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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
		<atom:link href="https://news.mongabay.com/feed/?s=&#038;type=post&#038;topic=corruption" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/corruption/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
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	<url>https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/16160320/cropped-mongabay_icon-32x32.png</url>
	<title>News on Corruption</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/corruption/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Logging operations uncovered at Cambodian senator’s dam in the Cardamoms</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/logging-operations-uncovered-at-cambodian-senators-dam-in-the-cardamoms/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/logging-operations-uncovered-at-cambodian-senators-dam-in-the-cardamoms/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Sep 2026 01:30:15 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerald Flynn]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/10/09140647/Lutrogale_perspicillata_-_Jurong_Eco_Garden-harrison-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=328129</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, Global, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Alternative Energy, Carbon Credits, Carbon Market, Carbon Sequestration, climate finance, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corruption, Crime, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Energy, Environment, Forest Carbon, Forestry, Forests, Governance, Habitat Loss, Hydroelectric Power, Illegal Logging, Logging, Natural Resources, Old Growth Forests, Rainforests, Selective Logging, and Threats To Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[“They are clearing the forest for the reservoir,” said Phan, a resident of O’Soam commune in Cambodia’s western province of Pursat. “These days, every few days, there is only one timber truck because it is the raining season, but during the dry season, there are three or four timber trucks [per day].” Phan, who spoke [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[“They are clearing the forest for the reservoir,” said Phan, a resident of O’Soam commune in Cambodia’s western province of Pursat. “These days, every few days, there is only one timber truck because it is the raining season, but during the dry season, there are three or four timber trucks [per day].” Phan, who spoke to Mongabay by phone, requested that neither his full name nor his village name be published for fear of retribution from the developers of the 70-megawatt (MW) Stung Russei Chrum Kandal hydropower dam, also known as the Middle Russei Chrum River dam. Construction on the dam, which spans the Russei Chrum River in neighboring Koh Kong province, began in 2023 inside Phnom Kravanh National Park, one of Cambodia’s largest protected rainforests. The dam is one of many being built in the Cardamoms as Cambodia pushes for “clean” energy security, but recent satellite imagery indicates that large-scale logging is happening beyond the authorized construction sites. This map shows where the two dams are being built inside Cambodia&#8217;s protected Kravanh National Park. Image by Emilie Languedoc/Mongabay. Access to the site, Phan added, has been restricted and checkpoints are closely guarded by armed men in Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) uniforms. “We used to enter for fishing and laying fishing equipment, yet we are not allowed to enter anymore,” he said. “They have checkpoints, they have troops — they say the troops came to protect the forests. But the company set them up as security guards; we cannot&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/logging-operations-uncovered-at-cambodian-senators-dam-in-the-cardamoms/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/logging-operations-uncovered-at-cambodian-senators-dam-in-the-cardamoms/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-328129</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Cambodia defies UN call to free ‘arbitrarily jailed’ environmental activists</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/cambodia-defies-un-call-to-free-arbitrarily-jailed-environmental-activists/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/cambodia-defies-un-call-to-free-arbitrarily-jailed-environmental-activists/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Aug 2026 10:30:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerald Flynn]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/07/02191929/Ly-Chandaravuth-addresses-Mother-Nature-Cambodia-supporters-before-the-court-issued-a-verdict-on-July-2-2024-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327551</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Climate Justice, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation leadership, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corruption, Crime, Endangered Environmentalists, Environment, Environmental Heroes, Governance, Law, Natural Resources, NGOs, Nonviolence, Protests, and Social Justice]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[CHIANG MAI, Thailand — The Cambodian government has defended its continued imprisonment of five environmental activists, after the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention declared the five had been arbitrarily detained and called for their immediate release. The activists, from environmental group Mother Nature Cambodia, have since 2024 been serving prison sentences of between [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[CHIANG MAI, Thailand — The Cambodian government has defended its continued imprisonment of five environmental activists, after the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention declared the five had been arbitrarily detained and called for their immediate release. The activists, from environmental group Mother Nature Cambodia, have since 2024 been serving prison sentences of between six and eight years for allegedly plotting against the government. In a 16-page opinion published in February, the U.N. working group said it had found that the imprisonment of Long Kuntha, 28, Ly Chandaravuth, 26, Phuon Keoraksmey, 25, Thun Ratha, 34 and Yim Leanghy, 37, met the conditions for arbitrary detention on the grounds that there was no legal basis for the arrests. It said authorities had targeted the activists for exercising their fundamental freedoms, making the detention discriminatory and resulting in severe violations of their right to a fair trial. The opinion asked Cambodia to take immediate action on the matter in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the latter of which Cambodia ratified in 1992, and to provide evidence of having done so within six months. Contacted by Mongabay in August, six months since the working group’s findings, a government spokesperson said the activists would remain behind bars. “I have no comment on [the working group’s] rulings against us as all detentions have been made under legal and judicial proceeding,” Chan Rothona, spokesperson for Cambodia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/cambodia-defies-un-call-to-free-arbitrarily-jailed-environmental-activists/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327551</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>To secure protected areas from wildlife trafficking, criminal networks must be dismantled (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/secure-protected-areas-from-wildlife-trafficking-criminal-networks-must-be-dismantled-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/secure-protected-areas-from-wildlife-trafficking-criminal-networks-must-be-dismantled-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Aug 2026 23:10:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ofir Drori]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/27184418/pangolin-black-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=326841</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Commentary, Conservation, Corruption, Crime, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Law, Law Enforcement, Poaching, Protected Areas, Trade, Wildlife, Wildlife consumption, Wildlife Rangers, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Conservation has historically emphasized protected area management including protecting land, fencing, local enforcement and rangers’ patrols within parks. And indeed, decades of protected area management have demonstrated that strong local protection matters enormously. But there is a weakness in this logic that we rarely confront directly. Protected areas can suppress poaching within their boundaries and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Conservation has historically emphasized protected area management including protecting land, fencing, local enforcement and rangers’ patrols within parks. And indeed, decades of protected area management have demonstrated that strong local protection matters enormously. But there is a weakness in this logic that we rarely confront directly. Protected areas can suppress poaching within their boundaries and in neighboring patrolled zones, but they cannot dismantle the criminal networks that finance, organize and replenish wildlife crime from the outside, which impact inside the protected areas as well as landscapes more broadly. As long as those networks remain intact, they will keep recruiting poachers, corrupting officials and — when conditions change (i.e. increased ivory prices, corruption in ranger units, etc.) — resuming operations. Focusing conservation investment exclusively on protected area protection, while ignoring the organized crime infrastructure surrounding it, is a little like trying to stop drug use in a neighborhood without ever addressing the criminal organizations supplying it. The pressure does not disappear. It persists and finds new ways. Golden lion tamarins rescued from the illegal wildlife trade in Togo. Image courtesy of EAGLE Network. The threat that lives outside the fence Wildlife trafficking is not a disorganized or opportunistic activity. It is a structured criminal enterprise, operating with hierarchy, logistics and, critically, access to high-level corruption within the institutions meant to stop it. When analyzing across more than 3,000 prosecuted cases in Africa undertaken by our team at EAGLE Network, a clear pattern emerges: Trafficking networks do not merely exploit weak enforcement&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/secure-protected-areas-from-wildlife-trafficking-criminal-networks-must-be-dismantled-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326841</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesian zoo corruption case renews scrutiny of animal welfare</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/indonesian-zoo-corruption-case-renews-scrutiny-of-animal-welfare/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/indonesian-zoo-corruption-case-renews-scrutiny-of-animal-welfare/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Jul 2026 04:18:37 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/04/01214955/800px-Surabaya_Zoo-520x227.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=324730</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, East Java, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Welfare, Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Corruption, Crime, Environment, Ex-situ Conservation, Wildlife, and Zoos]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[An alleged corruption case at Indonesia&#8217;s Surabaya Zoo has renewed scrutiny of how the country&#8217;s wildlife conservation institutions are governed and prompted experts to warn that financial misconduct can have consequences that extend beyond public finances to the welfare of animals entirely dependent on human care. The investigation has also reignited calls for stronger oversight [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[An alleged corruption case at Indonesia&#8217;s Surabaya Zoo has renewed scrutiny of how the country&#8217;s wildlife conservation institutions are governed and prompted experts to warn that financial misconduct can have consequences that extend beyond public finances to the welfare of animals entirely dependent on human care. The investigation has also reignited calls for stronger oversight and accountability to ensure conservation institutions protect both public resources and the wildlife entrusted to them. East Java prosecutors named Choirul Anwar a suspect on July 21, 2026, in connection with an alleged corruption case involving the operational budget of Surabaya Zoo between 2016 and 2024. Choirul was previously the president director of the Surabaya Zoo and Wildlife Park Regional Company. A preliminary audit conducted jointly with the East Java representative office of the Financial and Development Supervisory Agency (BPKP) estimated state losses at 10.2 billion rupiah ($564,000), of which approximately 7.4 billion rupiah ($409,000) was allegedly diverted for the suspect&#8217;s personal benefit. Prosecutors said the alleged corruption had contributed to a deterioration in the management of Surabaya Zoo in the subsequent years, leading to declining services