topic: Biofuels

topic: Biofuels

Social media activity version | Lean version

Biomass cooking fuels raise toxic metal exposure risks in Bangladesh, study finds
Burning biomass fuels like dry wood and rice husk for cooking can produce air pollution and contribute to toxic heavy metals buildup inside rural kitchens in Bangladesh, a new study finds. Md. Badiuzzaman Khan, an environmental science professor at Bangladesh Agricultural University and the study’s lead author, said the research addresses a gap in understanding […]
Clean cooking expands at record pace in Africa, but lags behind population growth
- Around 15 million people gained access to clean cooking in sub-Saharan Africa in 2025, and the region is set for its fastest-ever expansion in access to clean cooking in 2026.
- One billion people, however, continue to cook with highly polluting fuels like firewood, charcoal and kerosene, as population growth outpaces progress.
- Of the $2.2 billion pledged to furthering clean cooking access in Africa at the 2024 Summit on Clean Cooking Africa, $740 million has been disbursed across 30 countries, according to an International Energy Agency report.
- The report estimates that Africa could reach universal access by 2040 if it matches the fastest historical rates of progress, backed by sustained investment and stronger policies, but the ongoing Middle East crisis has seen a surge in prices of cooking gas.

South Africa’s move away from coal marred by legacy of abandoned mines: Report
- A new report has found that none of the 412 coal mines that closed down between 2006 and 2023 in South Africa had set aside rehabilitation funds to restore damaged land and waterways.
- Environmental groups warn that abandoned coal mines are leaving behind contaminated water, radioactive waste, and polluted landscapes that could harm communities for decades.
- The report says weak enforcement allows mining companies to walk away from environmental damage, leaving taxpayers and mining communities to carry the cost.

Ethiopian women plant trees, restoring lands & livelihoods
- In southern Ethiopia, unsustainable farming practices and tree cutting for fuel are causing land degradation.
- The Integrated Women’s Development Organization has planted fruit and other trees as well as grass for animal fodder to restore soil and tree cover and provide additional income for its members.
- IWDO recently became a member of the GLFx network, connecting it with similar independent, community-oriented groups to strengthen its work protecting and restoring healthy forests and other landscapes.

Oil surge sharpens calls for Indonesia to shift away from fossil fuels
- Indonesia faces rising fiscal and economic pressure as global oil prices surge amid the U.S.-Israel war on Iran, exposing its heavy reliance on imported fossil fuels.
- Analysts say the crisis underscores the need to accelerate renewable energy development, which could reduce exposure to volatile global markets and improve long-term economic stability.
- Despite this, the government is also boosting coal output and exploring expanded biofuel use — moves that critics warn could undermine climate goals and create new environmental risks.
- Civil society groups are calling for windfall taxes on fossil fuel companies to fund a just energy transition, arguing current policies risk deepening inequality and dependence on extractive industries.

Brazil is uniquely positioned to weather rising world oil prices
SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil is finding protection in a decades-old buffer against shocks that is both cheap and environmentally friendly as global oil markets tremble amid the escalating conflict in the Middle East. Tens of millions of Brazilian drivers have a choice at the pump: fill up with 100% sugarcane-based ethanol or a gasoline […]
Shipping’s biofuel gamble could deepen Africa’s land squeeze and food insecurity (commentary)
- Using crops as fuel to cut emissions from the shipping sector could cause more harm than good, the authors of a new op-ed argue.
- Next month, leaders will gather at the UN’s International Maritime Organization meeting to lay down the rules for decarbonizing shipping, and African governments must ensure that crop-based biofuels are not a part of the solution, they say.
- “African states should demand that food-based biofuels are excluded from shipping’s decarbonization targets, and insist on robust sustainability criteria to prevent the conversion of forests, peatlands, and other high-biodiversity or community-managed areas into fuel plantations,” the authors say.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Agroforestry offers market-based way to boost Amazon rains & farmer incomes (analysis)
- Since the 1970s, Brazil has cleared a large amount of Amazon Rainforest, and the consequences extend beyond biodiversity loss, carbon emissions and social disruption, because the forest generates its own weather.
- Continued deforestation could push the system past a tipping point where the Amazon can no longer sustain its rainfall regime, threatening the continent’s productive capacity and the economic livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people.
- The economic opportunity that can change this is agroforestry systems that reforest areas to produce global commodities that can also comply with Brazil’s Forest Code, which requires private properties in the Amazonian region to maintain native vegetation on 80% of their landholdings.
- This article is an analysis. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Cameroon cookstove project looks to slow forest loss
- The Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) hopes new cookstoves that require less wood than traditional varieties will slow forest loss in Cameroon.
- Mongabay visited one of the villages where CIFOR’s project is taking place to talk to people who are involved in it.
- Long-term success rates for similar projects in Africa have often been low.
- CIFOR wants to break that trend by encouraging people to adopt the new cookstoves and keep using them.

Indonesia backs away from coal exit test case amid financial and political pushback
- Indonesia has abandoned plans to retire the Cirebon-1 coal plant early, citing technical and financial concerns, dealing a blow to what was meant to be a flagship test case for coal phaseout backed by international climate finance.
- Analysts say the decision reflects deeper structural resistance to moving away from coal, driven by long-term power contracts, coal subsidies, and policies that make early retirement costly while keeping coal artificially cheap.
- The reversal risks undermining Indonesia’s credibility with global partners and investors, particularly under initiatives like the JETP, and exposes inconsistencies between political pledges on renewables and binding policy action.
- Critics argue early coal retirement would benefit Indonesia overall if full costs were counted, including health and environmental impacts, but political ties between coal interests and policymakers, along with uncertainty in global climate finance, continue to stall progress.

Ethanol plant spills harmful wastewater into Philippine marine reserve
A chemical spill from an ethanol distillery has put one of the Philippines’ largest marine protected areas at risk. A wall retaining the wastewater pond of an ethanol distillery plant collapsed on Oct. 24, causing about 255,000 cubic meters (67 million gallons) of wastewater to flow into Bais Bay in the central Philippines, according to […]
Park guardians or destroyers? Study dissects 2 narratives of DRC’s Indigenous Batwa
- A recent study looks at two polarized characterizations of Indigenous people in Kahuzi-Biega National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo: forest guardians vs. forest destroyers.
- The two narratives are rooted in colonial perspectives on the Batwa people who had lived inside the park until they were evicted in the 20th century; today, some Batwa populations have returned in an effort to try to rebuild their lives.
- Tensions remain between Batwa members who say they have faced broken promises and insufficient support from park management, but the park management team says it prioritizes Indigenous rights and efforts to improve livelihoods; meanwhile, the situation on the ground is changing amid renewed M23 rebel violence.
- Researchers say the overall situation is much more nuanced than the two narratives of forest guardians vs. destroyers allow for.

Global South bears growing burden of health threats from plastic burning
Many communities, especially those in the Global South, are increasingly burning plastic as a fuel for stoves or simply to get rid of waste. In the process, they’re releasing toxic chemicals into the environment and raising public health concerns, reports Mongabay contributor Sean Mowbray. Roughly 2 billion people globally lack waste collection services, leaving many […]
Sustainable biomass certification scheme is flawed, degrades forests, report finds
- The Sustainable Biomass Program (SBP) is a private certification scheme developed by the bioenergy industry to assure the sustainability of biomass for fuel. A new report alleges that SBP is certifying biomass whose production has caused forest degradation.
- The NGO-commissioned report raises questions about SBP’s certification process, especially methods for verifying wood pellet producer and supply chain sustainability claims to safeguard against deforestation and forest degradation. SBP certification is used to justify green subsidies to the industry, mostly by European nations, but increasingly in Asia.
- SBP acknowledges the concerns raised by the report and said it is open to dialogue. The organization emphasized that its standards are designed to assess “the sustainability and legality of biomass sourcing at the level of the Biomass Producer, not at the forest management unit level” and that it does not “make overarching climate impact claims.”
- The nonprofit environmental groups that commissioned the report question how SBP can assure sustainability without assessing forest management and climate impacts.

Community-based biofuels offer ‘sensible’ alternative to palm oil for Indonesia, analysis shows
- Indonesia’s current biofuel strategy relies heavily on expanding oil palm plantations to meet its B40 and upcoming B50 biodiesel mandates, which could cause up to $4.72 billion in environmental and social damage.
- A proposed alternative scenario by the NGO Madani Berkelanjutan calls for boosting yields from existing plantations and promoting community-based biofuel production using diverse feedstocks like used cooking oil and non-palm crops.
- This alternative model avoids deforestation and social conflict, supports rural economies, and could generate a higher net economic benefit of $37.1 billion, compared to $31.36 billion under the business-as-usual scenario.
- Researchers warn the country is nearing its ecological cap for oil palm plantations, urging a shift to intensification and diversification to prevent irreversible environmental harm.

Brazil bets on macaúba palm to make renewable diesel and aviation biofuel
- Macaúba, a palm tree found across the Americas, is tipped as a new biofuel feedstock to decarbonize transport and aviation. The macaúba palm produces an oil when highly refined that can be made into renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).
- Bolstered by hype and billions of dollars of investment, companies are planning to plant hundreds of thousands of hectares on reportedly degraded land across Brazil. Firms are also investing in major refining facilities. This macaúba gold rush was triggered by major financial incentives from the Brazilian government.
- Macaúba’s potential green attributes are similar to jatropha, a once promising biofuel feedstock that bombed a decade ago. Macaúba is widespread but currently undomesticated. Whether macaúba plantations can achieve the yield and scale needed to help satisfy the world’s sustainable energy needs remains unknown.
- Industry proponents state that it can be produced sustainably with no land-use change or deforestation. But other analysts say that very much depends on how the coming boom, in Brazil and elsewhere, pans out.

As renewable diesel surges, sustainability claims are deeply questioned
- Renewable diesel (RD), dubbed HVO (hydrotreated vegetable oil) by producers, is hailed by its supporters as a climate-friendly alternative to carbon-intensive fossil diesel. RD is a complex biofuel often made in retooled oil refineries from feedstocks including waste cooking oils, but also problematic animal fats and soy and palm oil.
- Renewable diesel substitutes easily for fossil diesel, so is touted as a climate-friendly transition fuel. Its use, mostly in vehicles, grew slowly in the past. Now, thanks largely to government-offered green subsidies, production is surging as firms widely expand uses to marine shipping, power plants, heating oil, and data center backup fuel.
- But critics are skeptical about industry claims of RD life-cycle greenhouse gas emission cuts of up to 95% over fossil fuel-derived diesel. They warn RD carbon releases will surge if renewable diesel sourcing is scaled up, triggering tropical deforestation as producers convert forests to energy crops, such as oil palm and soy.
- As the renewable diesel industry expands beyond Europe and the U.S., analysts warn it will be a false climate solution unworkable at scale, so production and use should be constrained. Independent monitoring is also needed to track feedstock supply chains to assure crops don’t have high carbon intensities or cause deforestation.

Indonesia defies global coal retreat with captive plant boom
- Indonesia added 1.9 gigawatts of new coal capacity in 2024, the third-highest globally, mainly to power metal smelters supporting the electric vehicle industry — despite global efforts to phase out coal.
- Captive coal plants built for industry have tripled in capacity since 2019, exploiting a loophole in Indonesia’s coal moratorium and undermining its climate pledges under the Paris Agreement and Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP).
- Indonesia now has the fifth-largest coal fleet in the world and plans to expand by another 26.7 GW by 2030, with serious concerns about economic viability, environmental damage, and public health in regions like Sulawesi and North Maluku.
- Government-backed alternatives like biomass cofiring and carbon capture are criticized as costly and ineffective, while experts urge Indonesia to shift meaningfully toward renewables to align with global energy and climate trends.

Invasive water hyacinths are effective at removing microplastics, study finds
Microplastics are pervasive in the environment and often so small they can’t be seen with the naked eye. Removing them has been a big challenge, but recent research finds that water hyacinths can be effective at remediating microplastic from aquatic environments. Native to South America, water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) has become invasive in waterways across […]
Cameroonians combat deforestation using cheaper charcoal alternative
To address deforestation in Cameroon, an environmental engineer has devised a cheaper, ecological alternative to charcoal, a Mongabay video narrates. Thirty-year-old Steve Djeutchou has tapped local food markets to supply organic waste to his company, STEMA Group, which then turns the biomass into biochar or black carbon. He says his hope is that biochar will […]
Chauffeur at Indonesia energy nonprofit drives uptake of biogas by Java farmers
- A former migrant worker and chauffeur has pioneered the use of biogas in his home village near the city of Yogyakarta on Indonesia’s Java Island.
- A net zero roadmap published by the International Energy Agency requires the production of biogas to quadruple by the year 2050.
- Critics of biogas at the industrial dairy scale say it absorbs conservation funding that is better spent elsewhere.
- Local residents near Yogyakarta city say the installation of anaerobic digesters has improved household finances and that they no longer need to queue to buy propane cylinders.

In Nepal, a eucalyptus boom became an ecological cautionary tale
- Nepal’s Sagarnath Forest Development Project which ran a reforestation program from 1977-1984 and introduced eucalyptus as a fast-growing, low-maintenance solution for deforestation and fuelwood needs.
- While eucalyptus initially thrived, it depleted soil moisture and negatively impacted nearby crops, leading to reduced yields and financial losses for the farmers who had replaced traditional crops like rice and mustard with large-scale eucalyptus plantations.
- Discontent over eucalyptus’s effects, and the lack of guidance by those who promoted the planting scheme, led to widespread removal of trees, legal disputes among farmers, and complaints to local governments.
- Experts say such large-scale exotic tree plantations are no longer permitted under national and international biodiversity laws, with the project’s failure highlighting the importance of considering ecological sustainability, soil health and informed decision-making in reforestation efforts.

Certified ethanol produced in Brazil for global airlines linked to slave labor
- Fuel produced from sugarcane in Brazil has become a strategic option for decarbonizing the aviation sector.
- But companies operating in this business have been linked to recent reports of labor abuses on sugarcane farms, a new report from Repórter Brasil shows. The rise in reports of labor abuses is partly attributed to the growing outsourcing of labor for planting.
- Workers hired via subcontractors lived in poor conditions without basic amenities, traveled long hours to reach the sugarcarne fields, and paid for their safety equipment.
- While certifications needed to access the fuel market are meant to protect workers, experts says certifiers are not doing enough to ensure fair working conditions and pay.

Biochar from banana peels breaks ground in Cameroon
YAOUNDE – In Cameroon, home to one of the largest forest massif in Africa, the production of charcoal is a growing threat to the environment. To combat this, Steve Djeutchou transforms organic waste, such as banana peels, into ecological charcoal, or biochar. Thanks to his local network of suppliers, Steve estimates that the potential biomass […]
Defending the hidden forest gems of Zambia’s Copperbelt Province
- A local community has taken over protecting and managing patches of small evergreen forests, known as mushitu forests, that have recently been subject to illegal logging.
- Forest officers armed with smartphones are going up against the loggers while also enforcing community-driven prohibitions against overuse by locals.
- During times of severe drought, like this year, the forest is a lifeline to villages within the Ndubeni Chiefdom, whose members depend on it not just for water, but for food and medicine.
- The forest has enormous cultural and historical significance, and protecting it is key to protecting the community’s cultural history.

For Tanzania’s Maasai, adapting to climate change may mean less livestock, more trees
- An NGO working with Maasai pastoralists in northern Tanzania says its efforts to restore tree cover in the semiarid region and offer alternative forms of livelihood in the face of climate change impacts are bearing fruit.
- TACCEI promotes tree planting and better management of water resources by community members, and helps local government officials integrate consideration of climate change into development policies and strategies.
- Tanzania’s Simanjiro district experienced a 20-year spell of poor rainfall starting in the early 2000s, during which the largely pastoralist population has seen its livestock herds shrink and die out.
- By helping community members to start cultivating vegetables and fruit trees and take up beekeeping and craft making, TACCEI aims to build up community resilience to the worst impacts of climate change.

Action against forest biomass subsidies gains momentum at COP16
- Forest advocates have long warned that burning forest biomass to make energy — touted as a climate solution by the forestry industry — releases more carbon emissions than coal does per unit of electricity generated. They’ve argued that cutting trees to turn them into wood pellets degrades forest carbon stores and biodiversity.
- This week those arguments are finally being heard at the COP16 biodiversity summit in Cali, Colombia. Also being seriously considered are the “perverse subsidies” offered to the forestry industry by national governments to convert forests into wood pellets, and to biomass power plants that burn those pellets.
- These issues have not achieved such a high level of official notice before at a UN summit and could result in the question of forest biomass subsidies being raised at the COP29 climate meeting next month in Baku, Azerbaijan.
- The illogic of forest biomass burning was especially noted by Barry Gardiner, a UK member of Parliament who objects to huge taxpayer subsidies paid to Drax, a British biomass power plant operator. “That’s $9 billion in public money spent making our air pollution and our carbon emissions worse,” while razing forests.

