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		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/deforestation-alert-system/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
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	<title>News on Deforestation Alert System</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/deforestation-alert-system/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Despite a drop in deforestation in 2025, forest losses pile up in the Mekong</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/despite-a-drop-in-deforestation-in-2025-forest-losses-pile-up-in-the-mekong/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/despite-a-drop-in-deforestation-in-2025-forest-losses-pile-up-in-the-mekong/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Sep 2026 02:05:18 +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/20/2023/07/12064247/Garment-Deforestation_Mongabay_Andy-Ball_Story-3-4-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330522</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, Laos, Mekong Basin, Myanmar, Southeast Asia, Thailand, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Community Forests, Conservation, Deforestation, Deforestation Alert System, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Policy, forest degradation, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Forestry, Forests, Governance, Monitoring, Primary Forests, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BANGKOK — Over the course of 2025, the Mekong countries of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam lost a combined 746,168 hectares (1.8 million acres) of tree cover, an area roughly equivalent to the size of the Bangkok Metropolitan Area, according to Mongabay’s analysis*. Data published by the Global Land Analysis and Discovery (GLAD) laboratory at the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BANGKOK — Over the course of 2025, the Mekong countries of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam lost a combined 746,168 hectares (1.8 million acres) of tree cover, an area roughly equivalent to the size of the Bangkok Metropolitan Area, according to Mongabay’s analysis*. Data published by the Global Land Analysis and Discovery (GLAD) laboratory at the University of Maryland, in partnership with Global Nature Watch (GNW) — formerly Global Forest Watch — shows that of the total 746,168 hectares of tree cover lost, more than 154,000 hectares (380,000 acres)  was primary forest. Mongabay’s analysis found that just shy of 200,000 hectares (494,000 acres) of the total were lost from the region’s protected areas. While these numbers may paint a bleak picture for the Mekong’s forests, the rate of regional deforestation has dropped by almost 25% from that recorded by GNW in 2024, continuing a decline that, according to the data, began in 2023. Fewer wildfires, higher rainfall, stricter law enforcement and lower market rates for commodities could all factor into a drop in the Mekong’s deforestation rate for 2025 when compared to 2024. However, experts warn that short-term drops do not always represent a broader trend in deforestation. Every country in the Mekong saw a fall in deforestation rates from 2024 to 2025, but each still grapples with a range of challenges to protecting the region’s remaining forests. Data from 2025 shows a drop in deforestation recorded across Mekong nations, but much of the tree cover lost last year was lost inside&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/despite-a-drop-in-deforestation-in-2025-forest-losses-pile-up-in-the-mekong/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/despite-a-drop-in-deforestation-in-2025-forest-losses-pile-up-in-the-mekong/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330522</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Brazil election could put 95% of the Amazon under right-wing governments</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/right-wing-leaders-could-rule-95-of-the-amazon-by-2027-experts-warn/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/right-wing-leaders-could-rule-95-of-the-amazon-by-2027-experts-warn/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Sep 2026 19:27:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Lucas Berti]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/15182022/AP26237589746151-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329809</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Latin America, Peru, South America, and Venezuela]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Deforestation, Deforestation Alert System, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Politics, and Tropical Deforestation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[With 60% of the rainforest hanging in the balance, Brazil’s upcoming election could seal the Amazon's fate.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In January 2027, five of the nine Amazonian countries could be run by right-wing or far-right parties, posing new risks to the world’s greatest rainforest, experts warn. Peru, Colombia, Bolivia, and Ecuador have already elected presidents who explicitly favor agribusiness and mining over environmental conservation. Brazil, home to more than 60% of the Amazon, could be next. According to polls, the left-wing incumbent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, is neck and neck ahead of October’s ballot against Flávio Bolsonaro, the eldest son of Jair Bolsonaro, the far-right president he defeated in the last election four years ago. The elder Bolsonaro has since been convicted for an attempted coup d’état, imprisoned, and barred from running for office. Venezuela, run by a nominally socialist regime but now under economic intervention from the U.S., is facing mounting pressure from President Donald Trump to boost oil production and sign new mining deals, raising environmental concerns in the country. Together, these six nations cover up to 95% of the Amazon. Experts say Brazil’s election will have high stakes for the Amazon and other biomes, especially as the younger Bolsonaro looks set to revive his father’s policies. Opposition presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro, left, greets El Salvador&#8217;s Minister of Justice and Public Security, Hector Gustavo Villatoro, during a meeting, in São Paulo, Sunday, Aug. 30, 2026. Image by AP Photo/Andre Penner. “Even under a government that is somewhat committed to combating deforestation, the task is already very difficult,” Márcio Astrini, executive secretary of the Climate Observatory, a&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/right-wing-leaders-could-rule-95-of-the-amazon-by-2027-experts-warn/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/right-wing-leaders-could-rule-95-of-the-amazon-by-2027-experts-warn/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329809</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Lack of data hinders fight against environmental crimes in Angola, says environmentalist</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/lack-of-data-hinders-fight-against-environmental-crimes-in-angola-says-environmentalist/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/lack-of-data-hinders-fight-against-environmental-crimes-in-angola-says-environmentalist/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Sep 2026 12:02:57 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[David Tjyakala]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/11072035/image2_DesmatamentoAngola1.CreditoAcervoEcoAngola-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329430</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Angola]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agroforestry, Biodiversity, Community-based Conservation, Deforestation Alert System, forest degradation, Forest Loss, Forestry, NGOs, Parks, Science, Sustainable Forest Management, and timber trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Angola faces severe environmental challenges, and the govern has signed international commitments, such as the Montreal Protocol and the Kigali Amendment, to phase out hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) by 2030 and cut hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) by 80% by 2045. However, climate crises such as prolonged droughts affecting the country’s southern region, soil degradation, and floods caused by heavy [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Angola faces severe environmental challenges, and the govern has signed international commitments, such as the Montreal Protocol and the Kigali Amendment, to phase out hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) by 2030 and cut hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) by 80% by 2045. However, climate crises such as prolonged droughts affecting the country’s southern region, soil degradation, and floods caused by heavy rains continue to have significant social and economic impacts. It is estimated that more than 2.2 million people are affected by these phenomena. It is against this backdrop that the voice of a new generation of Angolan environmentalists is gaining prominence. Among them is 29-year-old Érica Tavares. She studied Environmental Biology at the University of Nottingham in the UK and now works with environmental conservation and youth mobilization in Angola. She is a co-founder of the NGO EcoAngola and has been at the forefront of forest advocacy, environmental education and youth participation in sustainability debates. In an interview with Mongabay Brazil, Tavares discusses her journey as an environmentalist and the issues that concern her most. Érica Tavares, co-founder of the NGO EcoAngola. Image by EcoAngola Image Bank. Mongabay: How would you describe the state of the environment in Angola in 2026? Is it better or worse than five years ago? Érica Tavares: It’s always difficult to answer that question — which I am often asked — because one of our major challenges is the analysis of [nonexistent] data and information. To conduct a comparative analysis between now and five years ago, we would need to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/lack-of-data-hinders-fight-against-environmental-crimes-in-angola-says-environmentalist/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/lack-of-data-hinders-fight-against-environmental-crimes-in-angola-says-environmentalist/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329430</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The formula that reduced deforestation in Brazil in the 21st century</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/the-formula-that-reduced-deforestation-in-brazil-in-the-21st-century/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/the-formula-that-reduced-deforestation-in-brazil-in-the-21st-century/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Sep 2025 09:26:59 +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/20/2023/09/13124248/Cattle-ranching-in-Amazon-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=306234</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Perfect Storm in the Amazon]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Avoided Deforestation, Biodiversity, Conservation, Deforestation, Deforestation Alert System, Environment, Environmental Law, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Land Rights, Politics, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The dramatic reduction in deforestation in Brazil between 2004 and 2012 was the result of an ‘all of government approach’, which was closely coordinated with private initiatives responding to international boycotts that targeted commodity supply chains. Launched in the first year of President Inácio Lula da Silva’s first term, the Action Plan for the Prevention [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The dramatic reduction in deforestation in Brazil between 2004 and 2012 was the result of an ‘all of government approach’, which was closely coordinated with private initiatives responding to international boycotts that targeted commodity supply chains. Launched in the first year of President Inácio Lula da Silva’s first term, the Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation in the Legal Amazon (PPCDAm) was successful largely because it was executed from the Casa Civil, a high-level entity within the office of the Presidency (CC/PR). The early success of the PPCDAm demonstrated that reducing deforestation requires policies that span the regulatory apparatus at the federal, state and local level. Although the initiative did not eliminate deforestation, its policies succeeded in changing human behaviour and business models on the forest frontier. In 2009, the government made a commitment to the United Nations’ Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to decrease deforestation by 80% by 2020, but exceeded that target in 2012, when the annual