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		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/selective-logging/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
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	<title>News on Selective Logging</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/selective-logging/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Logging operations uncovered at Cambodian senator’s dam in the Cardamoms</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/logging-operations-uncovered-at-cambodian-senators-dam-in-the-cardamoms/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/logging-operations-uncovered-at-cambodian-senators-dam-in-the-cardamoms/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Sep 2026 01:30:15 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerald Flynn]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/10/09140647/Lutrogale_perspicillata_-_Jurong_Eco_Garden-harrison-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=328129</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, Global, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Alternative Energy, Carbon Credits, Carbon Market, Carbon Sequestration, climate finance, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corruption, Crime, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Energy, Environment, Forest Carbon, Forestry, Forests, Governance, Habitat Loss, Hydroelectric Power, Illegal Logging, Logging, Natural Resources, Old Growth Forests, Rainforests, Selective Logging, and Threats To Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[“They are clearing the forest for the reservoir,” said Phan, a resident of O’Soam commune in Cambodia’s western province of Pursat. “These days, every few days, there is only one timber truck because it is the raining season, but during the dry season, there are three or four timber trucks [per day].” Phan, who spoke [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[“They are clearing the forest for the reservoir,” said Phan, a resident of O’Soam commune in Cambodia’s western province of Pursat. “These days, every few days, there is only one timber truck because it is the raining season, but during the dry season, there are three or four timber trucks [per day].” Phan, who spoke to Mongabay by phone, requested that neither his full name nor his village name be published for fear of retribution from the developers of the 70-megawatt (MW) Stung Russei Chrum Kandal hydropower dam, also known as the Middle Russei Chrum River dam. Construction on the dam, which spans the Russei Chrum River in neighboring Koh Kong province, began in 2023 inside Phnom Kravanh National Park, one of Cambodia’s largest protected rainforests. The dam is one of many being built in the Cardamoms as Cambodia pushes for “clean” energy security, but recent satellite imagery indicates that large-scale logging is happening beyond the authorized construction sites. This map shows where the two dams are being built inside Cambodia&#8217;s protected Kravanh National Park. Image by Emilie Languedoc/Mongabay. Access to the site, Phan added, has been restricted and checkpoints are closely guarded by armed men in Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) uniforms. “We used to enter for fishing and laying fishing equipment, yet we are not allowed to enter anymore,” he said. “They have checkpoints, they have troops — they say the troops came to protect the forests. But the company set them up as security guards; we cannot&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/logging-operations-uncovered-at-cambodian-senators-dam-in-the-cardamoms/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/logging-operations-uncovered-at-cambodian-senators-dam-in-the-cardamoms/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-328129</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>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>
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					<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>Cambodian environment minister bans logging at tycoon’s Cardamoms hydropower project</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/cambodian-environment-minister-bans-logging-at-tycoons-cardamoms-hydropower-project/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/cambodian-environment-minister-bans-logging-at-tycoons-cardamoms-hydropower-project/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Sep 2024 04:29:13 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerald FlynnVutha Srey]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/09/30035210/DSCN0545-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=288015</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, Cardamom Mountains, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Carbon Credits, Carbon Offsets, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corruption, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Forest Carbon, Forest Destruction, Forests, Governance, Hydroelectric Power, Illegal Logging, Illegal Trade, Infrastructure, Logging, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Redd, Roads, Selective Logging, Threats To Rainforests, Timber, and timber trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PHNOM PENH — In a rare move to combat forest crimes, Cambodian Environment Minister Eang Sophalleth on Sept. 2 banned all forest clearance at the site of a dam project in the country’s southwest. The ban came after multiple incidents of illegal logging inside a protected area were reported, including by Mongabay, in connection to the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PHNOM PENH — In a rare move to combat forest crimes, Cambodian Environment Minister Eang Sophalleth on Sept. 2 banned all forest clearance at the site of a dam project in the country’s southwest. The ban came after multiple incidents of illegal logging inside a protected area were reported, including by Mongabay, in connection to the Stung Meteuk hydropower project in Koh Kong and Pursat provinces. However, activists monitoring the logging operations on the ground remain skeptical over the efficacy of the ban, noting that timber processing continues at the site of the hydropower project. In a letter dated Sept. 2 and addressed to Ly Yong Phat, chair of Steung Meteuk Hydropower Co. Ltd., Sophalleth ordered the company to temporarily suspend its activities related to clearing forest for the 150-megawatt dams’ reservoirs, as well as the processing of logged timber. Forest activists have sighted timber trucks operating deep in the jungle outside of the hydropower project site. Image supplied by Tat Oudom. After forest crimes were reported to him by the Pursat provincial environmental department, Sophalleth’s letter detailed the numerous incidents of illegality linked to the $440 million hydropower project, including transporting timber without permission, logging and collecting timber outside of the designated areas, as well as transporting and processing timber without paying taxes. Mongabay previously documented the illegal logging operations that have sprung up under the cover of the Stung Meteuk project since it broke ground in late 2023. During a visit to the project site in April, Mongabay uncovered&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/cambodian-environment-minister-bans-logging-at-tycoons-cardamoms-hydropower-project/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/cambodian-environment-minister-bans-logging-at-tycoons-cardamoms-hydropower-project/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-288015</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Reporter who revealed deforestation in Cambodia now charged with deforestation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/reporter-who-revealed-deforestation-in-cambodia-now-charged-with-deforestation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/reporter-who-revealed-deforestation-in-cambodia-now-charged-with-deforestation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Sep 2024 04:49:54 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerald FlynnNehru Pry]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/09/05025848/Ouk-Mao-and-felled-timber-in-Phnom-Chum-Rok-Sat-Stung-Treng-Cambodia-Aug-2024-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=287953</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Community Forests, Community-based Conservation, Corruption, Deforestation, Ecotourism, Environment, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Forests, Governance, Illegal Logging, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Journalism, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Logging, Military, Mining, Murdered Journalists, Protected Areas, Resource Conflict, Selective Logging, timber trade, and Tropical Deforestation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[STUNG TRENG, Cambodia — It was late in the afternoon of Sept. 16 when Ouk Mao finally answered his phone. The environmental journalist had spent much of that Monday making preparations in case he was jailed the next day. Mao was accused of illegal logging in the northeastern province of Stung Treng. Mao is known [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[STUNG TRENG, Cambodia — It was late in the afternoon of Sept. 16 when Ouk Mao finally answered his phone. The environmental journalist had spent much of that Monday making preparations in case he was jailed the next day. Mao was accused of illegal logging in the northeastern province of Stung Treng. Mao is known in his community for having played a key role in exposing a land grab perpetrated by mining company Lin Vatey, which has ties to senior figures within the Cambodian military. His reporting on Lin Vatey’s logging and mining operations had earned him the ire of local authorities, so he wasn’t overly surprised when, on Aug. 20, he was summoned for questioning at the Stung Treng Provincial Court. But he was surprised by the charges: illegally clearing state-owned forest and incitement. These are crimes that carry jail sentences of 10 and two years respectively, as well as fines totaling tens of thousands of dollars. The questioning was set for Sept. 17, leaving Mao convinced he would be jailed. “It is just a pretext to arrest me,” Mao told Mongabay. “They are angry at me because I covered the news in the community forest of Phnom Chum Rok Sat that affects the high-ranking officials, so the court accused me of clearing forest because I have talked a lot about deforestation.” While Mao wasn’t jailed after questioning as he’d feared, the investigating judge did place him under judicial supervision, meaning Mao will be surveilled by authorities and will&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/reporter-who-revealed-deforestation-in-cambodia-now-charged-with-deforestation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-287953</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Mining company tied to Cambodian military officials grabs community forest</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/mining-company-tied-to-cambodian-military-officials-grabs-community-forest/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/mining-company-tied-to-cambodian-military-officials-grabs-community-forest/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Sep 2024 03:27:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerald FlynnNehru Pry]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/09/05025457/banner-2-Phnom-Chum-Rok-Sat-community-forest-Aug-2024-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=286946</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Community