Local NGO RAINS brings relief to Ghana’s semiarid north with regenerative farming
- An NGO in the semiarid north of Ghana is helping farming communities cope with a range of challenges through initiatives that center social and human rights and build on Indigenous knowledge.
- The Regional Advisory Information and Network Systems (RAINS) promotes regenerative agricultural practices to local farmers, including intercropping, the planting of cover crops, and the use of traditional seeds and compost and manure.
- It also engages typically marginalized groups such as women and youth in community land-use planning, and tackles gender inequality by improving women’s access to savings schemes and microcredit.
- Those working with the NGO say its efforts have had a material impact on improving food security and reducing incidents of fires, and express hope for its sustained support.

In Madagascar, Taniala Regenerative Camp aims to heal deforestation scars
- Expanding agriculture by both residents and new migrants threatens the dry forest of Madagascar’s Menabe Antimena Protected Area.
- The ongoing deforestation also threatens the livelihoods of communities.
- A local association, Taniala Regenerative Camp, uses resilient forest systems as a model to regenerate degraded soil by planting trees alongside crops.
- The association supports surrounding communities through training in agroecology and agroforestry, and through additional income earned from intercropping in agroforestry plots.

Ever-smarter consumer electronics push world toward environmental brink
- Semiconductor microchips are the beating heart of the digital age — processing vast, ever-growing volumes of data on our smart phones, computers and other electronic devices, and on data center servers worldwide.
- As manufacturers compete to produce the ever-smaller, more powerful electronic devices consumers want, new state-of-the-art silicon chips must be designed to handle exponentially advancing computing challenges.
- But the sourcing and manufacture of these increasingly complex silicon chips is material-, energy- and water-intensive, doing major environmental harm — producing major carbon emissions and polluting with PFAS and other toxins.
- Also, the smaller and more integrated chips become, the harder they are to recycle, creating vast sums of e-waste. Experts say governments need to ensure companies embrace environmental stewardship and circular economy standards.

As Malawi government struggles to protect a forest, communities show the way
- In Malawi’s Zomba Forest Reserve, a community that once destroyed the forest has become its custodian, protecting a source of streams, which provide water for them to irrigate crops.
- The Department of Forestry, the lead government agency in forest protection in Malawi, is struggling to stem the tide of deforestation on its side of the reserve due to lack of resources.
- Malawi is suffering massive deforestation, with Global Forest Watch figures estimating that the country has lost quarter of a million hectares (617,000 acres) of forest cover between 2001 and 2023.
- Government officials and experts say engagement with communities offers opportunities for effective forest management.

Birdsong rings out once again in Togo’s sacred forest of Titiyo
- Logging for firewood, charcoal and timber for construction almost wiped out the sacred forest of Titiyo in northern Togo.
- The degradation of the forest had a major impact on wildlife and the surrounding population.
- But since 2015, Sylvain Tchoou Akati, a native of the area, has led the restoration of this forest, and is today bringing his model of community-led conservation to other areas.

Zambian forest reserve rebounds with a little assistance
- Conservationists and farmers have restored large parts of a forest reserve in Zambia in just four years through natural regeneration.
- The Katanino Forest Reserve had lost more than 58% of its forest cover by 2019, when dozens of families living inside it and cutting trees to make charcoal were finally evicted by state officials.
- A restoration project launched that same year by conservation group WeForest and local partners has used assisted natural regeneration, a light-touch forest restoration method, to grow back more than 500 hectares (1,240 acres) of the reserve’s tree cover.
- The success is tempered by continued tree losses on farms outside the reserve, though WeForest is working to promote alternative livelihoods there that encourage farmers to protect trees on their land.

Sugarcane megaproject poses latest threat to Papua’s forests, communities
- Activists have warned of wide-ranging environmental and social impacts from a plan to establish 2 million hectares (nearly 5 million acres) of sugarcane plantations in Merauke district, in Indonesia’s Papua region.
- The plan calls for deforesting an area six times the size of Jakarta, even as the government touts the green credentials of the project in the form of the bioethanol that it plans to produce from the sugar.
- Activists have also warned that the project risks becoming yet another land grab that deprives Indigenous Papuans of their customary lands and rights without fair compensation.
- They add the warning signs are all there, including close parallels to similarly ambitious projects that failed, the alleged involvement of palm oil firms, and government insistences that this richly forested region of Indonesia doesn’t have much forest left.

Burning wood is not ‘renewable energy,’ so why do policymakers pretend it is?
- Burning wood to generate electricity — “biomass energy” — is increasingly being pursued as a renewable replacement for burning coal in nations like the U.K., Japan, and South Korea — even though its emissions aren’t carbon neutral in practice.
- On this episode of the Mongabay Newscast, reporter Justin Catanoso speaks with Rachel Donald about the single largest emitter of CO2 in the U.K., biomass firm Drax, which is trying to open two wood pellet plants in the state of California.
- Catanoso explains how years of investigation helped him uncover a complicated web of public relations messaging that obscures the fact that replanting trees after cutting them down and burning them is not in practice carbon neutral or renewable and severely harms global biodiversity and forests.
- “When those trees get ripped out, that carbon gets released. And that comes before we process this wood and ship it … then we burn it and don't count those emissions. This is just [an] imponderable policy,” he says on this episode.

Pressure grows on banks to end business with Indonesian coal giant Adaro
- Pressure groups are mounting a campaign to get international lenders to stop doing business with Adaro, one of Indonesia’s biggest coal companies, citing its lack of a credible plan to transition away from the fossil fuel.
- Adaro says it’s committed to a clean-energy transition and a net-zero emissions target, but this is contradicted by its actions, according to an online petition signed by more than 32,000 people.
- The company has significantly increased its production of metallurgical coal, used in steelmaking, and failed to decrease its output of thermal coal, used in power plants, despite committing to the latter.
- The company has already been shunned by major banks such as BNP Paribas and DBS, while a deal to supply “green” aluminum to Hyundai fell through after it emerged that the smelter producing the aluminum would be powered by coal.

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.

Pakistan bucks global trend with 30-year mangrove expansion
- Around the world, mangrove forests have undergone a decades-long decline that is just now slowing to a halt.
- In Pakistan, by contrast, mangroves expanded nearly threefold between 1986 and 2020, according to a 2022 analysis of satellite data.
- Experts attribute this success to massive mangrove planting and conservation, as well as concerted community engagement.
- Many in Pakistan are looking to mangroves to bolster precious fish stocks and defend against the mounting effects of climate change — even as threats to mangroves, such as wood harvesting and camel grazing, continue with no end in sight.

Indonesian utility PLN ordered to disclose coal plants’ emissions data
- Indonesia’s Public Information Commission (KIP) has ordered state-owned utility PLN to disclose emissions data for some of the country’s biggest coal-fired power plants.
- Civil society groups have hailed the decision as a victory against government opacity and a major step toward accountability for public health.
- The KIP’s decision isn’t the end of the story, however; there’s a long history of various government ministries simply refusing to comply with its orders for data disclosure, and it’s not clear whether PLN will buck that trend.

Deforestation continues in Kenya’s largest water capturing forest, satellites show
- New satellite data shows ongoing tree cover loss in Kenya’s largest water catchment, the Mau Forest, despite protection efforts.
- More than 19% of tree cover was lost between 2001 and 2022, mostly due to agriculture.
- Unclear boundaries and limited enforcement allow illegal logging and agricultural expansion to continue, degrading protected reserves.
- Conservationists argue stronger monitoring and enforcement is urgently needed to save Mau Forest and preserve its rich biodiversity and water resources.

Cut down once again: Uncontrolled logging puts new Sahel reforestation projects at risk
- Reforestation projects to restore degraded lands in Chad and Cameroon, like the “Great Green Wall” and the “Reforestation 1400” projects, are facing increasing pressure from logging activity.
- Facing poverty, war and corrupt local authorities, locals and refugees are cutting trees in new protected areas for firewood or to sell charcoal.
- Local environmental defence organizations, officials and administrations who lead these reforestation projects are raising the alarm about the extent of deforestation which is contributing to desertification in these areas.
- Despite alternative solutions to excessive logging being proposed and implemented, locals are still harvesting from reforested areas.

Delay of Indonesia’s energy transition plan a chance to get public input
- Observers are calling for greater public participation and transparency in Indonesia’s Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) deal.
- The JETP investment plan was supposed to be published on Aug. 16, but has been delayed until the end of this year.
- Observers of the energy sector see the delay as an opportunity for the government to involve the public more in the drafting process to ensure justice for all people in the effort to transition away from fossil fuels and toward renewable energy.
- Funding for the $20 billion JETP has been pledged by the G7 group of industrialized nations plus Denmark and Norway.

Experts see red over Indonesia’s planned green investment label for coal plants
- Indonesia’s financial regulator, the OJK, is considering encouraging investments in coal plants that power the metal-processing industry, prompting criticism from energy and finance observers.
- The proposed green label would put these highly polluting plants in the same favorable investment category as renewable energy projects, on the basis that the products they’re helping churn out will be used in batteries and electric vehicles.
- But observers say the plan goes against scientific evidence and will incentivize more new coal plants, keeping the fossil fuel industry alive at a time when Indonesia is supposed to be transitioning to clean energy.
- They also warn that any banks or investment institutions that fund such projects on the back of this green label run the risk of reputational damage.

Captive coal-fired power plants hinder Indonesia energy transition deal
- A $20 billion climate financing deal between Indonesia and a group of industrialized nations led by the U.S. and Japan has hit a snag due to captive coal-fired power plants.
- Indonesia was supposed to launch an investment plan on Aug. 16 that underpins the deal, called the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP), but the launch was delayed to late 2023 because emissions from captive coal plants that are in the pipeline haven’t been included in the plan.
- Indonesia will use the money from the JETP deal to cap its emissions from the power sector at 290 million metric tons of CO2 by 2030, down from 357 million metric tons of CO2 that are estimated to be released under a business-as-usual scenario.
- When emissions from upcoming captive coal plants are accounted for, the 2030 baseline emissions increased significantly, making it more difficult for Indonesia to hit the target.

Activists slam coal pollution from Indonesia’s production of ‘clean’ batteries
- Indonesia’s electric vehicle ambitions have seen it ramp up refining of nickel, a key component in EV batteries, at industrial estates springing up across the country.
- However, these smelters are powered by purpose-built coal-fired plants, which environmental activists say are causing illness, killing crops and polluting fish farms.
- Among the coal plants that activists say are polluting local villages are those that power the nickel smelters owned by Chinese companies PT Gunbuster Nickel Industry (GNI), PT Virtue Dragon Nickel Industry (VDNI) and PT Obsidian Stainless Steel (OSS).
- While Indonesia has stated its commitment to transitioning away from coal in powering its grid, these industry-exclusive “captive” plants aren’t subject to any kind of phaseout, and are in fact encouraged by regulation.

Can land titles save Madagascar’s embattled biodiversity and people?
- Through its Titre Vert or Green Title initiative, the Malagasy government is opening up a path to land ownership for its most vulnerable citizens in the hopes it will help tackle hunger, internal migration, and forest loss.
- The state is using the initiative to lean on potential migrants to remain in the country’s deep south, where five years of failed rains have left 2 million people hungry, instead of migrating north, where they are often blamed for social tensions and for destroying forests.
- This March, the Malagasy government started work on a Titre Vert enclave in the Menabe region, a popular destination for migrants from the drought-hit south, to dissuade them from clearing unique dry forests to grow crops.
- Critics say the government is holding people back in a rain-starved region without providing enough support; in Menabe, backers of the project hope to provide ample assistance to get migrants out of the forests and onto their feet.

Forests & finance: Fears for forests in Angola, flashes of hope from Kenya & Ghana
- Ghanaian scientists are cultivating seedlings of two critically endangered tree species while searching forests across the country for surviving Talbotiella gentii and Aubregrinia taiensis in the wild.
- Women in Kenya’s Kilifi County are planting trees from which to produce herbal medicines and supplements; they say their efforts help protect local forests.
- Commercial charcoal producers have led the destruction of more than 300,000 hectares (741,000 acres) of forest in Angola’s Huambo province since 2000.
- Forests & Finance is Mongabay’s bi-weekly bulletin of news from Africa’s forests.

Forests in the furnace: Can fashion brands tackle illegal logging in their Cambodian supply chains?
- Global fashion brands touting sustainability claims continue to buy from their contract factories in Cambodia that burn illegally logged wood in their boilers.
- Mongabay reached out to 14 international brands that listed factories identified in a report as using illegal forest wood, but they either didn’t respond or evaded questions on illegal logging in their supply chains.
- One prominent brand, Sweden’s H&M, has developed an app that allows its partner factories to identify deliveries of forest wood, but industry insiders say there are ways to circumvent it, and that the government should be playing a bigger role in the issue.
- 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.

Villagers turn to charcoal made from bamboo to save a protected forest in Madagascar
- Rice paddies have become silted up around Ankarafantsika National Park in northwestern Madagascar. To survive, local residents are forced to illegally exploit the forest’s natural resources.
- To reduce their dependency on the forest, local communities are planting the versatile bamboo species from Asia to make charcoal and restore watersheds.
- Although the exotic bamboo species can be used to protect the forest and watersheds, scientists raise concerns about the ecological impacts of its use.

Indonesia’s coal burning hits record high — and ‘green’ nickel is largely why
- Indonesia burned 33% more coal in 2022 than the year before, contributing to a 20% increase in the country’s carbon emissions from fossil fuels, an analysis of official data shows.
- This will likely catapult Indonesia to become the world’s sixth-highest fossil CO2 emitter, behind Japan, according to the analysis.
- This rise in coal burning aligns with efforts to boost economic recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic, including the slate of new coal-fired power plants that recently came online as well as the expansion of the nickel industry.
- Industrial parks that are home to smelters processing nickel and other metals consume 15% of the country’s coal power output.

Seas of grass may be dark horse candidate to fuel the planet — or not
- Several kinds of grasses and woody shrubs, such as poplar and willow, have undergone U.S. testing for years to see if they can achieve high productivity as cellulose-based liquid biofuels for cutting greenhouse gas emissions in the global transportation sector. Some of these grasses also would have value as cover crops.
- While these experiments showed promise, the challenges for scaling up production of grass and woody shrub-derived biofuels over the next few decades remain significant. And time is short, as climate change is rapidly accelerating.
- Another roadblock to large-scale production: Millions of acres of land in the U.S. Southeast and Great Plains states would need to be earmarked for grass cultivation to make it economically and commercially viable as a biofuel.
- If many of those millions of acres required conversion of natural lands to agriculture, then deforestation and biodiversity loss due to biofuel monoculture crop expansion could be a major problem. On the plus side, grass biofuel crops likely wouldn’t directly displace food crops, unlike corn to make ethanol, or soy to make biodiesel.

Can community payments with no strings attached benefit biodiversity?
- A recent study published in the journal Nature Sustainability examines the idea of a “conservation basic income” paid to community members living in or near key areas for biodiversity protection.
- The authors argue that unconditional payments could help reduce families’ reliance on practices that could threaten biodiversity by providing financial stability and helping them weather unexpected expenses.
- But the evidence for the effectiveness of these kinds of cash transfers is scant and reveals that they don’t always result in outcomes that are positive for conservation.

Sargassum surges in Mexico: From nuisance to new green industry?
- Since 2011, sargassum has worsened as a nuisance — possibly due to an influx of synthetic fertilizers into the Atlantic Ocean — with the brown algae washing up on Caribbean beaches where it rots, stinks like rotten eggs and devastates tourism, including in Mexico where 30 million go for beach holidays annually.
- Sea currents have made the beaches of the Mexican state of Quintana Roo a leading arrival point for the annual surge. So early on, scientists, members of civil society, politicians and businesspeople worked together to find solutions and turn the huge waste problem into an opportunity for new green businesses.
- Once cleaned of heavy metals, microplastics, sand and other detritus, sargassum is finding many uses, particularly as biogas, but also biofertilizer, cellulose packaging and even artificial vegan leather. But a national law regulating sargassum remains elusive, with the issue tangled up in Mexican bureaucracy.
- Debate is ongoing as to who should pay for disposal, for expensive recollection and transport of the algae. As entrepreneurs experiment, Mexico has become a regional leader in creating a sargassum industry, with other Caribbean nations seeking to learn from Mexico’s business mistakes and copying its successes.

From palm oil waste to cellulosic ethanol: Indonesia’s opportunity (commentary)
- Many Indonesian farmers say they haven’t seen benefits from the country’s biofuel program. Cellulosic ethanol could help fix the problem, a new op-ed says.
- Tenny Kristiana of the International Council on Clean Transportation argues Indonesia could develop a domestic cellulosic ethanol industry that would use leftover plant residues such as palm trunks, empty palm fruit bunches and palm press fiber.
- Currently, Indonesia exports these leftovers to countries like Japan, but developing an industry at home could aid local farmers and create new jobs in factories, transportation and plantation work.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Crud-to-crude: The global potential of biofuels made from human waste
- Creating liquid biofuels from human waste shows promise as a way to meet one of alternative energy’s greatest challenges: reducing the transportation sector’s heavy carbon footprint. The good news is there is a steady supply stream where waste is treated.
- Humanity produces millions of tons of sewage sludge annually via wastewater treatment. Existing disposal methods include landfilling, application on agricultural land, and incineration; each with social and environmental consequences.
- Harnessing the carbon-rich potential of sludge as a transportation fuel for planes, ships and trucks is part of a drive toward zero waste and creating a circular economy, say experts. A host of projects are underway to prove the effectiveness of various methods of turning all this crud into biocrude.
- Some techniques show promise in lab and pilot tests, but large-scale industrial plants have yet to be built. Using pollutant-laden sewage sludge as a biofuel comes with its own environmental concerns, but lacking a silver-bullet solution to the human waste problem, it could be part of a suite of best alternatives.

