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topic: Threats To Rainforests
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In Guyana and Suriname, offshore oil and environmental interests clash
- Both in Suriname and in Guyana, the president has a very strong constitutional mandate as head of state and government.
- Although Guyana has been praised for its forest conservation initiatives, its efforts have been clouded by corruption and an increased interest in offshore oil exploration.
- In Suriname, the government has embraced forest conservation as a development principle, while still pushing for offshore oil drilling.
One small Indigenous territory emerges as illegal mining hotspot in Brazil’s Amazon
One small Indigenous territory is currently the site of roughly 70% of deforestation in Indigenous territories across the Brazilian Amazon due to illegal mining over the last two years, according to government data. The Sararé Indigenous Territory in Mato Grosso state is home to about 200 Nambikwara people. From January 2024 to August 2025, illegal […]
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.
A forest worth more standing: Virgilio Viana on what it will take to protect the Amazon
The first time Virgilio Viana saw the Amazon up close, he was a 16-year-old with a backpack, two school friends and very little sense of what he was walking into. They arrived by land, drifting along dirt roads that had more potholes than surface, then continued by riverboat as the forest thickened around them. Something […]
The land deal threatening a vital piece of Bolivia’s Chiquitano dry forest
- A 30,019-hectare (74,178-acre) forest in Santa Cruz, Bolivia is on the verge of being sold to Bom Futuro, a Brazilian agriculture company with plans to clear the land, documents reviewed by Mongabay suggest.
- The forest is being sold by a local affiliate of Dutch wood flooring producer INPA, which has helped sustainably manage the area since the mid-2000s.
- Conservationists say the plot is an important part of Bolivia’s Chiquitano dry forest, which acts as a transition between the Amazon Rainforest and the Gran Chaco and Cerrado savannas.
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.
Top ethnobotanist Mark Plotkin’s COP30 reflections on Amazon conservation (analysis)
- The global battle to mitigate climate change cannot be won in the Amazon, but it can certainly be lost there, writes top ethnobotanist Mark Plotkin in a new analysis for Mongabay. Though he’s well-known for investigating traditional uses of plants in the region, he’s also a keen observer of and advocate for Indigenous communities and conservation there.
- Compared to the 1970s, he writes, the Amazon enjoys far greater formal protection, understanding and attention, while advances in technology and ethnobotany have revealed new insights into tropical biodiversity, and Indigenous communities — long the guardians and stewards of this ecosystem — are increasingly recognized as central partners in conservation, and their shamans employ hallucinogens like biological scalpels to diagnose, treat and sometimes cure ailments, a technology that is increasingly and ever more widely appreciated.
- “The challenge now is to ensure that the forces of protection outpace the forces of destruction, which, of course, is one of the ultimate goals of the COP30 meeting in Belém,” he writes.
- This article is an analysis. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
Strategic ignorance, climate change and Amazonia (commentary)
- With the support of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, essentially all of Brazil’s government outside of the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change is promoting actions that push us toward tipping points, both for the Amazon Rainforest and the global climate.
- Crossing any of these tipping points would result in global warming escaping from human control, with devastating consequences for Brazil that include mass mortalities.
- The question of whether Brazil’s leaders understand the consequences of their actions is relevant to how they will be judged by history, but the climatic consequences follow automatically, regardless of how these actions may be judged, a new op-ed argues.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
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.
New pledge, old problems as Indonesia’s latest Indigenous forest promise draws skepticism
- Indonesia has pledged to recognize 1.4 million hectares (3.5 million acres) of Indigenous and customary forests by 2029, a move the government says will curb deforestation and advance Indigenous rights.
- Advocates call the pledge another empty promise, citing years of stalled reforms, including a long-delayed Indigenous Rights Bill and a slow, bureaucratic process that has recognized less than 2% of mapped customary forests.
- Rights groups say state-backed development continues to drive land grabs and forest loss, with a quarter of Indigenous territories overlapping extractive concessions and widespread conflicts linked to the government’s strategic national projects (PSN).
- Critics urge the government to enact legal reforms and recognize Indigenous land beyond the 1.4-million-hectare target, warning that without real action, the pledge will be symbolic rather than transformative.
UNESCO biosphere listing raises hope, questions for Malaysia’s Kinabatangan floodplain
- UNESCO has declared the floodplain around Malaysian Borneo’s Kinabatangan River a biosphere reserve, linking the Heart of Borneo to the Lower Kinabatangan–Segama Wetlands.
- Conservationists warn that the landscape remains heavily fragmented by oil palm plantations and faces persistent threats from pollution and weak land governance.
- They argue that lasting change will require land reform, corporate accountability and stronger coordination between Sabah’s forestry and wildlife authorities.
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.
Indonesia pledges energy transition — but the country’s new NDC says otherwise
- Indonesia’s newly submitted second nationally determined contribution (SNDC), in accordance with the Paris Agreement, contains emission-reduction targets widely seen as insufficient to meet the goal of limiting warming to 1.5° Celsius.
- This contrasts with President Prabowo Subianto’s pledges to achieve 100% renewable energy by 2035 and to phase out coal within 15 years, raising hopes that Indonesia could embark on a genuine energy transition.
- Under the SNDC’s high-growth scenario of 8% annual economic growth, Indonesia’s emissions are projected to be roughly 30% higher in 2035 than in 2019; in contrast, a 1.5°C-compatible pathway would require a 21% reduction.
- Critics say this suggests deep climate action is still seen as incompatible with rapid economic growth.
What might lie ahead for tropical forests (analysis)
- Heading into COP30, where tropical forests are set to be a central theme, Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler offers a thought experiment—tracing today’s trajectories a little further forward to imagine where they might lead. What follows are scenarios, some improbable, others already taking shape.
- The essay envisions a world where deforestation gives way to disorder: weakened governance, runaway fires, and ecological feedback loops eroding forests from within even without the swing of an axe. It explores how technology and biology—AI-driven agriculture, gene-edited trees, and microbial interventions—could either accelerate destruction or redefine restoration, depending on who controls them.
- Across these imagined futures, one pattern recurs: forests thinning, recovering, and thinning again, as human ambition, migration, and climate instability test whether nature will be given the time and space to heal.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
Gold mining impacts persist after DRC shuts down company operations: Video
In a new short video, Mongabay visits the Dimonika Biosphere Reserve, a UNESCO site in southwestern Republic of Congo. The government shut down a Chinese company’s gold mining operation in November 2024, but mining pollution and its impacts on local communities persist. Photojournalist Berdy Pambou talked with local artisanal gold miners who accuse the Chinese […]
Dom Phillips & Bruno Pereira ‘would be killed again,’ Indigenous leader says
- Three years after the killings of British journalist Dom Phillips and Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira, threats remain in the Javari Valley, in the Brazilian Amazon, despite government efforts to halt violence in the region, prominent Indigenous leader Beto Marubo said.