and facilities, while a number of animals reportedly died due to inadequate care. A 16-year-old tiger died in 2016 in Surabaya Zoo. Image courtesy of Surabaya Zoo. The case has renewed calls from zoo and conservation experts for stronger oversight of conservation institutions, including audits that assess not only financial compliance but also animal welfare outcomes and governance safeguards in hopes of detecting misconduct earlier. “Many people still&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/indonesian-zoo-corruption-case-renews-scrutiny-of-animal-welfare/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/indonesian-zoo-corruption-case-renews-scrutiny-of-animal-welfare/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324730</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Monika Silva Koniuszek, 41, defended the everyday things corruption corrodes</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/monika-silva-koniuszek-41-defended-the-everyday-things-corruption-corrodes/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/monika-silva-koniuszek-41-defended-the-everyday-things-corruption-corrodes/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Jun 2026 15:23:49 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/18151921/Monika-Silva-helping-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321441</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Ecuador, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Corruption, Endangered Environmentalists, Obituary, and Violence]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[&#160; Montañita is a place many people intend to pass through. They come for surf, sun, music, and a stretch of Ecuador’s coast known for surf, music, and its free-spirited nature. Some stay longer. They open small businesses, learn the workings of the communes, put children into local schools, and begin to notice what visitors [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[&nbsp; Montañita is a place many people intend to pass through. They come for surf, sun, music, and a stretch of Ecuador’s coast known for surf, music, and its free-spirited nature. Some stay longer. They open small businesses, learn the workings of the communes, put children into local schools, and begin to notice what visitors often do not see: the sewage that is not properly treated, the public works that arrive without answers, the land whose ownership becomes uncertain, and the turtles whose nesting beaches are treated as available ground. For a woman from northern Poland, the change of country became something beyond expatriate life. Ecuador was where she made a home, ran a hostel, raised two daughters, and became part of Santa Elena’s disputes and loyalties. Monika Silva Koniuszek, who was found dead on June 8th at her home in Montañita, was 41. The circumstances of her death remain under investigation. In the weeks before she died, she had spoken publicly of warnings that there was a plan to kill her. She had alerted authorities and sought protection. After her death, Polish diplomats, the European Union, human-rights groups, and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights called for a thorough and independent inquiry. Her public work began with local problems. Montañita’s inadequate sewage system troubled her. So did the way decisions about beaches, mangroves, public land, and services seemed to benefit the same networks of power. She came to see poverty, malnutrition, poor infrastructure, and environmental damage as linked by&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/monika-silva-koniuszek-41-defended-the-everyday-things-corruption-corrodes/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321441</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Rights groups renew call to free jailed Cambodian environmental activists</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/rights-groups-renew-call-to-free-jailed-cambodian-environmental-activists/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/rights-groups-renew-call-to-free-jailed-cambodian-environmental-activists/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Jun 2026 02:51:38 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerald Flynn]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/07/02191933/Phuon-Keorasmey-another-prominent-figure-of-Mother-Nature-Cambodia-is-arrested-on-July-2-2024_banner-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320620</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Climate Change, Community Development, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corruption, Crime, Deforestation, Endangered Environmentalists, Environment, Governance, Human Rights, Land Rights, Mining, and Social Justice]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BANGKOK — Seven hundred days after activists from the environmental group Mother Nature Cambodia were imprisoned on charges widely regarded as retaliatory for their activism, 73 international and Cambodian civil society organizations have renewed calls for their unconditional release. After a trial lasting just over a month, 10 activists from Mother Nature Cambodia were sentenced [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BANGKOK — Seven hundred days after activists from the environmental group Mother Nature Cambodia were imprisoned on charges widely regarded as retaliatory for their activism, 73 international and Cambodian civil society organizations have renewed calls for their unconditional release. After a trial lasting just over a month, 10 activists from Mother Nature Cambodia were sentenced on July 2, 2024, to between six and eight years in prison. Only five of the defendants attended the hearings, which saw Long Kuntha, 28, Ly Chandaravuth, 26, Phuon Keoraksmey, 25, and Thun Ratha, 34, each sentenced to six years behind bars for plotting against the government; fellow activist Yim Leanghy, 36, received an eight-year sentence for both plotting against the government and insulting the king. The five activists who did not attend the trial were sentenced in absentia. The appeals hearing for all 10 convicted activists was slated to take place on June 2, but has been postponed indefinitely by the Phnom Penh Court of Appeals. “The MNC5 are incarcerated in prisons in overcrowded and harsh living conditions, separated from each other and spread out all across Cambodia, hundreds of kilometers away from their families and legal counsel,” wrote the 73 NGOs in an open letter addressed to Prime Minister Hun Manet. “The … NGOs who have signed this letter sincerely request you take immediate action to ensure the unjust convictions of these five activists are reversed either prior to or at their upcoming appeals court hearing in Phnom Penh, and that their freedom&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/rights-groups-renew-call-to-free-jailed-cambodian-environmental-activists/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320620</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As traditional forest governance erodes in Peru, ‘ghost permits’ fill the vacuum</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/as-traditional-forest-governance-erodes-in-peru-ghost-permits-fill-the-vacuum/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/as-traditional-forest-governance-erodes-in-peru-ghost-permits-fill-the-vacuum/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Mar 2026 20:23:41 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Michele Calamaio]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/30182350/19_Peru_Ghost_01-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316593</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation and Land rights and extractives]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Corruption, Crime, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Forests, Governance, Illegal Logging, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Logging, Natural Resources, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, Timber, timber trade, Traditional People, and Tropical Deforestation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[HONORIA, Peru — Jacqueline Flores sits cross-legged on a wooden platform inside a dim Asháninka maloca, the Indigenous longhouse where her dress, painted with geometric patterns, seems to merge with the resin-sweet smell of plants macerating for ceremony. Outside, the Boiling River murmurs. Inside, her voice rises in a long, trembling ícaro, part prayer, part [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[HONORIA, Peru — Jacqueline Flores sits cross-legged on a wooden platform inside a dim Asháninka maloca, the Indigenous longhouse where her dress, painted with geometric patterns, seems to merge with the resin-sweet smell of plants macerating for ceremony. Outside, the Boiling River murmurs. Inside, her voice rises in a long, trembling ícaro, part prayer, part medicine, part declaration of her identity. This South American ancestral colloquialism for ‘magic song’ serves her a specific purpose, she says: to anchor herself to something older than memory. “I’m a student of the plants,” she says, “to help humanity and people who need to ‘heal’.” In the ‘80s, Jacqueline’s ancestors were forced to leave their Asháninka territory in Peru’s central rainforest to escape the violence of the Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso) terrorist group. “A lot was lost,” she says. She sees it in the fragmentation of neighboring communities, internal divisions and the disappearance of shared points of reference. Her work — improving her own healing center, Pumayaku, recovering her language and reconnecting with her territory after displacement — is her answer to that loss. In the Peruvian Amazon, erosion of traditional governance is reshaping the forest as powerfully as any force of globalization, according to anthropologist Glenn Shepard. Ancestral culture fades, languages are forgotten, rituals weaken and community guidance fractures, while internal corruption can concurrently become the driving force behind deforestation and the quiet dismantling of Indigenous stewardship. As elder-based authority, ritual discipline and long-term leadership degrade, collective decision-making gives way to document-based control,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/as-traditional-forest-governance-erodes-in-peru-ghost-permits-fill-the-vacuum/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/as-traditional-forest-governance-erodes-in-peru-ghost-permits-fill-the-vacuum/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-316593</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In the Amazon, law enforcement against environmental crime remains controversial</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/in-the-amazon-law-enforcement-against-environmental-crime-remains-controversial/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/in-the-amazon-law-enforcement-against-environmental-crime-remains-controversial/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Dec 2025 10:00:10 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Timothy J. Killeen]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mayra]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/16051603/peru_lasbambas_mineria_mongabay51.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=311452</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Perfect Storm in the Amazon]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Corruption, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forest Destruction, Forests, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Law Enforcement, and Mining]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Trust in the criminal justice system varies among countries in the Pan Amazon, but in no country do citizens have an overall positive view of the police. In the Andean Republics, distrust of the police is probably due to their proclivity to extort bribes; however, it may also reflect their role in repressing public protests, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Trust in the criminal justice system varies among countries in the Pan Amazon, but in no country do citizens have an overall positive view of the police. In the Andean Republics, distrust of the police is probably due to their proclivity to extort bribes; however, it may also reflect their role in repressing public protests, most recently in Bolivia (2019, 2023), Peru (2022) and Ecuador (2022). They are widely assumed to be suborned by narco-traffickers, an accusation that robs them of legitimacy and further diminishes their standing among citizens. The failure of police to intervene when land grabbers invade communal lands is a textbook example of a crime of omission, particularly along the Rio Ucayali (Peru) and in Chiquitania (Bolivia), where ongoing land rushes are being fomented by local politicians seeking to benefit economically or electorally from an influx of migrants. Image of a Colombian police operation against illegal mining dredgers in Bajo Cauca in 2019. Credit: Police. In Brazil, the police do not extort bribes, but they are frequently accused of using excessive force in their campaigns against criminal gangs. In Amazonian jurisdictions, the Policia Militar looms large because its role in keeping public order in rural areas forces it to adjudicate