deforestation rate was only 20% of its twenty-year historical mean. Despite its initial success, the PPCDAm failed to eradicate certain types of small-scale land clearing and was ineffective in combating the wildcat gold mining that exploded across the region. The shortfall was not necessarily a design failure, however, but the result of the political calculus of subsequent administrations and a global market that continued to drive the expansion of agribusiness. A social backlash fueled by vested interests with raw political power and dissatisfaction fueled by the Lava&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/the-formula-that-reduced-deforestation-in-brazil-in-the-21st-century/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/the-formula-that-reduced-deforestation-in-brazil-in-the-21st-century/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-306234</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Satellite data show burst of deforestation in Myanmar rare earth mining hotspots</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/satellite-data-show-burst-of-deforestation-in-myanmar-rare-earth-mining-hotspots/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/satellite-data-show-burst-of-deforestation-in-myanmar-rare-earth-mining-hotspots/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Sep 2025 15:51:25 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Latoya AbuluSonam Lama Hyolmo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/09/16075624/drone-shot-of-mining-site-in-Myanmar-EARTH-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=305968</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Forest Trackers]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Myanmar, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conflict, data, Deforestation, Deforestation Alert System, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Forests, Governance, Land Use Change, Mining, Pollution, Rainforests, Regulations, Remote Sensing, Rivers, Satellite Imagery, Social Conflict, Tropical Deforestation, War, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Myanmar’s Kachin state, near the border with China, is a global hub for rare earth minerals. But the dearth of regulations over mining these resources has come at a steep cost to the area’s subtropical and moist forests, according to researchers and satellite imagery collected by Mongabay. Civil society sources in the region, who requested [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Myanmar’s Kachin state, near the border with China, is a global hub for rare earth minerals. But the dearth of regulations over mining these resources has come at a steep cost to the area’s subtropical and moist forests, according to researchers and satellite imagery collected by Mongabay. Civil society sources in the region, who requested anonymity due to security concerns in the warring country, say mining activities are also causing alarming impacts on human health, women, soil and rivers. A spokesperson from a local organization in Myanmar told Mongabay that mining in Chipwi and Momauk townships, where much of the state’s rare earth mining is concentrated, increased rapidly in late 2021, the year the coup d’état and civil war began. This was “especially in areas under informal control or lacking proper environmental oversight,” the spokesperson said. Bhamo is another township where rare earth mining is taking place. “There has [also] been a noticeable rise in deforestation since around 2018, with sharp increases particularly around mining zones due to road construction, land clearing for extraction activities, and widespread tree cutting for fuelwood or to dry the rare earth sludge,” the spokesperson told Mongabay by text message. From 2018 to 2024, Chipwi, Momauk and Bhamo lost about 32,720 hectares (80,850 acres) of tree cover, according to data from Global Forest Watch. Momauk saw the highest loss, with 12,100 hectares (about 30,000 acres). Mining has since slowed down or been suspended in some places after the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), whose armed wing&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/satellite-data-show-burst-of-deforestation-in-myanmar-rare-earth-mining-hotspots/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/satellite-data-show-burst-of-deforestation-in-myanmar-rare-earth-mining-hotspots/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-305968</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Rectifying the damage: environmental fines in the Brazilian Amazon</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/rectifying-the-damage-environmental-fines-in-the-brazilian-amazon/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/rectifying-the-damage-environmental-fines-in-the-brazilian-amazon/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 May 2025 10:50:35 +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/20/2025/05/09203312/peru_macaws_d1040_24-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=298906</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Perfect Storm in the Amazon]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Crime, Deforestation, Deforestation Alert System, Environment, Environmental Policy, Governance, Illegal Mining, Mining, Politics, Rainforests, Social Justice, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Regulatory agencies use fines as a key mechanism for enforcing administrative law. Fines act as a deterrent, because they discourage individuals and organizations from ignoring regulations; they also serve as punishment, because they ensure there are consequences for non-compliance. In some cases, fines can function as a form of reparation when the proceeds are used [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Regulatory agencies use fines as a key mechanism for enforcing administrative law. Fines act as a deterrent, because they discourage individuals and organizations from ignoring regulations; they also serve as punishment, because they ensure there are consequences for non-compliance. In some cases, fines can function as a form of reparation when the proceeds are used to compensate communities or families for damages caused by irresponsible and illegal acts. Like any legal procedure, the accused party should have access to a process that provides an opportunity for defence. In some (most) instances, violators can enter into settlement agreements with regulatory agencies, agreeing to pay a monetary settlement and undertake corrective actions without admitting guilt, which expedites the resolution of cases and avoids publicity. Unsurprisingly, there are criticisms regarding the consistency and fairness of fines. Some environmental economists argue that they do not reflect the true damage caused by the loss of environmental services. Environmental fines will motivate people to comply with the law only if they are collected. In 2017, IBAMA reported that about 8,000 fines totalling more than R$ 4 billion were levied annually between 2010 and 2016; however, payments have never exceeded four percent of the annual figure and the total amount in arrears surpassed R$ 23 billion in 2017. IBAMA has been more successful in forcing large corporations to pay their fines, but even Petrobras has about R$ 1.3 billion in outstanding fines. In most cases, defendants choose to litigate their fines in court, which causes their real&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/rectifying-the-damage-environmental-fines-in-the-brazilian-amazon/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-298906</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia strengthens forest monitoring with new tool to meet EU deforestation law</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/indonesia-strengthens-forest-monitoring-with-new-tool-to-meet-eu-deforestation-law/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/indonesia-strengthens-forest-monitoring-with-new-tool-to-meet-eu-deforestation-law/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Apr 2025 11:21:18 +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/20/2025/04/07100721/4-Illegal-logging-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=297879</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Crime, Deforestation, Deforestation Alert System, Environment, Forestry, Forests, GPS, Illegal Logging, Illegal Trade, Indigenous Peoples, Law Enforcement, Monitoring, Organized Crime, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Supply Chain, Threats To Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia’s efforts to ensure its commodity exports are free of deforestation are ramping up as the European Union Deforestation Regulation, or EUDR, nears enforcement. One of the biggest challenges in meeting EUDR standards is traceability. To meet the regulation’s strict requirements, Indonesia is stepping up efforts to provide verifiable, real-time data that prove [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia’s efforts to ensure its commodity exports are free of deforestation are ramping up as the European Union Deforestation Regulation, or EUDR, nears enforcement. One of the biggest challenges in meeting EUDR standards is traceability. To meet the regulation’s strict requirements, Indonesia is stepping up efforts to provide verifiable, real-time data that prove the legality and sustainability of commodities like palm oil, timber, and other forest-risk products. A new forest monitoring platform, Ground Truthed.id (GTID), aims to support this by documenting violations at the source — such as illegal oil palm plantations in forest zones, timber sourced from unlicensed concessions, and land conflicts — to complement satellite monitoring. This will make it easier to track where supply chain irregularities begin, especially in remote or hard-to access areas, said Denny Bhatara, a senior campaigner at Kaoem Telapak, the environmental NGO behind GTID. “Many incidents occur that we might not be aware of due to distance or a lack of reporting mechanisms,” he said. “Through GTID, we gather all field-based documentation and compile it into a unified system.” What sets GTID apart, Denny said, is its focus on collecting real-time, verifiable geolocation-based evidence of environmental crimes from the ground up, unlike other platforms like Global Forest Watch (GFW), which start with satellite imagery before ground verification. This bottom-up method ensures the data reflect real-world conditions rather than just remote-sensing estimates, he said. This allows authorities to confirm whether deforestation is unlawful and, crucially, to act before irreversible environmental damage occurs,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/indonesia-strengthens-forest-monitoring-with-new-tool-to-meet-eu-deforestation-law/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/indonesia-strengthens-forest-monitoring-with-new-tool-to-meet-eu-deforestation-law/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-297879</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New transmission lines cut a Cambodian rainforest sanctuary in half</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/new-transmission-lines-cut-a-cambodian-rainforest-sanctuary-in-half/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/new-transmission-lines-cut-a-cambodian-rainforest-sanctuary-in-half/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Nov 2024 02:45:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerald FlynnPhoung Vantha]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/11/27015212/DJI_0038-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=290760</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, Laos, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Carbon Sequestration, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corruption, Critically Endangered Species, Deforestation, Deforestation Alert System, Drivers Of Deforestation, Endangered Species, Energy, Forest Carbon, Forest Fragmentation, Forest Loss, Forests, Governance, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Illegal Logging, Infrastructure, Logging, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Satellite Imagery, Selective Logging, Threats To Rainforests, Timber, Tropical Deforestation, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[STUNG TRENG, Cambodia — In early October, work began on power lines that will run about 300 kilometers, or 190 miles, and that conservationists have labeled “a death sentence” to Cambodia’s Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary. The transmission lines are slated to run from a substation on the outskirts of the capital, Phnom Penh, to Cambodia’s [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[STUNG TRENG, Cambodia — In early October, work began on power lines that will run about 300 kilometers, or 190 miles, and that conservationists have labeled “a death sentence” to