Industrial rubber plantation in Colombia. Photos by Rhett A. Butler. Surging demand for natural rubber is decimating some of the world's most endangered forests, putting wildlife and critical ecosystem services…
Hanging an octopus to dry. Courtesy of the Skoll Foundation. A program that helps restore overfished areas through community-based marine conservation has won the Skoll Foundation's top prize for social…
A group of scientists have expressed 'strong concerns' about mounting threats to wilderness and wildlife in Cambodia. In a resolution issued at the conclusion of their annual gathering in Phnom…
MAAP image of the week #2: Deforestation by United Cacao for eventual chocolate production in Peru. A new platform will provide critical near-real time information and analysis on emerging threats…
World leaders are continuing to overlook the worsening condition of tropical forests despite the biome's vast potential to help mitigate climate change, support local livelihoods and ecosystem services, and stabilize…
Google Earth image showing GPS points where forest loss occurred within the past year in a West Kalimantan concession held by PT Bumi Mekar Hijau (BMH). The apparent loss of…
In this commentary, Fred Bercovitch, wildlife conservation biologist at Kyoto University, challenges the conventional wisdom that a paperless workplace is more environmentally friendly than one is using paper. The views…
Part 3 of 5 of a series on palm oil financing. Part I and Part II. Note: this article draws heavily from Seymour el al 2015. Rainforest canopy seen from…
Forest clearing for an oil palm in Malaysia. Photos by Rhett A. Butler Yum! Brands, the company that owns KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut, on Thursday announced a zero…
Executive Summary : Given globalization and rising demands for energy and raw natural resources, extractive industries and their investors deepen the search to the last reaches of the planet for…
Global forest loss drops in 2013, but still tops 18M ha Forest loss in Malaysia and Indonesia, 2001-2013. Click to enlarge. Russia and Canada led the world in forest loss,…
Oil palm plantation in Aceh on the island of Sumatra. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Despite a worldwide trend of companies establishing social and environmental safeguards for palm oil sourcing,…
While deforestation for soy production in the Brazilian Amazon has slowed since the establishment of a deforestation moratorium in 2006, clearing for soy has increased sharply in recent years in…
Brazil's Atlantic Forest has been severely reduced in extent from agriculture and urban expansion. Over the past three years dozens of companies have made 'zero deforestation commitments', establishing policies that…
CUNINICO, Peru--Villager examine oil slick near this Kukama Indian village in the northeastern Peruvian Amazon. Photo by Barbara Fraser. CUNINICO, Peru—When Peru's state-run oil company pulled out of this small…
An orangutan orphaned after its mother was killed during forest clearing for an oil palm plantation in Sumatra. A new app enables iPhone [download] and Android [download] users to scan…
8-DAY LAND SURFACE TEMPERATURE ANOMALY for March 6-13, 2015. Courtesy of NASA. The temperature at a base in Antarctica hit a record high last week, reports Weather Underground. On March…
An excavator piles natural forest logs at a log pond inside a PT. Riau Andalan Pulp & Paper (PT RAPP) pulpwood concession on Pulau Pedang, Bengkalis Regency, Riau Province located…
An excavator piles natural forest logs at a log pond inside a PT. Riau Andalan Pulp & Paper (PT RAPP) pulpwood concession on Pulau Pedang, Bengkalis Regency, Riau Province located…
Part 2 of 5 of a series on palm oil financing. Part I. Deforestation for palm oil production. Photos by Rhett A. Butler. Today, oil palm is Indonesia’s most important…
A yearly buck and fawn meet in Apopka, Florida. PHOTO CREDIT: Ronald Derrig. A camera trap photo of a young buck touching noses with a fawn is among the finalists…
GLobal Forest Watch map showing protected areas and industrial concessions in and around the Leuser Ecosystem in Aceh and North Sumatra on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The rate of…
Fragments of forest in the agricultural landscape around Sinop, Brazil, an area where soybean farming and cattle ranching have expanded at the expense of the Amazon rainforest. Image courtesy of…
Kenneth MacDicken and Francesco Tubiello work at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The views expressed in this commentary are their own. Old-growth rainforest in Malaysian…
Stuffed tiger in Laos. Photo courtesy of EIA A city-sized resort complex in Laos is facilitating large-scale wildlife trafficking for Chinese tourists, exacerbating commercial poaching in the Southeast Asian nation…
Conversion of peatland for an industrial plantation in Riau, Sumatra. Photo by Rhett A. Butler A pair of local communities' five-year slog to establish village forest management areas in Riau…
Part 1 of 5 of a series on palm oil financing Deforestation for palm oil production in Malaysian Borneo. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Palm oil may be the single…
Dani farmer in Indonesian New Guinea. Photos by Rhett A. Butler Indonesia's indigenous population has suffered a long history of human rights violations says a report to be released by…
Worker harvesting fresh fruit bunches in an oil palm plantation in Riau, Sumatra. Photos by Rhett A. Butler. Declining crop prices usually spell bad news for farmers, and poor smallholders…
An orangutan in the forest of Central Kalimantan. Photos by Rhett A. Butler One question that desperately needs to be asked when we talk about the rights of an…
