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		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/commodity-agriculture/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
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	<title>News on Commodity agriculture</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/commodity-agriculture/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Land crisis and ‘green revolution’ practices trap millions of Malawi’s farmers</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/land-crisis-and-green-revolution-practices-trap-millions-of-malawis-farmers/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/land-crisis-and-green-revolution-practices-trap-millions-of-malawis-farmers/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Aug 2026 07:30:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Charles Mpaka]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/17101100/BRIGHT_LastonMchisweWithCabbage2_ThyoloDistrictMalawi_CharlesMpaka-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=326364</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Malawi, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Commodity agriculture, Community Development, Development, Economics, Environment, Farming, Fertilizers, Food, Food Industry, Food Prices, and Impact Of Climate Change]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[GOLIATI, Malawi — All that’s left to eat in Tapiwa Ligomeka’s one-room home is stored in a small plastic basin in one corner. Two days earlier, her husband came home with 2 kilos of maize meal, about 5 pounds — all he could afford to buy after a day hustling for casual work carrying traders’ [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[GOLIATI, Malawi — All that’s left to eat in Tapiwa Ligomeka’s one-room home is stored in a small plastic basin in one corner. Two days earlier, her husband came home with 2 kilos of maize meal, about 5 pounds — all he could afford to buy after a day hustling for casual work carrying traders’ goods at a nearby market, here in southern Malawi’s Thyolo district. On the day Mongabay visits her home, Ligomeka has just returned to her thatched-roof house in the village of Goliati, clutching a bundle of dry maize and pigeon pea stalks to make a fire later, her 8-month-old baby strapped to her back. It’s coming up to noon on a Sunday; her husband is still out watering his tomato crop near the river. “I’ll wait for him,” says Ligomeka, 18, dropping her bundle by the cold fireplace on the verandah. “This flour cannot make enough nsima for us to eat separately.” Nsima is the Chewa term for Malawi’s staple dish, a stiff porridge made from maize flour and usually eaten with vegetables, legumes, and, for those who can afford it, meat or fish. “It also means there won’t be anything for us to eat this evening,” Ligomeka says, measuring the flour with scoops of her right hand. “Sometimes, that goes on for two days.” She says the couple harvested 178 kg (392 lb) of maize from their small farm in March. They couldn’t afford fertilizer for their plot, which measures less than half an acre,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/land-crisis-and-green-revolution-practices-trap-millions-of-malawis-farmers/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326364</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Global hunger levels fall but Africa still lags behind, UN report finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/global-hunger-levels-fall-but-africa-still-lags-behind-un-report-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/global-hunger-levels-fall-but-africa-still-lags-behind-un-report-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Aug 2026 13:22:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Charles Mpaka]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/04112439/HarvestingSorghum_Sudan2011_AfricaRenewalFlickrBYNCSA2.0-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=325306</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Commodity agriculture, Economics, Environment, Farming, Fertilizers, Governance, Industrial Agriculture, Research, and Subsistence Agriculture]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In its latest report on food security and nutrition around the world, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization says the number of people facing hunger globally has declined for the third consecutive year, but Africa still has the highest number of people with insufficient food. The FAO report estimated that 20% of Africans faced hunger [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In its latest report on food security and nutrition around the world, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization says the number of people facing hunger globally has declined for the third consecutive year, but Africa still has the highest number of people with insufficient food. The FAO report estimated that 20% of Africans faced hunger in 2025, compared to just 6% in Asia, and nearly 5% in Latin America and the Caribbean. The FAO report says the number of people facing hunger globally fell from 8.6% in 2022 to 7.8% in 2025. It further estimates that in 2025, hunger affected 14 million people less than in 2024 and 43 million less people than in 2022. In 2030, the report projects between 510 and 520 million people will be food insecure worldwide and more than half of them (56%) will be in Africa. Dry lakebed in Mabalane district, Mozambique: climate shocks are amongst the reasons for food insecurity in Africa. Image by Aurélie Marrier d&#8217;Unienville / IFRC via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0). “While the prevalence rate of undernourishment slightly stabilized at 20.0% in 2025, demographic pressure actually pushed the absolute number of hungry people [in Africa] to a record 309 million, surpassing Asia for the first time,” David Laborde, director of the FAO’s Agrifood Economics Division, told Mongabay via email. Laborde said that severe cuts to development aid, armed conflict, and climate shocks have hindered food production on the continent over the past decade. Erratic rains and rising temperature have affected&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/global-hunger-levels-fall-but-africa-still-lags-behind-un-report-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/global-hunger-levels-fall-but-africa-still-lags-behind-un-report-finds/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-325306</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Cheap coffee is killing Vietnam’s priceless tropical forests (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/cheap-coffee-is-killing-vietnams-priceless-tropical-forests-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/cheap-coffee-is-killing-vietnams-priceless-tropical-forests-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Aug 2026 20:45:47 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Etelle Higonnet]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/08/19233119/Vietnam-smallholder-coffee-1-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=325233</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Global, Southeast Asia, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Business, Coffee, Commentary, Commodity agriculture, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Food, Food Industry, Food Vs Forests Debate, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Industrial Agriculture, Natural Resources, Threats To Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Vietnam is now the world’s largest producer of robusta, the bitter, sturdy bean behind instant coffee, supermarket blends, and the overall global appetite for cheap caffeine. But behind its meteoric rise to No. 2 coffee producer in the world lies a story the industry has tried very hard to hide: forests are disappearing, wildlife is [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Vietnam is now the world’s largest producer of robusta, the bitter, sturdy bean behind instant coffee, supermarket blends, and the overall global appetite for cheap caffeine. But behind its meteoric rise to No. 2 coffee producer in the world lies a story the industry has tried very hard to hide: forests are disappearing, wildlife is vanishing, and rural communities are being pushed to the brink. As ecosystems start to collapse, coffee is getting harder and harder to grow, and the brands buying that coffee and filling supermarket shelves from Copenhagen to California are complicit every step of the way. Our new Coffee Watch investigation, “Vietnam: Robusta’s Reckoning,” reveals the scale of the crisis. Forests the size of Luxembourg have been wiped out for coffee. In biodiversity hotspots like Vietnam’s Central Highlands, wildlife like tigers, elephants, civets, sun bears, adorable flying squirrels, and delicate saola (sometimes referred to as the “Asian unicorn”), have been squeezed into ever‑smaller fragments of habitat, or just plain wiped out. Communities are losing the very ecosystems that sustain them, and this destruction is largely happening so the world can enjoy cheap robusta in instant coffee, capsules, and mass‑market blends. Typical landscape in Vietnam that&#8217;s suitable for growing robusta coffee. Image by Michael Tatarski for Mongabay. Vietnam’s rise as a coffee superpower is often framed as a rural development miracle, but the truth is far darker. Smallholder farmers, who grow the vast majority of Vietnam’s coffee, are trapped in a system that rewards expansion into forested land&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/cheap-coffee-is-killing-vietnams-priceless-tropical-forests-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/cheap-coffee-is-killing-vietnams-priceless-tropical-forests-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-325233</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Thailand, EUDR pressure on small-scale rubber farmers prompts private-sector assistance</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/in-thailand-eudr-pressure-on-small-scale-rubber-farmers-prompts-private-sector-assistance/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/in-thailand-eudr-pressure-on-small-scale-rubber-farmers-prompts-private-sector-assistance/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Jun 2026 02:02:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/14133641/1.-Banner-option-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321134</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Southeast Asia, and Thailand]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Business, Certification, Commodity agriculture, Corporations, Crops, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, EUDR, Farming, Forest Products, Governance, Industrial Agriculture, Industry, Law, Plantations, Rubber, Supply Chain, Sustainable Forest Management, Trade, and Zero Deforestation Commitments]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KRABI, Thailand — Beneath a humid canopy of rubber trees, Sathit Phromraksa pauses to inspect a coagulated ball of rubber in a palm-sized bowl fastened to a trunk. Last night, he and his wife worked their way through the plantation, carefully carving a line in the bark of each tree to stimulate the flow of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KRABI, Thailand — Beneath a humid canopy of rubber trees, Sathit Phromraksa pauses to inspect a coagulated ball of rubber in a palm-sized bowl fastened to a trunk. Last night, he and his wife worked their way through the plantation, carefully carving a line in the bark of each tree to stimulate the flow of milky latex. With a total 500 trees to tap in their 1.6-hectare (4-acre) plantation, their work took them from midnight to 3:30 a.m. “I inherited this rubber farm from my father,” says 59-year-old Sathit, a lifelong resident of Namgaan subdistrict in Thailand’s Krabi province. “Back then, my family used a lot of chemicals to control weeds and pests, but now, we follow organic practices.” Sathit is one of roughly 1.7 million smallholders who produce 90% of Thailand’s natural rubber supply across millions of individual plantations, most of them no bigger than his. For many, staying profitable is a constant challenge amid fluctuating market prices, crop diseases and climate change. Now, the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) is poised to add to the pressures facing small-scale producers like Sathit. Under the law, set to take effect in January 2027, only suppliers who can prove their land wasn’t cleared after Dec. 31, 2020, will be allowed to continue selling rubber to EU markets. As the world’s leading natural rubber producer, the economic implications for Thailand are significant. While the bulk of its exports go to China and Malaysia, the value of Thai rubber entering the EU increased by&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/in-thailand-eudr-pressure-on-small-scale-rubber-farmers-prompts-private-sector-assistance/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/in-thailand-eudr-pressure-on-small-scale-rubber-farmers-prompts-private-sector-assistance/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321134</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>For Honduran coffee growers, EUDR compliance means changing old habits</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/for-honduran-coffee-growers-eudr-compliance-means-changing-old-habits/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/for-honduran-coffee-growers-eudr-compliance-means-changing-old-habits/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 