As Exxon bows out, industry takes step toward sustainable algae biofuels
- In February, ExxonMobil gave up its decade-long attempt to cultivate algae as a profitable and scalable feedstock for biofuel — a liquid alternative energy source needed to power aviation, ocean-going ships, and long-distance trucking, while also combating climate change.
- That corporate setback was offset by advances elsewhere in the industry: California-based algae biofuel company Viridos, which lost ExxonMobil as its partner, raised $25 million this year as it gained United Airlines, Chevron and Breakthrough Energy Ventures as investors to keep its algae project moving toward commercialization.
- Also, this year, the U.S. Department of Energy Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) funded four major algae biofuel and biomass projects to chart scalable production processes and achieve low-carbon intensity efficiency.
- Several of these algae initiatives are now moving from basic R&D into pilot programs, with scaled-up commercial production possibly just a few years away, according to industry experts. Environmentalists are concerned about future land, energy and fertilizer impacts during production, though say it is too early to assess potential commercialization effects.

Jatropha: The biofuel that bombed seeks a path to redemption
- Earlier this century, jatropha was hailed as a “miracle” biofuel. An unassuming shrubby tree native to Central America, it was wildly promoted as a high-yielding, drought-tolerant biofuel feedstock that could grow on degraded lands across Latin America, Africa and Asia.
- A jatropha rush ensued, with more than 900,000 hectares (2.2 million acres) planted by 2008. But the bubble burst. Low yields led to plantation failures nearly everywhere. The aftermath of the jatropha crash was tainted by accusations of land grabbing, mismanagement, and overblown carbon reduction claims.
- Today, some researchers continue pursuing the evasive promise of high-yielding jatropha. A comeback, they say, is dependent on cracking the yield problem and addressing the harmful land-use issues intertwined with its original failure.
- The sole remaining large jatropha plantation is in Ghana. The plantation owner claims high-yield domesticated varieties have been achieved and a new boom is at hand. But even if this comeback falters, the world’s experience of jatropha holds important lessons for any promising up-and-coming biofuel.

U.S. firm quits Indonesian gasification project in major blow to coal ambitions
- U.S.-based Air Products and Chemicals confirmed in late March that it had withdrawn from all of its projects in Indonesia, including coal-gasification plants in East Kalimantan and South Sumatra provinces.
- The Indonesian government has looked to coal gasification to create market demand for downstream coal, but analysts warn such projects are unlikely to be financially viable, especially as major global investors turn away from coal.
- The Indonesian government says the gasification projects will continue, possibly with investors from China, but no details have been released.

Human migration to Nepal’s tiger capital adds to conservation challenges
- Chitwan district in central Nepal is home to the eponymous national park that’s come to symbolize the country’s success in growing its tiger population.
- But the district’s human population is also growing, at a rate far higher than the national average, driven by migrants seeking better health services and other urban amenities.
- Conservationists have raised concerns that the growing human presence in the area will pose additional challenges to conservation efforts and put a strain on natural resources such as forests, rivers and land.
- Some warn of an increase in human-tiger conflict, especially involving migrants who don’t share the same traditional knowledge that Indigenous residents have of coexisting alongside the big cats.

A liquid biofuels primer: Carbon-cutting hopes vs. real-world impacts
- Liquid biofuels are routinely included in national policy pathways to cut carbon emissions and transition to “net-zero.” Biofuels are particularly tasked with reducing emissions from “hard-to-decarbonize” sectors, such as aviation.
- Three generations of biofuel sources — corn, soy, palm oil, organic waste, grasses and other perennial cellulose crops, algae, and more — have been funded, researched and tested as avenues to viable low-carbon liquid fuels. But technological and upscaling challenges have repeatedly frustrated their widespread use.
- Producing biofuels can do major environmental harm, including deforestation and biodiversity loss due to needed cropland expansion, with biofuel crops sometimes displacing important food crops, say critics. In some instances, land use change for biofuels can add to carbon emissions rather than curbing them.
- Some experts suggest that the holy grail of an efficient biofuel is still obtainable, with much to be learned from past experiments. Others say we would be better off abandoning this techno fix, investing instead in electrifying the transportation grid to save energy, and rewilding former biofuel croplands to store more carbon.

Indonesia aims to use gas in foreign-funded energy transition; critics cry foul
- Indonesia plans to convert its diesel fuel-fired power plants to gas-fired power plants starting this year as a part of its energy transition program.
- The Indonesian government hopes the gas conversion project could be funded by a US$20 billion energy transition deal with developed countries called the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP).
- The plan has been lambasted by activists, who see the gas conversion project as a false solution to climate change due to methane emissions that come from leakage during the transportation of gas.
- Activists also point out that gas is more costly than renewable energy and the development of gas could take away funding and resources from renewable development.

Changing circumstances turn ‘sustainable communities’ into deforestation drivers: Study
- Subsistence communities can drive forest loss to meet their basic needs when external pressures, poverty and demand for natural resources increase, says a new study unveiling triggers that turn livelihoods from sustainable into deforestation drivers.
- The impact of subsistence communities on forest loss has not been quantified to its true extent, but their impact is still minimal compared to that of industry, researchers say.
- Deforestation tends to occur through shifts in agriculture practices to meet market demands and intensified wood collecting for charcoal to meet increasing energy needs.
- About 90% of people globally living in extreme poverty, often subsistence communities, rely on forests for at least part of their livelihoods—making them the first ones impacted by forest loss.

Indonesia’s biofuel push must go beyond palm oil to reduce risk, experts say
- Indonesia faces deforestation, energy and security risks from its overreliance on palm oil as a feedstock for its biofuel transition program, observers say.
- The government will in February increase the biofuel blend in diesel to 35%, from the current 30%, with an eye on a 50:50 blend by 2025 — and eventually fossil-free biodiesel.
- But the program calls for a massive increase in palm oil production — and with yields largely stagnant, this will almost certainly mean clearing more land to establish new oil palm plantations.
- Experts say the government should diversify its sources of biofuel feedstock to curb the expansion of plantations into forests and to reduce the other risks that comes from relying on a single feedstock.

Indonesia to build coal plants despite $20b deal on clean energy transition
- The Indonesian government will still permit the construction of new coal-fired power plants, despite recently signing a $20 billion energy transition financing deal with industrialized countries.
- The plants are accommodated in the government’s 10-year energy plan and covered by a presidential regulation.
- The newly announced Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP), by contrast, doesn’t make clear what restrictions, if any, it puts in place on Indonesia building new coal plants.
- Activists have called for a complete ban on new coal power so that a just energy transition can happen as envisioned in the new climate finance partnership.

Early retirement for Indonesian coal plants could cut CO2, boost jobs, analysis says
- At a cost of $37 billion, Indonesia could retire its coal power plants as early as 2040 and reap economic, social and environmental benefits from the shift, a new analysis by nonprofit TransitionZero shows.
- Replacing coal with renewables will create a windfall of new jobs, which would outweigh coal closure job losses by six to one, according to the analysis.
- The analysis has also identified three coal plants in Indonesia that are the most suitable for early retirement, as they have lower abatement costs and are the most polluting.

Indonesian banks prop up coal industry increasingly shunned by outside lenders
- Indonesia’s largest banks channeled a combined $3.5 billion of direct loans to the coal industry from 2015 to 2021, despite pledging to implement sustainable financial practices.
- Experts say these four banks — BNI, BRI and Bank Mandiri, which are state-owned lenders, and BCA, the most valuable company in the country — lag behind banks elsewhere when it comes to their climate commitments.
- No Indonesian banks have joined the U.N.’s Net-Zero Banking Alliance, whose members have committed to transition all of their investments that contribute to greenhouse gas emissions in order to reach net zero by 2050.

Switzerland set to burn more trees to reach its climate and energy goals (commentary)
- Switzerland has pledged to reach carbon neutrality by 2050, with forest-derived biomass slated to play a growing role in the country’s energy mix, following a motion submitted to parliament in 2019 to fully “exploit the potential of energy wood.”
- That decision came despite warnings from the Federal Office for the Environment noting: “strategies that only increase the use of wood as biofuel are not efficient from a CO2 balance perspective.”
- Wood chips and pellets burned to make energy are one of the few profitable forestry products in an industry that has been losing money since the 1990s to the tune of 40 million francs ($41 million) annually for the past three years alone. Government subsidies also incentivize biomass logging and the downgrading of timber to “waste” wood.
- The autonomy granted to the 26 Swiss cantons means logging rates and practices vary widely across the nation, as do energy policies promoted and adopted. The canton of Bern, where all photos were taken, produces the lion’s share, around one-fifth of all Swiss wood. This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Poverty-fueled deforestation threatens Kenya’s largest water catchment
- Mau Forest is East Africa’s largest native montane forest and Kenya’s largest water catchment.
- Olpusimoru Forest Reserve is one of Mau Forest’s protected areas, but its forest cover has been greatly reduced by logging, fuelwood collection and other poverty-driven human pressures.
- Beginning in 2018, thousands of families that had established themselves inside the forest reserve’s boundaries were evicted by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, part of a wider push that saw more than 30,000 people evicted from the broader Mau Forest Complex.
- Despite government intervention and civil society initiatives to assuage poverty in the region, signs of fresh logging, charcoal burning and overgrazing are evident in Olpusimoru Forest Reserve.

Nigerian refugees in Cameroon turn biomass into charcoal to spare trees
- An initiative producing charcoal from food waste aims to ease pressure on forests around the Minawao refugee camp in Cameroon.
- An influx of refugees from neighboring Nigeria fleeing Boko Haram has led to a surge in tree felling for fuelwood and sparked conflict with local residents.
- The eco-charcoal initiative relies on feedstock such as corn cobs, groundnut shells, rice husks, grass, fallen tree leaves, and other organic household waste to make the briquettes.
- The program has also trained at least 8,000 families to make their own eco-charcoal, but getting it to a price that’s competitive with firewood and ensuring a sustainable supply of feedstock remain challenges.

As Jakarta chokes on toxic air, Indonesian government stalls on taking action
- Jakarta’s air pollution has been worsening recently, with the Indonesian capital routinely ranked top of the list of the world’s most polluted major cities.
- Much of the pollution is generated outside the city, in the industrial estates and coal-fired power plants in neighboring provinces, but there’s been no effort by the national government to coordinate action on this transboundary pollution.
- Activists say the national government hasn’t done much at all to address the problem, instead opting to appeal against a court ruling ordering it to tackle the air pollution.

Planned coal plants fizzle as Japan ends financing in Indonesia, Bangladesh
- Two planned coal-fired power plants, one in Indonesia and the other in Bangladesh, have had their funding withdrawn by the Japanese government, as part of Tokyo’s decision to no longer bankroll coal projects in either country.
- Officials in both countries have already confirmed that neither project — a new installation in Bangladesh and an expansion of an existing plant in Indonesia — will be going ahead.
- For Indonesia in particular, the move also means the loss of the top three foreign funders of coal plants in the country, after similar decisions by China and South Korea; the three East Asian countries account for 95% of foreign funding of coal plants in Indonesia since 2013.
- Activists have welcomed Japan’s announcement, including communities living near the existing plant in Indonesia, who have reported health problems and loss of livelihoods as a result of pollution from the plant.

Cameroon’s Nigerian refugees who degraded their camp are now vanguards of reforestation
- Nigerian refugees and Cameroonian villagers are taking part in efforts to reforest the area around the Minawao refugee camp near the border between the two countries.
- The influx of the refugees, driven from their homes by the advance of the Islamist group Boko Haram, led to a surge in logging for fuelwood and timber, and also sparked conflict with the locals.
- A reforestation program supported by the UNHCR, French development NGO ADES and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), and carried out by refugees and locals, has to date planted more than 400,000 trees across 100 hectares (250 acres).
- Initially, government experts chose the trees to be planted based on their ability to grow quickly and survive in arid places, but since 2017, community members have been brought into the decision-making process as the project’s managers realized that a participatory approach could generate better results.

Slick operator: Indonesian cooking oil probe may spread to biodiesel industry
- A top economist in Indonesia has been charged for his alleged role in helping palm oil companies export the commodity instead of selling it domestically — a practice blamed for a shortage of cooking oil in the world’s top producer of palm oil.
- The arrest of Lin Che Wei, who prosecutors allege was “involved in every palm oil policy,” also puts the spotlight on the state palm oil fund that he helped create and that disproportionately channels subsidies to many of the same companies implicated in the cooking oil scandal.
- President Joko Widodo has called for a thorough investigation to “find out who is playing a game here,” but the palm oil lobby has pushed back against what it says is a vilification of the industry — even threatening to stop producing cooking oil for the domestic market.
- The cooking oil shortage has battered domestic trust in Indonesia’s powerful palm oil industry, whose reputation abroad has long been tarnished by its links to deforestation, labor abuses, and conflicts with Indigenous and local communities.

Malawi steps up action against illegal charcoal trade (analysis)
- New forestry laws and improved capacity in Malawi’s courts have improved law enforcement’s ability to fight forestry-related crimes, like illegal charcoal production.
- Under a new amendment to the country’s Forestry Act, which treats charcoal as a forest product, the government now has the authority to issue stronger penalties, fines and jail sentences.
- The USAID and UKAID-funded Modern Cooking for Healthy Forests (MCHF) program supports the government in improving its capacity to investigate and prosecute these activities.
- This post is an analysis of the situation by a MCHF contractor. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

Coal miner Bayan sues Indonesian investment chief over loss of land
- Indonesian coal miner Bayan Resources is suing Indonesia’s investment board head over a decision to revoke its permits.
- The revocation effectively reduces by 16% the total area of concessions held by five Bayan subsidiaries in Borneo.
- The move reflects the latest ruling in a long-running dispute between Bayan and another coal miner, PT Senyiur Sukses Pratama (SSP), over parts of their respective concessions that overlap.
- The revocation was announced as part of a sweeping series of permit revocations ordered by President Joko Widodo in January to retake land from companies that the government says have failed to exploit them to the utmost.

Mine pits expose the holes in Indonesia’s plan to relocate its capital
- Critics of the Indonesian government’s plan to build a new capital city in the coal-mining heartland of East Kalimantan province have long warned about the abandoned mining pits dotting the landscape.
- The government has now acknowledged that these will be a problem: it says it has identified 2,415 of these pits at the site of the new city, covering a combined area of 29,000 hectares (71,700 acres).
- It also says it’s been working to rehabilitate these decommissioned mines since 2021 — a revelation that has raised concerns that the public is paying for work that, by law, should be done by the coal companies.
- The government’s solutions for dealing with the rainwater-filled pits have also been panned, such as using them as sources of fresh water for the new city, despite the fact that the water is as acidic as stomach acid.

For Indonesians, palm oil is everywhere but on supermarket shelves
- Indonesia is the world’s top producer of palm oil, but has in recent months been hit by scarce supplies and high prices for vegetable oil.
- The country’s business competition regulator points to indications of cartel practices by the handful of conglomerates that dominate the industry.
- But government policies may also be to blame, experts say, including incentivizing palm oil producers to sell to the government’s biofuel program instead of to cooking oil refiners.
- Parliament has called hearings on the issue, while the competition watchdog has launched a formal investigation.

Indonesian bill turns coal-derived fuels clean by ignoring true scale of emissions
- A bill being considered by Indonesia’s parliament defines fuels derived from coal as being “new energy” with “minimal” carbon emissions.
- Energy experts have slammed this dissonance, pointing out that producing and burning gasified coal, for example, emits more emissions than simply burning the solid coal for the same amount of energy.
- The bill also calls for the adoption of costly and largely unproven technologies to help coal-fired power plants run “cleaner,” including carbon capture and storage.
- But experts say it would be far more cost-effective to invest in truly renewable energy, and call into question Indonesia’s commitment at last year’s climate summit to phase out coal from its energy mix.

Can the little-known tamanu tree replace palm oil in Indonesia’s biofuel bid?
- Government researchers in Indonesia believe oil from the tamanu tree (Calophyllum inophyllum) could serve an alternative feedstock for biofuel to palm oil.
- They say the plant has shown the ability to grow in burned areas and former mining sites, as well as in waterlogged peat soils.
- Oil from the tree, native to tropical Asia, has been used for centuries across the region as a salve for wounds and scars, and in lotions and balms.
- With the Indonesian government’s ambitious biodiesel program requiring the establishment of more oil palm plantations, alternative feedstocks like tamanu could help stave off the associated deforestation.

As blackouts loom, Indonesia’s energy crisis highlights its addiction to coal
- Coal miners in Indonesia have been shirking their obligation to allocate 25% of their output for the domestic market, leading to a critical shortage of the fossil fuel for power generation.
- That’s prompted the government to impose a ban on coal exports throughout January, but energy policy experts say this doesn’t address the root of the problem: Indonesia’s overreliance on coal in its energy mix.
- They say the energy crunch, the fifth in 15 years, should ring alarm bells about the need to accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels and toward renewable energy.
- They point out that years of coddling the coal industry have led to the current situation, and that there’s no real sense of urgency about moving away from coal.