Cambodia’s Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary. The transmission lines are slated to run from a substation on the outskirts of the capital, Phnom Penh, to Cambodia’s northeastern border with Laos, slicing through the densest part of the 490,000-hectare (1.2-million-acre) protected rainforest, vital wildlife habitats and two existing REDD+ projects. The 500-kilovolt transmission line project has remained largely dormant since it was initially approved in 2020, although the years that followed saw conservationists decry its potential environmental impacts. As of Nov. 18, satellite imagery shows a route 30 meters wide and 5.8 kilometers long (100 feet by 3.6 miles) has been cleared through the wildlife sanctuary’s northeastern section in Stung Treng province. The freshly cut track follows a route mapped out as one option for the transmission lines by Electricité du Cambodge, the state-owned electricity utility, in April 2021. If completed as mapped, the lines will run 65 km (40 mi) through Prey Lang. The rainforest surrounding the plotted route provides habitat for a wide array of wildlife, including the endangered Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) and pileated gibbon (Hylobates pileatus), as well as the Sunda pangolin (Manis javanica) and banteng (Bos javanicus), both of which are listed as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List. Prey Lang also houses hundreds of plant species, including 14 known to be at risk of extinction&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/new-transmission-lines-cut-a-cambodian-rainforest-sanctuary-in-half/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/new-transmission-lines-cut-a-cambodian-rainforest-sanctuary-in-half/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-290760</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Latest palm oil deforester in Indonesia may also be operating illegally</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/latest-palm-oil-deforester-in-indonesia-may-also-be-operating-illegally/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/latest-palm-oil-deforester-in-indonesia-may-also-be-operating-illegally/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 May 2024 15:40:51 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hayat Indriyatno]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/01/25083026/oil-palm-kalimantan-indonesia-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=282033</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Business, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Deforestation, Deforestation Alert System, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Forests, Law, Law Enforcement, Palm Oil, Plantations, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — The largest case of deforestation for industrial palm oil in Indonesia is happening within a concession on a tiny island off the coast of southern Borneo, according to satellite analysis by technology consultancy TheTreeMap. The deforestation appears to be illegal, activists say, citing the irregularities surrounding the permits associated with the concession. Data from [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — The largest case of deforestation for industrial palm oil in Indonesia is happening within a concession on a tiny island off the coast of southern Borneo, according to satellite analysis by technology consultancy TheTreeMap. The deforestation appears to be illegal, activists say, citing the irregularities surrounding the permits associated with the concession. Data from TheTreeMap, available at forest monitoring platform Nusantara Atlas, show that 15,822 hectares (39,097 acres) of new plantations were established in the concession on the island of Laut, part of Kotabaru district in South Kalimantan province, in 2022 and 2023. The concession has been linked to palm oil company PT Multi Sarana Agro Mandiri (MSAM), part of the Jhonlin Group owned by influential tycoon Andi Syamsudin Arsyad, popularly known as Haji Isam. To make way for these new plantations, up to 10,650 hectares (26,317 acres) of forest — one-sixth the size of Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta — were cleared during that period. This makes the concession the single biggest site of deforestation for palm oil in Indonesia, according to TheTreeMap. A time lapse animation of deforestation in the palm oil concession of PT Multi Sarana Agro Mandiri (MSAM), part of the influential Jhonlin Group, in Pulau Laut, South Kalimantan, from June 2022 to February 2024. Image courtesy of TheTreeMap. The figure is significant for an island as small as Laut, said Jefri Raharja, campaign manager with the South Kalimantan chapter of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), Indonesia’s biggest green NGO. At 202,400 hectares (500,100 acres), Laut is&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/latest-palm-oil-deforester-in-indonesia-may-also-be-operating-illegally/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/latest-palm-oil-deforester-in-indonesia-may-also-be-operating-illegally/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-282033</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Protected areas bear the brunt as forest loss continues across Cambodia</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/protected-areas-bear-the-brunt-as-forest-loss-continues-across-cambodia/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/protected-areas-bear-the-brunt-as-forest-loss-continues-across-cambodia/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Apr 2024 02:50:03 +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/20/2024/04/17022743/Stung-Veal-Thmor-Kambot-V3-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=281026</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Crime, data, Deforestation, Deforestation Alert System, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Forest Carbon, forest degradation, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Gold Mining, Illegal Logging, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Logging, Mapping, Mining, Mongabay Data Studio, National Parks, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Reforestation, Remote Sensing, Satellite Imagery, timber trade, Tropical Deforestation, Tropical Forests, and Tropical hardwoods]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PHNOM PENH — New data published by the University of Maryland on April 4 and available through satellite monitoring platform Global Forest Watch show continued forest loss across Cambodia last year, particularly in areas designated as protected by the Ministry of Environment. Last year saw 121,000 hectares (300,000 acres) of forest cover, an area the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PHNOM PENH — New data published by the University of Maryland on April 4 and available through satellite monitoring platform Global Forest Watch show continued forest loss across Cambodia last year, particularly in areas designated as protected by the Ministry of Environment. Last year saw 121,000 hectares (300,000 acres) of forest cover, an area the size of the city of Los Angeles, lost across Cambodia. More than 48,000 hectares (119,000 acres) of this was recorded as primary forest, according to Global Forest Watch. An analysis conducted by Mongabay using the University of Maryland GLAD lab’s data found the majority of forest loss in Cambodia last year occurred inside protected areas. Assessing the loss of forest canopy with a density of 30% or higher, Mongabay found that more than 66,000 hectares (163,000 acres) of forest vanished from Cambodia’s protected areas in 2023. However, the figures are difficult to compare to previous years, following sweeping changes to Cambodia’s protected area system that saw more than 1 million additional hectares (2.5 million acres) reclassified as protected between July and August 2023. New data from Global Forest Watch shows how more than half of all forest loss sustained in 2023 occurred inside protected areas. Image by Ministry of Environment spokesperson Khvay Atitya didn’t answer specific questions sent by Mongabay via messaging app Telegram, instead stating that Cambodia has 73 protected areas that span 7.2 million hectares (17.8 million acres) — roughly 41% of Cambodia’s landmass — and then detailed the ministry’s new management plan.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/protected-areas-bear-the-brunt-as-forest-loss-continues-across-cambodia/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-281026</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Shrinking civil space and persistent logging: 2023 in review in Southeast Asia</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/shrinking-civil-space-and-persistent-logging-2023-in-review-in-southeast-asia/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/shrinking-civil-space-and-persistent-logging-2023-in-review-in-southeast-asia/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Dec 2023 14:40:03 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn CowanGerald Flynn]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/07/12064247/Garment-Deforestation_Mongabay_Andy-Ball_Story-3-4-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=277151</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Southeast Asia, Thailand, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Community Forests, Conflict, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Crime, Deforestation, Deforestation Alert System, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Heroes, Environmental Law, Forests, Governance, Illegal Logging, Journalism, Law, Logging, Military, Murdered Activists, Murdered Journalists, Politics, Protests, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Roads, Selective Logging, Surveillance, Traditional People, Tropical Deforestation, Violence, Wildlife, and Wildlife consumption]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Southeast Asia is home to the third-largest expanse of tropical rainforest in the world, making it a pivotal region for global efforts to address the biodiversity crisis and climate change. But intense development pressure and global consumption are transforming the region’s landscapes, fragmenting forests, degrading waterways and depleting the natural resources on which countless species [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Southeast Asia is home to the third-largest expanse of tropical rainforest in the world, making it a pivotal region for global efforts to address the biodiversity crisis and climate change. But intense development pressure and global consumption are transforming the region’s landscapes, fragmenting forests, degrading waterways and depleting the natural resources on which countless species and millions of people depend. There have been both losses and gains for the environment and conservation across the region in 2023. The year was marked by ever-increasing repression against environmental activists, unabated logging pressure even within protected areas, and regional haze crises generated by El Niño-driven forest fires and agricultural burning. But it’s not all doom and gloom. Reforestation and ecosystem restoration efforts are coming to the forefront of conservation planning at local, national and regional scales, and mechanisms to make farming practices more sustainable, efficient and profitable are being widely explored throughout the region. Here’s a closer look at some of the conservation trends and developments across Southeast Asia that Mongabay covered during 2023. Repression ramps up across the region Southeast Asia has never been an easy place for activists, but a worrying trend emerged over the course of 2023 that saw environmental and Indigenous activists increasingly placed in the crosshairs of authoritarian governments as a result of their activism. In Cambodia, the transition of power from former prime minister Hun Sen to his eldest son, Hun Manet, has done little to open up the rapidly shrinking civil space. The ongoing crackdown on&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/shrinking-civil-space-and-persistent-logging-2023-in-review-in-southeast-asia/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-277151</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Communities track a path of destruction through a Cambodian wildlife sanctuary</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/communities-track-a-path-of-destruction-through-a-cambodian-wildlife-sanctuary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/communities-track-a-path-of-destruction-through-a-cambodian-wildlife-sanctuary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Oct 2023 04:23:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Andy BallGerald FlynnMeng Kroypunlok]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/10/09043143/RESIZED-Preah-Roka_Mongabay_Andy-Ball-19-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=273942</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, Mekong