disputes between landholders and landless workers. Faced with a thankless task under the best of circumstances, the PM has an unfortunate history of collaborating with private security forces (Jagunços) to forcefully eject squatters without a proper court order. Since the Catholic Church started monitoring this type of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/in-the-amazon-law-enforcement-against-environmental-crime-remains-controversial/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-311452</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In the Amazon, lack of transparency and corruption undermine the environment</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/in-the-amazon-lack-of-transparency-and-corruption-undermine-the-environment/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/in-the-amazon-lack-of-transparency-and-corruption-undermine-the-environment/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Dec 2025 11:00:53 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Timothy J. Killeen]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mayra]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/16040940/PORTADA-BRASIL-Beyond-Fire_Mining_04_DSC_2834-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=311448</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Perfect Storm in the Amazon]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Corruption, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forest Destruction, Governance, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Law, Law Enforcement, Organized Crime, Politics, Rainforests, Timber, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Brazil’s Ministério Público Federal has demonstrated how an ambitious corps of prosecutors can foster compliance with environmental laws. After charges are filed and indictments served, however, the forum for law enforcement shifts to the courtroom, which in the jurisdictions of the Pan Amazon usually translates into inaction and impunity. Failure to enforce environmental law in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Brazil’s Ministério Público Federal has demonstrated how an ambitious corps of prosecutors can foster compliance with environmental laws. After charges are filed and indictments served, however, the forum for law enforcement shifts to the courtroom, which in the jurisdictions of the Pan Amazon usually translates into inaction and impunity. Failure to enforce environmental law in the courts is part of a larger problem of political corruption and judicial dysfunction. Just as illegal loggers and land grabbers rarely see the inside of a jail, individuals guilty of bribery, embezzlement and money laundering also largely escape punishment. Success in fighting environmental crime depends on a society’s ability to isolate its judicial system from political corruption. Fighting corruption in the judicial system and enforcing environmental laws go hand in hand. Corruption takes many forms, but in the overwhelming number of acts of political corruption that infect government, it is usually a crime of commission, where the guilty parties proactively offer or solicit bribes or kickbacks, or engage in money laundering. This type of malfeasance occurs within the judicial system, but there is a more insidious form of corruption that contaminates the criminal justice system. The failure to act when its officers are legally obligated to do so is a crime of omission; sometimes referred to as ‘wilful blindness’, it describes the behavior of prosecutors who abuse their ‘power of discretion’ to bring charges – or not. For judges, it might be their ability to delay a case until the statute of limitations terminates&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/in-the-amazon-lack-of-transparency-and-corruption-undermine-the-environment/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-311448</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Filipinos wade through floodwaters due to sinking land, rising sea &#038; corruption</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/filipinos-wade-through-floodwaters-due-to-sinking-land-rising-sea-corruption/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/filipinos-wade-through-floodwaters-due-to-sinking-land-rising-sea-corruption/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Dec 2025 04:09:56 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jewel S. Cabrera]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/03141129/Batasan-Island-aerial-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310476</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Philippines, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Justice, Coastal Ecosystems, Corruption, Disasters, Environment, Flooding, Governance, Infrastructure, Islands, Oceans, Politics, Sea Levels, and Social Justice]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[LOS BAÑOS, Philippines — Flooded homes and submerged roads are now reshaping life in coastal and island communities in the Philippines, showing how a combination of hazards are influencing the way communities adapt and struggle to cope with climate change. In the central Philippines, island barangays — administrative units akin to villages — in Tubigon [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[LOS BAÑOS, Philippines — Flooded homes and submerged roads are now reshaping life in coastal and island communities in the Philippines, showing how a combination of hazards are influencing the way communities adapt and struggle to cope with climate change. In the central Philippines, island barangays — administrative units akin to villages — in Tubigon town might soon be submerged due to land subsidence, brought by a major earthquake in 2013. Meanwhile, Hagonoy town, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) north of Manila, has been suffering from persistent floodwaters due to land subsidence from excessive groundwater extraction, among other factors. Globally, around 40% of the population lives in coastal areas, according to the U.N. More than 850 million people live in low elevated coastal zones (LECZs) less than 10 meters (33 feet) above sea level, including more than 150 million living less than 5 m (16 ft) above sea level — mostly located in East and Southeast Asia, the U.N. Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) reported. As sea levels continue to rise while some lands sink, coastal and island communities alike are left to adapt and live with the floodwaters. Between 2000 and 2019, an estimated 1.6 billion people were affected by different types of flooding, threatening infrastructure and disrupting basic services, according to the U.N. Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR). In the Philippines, revelations of corruption linked to public-funded flood control infrastructure projects since July have sparked public outrage, prompting an anti-corruption movement and leading thousands to protest in the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/filipinos-wade-through-floodwaters-due-to-sinking-land-rising-sea-corruption/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-310476</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Guyana and Suriname, offshore oil and environmental interests clash</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/in-guyana-and-suriname-offshore-oil-and-environmental-interests-clash/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/in-guyana-and-suriname-offshore-oil-and-environmental-interests-clash/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Dec 2025 11:00:47 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Timothy J. Killeen]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mayra]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/28184116/PORTADA-Suriname-Rhett-A-Butler-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310334</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Perfect Storm in the Amazon]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Guyana, Latin America, South America, and Suriname]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Corruption, Energy, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Fossil Fuels, Governance, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Oceans, Oil Drilling, Politics, Regulations, and Threats To Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Note: this piece was written prior to 2025, but was only published in December 2025. Jennifer Geerlings-Simons is currently president of Suriname and spoke to Mongabay in November 2025. Both Guyana and Suriname have hybrid republican/parliamentary electoral systems that reflect their colonial heritage. In Guyana, the president is elected by a first-past-the-post outcome that sums [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Note: this piece was written prior to 2025, but was only published in December 2025. Jennifer Geerlings-Simons is currently president of Suriname and spoke to Mongabay in November 2025. Both Guyana and Suriname have hybrid republican/parliamentary electoral systems that reflect their colonial heritage. In Guyana, the president is elected by a first-past-the-post outcome that sums the votes for candidates of his/her party standing for election to the National Assembly (i.e., plurality of votes). In Suriname, the president is elected either by a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly or by a simple majority in the People’s Assembly, which is composed of all members of the National Assembly, as well as the elected members of district and local legislatures. In both countries, the president, once elected, has an exceptionally strong constitutional mandate as head of state and head of government. In Guyana, major parties all trace their foundation to historical figures who ruled as authoritarian leaders, including Forbes Burnham, the founder of the People&#8217;s National Congress Reform (PNCR), and Cheddi Jagan, who led what would eventually be the People&#8217;s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C). The founders are long dead, but their parties have stayed relevant because they have created institutional organisations that span all levels of the state. Guyanese politics are effectively divided along ethnic lines, with the PNCR primarily representing Afro-Guyanese, who make up around thirty per cent of the country’s population, while the PPP/C mostly represents Indo-Guyanese, who account for around forty per cent. The PPP/C governed Guyana for 23 years&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/in-guyana-and-suriname-offshore-oil-and-environmental-interests-clash/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-310334</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New riverside lake in Nepal wins hearts, but faces government opposition</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/new-riverside-lake-in-nepal-wins-hearts-but-faces-government-opposition/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/new-riverside-lake-in-nepal-wins-hearts-but-faces-government-opposition/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Nov 2025 16:26:30 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Suresh Bidari]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/28152601/IMG_9578-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310313</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Cities, Conservation, Corruption, Dams, Drought, Environment, Environmental Law, Freshwater, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Lakes, Land Use Change, Politics, Rivers, Water, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[SARLAHI, Nepal — Nepali social media influencer Ishtu Karki recently posted photos and videos enjoying a motorboat ride on the Bagmati Lake, popularly known as Bharat Taal, in Sarlahi district in the country’s southern plains. “We have such a wonderful pond here in Sarlahi … You don’t need to go to Bangkok or Phuket now,” [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[SARLAHI, Nepal — Nepali social media influencer Ishtu Karki recently posted photos and videos enjoying a motorboat ride on the Bagmati Lake, popularly known as Bharat Taal, in Sarlahi district in the country’s southern plains. “We have such a wonderful pond here in Sarlahi … You don’t need to go to Bangkok or Phuket now,” she said about the lake adjoining Bagmati River. The 33.8-hectare (83.54-acre) lake, commissioned by Bagmati municipality mayor Bharat Bahadur Thapa — hence the name — and built in 2021, attracts visitors not just from Nepal, but also from across the border in India in large numbers. On a recent November afternoon, Mongabay saw seven Nepali tourists pay 300 rupees ($2.1) each for a boat ride. A young Indian couple paid 100 rupees (70 cents) for a short horse ride on the bank and 50 rupees (35 cents) more for a video clip. “We have limited drinking water supplies here, but I like to come here to see the lake,” said Satendra Kumar, who visits the lake occasionally from his home in neighboring Bihar state, India. Tourists from India and Nepal visit Bharat Taal in Nepal. Image by Nakul Sah. But the next time visitors such as Karki and Kumar return to the lake, it may not be there. Since its construction, the lake has shot up as a popular cross-border attraction with economic, groundwater recharge and biodiversity benefits, but ongoing