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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/corporations/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Sat, 19 Sep 2026 12:51:34 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<title>News on Corporations</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/corporations/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Tapanuli orangutans face mining, landslides, and fire threats — with no recovery plan</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/tapanuli-orangutans-face-mining-landslides-and-fire-threats-with-no-recovery-plan/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/tapanuli-orangutans-face-mining-landslides-and-fire-threats-with-no-recovery-plan/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Sep 2026 04:14:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/19202130/Tapanuli-Orangutan-Pongo-tapanuliensis-by-Safira-Arda-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330177</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, North Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Business, Conservation, Corporations, Critically Endangered Species, Deforestation, Disasters, Drivers Of Deforestation, Endangered Species, Extreme Weather, Gold Mining, Governance, Great Apes, Landslides, Mammals, Mining, Natural Resources, Orangutans, Primates, Tropical Deforestation, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Nearly a year after what scientists describe as one of the most severe ecological shocks ever documented for the world’s rarest great ape species, there is still no coordinated recovery strategy for Tapanuli orangutans, even as mining resumes, future development plans remain active, and a strong El Niño introduces a new threat. That [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Nearly a year after what scientists describe as one of the most severe ecological shocks ever documented for the world’s rarest great ape species, there is still no coordinated recovery strategy for Tapanuli orangutans, even as mining resumes, future development plans remain active, and a strong El Niño introduces a new threat. That broader concern over the survival of the critically endangered Tapanuli orangutan (Pongo tapanuliensis) has been sharpened by recent satellite imagery showing fresh ground disturbances inside the concession for Indonesia&#8217;s Martabe gold mine, which overlaps with the ape’s habitat. Disputed disturbances The disturbances appeared as swaths of treeless and disturbed earth between June 13 and June 23 on steep rainforest hills around the Ramba Joring pit in Batang Toru, North Sumatra province, according to Planet satellite imagery reviewed by Mongabay. The area is part of an ecosystem that supports the largest known population of the Tapanuli orangutan. Researchers estimate that 716 Tapanuli orangutans remain in Batang Toru, with the population split across three increasingly fragmented subpopulations, leaving the species with little demographic margin for additional losses. A high-resolution AirBus image of the ground disturbance in Martabe gold mine in June 2026. Image courtesy of Mighty Earth. Mighty Earth, a U.S.-based environmental organization, describes the features as landslides associated with mine development. Agincourt Resources, which operates the Martabe mine, disputes that characterization, saying the June disturbance resulted from material movement following blasting carried out within its planned operational area. The blasting, the company said, was planned with&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/tapanuli-orangutans-face-mining-landslides-and-fire-threats-with-no-recovery-plan/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/tapanuli-orangutans-face-mining-landslides-and-fire-threats-with-no-recovery-plan/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330177</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Rescuers race against time as fires ravage orangutan habitat inside Indonesian oil palm concession</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/rescuers-race-against-time-as-fires-ravage-orangutan-habitat-inside-indonesian-oil-palm-concession/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/rescuers-race-against-time-as-fires-ravage-orangutan-habitat-inside-indonesian-oil-palm-concession/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Sep 2026 06:18:41 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/11/11091303/GP0STU10T_Medium_res-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330015</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Kalimantan, Southeast Asia, and West Kalimantan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Business, Climate, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Critically Endangered Species, Crops, El Nino, Extreme Weather, Fires, Great Apes, Mammals, Orangutans, Palm Oil, Primates, Wildlife, and Wildlife Rescues]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Conservationists are racing to rescue orangutans from a fire-ravaged peat-swamp forest inside an RSPO-certified oil palm concession in West Kalimantan, with smoke still rising and the ground remaining dangerously hot. The 657-hectare (1,623-acre) forest, designated as a High Conservation Value (HCV) area inside PT Kayung Agro Lestari (KAL), is home to around 60 [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Conservationists are racing to rescue orangutans from a fire-ravaged peat-swamp forest inside an RSPO-certified oil palm concession in West Kalimantan, with smoke still rising and the ground remaining dangerously hot. The 657-hectare (1,623-acre) forest, designated as a High Conservation Value (HCV) area inside PT Kayung Agro Lestari (KAL), is home to around 60 Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus), one of three orangutan species in the world and the only one found on the island of Borneo, according to conservationists. The forest was also used in October 2015 to release four orangutans rescued by the Yayasan International Animal Rescue Indonesia (YIARI), a Borneo-based NGO working to establish and maintain sustainable orangutan populations. Nearly 11 years after four orangutans were released there, the peat-swamp forest that provided their habitat has itself been almost completely affected by fire, according to satellite analysis by technology consultancy TheTreeMap. This animation shows the progression of fire within and around the PT Kayung Agro Lestari concession in Ketapang (yellow lines), West Kalimantan, between 8 August and 12 September 2026. The sequence shows how fires progressively burned the HCV forests (turning from dark green to dark red) over the course of several weeks. Image courtesy of TheTreeMap/Nusantara Atlas. The analysis indicates that one of the major fires began on Aug. 8 along a canal at the edge of the oil palm plantation in Ketapang district, before spreading westward into the HCV forest. Conservationists are working to rescue orangutans still believed to be in the area. Some animals&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/rescuers-race-against-time-as-fires-ravage-orangutan-habitat-inside-indonesian-oil-palm-concession/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/rescuers-race-against-time-as-fires-ravage-orangutan-habitat-inside-indonesian-oil-palm-concession/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330015</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Logging operations uncovered at Cambodian senator’s dam in the Cardamoms</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/logging-operations-uncovered-at-cambodian-senators-dam-in-the-cardamoms/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/logging-operations-uncovered-at-cambodian-senators-dam-in-the-cardamoms/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Sep 2026 01:30:15 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerald Flynn]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/10/09140647/Lutrogale_perspicillata_-_Jurong_Eco_Garden-harrison-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=328129</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, Global, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Alternative Energy, Carbon Credits, Carbon Market, Carbon Sequestration, climate finance, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corruption, Crime, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Energy, Environment, Forest Carbon, Forestry, Forests, Governance, Habitat Loss, Hydroelectric Power, Illegal Logging, Logging, Natural Resources, Old Growth Forests, Rainforests, Selective Logging, and Threats To Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[“They are clearing the forest for the reservoir,” said Phan, a resident of O’Soam commune in Cambodia’s western province of Pursat. “These days, every few days, there is only one timber truck because it is the raining season, but during the dry season, there are three or four timber trucks [per day].” Phan, who spoke [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[“They are clearing the forest for the reservoir,” said Phan, a resident of O’Soam commune in Cambodia’s western province of Pursat. “These days, every few days, there is only one timber truck because it is the raining season, but during the dry season, there are three or four timber trucks [per day].” Phan, who spoke to Mongabay by phone, requested that neither his full name nor his village name be published for fear of retribution from the developers of the 70-megawatt (MW) Stung Russei Chrum Kandal hydropower dam, also known as the Middle Russei Chrum River dam. Construction on the dam, which spans the Russei Chrum River in neighboring Koh Kong province, began in 2023 inside Phnom Kravanh National Park, one of Cambodia’s largest protected rainforests. The dam is one of many being built in the Cardamoms as Cambodia pushes for “clean” energy security, but recent satellite imagery indicates that large-scale logging is happening beyond the authorized construction sites. This map shows where the two dams are being built inside Cambodia&#8217;s protected Kravanh National Park. Image by Emilie Languedoc/Mongabay. Access to the site, Phan added, has been restricted and checkpoints are closely guarded by armed men in Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) uniforms. “We used to enter for fishing and laying fishing equipment, yet we are not allowed to enter anymore,” he said. “They have checkpoints, they have troops — they say the troops came to protect the forests. But the company set them up as security guards; we cannot&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/logging-operations-uncovered-at-cambodian-senators-dam-in-the-cardamoms/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/logging-operations-uncovered-at-cambodian-senators-dam-in-the-cardamoms/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-328129</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Cambodia defies UN call to free ‘arbitrarily jailed’ environmental activists</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/cambodia-defies-un-call-to-free-arbitrarily-jailed-environmental-activists/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/cambodia-defies-un-call-to-free-arbitrarily-jailed-environmental-activists/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Aug 2026 10:30:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerald Flynn]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/07/02191929/Ly-Chandaravuth-addresses-Mother-Nature-Cambodia-supporters-before-the-court-issued-a-verdict-on-July-2-2024-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327551</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Climate Justice, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation leadership, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corruption, Crime, Endangered Environmentalists, Environment, Environmental Heroes, Governance, Law, Natural Resources, NGOs, Nonviolence, Protests, and Social Justice]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[CHIANG MAI, Thailand — The Cambodian government has defended its continued imprisonment of five environmental activists, after the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention declared the five had been arbitrarily detained and called for their immediate