Basin, Southeast Asia, Thailand, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Community Forests, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Crime, Deforestation, Deforestation Alert System, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Heroes, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Forests, Governance, Illegal Logging, International Trade, Journalism, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Logging, Military, Mongabay Data Studio, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Roads, Selective Logging, Threats To Rainforests, Traditional People, and Tropical Deforestation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PREAH VIHEAR, Cambodia — Sometime after 10 a.m. on Friday, April 21, sweat poured down the face of veteran environmental activist San Mala as he crawled through the forest undergrowth, some 16 kilometers (10 miles) deep in the heart of Chhaeb-Preah Roka Wildlife Sanctuary in northern Cambodia. Rangers from the Ministry of Environment were closing [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PREAH VIHEAR, Cambodia — Sometime after 10 a.m. on Friday, April 21, sweat poured down the face of veteran environmental activist San Mala as he crawled through the forest undergrowth, some 16 kilometers (10 miles) deep in the heart of Chhaeb-Preah Roka Wildlife Sanctuary in northern Cambodia. Rangers from the Ministry of Environment were closing in and were calling out for the activists to give themselves up. The rangers had appeared as the camp of community patrollers Mala had accompanied were preparing breakfast. Mala and a handful of his team were already in the forest and managed to escape. Now, the activists were dragging themselves through the foliage as silently as they could. Footsteps crunched close and the rangers’ walkie-talkies crackled unseen through the thick greenery. The humidity and the fear of arrest made for a heady mix, but Mala remained calm. This was not his first flight from the authorities while trying to defend Cambodia’s forests. Veteran Cambodian environmentalist San Mala hides from Ministry of Environment rangers that aimed to detain him in Chhaeb-Preah Roka Wildlife Sanctuary in April 2023. Image by Chasing Deforestation / Mongabay. Mala turned and silently ordered the group to stop. He held his finger to his lips, gesturing at Mongabay reporters, who had joined him and the Prey Preah Roka Community Network — a grassroots activism group comprised of volunteers from communities near the wildlife sanctuary — on one of their patrols through the protected forest to gather data on illegal logging. Insects swarmed&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/communities-track-a-path-of-destruction-through-a-cambodian-wildlife-sanctuary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-273942</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Logging route cut into Cambodia’s Prey Lang from Think Biotech’s concession</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/logging-route-cut-into-cambodias-prey-lang-from-think-biotechs-concession/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/logging-route-cut-into-cambodias-prey-lang-from-think-biotechs-concession/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Oct 2023 04:40:04 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Andy BallGerald FlynnMeng Kroypunlok]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Gerryflynn]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/10/05030338/RESIZED-PLWS_New-Road_Mongabay-4-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=273887</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, Mekong Basin, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Community Forests, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Crime, Deforestation, Deforestation Alert System, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, forest degradation, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Forestry, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Illegal Logging, Illegal Trade, Journalism, Logging, Mongabay Data Studio, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Roads, Selective Logging, Threats To Rainforests, Timber, timber trade, Traditional People, and Tropical Deforestation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[STUNG TRENG, Cambodia — A fresh incursion into Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary has added new evidence to mounting allegations of timber laundering by Think Biotech, which exists on paper as a reforestation company producing sustainable wood. Satellite imagery showed that between April 6 and 9, a fresh path had been crudely cut into Prey Lang [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[STUNG TRENG, Cambodia — A fresh incursion into Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary has added new evidence to mounting allegations of timber laundering by Think Biotech, which exists on paper as a reforestation company producing sustainable wood. Satellite imagery showed that between April 6 and 9, a fresh path had been crudely cut into Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary from Think Biotech’s 34,000-hectare (84,000-acre) concession, which extends along the border of the protected forest in Stung Treng and Kratie provinces. Prey Lang is mainland Southeast Asia’s largest lowland evergreen rainforest and a vital carbon sink. The sanctuary spanned nearly 430,000 hectares (1.06 million acres) until August this year, when the Ministry of Environment increased the size of Prey Lang to 489,663 hectares (1.21 million acres). The expansion of Prey Lang, however, comes after some of the worst years on record for illegal logging in the wildlife sanctuary. Satellite imagery from April 2023 shows construction of a new road that appears to begin inside Think Biotech&#8217;s concession. By April 12, it had cut a meandering path almost 10 kilometers (6 miles) deep into the protected forest of Prey Lang. The path appeared to be bound directly for a cluster of community forests, many of which hold old-growth resin trees that have been sustainably tapped by Indigenous communities for generations. Satellite imagery provided by Planet Labs shows the development of a new road running from Think Biotech&#8217;s concession in Cambodia&#8217;s Stung Treng province into the protected Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary. Image by Andrés Alegría&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/logging-route-cut-into-cambodias-prey-lang-from-think-biotechs-concession/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-273887</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Cambodia approves, then suspends, marble mine in Keo Seima REDD+ project</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/cambodia-approves-then-suspends-marble-mine-in-keo-seima-redd-project/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/cambodia-approves-then-suspends-marble-mine-in-keo-seima-redd-project/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Aug 2023 03:17:44 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerald FlynnMeng Kroypunlok]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Gerryflynn]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/08/31022012/V2-Banner-image-resized-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=272792</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, Mekong Basin, Southeast Asia, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Birds, Carbon Credits, Carbon Market, Carbon Offsets, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Deforestation, Deforestation Alert System, Drivers Of Deforestation, Elephants, Endangered Species, Forest Carbon, Forests, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Logging, Mining, NGOs, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Selective Logging, Threats To Rainforests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MONDULKIRI, Cambodia — In a rare win for conservationists and Cambodia’s Indigenous communities, the Ministry of Environment has opted to suspend a planned marble mining operation within a wildlife sanctuary along the border with Vietnam. A letter dated June 27 from then-environment minister Say Samal ordered that the mining exploration operation be suspended before it [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MONDULKIRI, Cambodia — In a rare win for conservationists and Cambodia’s Indigenous communities, the Ministry of Environment has opted to suspend a planned marble mining operation within a wildlife sanctuary along the border with Vietnam. A letter dated June 27 from then-environment minister Say Samal ordered that the mining exploration operation be suspended before it even broke ground in Mondulkiri province. The decision came just 10 weeks after Samal had approved the roughly 4,000-hectare (9,900-acre) exploration license within the heart of Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary on April 24. The marble mine had prompted consternation among conservationists working in the sanctuary and outrage among the communities who stood to be affected. The area covered by the exploration license not only fell within the core zone of the protected area, but was also situated in the Keo Seima REDD+ project area, which generates funding to support the traditional conservation methods of the Bunong Indigenous groups who make up the majority of the population in Sre Preah commune where the license was granted. Niv Kanong, a Bunong resident of O’Chra village, said he hadn’t heard about the mine’s suspension when contacted in early July, adding that a public forum had taken place in late June, just prior to the announcement of the mine’s suspension. “Officials told us at the forum that the company would conduct a study first and that they would not affect the environment,” Kanong told Mongabay by phone. “I was really worried about it all. We live downstream of the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/cambodia-approves-then-suspends-marble-mine-in-keo-seima-redd-project/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/cambodia-approves-then-suspends-marble-mine-in-keo-seima-redd-project/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-272792</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Nearly 30% of all tree cover in Africa may be outside of forests, study says</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/nearly-30-of-all-tree-cover-in-africa-may-be-outside-of-forests-study-says/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/nearly-30-of-all-tree-cover-in-africa-may-be-outside-of-forests-study-says/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Jun 2023 11:20:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malavika Vyawahare]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/06/02104904/Screenshot-2023-06-02-at-11.46.56-AM-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=269292</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Rwanda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agroforestry, Carbon Emissions, Carbon Sequestration, Deforestation Alert System, Ecosystems, Landscape Restoration, Mapping, Remote Sensing, Research, Restoration, and Trees]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[When it comes to mapping green cover, it&#8217;s easy to miss the trees for the forest. New research suggests that there are a lot of missed trees: almost 30% of all tree cover in Africa may be outside of forests, according to an analysis published in Nature Communications. This research allows us to look “at [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[When it comes to mapping green cover, it&#8217;s easy to miss the trees for the forest. New research suggests that there are a lot of missed trees: almost 30% of all tree cover in Africa may be outside of forests, according to an analysis published in Nature Communications. This research allows us to look “at the big picture and at individual trees,” University of Copenhagen geographer Florian Reiner told Mongabay. Reiner and his colleagues trained a machine-learning model to identify tree crowns in high-resolution satellite imagery by manually labeling a smaller subset. They generated a tree-cover map for 45 African countries for 2019, down to individual tree crowns. One of the enduring questions in landscape mapping is: what configuration of trees qualifies as a forest? There&#8217;s no universally accepted definition of forests, but widely used ones rely on tree canopy. While all forests are made up of trees in some shape or form, not all trees fit inside forests. Mapping individual trees shows us where these elemental forest units exist but also distinguishes them as woody resources in their own right. Different government agencies can also use different definitions of forests, complicating the task of creating a continentwide inventory. National statistics