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		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/greenwashing/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Wed, 05 Aug 2026 18:56:07 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<url>https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/16160320/cropped-mongabay_icon-32x32.png</url>
	<title>News on Greenwashing</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/greenwashing/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Can a new methodology save the carbon market?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/can-a-new-methodology-save-the-carbon-market/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/can-a-new-methodology-save-the-carbon-market/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Jun 2026 10:22:03 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abhishyant Kidangoor]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abhishyantkidangoor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/18093229/Banner-Image-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321423</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Europe and United Kingdom]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Carbon Credits, Carbon Market, Climate, climate finance, Conservation, Deforestation, Ecosystems, Environment, Finance, Forests, Funding, Greenwashing, Human Rights, and Poverty]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[How can the beleaguered carbon market be saved? Carbon market pioneer Daniel Morrell’s solution is straightforward: Go back to the market&#8217;s roots by focusing less on carbon and more on biodiversity generation and community welfare. It might be easier said than done; nonetheless, he is giving it a shot. Morrell recently launched Balance, a new [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[How can the beleaguered carbon market be saved? Carbon market pioneer Daniel Morrell’s solution is straightforward: Go back to the market&#8217;s roots by focusing less on carbon and more on biodiversity generation and community welfare. It might be easier said than done; nonetheless, he is giving it a shot. Morrell recently launched Balance, a new avatar of the carbon credit that puts the focus primarily on biodiversity protection and generating new sources of income for local communities. With a three-pillared methodology, he plans to address biodiversity loss, poverty and climate breakdown with the aim of keeping forests intact long after projects have wrapped up. “Tackling any one of these in isolation is ineffective as they are structurally linked,” Morrell, CEO of Balance and climate advisor to the U.K. Prime Minister&#8217;s Office, 10 Downing Street, told Mongabay in an email interview. He said he wants Balance units to address these issues simultaneously rather than allowing people and companies to purchase “a ‘get out of jail free’ card to excuse emissions.” Dan Morrell launched Balance credits with the aim of saving the beleaguered carbon market by putting the spotlight on biodiversity protection and community welfare. Image courtesy of John Nguyen. For years, carbon offset projects have allowed people and companies to invest in forest restoration projects to cancel out, or offset, emissions they produce. However, the voluntary carbon market has faced widespread scrutiny for lacking transparency on how it measures the success of projects, leading to allegations of greenwashing. Many projects have&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/can-a-new-methodology-save-the-carbon-market/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/can-a-new-methodology-save-the-carbon-market/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321423</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Lesotho communities allege greenwashing by project transferring water to South Africa</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/lesotho-communities-allege-greenwashing-by-project-transferring-water-to-south-africa/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/lesotho-communities-allege-greenwashing-by-project-transferring-water-to-south-africa/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Nov 2025 17:31:19 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malavika Vyawahare]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/21165528/High_mountain_Shepherds-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=309980</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Negotiating Africa's Energy Future]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Lesotho, South Africa, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Alternative Energy, Conflict, Dams, Energy, Environment, Environmental Law, Freshwater, Global Environmental Crisis, Greenwashing, Hydroelectric Power, Politics, Renewable Energy, Resource Conflict, Rivers, Social Justice, Water, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Communities in Lesotho have filed a complaint with the African Development Bank over a controversial initiative that transfers water from the country to neighboring South Africa, one of the biggest such schemes on the African continent. The Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP), currently in its second phase, is funded in part by the African Development [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Communities in Lesotho have filed a complaint with the African Development Bank over a controversial initiative that transfers water from the country to neighboring South Africa, one of the biggest such schemes on the African continent. The Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP), currently in its second phase, is funded in part by the African Development Bank (AfDB). In the complaint submitted to the bank’s Independent Recourse Mechanism, seen by Mongabay, the complainants accuse the developers of promoting the LHWP as a climate mitigation project and ignoring its impacts on their communities and the environment, and call it “greenwashing.” “Some in the community say they were better off without the project, because instead of bringing a development that is expected from such projects, it has, in fact, brought them poverty,” said Mosa Letsie, a lawyer at the Seinoli Legal Centre (SLC) in Lesotho. The center provides legal assistance and advice to marginalized communities and worked with the affected communities to submit the complaint. Letsie said women were disproportionately impacted. Falls short in every respect, from inadequate consultation to compensation to the lack of benefits. The LHWP diverts water from the Senqu-Orange river system in the Lesotho highlands, through a series of dams, to the water-poor Gauteng province of South Africa, home to the country’s economic nerve center: the greater Johannesburg area. The centerpiece of phase 2 is the Polihali dam and reservoir. While the project documents explicitly state how much water will be transferred to South Africa, they make only promises&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/lesotho-communities-allege-greenwashing-by-project-transferring-water-to-south-africa/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/lesotho-communities-allege-greenwashing-by-project-transferring-water-to-south-africa/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-309980</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>FSC to vote on new traceability rules amid fraud allegations</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/fsc-to-vote-on-new-traceability-rules-amid-fraud-allegations/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/fsc-to-vote-on-new-traceability-rules-amid-fraud-allegations/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Oct 2025 15:48:35 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Andy Lehren]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/25084446/indonesia-fsc-wood-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=308306</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Global Forests]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global and Russia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Certification, Conservation, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporations, Environment, Forests, Greenwashing, International Trade, Politics, Pulp And Paper, Sustainable Forest Management, and Timber]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The world’s largest green timber label will vote next week on whether to begin work on new traceability rules, amid renewed scrutiny and accusations over whether the body is doing enough to prevent fraud within its supply chains. The Bonn-based Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) bills itself as “the world’s most trusted mark for sustainable forestry.” [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The world’s largest green timber label will vote next week on whether to begin work on new traceability rules, amid renewed scrutiny and accusations over whether the body is doing enough to prevent fraud within its supply chains. The Bonn-based Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) bills itself as “the world’s most trusted mark for sustainable forestry.” Its tree-tick logo can be found on everything from furniture and snowboards to toilet paper and takeaway containers, an assurance the product was made with wood from forests the FSC has certified as responsibly managed. FSC certification appears on products worth tens of billions of dollars in sales each year. But forestry experts and whistleblowers have alleged for years that the FSC lacks a proper control system, allowing bad actors to fraudulently pass off timber that was illegally or unsustainably logged as FSC-certified. Phil Guillery, who was the FSC’s integrity director from 2011-21, said in early October that he believed “20-30% of claims in the system were false” during his tenure “and I haven’t seen anything to suggest the figure has dropped since.” The FSC issued a swift rebuttal to Guillery’s claims, calling them unsubstantiated and “based on outdated information that does not reflect the system today.” “Integrity is central to FSC’s mission, and we take any allegation of fraudulent behaviour seriously,” the FSC said. However, a senior FSC official currently with the organization told Mongabay this week that they believed the figure was actually an underestimate. “I’m actually amazed he said 20-30 percent —&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/fsc-to-vote-on-new-traceability-rules-amid-fraud-allegations/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/fsc-to-vote-on-new-traceability-rules-amid-fraud-allegations/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-308306</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The safari industry’s ‘conservation-washing’ is a growing problem (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/the-safari-industrys-conservation-washing-is-a-growing-problem-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/the-safari-industrys-conservation-washing-is-a-growing-problem-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Aug 2025 18:09:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Tom LaRock]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/08/26165836/Image-1-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=304938</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Commentary, Conservation, Ecotourism, Environment, Ethics, Green, Greenwashing, Tourism, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[You don’t need safari experience to understand the allure: spotting majestic wildlife in sweeping landscapes is inherently captivating, and it’s the reason this type of adventure travel has stood the test of time. But while many safari tour operators tout their focus on protecting the animals, environments