legal cases, lack of long-term environmental and biodiversity safeguards, inadequate waste management, and unclear jurisdiction&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/new-riverside-lake-in-nepal-wins-hearts-but-faces-government-opposition/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-310313</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In the Andes, elections ride on political frustrations and social movements</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/in-the-andes-elections-ride-on-political-frustrations-and-social-movements/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/in-the-andes-elections-ride-on-political-frustrations-and-social-movements/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Nov 2025 11:30:35 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Timothy J. Killeen]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mayra]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/23184508/PORTADA-Colombia_201319-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310004</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Perfect Storm in the Amazon]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Corruption, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Law, Politics, and Protests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Andean Republics, like many nations in Hispanic America, have a historical tradition of electing charismatic presidents who use their electoral success to subjugate legislatures and dominate political parties. Over the last couple of decades, presidential candidates have extended this approach by abandoning legacy parties to create new political instruments that would be considered campaign [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Andean Republics, like many nations in Hispanic America, have a historical tradition of electing charismatic presidents who use their electoral success to subjugate legislatures and dominate political parties. Over the last couple of decades, presidential candidates have extended this approach by abandoning legacy parties to create new political instruments that would be considered campaign offices in more established political systems. Legacy parties were always subject to domination by presidential candidates, but they also represented a collective of like-minded individuals seeking to promote an economic and social agenda. In contrast, ‘campaign parties’ are created solely to elect a single individual. In the immediate aftermath of the military era, politicians affiliated with legacy parties dominated the electoral landscape in Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador, while in Colombia the two main political parties extended their influence by fielding candidates from political dynasties adept at climbing the ladder of a caste-bound political system. Increasingly, dark horse candidates in all four countries won elections after they emerged from new parties created by dissident politicians for the explicit purpose of launching a presidential campaign. The decline of the legacy parties led to a more open electoral process. Alternative pathways to presidential power include the private sector or multilateral development agencies, typically after the aspiring statesman has served in a high-profile cabinet ministry. These entrepreneurial candidates embraced the campaign party model because it has proven to be a successful way to win presidential elections; however, it has failed to provide them with sufficient legislative representation to build&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/in-the-andes-elections-ride-on-political-frustrations-and-social-movements/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-310004</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Toxic runoff from politically linked gold mine poisons Cambodian rivers, communities</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/toxic-runoff-from-politically-linked-gold-mine-poisons-cambodian-rivers-communities/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/toxic-runoff-from-politically-linked-gold-mine-poisons-cambodian-rivers-communities/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Nov 2025 08:17:56 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Andy BallGerald FlynnPhoung Vantha]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/24072528/Header-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310021</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, Laos, Mekong Basin, Myanmar, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Chemicals, Corruption, Ecosystems, Fish, Fisheries, Freshwater, Global Environmental Crisis, Gold Mining, Governance, Illegal Logging, Illegal Mining, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Mining, Public Health, Rainforests, Rivers, Traditional People, Tropics, Waste, Water, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[*Sources have requested pseudonyms be used to protect their identity out of fear of retaliation from the government or mining companies BANGKOK, Thailand/RATANAKIRI, Cambodia — “When you touch the water of the O’Ta Bouk River, the mud will stick to your skin,” said Thao*. “It creates skin issues and we can’t catch fish this year anymore. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[*Sources have requested pseudonyms be used to protect their identity out of fear of retaliation from the government or mining companies BANGKOK, Thailand/RATANAKIRI, Cambodia — “When you touch the water of the O’Ta Bouk River, the mud will stick to your skin,” said Thao*. “It creates skin issues and we can’t catch fish this year anymore. It’s thick, like condensed milk. The oil from the machinery floats on the water surface, so it might affect our health, like our stomach or intestines.” On the quiet banks where the Sesan River and O’Ta Bouk River (also known as the Prek Liang River) meet in the northeastern Cambodian province of Ratanakiri, Ta Bouk village is where Thao calls home. The O’Ta Bouk River flows some 90 kilometers (56 miles) through Virachey National Park, one of Cambodia’s oldest protected areas, before feeding into the Sesan River and providing water to Ta Bouk village, just 2 km (1.2 mi) from the park’s border. The O’Ta Bouk has long sustained the Brao Indigenous communities who live, farm and fish along the river’s banks, providing them with clean, potable water for generations. But Thao’s village is just one of the hundreds across the Mekong region that have seen their life-giving rivers poisoned by toxic runoff from an explosion of unregulated mining, much of this is driven by surging gold prices, rising demand for rare earth elements and limited government oversight or environmental standards. Extensive satellite imagery analysis conducted by U.S. think tank the Stimson Center has uncovered&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/toxic-runoff-from-politically-linked-gold-mine-poisons-cambodian-rivers-communities/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-310021</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Brazil&#8217;s governance style leads to controversial impacts</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/brazils-governance-style-leads-to-controversial-impacts/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/brazils-governance-style-leads-to-controversial-impacts/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Nov 2025 15:44:44 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Timothy J. Killeen]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mayra]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/14193732/PORTADA-ronsoco-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=309599</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Perfect Storm in the Amazon]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Corruption, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Law, Law Enforcement, Politics, and Threats To Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Federal Republic of Brazil has a constitutional system with an exceptionally strong executive branch where the president controls the budget process, wields a line-item veto and can initiate legislation by declaring ‘temporary laws’ (Medidas Provisórias) that force the legislature to consider its policy agenda. Congress has corresponding checks and balances, including the power to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Federal Republic of Brazil has a constitutional system with an exceptionally strong executive branch where the president controls the budget process, wields a line-item veto and can initiate legislation by declaring ‘temporary laws’ (Medidas Provisórias) that force the legislature to consider its policy agenda. Congress has corresponding checks and balances, including the power to overturn a veto with a simple majority and the ability to reject the Medidas Provisórias by refusing to ratify them via parliamentary decree.  Its power of the purse, while dependent on a budget that originates in the ministries, has been amplified in recent years with the use of ‘earmarks’ that legislators use to determine spending priorities within their jurisdictions or to placate a specific constituency. Congress also has the power of impeachment, allegedly for criminal acts, but recent expertise shows it also occurs when a governing coalition splinters and abandons the president. Dilma Rousseff discovered this when members of her own alliance joined the opposition to remove her from office. The Congresso Nacional is a bicameral institution that was deliberately designed to ensure the cultural diversity of Brazil is adequately represented in government. The upper house is composed of three senators per state, while the composition of the Câmara de Deputados is determined by population. Representatives to the Câmara de Deputados are elected by citizens who vote for individual candidates who are included in an ‘official list’ affiliated with a specific party. Winners are the top vote getters within each party, but seats are distributed&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/brazils-governance-style-leads-to-controversial-impacts/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-309599</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In the Amazon, political systems fail to prioritize the environment</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/in-the-amazon-political-systems-fail-to-prioritize-the-environment/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/in-the-amazon-political-systems-fail-to-prioritize-the-environment/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Nov 2025 12:00:48 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Timothy J. Killeen]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mayra]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/07/22133222/Deforestation_Amazon_INPE-edit-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=309024</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Perfect Storm in the Amazon]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Corruption, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forest Destruction, Governance, Law, Politics, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Social Justice, and Threats To Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Realizing the goals of sustainable development and environmental conservation in the Pan Amazon will require profound changes in the region’s legal and economic framework. This type of change can only be obtained via the political process. Fortunately, there is broad support within Amazonian nations for a change in the policies that drive deforestation and unsustainable [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Realizing the goals of sustainable development and environmental conservation in the Pan Amazon will require profound changes in the region’s legal and economic framework. This type of change can only be obtained via the political process. Fortunately, there is broad support within Amazonian nations for a change in the policies that drive deforestation and unsustainable production systems. Unfortunately, environmental issues are well down the list of priorities that influence people’s voting preferences. Typically, politicians voice support for protecting the Amazon but avoid making the hard decisions that might change the future. All the nations of the Pan Amazon have a presidential style of constitutional democracy that delegates significant power to the executive branch, but with checks and balances that allocate varying degrees of power to the legislature to make laws, manage the budget and oversee executive branch actions. The judicial system interprets those laws and, very occasionally, adjudicates disputes between the other two branches. Amazon forest and deforestation. Image by Marizilda Cruppe/ Rede Amazônia Sustentável. Occasionally, a country will elect a charismatic president who circumvents the checks and balances to create a regime with authoritarian tendencies. These demagogues often espouse environmental principles, but experience has shown they are false prophets who use climate, biodiversity and Indigenous issues to advance a political agenda based on personal power. Considering the overweening power of the presidency, it is not unreasonable for environmental activists to hope that a presidential election