often don&#8217;t capture tree resources outside designated forest areas, and governments overlook them in decision-making. To their disadvantage, as this paper shows: Ignoring trees not affiliated with forests can lead to an underestimation of a nation’s carbon stocks. Contribution of trees outside forests (TOF) to total tree cover at&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/nearly-30-of-all-tree-cover-in-africa-may-be-outside-of-forests-study-says/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/nearly-30-of-all-tree-cover-in-africa-may-be-outside-of-forests-study-says/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-269292</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Government inaction sees 98% of deforestation alerts go unpunished in Brazil</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/05/governmet-inaction-sees-98-of-deforestation-alerts-go-unpunished-in-brazil/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/05/governmet-inaction-sees-98-of-deforestation-alerts-go-unpunished-in-brazil/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 May 2022 14:12:14 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sarah Brown]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karla Mendes]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/05/31135546/4-Inspectors-from-Brazils-federal-environmental-protection-agency-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=256526</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Conservation Finance, Crime, Deforestation, Deforestation Alert System, Environment, Environmental Law, Finance, Forests, Funding, Governance, Illegal Logging, Illegal Mining, Logging, Mining, Politics, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, and timber trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Jair Bolsonaro presidency in Brazil has been marked by loosening regulations and budget cuts for environmental agencies, leading to soaring rates of Amazon destruction since he took office in 2019. Now, a new study quantifies what researchers call the “political negligence” of these policies, finding that nearly 98% of deforestation alerts were not investigated. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Jair Bolsonaro presidency in Brazil has been marked by loosening regulations and budget cuts for environmental agencies, leading to soaring rates of Amazon destruction since he took office in 2019. Now, a new study quantifies what researchers call the “political negligence” of these policies, finding that nearly 98% of deforestation alerts were not investigated. Published in March in the journal Environmental Research Letters, the study found that IBAMA, Brazil&#8217;s federal environmental protection agency, issued infraction notices or embargoes in response to just 1.3% of deforestation alerts in the Amazon in 2019 and 2020. The study authors call this “worrisome,” given that almost 99% of deforestation alerts in Brazil correspond to some form of environmental violation. The area covered by these alerts represents 6.1% of the total deforested area in the Amazon. &#8220;The government receives alerts of deforestation, yet we don&#8217;t see this being transformed into action,&#8221; lead author Marcondes Coelho-Junior, from the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro, told Mongabay by phone. &#8220;It&#8217;s not a lack of information that&#8217;s causing inaction. It&#8217;s not like [the government] didn&#8217;t know there was deforestation. But due to environmental policy weaknesses, there wasn&#8217;t any regulatory action for those alerts.&#8221; The Federal Public Ministry imposed enforcement action for 1.15% of Amazon deforestation alerts within the same period — meaning nearly 98% of deforestation alerts were not investigated, according to the findings. Timber in Pará state and other parts of the Brazilian Amazon can bypass regulatory permits, allowing illegal wood to be sold domestically&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/05/governmet-inaction-sees-98-of-deforestation-alerts-go-unpunished-in-brazil/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-256526</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Data-driven platform looks to clear up fog of palm oil traceability</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/11/data-driven-platform-looks-to-clear-up-fog-of-palm-oil-traceability/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/11/data-driven-platform-looks-to-clear-up-fog-of-palm-oil-traceability/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Nov 2021 14:18:17 +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/20/2021/11/02151104/Mills-linked-to-a-refinery-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=248815</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Deforestation, Deforestation Alert System, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Forest Destruction, Forests, Monitoring, Palm Oil, Plantations, Rainforests, Remote Sensing, Satellite Imagery, Supply Chain, Sustainability, Tracking, Tropical Deforestation, Tropical Forests, and Zero Deforestation Commitments]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — A new web monitoring platform aims to achieve full traceability in palm oil supply chains and help companies to meet their zero-deforestation commitments — a goal that continues to elude the industry due to numerous challenges. Palm oil is a major driver of deforestation in the two countries that produce nearly 90% of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — A new web monitoring platform aims to achieve full traceability in palm oil supply chains and help companies to meet their zero-deforestation commitments — a goal that continues to elude the industry due to numerous challenges. Palm oil is a major driver of deforestation in the two countries that produce nearly 90% of the global supply, Indonesia and Malaysia, and whose forests are home to key biodiversity areas. A 2019 study shows that land clearing for oil palm plantations was the single largest driver of deforestation in Indonesia between 2001 and 2016, accounting for 23% of total deforestation. One of the keys in stopping oil palm-driven deforestation is the ability to trace the palm oil product back to its origin, making sure that it’s legally sourced and produced from an environmental and social conflict-free area. Known as full traceability, this is a degree of transparency that the industry still hasn’t been able to achieve, despite the efforts of bodies like the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). “The goal is to make Palmoil.io a self-sustaining and reliable resource for palm oil professionals to identify and mitigate risks in their supply chain,” Leo Bottrill, CEO and founder of MapHubs, told Mongabay. Palmoil.io screen dashboard. Courtesy of palmoil.io Monitoring palm oil supply chains has long been challenging due to their complexity. A ton of palm oil derivative like stearic acid, for instance, used widely in detergents and cosmetics, is likely to consist of palm oil from hundreds of mills that, in turn, process palm&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/11/data-driven-platform-looks-to-clear-up-fog-of-palm-oil-traceability/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-248815</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>What makes mapping and monitoring zero-deforestation commitments effective?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/08/what-makes-mapping-and-monitoring-zero-deforestation-commitments-effective/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/08/what-makes-mapping-and-monitoring-zero-deforestation-commitments-effective/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Aug 2021 17:58:51 +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/20/2021/05/14053355/IPE_Tamarin_Flickr_RogerSmith-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=246478</guid>

					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Deforestation, Deforestation Alert System, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, forest degradation, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Forests, Mapping, Monitoring, Palm Oil, Rainforests, Tropical Deforestation, Tropical Forests, and Zero Deforestation Commitments]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Experts say that since there’s no one-size-fits-all solution to achieve effective zero deforestation commitment (ZDC) mapping and monitoring, they have created an attribute framework to guide the development of effective ZDC mapping and monitoring systems. Effective mapping and monitoring systems are deemed integral to help companies around the world in eliminating deforestation from [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Experts say that since there’s no one-size-fits-all solution to achieve effective zero deforestation commitment (ZDC) mapping and monitoring, they have created an attribute framework to guide the development of effective ZDC mapping and monitoring systems. Effective mapping and monitoring systems are deemed integral to help companies around the world in eliminating deforestation from their agricultural production systems and global commodity supply chains, such as oil palm, beef, and soy. To identify the attributes of effective systems, 17 experts from academia, the private sector and environmental NGOs, gathered in 2019 for a two-day workshop supported by the Science for Nature and People Partnership (SNAPP). SNAPP is a partnership of The Nature Conservancy and the Wildlife Conservation Society. The experts identified 12 attributes of ZDC mapping and monitoring systems that contribute to their credibility, salience, legitimacy, and scalability — the four criteria that enable stakeholders to make better-informed decisions and act on their commitments to protect forests. The attributes can be used to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of existing or potential mapping and monitoring systems, and to identify gaps that could be filled by integrating multiple approaches. “The goal of this effort was not to identify a single best ZDC mapping and monitoring approach, but to help supply chain actors and multi-stakeholder ZDC initiatives design mapping and monitoring systems that will meet user needs and contribute to reducing commodity-driver deforestation,” Kemen G. Austin, a senior policy analyst at NGO RTI and one of the report authors, told Mongabay by&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/08/what-makes-mapping-and-monitoring-zero-deforestation-commitments-effective/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-246478</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Palm oil firm Digoel Agri said to clear Papuan forest without Indigenous consent</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/03/palm-oil-firm-digoel-agri-said-to-clear-papuan-forest-without-indigenous-consent/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/03/palm-oil-firm-digoel-agri-said-to-clear-papuan-forest-without-indigenous-consent/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Mar 2021 14:27:40 +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/20/2020/06/25073949/A14I0621-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=240913</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, New Guinea, Papua, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, data, Deforestation, Deforestation Alert System, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Forest Destruction, Forestry, Forests, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Monitoring, Palm Oil, Plantations, Rainforests, Remote Sensing, Satellite Imagery, Social Conflict, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — After halting forest-clearing operations in 2020, the Digoel Agri conglomerate has apparently restarted its activities in Indonesia’s Papua province, raising alarms among local Indigenous communities who say they never agreed to its presence on their ancestral lands. Satellite imagery from the first two months of 2021 shows 64 hectares (158 acres) of deforestation [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — After halting forest-clearing operations in 2020, the Digoel Agri conglomerate has apparently restarted its activities in Indonesia’s Papua province, raising alarms among local Indigenous communities who say they never agreed to its presence on their ancestral lands. Satellite imagery from the first two months of 2021 shows 64 hectares (158 acres) of deforestation in two Digoel Agri concessions, those held by its subsidiaries PT Boven Digoel Budidaya Sentosa and PT Perkebunan Boven Digoel Sejahtera, according to forest monitoring platform Nusantara Atlas. Pusaka, an Indonesian nonprofit that analyzed the satellite imagery, says it has heard from local villagers that the conglomerate’s land-clearing contractor started bringing heavy equipment into the area in November 2020. In 2019, Digoel Agri