topic: Rainforest Deforestation

topic: Rainforest Deforestation

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New study points to private land as key to Atlantic Forest recovery
- A new study shows that restored private lands in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest achieved up to 20% more forest cover than unrestored neighboring private lands.
- With 75% of the Atlantic Forest in private hands and a 6.2-million-hectare (15.3-million-acre) deficit of native vegetation, according to the law, private landowners are key to recovery.
- Over the past decade, forest gains and losses in the Atlantic Forest have essentially stagnated; but last year, half of all deforestation hit mature forests over 40 years old, threatening biodiversity and carbon stocks.

Green labeler PEFC under fire for certifying Indonesian firm clearing orangutan habitat
- Sustainable forestry certifier PEFC is under fire for its endorsement of Indonesian plantation firm IFP despite it being a major recent deforester, with tens of thousands of hectares cleared in orangutan habitat and ongoing forest loss documented into 2024.
- Earthsight and other NGOs say the certification exploits loopholes, including PEFC’s “partial certification” model that lets companies exclude recently cleared areas while still selling certified timber.
- Deforestation-linked timber may have entered global supply chains, with mills processing IFP-linked wood exporting large volumes to the EU ahead of the bloc’s new deforestation regulation.
- Critics say PEFC’s weak safeguards and Indonesia’s IFCC certification system enable greenwashing, and call for IFP’s certification to be revoked and rules tightened to bar any company or corporate group involved in post-2010 forest clearing.

Malaysian companies dominate PNG forest-clearance permits: report
- A recent report examining land-conversion permits issued by the Papua New Guinea government found that 65 of 67 such licenses are controlled by Malaysian-linked companies.
- The stated purpose of these permits — Forest Clearing Authorities (FCAs) — is for creation of sustainable jobs via agribusiness and other development projects, but critics contend the licenses have been used to facilitate large-scale logging and timber exports.
- After repeated allegations of misuse of the permits, PNG’s government imposed a moratorium on new FCAs in 2023, but exports continue from existing projects.
- The 65 licenses examined by the report cover 1.68 million hectares (4.1 million acres) of rainforests, about 88% of which are categorized as ‘undisturbed forest.’

Real-time deforestation alerts get an AI boost to identify the causes
- A new alert system developed by online deforestation-tracking platform Global Forest Watch tells users what’s causing the deforestation.
- The new alert system deploys AI models to classify deforestation alerts based on what’s causing them, from agriculture (large- and small-scale), to mining and wildfires.
- While the data currently focus on the Amazon Rainforest, Congo Basin and Indonesia — home to most of the world’s tropical rainforests — the team plans to expand to other forests as well as non-forest ecosystems.

Indigenous Dayak sound alarm as palm oil firm razes orangutan habitat in Borneo
- Indigenous Dayak communities report wildlife encroaching into villages, land grabbing, and loss of cultural and livelihood resources as a palm oil company begins clearing forests on their customary lands — in some cases without consent or even prior notification.
- PT Equator Sumber Rezeki (ESR) has already cleared nearly 1,500 hectares (3,700 hectares) of rainforest inside this region that’s designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and orangutan habitat, with much of the deforestation occurring this year and signaling far more destruction to come.
- The company’s parent group, First Borneo, is driving widespread deforestation across Kapuas Hulu with two other plantations, yet its palm fruit is still entering global “zero-deforestation” supply chains through intermediary mills despite corporate no-buy pledges.
- Environmental groups are urging the government to halt or revoke ESR’s permits and protect the orangutan-rich landscape, warning that continued clearing undermines Indonesia’s climate commitments and threatens both biodiversity and cultural survival.

What’s at stake for the environment in Honduras’ presidential election?
- Honduras will hold elections Nov. 30 for president and all 128 seats in Congress.
- The winners will hold office for the next four years, shaping the country’s environmental policies at a time when its many forests and ocean ecosystems are rapidly disappearing.
- Leading candidates include Rixi Moncada of the progressive LIBRE party, Salvador Nasralla of the centrist Liberal party and Nasry ‘Tito’ Asfura of the conservative National party.

Saving forests won’t be enough if fossil fuels beneath them are still extracted, experts warn
- A new analysis finds that tropical forests in 68 countries sit atop fossil fuel deposits that, if extracted, would emit 317 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases — more than the remaining 1.5°C (2.7°F) carbon budget — revealing a major blind spot in global climate policy.
- Because Brazil’s proposed Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF) focuses only on stopping deforestation, researchers warn it risks missing far larger emissions from potential oil, gas and coal extraction under protected forests.
- India, China and Indonesia hold the largest fossil reserves beneath forests, with Indonesia facing acute trade-offs as most of its coal lies under forest areas where mining threatens biodiversity and Indigenous communities, including rhino habitats in Borneo.
- Experts say that compensating countries for leaving fossil fuels unextracted — through mechanisms like debt swaps or climate finance — could unlock massive climate benefits, but fossil fuel phaseout remains excluded from TFFF negotiations despite growing calls to include it.

Brazil aims for alternative route to fossil fuel road map after COP30 failure
- Brazil will collaborate with the Colombian and Dutch delegations to develop the road map outside the formal U.N. process, with the goal of bringing it back for discussion at COP31.
- Experts say the Belém summit showed disappointing deals after ambitious promises, failing to address the environmental and economic needs of climate change.
- The turbulent final plenary exposed deeper diplomatic rifts, with one delegate accusing Colombian counterparts of behaving “like children” amid high tensions.

Brazil’s forest fund faces a slow takeoff at COP30 despite initial support
- The Tropical Forests Forever Facility (TFFF) secured $6.7 billion in sponsor capital at COP30, representing less than a quarter of the $25 billion initially required for a full-scale rollout.
- Policy analysts warn that a smaller fund could likely lose the capacity to outpace deforestation drivers in tropical forests — key in the race to avoid climate disaster.
- Rich nations blamed operational rifts and budget constraints to hold off funding TFFF, a struggle that reflects a worldwide crisis in climate finance; nearly one-third of the funds raised by global forest mechanisms remain undisbursed.

EU touts climate leadership while undermining antideforestation rules, critics say
- European governments are pushing to delay and weaken the EU Deforestation Regulation, backing a one-year postponement to 2026 and major reductions in due-diligence requirements.
- The political shift is driven largely by Germany and supported by France, despite earlier European Commission rollbacks and opposition from only a few member states.
- Civil society groups warn that further delays would gut the law, punish early-compliant companies, and undermine the EU’s regulatory credibility.
- At COP30, the EU’s silence on deforestation has fueled accusations of hypocrisy as advocates say weakening the EUDR would have severe consequences for tropical forests.

Amazon Indigenous groups fight soy waterway as Brazil fast-tracks dredging
- Brazil is pushing the Tapajós River waterway as one of the main Amazon shipping corridors and preparing it for privatization, which will enable regular dredging and maintenance to improve its capacity.
- Traditional communities and environmental groups warn that dredging and heavy vessel traffic threaten fish stocks, turtle nesting areas and other wildlife.
- The Tapajós waterway is a central component of the new Amazonian logistics plans to move commodities such as soy and beef, including the contested Ferrogrão railway.

Cautious win for Indigenous groups in Malaysia as palm oil firm pauses forest clearing
- Indigenous Penan and Kenyah residents in Malaysian Borneo have filed a lawsuit and a complaint with Malaysia’s sustainable palm oil certifier, accusing palm oil company Urun Plantations of clearing natural forest within its concession along the Belaga River in violation of its lease and sustainability certification.
- Urun Plantations agreed in late October to pause development activities after a palm oil mill suspended buying palm fruit from the plantation.
- Satellite imagery and NGO field evidence indicate ongoing deforestation since 2023, while the company says it is only replanting previously developed land and denies breaching certification rules.
- The company maintains the project has local support, with the dispute underscoring growing tensions in Malaysia’s Sarawak state over palm oil expansion into remaining forests and Indigenous territories.

Brazil hosts COP30 with high ambitions — and scaling environmental ambiguities
- Three environmental moves in Brazil are drawing criticism as the country hosts COP30: a green light for exploratory oil drilling on the Amazon coast, an end to the Soy Moratorium and a push for looser environmental licensing.
- Experts fear the plans could risk a lack of global accountability, watering down COP30’s outcome to vague promises and softer language.
- Following COPs held by petrostates, the summit in Belém comes with recent decisions from Norway, Australia and China to support new fossil fuel projects, illustrating a global trend that jeopardizes bolder deals at COP30.

Suriname’s plan to capitalize on carbon: Q&A with President Jennifer Geerlings-Simons
- Suriname’s first female president, Jennifer Geerlings-Simons, sat down with Mongabay to discuss her goals for the U.N. Climate Change Conference taking place next week in neighboring Brazil.
- She’s been a vocal proponent of climate financing for countries meeting their emission targets and conserving the rainforest.
- At the same time, Geerlings-Simons is grappling with Suriname’s deep-seated mining industry, which often skirts regulations and destroys natural ecosystems with mercury and cyanide.
- Geerlings-Simons said she recognizes the importance of extractive industries for funding the country’s infrastructure, law enforcement and the agencies that provide environmental oversight.

Brazil’s Amazon deforestation falls 11% even as fires surge to record levels
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest fell by 11% from August 2024 to July this year, the government said Thursday, even as wildfires tracked by Brazil’s space agency surged to record levels amid a severe drought. According to Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE), 5,796 square kilometers (2,238 square miles) of forest were […]
Most Cambodia & Laos tree cover loss in 2024 happened inside protected areas
More than half of Cambodia and Laos’ tree cover loss in 2024 was recorded inside protected areas, Mongabay’s Gerald Flynn reports. The findings were a result of Mongabay’s analysis of satellite data published by the Global Land Analysis and Discovery laboratory at the University of Maryland, in partnership with Global Forest Watch. In Cambodia, 56% of the nation’s […]
Heat surges put preserved Amazon areas at high risk, study says
- A new study conducted by a group of 53 scientists from Brazil and other nationalities revealed that preserved forest areas are increasingly harmed by climate change in the Amazon, largely due to the rapid increase in extreme temperatures.
- Between 1981 and 2023, extreme temperatures in the Amazon have risen at double the global average rate, increasing by 0.5° Celsius (0.9° Fahrenheit) per decade. The largely preserved north-central Amazon, home to conservation units and Indigenous territories, registered a rise of more than 3.3°C (5.9°F) in maximum extreme temperatures in the period.
- According to the study, the scenario provokes dry periods that lead to increasing forest fires and large-scale tree and fauna mortality, while bearing negative impacts on human access to services and health.
- Meanwhile, the fast temperature increase also demonstrates that high-emitting nations bear a strong responsibility for the changes in the Amazon, underscoring the urgent need for emission reductions and internal adaptation to save preserved areas of the tropical biome.

Report finds increased tropical forest regrowth over the last decade
Natural forest regrowth in the world’s tropical rainforests is expanding. According to the Forest Declaration Assessment 2025, more than 11 million hectares (27 million acres) of tropical moist forests are under some stage of forest regrowth between 2015 and 2021. The growth is most notable in the tropical areas of Latin America, where regrowth increased […]
A cacao rush drives ‘alarming’ deforestation in Liberia
- Satellite data and reports from the ground show how a rapid expansion of smallholder cacao farming in southeastern Liberia is causing “alarming” deforestation.
- Large numbers of migrant workers from Côte D’Ivoire have been invited into Liberia by community leaders looking set up cacao plantations.
- Liberia’s remote southeast is one of its most densely forested regions, and also one of its poorest.
- Cacao grown in these new plantations would likely run afoul of new EU regulations barring deforestation-linked commodities, which the bloc is considering delaying.

In the Guyana Shield, the fight against deforestation is not ambitious enough
- Countries in the Guyana Shield have lower levels of deforestation than other countries in the Pan-Amazon, although their forests continue to be threatened by wildcat mining and land invasions.
- As a high cover-low deforestation country, Suriname intends to use revenues from REDD+ to invest in sustainable forest management.
- In Venezuela, though deforestation continues at alarming rates, the state has little intention to intervene in the extractive sectors responsible for forest loss.

Indonesia aims to redraw UNESCO site boundaries to allow geothermal projects
- Indonesia is proposing to redraw the boundaries of a UNESCO World Heritage rainforest, excluding two degraded areas, in order to free up geothermal potential in the region.
- Geothermal, which draws from the country’s volcanic geography, is an energy technology the government is aggressively promoting as the country moves away from fossil fuels.
- The area was declared a World Heritage Site in 2004 for its immense biodiversity: more than 10,000 plant species, 200 mammals and 580 birds, including critically endangered Sumatran orangutans, tigers, rhinos and elephants.
- The site is already on UNESCO’s World Heritage in Danger list due to deforestation, illegal logging, encroachment and road building; environmentalists warn that geothermal development risks worsening pressures on a forest ecosystem already in decline.

Peru court upholds 28 years in prison for loggers in Indigenous murders
- Eleven years after the murders of four Indigenous leaders of the Alto Tamaya Saweto community, an appeals court ratified the sentences for four loggers.
- The judges upheld the initial sentence of 28 years and three months in prison for loggers José Estrada and Hugo Soria, as well as brothers Josimar and Segundo Atachi.
- Meanwhile, Eurico Mapes Gómez, accused by the Public Ministry of being a third material author of the murders, was not sentenced, having been a fugitive of justice since 2022, when the first trial took place.
- The defendants failed to attend the hearing, and an arrest warrant was issued for the four loggers.

Brazil leads push for novel forest finance mechanism ahead of COP30 summit
- The Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF) — a proposed $125 billion fund to conserve tropical forests worldwide — was developed by Brazil in 2023, and pushed forward in 2024 at the UN biodiversity summit in Colombia. Since then, momentum has built in support of this market-driven approach to conserving tropical forests.
- Once fully established, the $125 billion fund would spin off as much a $4 billion in interest annually (above what is paid to investors), potentially going to more than 70 TFFF-eligible developing nations, which collectively hold more than one billion hectares of tropical forests. The fund could be operational before 2030.
- At Climate Week in New York City on Sept 23, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva announced that his country will invest the first $1 billion in the fund. Other nations, including China, Norway, the UK, Germany, Japan and Canada seem poised to contribute. Even oil producing nations like Saudi Arabia have shown interest.
- But hurdles lie ahead: TIFFF needs $25 billion from sovereign nations and $100 billion from private investors before a full launch, with Indigenous and local communities (IPLCs) to be major benefactors. The make-or-break moment for TIFFF is expected to occur at the UN climate summit (COP30) in Belém, Brazil Nov. 10-21.

Brazil’s first private Amazon road paves new trade route to China
- Brazil’s government has signed a 30-year contract to privatize a section of the BR-364 highway, a key part of its plan to create an overland corridor to Peru to streamline commodity exports to China.
- Critics warn that expanding the highway into well-preserved rainforest risks repeating its history by attracting illegal loggers and land grabbers, a pattern that previously cleared vast areas for agriculture.
- The road is key to a new infrastructure initiative aimed at streamlining South American trade routes to China by creating a direct link between Brazil’s agribusiness heartland and Pacific ports in Peru, Ecuador and Colombia.

The EU proposes delaying anti-deforestation law, again
The European Commission has proposed pushing back the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) for another year, to December 2026, citing concerns that its IT system is not yet ready to handle the demands that the regulation would place on it. In a letter to the European Parliament, Jessika Roswall, the European commissioner for environment, water […]
Marfrig’s bonds funded beef from illegally deforested areas in Brazil
- An investigation has found that half of the $2 billion Marfrig raised went to buying cattle raised on deforested land and fattened in feedlots linked to its board chair.
- Marfrig’s claims to track nearly 90% of its indirect suppliers in the Amazon contain blind spots, enabling ranchers from illegally deforested areas to rig the supply chain through paperwork.
- With new regulations like the EU Deforestation Regulation demanding full traceability, the Brazilian cattle industry faces increasing pressure to identify herds and meet stricter environmental requirements for global markets.

Protecting Indigenous Amazon lands may also protect public health, study says
- Healthy forests in protected Indigenous territories could help reduce the risk of certain illnesses for humans, a new study shows.
- Different factors influence how effective Indigenous territories are at protecting health, including whether a territory has legal protected status and the type of landscape surrounding it.
- Researchers found that Indigenous territories can effectively reduce the risk of vector-borne or zoonotic diseases if they’re located in municipalities with at least 40% forest cover.
- The study used a data set of respiratory, cardiovascular, vector-borne and zoonotic diseases recorded across the Amazon region between 2001 and 2019 to understand how pollution from forest fires, forest cover and fragmentation, and Indigenous territories impacted the risk from 21 different diseases.

Norway fund drops Eramet over Indonesia mine threatening forests, Indigenous tribe
- Norway’s $1.6 trillion government pension fund is divesting its $6.8 million stake in French miner Eramet after its ethics council found “unacceptable risk” of severe environmental damage and human rights violations at the PT Weda Bay Nickel mine the company operates in Halmahera, Indonesia.
- Weda Bay Nickel sits in the Wallacea Biodiversity Hotspot and has already cleared about 2,700 hectares (6,700 acres) of rainforest since 2019, far exceeding its plan, threatening endemic species and risking extinctions before they’re documented.
- Weda Bay Nickel sits in the Wallacea Biodiversity Hotspot and has already cleared about 2,700 hectares (6,700 acres) of rainforest since 2019, far exceeding its plan, threatening endemic species and risking extinctions before they’re documented.
- The case highlights growing investor scrutiny over whether nickel for electric vehicle batteries and other clean-energy technologies can be sourced without destroying tropical forests or violating Indigenous rights.

