa-el-din, a part of our on-going Interviews with Young Scientists series. African golden cat in Precious Woods Gabon logging concession. Photo by: Laila Bahaa-el-din/Panthera. Africa is known as the continent of big cats: cheetahs, leopards, and of course, the king of them all, lions. Even servals and caracals are relatively well-known […]
Conservationists renew push for ‘rainforest bonds’

The Amazon rainforest. Photo by Rhett A. Butler Conservationists are renewing a push for a special class of ‘rainforest bonds’ to fund efforts to conserve tropical forests. WWF, the Global Canopy Programme (GCP) and the Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI) will on Monday issue a report arguing that forest bonds could mobilize private-sector money to augment […]
Logged rainforests are a cheap conservation option

Selectively logged lowland forest in Indonesian Borneo. Photo by Rhett Butler With old-growth forests fast diminishing and land prices surging across Southeast Asia due to high returns from timber and agricultural commodities, opportunities to save some of the region’s rarest species seem to be dwindling. But a new paper, published in the journal Conservation Letters, […]
WWF to investigate program that partners with notorious loggers

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has announced an independent review of its Global Forest and Trade Network (GFTN) following a report from Global Witness that criticized the conservation organization for working with a number of logging companies that destroy forests, imperil species, and abuse human rights. While WWF’s GTFN is meant to support […]
WWF partnering with companies that destroy rainforests, threaten endangered species

A new report finds that conservation giant WWF may demand too little when working with logging companies. Screenshot of WWF website. Arguably the globe’s most well-known conservation organization, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), has been facilitating illegal logging, vast deforestation, and human rights abuses by pairing up with notorious logging companies in a […]
FSC mulls controversial motion to certify plantations responsible for recent deforestation

Update: Motion 18 passed the General Assembly with substantial amendments, including a call to revise FSC’s plantation regulations. Members of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), meeting in Malaysia next week for its General Assembly, will consider various changes to the organization, including a vote on a controversial motion that would open the door—slightly at first—to […]
FSC to continue allowing baboon killing on sustainably-certified plantations

Infant Chacma baboon in Botswana. Photo by: Tiffany Roufs. Shooting baboons will continue in Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified plantations. After examining a complaint by the NGO GeaSphere against South African plantations for trapping and shooting hundreds of baboons, the FSC has announced it will not place a moratorium on baboon-killing in its sustainably-certified plantations. “The […]
Indonesia’s moratorium undermines community forestry in favor of industrial interests

Sign warning that a rainforest tree has been spiked to discourage illegal logging in Indonesian Borneo. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Indonesia’s moratorium on new concessions in primary forest areas and peatlands “completely ignores” the existence of community forestry management licenses, jeopardizing efforts to improve the sustainability of Indonesia’s forest sector and ensure benefits from […]
Poverty doesn’t drive deforestation, argues new survey

Income from forests and other ecosystem generates a significant proportion of household income in developing countries, finds a six-year survey of 8,000 families from 60 sites in 24 countries. The research, which will be published by the Poverty and Environment Network, found that income from forest use accounts for more than 20 percent of rural […]
90% of tropical forests managed poorly or not at all

Less than 10% of tropical forests are ‘sustainably’ managed More than 90 percent of tropical forests are managed poorly or not at all, says a new assessment by the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO). The report, Status of Tropical Forest Management 2011, finds that while forests continue to be degraded and destroyed at a rapid […]
Australia forest destruction connected to local products

Some of Australia’s most popular stores are driving the destruction of native forests, according to a report by a new environmental group Markets for Change (MFC). Furniture, building materials, and paper products were found to be coming at the expense of native forests in Australia and being sold by over 30 businesses in the country, […]
Memberantas penebangan liar di Indonesia dengan memberikan kesempatan pada masyarakat lokal untuk mengelola hutan

Pembalakan liar di pinggir Taman Nasional Gunung Palung, Kalimantan Barat. Kayu-kayu ini digunakan untuk membangun kerangka yang menarik burung walet. Sup sarang burung walet merupakan salah satu makanan yang diminati di Cina. Foto diambil oleh Rhett Butler pada Maret 2011. Selama dua puluh tahun terakhir Indonesia telah kehilangan lebih dari 24 juta hektar hutannya, lebih […]
5 million hectares of Papua New Guinea forests handed to foreign corporations

Papua New Guinea, as viewed from Google Earth, covers the eastern half of the island of New Guinea, as well as other Pacific Islands. During a meeting in March 2011 twenty-six experts—from biologists to social scientists to NGO staff—crafted a statement calling on the Papua New Guinea government to stop granting Special Agricultural and Business […]
Fighting illegal logging in Indonesia by giving communities a stake in forest management

Illegal logging on the edge of Gunung Palung National Park in West Kalimantan on the island of Borneo. This timber is being used to construct structures to attract swiftlets for the production of bird-nest soup, a delicacy in China. Photo taken by Rhett Butler in March 2011. Over the past twenty years Indonesia lost more […]
Women are key to global conservation
Anne Hallum is founder of the Alliance for International Reforestation and for her work was recently named a “CNN Hero.” Her daughter, Rachel Hallum-Montes has been planting trees with her mother since the age of 12 and she is now a sociologist. In 1991, my nine-year-old daughter Rachel traveled with me to Guatemala where we […]
Sustainable timber in Tanzania experiences huge growth

The level of Tanzanian timber forest certified as sustainable increased by 700 percent earlier this month. The certification not only represents an environmental win, but is expected to bring opportunities and money to the communities which exist within and around the forests. The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) audited two new tracts of timber forest and […]
Will Indonesia’s big REDD rainforest deal work?

A shorter version of this article appears on Yale e360 as Indonesia’s Corruption Legacy Clouds a Forest Protection Plan. The version that appears below was last revised on October 31, 2010. Flying in a plane over the Indonesian half of the island of New Guinea, rainforest stretches like a sea of green, broken only by […]
Logging concession could extinguish endangered Sumatran elephant population

Local conservationists are urging the Indonesian government to halt the destruction of a 42,000 hectare forest in the renowned Bukit Tigapuluh Forest Landscape for a pulpwood plantation. According to researchers, the forest concession—owned by PT Lestari Asri Jaya, a subsidiary of Barito Pacific Group—contains the last population of Sumatran elephants (Elephas maximus sumatranus) in the […]

Feeds: news | india | latam | brasil | indonesia