Major clothing brands contribute to deforestation in Cambodia, report finds
- A new report suggests that the garment industry is contributing to deforestation in Cambodia due to factories relying on illegal forest wood to generate electricity.
- Garment factories were found to use at least 562 tons of forest wood every day, the equivalent of up to 1,418 hectares (3,504 acres) of forest being burned each year, according to the report.
- Between 2001 and 2019, Cambodia is reported to have lost an estimated 2.7 million hectares (6.7 million acres) of forest through deforestation.
- While the garment industry does contribute deforestation, experts say that economic land concessions granted by the Cambodian government for agro-industrial purposes are by far the dominant driver of forest loss.

COP26 cop-out? Indonesia’s clean energy pledge keeps coal front and center
- In an effort to phase out its coal-fired power plants by the 2040s, as part of a pledge signed at the COP26 climate summit, Indonesia plans to start with decommissioning a quarter of its coal capacity by 2030.
- While some have welcomed the move, others note that Indonesia’s commitment is so riddled with caveats that it makes the effort essentially “useless” — in particular the fact that the country is on track to add more coal capacity by 2030 than it plans to retire.
- The government of President Joko Widodo is also betting big on giving the coal industry a second life through coal gasification, a process that yields a cleaner-burning fuel, but which, in producing it, is even more carbon-intensive than just burning coal.
- Other measures the government is rolling out to keep coal plants burning longer include co-firing, where wood pellets are burned alongside coal, and the use of carbon capture technology criticized as unfeasible at scale.

Links to coal mining add to Indonesian palm oil sector’s risk for buyers
- Six of the top 10 palm oil conglomerates in Indonesia have coal mining businesses, and five of the top 10 coal miners have oil palm businesses, a new report shows.
- This substantial overlap means that consumer goods giants like Nestlé and PepsiCo that buy palm oil from Indonesia are potentially exposed to mining risk too, including deforestation and pollution.
- While most of the palm oil companies have zero-deforestation policies and sustainability commitments, the affiliated mining companies aren’t scrutinized as closely and have often been associated with environmental degradation, human rights abuses, and worsening climate change.
- The report authors say this poses reputational and financial risks for the consumer goods companies that buy from the palm oil firms, and for the banks and investors that fund them.

Brazil’s biofuel program sputters on weak emissions accounting
- The RenovaBio program has been encouraging biofuel producers in Brazil to emit less carbon dioxide since the end of 2019.
- The program survived a rocky first year brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and volatility in the carbon credit market, but still has some weaknesses that must be addressed, experts say.
- For one thing, the program doesn’t account for emissions from land use and indirect deforestation, which are significant factors in the production of soybeans, from which 70% of Brazil’s biodiesel is derived.
- While Brazil is investing heavily in biofuels as an energy solution, a new report by the International Energy Agency suggests that by 2050, half of emission cuts should come from experimental technologies like advanced batteries for electric vehicles and hydrogen production systems.

Indonesia still clinging to coal despite phaseout pledge, new plan shows
- The Indonesian government has walked back an earlier pledge to phase out all coal-fired power plants, saying now that it will keep them running but fit them with carbon capture technology.
- Experts have questioned the technical and financial feasibility of the plan, and called for a swift transition away from the fossil fuel and toward renewable energy.
- Even so, senior officials and lawmakers have criticized any attempt to give up coal, saying Indonesia shouldn’t blindly follow the growing global trend toward renewables.
- As part of its plan for “cleaner” coal plants, the government wants to burn more biomass — wood chips — alongside coal, which raises a host of new questions about economic and environmental costs.

From a nuisance to a benefit, ‘world’s worst weed’ finds new use as biofuel
- A startup in western Kenya has developed a process of making bioethanol from water hyacinths, addressing both the need for a clean fuel alternative to charcoal and fuelwood, and the spread of the invasive hyacinths.
- Proponents say a key advantage of this “second-generation” bioethanol over traditional feedstocks such as sugarcane and corn is that it avoids competition for limited agricultural land.
- But although this new bioethanol relies on a plentiful feedstock and is cheaper to produce than charcoal, it’s still more expensive for end users because of limited distribution and the need to buy a compatible stove.
- Proponents say they’re determined to scale up production and distribution, pointing out that they’re “turning something harmful into something beneficial.”

Turning Kenya’s problematic invasive plants into useful bioenergy
- The shores of Lake Victoria are clogged with water hyacinth, a South American invasive plant that is hurting Kenya’s freshwater fishery, economy and people’s health. While manual removal is effective, it is labor intensive and can’t keep up with the spreading plant.
- Kenyans are innovating to find ways to reduce water hyacinth by finding practical uses for the invader. In 2018, a program was launched to turn the exotic species into biogas which is then offered to economically vulnerable households to use as a biofuel for cooking.
- One proposal being considered: a scaled up industrial biogas plant that would use water hyacinth as a primary source of raw material. Efforts are also underway to convert another invasive plant, prickly pear into biogas used for cooking. A biocontrol insect is also proving effective, though slow, in dealing with prickly pear.
- These economically viable and sustainable homegrown solutions are chipping away at Kenya’s invasive species problem, though to be truly effective, these various projects would need to be upscaled.

Indonesia bets on biofuels over oil, but EVs could render both moot
- Increased adoption of electric vehicles could render redundant Indonesia’s biofuel infrastructure, which the government is touting as its chosen alternative to fossil fuels.
- A new report projects demand for biofuel more than halving as EVs take hold, even as the government continues to invest heavily in refineries and other infrastructure for producing and distributing palm oil-based biodiesel.
- The report calls for a long-term plan for biofuel that takes into account the rapid development of EVs and that doesn’t rely solely on palm oil for feedstock.

Activists take Indonesia’s mining law to court, but don’t expect much
- Activists have filed suit to revoke what they say are problematic articles from a controversial mining law that has been criticized as pandering to mining companies at the expense of the environment and local communities.
- Among the stipulations the plaintiffs are seeking to have annulled are the centralization of the mining authority with the national government rather than local authorities; and criminal charges for disruptive protests against mining activity.
- Another controversial issue in the law is guaranteed contract renewals for coal miners, along with bigger concessions and reduced environmental obligations.
- The plaintiffs say they’re not optimistic about the court approving their lawsuit, citing the government’s recent gifting of civilian honors, longer terms and an extended retirement age for the six Constitutional Court justices hearing the case.

Playing the long game: ExxonMobil gambles on algae biofuel
- Algae biofuel initially looked promising, but a few key problems have thwarted major research efforts, including development of a strain of algae able to produce plentiful cheap fuel, and scaling up to meet global energy demand.
- Other alternative energy solutions, including wind and solar power, are outpacing algae biofuel advances.
- Much more investment in money and time is needed for algae biofuel to become viable, even on an extended timeline out to mid-century. While big players like Shell and Chevron have abandoned the effort, ExxonMobil continues work.
- In 2017, ExxonMobil, with Synthetic Genomics, announced they had used CRISPR gene-editing technology to make an algal strain that could pave the way to a low-carbon fuel and a sustainable future. But many environmentalists met the claim with skepticism, suspecting greenwashing.

Biofuel in Mexico: Uphill battle against bureaucracy, organized crime
- Biofuels based on pressed plant oils, and made especially from used cooking oil, could help Mexico’s public transport sector transition to a cleaner and climate-friendly energy era, according to researchers and industry entrepreneurs.
- But there is a lack of government regulatory support, while the nation’s new president is betting on fossil fuels and neglecting biodiesel options and nature-based climate solutions.
- As a result, small biodiesel producers have to operate in a legal gray zone, while industry entrepreneurs are held back in the development of the technology and the market.
- Mexico isn’t alone: Many nations large and small are struggling with hurdles imposed by fossil fuel-friendly governments and a lack of supportive regulations to create a level playing field for the rapid development and deployment of biodiesel and other climate-friendly alternative energy solutions.

Converting biowaste to biogas could power cleaner, sustainable Earth future
- Biogas made from organic materials — including food and agricultural waste, and animal or human manure — is a renewable, sustainable, affordable and inclusive energy alternative becoming increasingly available to households, farms, municipalities and nations.
- Converting biowaste into biogas, via anaerobic digestion technology, is a strategy that could contribute to multiple U.N. Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris climate agreement. Biodigesters are already in use to meet a range of energy needs around the world.
- Current limiting factors to the sector’s growth include technical and adaptive challenges, lack of awareness in many regions, and unsupportive policy instruments that can discourage biogas adoption.
- Ahead of COP26, the critically important U.N. climate meeting coming this November, the World Biogas Association is urging governments to integrate biogas into their Nationally Determined Contributions — their voluntary emissions reduction targets, as agreed to under the Paris Agreement.

Cleaning up Cambodia’s kitchens could curb deforestation, climate change
- NGOs and companies across Cambodia are taking action in response to the mass use of charcoal and forest biomass in household and restaurant kitchens countrywide. The shift away from these polluting fuel sources to cleaner energy alternatives is being sparked by health and environmental concerns.
- Education is a key strategy for implementing the shift away from charcoal and wood, as their use is ingrained in the culture, with many Cambodians saying food doesn’t taste as good when cooked with other fuels.
- One innovative solution is turning the country’s coconut husks into “green charcoal,” which is already earning the nation recognition for being a global leader within the sustainable charcoal sector.
- Cambodia’s farmers are also moving away from using forest biomass for energy, and are instead utilizing biodigesters to turn household and farm waste into biogas for cooking and to make organic fertilizer.

Rush to turn ‘black diamonds’ into cash eats up Uganda’s forests, fruits
- As recently as 2018, only a little over 42% of Ugandans had access to electricity — many were too poor to afford it. As of 2016-17, 90% of all households burned wood fuel for cooking, with just 15.5% using charcoal in rural areas, but 66.4% of urban households using it.
- Those using charcoal account for roughly 23% of the country’s total population, which means that some 10.7 million citizens in a nation of 46.8 million rely on charcoal to cook their meals, based on recent U.N. data.
- Charcoal producers are working hard to meet this exploding demand, degrading and depleting the nation’s forest reserves, and now buying up fruit trees on private lands to make into briquettes. Many charcoal producers lack the licenses required by the government, so are cutting trees and making charcoal illegally.
- The surging charcoal industry is destroying Uganda’s forests and biodiversity, while briquette burning is also causing respiratory and other health problems, and its carbon emissions are adding significantly to global climate change.

Coal phase-out plan gets pushback in power-hungry Indonesia
- Officials and industry in Indonesia have questioned a plan by the national utility to phase out all coal-fired power plants, while clean energy advocates have welcomed the proposal.
- The main objections to the plan include the high cost of prematurely retiring coal-fired power plants that haven’t achieved a return on investment, and the persistently high price of renewable energy compared to coal in Indonesia.
- Supporters of the plan say it’s not just economically feasible, but over the long term would work out cheaper than maintaining coal plants, while creating millions of jobs in the renewable energy sector.
- A glaring inconsistency in the plan, however, is that the utility is at the same time also planning to bring 117 under-construction and planned coal-fired power plants online, negating any notion of a “phase-out.”

Scientists call for solving climate and biodiversity crises together
- A new report from United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) highlights the importance of confronting climate change and biodiversity loss together.
- Global climate change and the unprecedented loss of species currently underway result from a similar suite of human-driven causes, the report’s authors write.
- As a result, solutions that take both issues into account have the best chance of success, they conclude.

Indonesia’s biodiesel program fuels deforestation threat, report warns
- A new report adds to warnings that Indonesia’s biodiesel program will drive greater deforestation by boosting demand for palm oil.
- It says contradictory and opaque government policies “create conditions for producers to maintain business-as-usual production systems, instead of investing in more sustainable production innovations, such as increasing land productivity.”
- Experts also say the biodiesel program should only serve as a transition to more sustainable forms of renewable energy, and not the long-term solution that the government is touting.
- Palm oil plantations are the single biggest driver of deforestation in Indonesia.

Mining linked yet again to another severe flood in Indonesian Borneo
- Recent floods that hit the eastern part of Indonesia Borneo may have been exacerbated by massive deforestation for coal mines.
- There are as many as 94 coal-mining concessions in Berau district, which was hit by floodwaters as high as 2 meters (6.5 feet).
- Twenty of the concessions are located along the two rivers that overflowed during the floods.
- Illegal mining is also rampant in the area, and the police have launched an investigation to identify whether mining was a factor in exacerbating the scale of the flooding.

Indonesian president slammed for ‘wait-and-see’ approach on climate action
- During last month’s climate summit of world leaders, top emitters announced more ambitious climate targets in a bid to combat climate change.
- Missing from that list was Indonesia, whose president, Joko Widodo, instead called on industrialized countries to set an example for other nations to follow.
- Climate and policy experts in Indonesia say his failure to announce a bold target for achieving net-zero emissions is a missed opportunity for Indonesia to show global leadership based on its success in reducing deforestation.
- They also criticized a government proposal, not yet officially endorsed by the president, to achieve carbon neutrality by 2070 — 20 years later than most other major emitters.

Belgium-sized swath of forest faces the chop from Indonesian palm oil
- Curbing deforestation associated with the palm oil industry is crucial if Indonesia wants to meet its long-term emissions reduction targets, experts say.
- There are still 3.5 million hectares (8.65 million acres) of natural forest inside existing oil palm concessions that could potentially be cleared in as little as three years as demand for palm oil continues to grow.
- Experts have called on the government to save these forests by extending and strengthening a moratorium on licensing new plantations.
- They also call for the adoption of the high conservation value and high carbon stock approaches to identifying areas to protect.

Belgium bans biofuels made from palm oil, soy
- Belgium will ban biofuels made from soy and palm oil from 2022 onward as part of its effort to combat deforestation, said Federal Minister of Environment and Climate Zakia Khattabi on Tuesday.
- In making the move, Belgium joins Denmark, France, and the Netherlands as other European nations that have barred palm oil-based biodiesel due the crop’s association with large-scale conversion of native forests and peatlands for industrial plantations, especially in Malaysia and Indonesia.
- The ban was the first measure Belgium has taken since it became a member of the Amsterdam Declaration Partnership, which aims to eliminate deforestation from agricultural commodities by 2025.

Mining sites in Indonesia’s disaster-prone areas a ticking time bomb: Report
- Nearly 800 mining concessions in Indonesia are located in areas prone to earthquakes, landslides and floods, a new report shows.
- Environmental activists say the proliferation of these concessions shows a lax attitude by companies and the government toward environmental risk assessment.
- They warn that mining activity in these areas could lead to disaster for local communities and the environment, including spills of toxic tailings and pollution of water sources.
- Communities living near many mining concessions have voiced their concerns over such risks.

Indonesian police may probe coal miners over deforestation-linked floods
- The Indonesian police say they might investigate coal companies for their alleged role in recent deadly floods that struck southern Borneo.
- Critics accuse the companies of degrading the water catchment in South Kalimantan province through deforestation and sedimentation, which they allege amplified the impact of the rain-fueled floods.
- The government, meanwhile, is under fire for issuing more permits than the previous three administrations.
- Activists warn the environmental degradation in the province will only get worse under a slate of controversial deregulation measures passed by the government last year, which they say caters to coal companies at the expense of the environment.

Grim toll from Indonesia’s abandoned mines may get even worse, report warns
- The proliferation of abandoned mining pits throughout Indonesia has led to the deaths of 168 people, mostly children, from 2014-2020, according to a new report.
- Mining companies are required to fill in and rehabilitate their mining sites after their operations end, but many fail to do so, allowing the pits to fill with rainwater and become a drowning hazard.
- There has also been little to no law enforcement against companies that fail to rehabilitate their mining pits, leaving the families of those killed without any recourse to justice, activists say.
- They warn the problem will only get worse as operations at thousands of mines draw to a close and new deregulation measures undercut environmental and social safeguards.

Nearly one-third of all oak species threatened with extinction, report says
- Nearly one-third of all oak species (31%) are considered threatened with extinction, according to a new report.
- Of all 430 species of oaks, the highest number of species under threat are found in China, Mexico, Vietnam, and the United States, respectively.
- Globally, agriculture poses the biggest threat to oaks. Urban development, climate change, invasive species, plant diseases, and human disturbance have also strained oaks globally. And in Latin America, which has the highest number of endemic oak species, the use of oak for charcoal is a threat.
- Many of the threats to oaks must be tackled with “transformative systemic change,” but individual actions such as monitoring the oaks in your area, donating to local conservation NGOs, spreading awareness, and switching to more efficient fuels and stoves that do not rely on charcoal could relieve some of the pressures on threatened species.

Indonesia to push for mine rehab, reforestation after deadly floods
- The Indonesian government plans to reforest watershed areas in the Bornean province of South Kalimantan and compel coal-mining companies to rehabilitate their concessions there in response to recent deadly floods.
- Pit mines have degraded large swaths of the region’s watershed, undermining the ability of the land and rivers to absorb heavy rainwater runoff, which activists say exacerbated the scale of the floods.
- While the environment minister initially denied this, her office has now indicated it was aware of the problem at least five years earlier and will do more to get companies to rehabilitate their abandoned mining sites.
- Even if it succeeds, however, experts agree that, given the current state of technology, restoring forests from abandoned mining sites is unrealistic in any tangible time frame.