Critics say FSC update risks weakening accountability for forest harm
- The world’s biggest sustainable timber certifier has updated how it applies its “corporate group” rules, which determine whether certified companies are held responsible for violations by affiliates, suppliers or subsidiaries.
- NGOs like Forest Peoples Programme, Greenpeace and Rainforest Action Network warn the change could let forestry giants such as APP and APRIL rejoin the FSC without fully remedying past deforestation and land conflicts.
- The NGOs took part in the review process, but say it favored corporate voices and misrepresented civil society input, raising concerns that the update prioritizes company reputations over community rights.
- Critics say narrowing the corporate group scope risks shielding parts of conglomerates from scrutiny just as the FSC tests its remedy framework with some of the world’s largest forestry companies.

An ancient Indigenous civilization endures beneath an Amazon urban soy hub
- Ocara-Açu, a vast precolonial Amazon settlement, underlies the modern-day city of Santarém in Brazil, once serving as the core of a regional network that may have housed up to 60,000 people before the invasion of Europeans.
- Occasionally, Santarém’s rich Indigenous heritage surfaces through the cracks in the urban concrete, although archaeological sites have disappeared as a result of urban expansion, agriculture, and the construction of a soy terminal by commodities giant Cargill.
- Archaeological discoveries in the Santarém region challenge the long-held belief that the Amazon was too harsh to sustain large, complex human cultures, revealing a radically different urban paradigm.

Americans’ love of RVs tied to destruction of orangutan habitat: Investigation
- Investigations by the NGOs Earthsight, Auriga Nusantara and Mighty Earth have found that plywood from forests cleared in Indonesian Borneo — including critical orangutan habitat — is ending up in U.S. RVs made by brands like Jayco, Winnebago and Forest River.
- Logs from a concession held by PT Indosubur Sukses Makmur were traced to plywood giant KLAM, then exported via U.S. intermediaries (MJB Wood, Tumac Lumber and Patrick Industries) into RV manufacturing supply chains.
- Indonesia allows legal clearing of natural forests, while the U.S. bans only illegal logging under the Lacey Act — creating a loophole that lets deforestation-linked wood enter supply chains unchecked.
- FSC-certified sustainable alternatives exist and would add as little as $20 to an RV’s price, but RV makers prioritize low costs, critics say; experts call for stronger Indonesian protections and U.S. deforestation-free import laws.

‘Independent’ auditors overvalue credits of carbon projects, study finds
- A recent study reviewed 95 flawed carbon credit projects registered under Verra, the world’s largest voluntary carbon credit registry, and found signs of systematic flaws with the auditing process.
- These issues suggest that carbon credits often fail to accurately represent actual emission reductions, thereby undermining global climate mitigation efforts.
- The findings further erode trust in the carbon market, with specialists warning that its entire credibility relies on independent verifiers; “The voluntary carbon market is broken,” an expert said.

Guatemala closes oil field, increases security in Maya Biosphere Reserve
- Guatemala is converting the Xan oil field inside Laguna del Tigre National Park into a base for military and law enforcement operations, with special focus on protecting the rainforest from illegal activity.
- The oil field, operated by Anglo-French firm Perenco since 2001, produced between 5,000 and 7,000 barrels of crude oil a day, accounting for around 90% of national output.
- The government did not renew the concession, which ended in August, but Perenco will continue to operate a pipeline until 2044.
- Officials said they want to devote more funding and personnel to the Maya Biosphere Reserve, of which Laguna del Tigre is a part, and which loses thousands of hectares of rainforest every year to cattle ranching, agriculture and logging.

Report sees $20B in revenue for Amazon REDD+ projects despite unmet promises
- A recent report by the Earth Innovation Institute (EII) estimates jurisdictional REDD+ projects in the Brazilian Amazon could generate between $10 billion and $20 billion in revenue.
- The authors suggest that this funding could also scale up forest protection strategies, potentially reducing deforestation by up to 90% by 2030.
- However, experts are skeptical that these programs can ultimately address the root causes of deforestation and comply with proper consultation with local communities.
- Recent studies and investigations have revealed that many carbon credits do not represent real emissions reductions, are intertwined with environmental offenders and fail to include Indigenous peoples.

Discovery of dazzling blue butterfly underscores peril facing Angola’s forests
- Scientists have described a new butterfly species, Francis’s gorgeous sapphire (Iolaus francisi), from Angola’s Namba Mountains, where its survival depends on mistletoe plants.
- High-altitude evergreen forests, known as Afromontane and covering about 590 hectares (1,460 acres) in the Namba Mountains, are the largest of their kind in Angola but remain without legal protection.
- Researchers warn that fires, timber harvesting, and especially unregulated farming could devastate the forests, as has happened at Kumbira, another Angolan Afromontane forest.
- Conservationists say community-led initiatives are key to protecting Namba, as Angola’s parliament moves to consider protected status for nearby Mount Moco, another Afromontane oasis.

Officials struggle with land invasions in Mexico’s Balam Kú Biosphere Reserve
- Around 450 people have crossed into Balam Kú Biosphere Reserve this year in Mexico’s southern state of Campeche, deforesting hundreds of hectares of dry tropical forest.
- The group is made up of people who relocated from the states of Chiapas, Tabasco, Quintana Roo, Veracruz and other parts of Campeche, according to officials.
- Authorities want to remove the temporary settlements before illegal agriculture and cattle ranching spread into other parts of the reserve. So far, they’ve been unsuccessful.

Brazilian court restores Amazon soy moratorium, for now
A federal court in Brazil has reinstated the Amazon soy moratorium, a private-sector antideforestation measure that helps protect the Amazon Rainforest against the expansion of soy farms in the biome. The Aug. 25 ruling overturns a suspension issued last week by Brazil’s antitrust regulator, CADE, which had opened an investigation into claims that the two-decade-old […]
Brazil suspends Amazon Soy Moratorium, raising fears of deforestation spike
Brazil’s antitrust regulator suspended a key mechanism for rainforest protection, the Amazon Soy Moratorium, on Aug. 18, less than three months before the nation hosts the COP30 climate summit. The Amazon Soy Moratorium is a 19-year-old voluntary private-sector agreement to not source soybeans from areas deforested after 2008 in the Brazilian Amazon. It is estimated […]
Global brands join drive for deforestation-free palm oil in Indonesia’s Aceh
- Major brands including Nestlé, PepsiCo and Unilever have launched the Aceh Sustainable Palm Oil Working Group to align with a new road map for deforestation-free palm oil in the Indonesian province.
- Aceh, on the island of Sumatra, is home to the Leuser Ecosystem and other critical habitats, but has lost nearly 42,000 hectares (104,000 acres) of forest since 2020, much of it driven by expansion of oil palm plantations.
- The initiative aims to boost the livelihoods of smallholder farmers, protect high conservation value forests, and help producers comply with new global rules like the EU Deforestation Regulation.
- While the plan has drawn international backing, civil society groups stress its success depends on ensuring accountability, transparency and sustained pressure to halt illegal deforestation.

Brazil’s land registry holds farmers accountable, but enables deforestation
- Brazil’s rural environmental cadastre was created to force landowners to comply with the law, regardless of the status of their properties. By registering, they not only provide accurate geospatial data but also acknowledge their environmental obligations and subject themselves to IBAMA oversight.
- Agribusinesses use the CAR to monitor deforestation so they can exclude from their supply chains producers who illegally clear forests.
- Although the CAR was originally designed to combat land grabbing, some land grabbers have taken advantage of it to document fraudulent claims.

Indonesia’s idle land problem
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Indonesia is defying the global trend in tropical deforestation. While forest loss in much of the tropics reached record highs in 2024, Indonesia’s rate fell by 14% compared with the previous year. Yet beneath this apparent success lies […]
Pulp and paper giant APP moves closer to regaining FSC stamp despite pending review
- The Forest Stewardship Council has allowed Asia Pulp & Paper — “one of the world’s most destructive forestry companies” — to resume its remedy process toward regaining certification it lost in 2007 for deforestation and land conflicts.
- Watchdog groups say the decision is premature because a legal review of APP’s links to Paper Excellence/Domtar, the biggest pulp and paper company in North America, is still unfinished.
- Critics warn the move could erode trust, enable greenwashing, and expose communities in conflict with APP-linked companies to further harm.
- NGOs are calling for the remedy process to be paused until the review is completed and for full transparency on corporate ownership and compliance.

Venezuela tries an environmental rebrand, but critics aren’t buying it
- Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro last month unveiled the Gran Misión Madre Tierra, or “Great Mother Earth Mission,” designed to address Venezuela’s climate emergency.
- The mission mandates the creation of new reforestation efforts, climate change adaptation and response programs, a national waste management initiative, and sustainable agricultural practices.
- But critics say the government’s renewed interest in environmental issues is a way to access climate financing and appease international partners.
- They say the mission strategically omits oil spills and illegal gold mining in protected areas — activities that government officials sometimes facilitate for personal benefit.

How Indonesian companies dodge fines for forest & peatland fires
- While Indonesia’s courts have fined plantation companies more than $21 trillion rupiah ($1.3 billion) for forest and peatland fires, almost none of that money has been collected.
- This fuels a cycle of impunity where fires continue to flare up in concessions already found guilty by court.
- In a common pattern, companies found guilty of burning forests either shield their assets, declare bankruptcy or exploit loopholes to avoid paying.
- Indonesia’s enforcement gaps also allow repeat offenders to continue operating unchecked, profiting from the very land they were banned from using.

World Orangutan Day: Ongoing threats & habitat loss haunt these great apes
Despite years of research into their complex behavior and intelligence, orangutans remain critically endangered on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra, where they’re endemic. Mongabay has extensively covered the threats they face from habitat degradation and what studies say about how human activities affect them. This World Orangutan Day, on Aug. 19, we take a […]
What’s at stake for the environment in Bolivia’s upcoming elections?
- Bolivians will go to the polls on Aug. 17 to vote for a new president, vice president and 166 combined members of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies.
- Polls suggest that conservative candidates Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga and Samuel Doria Medina have the best chance of winning, with a focus on economic recovery rather than the environment.
- Their policies will determine the future of the lithium industry, illegal gold mining and forest loss in the Amazon and Chiquitania.

Will we still eat beef in 50 years?
- Beef production contributes to numerous global crises, from climate change to habitat destruction to biodiversity loss.
- Big conservation NGOs have worked fervently to combat these crises, and many also have programs to encourage more sustainable ranching practices.
- Proponents of “regenerative ranching” and similar approaches that involve rotational grazing and other strategies say these practices have benefits for preserving grassland habitats, encouraging the diversity of birds, wildlife and grasses that live on these ranches and sequestering carbon in their soils.
- But many conservationists also contend that the world must reduce the number of cattle on the planet and find other sources of protein.

Brazil’s Forestry Code seeks to strengthen forest conservation, but controversies remain
- Suffering repeated changes, Brazil’s Forest Code regulates protected areas and forest management on private property, as well as commercialization of forest products.
- If a landholder exceeds the legally permitted area eligible for conversion, they are legally required to restore the forest to meet the Code’s requirements.
- In 2012, the Forest Code was modified to lessen restoration requirements under certain circumstances and freed landholders of liability for any fines or damages linked to forest clearing prior to 2008.

NASA satellites show surge in Indonesia hotspots as 2025 fires send smoke to Malaysia
- NASA satellite data show a dramatic uptick in fire hotspots across Indonesia, with smoke from Sumatra detected in Malaysia in late July.
- The July spike follows early warning signs in May and June, with most fires detected in peatlands and fire-prone agricultural areas, raising alarms over worsening air quality, public health, and environmental damage.
- Activists warn the 2025 fire season could be one of the worst in recent memory, rivaling past disaster years.
- The crisis unfolds a decade after Indonesia’s 2015 fire disaster, which burned 2.6 million hectares, caused an estimated 100,000 premature deaths, and triggered a regional haze crisis affecting Singapore and Malaysia.

Who is clearing Indonesia’s forests — and why?
- Most tropical countries are experiencing record-high deforestation rates, but in Indonesia, forest loss is slowing.
- But nearly half of the forest cleared in 2024 can’t be linked to an identifiable driver, raising red flags about speculative land clearing, regulatory blind spots and delayed environmental harm.
- Land is often cleared but not immediately used; research shows that nearly half of deforested lands in Indonesia remain idle for more than five years.
- Experts say these trends signal regulatory failure, as the government issues permits widely and concession holders face few consequences for clearing forest and abandoning the land, creating a cycle of destruction without accountability.

How urban greening is helping Singapore bounce back from widespread forest loss
Singapore, the smallest country in Southeast Asia, lost most of its original forest cover in the early 1800s to agriculture. But since the 1960s, when Singapore began pursuing urban greening initiatives, Singapore has greened 47% of its spaces, according to an episode of Mongabay’s podcast published in July. Speaking with host Mike DiGirolamo, Anuj Jain, […]
Strategies against deforestation across the Amazon Basin
- Across the Amazon, governments have tackled deforestation by creating protected areas, formalizing the rights of Indigenous People and by expanding control over how land is used.
- Most Amazon countries have also created policies incentivizing landholders to engage in sustainable forestry and agroforestry practices.
- When these policies fail, coercive measures can be used to tackle deforestation, including law enforcement and police interventions.

Invasion intensifies on Karipuna Indigenous land in the Brazilian Amazon
Illegal invasions in the Karipuna Indigenous Territory in the northwest of the Brazilian Amazon have started to advance again, Karipuna leaders told Mongabay following an alert by global nonprofit Survival International. “This year has been very difficult because there are a lot of people on our territory,” André Karipuna, the chief of the Karipuna people, […]
Efforts to revive India’s disappearing endangered star anise
The Himalayan star anise is a key source of livelihood for India’s Indigenous Monpa community. But the tree that bears the star anise fruit has greatly declined in number after decades of overharvesting of the fruits and seeds, logging for wood and charcoal and unfair market practices, according to a Mongabay India video published in […]
Soy crops squeeze Amazon park with 11,000-year-old rock paintings in Brazil
- Remarkable discoveries in an Amazon cave rewrote human history, but it remains largely unknown as farmers advance closely.
- Boasting hundreds of ancient rock paintings, Monte Alegre State Park (PEMA) in northern Brazil is a natural and cultural marvel, yet it barely attracts 4,000 visitors a year.
- Deforestation is accelerating around Monte Alegre, with 11,000 hectares (27,180 acres) of forest lost in 2024, largely to soy farming.
- A new report revealed a worrying pattern: By 2023, more than half of Brazil’s archaeological sites were located close to recent human activity, largely due to the expansion of farming.

Indonesian farmers plant hope for isolated Javan gibbons
In Indonesia’s Central Java province, two groups of Javan gibbons have become isolated in two small forest patches. To help the gibbons make their way to larger forest areas, a local NGO, SwaraOwa, is working with farmers in the region to restore and build “corridors” that would connect the fragmented forest blocks, Mongabay reported in […]
Indigenous leadership and science revive Panama’s degraded lands
Two Indigenous groups in Panama are collaborating with researchers in a long-term reforestation project that promises them income in return for growing native trees for carbon sequestration, Mongabay contributor Marlowe Starling reported in May. As part of the project, researchers from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) have partnered with the local leadership in the […]
Illegal roads expand in Colombia’s deforestation hotspots
- A new report from Colombia’s Inspector General’s Office shows that between October 2024 and March 2025, about 88,800 hectares (about 219,400 acres) of forest were cleared and 1,107 kilometers (688 miles) of irregular roads slashed through seven deforestation hotspots.
- In all these critical areas — Río Naya, Meta-Mapiripán, Vista Hermosa-Puerto Rico, Triple Frontera (Guaviare), Llanos del Yarí – northern Chiribiquete, Caquetá and Putumayo — there was a direct relationship between the expansion of irregular roads, deforestation and coca crops.
- Experts warn that irregular roads fuel permanent deforestation, opening the door to land-grabs as well as armed actors and their illicit activities.
- Colombia reduced deforestation by 36% from 2022-23, reaching the lowest level recorded in 23 years. But deforestation has since increased again, and the government struggles to keep protected areas from being chopped away to make room for illegal roads and coca crops.

‘Insignificant risk’ EUDR proposal threatens fight against deforestation, critics say
- Some European Union officials want to simplify a section of the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), the bloc’s landmark law that seeks to eliminate commodities associated with deforestation.
- A European Parliament proposal wants to reconsider a benchmarking system that categorizes trading partners into high, standard and low deforestation risk.
- Supporters of the proposal say EUDR rules are still too complicated for producers, while environmental groups say the world’s forests can’t afford further delays.

Where there’s political will, there’s a way to stop tropical deforestation, study finds
- A study focused on why deforestation rates have slowed in Indonesia and the Brazilian Amazon revealed that political will was a critical factor, often as a result of pressure from civil society and diplomacy to conserve forests.
- The authors surveyed the expert opinions of researchers, policymakers and advocates working on forest conservation in Brazil or Indonesia.
- In Brazil, experts said government action — like satellite monitoring and recognizing Indigenous lands — was key to stopping deforestation.
- Indonesia’s forest conservation success comes not just from political will, but also from corporate efforts and pressure from civil society groups.

