Book Review: ‘Planet Palm’ reveals a world map stained by red oil
In the pantheon of global commodities that play starring roles in our narratives of history, palm oil tends to occupy a seat far in the back. We know the search…
Articles by Ashoka Mukpo
Ashoka Mukpo is a staff writer for Mongabay and freelance journalist with expertise in international development policy, human rights, and environmental issues. His work has been featured in Al-Jazeera, Vice News, and The Guardian, among others. Follow him on Twitter via @unkyoka.
In the Honduran Río Plátano Biosphere Reserve, an illegal road for cattle and drugs
Beginning along Honduras’s northeastern coastline and stretching south into its dense interior rainforests lies the Río Plátano Biosphere. Named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1982, the Río Plátano is…
Gas fields and jihad: Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado becomes a resource-rich war zone
On Monday, French energy giant Total declared force majeure on its multibillion-dollar light natural gas (LNG) project in northern Mozambique, formally withdrawing all of its employees from the region and…
81 Indigenous leaders, environmental defenders slam BlackRock in open letter
A group of 81 Indigenous leaders and environmental defenders from across the world have signed an open letter to BlackRock, saying the fund manager’s investments “continue to threaten our health,…
JBS, other Brazil meatpackers linked to devastating Pantanal fires, Greenpeace says
In a new report, Greenpeace has linked major Brazilian meat processors JBS, Marfrig and Minerva to cattle ranchers that satellite data indicate were responsible for setting fires in Brazil’s Pantanal…
Review finds palm oil firm Golden Veroleum cleared carbon-rich Liberian forests
In another blow to the Liberia-based palm oil company Golden Veroleum, an investigation by an independent grievance panel has found that it bulldozed rainforests and ignored community rights as it…
As nature declines, so does human quality of life, study finds
The past 50 years have seen a catastrophic decline in the planet’s ecosystems and natural environments. Every day at least 32,300 hectares (80,000 acres) of forest vanishes, and the size…
In sweeping executive orders, Biden brings climate to the forefront of U.S. policy
A new U.S. administration is in office, and on Wednesday it made clear that addressing climate change will be at the top of its list of priorities. In an expansive…
Nigeria emerges as Africa’s primary export hub for ivory, pangolin scales
When Singaporean customs officials opened a shipping container en route to Vietnam from Nigeria on April 3, 2019, they found piles of canvas sacks stuffed full of dusty, dried flakes.…
Six rangers killed in deadly militia attack in DRC’s Virunga National Park
Six rangers working at Virunga National Park in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo were killed in an ambush by a local militia group on Sunday, according to the park’s…
Liberia gave villagers control over their forests. Then a mining company showed up
Liberia’s Nimba county lies about an eight-hour drive north of the capital, Monrovia. In the dry season, the road leading into the far-flung region kicks up swirling clouds of red…
Report: WWF knew about rights abuses by park rangers, but didn’t respond effectively
In March 2019, Buzzfeed News published the first of a series of articles tying international conservation giant WWF to violent and severe human rights abuses allegedly committed by park rangers…
Biden’s election is good news for the climate. But what comes next?
Few images captured the mood of climate activists this week more vividly than a video posted to Twitter of Christiana Figueres, one of the architects of the Paris Agreement, jubilantly…
Report: Soy, cattle industries trail palm oil, timber on deforestation risk
Corporations that trade in four forest-risk commodities are failing to do enough to prevent deforestation in their supply chains, according to new analysis by the Climate Disclosure Project (CDP), an…
In Guatemala, refugees find new calling as park rangers
At night in Mirador National Park in northeastern Guatemala, Raul Gomez falls asleep surrounded by the calls of nocturnal animals padding their way through the jungles of the Maya Biosphere…
Shark fin trafficking ring busted as trade ban comes into effect in Florida
U.S. authorities say they’ve broken up a conspiracy to traffic shark fins in and out of Florida by a company based in California, where their sale and export is banned…
Watch: Rare wildlife caught on camera in a remote Liberian rainforest
A camera trap survey has captured 23 different species of wildlife walking through a remote rainforest in eastern Liberia, including western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) and the elusive pygmy hippopotamus…
BlackRock, other asset managers enabling deforestation, says Friends of the Earth
The environmental advocacy group Friends of the Earth has blasted BlackRock and other asset management titans in a new report that says they aren’t doing enough to curb global deforestation.…
$154b in capital has gone to 300 forest-risk companies since the Paris Agreement
Since the Paris climate agreement was signed in 2016, 300 companies at risk for contributing to deforestation have received at least $153.9 billion in financing, according to a new analysis…
Is that ivory from an elephant or a nut? A new guide shows how to tell