Forests, Community-based Conservation, Corruption, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Ecotourism, Endangered Environmentalists, Environment, extractives, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Forestry, Forests, Governance, Illegal Logging, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Logging, Mining, Natural Resources, Protected Areas, Selective Logging, Traditional People, Tropical Deforestation, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[STUNG TRENG, Cambodia — Rain poured down in torrential sheets as Ouk Mao guided reporters through the winding dirt tracks that were, in August, rutted with deep trenches of mud and rainwater as Cambodia’s wet season began in earnest. Thunder cracked across the largely flat plains of Stung Treng province, in Cambodia’s northeast, and Mao joked [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[STUNG TRENG, Cambodia — Rain poured down in torrential sheets as Ouk Mao guided reporters through the winding dirt tracks that were, in August, rutted with deep trenches of mud and rainwater as Cambodia’s wet season began in earnest. Thunder cracked across the largely flat plains of Stung Treng province, in Cambodia’s northeast, and Mao joked about getting struck by lightning as he led Mongabay to the foot of Phnom Chhngok, a limestone mountain some 45 kilometers (28 miles) west of the provincial capital. Since 2020, the mountain, swaddled in forest and home to a flock of bats, had served as the centerpiece to an ecotourism venture that was run largely by the Indigenous Kuy ethnic group to which Mao belongs. Some 400 people, many of them Kuy, helped preserve the forest and run the ecotourism destination as part of the Phnom Chum Rok Sat community forest, a 4,153-hectare (10,262-acre) patch of forest and mountains that were, until recently, managed by the community. But all of this changed when a mining company tied to the Cambodian military began to expand operations across Phnom Chum Rok Sat earlier this year. “The big trees are all gone now,” said Mao, pointing to a pile of recently felled timber that the community forest committee confiscated from loggers operating in Phnom Chum Rok Sat in May. “Before, all that land belonged to the community forest,” Mao said. “Then Lin Vatey came, they were scouting for a mining site.” Ouk Mao showed reporters timber cut from&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/mining-company-tied-to-cambodian-military-officials-grabs-community-forest/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/mining-company-tied-to-cambodian-military-officials-grabs-community-forest/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-286946</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Logging done sustainably doesn’t have to harm ecosystem services, study finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/logging-done-sustainably-doesnt-have-to-harm-ecosystem-services-study-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/logging-done-sustainably-doesnt-have-to-harm-ecosystem-services-study-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Aug 2024 16:51:10 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Leocadia Bongben]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/08/21152945/Prince-Bissiemou-measures-a-tree-in-a-logged-forest-in-Gabon-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=286363</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, and Gabon]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[carbon, Deforestation, Forest Carbon, Forests, Logging, Rainforests, Reforestation, Selective Logging, Sustainability, and Sustainable Forest Management]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Researchers have found that low-intensity logging of a tropical forest has no negative impacts on key ecosystem services such as the carbon storage and food availability for wildlife. But even at a small scale, selective logging can still effect changes in an area’s plant diversity, the researchers wrote in their recently published study. “We wanted [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Researchers have found that low-intensity logging of a tropical forest has no negative impacts on key ecosystem services such as the carbon storage and food availability for wildlife. But even at a small scale, selective logging can still effect changes in an area’s plant diversity, the researchers wrote in their recently published study. “We wanted to study a ‘best-case scenario’ type of selective logging that could serve as a model if it does help minimize environmental damage in the selective logging industry,” study lead author Megan K. Sullivan, from Yale University’s School of the Environment, told Mongabay. Sullivan and her team carried out their research at a logging concession in northwestern Gabon, east of Monts de Cristal National Park. The site was run by SEEF, a local subsidiary of French, timber producer and trader F. Jammes. According to Sullivan, the scientists “assessed how very low-intensity selective logging impacted the species and functional composition of seedlings, saplings, and adults.” The field team measures trees in Gabon. Image by Megan Sullivan. Their findings indicate that forest areas logged at very low intensity — at a rate of 0.82-1.6 trees per hectare (0.33-0.65 trees per acre) for the SEEF concession — can act as wildlife corridors to supplement or connect protected areas. The concept of corridors is promoted by the recent U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity’s recognition of “other effective area-based conservation measures.” “If managed well, low-intensity, selectively logged forests can be seen as a middle path between strictly protected areas and intensive&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/logging-done-sustainably-doesnt-have-to-harm-ecosystem-services-study-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-286363</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Hydropower dams further undermine REDD+ efforts in Cambodia</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/hydropower-dams-further-undermine-redd-efforts-in-cambodia/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/hydropower-dams-further-undermine-redd-efforts-in-cambodia/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Jun 2024 02:25:12 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerald FlynnVutha Srey]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/06/25055051/Banner-image-2-Lower-Russei-Chrum-dam-Koh-Kong-province-Cambodia-April-2024-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=283592</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, Cardamom Mountains, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, carbon, Carbon Credits, Carbon Market, Carbon Offsets, Clean Energy, Climate Change, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Dams, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Energy, Forest Carbon, forest degradation, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Hydroelectric Power, Illegal Logging, Illegal Trade, Land Conflict, Logging, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Redd, Renewable Energy, Roads, Selective Logging, Solutions, Threats To Rainforests, Timber, timber trade, and Tropical Deforestation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This is the second of a two-part Mongabay series about hydropower dams in the Cardamom Mountains. Read Part One. PURSAT/KOH KONG, Cambodia — “Fifteen years ago, this whole village was forest,” said Phan, sipping an energy drink and leaning back in his plastic chair. “At first, I didn’t want to stay here because the road [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This is the second of a two-part Mongabay series about hydropower dams in the Cardamom Mountains. Read Part One. PURSAT/KOH KONG, Cambodia — “Fifteen years ago, this whole village was forest,” said Phan, sipping an energy drink and leaning back in his plastic chair. “At first, I didn’t want to stay here because the road conditions were so bad, and even though we had some money, it was difficult to find food and to survive.” But those times, and much of the forest in Pursat province’s O’Soam commune, are long gone as hydropower dams have prized open the remote Cardamom Mountains since 2012, literally paving the way for communities like Phan’s. Plumes of dust rose from the red dirt road as Phan sat watching the construction crew working a few hundred meters farther down the road, waiting for them to rehabilitate the section in front of his small wooden home. Phan, who requested neither his full name nor the name of his village be published for fear of retribution from authorities, has lived in O’Soam for more than 15 years. “We’re all migrants here; we cut the forests to build our houses here. We can’t do that now,” he said, chuckling to himself. “This whole area is under the management of a conservation NGO, Wildlife Alliance.” Most residents of O&#8217;Soam farm for a living, growing cassava, bananas, durians and other cash crops. Image by Gerald Flynn / Mongabay. O’Soam commune sits in the southwestern province of Pursat, on the border&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/hydropower-dams-further-undermine-redd-efforts-in-cambodia/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/hydropower-dams-further-undermine-redd-efforts-in-cambodia/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-283592</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>History repeats as logging linked to Cambodian hydropower dam in Cardamoms</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/history-repeats-as-logging-linked-to-cambodian-hydropower-dam-in-cardamoms/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/history-repeats-as-logging-linked-to-cambodian-hydropower-dam-in-cardamoms/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Jun 2024 10:45:50 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerald FlynnVutha Srey]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/06/27061617/DJI_0933-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=283745</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Carving up the Cardamoms]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, Cardamom Mountains, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Carbon Credits, Carbon Market, Carbon Offsets, Clean Energy, Climate Change, Conservation, Conservation Finance, Conservation Solutions, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corruption, Dams, Deforestation, Development, Drivers Of Deforestation, Energy, Environment, Environmental Policy, Forest Carbon, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Forests, Governance, Hydroelectric Power, Illegal Logging, Illegal Trade, Logging, Old Growth Forests, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Redd, Renewable Energy, Roads, Selective Logging, Threatened species, Threats To Rainforests, Timber, timber trade, Tropical Deforestation, and Wildlife Rangers]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This is the first of a two-part Mongabay series about hydropower dams in the Cardamom Mountains. Read Part Two. PURSAT/KOH KONG, Cambodia — Rumbling south down a rutted dirt track in the western Cambodian province of Pursat, past prone excavators and makeshift worker encampments, the green slopes of the Cardamom Mountains loomed suddenly from around [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This is the first of a two-part Mongabay series about hydropower dams in the Cardamom Mountains. Read Part Two. PURSAT/KOH KONG, Cambodia — Rumbling south down a rutted dirt track in the western Cambodian province of Pursat, past prone excavators