release. The activists, from environmental group Mother Nature Cambodia, have since 2024 been serving prison sentences of between [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[CHIANG MAI, Thailand — The Cambodian government has defended its continued imprisonment of five environmental activists, after the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention declared the five had been arbitrarily detained and called for their immediate release. The activists, from environmental group Mother Nature Cambodia, have since 2024 been serving prison sentences of between six and eight years for allegedly plotting against the government. In a 16-page opinion published in February, the U.N. working group said it had found that the imprisonment of Long Kuntha, 28, Ly Chandaravuth, 26, Phuon Keoraksmey, 25, Thun Ratha, 34 and Yim Leanghy, 37, met the conditions for arbitrary detention on the grounds that there was no legal basis for the arrests. It said authorities had targeted the activists for exercising their fundamental freedoms, making the detention discriminatory and resulting in severe violations of their right to a fair trial. The opinion asked Cambodia to take immediate action on the matter in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the latter of which Cambodia ratified in 1992, and to provide evidence of having done so within six months. Contacted by Mongabay in August, six months since the working group’s findings, a government spokesperson said the activists would remain behind bars. “I have no comment on [the working group’s] rulings against us as all detentions have been made under legal and judicial proceeding,” Chan Rothona, spokesperson for Cambodia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/cambodia-defies-un-call-to-free-arbitrarily-jailed-environmental-activists/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/cambodia-defies-un-call-to-free-arbitrarily-jailed-environmental-activists/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327551</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Palm oil firms kept zero-deforestation pledges, but forests saw little extra benefit</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/palm-oil-firms-kept-zero-deforestation-pledges-but-forests-saw-little-extra-benefit/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/palm-oil-firms-kept-zero-deforestation-pledges-but-forests-saw-little-extra-benefit/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Aug 2026 09:46:11 +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/20/2026/08/25084940/oil-palm-deforestation-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327215</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Business, Conservation, Crops, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Food Industry, Forests, Governance, Industrial Agriculture, Industry, Law, Palm Oil, Plantations, Tropical Deforestation, and Zero Deforestation Commitments]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — A new study of palm oil concessions linked to Indonesian supply chains finds no evidence that corporate zero-deforestation commitments have led to additional reductions in deforestation. Tropical countries such as Indonesia continue to lose their forests at an alarming pace. In 2025, the world lost 4.3 million hectares of tropical primary forest, equivalent [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — A new study of palm oil concessions linked to Indonesian supply chains finds no evidence that corporate zero-deforestation commitments have led to additional reductions in deforestation. Tropical countries such as Indonesia continue to lose their forests at an alarming pace. In 2025, the world lost 4.3 million hectares of tropical primary forest, equivalent to more than 11 football fields of forest a minute . To curb this trend, palm oil-producing countries have introduced national policies in the past decade, while companies have increasingly adopted zero-deforestation commitments (ZDCs). When viewed through a before-and-after lens, Indonesian palm oil ZDCs appear highly successful at reducing deforestation. To determine how effective these commitments actually are, an international team of researchers compared deforestation trends in Indonesia’s palm oil sector — the world’s largest producer and exporter of the commodity — between concessions linked to supply chains with ZDCs and those without them. Using public databases to identify companies that have adopted ZDCs, the study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), found that companies had largely complied with their commitments. However, it found no evidence that those commitments produced an additional reduction in deforestation in Indonesian palm-oil concessions beyond broader changes affecting the sector. In both ZDC-linked and non-ZDC concessions, the study says, . During the full implementation period for ZDCs from 2018 to 2020, annualized deforestation fell to around 0.5% in both groups. In the researchers’ preferred, the decline was 6.5 percentage points in ZDC-linked concessions and 6.63&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/palm-oil-firms-kept-zero-deforestation-pledges-but-forests-saw-little-extra-benefit/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327215</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Concerns grow over ‘green’ biomass power in Japan after spate of accidents</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/concerns-grow-over-green-biomass-power-in-japan-after-spate-of-accidents/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/concerns-grow-over-green-biomass-power-in-japan-after-spate-of-accidents/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Aug 2026 15:45:17 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Nithin Coca]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/12124729/220115_Night_view_of_Handa_Biomass_Power_Plant-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=326053</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, East Asia, and Japan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Disasters, Energy, Environment, Industry, and Natural Resources]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For the past decade, Japan has been expanding the use of woody biomass for power generation to replace or be mixed and burned with coal. The country is now the second-largest wood pellet consumer in the world after the U.K. But there are concerns that burning wood pellets or palm kernel shells to generate electricity [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For the past decade, Japan has been expanding the use of woody biomass for power generation to replace or be mixed and burned with coal. The country is now the second-largest wood pellet consumer in the world after the U.K. But there are concerns that burning wood pellets or palm kernel shells to generate electricity might not be safe. In the past few years, there have been at least 14 fires, explosions and accidents at biomass power plants across Japan. These incidents, combined with rising prices, pollution concerns and growing opposition are leading some to question the future of Japan&#8217;s large-scale biomass plants, an estimated 34 of which produce 3.5 gigawatts of power. For many living near the plants or pushing Japan to decarbonize, this would be welcome as accident and pollution concerns grow. “Explosions at biomass power plants in Japan have been occurring too frequently, and despite this, regulations are being applied leniently,” An Nakane, a campaigner with Friends of the Earth Japan, told Mongabay. “The government should urge operators to formulate business plans that take into account the safety of nearby residents.” Tanks storing palm kernel shells and wood pellets at a biomass power plant in Japan&#8217;s Okinawa. Image by Annelise Giseburt for Mongabay. Why Japan has so many accidents Japan expanded the use woody biomass as an alternative to coal by including it alongside solar and wind in its clean energy feed-in-tariff program. This move came despite concerns that wood pellet production often rests on the destruction&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/concerns-grow-over-green-biomass-power-in-japan-after-spate-of-accidents/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326053</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Nickel expansion puts Indonesia’s biodiversity goals under pressure, study finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/nickel-expansion-puts-indonesias-biodiversity-goals-under-pressure-study-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/nickel-expansion-puts-indonesias-biodiversity-goals-under-pressure-study-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Aug 2026 09:20:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/03/05132334/nickel-processing-facilities-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=326001</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Maluku, North Maluku, Southeast Asia, and Sulawesi]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[30x30 conservation target, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Business, Carbon Dioxide, Carbon Emissions, Climate Change, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Deep Sea Mining, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Electric Cars, Energy Transition, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Industry, Marine Conservation, Mining, Natural Resources, Pollution, Protected Areas, Transportation, Tropical Deforestation, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia’s nickel boom is colliding with its efforts to protect biodiversity and reduce emissions from forests and other land uses. A new study warns that meeting growing global nickel demand could increasingly put some of the world’s most important ecosystems at risk. A study published in Nature Ecology &#38; Evolution focuses on the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia’s nickel boom is colliding with its efforts to protect biodiversity and reduce emissions from forests and other land uses. A new study warns that meeting growing global nickel demand could increasingly put some of the world’s most important ecosystems at risk. A study published in Nature Ecology &amp; Evolution focuses on the trade-offs between meeting future nickel demand and protecting areas important for biodiversity and carbon storage. The researchers found that 44% to 49% of projected nickel demand between 2025 and 2050 could be met by mines located in the world’s top 10% of terrestrial areas for biodiversity and carbon conservation. “Nickel is in everything from steel in infrastructure to the pots and pans in our kitchens, and demand is surging for clean energy especially to make batteries for electric vehicles,” said lead author Jayden Hyman of the University of Queensland’s School of the Environment in a press release. “But the decisions being made now about where to source nickel could lock in impacts for decades in some of Earth’s most biodiverse and carbon-rich ecosystems.” The findings pose a particular challenge for Indonesia, the world’s largest nickel producer and the source of more than half of global supply. The researchers project that Indonesia could account for as much as 74% of global nickel production by 2040 as demand continues to grow. The country is also committed to expanding biodiversity conservation. Indonesia’s Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (IBSAP) 2025-2045 is aligned with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, including&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/nickel-expansion-puts-indonesias-biodiversity-goals-under-pressure-study-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/nickel-expansion-puts-indonesias-biodiversity-goals-under-pressure-study-finds/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326001</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Cambodia’s banned sand trade with Singapore appears to be back</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/cambodias-banned-sand-trade-with-singapore-appears-to-be-back/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/cambodias-banned-sand-trade-with-singapore-appears-to-be-back/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Aug 2026 