- “The factors that caused the killings remain the same: drug trafficking and the increase in invasions of Indigenous lands,” Marubo told Mongabay in an interview in São Paulo.
- Phillips and Pereira were killed while the British journalist was investigating illegal fishing in the region for his book; Marubo was one of the contributors who helped to finish the book, launched in May in the U.S., Brazil and the U.K.
- Aware of the importance of the book, Marubo made a commitment to help promote the book. to elevate the voice of those who lost their lives defending the Amazon: “Despite all these deaths — not only Dom and Bruno, but also Chico Mendes, Dorothy Stang and so many others who die for the protection of the environment — they are forgotten, they are relegated; they are just numbers, just records in our history.”
Indigenous guardians successfully keep extractives out of Ecuador’s Amazon forests
- For generations, the Pakayaku community in Ecuador’s Amazon has successfully kept unsustainable mining, logging and oil extraction activities out of forests while preserving their cultural traditions and ecological knowledge.
- Mongabay visited the community to see their guardian program, made up of 45 women warriors who constantly patrol 40,000 hectares (99,000 acres) of rainforest to detect incursions — which few have been allowed to witness firsthand.
- The community created a “plan of life” map that details their vision, identity and economic alternatives to extraction.
- Leaders worry Ecuador’s concentration on courting international investment in sectors like mining and natural gas could threaten the forests.
Deforestation and disease spread as Nicaragua ignores illegal cattle ranching
- Illegal cattle ranching has torn through Nicaragua’s rainforests in recent years, supplying a growing international market for meat despite calls for better oversight of the industry.
- The practice has led to a spike in cases of New World screwworm (Cochliomyia hominivorax), a parasitic fly that feeds on warm-blooded animals
- A new investigation by conservation group Re:wild found that years of industry reforms still haven’t prevented cattle ranchers from deforesting protected areas and Indigenous territories.
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.
Peru considers stripping protections for Indigenous people and their territories
- Several bills working their way through Peru’s Congress would loosen restrictions for oil and gas drilling, and make it harder for Indigenous people to obtain protected status for their land.
- One of the laws gives Congress the power to reevaluate the legal categorization and reserve status of Indigenous peoples living in isolation and initial contact, or PIACI.
- Some advocacy groups called for the suspension of international climate financing to several parts of the Peruvian government until they implement concrete PIACI protections.
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.
Amazon Rainforest hits record carbon emissions from 2024 forest fires
In 2024, the Amazon Rainforest underwent its most devastating forest fire season in more than two decades. According to a new study by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, the fire-driven forest degradation released an estimated 791 million metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2024, a sevenfold increase compared with the previous two years. The […]
RSPO sparks NGO outrage for dismissing complaint over alleged ‘shadow companies’
- The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil has dismissed allegations that Indonesian conglomerate First Resources Ltd. Controls a network of shadow companies, despite evidence presented by NGOs linking these firms to deforestation, peatland destruction, river pollution and labor abuses.
- The decision by RSPO has triggered outrage among NGOs that say it exposes a loophole that lets corporate groups hide destructive operations behind undeclared affiliates while keeping their sustainability credentials intact.
- FRL told Mongabay it recognized transparency concerns but emphasized that the panel “did not find evidence of hidden operations or deliberate concealment.”
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.
First review of Amazon plastic pollution finds widespread contamination
Plastic pollution is widespread across the Amazon Rainforest’s rivers, plants and animals, according to a recent study. Previous research suggests up to 10% of total plastics in the ocean arrive there via the vast network of waterways that’s the Amazon Basin. To understand how and where plastic pollution is present within the basin itself, researchers […]
The fate of flying rivers could decide Amazon ‘tipping point,’ report says
- The Amazon’s “tipping point” refers to the transition of the rainforest into a drier, savanna ecosystem. The rainforest’s ecological balance depends on the transport and recycling of moisture, but deforestation has been shown to disrupt the region’s water cycle.
- Moisture moves east to west, from the Atlantic Ocean across the Amazon Basin via what scientists call “aerial” or “flying rivers,” a critical mechanism in the region’s water cycle.
- A new report from Amazon Conservation’s Monitoring of the Andes Amazon Project identified areas of deforestation that disrupt these flying rivers from hundreds of miles away. It also found that not all parts of the Amazon have the same tipping point.
- The researchers stressed the need for regional, transboundary conservation efforts that account for varied threats in different parts of the Amazon.
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.
In the Andean Amazon, countries struggle to fight deforestation
- Goals to reduce deforestation by 2030 set by Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia have been undermined by policies that drive deforestation.
- In Colombia, the Petro administration aims to reduce land inequality by redistributing confiscated land, while investing in rural infrastructure with the hope of motivating individuals to stay in previously deforested landscapes.
- In Ecuador, although illegal deforestation is subject to criminal prosecution, infringers are seldom prosecuted and the permitting system is largely used to manage the timber trade.
- Despite its conservation policies, Peru has no coherent, integrated policy to fight illegal deforestation, while many local public officials are compromised by their participation in the illegal land market.
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.
Animals that spread seeds are critical for climate solutions
- New research analyzing more than 3,000 tropical forest sites reveals that areas with fewer seed-dispersing animals store up to four times less carbon than forests with healthy wildlife populations.
- The study found that 81% of tropical trees rely on animals to disperse their seeds, establishing an ancient partnership now threatened by human activities such as deforestation, road construction, and hunting.
- Researchers mapped global “seed dispersal disruption” and found it explains a 57% reduction in carbon storage potential across proposed forest restoration areas.
- The findings demonstrate that protecting wildlife and addressing climate change are interconnected challenges, with conservation strategies like wildlife corridors and species reintroduction offering approaches that serve both biodiversity and climate stability.
The formula that reduced deforestation in Brazil in the 21st century
- In 2009, the Brazilian government made a commitment to the United Nations’ Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to decrease deforestation by 80% by 2020, but exceeded that target in 2012, when the annual deforestation rate was only 20% of its twenty-year historical mean.
- The Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation in the Legal Amazon (PPCDAm) is considered one of Lula da Silva’s major wins during his first two terms as president. Although the initiative did not eliminate deforestation, its policies succeeded in changing human behavior and business models on the forest frontier.
- In 2019, president Jair Bolsonaro defunded the programme’s law-and-order components and dissolved the PPCDAm, while running limited activities to combat deforestation.
- Once Lula de Silva got re-elected in 2023, he revived the program, which now focuses less on command-and-control measures like deforestation fines and land-use planning, and more on promoting sustainable livelihoods.
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.
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.