and makeshift worker encampments, the green slopes of the Cardamom Mountains loomed suddenly from around the bend. In early April, days before Khmer New Year, Cambodia’s most celebrated holiday, the access road on which we traveled was all but abandoned, and checkpoints into the Stung Meteuk hydropower dam remained unmanned. Hugging the Thai border, the road runs a bumpy, hilly and desolate 65 kilometers (40 miles) from Pursat province’s Thma Da commune down to Pak Khlang commune in Koh Kong province, with few signs of life along the way. Here, in this remote stretch of mountainous rainforest, history appears to be repeating itself as Mongabay has uncovered illegal loggers operating under the cover of hydropower construction. There are no residents living near the construction site, which is sandwiched between the unnamed border road to the west and the dense forests of the 362,000-hectare (895,000-acre) Phnom Samkos Wildlife Sanctuary to the east. To the south of the dam, an outpost of bored Cambodian soldiers from Battalion 303 are stationed along the border road, while to the north sits the M.D.S. Thma Da Special Economic Zone (SEZ), which has repeatedly been tied to human trafficking. Illegal logging routes sprawl out of the Stung Meteuk dam construction site, leading into Phnom Samkos Wildlife&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/history-repeats-as-logging-linked-to-cambodian-hydropower-dam-in-cardamoms/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/history-repeats-as-logging-linked-to-cambodian-hydropower-dam-in-cardamoms/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-283745</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Verra suspends carbon credit projects following police raid in Brazil</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/verra-suspends-carbon-credit-projects-following-police-raid-in-brazil/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/verra-suspends-carbon-credit-projects-following-police-raid-in-brazil/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Jun 2024 14:29:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Fernanda Wenzel]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/06/11141843/foto_pf-1-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=283120</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Illegal Deforestation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Carbon Credits, Carbon Market, Carbon Offsets, Climate Change, climate finance, Conflict, Crime, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Governance, Illegal Logging, Illegal Trade, Logging, Mongabay Data Studio, Politics, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Selective Logging, Threats To Rainforests, timber trade, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The raid occurred two weeks after Mongabay showed the links between the REDD+ projects and a suspected logging scam.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Three carbon credit projects were suspended in the Brazilian Amazon after the Federal Police&#8217;s Greenwashing Operation targeted the leaders of supposedly &#8220;green&#8221; initiatives with suspected links to a land-grabbing and illegal logging scam. Verra, one of the world&#8217;s largest voluntary carbon market registries and the project’s certifier, announced the decision June 10. &#8220;An account suspension is an extraordinary action that means no transactions can happen on the account at all, including on credits held in the account, until any identified issues or uncertainties have been resolved,&#8221; Verra stated. According to the organization, the action is a preventative measure and does not indicate any judgment of those involved (read the complete statement here). In a new statement released on Jun. 13, Verra said it will launch an internal investigation on Stoppe’s projects, which will be put “on hold” on Verra&#8217;s Registry. &#8220;I believe that Verra is doing the certification incorrectly,&#8221; federal deputy Thiago Marrese Scarpellini, chief Greenwashing Operation investigator, told Mongabay after the raid. &#8220;But I don&#8217;t know if it&#8217;s their fault because it&#8217;s based in the United States, and I don&#8217;t know if there&#8217;s land-grabbing in the United States. But we have it here. And if we are a promising market [for carbon credits] they will have to adjust to certain circumstances here.&#8221; The Greenwashing Operation was triggered June 5, two weeks after Mongabay published an investigation connecting the projects’ owners to a suspected timber laundering scam. According to the investigators, the carbon credit areas were also used to launder&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/verra-suspends-carbon-credit-projects-following-police-raid-in-brazil/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/verra-suspends-carbon-credit-projects-following-police-raid-in-brazil/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-283120</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Brazil police raid Amazon carbon credit projects exposed by Mongabay</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/brazilian-investigators-raid-amazon-carbon-credit-projects-exposed-by-mongabay/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/brazilian-investigators-raid-amazon-carbon-credit-projects-exposed-by-mongabay/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Jun 2024 14:40:27 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Fernanda Wenzel]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/06/07142702/Foto_PF-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=283052</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Illegal Deforestation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Business, Carbon Credits, Climate Change, Conflict, Conservation, Crime, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Governance, Illegal Logging, Illegal Trade, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Logging, Politics, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Roads, Selective Logging, Threats To Rainforests, timber trade, Trade, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[According to the investigators, the group was running land-grabbing and timber laundering crimes in the Amazon for more than a decade and profiting millions of dollars.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On June 5, the Brazilian Federal Police launched a raid targeting the proponents of some of the largest carbon credit projects in the Brazilian Amazon. The Greenwashing Operation focuses on the group of Ricardo Stoppe, cited in late May in a Mongabay investigation for its links with an alleged illegal timber scam. In the country&#8217;s largest investigation ever done on this matter, authorities found that the group had installed projects in land-grabbed areas, making 180 million reais ($34 million) from the selling of &#8220;rotten&#8221; carbon credits. Stoppe owns five REDD+ projects in the Brazilian Amazon, covering 400,000 hectares (nearly 1 million acres), more than five times the size of New York City. REDD+ stands for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, and carbon credits are generated by protecting an area that could otherwise be deforested. The Federal Police targeted the same three projects investigated by Mongabay: Fortaleza Ituxi, Unitor and Evergreen, located in the municipalities of Lábrea and Apuí, in the south of Amazonas state. Among the buyers of these credits are companies such as the carbon credit broker Moss, the Brazilian low-cost carrier GOL Airlines, the food delivery app iFood, Itaú, one of the country&#8217;s leading banks, and the international companies Toshiba, Spotify and Boeing. The Federal Police echoed Mongabay&#8217;s findings that the group was using these areas not only to generate carbon credits but also to issue fake documents to launder timber taken from illegally deforested areas. Logging activity in the Brazilian state of Rondônia, with trees&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/brazilian-investigators-raid-amazon-carbon-credit-projects-exposed-by-mongabay/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/brazilian-investigators-raid-amazon-carbon-credit-projects-exposed-by-mongabay/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-283052</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Top brands buy Amazon carbon credits from suspected timber laundering scam</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/top-brands-buy-amazon-carbon-credits-from-suspected-timber-laundering-scam/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/top-brands-buy-amazon-carbon-credits-from-suspected-timber-laundering-scam/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 May 2024 10:00:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Fernanda Wenzel]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/05/20132256/0_Banner_Edited-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=282272</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Illegal Deforestation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Carbon Credits, Carbon Market, Carbon Offsets, Climate Change, climate finance, Conflict, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Crime, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Governance, Illegal Logging, Logging, Mongabay Data Studio, Politics, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Selective Logging, Threats To Rainforests, timber trade, Trade, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[An analysis of two carbon credit projects in the Brazilian Amazon has found that they may be connected to illegal timber laundering.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Two major carbon offset projects in the Brazilian Amazon, whose credits have been sold to companies like GOL Airlines, Nestlé, Toshiba and PwC, may have been used to launder timber from illegally deforested areas. The conclusion comes from an analysis by the Center for Climate Crime Analysis (CCCA), a Netherlands-based nonprofit founded by prosecutors and investigators that investigates emitters of climate-warming greenhouse gases. Brazilian authorities had already launched timber laundering probes in the areas covered by CCCA’s analysis, which resulted in the suspension of logging authorizations. The owner of a company responsible for one of these projects has a prior conviction for timber laundering. CCCA made the analysis at Mongabay’s request after an anonymous source highlighted the participation of people convicted of timber laundering in the projects. CCCA analyzed two REDD+ projects, called Unitor and Fortaleza Ituxi, in the municipality of Lábrea, in Amazonas state. The two projects cover a combined area of 140,862 hectares (348,078 acres) — twice the size of London — and aim to avoid 660,598 metric tons of CO2 emissions per year by preventing the spread of deforestation in one of the Amazon&#8217;s most under-pressure areas. CCCA found evidence of possible timber laundering in two REDD+ projects in the south of Brazil’s Amazonas state. REDD+ stands for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. The idea behind it is that landowners receive money for protecting an area that could otherwise be deforested. Emissions that are avoided as a result of this protection can then be sold&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/top-brands-buy-amazon-carbon-credits-from-suspected-timber-laundering-scam/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/top-brands-buy-amazon-carbon-credits-from-suspected-timber-laundering-scam/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-282272</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Previously