22:18:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Andy Ball]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/11152720/Mekong-Sand-Mining_Credit-Andy-Ball_00002-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=325924</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, Mekong Basin, Singapore, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Business, Coastal Ecosystems, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Environment, Environmental Law, extractives, Fisheries, Fishing, Governance, Illegal Mining, International Trade, Law, Mining, Natural Resources, Oceans, Rivers, and Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Authorities in Cambodia&#8217;s Koh Kong province say they&#8217;ve approved a sand mining operation exporting to Singapore, despite an export ban imposed by national authorities a decade ago after large-scale dredging was found to be damaging riverine and coastal ecosystems. The dredging is occurring in an area of the Trapeang Rung River that falls within the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Authorities in Cambodia&#8217;s Koh Kong province say they&#8217;ve approved a sand mining operation exporting to Singapore, despite an export ban imposed by national authorities a decade ago after large-scale dredging was found to be damaging riverine and coastal ecosystems. The dredging is occurring in an area of the Trapeang Rung River that falls within the boundaries of Tatai Wildlife Sanctuary and Botum Sakor National Park. Khlem Yonviseth, director of the Koh Kong provincial mining department, told Mongabay that the 2017 sand export ban had been lifted, and that his office had given a permit to the dredging operation and approved the exports. Yonviseth did not respond to a request to provide documentation of the ban being lifted. Mongabay was unable to locate any official announcement regarding the ban, and the relevant national agencies did not respond to requests for comment. Yonsiveth’s comments come after activist group Mother Nature Cambodia exposed the dredging operation in a video published July 14. In a subsequent video, published Aug. 8, the group tracked multiple cargo ships heading from Koh Kong Krao, Cambodia’s largest island, to Singapore’s Tuas Port. “How many more tons of Cambodian sand will be lost?” asks Lisa Mean, an activist with Mother Nature Cambodia, in the latest video. Analysis by Mongabay confirms that four of the ships identified by the group traveled to the Tuas Port, where a state-backed land reclamation project is currently underway. Mongabay has also found that the company Yonviseth said had been given a dredging license, Catalyst&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/cambodias-banned-sand-trade-with-singapore-appears-to-be-back/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/cambodias-banned-sand-trade-with-singapore-appears-to-be-back/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-325924</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Mining threat persists in Raja Ampat, Indonesia’s ‘Amazon of the Seas’</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/mining-threat-persists-in-raja-ampat-indonesias-amazon-of-the-seas/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/mining-threat-persists-in-raja-ampat-indonesias-amazon-of-the-seas/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Aug 2026 14:31:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Laura Oliver]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/04142911/GP0SU7TV6-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=325289</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Papua, Southeast Asia, and West Papua]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Birds, Business, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Ecosystems, Energy Transition, Environmental Policy, Marine, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Mining, Natural Resources, Oceans, Pollution, Protected Areas, Sedimentation, Water Pollution, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Raja Ampat, one of the world&#8217;s most biodiverse marine regions, remains under pressure from Indonesia&#8217;s expanding nickel industry as three companies continue to seek permission to develop nickel projects in the archipelago, according to a new Greenpeace report. Located in the heart of the Coral Triangle, in Indonesia’s easternmost Papua region, Raja Ampat [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Raja Ampat, one of the world&#8217;s most biodiverse marine regions, remains under pressure from Indonesia&#8217;s expanding nickel industry as three companies continue to seek permission to develop nickel projects in the archipelago, according to a new Greenpeace report. Located in the heart of the Coral Triangle, in Indonesia’s easternmost Papua region, Raja Ampat hosts some of the planet&#8217;s richest marine biodiversity, including around 75% of the world&#8217;s known coral species, earning it the nickname &#8220;the Amazon of the Seas.&#8221; Public concern over nickel mining in Raja Ampat erupted in 2025 after images showing forest clearing and environmental damage were shared widely on social media. A subsequent backlash prompted the Indonesian government to suspend mining operations and later revoke four of the region&#8217;s five nickel mining permits, leaving only the state-owned PT Gag Nikel mining company in operation in the region. But Raja Ampat remains vulnerable to future mining, according to Greenpeace. Its latest report identifies three companies PT Raja Ampat Nikel Abadi (RANA), PT Waegeo Mineral Mining (WMM), and PT Eka Kurnia Baru (EKB) — pursuing projects on Waigeo Island, the archipelago&#8217;s largest island and home to endemic wildlife including Wilson&#8217;s bird-of-paradise (Cicinnurus respublica), the Waigeo brushturkey (Aepypodius bruijnii), and the Waigeo spotted cuscus (Spilocuscus papuensis). In June 2025, Mongabay reported on WMM and EKB, as both companies filed lawsuits contesting the government’s refusal to officially recognize permits they have held for mining on Waigeo Island since 2023. RANA is the latest company pursuing nickel mining in the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/mining-threat-persists-in-raja-ampat-indonesias-amazon-of-the-seas/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/mining-threat-persists-in-raja-ampat-indonesias-amazon-of-the-seas/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-325289</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Palm oil expansion reignites decade-old Indigenous land conflict in Indonesia</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/palm-oil-expansion-reignites-decade-old-indigenous-land-conflict-in-indonesia/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/palm-oil-expansion-reignites-decade-old-indigenous-land-conflict-in-indonesia/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Jul 2026 03:49:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas JongNiken D. Sitoningrum]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/31032649/image-32-1-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=325017</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, East Kalimantan, Indonesia, Kalimantan, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Business, Conflict, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Crops, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Forests, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Palm Oil, Rainforest Destruction, Social Conflict, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Deforestation, Tropical Forests, and Zero Deforestation Commitments]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Two palm oil companies embroiled in a long-running land dispute with an Indigenous community in Indonesian Borneo have resumed the clearing of rainforest and other land to expand their plantations for the first time in more than a decade. In June 2025, the Indigenous Dayak Benuaq community of Muara Tae reported that the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Two palm oil companies embroiled in a long-running land dispute with an Indigenous community in Indonesian Borneo have resumed the clearing of rainforest and other land to expand their plantations for the first time in more than a decade. In June 2025, the Indigenous Dayak Benuaq community of Muara Tae reported that the two companies — PT Borneo Surya Mining Jaya (BSMJ), owned by Singapore-listed First Resources, and PT Munte Waniq Jaya Perkasa (MWJP), a subsidiary of Malaysia-owned TSH Resources — had restarted land clearing and evictions in what the community says is its ancestral territory. The latest activities mark a new chapter in one of Indonesia&#8217;s highest-profile land conflicts involving the palm oil industry, which Mongabay covered in an in-depth report in 2015. Eviction activity using heavy equipment by PT BSMJ as of 2 June 2026 (c) Kaoem Telapak The dispute dates back to 2011-2012, when BSMJ and MWJP began bulldozing rainforest in an area claimed by Muara Tae, a village in West Kutai district, East Kalimantan province. The companies say they bought leasehold rights from residents of Muara Ponak, a village next to Muara Tae. But Muara Tae has contended the companies colluded with individuals in Muara Ponak who fraudulently signed away hundreds of hectares of Muara Tae’s communally held land, in exchange for hundreds of millions of rupiah in compensation. The district government facilitated the transactions by redrawing the Tae-Ponak border, increasing the latter’s territory at the expense of the former. The district chief at&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/palm-oil-expansion-reignites-decade-old-indigenous-land-conflict-in-indonesia/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/palm-oil-expansion-reignites-decade-old-indigenous-land-conflict-in-indonesia/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-325017</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Activists allege Cambodia has resumed sea sand exports to Singapore</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/activists-allege-cambodia-has-resumed-sea-sand-exports-to-singapore/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/activists-allege-cambodia-has-resumed-sea-sand-exports-to-singapore/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Jul 2026 08:40:14 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerald Flynn]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/21082924/RESIZED-Photo-by-Drone-of-CMR-sand-barges-on-Trapang-Roung-river-2-July-202614-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=324184</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Cambodia, Singapore, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Business, Corporate Social Responsibility, Ecosystems, Environment, extractives, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Governance, International Trade, Mining, Natural Resources, Oceans, Rivers, Saltwater Fish, Trade, and Turtles]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BANGKOK — Environmental activism group Mother Nature Cambodia on July 14 posted a new video alleging that Cambodia has quietly resumed sand exports to Singapore after the trade was banned in 2017. The prohibition followed a scandal involving environmental degradation along Cambodian rivers linked to shipments of sand sold to Singapore for land reclamation projects. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BANGKOK — Environmental activism group Mother Nature Cambodia on July 14 posted a new video alleging that Cambodia has quietly resumed sand exports to Singapore after the trade was banned in 2017. The prohibition followed a scandal involving environmental degradation along Cambodian rivers linked to shipments of sand sold to Singapore for land reclamation projects. In its latest video, Mother Nature Cambodia documented sand dredgers operating in waterways in Koh Kong province in Cambodia’s southwest, with footage appearing to show barges belonging to Catalyst Marine and Resources (Cambodia), a Singaporean-directed sand mining company that’s been registered in Cambodia since December 2024. Footage shows large-scale sand mining operations, including barges bearing the logo of Catalyst Marine and Resources, dredging sea sand from the coastal waterways of Koh Kong. Catalyst Marine and Resources’ barges were then tracked by Mother Nature Cambodia to two large cargo boats located just off the coast of Koh Kong Krao, Cambodia’s largest island, which is largely controlled by the Cambodian navy. Tracking devices on the cargo boats show those vessels are bound for Singapore, reigniting old fears that environmentally unsustainable sand dredging has resumed in Koh Kong to fuel land reclamation projects. “I have many questions, but today I will ask just one to Minister [of Mines and Energy] Keo Rattanak,” Lisa Mean, an activist with Mother Nature Cambodia, asks in the group’s latest video. “When did you quietly scrap the 2017 ban on sea sand exports?” Lisa then called on Cambodians to join the activist group&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/activists-allege-cambodia-has-resumed-sea-sand-exports-to-singapore/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/activists-allege-cambodia-has-resumed-sea-sand-exports-to-singapore/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324184</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>No corporation can buy the ‘right to destroy’: Interview with activist Raja Waseem Ahmed</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/no-corporation-can-buy-the-right-to-destroy-interview-with-activist-raja-waseem-ahmed/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/no-corporation-can-buy-the-right-to-destroy-interview-with-activist-raja-waseem-ahmed/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Jul 2026 19:09:17 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Muhammad Talal]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karen Coates]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/15144500/Katas_Raj_Temples_Near_Katas_Village_Punjab_Pakistan_10-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=323388</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Pakistan, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Business, Conservation, Conservation leadership, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Culture, Development, Environment, Environmental Law, extractives, Fellows, Governance, Interviews, Interviews with conservation players, and Mongabay.org]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For generations, the Kahoon Valley in Pakistan’s Chakwal district in northwestern Punjab has thrived as a rich ecological haven. Its fertile soil has yielded lush, historical loquat orchards, while the surrounding scrub forests have provided vital refuge to diverse wildlife, including local peacock populations and rare mountain deer species. At the center of this landscape [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For generations, the Kahoon Valley in Pakistan’s Chakwal district in northwestern Punjab has thrived as a rich ecological haven. Its fertile soil has yielded lush, historical loquat orchards, while the surrounding scrub forests have provided vital refuge to diverse wildlife, including local peacock populations and rare mountain deer species. At the center of this landscape sit the Katas Raj Temples, an ancient Hindu pilgrimage site anchoring the region’s profound spiritual heritage. However, the unchecked expansion of mega cement factories in the early 2000s transformed this natural sanctuary into a toxic industrial zone. Relentless industrial pumping reportedly caused the water table to crash from 36 meters (120 feet) to 122 m (402 ft). This extreme depletion withered the famous loquat trees and displaced native birds, also draining the sacred Katas Raj pond. Determined to save his homeland from erasure, Raja Waseem Ahmed, an environmental activist, brought together residents from neighboring villages to establish the Kahoon Protection Committee to defend the Kahoon Valley against the extreme ecological and social damages caused by heavy industrialization. Waseem utilized environmental legislation and led a forensic legal campaign that exposed the manipulated environmental approval documents eventually driving the Supreme Court of Pakistan to intervene on its own accord, resulting in a historic verdict that banned factories from draining local groundwater and slapped the industry with huge fines. In retaliation for his activism, Waseem was struck by unjustified anti-terrorism lawsuits, temporarily exiled from his native district by local authorities, and subjected to stress so harsh that it&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/no-corporation-can-buy-the-right-to-destroy-interview-with-activist-raja-waseem-ahmed/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/no-corporation-can-buy-the-right-to-destroy-interview-with-activist-raja-waseem-ahmed/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323388</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Ecuador’s Amazon coffee farmers get ahead of Europe&#8217;s deforestation rules</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/ecuadors-amazon-coffee-farmers-get-ahead-of-europes-deforestation-rules/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/ecuadors-amazon-coffee-farmers-get-ahead-of-europes-deforestation-rules/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Jul 2026 11:37:38 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sibélia Zanon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/14111555/Fapecafes_local-production-3-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=322761</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Ecuador, Global, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agroforestry, Avoided Deforestation, Business, Coffee, Conservation, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporations, Crops, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, EUDR, Farming, Governance, Natural Resources, Regenerative production landscapes, Sustainability, and Sustainable Forest Management]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[“What motivates us most is being able to say, ‘I take care of the environment, I don’t cut down trees, and my coffee will be valued more highly,’” said Victoria Alverca Peña, a farmer for 25 years and co-founder of APECAP, a small coffee and cacao producers’ association in Zamora Chinchipe, a province in the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[“What motivates us most is being able to say, ‘I take care of the environment, I don’t cut down trees, and my coffee will be valued more highly,’” said Victoria Alverca Peña, a farmer for 25 years and co-founder of APECAP, a small coffee and cacao producers’ association in Zamora Chinchipe, a province in the Ecuadorian Amazon. “I’ll be able to sell it under better conditions, and my work will be much more valued. “In our farms, besides coffee, you&#8217;ll find cacao, timber trees, fruit trees and even short-cycle crops,” she added. “When the coffee plants are still young, we can grow crops like corn, cassava or plantains. This helps us a lot with food security.” At the end of this year, the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) is set to go into force, prohibiting products linked to deforestation from entering the EU market. Coffee is among the target commodities, and here in southern Ecuador, a group of coffee growers has been ahead of the curve in preparing for the EUDR implementation. Since 2019, nearly 400 farmers here have adopted a model that combines forest conservation, traceability, and geospatial monitoring as part of the Deforestation-Free Coffee Initiative, at work in 23 areas across the region. Between 2019-2021, the project developed Ecuador&#8217;s first deforestation-free coffee production model. The effort relies on a national protocol developed by the Ecuadorian government and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which uses satellite imagery, traceability systems, and independent verification to track where coffee is grown&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/ecuadors-amazon-coffee-farmers-get-ahead-of-europes-deforestation-rules/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/ecuadors-amazon-coffee-farmers-get-ahead-of-europes-deforestation-rules/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-322761</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Lawmakers seek rights probe into Indigenous conflict at Indonesian timber firm</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/lawmakers-seek-rights-probe-into-indigenous-conflict-at-indonesian-timber-firm/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/lawmakers-seek-rights-probe-into-indigenous-conflict-at-indonesian-timber-firm/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Jul 2026 10:23:36 +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/20/2024/03/27180141/Screenshot-2024-03-28-010118-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=322966</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Global, Indonesia, Kalimantan, Southeast Asia, and West Kalimantan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Apes, Biodiversity, Business, Conflict, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Ecosystems, Forest Products, Forestry, Great Apes, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Law, Mammals, Orangutans, Peatlands, Primates, Protected Areas, Pulp And Paper, Social Conflict, Tropical Deforestation, Wetlands, Wildlife, and Zero Deforestation Commitments]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesian lawmakers have called for a government fact-finding probe into a long-running conflict between an Indigenous community in Borneo and an industrial timber company linked to one of Indonesia&#8217;s largest recent deforestation cases. The call came at the end of a parliamentary hearing in Jakarta on June 30, where lawmakers said testimony presented [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesian lawmakers have called for a government fact-finding probe into a long-running conflict between an Indigenous community in Borneo and an industrial timber company linked to one of Indonesia&#8217;s largest recent deforestation cases. The call came at the end of a parliamentary hearing in Jakarta on June 30, where lawmakers said testimony presented during the session strengthened indications of alleged structural and systematic human rights violations in the conflict. Responding to the hearing, Indonesia&#8217;s Ministry of Human Rights said it would conduct a more comprehensive review of the case, including field monitoring and coordination with other government agencies, as it prepares to investigate allegations of human rights violations linked to the conflict between PT Mayawana Persada and the Dayak Kualan community in Ketapang district, West Kalimantan province. The Dayak Kualan community alleges the company&#8217;s concession overlaps with its customary lands and forests, and that Mayawana proceeded to clear the area without obtaining its meaningful consent. Despite the community&#8217;s longstanding objections, Mayawana razed lands and forests that the Dayak Kualan community says form part of its customary territory, according to Tarsisius Fendy Sesupi, the customary chief of Lelayang, one of the Indigenous hamlets overlapped by the concession. &#8220;The company never sought the community&#8217;s agreement. It simply moved in and cleared everything,&#8221; he said at a recent press conference in Jakarta. In cases where community members agreed to relinquish their land, they did so under pressure and received only 1.5 million rupiah (about $83) per hectare, or $34 per acre,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/lawmakers-seek-rights-probe-into-indigenous-conflict-at-indonesian-timber-firm/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/lawmakers-seek-rights-probe-into-indigenous-conflict-at-indonesian-timber-firm/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-322966</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Illegal timber imports from Cambodia, Laos skirt Vietnam safeguards, report reveals</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/illegal-timber-imports-from-cambodia-laos-skirt-vietnam-safeguards-report-reveals/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/illegal-timber-imports-from-cambodia-laos-skirt-vietnam-safeguards-report-reveals/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Jul 2026 11:35:51 +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/20/2023/10/09032420/RESIZED-Preah-Roka_Mongabay_Andy-Ball-5-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=322242</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, Laos, Southeast Asia, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Corporations, Crime, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Forests, Governance, Illegal Logging, Logging, Primary Forests, Rainforests, Supply Chain, Timber, Timber Laws, timber trade, Trade, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Illegally sourced timber from Cambodia and Laos continues to enter Vietnam’s supply chains despite recent efforts to tighten legality controls, according to a new report from U.K.