Planned coal-trucking road threatens a forest haven for Sumatran frogs
- The Harapan forest on the Indonesian island of Sumatra is teeming with frog species, one of which was just described last year.
- These amphibians are threatened by a coal-trucking road that the government has approved to be built right through the forest.
- Environmental activists have pushed back against the project, calling on the government to either suspend the project or approve alternative routes that would bypass the forest altogether or cut through a less pristine portion of it.
- The local government has promised to study the project’s impact, but activists point out the final decision lies with the central government, which gave the approval and has still not addressed their concerns.

Plantations, mines didn’t worsen flood, Indonesia says. The data begs to differ
- Indonesia’s environment minister claims deforestation for oil palm plantations and coal mines had nothing to do with a recent deadly flood in southern Borneo.
- But the ministry’s own data, and statements by a senior minister, attribute the intensity of the flooding on the massive loss of forest cover across the Barito River’s watershed.
- Environmental activists say the deforestation has compromised the natural function of the watershed to absorb the heavy rains that caused the Barito and its tributaries to overflow following heavy rains.
- The coordinating minister for human development has called for a more sustainable management of natural resources in the region, warning against unbridled exploitation.

Palm oil plantations, coal mines linked to deadly Indonesia flood
- Environmentalists have attributed recent heavy floods in southern Indonesian Borneo to widespread deforestation for oil palm plantations and coal mines.
- An analysis by Indonesia’s space agency shows an area of forest twice the size of London was cleared in the past decade in the watershed area of the Barito River in South Kalimantan province.
- During the same period, plantations spanning twice the size of Los Angeles have been established in the watershed area.
- Activists have called for a sweeping review of licenses as well as rehabilitation of degraded areas in the region.

Indonesia’s five most consequential environmental stories of 2020
- 2020 has been a momentous year for Indonesia’s environment, and for the regulations and regulators put in place to protect it.
- Perhaps most far-reaching is the passage of a massive deregulation bill critics warn will cater to the business community at the expense of the environment and social interests.
- The COVID-19 pandemic has also had a significant impact on conservation efforts in the country, putting the brakes on key conservation programs and potentially driving an increase in deforestation and poaching.
- Here, Mongabay reviews five of the key stories and trends from Indonesia in 2020.

Top Indonesian palm oil developments in 2020
- A persistent pandemic, fluctuating palm oil prices and escalating conflicts failed to slow the environmental and social fallouts from the growth of the palm oil industry in Indonesia, the world’s biggest producer of the commodity.
- There’s growing fear over accelerated deforestation to clear land for more plantations as the government continues to promote palm oil-based biodiesel — even as others refuse to recognize it as a renewable fuel.
- The country’s new palm oil frontier, in the forests of Papua, is tainted by allegations of falsified permits and violence against Indigenous communities.
- At the same time, new legislation exempts plantation operators from environmental requirements and allows for the whitewashing of illegal plantations in forests.

Indonesia’s biofuel bid threatens more deforestation for oil palm plantations
- The Indonesian government says it will need to establish new oil palm plantations a fifth the size of Borneo in order to supply its ambitious biodiesel program.
- The program, through which Indonesia plans to eventually phase out the use of conventional diesel, will require planting 15 million hectares (37 million acres) of oil palms, according to the energy minister.
- Energy and environmental experts say it’s inevitable that massive swaths of forest will have to be cleared to meet this target, and have called for it to be scaled back.
- They also question the drive to ramp up the biodiesel program, given that Indonesia has expressed its ambitions to be a global production hub for electric vehicles — which don’t run on diesel, whether conventional or bio.

French Guiana soy biofuel power plants risk massive Amazon deforestation
- The French government, with the support of President Emmanuel Macron, appears eager to approve legislation that would bypass French environmental law banning large scale deforestation to build several soy-fired biofuel power plants in French Guiana — a French overseas department on the northeast coast of South America.
- Currently, 98% of this region is still covered in Amazon rainforest and mangrove forest. The largest of the proposed biofuel plants — Larivot in Cayenne, the French Guiana capital — would require between 84,000 and 140,000 metric tons of soy per year to generate enough liquid biofuel to power the 120-megawatt plant.
- Growing that much soy would require a large amount of rainforest clearing, totaling between 536 square miles and 892 square miles (nearly three times larger than the land area of New York City). Environmentalists are very concerned over the loss in forest carbon sequestration and harm to French Guiana’s Amazon biodiversity.
- “The fact that France is pushing for policy deviations in French Guiana from European Union sustainability standards is incredibly alarming.… There will be an impact on forests if they change the laws and it could be pretty massive,” said Almuth Ernsting, a biomass researcher with Biofuelwatch, an environmental NGO.

Indonesia’s omnibus law a ‘major problem’ for environmental protection
- Global investors have joined local activists in raising concerns about the potential impact of environmental deregulation measures contained in a new law passed by Indonesia’s parliament.
- Among the many criticisms of the so-called omnibus law on job creation is that it restricts the public’s ability to consult on or challenge projects that may cause environmental and social harm.
- Provisions in the law also open the door for increased deforestation, which is the main driver of Indonesia’s greenhouse gas emissions.
- Activists say the law, ostensibly aimed at attracting foreign investment into Indonesia, is likely to draw investors who have little regard for environmental protection.

Indonesian officials linked to mining and ‘dirty energy’ firms benefiting from deregulation law
- Top Indonesian ministers who pushed for the passage of a deregulation bill that benefits the mining and “dirty energy” industry have links to some of those very companies, a new report shows.
- The report by a coalition of NGOs highlights “massive potential for conflicts of interest” in the drafting and passage of the so-called omnibus bill on job creation.
- Under the new law, coal companies can qualify for an exemption from paying royalties, as well as be absolved of criminal and financial sanctions for mining in forest areas.
- Activists say the omnibus law is emblematic of an increasingly “despotic” government that puts the interests of the wealthy few above the welfare of the country’s environment and its rural communities.

World’s plants and fungi a frontier of discovery, if we can protect them: Report
- The “State of the World’s Plants and Fungi 2020” report, released this week, was born of the collaborative effort of 200 scientists from 42 different countries and delves into a global assessment of plants and fungi as food, fuel, medicine, tools for urban resilience, and more.
- In 2019 alone, 1,942 plants and 1,886 fungi were newly described by scientists, some closely related to known medicinal species and potentially new sources of medicine.
- More than 7,000 edible plants hold potential as future crops, according to the report, meeting the criteria of being nutritious, robust and historically used as food.
- Nearly 40% of plant species are estimated to be threatened with extinction.

Madagascar introduces stoves that burn rice husks instead of forests
- Madagascar’s dependence on fuelwood is contributing significantly to the island’s deforestation.
- To meet demand, charcoal suppliers even take wood from protected areas and dig up tree stumps.
- A program aimed at changing wood consumption habits to alleviate pressure on both forests and household budgets is distributing new stoves that burn rice husks instead of charcoal.
- One million tons of rice husks go to waste in Madagascar each year. The program aims to turn this surplus into a biofuel that is cheaper and more sustainable than wood.

‘Meaningless certification’: Study makes the case against ‘sustainable’ palm oil
- Three-quarters of oil palm concessions in Indonesia and Malaysian Borneo certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil occupy land that was forest and/or wildlife habitat as recently as 30 years ago, a new study shows.
- While not the initial drivers of deforestation in those areas, these plantations shouldn’t be certified sustainable if that history is accounted for, the study authors say.
- “The fact that someone else did deforestation just a few years before does not absolve the palm oil plantation’s owner and definitely does not justify a sustainability label by a certification scheme,” says co-author Roberto Cazzolla Gatti.
- He adds the RSPO’s failure to account for past deforestation means that “every logged area ‘today’ could be certified as a sustainable plantation ‘tomorrow,’ in an infinite loop of meaningless certification.”

Indonesia lavishes $195m subsidy on palm biodiesel producers over smallholders
- The Indonesian government is allocating $195 million from the state budget to subsidize producers of palm oil biodiesel, justifying the move as necessary to boosting the economy out of a pandemic-induced slump.
- Campaigners have blasted the move, noting that the fund through which the money will be channeled is meant to empower small oil palm farmers and not subsidize the giant multinationals that produce biodiesel.
- Since 2015, the government has used the fund to both subsidize producers and artificially lower the price of biodiesel at the pump to keep it competitive with regular diesel.
- Studies have shown that the deforestation inherent in the production of palm biodiesel means it emits up to three times as much CO2 as fossil fuels, making crop-based biofuels counterproductive to efforts to cut emissions.

Scientists warn U.S. Congress against declaring biomass burning carbon neutral
- Some 200 U.S. environmental scientists have sent a letter to congressional committee chairs urging they reject new rules proposed in April under the Clean Air Act that would define biomass, when burned to produce energy, as being carbon neutral.
- The scientists say that biomass burning — using wood pellets to produce energy at converted coal-burning power plants — is not only destructive of native forests which store massive amounts of carbon, but also does not reduce carbon emissions.
- A long-standing UN policy, recognizing biomass burning as carbon neutral, has caused the U.S. forestry industry to gear up to produce wood pellets for power plants in Britain, the EU, South Korea and beyond. Scientists warn that the failure to count the emissions produced by such plants could help destabilize the global climate.
- The letter from environmental scientists concludes: “We are hopeful that a new and more scientifically sound direction will be considered by Members [of Congress] that emphasizes forest protections, and a shift away from consumption of wood products and forest biomass energy to help mitigate the climate crisis.”

With new law, Indonesia gives miners more power and fewer obligations
- Indonesia’s parliament has passed a mining bill that activists say will lead to unbridled exploitation by a mining industry that already operates with impunity over environmental and social violations.
- The new law removes a limit on the size of mining operations and allows automatic permit extensions up to 20 years.
- Critics say the law effectively echoes the talking points of the mining industry while shutting out longstanding demands from civil society groups, villagers and others for greater reforms.
- The bill failed to pass last year in the face of massive street protests; lawmakers have been accused of exploiting the current period of social distancing restrictions to pass it largely unopposed.

Study projects 30% more forest cover if wood biomass is managed right; critics call it a disaster
- Wood biomass is a controversial renewable fuel; the European Union’s Renewable Energy Directive (RED) considers it carbon neutral, while critics say reforestation of areas takes too long to make up for carbon sink loss.
- For a recent study, researchers used a model to project forest cover if wood biomass is competitively priced and forest management is intensive.
- The result, according to the study, would be an increase of 1 billion hectares (2.5 billion acres) of forest by 2100, but critic says replacement tree farms are poor substitutes for existing natural forests.

As COVID-19 spreads, commodity markets rumble
- Projections of a construction slowdown caused the price of lumber to plummet on global markets.
- While palm oil prices have dropped by 15 percent on lower demand for biofuels, most agricultural commodity prices have remained relatively stable so far.
- Economists say the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the environment is hard to forecast, but warn that the global economy could be on the brink of collapse.

Madagascar launches massive planting drive, eyes 60 million trees
- Madagascar launched a national drive on Jan. 19 that aims to plant 60 million trees in the coming months to mark 60 years of independence, and in the hope of restoring the island’s forests.
- Madagascar, the oldest island in the world and the fourth-largest, is home to an astounding range of plant and animal life.
- Between 2001 and 2018, it lost about one-fifth of its tree cover, according to Global Forest Watch, driven primarily by the expansion of shifting agriculture.
- Experts say the real challenge for the campaign is in safeguarding the young trees by weaning the Malagasy people away from unsustainable agricultural practices and reducing their dependence on wood for charcoal.

As we act on climate, we mustn’t neglect nature (commentary)
- The discussion of the environment has been unbalanced. While all the talk is about carbon and climate, that is actually only half the story when it comes to our environmental crisis. The other catastrophe is of course the destruction of the natural world, the ecological crisis which threatens a million species with extinction over the coming decades.
- These twin evils are as important and serious as each other, but you wouldn’t think it from a glance at the papers – media coverage of the ecological crisis is being completely eclipsed by the climate, which received eight times more press attention in recent years.
- This imbalance needs to be rectified, and we must start treating our twin crises equally, because we cannot address them in isolation. Natural ecosystems, such as forests, wetlands, and seagrass beds, store huge amounts of carbon, and protecting and restoring them is the cheapest and most effective action we can take to lessen the climate crisis. The trouble is, our efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change can seriously undermine these key natural ecosystems.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

Rainforests in 2020: 10 things to watch
- This is Mongabay founder Rhett Butler’s annual look ahead at the year in rainforests.
- After a decade of increased deforestation, broken commitments, and hundreds of murders of rainforest defenders, the 2020s open as a dark moment for the world’s rainforests.
- Here are some key things to watch for the coming year: Brazil, destabilization of tropical forests, U.S. elections, the global economy, Jokowi’s new administration in Indonesia, market-based conservation initiatives, zero deforestation commitments, ambition on addressing the biodiversity crisis, Congo Basin, and assessment of 2019’s damage.
- Share your thoughts via the comment function at the bottom of the post.

2019: The year rainforests burned
- 2019 closed out a “lost decade” for the world’s tropical forests, with surging deforestation from Brazil to the Congo Basin, environmental policy roll-backs, assaults on environmental defenders, abandoned conservation commitments, and fires burning through rainforests on four continents.
- The following review covers some of the biggest rainforest storylines for the year.

Dodgy science and corporate concessions in Indonesia’s bid for clean palm oil
- Environmental activists and experts have questioned a new initiative by the Indonesian government to clean up the reputation of the country’s palm oil, which they warn could lead to an even less sustainable industry than at present.
- The plan risks permitting the legitimization of illegal plantations inside forests, effectively rewarding environmental violators.
- It also seeks to count palm oil-based biodiesel as a green offset to fossil fuels, despite overwhelming evidence showing that the production of the fuel will lead to greater deforestation and a net increase in carbon emissions.
- The plan also gives mining and other extractives companies an easy way out of their obligation to rehabilitate their degraded concessions, by permitting these areas to be planted with oil palms instead of being reforested.

Sugarcane threatens Amazon forest and world climate; Brazilian ethanol is not clean (commentary)
- On November 6, 2019, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro signed an administrative decree abolishing the environmental zoning of sugarcane which has until now restrained the advance of this crop — largely used to produce ethanol — into the Amazon rainforest and Pantanal wetlands.
- Sugarcane expansion into these two ecologically sensitive biomes will generate unprecedented impacts — including deforestation and carbon emissions adding to climate change — meaning that Brazilian biofuels can no longer be claimed to be environmentally “clean.”
- In 2018, the European Union imported more than 43 million liters of Brazilian cane ethanol. As with all commodities, importing countries need to assess the environmental impact that the production of these commodities have on the global climate via the destruction of Amazon and Pantanal native vegetation.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

In surprise move, Brazil has removed restrictions on Amazon sugarcane production
- Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has signed a decree revoking a zoning regulation for the sugarcane industry, effectively allowing for cultivation of the crop in the Amazon and other areas of primary forest.
- The measure is controversial because it wasn’t requested by the industry, which, under the previous regulation, was permitted to expand onto degraded land and cattle pasture covering six times the area currently planted with sugarcane.
- The government has justified the move as necessary to boost the ethanol industry in Amazonian states, but experts warn the end of the zoning restriction could present an obstacle to ethanol exports to the European Union, damaging the biofuel sector.
- To date, the sugarcane industry has remained dissociated from the deforestation linked to the cattle and soy industries. Environmentalists say this new decree could end that exception, while also sending the message that the government sees no value in protecting standing forests.

‘Bring it on,’ EU MP says of trade fight over palm biofuel phase-out
- A European member of parliament says the bloc isn’t concerned about threats by Indonesia and Malaysia to file a trade complaint over an EU policy to phase out palm oil-based biofuels by 2030.
- The two Southeast Asian countries supply 85 percent of the world’s palm oil, and have denounced the EU policy as discriminatory.
- The EU has justified its decision on the environmental impact of palm oil production, notably the large-scale deforestation to clear land for palm plantations.
- Concerns have also been raised that Indonesia’s response of boosting its domestic production of palm-based biodiesel, which a minister calls “green fuel,” could actually result in a net increase in carbon emissions.

Demand for charcoal threatens the forest of Madagascar’s last hunter-gatherers
- The Mikea, who number around 1,000 people, are facing what many of them say is an existential environmental problem.
- Their ancestral forest in southwestern Madagascar is partly protected inside a national park.
- However, it is rapidly being chopped down to supply a growing demand for charcoal, the country’s primary source of cooking fuel.
- Some Mikea, having lived their entire lives hunting and gathering, are facing a shortage of game and other food and are now considering whether they must abandon the forest, and their way of life, for good.

Indonesia eyes palm oil export boost to China amid mounting U.S. trade war
- Indonesia has welcomed a move by China to remove palm oil from its import tariff quota management.
- That would allow Indonesia, the world’s biggest producer of palm oil, to increase its exports to China, its No. 3 market.
- A senior Indonesian official said there would be no forest-clearing to support any anticipated increase in exports, with higher yields expected to come from better technology and seeds.
- The move presents a respite for Indonesia, which faces a biofuel phase-out in the EU and a likely increase in duties in India, its top two export markets.