cleared 164 hectares (405 acres) of forest, before pausing operations in October that year, when it reportedly stopped paying staff salaries. The concessions form part of the Tanah Merah project, a vast area on the island of New Guinea earmarked to become the world’s largest oil palm plantation. The project lies in the heart of the world’s third-largest rainforest, after the Amazon and Congo. Development on the project has only just begun, but if it is carried through to completion, it will result in the clearance of 280,000 hectares (692,000 acres) of rainforest, releasing a huge amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The project has been mired in controversy, such as allegations of falsified permits, conflicts with Indigenous peoples, and the use of shell companies in offshore secrecy jurisdictions to conceal&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/03/palm-oil-firm-digoel-agri-said-to-clear-papuan-forest-without-indigenous-consent/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-240913</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Monitoring tropical deforestation is now free and easy</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/01/monitoring-tropical-deforestation-is-now-free-and-easy/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/01/monitoring-tropical-deforestation-is-now-free-and-easy/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Jan 2021 16:27:01 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/09142810/bolivia_drone_190118_upside-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=238613</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Ecuador, Global, and Tropics]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, data, Deforestation, Deforestation Alert System, Environment, Forests, Green, Monitoring, Rainforests, Remote Sensing, Satellite Imagery, Threats To Rainforests, Trees, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Thanks to the rollout of free, high-resolution satellite imagery, the job of monitoring deforestation in tropical forests just got a lot easier. Last year Norway’s Ministry of Climate and Environment entered into a contract with three well-established satellite monitoring technology groups: Kongsberg Satellite Services (KSAT), Airbus and Planet. Planet uses satellites to capture images of the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Thanks to the rollout of free, high-resolution satellite imagery, the job of monitoring deforestation in tropical forests just got a lot easier. Last year Norway’s Ministry of Climate and Environment entered into a contract with three well-established satellite monitoring technology groups: Kongsberg Satellite Services (KSAT), Airbus and Planet. Planet uses satellites to capture images of the Earth on a daily basis. The best images from a given month are stitched together into a seamless, cloudless, mosaic. These monthly mosaics give users a clear picture of where deforestation is happening and how it has progressed over time. Now, anyone with an internet connection can view these mosaic images via the Global Forest Watch (GFW) website. Tech-savvy users can also download data directly from Planet for research or to create their own maps. Global map showing the extent of monthly Planet Basemaps now available under Norway’s Ministry of Climate and Environment contract. Image courtesy of Planet Labs Inc. “At 5-meter [16-foot] resolution, we can see the removal of individual trees and get a much better sense of the deforestation drivers and context,” Mikaela Weisse, who leads GFW’s strategy and partnerships around satellite-based forest monitoring, told Mongabay in an email. “The high level of spatial detail makes it easier to identify what has caused the deforestation, and can also provide visually-pleasing proof of forest clearing.” The high-resolution, high-frequency imagery is especially powerful when combined with early-warning forest loss alerts (GLAD Forest Alerts), which can be visualized on the GFW platform. The Monitoring of the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/01/monitoring-tropical-deforestation-is-now-free-and-easy/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-238613</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Palm oil giant Wilmar unfazed as watchdogs cry foul over Papua deforestation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/12/wilmar-medco-papua-capitol-deforestation-high-carbon-stock-conservation-value/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/12/wilmar-medco-papua-capitol-deforestation-high-carbon-stock-conservation-value/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Dec 2020 04:32:53 +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/20/2020/12/07005520/WhatsApp-Image-2020-11-10-at-15.31.00-768x493.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=237605</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Papua, Southeast Asia, and West Papua]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Carbon Emissions, data, Deforestation, Deforestation Alert System, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Forest Carbon, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Forests, Monitoring, Palm Oil, Plantations, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Remote Sensing, Satellite Imagery, Sustainability, Tropical Deforestation, Tropical Forests, and Zero Deforestation Commitments]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — An area of natural forest the size of 1,500 football fields has been cleared since January in an oil palm concession in Indonesia’s easternmost region of Papua by a company that ultimately supplies major traders and global brands. The deforestation was first detected in March 2020 by U.S.-based campaign organization Mighty Earth, which [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — An area of natural forest the size of 1,500 football fields has been cleared since January in an oil palm concession in Indonesia’s easternmost region of Papua by a company that ultimately supplies major traders and global brands. The deforestation was first detected in March 2020 by U.S.-based campaign organization Mighty Earth, which found 221 hectares (546 acres) of forest cleared in the concession of PT Medcopapua Hijau Selaras (MPHS), a subsidiary of the Jakarta-based Capitol Group. It dated the clearing to between Jan. 11 and Feb. 24 this year. Mighty Earth flagged the deforestation in its “Rapid Response” reports, but more clearing occurred in the following months. Using satellite data from Planet Labs and other sources, alongside concession maps, Mighty Earth found further deforestation of 286 hectares (706 acres) from Feb. 24 to June 18. Monitoring by other NGOs and platforms also picked up on the deforestation. The Earthqualizer Foundation, an environmental consultancy, reported detecting 732 hectares (1,808 acres) of forest clearance inside the MPHS concessions from January to August. Papua Atlas, a real-time interactive map showing the spread of plantations and roads in the Papua region, identified 680 hectares (1,680 acres) of forest cleared in that same period, with 675 hectares (1,667 acres) constituting primary forest. Although there’s some variance between the reported figures, they still point to MPHS being responsible for the largest area of forest cleared in Papua this year — the same conclusion reached by Pusaka, an Indonesian nonprofit that advocates for Indigenous peoples’ rights,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/12/wilmar-medco-papua-capitol-deforestation-high-carbon-stock-conservation-value/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/12/wilmar-medco-papua-capitol-deforestation-high-carbon-stock-conservation-value/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-237605</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Peru’s Brazil nut harvesters learn to monitor forests with drones</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/12/perus-brazil-nut-harvesters-learn-to-monitor-forests-with-drones/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/12/perus-brazil-nut-harvesters-learn-to-monitor-forests-with-drones/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Dec 2018 08:45:17 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Yvette Sierra Praeli]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sue Palminteri]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/12/05155813/Tambopata-canopy-2_GeorgePowell-or-Krista-Adamek-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=213140</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Madre de Dios, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[cameras, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Deforestation, Deforestation Alert System, Drones, early warning, Ecotourism, Forests, Governance, Law Enforcement, Monitoring, Rainforests, Remote Sensing, Sensors, Solutions, Supply Chain, Surveillance, Technology, Tropical Forests, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[GLO-4060 QZA-16/0047.3]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Flor Rumayna and Sara Hurtado arrived in Lima this past August from their homes in the Amazon headwaters to learn more about aerial monitoring of forests. They’d been researching new technologies for several months to help them protect their forest concessions in Madre de Dios Peru, a region in the southeast of the country facing increasing [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Flor Rumayna and Sara Hurtado arrived in Lima this past August from their homes in the Amazon headwaters to learn more about aerial monitoring of forests. They’d been researching new technologies for several months to help them protect their forest concessions in Madre de Dios Peru, a region in the southeast of the country facing increasing levels of deforestation. Small commercial unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, help landowners remotely monitor forests and capture high-resolution images of human activity below. Image courtesy of Conservación Amazónica – ACCA. They have already learned of several tools to help them manage their lands, including georeferenced alerts of possible deforestation events that arrive directly to their cell phones and techniques to monitor their lands from above using small commercial unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones. &#8220;I have always believed that technology can help us take care of our concessions,” Hurtado told Mongabay-Latam, “because, as they are large tracts of land, we face the danger of squatters and illegal loggers entering.&#8221; She currently manages two Brazil nut concessions in Madre de Dios, totaling almost 1,500 hectares (3,707 acres) of forest. Flor Rumayna and Sara Hurtado have learned to pilot drones to monitor the forest cover in their concessions in Madre de Dios. Image by Yvette Sierra Praeli/Mongabay-Latam. Rumayna recently received her diploma as a certified drone pilot, which will enable her to more efficiently monitor the illegal activities that damage the forest in her ecotourism concession. &#8220;Technology helps us with our work,” Rumayna said. “Before, when I heard a machine, I&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/12/perus-brazil-nut-harvesters-learn-to-monitor-forests-with-drones/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/12/perus-brazil-nut-harvesters-learn-to-monitor-forests-with-drones/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-213140</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Palm oil supplier to PepsiCo, Mars, and Hershey resumes deforesting in Indonesia</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/11/palm-oil-supplier-to-pepsico-mars-and-hershey-resumes-deforesting-in-indonesia/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/11/palm-oil-supplier-to-pepsico-mars-and-hershey-resumes-deforesting-in-indonesia/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Nov 2018 12:36:22 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Loren Bell]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Willie Shubert]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/11/15173058/west-papua_5941-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=212268</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Forest Trackers]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Indonesia, Southeast Asia, and West Papua]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Corporate Social Responsibility, Deforestation, Deforestation Alert System, Forests, Palm Oil, Rainforests, Supply Chain, and Zero Deforestation Commitments]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[0.04617, 2017-65500]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A palm oil supplier to PepsiCo, Mars, Hershey and Johnson &#38; Johnson has resumed clearing intact forest in West Papua, Indonesia, despite pressure by other major companies, many of which have since severed ties with the producer. The deforestation triggered a series of automatic alerts by Global Forest Watch, a satellite monitoring system operated by [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A palm oil supplier to PepsiCo, Mars, Hershey and Johnson &amp; Johnson has resumed clearing intact forest in West Papua, Indonesia, despite pressure by other major companies, many of which have since severed ties with the producer. The deforestation triggered a series of automatic alerts by Global Forest Watch, a satellite monitoring system operated by the World Resources Institute (WRI). PT Permata Putera Mandiri (PPM), a subsidiary of Austindo Nusantara Jaya Tbk (ANJ), has cleared 4.5 square kilometers (1.7 square miles) of intact forest since May. While this may seem like a relatively small area (in 2017 Indonesia lost 13,000 square kilometers, or 5,000 square miles, of tree cover), it is significant for the location, ANJ&#8217;s previous history, and the fact that this action violates the well-publicized commitments many of its customers have made to not deforest, not develop on peatlands, and not exploit indigenous peoples, also known as NDPE. PPM first began clearing forest in 2014. In response, palm oil giants GAR and Wilmar dropped ANJ from their supply chains, and Cargill followed in 2016. Facing a global boycott, PPM temporarily suspended forest clearing, but resumed operations again in late 2017. The Forest Trust (TFT), a nonprofit organization that helps businesses establish sustainable sourcing policies, has worked with many of the above companies on their NDPEs. In 2014, TFT engaged with its members and ANJ to address the deforestation issue, but reached an impasse when the company said it had to clear the forest for plantation to remain profitable.