and local communities that travelers are immersed in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[You don’t need safari experience to understand the allure: spotting majestic wildlife in sweeping landscapes is inherently captivating, and it’s the reason this type of adventure travel has stood the test of time. But while many safari tour operators tout their focus on protecting the animals, environments and local communities that travelers are immersed in during their trip, greenwashing — or perhaps more accurately, “conservation-washing” — in safari travel is a growing problem. I’ve been an Africa enthusiast since elementary school, and a safari tour guide for more than 35 years. During that time, I’ve seen the incredible things that these trips can teach travelers about our natural world, and the good that safari tourism can do for local communities and conservation efforts. I’ve also seen the darker side of the industry, where tours are based solely around the spectacle of seeing a specific animal, no matter the cost. It’s important that adventure travelers understand the difference between being a citizen of the wild and merely a paying visitor. Children cheering the arrival of two new rhinos into their community rhino conservation program. The community is set to benefit from the tourism these rhinos will generate. Image courtesy of James Ward / Rewild Safaris. The negatives of “skin-deep conservation” are many, but some stand out as the most detrimental: Predator baiting and animal habituation I know as well as anyone the disappointment of not being able to secure a genuine wildlife sighting, despite everything else being perfect. But when the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/the-safari-industrys-conservation-washing-is-a-growing-problem-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/the-safari-industrys-conservation-washing-is-a-growing-problem-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-304938</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Philippines’ new forest policy wins business backing but alarms green groups</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/philippines-new-forest-policy-wins-business-backing-but-alarms-green-groups/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/philippines-new-forest-policy-wins-business-backing-but-alarms-green-groups/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Aug 2025 11:18:27 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Keith Anthony Fabro]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Dilrukshi Handunnetti]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/08/19111511/indigenous-village-philippines-forest-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=304514</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Philippines, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Climate Change, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Forests, Governance, Greenwashing, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Industry, Land Rights, Law, Logging, Politics, Protected Areas, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MANILA — The Philippine government has rolled out a sweeping forest land reform that officials say will attract investment while promising sustainability. The initiative, dubbed the Sustainable Forest Land Management Agreement (SFLMA), was launched June this year by the Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). Officials tout it as a major shift in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MANILA — The Philippine government has rolled out a sweeping forest land reform that officials say will attract investment while promising sustainability. The initiative, dubbed the Sustainable Forest Land Management Agreement (SFLMA), was launched June this year by the Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). Officials tout it as a major shift in forest governance, but the policy has already sparked support and criticism alike. The policy consolidates seven existing tenure instruments — each previously covering specific land uses like agroforestry, industrial timber plantations or grazing — into a single, 25-year renewable production-sharing agreement. This streamlined mechanism allows multiple land uses within a designated forest area, from reforestation and ecotourism to conservation and commercial ventures. Raphael Lotilla, secretary of the DENR, said the SFLMA aims to unlock the economic potential of the country’s vast forest estate while ensuring environmental safeguards are in place. “The SFLMA represents a major shift in how the Philippines manages its 15.8 million hectares [39.04 million acres] of forest lands,” he said at the launch event in Metro Manila, adding that the policy is designed to reduce red tape, encourage sustainable investment, and provide direct benefits to forest-dependent communities. But even before the ink dried, the new framework drew strong reactions from civil society. While major businesses praised the agreement as a pragmatic step toward sustainable growth, environmental groups warned it could accelerate forest degradation, displace Indigenous peoples, and open the door to greenwashing by corporations seeking to profit from land-based climate schemes. Nida&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/philippines-new-forest-policy-wins-business-backing-but-alarms-green-groups/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/philippines-new-forest-policy-wins-business-backing-but-alarms-green-groups/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-304514</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Green hydrogen development threatens wildlife in Chile</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/green-hydrogen-development-threatens-wildlife-in-chile/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/green-hydrogen-development-threatens-wildlife-in-chile/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Aug 2025 09:02:49 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Manuel Fonseca]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karen Coates]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/08/15171142/53691573799_41b200264f_6k-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=304393</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Chile, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Alternative Energy, Biodiversity, Business, Clean Energy, Conservation, Deserts, Ecosystems, Energy, Environment, Environmental Law, Fellows, Green, Greenwashing, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Politics, Renewable Energy, Solar Power, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Green hydrogen promoters tout it as the clean energy of the future. In 2020, Chile launched its National Green Hydrogen Strategy, looking to position the country as a leader in producing and exporting hydrogen by 2030 while reaching carbon neutrality. “Today we are taking a new step forward in producing clean energy, protecting nature and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Green hydrogen promoters tout it as the clean energy of the future. In 2020, Chile launched its National Green Hydrogen Strategy, looking to position the country as a leader in producing and exporting hydrogen by 2030 while reaching carbon neutrality. “Today we are taking a new step forward in producing clean energy, protecting nature and fighting climate change,” former President Sebastián Piñera said in 2021 at the moment Chile produced its first molecule of green hydrogen. Green hydrogen is a form of fuel produced using renewable energy sources (e.g., solar, wind) via water electrolysis, a chemical process that uses electricity to break the chemical bonds in water (H2O) and produce oxygen (O2) and hydrogen (H2) gas molecules. The industry sector sees this sort of hydrogen as a valuable tool that can help globally decarbonize or reduce the carbon emissions of mining, metal, chemical and fertilizer production, among others, which do not find another viable way of reducing their emissions. It has earned the nickname the “champagne of energies.” Detractors, however, note that despite being seen as a premium and versatile energy source, green hydrogen is highly expensive and inefficient. Most of the hydrogen produced worldwide is derived from natural gas, creating what is known as grey hydrogen, which releases significant volumes of CO2 into the atmosphere, contributing to the current climate crisis. Another alternative, blue hydrogen, is also produced from natural gas, while capturing CO2 and storing it underground. This can result in leaking high quantities of methane (CH4), a&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/green-hydrogen-development-threatens-wildlife-in-chile/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-304393</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Meat giant profits from carbon market without halting deforestation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/meat-giant-profits-from-carbon-market-without-halting-deforestation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/meat-giant-profits-from-carbon-market-without-halting-deforestation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Jul 2025 15:48:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Bruna Bronoskifrom O Joio e O Trigo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Xavier Bartaburu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/06/30142531/Flickr_-_Rainbirder_-_Cooking_the_Planet-e1751644363567-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=301666</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil and Saudi Arabia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Carbon Credits, Carbon Dioxide, Carbon Emissions, Carbon Market, Cattle, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Greenwashing, Meat, Oil, Oil Drilling, Pasture, Rainforests, and Tropical Deforestation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Since the first scientific critiques of fossil fuels, oil companies have gone from being the &#8220;wealth of nations&#8221; to &#8220;destroyers of the planet.&#8221; In financial market terms, they have become environmental liabilities. It cannot be said, however, that they have also become economic liabilities. The global carbon credit market is heating up — quite like [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Since the first scientific critiques of fossil fuels, oil companies have gone from being the &#8220;wealth of nations&#8221; to &#8220;destroyers of the planet.&#8221; In financial market terms, they have become environmental liabilities. It cannot be said, however, that they have also become economic liabilities. The global carbon credit market is heating up — quite like the planet — and oil companies are among the main players interested in leveraging this business. Among the world&#8217;s largest oil producers, countries on the Arabian Peninsula, such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, have partnered with Brazil’s Minerva Foods. It is the country’s second-largest meatpacker by net revenue, trailing only JBS — a giant firm whose supply chain has been linked to deforestation. In 2021, Minerva’s subsidiary MyCarbon 3 Ltda was created for a single purpose: to generate and sell carbon credits. However, the company’s projects are far from transparent. Currently under validation by Verra, the world’s leading carbon credits certifier, these initiatives aim to restore degraded pasturelands in the Cerrado. This biodiverse savanna ecosystem, which comprises around 20% of Brazil’s territory, is home to part of Minerva’s cattle supply chain and has already lost half of its native vegetation. The main cause of deforestation in the Cerrado is the activity that feeds Minerva&#8217;s meatpacking plants, farming. Partnerships between oil companies and carbon credit companies are emerging as a global trend. In 2022, Shell invested 200 million reais (roughly $40 million) in Carbonext, a developer of REDD+ projects (carbon projects in forests).