Governments and businesses looking to crack down on the illegal ivory trade have a new tool in their hands, courtesy of WWF, TRAFFIC, and the CITES Secretariat. For the first…
As wild areas become farmland, species that carry diseases flourish
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to wreak havoc across the world, much of the blame for the human and economic devastation caused by the virus has been directed toward China.…
2019 was the deadliest year ever for environmental activists, watchdog group says
2019 was the deadliest year on record for environmental activists, according to a new report by the advocacy watchdog Global Witness. In total, the group says that at least 212…
Study: Chinese ‘dark fleets’ illegally defying sanctions by fishing in North Korean waters
Chinese “dark fleets” illegally fished a $440 million haul of the squid species Todarodes pacificus in North Korean waters during 2017 and 2018, according to a study published today in…
World Bank’s IFC pumped $1.8b into factory farming operations since 2010
The World Bank’s private investment arm has channeled more than $1.8 billion into major livestock and factory farming operations across the world over the past decade, despite calls for the…
Ikea using illegally sourced wood from Ukraine, campaigners say
The global furniture giant Ikea used illegal timber from Ukraine in its supply chain and one of the world’s preeminent forestry certification organizations failed to stop it from happening, a…
Harrowing video shows indigenous Colombians fleeing gunfire
In the midst of a national lockdown in Colombia, a dramatic video showing dozens of indigenous Emberá fleeing gunfire and heavy fighting by canoe in the country’s northwest emerged on…
Norway’s sovereign wealth fund drops major Brazil miner, utility from its portfolio
Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG) has excluded two of Brazil’s largest energy companies from its portfolio, the fund’s executive board said last week. The decision to divest from mining…
Dangerous levels of heat and humidity rising in frequency, study says
Have you ever stepped outside on a hot, humid day and — instantly starting to sweat — told yourself that the temperature must be higher than what the thermometer says?…
Nicaragua failing to protect indigenous groups from land grabs: Report
Indigenous groups in Nicaragua have faced years of land grabbing by mining companies, the cattle ranching industry, and migrants from other parts of the country, says a new report by…
As calls to shutter wildlife markets grow, China struggles with an industry worth billions
Last Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called on China to shut down wet markets where illegal wildlife are sold. Pompeo’s call was echoed by the Australian government, which…
Special series
Forest Trackers
- Satellites show deforestation surging in Indonesia’s Tesso Nilo National Park
- Large-scale logging in Cambodia’s Prey Lang linked to politically-connected mining operation
- Pasture replaces large tract of intact primary forest in Brazilian protected area
- Deforestation on the rise as poverty soars in Nigeria
Oceans
- Nickel, Tesla and two decades of environmental activism: Q&A with leader Raphaël Mapou
- All eyes on Tesla as it invests in a troubled nickel mine
- ‘The return of land to Indigenous people is key’: Q&A with Shinnecock Kelp Farm’s Tela Troge
- WTO finally nets deal curbing fisheries subsidies, but tables key bits for later
Amazon Conservation
- At 30, Brazil’s Yanomami reserve is beset by mining, malaria and mercury
- Pasture replaces large tract of intact primary forest in Brazilian protected area
- Ecuador’s Pastaza province, Indigenous groups collaborate on forest conservation
- ‘Giving up’: Amazon is losing its resilience under human pressure, study shows
Land rights and extractives
- Coal mining threatens Ethiopia’s ancient coffee forest
- Proposed copper and gold mine threatens the world’s ‘second Amazon’ in PNG
- In Indonesian Borneo, a succession of extractive industries multiplies impacts, social fractures
- Illegal mining threatens one of the last forest links between the Andes and Ecuador’s Amazon
Endangered Environmentalists
- A look at violence and conflict over Indigenous lands in nine Latin American countries
- Citizen participation: a key achievement at the first COP to the Escazú Agreement
- “We are on the front line”: Q&A with Indigenous land defender Adiela Jineth Mera Paz
- Death threats and friction with military force Guatemalan rangers to flee
Indonesia's Forest Guardians
- From Flores to Papua: Meet 10 of Indonesia’s mangrove guardians
- Why I stand for my tribe’s forest: It gives us food, culture, and life (commentary)
- Reforesting a village in Indonesia, one batch of gourmet beans at a time
- Restoring Sumatra’s Leuser Ecosystem, one small farm at a time
Conservation Effectiveness
- In prioritizing conservation, animal culture should be a factor, study says
- Young forests can help heal tropical aquatic ecosystems: Study
- How sharing and learning from failures can transform conservation (commentary)
- Is planting trees as good for the Earth as everyone says?
Southeast Asian infrastructure
- In Laos, a ‘very dangerous dam’ threatens an ancient world heritage site
- Bali’s new highway project sparks concerns about agriculture and conservation areas
- Deforestation notches up along logging roads on PNG’s New Britain Island
- Plantations and roads strip away Papua’s forests. They’re just getting started