logged forests struggle to thrive, even with restoration, study finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/previously-logged-forests-struggle-to-thrive-even-with-restoration-study-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/previously-logged-forests-struggle-to-thrive-even-with-restoration-study-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Mar 2024 18:22:55 +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/20/2024/01/12061811/long-tailed-macaque-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=280358</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Borneo, Indonesia, and Malaysia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Deforestation, Ecosystems, Environment, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Forestry, Forests, Green, Logging, Rainforests, Research, Restoration, Selective Logging, Threats To Rainforests, Trees, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Young trees face significant challenges surviving in previously logged forests compared to intact forests, even in areas with active restoration efforts, according to a recent study. The findings, published in the journal Global Change Biology, raise concerns about the long-term recovery of biodiversity in logged forests. This concern is growing as human-modified forests now exceed [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Young trees face significant challenges surviving in previously logged forests compared to intact forests, even in areas with active restoration efforts, according to a recent study. The findings, published in the journal Global Change Biology, raise concerns about the long-term recovery of biodiversity in logged forests. This concern is growing as human-modified forests now exceed primary forests by area in the tropics. An unlogged tropical forest in Danum Valley, Malaysian Borneo. Image courtesy of David Bartholomew. The research team, led by Robin Hayward at the University of Stirling in Scotland, monitored more than 5,000 seedlings for 18 months in the Danum Valley Conservation Area and the surrounding Ulu Segama landscape in Malaysian Borneo. They compared seedling survival and diversity in unlogged forests, naturally regenerating logged forests, and actively restored logged forests that had been selectively logged 30-35 years ago. Following a mast fruiting event, where many trees produced a lot of fruit all at once, the researchers saw many seedlings in the unlogged and logged forests. However, as time passed, the benefits of the restoration efforts started to fade. By the end of the study, the survival rate of seedlings in the restored forests was significantly lower than in the unlogged forests and was similar to the logged areas recovering naturally. In this study, more than 5,000 seedlings were individually tagged and monitored for 18 months in unlogged forests and forests logged 30 years before. Image courtesy of David Bartholomew. &#8220;Our findings suggest that seedlings are experiencing stress in logged&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/previously-logged-forests-struggle-to-thrive-even-with-restoration-study-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/previously-logged-forests-struggle-to-thrive-even-with-restoration-study-finds/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-280358</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Cambodia, an official’s cashew factory churns out timber from a protected forest</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/in-cambodia-an-officials-cashew-factory-churns-out-timber-from-a-protected-forest/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/in-cambodia-an-officials-cashew-factory-churns-out-timber-from-a-protected-forest/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Feb 2024 02:11:16 +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/20/2024/02/19155845/DJI_0744-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=278997</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Community Forests, Community-based Conservation, Corruption, Culture, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Food Industry, Food Vs Forests Debate, forest degradation, Forest Destruction, Forests, Governance, Illegal Logging, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Industrial Agriculture, International Trade, Mongabay Data Studio, Plantations, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Selective Logging, Sustainable Development, Timber, timber trade, Trees, and Tropical Deforestation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PREAH VIHEAR, Cambodia — Vegetation lurches over a concrete wall that runs alongside a quiet road in the northern Cambodian province of Preah Vihear. Behind the wall, and the rusty gate that serves as the only entrance point, sits one of Cambodia’s three medium-sized cashew nut processing factories. At 2 p.m. on a Thursday in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PREAH VIHEAR, Cambodia — Vegetation lurches over a concrete wall that runs alongside a quiet road in the northern Cambodian province of Preah Vihear. Behind the wall, and the rusty gate that serves as the only entrance point, sits one of Cambodia’s three medium-sized cashew nut processing factories. At 2 p.m. on a Thursday in late November last year, the road is silent under the sun. Across the road, baking in the heat, sits a barren stretch of land where a forest once stood. In 2017, when the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) launched a program giving taxpayer-funded grants to help boost Cambodia’s agricultural productivity, it turned to outfits like this. Cambodia is a major producer of cashews, with some estimates suggesting as much as 700,000 hectares (1.7 million acres) reportedly under cultivation. But roughly 95% of its cashew exports are shipped raw to Vietnam, amounting to 711,513 metric tons in 2022, according to UN data, meaning that most of the profits from the nuts were generated elsewhere. Among the numerous agricultural suppliers to receive funding was the owner of this facility: Santana Agro Products, a politically connected company primarily focused on cashew cultivation and processing, to which USAID awarded $96,700 between Oct. 15, 2018, and March 31, 2020, and which is listed on the United Nations Development Programme’s Sustainable Development Goals investor platform. Things were quiet outside the Santana Agro factory when reporters visited one afternoon in November 2023. Image by Gerald Flynn / Mongabay. Such investment&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/in-cambodia-an-officials-cashew-factory-churns-out-timber-from-a-protected-forest/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/in-cambodia-an-officials-cashew-factory-churns-out-timber-from-a-protected-forest/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-278997</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>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/shrinking-civil-space-and-persistent-logging-2023-in-review-in-southeast-asia/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<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>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/logging-route-cut-into-cambodias-prey-lang-from-think-biotechs-concession/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<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>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-272792</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>License to Log: Cambodian military facilitates logging on Koh Kong Krao and across the Cardamoms</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/license-to-log-cambodian-military-facilitates-logging-on-koh-kong-krao-and-across-the-cardamoms/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/license-to-log-cambodian-military-facilitates-logging-on-koh-kong-krao-and-across-the-cardamoms/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Jun 2023 02:53:15 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerald Flynn]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Gerryflynn]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/06/05031828/DJI_0201-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=269351</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Carving up the Cardamoms, Forest Trackers, and Investigation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Cambodia, Cardamom Mountains, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Crime, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Ecosystems, Environment, forest degradation, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Forests, Governance, Illegal Logging, Journalism, Logging, Marine, Marine Protected Areas, Mongabay investigation, Protected Areas, Protests, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Selective Logging, Timber, and timber trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center’s Rainforest Investigations Network where Gerald Flynn was a fellow. *Names have been changed to protect sources who said they feared reprisals from the authorities. KOH KONG, Cambodia — “I think there’s a 30% chance we’ll have trouble with the police,” said Ly Chandaravuth, an environmental activist with [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center’s Rainforest Investigations Network where Gerald Flynn was a fellow. *Names have been changed to protect sources who said they feared reprisals from the authorities. KOH KONG, Cambodia — “I think there’s a 30% chance we’ll have trouble with the police,” said Ly Chandaravuth, an environmental activist with the outlawed group Mother Nature Cambodia. This was in August 2022, when Mother Nature Cambodia was planning a trip to Koh Kong Krao, an island off Cambodia’s southwest coast in Koh Kong province, to raise awareness about the pristine ecosystems there. But the group’s activism has had consequences, and Chandaravuth’s calculations, near one-in-three odds of being arrested just for visiting the island, were not unfounded. On June 16, 2021, Chandaravuth, then a law student, was apprehended by police while collecting water samples from the Tonle Sap River in Phnom Penh. He’d planned to have the samples analyzed to better understand water pollution in the city. Instead, he was charged with plotting against the government, a charge that carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison. He was released in November 2021, along with five other Mother Nature Cambodia activists, three of whom had been in prison since September 2020. None were acquitted and all remain under judicial supervision for a three-year period. This means they are unable to leave Cambodia and are required to report to local authorities on a monthly basis. Notably, they were warned against offending again. Yet this didn’t stop&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/license-to-log-cambodian-military-facilitates-logging-on-koh-kong-krao-and-across-the-cardamoms/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/license-to-log-cambodian-military-facilitates-logging-on-koh-kong-krao-and-across-the-cardamoms/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-269351</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Forest behind bars: Logging network operating out of Cambodian prison in the Cardamoms</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/forest-behind-bars-logging-network-operating-out-of-cambodian-prison-in-the-cardamoms/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/forest-behind-bars-logging-network-operating-out-of-cambodian-prison-in-the-cardamoms/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 May 2023 01:30:03 