Stream in the middle of a new oil palm plantation. Oil palm cultivation is a lucrative form of land use in Indonesia, but the new study suggests that it may…
We'll pay more: governments in developing countries spend far less on tropical forest conservation than their citizens would like Rainforest in Malaysian Borneo. Photos by Rhett A. Butler. As developing…
Meet the world's newest elephant shrew: the Etendeka round-eared sengi. Photo by: Jack Dumbacher/California Academy of Sciences. Forget marsupials, the world's strangest group of mammals are actually those in the…
Total profit from environmental crime may exceed $200 billion per year Deforestation has many harmful consequences, from loss of wildlife habitat to degradation of water and air quality, and many…
What would you change in conservation? It's a simple question, but like so many simple quandaries it's bound to elicit a wide diversity of answers. Recently, a pair of students…
Indonesia now has the highest deforestation rate in the world, topping even Brazil which has more than five times the natural forest cover. Background photo: rainforest in Sumatra. Despite a…
Deforestation often shunted to highlands Carbon-centric conservation programs, such as REDD+ (Reduce CO2 Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation), seek to lower greenhouse gas emissions by preventing forest loss through protection…
Political scientist Arun Agrawal's research sheds light on the connection between forest health and people's livelihoods "To all brothers and sisters who hold the dream in their hearts of a…
Innovation in Tropical Forest Conservation: Q&A with Dr. Claude Garcia Ivindo National Park in Gabon. The loss of rainforest is an emerging issue in the Congo Basin. The forests of…
Advancements allow on-the-ground genetic analysis, can be used by scientists and novices alike For decades, genetic analysis has been limited to the laboratory domain. It required heavy, expensive equipment, and…
Scientists need to start speaking out on overpopulation Suburb development in Colorado Springs, Colorado U.S. The population of the U.S. is currently growing at around 0.7 percent annually. Photo by:…
Last month was the warmest May on record, according to new data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). While global land surface temperatures were the fourth warmest, it…
Global Forest Watch map showing forest loss in and around Tajung Puting and the Rimba Raya project area. Just over a year ago, the Indonesian government officially approved the country's…
New forestry laws in the works, but may not be enough Oil palm nursery in a Herakles Farm’s concession area. Photo: © Greenpeace/Alex Yallop. The potential for new laws governing…
Sugar cane in the tropics. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. If Brazil wants to respect its commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions it should target low productivity cattle pasture rather…
Two new reports this week look at the economics of global warming. The first, Risky Business, tallies the cost of climate change to the U.S., including tens-of-billions lost to destruction…
Study urges alteration of management practices Habitat fragmentation and hunting are both distinct critical issues facing forests today that require their own countermeasures. Yet, much research has chosen to conflate…
Specialist species fare more poorly than generalists Tropical forests boast high levels of biodiversity. But often, even if they contain large numbers of species, the numbers of individuals of those…
New research refutes previous findings Barbed-wire snares, spent shotgun shells, the lingering smell of gunpowder, and strips of curing meat: glimpses from a bushmeat hunt. Bushmeat hunting is the illegal…
A technology that uses discarded mobile phones to create a real-time alert system against logging and poaching will soon be deployed in the endangered rainforests of Central Africa. Rainforest Connection…
Cloud forests threatened by global warming, logging Tropical cloud forests are situated in mountains and are characterized by the frequent presence of low-level clouds. Scientists have always regarded them as…
New data from NASA and the World Resources Institute (WRI) show that peat fires are again burning in Sumatra, yet both leading presidential contenders are ignoring the issue of climate…
Conservation efforts succeed with Galapagos tortoise, half of all turtle species worldwide remain threatened Today marks the two-year anniversary of the death of Lonesome George, the world’s last Pinta Island…
The Neotropical otter (Lontra longicaudis) should not be considered threatened by the IUCN Red List, according to a new paper in mongabay.com's open-access journal Tropical Conservation Science. Currently the species…
Captive Egyptian vulture adult. Photo by: Carlos Delgado/Creative Commons 3.0. The hunt Around 11 AM on Thursday, 27 February 2014, Angoulou Enika was lying hidden in the tall grass on…
Local communities playing a big role in protecting forest habitat Researchers have discovered a new population of banteng (Bos javanicus), a species of wild cattle, in northwestern Cambodia. The discovery…
Landsat images released by Greenomics showing clearing by Sumatera Jaya Agro Lestari near 110°22'29.354"E 0°23'27.682"S A Wilmar supplier is allegedly destroying orangutan habitat in Indonesian Borneo, potentially putting it in…
The UNESCO World Heritage Committee today unanimously rejected a controversial proposal by the Australian government to strip 74,000 hectares of temperate rainforest from a World Heritage Site in Tasmania. In…
Researchers rethink camera trapping strategies Photo trapping is a popular technique for gathering images and information about elusive wildlife. Recently, camera traps captured the first-ever images of wild flat-headed cats…
What's it Worth? Deepening pressure on Fiji’s coral protectors. Redfish, Greenfish, Blackfish. Pinkfish, Curryfish, Lollyfish. They sound like Dr. Seuss characters and certainly look like they should be. Yet these…