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/11/palm-oil-supplier-to-pepsico-mars-and-hershey-resumes-deforesting-in-indonesia/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/11/palm-oil-supplier-to-pepsico-mars-and-hershey-resumes-deforesting-in-indonesia/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-212268</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Real-time plantation map aims to throttle deforestation in Papua</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/10/real-time-plantation-map-aims-to-throttle-deforestation-in-papua/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/10/real-time-plantation-map-aims-to-throttle-deforestation-in-papua/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Oct 2018 07:15:47 +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/20/2018/10/18121147/west-papua_0355-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=211074</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Southeast Asian infrastructure]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Indonesia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, data, Deforestation, Deforestation Alert System, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Forests, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Infrastructure, Mapping, Monitoring, Palm Oil, Peatlands, Plantations, Politics, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Remote Sensing, Satellite Imagery, Threats To Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[DFFF2019, 2017-65500, G-1801-55636]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — The developers of a new interactive map hope to shine a light on deforestation in Indonesia’s easternmost region of Papua, where industrial-scale agriculture threatens one of the world’s last great expanses of untouched tropical forest. The Papua Atlas is developed by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), with financial assistance from Britain’s [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — The developers of a new interactive map hope to shine a light on deforestation in Indonesia’s easternmost region of Papua, where industrial-scale agriculture threatens one of the world’s last great expanses of untouched tropical forest. The Papua Atlas is developed by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), with financial assistance from Britain’s Department for International Development (DFID) and is scheduled for publication in 2019. While other platforms are already available that can track deforestation, including Global Forest Watch, the Papua Atlas is set to differentiate itself by tracking the actual progression of plantation areas and road developments. As a result, users will be able to see the number and extent of oil palm or pulpwood concessions or roads cut through the forest over time, says David Gaveau, a research associate with CIFOR who’s developing the map with his colleague Mohammad Agus Salim. Combined with a function to search for concessions in various ways, such as by looking at the identity of a parent company of a concession holder, this makes the Papua Atlas a powerful tool to increase transparency in the plantation sector, Gaveau says. “The Atlas links this land use and land cover change map that we derive based on satellite imagery with [a] land ownership map,” Gaveau tells Mongabay. “So one is able to query, not only at individual concessions, but also big groups [behind them].” Gaveua says the map was conceived to address the current lack of information on how concessions are being farmed&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/10/real-time-plantation-map-aims-to-throttle-deforestation-in-papua/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/10/real-time-plantation-map-aims-to-throttle-deforestation-in-papua/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-211074</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Deforestation continues upward trend in Brazil, says NGO</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/08/deforestation-continues-upward-trend-in-brazil-says-ngo/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/08/deforestation-continues-upward-trend-in-brazil-says-ngo/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Aug 2018 10:44:01 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/08/28100436/planet_xingu_basin-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=209768</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Deforestation, Deforestation Alert System, Environment, Forests, Rainforests, Remote Sensing, Satellite Imagery, Technology, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[GLO-4060 QZA-16/0047.3]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon continues to trend higher, reports Imazon, a Brazilian NGO that independently tracks developments in Earth&#8217;s largest rainforest. Data from Imazon&#8217;s monthly deforestation tracking system indicates 778 square kilometers of forest were cleared in July, a 43 percent increase over a year ago. The twelve month average is 358 square kilometers, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon continues to trend higher, reports Imazon, a Brazilian NGO that independently tracks developments in Earth&#8217;s largest rainforest. Data from Imazon&#8217;s monthly deforestation tracking system indicates 778 square kilometers of forest were cleared in July, a 43 percent increase over a year ago. The twelve month average is 358 square kilometers, up 49 percent. Imazon&#8217;s findings contrast with official data from Brazil&#8217;s national space research agency INPE, which shows a comparably flat trend line. INPE recently released a new short-term deforestation tracking system called DETER-B that breaks out deforestation, forest degradation, fire, and other land use changes. According to Imazon, deforestation increased most sharply over the past year in the states of Pará and Tocantins, both of which saw forest clearing rise by more than 2,000 percent relative to the prior year. Both states — like Mato Grosso, which ranks second in gross forest loss over the past year — produce large volumes of soy and cattle, which are the largest direct drivers of deforestation in the legal Amazon. [Above] Official Brazilian government data from INPE shows a less-pronounced increase in deforestation over last year. However the trend is still upward. [Below] INPE does not include forest diminishment from fire in its deforestation numbers. INPE burn scar data is shown in the chart below. Macroeconomic conditions and Brazil&#8217;s current political climate are conducive to rising deforestation. Donald Trump&#8217;s trade war with China has buoyed agricultural exports from Brazil to China, while the strong U.S. dollar and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/08/deforestation-continues-upward-trend-in-brazil-says-ngo/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/08/deforestation-continues-upward-trend-in-brazil-says-ngo/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-209768</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Online mapping tool tracks land-use changes down to the farm</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/07/online-mapping-tool-tracks-land-use-changes-down-to-the-farm/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/07/online-mapping-tool-tracks-land-use-changes-down-to-the-farm/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Jul 2018 08:30:03 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sue Palminteri (1965-2019)]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sue Palminteri]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/07/11133004/Kakum-NP-Ghana_Powell-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=208233</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Cote D'Ivoire, Democratic Republic Of Congo, Global, and Liberia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Deforestation, Deforestation Alert System, Forests, Governance, Mapping, Monitoring, Rainforests, Remote Sensing, Satellite Imagery, Saving Rainforests, Sensors, Solutions, Technology, Tropical Forests, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[GLO-4060 QZA-16/0047.3]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Online mapping platform MapHubs has recently launched a new service, MapHubs Forest, which combines automated forest change visualization and alerts with tools for making maps online, analyzing spatial data, producing reports and storing information in a secure online portal. The “hubs” of MapHubs are mini websites, or portals, that a company or other user group purchases [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Online mapping platform MapHubs has recently launched a new service, MapHubs Forest, which combines automated forest change visualization and alerts with tools for making maps online, analyzing spatial data, producing reports and storing information in a secure online portal. The “hubs” of MapHubs are mini websites, or portals, that a company or other user group purchases for a project or specific topic, such as monitoring a national park in Côte d&#8217;Ivoire or land-use change around a set of oil palm concessions in Liberia. The group can use its portal, basically a customizable online space on the MapHubs platform, to upload, store and access information; create projects; assemble data; and produce data reports and maps. West African forest in Ghana&#8217;s Kakum National Park. Image by George Powell The new forest reporting service allows the group to access forest change data and automated weekly GLAD alerts of tree cover loss, generated by the University of Maryland, directly from its portal and in combination with other spatial data sets. Companies or property owners can monitor tree cover at a scale of an individual farm, plantation, or project, and produce interactive maps of forest status. This capacity would also help watchdogs, commodity traders, and investors verify that a company’s local suppliers are meeting international obligations, MapHubs founder and CEO Leo Bottrill told Mongabay-Wildtech. &#8220;If companies are going to make good on their zero deforestation commitments,” Bottrill said, “they&#8217;re going to have to map and monitor at the farm level. If they don&#8217;t get to grips with&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/07/online-mapping-tool-tracks-land-use-changes-down-to-the-farm/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/07/online-mapping-tool-tracks-land-use-changes-down-to-the-farm/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-208233</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New study provides blueprint to translate satellite data into conservation action</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/06/new-study-provides-blueprint-to-translate-satellite-data-into-conservation-action/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/06/new-study-provides-blueprint-to-translate-satellite-data-into-conservation-action/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Jun 2018 17:24:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sue Palminteri (1965-2019)]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sue Palminteri]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/06/21005750/types-of-deforestation_Science-mag-figure_Finer-et-2018-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=207605</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon and Peru]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Communication, Crime, data, Deforestation Alert System, Forests, Infrastructure, Law Enforcement, Monitoring, Rainforests, Remote Sensing, Satellite Imagery, Sensors, Surveillance, Technology, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[G-1710-55576, 201300759.02]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A team of scientists and remote-sensing specialists have combined their years of experience monitoring changes in forest cover into a new publication meant to help fellow conservation practitioners better integrate forest-monitoring technology with policies to reduce illegal deforestation. “The goal of the paper is to highlight the current unprecedented moment for near real-time deforestation monitoring,” [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A team of scientists and remote-sensing specialists have combined their years of experience monitoring changes in forest cover into a new publication meant to help fellow conservation practitioners better integrate forest-monitoring technology with policies to reduce illegal deforestation. “The goal of the paper is to highlight the current unprecedented moment for near real-time deforestation monitoring,” said lead author Matt Finer, senior research specialist at Amazon Conservation Association (ACA). “The technology has evolved rapidly and now we need to link it to policy action.” Rainforest on the Tambopata River, southeastern Peru. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay Technology for better data access, spatial resolution, temporal resolution, and sensing — all needed to monitor forests and other land cover change across various spatial scales — has evolved rapidly since the 1970s. For example, finer-scale imagery that is updated more frequently allows the remote detection of loss of tree cover earlier in the deforestation process. Freely available satellite data, from governments and private-sector miniature satellites, together with open-access software and increased computing power, such as by Google Earth Engine, enable even small nongovernmental groups to process large amounts of satellite image-based data. Finer and his co-authors have used their experience combining these and other technologies to propose a protocol to detect, monitor and communicate deforestation to policy makers locally and globally. “We propose a model for turning near real-time deforestation monitoring into action across the tropics,” said co-author Mikaela Weisse, research analyst at the World Resources Institute (WRI). “Key steps include quickly and precisely&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/06/new-study-provides-blueprint-to-translate-satellite-data-into-conservation-action/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/06/new-study-provides-blueprint-to-translate-satellite-data-into-conservation-action/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-207605</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>An early warning system for locating forest loss</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/11/an-early-warning-system-for-locating-forest-loss/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/11/an-early-warning-system-for-locating-forest-loss/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Nov 2017 21:45:48 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sue Palminteri (1965-2019)]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sue Palminteri]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/11/16201923/NSW-11-02-dry-forest-roo_web-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=201255</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global and Peru]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[data, Deforestation Alert System, Forests, Mapping, Monitoring, Remote Sensing, Satellite Imagery, Technology, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A satellite-based alert system can now detect fine-scale deforestation in near-real time, enabling managers or rangers in tropical forests to respond to early stages of deforestation. Anyone can now register to receive free weekly alerts of tree cover loss, created by the Global Land Analysis &#38; Discovery (GLAD) lab at the University of Maryland, through [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[A satellite-based alert system can now detect fine-scale deforestation in near-real time, enabling managers or rangers in tropical forests to respond to early stages of deforestation. Anyone can now register to receive free weekly alerts of tree cover loss, created by the Global Land Analysis &amp; Discovery (GLAD) lab at the University of Maryland, through Global Forest Watch (GFW), the online forest change monitoring platform. The GLAD alerts identify areas of likely recent tree cover loss within pixels of 30 meters on each side. Western Amazon rainforest in Madre de Dios, Peru with small clearings that typically begin near rivers. Photo credit: Sue Palminteri Advance warnings at this scale could facilitate more timely, and therefore more effective and efficient, interventions to activities such as illegal tree cutting along roads or existing clearings. They would likely help the manager of a forestry concession, ecotourism lodge, or state park quickly locate and verify a report that forest has been cut down illegally inside the area, without having to hire a plane or continuously send out patrols across the area. Near-real-time forest loss alerts can also facilitate forest monitoring by providing agency officials or NGOs with up-to-date information about patterns of deforestation for their species range, protected area, region, or country. For example, the Monitoring of the Andean Amazon Project (MAAP) uses GLAD alerts as a first step in identifying deforestation hotspots in the Peruvian Amazon. The MAAP team uses new alerts of tree cover loss to investigate deforestation events. They follow up on&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2017/11/an-early-warning-system-for-locating-forest-loss/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-201255</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Remote sensing is leading the way to a more transparent world</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2015/11/remote-sensing-is-leading-the-way-to-a-more-transparent-world/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2015/11/remote-sensing-is-leading-the-way-to-a-more-transparent-world/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Nov 2015 22:19:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Nathan HahnSue Palminteri (1965-2019)]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sue Palminteri]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2015/11/03132008/Landsat-8_NASA-520x293.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
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											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Global, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[data, Deforestation Alert System, Illegal Fishing, Remote Sensing, Space, Technology, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[When a buildup of hot gases and magma burst through the rock and ice covering Mount St. Helens in 1980, the ensuing eruption leveled huge swaths of the surrounding pristine wilderness. As a geologist analyzing satellite images of the blast&#8217;s aftermath, John Amos noticed a striking pattern: photographs from the blast zone showed whole stands of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[When a buildup of hot gases and magma burst through the rock and ice covering Mount St. Helens in 1980, the ensuing eruption leveled huge swaths of the surrounding pristine wilderness. As a geologist analyzing satellite images of the blast&#8217;s aftermath, John Amos noticed a striking pattern: photographs from the blast zone showed whole stands of trees blown down by the eruption as far as the eye could see — a massive deforestation event — but when viewed from above, Amos saw a checkerboard pattern of clear-cut logging extending miles beyond the eruption&#8217;s wake. From the images, it was clear that the cumulative deforestation caused by our own management practices was worse than the apocalyptic damage of a historic volcanic event. “We were vastly more powerful than nature in our ability to destroy forest, and the satellite imagery made that very clear to me,” Amos explained, recounting the damage. “I thought&#8230; it shouldn’t just be people with my skill set who get to see these stories and understand the impacts of how human activity and decision-making is systematically reworking the landscapes we all depend on.” After analyzing satellite imagery for oil and gas exploration companies in the 1990&#8217;s, Amos decided in 2001 to lay the groundwork for what would become SkyTruth. The company gained traction when, after interpreting information from satellite images of the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, it was the first to publicly challenge the inaccurate reports of the rate of oil spilling into the Gulf.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2015/11/remote-sensing-is-leading-the-way-to-a-more-transparent-world/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-160959</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>NASA satellites register deforestation hotspots in Cambodia, Myanmar, Ecuador for Apr-Jun 2012 period</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2012/07/nasa-satellites-register-deforestation-hotspots-in-cambodia-myanmar-ecuador-for-apr-jun-2012-period/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2012/07/nasa-satellites-register-deforestation-hotspots-in-cambodia-myanmar-ecuador-for-apr-jun-2012-period/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Jul 2012 23:40:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2012/07/nasa-satellites-register-deforestation-hotspots-in-cambodia-myanmar-ecuador-for-apr-jun-2012-period/</guid>

					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Deforestation, Deforestation Alert System, Environment, Green, Remote Sensing, Satellite Imagery, and Technology]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[GloF-DAS Q2 2012. Background layer courtesy of Google Earth. NASA satellites picked up extensive signals of potential deforestation across large parts of the tropics between April 1 and June 30, according to the latest update on Mongabay.com&#8217;s Global Forest Disturbance Alert System (GloF-DAS). Areas with a particularly large number of potential deforestation signals include Colombia, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[GloF-DAS Q2 2012. Background layer courtesy of Google Earth. NASA satellites picked up extensive signals of potential deforestation across large parts of the tropics between April 1 and June 30, according to the latest update on Mongabay.com&#8217;s Global Forest Disturbance Alert System (GloF-DAS). Areas with a particularly large number of potential deforestation signals include Colombia, Ecuador, and Paraguay in Latin America; Liberia, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, and Gabon in Africa; and Russia, India, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia in Asia; and northwestern North America. The GloF-DAS relies on NASA&#8217;s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor to detect changes in forest greenness cover relative to the year-earlier period. It registers change when more than 40 percent of a five by five kilometer surrounding forest area has lost greenness over the previous 12 months. Seasonal variation is generally mitigated through the product&#8217;s quarterly baseline, although changes in some parts of the world, like boreal regions, can be affected by snow and ice distribution. The tool can help highlight areas where deforestation and forest degradation is occurring on a quarterly basis, potentially providing insight to policymakers, civil society, local communities, and academics. Deforestation for palm oil in Borneo GloF-DAS was developed in partnership with Cal State Monterey Bay and NASA Ames Research Center. GloF-DAS data is now downloadable for use in maps and other applications. Global Forest Disturbance Alert System Related articles Charts: deforestation in Indonesia and Malaysia, 2000-2010 (07/15/2012) Indonesia and Malaysia lost more than 11 million hectares (42,470 square miles)&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2012/07/nasa-satellites-register-deforestation-hotspots-in-cambodia-myanmar-ecuador-for-apr-jun-2012-period/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-30571</doi>				</item>
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