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerald Flynn]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Gerryflynn]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/05/25050929/Koh-Kong-Prison_Mongabay-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=268984</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Carving up the Cardamoms and Forest Trackers]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Cambodia, Mekong Basin, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation, Crime, Dams, Deforestation, Development, Drivers Of Deforestation, Ecosystems, Energy, Environment, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Forestry, Forests, Green, Hydroelectric Power, Illegal Logging, Infrastructure, Logging, Mongabay investigation, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Roads, Selective Logging, Timber, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife Rangers]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center’s Rainforest Investigations Network where Gerald Flynn was a fellow. *Names have been changed to protect sources who said they feared reprisals from the authorities. KOH KONG, Cambodia — In April 2022, the sound of a sawmill cut through the murky dawn that was steaming over Cambodia’s western [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center’s Rainforest Investigations Network where Gerald Flynn was a fellow. *Names have been changed to protect sources who said they feared reprisals from the authorities. KOH KONG, Cambodia — In April 2022, the sound of a sawmill cut through the murky dawn that was steaming over Cambodia’s western Koh Kong province. At around 5 a.m., the provincial prison was abuzz with activity. Huge unprocessed logs, some measuring well over a meter, or 3 feet, in diameter, were being rolled about the dusty yard behind the prison by men in tattered clothes. Other pieces of timber were being fed into an industrial sawmill at the rear of the yard, while stacks of timber were littered about in and outside the compound. A dazed, sleep-deprived driver staggered out of the yard, squinting in the pale sunlight and wearing nothing but a sarong. His task had been to deliver the 16-wheel crane truck holding another five felled trees that stretched beyond the length of the blue-and-white truck’s flatbed by several meters. The license plate, 3A-0789, was scarcely visible under the protruding trees. “I was asked to come as a driver; they offered me $300 per month to drive those logs. I only arrived here last night,” said the man as he exited the prison yard. “It was my first night on the job, but I don’t think I will stay with it. It’s not good work.” Through the open gate, reporters witnessed a flurry of action&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/forest-behind-bars-logging-network-operating-out-of-cambodian-prison-in-the-cardamoms/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-268984</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Deforestation in Borneo threatens three endangered, endemic plant species</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/deforestation-in-borneo-threatens-three-endangered-endemic-plant-species/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/deforestation-in-borneo-threatens-three-endangered-endemic-plant-species/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Apr 2023 04:00:54 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/07/07101725/kalbar_drone_190749-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=267663</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, Brunei, Indonesia, Kalimantan, Malaysia, Southeast Asia, and West Kalimantan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Deforestation, Environment, Forests, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Logging, Medicinal Plants, Mining, Plantations, Plants, Rainforests, Selective Logging, Trees, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — The rampant deforestation for monoculture plantation and logging in western Indonesian Borneo has exacerbated the extinction risks of three plant species endemic to the island’s riparian lowland rainforests, a new study said. A group of Indonesian researchers has reported that three Bornean plant species, Vatica rynchocarpa, V. havilandii and V. cauliflora, found in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — The rampant deforestation for monoculture plantation and logging in western Indonesian Borneo has exacerbated the extinction risks of three plant species endemic to the island’s riparian lowland rainforests, a new study said. A group of Indonesian researchers has reported that three Bornean plant species, Vatica rynchocarpa, V. havilandii and V. cauliflora, found in the lowland forest fragments along the upper Kapuas River in West Kalimantan province, were threatened by small-holder farming, industrial agriculture and timber extraction. These patches of riparian forests were unprotected, as they have been designated as “other-use” or APL, rendering them available for any development and most likely to see further deforestation, added the authors in their report published in the April issue of Journal for Nature Conservation. “I don’t think that this is first research on plant species in Borneo, but ours is the first population study on the three species which are threatened with extinction and one of them is very endemic, in their natural habitat,” Enggal Primananda, a forest researcher at Indonesia’s National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) who is the lead author of the paper, told Mongabay in an interview. Indonesia&#8217;s West Kalimantan province on the island of Borneo. Muara Sungai Landak is operating near the coast, not far from the provincial capital Pontianak. Image by TUBS via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0). Former lowland rainforest replaced with a monoculture plantation in West Kalimantan, Indonesia. Image courtesy of Rhett Butler/Mongabay. Enggal said the population assessment of the three Vatica species from&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/deforestation-in-borneo-threatens-three-endangered-endemic-plant-species/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-267663</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>With new EU rules ahead, Indonesia adds sustainability to its timber legality system</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/with-new-eu-rules-ahead-indonesia-adds-sustainability-to-its-timber-legality-system/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/with-new-eu-rules-ahead-indonesia-adds-sustainability-to-its-timber-legality-system/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Nov 2022 10:27:19 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karen Coates]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/01/19113356/sabah_aerial_0661-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=262602</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Deforestation, Environment, Forestry, Forests, Illegal Logging, Illegal Trade, International Trade, Logging, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Selective Logging, Sustainability, Sustainable Forest Management, Timber, Timber Laws, timber trade, Trade, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BRUSSELS — Indonesia&#8217;s timber industry is known for having the only legality system in the world that&#8217;s robust enough to be recognized by the European Union. And now, the country is in the process of revising that timber legality system by adding sustainability components such as geolocation so that its timbers could still be exported [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BRUSSELS — Indonesia&#8217;s timber industry is known for having the only legality system in the world that&#8217;s robust enough to be recognized by the European Union. And now, the country is in the process of revising that timber legality system by adding sustainability components such as geolocation so that its timbers could still be exported to the EU without much due diligence at European ports. But experts say the revision might not be enough because timbers from deforestation are still allowed in the system, and because there’s still a lack of data transparency, which prevents civil society organizations from monitoring timber trade effectively. Last year, the minister of environment and forestry issued a regulation that changed the name of the system from Indonesia’s Timber Legality Verification System to Indonesia’s Sustainability and Legality Verification System, which still uses the acronym of SVLK. In the past, the system was designed only to ensure that all timbers produced in Indonesia were from legal sources, not from illegal deforestation. Under the new regulation, the SVLK system now also verifies whether or not a forestry product — not only timbers but also non-timber products — is sourced sustainably. Since the issuance of the regulation last year, the forestry ministry is in the process of issuing new guidelines on how to implement the new system so it can cover both legality and sustainability aspects, according to Agus Justianto, the ministry’s director-general of sustainable forest management. “The rebranding of SVLK reiterates the commitment of Indonesia towards effort&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/with-new-eu-rules-ahead-indonesia-adds-sustainability-to-its-timber-legality-system/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/with-new-eu-rules-ahead-indonesia-adds-sustainability-to-its-timber-legality-system/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-262602</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Illegal logging and trade in fine wood threaten Wampis communities in the Peruvian Amazon</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/09/illegal-logging-and-trade-in-fine-wood-threaten-wampis-communities-in-the-peruvian-amazon/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/09/illegal-logging-and-trade-in-fine-wood-threaten-wampis-communities-in-the-peruvian-amazon/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Sep 2022 10:34:13 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Enrique Vera]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/09/09100607/peru_macaws-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=260122</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Illegal Deforestation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Illegal Logging, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Logging, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Selective Logging, Threats To Rainforests, Timber, Timber Laws, timber trade, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The last logging period granted by the Autonomous Territorial Government of the Wampis Nation (GTANW) ended on May 30, 2022, yet timber has continued to be indiscriminately extracted in the native communities of Candungos and Papayacu. Every day, boats full of mahogany, cedar and tornillo wood cross the Santiago River in the province of Condorcanqui [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The last logging period granted by the Autonomous Territorial Government of the Wampis Nation (GTANW) ended on May 30, 2022, yet timber has continued to be indiscriminately extracted in the native communities of Candungos and Papayacu. Every day, boats full of mahogany, cedar and tornillo wood cross the Santiago River in the province of Condorcanqui (Amazonas), heading for Santa María de Nieva. For the Wampis community members who inhabit this part of the Peruvian rainforest near Ecuador, this is a burden that has made them feel powerless for a long time. The flow of boats carrying