-based watchdog the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA). Falsified paperwork, manipulated harvesting quotes, and intermixing of timber from multiple sources are just some of the ways well-established criminal networks perpetuate [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Illegally sourced timber from Cambodia and Laos continues to enter Vietnam’s supply chains despite recent efforts to tighten legality controls, according to a new report from U.K.-based watchdog the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA). Falsified paperwork, manipulated harvesting quotes, and intermixing of timber from multiple sources are just some of the ways well-established criminal networks perpetuate the illicit trade, EIA teams uncovered during a four-year investigation. “We repeatedly observed mechanisms through which timber from questionable sources could be incorporated into formal trade channels,” says Thomas Chung, forest timber campaigns lead for the EIA. Vietnam is one of the world’s largest timber exporters. As a major manufacturing hub of furniture, flooring and other wood products, it plays a key role in international supply chains, shipping roughly $17 billion in timber and timber products in 2025. Timber from neighboring Laos and Cambodia represents a relatively small share of Vietnam’s total supply, the EIA report says, accounting for less than 9% of all timber shipments into the country. However, it carries an outsized legality risk that significantly undermines Vietnam’s efforts to ensure legal sourcing. To maintain access to lucrative export markets, such as the U.S., the EU, Japan and China, the country has made several recent updates to its national timber legality framework, known as the Vietnam Timber Legality Assurance System (VNTLAS). However, the EIA investigation indicates these efforts are being grossly undermined by persistent imports of illegal timber from Cambodia and Laos, exposing key weaknesses in the VNTLAS system. A consistent issue was&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/illegal-timber-imports-from-cambodia-laos-skirt-vietnam-safeguards-report-reveals/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-322242</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Pulp and paper giant APRIL&#8217;s supplier choices put FSC remedy process to the test</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/pulp-and-paper-giant-aprils-supplier-choices-put-fsc-remedy-process-to-the-test/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/pulp-and-paper-giant-aprils-supplier-choices-put-fsc-remedy-process-to-the-test/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Jun 2026 04:12:34 +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/20/2026/06/23034155/signal-2026-06-01-105626_002-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321620</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Central Kalimantan, Global, Indonesia, Kalimantan, Southeast Asia, and West Kalimantan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Certification, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Ecosystems, Environment, Forest Destruction, Forest Products, Forestry, Forests, Industry, International Trade, Land Use Change, Logging, Pulp And Paper, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Supply Chain, Sustainability, Threats To Rainforests, Trade, Tropical Deforestation, Tropical Forests, and Zero Deforestation Commitments]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Pulp and paper giant APRIL&#8217;s recent decision to lower its deforestation commitments and source wood from two companies associated with extensive recent forest loss has created a new challenge for its relationship with the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), with environmental groups urging the world&#8217;s leading forestry certifier to terminate the already suspended reassociation [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Pulp and paper giant APRIL&#8217;s recent decision to lower its deforestation commitments and source wood from two companies associated with extensive recent forest loss has created a new challenge for its relationship with the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), with environmental groups urging the world&#8217;s leading forestry certifier to terminate the already suspended reassociation process. In late May, APRIL announced it was reviewing its decade-old Sustainable Forest Management Policy (SFMP) 2.0 and lowering its deforestation cutoff date from 2015 to Dec. 31, 2020. The move allows Indonesia&#8217;s second-largest pulp and paper producer to source wood from PT Industrial Forest Plantation (IFP) and PT Mayawana Persada (Mayawana), two companies that have experienced some of the country&#8217;s largest recent forest losses. APRIL said the decision was necessary to address fibre shortages after the Indonesian government revoked the operating permits of four of its long-term suppliers earlier this year, affecting around 15% of its wood supply in Riau Province. According to data from the forest-monitoring platform Nusantara Atlas, together, IFP and Mayawana lost nearly 80,000 hectares (197,684 acres) of forest­­­­­ — an area almost half the size of London — between 2015 and 2024, including more than 54,000 hectares (133,436 acres) after 2020. This is more than any other forestry companies in Indonesia. Deforestation in the concession of PT Mayawana Persada, September 2020–April 2024 © Earthsight. Image source: Sentinel-2 via Copernicus Browser Environmental groups have criticized the move, arguing that it weakens a longstanding no-deforestation safeguard and sends a message that companies&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/pulp-and-paper-giant-aprils-supplier-choices-put-fsc-remedy-process-to-the-test/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321620</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Pulp and paper giant APRIL adds major deforesters as suppliers after revising sustainability policy</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/pulp-and-paper-giant-april-adds-major-deforesters-as-suppliers-after-revising-sustainability-policy/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/pulp-and-paper-giant-april-adds-major-deforesters-as-suppliers-after-revising-sustainability-policy/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Jun 2026 15:12:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/15111219/DJI_0028-min-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321412</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Central Kalimantan, Global, Indonesia, Southeast Asia, and West Kalimantan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Business, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, EUDR, Forest Products, Forestry, Forests, Great Apes, Habitat Loss, Law, Orangutans, Primates, Pulp And Paper, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Supply Chain, Timber, timber trade, Trade, Tropical Deforestation, Tropical Forests, and Zero Deforestation Commitments]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Pulp and paper giant APRIL made recent changes that are concerning to environmental groups. These changes include suspending and reviewing its flagship sustainability policy, lowering its deforestation commitments, and sourcing wood from two companies responsible for some of Indonesia&#8217;s largest recent forest losses. The company, part of the Singapore-headquartered Royal Golden Eagle (RGE) [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Pulp and paper giant APRIL made recent changes that are concerning to environmental groups. These changes include suspending and reviewing its flagship sustainability policy, lowering its deforestation commitments, and sourcing wood from two companies responsible for some of Indonesia&#8217;s largest recent forest losses. The company, part of the Singapore-headquartered Royal Golden Eagle (RGE) group, the world’s largest manufacturer of viscose rayon, said the changes are needed to align its policies with international standards and secure fiber supplies following the loss of several long-term suppliers. Environmental groups, however, said the move weakens a key safeguard that APRIL has long cited as evidence of its no-deforestation commitments. The controversy centers on APRIL&#8217;s decision to add Indonesian concessions PT Industrial Forest Plantation (IFP) and PT Mayawana Persada (Mayawana) as its wood suppliers, integral to manufacturing viscose. Both companies, based on Kalimantan, have experienced extensive forest loss in recent years and have been repeatedly criticized by environmental groups. Previously, RGE and its subsidiaries, including APRIL, pledged not to source wood from plantations linked with deforestation since 2015. It is a pledge the company had reportedly broken. Its new corporate promise lowers the cutoff date to 2020, drawing sharp criticism from environmental groups. APRIL said IFP began delivering wood fiber to the company in May 2026. However, vessel-tracking data reviewed by Mongabay indicated that at least five barges carrying timber from the vicinity of IFP&#8217;s operations in Central Kalimantan were tracked traveling to Futong Port in Riau between mid-March and mid-April. Futong serves&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/pulp-and-paper-giant-april-adds-major-deforesters-as-suppliers-after-revising-sustainability-policy/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/pulp-and-paper-giant-april-adds-major-deforesters-as-suppliers-after-revising-sustainability-policy/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321412</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Rio Indio, farmers fight Panama Canal reservoir project — and displacement</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/in-rio-indio-farmers-fight-panama-canal-reservoir-project-and-displacement/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/in-rio-indio-farmers-fight-panama-canal-reservoir-project-and-displacement/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Jun 2026 15:20:13 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Monica Pelliccia]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/16150742/6-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321305</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Central America, Global, North America, and Panama]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Canals, Controversial, Corporations, Dams, Development, Encroachment, Endangered Species, Habitat, Habitat Loss, Indigenous Peoples, Infrastructure, Resource Conflict, and Shipping]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[LIMÓN DE CHAGRES, Panama — In Panama’s Rio Indio Basin, a $1.5 billion reservoir project aims to meet water demand for the next 50 years. But the project would displace dozens of farming communities, sparking widespread opposition to the reservoir’s construction. “We will give our lives to save Rio Indio! I came from Limón de [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[LIMÓN DE CHAGRES, Panama — In Panama’s Rio Indio Basin, a $1.5 billion reservoir project aims to meet water demand for the next 50 years. But the project would displace dozens of farming communities, sparking widespread opposition to the reservoir’s construction. “We will give our lives to save Rio Indio! I came from Limón de Chagres, the first community that could be flooded to make space for the dam,” shouts Maricel Sanchéz at the microphone from a stage during a May 1 march in Panama City. “Today, I’m so proud to see how united we are in our resistance.” Sanchéz, 25, is the spokesperson for