- There are many important conservation and environmental stories Mongabay isn’t able to cover.
- Here’s a digest of some of the significant developments from the week.
- If you think we’ve missed something, feel free to add it in the comments.
Tropical forests
Sabah (Malaysia) protects critically endangered pangolin (World Land Trust).
Armed rebels in eastern DRC kidnap 18 staff members of Kahuzi-Biega gorilla sanctuary (The Guardian).
Climate change will endanger plants and animals of biodiverse Albertine Rift in East Africa, according to a new study (WCS).
Graft drives deforestation in Cambodia (Deutsche Welle).
Some police are profiting from illegal logging in Paraguay (Insight Crime).
Climate change-driven storms threaten forests (The New York Times).
Phosphorous-limited soil is a hurdle that tree communities can overcome in the tropics, new research finds (Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute/Phys.Org).
Bust of charcoal operation in Kenya leads to arrest of more than 30 producers and loggers (Standard Digital).
Forest activists are getting married to trees to draw attention to illegal logging (ABC 7 New York).
Environmental law group calls for stepped-up enforcement of timber importation laws to tackle illegal logging (Euractiv).
Logging in Romania could be causing problems for local communities, as well as the ecosystem (The Ecologist).
Major palm oil producer claims that product from all of its mills can be traced back to the plantation it came from (Environmental Leader).
State-owned forestry company in Australia logged rainforest illegally, new charges allege (WA Today).
Bank of China backs “massive” panda reserve with $1.5-billion pledge (Associated Press).
Deforestation could warm the climate more than previously thought, scientists report in a new study (Nature Communications).
Colombia enlists the help of the European Space Agency to track deforestation (Colombia Reports).
Flooded trail in Brazil attracts ecotourists (video) (Lonely Planet).
Palm oil company director busted for bribery in Indonesian Borneo (The Jakarta Post).
Bushmeat hunting “major” threat to Central Africa’s birds, new study finds (San Diego Zoo/EurekAlert).
Deforestation by companies increases investment risks for banks (Institutional Asset Manager, Business Green).
Scientists break down why some ecosystems bounce back better than others (Science).
Hurricanes batter Puerto Rico’s forests (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory/Phys.Org).
The hidden costs of burning peatlands (Science News).
Land clearing in tropical Australia leads to designation as a “global deforestation hotspot” (The Guardian).
Elephant walks into Malaysian school, as local animal experts try to relocate herd (International Business Times).
Illegally harvested logs in Zambia exported by government authorities (Reuters).
Assessing the dangers and opportunities of oil palm in the Amazon (Columbia University Earth Institute).
Growers of animal feed aren’t backing up their pledges to local and indigenous communities, campaigners say (Feednavigator.com).
Other news
The jaguar fang trade is luring wildlife traffickers to South America (Nature News).
Bolivia sets aside nearly 2,700 square kilometers (1,040 square miles) of the Gran Chaco as a reserve (World Land Trust).
Should climate refugees be considered refugees? (The Economist).
Nearly 50 percent of freshwater animals in Madagascar are threatened (IUCN).
Higher ocean acidity dissolves coral (Scientific American).
Women bear the brunt of climate change (BBC News).
Male rhino, the last of his subspecies, gets a bit better this week (BBC News).
Climate change could threaten California’s most important crops (Mother Jones).
Shark numbers dip in “pristine” Indian Ocean sanctuary (Phys.Org).
Research backs concerns about the impacts of Mekong River dams on local communities (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign/Phys.Org).
Activist’s widow can’t leave Iran (The Guardian).
Heart disease afflicts many captive gorillas (The Guardian).
Banner image of a great white shark by John C. Cannon.
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