uncontrolled amounts of logged timber in recent months is proof that deforestation is reaching significant levels, with the Wampis leaders calculating that every two weeks more than 55 tons of wood leave their villages to be trafficked. The Wampis nation has 1,370,000 hectares (3.3 million acres) of territory and encompasses 85 Indigenous communities (22 titled and their annexes), located in the basins of the Santiago (Amazonas) and Morona (Loreto) rivers. Around 16,500 Indigenous community members live in this part of Peru’s northern Amazon. To protect this population, the GTANW held a four-day assembly at the end of March to deal with the overwhelming problem of illegal logging and timber trade. The vice president of the Wampis nation, Galois Flores, says that the communities agreed to stop the loggers, giving them all of April to move what had already been cut down. However, according to Flores, the loggers asked for other 20 days, and then&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/09/illegal-logging-and-trade-in-fine-wood-threaten-wampis-communities-in-the-peruvian-amazon/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/09/illegal-logging-and-trade-in-fine-wood-threaten-wampis-communities-in-the-peruvian-amazon/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-260122</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Deforestation in Borneo threatens one in four orangutans, study says</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/07/deforestation-in-borneo-threatens-one-in-four-orangutans-study-says/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/07/deforestation-in-borneo-threatens-one-in-four-orangutans-study-says/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Jul 2022 15:10:48 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/02/26125422/kalteng_0906-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=258569</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Great Apes]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, Central Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, Indonesia, Kalimantan, Malaysia, North Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, Southeast Asia, and West Kalimantan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Deforestation, Environment, Forests, Great Apes, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Human-wildlife Conflict, Logging, Mining, Orangutans, Palm Oil, Rainforests, Selective Logging, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Habitat for up to a quarter of the known population of Bornean orangutans will disappear across the island of Borneo under predicted patterns of deforestation over the next decade, a new study warns. Scientists employed a deforestation trend model to project that 74,419 square kilometers (28,733 square miles) of forest — an area [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Habitat for up to a quarter of the known population of Bornean orangutans will disappear across the island of Borneo under predicted patterns of deforestation over the next decade, a new study warns. Scientists employed a deforestation trend model to project that 74,419 square kilometers (28,733 square miles) of forest — an area a tenth the size of Italy — would be lost between 2018 and 2032. This would result in the loss of habitat for 26,200 orangutans, out of a total current population of just over 100,000. The paper, published July 14 in the journal Perspectives in Ecology and Conservation, based this projection on forest loss of 59,949 km2 (23,146 mi2) between 2000 and 2017 across Borneo. A Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus). Image by John C. Cannon/Mongabay. The island of Borneo is split between Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei, although it’s not certain that Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) still occur in the tiny kingdom of Brunei. Nearly 150,000 of these great apes died between 1999 and 2015, largely due to deforestation and killing, according to a 2018 study. That study also projected that habitat loss would lead directly to the total future loss of 45,300 orangutans between 2020 and 2050. “Essentially, we have improved the deforestation model and thus the projection for this study,” said Maria Voigt, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany and lead author of both the 2018 paper and the new study. She added that the previous habitat loss&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/07/deforestation-in-borneo-threatens-one-in-four-orangutans-study-says/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/07/deforestation-in-borneo-threatens-one-in-four-orangutans-study-says/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-258569</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>When a tree falls in the forest, it’s the birds that don’t make a sound, study finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/03/when-a-tree-falls-in-the-forest-its-the-birds-that-dont-make-a-sound-study-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/03/when-a-tree-falls-in-the-forest-its-the-birds-that-dont-make-a-sound-study-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Mar 2021 16:23:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Claire Alberts]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Elizabethalberts]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/03/12193138/kalbar_drone_190643_header-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=240518</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Borneo, East Kalimantan, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Bioacoustics, Birds, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Forest Loss, Forest Recovery, Forestry, Forests, Insects, Logging, Research, Selective Logging, Species, Technology, Tropical Deforestation, Tropical Forests, Wildlife, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A recorder is fastened to a tree, its microphone pointed downward. It captures a fusion of sound: the high-pitched buzz of cicadas, bird calls, and also the rumbling of a chainsaw cutting through wood somewhere below. Between 2016 and 2017, a team of international scientists set up recorders in a tropical forest in East Kalimantan [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A recorder is fastened to a tree, its microphone pointed downward. It captures a fusion of sound: the high-pitched buzz of cicadas, bird calls, and also the rumbling of a chainsaw cutting through wood somewhere below. Between 2016 and 2017, a team of international scientists set up recorders in a tropical forest in East Kalimantan province, in Indonesian Borneo, to figure out what the forest sounded like before, during and after selective logging. More specifically, they were calculating “soundscape saturation,” which is the measurement of animal sound frequencies that correlates with the number of species present in the area. https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/03/12095337/20180710_093518_13A_chainsaw_.mp3 A recording of the forest in East Kalimantan, Indonesia, during logging. Audio courtesy of Zuzana Burivalova. The researchers found that the number of animal sounds “dropped immediately” after selective logging in the immediate area. “In a way, this is not surprising — for any animal, living in an area where selective logging happens must wreak a lot of chaos and destruction,” Zuzana Burivalova, a tropical forest ecologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and lead author of a new paper on the subject, told Mongabay. “It is a very unique experience to be able to listen to the forest the day after logging stops,” she added. “Everything seems very quiet, like after a big storm passes by.” Forest in East Kalimantan, Indonesia. Image by Rhett A. Butler for Mongabay. Logging appeared to have a particularly negative impact on birds. But insects, on the other hand, seemed to thrive. This could be&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/03/when-a-tree-falls-in-the-forest-its-the-birds-that-dont-make-a-sound-study-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/03/when-a-tree-falls-in-the-forest-its-the-birds-that-dont-make-a-sound-study-finds/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
					<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/03/12095337/20180710_093518_13A_chainsaw_.mp3" length="598253" type="audio/mpeg" />
					<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-240518</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Forest degradation outpaces deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon: Study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/10/forest-degradation-outpaces-deforestation-in-the-brazilian-amazon-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/10/forest-degradation-outpaces-deforestation-in-the-brazilian-amazon-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Oct 2020 13:02:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Claire Asher]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/10/05124543/6a-BANNER-IMAGE-Logged-forest-768x452.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=235549</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Carbon Emissions, Carbon Sequestration, Climate Change, Conservation, data, Deforestation, Environment, Fires, Forest Carbon, forest degradation, Forest Fragmentation, Fragmentation, Green, Illegal Logging, Logging, Monitoring, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Redd, Remote Sensing, Research, Satellite Imagery, Selective Logging, Threats To Rainforests, Timber, and Tipping points]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[337,427 square kilometers of Amazon forest were degraded between 1992 and 2014 ¬(mostly due to logging and understory fires), compared to 308,311 square kilometers completely cleared.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The recent study analysed over 1,200 satellite images to map forest degradation across the Brazilian Amazon. Image by the europeanspaceagency on Visualhunt / CC BY-SA. The total area of Brazilian Amazon forest that has been degraded — through selective logging, understory fire, forest edges and fragmentation — is larger than the total deforested area, according to a recent study published in the journal Science. During the 1992-2014 study period, 337,427 square kilometers (130,000 square miles) suffered a loss of vegetation, compared to 308,311 square kilometers (119,000 square miles) that was completely cleared for timber or pastures, a finding that has serious implications for global greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity loss. Eraldo Matricardi of the University of Brasilia and David Skole of Michigan State University led an international team of researchers in analyzing 23-years of satellite data covering the entire Brazilian Amazon to map areas of deforestation and degradation. They analyzed the light spectra in each pixel of 1,200 Landsat satellite images, each representing a 30 meter (98 feet) square of forest, to determine the proportion of green vegetation and therefore the extent of degradation. “The reflected light at any pixel is the combination of light from bare soil, photosynthetic vegetation and non-photosynthetic vegetation [such as] the stems and branches of trees,” explained Skole. Estimating the fraction of green vegetation in each pixel allowed the team to visualize forest degradation over a large scale. The team mapped degradation caused as a direct consequence of deforestation (such as edge effects and fragmentation)&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/10/forest-degradation-outpaces-deforestation-in-the-brazilian-amazon-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-235549</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Australia’s