May 2026 12:22:15 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sandra Weiss]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[agroecology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Food systems]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/29120927/9-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320278</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Central America, European Union, Honduras, and Latin America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Avoided Deforestation, Coffee, Commodity agriculture, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, EUDR, Farming, Forest Destruction, International Trade, Monitoring, Politics, Supply Chain, Technology, Transparency, and Tropical Deforestation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[CONCEPCIÓN DE SOLUTECA, Honduras — In the 1970s, the Honduran government granted a piece of land in the mountains of Concepción de Soluteca to Roberto González’s parents. They duly grabbed a chainsaw and a machete to clear the forest. On the 12 hectares (30 acres) they received as part of a land reform, they planted [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[CONCEPCIÓN DE SOLUTECA, Honduras — In the 1970s, the Honduran government granted a piece of land in the mountains of Concepción de Soluteca to Roberto González’s parents. They duly grabbed a chainsaw and a machete to clear the forest. On the 12 hectares (30 acres) they received as part of a land reform, they planted corn, beans and bananas, the basic staple foods. It was a hard life up in the mountains, allowing the farmers and their families to just survive. There wasn’t much public infrastructure, and most children had to help with farmwork early on. This included González, who only attended elementary school for three years. When González inherited the land 20 years later, coffee cultivation was just taking off. Middlemen promised the farmers good money for the export crop, and the banks provided loans for cultivation. At first, this worked well, González, now 39, remembers. Coffee helped the farmers to generate income and improve living conditions. But it didn’t last long. They grew coffee much the same way they did other crops, without adequate soil or shade management. When harvests dwindled, they expanded their area, cutting the last standing forests and damaging water sources. Around 2012, they faced an outbreak of coffee rust, a fungal disease. It was a complete disaster: many farmers were thrown into poverty and forced to migrate. “We destroyed the foundations of our livelihoods, but it was out of ignorance; we just didn&#8217;t know better,” González tells Mongabay. Under the EUDR, coffee farmers step&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/for-honduran-coffee-growers-eudr-compliance-means-changing-old-habits/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/for-honduran-coffee-growers-eudr-compliance-means-changing-old-habits/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320278</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Loopholes undermine palm oil industry’s antideforestation pledges</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/loopholes-undermine-palm-oil-industrys-antideforestation-pledges/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/loopholes-undermine-palm-oil-industrys-antideforestation-pledges/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 May 2026 21:51:57 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/02173520/sabah_1209-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320195</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Indonesia, Malaysia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Certification, Commodity agriculture, Corporate Social Responsibility, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, EUDR, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Governance, International Trade, Monitoring, Palm Oil, Plantations, Rainforests, Satellite Imagery, and Supply Chain]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — More than a decade after the palm oil industry embraced a pledge to not deforest, clear tropical peatlands, or use exploitative practices, policies to that end now cover most of the global palm oil trade, as major traders, refiners and consumer brands have pledged to keep deforestation-linked palm oil out of their supply [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — More than a decade after the palm oil industry embraced a pledge to not deforest, clear tropical peatlands, or use exploitative practices, policies to that end now cover most of the global palm oil trade, as major traders, refiners and consumer brands have pledged to keep deforestation-linked palm oil out of their supply chains. However, deforestation linked to palm oil continues, particularly in Indonesia, the world’s largest producer of the commodity. Satellite analysis by forest-mapping initiative TheTreeMap shows 31,073 hectares (76,783 acres) of forest were cleared for palm oil in Indonesia in 2025, slightly higher than the 30,956 hectares (76,494 acres) recorded in 2024 — highlighting persistent gaps in how the industry enforces its zero-deforestation pledges. In some cases, palm oil from newly cleared land still enters supply chains that companies describe as deforestation-free. “No Deforestation, No Peat, No Exploitation” (NDPE) policies aim to eliminate three major sources of harm in palm oil production: clearing natural forests, developing plantations on carbon-rich peatlands, and exploiting workers or local communities. By 2020, these commitments covered roughly 83% of palm oil refinery capacity in Indonesia and Malaysia, the world’s main producing region. In recent years, companies have also built systems to enforce these pledges. Many now publish grievance mechanisms where violations can be reported, while third-party monitoring groups use satellite imagery to track forest loss and flag suspicious activity. Large-scale corporate deforestation in Indonesia has fallen compared to the mid-2010s, when some plantation companies were clearing vast areas of rainforest. Deforestation for&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/loopholes-undermine-palm-oil-industrys-antideforestation-pledges/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320195</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Tiremakers ready to roll with EUDR, but repeated delays frustrate industry</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/tiremakers-ready-to-roll-with-eudr-but-repeated-delays-frustrate-industry/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/tiremakers-ready-to-roll-with-eudr-but-repeated-delays-frustrate-industry/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 May 2026 10:00:09 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ruth Kamnitzer]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/19095229/36640893672_e7bb4d2eb0_k-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319648</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[European Union, South Asia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, Commodity agriculture, Conservation, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, EUDR, Forest Destruction, Governance, Monitoring, Plantations, Politics, Rubber, Trade, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The tire manufacturing industry, a major consumer of natural rubber, says it’s ready for the European Union Deforestation Regulation, or EUDR, but remains concerned over the latest delay in the rule’s implementation. The EUDR aims to prevent products linked to deforestation from being sold in the EU market. Rubber is one of the seven commodities [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The tire manufacturing industry, a major consumer of natural rubber, says it’s ready for the European Union Deforestation Regulation, or EUDR, but remains concerned over the latest delay in the rule’s implementation. The EUDR aims to prevent products linked to deforestation from being sold in the EU market. Rubber is one of the seven commodities targeted under the rule that’s set to take effect at the end of this year. Natural rubber is collected by scoring the bark of the rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis) and collecting the milky white latex. At the base of the natural rubber supply chain are 6 million smallholders, mostly in Southeast Asia and, increasingly, West Africa, who produce about 85% of the world’s natural rubber. These farmers may have just a hectare or two of land under rubber, in multiple plots, and are independent, selling to multiple agents. The latex they harvest may then pass through numerous intermediary agents before in-country processing or export, making traceability within supply chains exceedingly complex. Under the EUDR, companies placing goods containing natural rubber on the EU market will have to show that the rubber didn’t come from recently deforested land, and that it was produced in compliance with local laws. That will mean they must have traceability throughout their supply chains. Originally slated to come into force in 2024, the EUDR’s implementation has been delayed twice. Large and medium-sized companies will now have until Dec. 30, 2026, to be EUDR-compliant, while small and micro-operators will be given a&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/tiremakers-ready-to-roll-with-eudr-but-repeated-delays-frustrate-industry/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/tiremakers-ready-to-roll-with-eudr-but-repeated-delays-frustrate-industry/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-319648</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>EU deforestation law risks leaving Honduran coffee farmers behind</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/eu-deforestation-law-risks-leaving-honduran-coffee-farmers-behind/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/eu-deforestation-law-risks-leaving-honduran-coffee-farmers-behind/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 May 2026 15:15:25 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sandra Weiss]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Food systems]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/11150207/6-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319115</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Central America, European Union, Honduras, and Latin America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Coffee, Commodity agriculture, Deforestation, EUDR, Farming, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Forests, Governance, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, International Trade, Land Rights, and Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Reinerio Zepeda is 88 and for almost a century has made his living from arabica coffee, grown in the shade at his finca, or ranch, near Minas de Oro in central Honduras. “I love the peace up here, the trees and the birds,” he tells Mongabay by phone. Zepeda is one of the 98,000 coffee [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Reinerio Zepeda is 88 and for almost a century has made his living from arabica coffee, grown in the shade at his finca, or ranch, near Minas de Oro in central Honduras. “I love the peace up here, the trees and the birds,” he tells Mongabay by phone. Zepeda is one of the 98,000 coffee growers registered in the country, most of whom, according to recent data, own less than 3 hectares (7 acres) of land. Zepeda, like many of his neighbors, has been selling his coffee to intermediaries and is wondering what the next year will bring as he will need to meet several requirements to make his supply chain traceable. Starting January 2027, only farmers whose land wasn’t cleared after Dec. 31, 2020, will be able to send their commodities into the European Union, according to the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). “I have heard something on TV about Europe being concerned about deforestation, but nobody has showed up here to explain it to me,” says Zepeda, adding he’s more worried about falling prices than the bureaucracy in Brussels. “I haven’t cut trees; that would be crazy because I need them to produce my coffee. Everybody can come up here and check.” More than half of Honduras’s coffee exports end up in the EU, representing about 5% of the national GDP. Domestically, the coffee industry generates more jobs than any other sector (1.1 million) and brings in more foreign exchange than any other economic activity. Around 120,000 smallholder families make a&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/eu-deforestation-law-risks-leaving-honduran-coffee-farmers-behind/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/eu-deforestation-law-risks-leaving-honduran-coffee-farmers-behind/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-319115</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Tropical forest loss falls in 2025, but world still off track on deforestation goals</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/tropical-forest-loss-falls-in-2025-but-world-still-off-track-on-deforestation-goals/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/tropical-forest-loss-falls-in-2025-but-world-still-off-track-on-deforestation-goals/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Apr 