Indonesian palm oil company sues experts who helped secure $18m pollution ruling
- Two top Indonesian environmental experts, Bambang Hero Saharjo and Basuki Wasis, are being sued by palm oil firm PT Kalimantan Lestari Mandiri for their court testimony that helped convict the company for massive fires in Borneo.
- The lawsuit is widely condemned as a SLAPP (strategic lawsuit against public participation) — a legal tactic to silence critics — and raises concerns about the chilling effect on scientists who testify in environmental cases.
- Despite existing anti-SLAPP regulations in Indonesia, poor enforcement has allowed such lawsuits to proceed, with activists calling the case a form of judicial harassment and an attempt to evade responsibility for ecological damage.
- The case highlights broader issues of corporate impunity and weak enforcement of environmental rulings, as the company continues to operate and burn peatland, even after a binding court order to pay fines and restore the land.

Nickel boom on an Indonesian island brings toxic seas, lost incomes, report says
- Nickel mining on Indonesia’s Kabaena Island has polluted the sea, degraded forests and disrupted the lives of Indigenous Bajau fishers and farmers, who have reported severe drops in income, fish catches and seaweed quality.
- The mining has harmed biodiversity, threatening leatherback turtle nesting sites and the island’s unique long-tailed macaques, while also causing health issues among locals, including skin and respiratory problems, according to a report by NGOs.
- Affected communities report land seizures without proper consultation or compensation, limited public participation, and criminalization of protests, all in violation of Indigenous rights and national laws.
- The report ties the mining firms to political elites and global EV supply chains, including alleged links to Tesla and Ford, and calls for mining permit audits, stronger protections for affected communities and full accountability from companies.

Hope and frustration as Indonesia pilots FSC’s logging remedy framework
- Indonesia is the first test case for the Forest Stewardship Council’s new remedy framework, which allows logging firms to regain ethical certification by addressing past environmental and social harms.
- However, NGOs have found serious flaws in the process, including lack of consent, rushed assessments, and exclusion of many affected Indigenous communities.
- The process also faces backlash over poor transparency, intimidation of Indigenous rights activist, and allegations of undisclosed corporate ties to ongoing deforestation.
- Some communities see the framework as a rare chance to reclaim land and rights — but only if it becomes truly fair and accountable.

Strengthening global forest certification and delivering remedy: Interview with FSC’s Subhra Bhattacharjee
- The Forestry Stewardship Council, a voluntary global certification was established in 1993 by environmentalists, Indigenous groups, human rights advocates and the timber industry to help ensure sustainable forestry practices.
- A recent report has raised alarm over the implementation of the remedy framework, which allows companies to reclaim certification if they redress past environmental and social harms.
- Mongabay interviewed FSC’s new director-general, Subhra Bhattacharjee, who stressed Indonesia’s role in how the remedy framework will be implemented worldwide.
- “When you think of Indonesia, you think of these lush natural tropical forests. You think of the breadth of the biodiversity … sometimes it takes my breath away, the kind of biodiversity we have. The world depends on these natural tropical forests,” she says.

Brazil’s Congress passes ‘devastation bill’ in major environmental setback
- Lawmakers approved a bill that weakens Brazil’s environmental licensing framework, which creates self-approving licensing and hands decisions to local politicians.
- The new law eases critical impact studies for large-scale enterprises such as mining dams and threatens hundreds of Indigenous and Quilombola communities.
- The bill’s approval occurred amid an ongoing political crisis between President Lula and the right-wing-led Congress.

Now on Wall Street, JBS eyes growth amid scrutiny on deforestation & graft
- The world’s largest meatpacker had a long journey to the U.S. stock market, one full of reports of greenwashing and corruption.
- After debuting on the NYSE, the company plans to use its new access to Wall Street capital to expand operations in the United States, Brazil and Australia.
- Recently, it’s broadening its global footprint, with new plants in Nigeria, Vietnam and Saudi Arabia.
- Critics warn of environmental risks with JBS’ expansion and say the new listing could lead to more scrutiny from the U.S. Congress and courts.

Amazon deforestation spikes as Brazil blames criminal fires
- A new and alarming pattern of destruction is emerging in the rainforest, challenging Brazilian authorities ahead of COP30.
- After plunging in 2023 and 2024, deforestation in the Amazon surged 92% in May and is up 27% in 2025, half of it in recently burned land — an all-time high.
- The biome’s increased susceptibility to fire makes it a more attractive and less risky method for criminals seeking illegal deforestation, according to experts.
- This dramatic increase in forest loss presents a major challenge for Brazil’s government, which aims to lead conservation talks, ahead of COP30, in November.

A better brew: How regenerative coffee could root out exploitation
The coffee industry faces many problems, from being the sixth-largest driver of deforestation worldwide to being rife with human rights abuses, including slavery and child labor. But coffee can be made sustainable and ethical, Etelle Higonnet, founder of the NGO Coffee Watch, said in an episode of Mongabay Newscast in June. “To the best of my […]
Amazon’s ‘tipping point road’ gets new push with ease on licensing rules
- As a controversial bill passes in Brazil, environmentalists prepare for the “last stand” to save the Amazon.
- Brazil’s Congress approved a sweeping reform of environmental licensing laws aimed at accelerating projects, such as the BR-319 highway renewal.
- The highway cuts through one of the most preserved regions of the Amazon, and its restoration is likely to lead to widespread deforestation, as happened with other roads.
- Infrastructure projects such as the Ferrogrão railway, oil prospecting on the Amazon coast and routes linking the Amazon to the Pacific benefit from the new bill, with support from President Lula.

Mennonite farming in Belize threatens essential biological corridor, critics say
- Mennonites in Belize own thousands of hectares of rainforest that make up part of a “biological corridor” for wildlife moving between numerous protected areas.
- The Mennonites started clearing the forest in 2022 without carrying out an environmental impact assessment, which destroyed wildlife habitats and polluted the local watershed, critics say.
- An environmental impact assessment is being carried out retroactively, but conservationists are worried it isn’t detailed enough and will still lead to the destruction of the corridor.

Rising heat and falling yields plague an Amazon island near COP30 host
- Combu Island is already warmer and drier than 40 years ago, leading to declining yields in açaí crops.
- The Guamá River surrounding Combu is now experiencing unusual and prolonged periods of rising salinity, which impacts water quality and affects local aquatic life.
- Local islanders expect COP30 to move beyond rhetorical discussions on measures to mitigate the damage that has already been done to places like Combu.

Scientists describe three new frog species from Peruvian Andes
Peruvian scientists have identified three new-to-science frog species in the Andes, highlighting the mountains’ wealth of biodiversity, according to a recent study. The three species have been named Pristimantis chinguelas, P. nunezcortezi and P. yonke. “They’re small and unassuming, but these frogs are powerful reminders of how much we still don’t know about the Andes,” […]
From apps to Indigenous guardians: Ways we can save rainforests
Deforestation figures can be frustrating to look at, but there are a number of success stories when it comes to protecting tropical forests that we can learn from, Crystal Davis, global program director at the World Resources Institute, says in a recent Mongabay video. “We know what works. We know how to do it,” Davis […]
Meat giant profits from carbon market without halting deforestation
- Through its 2021-founded subsidiary MyCarbon, Brazil’s meat processing giant Minerva Foods is emitting and selling carbon credits to big oil companies that are in a rush to move away from a polluting stigma.
- Some credit-obtaining projects, however, face criticism over a lack of transparency and procedural perils. The controversies include unfulfilled promises to restore degraded ecosystems, such as the biodiverse Cerrado pasturelands, and halt deforestation within Amazon areas.
- The case raises concerns that the carbon market may be rubber-stamping the maintenance of industrial activities with high ecological impact, without truthfully contributing to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and other environmentally damaging practices.

Peru’s Indigenous aguaje harvesters turn to sustainability, but challenges remain
Indigenous communities in the Peruvian Amazon are working to revive populations of the aguaje palm tree, commercially valued for its fruits, by shifting to more sustainable harvesting practices, Mongabay’s Aimee Gabay reported in April. The reptilian-looking fruits of the aguaje palm tree (Mauritia flexuosa) are consumed raw or used as an ingredient in beverages, soap, […]
Forest corridors protect Colombia’s critically endangered brown spider monkey
- Brown spider monkeys (Ateles hybridus) are some of the world’s most threatened primates, as deforestation has razed about 85% of their habitat in Colombia.
- With monkey populations living in patches of forests, conservationists in the Middle Magdalena region feared that low genetic variation could lead to a further collapse of the species, so they started creating biological corridors connecting forest fragments.
- The project currently maintains 15 ecological corridors, with plans to create six more. Researchers work with landowners to create private conservation areas, leveraging the benefits of forest restoration for agriculture and ecosystems in general.

Nicaragua government tied to illegal land invasions in wildlife refuge, documents suggest
- Río San Juan Wildlife Refuge in southeastern Nicaragua has suffered a wave of deforestation in recent years, fueled by land deals that allow settlers to clear the rainforest for farming, mining and cattle ranching.
- Without government support, Indigenous and Afro-descendant communities have patrolled the forests on their own but are overwhelmed by the number of people settling in the area.
- Some residents have crossed the border into Costa Rica due to security concerns.
- Recently, the government also authorized more dredging on the San Juan River, despite losing a previous case about dredging at the International Court of Justice.

Organized crime & gold trade are increasingly connected, report shows
- Latin American cartels once were masters of the drug trade, but spikes in prices led them into controlling a new venture.
- Criminals also took advantage of poor control over the mining sector and used it to launder money, a report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has found.
- Drug trafficking groups may control the logistics and the equipment supply in gold mining sites or charge miners for the right to use a specific area.
- In the Tapajós River Basin, in the Brazilian Amazon, gold mining is also closely connected with crimes like sexual abuse and human trafficking.

Protecting the Darién Gap: Interview with Panama national parks director Luis Carles Rudy
- Mongabay spoke with Panama’s national director of protected areas, Luis Carles Rudy, about the ongoing environmental challenges in Darién National Park.
- The park covers around 575,000 hectares (1.42 million acres) of rainforest at the southern border, but has been a popular spot for criminal groups for the last several decades, and more recently illegal mining operations and migrants coming from South America.
- Carles Rudy told Mongabay about new rangers and technology that will help protect the park, but said there still aren’t efficient solutions to encroaching agribusiness and migrant waste.

UN calls out Indonesia’s Merauke food estate for displacing Indigenous communities
- U.N. special rapporteurs have raised concerns that Indonesia’s food estate project in Merauke district is displacing Indigenous communities, clearing forests without consent, and using military forces to suppress dissent, threatening more than 50,000 Indigenous people.
- They point to deforestation of more than 109,000 hectares (269,000 acres), loss of biodiversity, and violations of Indigenous rights, including lack of free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) and intimidation by military forces.
- The Indonesian government has rejected the allegations, claiming compliance with national laws, and saying the project boosts food security and that Indigenous rights and environmental safeguards are respected — despite civil society calling these claims misleading.
- NGOs are urging stronger U.N. monitoring, a fact-finding mission, and genuine FPIC processes, warning that the project risks erasing Papuan Indigenous culture while facilitating corporate land grabs.

‘World’s largest’ carbon credit deal under fire as Amazon prosecutors seek repeal
- A Brazilian state was set to close a massive $180 million carbon credit deal, but now faces an escalating legal battle, accused of violating national laws and Indigenous rights, potentially ruining the project.
- Brazil’s Federal Prosecutor’s Office is seeking to nullify the 2024 contract, which sells 12 million carbon credits from Pará to companies like Amazon, Bayer, H&M Group and Walmart.
- Indigenous and Quilombola leaders voice concerns that the program could restrict their access to their land and interaction with nature, undermining inherent rights and deep spiritual connection to the rainforest.
- Widespread accusations over the failure of free, prior, and informed consent for the project highlight ongoing criticism of carbon credit initiatives in Brazil and globally, after scandals involving unapproved use of traditional territories and a loss of confidence in REDD+ projects.

Wildfires push tropical forest loss in Latin America to record highs
- Recent data from the University of Maryland show the tropics lost 6.7 million hectares (16.6 million acres) of primary rainforest in 2024 — nearly double the loss of 2023 and the highest on record.
- Six Latin American countries were in the top 10 nations for primary tropical forest loss.
- In the Amazon, forest loss more than doubled from 2023 to 2024, with more than half the result of wildfires. Other key drivers include agricultural expansion and criminal networks that increasingly threaten the region through gold mining, drug trafficking and other illicit activities.
- Fire was the leading driver of forest loss (49.5%), destroying 2.84 million hectares (7 million acres) of forest cover in Brazil, Bolivia and Mexico alone.

Artificial nests help a rare Brazilian parrot bounce back
Brazil’s red-tailed amazon parrot is a rare success story for reviving a species heading toward extinction, Mongabay Brasil’s Xavier Bartaburu reports. By the end of the 20th century, the population of the red-tailed amazon (Amazona brasiliensis) had dwindled to fewer than 5,000 individuals in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, one of the most endangered biomes in the […]
It’s time to pay the true value of tropical forest conservation (commentary)
- Conserving the world’s tropical forests requires large-scale and predictable finance, a new op-ed by Brazilian officials argue in making their case for the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF), a finance regime that will be discussed at this year’s U.N. climate summit (COP30) in their nation.
- The TFFF would pay a fixed price per hectare of tropical forest conserved or restored, providing positive incentives aligned with national fiscal planning via a funding model that blends public investment and private market borrowing.
- “The time to act boldly for our forests is now. The TFFF is not only possible — it is essential. We are calling on the world to join us,” they write.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.

‘Mining companies will lie to your face’: Carlos Zorrilla on 30 years of fighting for Intag Valley
Carlos Zorrilla has been living in an Ecuadorian cloud forest since the 1970s, and his last 30 years there have been spent fighting mining companies seeking to extract its large copper deposits. He and his community have successfully fought proposals by multiple firms in one of the most biodiverse regions on the planet, but sometimes […]
Uniting plantations to save Bornean elephants: Interview with Farina Othman
- Conservationist Farina Othman, a 2025 Whitley Award winner, has been working with endangered Bornean elephants in Sabah, Malaysia, since 2006.
- Since the 1970s, logging, oil palm plantations and roads have reduced and fragmented elephant habitats, increasing contact between the animals and humans; retaliatory killings arising from human-elephant conflict are now among the major threats to the species’ survival.
- Equipped with knowledge of the Bornean elephant’s behavior, Othman works with local communities and oil palm plantations to promote coexistence with the elephants.
- In a recent interview with Mongabay, Othman dives deep into the human-elephant conflicts in the Lower Kinabatangan area, explaining why and how she attempts to change communities’ perceptions of elephants and reconnect elephant habitats.

EU appetite for EVs drives new wave of deforestation in tropical forests
- The European Union’s demand for electric vehicles may lead to the deforestation of 118,000 hectares (291,584 acres) in critical minerals-supplying countries, according to a new report.
- Brazil, which accounts for large reserves of nickel, graphite, rare earths, lithium and niobium, would be one of the most affected countries.
- Despite the mining project’s socioenvironmental impacts, the Brazilian federal government has backed companies with financing and political support.
- Experts warn that the new minerals rush increases pressure on Indigenous communities already suffering from mining companies’ violations.

Unnoticed oil & gas threat looms for Indigenous people near Amazon blocks
- While oil prospects in the Amazon north shore attract international attention, the offer of exploration blocks around Indigenous territories goes unnoticed in Mato Grosso state.
- Brazil will auction 21 blocks in the Parecis Basin, an area with dense Indigenous activity, yet none of these communities have been consulted, as leaders struggle to handle existing threats such as ranchers and miners.
- Impacts on Indigenous territories include the influx of workers and machinery during research and the risk of toxic gas emissions and water pollution if projects move forward.
- The rainforest is the most promising frontier for the oil industry, with one-fifth of the world’s newly discovered reserves from 2022-24.

Why Brazil should abandon its plans for oil and gas in Amazonia (commentary)
- The Brazilian government has major plans for oil and gas extraction both in the Amazon Rainforest and offshore — including at the mouth of the Amazon River — with a drilling rights auction scheduled for June 17 for fields both in the forest and offshore.
- Under intense pressure, the head of the federal environmental agency has now overridden his technical staff to allow the proposed mouth-of-the-Amazon project to move forward for approval.
- In addition to the risk of an uncontrollable oil spill, the economics of opening this and other new oilfields implies continued extraction long past the time when burning fossil fuels must cease if a global climate catastrophe is to be avoided.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Indigenous forest stewards watch over one of the world’s rarest raptors
The Philippine eagle is considered one of the world’s rarest birds of prey, with roughly 400 breeding pairs left in the wild. Amid ongoing threats from logging and hunting, Indigenous forest rangers are helping conservationists protect the species’ nests and habitat, Mongabay contributor Bong S. Sarmiento reported last year. Datu Julito Ahao of the Obu […]
EUDR risk classifications omit governance & enforcement failures, critics say
- Critics say the EU’s anti-deforestation law, the EUDR, uses a risk classification system that overlooks critical issues like governance, corruption and law enforcement capacity, missing systemic failures and enforcement gaps — the very conditions that enable illegal deforestation to flourish.
- A Forest Trends analysis warns that this approach may lead to misclassification of countries with weak enforcement and high illegality as “low risk.”
- These shortcomings in the benchmarking system have triggered growing unease among countries affected by the EUDR, including some that say their deforestation risk has been misrepresented.
- Set to take effect at the end of this year, the EUDR will ban imports of seven forest-linked commodities — soy, palm oil, coffee, cocoa, timber, rubber and beef — unless they can be proven to be deforestation-free and legally produced.