logging ‘madness’ fuels more fires, hastens ecosystem collapse</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/05/australias-logging-madness-fuels-more-fires-hastens-ecosystem-collapse/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/05/australias-logging-madness-fuels-more-fires-hastens-ecosystem-collapse/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 May 2020 17:25:22 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Claire Alberts]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Elizabethalberts]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/13144850/8_Bushfire_freetouse-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=230199</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Deforestation, Endangered Species, Fires, Forest Destruction, Forests, Logging, Primary Forests, and Selective Logging]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A thick, acrid scent of smoke marks the last summer season in Australia, which has become known as the “black summer.” Between June 2019 and March 2020, a series of bushfires ripped through more than 11 million hectares (27.2 million acres) of bushland, forest and parks in Australia, killing about a billion native animals, including [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A thick, acrid scent of smoke marks the last summer season in Australia, which has become known as the “black summer.” Between June 2019 and March 2020, a series of bushfires ripped through more than 11 million hectares (27.2 million acres) of bushland, forest and parks in Australia, killing about a billion native animals, including scores of iconic species like koalas, kangaroos and wallabies. During the worst months, December 2019 and January 2020, a dense, billowy haze glided over the country, and even across the Tasman Sea to New Zealand, coloring midday skies an eerie shade of red, and filling lungs with fine particles that made breathing difficult. The recovery process for the country’s flora and fauna will take decades, or even centuries, experts say. Yet, in Victoria and New South Wales, the two Australian states that were affected the most by the fires, logging companies have continued to saw down swaths of native trees to produce paper pulp for toilet tissue and paper towels. In Victoria, where fires raged through more than 1.2 million hectares (3 million acres) of land, a regional forestry agreement (RFA) was recently renewed for 10 years, allowing the state’s own logging company, VicForests to oversee and manage logging in the state, including logging inside the critically endangered mountain ash forest ecosystem. While the Victorian and federal government in Australia insist that the industry helps preserve jobs and boosts the economy, scientists and conservationists say continued logging doesn’t make economic or environmental sense. The aftermath&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/05/australias-logging-madness-fuels-more-fires-hastens-ecosystem-collapse/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-230199</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indigenous, protected lands in Amazon emit far less carbon than areas outside</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/01/indigenous-protected-lands-in-amazon-emit-far-less-carbon-than-areas-outside/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/01/indigenous-protected-lands-in-amazon-emit-far-less-carbon-than-areas-outside/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Jan 2020 13:56:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/01/28232733/waura_man-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=226598</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Land rights and extractives]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Conservation, Culture, data, Deforestation, Drought, Environment, forest degradation, Forestry, Forests, Green, Human Rights, Illegal Logging, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Land Rights, Logging, Politics, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Remote Sensing, Research, Satellite Imagery, Saving Rainforests, Selective Logging, Solutions, Threats To Rainforests, Timber, Traditional People, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Scientists know from a bevy of studies that the inclusion of indigenous peoples and local communities is critical to holding deforestation at bay across the tropics, even as a tide of forest clearance for agriculture, mining and timber has swept through the regions in which they live. A new study takes that research a step [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Scientists know from a bevy of studies that the inclusion of indigenous peoples and local communities is critical to holding deforestation at bay across the tropics, even as a tide of forest clearance for agriculture, mining and timber has swept through the regions in which they live. A new study takes that research a step further, calculating the gains and losses in carbon across the Amazon rainforest from not just wholesale clearance but the human-caused and naturally occurring degradation of the forest as well. When the authors tallied up all the emissions and absorption of carbon by the forest in the nine countries that the Amazon straddles, they found that 90% of the net loss of carbon between 2003 and 2016 came from outside indigenous territories and protected natural spaces. Illegal forest clearing in an indigenous reserve in Colombia. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay. The findings, reported Jan. 27 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, highlight the need to bolster the land rights of forest communities to protect the carbon stored in the world’s largest rainforest and thereby stave off climate change. It’s a need that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recognized in August in a report, and one the authors say is critical for the countries involved to meet their pledges under the 2015 Paris climate accords. The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, or IPBES, also noted in 2019 in its own report that more robust indigenous land rights should&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/01/indigenous-protected-lands-in-amazon-emit-far-less-carbon-than-areas-outside/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-226598</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesian ban on clearing new swaths of forest to be made permanent</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/indonesian-ban-on-clearing-new-swaths-of-forest-to-be-made-permanent/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/indonesian-ban-on-clearing-new-swaths-of-forest-to-be-made-permanent/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Jun 2019 08:59:13 +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/20/2019/06/11184326/kalbar_DJI_0420-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=219010</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Jokowi Commitments]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Climate Change, Deforestation, Dry Forests, Environment, Fires, forest degradation, Forest Destruction, Forests, Illegal Logging, Indigenous Peoples, Indonesia^s Forest Moratorium, Logging, Palm Oil, Peatlands, Plantations, Politics, Protected Areas, Pulp And Paper, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Selective Logging, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[2018-67916, G-1801-55636]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — A provisional moratorium on issuing forest-clearing permits for plantations and logging is expected to be made permanent, Indonesian officials have announced. The moratorium prohibits the conversion of primary natural forests and peatlands for oil palm, pulpwood and logging concessions, and was introduced in 2011 by then-president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as part of wider [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — A provisional moratorium on issuing forest-clearing permits for plantations and logging is expected to be made permanent, Indonesian officials have announced. The moratorium prohibits the conversion of primary natural forests and peatlands for oil palm, pulpwood and logging concessions, and was introduced in 2011 by then-president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as part of wider efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation. It was initially slated to run for two years, but has been extended three times since then, most recently in July 2017 by Yudhoyono’s successor, President Joko Widodo. Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar told Mongabay that when it comes up for renewal again this July, the policy will be made permanent. “[The proposal] is in the final stage now, signed by other ministers,” Siti said. An official in her ministry added that the proposal was now awaiting the president’s approval. Abetnego Tarigan, an environmental adviser in the office of the president’s chief of staff, confirmed that the ministry had proposed making the moratorium permanent. The move dovetails with the current administration’s development model of reining in agricultural and forestry expansion and boosting productivity from existing concessions. “Massive expansion isn’t our priority anymore,” Abetnego told reporters in Jakarta. “It’s different from in the 1980s, when industrial [logging and pulpwood] plantations wanted to expand, and in the 1990s and the 2000s, when palm oil plantations wanted to expand as well.” In addition, the government also wants to shift away from a heavy reliance on exports of raw&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/indonesian-ban-on-clearing-new-swaths-of-forest-to-be-made-permanent/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/indonesian-ban-on-clearing-new-swaths-of-forest-to-be-made-permanent/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-219010</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The crisis in the European tropical timber sector in Central Africa (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/08/the-crisis-in-the-european-tropical-timber-sector-in-central-africa-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/08/the-crisis-in-the-european-tropical-timber-sector-in-central-africa-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Aug 2018 12:58:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Alain Karsenty]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/08/01122310/IMG_0102-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=208757</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Certification, Commentary, Economics, Environment, Forestry, Forests, Research, Selective Logging, Timber, Timber Laws, and timber trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In early 2018, the Africa branch of Rougier announced its bankruptcy. Founded in 1923, Rougier is one of the oldest and largest timber companies in Africa, present in five Congo Basin countries, employing 3,000 workers, and holding 2.3 million hectares of concessions. The company is expected to divest all or part of its operating activities, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In early 2018, the Africa branch of Rougier announced its bankruptcy. Founded in 1923, Rougier is one of the oldest and largest timber companies in Africa, present in five Congo Basin countries, employing 3,000 workers, and holding 2.3 million hectares of concessions. The company is expected to divest all or part of its operating activities, except in Gabon. The reasons given for the