the Rio Indio farmers’ assembly, which is part of Coordinadora Campesina por la Vida (Peasant Coordinator for Life), a grassroots social and community organization of farmers, Indigenous communities and civic groups in Panama. During the march, she spoke out about their mobilization against the Río Indio reservoir: a $1.5 billion project by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP), Panama’s government agency responsible for managing the canal. Rio Indio is a 98-kilometer (about 61-mile) river in central Panama, flowing through the Costa Abajo area (home to 231 farming communities) to the Caribbean Sea. Here, the ACP plans to create a reservoir to provide water to nearby Gatun Lake (the northern entrance of the Panama Canal in the Atlantic Ocean) to meet water demand for the next 50 years for human consumption and for canal operations, especially during droughts. The construction is expected to begin in 2027 and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/in-rio-indio-farmers-fight-panama-canal-reservoir-project-and-displacement/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321305</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>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321134</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Despite oil spills in Nigeria&#8217;s mangrove forests, Shell continued operations, documents show</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/despite-oil-spills-in-nigerias-mangrove-forests-shell-continued-operations-documents-show/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/despite-oil-spills-in-nigerias-mangrove-forests-shell-continued-operations-documents-show/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Jun 2026 14:28:53 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[David AkanaVictoria Schneider]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/05232017/AP788278067772-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320681</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Nigeria, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Coastal Ecosystems, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporations, Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Law, Fish, Forest Loss, Forests, Industry, Law, Mangroves, Marine, Oil, Oil Spills, Pollution, Water, Water Pollution, and Wetlands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Global oil giant Shell continued operating a compromised pipeline in Nigeria’s Niger Delta despite knowing it posed a pollution risk in the surrounding coastal wetland environment, newly disclosed internal company communications reveal. The emails and memos, reviewed by Mongabay, show senior leadership knew of the poor conditions of the 97-kilometer (60-mile) Nembe Creek Trunk Line [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Global oil giant Shell continued operating a compromised pipeline in Nigeria’s Niger Delta despite knowing it posed a pollution risk in the surrounding coastal wetland environment, newly disclosed internal company communications reveal. The emails and memos, reviewed by Mongabay, show senior leadership knew of the poor conditions of the 97-kilometer (60-mile) Nembe Creek Trunk Line as early as 2008. Despite concerns it was operating outside technical integrity standards and proposals to shut it down, a top executive decided to keep pumping oil through the line. Carrying 150,000 barrels of oil per day to the export terminal at Bonny Island Rivers state, the Nembe Creek Trunk Line is a critical oil artery in Nigeria. Throughout the years, theft from the pipeline using illegal connections caused spills into the vast mangrove ecosystem of true (Rhizophora sp.) and flowering black (Avicennia sp.) tree species. An internal 2013 Shell document coded such tampered lines as “red,” requiring either their immediate shutdown or immediate action to remove all illegal connections. Locals from the nearby riverine Bille community said the oil spills killed about 2,000 hectares (4,900 acres) of mangrove swamps around the village while impacting an area of 13,200 hectares (32,600 acres). The contaminated waterways and degraded ecosystem, they told Mongabay, killed fish and other aquatic life. Satellite imagery surrounding the village shows massive degradation of the mangroves. &#8220;The aquatic life is gone. Our people can no longer go to the river and catch reasonable fish — they can&#8217;t even find the fish in the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/despite-oil-spills-in-nigerias-mangrove-forests-shell-continued-operations-documents-show/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320681</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Rights groups renew call to free jailed Cambodian environmental activists</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/rights-groups-renew-call-to-free-jailed-cambodian-environmental-activists/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/rights-groups-renew-call-to-free-jailed-cambodian-environmental-activists/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Jun 2026 02:51:38 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerald Flynn]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/07/02191933/Phuon-Keorasmey-another-prominent-figure-of-Mother-Nature-Cambodia-is-arrested-on-July-2-2024_banner-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320620</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Climate Change, Community Development, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corruption, Crime, Deforestation, Endangered Environmentalists, Environment, Governance, Human Rights, Land Rights, Mining, and Social Justice]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BANGKOK — Seven hundred days after activists from the environmental group Mother Nature Cambodia were imprisoned on charges widely regarded as retaliatory for their activism, 73 international and Cambodian civil society organizations have renewed calls for their unconditional release. After a trial lasting just over a month, 10 activists from Mother Nature Cambodia were sentenced [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BANGKOK — Seven hundred days after activists from the environmental group Mother Nature Cambodia were imprisoned on charges widely regarded as retaliatory for their activism, 73 international and Cambodian civil society organizations have renewed calls for their unconditional release. After a trial lasting just over a month, 10 activists from Mother Nature Cambodia were sentenced on July 2, 2024, to between six and eight years in prison. Only five of the defendants attended the hearings, which saw Long Kuntha, 28, Ly Chandaravuth, 26, Phuon Keoraksmey, 25, and Thun Ratha, 34, each sentenced to six years behind bars for plotting against the government; fellow activist Yim Leanghy, 36, received an eight-year sentence for both plotting against the government and insulting the king. The five activists who did not attend the trial were sentenced in absentia. The appeals hearing for all 10 convicted activists was slated to take place on June 2, but has been postponed indefinitely by the Phnom Penh Court of Appeals. “The MNC5 are incarcerated in prisons in overcrowded and harsh living conditions, separated from each other and spread out all across Cambodia, hundreds of kilometers away from their families and legal counsel,” wrote the 73 NGOs in an open letter addressed to Prime Minister Hun Manet. “The … NGOs who have signed this letter sincerely request you take immediate action to ensure the unjust convictions of these five activists are reversed either prior to or at their upcoming appeals court hearing in Phnom Penh, and that their freedom&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/rights-groups-renew-call-to-free-jailed-cambodian-environmental-activists/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/rights-groups-renew-call-to-free-jailed-cambodian-environmental-activists/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320620</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Survivors sue Indonesian government over response to catastrophic Sumatra floods</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/survivors-sue-indonesian-government-over-response-to-catastrophic-sumatra-floods/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/survivors-sue-indonesian-government-over-response-to-catastrophic-sumatra-floods/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Jun 2026 09:28:56 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/15024510/AP25336127205797-Batang_Toru-Sumatra-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320475</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Aceh, Asia, Indonesia, North Sumatra, Southeast Asia, Sumatra, and West Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Deforestation, Disasters, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environmental Law, Flooding, Law, Law Enforcement, Rainforests, and Tropical Deforestation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — A group of Indonesian citizens affected by the late-2025 Sumatra floods and landslides have filed a lawsuit with a court in Jakarta in an effort to hold the Indonesian government accountable for what they describe as an “ecological disaster.” The disasters claimed more than 1,200 lives and damaged more than 600,000 buildings across [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — A group of Indonesian citizens affected by the late-2025 Sumatra floods and landslides have filed a lawsuit with a court in Jakarta in an effort to hold the Indonesian government accountable for what they describe as an “ecological disaster.” The disasters claimed more than 1,200 lives and damaged more than 600,000 buildings across three provinces, resulting in more than 100 trillion rupiah ($5.6 billion) in estimated economic losses. The plaintiffs argue the damage from Cyclone Senyar was amplified by decades of policy failures, including deforestation, extractive concessions, degraded watersheds, weak zoning, poor environmental enforcement and the absence of an effective early-warning system. Through the lawsuit, the plaintiffs are effectively asking the court to determine whether the catastrophe transcended a natural calamity and could be categorized as a foreseeable failure of governance linked to environmental degradation and state inaction. The lawsuit combines elements of Indonesia’s citizen lawsuit mechanism with a challenge to alleged unlawful government administrative inaction under a 2014 law on public services. Alfi Syukri, a lawyer with the West Sumatra chapter of the Legal Aid Institute (LBH), who is representing the plaintiffs, noted that Indonesia’s meteorological agency, the BMKG, had repeatedly warned authorities about the potential for extreme weather linked to Cyclone Senyar before the disaster intensified. “So in Aceh, North Sumatra and West Sumatra [provinces], the head of BMKG Region 1 had already issued warnings eight days before [the Nov. 25 landfall], then repeated them four days before, and again two days before,” BMKG chief Teuku&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/survivors-sue-indonesian-government-over-response-to-catastrophic-sumatra-floods/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320475</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>‘Same dangerous project’: Fury after Indonesia revives disputed mine</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/same-dangerous-project-fury-after-indonesia-revives-disputed-mine/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/same-dangerous-project-fury-after-indonesia-revives-disputed-mine/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 May 2026 06:04:43 +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/20/2024/06/25160257/AKSI-WARGA-DAIRI-MENOLAK-TAMBANG-5-1200x800-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319967</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, North Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Conflict, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporations, Disasters, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Infrastructure, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Mining, Pollution, and Waste]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia’s environment ministry has