Isabel Esterman

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896 stories
Sand mining in the Mekong

Mekong sand mining risks collapse of SE Asia’s largest freshwater lake, study finds

Carolyn Cowan 23 Dec 2025
Musofa arrived at the Javan Rhino Study and Conservation Area (JRSCA). Image courtesy of Ujung Kulon National Park Authority.

Indonesia’s 1st Javan rhino translocation ends in death, in conservation setback

Basten Gokkon 16 Dec 2025

Seafloor survey in Cambodia finds simple anti-trawling blocks help seagrass recover

Keith Anthony Fabro 15 Dec 2025
A tree kangaroo.

Malaysian companies dominate PNG forest-clearance permits: report

Sonam Lama Hyolmo 15 Dec 2025
Paraiso Mangrove Eco Learning Park, Tacloban City.

Philippine mangroves survived a typhoon, but now confront a human-made challenge

Keith Anthony Fabro 4 Dec 2025
Forestry in Indonesia

SE Asia forest carbon projects sidelining social, biodiversity benefits, study finds

Carolyn Cowan 1 Dec 2025
An Annamite striped rabbit in a breeding facility in Thailand.

Already disappearing, Southeast Asia’s striped rabbits now caught in global pet trade

Spoorthy Raman 25 Nov 2025
Satellite imagery from February 2025 shows the transformation of the landscape at Global Green's gold mine, which is believed to be contaminating the O'Ta Bouk River. Image provided by Google Earth, Maxar Technologies.

Toxic runoff from politically linked gold mine poisons Cambodian rivers, communities

Andy Ball, Gerald Flynn, Phoung Vantha 24 Nov 2025

‘Green’ energy transition leaves a dirty trail in the Philippines’ nickel belt

Bong S. Sarmiento 14 Nov 2025

Cautious win for Indigenous groups in Malaysia as palm oil firm pauses forest clearing

Danielle Keeton-Olsen 11 Nov 2025

UNESCO biosphere listing raises hope, questions for Malaysia’s Kinabatangan floodplain

Keith Anthony Fabro 6 Nov 2025
Lyle’s flying fox

Vietnam’s protected areas fall short of safeguarding most bats, study finds

Carolyn Cowan 6 Nov 2025
Blackchin tilapia

Thai agri giant CPF sues activist over claims linking it to invasive fish outbreak

Carolyn Cowan 4 Nov 2025
Leaching ponds have been drilled into the mountains of Laos, using a mix of toxic chemicals to separate the rare earth minerals from the other materials siphoned out of the ground. Image supplied by source.

Rare earth mining expands into Laos, threatening entire Mekong River

Mongabay 27 Oct 2025
The Pujada Nickel Mining Project leaves an open-wide brown pit, sandwiched between the Mount Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary and Pujada Bay.

Nickel mining damage near UNESCO site stirs outrage in southern Philippines

Bong S. Sarmiento 23 Oct 2025
Flowing from Myanmar into Thailand, the Kok River carries toxic runoff from rare earth mines into Chiang Mai province. Image supplied by Brian Eyler.

More Thai rivers and downstream communities at risk from Myanmar’s rare earth mines

Mongabay 20 Oct 2025
A walkway build amid the mangrove trees.

A protected mangrove forest stands strong as Metro Manila’s last coastal frontier

Mikael Angelo S. Francisco 8 Oct 2025
An Indochinese leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri)

Indochinese leopards face ‘bleak’ future, but hope persists

Ana Norman Bermúdez 7 Oct 2025
The Philippine eagle is being pushed to the brink of extinction due to deforestation and unsustainable hunting.

Study warns up to a quarter of Philippine vertebrates risk extinction

Keith Anthony Fabro 2 Oct 2025
A Bali starling sings with its beak wide open

Indigenous-led protections spark Bali starling’s recovery in the wild

Heather Physioc 2 Oct 2025
Datu Cornelio Melayao points to a patch of greenery tribal members reforested decades ago.

Philippine tribes revive reforestation to defy coal mining expansion

Bong S. Sarmiento 30 Sep 2025
Tracking dog

To track a unicorn: Laos team goes all out to find the last saolas

Carolyn Cowan 30 Sep 2025

Women-led patrols and fire prevention restore forests in northern Thailand

Carolyn Cowan 16 Sep 2025
Babirusa

Small islands offer big hope for conservation of endemic species, study shows

Carolyn Cowan 28 Aug 2025
Display and sale of fish maw during a cultural festival in Singapore.

Upmarket fish maw trade in Singapore & Malaysia includes endangered species: Study

Keith Anthony Fabro 6 Aug 2025
Resident Huỳnh Ngọc Vân at his old seaside home, surrounded by demolished houses cleared for the project, late April 2025.

Rapid development, legal changes put pressure on Vietnam’s forestland

Le Quynh 4 Aug 2025

Jailed Vietnamese civil society leader wins award, boosting calls for his release

Jenny Denton 1 Aug 2025
A leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea).

Malaysia’s turtle egg buyback scheme saved thousands — but is it sustainable?

Keith Anthony Fabro 31 Jul 2025
Joseph Vargas and Wilma Abanil in their home

As gas giants move in, Philippine fishers fight for their seas and survival

Nick Aspinwall 29 Jul 2025
Indigenous Lumad women hold slogans during a rally outside a military headquarters in the Philippines in 2018

Across Southeast Asia, Indigenous women challenge extraction and erasure

Hướng Thiện 25 Jul 2025
An adult Sumatran orangutan

Orangutans make up for lost sleep with daytime naps, study finds

Carolyn Cowan 24 Jul 2025
The StAR Project, which has been breeding and releasing Indo-Pacific leopard sharks in Indonesia, has now opened a nursery in Phuket.

Conservationists raise sharks to restore reefs in waters around Thailand

Claire Turrell 18 Jul 2025

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