&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/meat-giant-profits-from-carbon-market-without-halting-deforestation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-301666</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As Gálapagos ecotourism booms, top naturalist guide urges sustainability</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/as-galapagos-ecotourism-booms-top-naturalist-guide-urges-sustainability/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/as-galapagos-ecotourism-booms-top-naturalist-guide-urges-sustainability/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Jan 2025 18:30:00 +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/20/2025/01/22174918/Screen-Shot-2025-01-22-at-12.48.07-PM-768x510.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=293260</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Ecuador, Galapagos, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Business, Conservation, Deep Sea, Ecosystems, Ecotourism, Environment, Governance, Greenwashing, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Interviews, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Sustainability, and Tourism]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[GALÁPAGOS ISLANDS — Marco Andres Vizcaino Garcia is probably the most qualified naturalist guide a person could hire during their visit to Galápagos National Park and its adjacent marine reserve. Born into a fishing family that’s lived here for generations, he discovered a passion for the unique and fragile ecosystem of the islands at age [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[GALÁPAGOS ISLANDS — Marco Andres Vizcaino Garcia is probably the most qualified naturalist guide a person could hire during their visit to Galápagos National Park and its adjacent marine reserve. Born into a fishing family that’s lived here for generations, he discovered a passion for the unique and fragile ecosystem of the islands at age 15 while working as a volunteer guide at a breeding center for giant tortoises known as “La Galapaguera.” Through interactions with visitors from around the world, he realized the importance of preserving the islands’ unique flora and fauna for future generations. Inspired to pursue his dream job as a naturalist guide, he left the islands in 2007 to study biology at the ESPOL college on the Ecuadorian mainland, thanks to a full academic scholarship. On his return, he set up a travel agency to promote sustainable tourism in 2013. In 2016, he was selected to participate in the government&#8217;s new guide’s course, after which he was recognized with an award for excellence. Today, Vizcaino works as an official naturalist guide based out of San Cristóbal Island, and recently traveled with a Mongabay team observing the islands’ impressive biodiversity. The following interview has been edited lightly for length. Marine iguanas (Amblyrhyncus subcristatus) are endemic to the Galápagos. There are numerous subspecies, and this one on Española Island is called the Christmas iguana, for its striking red and green coloration. Image by Erik Hoffner for Mongabay. Mongabay: How tough is it to get the guide certification? Marco&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/as-galapagos-ecotourism-booms-top-naturalist-guide-urges-sustainability/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/as-galapagos-ecotourism-booms-top-naturalist-guide-urges-sustainability/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-293260</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesian forests put at risk by South Korean and Japanese biomass subsidies</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/indonesian-forests-put-at-risk-by-south-korean-and-japanese-biomass-subsidies/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/indonesian-forests-put-at-risk-by-south-korean-and-japanese-biomass-subsidies/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Dec 2024 15:22:25 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Annelise Giseburt]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/12/12124920/INFIS_0481_0526-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=291498</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Circular economy, Global Forests, Indonesian Forests, and Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, East Asia, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Bioenergy, Climate Change, Coal, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Energy, Environment, Forests, Global Warming, Globalization, Governance, Greenwashing, International Trade, Logging, Plantations, Politics, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Renewable Energy, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Biomass energy subsidies in South Korea and Japan are threatening Southeast Asia’s tropical forests, warns a new report by environmental NGOs. Of particular concern is the nascent but rapidly growing woody biomass industry in Indonesia, where rainforests are already being cleared to make wood pellets to be burned for electricity. The report, published in October [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Biomass energy subsidies in South Korea and Japan are threatening Southeast Asia’s tropical forests, warns a new report by environmental NGOs. Of particular concern is the nascent but rapidly growing woody biomass industry in Indonesia, where rainforests are already being cleared to make wood pellets to be burned for electricity. The report, published in October by Earth Insight, Auriga Nusantara, Forest Watch Indonesia, Solutions for Our Climate (SFOC), Trend Asia, and Mighty Earth, notes that South Korea received around 62% and Japan 38% of Indonesian wood pellet exports over 2021-2023. During that same period, Indonesian wood biomass export volumes grew by orders of magnitude, rising from a trickle of just over 100 metric tons annually to more than 1,000 times that. However, Indonesia’s biomass production isn’t only for export. Thanks to the support of Japanese businesses and government institutions, Indonesia has begun burning wood pellets alongside coal in many of its own power plants, a practice known as cofiring, in order to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions (at least on paper). Plans to further expand in-country biomass use are in the works. Meanwhile, deforestation for biomass projects has already arisen in the country’s Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Papua regions. Ipu Angit, a Dayak Punan from Indonesia&#8217;s North Kalimantan province, is struggling to protect the forest he calls home from a company that wants to clear it to make way for a wood pellet plantation. Image by Nanang Sujana for Mongabay. The forest in Ipu Angit&#8217;s village, Laban Nyarit, could be demolished&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/indonesian-forests-put-at-risk-by-south-korean-and-japanese-biomass-subsidies/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/indonesian-forests-put-at-risk-by-south-korean-and-japanese-biomass-subsidies/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-291498</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Cambodian logging syndicate tied to major U.S. wood flooring supply chains</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/cambodian-logging-syndicate-tied-to-major-u-s-wood-flooring-supply-chains/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/cambodian-logging-syndicate-tied-to-major-u-s-wood-flooring-supply-chains/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Oct 2024 02:43:38 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerald Flynn]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/10/21015326/IMG_0076-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=289010</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, Southeast Asia, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Consumption, Corruption, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Policy, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Forests, Governance, Greenwashing, Illegal Logging, Illegal Trade, International Trade, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Sustainability, Sustainable Forest Management, Timber, timber trade, Tropical Deforestation, and Zero Deforestation Commitments]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This is the second part of a Mongabay series investigating Cambodia&#8217;s illicit timber trade. Read Part One. Several Cambodian journalists helped to report this investigation, but have requested not to be named due to the sensitive nature of the story. SIHANOUKVILLE, Cambodia — On a rain-sodden day in September 2023, reporters entered the Sihanoukville Special [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This is the second part of a Mongabay series investigating Cambodia&#8217;s illicit timber trade. Read Part One. Several Cambodian journalists helped to report this investigation, but have requested not to be named due to the sensitive nature of the story. SIHANOUKVILLE, Cambodia — On a rain-sodden day in September 2023, reporters entered the Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone on the southwest coast of Cambodia, in the country’s largest port city. Established in 2008 through a partnership between Chinese and Cambodian private companies, the Sihanoukville SEZ hosts a range of Cambodian and Chinese ventures exporting products worldwide. Among them is Nature Flooring (Cambodia), a Chinese-owned company established in the Sihanoukville SEZ in May 2019. Nature Flooring is just one of the many subsidiaries of China’s Nature Home Group, focused on wooden flooring and doors. The firm’s website states that the group is valued at 87.6 billion yuan (about $12 billion) and boasts several partnerships with U.S. companies. Over the course of a year, Mongabay has collected evidence that suggests much of the plywood used to craft the products sold by Nature Flooring and other companies within the Sihanoukville SEZ may have been illegally logged from protected Cambodian rainforests. The investigation found that U.S. consumers risk furnishing their homes with flooring products made from wood logged illegally from the Cambodian rainforest while believing the products to be sustainably sourced. Cambodia’s forests have been devastated by logging operations that have undermined conservation efforts nationwide and exacerbated risks in a country already vulnerable to the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/cambodian-logging-syndicate-tied-to-major-u-s-wood-flooring-supply-chains/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/cambodian-logging-syndicate-tied-to-major-u-s-wood-flooring-supply-chains/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-289010</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Green credentials of electric vehicles come under fire</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/green-credentials-of-electric-vehicles-come-under-fire/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/green-credentials-of-electric-vehicles-come-under-fire/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 May 2024 14:44:38 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerry McGovernSue Branford]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/05/23101920/James_Flamingos_MC-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=282402</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Circular economy and Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Chile, Democratic Republic Of Congo, Global, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Climate Change, cobalt, Consumption, Electric Cars, Emission Reduction, Endangered Species, Energy, Environment, extractives, Governance, Green, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Greenwashing, Industry, Just Transition, Lithium, Marketing, Mining, Politics, Pollution, Renewable Energy, Technology, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[While EV makers reiterate how their cars combat climate change, others note critical mineral mining environmental and social impacts on traditional people, and point to both supply chain and planetary boundary problems.