Brazil set to blast 35 km river rock formation for new Amazon shipping route
- The Brazilian environmental agency, IBAMA, approved a license to blast a natural rock barrier on the Tocantins River in Pará state to enable boats to pass during the dry season, as part of wider efforts to build a massive waterway for commodities.
- Federal prosecutors requested the suspension of the license due to missing studies and other issues.
- A federal court stated that the proposed blasting will have a limited and controlled impact, asserting there are no Indigenous, Quilombola (Afro-Brazilian) or riverine communities living in that section of the Tocantins River — a claim that advocates say is inaccurate.
- Rock removal will impact endangered fish, Amazon turtles and the Araguaia river dolphin, which is found only in this region and feeds on fish that spawn in Pedral do Lourenço.

Ahead of hosting COP30, Brazil is set to weaken environmental licensing
- A new bill may dismantle Brazil’s environmental license framework, easing the way for infrastructure projects such as oil exploration on the Amazon coast and paving the BR-319 road, in one of the rainforest’s most preserved areas.
- The new rules, considered unconstitutional by experts, would benefit around 80% of the ventures with a self-licensing process that exempts environmental impact studies and mitigation measures.
- More than 1,800 Indigenous lands and Quilombola territories not fully demarcated would be ignored in the licensing process.
- The bill is still pending approval by the Chamber of Deputies, but experts say they believe the measure will be challenged in the Brazilian Supreme Court.

Amazon illegal gold mines drive sex trafficking in the Brazil-Guyana border
- Poverty and poor border controls have allowed young women to be trafficked into the sex trade catering to illegal gold miners in Brazil’s border areas with countries like Guyana and Venezuela.
- Research by the Federal University of Roraima identified 309 people who were victims of human trafficking between 2022 and 2024.
- In the Guyanese border town of Lethem, young women, mostly from Venezuela but also from Brazil, are trafficked into bars from across the border in Brazil, seemingly without restriction.
- Organized crime networks associated with illegal mining use elaborate recruiting tactics and exploit the vulnerability of victims, who often don’t recognize themselves as trafficked or are afraid to speak out.

Mongabay journalist Karla Mendes profiled in new book on climate leaders
Mongabay reporter Karla Mendes has been featured as one of 36 global climate leaders in a new book launched in the U.S. on May 27. What Will Your Legacy Be?: Conversations With Global Game Changers About the Climate Crisis by author Sangeeta Waldron includes a chapter on Mendes’s investigative work and career trajectory. The chapter […]
‘Satellites for Biodiversity’ upgrades with new projects and launches insight hub
The Airbus Foundation and the Connected Conservation Foundation (CCF) recently announced the winners of their “Satellites for Biodiversity” grant, which now uses higher-resolution satellite imagery to aid conservation efforts. They also launched an Ecosystem Insight Hub, which comprehensively documents the processes and findings of their grantees. The latest batch of six “Satellites for Biodiversity” awardees […]
Environmental defenders targeted in 3 out of 4 human rights attacks: Report
More than 6,400 attacks against human rights defenders were reported between 2015 to 2024, according to a new report from nonprofit Business & Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC). “That’s close to two attacks every day over the past 10 years against defenders who are raising concerns about business-related risks and harms,” said Christen Dobson, co-head […]
Harpy eagle confirmed in Mexico for first time in over a decade
Sightings of a young harpy eagle in southern Mexico’s Lacandon Jungle in 2023 have now been verified, marking the first time in more than a decade that one of South America’s largest birds of prey has been spotted in the country, contributor Astrid Arellano reported for Mongabay Latam. Photos and video of the bird were […]
Why biological diversity should be at the heart of conservation
For the last several decades, global biodiversity has been in crisis. Yet, as we celebrate International Day for Biodiversity on May 22, which commemorates the adoption of the Convention on Biological Diversity, a global treaty, we offer some recent Mongabay stories highlighting lessons from undoing past harms and conserving biodiversity for our planet’s future. What […]
In New Guinea, megadiverse lowland forests are most at risk of deforestation
- Located at the edge of the western Pacific Ocean, New Guinea is a vast island where the biota of Asia and Australasia meet, making it a melting pot of unique plants and animals that occur nowhere else on the planet.
- Development pressure is ramping up across the island, however, opening up landscapes to new roads, industrial logging and agricultural conglomerates pushing biofuel agendas.
- New Guinea’s low-elevation forests, which represent some of the world’s last vestiges of ancient lowland tropical rainforest, are particularly imperiled, according to a new study.
- To avert tragedy, the authors urge policymakers to improve land-use planning systems, focus on retaining intact forest landscapes, and strengthen the rights of the people who live among them.

Delay in land reform fuels new wave of settlers and violence in the Amazon
- Grassroots organizations are settling new areas in the Brazilian Amazon amid disappointment that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has been slow to jump-start the stalled land reform agenda.
- According to the federal land agency, Incra, about 145,000 people are inhabiting camps all over Brazil, waiting for a plot of land.
- In one of the Amazon’s deadliest regions, a group fighting for land was besieged by a dozen armed men hired by ranchers; even in established settlements, harassment by land grabbers and lack of government support drive settlers out of their plots.
- The stalling of the land reform agenda pushes Amazonian people further into the forest, driving the cycle of deforestation, or else to the outskirts of cities, where many struggle to make a living.

Brazil rewilds urban forest with vaccinated brown howler monkeys
Following a deadly yellow fever outbreak in 2016, brown howler monkeys are slowly making a recovery through targeted vaccination and reintroduction efforts in one of the world’s largest urban forests. The recovery is detailed in a Mongabay video by Kashfi Halford and a report by Bernardo Araujo. Brown howler monkeys (Alouatta guariba) are endemic to […]
New forest loss data beef up Amazon deforestation case against Casino Group
- A new report by Brazilian nonprofit Instituto Centro de Vida (ICV) states that Casino Group’s beef supply chain could be linked to up to 526,459 hectares (about 1.3 million acres) of deforestation in Brazil between 2018 and 2023.
- The data are being used in a $64.1 million lawsuit filed in 2021 by environmental and Indigenous groups that accuse the French retailer of contributing to illegal deforestation.
- Among the plaintiffs are Indigenous communities from the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau territory in the Brazilian Amazon that have faced decades of land invasions by illegal cattle ranchers.

Republic of Congo’s gold mining boom undermines conservation efforts
The Republic of Congo has one of the lowest deforestation rates in the world, but “uncontrolled gold mining” in recent years could harm the country’s biodiversity, especially in the Sangha region, Mongabay’s Elodie Toto reported in a video published in February. Sangha, located in the country’s north, on the border with Cameroon and the Central […]
Brazil antideforestation operation blacklists more than 500 farms in the Amazon
The Brazilian government blocked 545 rural properties in the Amazonian state of Pará from selling crops and livestock both domestically and internationally, citing illegal deforestation, according to a May 6 announcement by the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change. The announcement marks one of Brazil’s largest uses of remote sensing to sanction agriculture activity associated […]
Malaysian timber company accused of abuse & rights violations: Report
A new Human Rights Watch report alleges abuse and human rights violations in an Indigenous community in Malaysia’s Sarawak state. The report finds Malaysian timber company Zedtee Sdn Bhd (Zedtee) destroyed culturally valuable forests without the consent of Indigenous people, who are facing an eviction notice from their land. The HRW report says the Sarawak […]
Lack of funds, cattle ranchers challenge Brazil’s sustainable farmers
In 2005, the Brazilian government created PDS Brasília, a sustainable settlement in the state of Pará. The settlement was designed to encourage 500 families to practice small-scale family farming, while also collectively using a standing forest to harvest its fruits and nuts, Mongabay’s Fernanda Wenzel reported in March. The 19,800-hectare (49,000-acre) settlement was created following the […]
Attacks on Cambodian environmental journalist continue to pile up
- Cambodian environmental journalist Ouk Mao was attacked by a group of men, apparently including a former police officer, while documenting illegal logging in Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary, following a pattern of escalating harassment and threats.
- Mao has faced numerous legal challenges, including defamation and incitement charges, that he claims are retaliation for exposing environmental crimes, with local officials allegedly trying to silence his work.
- Cambodia’s crackdown on critical journalism has intensified, with Mao’s case reflecting a broader decline in press freedom, as highlighted by the country’s plummeting rank in the 2025 Reporters Without Borders Press Freedoms Index.
- Advocacy groups like the Committee to Protect Journalists and Cambodian Journalists Alliance Association warn that the lack of accountability for attacks on journalists has created a dangerous environment for those reporting on illegal logging and other sensitive issues.

In Côte d’Ivoire a changing climate hits farmers and markets alike
- Towns across Côte d’Ivoire are facing shortages of staple foods like plantain and tomatoes, due to erratic weather.
- Prolonged drought and heavy rains have affected growers in towns like Soubré, who are struggling to maintain sufficient production to supply local markets.
- An expert says adapting to the new climate reality is key, and proposes training farmers in new agricultural techniques and improving natural resource management.

Indonesia’s deforestation claims under scrutiny over ‘cherry-picked’ data
- Researchers say Indonesia’s claim of a 90% deforestation drop over the past decade is misleading due to cherry-picked data and an extreme baseline year.
- The actual decline is closer to 50-69%, driven by earlier policies and reduced forest availability in many regions.
- Deforestation is rising again, especially in Papua and Sulawesi, fueled by palm oil, pulpwood, and mining expansion.
- Civil society groups are crucial in tracking and exposing forest loss amid conflicting government policies and rising environmental threats.

Hand-raised chicks boost Guatemala’s critically endangered macaws
Scarlet macaw chicks that may have otherwise died in the wild are getting a second chance at life through a hand-rearing program managed by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Guatemala. The scarlet macaw’s (Ara macao) conservation status is classified as being of least concern on the IUCN Red List, primarily because of its broad geographic […]
Amazon people brace for a drier future along the endangered Madeira River
- The Madeira River, the largest tributary of the Amazon, has been losing water flow over the last 20 years while facing severe droughts.
- The water drop is worrying the local population, whose livelihoods depend on balanced water bodies for small-scale agriculture, wild fruit extractives, fishing and transportation.
- The Madeira is particularly vulnerable to hydrological extremes and reached its lowest level ever recorded in September 2024.
- The Amazon has been warming since the 1980s, suffering 15 extreme droughts so far.

The latest issues in Peru’s Amazon: Interview with Indigenous leader Julio Cusurichi
- Mongabay interviewed Julio Cusurichi Palacios, a prominent Indigenous leader from Peru, to hear his take on some of the latest and biggest events affecting Indigenous communities and forests in the country’s Amazon.
- Events include a resolution for oil palm that critics say could expand deforestation, delays in creating territories for isolated peoples, the passing of Pope Francis and the killing of Indigenous land defenders.
- Cusurichi Palacios and other Indigenous leaders came to the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York City to spotlight issues they face in their country.
- Julio Cusurichi Palacios has been a leader in Peru’s Amazon since the ’90s and currently serves on the national board of AIDESEP, a large Indigenous rights organization.

New report reinforces critical role of Amazonian protected areas in climate fight
- A new report has found that protected areas and Indigenous territories in the Amazon store more aboveground carbon than the rest of the rainforest.
- Protected areas and Indigenous territories were also found to serve as significant carbon sinks between 2013 and 2022, absorbing 257 million metric tons of carbon dioxide.
- Protected areas in Colombia, Brazil, Suriname and French Guiana were found to be significant carbon sinks.
- The report underscores the need to protect these areas that aren’t currently threatened by deforestation as they play a critical role in offsetting emissions from other parts of the forest.

Gold rush moves closer to Amazon’s second-tallest tree
Illegal gold miners are now operating very close to the second-tallest tree in the Amazon Rainforest, Mongabay’s Fernanda Wenzel reported in April. Six giant trees, including a red angelim (Dinizia excelsa) that stands 85 meters (279 feet) tall, are found inside the Iratapuru River Sustainable Development Reserve in Brazil’s Amapá state. Despite the area’s protected status, […]
Poaching intensifies in M23-occupied areas of Virunga National Park
- On March 11th, 2025, Virunga National Park authorities discovered a young gorilla named Fazili caught in a poacher’s trap.
- The closure of Virunga National Park eco-guard patrol posts in areas under M23 occupation has prevented regular patrols and monitoring since April 2024, said researchers, and some locals are taking advantage of the security situation to benefit from the park’s resources, collaborate with armed groups for land, or take part in the wild meat trade.
- No species have completely disappeared from the park, and the population of gorillas continued to rise in 2024 but there has been a 50% decrease in wildlife since the M23 resurgence in 2021 and poaching is expanding, said park officials.
- About one hundred community trackers are working to protect wildlife during the security crisis.

Military-backed plantation project in Indonesian Papua triggers rights concerns
- Indonesia’s human rights commission has found serious rights and environmental violations in a government-backed plantation project in Papua, including land grabbing, lack of Indigenous consent, and militarization that has created fear among local communities.
- The project, aiming to clear 3 million hectares (7.4 million acres) for sugarcane and rice plantations, threatens biodiverse forests and Indigenous livelihoods, violating national and international protections for land rights, food security and environmental health.
- Five key rights were found to be violated: rights to land, environment, food, participation in decision-making, and security — all guaranteed by Indonesian law and international norms.
- The rights commission, Komnas HAM, recommended legal recognition of Indigenous lands, fair participation, and restoration of rights, but civil society groups are calling for a complete halt to the project and demilitarization, warning of systematic harm if it continues.

How to conserve species in a much hotter world
By 2075, we will be living on a planet that is much hotter, possibly 3-5° Celsius (5.4-9° Fahrenheit) hotter than the preindustrial average. But how can humanity help nature improve its climate resilience in the years to come? Mongabay’s Jeremy Hance found some answers after interviewing several conservationists. “In 50 years, it’s entirely possible that […]
Orangutan habitat under siege as palm oil company clears forest in Borneo
- Indonesian palm oil company PT Equator Sumber Rezeki (ESR), part of First Borneo Group, has begun clearing critical orangutan habitat in West Kalimantan province, threatening high conservation value (HCV) forests and the survival of the critically endangered Bornean orangutan.
- Despite only partial clearing so far, conservationists warn that ESR plans major expansion, risking the loss of up to 10,000 hectares (about 25,000 acres) of forest, and further undermining Indonesia’s biodiversity and climate goals.
- First Borneo Group has a long record of large-scale deforestation through multiple subsidiaries, prompting major palm oil buyers like Nestlé and Musim Mas to suspend or end sourcing from the group, though some companies remain linked via supply chains.
- Environmental groups are calling for an immediate halt to ESR’s land clearing, comprehensive ecological audits, and urgent action from companies still sourcing from First Borneo Group to prevent a potential ecological disaster for orangutans and the region’s forests.

We can’t plant our way out of climate change
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Forests with diverse tree species are more resilient to climate extremes and better at storing carbon, according to recent studies conducted in China and Panama. Though hardly groundbreaking, these findings reinforce an increasingly evident truth: Biodiversity in reforestation […]
Côte d’Ivoire cacao farmers struggle as climate havoc devastates crops
- Farmers in a cacao-producing region of southwestern Côte d’Ivoire have seen their yields decline so much that they’re abandoning their plantations and considering switching to other crops.
- They say cacao, long a mainstay of the agricultural economy of this region and the country, is no longer profitable due to changing weather patterns and an increase in plant diseases like swollen shoot.
- An agronomist says the changing weather is partly due to deforestation caused by the expansion of cacao production in recent decades, and recommends agroforestry and reforestation as a remedy.

Amazon illegal miners bypass enforcement by smuggling gold into Venezuela
- Criminal groups are operating to smuggle illegal gold from the Brazilian Amazon into Venezuela, where the metal is laundered and exported overseas.
- Illegal gold traders adopted this new strategy after Brazil’s administration increased control over the metal’s commerce.
- Mongabay followed the steps of Adriano Aguiar de Castro, who, according to authorities, jumped from one gold laundering scheme to another and now is also involved with gold smuggling into Venezuela.
- The need to cross national borders brings gold trading groups closer to organized crime and poses new challenges to authorities.

Indonesia strengthens forest monitoring with new tool to meet EU deforestation law
- Indonesia is stepping up traceability efforts to comply with the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), which bans imports of deforestation-linked commodities like palm oil, timber and coffee starting in December 2025.
- A new platform, Ground Truthed.id (GTID), combines field-based evidence and geolocation data to detect and document environmental violations in real time, offering a bottom-up alternative to satellite-reliant systems.
- GTID emphasizes collaboration with Indigenous peoples, civil society and law enforcement, using a verification process to turn grassroots reports into legally actionable cases.
- The platform is expected to complement a government-run traceability dashboard by acting as an independent watchdog, helping prevent illegally sourced or conflict-ridden products from entering international supply chains.