can lead to fundamental change – but it is unrealistic. Few presidential candidates embrace the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/in-the-amazon-political-systems-fail-to-prioritize-the-environment/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-309024</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Across the Amazon, impunity among politicians remains chronic</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/across-the-amazon-impunity-among-politicians-remains-chronic/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/across-the-amazon-impunity-among-politicians-remains-chronic/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Nov 2025 09:56:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Timothy J. Killeen]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mayra]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/03011742/OverviewPist058-059-065-082-084_SPOT2022-07-30-1-scaled-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=308702</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Perfect Storm in the Amazon]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Bolivia, Brazil, Latin America, South America, and Venezuela]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Corruption, Environment, Governance, and Politics]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Brazil and the Andean Republics all have constitutional provisions establishing special protocols for the prosecution of elected officials. These supposedly were conceived to ensure public servants are held accountable for misdeeds, while protecting them from frivolous or politically motivated prosecution. This special status, however, has created a two-tiered justice system that protects politicians from the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Brazil and the Andean Republics all have constitutional provisions establishing special protocols for the prosecution of elected officials. These supposedly were conceived to ensure public servants are held accountable for misdeeds, while protecting them from frivolous or politically motivated prosecution. This special status, however, has created a two-tiered justice system that protects politicians from the consequences of their malfeasance, because their trials are usually delayed until charges are dismissed on technicalities, because of the statute of limitations, or because they have been acquitted by magistrates corrupted by the political process. The most notorious is Brazil’s ‘Foro Privilegiado’, which stipulates that only the Tribunal Supremo Federal (TSF) has the authority to preside over a criminal trial for the president, vice president, members of Congress and other high-level appointed officials, while governors, judges and other elected officials enjoy similar, if less conspicuous, forms of legal shelter. These constitutional provisions apply to more than 22,000 authorities, a staggering number that separates their potential prosecution from the criminal justice system that applies to everybody else. The judicial authorities that played major roles in the Lava Jato bribery scandal. Top (left to right): Sergio Moro (Juiz de 13ª Vara Criminal Federal de Curitiba), who presided over the investigation and trials of leading businessmen; Deltan Dallagnol (Procurador da República), who led the Operação Lava Jato investigation and the team that prosecuted most of the private citizens; and Rodrigo Janot (Procurador-General da República), who initiated legal action targeting elected officials and cabinet ministers protected by Foro Privilegiado.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/across-the-amazon-impunity-among-politicians-remains-chronic/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-308702</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Amid systemic corruption, Amazon countries struggle to fight environmental crime</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/amid-systemic-corruption-amazon-countries-struggle-to-fight-environmental-crime/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/amid-systemic-corruption-amazon-countries-struggle-to-fight-environmental-crime/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Oct 2025 11:00:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Timothy J. Killeen]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mayra]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/24000235/territorios_colectivos4mongabay-latam-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=308249</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Perfect Storm in the Amazon]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Andes, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, South America, and Suriname]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Corruption, Crime, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Law, Law Enforcement, Politics, and Threats To Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The most powerful individuals in courtrooms are the judges. Their leadership is essential for bringing any type of reform to fruition, be it an anti-corruption campaign or an ‘all-of-government’ drive to fight environmental crime. In the Andean Republics, their involvement in crimes of commission via bribery and extortion is a major source of judicial corruption. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The most powerful individuals in courtrooms are the judges. Their leadership is essential for bringing any type of reform to fruition, be it an anti-corruption campaign or an ‘all-of-government’ drive to fight environmental crime. In the Andean Republics, their involvement in crimes of commission via bribery and extortion is a major source of judicial corruption. In Brazil, judges are more likely to commit crimes of omission with delaying tactics that allow cases to spend years in a state of suspended litigation. In Brazil, efforts to reform the judiciary are managed by the Conselho Nacional de Justiça (CNJ), which, like the prosecutorial system, has an internal affairs unit (Corregedoria) that monitors the ethical conduct of its members. Although the CNJ has an impressive data management system that it uses to track its massive caseload, the Corregedoria does not provide (easily understandable) statistics that reveal its record in fighting judicial corruption. An investigative journalist with expertise in legal affairs reviewed data from the CNJ in 2012 and reported that 5,917 cases had been processed, of which 1,637 had been adjudicated at trial, leading to 205 convictions, while 2,918 were dismissed on technicalities or because of the statute of limitations. A separate study spanning 2005 to 2017 found that 82 judges had been subject to disciplinary action, which forced 53 into compulsory retirement, a punishment that removed them from the courts but did not deprive them of their pension. Despite the reforms, the system remains opaque, and there are few reports in the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/amid-systemic-corruption-amazon-countries-struggle-to-fight-environmental-crime/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-308249</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The rise of anti-corruption prosecutors in the Amazon region</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/the-rise-of-anti-corruption-prosecutors-in-the-amazon-region/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/the-rise-of-anti-corruption-prosecutors-in-the-amazon-region/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Oct 2025 11:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Timothy J. Killeen]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mayra]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/23235157/WhatsApp-Image-2020-05-20-at-17.20.23-2-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=308243</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Perfect Storm in the Amazon]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, South America, and Venezuela]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Corruption, Crime, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Law Enforcement, Organized Crime, Politics, Rainforests, Social Justice, and Threats To Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Prosecutors are lawyers employed by the state to investigate crimes and initiate judicial proceedings. Ensuring their integrity and competence is essential to judicial reform and the application of environmental law. In Brazil, allegations of political corruption by public servants are reviewed by the 5ª Câmara de Coordenação e Revisão (Combate à Corrupção) and, if warranted, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Prosecutors are lawyers employed by the state to investigate crimes and initiate judicial proceedings. Ensuring their integrity and competence is essential to judicial reform and the application of environmental law. In Brazil, allegations of political corruption by public servants are reviewed by the 5ª Câmara de Coordenação e Revisão (Combate à Corrupção) and, if warranted, referred to a regional office for prosecution. For example, the anti-corruption specialists in Curitiba (4th Region) were instrumental in uncovering the perfidy of the Lava Jato bribery and money laundering network. Although media attention focused on the presiding judge (Sergio Moro), the investigations were conducted by a dedicated team of prosecutors who relentlessly accumulated evidence against some of the most powerful individuals in Brazil. One of the shark seizures carried out by the Tumbes Prosecutor&#8217;s Office in Peru. Image courtesy of Oceana. The impact of Brazil’s anti-corruption campaign is reflected by the number of criminal cases reviewed by the 5ª Câmara, which rose from 2,500 per year in 2002 to more than 15,000 annually in 2019. Very few, however, are referred for a trial: approximately 90% of the criminal complaints reviewed in the twenty-plus years of existence of the 5ª Câmara have been dismissed for technical reasons, most commonly for lack of evidence. The lack of aggressive prosecution is also characteristic of their internal affairs unit (Corregedoria Nacional of the Conselho Nacional do Ministério Público), which recommended that 89% (940 out of 1,078) of the complaints filed against procuradores should be dismissed. The decision not&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/the-rise-of-anti-corruption-prosecutors-in-the-amazon-region/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-308243</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Brazil’s new licensing accord is a gateway to forest destruction via the BR-319 highway (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/brazils-new-licensing-accord-is-a-gateway-to-forest-destruction-via-the-br-319-highway-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/brazils-new-licensing-accord-is-a-gateway-to-forest-destruction-via-the-br-319-highway-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Aug 2025 12:48:41 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Philip M. Fearnside]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/03/21192457/3.-319_National-Department-of-Transport-Infrastructure-DNIT-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=304622</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate, Climate Change, Commentary, Corruption, Deforestation, Forests, Governance, Infrastructure, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Roads, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On July 15, Brazil’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MMA) and the Ministry of Transportation reached an “accord” for licensing the notorious BR-319 (Manaus-Porto Velho) highway reconstruction project. The Ministry of Transportation will contract a company to perform a “strategic environmental assessment” (AAE) over eight months to recommend policies to control deforestation, strengthen local [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On July 15, Brazil’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MMA) and the Ministry of Transportation reached an “accord” for licensing the notorious BR-319 (Manaus-Porto Velho) highway reconstruction project. The Ministry of Transportation will contract a company to perform a “strategic environmental assessment” (AAE) over eight months to recommend policies to control deforestation, strengthen local communities and “regularize” land tenure in a strip 50 kilometers (31 miles) wide along either side of the highway. Implementation of the plan will be the responsibility of the Civil House (not an environmental agency). The environmental license for the highway reconstruction project is still pending with IBAMA (Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources), the agency within MMA responsible for licensing, and the technical staff in IBAMA’s licensing department have repeatedly questioned the adequacy of the environmental impact study. While considering 50 km is better than the current licensing framework, which basically only considers the roadside itself, it does not come close to reflecting the true impact of the highway reconstruction project. The impact of this federal highway will extend much further, thanks to five Amazonas state roads planned to connect to BR-319 (AM-356, AM-360, AM-464, AM-366 and AM-343) (Figure 1). AM-366 would extend 574 