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Global new electric car sales rose 35% in 2023, to nearly 14 million vehicles, with almost all purchased in China, the U.S. and Europe. This was a 35% increase over 2022, and six times higher than in 2018. Although that momentum is faltering this year, as the industry adapts to a mass market, EVs continue rolling off showroom floors. Much of their appeal comes from manufacturers’ claims that the vehicles will play a key role in averting catastrophic climate change. Makers proudly assert that EVs will reduce oil consumption by 5 million barrels a day by 2030. While possibly true, global demand for oil is still expected to increase, with the International Energy Agency predicting the global oil supply will grow 8% by 2030, over 2021 levels — not shrink. EV sales have soared, but for this new technology to be truly sustainable, car companies need to re-assess and retool their entire supply chains. Image by andreas160578 via Pixabay (Public domain). Moreover, while electric vehicles clearly reduce carbon dioxide emissions (provided the electricity powering them isn’t generated using fossil fuels), critics note that the full impact of EVs on the health of the planet must be assessed not only based on climate change, but taking into account impacts on soils, water, air and biodiversity. Scientists have identified nine planetary boundaries that support life on Earth as we known it, with the overshoot of any one boundary posing an existential threat to humanity. Electric vehicles, while helping stabilize the climate change&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/green-credentials-of-electric-vehicles-come-under-fire/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/green-credentials-of-electric-vehicles-come-under-fire/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-282402</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Reef damage from 2024 Olympics surfing venue is avoidable (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/reef-damage-from-2024-olympics-surfing-venue-is-avoidable-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/reef-damage-from-2024-olympics-surfing-venue-is-avoidable-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Dec 2023 02:19:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Georgina Seal]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/12/08011455/surfing-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=276446</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[France, French Polynesia, and Oceania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Commentary, Coral Reefs, Ecosystems, Greenwashing, Marine, Marine Conservation, and Oceans]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[From increased metro prices to severe security measures, the Paris 2024 Olympics have been coming under increasing pressure from Parisians. Yet its citizens are not the only locals who are critiquing the games. Residents of Tahiti, French Polynesia, where the Olympic surfing event is to be held, have been engaged in discussions with the Paris [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[From increased metro prices to severe security measures, the Paris 2024 Olympics have been coming under increasing pressure from Parisians. Yet its citizens are not the only locals who are critiquing the games. Residents of Tahiti, French Polynesia, where the Olympic surfing event is to be held, have been engaged in discussions with the Paris 2024 Olympic Committee for months over the environmental impacts of the event venue construction in the town and bay of Teahupo’o. Located 10,000 miles from Paris, the small town of 1,500 inhabitants will host the Olympic surfing event from July 27-30, 2024. Unsurprisingly there are mixed reactions to the event that will bring hordes of spectators, officials, staff, and security details to the island. Design concept for the new surfing tower. Image via Paris 2024 Olympic Committee. But plans to build a new judging tower for the surfing competition are being met with strong resistance from local surfers and fishermen. Earlier this year, the Olympic Committee released plans for the $5 million aluminum tower, to be built in place of an existing wooden tower. Efforts to protest the plans for the tower have come from the locals themselves, primarily through a community group called the Vai Ara o Teahupo’o Association. Social media campaigns led by Tahitian big wave pro surfer Matahi Drollet have garnered much support on Instagram and TikTok. One protest which drew 400 supporters was explicitly not against the games but only against the plans to build the tower. “It is a heritage&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/reef-damage-from-2024-olympics-surfing-venue-is-avoidable-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-276446</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Chemical recycling of plastic not so fantastic, report finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/chemical-recycling-of-plastic-not-so-fantastic-report-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/chemical-recycling-of-plastic-not-so-fantastic-report-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Nov 2023 10:38:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Claire Alberts]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/09/28152032/plastic-recycling-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=275853</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Europe, United Kingdom, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Chemicals, Fossil Fuels, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Greenwashing, Industry, Natural Gas, Oil, Plastic, Pollution, Recycling, and Waste]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In today’s industrialized world, avoiding plastic is virtually impossible. Every trip to the grocery store likely means coming home with food and household items packaged in plastic bottles, tubs and packaging. Order something online, and your product may arrive shrink-wrapped in plastic. Not only that, but plastic is often part or all of the product [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In today’s industrialized world, avoiding plastic is virtually impossible. Every trip to the grocery store likely means coming home with food and household items packaged in plastic bottles, tubs and packaging. Order something online, and your product may arrive shrink-wrapped in plastic. Not only that, but plastic is often part or all of the product itself, be it kids’ toys, holiday decorations or one of our ubiquitous electronic devices. So, how does one responsibly dispose of all this plastic? The answer to that simple question is frustratingly complex. Many plastic products are marked with seemingly helpful recycling symbols, leading consumers to believe that most, if not all, plastic can be recycled. But that’s not the case.  Traditional recycling — the process of breaking down, melting and remolding plastic to form new products — is expensive, time-consuming and limited to certain plastic types. In the U.S., for example, only types 1 and 2 are easily recyclable, while 3 through 7 aren’t. Recycling rates are also historically low; in the U.S., it’s estimated that only 5-6% of plastic is recycled. There’s another way to deal with plastic waste, according to the world’s big petrochemical companies: It’s called “chemical recycling,” or “advanced recycling,” an industrial process that the industry claims could recycle more types of plastics and help humanity transition to a circular economy. However, according to a recent report released by Swedish nonprofit International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN) and U.S.-based NGO Beyond Plastics, most chemical recycling claims have yet to be proven, while existing&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/chemical-recycling-of-plastic-not-so-fantastic-report-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/chemical-recycling-of-plastic-not-so-fantastic-report-finds/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-275853</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Can impermanent carbon credits really offset forever emissions?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/can-impermanent-carbon-credits-really-offset-forever-emissions/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/can-impermanent-carbon-credits-really-offset-forever-emissions/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Nov 2023 15:14:26 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/11/23161919/peru_221651_pano_2560px-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=275784</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Carbon Offset Markets]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[carbon, Carbon Emissions, Carbon Market, Carbon Offsets, Climate Change, Climate Science, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Extreme Weather, Forestry, Forests, Governance, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Greenwashing, Impact Of Climate Change, Politics, Rainforests, Reforestation, Research, Threats To Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Offsetting the carbon emissions released when we fly in a jet or when a company ships its products is one, albeit increasingly controversial, way to address the climate-warming consequences of our everyday activities. The credits sold for offsetting often come from projects aimed at protecting or restoring forests that siphon carbon from the atmosphere as [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Offsetting the carbon emissions released when we fly in a jet or when a company ships its products is one, albeit increasingly controversial, way to address the climate-warming consequences of our everyday activities. The credits sold for offsetting often come from projects aimed at protecting or restoring forests that siphon carbon from the atmosphere as they grow and become healthier. In theory, those forests take up a similar amount of emissions, or their protection sidesteps the burst of emissions that would have been released if they had been cut down. The trouble is, the carbon in the air might outlast the forests meant to offset those emissions. What’s more, the life spans of forests make it difficult to directly compare their carbon-sequestering potential in price and climate-mitigating potential with other strategies. For example, a nascent technological tool called direct air capture pulls carbon out of the air for storage in rock or underground and may provide longer-term storage. Now, a team of researchers has put forth a method that they say makes those comparisons more accurate. Doing so could restore confidence that carbon markets can benefit the climate while also channeling much-need funds to conservation, particularly of carbon-rich tropical rainforests, they write. The team published their work Oct. 30 in the journal Nature Climate Change. “It&#8217;s pretty clear from almost all global modeling that we&#8217;re not going to avoid very dangerous climate change without slowing down and ideally reversing the ongoing loss of tropical moist forests,” Andrew Balmford, the study’s&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/can-impermanent-carbon-credits-really-offset-forever-emissions/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/can-impermanent-carbon-credits-really-offset-forever-emissions/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-275784</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Forests hold massive carbon storage potential — if we cut emissions</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/forests-hold-massive-carbon-storage-potential-if-we-cut-emissions/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/forests-hold-massive-carbon-storage-potential-if-we-cut-emissions/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Nov 2023 17:31:25 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/05/15193442/jambi_220610-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=275415</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agroforestry, carbon, Carbon Emissions, Carbon Market, Carbon Offsets, Climate Change, Climate Science, Conservation, Deforestation, Drought, Environment, Environmental Law, Extreme Weather, Fires, Forestry, Forests, Governance, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Greenwashing, Impact Of Climate Change, Politics, Rainforests, Reforestation, Research, Threats To Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Intact forests play a vital role in tackling the climate crisis by absorbing and storing carbon. Still, there’s uncertainty around their true carbon-capturing potential, and previous efforts to quantify it have sparked controversy. A study published this week in Nature provides what its authors say is an updated estimate of the “huge” potential of forests. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Intact forests play a vital role in tackling the climate crisis by absorbing and storing carbon. Still, there’s uncertainty around their true carbon-capturing potential, and previous efforts to quantify it have sparked controversy. A study published this week in Nature provides what its authors say is an updated estimate of the “huge” potential of forests. The research, led by the Crowther Lab at ETH Zürich and co-authored by more than 200 scientists across the globe, estimated that protecting and restoring forests could capture 226 billion metric tons (GT) of carbon from the atmosphere. This equals around one-third of excess emissions since industrialization began. The study found that roughly 61% of this potential is attainable by protecting existing forests and allowing them to reach old-growth maturity. The remainder requires restoring degraded and deforested areas and connecting forest fragments in key areas. However, senior author Tom Crowther, a professor of ecology at ETH Zürich, cautioned against misusing the findings to avoid reducing fossil fuel use. He also stressed that tree planting alone can’t substitute for cutting emissions. If emissions keep rising, droughts, fires and warming will increasingly threaten forests. &#8220;There’s no choice between emissions cuts and nature protection. Both are utterly essential,&#8221; he said. “If we keep emitting while planting trees, those trees will still die.&#8221; A fire in Brazil&#8217;s Amazon rainforest, near Humaitá, Amazonas in August 2022. As climate change warms and dries the forest, fires set for slash and burn agriculture are escaping into the standing rainforest. Photo © Christian&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/forests-hold-massive-carbon-storage-potential-if-we-cut-emissions/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/forests-hold-massive-carbon-storage-potential-if-we-cut-emissions/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-275415</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As companies buy ‘plastic credits,’ are they reducing waste or greenwashing?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/as-companies-buy-plastic-credits-are-they-reducing-waste-or-greenwashing/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/as-companies-buy-plastic-credits-are-they-reducing-waste-or-greenwashing/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Oct 2023 14:43:38 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Charles Pekow]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/10/19133958/women-washing-plastic-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=274414</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Circular economy, Covering the Commons, and Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Global, and Senegal]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Carbon Credits, Carbon Market, Carbon Offsets, Conservation, Consumption, Corporate Social Responsibility, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Governance, Greenwashing, Industry, International Trade, Marketing, Overconsumption, Plastic, Pollution, Recycling, and Waste]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[With plastic pollution littering the planet, certification organizations are popping up to sell “plastic credits” to companies, allowing them to offset the plastic they make and use with equivalent plastic waste collected and reused. Critics are skeptical.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Pay someone to clean up a ton of plastic fouling the environment in a developing nation and get certified to create another ton. Then call yourself pollution neutral. This system of “plastic credits” is catching on globally, especially among corporations. Several organizations now sponsor a plastic credit certification process in Asia, the Pacific region, Africa and South America. But as of yet, no common standard or regulations govern the accuracy of the data on what is collected or how the collected material gets recycled and reused. In any event, critics note, the system only deals with the downstream issue of plastic already in the environment, and not the issue of the manufacture and use of plastic in the first place. With plastic production rising exponentially, from 2 million metric tons in 1950 to more than 400 million metric tons in 2020, and expected to double by 2040, it’s clear that plastic waste is increasing exponentially too, and credits by themselves can’t possibly keep up with the surge. Plastic credits: As of yet, no common standard or regulations govern the accuracy of the data on what is collected or how the collected waste gets recycled and reused. Image by mali maeder via Pexels (Public domain). “The plastic crisis is too large and imminent to be solved by a single solution or mechanism,” and credits are only part of the problem, according to Verra, a nonprofit that started in 2007 by creating verification systems for carbon credits, and more recently branched into&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/as-companies-buy-plastic-credits-are-they-reducing-waste-or-greenwashing/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/as-companies-buy-plastic-credits-are-they-reducing-waste-or-greenwashing/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-274414</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Peru signs $20-million debt-for-nature swap with focus on Amazon rainforest</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/peru-signs-20-million-debt-for-nature-swap-with-focus-on-amazon-rainforest/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/peru-signs-20-million-debt-for-nature-swap-with-focus-on-amazon-rainforest/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Sep 2023 21:08:04 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/09/12205337/Feature-4-768x450.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=273280</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Climate Change, climate finance, Conservation, Conservation Finance, Debt-for-nature, Deforestation, Environment, Forests, Funding, Greenwashing, Politics, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Saving Rainforests, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Peru signed a deal last week that will redirect millions of dollars of international debt to environmental efforts in the Amazon rainforest, a move that could help it meet long-term conservation goals and reduce pressure from creditors. The South American country struck a $20 million debt-for-nature swap agreement with the U.S. that transfers debt payments [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Peru signed a deal last week that will redirect millions of dollars of international debt to environmental efforts in the Amazon rainforest, a move that could help it meet long-term conservation goals and reduce pressure from creditors. The South American country struck a $20 million debt-for-nature swap agreement with the U.S. that transfers debt payments to conservation initiatives like improving protected areas and natural resource management. The deal also included four NGOs: Conservation International, The Nature Conservancy, Wildlife Conservation Society and World Wildlife Fund. The groups donated a combined $3 million — in addition to the $15 million contributed by the U.S. — to make the deal happen. “Our goal is to contribute to the effective management of protected areas and implement other conservation measures in the Peruvian Amazon,” said Fernando Ghersi, director for The Nature Conservancy – Peru. He added, “The debt-for-nature swap represents a significant step towards achieving the long-term financial sustainability of the Peruvian system of protected areas.” Peru’s investment grade took a hit this year amid ongoing political instability marked by violent protests, corruption, controversial political reforms and impeachments. The country has had six presidents and several overhauls of congress since 2016. This summer, it entered a technical recession after enjoying years of growth that outpaced much of the region. The political and economic instability has taken a toll on conservation efforts in recent years. Some government agencies haven’t received sufficient budgets to fight environmental crime in protected areas, an official told Mongabay at the end&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/peru-signs-20-million-debt-for-nature-swap-with-focus-on-amazon-rainforest/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/peru-signs-20-million-debt-for-nature-swap-with-focus-on-amazon-rainforest/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-273280</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Is Jeff Bezos&#8217;s $500 million yacht made with &#8216;blood timber&#8217; from Myanmar? (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/is-jeff-bezoss-500-million-yacht-made-with-blood-timber-from-myanmar-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/is-jeff-bezoss-500-million-yacht-made-with-blood-timber-from-myanmar-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Jun 2023 17:49:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Paul Woolwich]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/06/22161514/Seized-teak-logs-in-Myanmar-2020-c-EIA-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=270141</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Myanmar, South Asia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Commentary, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporate Social Responsibility, Deforestation, Forests, Greenwashing, Illegal Logging, Illegal Trade, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Reforestation, Timber, Timber Laws, timber trade, Trade, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Following tea with King Charles III, then Prince of Wales, the king of global retail made an extraordinary announcement on the next stage in his bid to help save the planet. Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com and the second wealthiest man in the world, had already donated $1 billion (approx. £805.8 million) through his [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Following tea with King Charles III, then Prince of Wales, the king of global retail made an extraordinary announcement on the next stage in his bid to help save the planet. Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com and the second wealthiest man in the world, had already donated $1 billion (approx. £805.8 million) through his Earth Fund to combat climate change and protect nature. Now he turned his attention to trees. At the CoP26 UN climate summit in Glasgow in November 2021, he revealed he would halt deforestation and desertification, not in the rainforest that bore his company&#8217;s name, but in Africa by planting 20 million trees across the continent in a project called The Great Green Wall. Meanwhile, 700 miles away, shrouded in secrecy, he was engaged in another ambitious and hugely expensive project – but there are concerns this one may be connected to massive illegal deforestation, genocide, corruption, the financing of a brutal military dictatorship and circumventing EU law. How? The 127 meter-long yacht &#8220;Koru&#8221; (the Māori word for &#8216;new beginnings, life and hope&#8217;) owned by Jeff Bezos. Image via Oceanco. Well, three years earlier, Bezos commissioned Oceanco, in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, to build him the largest sailing vessel in the world at a reported cost of $500 million (almost £403 million). It was codenamed Y721, a 127 meter-long &#8216;mega yacht&#8217; with an aluminum and steel hull and three gigantic masts making the vessel half the height of the Great Pyramid of Giza. No expense was spared,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/is-jeff-bezoss-500-million-yacht-made-with-blood-timber-from-myanmar-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/is-jeff-bezoss-500-million-yacht-made-with-blood-timber-from-myanmar-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-270141</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Hope is action.’ David Suzuki retires into a life of determined activism</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/03/hope-is-action-david-suzuki-retires-into-a-life-of-determined-activism/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/03/hope-is-action-david-suzuki-retires-into-a-life-of-determined-activism/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Mar 2023 22:38:56 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Richard Schiffman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/01/22223632/David_Suzuki_outside-e1680040204709-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=266898</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Canada, Global, North America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Climate Change, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporate Social Responsibility, Environment, Green, Greenwashing, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Indigenous Peoples, Interviews, Research, and Science]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[David Suzuki was one of the first voices to call for action to curb climate change, but he is probably best known as a broadcaster and prolific author of 52 books. In an interview conducted in late 2022, Canada’s highest profile scientist and environmental activist reflected back on his long career, the rapid decline of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[David Suzuki was one of the first voices to call for action to curb climate change, but he is probably best known as a broadcaster and prolific author of 52 books. In an interview conducted in late 2022, Canada’s highest profile scientist and environmental activist reflected back on his long career, the rapid decline of the natural world, and why he thinks the environmental movement has so far failed to persuade the world to effectively put a brake on carbon emissions. At the time of this interview, the 86-year-old had just finalized his retirement from The Nature of Things, the critically acclaimed Canadian Broadcasting Corporation television series seen in over 40 countries – which he first started hosting in 1979 – and a revised edition of his bestselling book, The Sacred Balance: Rediscovering Our Place in Nature, was released. In this interview, Suzuki said that “elevating the economy above the atmosphere that gives us air to breathe, weather, climate and the seasons” is, in his words, “the creed of cancer,” a doctrine of endless economic growth that condemns Earth’s life support systems to rapid destruction. He instead calls for a shift from society’s anthropocentric orientation to an eco-centric view of life, one that acknowledges the radical interdependence between humans and all of nature. What gives him hope is the growing activism of the young, who are partnering with Indigenous people and scientists to demand fundamental change, and told Mongabay that he is looking forward to his own new role as&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/03/hope-is-action-david-suzuki-retires-into-a-life-of-determined-activism/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/03/hope-is-action-david-suzuki-retires-into-a-life-of-determined-activism/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-266898</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How unsustainable is Sweden&#8217;s forestry? &#8216;Very.&#8217; Q&#038;A with Marcus Westberg and Staffan Widstrand</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/how-unsustainable-is-swedens-forestry-very-qa-with-marcus-westberg-and-staffan-widstrand/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/how-unsustainable-is-swedens-forestry-very-qa-with-marcus-westberg-and-staffan-widstrand/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Jun 2022 20:25:08 +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/20/2022/06/17202018/MarcusWestberg-1-e1655497424245-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=257443</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Europe, European Union, and Sweden]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Bioenergy, boreal forests, Climate Change, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporate Social Responsibility, Deforestation, Forestry, Forests, Greenwashing, Sustainability, and Sustainable Forest Management]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Over a decade ago I traveled around Sweden to view its forestry practices – the country has a gigantic forest products industry that largely transforms trees into paper products and biomass pellets for electricity generation – yet the national forestry agency claimed it to be the most sustainable forestry program in the world. What I [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Over a decade ago I traveled around Sweden to view its forestry practices – the country has a gigantic forest products industry that largely transforms trees into paper products and biomass pellets for electricity generation – yet the national forestry agency claimed it to be the most sustainable forestry program in the world. What I found was strikingly different, as I reported for Yale Environment 360, &#8220;Sweden’s Green Veneer Hides Unsustainable Logging Practices.&#8221; I wanted to know what has changed since 2011, and queried two Swedes who are very involved with this ongoing issue: award-winning photojournalist Marcus Westberg and top conservation photographer/National Geographic Explorer Staffan Widstrand, who are active under the banner of Skogsmissbruket, i.e. &#8216;forest abuse,&#8217; an awareness raising project on Swedish forestry. They collaborated on their responses via email, which have been lightly edited for accuracy and brevity. Mongabay: Can you say what Sweden’s forestry model is and why that has led to logging of its very old boreal forests, and their replanting with monocultures of trees? Marcus Westberg and Staffan Widstrand: Sweden’s approach is both devastating and devastatingly simple: treat forests like agricultural fields. Harvest whatever is there, plough the ground, plant new tree plants, and repeat, hopefully. These plantations are highly effective if what you want only is to produce large volumes of low-quality wood, and provided that these plantations survive until harvesting age. Which is not a given, since they are very susceptible to bark beetles, moose browsing, fungus attacks, drought, storm and fire. It&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/how-unsustainable-is-swedens-forestry-very-qa-with-marcus-westberg-and-staffan-widstrand/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/how-unsustainable-is-swedens-forestry-very-qa-with-marcus-westberg-and-staffan-widstrand/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-257443</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>What has the pandemic done to forest policies? (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/what-has-the-pandemic-done-to-forest-policies-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/what-has-the-pandemic-done-to-forest-policies-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Dec 2021 03:55:31 +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/20/2021/12/22235551/natural-forest-vs-oil-palm-plantation_indonesia-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=251035</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Commentary, Conservation, COVID-19, Deforestation, Forest Carbon, Forests, Greenwashing, Palm Oil, Plantations, Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[I have not traveled anywhere these past 2 years. I couldn’t travel even if I wanted to since Australia, where I live, closed its borders in March 2020 in a bid to contain the spread of the COVID-19. One of my cancelled trips this year was to attend the UNFCCC COP26 in Glasgow. I was [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[I have not traveled anywhere these past 2 years. I couldn’t travel even if I wanted to since Australia, where I live, closed its borders in March 2020 in a bid to contain the spread of the COVID-19. One of my cancelled trips this year was to attend the UNFCCC COP26 in Glasgow. I was a virtual participant instead, and was actually happy to not go. In addition to fewer emissions, the last thing I wanted to do was to be in a conference packed with 40,000 people during a pandemic. Considering the circumstances, I was hoping that the outcomes of the COP26 would be a drastic wake up call to act to save our forests and environment. Many scientists have written about how the current pandemic is closely linked to natural habitat destruction, deforestation, and the climate crisis. Based on that alone, one would think that regulations and policies which have been issued during the pandemic would be tightened to ensure that the state of the environment will not worsen. Right? At COP26, I was closely monitoring the development of the texts of the Glasgow Leaders&#8217; Declaration on Forests and Land Use, and was generally happy with the final version, especially the parts that state that signees are committed to ‘halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030’, and that signatories will strengthen their efforts to ‘not drive deforestation and land degradation’. But just like many happy moments, like the feeling after buying a new pair of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/what-has-the-pandemic-done-to-forest-policies-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/what-has-the-pandemic-done-to-forest-policies-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-251035</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Mongabay reporter sued in what appears to be a pattern of legal intimidation by Peruvian cacao