Cambodian irrigation dam construction threatens riverine communities in the Cardamoms
- Cambodia has begun clearing more than 7,300 hectares (18,000 acres) of protected rainforest in Kravanh National Park to build an irrigation dam, with nearly 4,000 hectares (10,000 acres) to be submerged by its reservoir.
- The Cardamom Mountains, where the park is located, are among Cambodia’s last biodiversity hotspots, home to elephants, pangolins and gibbons, but dam projects and illegal logging are accelerating habitat loss.
- Villagers upstream of the dam say they’ll lose forest access, water and livelihoods, while downstream rice farmers stand to benefit; residents report they were not properly consulted.
- The project overlaps with a REDD+ carbon-offset area and appears to have broken ground without a completed environmental impact assessment, raising legal and transparency questions.
‘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.
Isolated tribes under threat as Peru votes down Yavarí Mirim Indigenous Reserve
- The proposed Yavarí Mirim Indigenous Reserve would have protected an area a fifth the size of Ireland in the Peruvian Amazon, home to several Indigenous communities living in isolation.
- Last week, a government commission voted 8-5 against the proposal, despite ongoing threats against the Matsés, Matis, Korubo, Kulina-Pano and Flecheiro Indigenous peoples.
- A new study will have to be developed and proposed to the commission, which could take several more years, critics of the outcome said.
- In the meantime, they warned, forest concessions in the area could expand and groups tied to mining, logging and drug trafficking could force the isolated groups off the land.
Tropical bird numbers plummet due to more days of extreme heat, study finds
Tropical bird populations are crashing as temperatures soar. That’s according to a new study that found abundances of tropical birds were 25-38% lower than they would be without human-driven climate change and the rising temperatures it has caused. This temperature impact on birds is greater than declines attributed to deforestation. “It’s a staggering decrease. Birds […]
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.
Despite pledge, Colombia still has ways to expand Amazon oil exploration
- The Colombian government has “shelved” some oil blocks in the Amazon, but they can be reactivated at any time, critics warn.
- Even though it promised to stop issuing new exploration licenses as part of its clean energy transition, the government still has the legal power to expand oil and gas production in the Amazon.
- A new analysis by Earth Insight, a nature and climate policy group, recommends that lawmakers pass legislation to formally recognize a ban on expanding oil and gas production in the Amazon.
Brazil’s Atlantic Forest still losing ‘large amounts’ of mature forest, despite legal protection
- Despite a federal protection law, Brazil’s Atlantic Forest lost a Washington, D.C.-sized area of mature forest every year between 2010 and 2020, with most of the deforestation occurring illegally on private lands for agriculture.
- The Atlantic Forest is a critical biodiversity hotspot that supports 70% of Brazil’s GDP while serving nearly three-quarters of the country’s population.
- Major agribusiness companies, including COFCO, Bunge and Cargill, have been identified as exposed to deforestation in their soybean supply chains, with agriculture and livestock farming driving most forest loss.
- Conservation success stories like the black lion tamarin’s recovery from near-extinction demonstrate that restoration is possible, with one project planting millions of seedlings and generating significant local employment.
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 new licensing accord is a gateway to forest destruction via the BR-319 highway (commentary)
- Brazil’s planned reconstruction of the BR-319 federal highway is linked to plans for five state highways and a huge oil and gas project that would open a vast area of Amazon Rainforest to deforestation.
- A new “accord” between the environment and transportation ministries would contract the drafting of a plan for governance in a strip extending 50 kilometers (31 miles) on either side of BR-319.
- The two ministries expect the accord’s “Sustainable BR-319” plan to allow environmental approval of the BR-319 reconstruction project. In doing so, it can be expected to serve as a gateway to destruction, a new op-ed argues.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
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.
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 […]
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.
Indigenous alliance unveils Brazil’s first Native-led emissions strategy
Brazil’s largest Indigenous organization has launched the country’s first Native-led strategy to cut greenhouse gas emissions, ahead of International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples on Aug. 9. The idea is for the plan to be incorporated into the Brazilian government’s own emissions reduction plan, the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), which the country updates and […]
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.
Cross-border operation cracks down on environmental crimes in the Amazon
- Between June 23 and July 6, 2025, police forces from Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru joined forces in a cross-border law enforcement initiative targeting environmental crimes like illegal mining, wildlife trafficking and illegal logging.
- Coordinated by the United Arab Emirates Ministry of Interior, Operation Green Shield led to more than 90 arrests and the seizure of assets worth more than $64 million. Authorities also rescued more than 2,100 live animals and recovered 6,350 dead specimens.
- Reactions among local communities were mixed. While some locals were involved in illicit activities, others condemned the environmental destruction and feared reprisals from armed criminal groups operating in their territories.
- Although the operation disrupted environmental crimes, experts warn the offenses may shift to other areas. They stress the urgent need for sustainable development alternatives to address the root causes driving illegal activities in the Amazon.
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.
Cocoa boom fuels new wave of deforestation in Cameroon
Once threatened by palm oil and loggers, Cameroon’s forests now face a new driver of deforestation: booming cacao production to supply the European market. A new report by the environmental advocacy group Mighty Earth finds deforestation in Cameroon has accelerated, with the country losing around 782,000 hectares (1.9 million acres), or 4.2% of its forest […]
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 […]
‘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.
Mongabay journalist Karla Mendes wins 2025 Oakes Award for environmental journalism
Mongabay reporter Karla Mendes has won the 2025 John B. Oakes Award for Distinguished Environmental Journalism, announced on July 23. Her investigation in the Brazilian Amazon uncovered a direct connection between the expansion of the cattle industry in Maranhão state and an increase in violent crime against the inhabitants of the state’s Arariboia Indigenous Territory. […]
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 […]
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, […]
104 companies linked to 20% of global environmental conflicts, study finds
A recent study has found that just 104 companies, mostly multinational corporations from high-income countries, are involved in a fifth of the more than 3,000 environmental conflicts it analyzed. The study examined 3,388 conflicts, involving 5,589 companies, recorded in the Global Atlas of Environmental Justice (EJAtlas) as of October 2024. The atlas is the world’s […]
Banks bet big on fossil fuels, boosting financing in 2024, report finds
- Bank financing for the fossil fuel sector rose by $162.5 billion in 2024, more than 20% compared to 2023, according to a Rainforest Action Network report.
- Fossil fuel-related financing declined in 2022 and 2023, but in 2024 almost 70% of the 65 banks analyzed increased their funding for companies involved in fossil fuels.
- Experts say the findings demonstrate the limits of voluntary climate-related commitments by the banking industry, with many institutions backsliding on their promises to decarbonize their portfolios.
- They also highlight the importance of government regulation and civic action to address ongoing financial support for fossil fuel infrastructure and expansion.