km (357 miles) to the west of BR-319, opening the vast Trans-Purus region to the west of the Purus River to deforesters. Figure 1. Map of BR-319 and planned state side roads. Image courtesy of Fearnside &amp; Graça, 2006. The area along the planned AM-366 and AM-343&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/brazils-new-licensing-accord-is-a-gateway-to-forest-destruction-via-the-br-319-highway-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-304622</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Formalizing small-scale gold mining can reduce environmental impacts &#038; crime (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/formalizing-small-scale-gold-mining-can-reduce-environmental-impacts-crime-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/formalizing-small-scale-gold-mining-can-reduce-environmental-impacts-crime-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Aug 2025 19:49:50 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Robert Muggah]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/08/06153154/Columbia-Illegal-Mining-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=303936</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Global, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Commentary, Community Development, Corruption, Crime, Deforestation, Development, Environment, Forests, Gold Mining, Illegal Mining, Illegal Trade, Mercury, Mining, Pollution, Rainforests, Trade, Tropical Deforestation, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Artisanal and small-scale gold mining employs more than 15 million people globally and generates a fifth of global gold supplies. It supports 100 million people indirectly, more than any other extractive sector, yet despite its economic lifeline status, it remains the world’s largest source of mercury pollution and a growing conduit for organized crime, corruption [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Artisanal and small-scale gold mining employs more than 15 million people globally and generates a fifth of global gold supplies. It supports 100 million people indirectly, more than any other extractive sector, yet despite its economic lifeline status, it remains the world’s largest source of mercury pollution and a growing conduit for organized crime, corruption and environmental devastation. A host of international and regional agreements and programs have emerged to target illegal gold mining and associated issues, from the Minamata Convention on Mercury to the planetGOLD initiative. Against this backdrop of pollution, crime and informality, one proposed solution is investment in centralized gold processing plants. A report from the World Gold Council found that if well designed and governed, such plants can help shift workers from informal to formal employment, facilitate due diligence, curb illegal mercury use, and decouple artisanal mining from criminal and illicit economies. Promising experiences in regularizing small-scale gold production from Peru to Tanzania suggest that the focus on such plants offers more than hypothetical returns. The mercury used to amalgamate gold is cheap, effective and toxic. Studies from artisanal and small-scale mining sites across the Amazon reveal catastrophic consequences for human health and ecosystems. Investment in centralized and mercury-free processing plants could be a “missing middle” in the sector, transforming pollutant-intensive livelihoods to cleaner, safer ones. Different types of gold processing plants require different types of interventions. For example, gravimetric plants, which separate gold through density differences rather than chemical processing, require significantly less capital than&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/formalizing-small-scale-gold-mining-can-reduce-environmental-impacts-crime-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/formalizing-small-scale-gold-mining-can-reduce-environmental-impacts-crime-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-303936</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Burning, burying and banning: Indonesia’s cities struggle to manage their garbage</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/burning-burying-and-banning-indonesias-cities-struggle-to-manage-their-garbage/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/burning-burying-and-banning-indonesias-cities-struggle-to-manage-their-garbage/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Jul 2025 00:23:56 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeff Hutton]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/22070704/bamban-heru-zgd-5yJIsb8-unsplash-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=302916</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Bali, Indonesia, Java, South Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Cities, Corruption, Crime, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Plastic, Pollution, Recycling, and Waste]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Haryanto surveys a sandy patch the size of roughly half a soccer field. Overlooked by a 40-meter (130-foot) lighthouse, the clearing is a stone’s throw from the Pacific Ocean, where the surf pummels Pandansari Beach — a pristine stretch lined with casuarina trees about an hour’s drive south of the Indonesian city of Yogyakarta. But [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Haryanto surveys a sandy patch the size of roughly half a soccer field. Overlooked by a 40-meter (130-foot) lighthouse, the clearing is a stone’s throw from the Pacific Ocean, where the surf pummels Pandansari Beach — a pristine stretch lined with casuarina trees about an hour’s drive south of the Indonesian city of Yogyakarta. But here, directly under the 66-year-old’s feet: 1,800 cubic meters of garbage — nearly 200 dump truck loads — of household, industrial and even hospital waste, Haryanto says. According to Haryanto, a one-time manager with the state electricity monopoly PLN, the garbage appeared unannounced last December. Some 18 months prior to that, 10 times that amount landed on a second, bigger site about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) away in a similar manner. “This is a tourist area. There was no warning. It just appeared,” Haryanto tells Mongabay. Haryanto now heads a local group called Forum Peduli Gadingsari, named after his village in the district of Bantul and intended to “watch out for government mismanagement,” as he puts it. “There was no environmental review. There were no permits. What if there was a tsunami? How do they manage the leachate? This is an environmental crime,” he says. For at least two decades, Indonesian governments have struggled to come to grips with their growing mountains of waste, with much of it dumped illegally. More than 35% of all of Indonesia’s garbage — some 11 million metric tons last year — was deemed unmanaged, finding its way into rivers,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/burning-burying-and-banning-indonesias-cities-struggle-to-manage-their-garbage/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/burning-burying-and-banning-indonesias-cities-struggle-to-manage-their-garbage/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-302916</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Nepal’s Pokhara, a lone rooftop vigil helps keep vultures and planes safe from harm</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/in-nepals-pokhara-a-lone-rooftop-vigil-helps-keep-vultures-and-planes-safe-from-harm/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/in-nepals-pokhara-a-lone-rooftop-vigil-helps-keep-vultures-and-planes-safe-from-harm/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Jul 2025 12:02:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/16100833/IMG_2457-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=302621</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Himalayas, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Birds, Corruption, Development, Drones, Governance, Infrastructure, Raptors, Tourism, Travel, and Vultures]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[POKHARA, Nepal — On a May morning in Pokhara, Nepal’s tourist town in the lap of the world-famous Annapurna range, 40-year-old Hemanta Dhakal climbs to the terrace on the roof of his home, a few hundred meters away from the newly constructed international airport. Armed with his binoculars, he scans the sky and then the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[POKHARA, Nepal — On a May morning in Pokhara, Nepal’s tourist town in the lap of the world-famous Annapurna range, 40-year-old Hemanta Dhakal climbs to the terrace on the roof of his home, a few hundred meters away from the newly constructed international airport. Armed with his binoculars, he scans the sky and then the runway, looking for vultures — particularly one with a yellow face and a slender, grayish-white body. As the sun’s rays beat down on the tarmac, a constant buzz from turboprop airplanes landing and taking off and occasional cawing is interrupted by a blast echoing through the valley. “That’s the air gun they fire to drive the vultures away from the runway,” Dhakal says calmly. “They’re scaring away the vultures again.” A flock of Himalayan griffon vultures photographed on the runway of the Pokhara International Airport. Image courtesy of Hemanta Dhakal. Unlike most researchers who need to travel to remote and often hostile terrain to observe birds and animals of interest, all Dhakal has to do is climb a few flights of stairs to get to his own lookout tower. When he’s not mentoring his undergraduate students or spending time with family and friends, the seasoned ornithologist and conservation campaigner spends time observing the vultures in and around the airport. “This vantage point lets me observe how the birds and the airport interact every single day,” he tells Mongabay at his home in Pokhara’s Majheriatan area. Dhakal’s hometown, which was recently officially anointed Nepal’s “tourism capital,”&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/in-nepals-pokhara-a-lone-rooftop-vigil-helps-keep-vultures-and-planes-safe-from-harm/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/in-nepals-pokhara-a-lone-rooftop-vigil-helps-keep-vultures-and-planes-safe-from-harm/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-302621</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Nicaragua government tied to illegal land invasions in wildlife refuge, documents suggest</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/nicaragua-government-tied-to-illegal-land-invasions-in-wildlife-refuge-documents-suggest/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/nicaragua-government-tied-to-illegal-land-invasions-in-wildlife-refuge-documents-suggest/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Jun 2025 16:02:57 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/06/25203819/497471661_1323751673089453_597125191772006306_n-1-768x500.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=301405</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Central America, Latin America, and Nicaragua]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Corruption, Deforestation, Dredging, Environment, Environmental Law, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Forests, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Mining, Politics, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Rivers, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A protected wildlife refuge in Nicaragua has suffered a wave of deforestation in recent years, fueled by controversial land deals allowing settlers to clear the rainforest for farming, mining and cattle ranching. Government officials and even some Indigenous community leaders have overseen the land deals in Río San Juan Wildlife Refuge, an ostensibly protected area [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A protected wildlife refuge in Nicaragua has suffered a wave of deforestation in recent years, fueled by controversial land deals allowing settlers to clear the rainforest for farming, mining and cattle ranching. Government officials and even some Indigenous community leaders have overseen the land deals in Río San Juan Wildlife Refuge, an ostensibly protected area in southeastern Nicaragua, resulting in deforestation and the displacement of some residents, according to receipts and other financial documents. The documents were originally obtained by the environmental organization Fundación del Río and shared with Mongabay. They reveal a pattern of corruption and fraud that has led to an influx of human presence in one of the country’s most ecologically important areas. “[The wildlife refuge] is facing severe ecosystem degradation, largely due to invasions that have been induced, promoted and permitted by institutional authorities, political operators and the Ortega-Murillo regime,” a Fundación del Río report said. Río San Juan Wildlife Refuge sits on the Atlantic coast and border with Costa Rica, covering 43,000 hectares (about 106,300 acres) within the larger Río San Juan Biosphere Reserve. Its estuaries and freshwater lagoons have earned it a Ramsar site designation, an international convention protecting wetlands. Around 22% of the wildlife refuge overlaps with Indigenous Rama and Afro-descendent Kriol territory. Nine