Norway sees sharp drop in palm oil biofuel consumption after ban on government purchasing
- Norway saw drop in palm oil consumption following new regulations limiting sales in response to concerns about deforestation for plantations.
- The decrease has been lauded by a Norwegian rainforest advocacy group, which called it a “big win for rainforests.”
- Indonesia and Malaysia, the world’s two biggest palm oil producers, have warned of retaliation if a Europe-wide phase-out of the commodity from biofuels by 2030 goes ahead.

Indonesia calls on palm oil industry, obscured by secrecy, to remain opaque
- The Indonesian government has called on the country’s palm oil companies to refrain from releasing their plantation data, citing national security, privacy and competition reasons.
- The publication of the data is a necessary part of sustainability certification under the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).
- Activists say they fear that withholding the information will further damage the reputation of Indonesia’s palm oil industry, which is already beset by allegations of deforestation, land grabbing, and labor rights abuses.
- The government has for years sent out mixed messages about whether it will make available the plantation data, which activists say is crucial in helping resolve the hundreds of land disputes across Indonesia, most of them involving palm concessions.

A Malagasy community races the timber mafia to save its forest
- The Vohibola forest is one of the last remaining primary forests along Madagascar’s eastern coast, supporting a large variety of endemic species found nowhere else on Earth.
- Under a renewed contract finalized this week the responsibility for its management was delegated to Razan’ny Vohibola, an association of volunteers from four surrounding villages.
- The task of protecting the forest, which is rapidly disappearing because of illegal logging, pits the local protectors against not just the timber mafia but also officials whom the villagers allege are complicit.
- Members of Razan’ny Vohibola were arrested in April on charges of aiding the illegal logging allegedly at the behest of corrupt officials, but released after the central environment ministry intervened.

Malaysia calls on Southeast Asia to back palm oil against ‘unfair’ claims
- The Malaysian government has called for support from fellow members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to support the region’s palm oil industry in the wake of a European Union policy to stop recognizing the commodity as a biofuel.
- Malaysia and fellow ASEAN member Indonesia supply more than 80 percent of the world’s palm oil, while Singapore, another ASEAN state, is home to some of the world’s biggest palm oil companies and the banks that finance the industry.
- Malaysia’s minister of primary industries, Teresa Kok, says there’s a global campaign to portray the production of palm oil as exceptionally destructive, which she calls “extremely provocative and belittling.”
- While both the Malaysian and Indonesian governments have instated policies to curb the clearing of rainforest for palm plantations, there still remain challenges to ensuring sustainability across the wider industry, environmental activists say.

Can rice husk briquettes stem the tide of mangrove deforestation in Myanmar?
- Despite the knowledge about the role mangroves play to protect inland areas from storm swells, and a nationwide ban on logging, Myanmar continues to lose mangroves, particularly to communities in the Irrawaddy Delta where electricity is lacking and a reliance on mangroves as firewood and to make charcoal.
- An enterprising rice mill owner, U Zayar Myo, uses discarded rice husks to create compact briquettes that can be burned as an alternative fuel to mangrove wood or charcoal.
- These rice-husk briquettes are now being distributed to other businesses historically reliant on burning mangrove wood, and point to one way to reduce the rate of mangrove deforestation in Myanmar.

Illegal charcoal trade threatens Myanmar’s remaining mangroves
- The depletion of mangroves in southern Myanmar is impacting local fisheries near the island villages.
- The illegal charcoal trade persists due to a lack of law enforcement and oversight in Myanmar and Thailand.
- Many Burmese labor workers, charcoal kiln owners and traders are indebted to the charcoal warehouses that they ultimately supply in Thailand, which guarantees a steady supply of charcoal into Thailand.

Indonesia’s threat to exit Paris accord over palm oil seen as cynical ploy
- A top Indonesian minister says the country may consider pulling out of the Paris climate agreement in retaliation for a European policy to phase out palm oil from biofuels by 2030.
- Luhut Pandjaitan, the coordinating minister for maritime affairs, says Indonesia, the world’s biggest producer of palm oil, can follow in the footsteps of the United States, which has declared its withdrawal from the climate pact, and Brazil, which is considering doing the same.
- The threat is the latest escalation in a diplomatic spat that has also seen Indonesia and Malaysia, the No. 2 palm oil producer, threaten retaliatory trade measures against the European Union.
- The EU says its policy is driven by growing consumer concerns about the sustainability of palm oil, which in Indonesia is often grown on plantations for which vast swaths of rainforest have had to be cleared.

In Ethiopia, women and faith drive effort to restore biodiversity
- In Addis Ababa, approximately 35 percent of the household fuelwood – mainly eucalyptus – is systematically gathered from the Entoto Mountains just outside the city.
- Ethiopia historically planted large areas with fast-growing eucalyptus, a non-native species, to meet the demand for fuelwood. But the trees’ water-hogging nature has had a destructive impact on the land.
- There are efforts to reforest areas with native species, supported by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, which has a tradition of maintaining tree gardens throughout the country.

What underwater sounds can tell us about Indian Ocean humpback dolphins
- On today’s episode, we speak with marine biologist Isha Bopardikar, an independent researcher who is using bioacoustics to study humpback dolphins off the west coast of India.
- Last month, Mongabay’s India bureau published an article with the headline “What underwater sounds tell us about marine life.” As Mongabay contributor Sejal Mehta notes in the piece, the world beneath the ocean’s surface is a noisy place, with animals sounding off for a number of purposes. Now, of course, humanity is interjecting more and more frequently, intruding on the underwater soundscape.
- As Isha Bopardikar tells Mehta in the Mongabay India piece, in order to understand how marine animals use the underwater space and how human activities affect their behavior, we need hard data. That’s where her current work off the west coast of India comes in. In this Fields Notes segment, Bopardikar plays for us some of her dolphin recordings and explains how they are informing her research.

Europe, in bid to phase out palm biofuel, leaves fans and foes dismayed
- Both palm oil producers and environmental activists alike have expressed dismay with a move by European officials to phase out palm-oil based biofuel by 2030.
- Officials in Indonesia and Malaysia, which together produce 85 percent of global supply of the commodity, say the move is discriminatory and have vowed a vigorous response, including lobbying EU member states to oppose it, bringing the matter before the WTO, and imposing retaliatory measures on goods from the EU.
- Environmental activists say the policy doesn’t go far enough, leaving loopholes that will allow palm oil produced under certain circumstances to continue being treated as a renewable fuel, thereby allowing for the expansion of palm estates into peat forests.
- They have also criticized the policy’s failure to label soybean oil as high risk, in light of growing evidence that deforestation linked to the cultivation of soy may be just as bad as or worse than that of palm oil.

Malaysia to ban oil palm expansion?
- Malaysia may ban further expansion of oil palm plantations in an effort to improve the oilseed’s reputation abroad, Minister of Primary Industries Teresa Kok told Bloomberg.
- Kok said the prime minister’s cabinet will weigh a proposal to cap Malaysia’s palm oil estate at 6 million hectares (14.8 million acres). Malaysia currently has 5.85 million hectares, so the cap provides allowances for about 150,000 hectares of expansion already underway.
- Kok said that Malaysia could continue to increase palm oil production despite the cap by improving yields of existing plantations.
- The proposed move comes in response to criticism over palm oil’s link to large-scale deforestation in Southeast Asia.

Indonesian candidates find common ground in support for palm oil
- Indonesia’s two presidential candidates, Joko Widodo and Prabowo Subianto, have both pledged to increase the production and consumption of palm oil should they win the April 17 election.
- Environmental activists and experts have criticized the candidates for not addressing the negative aspects of palm oil production, which both are pushing as a feedstock for biodiesel, in what is seen as a voter-pleasing appeal to resource nationalism.
- Nearly 200 million people in Indonesia, home to the world’s third-largest rainforest and also the biggest producer of palm oil, are eligible to vote in the upcoming election.

DRC’s Virunga to welcome visitors again after 8-month closure
- Escalating violence in mid-2018, resulting in the deaths of seven park rangers, forced the closure of Virunga National Park to visitors.
- The park is known for its diverse wildlife, especially its mountain gorillas, as well as its active volcano, but its location in eastern DRC is one of the most volatile regions on earth.
- After assessing the security of the park, officials will reopen stable areas for visitors on Feb. 15 interested in trekking to see the gorillas and to visit the rim of the volcano.

Wildlife rangers in DRC park report waning motivation, job satisfaction
- Surveys of more than 60 rangers in Kahuzi-Biega National Park in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo cite poor salaries, few chances for advancement, and security concerns as reasons for their low satisfaction with their jobs.
- The authors of the study, published in the journal Oryx, believe that the rangers’ discontentment leads to waning motivation in protecting the park and its wildlife, which includes the critically endangered Grauer’s gorilla.
- Improved conditions, in the form of better salaries, opportunities for promotion, and better support from the judicial and legal authorities, could translate into improved protections for the park, the researchers write.

Policymakers are not adequately factoring land use and human diets into climate mitigation strategies: Study
- A recent study finds that governments and researchers routinely underestimate the potential for changes to land use and human diets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate the impacts of global warming.
- Published in Nature last month, the research suggests that policymakers are not adequately accounting for the amount of carbon that could be stored in forests and other natural vegetation if those lands weren’t used for producing food, and are also failing to recognize the carbon emissions that will result from increased agricultural production.
- According to the study’s lead author, Tim Searchinger, a research scholar at Princeton University and a senior fellow at the World Resources Institute, these oversights on the part of climate policymakers are particularly crucial because successfully mitigating climate change will require more carbon be stored in forests and other native vegetation, even while the world will have to produce as much as 50 percent more food every year in order to feed the growing global population.

COP24: Green groups warn of pitfalls in ‘forests for climate’ deal
- A declaration to protect and use forests as a tool to combat climate change has been lambasted by environmentalists.
- The declaration, initiated by the Polish government during the COP24 climate summit, could promote the burning of wood pellets for bioenergy, the environmentalists warn.
- Wood-based biomass is a controversial and hotly debated topic in climate discussions, with scientists finding it emits up to 50 percent more CO2 than coal. But its proponents, including the U.S. EPA, champion it as a “carbon neutral” source of energy.

Rainforests: storylines to watch in 2019
- 2018 wasn’t a great year for tropical rainforests, with major conservation setbacks in Brazil, Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, and the United States coming on top of back-to-back years of high forest cover loss.
- Here are ten storylines we’re watching in the world of rainforests as we begin 2019.
- Brazil’s Bolsanaro, Democratic Republic of Congo election outcome, global economic health, Indonesia’s election, biofuel mandates, California forest carbon decision, forest monitoring technology, U.S. politics, and political momentum for biodiversity.

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.

Kenyan charcoal businesses trying to nip invasive tree in the bud
- An invasive species of mesquite named Prosopis juliflora, and known in Kenya as mathenge was introduced to the region to restore degraded drylands.
- Residents describe mixed feelings about whether to keep the mathenge tree or try to eradicate it. Some termed it a “dryland demon” — since it can inflict injuries in both people and livestock, while blocking paths where it formed canopies.
- Using charcoal production to both curb the spread of the prolifically invasive plant and reduce demand on native species is consistently described as a positive development by proponents.

Deforestation surges in Virunga National Park in the wake of violence
- In the DRC’s Virunga National Park, rangers and wildlife are caught in the crosshairs of a brutal civil conflict.
- Forest monitoring platform Global Forest Watch detected more than 1,100 hectares (2,718 acres) of tree cover loss from May to September.
- The recent uptick coincides with the temporary closure of the Virunga after rebel forces killed a park ranger and kidnapped two British tourists.
- The primary driver deforestation is likely charcoal production. Illegal logging and land clearing for agriculture are also presumed to play a role.

Deforestation-linked palm oil still finding its way into top consumer brands: report
- A new report by Greenpeace finds that palm oil suppliers to the world’s largest brands have cleared more than 1,300 square kilometers (500 square miles) of rainforest — an area the size of the city of Los Angeles — since the end of 2015.
- Greenpeace says palm oil-fueled deforestation remains rampant in countries like Indonesia and Malaysia because global consumer brands like Unilever, Nestlé and PepsiCo continue to buy from rogue producers.
- These brands have failed to commit to their zero-deforestation pledges and are poised to fall short of their own 2020 deadlines of cleaning up their entire supply chain from deforestation, Greenpeace says.
- Greenpeace has called for a transformation in the palm oil industry, particularly in Indonesia, the world’s biggest producer of the commodity.

Study finds widespread degradation, deforestation in African woodlands
- New research has found that deforestation rates between 2007 and 2010 in the woodlands of southern Africa were five times greater than previously thought.
- Similarly, carbon losses from the region during that time period were three to six times higher.
- The study used radar data, as opposed to visual satellite imagery, to measure the biomass found in southern Africa’s woodlands.
- Around 17 percent of the region’s area was degraded during the time period, the researchers found.

Indonesia seeks to get palm oil used as jet fuel in U.S., France
- Indonesia wants the U.S. and France to let Indonesian companies build palm oil jet fuel plants in the Western countries.
- Indonesia’s trade minister said he had conveyed this request to the U.S. and French governments, and made it a condition for future purchases of Boeing and Airbus planes.
- The request comes amid a wider campaign by the Indonesian government to prop up demand for palm oil, of which it is the world’s top producer.

95 percent of all lemur species face high risk of extinction, experts say
- More than 50 experts in primate conservation from around the world recently convened in Antananarivo to review the conservation status of the 111 species and subspecies of lemurs, all endemic to Madagascar, and provide updated threat assessments for the IUCN Red List.
- They found that 105 lemurs — 95 percent of all known lemur species and subspecies — might qualify as critically endangered, endangered, or vulnerable to extinction in the wild.
- The updated assessments produced by the IUCN Species Survival Commission Primate Specialist Group must still undergo a review process before they are fully validated, but the group’s findings would increase the number of lemurs listed as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List from 24 to 38.

The world lost an area of tropical forest the size of Bangladesh in 2017
- According to new data, tropical countries lost 158,000 square kilometers (39 million acres) of tree cover in 2017 – an area the size of Bangladesh. The 2017 number is the second highest since the dataset began in 2001, and only a bit lower than the record high in 2016.
- Brazil came out on top for the most tree cover lost of any tropical country, a reversal from the country’s deforestation reductions over the past 14 years. Tree cover loss also rose dramatically in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Colombia. However, Indonesia’s numbers dropped by nearly half between 2016 and 2017.
- Experts attribute the upward trend in tree cover loss primarily to continued land clearing for agricultural purposes.
- The new dataset was discussed at the Oslo Tropical Forest Forum, which is taking place this week in Norway.

The dialogue between science and indigenous knowledge
- On today’s episode, we discuss traditional indigenous knowledge and climate change with Snowchange Cooperative director Tero Mustonen.
- Through Snowchange, which is based in Finland, Mustonen works with indigenous communities around the world on projects related to climate change. He will also be one of the lead authors of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s next assessment report, due out in the early 2020s. We were interested to hear how Mustonen thinks traditional indigenous knowledge can inform climate science.
- We also speak with Mustonen about Snowchange’s work with indigenous communities, from ecological restoration to solar initiatives, the latter of which are specifically designed to empower women in remote indigenous communities.

Do environmental advocacy campaigns drive successful forest conservation?
- How effective are advocacy campaigns at driving permanent policy changes that lead to forest conservation results? We suspected this might be a difficult question to answer scientifically, but nevertheless we gamely set out to see what researchers had discovered when they attempted to do so as part of a special Mongabay series on “Conservation Effectiveness.”
- We ultimately reviewed 34 studies and papers, and found that the scientific evidence is fairly weak for any claims about the effectiveness of advocacy campaigns. So we also spoke with several experts in forest conservation and advocacy campaigns to supplement our understanding of some of the broader trends and to fill in some of the gaps in our knowledge.
- We found no evidence that advocacy campaigns on their own drive long-term forest conservation, though they do appear to be valuable in terms of raising awareness of environmental issues and driving people to take action. But it’s important to note that, of all the conservation interventions we examined for the Conservation Effectiveness series, advocacy campaigns appear to have the weakest evidence base in scientific literature.

Biofuel boost threatens even greater deforestation in Indonesia, Malaysia: Study
- A new report projects the global demand for palm oil-based biofuel by 2030 will be six times higher than today if existing and proposed policies in Indonesia, China and the aviation industry hold.
- That surge in demand could result in the clearing of 45,000 square kilometers (17,374 square miles) of forest in Indonesia and Malaysia, the world’s biggest palm oil producers, and the release of an additional 7 billion tons of CO2 emissions a year — higher than current annual emissions by the U.S.
- That impact could be tempered to some degree by the European Union, which plans to phase out all use of palm oil in its biofuel over the next three years, citing environmental concerns.

More than half of Europe’s forests lost over 6,000 years
- In a report published in Scientific Reports, an international group of scientists researched Europe’s forest loss using pollen analysis.
- Increased demand for agricultural land and wood fuel were found to be the leading causes for deforestation.
- Six millenia ago, more than two-thirds of central and northern Europe was covered by forest, and today only one-third is covered by forest.