2026 04:10:13 +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/20/2026/02/02182850/brunei_251115221947_0687z-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=318333</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Asia, Bolivia, Brazil, Democratic Republic Of Congo, Global, Indonesia, Latin America, and Madagascar]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Climate Change, Commodity agriculture, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Fires, Forest Destruction, Forests, Mining, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Tropical primary forest loss fell sharply in 2025, dropping 36% from the record highs of the previous year, according to new data from a long-running satellite monitoring project. Non-fire forest loss also declined by 23%, reaching its lowest level in a decade, according to the data from the University of Maryland’s Global Land [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Tropical primary forest loss fell sharply in 2025, dropping 36% from the record highs of the previous year, according to new data from a long-running satellite monitoring project. Non-fire forest loss also declined by 23%, reaching its lowest level in a decade, according to the data from the University of Maryland’s Global Land Analysis and Discovery (GLAD) laboratory and visualized on the World Resources Institute’s (WRI) Global Forest Watch platform. The drop suggests that policy and enforcement can make be effective in protecting tropical primary forests, which are critical for biodiversity, water provision, carbon storage, food and medicine, cultural identity and more. But researchers say the headline figures mask a more complex reality and may say more about fewer fires than real progress, as forests across the tropics continue to move in the same direction: toward less forest and, in many places, faster rates of loss. “A drop of this scale in a single year is encouraging — it shows what decisive government action can achieve,” said Elizabeth Goldman, co-director of Global Forest Watch. Even so, total loss remains high. The tropics lost 4.3 million hectares (10.6 million acres) of primary forest in 2025 — an area larger than Switzerland, and still 46% higher than a decade ago. That’s the equivalent of about 11 football fields’ worth of forests being razed every minute. At current rates, the world remains far off track from the 2030 goal of halting and reversing forest loss, a pledge made by more than&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/tropical-forest-loss-falls-in-2025-but-world-still-off-track-on-deforestation-goals/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/tropical-forest-loss-falls-in-2025-but-world-still-off-track-on-deforestation-goals/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-318333</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>EUDR is starting to steer company actions, despite slow progress: Report</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/eudr-is-starting-to-steer-company-actions-despite-slow-progress-report/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/eudr-is-starting-to-steer-company-actions-despite-slow-progress-report/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Apr 2026 20:46:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Constance Malleret]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/09/11180020/AP23291581278710-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317553</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[European Union and Latin America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Beef, Cattle, Commodity agriculture, Conservation, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporations, Deforestation, Forest Loss, Illegal Logging, Law, Law Enforcement, leather, Palm Oil, Soy, Supply Chain, Sustainability, Timber, Tropical Deforestation, and Zero Deforestation Commitments]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Some companies have made headway toward removing deforestation from their supply chains in the last year, in preparation for the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), according to a new report by the NGO Global Canopy. This shows that the upcoming regulation is driving some progress despite an unfavorable global climate for environmental commitments. The Forest [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Some companies have made headway toward removing deforestation from their supply chains in the last year, in preparation for the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), according to a new report by the NGO Global Canopy. This shows that the upcoming regulation is driving some progress despite an unfavorable global climate for environmental commitments. The Forest 500 Report 2026 examined the corporate commitments on deforestation, land conversion and human rights of the 500 companies with most influence over nine commodities linked to deforestation and covered by the EUDR: beef, cocoa, coffee, leather, palm, pulp and paper, rubber, soy and timber. It found that more than a quarter of companies reported new forms of implementation action in 2025, and 14% specifically mentioned the EUDR in documents about deforestation commitments. Forest 500 is based on public documents, and more companies could be making decisions based on the EUDR in private, the report notes. The EUDR is due to take effect Dec. 30 this year after several delays. “The EUDR is the main focus of this report. The key takeaway is that it’s working, it’s appearing in lots of company reporting, with 68 companies in our assessment citing it in regard to deforestation commitments, especially with traceability,” said Chloe Rollscane, a research associate at Global Canopy. “Even though [the EUDR] is not in place yet, it’s obvious that companies are getting ready for it.” These companies include producers and processors in source countries, as well as traders and retailers in the EU, Rollscane told&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/eudr-is-starting-to-steer-company-actions-despite-slow-progress-report/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/eudr-is-starting-to-steer-company-actions-despite-slow-progress-report/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317553</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As EU-Mercosur agreement goes into effect, environmentalists raise red flags</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/as-eu-mercosur-agreement-goes-into-effect-environmentalists-raise-red-flags/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/as-eu-mercosur-agreement-goes-into-effect-environmentalists-raise-red-flags/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Apr 2026 21:56:41 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ramana Rech]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Xavier Bartaburu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/08214604/07_05_2022_Ato_alusivo_a_visita_a_23a_Feira_Nacional_da_Soja_52057648056-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317212</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, European Union, and Latin America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agrochemicals, Commodity agriculture, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Economics, Environment, Environmental Law, Law, Law Enforcement, Mining, Pesticides, Rainforest Destruction, Saving Rainforests, Solutions, and Soy]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In March, after decades of negotiations, the free trade agreement between Mercosur nations and the European Union (EU) was ratified by Paraguay, the last founding member of the Latin American bloc to give the green light to the deal. Already in its final stage, the document will be provisionally implemented in May, 2026, according to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In March, after decades of negotiations, the free trade agreement between Mercosur nations and the European Union (EU) was ratified by Paraguay, the last founding member of the Latin American bloc to give the green light to the deal. Already in its final stage, the document will be provisionally implemented in May, 2026, according to the European Commission. The agreement is being hailed as an economic boon for both EU and Latin American nations. However, it may cause a series of environmental impacts. According to various NGOs and environmental advocates, major problems for Latin America could include expansion of deforestation, mining, and pesticide imports and use. Other experts argue that the agreement could impose a series of environmental rules on already existing global trade – in addition to facilitating knowledge exchange among the parties. Good for trade, bad for the environment? Mercosur, as it’s known in Spanish, and Mercosul, in Portuguese, has been dubbed the Southern Common Market. It represents one of the world’s leading economic blocs, and its fifth-largest economy. It is composed of five member countries (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Bolivia) and seven associate members (Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and most recently Panama). In general terms, the treaty between Mercosur nations and the European Union provides for gradual reduction of import tariffs between the two continental blocs. In late February, the Brazilian government stated that the EU “commits to eliminating import tariffs on approximately 95% of goods that account for 92% of the value of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/as-eu-mercosur-agreement-goes-into-effect-environmentalists-raise-red-flags/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/as-eu-mercosur-agreement-goes-into-effect-environmentalists-raise-red-flags/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317212</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Railroad &#038; tariff war boost soy in Brazil’s Cerrado, endangering Indigenous lands</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/railroad-tariff-war-boost-soy-in-brazils-cerrado-endangering-indigenous-lands/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/railroad-tariff-war-boost-soy-in-brazils-cerrado-endangering-indigenous-lands/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Apr 2026 16:29:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Kevin Damasio]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Xavier Bartaburu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/02155029/08-05102025-Z08_2257-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316840</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon and Brazil]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Commodity agriculture, Conservation, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Pesticides, and Soy]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MATO GROSSO, Brazil — In 2025, soy farmers in Brazil saw a new boost caused by the tariff war between the United States and China. Brazilian soy exports to the Chinese market reached a record high: 85.4 million metric tons, almost 80% of total soy shipments. In Mato Grosso, soy production had already seen a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MATO GROSSO, Brazil — In 2025, soy farmers in Brazil saw a new boost caused by the tariff war between the United States and China. Brazilian soy exports to the Chinese market reached a record high: 85.4 million metric tons, almost 80% of total soy shipments. In Mato Grosso, soy production had already seen a boost in 2019, partly due to trade tensions between the Chinese and the first U.S. President Donald Trump administration. In addition to China’s demand for the product, new agricultural frontiers were opened for soy farmers after the BR-163 federal road was paved, connecting them to ports in Pará state. Since then, soy plantations in Mato Grosso have increased by 3.4 million hectares (8.4 million acres), according to Brazil’s National Supply Company (CONAB), while their output went from 33 million metric tons in the 2018-19 harvest to 51 million metric tons in 2024-25 – a 54.5% increase. Soy plantations are advancing mainly in the Cerrado, the most biodiverse savanna on the planet, which is essential to Brazil’s water supply, since its sources provide it to eight of the country’s 12 hydrographic regions. In the Juruena River Basin, in western Mato Grosso, consolidation of monocultures — not only soy but also corn and cotton — is a matter of concern to people in the Tirecatinga Indigenous Land. They report that the surrounding farms have been contaminating water bodies, plants and fruit with pesticides and are blocking the rivers with small hydroelectric plants. Located between the Buriti and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/railroad-tariff-war-boost-soy-in-brazils-cerrado-endangering-indigenous-lands/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-316840</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Brazil, regenerative farming advances, but deforestation still pressures ecosystems</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/in-brazil-regenerative-farming-advances-but-deforestation-still-pressures-ecosystems/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/in-brazil-regenerative-farming-advances-but-deforestation-still-pressures-ecosystems/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Mar 2026 16:58:15 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mie Hoejris Dahl]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[agroecology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Food systems]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/17165558/BANNER-UF17MGJ-25178_0047-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=315826</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Agroecology, Biodiversity, Cattle, Climate Change, Commodity agriculture, Conservation, Crops, Deforestation, Degraded Lands, Ecosystems, Farming, Forest Destruction, Habitat Degradation, Industrial Agriculture, Pesticides, Ranching, Restoration, and Soil Carbon]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[SINOP, Brazil — In Brazil’s Mato Grosso state, the country’s agricultural heartland, vast stretches of lush Amazon rainforest and Cerrado savanna give way to seemingly endless fields of soy. Located in a transition zone where the Amazon and Cerrado meet the Pantanal wetlands, about 90% of the state’s area was once covered in native vegetation. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[SINOP, Brazil — In Brazil’s Mato Grosso state, the country’s agricultural heartland, vast stretches of lush Amazon rainforest and Cerrado savanna give way to seemingly endless fields of soy. Located in a transition zone where the Amazon and Cerrado meet the Pantanal wetlands, about 90% of the state’s area was once covered in native vegetation. But from the 1970s onward, agricultural innovation and public policies — including subsidies that encouraged farmers to settle and clear land in Mato Grosso — allowed the agricultural frontier to advance rapidly, turning Mato Grosso into one of Brazil’s main farming powerhouses. The Amazon, the world’s largest tropical rainforest, covers about 60% of Brazil. The Cerrado, one of the world’s most expansive savannas, spans some 2 million square kilometers (772,000 square miles) of tropical grasslands, trees and watersheds that regulate rainfall patterns and temperatures. About a fifth of the Brazilian Amazon has been deforested since monitoring began in 1985, and nearly half of the native vegetation of the Cerrado biome has been cleared for cattle and soy. Some of Mato Grosso’s former vast soy fields and cattle pasture have been left degraded — eroded grasslands that function neither as forest nor productive farmland. At a Biancon Group farm in Mato Grosso’s Itaúba municipality, Ivan Biancon, co-owner of the family-owned agribusiness group, scoops soil into his hands and lets it fall. The soil, he says, is now healthy enough to grow cotton, corn and soy beans. When he and his brother, Igor, first arrived, “these were&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/in-brazil-regenerative-farming-advances-but-deforestation-still-pressures-ecosystems/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/in-brazil-regenerative-farming-advances-but-deforestation-still-pressures-ecosystems/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-315826</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Colombia’s coffee industry well placed but wary as EU deforestation rule looms</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/colombias-coffee-industry-well-placed-but-wary-as-eu-deforestation-rule-looms/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/colombias-coffee-industry-well-placed-but-wary-as-eu-deforestation-rule-looms/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Mar 2026 16:23:15 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mie Hoejris Dahl]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/04114305/Juan-Nieves5-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=315196</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia, European Union, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Coffee, Commodity agriculture, Conservation, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, EUDR, Farming, Forest Loss, International Trade, Law Enforcement, Rainforests, and Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[CIÉNAGA, Colombia — A handful of men swarm around a coffee collection center in the city of Ciénaga, shouldering burlap sacks of coffee as they move in and out of the mill. Ciénaga is a port town in the foothills of Colombia’s Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, the world’s highest coastal mountain range, and is [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[CIÉNAGA, Colombia — A handful of men swarm around a coffee collection center in the city of Ciénaga, shouldering burlap sacks of coffee as they move in and out of the mill. Ciénaga is a port town in the foothills of Colombia’s Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, the world’s highest coastal mountain range, and is known locally as the coffee capital of the Sierra Nevada region. “We hope EUDR will be to our benefit,” says Silver Polo Palomino, a coffee grower and representative of the Asociación de Agricultores Orgánicos de La Secreta (AGROSEC), a local organic coffee growers’ association in Ciénaga, speaking over the roar of the mill. Polo is one of many producers in Colombia who say they’re uncertain — and increasingly nervous — about what the implementation of the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) will mean for their livelihoods. The regulation, set to go into force at the end of this year, will ban the import into the EU market of seven key commodities linked to deforestation. Coffee is among them. But Colombia, the world’s No. 3 coffee producer, is well prepared for the EUDR and better positioned than coffee exporters in many parts of Africa and Asia, several experts told Mongabay. Despite a fragmented sector dominated by small-scale farmers, Colombia’s coffee industry is highly organized, largely through the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia (FNC), which represents more than 500,000 coffee-growing families. The FNC has developed a centralized georeferenced database, the Coffee Information System (SICA), designed to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/colombias-coffee-industry-well-placed-but-wary-as-eu-deforestation-rule-looms/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/colombias-coffee-industry-well-placed-but-wary-as-eu-deforestation-rule-looms/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-315196</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The cost of compliance with the EUDR will limit its impact on reducing deforestation (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/the-cost-of-compliance-with-the-eudr-will-limit-its-impact-on-reducing-deforestation-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/the-cost-of-compliance-with-the-eudr-will-limit-its-impact-on-reducing-deforestation-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Feb 2026 01:33:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Bjørn Rask ThomsenDaniel Nepstad]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/21000448/bolivia_drone_190118-26-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=314595</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Cerrado, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Commentary, Commodity agriculture, Conservation, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Forest Carbon, Forests, Green, Industrial Agriculture, Rainforests, Redd, Regulations, Soy, Tropical Forests, and Zero Deforestation Commitments]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The production of food continues to eat its way into the world&#8217;s tropical forests. Agricultural expansion drives nearly 90% of global deforestation, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).  The sector therefore represents a critical climate challenge: forest loss and degradation account for about 11% of global greenhouse gas emissions, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The production of food continues to eat its way into the world&#8217;s tropical forests. Agricultural expansion drives nearly 90% of global deforestation, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).  The sector therefore represents a critical climate challenge: forest loss and degradation account for about 11% of global greenhouse gas emissions, by estimates from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. One primary strategy to slow deforestation over the past two decades involves food and agri-commodity companies pledging “zero deforestation supply chains”, under pressure from consumers and environmental groups. These commitments have helped reduce deforestation from land uses like soybean production in the Brazilian Amazon through initiatives such as the now-suspended “Brazilian Soy Moratorium”. Tropical deforestation globally has remained persistently high, however. We argue here that the long-term impact of “zero deforestation supply chains” will be limited by the costs of implementing and operating these pledges; companies striving to do their part to reduce deforestation are less price-competitive than those that do not. Adjustments are urgently needed to translate corporate engagement into more collaborative and effective approaches to deforestation. With the goal of mitigating deforestation, the European Union has adopted a “zero deforestation supply chain” approach as the basis of its Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). When and if it is eventually implemented, the EUDR is set to exclude from the EU market those agri-commodities produced on land deforested after 2020. Implementation, originally scheduled for January 2025, has been postponed twice, however, and its future is unclear. EU countries&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/the-cost-of-compliance-with-the-eudr-will-limit-its-impact-on-reducing-deforestation-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/the-cost-of-compliance-with-the-eudr-will-limit-its-impact-on-reducing-deforestation-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-314595</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Banks must step in before the Amazon Soy Moratorium collapses (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/banks-must-step-in-before-the-amazon-soy-moratorium-collapses-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/banks-must-step-in-before-the-amazon-soy-moratorium-collapses-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Feb 2026 16:39:27 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ginger Cassady]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/12141643/Highway-BR-163-stretches-between-the-Tapajos-National-Forest-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=314432</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Avoided Deforestation, Banking, Business, Commentary, Commodity agriculture, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Finance, Forest Destruction, Rainforests, Soy, Trade, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Amazon Rainforest is approaching a dangerous threshold. Scientists warn that continued deforestation could push the world’s largest rainforest past a tipping point, transforming it into a degraded, fire-prone savanna that emits more carbon than it stores. One of the most effective barriers preventing that outcome is now being dismantled. For nearly 20 years, the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Amazon Rainforest is approaching a dangerous threshold. Scientists warn that continued deforestation could push the world’s largest rainforest past a tipping point, transforming it into a degraded, fire-prone savanna that emits more carbon than it stores. One of the most effective barriers preventing that outcome is now being dismantled. For nearly 20 years, the Amazon Soy Moratorium has helped protect millions of hectares of forest. It stopped major traders from buying soy grown on land deforested after 2008, breaking the link between agricultural expansion and forest destruction. Earlier this month, following sustained lobbying and political pressure, Brazil’s leading soy industry association withdrew from the agreement, effectively collapsing a system that had become the backbone of responsible soy production in the Amazon. The moratorium helped drive a nearly 70% reduction in deforestation across monitored regions, even as soy production soared. It proved that strong rules and monitoring, backed by market pressure, can protect forests while supporting livelihoods and economic growth. A section of the Amazon rainforest stands next to soy fields in Belterra, Para state, Brazil, on Nov. 30, 2019. Image by AP Photo/Leo Correa. If it collapses fully, the consequences will be devastating. Researchers estimate that Amazon deforestation could rise by 30% in the coming decades, wiping out years of progress and pushing the rainforest closer to irreversible collapse. That would release billions of tons of carbon into the atmosphere and accelerate the climate and biodiversity crises already devastating communities worldwide. The unraveling of the moratorium is not happening&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/banks-must-step-in-before-the-amazon-soy-moratorium-collapses-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/banks-must-step-in-before-the-amazon-soy-moratorium-collapses-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-314432</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Agroforestry grows in popularity among central Colombia&#8217;s coffee farmers (analysis)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/agroforestry-grows-in-popularity-among-central-colombias-coffee-farmers-analysis/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/agroforestry-grows-in-popularity-among-central-colombias-coffee-farmers-analysis/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Dec 2025 18:05:36 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Juliana Cajiao Raigosa]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/23171032/coffee-lady-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=311971</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agroecology, Agroforestry, Analysis, Coffee, Commentary, Commodity agriculture, Community Development, Conflict, Deforestation, Education, Forests, Social Conflict, Sustainability, Sustainable Development, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Colombia is the world&#8217;s third-largest coffee producer and the main producer of Arabica coffee, which is known worldwide for its quality. The nation began developing commercial production in 1870, which now accounts for 22% of the national gross domestic product (GDP). According to the National Federation of Coffee Growers, there are approximately 560,000 farms in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Colombia is the world&#8217;s third-largest coffee producer and the main producer of Arabica coffee, which is known worldwide for its quality. The nation began developing commercial production in 1870, which now accounts for 22% of the national gross domestic product (GDP). According to the National Federation of Coffee Growers, there are approximately 560,000 farms in the country dedicated to coffee production, most of them small scale and accounting for 15% of total production. Coffee in Colombia has become part of the national identity and is also considered part of its cultural heritage. Besides this, it has been of vital importance for the economy, representing up to 80% of total exports, and is undoubtedly partly responsible for the changes that took place between 1870 and 1930, which allowed for the integration of the country&#8217;s economy and generated positive political and social effects. However, only 5% of smallholder farmers are technically efficient (TE), reflecting poor agronomic management strategies such as inadequate uses of inputs, irrational uses of fertilizers and pesticides, low phytosanitary control and monitoring strategies, lack of labor and substandard production conditions, among other factors. Mr. Arlisson Neussa, an agricultural engineer, assisting with coffee berry borer monitoring on a coffee plantation. The agroforestry coffee system, in which the coffee is interplanted within a native forest, can be clearly seen. Image courtesy of Juliana Cajiao Raigosa. The main coffee-producing departments of the “cafetal zone” are Risalda, Caldas, Antioquia and Quindío. Coffee in these areas is considered a cultural heritage and is mainly&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/agroforestry-grows-in-popularity-among-central-colombias-coffee-farmers-analysis/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/agroforestry-grows-in-popularity-among-central-colombias-coffee-farmers-analysis/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-311971</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Across Latin America populist regimes challenge nature conservation goals</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/across-latin-america-populist-regimes-challenge-nature-conservation-goals/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/across-latin-america-populist-regimes-challenge-nature-conservation-goals/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Dec 2025 12:00:54 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Timothy J. Killeen]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mayra]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/05172501/reunion-ex-presidentes-achivo-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310658</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Perfect Storm in the Amazon]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Commodity agriculture, Conservation, Environmental Law, extractives, Forest Destruction, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Industrial Agriculture, Land Rights, Oil Drilling, and Threats To Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The election of populist politicians seldom bodes well for the people of the Amazon or the conservation of its biodiversity and ecosystem services. Most are just stylistic versions of the generic politician: individuals motivated by self-interest who portray themselves as champions of the common man or woman. Occasionally, however, a charismatic individual appears who succeeds [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The election of populist politicians seldom bodes well for the people of the Amazon or the conservation of its biodiversity and ecosystem services. Most are just stylistic versions of the generic politician: individuals motivated by self-interest who portray themselves as champions of the common man or woman. Occasionally, however, a charismatic individual appears who succeeds beyond the normal confines of the political arena to completely dominate electoral politics. Almost invariably, this person will have authoritarian tendencies and work to weaken institutional integrity, pervert electoral systems and persecute the opposition using a corrupt judicial system. They can arise from either the left or right, but they share a disdain for democratic principles and the rule of law. Populist demagogues are adept at appealing to the emotions of the so-called common man or woman; they employ simple language and use slogans that resonate with the public&#8217;s frustrations with the slow (or nonexistent) pace of economic and social reform. They use polarising rhetoric to exploit societal divisions projected as ‘us versus them’, which may be racial, geographic, class or a combination of all three. Exploiting anger at the status quo is common to their political playbook, an easy tactic because of the self-dealing of elites who have enriched themselves while underinvesting in the working poor. Invariably, they promise simplistic solutions to complex issues, ignoring both science and economic theory. The assault on elites is usually extended to foreign organizations, particularly those associated with multilateral organisations controlled by the advanced economies. This sets the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/across-latin-america-populist-regimes-challenge-nature-conservation-goals/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/across-latin-america-populist-regimes-challenge-nature-conservation-goals/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-310658</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Soy giants quietly prepare for EU deforestation law; impacts still uncertain</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/soy-giants-quietly-prepare-for-eu-deforestation-law-impacts-still-uncertain/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/soy-giants-quietly-prepare-for-eu-deforestation-law-impacts-still-uncertain/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Nov 2025 13:19:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Marina Martinez]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Food systems]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/12130428/5-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=309383</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Cerrado, European Union, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Commodity agriculture, data, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environmental Law, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Industrial Agriculture, Law Enforcement, Rainforests, Remote Sensing, Satellite Imagery, Soy, Supply Chain, Sustainability, Transparency, and Tropical Deforestation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As the European Union’s Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) approaches its implementation, companies involved in supply chains for soy and other commodities reaching the EU market will soon have to prove that their products do not come from areas deforested after 2020 and that their operations comply with local environmental and human rights laws. This will be [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[As the European Union’s Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) approaches its implementation, companies involved in supply chains for soy and other commodities reaching the EU market will soon have to prove that their products do not come from areas deforested after 2020 and that their operations comply with local environmental and human rights laws. This will be particularly challenging for the soy sector, as soybean production has long been a major driver of deforestation, especially in South America. Initially scheduled to take effect in December 2024, the EUDR was postponed for a year, with the European Commission recently proposing an additional grace period to give companies more time to prepare. To find out how ready the soy sector is, Mongabay reached out to five of the world’s largest traders: ADM, AMAGGI, Bunge, Cargill and COFCO International. Responses ranged from “no comment” to no reply. Despite the silence, experts from trade associations and NGOs say big soy traders are already operationally prepared to meet EUDR requirements. “The information we have, which they [traders and soy sector associations] usually share with us, is that they are 100% prepared,” Tiago Reis, conservation specialist at WWF-Brazil, told Mongabay in a voice message. “Some even questioned the proposal to extend the [EUDR] deadline, because they had already invested … so they would be ready to comply.” Patchwork of legal forest reserves, pasture and soy farms in the Brazilian Amazon. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay. Data from Global Canopy’s Forest 500 report show that in 2024, nearly half&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/soy-giants-quietly-prepare-for-eu-deforestation-law-impacts-still-uncertain/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/soy-giants-quietly-prepare-for-eu-deforestation-law-impacts-still-uncertain/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-309383</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Witch Hunt: Virulent fungal disease attacks South America’s cassava crop</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/witch-hunt-virulent-fungal-disease-attacks-south-americas-cassava-crop/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/witch-hunt-virulent-fungal-disease-attacks-south-americas-cassava-crop/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Nov 2025 16:20:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gloria Dickie]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/04133603/0-Amazon64_lo_2_5658784964-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=308791</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Asia, Brazil, French Guiana, Laos, Latin America, South America, Southeast Asia, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Climate, Climate Change, Commodity agriculture, Conservation, Crops, Diseases, Environment, Farming, Food, food security, Fungi, Indigenous Peoples, Rainforests, Subsistence Agriculture, and Traditional People]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As smallholder farmers in French Guiana walked their fields in 2023, they noted a disturbing pattern. Their healthy cassava plants, once green and thriving, had begun to turn yellow. Leaves wilted, stalks withered, and small shoots looking like broomsticks sprouted from the plants. When they dug up their harvest, instead of unearthing large foot-long bunches [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[As smallholder farmers in French Guiana walked their fields in 2023, they noted a disturbing pattern. Their healthy cassava plants, once green and thriving, had begun to turn yellow. Leaves wilted, stalks withered, and small shoots looking like broomsticks sprouted from the plants. When they dug up their harvest, instead of unearthing large foot-long bunches of cassava, they found only stunted roots. The farmers reported the crisis to agricultural authorities, desperate to find a cure for their threatened crop. When international scientists arrived in 2024 to investigate the blight, they recognized their foe immediately. The witch had arrived in Latin America. Witches’ broom disease is a fungal pathogen, Ceratobasidium theobromae, that has been wreaking havoc on cassava crops in Southeast Asia for more than a decade, crippling yields and fueling economic hardship across that region. Plant scientists had hoped to contain the fungal pathogen to Asia. But since its arrival in South America in 2023, the disease — which attacks the plant’s vascular system — has spread into at least three Amazonian nations: It arrived first in French Guiana, is likely in Suriname, and is now sweeping through cassava production regions in the neighboring northern Brazilian state of Amapá, where it has decimated entire fields, and is also present in Pará state. Cooking cassava in Brazil. Cassava, also known as manioc and yuca, and for its tapioca flour, is native to South America, and an excellent source of carbohydrates. Image by Dennis G. Jarvis via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0).