communities occupy the area on both sides of the border, making land grabs not just a conservation concern but also a human rights violation by the government, observers said. Over the last two decades, President Daniel Ortega has looked&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/nicaragua-government-tied-to-illegal-land-invasions-in-wildlife-refuge-documents-suggest/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/nicaragua-government-tied-to-illegal-land-invasions-in-wildlife-refuge-documents-suggest/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-301405</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>At COP30 &#038; beyond, the fight for climate justice must end corporate impunity (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/at-cop30-beyond-the-fight-for-climate-justice-must-end-corporate-impunity-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/at-cop30-beyond-the-fight-for-climate-justice-must-end-corporate-impunity-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Jun 2025 14:34:25 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Pablo Fajardo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/06/17135053/3296-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=300917</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Germany, and Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Business, Climate, Climate Change, Climate Justice, Commentary, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporations, Corruption, Environment, Governance, Planetary Boundaries, and Social Justice]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The climate crisis demands urgent action by governments to reduce emissions and to transition to new renewable energy systems for people. This means that fossil fuel corporations must be forced to stop polluting and end their decades of destruction. I am writing this from the heart of the Ecuadorian Amazon, where the struggle of Indigenous [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The climate crisis demands urgent action by governments to reduce emissions and to transition to new renewable energy systems for people. This means that fossil fuel corporations must be forced to stop polluting and end their decades of destruction. I am writing this from the heart of the Ecuadorian Amazon, where the struggle of Indigenous and frontline communities offers a warning to the world: there is a dark legacy of devastation caused by the fossil fuel industry that must not be forgotten. Climate justice cannot be achieved so long as corporate impunity reigns. Chevron’s crimes in Ecuador are well documented. For nearly four decades, the transnational corporation extracted oil from our lands with utter disregard for life, intentionally dumping more than 60 billion liters (16 billion gallons) of toxic waste into rivers and leaving 880 open pits of poison across 480 hectares (nearly 1,200 acres) of rainforest. The company made tens of billions in profits from this devastation, and when it finally seemed like it was going to be held accountable, packed up and fled the country. Chevron on the run After years of legal struggle led by affected communities, Ecuador’s courts ordered Chevron to pay $9.5 billion to clean up its mess and compensate those harmed. Instead of honoring the ruling, Chevron launched a global campaign to escape accountability — one that reveals how today’s legal and financial systems are rigged to serve corporate interests, not human rights. Chevron has filed dozens of retaliatory lawsuits against Indigenous leaders, lawyers,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/at-cop30-beyond-the-fight-for-climate-justice-must-end-corporate-impunity-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/at-cop30-beyond-the-fight-for-climate-justice-must-end-corporate-impunity-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-300917</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Environmental crimes are often hidden by ‘flying money’ laundering schemes (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/environmental-crimes-are-often-hidden-by-flying-money-laundering-schemes-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/environmental-crimes-are-often-hidden-by-flying-money-laundering-schemes-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Jun 2025 20:35:09 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Andrea Crosta]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/01/10075600/gekko-gecko-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=300354</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Commentary, Corruption, Crime, Environment, Organized Crime, trafficking, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the Tang dynasty, Chinese merchants began buying rice on credit with a system that relied on trust and trade to sidestep the authorities — and taxes — to deliver goods immediately. In China it&#8217;s called, feiqian, and across the Middle East and South Asia, it&#8217;s known as hawala. These days it&#8217;s about more than [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the Tang dynasty, Chinese merchants began buying rice on credit with a system that relied on trust and trade to sidestep the authorities — and taxes — to deliver goods immediately. In China it&#8217;s called, feiqian, and across the Middle East and South Asia, it&#8217;s known as hawala. These days it&#8217;s about more than rice. It&#8217;s called “flying money,” and it&#8217;s the tool for concealing financial crimes: tax-free remittances, washing dirty money, even funding terror and concealing wildlife crime. &#8220;Flying money is often used to denote Chinese money laundering or paying in-kind with a commodity instead of cash,&#8221; explains Vanda Felbab-Brown, a senior Brookings Institute fellow studying crime and terrorism. This can make cutting timber in Africa, mining Amazonian gold — even selling endangered species online — easier than drug smuggling. Police are trained to identify a kilo of cocaine, but spotting an outlaw bone tonic is another story. That&#8217;s also why buying a bowl of shark fin soup or taking a tiger selfie means you&#8217;re probably supporting organized crime. Shark fins and a dead hammerhead shark. Image courtesy of Earth League International (ELI). Gangs in Asia want wildlife products and natural resources that often come from Latin America, while gangs in Latin America want the ingredients to make drugs, which Asian companies make and ship via Chinese container ships traveling the world. &#8220;This money laundering scheme is the engine that fuels the fentanyl trade,&#8221; says Leland Lazarus, who tracks the Chinese-Latin American crime connection at Florida International University.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/environmental-crimes-are-often-hidden-by-flying-money-laundering-schemes-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/environmental-crimes-are-often-hidden-by-flying-money-laundering-schemes-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-300354</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indigenous Bajo suffer child deaths &#038; toxic sludge amid green energy push</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/indigenous-bajo-suffer-child-deaths-toxic-sludge-amid-green-energy-push/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/indigenous-bajo-suffer-child-deaths-toxic-sludge-amid-green-energy-push/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 May 2025 04:45:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Riza Salman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/05/22080817/Foto-Drone_WALHI-Sultra_Penambangan-Nikel-di-Kabaena-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=299490</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Land rights and extractives]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Southeast Asia, Southeast Sulawesi, and Sulawesi]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corruption, Crime, Culture, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Forestry, Forests, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Islands, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Land Use Change, Law Enforcement, Mining, Oceans, Politics, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Indonesia’s environment ministry plans to curb deforestation and push for environmental rehabilitation in response to industrial nickel mining on Kabaena Island, where severe ecological damage and the cultural and economic collapse of the Indigenous Bajo people have been widely reported. The crisis has exposed deep-rooted failures by both government and corporations, revealing the human and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Indonesia’s environment ministry plans to curb deforestation and push for environmental rehabilitation in response to industrial nickel mining on Kabaena Island, where severe ecological damage and the cultural and economic collapse of the Indigenous Bajo people have been widely reported. The crisis has exposed deep-rooted failures by both government and corporations, revealing the human and environmental toll of the country’s profit-driven push for green energy. In mid-March, extreme weather and high tides churned up nickel-laden sediment beneath the stilt homes of the Bajo people in Baliara village on Southeast Sulawesi&#8217;s Kabaena Island. That afternoon, 2-year-old Masra disappeared while playing on a wooden bridge, and moments later, her lifeless body was found in the murky, mud-filled water. It was not the first time a Bajo child had drowned in the rising sludge, which now reaches as high as an adult’s calf. These drownings also draw parallels with the children dying in coal mining pits in East Kalimantan. “Usually Bajo children that age already know how to swim, but she didn’t,” said Irma, the girl’s aunt, who was the last to see her leave the house. According to her, this was the third case in which the Bajo, long known as a sea-faring people, had lost children to the treacherous sediments of nickel ore. In Baliara, heavy rains caused rivers to overflow, sending muddy runoff from nearby nickel mines into homes on land and sludge beneath the stilted houses on the coast. Image courtesy of Kabaena-based NGO Sagori. Experts and activists report&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/indigenous-bajo-suffer-child-deaths-toxic-sludge-amid-green-energy-push/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/indigenous-bajo-suffer-child-deaths-toxic-sludge-amid-green-energy-push/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-299490</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Bolivia expels members of fake nation Kailasa over Indigenous land lease scandal</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/bolivia-expels-members-of-fake-nation-kailasa-over-indigenous-land-lease-scandal/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/bolivia-expels-members-of-fake-nation-kailasa-over-indigenous-land-lease-scandal/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 May 2025 17:11:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Iván Paredes Tamayo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/05/16164414/FOTO-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=299218</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Bolivia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Carbon Market, Carbon Offsets, Conflict, Corruption, Environment, Forests, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, and Land Rights]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The United States of Kailasa maintains that it is a real nation. With this title, over the last three years, they have traveled to different countries in South America to look for productive lands where they can settle. They did so in Paraguay and Ecuador, and they recently arrived in Bolivia. There, 20 emissaries from [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The United States of Kailasa maintains that it is a real nation. With this title, over the last three years, they have traveled to different countries in South America to look for productive lands where they can settle. They did so in Paraguay and Ecuador, and they recently arrived in Bolivia. There, 20 emissaries from Kailasa have been accused of trying to scam Indigenous leaders with whom they agreed on a “perpetual lease” of their lands. Their intention was to become the owners of big territories in three Indigenous communities of the Bolivian Amazon: The Baure, the Cayubaba and the Esse Ejja. Their plans also included a protected area, according to the mayor of San Rafael, a town in eastern Bolivia. By the time this article was first published in March, the migration officials had already expelled the Kailasa representatives from the Bolivian territory. This story starts in September 2024, when some members of the self-proclaimed nation of the United States of Kailasa arrived in Bolivia. The three emissaries who entered the country as tourists, holding Irish citizenship, as confirmed by the Bolivian migration office, had the objective of getting in touch with Indigenous leaders. They settled in the town of Exaltación, in the department of Beni, and from there they began contacting leaders from the Amazon to propose a “bilateral cooperation.” The representatives of the Baure, Cayubaba and Esse Ejja peoples