Myanmar to target illegal charcoal trade with China
- A 2017 investigative report by Mongabay uncovered a booming illicit trade in charcoal to China from Myanmar.
- At least 14,000 soccer fields worth of Myanmar’s forests are destroyed a year to feed China’s appetite for the illegal product.
- Myanmar officials now say they have seized almost 5,000 tons of charcoal and will continue to crack down on the trade.

Biofuel project near India’s rhino heartland sparks protests
- India’s state-owned Numaligarh Refinery Limited and Finnish firm Chempolis Oy plan to build a bioethanol refinery near Kaziranga National Park in India’s Assam State.
- The project is touted as green and sustainable, but faces opposition from local activists who fear it will cause pollution, increase human-wildlife conflict, and negatively impact the habitat of elephants, rhinos and other wildlife.
- Activists also cite concerns about the project’s environmental impact assessment process, and its proposed location in an officially designated “no-development zone.”

The charcoal hunters
- Investigative reporter Emmanuel Freudenthal and photographer and videographer Nathan Siegel take you behind the scenes of their reporting.
- The report is one of a multi-part series on illegal logging in Myanmar, published this week by Mongabay.
- More reporting, photography, and a short docu-video in this series can be found at Mongabay.com.

Burning down the house: Myanmar’s destructive charcoal trade
- A nearly year-long investigation by Mongabay led to a multi-part reporting project into the illegal production and trade of charcoal in Myanmar.
- One route for charcoal sales from Myanmar to China documented by Mongabay could generate as much as $10 million a year in payoffs alone to Burmese government officials.
- Charcoal is used to make silicon metal, used to manufacture a massive range of products, from solar panels to the silicon chips used in laptops and other mobile devices.
- In this series, reported for Mongabay by investigative journalist Emmanuel Freudenthal with photography and videography by Nathan Siegel, we go behind the curtain to reveal a world of conflicting interests, needs, and loyalties in forest management and conservation.

Can community forestry deliver for Madagascar’s forests and people?
- In recent years “managed resource protected areas”— forests where local people control the use of natural resources — have sprung up across Madagascar, aiming to spark both economic development and conservation, and to include nearby communities in important decision-making.
- But the community groups managing these forests often struggle to exert real control over the landscapes they’ve been asked to protect, and complain that promised development assistance has never materialized.
- Nevertheless, proponents say the approach can succeed with the right project design, and sufficient funding and support.
- This is the first story in Mongabay’s multi-part series “Conservation in Madagascar.”

Philippine palm oil plan ‘equals corruption and land-grabbing,’ critics say
- With its renewed promotion of what it calls the “Sunshine Industry,” the Philippine government is looking to cultivate another one million hectares of oil palm, 98 percent of which would be on the island of Mindanao.
- Proponents say increasing palm oil production will alleviate poverty and armed conflict through large investments from Malaysian, Indonesian and Singaporean firms and other foreign and domestic companies, and tout potential revenue brought by palm oil’s increasing demand as a food and cosmetic ingredient and biofuel.
- But critics worry expansion of the country’s palm oil industry will benefit large companies at the expense of small farmers, forests, and water quality.

NOAA announces largest-ever Gulf of Mexico ‘dead zone’
- The dead zone is primarily the result of nutrient pollution that stimulates massive blooms of algae. This algae is fed by nutrient runoff from agricultural areas in the U.S. Midwest carried down by the Mississippi River.
- An investigation found meat production largely to blame for this nutrient runoff.
- However, representatives with the meat industry say the report failed to consider the impact of ethanol production.
- NOAA scientists say the dead zone is likely to continue growing if nutrient levels aren’t reduced.

Charcoal and cattle ranching tearing apart the Gran Chaco
- The year-long probe of Paraguay’s charcoal exports by the NGO Earthsight revealed that much of the product was coming from the Chaco, the world’s fastest-disappearing tropical forest.
- Suppliers appear to have reassured international supermarket chains that it was sustainable and that they had certification from international groups such as FSC and PEFC.
- But further digging by Earthsight revealed that the charcoal production methods used may not fit with the intent of certification.
- Several grocery store chains mentioned in the report have said they’ll take a closer look at their supply chains, and the certification body PEFC is reexamining how its own standards are applied.

Aggressive forest protection needed to meet US climate goals
- Despite how critical forest protection is to meeting climate goals, it is not currently seen as a climate priority in the U.S.
- In fact, the report notes, some government and forestry industry actors even promote increased logging as a solution to climate change, which has led to the forests of the coastal Southern United States becoming the largest source of wood pellet exports to Europe in recent years.
- Forest disturbance from logging in the Southern U.S. occurs at four times the rate that it does in the rainforests of South America, the authors of the report discovered, which is reducing the ability of the country’s forests to act as carbon sinks by at least 35 percent.

Despite population growth and management challenges, hope for forests in Ethiopia
- The country’s capital city of Addis Ababa, already home to about 3.4 million people, is expanding outward and impacting forestland in its periphery.
- A legacy of poor forest management has long plagued Ethiopia’s efforts to protect and manage indigenous tree species and the habitat in which they grow.
- Poverty is driving the exploitation of woodland resources such as eucalyptus, as the need for charcoal and firewood increases along with population growth.

Newly discovered Tanzanian frog already facing extinction
- The new frog was collected in 2001 from Ruvu South Forest Reserve in Tanzania, in habitat atypical for spiny reed frogs.
- The scientists who collected it couldn’t identify it in the field. Fourteen years later, they sequenced the frog’s DNA, which revealed that it was a species previously unknown to science.
- The new species is represented by just one museum specimen. Recent attempts to find more in Ruvu South Forest Reserve failed to turn up the sought-after frogs, leaving researchers worried the species is being wiped out by dramatic deforestation affecting the reserve and surrounding areas.

What happens when the soy and palm oil boom ends?
- Over the past 30 years demand and production of oils crops like oil palm and soybeans has boomed across the tropics.
- This rapid expansion has in some places taken a heavy toll on native, wildlife-rich ecosystems.
- Derek Byerlee, co-author of a new book titled The Tropical Oil Crop Revolution, spoke with Mongabay about the tropical oil crop sector and what’s to come for the industry.

Investors learning to pay heed to community land rights
- Most conflicts besetting private investments in Africa – 63 percent – relate to pushing people off their lands.
- These conflicts affect agriculture, mining, and even green energy investments.
- In Southern Africa, 73 percent of conflicts turned violent and 73 percent halted work on the developments.

These Indonesian villages are powered by locally sourced sustainable energy
- An estimated 1.6 million poor households in Indonesia are not connected to the electricity grid.
- Indonesia’s national energy plan, which targets 35,000 megawatts of new generating capacity, relies primarily on coal and other fossil fuels.
- In rural, off-grid areas, the government has shown more support for renewable energy generation, but progress remains slow.
- In the meantime, villages like Reno on Flores Island have built their own small-scale renewable energy sources.

An East African border town struggles with growing pains
- Namanga is a multicultural transit point between Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, and Arusha, Tanzania’s second largest city
- The governments of Tanzania and Kenya have agreed to construct a single, joint border point at Namanga crossing, one of many along the 480-mile border
- A 200-foot-wide “no man’s land” is the target of a cleanup effort by both governments to curb illegal activity, including the sale of charcoal and transit of timber

The people of Ethiopia’s forests
- Ethiopia’s forestry sector contributed $893.7 million to the economy in 2011, or about 3.2 percent of the GDP.
- After decades of significant loss, the country’s forests have slowly begun to limp back, in large part due to planting efforts.
- From conservation work to sawmill houses and beyond, the forest-dependent populations of Ethiopia are impacting the future of the country’s forests.

One man’s quest to save Tanzania’s forests
- Illegal logging in Tanzania, which has the highest deforestation rate in East Africa and the fifth highest deforestation rate in the world, is rampant.
- Tanzania’s consumption of wood exceeds its supply, creating an annual 19.5 million cubic meters of “wood deficit”.
- Illegal loggers captured and driven away from the forests by Matinda on his patrols are rarely punished by officials.

In a border town, a favorite African fuel has an uncertain future
- About five percent of Africa’s workforce – about 20 million people – are employed by the charcoal or firewood industry
- Traders say that a large part of their operating expenses go to bribes, payoffs, and security
- Despite health risks, charcoal remains a popular and cost-effective option for household cooking

Despite conservation efforts, Tanzania’s forests still under pressure
- Tanzania boasts one of the world’s largest tree covers.
- Deforestation could cost the country’s economy up to $3.5 billion dollars by 2033.
- Reforestation work is linked to sustainable environmental management, community development and poverty alleviation.

Could kelp forests keep ocean acidification at bay?
- The ocean is absorbing some of the excess carbon dioxide humankind is emitting into the atmosphere. As a result, seawater is becoming more acidic, with profound repercussions for marine life across the food web.
- Scientists theorize that by sucking up carbon dioxide from seawater just like land plants do from the air, kelp forests could help provide local refuges against ocean acidification.
- A five-year project launching this winter aims to test this theory by planting a kelp forest in the waters of Washington’s Puget Sound and monitoring its effect on water chemistry.

A dangerous, illegal necessity: charcoal reform comes to Virunga
- Like elsewhere in Africa, charcoal has become a big problem for Virunga National Park. Illegal production in the park has been high in recent years as producers try to meet the demand from the millions of impoverished people who depend on charcoal as their only source of fuel.
- This demand has led to the destruction of vast swaths of Virunga’s forest – as well as the deaths of gorillas and other wildlife that depend on it.
- Eco-Makala, a project funded through REDD+, is seeking to reduce the impact of charcoal on the park by establishing tree plantations around it and distributing cookstoves that burn charcoal more efficiently. In the process, the project hopes to ease deforestation-driven CO2 emissions.

Amid epic drought, villagers bitter over Zimbabwean ethanol plant
- The Green Fuel plant in Chisumbanje in eastern Zimbabwe became operational in 2011.
- Since then the livelihood of local farming people, already thin, has become dire. Community members and advocacy groups offer a litany of complaints against the company.
- In April, Billy Rautenbach, the owner of the companies with a controlling stake in Green Fuel, was named in the Panama Papers as having offshore accounts, prompting calls for an investigation into his financial dealings that has yet to materialize.

Kenya’s forests squeezed as government pressures environment groups
- The Kenyan government has accused some civil society groups of militancy, terrorism, being espionage fronts for foreign powers, money laundering, tax evasion, or failing to account for donor funding.
- Human rights groups say the accusations are meant to justify deregistering targeted groups, effectively closing them down by paralyzing their operations.
- Attempts to quash civil society are no anomaly among unscrupulous Kenyan politicians, but the extent to which these attempts are harming the country’s fragile ecosystems is new.

Will Uganda be able to fulfill its pledge to protect its forests?
- Many Ugandans rely on charcoal as a cooking fuel, and the Uganda’s National Forest Authority estimates 80,000 hectares of forest are cleared every year to meet this demand.
- The country’s protected areas have also been affected, with several losing significant amounts of forest cover over the past decade.
- Enforcement of anti-encroachment regulations is proving a tricky issue, as forestry officials say their departments are underfunded and rural residents assert their rights to the land.

Environmentalists win ‘landmark’ case against biofuel project in Sri Lanka
- Yala National Park, on the southern coastline of Sri Lanka, is one of the nation’s most popular parks, home to dense populations of both Asian elephants and leopards, as well as nearly 100 types of waterbirds and thousands of other species.
- In 2012, environmental groups were notified that a mysterious company had began clearing vegetation in the region for a biofuel monoculture plantation.
- Three of these groups took the company to court in late 2012, accusing it of illegally clearing land, building access roads and refusing to get the required permissions.

Man starts record-breaking walk to protect one of the world’s rarest primates
- If successful, experienced trekker Ash Dykes will become the first person to walk the length of Madagascar.
- Along the way, Dykes will meet with conservation groups working to protect the island nation’s threatened wildlife.
- Only around 50 northern sportive lemurs are thought to exist, largely due to heavy habitat loss from charcoal production.

Will Indonesia’s new palm oil subsidy undermine no-deforestation push?
- Questions remain about whether the CPO Fund will carry environmental safeguards and how its resources will be divided between its two main purposes: helping farmers increase their yields and subsidizing biodiesel.
- A senior adviser to the energy minister worries the subsidy, if administered haphazardly, could throw an unfortunate lifeline to the dwindling market for palm oil from deforestation, peatland coversion and land grabbing.
- The man who designed the fund says it’s all about sustainability because it will reduce dependence on foreign petroleum and shore up flagging palm oil prices.