&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/witch-hunt-virulent-fungal-disease-attacks-south-americas-cassava-crop/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/witch-hunt-virulent-fungal-disease-attacks-south-americas-cassava-crop/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-308791</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil must halt Liberian palm oil company’s abuses (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/roundtable-on-sustainable-palm-oil-must-halt-liberian-palm-oil-companys-abuses-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/roundtable-on-sustainable-palm-oil-must-halt-liberian-palm-oil-companys-abuses-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Oct 2025 13:33:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gaurav Madan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/09/12005717/aceh_0825-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=307689</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Liberia, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Commentary, Commodity agriculture, Commodity Roundtables, Corporate Social Responsibility, Governance, Human Rights, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, and Palm Oil]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the forests of southeastern Liberia, fear is resounding over what the future may hold. For more than a decade, communities in Sinoe county have struggled against palm oil company Golden Veroleum Liberia (GVL), which has razed more than 1,000 hectares (almost 2,500 acres) of rainforest, destroyed sacred sites, and violated local land rights. GVL’s [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the forests of southeastern Liberia, fear is resounding over what the future may hold. For more than a decade, communities in Sinoe county have struggled against palm oil company Golden Veroleum Liberia (GVL), which has razed more than 1,000 hectares (almost 2,500 acres) of rainforest, destroyed sacred sites, and violated local land rights. GVL’s abuses were affirmed by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), the industry certification body, and by the High Carbon Stock Approach (HCSA), a multistakeholder initiative aimed at protecting forests. Following years of community resistance and a formal complaint, the RSPO issued a stop-work order for GVL to halt plantation expansion. But this past June, the RSPO announced it was lifting the moratorium, raising concerns over the fate of globally significant forests and the communities that live there. Today, Liberian civil society and international allies are urgently demanding that the RSPO reverse its decision and maintain its stop-work order on GVL’s expansion to prevent further deforestation, protect communities’ rights, and ensure accountability for the company’s environmental and human rights violations. Notably, GVL is controlled by Indonesian palm oil giant Golden Agri Resources (GAR), a member of the RSPO, with its own history of alleged illegal forest clearance, corruption and human rights abuses. A Golden Veroleum Liberia oil plantation abuts a forested buffer. Image by Jonathan H. Timperley. For years, the RSPO has faced criticism for providing cover to member companies engaged in abuse. By reversing its decision on GVL — despite research showing the company&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/roundtable-on-sustainable-palm-oil-must-halt-liberian-palm-oil-companys-abuses-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/roundtable-on-sustainable-palm-oil-must-halt-liberian-palm-oil-companys-abuses-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-307689</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Brazil&#8217;s land registry holds farmers accountable, but enables deforestation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/brazils-land-registry-holds-farmers-accountable-but-enables-deforestation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/brazils-land-registry-holds-farmers-accountable-but-enables-deforestation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Aug 2025 16:00:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Timothy J. Killeen]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mayra]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/08/04051412/flores-doradasbrasil_162-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=303670</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Perfect Storm in the Amazon]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Commodity agriculture, Conservation, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Farming, Forest Loss, Governance, Illegal Logging, Industrial Agriculture, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Law Enforcement, Rainforests, Supply Chain, and Threats To Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The CAR is an obligatory land registry for all rural properties in Brazil. The CAR was created because the national rural land registry (Sistema Nacional de Cadastro Rural (SNCR) developed by INCRA, was (and remains) incomplete.  Consequently, the government created the CAR as a parallel (ad hoc) mechanism to force landholders to comply with the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The CAR is an obligatory land registry for all rural properties in Brazil. The CAR was created because the national rural land registry (Sistema Nacional de Cadastro Rural (SNCR) developed by INCRA, was (and remains) incomplete.  Consequently, the government created the CAR as a parallel (ad hoc) mechanism to force landholders to comply with the law, regardless of the legal status of their land claims. Landholders, including both proprietários (landholders with certified legal title) and posseiros (landholders lacking a certified legal title), must register their property, providing spatially precise data on size, location, land use (forest, plantations, crops, pasture, etc.) and areas set aside as the a legal reserve (RL) or permanent preservation area (APP). By registering, landholders acknowledge their environmental responsibilities and provide IBAMA with a baseline for monitoring compliance with the Forest Code. Registration in the CAR is obligatory but to ensure its success, authorities and private-sector stakeholders created incentives to promote participation. Positive incentives include access to subsidized credit and technical assistance. Negative incentives include barriers to the commercialization of crops and livestock that are enforced by commodity traders and meatpackers. Agribusinesses use the CAR to monitor deforestation so they can exclude from their supply chains producers who illegally clear forests, a key component in the sector’s strategy to protect its producers from consumer boycotts in overseas markets. A mosaic of legal forest reserves, pastures and soybean farms in the Brazilian Amazon. Image by Rhett A. Butler. As a cadaster, the CAR has avoided the pitfalls of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/brazils-land-registry-holds-farmers-accountable-but-enables-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-303670</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Ethiopian initiatives try to mainstream traditional and resilient enset crop in diets</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/ethiopian-initiatives-try-to-mainstream-traditional-and-resilient-enset-crop-in-diets/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/ethiopian-initiatives-try-to-mainstream-traditional-and-resilient-enset-crop-in-diets/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Aug 2025 16:01:15 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Solomon Yimer]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/08/20154241/DSC_0359-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=304674</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Agroecology]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Ethiopia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Climate, Climate Change, Commodity agriculture, Drought, Environment, Farming, Food, Food Industry, food security, Nature-based climate solutions, Solutions, Sustainability, and Sustainable Development]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[ARBA MINCH, Ethiopia — On a late May morning, as the chill of dawn gives way to sunlight warming the hills of Hareba village in southern Ethiopia, 56-year-old Almaz Achamo tends to her staple crop: a towering, banana-like plant that has supported her community for generations. Known locally as enset (Ensete ventricosum), or the “false [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[ARBA MINCH, Ethiopia — On a late May morning, as the chill of dawn gives way to sunlight warming the hills of Hareba village in southern Ethiopia, 56-year-old Almaz Achamo tends to her staple crop: a towering, banana-like plant that has supported her community for generations. Known locally as enset (Ensete ventricosum), or the “false banana,” this traditional climate-resilient plant has helped families survive droughts and food shortages. “Enset is the most important plant for my family, we get all our food from it,” Almaz says as she gently removes damaged leaves to keep the crop healthy. They rely on enset because it can be harvested year-round and sustains them in tough times. “When other crops fail, enset never lets us go hungry,” Almaz tells Mongabay. It’s this resilience that has led researchers to call enset the “tree against hunger.” Even so, the crop remains neglected, largely overlooked by both local agricultural policies and international stakeholders. But as climate change and other pressures strain traditional food systems in rural areas, Ethiopia is working to revive enset. Once sidelined, enset is now part of national programs and university-led innovations focused on boosting food security, improving livelihoods, and shaping the future of food in the country. Researchers and innovators are developing new cultivation and processing technologies to tackle key challenges in enset production, aiming to transform it into a viable commercial crop and expand its use beyond traditional growing regions. They want to mainstream it, they say, and turn it into marketable&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/ethiopian-initiatives-try-to-mainstream-traditional-and-resilient-enset-crop-in-diets/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-304674</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Reversing deforestation relies on resource ownership (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/reversing-deforestation-relies-on-resource-ownership-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/reversing-deforestation-relies-on-resource-ownership-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Aug 2025 18:44:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Brent SohngenDouglas Southgate]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/23151222/kalbar_drone_190742-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=303773</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Asia, Brazil, Cerrado, Global, Latin America, Nepal, South America, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Avoided Deforestation, climate finance, Commentary, Commodity agriculture, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Forests, International Trade, Land Rights, Payments For Ecosystem Services, Rainforests, Reforestation, Savannas, Soy, Trade, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Having receded by 350 million hectares (almost 865 million acres) since 1850, trends in Latin American forests are now inflecting away from further losses of tree-covered habitats and toward their recovery. As we explain in our book Reversing Deforestation, published by Stanford University Press in December 2024, this change stems from reduced population growth and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Having receded by 350 million hectares (almost 865 million acres) since 1850, trends in Latin American forests are now inflecting away from further losses of tree-covered habitats and toward their recovery. As we explain in our book Reversing Deforestation, published by Stanford University Press in December 2024, this change stems from reduced population growth and the continuing improvement of agricultural yields. But as we also point out, the transition from deforestation to reforestation will hinge during the years to come on local resource ownership, not least because this ownership is an unavoidable prerequisite for the financing of carbon sequestration and other ecosystem services provided by forests. Mainly because it causes the demand for food to go up, demographic expansion adds to the displacement of natural habitats by farms and ranches. Forest loss in Latin America during the last 175 years, when human numbers in the region rose from 30 million to 650 million or more, is a clear example. However, human fertility has plunged in the region, from 5.9 births per woman in 1960 to 1.9 births per woman today, so annual natural increase (equal to the birth rate minus the death rate) has declined from nearly 3% to less than 1%. Human fertility has fallen more in Latin America than in sub-Saharan Africa, where women still bear more than four children, on average, and natural increase remains above 2% a year. This difference in demographic trajectories is a major reason why annual forest losses in the two regions are&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/reversing-deforestation-relies-on-resource-ownership-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/reversing-deforestation-relies-on-resource-ownership-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-303773</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Illegal wood from Colombia&#8217;s rainforests enters US and EU supply chains</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/illegal-wood-from-colombias-rainforests-enters-us-and-eu-supply-chains/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/illegal-wood-from-colombias-rainforests-enters-us-and-eu-supply-chains/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 May 2025 16:02:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mie Hoejris Dahl]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/05/06121817/Puntos-de-acopio-de-la-madera-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=298685</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Commodity agriculture, Corruption, Critically Endangered Species, Deforestation, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Governance, Illegal Logging, Indigenous Peoples, Land Rights, Logging, Supply Chain, Threats To Rainforests, Timber, timber trade, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BOGOTÁ — Logs float downstream in long lines on the murky waters of the Atrato River in the depths of the Pacific rainforests of Colombia’s Chocó department. With few roads, this region in northwest Colombia relies on waterways for transportation, though some are blocked by remnants of the logging industry. Towering trees and thick undergrowth [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BOGOTÁ — Logs float downstream in long lines on the murky waters of the Atrato River in the depths of the Pacific rainforests of Colombia’s Chocó department. With few roads, this region in northwest Colombia relies on waterways for transportation, though some are blocked by remnants of the logging industry. Towering trees and thick undergrowth line the river, but sections of the banks are stripped bare, exposing the earth. A new investigation by the U.S.