issued a new approval for a controversial zinc and lead mine in an earthquake-prone region of Sumatra Island, less than a year after a Supreme Court ruling forced it to rescind its earlier approval. Critics of the project have slammed the U-turn, pointing out that nothing has fundamentally changed [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia’s environment ministry has issued a new approval for a controversial zinc and lead mine in an earthquake-prone region of Sumatra Island, less than a year after a Supreme Court ruling forced it to rescind its earlier approval. Critics of the project have slammed the U-turn, pointing out that nothing has fundamentally changed in that time. The new approval was issued for an environmental impact assessment that updates the previous assessment produced by PT Dairi Prima Mineral (DPM) for the mine in Dairi district, North Sumatra province. That earlier impact assessment, known as an Amdal in Indonesian, was faulted by nearby residents and experts for a plan to hold mining waste sludge behind a dam — a recipe for disaster, they contended, in a highly earth-quake prone region. The updated Amdal does away with the proposed permanent tailings dam, and instead proposes mixing the mining waste with cement and water and injecting it into mined-out voids underground, a process known as cemented paste backfill. But residents who successfully petitioned Indonesia’s highest court to void the earlier Amdal say the new one changes nothing in terms of minimizing the risk that the mine and its waste will pose to nearby communities. “I am disgusted,” said 65-year-old Rainim Purba from Pandiangan village in Dairi. “DPM is only hiding the same dangerous project in slightly different packaging.” She said the Supreme Court ruling from 2024 was meant to ensure the mine didn’t get environmental approval. “So is the [environment] ministry not&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/same-dangerous-project-fury-after-indonesia-revives-disputed-mine/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/same-dangerous-project-fury-after-indonesia-revives-disputed-mine/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-319967</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Smallholders are not the weak link in forest protection (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/smallholders-are-not-the-weak-link-in-forest-protection-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/smallholders-are-not-the-weak-link-in-forest-protection-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 May 2026 02:24:04 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aida Greenbury]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/20021450/kalbar_drone_190243-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319771</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Commentary, Deforestation, Environment, Forests, Green, Tropical Forests, and Zero Deforestation Commitments]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In general, plantation companies view local communities and smallholders as obstacles to expanding operations and to securing social licenses. In deforestation-free supply chains, smallholders are also often treated as a risk. In my experience, this is one reason forest protection efforts fail: we don’t want to understand why smallholders are perceived as a risk. Yet [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In general, plantation companies view local communities and smallholders as obstacles to expanding operations and to securing social licenses. In deforestation-free supply chains, smallholders are also often treated as a risk. In my experience, this is one reason forest protection efforts fail: we don’t want to understand why smallholders are perceived as a risk. Yet many of the people closest to the forest are also the ones with the strongest reason to keep it standing. That was not how I saw things at the start of my career. Years inside corporate sustainability changed my view, as did many difficult conversations with communities. Customary forest behind smallholders oil palm plantation in Sanggau, West Kalimantan. Photo by Aida Greenbury. People often asked me, “How did someone like you, a corporate slave, end up working for smallholders?” It’s a long story. I worked for corporations for many years. Some people might remember me as Managing Director of Sustainability at one of the largest integrated forestry, pulp and paper companies headquartered in Indonesia. A forest-based company of that size in Indonesia is frequently criticized for deforestation. More than a decade ago, before I left the company, that work led me to help develop the High Carbon Stock Approach (HCSA), a multistakeholder initiative to develop a deforestation-free methodology for extractive companies operating in humid tropical regions. With many existing deforestation standards unclear and rife with loopholes, adopting a clear, science-based deforestation-free methodology, supported by companies, NGOs, and other global stakeholders, was what I needed to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/smallholders-are-not-the-weak-link-in-forest-protection-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/smallholders-are-not-the-weak-link-in-forest-protection-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-319771</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Cambodia tested waters amid pollution claims; months later, still no public results</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/cambodia-tested-waters-amid-pollution-claims-months-later-still-no-public-results/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/cambodia-tested-waters-amid-pollution-claims-months-later-still-no-public-results/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 May 2026 03:45:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Andy BallGerald FlynnPhoung Vantha]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/04025851/November-2025_Mongabay_Virachey-Mining-12-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=318641</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, Mekong Basin, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Chemicals, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Ecosystems, extractives, Fish, Fisheries, Freshwater, Gold Mining, Governance, Illegal Mining, Indigenous Peoples, Mining, Public Health, Rivers, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Authorities from Cambodia’s Ministry of Environment were dispatched to Mondul Yorn, a small village in the remote northeastern province of Ratanakiri, on Feb. 13 to conduct water and sediment testing on the O’Ta Bouk River following community complaints of health problems linked to declining water quality. Then, from Feb. 17-20, the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Authorities from Cambodia’s Ministry of Environment were dispatched to Mondul Yorn, a small village in the remote northeastern province of Ratanakiri, on Feb. 13 to conduct water and sediment testing on the O’Ta Bouk River following community complaints of health problems linked to declining water quality. Then, from Feb. 17-20, the Inland Fisheries Research and Development Institute (IFReDI), a government agency that sits under the Fisheries Administration, sent two teams to catch 34 species of fish from the Sesan River and the O’Ta Bouk, a tributary that flows into the Sesan, itself a key tributary of the Mekong River. The O’Ta Bouk flows south through a gold mining operation in Ta Veng district before it reaches Mondul Yorn, where Indigenous Brao communities have reported experiencing skin rashes and itching sensations after coming into contact with the river’s water since gold mining began in mid-2023. To date, no results of water, sediment or fish sampling have been made public, despite experts urging more comprehensive testing and communities languishing in uncertainty over the safety of the river. IFReDI officials taking samples on the Sesan River in February 2026. Photo sourced from IFReDI&#8217;s Facebook. A park in peril Villagers living along the O’Ta Bouk report the river had turned brown and murky starting roughly in mid-2023; the mud on its banks, sticky. Many of the Brao farmers and fishers have avoided entering the water, drinking it or bathing in it or fishing in the river. These problems persisted when&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/cambodia-tested-waters-amid-pollution-claims-months-later-still-no-public-results/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-318641</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Chesapeake Bay conservation bolstered by the power of business &#038; viral videos</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/chesapeake-bay-conservation-bolstered-by-the-power-of-business-viral-videos/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/chesapeake-bay-conservation-bolstered-by-the-power-of-business-viral-videos/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Apr 2026 17:09:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/28221641/Screenshot-2026-04-28-at-5.50.55-PM-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=318325</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[North America and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Business, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Corporate Social Responsibility, Ecosystems, Environment, Estuaries, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Marine, Pollution, Rivers, Water Pollution, and Wetlands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the U.S., providing key habitat for a huge variety of aquatic life, and it is also home to major cities like Baltimore and Annapolis. That large human footprint is very evident in the bay&#8217;s water quality, though, which has suffered greatly from pollution – much of which [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the U.S., providing key habitat for a huge variety of aquatic life, and it is also home to major cities like Baltimore and Annapolis. That large human footprint is very evident in the bay&#8217;s water quality, though, which has suffered greatly from pollution – much of which is invisible, but the rest is quite visible in the form of trash. Austin Lewis is a veteran of the Army National Guard and small business owner in the Baltimore area who greatly enjoys his home waters, but increasingly noticed all the debris that floated or coated the bottom of his beloved bay, and so decided to become part of the solution: &#8220;I really had no choice but to attempt to do my part,&#8221; he told Mongabay in the recent short interview below. Using the flexibility provided by owning his own insurance firm, Bay Life Brokerage (&#8220;Not just a life insurance brokerage, but an agency for environmental change&#8221; its homepage says) he can afford to work part time with local conservation group Back River Restoration Committee for hours every day, removing tons of trash while recording very  entertaining and informative videos about their shared mission, later posted to various social platforms like Instagram, FaceBook and TikTok under the handle @BayLifeBrokerage. These often humorous videos also share much natural history information and the Instagram reels in particular garner large numbers of comments and views, all of which extend the reach of the cleanup effort by raising awareness&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/chesapeake-bay-conservation-bolstered-by-the-power-of-business-viral-videos/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-318325</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>EU deforestation law nudges timber trade, Indonesia probe shows, but risks persist</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/eu-deforestation-law-nudges-timber-trade-indonesia-probe-shows-but-risks-persist/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/eu-deforestation-law-nudges-timber-trade-indonesia-probe-shows-but-risks-persist/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Apr 2026 04:31:26 +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/20/2026/04/17040959/Picture1-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317697</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, East Kalimantan, Europe, European Union, Indonesia, Kalimantan, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Forests, International Trade, Rainforests, Regulations, Supply Chain, Timber, Timber Laws, timber trade, Trade, Tropical Deforestation, and Zero Deforestation Commitments]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Several European timber firms have cut ties with suppliers linked to deforestation in Indonesia following a 2025 investigation, suggesting that an upcoming European Union regulation is already influencing behavior ahead of its implementation at the end of 2026. Still, new trade data show imports from high-risk suppliers continued in 2025, raising concerns that [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Several European timber firms have cut ties with suppliers linked to deforestation in Indonesia following a 2025 investigation, suggesting that an upcoming European Union regulation is already influencing behavior ahead of its implementation at the end of 2026. Still, new trade data show imports from high-risk suppliers continued in 2025, raising concerns that timber linked to forest clearance may still be entering EU supply chains. In their 2025 investigation, U.K.