Locals, researchers race to save unique biodiversity of PNG’s Torricellis
Torricelli Mountains, a tiny mountain range in northern Papua New Guinea, is estimated to host roughly 4% of the world’s known species, many found nowhere else on Earth, Mongabay’s John Cannon reported in March. “I mean, for 0.003% of the world’s land area — it’s a ‘wow’ factor for me,” Jim Thomas, CEO of the […]
Indonesia raises concerns over EU deforestation law’s impact on smallholders
- The Indonesian government has raised concerns over the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), citing unclear due diligence rules, unrealistic expectations for smallholders, and contradictions in geolocation data requirements.
- Deputy Foreign Minister Arief Havas Oegroseno questioned the fairness of demanding geolocation data from Global South producers while EU privacy laws restrict similar data sharing within Europe.
- Arief also highlighted the EU’s inconsistent enforcement of past trade agreements like the FLEGT deal on timber, casting doubt on whether the EUDR will be applied fairly across member states.
- An EU envoy acknowledged some ambiguities but defended the EUDR’s goals, stressing that cooperation with Indonesia remains a priority despite stalled talks over data discrepancies.

Fake documents, real deforestation drive global trade in illegal Amazon timber
- A report from the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) tracked the equivalent of 1,828 shipping containers of illegal wood sourced in the state of Pará, in the Brazilian Amazon.
- Nearly 3% of this timber was exported to U.S. and European companies, violating commercial rules forbidding illegal timber imports into those markets.
- One of the most coveted species by international markets is ipê, a tropical hardwood whose price increases twentyfold along the supply chain.
- Exports point to flaws in the Brazilian tracking system and impunity for offenders as the main reasons for the persistent widespread illegality of logging.

Illegal gold mining creeps within a kilometer of Amazon’s second-tallest tree
- Prosecutors in Brazil’s Amapá state have warned of an illegal gold mine operating just 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) from second-highest known tree in the Brazilian Amazon — an 85-meter (279-foot) red angelim.
- Illegal gold miners have been moving into Amapá in the wake of federal raids on mining hotspots in other parts of the Brazilian Amazon, including the Yanomami and Munduruku Indigenous territories.
- A surge in the gold price has fueled the miners’ destructive potential and their capacity to open new areas in highly isolated places.

‘Heart of Borneo’ dams raze Indigenous forests for Indonesia green energy drive
- A joint venture between Indonesia and state-owned Malaysia companies is constructing a network of dams in the Bulungan and Malinau districts of North Kalimantan, a sparsely populated Bornean province bordering the Malaysian state of Sarawak.
- The dams will generate 9,000 megawatts to power industry in the under-construction Kalimantan Industrial Park Indonesia in Bulungan district, a site the government hopes will be a global hub of solar panel and battery manufacture.
- One community of around 28 families has already been relocated as dam contractors prepare to submerge more villages and tunneling continues.

Mongabay investigation spurs Brazil crackdown on illegal cattle in Amazon’s Arariboia territory
- An ongoing Brazilian government operation launched in February has removed between 1,000 and 2,000 illegal head of cattle from the Arariboia Indigenous Territory in the Amazon Rainforest.
- In June 2024, Mongabay published the results of a yearlong investigation, revealing that large portions of the Arariboia territory have been taken over for commercial cattle ranching, in violation of the Constitution; the project received funding and editorial support from the Pulitzer Center’s Rainforest Investigations Network.
- “Your report is very similar to what we’re actually finding in the field. It showed an accurate reality and this helped us a lot in practical terms,” Marcos Kaingang, national secretary for Indigenous territorial rights at the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples, told Mongabay in a video interview.
- The investigation also revealed details that authorities said they hadn’t been aware of, including the illegal shifting of the territory’s border markers, Kaingang said: “We brought it up as an important point in our discussions and we verified that the [markers] had in fact been changed.”

Nepal farmers regret planting government-hyped eucalyptus
In the late 1970s, Nepal launched a reforestation project to restore its massively deforested lands in the southeastern Terai landscape. However, the main tree of choice, eucalyptus, after showing initial signs of success has now proven detrimental to the region’s soil moisture and fertility, Mongabay contributor Mukesh Pokhrel reported in February. To prepare for the […]
For scandal-ridden carbon credit industry, Amazon restoration offers redemption
- As REDD projects around the world face setbacks, restoration projects in the Amazon are flourishing as a means of reviving market confidence in forest-based carbon credits.
- In Brazil, the golden goose for restoration, this business model has attracted companies from the mining and beef industries, banks, startups, and big tech.
- Federal and state governments are granting public lands to restoration companies to recover degraded areas.
- Restoration projects require substantial investments and long-term commitment, face challenges such as increasingly severe fire seasons, and deal with uncertainty over the future of the carbon market.

How tires leave a long trail of destruction
Tires play an essential role in modern society, but have enormous negative environmental impacts. Mongabay recently reported on how the world’s top tire manufacturers are unable to prove that the supply chain of their rubber products is deforestation-free. A look back at an episode of Mongabay’s video series “Consumed,” published in January 2024, shows how […]
After outcry, Brazil Supreme Court nixes proposal for mining on Indigenous lands
- Brazil’s Supreme Court backed down and withdrew its proposal to open up Indigenous territories to mining and economic activities from a controversial bill that critics say violates the Constitution.
- On the same day, the Federal Attorney General’s Office presented a draft presidential decree also excluding mining activities on Indigenous territories but allowing tourism and other activities led by Indigenous communities.
- Both drafts would keep contentious articles regarding compensation for non-Indigenous settlers, which could make the land demarcation process unfeasible, critics say.
- The proposals are the outcome of a yearslong legal battle centered in the highly controversial time frame thesis, aiming to nullify any Indigenous land demarcation claims to areas that weren’t physically occupied before the 1988 Constitution.

Innovators battling wildfires with AI, drones & fungi get $50k grants to scale up
To address the devastating effects of wildfires in Western North America, the nonprofit Conservation X Labs (CXL) and its partners have awarded $50,000 each to 12 shortlisted teams seeking to scale up novel technologies and processes to lower wildlife risk and increase ecosystem and community resilience. CXL announced the 12 finalists of its first Fire […]
UK delays to environment law have led to massive deforestation, report says
- U.K. lawmakers have spent the last four years delaying the implementation of “forest risk” regulations on imported commodities like beef, soy, palm oil, cocoa, coffee and rubber.
- A law passed in 2021 needs secondary legislation to implement the regulations, which would establish what supply chain information needs to be collected by businesses and how it should be reported to the government.
- As the country waits for the law’s implementation, U.K. imports have resulted in more than 39,300 hectares (97,100 acres) of deforestation, according to a report from NGO Global Witness.

PNG’s Torricelli Mountains teem with life — and the risk of extinction
- The Torricelli Mountain range in northern Papua New Guinea holds a staggering amount of biodiversity in a tiny area.
- A recent analysis suggests that the threat of extinction to species living in the Torricellis if the land were cleared of its forests would be among the highest on Earth.
- A community conservation group called the Tenkile Conservation Alliance has worked to end the hunting of critically endangered tree kangaroos in the Torricellis and has proposed a 1,250-square-kilometer (483-square-mile) protected area to further protect the mountains’ forests and species.
- But the government of Papua New Guinea has stopped short of officially recognizing the conservation area as the threat from industrial logging companies in the region remains.

Brazil plans new Amazon routes linking the Pacific & China’s New Silk Road
- New roads and riverways integrating the Brazilian Amazon and ports on the Pacific coast of South America are expected to be announced in 2025, reducing shipment costs to supply China.
- Brazil’s plans to build ports and roads to help move grains, beef and iron ore from the rainforest echo a development vision that dates back to the military dictatorship in the 1960s and 1970s.
- Environmentalists warn the new routes boost deforestation and encourage land-grabbers and ranchers to keep exploring the Amazon as a commodity hub.

Australia’s environment minister sued for failure to act on threatened species
Australian conservation NGO The Wilderness Society has launched a court case against the country’s environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, alleging her failure to put in place formal recovery plans for a number of threatened species. The public interest legal organization Environmental Justice Australia recently announced that its lawyers are representing The Wilderness Society in the federal […]
The untold environmental toll of the DRC’s conflict
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay’s founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. The war in the Democratic Republic of Congo isn’t just killing people — it’s tearing down forests, silencing activists, and fueling an illicit trade worth millions of dollars. The resurgence of the M23 rebel group in the eastern […]
Are your tires deforestation-free? Even their makers can’t tell, report finds
Only one out of the world’s 12 major tire manufacturers have shown evidence their supply chain is deforestation-free, a recent assessment has found. The report, released March 26 by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), assessed 30 natural rubber companies, including 12 that manufacture tires, to see what portion of their supply chain is independently […]
Peru’s rare peatland swamps at risk as illegal gold mining expands
- Gold mining in Madre de Dios, Peru, is destroying rare peatland swamps that serve as critical carbon sinks, a new study found.
- The study, published in Environmental Research Letters, used 35 years of NASA Landsat satellite data to track the spread of gold mining.
- It found that more than 550 hectares (1,360 acres) of peatland have been destroyed by mining over the last 35 years, with over half of it occurring in the last two years.
- At least 63 out of 219 peatland areas have been affected by mining, putting more than 10,000 hectares (about 25,000 acres) at immediate risk, with the possibility that as much as 14.5 million metric tons of carbon could be released into the atmosphere, the study said.

Uncontacted Ayoreo could face health risks as Gran Chaco shrinks, experts warn
- The International Working Group for the Protection of Indigenous Peoples in Isolation and Initial Contact (GTI-PIACI) visited northern Paraguay to better understand the threats against the Indigenous Ayoreo communities living in isolation.
- The Ayoreo live semi-nomadically between the Paraguayan and Bolivian Gran Chaco, where they’re threatened by deforestation from the expanding agricultural frontier.
- GTI-PIACI called on the Paraguayan government and Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to develop more thorough measures to protect the groups and stop deforestation.

Baby sightings spark hope for critically endangered gibbons in Vietnam
A community conservation team saw not one but two baby Cao-vit gibbons, one of the world’s rarest apes, in the remote forests of northern Vietnam in 2024, the NGO Fauna & Flora announced this month. The first infant sighting was in February 2024 and the second in November, in two separate troops. “It is very […]
An arachnid in your orchid? Ornamental plant trade risks spreading invasive species
What’s new: Your recently imported ornamental tree might have a stowaway spider or lizard hidden in its branches, a recent study warns. What’s more, these accidentally transported wildlife can turn into invasive pests in their new environment, researchers say. What the study says: The increasing popularity of imported ornamental plants has resulted in a multibillion-dollar […]
‘Sustainable’ palm oil firms continue illegal peatland clearing despite permit revocation
- 0Three palm oil companies in Indonesian Borneo, including subsidiaries of the country’s top deforesting firm in 2023, continue to clear protected peatlands and forests despite having their permits revoked.
- Despite also holding Indonesia’s sustainable palm oil certification, the ISPO, the companies have been found draining peatlands, deforesting, and expanding plantations in violation of environmental laws.
- The companies have faced multiple government sanctions, yet continue operations unchecked, highlighting Indonesia’s ongoing struggles with enforcing environmental regulations.
- Peatland destruction releases vast amounts of CO₂, contributing significantly to climate change; the report calls for stricter law enforcement; expanded deforestation regulations in the EU, a top export market; and better transparency in the palm oil sector.

Ecuador must improve conditions for uncontacted Indigenous communities, human rights court rules
- The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) ruled that Ecuador violated numerous rights of the Tagaeri and Taromenane Indigenous peoples and failed to protect them from violent attacks.
- The nomadic Tagaeri and Taromenane rely on hunting and gathering in the Amazon Rainforest, but the area has also been an attractive location for oil development and logging.
- The court ruled that Ecuador must expand protection zones where the uncontacted Indigenous communities live and improve monitoring of threats in those areas.

‘Unprecedented’ Supreme Court bill threatens Indigenous rights in Brazil
- Presented in February by Supreme Court Justice Gilmar Mendes, a draft bill violates Indigenous people’s constitutional rights by stripping their veto power against impactful activities on their ancestral lands and adding further obstacles to an already long land demarcation process.
- Critics say the Supreme Federal Court’s act is “unprecedented” in Brazil’s history by an institution that’s entitled to protect Indigenous and minorities’ rights — as dictated by the Constitution.
- The move comes months after the same court decided those Indigenous rights couldn’t be stripped by a legislative bill, with the support of Mendes.
- Critics say the bill “brings together the main threats to Indigenous peoples” and “directly contradicts the Brazilian Constitution, the decisions of the Supreme Court itself and international human rights law.”

New dams call into question Cambodia’s commitment to REDD+ projects
- Three new irrigation dams have been approved in Cambodia’s Cardamom Mountains, overlapping with two carbon credit projects
- The new developments join five hydropower projects that are already eating into these same forests.
- Communities in the affected area have described the onslaught of dam projects, from which they say they haven’t benefited, as “a war against the forest.”
- Experts say the approval throws into question the Cambodian government’s commitment to carbon credits as a viable climate tool.

Political appointments in Indonesian climate program spark outcry over accountability
- Indonesian Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni has appointed seemingly unqualified members of his political party to a key program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, raising concerns over political favoritism and lack of climate expertise.
- The program is largely funded by Norway and the U.K., with critics warning that donor money is being misused for political appointments rather than forest conservation.
- Norway has called for accountability but remains passive, stating that fund allocation is Indonesia’s responsibility; activists have urged both Norway and the U.K. to audit spending and ensure funds aren’t misallocated.
- Experts warn that time is running out to meet Indonesia’s 2030 climate targets, and that failure could harm Indonesia’s global reputation and worsen climate-related disasters.

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 […]
The rough road to sustainable farming in an Amazon deforestation hotspot
- Far from international forums and economical centers, locals in one of the Amazon deforestation hotspots seek alternatives to agribusiness and gold mines.
- Mongabay went to Pará state’s southwest and found examples of people struggling to keep sustainable initiatives in a region dominated by soy, cattle, gold and logging.
- Despite the bioeconomy buzz, people working on the ground say they miss support from banks and public administrations.

Indigenous schools ensure next generations protect Borneo’s ‘omen birds’
In the rainforests of West Kalimantan, in Indonesian Borneo, the Indigenous Dayak Iban listen to what they call “omen birds,” or birds they say sing messages from spirits, Mongabay’s Sonam Lama Hyolmo reported in November 2024. These omen birds include species such as the white-rumped shama (Copsychus malabarincus), scarlet-rumped trogon (Harpactes duvaucelii) and Diard’s trogon […]
Only 5% of deforesters in Brazil’s Amazon fully paid fines, report finds
If you are caught cutting down the Amazon Rainforest illegally, chances are you will get off without being required to pay for the environmental damage. According to a recent report, only 5% of offenders have paid court-ordered fines for deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. Researchers at Imazon, a Brazilian environmental research nonprofit, analyzed more than […]
The environmental toll of the M23 conflict in eastern DRC (Analysis)
- The escalating armed conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has had significant — and overlooked — environmental impacts. The rate of tree cover loss in Kahuzi-Biega and Virunga National Parks has sharply increased since the conflict reignited in late 2021.
- Armed groups, both state and non-state, have profited by taxing the illegal charcoal and timber trade coming from inside these protected areas.
- Yet the impacts are complex: the broader geopolitical context also provides incentives for the M23 group to support conservation efforts in order to project themselves as providers of good governance in the region.
- This article is an analysis. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Brazil’s SUDAM scandal, a case of government-backed deforestation
- Crimes against the Amazon can also be perpetrated from government offices. In the case of Brazil, a sophisticated mechanism allowed in the late 1990s the embezzlement of millions of dollars and contributed to deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon.
- Phantom companies, technical assistance for theft, fictitious loans and fraudulent reports supported the legality of the operations and consultancies of those agricultural or plantation ‘ventures’ in the Amazon Rainforest.
- The investigation, focused on activities carried out between 1997 and 1999, identified more than 150 high-value, fictitious investments. Civil lawsuits were filed against involved businessmen, public officials and legal entities, demanding compensation for damages to the public treasury.

Forest biomass growth to soar through 2030, impacting tropical forests
- The forest biomass industry — cutting forests to make wood pellets to be burned in power plants — will continue booming through 2030, says a new report. By then, pellets made in the U.S., Canada, EU and Russia could top 31 million metric tons annually, with those made in tropical nations surging to over 11 million tons yearly.
- The U.K. and EU are forecast to go on burning huge amounts of pellets (more than 18 million metric tons each year by 2030). But Asia will burn even more (27 million tons), with Japan and South Korea expanding use, as Taiwan enters the market.
- Scientists warn that forest biomass burning is unsustainable and produces more CO2 emissions than coal per unit of energy generated. Pellet-making is contributing to deforestation and biodiversity loss in North America, and will increasingly do so in tropical nations, including Vietnam, Brazil, Indonesia and Malaysia.
- Forest advocates continue campaigning against biomass for energy, achieving some hard-won victories. Enviva, the world’s largest biomass producer, went bankrupt in 2024, while South Korea and Japan have taken first steps to reduce subsidies for wood pellets. But the U.K. continues offering millions in subsidies to biomass power plants.

