How many trees are cut down every year?
When it comes to the world's forests, two of the commonly asked questions are "How many trees are are on Earth?" and "How many trees are cut down each year?"…
Articles by Rhett A. Butler
Rhett Butler is the founder and CEO of Mongabay. Rhett founded Mongabay out of his passion for wildlife and wild places. He has traveled widely in the tropics and enjoys photography, hiking, and scuba-diving.
California takes step toward banning elephant ivory, rhino horn trades
Today the California Senate approved legislation that would ban the ivory and rhinoceros horn across the state. AB 96 passed 26-13, reflecting widespread support for the measure, which aims to…
Global forest loss reached 46 million acres in 2014
Global forest loss amounted to 18.7 million hectares (46 million acres) in 2014, a decline of about 9 percent relative to 2013 and 20 percent compared to 2012, according to…
Brazil’s deforestation alert system reports surge in Amazon forest clearing
Confirming what civil society groups have been saying for months, new data from the Brazilian government suggests a steep increase in deforestation over the past 12 months. The satellite data,…
Rainforests doomed unless world adopts ‘development without destruction’, warn scientists
Tropical forests face a dire future unless humans adopt a radically different approach to protecting and managing them, warns a review published last week in the journal Science. The paper,…
Amazon paradox: drop in large-scale deforestation makes enforcement more difficult
While deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has fallen sharply over the past decade, a larger share of forest loss is now being driven by actors who are more difficult to…
Controversy and awareness-raising (commentary)
Leveraging controversy to raise awareness on threats to indigenous peoples and forests.
APP to clear plantations to restore peatlands
In a notable shift away from business-as-usual in Indonesia's plantation sector, forestry giant Asia Pulp & Paper Group (APP) will undertake ecosystem restoration in 7,000 hectares of commercial timber plantations,…
After long battle, big swath of Sumatran rainforest wins protection
In what conservationists are hailing as a major breakthrough in efforts to protect Sumatra's fast-dwindling lowland rainforests, the Indonesian government on Wednesday finally approved an ecosystem restoration license for more…
Forest data platform now mobile-ready
Global Forest Watch, a platform that maps a wide range of forest data, is now optimized for mobile users, potentially extending the tool for ground-based forest monitoring and deforestation detection.…
Cleaning up cacao: making the chocolate business more sustainable
While most people love chocolate, few are aware of the problems associated with the production of its main ingredient, cacao. The cacao business has traditionally been an ugly one, associated…
Welcome to the new Mongabay
As you may have noticed, over the weekend Mongabay.com changed. This is the first phase of a roll-out that will take place over the next few weeks.
Conservation win in Madagascar: 7 new reserves established
Indri Lemur. Photo by David Cook. Good news on the environmental front in Madagascar has been rare and fleeting in recent years, but today the Indian Ocean island's Prime Minister…
Scaling bottom-up conservation in Latin America
NCI's buriti project helps local communities benefit while protecting areas of this wild palm , working to provide added value sales of palm fruit and extracts. Courtesy of NCI. One…
Fires rage in Indonesian park illegally trashed for palm oil
Fire burning in Tesso Nilo. Photos by Rhett A. Butler. Dozens of fires are raging across Indonesia's Tesso Nilo National Park National Park, a protected area that has lost more…
Dilma disappoints with weak rainforest target
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff disappointed environmentalists with what they call weak commitments on reducing deforestation and supporting renewable energy. In a joint declaration issued with President Obama after her visit…
Do we need to move ‘beyond certification’ to save forests?
Over the past two years dozens of companies have established "zero-deforestation" or "deforestation-free" policies for the commodities they source, trade, and produce. The pace of adoption has been staggeringly fast…
Bunge: if you clear peatlands, we won’t buy your palm oil
Publicly-traded firm suspends new business with company planning to clear peatlands in Sarawak Palm oil growers who plan to convert peatlands and rainforests for new plantations have been warned: one…
Controversy emerges over alleged deforestation policy breach by APRIL supplier
Less than three weeks after APRIL unveiled a sustainability policy that is supposed to protect natural forests, an environmental group is alleging that one of the Indonesian forestry giant's subsidiaries…
Bunge palm oil supplier plans to clear peatlands for plantations
June 23 update BLD Plantation Bhd, a Malaysian palm oil company, plans to clear some 14,000 hectares of peatlands in Sarawak, on the island of Borneo, potentially putting it in…
Special series
Endangered environmentalists
- Peru cracks down after environmental defenders’ murders
- Murder of activist in India highlights growing risk to environmental defenders
- Number of murdered environmental activists rose once again in 2017
Indonesias forest guardians
- Papuan chef Charles Toto serves up sustainability and environmental protection in a platter
- In eastern Indonesia, a forest tribe pushes back against miners and loggers
- Faith in the forest helps Indonesia’s Dayaks keep plantations, loggers at bay
Amazon infrastructure
- China increasingly involved in Brazil’s ambitious Amazon rail network
- Amazon and climate science threatened if Bolsonaro elected Brazil’s president (commentary)
- Grainrail: ‘2nd revolution in Brazilian agribusiness’ and Amazon threat
Asian rhinos
- For Javan rhinos, the last holdout may also be a deadly disease hotspot
- ‘At capacity’? A Nepali park reckons with its rhinos
- What’s killing Nepal’s rhinos?