Millions of dollars pumped into oil palm development in Tanzania
A partnership with foreign investors aims to scale up the East African nation’s production of palm oil, but details on its implementation and possible consequences remain scarce. Plans for a 10,000-hectare oil palm project are underway in Tanzania, backed by a $111 million investment from a local industrialization organization and a foreign investment firm, reported […]
EU votes to scale back on biofuels linked to deforestation
Rainforest cleared for oil palm plantations. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. The European Parliament voted overwhelmingly today on a new cap on biofuels derived from edible crops, which critics say not only compete with feeding a growing global population but also contribute to deforestation and release unacceptably high levels of greenhouse gas emissions. The new […]
Turning prairies into gas: study finds U.S. biofuel production has big impacts on grasslands
A cornfield stretches as far as the eye can see. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Corn and soybean cultivation soared in the late 2000s, as U.S. agribusiness rushed to respond to federal legislation rewarding biofuels production. Debate since the institution of the program has centered on the question of whether biofuel crop expansions have come […]
Firewood fervor may turn Zimbabwe into an ‘outright desert’
A baobob tree in scrub woodland in Masvingo Province, Zimbabwe. Photo by Kjdhambuza. Zimbabwe, home to more than 14 million people, is currently facing a severe economic crisis. Under President Robert Mugabe’s land distribution reforms, in the year 2000 all white-owned commercial farms were forcibly seized for redistribution to landless native Zimbabweans. In February this […]
Biofuels are bad news for forests, climate, food security, says report
Oil palm fruit, which can be used for biofuel. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. A new report from the World Resources Institute finds that dedicating land to the production of biofuels, a form of renewable energy made from plants, may undermine efforts to achieve a sustainable food future, combat climate change, and protect forests. The […]
Indonesia to squander fuel savings on biofuel subsidies that may drive deforestation, say groups
Crude palm oil and palm fruit. Photos by Rhett A. Butler Instead of wisely investing the windfall generated by cutting petrol subsidies, Indonesia is poised to squander funds by increasing subsidies for biofuel production that could exacerbate social conflict and drive deforestation, warn environmental groups. Late last year, newly elected president Joko Widodo, popularly known […]
Conservationists ask, ‘Is nuclear the way to go?’
Scientists call for a ‘non-prejudiced’ judgment on nuclear power Nuclear power at times faces antagonism from the environmental community, with opponents arguing that it produces harmful radioactive waste, leads to the proliferation of nuclear arms, and brings forth lethal disasters. Scientists from Australia say it’s time to get past myths about nuclear; they suggest in […]
‘A remarkable conservation achievement’: Ecuador reserve expands as forest disappears
Less than 10 percent of Ecuadorian Chocó forest remains, many endemic species under threat from development, logging A strip of rainforest running along the northwestern Ecuadorian coast and up through Colombia is one of the most biodiverse places in the world. Yet, less than 10 percent of Ecuador’s portion remains intact, with more forest lost […]
Indonesia’s national airline to start using palm oil biofuel
Oil palm fruit. Photo by Rhett A. Butler Indonesia’s national airline, Garuda Indonesia, says it will start mixing palm oil-based biofuel with its jet fuel as part of an initiative to “reduce” carbon emissions, reports The Jakarta Post. Novianto Herupratomo, Garuda’s operational director, said crude palm oil would be mixed into avtur — aviation turbine […]
Biomass burning accounts for 18% of CO2 emissions, kills a quarter of a million people annually
Biomass burning takes many forms: wildfires, slash-and-burn agriculture, clearing forests and other vegetation, and even industrialized burning for energy production. Yet this burning—mostly manmade but also natural—takes a massive toll both on human health and the environment, according to a new paper in Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres. “We calculate that 5 to 10 percent […]
Brazil should convert pasture, not cerrado for biofuel crops
Sugar cane in the tropics. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. If Brazil wants to respect its commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions it should target low productivity cattle pasture rather than native cerrado for biofuel crops like sugar cane, argues a new paper published in Nature Climate Change. Brazil already has the world’s largest fleet […]
Commodity eco-certification skyrockets, but standards slip
Trends in commodity certification markets Market share for certified commodities. All figures courtesy of IISD’s report The volume of commodities produced under various social and environmental certification standards jumped 41 percent in 2012, far outpacing the 2 percent growth across conventional commodity markets, finds a comprehensive new assessment of the global certification market. The report […]
Migrating monarch butterflies hit shockingly low numbers
The monarch butterfly population overwintering in Mexico this year has hit its lowest numbers ever, according to WWF-Mexico. Monarch butterflies covered just 0.67 hectares in Mexico’s forest, a drop of 44 percent from 2012 already perilously low population. To put this in perspective the average monarch coverage from 1994-2014 was 6.39 or nearly ten times […]
The palm oil debate: can the world’s most productive oilseed be less damaging to the environment?
On Thursday, 17 October 2013 Mongabay.com and the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) co-hosted a discussion on environmental issues related to palm oil. The discussion involved representatives from WWF, Greenpeace and the RSPO. Mongabay.com Founder Rhett A. Butler served as the moderator. The following is an approximate transcription of the discussion. The transcription was […]
Europe importing more palm oil for biofuels, raising risks for rainforests
Deforestation for palm oil production in Borneo. Photo by Rhett A. Butler Palm oil imports into Europe for use as car fuel increased by more than three-fold since 2006, raising concerns than renewable fuels targets may be contributing to deforestation, displacing marginalized communities, and driving greenhouse gas emissions in Southeast Asia, finds a new study […]
Logging may destabilize carbon in forest soils
Logging in temperate zones may release more greenhouse gases than previously thought by destabilizing carbon stored in forest soils, argues a new paper published in the journal Global Change Biology-Bioenergy. The research involved analysis of carbon released from forest management practices in the northeastern United States. It found that while most models assume carbon stored […]
Brazil may lift ban on Amazon ethanol expansion
In coming weeks Brazil will vote on a bill that would lift a ban on sugar cane mills across a large extent of the Amazon region, sparking fears that ethanol production could drive new deforestation and tarnish the country’s image as an attractive source biofuels for environmentally-conscious markets, reports Reuters. New cane plantations in the […]
Saving one of Africa’s most stunning parks through biomass briquettes and fuel-efficient stoves
The 2013 Zoos and Aquariums: Committing to Conservation (ZACC) conference runs from July 8th—July 12th in Des Moines, Iowa, hosted by the Blank Park Zoo. Ahead of the event, Mongabay.com is running a series of Q&As with presenters. For more interviews, please see our ZACC feed. Locals investigating a biomass briquette. Photo courtesy of New […]
Southern U.S. logging soars to meet foreign biofuel demand
In order to meet the European Union’s goal of 20% renewables by 2020, some European utility companies are moving away from coal and replacing it with wood pellet fuel. The idea is simple: trees will regrow and recapture the carbon released in the burning of wood pellets, making the process supposedly carbon-neutral. But just like […]
Sugarcane production impacting local climate in Brazil
Intensification of Brazil’s sugarcane industry in response to rising demand for sugar-based ethanol could have impacts on the regional climate reports a new study by researchers from Arizona State University, Stanford University and the Carnegie Institution for Science. Following the conversion of cerrado grasslands into sugarcane in Brazil, a recent study in Geophysical Research Letters […]
Indonesian palm oil industry would support land swaps to protect forest, while expanding production
Indonesian palm oil companies would support land swaps as a means to reduce carbon emissions from deforestation while simultaneously expanding production, representatives from the country’s largest association of palm oil producers told mongabay.com in an interview last month. GAPKI General Secretary Joko Supriyono and Executive Director Fadhil Hasan said the Indonesian palm oil industry would […]
Nordic energy giant launches ‘no deforestation’ policy
Neste Oil, a Finnish energy giant, has announced a new “no deforestation” policy [PDF] for sourcing palm oil. The company, which is one of the world’s largest buyers of palm oil, had faced criticism from environmentalists for purchasing palm oil potentially linked to rainforest and peatland destruction in southeast Asia. Under the new policy, Neste […]
Is hemp the silver bullet for fighting climate change and creating green jobs?
Though Obama has frequently spoken of the need for more “green jobs,” he has failed to acknowledge the inherent environmental advantages associated with a curious plant called hemp. One of the earliest domesticated crops, hemp is incredibly versatile and can be utilized for everything from food, clothing, rope, paper and plastic to even car parts. […]
Scientists a step closer toward creating biofuels directly from atmospheric CO2
Researchers have taken a step closer to using atmospheric carbon dioxide as a biofuel, potentially helping mitigate climate change while at the same time meeting rising energy demand, according to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Scientists at the University of Georgia and the North Carolina State University are […]
Despite deforestation worries, U.K. approves palm oil for power production
Deforestation in Borneo for palm oil production. British Parliament has approved new government subsidies for biofuel use in U.K. power stations. In a vote held yesterday, Parliament approved a Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) proposal to allow the burning of palm oil and wood pellets for power production. Controversially the new measure would […]
Palm oil company destroys 7,000 ha of Amazon rainforest in Peru
A palm oil producer has leveled some 7,000 hectares of rainforest in the Peruvian Amazon, highlighting the risks of oil palm expansion in the world’s largest tropical forest, reports El Comercio. Between 2005 and 2011, Grupo Romero, a Peruvian conglomerate, converted thousands of lowland rainforest for three oil palm plantations in northeastern Peru despite a […]
Biofuel company caught clearing elephant habitat in Sri Lanka
Clearing of elephant habitat at the edge of Yala National Park in Sri Lanka. Photo courtesy of the Environmental Foundation Limited (EFL). A biofuel plantation near Yala National Park has landed Lanka Orex Leasing Company PLC (LOLC) in Sri Lanka’s highest court. Environmentalists say the company is illegally bulldozing Asian elephant habitat, including scrubland and […]
Biofuel boom could lead to life-threatening ozone pollution
Not long ago biofuels were seen as one of the major tools to combat climate change, but a large number of studies in recent years have shown that many first generation biofuels may have little climate benefit—and some are actually harmful—and are also linked to rising food prices. Now, a new study in Nature Climate […]
E.U. OKs biofuels produced from certified palm oil
Palm fruit. Photo by Rhett Butler. The European Commission has approved palm oil-based biodiesel for the renewable fuels standard provided it is certified under the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), a body that sets social and environmental criteria for palm oil production. The move, which could dramatically boost sales of palm oil in Europe, […]
One in eight people suffer from malnutrition worldwide
Girl in village in Madagascar. One of the world’s poorest countries, it has been estimated that about 70 percent of Malagasy people suffer from malnutrition. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. In a world where technology has advanced to a point where I can instantly have a face-to-face conversation via online video with a friend in […]
E.U. may eliminate subsidies for crop-based biofuels
The palm oil industry has been lobbying Europe to allow palm oil-based biofuels to qualify as a low carbon fuel. But environmentalists say substantial amounts of palm oil production occurs at the expense of tropical forests. Here rainforest in Borneo is being cleared and burned for an oil palm plantation. Photo taken in May 2012 […]
Palm oil industry hires lobbying powerhouse to overturn EPA ruling on biofuels
Palm oil facility in Sumatra, Indonesia. The palm oil industry has hired lobbying powerhouse Holland & Knight to help overturn the Environmental Protection Agency’s finding that palm oil-based biodiesel fails to meet greenhouse gas emissions targets under the country’s Renewable Fuels Standard, reports The Hill. “Lobbying disclosure records show that the Malaysian Palm Oil Council, […]
Emissions from deforestation depend on fate of cleared trees
Carbon remaining in storage 30 years after land clearance as a fraction of initial above-ground biomass. Courtesy of Earles et al 2012. Click image to enlarge. Carbon emissions from deforestation vary greatly depending on whether timber stocks are turned into finished wood products, converted into bioenergy feedstocks, or burned outright, reports a new study published […]
Palm oil industry lobbies EPA to reverse palm oil biofuel findings
Deforestation for oil palm, which is used to produce palm oil, in Sumatra. PHoto by Rhett A. Butler Wilmar International, the world’s largest palm oil processor and trader, has hired a major lobbying firm to overturn the Environmental Protection Agency’s ruling that palm oil-based biodiesel will not meet greenhouse gas emissions standards under America’s Renewable […]
Surging demand for vegetable oil drives rainforest destruction
Clearing for soy in the Brazilian Amazon Surging demand for vegetable oil has emerged as an important driver of tropical deforestation over the past two decades and is threatening biodiversity, carbon stocks, and other ecosystem functions in some of the world’s most critical forest areas, warns a report published last week by the Union of […]
International Bird Area in Kenya saved from conversion into biofuel crop
View Larger Map A campaign by NGO Nature Kenya has saved the Dakatcha Woodland Important Bird Area (IBA) from destruction for planting biofuel crops, reports BirdLife International. Located near Kenya’s eastern coastline, the forest is home to two IUCN Red List Endangered species, Clarke’s weaver (Ploceus golandi) and sokoke pipit (Anthus sokokensis), both of which […]
Big oil makes $137 billion, gives 28 percent back to themselves
The world’s top five oil companies—BP, Chevron, Conoco Phillips, Exxon Mobil, and Royal Dutch Shell—made a record $137 billion in 2011 beating out the previous record in 2008, reports Climate Progress. Still even as the companies made record profits they produced 4 percent less oil than the prior year. Four of the five companies spent […]
Emissions from palm oil biodiesel highest of major biofuels, says EU
Greenhouse gas emissions from palm oil-based biodiesel are the highest among major biofuels when the effects of deforestation and peatlands degradation are considered, according to calculations by the European Commission. The emissions estimates, which haven’t been officially released, have important implications for the biofuels industry in Europe. As reported by EurActiv, the data from the […]
Palm oil does not meet U.S. renewable fuels standard, rules EPA
Oil palm plantations and rainforest in Malaysia The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ruled on Friday that palm oil-based biofuels will not meet the renewable fuels standard due to carbon emissions associated with deforestation, reports The Hill. According to a notice published Friday in the Federal Register, palm oil-based biodiesel fails to meet a requirement […]
Biofuel breakthrough: kelp could power cars
Scientists have devised a new way to produce ethanol directly from seaweed, offering the potential to generate biofuels that don’t compete with terrestrial food production and won’t suck up scarce freshwater, reports a study published today in Science. Researchers from the Bio Architecture Lab in Berkeley, California engineered E. coli bacterium to digest brown seaweed […]
Industrial palm oil production expands at expense of rainforests in Peru
Intensive palm oil production is expanding at the expense of biolologically-rich lowland rainforests in the Peruvian Amazon, reports a study published in Environmental Research Letters. The research indicates that enthusiasm for oil palm — one of the world’s most lucrative crops — is taking a toll on forests outside of Southeast Asia, where the vast […]
Biofuel aspirations spur ‘land grabs’ that hurt the poor, says report
More than 40 million hectares of land has been acquired in developing countries for biofuel production in the past decade, reports a new study published by the International Land Coalition. The research looked exclusively at large land acquisitions between 2000 and 2010. These amounted to 200 million hectares of land, of which the authors were […]
Carbon debt for some biofuels lasts centuries
Draining peatland in Indonesian Borneo. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. It has long been known that biofuels release greenhouse gas emissions through land conversion like deforestation. But an innovative new study by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) published in Ecology and Society has computed how long it would take popular biofuel crops to […]
Palm oil biofuel from peatlands has big climate impact, finds study
Biofuels produced from oil palm plantations established on tropical peatlands are a substantial source of greenhouse gas emissions, reports a comprehensive new assessment conducted for the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT). The research, based on a literature review and analysis of scientific methods used to derive emissions estimates, concludes that palm oil produced in […]
Five ways to feed billions without trashing the planet
Soy fields meet Amazon rainforest in Brazil. A new study argues that the destruction of rainforests for agriculture must stop. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. At the end of this month the UN predicts global population will hit 7 billion people, having doubled from 3.5 billion in less than 50 years. Yet even as the […]
EU’s biofuel push based on ‘flawed’ science
Europe’s biofuel push could exacerbate climate change unless policies are in place to accounts for emissions from indirect land use change, warns a letter signed by more than 100 scientists and economists. The letter, addressed to the European Commission, says the E.U. is deceiving itself and the public by asserting that biofuels are carbon neutral. […]
Expanding ethanol threatens last remnants of Atlantic Forest
A typical scenario in the Atlantic Forest at the Northeastern Biodiversity Corridor, where forest remants are surrounded by sugarcane plantations. Most of the remaining forest fragments are, on average, smaller than 100 ha. Photo credit: Adriano Gambarini. Aggressively expanding sugarcane ethanol is putting Brazil’s nearly-vanished Atlantic Forest at risk, according to an opinion piece in […]
Europe should lift duty on RSPO-certified palm oil to encourage use, says Dutch group
To encourage uptake of palm oil that is less damaging to the environment, the European Union (EU) should lift the import duty on palm oil certified under Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), said a Dutch industry group. The Dutch Product Board for Margarine, Fats and Oils (MVO), a group that has already committed to […]
Palm oil, poverty, and conservation collide in Cameroon
- Industrial palm oil production is coming to Africa, its ancestral home. And like other places where expansion has occurred rapidly, the crop is spurring hope for economic development while generating controversy over its potential impacts.
- The world’s most productive oil seed has been a boon to southeast Asian economies, but the looming arrival of industrial plantations in Africa is raising fears that some of the same detriments that have plagued leading producers Malaysia and Indonesia—deforestation, greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity loss, conflicts with local people, social displacement, and poor working conditions—could befall one of the world’s most destitute regions.
- While there is no question that oil palm is a highly lucrative crop that can contribute to economic development, there is also little doubt that conversion of native forests for plantations exacts a heavy toll on the environment.

How do we save Africa’s forests?
Africa’s forests are fast diminishing to the detriment of climate, biodiversity, and millions of people of dependent on forest resources for their well-being. But is the full conservation of Africa’s forests necessary to mitigate global climate change and ensure environmental stability in Africa? A new report by The Forest Philanthropy Action Network (FPAN), a non-profit […]
Record dead zone projected due to Midwest floods
Flooding in the Midwest is likely to cause the largest-ever dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico, reports the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). NOAA-supported scientists from three universities — the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium, Louisiana State University and the University of Michigan — predict the area of low oxygen in the Gulf will […]
Could palm oil help save the Amazon? (2011)
This article is a longer version of story that appeared at Yale e360: In Brazil, Palm Oil Plantations Could Help Preserve Amazon. For years now, environmentalists have become accustomed to associating palm oil with large-scale destruction of rainforests across Malaysia and Indonesia. Campaigners have linked palm oil-containing products like Girl Scout cookies and soap products […]
Could palm oil help save the Amazon?
- For years now, environmentalists have become accustomed to associating palm oil with large-scale destruction of rainforests across Malaysia and Indonesia.
- Campaigners have linked palm oil-containing products like Girl Scout cookies and soap products to smoldering peatlands and dead orangutans.
- Now with Brazil announcing plans to dramatically scale-up palm oil production in the Amazon, could the same fate befall Earth’s largest rainforest? With this potential there is a frenzy of activity in the Brazilian palm oil sector.
- Yet there is a conspicuous lack of hand wringing by environmentalists in the Amazon. The reason: done right, oil palm could emerge as a key component in the effort to save the Amazon rainforest. Responsible production there could even force changes in other parts of the world.

A new front in the war over palm oil?
By the numbers: UK palm kernel and palm oil use A new study for the U.K. government found that in 2009 Britain imported at least 1.65 million metric tons of palm oil-related products for production of food, fuel, and cosmetics. Notably, the study, which was conducted by Proforest for the Department for Environment, Food and […]
Sugar cane cools climate when it replaces cattle pasture
Converting cattle pasture and cropland in Brazil to sugar cane helps cool local climate reports research published in Nature Climate Change. Scientists with the Carnegie Institutions’s Department of Global Ecology at Stanford University and the University of Montana analyzed temperature, reflectivity, and evapotranspiration from satellite data across 733,000 square miles—an area larger than the state […]
Clean energy investments rise 630% in 7 years
According to a report by the US Pew Environment Group global clean energy investments, which do not include nuclear power, jumped 630% since 2004. The report detailing 2010 clean energy investments found that China remains the global leader in clean energy, while the US fell from 2nd to 3rd. This is the second year in […]
New organization seeks to make biofuels sustainable, but is it possible?
Not too long ago policy-makers, scientists, and environmentalists saw biofuels as a significant tool to provide sustainable energy to the world. However, as it became clear that biofuels were not only connected to deforestation, pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions (sometimes exceeding fossil fuels), but also competed with the global food supply and water sources, biofuels […]
Slow but steady progress on recognizing indigenous land rights is interrupted by commodity boom
Progress over the past 25 years in recognizing indigenous peoples’ rights to land and resources has been interrupted by a worldwide commodity boom, argues a new report published by the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI). The report, “Pushback: Local Power, Global Realignment,” says that surging food and energy prices—and associated appreciation of land values—have led […]
Brazilian mining giant buys Amazon palm oil company
Vale, a Brazilian mining giant, will buy palm oil producer Biopalma da Amazonia SA Reflorestamento Industria & Comercio, reports Bloomberg. The deal, valued at $173.5 million, will enable the mining company to run more of its operations on palm oil biodiesel. Vale began its palm oil push in 2009 when it formed a partnership with […]
Greening the world with palm oil?
This article—written in April 2010, updated in August 2010, and posted for the first time today—is part of larger “Fate of Forests” series. The commercial shows a typical office setting. A worker sits drearily at a desk, shredding papers and watching minutes tick by on the clock. When his break comes, he takes out a […]
Prairie grass-based biofuels could meet half current fuel demand without affecting forests, food
Biofuels could meet up to half the world’s current fuel consumption without affecting food production or forests, argues a study published last month in the journal Environmental Science and Technology. Analyzing the extent of marginal grasslands, including abandoned and degraded grassland, using data on soil, topography, climate and current land use, Ximing Cai of the […]

Feeds: news | india | latam | brasil | indonesia