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.
Panama boosts protections in the Darién Gap, but deforestation threats still loom
- Panama is pouring new resources into protecting Darién, a remote province where the rugged, nearly impenetrable jungle provides cover for migrants, drug traffickers, illegal loggers, miners and cattle ranchers.
- Dozens of park guards have been hired and trained with new technology, and officials are working on implementing stricter regulations for logging and agribusiness.
- New roads and bridges will bring investment, access to education and health care to hard-to-reach communities, but they could also attract an influx of people ready to cut down the forest.
- As more people arrive to the region, the agricultural frontier pushes closer to the limits of the park, raising concerns among rangers about how they will defend it in years to come.
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.
In the Brazilian Amazon, sustainability policies clash with development goals
- Authorities in the Brazilian authorities have proven to be ambivalent when it comes to the environment. They generally adhere to discourses of environmental protection, but also support infrastructure programs that promote deforestation.
- Some officials across the Brazilian Amazon have vested interests in development projects, promoting those over environmental policies.
- Several infrastructure projects, such as the repaving of the BR-319 highway, are promoted as green, but pose serious environmental concerns.
‘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.
Brazil & China megarailway raises deforestation warnings in the Amazon
- Brazilian and Chinese authorities — including Presidents Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Xi Jinping — recently discussed a proposed railway that would connect Brazil’s Atlantic coast to Peru’s new Pacific-facing Chancay Port, cutting through the Amazon.
- From Lucas do Rio Verde, a major agricultural hub in the state of Mato Grosso, the railway would be built from scratch, advancing into the Amazon’s Arc of Deforestation.
- Planners intend to build the Amazonian section of the railway alongside existing highways, a strategy aimed at minimizing environmental impacts and streamlining the licensing process.
- However, environmental activists warn that the Bioceanic Corridor, together with newly planned roads, waterways and ports, could accelerate deforestation and degradation in the rainforest.
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 […]
Pushback grows against nickel mining in Indonesian marine paradise of Raja Ampat
- The Indonesian government has suspended nickel mining in the Raja Ampat archipelago following public outcry and investigations that revealed environmental violations, including illegal mining on small islands and deforestation by several companies.
- Raja Ampat, one of the world’s most biodiverse marine regions, is threatened by sedimentation, pollution and habitat destruction linked to mining, endangering coral reefs, mangroves and Indigenous communities.
- Despite government claims that operations on one of the islands, Gag, are environmentally compliant, critics say inspections are superficial and driven by political and economic agendas, ignoring broader regional damage.
- Environmental groups warn mining could resume quietly once the outrage fades, and urge the government to establish no-go zones to protect Raja Ampat, challenging rhetoric that frames local resistance as foreign interference.
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.
Climate strikes the Amazon, undermining protection efforts
Fires raged across the Amazon rainforest in 2024, annihilating more than 4.6 million hectares of primary tropical forest—the most biodiverse and carbon-dense type of forest on Earth. That loss, which is larger than the size of Denmark, was more than twice the annual average between 2014 and 2023, according to data released last month by […]
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.
Dom Phillips’ posthumous book centers on collaborative work for saving the Amazon
- On June 5, 2022, British journalist Dom Phillips and Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira were brutally killed in the Javari Valley region, in the Brazilian Amazon; Phillips was investigating illegal fishing in the region for his book.
- Three years later, the book How to save the Amazon — A journalist’s fatal quest for answers, by Phillips with contributors, will be launched beginning May 31 in the United Kingdom, the United States and Brazil, accompanied by dedicated events in the three countries.
- “Emotionally, it has several meanings for me. Firstly, because it’s like realizing Dom’s death, because he was still writing, he was still alive,” Phillips’ widow Alessandra Sampaio tells Mongabay.
- Anthropologist Beatriz Matos, Pereira’s widow, says the book is also intertwined with Pereira’s work and also with everyone who works to defend the Amazon and the Indigenous peoples. “It’s very important that this work is not interrupted. It’s very important that the stories he was telling are told.”
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.
Deforestation and fires persist in Indonesia’s pulpwood and biomass plantations
- NGOs in Indonesia have documented widespread environmental and social violations across 33 industrial tree plantations since 2023, including deforestation, peatland destruction, fires, and land conflicts with Indigenous communities.
- Major corporations APP and APRIL, despite sustainability pledges, were linked to illegal deforestation, peatland drainage, and failure to follow proper consent procedures, potentially violating both Indonesian laws and international standards.
- Key case studies include endangered rainforest clearance in West Sumatra’s Mentawai Islands, unauthorized forest clearance in Riau, peatland burning in South Sumatra, and land disputes in West Kalimantan.
- The NGOs are urging stronger law enforcement and reforms, warning that current violations undermine Indonesia’s climate goals and could threaten market access under the EU Deforestation Regulation.
‘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 […]
What’s at stake for the environment in Suriname’s upcoming elections?
- Voters in Suriname this weekend will elect all 51 members of the National Assembly, who will then choose the president, usually the leader of a majority party or coalition.
- Incumbent President Chandrikapersad Santokhi is a likely candidate, but critics say he’s prioritized agribusiness and mining over conserving the country’s vast Amazon Rainforest or land rights for Indigenous and Afro-descendant communities.
- Other candidates include Vice President Ronnie Brunswijk and former National Assembly chair Jennifer Geerlings-Simons.
EU anti-deforestation law could overlook big violators, NGO warns
The European Union’s landmark anti-deforestation law could fail to deliver on its environmental promises if enforcement authorities disproportionately focus on small importers while missing less obvious violations from major commodity firms, according to a new analysis by U.K.-based investigative nonprofit, Earthsight. The EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), which comes into force Dec. 30, 2025, aims to […]
Indigenous rights advocates petition to overturn Indonesian conservation law
- In Indonesia, where state-designated conservation areas often overlap with customary territories, Indigenous peoples have faced prosecution and imprisonment for living in and managing their ancestral lands as they always have.
- Many hoped a new 2024 conservation law would recognize the rights of Indigenous peoples to manage their lands; instead, the law continues to sideline communities and potentially criminalizes their traditional practices, despite scientific evidence that Indigenous peoples are among the most effective stewards of nature.
- Indigenous rights proponents say the new law was passed without meaningful participation of Indigenous peoples, and several groups have filed a judicial review petition with the Constitutional Court, seeking to overturn the new law.
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 […]
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 […]
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.
Ground-level ozone wreaks havoc on warming planet
Ozone as a layer several kilometers up in the atmosphere protects living beings, including humans, from ultraviolet rays. But its accumulation at ground level can be very dangerous, Mongabay contributor Sean Mowbray explains in an article published in April. Ground-level, or tropospheric, ozone forms when methane, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and volatile organic compounds react […]
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.