said that they were convinced by lies. Then, 17 more people arrived. This time, most of them were&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/bolivia-expels-members-of-fake-nation-kailasa-over-indigenous-land-lease-scandal/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/bolivia-expels-members-of-fake-nation-kailasa-over-indigenous-land-lease-scandal/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-299218</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Attacks on Cambodian environmental journalist continue to pile up</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/attacks-on-cambodian-environmental-journalist-continue-to-pile-up/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/attacks-on-cambodian-environmental-journalist-continue-to-pile-up/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 May 2025 06:30:55 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerald FlynnNehru Pry]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/05/12060503/C1292.00_02_10_08.Still001-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=298923</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Community Forests, Corruption, Crime, Deforestation, Endangered Environmentalists, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Governance, Illegal Logging, Journalism, Land Grabbing, Media, Mining, Monitoring, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, and timber trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BANGKOK — Ouk Mao, a Cambodian environmental journalist, was reporting on the continued logging of Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary when he was attacked on March 24 by a group of men he identified, including a former police officer. Mao, who has previously helped Mongabay to expose the destruction of a community forest in Stung Treng province, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BANGKOK — Ouk Mao, a Cambodian environmental journalist, was reporting on the continued logging of Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary when he was attacked on March 24 by a group of men he identified, including a former police officer. Mao, who has previously helped Mongabay to expose the destruction of a community forest in Stung Treng province, had been working for a local online news outlet and was traveling into the beleaguered wildlife sanctuary with a colleague to follow up on a tip. According to Mao’s sources, loggers were clearing a patch of protected forest with an excavator — the common precursor to a land grab. Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary is a lowland rainforest spanning roughly 490,000 hectares (1.2 million acres) and straddling four provinces, including Stung Treng, in central Cambodia. Despite its protected status, Prey Lang has long been targeted by illegal timber traders, mining companies and poachers, with officials tasked with protecting the forest often accused of being complicit in its destruction. Mao and his colleague were able to locate the excavator, taking photos and videos, while also documenting the trail of deforestation that had been left in its wake. At around 2 p.m. on March 24, as the group was leaving Prey Lang, with Mao and his colleague heading back to their homes in Stung Treng province, they were stopped by four men. “They demanded we delete our footage and photos,” Mao said. Screenshot of footage recorded by Ouk Mao&#8217;s colleague documenting the physical attack by on the journalist.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/attacks-on-cambodian-environmental-journalist-continue-to-pile-up/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/attacks-on-cambodian-environmental-journalist-continue-to-pile-up/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-298923</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Illegal wood from Colombia&#8217;s rainforests enters US and EU supply chains</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/illegal-wood-from-colombias-rainforests-enters-us-and-eu-supply-chains/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/illegal-wood-from-colombias-rainforests-enters-us-and-eu-supply-chains/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 May 2025 16:02:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mie Hoejris Dahl]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/05/06121817/Puntos-de-acopio-de-la-madera-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=298685</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Commodity agriculture, Corruption, Critically Endangered Species, Deforestation, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Governance, Illegal Logging, Indigenous Peoples, Land Rights, Logging, Supply Chain, Threats To Rainforests, Timber, timber trade, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BOGOTÁ — Logs float downstream in long lines on the murky waters of the Atrato River in the depths of the Pacific rainforests of Colombia’s Chocó department. With few roads, this region in northwest Colombia relies on waterways for transportation, though some are blocked by remnants of the logging industry. Towering trees and thick undergrowth [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BOGOTÁ — Logs float downstream in long lines on the murky waters of the Atrato River in the depths of the Pacific rainforests of Colombia’s Chocó department. With few roads, this region in northwest Colombia relies on waterways for transportation, though some are blocked by remnants of the logging industry. Towering trees and thick undergrowth line the river, but sections of the banks are stripped bare, exposing the earth. A new investigation by the U.S.-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) reveals that most wood for flooring and decking from Colombia’s Pacific and Amazon forests, including the protected Dipteryx odorata (cumarú or choibá tree), is exported illegally. EIA’s “Decking the Forest” report exposes a long trail of irregularities across national wood companies, illegal armed groups, and companies in the U.S., the European Union, Canada and elsewhere. The report suggests that local Afro-Colombian and Indigenous communities are exploited, threatened, and left with few alternatives as their lands deteriorate under pressure from the illegal timber trade. The EIA estimates that $24 million worth of processed timber exports between 2020 and 2023, including flooring and decking, lacked the required legal certification, citing export data from Colombian customs authorities and responses from local environmental authorities. This suggests that about 94% of such wood exports from Colombia during that period were illegal. About 20% of these exports were destined for the U.S., Canada and the EU. The report suggests that wood companies were allegedly forced to make payments to illegal armed groups in Chocó and Antioquia departments&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/illegal-wood-from-colombias-rainforests-enters-us-and-eu-supply-chains/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-298685</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Poaching intensifies in M23-occupied areas of Virunga National Park</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/poaching-intensifies-in-m23-occupied-areas-of-virunga-national-park/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/poaching-intensifies-in-m23-occupied-areas-of-virunga-national-park/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Apr 2025 20:19:19 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/04/30201847/21271677985_88ac6d680d_k-e1746044266982-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=298437</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Congo Basin, Democratic Republic Of Congo, and East Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conflict, Corruption, Deforestation, Forests, Gorillas, Illegal Trade, Rainforests, Traditional People, Tropical Deforestation, War, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The intensifying security crisis in parts of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) over the years is undermining wildlife protection in Virunga National Park, say officials and local residents. The growing clashes in early 2025 between the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo, local militias known as the Wazalendo, and the M23 [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The intensifying security crisis in parts of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) over the years is undermining wildlife protection in Virunga National Park, say officials and local residents. The growing clashes in early 2025 between the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo, local militias known as the Wazalendo, and the M23 (March 23 movement), which occupies large territory in the national park, is leading to poaching and illegal trade. Some residents are taking advantage of the climate of insecurity to carry out illegal activities that are destroying habitats, often cooperating with armed groups, according to a 2023 report by the Centre for Education for Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development (CEPED). On March 11, 2025, park authorities discovered a young gorilla caught in a poacher’s trap. &#8220;Thanks to the rapid intervention of our monitoring team and veterinarians, Fazili [the young gorilla] received emergency care, including the removal of the trap and treatment for his injuries,&#8221; stated officials on the Virunga National Park’s X account (formerly Twitter). Partial view of a mountain range in Virunga National Park in North Kivu, DRC. Image by MONUSCO/Abel Kavanagh via Wikimédia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0). A representative from CREDHO, an environmental and human rights research center in North Kivu, explained that since April 2024, eco-guards had to leave several strategic positions due to M23 threats. These include Rwindi in Rutshuru territory, in the heart of Virunga National Park at the crossroads between Kiwanja-Kanyabayonga on national road number two linking the territories of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/poaching-intensifies-in-m23-occupied-areas-of-virunga-national-park/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-298437</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Judges charged in Indonesian bribery scandal after clearing palm oil giants of corruption</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/judges-charged-in-indonesian-bribery-scandal-after-clearing-palm-oil-giants-of-corruption/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/judges-charged-in-indonesian-bribery-scandal-after-clearing-palm-oil-giants-of-corruption/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Apr 2025 01:20:01 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/02/24043124/jambi_220087-768x512-1.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=297601</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Business, Corporations, Corruption, Crime, International Trade, Law, Law Enforcement, Palm Oil, Plantations, and Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Prosecutors in Indonesia have charged four judges and two lawyers accused of bribery in a recently concluded trial involving palm oil giants Permata Hijau, Wilmar and Musim Mas. The Attorney General’s Office made a late-night announcement on April 13 that it had charged Jakarta-based judges Muhammad Arif Nuryanta, Agam Syarif Baharuddin, Ali Muhtarom [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Prosecutors in Indonesia have charged four judges and two lawyers accused of bribery in a recently concluded trial involving palm oil giants Permata Hijau, Wilmar and Musim Mas. The Attorney General’s Office made a late-night announcement on April 13 that it had charged Jakarta-based judges Muhammad Arif Nuryanta, Agam Syarif Baharuddin, Ali Muhtarom and Djuyamto with bribery, along with court clerk Wahyu Gunawan. It also announce charges against lawyers Ariyanto Bakri and Marcella Santoso, who were taken into custody the day before. The AGO alleges that the lawyers worked as intermediaries for the three palm oil companies, channeling up to 60 billion rupiah ($3.57 million) to the judges for a favorable ruling. The companies had been on trial for alleged corruption after exporting more crude palm oil (CPO) than they were permitted to in 2022, amid a major shortage of cooking oil across the country at the time. A trade ministry official, a prominent economist, and three palm oil executives were convicted and jailed in early 2023 for their role in the export scandal. But in the subsequent trial against the companies, judges Agam, Ali and Djuyamto ruled on March 19 this year that while the companies were liable to the charges of trade violations brought by prosecutors, their actions did not warrant prosecution. This unusual type of ruling, a holdover from the Dutch colonial period known as ontslag van alle recht vervolging (discharge without prosecution), was based on the reasoning that the exports complied with trade policies in force&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/judges-charged-in-indonesian-bribery-scandal-after-clearing-palm-oil-giants-of-corruption/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-297601</doi>				</item>
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