Indonesian court blocks palm oil expansion, but leaves Indigenous land rights in limbo
- Indonesia’s Supreme Court has upheld the government’s decision to block further expansion of the Tanah Merah oil palm project in Papua, preserving a Jakarta-sized swath of primary rainforest.
- The ruling strengthens the forestry ministry’s authority to halt deforestation and was influenced by testimonies from the Indigenous Awyu tribe, who rely on the forest for survival.
- While the decision prevents further clearing, it doesn’t grant Indigenous land rights to the Awyu, leaving the tribe vulnerable to future displacement.
- Other companies are vying for control over concessions within the Tanah Merah project, fueling further conflicts and prompting Indigenous groups to seek formal land rights recognition.

91% of Brazilian Amazon deforestation last year was illegal, report finds
Nearly all deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon in the past year was illegal, a new report finds. Between August 2023 and July 2024, 91% of forest clearing in the Amazon lacked authorization, according to an analysis by the NGO Center of Life Institute (ICV). In the Cerrado, an expanding agricultural frontier and the world’s most […]
Yanomami youth turn to drones to watch their Amazon territory
- In the Yanomami Indigenous Land, the largest in Brazil, leaders believe in their youths’ skills to maintain their ancestors’ legacy and safeguard the future of a sprawling territory covering almost the size of Portugal.
- Located in the Brazilian Amazon between the states of Roraima and Amazonas, the Indigenous territory faced a severe humanitarian and environmental crisis with the invasion of around 20,000 illegal miners in search of gold and cassiterite.
- Trained youths can now act as multipliers of drone monitoring and watch the land against new invasions.

Endemic fish wiped out in Brazilian Amazon hydroelectric dam area, study finds
- The construction of the Balbina hydroelectric dam in the Brazilian Amazon led to the loss of seven endemic fish species in the Uatumã River, researchers have found.
- The hydroelectric dam has transformed the Uatumã River’s fast-flowing habitats into static environments, making them unsuitable for certain fish species.
- Researchers call for the investigation of unaffected tributaries, such as the Jatapu River, as possible refuges for the missing species and future conservation efforts.
- The study underscores the broader threat of hydropower dams and other environmental stressors, like industrial fishing and climate change, to Amazonian fish populations.

As the rainforest gets drier, Amazon Indigenous groups thirst for clean water
- The 2024 extreme and historical drought that hit the Amazon exposed a chronic problem: access to drinking water and sanitation in Indigenous lands, where only a third of households have proper water supply systems.
- In some Amazon rivers in Brazil, cases of diseases related to inadequate basic sanitation, such as malaria and acute diarrhea, have been increasing amid climate change and population growth.
- Indigenous organizations have been demanding the implementation of adapted infrastructures in the villages, such as water tanks, wells, cesspools and septic tanks.
- The Brazilian federal government already has resources and plans to begin addressing these issues.

Australian bushfires leave wildlife facing increased predator risk, decades of recovery
Simultaneous wildfires since December 2024 have left Grampians, Little Desert and the Great Otway National Parks in Australia devastated. Scientists say it will take decades for plants and wildlife to recover. Michael Clarke, emeritus professor of zoology at La Trobe University in Melbourne, told Mongabay by email the area burnt in Little Desert alone is […]
The culture of corruption across the Amazon Basin
- Across countries in the Amazon Basin corruption remains a deeply entrenched phenomenon as society has a higher tolerance of fraudulent behavior.
- Corruption encompasses many types of behavior, which can subvert multiple publicly funded activities, while spanning multiple sectors and jurisdictions (national, regional, local).
- Non-elite corruption is more acute in Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador and less in Colombia, Brazil, Guyana and Suriname, while elite corruption is widespread and flagrant, with wrongdoers enjoying high levels of impunity.

Over half of Pacific atoll forests are coconut palm plantations — Study
What’s new: More than half of the tree cover in Pacific atolls is largely composed of “abandoned and overgrown” colonial-era coconut palm plantations, reveal satellite images in a study published in December 2024. What the study says: While coconut palm is an integral part of the cultures and economy of Pacific Island communities, colonial powers […]
Mining dredges return to Amazon River’s main tributary, months after crackdown
- Five months after a major operation by federal forces, illegal mining dredges are back on the Madeira River in the Brazilian Amazon.
- The return of the floating structures shows the resilience of illegal gold mining in the Amazon, which destroys the riverbeds and contaminates the water with mercury.
- As the federal administration closes miners’ siege of Indigenous territories, the illegal miners are migrating to less-monitored areas, experts says.

Mongabay series on illegal timber and cattle wins honorable mention in Brazil journalism prize
Blood Timber, a Mongabay series on illegal logging and cattle ranching in the eastern Brazilian Amazon, has received an honorable mention at the recent Banrisul ARI Journalism Award, a prize recognizing excellence in journalism in Brazil. The three-part series by journalist Karla Mendes revealed a correlation between environmental crimes and killings of Indigenous Guajajara people, […]
Surge in legal land clearing pushes up Indonesia deforestation rate in 2024
- Indonesia’s deforestation increased in 2024 to its highest level since 2021, with forest area four times the size of Jakarta lost; 97% of this occurred within legal concessions, highlighting a shift from illegal to legal deforestation.
- More than half of the forest loss affected critical habitats for threatened species like orangutans, tigers and elephants, particularly in Borneo and Sumatra.
- Key industries driving deforestation include palm oil, pulpwood, and nickel mining, with significant deforestation in Kalimantan, Sumatra and Papua; a new pulp mill in Kalimantan in particular may be driving aggressive land clearing.
- Despite an existing moratorium on new forest-clearance permits, there’s no protection for forests within existing concessions, allowing continued deforestation, and spurring calls for stronger policies to safeguard remaining natural forests.

EU legislators urge IMF to protect Madagascar forests against road projects
Thirty-five members of the European Parliament are calling on the International Monetary Fund to renegotiate its funding to Madagascar that could support two highway projects expected to cut across the nation’s vital forests. The IMF in June 2024 announced $321 million to Madagascar through its Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF). It aims to aid the […]
Indonesia targets 2.3m hectares of protected forests for food & biofuel crop production
- Indonesia has identified 2.3 million hectares (5.7 million acres) of protected forest that could be converted into “food and energy estates,” which could result in the country’s largest-ever deforestation project.
- This is part of a plan to convert a total of 20 million hectares (50 million acres) of forest for food and biofuel crop production.
- Some lawmakers and NGOs have voiced opposition, urging the government to reconsider; the forestry minister has defended the plan, saying the forests are already degraded and this is an effort to rehabilitate them.

Handcrafted woodwork helps save an Amazonian reserve, one tree at a time
- A community in the Brazilian Amazon is transforming fallen trunks and dead trees into everyday items and art pieces.
- Household utensils, furniture, miniature trees and jewelry made with forest seeds are some items being produced by women and youth in the Chico Mendes Extractive Reserve.
- The woodshop sits in a region where rubber tappers have fought for environmental and labor rights for ago, and which still faces deforestation pressure.

Amazon states lead rebellion on environmental enforcement
- Brazilian Amazon states are leading an offensive against environmental regulations in the Amazon and beyond.
- The movement gained momentum in October when Brazil’s granary, Mato Grosso state, approved a bill undermining a voluntary agreement to protect the Amazon from soy expansion.
- Before Mato Grosso, other Amazon states like Acre and Rondônia had already approved bills reducing protected areas and weakening the fight against illegal mining.
- With its economy highly reliant on agribusiness, Mato Grosso is considered a successful model for other parts of the Amazon.

Court decision to stop Tren Maya comes too late for ecosystems, critics say
- A court halted the construction of lines 5 and 7 of the Tren Maya project in southern Mexico. But the construction has already finished, drawing criticism from activists who say the court took too long to evaluate environmental risks.
- The nearly $30 billion Tren Maya is divided into seven lines traversing 1,554 kilometers (966 miles) of the Yucatán peninsula, connecting Cancún and Tulum, and Escárcega and Chetumal.
- The court said developers need to comply with numerous environmental conditions to ensure the protection of rainforests and cave ecosystems currently under threat from train construction.

Native trees, local wildlife thrive under Philippine tribes’ ‘rainforestation’
“Rainforestation” projects led by Indigenous communities in the southern Philippines are reaping benefits for both native trees and local wildlife, reports Mongabay’s Keith Anthony Fabro. On the island of Mindanao lies Mount Kalatungan Range Natural Park, a protected area that’s two-thirds primary forest and is home to Manobo tribespeople. Since 2021, NAMAMAYUK, an Indigenous organization […]
Camera traps capture first glimpse of genetically distinct chimps in southwestern Nigeria
In a win for Nigeria’s only Indigenous grassroots conservation organization, camera traps installed in Ise Conservation Area have captured the first known video of a resident Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee. The individual, seen swinging between tree branches and feeding on figs, is a mature male in his prime, said Rachel Ashegbofe Ikemeh, founder director of the South-West/Niger […]
Mineral exploitation overshadows green diplomacy in Congo’s Sangha region
- The Republic of Congo’s minister of mines has issued at least 79 semi-industrial gold mining and exploration permits in the Sangha region, despite the area being officially designated for a REDD+ project.
- Sangha’s REDD+ program aims to reduce deforestation and degradation and is fundamentally incompatible with gold mining, which has caused widespread destruction of forests and pollution of water bodies in Congo and elsewhere.
- The head of the country’s REDD+ program argues that the mining industry drives national development.
- Some of the mining permits have been issued to individuals with ties to the government as well as to controversial figures.

Yanomami sees success two years into Amazon miner evictions, but fears remain
- Brazil’s federal government celebrated a decrease in deaths and the decline in gold mining two years after agents started to evict invaders on the Yanomami Indigenous territory in the Amazon.
- The Yanomami report that rivers are cleaner, and people are finally healthy enough to work in fields and resume rituals.
- Once estimated as 20,000 in the territory, hundreds of illegal miners still remain and may expand business at the slightest sign of the security forces withdrawing.

EUDR divides Brazil’s environmental and agribusiness authorities
- The Brazilian authorities in charge of environmental protection and agribusiness have taken opposing positions on the EUDR, the European Union’s new antideforestation regulation.
- Once it comes into effect in December 2025, the EUDR will require that products imported into the EU containing one of seven key commodities aren’t sourced from areas that were deforested after December 2020.
- These products include soy, cattle, rubber, coffee and timber, of which Brazil is a major global producer and exporter.
- While the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock has criticized the EUDR and pushed for its implementation to be postponed, the federal environmental agency, IBAMA, has welcomed the regulation as an important instrument to help tackle deforestation and an opportunity for agribusiness to become more transparent and sustainable.

‘We’re getting back on track’: Interview with IBAMA head Rodrigo Agostinho
- Rodrigo Agostinho, head of IBAMA, Brazil’s federal environmental agency, for two years now, spoke with Mongabay about the progress of his agency and the challenges it faces in protecting the country’s biomes after four years of regression under former president Jair Bolsonaro.
- Agostinho revealed plans to strengthen the agency and try to reach the 2030 zero-deforestation goal before the deadline, with investments in cutting-edge technology and artificial intelligence: “IBAMA went four years without using satellite images for embargoes. We’ve taken that up again with full force”.
- Agostinho also detailed IBAMA’s restructuring plans, with the opening of offices in the Amazon and support from financial authorities to cut off funding for embargoed areas: “We embargo them due to deforestation, and then that person can’t get agricultural financing anymore.”

Coming to a retailer near you: Illegal palm oil from an orangutan haven
- A surge of deforestation for oil palm plantations in a Sumatran orangutan reserve means top consumer brands may be selling products with illegal oil palm in them, a new report says.
- Rainforest Action Network (RAN) says satellite imagery shows much of the deforestation in Rawa Singkil Wildlife Reserve occurred from 2021 onward.
- That means any palm oil produced from plantations established on land cleared during that time would be banned from entering the European market under the EU’s antideforestation regulation (EUDR).
- Brands such as Procter & Gamble and palm oil traders like Musim Mas have responded to the findings by dropping as suppliers the mills alleged to be processing palm fruit from the deforested areas.

Bangladesh sees first ever rewilding of captive-bred elongated tortoises
Two species of critically endangered tortoises were reintroduced to Bangladesh’s forests last December. Six captive-bred elongated tortoises (Indotestudo elongata) were first released in Lawachara National Park in northeastern Bangladesh on Dec. 18. This was followed by the release of 10 Asian giant tortoises (Manouria emys phayrei) in Matamuhuri Reserve Forest in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of […]
Mongabay documentary spotlights Indigenous alliance to protect Amazon headwaters
Mongabay’s new short documentary The Time of Water premiered Dec. 16 at the Barcelona Center for Contemporary Culture, in Spain. Directed by Pablo Albarenga and produced with support from the Pulitzer Center and OpenDemocracy, the 18-minute documentary explores the Amazon Sacred Headwaters Alliance and its fight to protect one of the world’s most vital sources […]
By razing trees for flood defenses, a Philippine city may have raised its risk
Flood-mitigation infrastructure built in the southern Philippines for more than $100 million by clearing native vegetation could exacerbate flood risk in the future, reports Mongabay’s Keith Anthony Fabro. In 2011, floods and landslides caused by Tropical Storm Washi, known locally as Sendong, killed more than 1,260 people in the cities of Cagayan de Oro and […]
Indonesian forestry minister proposes 20m hectares of deforestation for crops
- Indonesia’s forestry minister says 20 million hectares (50 million acres) of forest can be converted to grow food and biofuel crops, or an area twice the size of South Korea.
- Experts have expressed alarm over the plan, citing the potential for massive greenhouse gas emissions and loss of biodiversity.
- They also say mitigating measures that the minister has promised, such as the use of agroforestry and the involvement of local communities, will have limited impact in such a large-scale scheme.
- The announcement coincides with the Indonesian president’s call for an expansion of the country’s oil palm plantations, claiming it won’t result in deforestation because oil palms are also trees.

After a searing Amazon fire season, experts warn of more in 2025
- South America recorded the highest number of fire outbreaks in 14 years in 2024, with Brazil at the epicenter of the crisis.
- In the Amazon, fire outbreaks grew out of control even amid a sharp reduction in deforestation rates, indicating deforesters are relying on fire as a new technique to clear land.
- Experts are urging more investment in fire prevention since the rainforest may face another intense fire season in 2025.

Indonesian company defies order, plants acacia in orangutan habitat
- The Indonesian company PT Mayawana Persada has shifted focus from clearing peatlands in western Borneo to planting acacia on previously cleared lands in defiance of a government order to restore damaged peatlands.
- The lands are home to the critically endangered Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus), and any habitat loss pushes the animal closer to extinction.
- Mayawana Persada’s concession spans nearly 140,000 hectares (345,900 acres), overlapping with more than 83,000 hectares (205,100 acres) of carbon-rich peatlands and more than 90,000 hectares (222,400 acres) of Bornean orangutan habitat.

India’s latest forest cover report hints at countrywide degradation
The latest forest survey report from India suggests a slight increase in the country’s forest and tree cover in recent years. But experts say the net marginal gain masks considerable declines across many biodiversity-rich forests and mangroves as well as in overall forest quality, reports Mongabay India’s Kundan Pandey. The report, published by the Forest […]
Indonesian president says palm oil expansion won’t deforest because ‘oil palms have leaves’
- Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has called for the expansion of oil palm plantations, saying any criticism that this will cause deforestation is nonsense because oil palms are trees too.
- The remarks have prompted criticism that they go against the established science showing how plantations have driven deforestation, biodiversity loss and carbon emissions.
- Experts have long called for the palm oil industry to improve yields at existing plantations rather than expand into forests and other ecosystems.
- But the main industry association has welcomed the president’s call, and even the Ministry of Forestry under Prabowo has changed its logo from a forest tree to something that resembles oil palm.

Amazon communities reap the smallest share of bioeconomy profits
- Recently praised by environmentalists, governments and companies as a solution for rainforest conservation, bioeconomy has been practiced for centuries by Amazon’s traditional communities.
- Despite their key role in generating income from the standing forest, these communities continue to reap the smallest share of the profits, according to a new book.
- Traditional people need more financing, better access to energy and improved roads to get their products into the market.

The Amazon in 2025: Challenges and hopes as the rainforest takes center stage
- The Amazon Rainforest, where next year’s COP30 climate summit will be hosted, is reeling from two consecutive years of severe drought, with major rivers at record lows, leading to water shortages and transportation disruptions for local communities.
- While deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon plunged during that period, the rainforest remains under threat from land grabbing, illegal gold mining, diminishing rainfall, and outbreaks of fire, many of them ignited by criminals.
- The world’s greatest tropical rainforest has also drawn the interest of carbon traders, but evidence of fraud within some carbon credit projects unearthed by Mongabay highlights the need for greater transparency and accountability in the carbon market.
- Amid all these threats, reforestation and restoration projects led by Indigenous communities and conservation organizations offer hope for a sustainable future for the Amazon.

Sea change for soy champion Brazil as it wrestles with EUDR compliance
- A dry run of a shipment of soy by commodities trader Cargill from Brazil to Europe, replicating the requirements to comply with the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), found that although the company met several requirements, it still faced other challenges.
- The EUDR, initially planned to come into effect this month and recently postponed for another year, will require suppliers to prove that their products exported to the EU aren’t sourced from illegally deforested areas.
- To comply with the EUDR requirements, companies from the soy industry are setting up new business structures to provide 100% traceability point by point from the producer to the port, until it enters the ship, in addition to tackling logistics challenges, says the Brazilian Association of Vegetable Oil Industries (Abiove).
- California-based nonprofit CTrees says it’s uncertain whether the EUDR will result in a significant reduction in deforestation, and raised concerns on the potential exclusion of smallholders and local communities from the supply chain because of the difficulty of getting them to meet compliance requirements.