-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) reveals that most wood for flooring and decking from Colombia’s Pacific and Amazon forests, including the protected Dipteryx odorata (cumarú or choibá tree), is exported illegally. EIA’s “Decking the Forest” report exposes a long trail of irregularities across national wood companies, illegal armed groups, and companies in the U.S., the European Union, Canada and elsewhere. The report suggests that local Afro-Colombian and Indigenous communities are exploited, threatened, and left with few alternatives as their lands deteriorate under pressure from the illegal timber trade. The EIA estimates that $24 million worth of processed timber exports between 2020 and 2023, including flooring and decking, lacked the required legal certification, citing export data from Colombian customs authorities and responses from local environmental authorities. This suggests that about 94% of such wood exports from Colombia during that period were illegal. About 20% of these exports were destined for the U.S., Canada and the EU. The report suggests that wood companies were allegedly forced to make payments to illegal armed groups in Chocó and Antioquia departments&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/illegal-wood-from-colombias-rainforests-enters-us-and-eu-supply-chains/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-298685</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>UK delays to environment law have led to massive deforestation, report says</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/uk-delays-to-environment-law-have-led-to-massive-deforestation-report-says/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/uk-delays-to-environment-law-have-led-to-massive-deforestation-report-says/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Mar 2025 21:24:28 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/03/31211532/Feature-18-768x500.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=296803</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Europe and United Kingdom]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Climate Change, Commodity agriculture, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forest Destruction, Forests, International Trade, Politics, Rainforests, Supply Chain, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In 2021, the U.K. appeared to be making serious strides against illegal deforestation when lawmakers introduced “forest risk” regulations on imported commodities like beef, soy, palm oil, cocoa, coffee and rubber. But critics have said the rules are surprisingly weak, requiring another round of legislation to be effective. Lawmakers have spent the last four years [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In 2021, the U.K. appeared to be making serious strides against illegal deforestation when lawmakers introduced “forest risk” regulations on imported commodities like beef, soy, palm oil, cocoa, coffee and rubber. But critics have said the rules are surprisingly weak, requiring another round of legislation to be effective. Lawmakers have spent the last four years delaying the implementation of the forest risk regulations, which are part of a larger law called the Environment Act. In that time, the country has imported commodities that have destroyed huge amounts of forest across the globe, according to a recent report from Global Witness. “The UK government has described the Environment Act as ‘world leading,’ but we beg to differ,” the U.K.-based NGO said in the report. High-risk commodities imported to the U.K. contributed to 13,500 hectares (nearly 33,400 acres) of global deforestation in 2024, according to the report. Since the Environment Act was passed in 2021, the country’s imports have resulted in more than 39,300 hectares (97,100 acres) of deforestation. Agribusiness continues to be the worst aggressor, the NGO said. Between November 2021 and December 2024, Brazil cattle products alone caused almost a third of the U.K.’s total deforestation footprint, amounting to 12,856 hectares (31,768 acres). Palm oil was responsible for more than 11,644 hectares (28,773 acres) of deforestation, most notably affecting rainforests in Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. These two countries together lost 10,975 hectares (27,120 acres) as a result of business with the U.K. The Javari river in the Peruvian Amazon.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/uk-delays-to-environment-law-have-led-to-massive-deforestation-report-says/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-296803</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How ‘country palm’ could help pave the way toward a sustainable palm oil future in Liberia</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/how-country-palm-could-help-pave-the-way-toward-a-sustainable-palm-oil-future-in-liberia/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/how-country-palm-could-help-pave-the-way-toward-a-sustainable-palm-oil-future-in-liberia/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Feb 2025 23:49:35 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Louise Hunt]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/02/18231144/Tree_pangolin_Phataginus_tricuspis_Nyamebe_Bepo_4-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=294649</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Regenerative landscapes]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Liberia, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agroforestry, Birds, Commodity agriculture, Endangered Species, Environment, Forest Loss, Forest Regeneration, Forests, Green, Habitat Loss, Industrial Agriculture, Palm Oil, Pangolins, Parrots, Plantations, Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Across southeastern Liberia, oil palms grow wild in the forest. Known as “country palm,” the Elaeis guineensis tree is native to West Africa and treasured by local communities. “In the rural areas where there are palms in the wild, if you want to farm in those areas people will say to you, ‘Do not cut [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Across southeastern Liberia, oil palms grow wild in the forest. Known as “country palm,” the Elaeis guineensis tree is native to West Africa and treasured by local communities. “In the rural areas where there are palms in the wild, if you want to farm in those areas people will say to you, ‘Do not cut down the palm trees!’” says James Otto, program coordinator at the Sustainable Development Institute, an environmental and community rights NGO based in Liberia. “The palm is usable by everybody, it’s not one person to a palm tree.” Harvesting the fruit is traditionally a communal effort, and it’s manually processed into cooking oil and butter that’s then used in almost every dish, along with multiple other household and medicinal purposes. Selling products made from country palm at the local market has long been a source of income for subsistence farmers. “I remember my grandfather doing that,” Otto says. “But it is not only for livelihood purposes, it has a serious tie with our culture, with our way of life.” A woman with country palm fruit that she has harvested. Image by Michael Pashkevich. He cites the example of traditional leaders visiting from other parts of Liberia where there was no wild palm to obtain and bring back seeds, “so they would germinate in their own land areas, so it’s a key tradition for the people of Liberia.” Wild oil palm is not only beneficial for communities, but for birds and mammals too; it’s native to one&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/how-country-palm-could-help-pave-the-way-toward-a-sustainable-palm-oil-future-in-liberia/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-294649</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesian president says palm oil expansion won’t deforest because ‘oil palms have leaves’</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/indonesian-president-says-palm-oil-expansion-wont-deforest-because-oil-palms-have-leaves/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/indonesian-president-says-palm-oil-expansion-wont-deforest-because-oil-palms-have-leaves/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Jan 2025 15:06:01 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/06/12110528/4-sabah_0801-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=292635</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, carbon, Carbon Emissions, Carbon Sequestration, Climate, Climate Change, Commodity agriculture, Conflict, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Forests, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Industrial Agriculture, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Palm Oil, Plantations, Politics, Rainforests, Social Conflict, Threats To Rainforests, Trade, and Tropical Deforestation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA —  In a controversial speech, Indonesia’s new president argued oil palm plantations are like forests, calling for their expansion by stating, ‘oil palms are trees … they’ve got leaves.’” Environmental activists and experts have criticized President Prabowo Subianto’s remarks made at a national development conference held in Jakarta on Dec. 30. They say this [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA —  In a controversial speech, Indonesia’s new president argued oil palm plantations are like forests, calling for their expansion by stating, ‘oil palms are trees … they’ve got leaves.’” Environmental activists and experts have criticized President Prabowo Subianto’s remarks made at a national development conference held in Jakarta on Dec. 30. They say this narrative downplays the scientific evidence about the role of oil palm plantations in driving deforestation, biodiversity loss and carbon emissions. “Saying that palm oil is a forest crop is so bad because it seems like we don’t understand the difference between forests and plantations,” said Herry Purnomo, a senior scientist at the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and a professor at the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB). &#8220;Cassava and grass also absorb carbon dioxide. All crops that have green leaves absorb carbon dioxide.” Herry told Mongabay that Prabowo’s statements came across as an attempt to defend Indonesia’s palm oil industry, the world’s biggest, from criticisms over its environmental impacts, particularly from foreign countries like members of the European Union. Prabowo referenced those criticisms in his speech when he called for the expansion of oil palm plantations. “And I think in the future, we also need to plant more palm oil. We don’t need to be afraid of endangering — what’s it called — deforestation, right?” he said. “Oil palms are trees, right? They have leaves, right?” he went on. “They produce oxygen, absorb carbon dioxide. So why are we being accused [of deforestation]? Those&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/indonesian-president-says-palm-oil-expansion-wont-deforest-because-oil-palms-have-leaves/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/indonesian-president-says-palm-oil-expansion-wont-deforest-because-oil-palms-have-leaves/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-292635</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Companies banking on tech and collaboration to comply with