bankruptcy refer to problems common to the exporting sector as a whole. In addition to the congestion in the port of Douala, Cameroon, from where most timber products leave West/Central Africa, there are increasing delays in VAT refunds (exporters collect Value-Added Taxes (VAT) for the government when they perform domestic transactions (purchase of timber, etc.), which ought to be refunded when they export their production; given budgetary constraints, however, African governments tend to postpone such VAT refunds to exporters, which jeopardizes companies’ treasuries). This has caused many companies to scale back their holdings in the region. The Dutch firm Wijma had to sell several forest concessions in Cameroon to Vicwood, a Hong Kong-based company. Italian-owned Cora Wood, a renowned plywood manufacturer in Gabon, had to sell one of its concessions to a Chinese company to pay off its debts. There are rumours that other European companies may soon be sold in Gabon or Congo, as well. The end of a cycle Beyond these economic difficulties, one feels the coming end of a rather virtuous cycle. This cycle was begun by the first forest management plans (FMP) in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/08/the-crisis-in-the-european-tropical-timber-sector-in-central-africa-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/08/the-crisis-in-the-european-tropical-timber-sector-in-central-africa-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-208757</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Shocking and worrying’: Selective logging has big, lasting impact on fish</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/04/shocking-and-worrying-selective-logging-has-big-lasting-impact-on-fish/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/04/shocking-and-worrying-selective-logging-has-big-lasting-impact-on-fish/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Apr 2018 19:36:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/04/26193754/168409_web1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=206188</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, Malaysia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Animals, Ecosystems, Environment, Fish, Forests, Freshwater, Freshwater Fish, Industrial Agriculture, Logging, Palm Oil, Plantations, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Research, Rivers, Selective Logging, Trees, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[2017-65500, G-1710-55576]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Selective logging has long been considered the lesser evil compared to clear-cutting when it comes to habitat preservation. But a new study adds to a growing chorus of concern that the practice may, in many ways, be just as harmful as outright deforestation. It finds fish communities in forests that were being selectively logged were [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Selective logging has long been considered the lesser evil compared to clear-cutting when it comes to habitat preservation. But a new study adds to a growing chorus of concern that the practice may, in many ways, be just as harmful as outright deforestation. It finds fish communities in forests that were being selectively logged were as harmfully affected as those in clear-cut areas. For their study, researchers at institutions in the UK and Singapore sampled 23 streams in Malaysian Borneo in forest areas ranging from intact to completely deforested and converted for plantation agriculture. Their results were published last week in Biological Conservation. The researchers expected to find that fish diversity would scale with the level of land conversion. In other words, they thought streams in protected intact forests would have the most fish species and those in plantations would have the least, with streams in selectively logged forests being somewhere in between. But that’s not what their findings revealed. Instead, they found nearly as few fish species in selectively logged forests as they did in forests clear-cut for plantations. Meanwhile, protected forests harbored a median number of fish species that was at least twice as high as any kind of logged area. Mastacembelus unicolor, a species of fish that the researchers found only in protected primary forest. To fish, it appears, logging is harmful regardless of type. &#8220;That such a small change can impact fish biodiversity is shocking and worrying,” said Clare Wilkinson, a researcher at Imperial College London and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/04/shocking-and-worrying-selective-logging-has-big-lasting-impact-on-fish/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/04/shocking-and-worrying-selective-logging-has-big-lasting-impact-on-fish/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-206188</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia’s dying timber concessions, invaded by oil palms, top deforestation table</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/04/deforestation-in-indonesian-selective-logging-concessions-picks-up-steam/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/04/deforestation-in-indonesian-selective-logging-concessions-picks-up-steam/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Apr 2018 10:03:45 +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/20/2017/09/19051109/logging-road-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=205160</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, East Kalimantan, Indonesia, Kalimantan, North Maluku, North Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Deforestation, Environment, Forestry, Forests, Logging, Palm Oil, Plantations, Rainforests, Selective Logging, Timber, timber trade, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[G-1611-55367]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — The rate of deforestation in selective-logging concessions in parts of Indonesia has unexpectedly overtaken those of pulpwood and oil palm concessions, a new study shows. A study by the NGO Forest Watch Indonesia (FWI) in the provinces of North Sumatra, East Kalimantan and North Maluku showed a combined loss of 7,180 square kilometers [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — The rate of deforestation in selective-logging concessions in parts of Indonesia has unexpectedly overtaken those of pulpwood and oil palm concessions, a new study shows. A study by the NGO Forest Watch Indonesia (FWI) in the provinces of North Sumatra, East Kalimantan and North Maluku showed a combined loss of 7,180 square kilometers (2,770 square miles) of these forests between 2013 and 2016. Seventy-two percent of that deforestation occurred in areas under one of four types of concessions: selective logging (for timber); pulpwood (typically acacia, to make paper); oil palm; and mining. Selective logging, which the researchers believed to be a declining industry relative to the booming oil palm and pulpwood industries, experienced the highest rate of deforestation over the study period, losing 838 square kilometers (323 square miles) of natural forest. This was followed closely by mining concessions (833 square kilometers), palm oil concessions (760 square kilometers) and pulpwood concessions (370 square kilometers). “We considered the selective-logging industry to be comatose … largely replaced by acacia plantations and then oil palm plantations,” FWI campaigner Agung Ady Setiawan told Mongabay. But the study, he said, showed otherwise — and the culprit was the latter industry. Selective-logging concessions, known by the Indonesian acronym HPH (Hak Pengusahaan Hutan), are the backbone of Indonesia’s historically important timber industry. But that industry has been on a steady decline due to competition from other countries across Southeast Asia and an export ban on unprocessed logs imposed by the government since 1985. (The ban was&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/04/deforestation-in-indonesian-selective-logging-concessions-picks-up-steam/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/04/deforestation-in-indonesian-selective-logging-concessions-picks-up-steam/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-205160</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Company outed for fires in Indonesian palm lease still clearing forests in timber concession, NGO finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/03/company-outed-for-fires-in-indonesian-palm-lease-still-clearing-forests-in-timber-concession-ngo-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/03/company-outed-for-fires-in-indonesian-palm-lease-still-clearing-forests-in-timber-concession-ngo-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Mar 2018 10:41:05 +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/20/2018/03/19054738/Screen-Shot-2018-03-07-at-3.55.55-PM-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=204719</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Papua, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Deforestation, Environment, Forests, Logging, Palm Oil, Plantations, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Roads, Selective Logging, Threats To Rainforests, Timber, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[G-1611-55367, 2017-65500]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — An environmental watchdog has accused a palm oil company in Indonesia of failing to extend a sustainable forestry pledge to a timber concession that it also operates. In a recent report, the NGO Mighty Earth alleged that Korindo, a South Korean-Indonesian joint venture, had degraded an area of more than 30 square kilometers [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — An environmental watchdog has accused a palm oil company in Indonesia of failing to extend a sustainable forestry pledge to a timber concession that it also operates. In a recent report, the NGO Mighty Earth alleged that Korindo, a South Korean-Indonesian joint venture, had degraded an area of more than 30 square kilometers (12 square miles) of rainforest in the easternmost province of Papua. The area is part of a logging concession spanning 1,000 square kilometers (386 square miles) operated by a subsidiary of Korindo, PT Inocin Abadi. “Korindo is continuing to destroy pristine rainforest in Papua on its logging concession, PT Inocin Abadi, with clear expansion into intact forest landscape underway, even as it is proclaiming it is committed to forest conservation and sustainability,” Mighty Earth campaign director Deborah Lapidus told Mongabay. The NGO says Korindo degraded the area to make way for logging roads, based on satellite imagery from November 2017 to January 2018, and that it continues to extend the road network into new areas of rainforest. In total, Korindo has built logging roads through more than 150 square kilometers (58 square miles) of rainforest since it started developing the concession in 2014, Mighty Earth says. “This makes it clear that Korindo is continuing to open up new logging areas on its 100,000 hectare concession,” Lapidus said. Maps show the logging concession in question sits adjacent to an oil palm concession also operated by a Korindo subsidiary, PT Papua Agro Lestari, where it stopped clearing forest&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/03/company-outed-for-fires-in-indonesian-palm-lease-still-clearing-forests-in-timber-concession-ngo-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/03/company-outed-for-fires-in-indonesian-palm-lease-still-clearing-forests-in-timber-concession-ngo-finds/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-204719</doi>				</item>
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