-based NGO Earthsight and its Indonesian partner, Auriga Nusantara, traced timber from recently cleared forests in Indonesian Borneo to European importers, using government documents, satellite imagery and trade records. Analyzing nearly 10,000 unpublished documents submitted to Indonesian authorities, the investigators identified cases where timber produced through forest clearance had entered European supply chains in some cases. The findings showed that the top five users of deforestation-linked wood in Indonesia in 2024 all exported products to the EU. Their main European customers were companies in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, which together ordered more than 23,000 cubic meters (812,200 cubic feet) of wood products that year, including plywood, decking and door frames. While only some shipments could be directly verified, the investigation pointed to a wider risk that timber linked to deforestation is entering EU markets through opaque supply chains. But despite these findings, the investigation has already prompted changes among some of the companies involved, with several cutting ties with the suppliers named in the report. Under the EU’s new antideforestation regulation, the EUDR, set to come into force&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/eu-deforestation-law-nudges-timber-trade-indonesia-probe-shows-but-risks-persist/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/eu-deforestation-law-nudges-timber-trade-indonesia-probe-shows-but-risks-persist/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317697</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia braces for possible ‘Godzilla El Niño’ as fire season escalates early</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/indonesia-braces-for-possible-godzilla-el-nino-as-fire-season-escalates-early/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/indonesia-braces-for-possible-godzilla-el-nino-as-fire-season-escalates-early/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Apr 2026 04:12:41 +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/20/2023/10/05111107/student-in-haze-kalimantan-indonesia-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317563</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Riau, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Climate Change, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, El Nino, Fires, Forests, Health, Palm Oil, Peatlands, Plantations, Pollution, Public Health, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia is entering the 2026 fire season with early signs of escalation, as burned area surges even before the dry season peak and forecasts raise the possibility of a so-called “Godzilla” El Niño later this year. Burned area reached 32,637 hectares (80,650 acres) by February — about three times the size of Paris, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia is entering the 2026 fire season with early signs of escalation, as burned area surges even before the dry season peak and forecasts raise the possibility of a so-called “Godzilla” El Niño later this year. Burned area reached 32,637 hectares (80,650 acres) by February — about three times the size of Paris, 20 times higher than the same period last year — even before the dry season has fully set in. Scientists say this early surge could signal the start of a more intense fire season, especially as climate forecasts point to the possible return of El Niño. Some global forecasts suggest the event could become one of the strongest in at least a decade, raising the risk of prolonged drought and widespread fires, although significant uncertainty remains over how intense it will ultimately be. A strong El Niño would also likely reshape global weather patterns and could push global temperatures to record levels in 2027, due to the lagged warming effect the phenomenon has on the climate system. El Niño refers to a warming of sea surface temperatures in the equatorial Pacific Ocean that can disrupt weather patterns worldwide. In Indonesia, it is typically associated with drier conditions and heightened fire risk. Indonesian agencies have at times referred to the potential event as a Godzilla El Niño, a nonscientific term used to describe an unusually strong episode that could significantly intensify drought and fire risk. Indonesia’s meteorological agency, BMKG, says there is a 50-80% chance of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/indonesia-braces-for-possible-godzilla-el-nino-as-fire-season-escalates-early/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317563</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>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317553</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Repeated failures expose gaps in Indonesia’s nickel waste management</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/repeated-failures-expose-gaps-in-indonesias-nickel-waste-management/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/repeated-failures-expose-gaps-in-indonesias-nickel-waste-management/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Apr 2026 05:51:26 +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/20/2026/04/13034411/imip_landslide_2026-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317395</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia, North Maluku, Southeast Asia, and Sulawesi]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Critical Minerals, Disasters, Earthquakes, Electric Cars, Energy, Health, Nikel, Planetary Health, Pollution, Waste, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — In February 2026, videos circulating on social media showed a mass of mining waste rushing downslope like thick mud, engulfing excavators and bulldozers within seconds as operators scrambled to escape. That landslide of mining waste, or tailings as it’s known in the industry, occurred on Feb. 18 at a storage area in Morowali [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — In February 2026, videos circulating on social media showed a mass of mining waste rushing downslope like thick mud, engulfing excavators and bulldozers within seconds as operators scrambled to escape. That landslide of mining waste, or tailings as it’s known in the industry, occurred on Feb. 18 at a storage area in Morowali industrial area in Indonesia’s Central Sulawesi province, a key hub of the country’s nickel industry. The facility was operated by PT QMB, a tenant of the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP), and the incident left an excavator operator dead. Steven Emerman, a hydrogeologist and mining waste expert who reviewed the videos, concluded that they showed the phenomenon of liquefaction — a failure in which partially dried mining waste suddenly behaves like a liquid. “The video clearly shows liquefaction of a filtered tailings stack,” he told Mongabay. Filtered, or “dry stack” tailings are widely promoted as a safer alternative for storing mining waste than the wet sludge held behind conventional tailings dams. The material is filtered to remove its water content and stacked on land as a damp, soil-like mass. But a new report by U.S.-based environmental NGO Earthworks that Emerman contributed to raises concerns about how the technology is being applied in Indonesia. It says some facilities are being built “taller and contain more waste than they can safely hold,” and cites problems with design, drainage and quality control. These risks are compounded by the rapid expansion of Indonesia’s nickel industry, raising concerns about the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/repeated-failures-expose-gaps-in-indonesias-nickel-waste-management/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317395</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Second progress report shows little action on World Bank redress plan at Liberian plantation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/second-progress-report-shows-little-action-on-world-bank-redress-plan-at-liberian-plantation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/second-progress-report-shows-little-action-on-world-bank-redress-plan-at-liberian-plantation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Apr 2026 10:07:03 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Victoria Schneider]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/04/04104621/woman-sex-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317077</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Liberia, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Conflict, Corporate Social Responsibility, Crime, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Law, Plantations, Rubber, Social Conflict, Social Justice, and Violence]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A year after the World Bank approved a plan to redress community grievances over inadequate compensation and sexual harassment at Liberia’s Salala Rubber Corporation, a progress report provides little evidence that any of its key commitments have been implemented. In February, the International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank, published a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A year after the World Bank approved a plan to redress community grievances over inadequate compensation and sexual harassment at Liberia’s Salala Rubber Corporation, a progress report provides little evidence that any of its key commitments have been implemented. In February, the International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank, published a second report on progress with the action plan. “IFC will continue to engage with key stakeholders over the coming months to explore the feasibility of MAP implementation.” But Windor Smith, from the Liberian civil society organization Alliance for Rural Democracy, which works with affected communities around the Salala plantation, told Mongabay she does not know which stakeholders the IFC is engaging with. “The situation is still the same. There is no engagement, no consultation with the communities and supporting organizations.” Luxembourg-based multinational Socfin took over the rubber plantation in 2007 and received an IFC loan of $10 million to rehabilitate and expand it. Community members started voicing grievances soon thereafter. Dissatisfied with the company’s response, they filed a complaint with the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman, IFC’s independent watchdog, in 2019, alleging sexual harassment, inadequate compensation for their rubber trees and food crops lost and a flawed land acquisition process. Read more about Socfin&#8217;s plantations in Africa. Four years later, the CAO completed its investigation, concluding that many of the complaints were valid. The IFC developed an action plan, which it committed to implementing along with Socfin. In contrast to what followed many previous CAO investigations, the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/second-progress-report-shows-little-action-on-world-bank-redress-plan-at-liberian-plantation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317077</doi>				</item>
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