EUDR</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/companies-banking-on-tech-and-collaboration-to-comply-with-eudr/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/companies-banking-on-tech-and-collaboration-to-comply-with-eudr/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Dec 2024 10:00:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sarah Brown]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Food systems]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/12/30221832/Logging-trucks-Brazil-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=292549</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, European Union, Latin America, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Blockchain, Cacao, Commodity agriculture, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporations, data, Deforestation, Environment, EUDR, Forests, Mapping, Monitoring, Palm Oil, Pulp And Paper, Rainforests, Remote Sensing, Satellite Imagery, Soy, Supply Chain, Technology, Tropical Deforestation, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The EU Deforestation Regulation, or EUDR, will require companies importing certain products into the European Union to trace the origins of these products all the way back up the supply chain to prove that they’re not associated with deforestation. It takes effect at the end of 2025, presenting companies with major logistical challenges, including issues [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[The EU Deforestation Regulation, or EUDR, will require companies importing certain products into the European Union to trace the origins of these products all the way back up the supply chain to prove that they’re not associated with deforestation. It takes effect at the end of 2025, presenting companies with major logistical challenges, including issues of accurate reporting across multiple countries, compliance with local laws, and ensuring small farmers remain a part of global supply chains. That’s led businesses to turn to technological solutions for help complying ahead of the deadline. Originally scheduled to take effect this month, the EUDR was postponed by a year over concerns that many businesses weren’t ready. Representing a significant step in the EU&#8217;s efforts to curb climate change through supply chain accountability, the EUDR targets products that use soy, coffee, palm oil, cocoa, timber, rubber and beef — all commodities that have historically contributed to deforestation in the countries in which they’re produced. Products associated with deforestation or irregular land conversion after a cutoff date of Dec. 31, 2020, will be barred from import into the EU. Brazil’s AMACRO region, the triple border between the states of Amazonas, Acre, and Rondônia, have long been the target of deforestation, invasion of public lands, mining, burning, and logging. Image © Bruno Kelly/Greenpeace. But tracing each product’s journey from farm to factory to consumer requires accurate data reporting and strong relationships with suppliers at every stage of the supply chain: a daunting task for companies with thousands&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/companies-banking-on-tech-and-collaboration-to-comply-with-eudr/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/companies-banking-on-tech-and-collaboration-to-comply-with-eudr/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-292549</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Sea change for soy champion Brazil as it wrestles with EUDR compliance</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/sea-change-for-soy-champion-brazil-as-it-wrestles-with-eudr-compliance/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/sea-change-for-soy-champion-brazil-as-it-wrestles-with-eudr-compliance/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Dec 2024 15:10:07 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Karla Mendes]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Food systems]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/12/01093942/brazil_0333-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=292528</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Commodity agriculture, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, EUDR, Farming, International Trade, Law Enforcement, Monitoring, Rainforests, Soy, Supply Chain, and Tropical Deforestation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Earlier this year, commodity-trading giant Cargill exported a shipment of soy from Brazil to Europe, aiming to test whether it would comply with the European Union’s new regulation on deforestation-free products, or EUDR. It found that although the shipment met several of the EUDR’s requirements, it still faced several challenges to reach full compliance. The [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Earlier this year, commodity-trading giant Cargill exported a shipment of soy from Brazil to Europe, aiming to test whether it would comply with the European Union’s new regulation on deforestation-free products, or EUDR. It found that although the shipment met several of the EUDR’s requirements, it still faced several challenges to reach full compliance. The EUDR, once it comes into effect at the end of 2025 (delayed from this year), will require suppliers to prove that their products exported to the EU aren’t sourced from illegally deforested areas. It’s meant to address increasing claims of products imported into the EU being linked to illegal deforestation, including in the Amazon Rainforest, and will target products containing one of seven commodities: soy, cattle, rubber, palm oil, coffee, cocoa and timber. A report on Cargill’s dry run was released in October, authored by Brazil-based strategy consultancy Olab, specialized in food systems, forests and land use, and the government of the Netherlands. It analyzes the shipment exported to Europe in July, accompanied by the mandatory documents to demonstrate EUDR compliance, and focuses on the lessons arising from the challenges to meet the law’s requirements. The dry run resulted from a partnership of the Dutch Embassy in Brazil, Dutch food safety regulator NVWA, Olab and Cargill. Olab reviewed the documentation and presented the results to the NVWA responsible for receiving the shipment in the Netherlands on two separate occasions, according to the report. A harvester harvesting soy in Brazil. Image by charlesricardo via Pixabay (Public&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/sea-change-for-soy-champion-brazil-as-it-wrestles-with-eudr-compliance/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-292528</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Coffee agroforestry promises a path to EUDR compliance, but challenges remain</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/coffee-agroforestry-promises-a-path-to-eudr-compliance-but-challenges-remain/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/coffee-agroforestry-promises-a-path-to-eudr-compliance-but-challenges-remain/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Dec 2024 12:00:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Marina Martinez]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Food systems]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/12/23202318/Coffee-plants-in-a-deforested-scrub-area-in-Laos.-Image-by-Rhett-A.-Butler-for-Mongabay-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=292166</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Colombia, European Union, Latin America, North America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agroforestry, Certification, Climate Change, Coffee, Commodity agriculture, Crops, data, Deforestation, EUDR, Farming, Governance, Law Enforcement, Monitoring, Remote Sensing, Supply Chain, Sustainability, and Tropical Deforestation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Over the last two decades, about 130,000 hectares, or 3,210,000 acres, of forest have been lost annually for coffee cultivation. Pressure on areas suitable for coffee growing, usually forest-rich habitats, is estimated to increase, as coffee production is expected to triple by 2050 to meet growing demand. Part of that demand is represented by the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[Over the last two decades, about 130,000 hectares, or 3,210,000 acres, of forest have been lost annually for coffee cultivation. Pressure on areas suitable for coffee growing, usually forest-rich habitats, is estimated to increase, as coffee production is expected to triple by 2050 to meet growing demand. Part of that demand is represented by the European Union market, which consumes about one-third of this global commodity. In an effort to reduce its impact on forests, the EU recently approved a regulation aimed at preventing coffee and other agricultural products linked to deforestation from being sold in its common market. Known as the EUDR, the regulation requires companies to demonstrate that such products didn’t originate from deforested land after Dec. 31, 2020, and that they were produced in compliance with environmental and human rights laws in the country of origin. Although the EUDR’s applicability date has been postponed to December 2025 (and to June 2026 for micro- and small enterprises), some companies in the coffee sector, particularly the largest ones, have begun preparing to meet its requirements. Among them are Nespresso and commodity trader Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC). Source: European Commission (2021). While noncompliance could lead to significant profit losses, including a potential ban from the EU market, both Nespresso and LDC have expressed support for the EUDR regulation, citing their company-wide commitments to eliminating deforestation from their respective supply chains. “We continuously work to ensure a deforestation-free supply-chain,” Nespresso, part of Switzerland-based Nestlé Group, told Mongabay via email. “Forests are&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/coffee-agroforestry-promises-a-path-to-eudr-compliance-but-challenges-remain/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-292166</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Agribusiness giant Olam gets head start on EUDR; its suppliers, not so much</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/agribusiness-giant-olam-gets-head-start-on-eudr-its-suppliers-not-so-much/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/agribusiness-giant-olam-gets-head-start-on-eudr-its-suppliers-not-so-much/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Dec 2024 14:19:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aimee Gabay]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Food systems]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/12/24141340/Photo-5-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=292277</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Central America, European Union, Honduras, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Cacao, Coffee, Commodity agriculture, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Farming, Food, Food Industry, Supply Chain, Sustainability, and Tracking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A massive gap is forming in the race to comply with the European Union’s antideforestation rules, as smallholder farmers and suppliers struggle to meet the new requirements while agribusiness giants express confidence about being ready in time. Olam Agri and ofi, both subsidiaries of Singapore-headquartered food and agribusiness conglomerate Olam Group, told Mongabay they’re using [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A massive gap is forming in the race to comply with the European Union’s antideforestation rules, as smallholder farmers and suppliers struggle to meet the new requirements while agribusiness giants express confidence about being ready in time. Olam Agri and ofi, both subsidiaries of Singapore-headquartered food and agribusiness conglomerate Olam Group, told Mongabay they’re using advanced traceability and information systems to get ahead. By contrast, smallholders in countries like Honduras and Indonesia still lack critical information and resources to even begin the compliance process before the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) takes effect. In response to these and similar concerns from trade groups and exporting countries, the EU has agreed to delay the law’s implementation by a year from the initial start date of end-2024.   Coffee is one of the seven commodities subject to the EUDR; the regulation will prohibit imports into the EU market of commodities sourced from land that was deforested after Dec. 31, 2020. Coffee will be heavily impacted by the new regulation: between 2001 and 2015, 1.9 million hectares (4.7 million acres) of forest, an area about half the size of Switzerland, was cleared for coffee cultivation. And in 2023, half of the coffee exported from Honduras was destined for the EU. ofi carrying out agroforestry training. Image courtesy of ofi. Miguel Pon, executive president of the Association of Coffee Exporters of Honduras, told Mongabay by email that he believes “no more than 20 percent of all Honduras [coffee] producers are prepared with the points and polygons&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/agribusiness-giant-olam-gets-head-start-on-eudr-its-suppliers-not-so-much/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-292277</doi>				</item>
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