‘Colombia’s Amazon peoples provide solutions’: Interview with José Homero Mutumbajoy
- Mongabay interviewed José Homero Mutumbajoy, an experienced Indigenous rights defender in Colombia, to hear his take on some of the latest and biggest events affecting Indigenous communities and forests in the country’s Amazon.
- Events include protests against Libero Cobre’s copper mine, the impacts of armed groups, protections of forests for isolated peoples and plans for the upcoming U.N. climate conference.
- Homero Mutumbajoy and other Indigenous delegates came to the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York City to spotlight issues they face in their country.
- Homero Mutumbajoy is the human rights and peace coordinator for OPIAC, the national organization for Colombia’s Amazon peoples.
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.
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, […]
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 […]
Eucalyptus for Brazil’s steelmaking dries out communities in Minas Gerais
- Eucalyptus plantations in Brazil’s Alto Jequitinhonha Valley, grown to make charcoal for the steel industry, have drastically reduced local water resources, harming rural communities, locals and experts warn.
- Despite years of complaints by a local NGO, Aperam, the steelmaking company that owns the plantations, continues to hold FSC certification for sustainable forestry. A recent audit, however, has flagged problems in its most recent assessment for certification.
- Studies show that eucalyptus plantations in the region have lowered groundwater levels by 4.5 meters (nearly 15 feet) since the mid-1970s, jeopardizing the water supply for local communities and their livelihood.
- Aperam also profits from its plantations by producing biochar from eucalyptus waste, which it uses to boost soil carbon sequestration, and selling the concept as a form of carbon removal to companies looking to offset their own emissions.
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.
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.
Cement factory approved inside Cambodia’s Prey Lang sanctuary despite mining ban
- Cambodian authorities have approved a new cement factory inside Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary, despite a 2023 moratorium on new mining licenses, raising concerns about enforcement and conservation integrity.
- Factory developer KP Cement, a politically connected firm previously linked to deforestation, was awarded a 50-year lease on 99 hectares (245 acres) within the ostensibly protected sanctuary and is already clearing forest near a planned limestone mine.
- Local communities have expressed alarm over environmental degradation, health risks from limestone dust, and being excluded from decision-making, saying the development benefits only elites.
- The project reflects a broader pattern of politically tied companies exploiting Prey Lang’s resources despite its protected status, with critics accusing the government of favoring industry over conservation.
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.
Armed groups, cattle ranchers drove 35% rise in Colombia’s deforestation in 2024
- Colombia lost 1,070 km² (413 mi²) of forest in 2024, according to data from the country’s environment ministry, representing a 35% increase from 2023.
- Illegal agriculture is thought to be the main driver behind this increase, with cattle ranching spreading inside national parks.
- The environment ministry notes that despite the increase in deforestation last year, the 2024 figure is still one of the lowest in the past 23 years.
- However, experts fear that the increase will continue in 2025 and that armed groups will continue to strengthen their hold over the Colombian Amazon, hindering the progress of conservation strategies with communities.
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 […]
New refuge helps protect Amazon’s most endangered monkey, but gaps remain
Brazil designated a refuge twice the size of Manhattan near the Amazonian city of Manaus in June 2024 to protect the pied tamarin, South America’s most endangered monkey. But almost one year later, the 15,000-hectare (37,000-acre) reserve is still being implemented institutionally, and conservationists say it falls short of what the species needs to survive. […]
Diverse forests and forest rewilding offer resilience against climate change
- Recent studies from two long-running planted forest experiments in China and Panama find that increasing tree diversity in reforestation efforts can boost resilience in the face of climate change, among other benefits.
- Researchers elsewhere propose a “rewilding-inspired forestry” approach that aims to restore biodiversity, aid climate mitigation and bolster forest ecosystems — an approach that requires a significant shift from current forestry practices.
- However, scientists underline that while reforestation and forest rewilding can contribute to curbing climate change, they have their limits and must be combined with deep carbon emissions cuts and conservation of existing forests.
Endangered Chilean frogs thrive in London while waiting out deadly fungus
A total of 86 Darwin’s frogs are being housed at London Zoo to keep them safe from a deadly infectious disease that has affected over 500 amphibian species worldwide. In October 2024, conservationists from the Zoological Society of London, the NGO Ranita de Darwin and other partners rescued 53 southern Darwin’s frogs (Rhinoderma darwinii) from […]
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.
How is conservation preparing for a much hotter world? Experts share
- Fifty years from now, in 2075, the world will be considerably hotter, perhaps as much as 3-5° Celsius (4.5 to 9° Fahrenheit) above the pre-industrial average.
- Experts say we need to focus on building greater resilience into ecosystems now to help species get through the next half century.
- We should be protecting large landscapes, including altitudinal gradients, according to experts.
- We should also be focusing on good management, community relations, rewilding and restoration.
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 […]
Honduras pays the climate cost as its forests disappear and storms rise
- Despite its high vulnerability to extreme weather events, Honduras continues to clear its forests, seen as one of its best protections against climate change and intensifying storms and hurricanes.
- Between 1998 and 2017, Honduras was the world’s second-most affected country by climate change.
- The biggest driver of deforestation in Honduras is shifting agriculture, responsible for nearly three-quarters of all tree loss, with cattle ranching being a top culprit.
- International organizations focusing on climate adaptation and mitigation are urging the Honduran government to do more to prioritize long-term preparedness, with the country recently making progress in that direction.
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 […]
Funding freeze threatens global reforestation and restoration efforts
- The sudden halt in U.S. foreign aid has left reforestation and forest restoration projects around the world scrambling for alternative resources, jeopardizing years of progress.
- Without consistent funding, ongoing projects face the threat of scaling back or shutting down entirely, potentially impacting, in the long-term, both the environment and the communities that rely on these initiatives for their livelihoods.
- According to Mongabay’s research, the funding freeze has affected the operations of many nature-based projects worldwide, particularly in biodiversity hotspots and some of the world’s poorest regions.
- Despite the challenges, affected organizations are working tirelessly to diversify their funding sources and fill the gaps left by the U.S. government, including launching online campaigns to request donations and calling the international community to step up.
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.
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.
Indonesians suing pulpwood firms over haze face intimidation, seek human rights protection
- A group of South Sumatran residents suing three pulpwood companies for recurring haze pollution has sought protection from Indonesian human rights commission, citing intimidation, including bribes and threats.
- The lawsuit highlights violations of the right to a healthy environment, as recurring fires on company concessions have caused severe air pollution, harming residents’ health, education and livelihoods.
- The case, which seeks both financial compensation and environmental restoration, is now in the evidentiary stage after mediation failed, and could set a precedent for corporate responsibility in Indonesia’s recurring haze crisis.
