Lessons from Finland’s attempt to transition to a circular economy
In 2016, Finland became the first country in the world to adopt a national circular economy road map, with the ambition to become a world leader in moving away from…
Meet the 2023 Goldman Environmental Prize Winners
Six grassroots environmental activists received the Goldman Environmental Prize on April 24. Known as the "Green Nobel Prize," the Goldman Prize honors environmental activists from the six continental regions. The…
Sámi rights must not be sacrificed for green energy goals of Europe (commentary)
Growing up in Gällivare/ Váhtjer, a Swedish village in Sápmi, north of the Arctic Circle, the threats facing Sámi people were a daily reality. We are Europe’s only Indigenous people,…
Finland’s debate over Indigenous identity and rights turns ugly
This story was produced with the funding support of the Pulitzer Center. Janne Hirvasvuopio got his first Valentine’s Day card early this year. But the message that came through his…
Traditional knowledge guides protection of planetary health in Finland
Traditional and Indigenous peoples in the Arctic are joining with scientists to successfully rewild mining-degraded peatlands and other sites.
In the Arctic, Indigenous Sámi keep life centered on reindeer herding
Under a midnight summer sun, the Inari Sámi gather reindeer. New calves, born just months before, are given a distinctive earmark by the Indigenous herders and then released to graze…
When roads cross wilderness areas, plant pathogens can hitch a ride
On the Åland Islands, a small, sparsely populated archipelago in southern Finland, a team of ecologists spend two weeks each autumn surveying the habitat of a particular butterfly species. The…
Genetic test reveals Baltic flounder migration routes and a new species
The waters of the eastern Baltic Sea around Finland are home to the flounder, a flatfish with both its eyes on one side of the head that uses its camouflage…
Study suggests trees sleep at night
We’ve known for centuries that plants are governed by a circadian rhythm just as much as humans: no less a scientific authority than Charles Darwin himself described the daily cycles…
Europe votes for an Arctic Sanctuary
Yesterday, the European Parliament passed a resolution supporting the creation of an Arctic Sanctuary covering the vast high Arctic around the North Pole, giving official status to an idea that…
Nordic energy giant launches ‘no deforestation’ policy
Neste Oil, a Finnish energy giant, has announced a new "no deforestation" policy [PDF] for sourcing palm oil. The company, which is one of the world's largest buyers of palm…
Climate change creating “novel ecosystem” in Arctic
If melting sea ice and glaciers weren't enough, now climate change is producing what researchers call a "structurally novel ecosystem" in the northwestern Eurasian tundra. Warmer weather and precipitation changes…
Top forest policies recognized
19 forest policies have been nominated for an award by the World Future Council, a global think tank. The policies come from 16 countries: Bhutan, Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Finland,…
Record number of nations hit all time temperature highs
To date, nineteen nations have hit or matched record high temperatures this year, according to Jeff Master's Wunder Blog, making 2010 the only year to have so many national records.…
‘Green’ paper company allegedly complicit in land grabs against Chinese communities
Note: Stora Enso issued a response to this report here. Finnish paper company, Stora Enso, may lose its green and socially responsible reputation over a new report by Rights and…
Summer from hell: seventeen nations hit all-time heat records
Asian continent sees warmest temperature ever recorded. The summer isn't over yet, but already seventeen nations have matched or beaten their all-time heat records. According to Jeff Masters' WunderBlog, Belarus,…
Special series
Forest Trackers
- Bolivia’s El Curichi Las Garzas protected area taken over by land-grabbers
- Authorities struggle to protect Bolivian national park from drug-fueled deforestation
- Poverty and plantations: Nigerian reserve struggles against the odds
- Logging, road construction continue to fuel forest loss in Papua New Guinea
Oceans
- Warming seas push India’s fishers into distant, and more dangerous, waters
- No protection from bottom trawling for seamount chain in northern Pacific
- Annual ocean conference raises $11.3b in pledges for marine conservation
- Caribbean startups are turning excess seaweed into an agroecology solution
Amazon Conservation
- Deforestation haunts top Peruvian reserve and its Indigenous communities
- Amid record-high fires across the Amazon, Brazil loses primary forests
- A web of front people conceals environmental offenders in the Amazon
- Brazil boosts protection of Amazon mangroves with new reserves in Pará state
Land rights and extractives
- Women weave a culture of resistance and agroecology in Ecuador’s Intag Valley
- Hyundai ends aluminum deal with Adaro Minerals following K-pop protest
- Brazil’s illegal gold trade takes a hammering, but persists underground
- Maluku bone collector unearths troubling consequence of coastal abrasion
Endangered Environmentalists
- Indonesian activists face jail over FB posts flagging damage to marine park
- Vietnamese environmentalist sentenced to 3 years in prison for tax evasion
- Son of slain Quilombola leader will still strive for community’s rights
- Video: Five Tembé Indigenous activists shot in Amazonian ‘palm oil war’
Indonesia's Forest Guardians
- Fenced in by Sulawesi national park, Indigenous women make forestry breakout
- In Borneo, the ‘Power of Mama’ fight Indonesia’s wildfires with all-woman crew
- Pioneer agroforester Ermi, 73, rolls back the years in Indonesia’s Gorontalo
- After 20 years and thousands of trees planted, Kalimantan’s veteran forester persists
Conservation Effectiveness
- The conservation sector must communicate better (commentary)
- Thailand tries nature-based water management to adapt to climate change
- Forest restoration to boost biomass doesn’t have to sacrifice tree diversity
- How scientists and a community are bringing a Bornean river corridor back to life
Southeast Asian infrastructure
- Study: Indonesia’s new capital city threatens stable proboscis monkey population
- Indonesia’s new capital ‘won’t sacrifice the environment’: Q&A with Nusantara’s Myrna Asnawati Safitri
- Small farmers in limbo as Cambodia wavers on Tonle Sap conservation rules
- To build its ‘green’ capital city, Indonesia runs a road through a biodiverse forest