‘Uncertainty’ amid EUDR delay poses challenges for cocoa companies, farmers
- Dutch chocolate maker Tony’s Chocolonely has long been at the forefront of pushing for more sustainability in cocoa production.
- The company has set up a blockchain-backed traceability system based on satellite imagery and polygon-mapping of the farms from which it sources its cocoa, ahead of application of the EU Regulation on Deforestation-free Products, or EUDR, which lays out requirements for importing goods into the EU.
- But more conventional chocolate sellers like Nestlé have also backed the EUDR, which aims to get rid of deforestation in the supply chains of imported commodities like cocoa.
- African governments have begun to tackle deforestation with an international initiative of their own called ARS-1000. Observers say they hope these regulations will also help provide better technical and economic support to the farmers who supply much of the world’s cocoa.

Brazil’s shipping channel plans in Amazonian rivers will worsen climate change, experts warn
- Dredging and rock-blasting ever-drier rivers for new channels in Brazil might not achieve agribusiness’s goal of cheaper, year-round transport, experts warned, suggesting existing railways as price-comparable and more climate-resilient.
- Though waterway transport is promoted as lowering emissions, in fact proposed new shipping channels on the Tocantins and Madeira rivers increase carbon emissions and deforestation, experts told Mongabay.
- New shipping channel plans used old water data, stopping in 2017 for the Tocantins channel, and didn’t do climate risk projections or climate impact studies. Experts urge these studies must be done, or risk tens of billions of investments in rock-blasting and dredging river beds, leaving “ruins” and “abandoned projects.”
- An August lawsuit by federal prosecutors charges that licensing of rock-blasting and dredging in a 500-km stretch of the Tocantins River in Brazil is an illegal “trick” to circumvent legally required full environmental review of the whole Araguaia-Tocantins channel, for which an economic-technical feasibility study was never done. In March 2022, Ibama’s licensing director determined it was “unviable.”

Brazil’s big push for tropical forest funding gets support for 2025 debut
- As host of 2025’s COP30 climate summit, Brazil is working on two complementary finance mechanisms, hoping to reward tropical forest conservation worldwide. Both rely on the concept of investing money and using profits for forest protection.
- Twelve countries, including Brazil, are currently discussing the Tropical Forest Finance Facility (TFFF) framework, which is expected to be concluded by next January.
- Its sister initiative, the Tropical Forest Mechanism (TFM), proposes that highly polluting industries donate a minimum fraction of their annual earnings to forest conservation.

Brazil’s illegal gold miners carve out new Amazon hotspots in conservation units
- President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s administration reduced the expansion of illegal gold mining in the Brazilian Amazon, but miners keep finding new sites.
- In 15 conservation units, illegal gold miners destroyed 330 hectares (815 acres) in only two months.
- According to experts, gold miners expelled from Indigenous territories may be migrating to conservation units.
- Alliances with narco mafias and the rise in gold prices are obstacles to fighting illegal mining.

South Korea slashes forest biomass energy subsidies in major policy reform
- In a surprise move, South Korea has announced that it will end subsidies for all new biomass projects and for existing state-owned plants cofiring biomass with coal, effective January 2025, a significant and sudden policy shift.
- Additionally, government financial support for dedicated biomass plants using imported biomass will be phased down, while support for privately owned cofiring plants will be phased out over the next decade. However, subsidy levels for domestically produced biomass fuel remain unchanged.
- The biomass reform is being hailed by forest advocates as a step in the right direction, potentially setting a new, environmentally sound precedent for the region.
- Advocates are now calling on Japan, Asia’s largest forest biomass importer, to follow South Korea’s example.

Even for ‘progressive’ Danone, complying with EUDR is a challenge
- The EU deforestation-free products regulation (EUDR) requires companies importing cocoa, cattle, rubber, soy, wood, palm oil and coffee into the EU to demonstrate their products weren’t grown on land deforested after Dec. 31, 2020.
- French dairy giant Danone works with soy, cocoa and palm oil — products subject to the EUDR, which goes into effect at the end of 2025.
- In general, Danone’s sustainability policies have been better than most, outsider observers said. But it still has a lot of work to do to ensure 100% of its supply chain is free of deforestation and land conversion.

Grassroots efforts sprout up to protect Central America’s Trifinio watershed
- A major watershed in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador has been so polluted, industrialized and interfered with that 20% of it could dry up in the next few decades, according to a U.N. report.
- The Trifinio Fraternidad Transboundary Biosphere Reserve, which covers the triborder region of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, suffers from a free-for-all of deforestation, chemical runoff and mining that threatens the existence of the watershed.
- If it dries up, millions of people could be left without water for drinking, bathing and farming.
- While conservation groups continue to lobby for funding, residents frustrated with government inaction have started to organize themselves to fight everything from mining and runoff to illegal building development.

Brazil paper and pulp industry invests in blockchain to comply with EUDR
- Brazil’s paper and pulp industry says the European Union’s deforestation-free products regulation (EUDR), which will come into effect in late 2025, won’t affect the sector’s operations, which has already traced its supply chains “from farm to factory” for more than two decades and doesn’t source from illegal deforested areas.
- The EUDR will require suppliers to prove that their products exported to the EU aren’t sourced from illegally deforested areas; in Brazil, experts say it will help halt illegal deforestation in the Amazon.
- To fulfill some specific EUDR requirements, companies need to invest in blockchain and other technologies, which could increase the cost per ton of pulp by up to $230, according to the Brazilian Tree Industry (Ibá).
- The EUDR postponement was received differently by the industry and experts: While Ibá says it would allow “a smoother and more effective implementation,” given some aspects that need improvement from the EU Commission, deforestation experts say there is no time to wait, as deforestation continues and the climate crisis gets worse.

Illegal timber from Amazon carbon credit projects reached Europe, U.S.
- Amazon timber from carbon credit projects targeted by the Brazilian Federal Police was sold to companies in Europe and the United States.
- The group is suspected of land-grabbing and laundering timber from Indigenous territories and protected areas.
- Most of the exported timber belongs to the almost-extinct ipê species and was sent to a company in Portugal.
- The group is also suspected of using fake documents to launder cattle raised in illegally deforested areas.

Recycling gold can tackle illegal mining in the Amazon, but is no silver bullet
- Artisanal and small-scale gold mining in Brazil’s Tapajós River Basin emits 16 metric tons of CO2 per kilo of gold produced, and 2.5 metric tons of mercury annually, a study has found.
- Researchers suggest that recycling gold could dramatically reduce harmful emissions, along with other solutions such as formalizing mining, adopting clean technologies, and improving gold supply chain transparency.
- Economic dependence, mercury accessibility, and a demand for gold sustain small-scale gold mining, while enforcement risks pushing miners into ecologically sensitive areas.
- In November, Brazil launched a federal operation in the Tapajós Basin to expel illegal gold miners from the Munduruku Indigenous Territory, imposing millions of reais in fines to curb the damage caused by gold mining.

Indonesian forests put at risk by South Korean and Japanese biomass subsidies
- Subsidies for forest biomass energy in Japan and South Korea are contributing to deforestation in Southeast Asia, according to an October 2024 report by environmental NGOs. The biomass industry is expanding especially quickly in Indonesia; the nation is exporting rapidly growing volumes of wood pellets, and is burning biomass at its domestic power plants.
- Japanese trading company Hanwa confirmed that rainforest is being cleared to establish an energy forest plantation for wood pellet production in Indonesia’s Sulawesi Island. Hanwa owns a stake in the project. The wood pellet mill uses cleared rainforest as a feedstock while the monoculture plantation is being established.
- A Hanwa representative defended the Sulawesi biomass project by claiming the area consists of previously logged secondary growth and that the energy plantation concession is not officially classified as “forest area.”
- The Japanese government is supporting biomass use across Southeast Asia through its Asia Zero Emission Community initiative, begun in 2023.

Loggers and carbon projects forge odd partnerships in the Brazilian Amazon
- Mongabay examined four REDD+ projects in Pará state and found that all were developed in partnership with sawmill owners with a long history of environmental fines.
- The projects were developed by Brazil’s largest carbon credit generator, Carbonext, a company linked to a major fraud involving REDD+ projects and illegal loggers in Amazonas state.
- According to experts, REDD+ projects may have become a new business opportunity for individuals who have profited from deforestation for decades.

Mongabay series on palm oil wins national journalism prize in Brazil
The Mongabay series “Palm Oil War,” published between 2021 to 2023, won second place in the text category of Brazil’s National Federal Prosecutor’s Journalism Prize, one of the nation’s most prestigious impact journalism awards. The announcement that Mongabay’s investigative journalist Karla Mendes had won the award was made during a live ceremony on Nov. 23 […]
Yacht maker Sunseeker fined in landmark Myanmar ‘blood timber’ case
Yacht builder Sunseeker International has become the first company fined by a U.K. court for using illegally imported timber from military-controlled Myanmar on some of its vessels. The U.K.-based company, which claims to be “the world’s leading brand for luxury motor yachts,” pleaded guilty to three charges of violating the U.K. Timber Regulation (UKTR). The […]
Brazil plans new reserves to curb deforestation near contested Amazon roads
- Unallocated public areas account for 28% of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon, and the destruction of these lands keeps rising even as rates plummet across other parts of the rainforest.
- To tackle the problem, Brazil’s federal government plans to convert lands around controversial Amazonian highways into protected areas.
- One of the priority areas is along the BR-319 highway, where experts warn deforestation may increase fourfold under another government plan to pave the highway.
- Despite the advances in comparison with former President Jair Bolsonaro, Indigenous and land reform movements are unhappy with the pace of land designation under President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Researchers find high levels of mercury in Amazon’s Madeira River water & fish
- In a groundbreaking expedition, researchers from Harvard and Amazonas State University began monitoring water quality and mercury contamination in the Amazon Basin’s largest tributary.
- The Madeira River Basin has been heavily impacted by human actions, such as hydropower plants, deforestation and illegal gold mining, which degrade its ecosystems.
- Initial results from Harvard reveal high levels of mercury in the Madeira, although still below the limit recommended by Brazil’s authorities.
- Predatory fish species showed mercury levels above the recommended limit, while scalefish traditionally consumed by riverine populations were below.

New transmission lines cut a Cambodian rainforest sanctuary in half
- Satellite imagery, drone photography and testimony from residents indicate that work has begun on electricity transmission lines that will cut through the heart of Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary in order to connect Cambodia’s energy grid with that of Laos.
- A 5.8-kilometer-long (3.6-mile) strip of land has already been cleared inside Prey Lang, indicating that plans are moving forward to run the transmission lines 65 km (40 mi) through the sanctuary.
- Conservationists, and even the former environment minister, recommended alternate routes avoiding the core of the forest, leading one expert to question whether the lines have been deliberately sited to facilitate access by timber traffickers and land investors.

Brazil beef industry still struggling with deforestation from indirect suppliers, survey finds
- Surveys of Brazil’s beef industry found there is still a serious lack of transparency throughout the supply chain, including from slaughterhouses and retailers. If better regulations aren’t implemented, they could be exposed to 109 million hectares (270 million acres) of deforestation by 2025.
- The survey was conducted by Radar Verde, a cattle monitoring initiative made up of several climate groups. It reviewed the regulations and exposure to deforestation of dozens of companies in Brazil.
- Indirect suppliers of beef are the most difficult to track, the survey found, with none of the 132 companies or 67 retailers competently able to demonstrate whether cattle had been raised on illegally deforested land.
- Struggles to monitor indirect suppliers could pose a challenge for companies trying to meet the EU deforestation-free products regulation (EUDR), which will require suppliers to prove beef and other commodities exported to the EU aren’t sourced to illegally deforested land.

Prosecutors urge suspension of Amazon carbon projects, citing Mongabay investigation
- Brazilian prosecutors asked the Amazonas state government to suspend carbon projects in 21 conservation units.
- According to the lawsuit, the government had failed to consult local communities.
- The filing mentioned Mongabay’s investigation linking some of Amazon’s largest REDD+ projects to an illegal logging scheme.

Deforestation around Mennonite colonies continues in Peruvian Amazon: Report
Satellite data and imagery confirm ongoing deforestation in the Peruvian Amazon around colonies of Mennonites, a group of highly conservative Christian communities. Mennonites, whose early history can be traced to Europe in the 16th century, are known for their large-scale industrialized agriculture. By the late 19th century, they migrated to Canada, from where they have […]
Huge deforested areas in the tropics could regenerate naturally, study finds
- A new study shows that 215 million hectares (531 million acres) of degraded and deforested land in the tropics could regenerate naturally.
- The researchers developed a model based on satellite images of where forest had regrown, using machine learning to filter out places where humans had planted trees.
- The analysis also incorporated a range of biophysical variables, such as rainfall, fire frequency, and the distance from the edge of standing forest.
- While natural regeneration could be cost-effective, scientists also say the permanence of regrown forests is critically important to the benefits it can provide to biodiversity and the climate.

Hopes and fears for the Amazon: Interview with botanist Hans ter Steege
- Dutch researcher and tree expert Hans ter Steege is the founder of the Amazon Tree Diversity Network, which brings together hundreds of scientists studying the rainforest to map and understand the region’s biodiversity.
- Ter Steege says the rainforest is in danger of collapse: If the deforestation in Brazil’s Pará state continues at the rate of the year 2000, he warns, “then our models show there will be hardly anything left by 2050.”
- Large trees are dying faster in the Amazon, he said, as they face a greater evaporation demand, which they can no longer meet with the water they extract from the soil, as there are more droughts and less rainfall.
- If the forest collapses, Brazil’s aerial water supply system — and its agriculture — will collapse, Ter Steege says.

Biden tours Amazon Rainforest, pledges funding in advance of Trump
U.S. President Joe Biden made a historic visit to the Brazilian Amazon on Nov. 17, where he pledged $50 million for the state-led Amazon Fund to help conserve the world’s largest and most biodiverse rainforest. “It’s often said that the Amazon is the lungs of the world, but in my view, our forests and natural […]
Parties gutting EUDR received donations from companies tied to illegal deforestation: Report
- The EU Parliament has voted to postpone the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) by one year after strong opposition to the law from EU member states, export countries, traders, and operators.
- It has also approved a series of amendments put forward by the large center-right European People’s Party (EPP), which called for less stringent requirements.
- In a new report, the NGO Earthsight linked donors linked to illegal deforestation and likely benefits from this amendment to EPP member parties in Germany and Austria, which have called for the revision of the law.
- Supply chain analysts and environmentalists said the changes will open up loopholes undermining forest conservation and facilitating the laundering of illegally sourced commodities in the EU.

Brazil to adopt full beef traceability by 2032 amid China, EU pressure
Brazil will soon begin tracing individual cattle from birth to slaughter, aiming to make the sector 100% traceable by 2032, Agriculture and Livestock Minister Carlos Fávaro has indicated. The announcement in late October comes amid growing international demand for transparency, especially as the EUDR, a new European Union regulation requiring proof that certain imported commodities […]
WWF gives banks a tool to see if they’re financing environmental crime
WWF has released a toolkit that will help financial institutions spot and reduce their risk to environmental financial crime exposure. The new Environmental Crime Financial Toolkit (ECFT), which WWF co-developed with financial crime software company Themis, is an open-access platform designed to help financial institutions screen new clients and review existing ones, as well as […]
‘Five years and no justice’ as trial over Indigenous forest guardian’s killing faces delays
- Nov. 1 marked the five-year anniversary of the killing of Indigenous forest guardian Paulo Paulino Guajajara and the attempted killing of fellow guardian Laércio Guajajara in an alleged ambush by loggers in the Arariboia Indigenous Territory in the Brazilian Amazon; the suspects haven’t been tried yet.
- Between 1991 and 2023, 38 Indigenous Guajajara were killed in Arariboia; none of the perpetrators have been brought to trial.
- Paulo’s case will be a legal landmark as the first killing of an Indigenous leader to go before a federal jury; as Mongabay reported a year ago, the start of the trial was contingent on an anthropological report of the collective damages to the Indigenous community as a result of the crimes.
- However, the report has yet to be made, given several issues that delayed the trial, including the change of judge, the long time to choose the expert to prepare the report and get the expert’s quote, and the reluctance from the Federal Attorney General’s Office (AGU) to pay for the report.

Satellite data detect appearance of new roads in primary forests in Borneo
Recent satellite data and imagery have detected the construction of what appear to be new roads cutting across primary forest in the Barito River watershed and near a protected area in Kalimantan, the Indonesian portion of the island of Borneo. Areas in the Barito watershed, which covers numerous districts in Central and South Kalimantan provinces, […]
A deadly fly is spreading through Central America. Experts blame illegal cattle ranching
- An outbreak of screwworm — a fly that infects the open wounds of warm-blooded animals — is the direct result of cattle smuggling through protected areas across Central America, conservation groups said.
- The fly appeared in Panama last year and quickly traveled north to Guatemala. Now, officials are concerned it will spread uncontrollably into Mexico and the US.
- Eradicating the fly could cost millions of dollars and prove disastrous for agribusiness and countries that rely on beef exports.
- Conservation groups are arguing for border shutdowns and increased regulation of the cattle industry, especially around protected areas where smuggling routes have cleared forests.