- Despite the threats, plaintiffs like Yeyen say they remain committed to the fight for justice and environmental protection, emphasizing the need for corporate accountability and a healthier future for all Indonesians.
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.
Brazil declares environmental emergency ahead of 2025 fire season
Brazil has declared a nationwide environmental emergency to prevent another devastating fire season in 2025. In 2024, record-breaking blazes scorched millions of hectares of native vegetation in the Amazon Rainforest and other biodiversity-rich biomes. The measure, decreed by environment minister Marina Silva on Feb. 27, gives authorities extra powers and resources to nip wildfires in […]
‘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.”
Esmeraldas oil spill in Ecuador devastates rivers and wildlife refuge
A massive oil spill in Ecuador, in the northwestern Esmeraldas province, has covered multiple rivers and a key wildlife refuge in thick, black sludge, impacting more than half a million residents. A rupture appeared in a 500-kilometer (310-mile) pipeline operated by the state-owned oil company Petroecuador on Mar. 13, according to a statement by the […]
Global outcry as petitioners demand no mining expansion in orangutan habitat
- Nearly 200,000 people have signed a petition urging U.K. multinational Jardine Matheson to halt the expansion of the Martabe gold mine in Indonesia’s Batang Toru Forest, home to the critically endangered Tapanuli orangutan.
- Agincourt Resources, a subsidiary of Jardine’s Astra International, plans to clear up to 583 hectares (1,441 acres) of forest for a new mining waste facility, which conservationists warn will push the Tapanuli orangutan closer to extinction and harm other protected species.
- Environmental groups accuse Jardines of misleading sustainability claims and the Indonesian government of failing to enforce conservation laws, despite awarding Agincourt a “green” compliance rating.
- Protesters have demanded Jardines adopt a “no deforestation, no peat, no exploitation” (NDPE) policy for its mining operations and provide clarity on conflicting deforestation figures and the compliance of its expansion plan with its approved permits.
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.
Indonesian watchdog demands prosecution for environmental crime ‘cartels’
- Indonesia’s largest environmental group, Walhi, has filed a complaint with the Attorney General’s Office, accusing 47 companies in the palm oil, mining and forestry sectors of corruption and environmental destruction, allegedly causing 437 trillion rupiah ($26.5 billion) in state losses.
- Walhi identified 18 forms of corruption, including government officials altering forest status to legalize deforestation, granting permits for illegal concessions, and accepting bribes to ignore violations.
- Notable examples include a palm oil company that allegedly cleared 1,706 hectares (4,215 acres) of forest in Aceh province before obtaining an environmental permit, and nickel mining in North Maluku that has devastated marine ecosystems.
- The AGO has confirmed receipt of Walhi’s complaint, and said that it will pursue allegations of corruption in those cases; however, it noted that any environmental violations would fall under the jurisdiction of other agencies.
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 […]
Forest management ambitions in Brazilian Amazon aim to make up for lost time
- In 2006, Brazilian President Lula da Silva’s government passed the Public Forest Management Law, implementing a forest concession scheme designed to regulate and legalize logging activities in Brazil’s forest — in particular, the Amazon.
- Forest management consists of removing a small number of trees whose species are valued in the market. After that, the area can only be explored again in 30 to 40 years, following its regeneration cycle.
- Behind on its concessions targets, the current government wants to almost quadruple the current area of federal concessions by 2026.
- Even though it is different from deforestation, timber management has never been seen as a way to conserve the forest by traditional peoples.
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.
New setbacks for Peruvian Amazon reserve put uncontacted tribes at risk
- Since 2003, Indigenous organizations have been calling for the establishment of Yavarí Mirim, an extensive reserve for hundreds of isolated Indigenous people in the Peruvian Amazon.
- The reserve is heavily disputed by extractive industries for its logging and oil and gas drilling potential.
- Experts are concerned that a recent delay will endanger Indigenous groups, as their territory is increasingly encroached on by loggers and illegal drug traffickers.
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.
Land rights bill in Suriname sparks outrage in Indigenous communities
- Indigenous and Tribal communities are upset about legislation to establish their collective land rights, saying it still gives the government too much power.
- The law would remove communities’ ability to reject development projects on their land, including infrastructure, agribusiness and logging and mining concessions.
- The government would be allowed to continue developing on ancestral land if deemed in the “public interest” of the country, according to the bill.
- Activists said they could mount a legal challenge through the UN, but haven’t formalized a plan.
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.
Colombia’s cattle traceability bill awaits approval as deforestation spikes
- Lawmakers in Colombia are considering a bill that would create an improved traceability system for monitoring the movement of cattle, with the goal of controlling illegal deforestation connected to grazeland.
- This would be the fourth attempt at passing such a law, after previous efforts in 2021, 2022 and 2023 came up short.
- There are an estimated 30 million head of cattle in the country, requiring significant amounts of pasture, one of the main factors in the rise in deforestation last year.
- If passed, the law would integrate multiple monitoring systems to improve communication between officials and their ability to identify where cattle are being raised, and would establish “high-surveillance zones” in deforested areas, requiring ranchers to share cattle registration information and install identification devices like ear tags.
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.
Bonobos can recognize ignorance and help, a new ‘milestone’ in ape intelligence
Bonobos, one of humanity’s closest relatives, can tell when a human doesn’t know something and steps in to help — a cognitive ability never before identified in nonhuman apes, a study found. Researchers tested this in a game with three bonobos (Pan paniscus) living at Ape Initiative in Iowa, U.S. One bonobo, Kanzi, 44, is […]
Singing lemurs found to be dropping beats just like King Julien
The indri, a critically endangered lemur only found in Madagascar’s rainforest, might hold clues about the human knack for musicality, a Mongabay video explains. Indris (Indri indri) are one of the largest living lemurs, and among the few primates that sing. Researchers studied 15 years’ worth of recorded indri songs, and found that these songs […]
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.
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.
As the gold rush surges in Nicaragua, Indigenous communities pay the price
- Nicaragua has experienced a boom in gold mining over the last few years, with concessions covering millions of hectares of land — often near protected areas and on Indigenous territory.
- The government doesn’t require environmental impact studies and pushes through consultations with local communities as quickly as one day, allowing mining projects to move forward at an unprecedented pace.
- Mining companies from China, Canada, the U.K. and Colombia often find loopholes that allow them to avoid international sanctions, according to one study.
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 […]
In Honduras, communities race to establish reserve as La Mosquitia forest disappears
- Several Indigenous communities in Honduras are trying to set up the Warunta Indigenous Anthropological Reserve, which will allow them to continue traditional hunting and fishing practices while co-managing the forest with the government.
