Harvested plantation with rainforest in the background in Indonesia. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Luxury fashion brand Stella McCartney has pledged to eliminate fabrics sourced via destruction of old-growth and…
The 96 Elephants campaign has asked the television program, Antiques Roadshow, to stop airing appraisals of ivory, even if it is antique. To help convince the PBS program, the campaign—run…
Environmental activists in Ecuador are accusing the country’s National Electoral Council of breaking into sealed boxes to interfere with completed petitions that call for a referendum on oil drilling in…
After his wife died of an aneurysm at the age of 25, Pedro Martin Ureta set about to plant her a legacy: a forest in the shape of a guitar…
An alligator snapping turtle. Photo by: Garry Tucker/USFWS. So, you're a fish swimming in a river in Louisiana. Hungry, you see a little worm wiggling out from the river bed.…
Ramesh Agrawal educates community residents. Photo by: Goldman Environmental Prize. This week, the Goldman Environmental Prize was awarded to six grassroots environmentalists from around the world in honor of their…
Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister, Peter O'Neill, released a statement last week saying that hugely controversial land leases under the country's Special Agricultural and Business Leases (SABLs) will be cancelled…
It's well known that much of the world's massive illegal wildlife trade ends up in China, including poached tigers, pangolins, and bears. But now those who order pangolin fetuses, tiger…
A new report from activist group, ForestEthics, alleges that U.S. company, 3M, supplies many of its products from endangered forests around the world. The NGO links 3M's masking tape and…
Livestock in the Amazon. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Letting forests regrow naturally on grazing lands in the tropics offers substantial climate and biodiversity at a low cost, reports a…
Deforestation for cattle ranching in Mato Grosso, Brazil. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Brazil could reduce more than a quarter of emissions linked to deforestation worldwide by intensifying cattle production…
Rudi Putra. Photo courtesy of the Goldman Prize. An Indonesian has won the world's most prestigious award for environmental activism for his efforts to fight illegal logging, forest encroachment for…
Rainforest tree on Woodlark Island. Photo by: Simon Piyuwes. Seven years ago, a palm oil company set its eyes on Woodlark Island—a small rainforest island nearly 200 miles off the…
Yesterday, nearly 2,000 people held a rally to show support for a Tasmanian forest that the Australian government wants stripped of its UNESCO World Heritage Sites and logged. The government,…
Suren Gazaryan. Photo by: Goldman Environmental Prize. In a country increasingly known for its authoritarian-style crackdown on activists and dissidents, a bat scientist has won a number of impressive victories…
An area of rainforest APP has pledged to protect in Riau Province, on the island of Sumatra. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), Indonesia's largest pulp…
Jambi’s Rapid Forest Destruction Although the province of Jambi is considered a "late bloomer" in terms of palm oil industry development, its rate of expansion is far from slow. Located…
Conservation groups were jubilant in response to last month's ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) banning Japan's long-standing "research" whaling practices in the Antarctic. However, the celebrations proved…
With over seven billion people inhabiting the earth and the population endlessly rising, food security is a mounting global issue. As a solution to increasing food scarcity, forests are commonly…
Evening fog settled quickly on Mount Ngoc Linh, as the steady drone of cicadas and crickets took up their usual nighttime chorus. The night calm was broken by sudden crashing…
Innovation in Tropical Forest Conservation: Q&A with Dr. Carlos Souza Jr. Aerial view of grazing cattle in newly-cleared Amazon in Brazil. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. In the Brazilian Amazon,…
Clearing and burning of peat forest for palm oil production in Sumatra. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Despite a high-profile campaign that caused one of the world's largest food companies…
The Congo, the world's second largest rainforest, is losing its greenness, finds a new study published in Nature. The research, based on analysis of NASA satellite data, reveals the impact…
Herd of cattle in Colombia. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Eating less beef, cutting food waste, and utilizing farm landscapes to sequester carbon are three ways a new report suggests…
Myanmar contains some of Asia's largest forests, but has been losing them at a rapid pace during the last two decades as logging companies emptied woodlands to meet the demands…
Legal forest reserve and cattle pasture in the Brazilian Amazon. By Rhett Butler. The revised Forest Code passed into law by Brazil in 2012 could authorize conversion of 400,000 square…
Altamira municipality. Courtesy of Google Earth. Brazilian municipalities are planning to use drones to map properties and monitor forest cover as they move to step up enforcement of the country's…
As one of the world’s largest palm oil producers, Indonesia is often at the receiving end of criticism and protests by activists, and even by its own people. Its poor…
WARNING: This article contains a graphic photo. ------------------ The extinction risk faced by mammals is often in the limelight. But it may be surprising to learn that next only to…
Last March was the fourth warmest on record, according to new data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Overall, temperatures were 0.71 degrees Celsius (1.28 degrees Fahrenheit) above…