Long-running tropical forest research stalls amid Venezuelan crisis
- Venezuela’s economic, institutional and economic collapse has put at risk a long-standing forest plot research network.
- With highly biodiverse forests covering about half of Venezuela’s total area, the country has some of the longest-running forest monitoring projects in the tropics, which represented a pioneering effort in understanding old-growth forest dynamics in the Amazon Basin.
- Falling budgets, a humanitarian crisis affecting personnel and logistics, the rise of armed gangs, and encroachment of logging and agriculture are some of the key factors threatening to halt research in the field.
- 2016 was the last year with still significant measurements in the field; today, projects lack permits to apply for international funding, but scientists continue to advocate for keeping efforts ongoing.

Shorebird populations drop globally, some by a third: Report
Sixteen shorebird species have been reclassified to higher threat categories as the global population of migratory shorebirds across the world saw a substantial decline, according to the latest update to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Conservation partnership BirdLife International, which helps examine the status of the world’s birds for the IUCN Red List, […]
Brazil calls for ambition at COP but struggles over its own climate policy
- Brazil is trying to resume its role as a protagonist in the environmental arena by hosting COP30 in 2025 and urging other countries to present ambitious targets to cut emissions.
- However, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s administration failed to openly discuss the country’s nationally determined contribution (NDC) and allocated small budgets for climate transition.
- Experts state that zeroing out deforestation, recovering thousands of hectares of native vegetation and stepping back from oil expansion plans are crucial to meeting Brazil’s commitments.
- UPDATE (11/11/2024): The Brazilian government released its NDC on the evening of Nov. 8, hours after the publication of this story.

New Canadian-backed potash mine under fire from Amazon Indigenous groups
- For more than a decade, Potássio do Brasil, a Canadian-backed mining company, has tried to exploit the Brazilian Amazon’s potash reserves, despite legal challenges.
- In April, the Amazonas Environmental Protection Institute (IPAAM) granted the company several installation licenses, which authorized the project’s implementation as well as the construction of a road and shipping port.
- According to the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office (MPF) and Funai, the issuance of these licenses by the Amazonas government was illegal, as the project overlaps with Indigenous lands and many communities were not consulted.
- Many Mura residents, most of whom are concerned about the impact the project will have on the environment and their livelihoods, say the company did not consult them and instead co-opted leaders and falsified documents.

Brazil renews plan to restore degraded land half the size of the UK
Brazil recently announced a plan to restore an area of degraded land about half the size of the U.K. by 2030, in a bid to combat climate change and biodiversity loss. The Planaveg 2.0 initiative, launched at the U.N. biodiversity summit, COP16, in Colombia on Oct. 28, aims to restore 12 million hectares (30 million […]
Camera trap survey in Cambodia’s Cardamom Mountains finds 108 species
What’s new: The first ever camera trap study from Cambodia’s Central Cardamom Mountains has captured footage of 108 wildlife species, including 23 that are threatened with extinction. This survey confirms the area’s importance as a biodiversity hotspot, a recent report says. What the study says: The Central Cardamom Mountain Landscape (CCML), part of the Indo-Burma […]
Export of unprocessed logs threatens DRC’s tropical forests: Report
Failure to enforce a crucial forestry law is undermining the Democratic Republic of Congo’s economic growth and endangering its tropical forests, according to a recent report. The DRC bans exports of raw, unprocessed logs, the U.K.-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) notes in its report. But it allows a 10-year grace period for new concessions to […]
Mining drove 1.4m hectares of forest loss in last 2 decades: Report
Global mining activity is increasingly destroying forests, including protected areas, according to a recent analysis. Between 2001 and 2020, nearly 1.4 million hectares (3.5 million acres) of tree cover, an area a third the size of Denmark, was lost from mining-related activity, the analysis from the World Resources Institute (WRI) found. The associated greenhouse gas […]
Brazil researchers boost timber traceability with new chemical analysis
- Brazilian researchers have opened a new front in the search for a reliable timber tracking system by using chemical analysis to determine where a tree was grown.
- The technique relies on identifying a wood sample’s chemical signature, which can then be matched against various known soil profiles to narrow down its origin.
- As the technology evolves, the researchers say they hope to combine it with stable isotope analysis to increase the precision of timber tracking.
- Most timber provenance inspections in Brazil rely on public documents whose information can easily be faked by illegal loggers.

Smallholders offer mixed reactions to calls for delay in EU deforestation law
- Smallholder farmers and associations have mixed views on whether the EUDR, a regulation to prevent deforestation-linked products from entering the EU, should be delayed by 12 months.
- While smallholder associations in Africa and Indonesia say they are supportive and prepared for Jan. 1, when the regulation is scheduled to go into force, others say they need extra time or increased government support.
- Most environmentalists say instead of helping smallholders, a delay will kill momentum, allow businesses to prevent its implementation and lead to more deforestation; some forestry researchers say a delay will refine the EUDR and help struggling farmers.
- The cocoa sector is much better prepared for the EUDR than other commodity sectors since Ghana and Ivory Coast prioritized a national approach, got ready early and started investing heavily in farm traceability, researchers say.

JBS broke its own rules while buying cattle from deforested areas in Pantanal
- JBS, the world’s largest meatpacking company, has over the last five years been buying cattle from farms that were caught illegally deforesting Brazil’s Pantanal wetlands despite the company’s claims of environmental responsibility.
- An Unearthed investigation found that JBS suppliers cleared vast areas of the Pantanal wetlands in the past five years, with Fazenda Querência being the largest deforester, having cleared an area half the size of Paris.
- JBS has repeatedly violated its own zero-deforestation policies by continuing to purchase cattle from farms under embargo for illegal deforestation.
- The expansion of agribusiness, especially the demand for cattle and the introduction of invasive species like brachiaria grass, is threatening the Pantanal’s unique biodiversity and its ability to recover naturally from drought and wildfires.

Illegally logged wood from Cambodia likely ending up in U.S. homes
U.S. consumers risk using flooring products made of wood illegally logged from Cambodia’s rainforests, a recent Mongabay investigation suggests. The investigation focused on companies in Cambodia’s Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone (SEZ) that manufacture furniture and engineered wood flooring for the U.S. market. One company in particular, Chinese-owned Nature Flooring (Cambodia), sources its plywood cores from […]
Indonesia biomass zone for Japan and S. Korea energy razes rainforest in Sulawesi
- In 2022, Indonesia’s then-president, Joko Widodo, revoked hundreds of operating permits affecting millions of hectares of land previously zoned for new mines and plantations.
- A small proportion of this land has since been reallocated for “energy plantation forests,” in which an area is cleared to plant fast-growing trees that are later cut and chipped to replace some of the coal burned by power plants.
- On the island of Sulawesi, an Indonesian company is exporting wood pellets sourced from two firms that held oil palm licenses prior to the 2022 policy move.
- While biomass cofiring is accounted as a form of renewable energy, environmentalists object to clearing forests as a means of offsetting coal emissions.

Cambodia’s once-massive national park continues to lose its forest
One of Cambodia’s largest protected areas, Botum Sakor National Park, continues to lose tree cover, recent satellite data show. Officially designated as a national park in 1993, Botum Sakor initially covered more than 182,000 hectares (450,000 acres) of evergreen, semi-evergreen and mangrove forests. Older surveys from the 1990s and 2000s show that the park was […]
‘Treat us as partners, central actors’: Interview with Indigenous activist Joan Carling
- Joan Carling recently became the first Indigenous Filipino to win the Right Livelihood Award, often referred to as the Alternative Nobel Prize.
- In an interview with Mongabay, Carling called for the recognition of Indigenous peoples as partners and central actors in conservation and climate action.
- Carling said the push for development projects, the transition to renewable energy, and “fortress conservation” have resulted in criminalization and human rights violations.
- Instead, she said, governments should recognize Indigenous land rights and incorporate traditional knowledge in conservation efforts.

225 NGOs call on EU to reject delay to deforestation law
A group of 225 global NGOs from more than 40 countries has issued a statement urging the European Parliament and EU governments to reject a proposal that would delay the implementation of the EU’s ambitious anti-deforestation law by a year. The collective statement, titled “Hands off the EU deforestation regulation!,” noted that the law was […]
Cambodian company strips protected areas of timber for export
A Cambodian company has likely been illegally logging in protected areas and exporting the timber to Vietnam and China, according to a report by Mongabay’s Gerald Flynn. The year-long Mongabay investigation, led by Flynn and involving several Cambodian journalists, found evidence suggesting that Angkor Plywood likely illegally logged timber, including rare tree species, from protected […]
Deforestation plunges but environmental threats remain as Colombia hosts COP16
- As global leaders, experts, activists and Indigenous voices meet this October in the Colombian city of Cali at the U.N. Biodiversity Conference, COP16, missteps and successes within President Gustavo Petro’s environment agenda are watched closely.
- COP16 occurs two years after the country’s first-ever left-wing president was sworn in, pledging to turn Colombia into “a leader in the protection of life,” as his four-year plan centers on energy transition, Indigenous causes and tackling climate change.
- But while praised internationally for his efforts to promote conservation, shift away from fossil fuels and surround himself with green-abiding authorities, Petro remains under pressure, as many of his environmental proposals are still on paper, upholding Colombia’s long-lasting socioenvironmental struggles.
- Experts attribute a lack of sufficient environmental resolutions to various factors, including a Congress resistant to government initiatives, challenges in curbing deforestation and Colombia’s status as the most dangerous country for environmental defenders, as highlighted by recent reports.

Cambodian logging syndicate tied to major U.S. wood flooring supply chains
- Cambodian companies producing engineered hardwood flooring for the U.S. market are getting their timber from a company described as a cartel that’s been repeatedly accused of illegally logging inside protected areas.
- Angkor Plywood is the sole supplier of plywood to flooring manufacturers based in the Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone, and claims the wood comes from its acacia and eucalyptus plantations.
- However, watchdog groups, industry insiders and independent media, including Mongabay, have long documented evidence of Angkor Plywood and its supplier, Think Biotech, felling tropical hardwoods inside Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary.
- AHF Products, which claims to be the biggest U.S. wood flooring manufacturer, runs a factory in the Sihanoukville SEZ, but denies any protected wood entering its supply chain — a claim industry veterans question, given Angkor Plywood’s notoriety.

Revealed: Biomass firm poised to clear Bornean rainforest for dubious ‘green’ energy
- Indonesia’s strategy for increasing renewable energy production could see Indigenous communities lose huge swathes of their forests to biomass plantations.
- Mongabay visited the planned site of one such project on the island of Borneo, where three villages have signed over at least 5,000 hectares of their land to a biomass company. Much of this area, locals say, is covered in rainforest that would presumably be cleared for the project.
- Despite its billing as sustainable, research has shown that burning woody biomass emits more climate change-causing CO2 than coal per unit of electricity produced. The company in Borneo, moreover, has said it plans to export the wood pellets to be produced on its plantation.
- Villagers we spoke to complained of unfair dealing by the company, from inadequate compensation to outright land grabbing with no payment or consent.

Extreme drought wrecks rivers and daily life in Amazon’s most burnt Indigenous land
- Almost 20% of the Kayapó Indigenous Territory has burned in this year’s Amazon drought, the worst ever recorded in Brazil.
- The land has for years been subjected to illegal mining, cattle ranching and burning of forests, degrading both the soil and rivers and significantly disrupting the way of life for the Mebêngôkre-Kayapó people.
- The Indigenous inhabitants now confront a growing crisis as wildfires and drought threaten their lands, particularly along the Riozinho River.
- According to ecologist Rodolfo Salm, who has worked with the Kayapó since 1996, fire has now surpassed illegal logging as the greatest danger to the region.

Amazon voters elect environmental offenders and climate denialists in Brazil
- The Amazonian population elected climate change deniers and politicians with a history of environmental fines to govern some of the region’s major cities.
- Pará’s state capital, Belém, which will host COP30 in 2025, may elect a mayor unconcerned about climate change.
- According to experts, opposing illegal activities is political suicide in municipalities whose economies rely on deforestation, illegal mining and illegal logging.

Ghana to repeal pro-mining legislation amid protests, but activists demand more
The Ghanaian government is set to repeal its controversial pro-mining legislation, following weeks of demonstrations against environmentally disastrous mining, including the threat of a nationwide labor strike. In November 2022, the government issued LI 2462, a directive allowing mining in forest reserves, including biodiversity hotspots. Mongabay previously reported on how LI 2462 threatened to exacerbate […]
Angkor Plywood, the ‘timber cartel’ shipping Cambodian forests internationally
- A year-long Mongabay investigation shows that one of Cambodia’s most notorious logging companies likely illegally exported rare tree species to Vietnam and China for years.
- We found evidence Angkor Plywood has been illegally logging timber from protected areas and violating various laws by exporting sawn logs — and doing all this with impunity, in part thanks to its well-connected founders.
- Shipping records from 2021-2023 show Angkor Plywood exported a type of timber coveted in the furniture trade from a species it should never have been allowed to log or trade, according to a government source.
- A veteran activist calls Angkor Plywood a cartel and “driving force” behind the extensive logging and forest destruction taking place Cambodia.

NGOs push EU to label Sarawak as ‘high risk’ source of timber, palm oil
- A recently published report by rights groups says that commodities from the Malaysian state of Sarawak should be labeled “high risk” under the new EU deforestation regulations, subjecting exports to additional scrutiny.
- Indigenous and human rights groups point to high rates of deforestation associated with timber and palm oil production in the state, and to alleged violations of human rights, including the right to free, prior and informed consent.
- Rights advocates say they believe the EU deforestation regulations could be a tool to push Sarawak’s timber and agro-industries toward better human rights practices.

‘World’s largest’ carbon credit deal in the Amazon faces bumpy road ahead
- The Brazilian state of Pará has agreed to sell millions of carbon credits to multinational corporations, including Amazon, Bayer and Walmart Foundation, but many challenges loom.
- Experts are concerned the deal is overly ambitious and worry about the state’s long history of carbon credit project scams.
- Although Indigenous, Quilombola and extractive community entities support the arrangement, other community members state they have not been consulted about the project on their lands.

The world’s chocolate cravings speed up deforestation in the Congo Basin: Study
- A recent study found that cacao farming in the Congo Basin, the world’s largest carbon sink, is linked with up to seven times more deforestation than other agricultural activities.
- Outside experts say that major global, economic and social pressures are influencing cacao farmers’ actions and call on international chocolate companies to better support farmers on the ground.
- Across cacao-producing countries in Africa, experts say that diversifying crops, rotating crops and changes in the supply chain are key to more sustainable farming practices.
- Agricultural trade drives an estimated 90% of global deforestation and more than 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

New conservation model calls for protecting Amazon for its archaeological riches
- Across the Amazon, archaeological remains indicate that the human presence in the rainforest is much older, larger and more widespread than previously thought.
- Researchers in Brazil are lobbying to register archaeological sites as national monuments, which would confer a new layer of protection status to parts of the rainforest.
- Earthen mounds known as geoglyphs, for instance, have been revealed to stretch from Acre state north into neighboring Amazonas; formally recognizing them under Brazil’s heritage law could protect this vast swath of rainforest.
- “Today we know it’s highly likely that part of the forest has been changed by people,” said Dutch biologist Hans ter Steege, co-author of research that has shown there may be up to 24,000 earthworks hidden throughout the rainforest that could qualify for protection.

EU considers postponing anti-deforestation law as pressure from agribusiness mounts
- The EU parliament and council is considering a 12-month delay to its deforestation-free products regulation, which will require exporters to prove that beef, soy, rubber and other harmful commodities aren’t sourced to deforested land.
- The law was supposed to go into effect January 1, 2025, but faced mounting pressure from exporting countries and the industrial agricultural sector.
- The 12-month delay could result in around 2,300 square kilometers (888 square miles) of deforestation and 49 megatons of greenhouse gas emissions, according to EU studies.

Brazil dredges Amazon rivers to ease drought isolation, raising environmental concerns
- Brazil has committed to dredge major Amazon rivers in response to record drought that has lowered water levels and made ship passage, a key transportation lifeline, difficult or impossible.
- The dredging is aimed at supporting local communities, who rely on river navigation to get supplies in from outside, and producers, who need to ship their commodities out.
- But experts question whether dredging is a sustainable solution, raising concerns about long-term ecological impacts and advocating for community involvement and innovative technology for better outcomes.
- The environmental risks of dredging include ecosystem disruption, increased erosion, water contamination, and harm to aquatic species such as manatees and river dolphins.

Cambodian environment minister bans logging at tycoon’s Cardamoms hydropower project
- Cambodia’s environment minister has ordered a ban on forest clearance at a hydropower project site where activists and media, including Mongabay, previously reported indications of illegal logging.
- The Stung Meteuk hydropower project is being developed by a company under Ly Yong Phat, a ruling party senator notorious for a long history of environmentally and socially destructive businesses.
- In April, Mongabay documented the illegal logging operations at the project site, where logging routes had been cut leading into the nearby Phnom Samkos Wildlife Sanctuary.
- Activists have welcomed the order to halt forest clearance, but say they’re skeptical the ban will be enforced against such a powerful figure, noting that timber processing continues at the site.

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