company</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/mongabay-reporter-sued-in-what-appears-to-be-a-pattern-of-legal-intimidation-by-peruvian-cacao-company/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/mongabay-reporter-sued-in-what-appears-to-be-a-pattern-of-legal-intimidation-by-peruvian-cacao-company/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Dec 2021 21:36:52 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/05/25145427/tamshi_2021-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=250476</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Cacao, carbon, Carbon Emissions, Carbon Sequestration, Climate Change, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporate Social Responsibility, Crime, data, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Endangered Environmentalists, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Forest Carbon, Forestry, Forests, Governance, Green, Greenwashing, Illegal Logging, Industrial Agriculture, Journalism, Logging, NGOs, Plantations, Politics, Pollution, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Remote Sensing, Research, Satellite Imagery, Saving Rainforests, Solutions, Sustainability, Threats To Rainforests, Timber, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In November 2020, Peruvian cacao company Tamshi filed a lawsuit against Mongabay Latam staff reporter Yvette Sierra Praeli for “aggravated defamation” over her reporting of a government investigation into the firm’s activities in the Peruvian Amazon. While the case was formally dismissed by a Peruvian court last month, it wasn’t the first time that Tamshi [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In November 2020, Peruvian cacao company Tamshi filed a lawsuit against Mongabay Latam staff reporter Yvette Sierra Praeli for “aggravated defamation” over her reporting of a government investigation into the firm’s activities in the Peruvian Amazon. While the case was formally dismissed by a Peruvian court last month, it wasn’t the first time that Tamshi has taken such an approach. Beyond this lawsuit, Tamshi (formerly Cacao del Perú Norte SAC) has engaged in what appears to be a pattern of legal intimidation against those reporting on or investigating their forest-clearing activities in Peru. The company, which produces the key ingredient in chocolate, is a former subsidiary of United Cacao. High-resolution satellite imagery from September 2013 revealed large trees lying on the ground, which researchers say indicate the company cleared primary, or old-growth, Amazon rainforest to establish its plantations in Peru’s Loreto department. Deforestation on the United Cacao plantation in 2013. United Cacao is the parent company of Cacao del Perú Norte SAC, which is now known as Tamshi SAC. Photo by Leoncio Ramirez via Panoramio. Through financial disclosures and in public statements by United Cacao’s former CEO, Dennis Melka, the company claimed that nothing resembling forest remained by the time the company had purchased the land where the Tamshi plantations were established in 2013. Alberto Yusen Caraza, an environmental prosecutor from the region of Loreto who works for the Public Ministry of Peru, opened an investigation into Tamshi in 2013 for “crimes against forests or wooded formations.” During the trial&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/mongabay-reporter-sued-in-what-appears-to-be-a-pattern-of-legal-intimidation-by-peruvian-cacao-company/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/mongabay-reporter-sued-in-what-appears-to-be-a-pattern-of-legal-intimidation-by-peruvian-cacao-company/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-250476</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Facebook to block illegal sales of protected Amazon rainforest lands</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/facebook-to-block-illegal-sales-of-protected-amazon-rainforest-lands/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/facebook-to-block-illegal-sales-of-protected-amazon-rainforest-lands/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Oct 2021 23:54:44 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/10/08235335/amazon_201167_facebook-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=248026</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Deforestation, Environment, Forests, Green, Greenwashing, Land Grabbing, Protected Areas, Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On Friday, embattled social media giant Facebook announced it would crack down on the illegal sales of protected Amazon rainforest land via its platform, according to a blog post by the company. The move comes after a BBC investigation found that the company&#8217;s Marketplace product was being used to broker sales of protected lands, including [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On Friday, embattled social media giant Facebook announced it would crack down on the illegal sales of protected Amazon rainforest land via its platform, according to a blog post by the company. The move comes after a BBC investigation found that the company&#8217;s Marketplace product was being used to broker sales of protected lands, including Indigenous territories and national forest reserves. The revelations provoked an inquiry by Brazil&#8217;s Supreme Court, but Facebook said at the time that it wouldn&#8217;t take independent action on its own over the issue. An ad placed on an internet site in June 2016 for the sale of 100,000 hectares (247,000 acres) in Jacareacanga in Pará state. The property is located 7 kilometers (4 miles) from the TransAmazon Highway. The asking price is R$12,000,000 ($180,000). The owner says he will accept another property or a car in part payment. Image reproduced from the internet. Facebook didn&#8217;t state what prompted its change of heart, but the blog post stated the company is committed to sustainability. &#8220;We’re committed to sustainability and to protecting land in ecological conservation areas,&#8221; said the post. &#8220;We are updating our commerce policies to explicitly prohibit the buying or selling of land of any type in ecological conservation areas on our commerce products across Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.&#8221; Facebook said it &#8220;will now review listings on Facebook Marketplace against an international organization’s authoritative database of protected areas to identify listings that may violate this new policy.&#8221; According to a report from BBC News, that&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/facebook-to-block-illegal-sales-of-protected-amazon-rainforest-lands/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/facebook-to-block-illegal-sales-of-protected-amazon-rainforest-lands/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-248026</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Science refutes United Cacao’s claim it didn’t deforest Peruvian Amazon</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/05/science-refutes-united-cacaos-claim-it-didnt-deforest-peruvian-amazon/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/05/science-refutes-united-cacaos-claim-it-didnt-deforest-peruvian-amazon/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 May 2021 09:33:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/05/25145427/tamshi_2021-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=242981</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Global Forest Reporting Network]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Cacao, carbon, Carbon Emissions, Carbon Sequestration, Climate Change, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporate Social Responsibility, data, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Policy, Forest Carbon, Forestry, Forests, Green, Greenwashing, Illegal Logging, Industrial Agriculture, Logging, NGOs, Palm Oil, Politics, Pollution, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Remote Sensing, Research, Satellite Imagery, Saving Rainforests, Solutions, Sustainability, Threats To Rainforests, Timber, Traditional People, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The satellite’s eye view from high above northern Peru in mid-2013 laid out a stark reality: Ecologist Matt Finer and his colleagues were watching “blow by blow” in a series of images from NASA’s Landsat satellite as a once-unbroken blanket of green Amazonian rainforest was giving way to neat strips of bare land. The systematic dismantling [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The satellite’s eye view from high above northern Peru in mid-2013 laid out a stark reality: Ecologist Matt Finer and his colleagues were watching “blow by blow” in a series of images from NASA’s Landsat satellite as a once-unbroken blanket of green Amazonian rainforest was giving way to neat strips of bare land. The systematic dismantling of nearly 2,000 hectares (5,000 acres) of decades-old, closed-canopy rainforest was at first thought to be a frontier foray into Peru’s growing oil palm sector at the time. But it soon became clear that the big push was altering the landscape for a huge estate in the remote Amazon by a company — or rather, a chain of companies controlled by self-described “serial plantations entrepreneur” Dennis Melka. Neither the companies nor Melka were trying to hide the results of their work, at least from the people they hoped would invest in the operation through United Cacao, a publicly traded umbrella company based in the Cayman Islands. In fact, they were celebrating their progress outside the Amazonian hamlet of Tamshiyacu. At times in 2013 and 2014, crews were clearing as much as 100 hectares (250 acres) of forest a week in a bid to make United Cacao “the largest and lowest cost corporate grower of sustainable and traceable cacao beans,” according to a quote from Melka on the company’s website as it existed in 2015. To drum up early interest ahead of United Cacao’s initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM market, Melka as&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/05/science-refutes-united-cacaos-claim-it-didnt-deforest-peruvian-amazon/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/05/science-refutes-united-cacaos-claim-it-didnt-deforest-peruvian-amazon/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-242981</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>81 Indigenous leaders, environmental defenders slam BlackRock in open letter</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/03/81-indigenous-leaders-environmental-defenders-slam-blackrock-in-open-letter/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/03/81-indigenous-leaders-environmental-defenders-slam-blackrock-in-open-letter/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Mar 2021 14:16:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ashoka Mukpo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Ashoka]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/03/24134745/Eloy-Terena_%40Vinicius-Loures_Age%CC%82ncia-Ca%CC%82mara-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=240876</guid>