- The reserve will cover 65,369 hectares (161,530 acres) in the department of Gracias a Dios, near the border with Nicaragua.
- Global Forest Watch data show that around 13% of the area’s forest was cleared between 2002 and 2023.
- The reserve has already gone through the consultation process with residents, but needs to complete technical studies by the government, which could take the rest of the year.
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.
World’s tiniest transmitter finds nesting area of rarest migratory shorebird
Using the world’s smallest known satellite transmitter, conservationists were able to track a spoon-billed sandpiper, thought to be the world’s rarest migratory shorebird. The transmitter revealed new stopovers and nesting areas for an individual known as K9. “K9 led us to a newly discovered breeding location and habitat, which could be a game-changer for Spoon-billed […]
‘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.
‘James Bond’ lizard among 35 new species described from Caribbean islands
Shaken, not stirred: That’s how fictional secret service agent James Bond prefers his martini. And now there’s a lizard in the Caribbean that shares his name: the James Bond forest lizard, found close to where author Ian Fleming wrote his iconic Bond novels. Researchers recently described the new species alongside 34 others in a 306-page […]
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 […]
Plans for bauxite mine in Suriname reignite Indigenous land rights debate
- A bauxite mine run by Chinese corporation Chinalco could begin operating next year, endangering a 280,000-hectare (about 692,000 acres) area of western Suriname inhabited by Indigenous communities.
- The mine will require refurbishing and expanding infrastructure for a harbor and railroad built in the 1970s, and gives the company “priority right” to use the Corantijn river for dredging.
- Indigenous groups said they weren’t properly consulted about the project and that the government is unfairly labeling their territory as public domain.
Krahô women lead Indigenous guard to protect territory in Brazil
- Indigenous women from Krahô communities in Brazil’s Tocantins state have formed a surveillance group to protect their ancestral territory from invaders.
- The thirteen Krahô Warriors received training in surveillance and carry out operations for 15 days each month.
- They plan and implement territorial protection actions based on Krahô traditions and ways of life.
- The Kraolândia Indigenous Land (TI) is under pressure from loggers, hunters, charcoal factories, and agribusinesses that surround the territory.
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.
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.
Southeast Asia in review: 2024
- 2024 was a grim year for conservation and its champions across Southeast Asia, as deforestation surged due to infrastructure, agriculture, logging and mining, threatening critical ecosystems and protected areas.
- Environmental activists and journalists also faced increasing risks, including detentions, harassment and violence, highlighting a growing climate of repression by governments across the region.
- Despite this, there were some conservation successes of note, including wildlife population recoveries, biodiversity discoveries, and Indigenous community victories against harmful development projects.
- Grassroots and nature-based initiatives, like mangrove restoration and sustainable agriculture, showcased effective approaches to enhancing biodiversity and resilience while also improving community livelihood.
‘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.
The year in tropical rainforests: 2024
- The year 2024 saw significant developments in tropical rainforest conservation, deforestation, and degradation. While progress in some regions provided glimmers of hope, systemic challenges and emerging threats highlighted the fragility of these ecosystems.
- Although a complete comparison of tropical forest loss in 2024 with previous years is not yet available, there are currently no indications that this year’s loss will be markedly higher. A sharp decline in deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon—partially offset by widespread forest fires—suggests the overall rate of loss may be lower.
- This analysis explores key storylines, examining the political, environmental, and economic dynamics shaping tropical rainforests in 2024.
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.
Amazon’s Boiling River gives scientists a window into the rainforest’s future
- Scientists studying Peru’s Boiling River found 11% fewer tree species for every 1°C (1.8°F) increase in temperature, offering insights into how climate change might affect the Amazon Rainforest.
- The research team discovered that hotter areas not only had fewer species overall but were dominated by heat-tolerant trees that typically grow in the warmest parts of South America.
- The study site is protected by Indigenous Asháninka people as sacred land, but the forest still faces threats from nearby deforestation and fires, reflecting broader challenges across the Amazon.
- The Amazon is experiencing climate pressures, with fire-affected areas in the Brazilian Amazon increasing 18-fold in September 2024, covering a combined area nearly the size of the Netherlands.
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.
Indonesia reforestation plan a smoke screen for agriculture project, critics say
- Critics say an Indonesian government plan to reforest 12.7 million hectares (31.4 million acres) of degraded land is a smoke screen to offset deforestation from a massive agricultural project.
- The food estate program includes a plan to establish 2 million hectares (4.9 million acres) of sugarcane plantations in Papua.
- A new study by the Center of Economic and Law Studies estimates the food estate program would emit 782.5 million tons of carbon dioxide, nearly doubling Indonesia’s global carbon emission contribution.
- Indonesia climate envoy Hashim Djojohadikusumo, who is also the brother of President Prabowo Subianto, says the food estate program is necessary for food security and that forest loss will be offset by reforestation; critics, however, say reforestation cannot compensate for the destruction of natural forests.
On Indonesia’s unique Enggano Island, palm oil takes root in an Indigenous society
- Formed millions of years ago in the Indian Ocean by a process independent of tectonic collision, Indonesia’s Enggano Island is now home to many unique species and a diverse Indigenous society of subsistence farmers.
- Since the early 1990s, developers have sought to obtain control over large parts of the island, but encountered staunch opposition from its six Indigenous tribes.
- Today, PT Sumber Enggano Tabarak, which has been linked to the billionaire-owned London Sumatra group, is seeking to establish an oil palm plantation over 15,000 hectares (37,000 acres).
- Civil society researchers and Indigenous elders say the island lacks sufficient freshwater to provide irrigation to both the community and an industrial oil palm plantation, and that a plantation at scale risks catalyzing an ecological crisis.
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.
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.
Maker of Jeff Bezos’s yacht fined for using Myanmar ‘blood timber’
Dutch prosecutors have fined the makers of Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos’s superyacht for its use of dubious Myanmar teak, in the latest instance of authorities cracking down on “blood timber” from the Southeast Asian country. Yacht builder Oceanco will pay a 150,000 euro ($159,000) fine under a settlement reached with the Dutch Public Prosecution Service […]
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 […]
The effects of mass migration in Brazil in the second half of the twentieth century
- The latest wave of migration to the Amazon countries was sustained by a new process of colonization. In Brazil, Operação Amazônia used land grants, tax exemptions and a progressive land tax that encouraged forest to cropland or pasture conversion in order to occupy areas bordering neighboring countries.
- In 1972, the federal government launched POLAMAZÔNIA, which designated fifteen landscapes as priority areas for expanding mineral, livestock and agro-industrial production.
- In 1981 the POLONOROESTE programme – which included infrastructure development, agricultural extension, land title administration and healthcare – has been criticized for unleashing deforestation and harming Indigenous communities.
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.
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 […]
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.
Brazil police identify fish trader behind Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira killings
Brazil’s Federal Police say they have identified the mastermind behind the 2022 double homicide of The Guardian journalist Dom Phillips and Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira. The police released their finding Nov. 1, following a two-year investigation. Phillips and Pereira were shot to death June 5, 2022, in Javari Valley, a remote area of Brazil’s Amazonas […]
New ‘Cali Fund’ plans to make companies pay for benefiting from nature
A new global fund for conservation seeks to make corporations share part of their profits of benefiting from using genetic data from animals, plants or microorganisms in nature. Named the Cali Fund, the new finance mechanism was born out of the recently concluded United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity summit, or COP16, held in Cali, […]
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.
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 […]
Forest fires outside tropics drove 60% CO2 surge since 2001: Study
Global carbon dioxide emissions from forest fires have soared by 60% since 2001, driven largely by the burning of forests outside the tropics, according to a new study. There are now, in fact, more emissions from forests located in higher northern latitudes compared to tropical forests, the researchers found. In some areas, such as the […]
Mountain highland bats lack data, face climate threats: Study
Bats in mountainous regions are facing more threats and lack of data compared with their lowland counterparts, a recent study showed. Lead author Rohit Chakravarty in an interview with Mongabay said there is much to be learned about bats dwelling in mountains, which are known to host one-third of the world’s biodiversity and half of […]
Report reveals how environmental crime profits in the Amazon are laundered
- A recent report from the FACT Coalition analyzed 230 cases of environmental crime in Amazon countries over the past decade to better understand how crimes are committed and how the associated profits are laundered.
- It found that the U.S. is the most common foreign destination for the products and proceeds of environmental crimes committed in the Amazon region.
- The most popular way to launder money involves the use of shell and front companies, and corruption was the single most prevalent convergent crime mentioned.
- Of the cases analyzed, only one in three appears to have included a parallel financial investigation.
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.
In Colombia, guerrilla groups decide the fate of the Amazon
- One of Colombia’s biggest active FARC dissident groups is the Central Armed Command (EMC), controlling much of the Amazon rainforest in the departments of Guaviare, Meta and Caquetá.
- Some experts argue that there’s a direct correlation between the EMC’s actions and deforestation trends in the Amazon. Between 2022 and 2023, deforestation dropped by 51% when the group was cooperating with government peace talks.
- With those peace talks breaking down, deforestation is on the rise again. Critics are calling on the government to prioritize the environment in future negotiations.
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 […]
Canopy bridges serve a lifeline for Sumatra’s tree-dwelling primates
- An NGO is working with local authorities in Indonesia’s North Sumatra province to build canopy bridges for primates to safely cross roads that fragment their forest habitats.
- Pakpak Bharat district has seen rapid growth of new roads to improve communities’ access to schools and hospitals, with the trade-off being that many of these roads disrupt wildlife connectivity.
- The bridges, designed to meet the needs of different species, have been used by various wildlife, though not yet the critically endangered orangutans that the designers had in mind, and are monitored regularly through camera traps and maintenance checks.
- Conservationists highlight the bridges’ role in preventing inbreeding among isolated populations and sustaining the ecosystem’s biodiversity, with hopes to expand the initiative across Sumatra.
Women-led groups remain ‘severely underfunded’ for climate action: Report
Women-led Indigenous, Afro-descendant and local community grassroots organizations struggle to access global funding to fight climate change impacts due to structural barriers and stereotypes, a recent report shows. Total government aid, or official development assistance (ODA), for NGOs and women’s rights organizations declined from $891 million between 2019-2020 to $631 million between 2021-2022, according to […]
Trial begins in U.K. for victims of Minas Gerais dam disaster
- A class action lawsuit in the U.K. will decide whether the Fundão tailings dam collapse was the fault of mining companies, Broken Hill Proprietary (BHP) and Miners Vale, which together make up the joint venture Samarco.
- The companies could pay over $40 billion in compensation to 620,000 claimants, following the 2015 dam collapse that released arsenic-laced mud across several Brazilian communities.
- A recent study found that 15 metals, including iron, nickel, arsenic, cadmium and aluminum, were still present in fish, birds, turtles and porpoises at the mouth of the Doce river and on the coast of Espírito Santo and southern Bahia.
- The mining companies argue that the lawsuit doesn’t have jurisdiction in the U.K. and that claimants already received compensation through separate negotiations in Brazil.
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.
‘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.
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.
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.
RSPO rules Samsung palm oil subsidiary violated Indigenous rights in Sumatra
The world’s leading certifier of sustainable palm oil has ruled a Samsung subsidiary violated its standards by failing to consult with a local Indigenous community in Sumatra, Indonesia, where it cleared forests for oil palm plantations. In a Sept. 13 decision, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) said its member PT Inecda, a subsidiary […]
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 […]
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.
Congo looks to monetize its high-integrity forests
- The Republic of Congo’s Ministry of Forest Economy, in partnership with the Wildlife Conservation Society, has launched an investment plan for high-integrity forests in Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park.
- The HIFOR initiative aims to fill the funding gap for well-preserved forests that aren’t eligible for carbon offsetting schemes.
- Nouabalé-Ndoki in the north of the Republic of Congo is recognized for its ecological integrity.
- By integrating sustainable economic practices, the project promises to strengthen conservation efforts while supporting local communities.
Prospect of mining is a bitter pill for Afro-Brazilian community known for its honey
- In northern Brazil’s Piauí state, the vast Afro-Brazilian enclave of Lagoas is home to 119 communities, making it the largest of its kind in the semiarid Caatinga biome and one of the region’s largest producers of organic honey.
- In 2019, the mining company SRN Mineração obtained a temporary permit to prospect for iron ore in the region, posing a threat to the communities’ beekeeping livelihoods as it could contaminate or destroy the bees’ food sources.
- Community leaders say they weren’t consulted by the mining company and that it continues to disrespect their presence and traditions by prospecting less than 100 meters (330 feet) from their most important shrine.
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.
Past failures can’t stop Indonesia from clearing forests, Indigenous lands for farms
- The Indonesian government is embarking on yet another project to establish a massive area of farmland at the expense of forests and Indigenous lands, despite a long history of near-identical failures.
- The latest megaproject calls for clearing 1 million hectares (2.5 million acres) in the district of Merauke in the eastern region of Papua for rice fields.
- Local Indigenous communities say they weren’t consulted about the project, and say the heavy military presence on the ground appears to be aimed at silencing their protests.
- Similar megaprojects, on Borneo and more recently also in Merauke, all failed, leaving behind destroyed landscapes, with the current project also looking “assured to fail,” according to an agricultural researcher.
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.
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