					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Climate Change, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporate Social Responsibility, Deforestation, Environment, Forest Destruction, Forests, Greenwashing, Impact Of Climate Change, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Grabbing, Murdered Activists, Palm Oil, Plantations, Rainforests, and Threats To Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A group of 81 Indigenous leaders and environmental defenders from across the world have signed an open letter to BlackRock, saying the fund manager’s investments “continue to threaten our health, our security, and our very future.” BlackRock is the world’s largest asset manager, overseeing $8.7 trillion for its clients, which include pension funds, governments, and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A group of 81 Indigenous leaders and environmental defenders from across the world have signed an open letter to BlackRock, saying the fund manager’s investments “continue to threaten our health, our security, and our very future.” BlackRock is the world’s largest asset manager, overseeing $8.7 trillion for its clients, which include pension funds, governments, and nonprofit organizations. “Our challenge to BlackRock is clear,” said Eloy Terena, legal coordinator of the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB). “Safeguard Indigenous peoples’ rights and eliminate deforestation and human rights violations from its portfolios.” The letter comes a week after BlackRock published updated guidelines for how it plans to approach “natural capital” and human rights-related issues with companies in its portfolio. A consortium of environmental and Indigenous rights groups said the new guidelines had “some encouraging developments,” but criticized the investment giant for failing to detail any immediate concrete actions it would take against companies implicated in the destruction of rainforests or land grabbing. “BlackRock has made repeated commitments to centering climate in its investment strategy, but there’s been a significant blind spot as it relates to their investment in deforestation and commodities,” said Gaurav Madan, senior forests and land campaigner at Friends of the Earth. “Namely, in how those investments impact Indigenous peoples and local communities.” Last year, BlackRock made headlines when its politically influential CEO, Larry Fink, sent a letter to companies in its portfolio calling climate change the “defining factor” in their long-term profitability. Hailed as a breakthrough in climate-conscious&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/03/81-indigenous-leaders-environmental-defenders-slam-blackrock-in-open-letter/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/03/81-indigenous-leaders-environmental-defenders-slam-blackrock-in-open-letter/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-240876</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Brazil’s Belo Monte Dam: Greenwashing contested (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/02/brazils-belo-monte-dam-greenwashing-contested-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/02/brazils-belo-monte-dam-greenwashing-contested-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Feb 2021 22:35:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Philip M. Fearnside]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/01/01222627/GP0STPPD0_High_res-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=239107</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Infrastructure]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Commentary, Dams, Environment, Forests, Greenwashing, Hydroelectric Power, Indigenous Peoples, Infrastructure, Rainforests, Rivers, and Traditional People]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Even in this era of “alternative facts,” the letter to the New York Times from Norte Energy (the company responsible for Brazil’s Belo Monte Dam) will surely be remembered as a classic. The letter opens by claiming that “From the beginning, the deployment of the Belo Monte Hydroelectric Power Plant in the Brazilian state of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Even in this era of “alternative facts,” the letter to the New York Times from Norte Energy (the company responsible for Brazil’s Belo Monte Dam) will surely be remembered as a classic. The letter opens by claiming that “From the beginning, the deployment of the Belo Monte Hydroelectric Power Plant in the Brazilian state of Pará has been guided by respect for the local Indigenous populations and by laws, ratified protocols and conventions.” News of Norte Energia’s letter reached the local Indigenous populations, and they are rightly enraged. A response from the Arara People (Figure 1) is translated below. For whatever reason, the New York Times declined to publish it. Response of the Arara People to the Norte Energia letter. Letter from the Arara People to the World We the Arara Indigenous People of the Iriri River are tired of being deceived by Norte Energia. We want respect! Ever since the Belo Monte Dam arrived, our situation has only worsened. Our territory has become the business counter of the world. Our forest is suffering a lot. With each passing day we hear more noise from chainsaws eating our territory. Our river is growing sadder and weaker every day. This is not normal. We are being attacked from all sides. We have never been in such need. We are very concerned about the future of our children and grandchildren. How long will Norte Energia continue to deceive us? Why hasn&#8217;t the disintrusion [removal of invaders] of our Cachoeira Seca Indigenous Land&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/02/brazils-belo-monte-dam-greenwashing-contested-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/02/brazils-belo-monte-dam-greenwashing-contested-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-239107</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Ikea using illegally sourced wood from Ukraine, campaigners say</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/06/ikea-using-illegally-sourced-wood-from-ukraine-campaigners-say/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/06/ikea-using-illegally-sourced-wood-from-ukraine-campaigners-say/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Jun 2020 13:53:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ashoka Mukpo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Ashoka]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/10/31094321/2014_ICCOMMS_CONGO_WOO_wood_cFSC-GD_Jean-Baptiste-Lopez_0110_1200px-cropped-768x469.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=231942</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Ukraine]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Certification, Greenwashing, Illegal Logging, and timber trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The global furniture giant Ikea used illegal timber from Ukraine in its supply chain and one of the world’s preeminent forestry certification organizations failed to stop it from happening, a new report says. The report, published last week by the U.K.-based environmental watchdog Earthsight, accuses Ikea of sourcing manufactured products — including its flagship Terje [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The global furniture giant Ikea used illegal timber from Ukraine in its supply chain and one of the world’s preeminent forestry certification organizations failed to stop it from happening, a new report says. The report, published last week by the U.K.-based environmental watchdog Earthsight, accuses Ikea of sourcing manufactured products — including its flagship Terje folding chair — from suppliers that have used logs that were felled illegally in Ukraine. “In this case, VGSM, the company that was supplying these chairs and chair parts to Ikea is cutting some of the trees itself, but it’s doing so under illegally issued licenses issued by the State Forestry Enterprise that controls the forest,” said Sam Lawson, director of Earthsight. Like in other former Soviet bloc countries, forest regions marked for logging in Ukraine are managed by state-run enterprises. Most of these “state forestry enterprises” are controlled by Ukraine’s State Agency of Forestry Resources, including one in Velkyy Bychkiv, a remote region in western Ukraine near the Romanian border. It’s in this region where campaigners say that state authorities allowed a company called VGSM, one of Ikea’s suppliers, to cut down beech trees during a “silence period” between April and mid-June, when Ukrainian law mandates a halt on certain forms of logging during the critical breeding period for lynx and other species. According to the report, those logs were also felled under a “sanitary felling” permit, a widely abused loophole in Ukranian forestry that allows large numbers of trees to be cut down&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/06/ikea-using-illegally-sourced-wood-from-ukraine-campaigners-say/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-231942</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Fighting to save an endangered ape, Indonesian activists fear for their lives</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/fighting-to-save-an-endangered-ape-indonesian-activists-fear-for-their-lives/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/fighting-to-save-an-endangered-ape-indonesian-activists-fear-for-their-lives/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Dec 2019 03:44:30 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/12/18031527/14.-ORANGUTAN-TAPANULI-2-c-Aditya-Sumitra-Mighty-Earth-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=225438</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Endangered Environmentalists, Great Apes, and Southeast Asian infrastructure]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, North Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Animals, Apes, Conservation, Dams, Deforestation, Endangered Environmentalists, Energy, Environment, Extinction, Forest Destruction, Forests, Great Apes, Greenwashing, Hydroelectric Power, Infrastructure, Orangutans, Primates, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Renewable Energy, Species Discovery, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia’s North Sumatra province, the only known habitat of the Tapanuli orangutan (Pongo tapanuliensis), has proven to be a precarious place for the ape. Just 800 individuals survive in a rapidly shrinking habitat, and the orangutans, which were only described as a new species in 2017, are already listed as a critically endangered [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia’s North Sumatra province, the only known habitat of the Tapanuli orangutan (Pongo tapanuliensis), has proven to be a precarious place for the ape. Just 800 individuals survive in a rapidly shrinking habitat, and the orangutans, which were only described as a new species in 2017, are already listed as a critically endangered by the IUCN. In recent months, the people involved in efforts to protect these orangutans have also been feeling endangered. Activists fighting a hydropower dam planned for the orangutan&#8217;s habitat describe an atmosphere of fear and threats, both subtle and direct. Indonesia is a dangerous place for activists, and North Sumatra is no exception. In October 2019, the office of a human rights NGO and a coffee shop popular with activists were firebombed in the provincial capital, Medan. Early November saw the grisly murder of two activists-cum-journalists on an oil palm plantation in the province, allegedly by hitmen hired by the plantation owner. “The tension is high,&#8221; says Dana Tarigan, the head of the North Sumatra chapter of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi). &#8220;In the past, we were only threatened verbally or intimidated, but now the threats are becoming real. And that makes us more cautious.” Most chilling for activists campaigning against the hydropower dam is the recent death of Golfrid Siregar, a 34-year-old environmental activist and legal aide. Formerly a Walhi staffer, Golfrid resigned shortly before his death to focus on a lawsuit aimed at forcing the North Sumatra government to revoke&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/fighting-to-save-an-endangered-ape-indonesian-activists-fear-for-their-lives/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-225438</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Brazilian president claims Leonardo DiCaprio funded Amazon fires</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/11/brazilian-president-claims-leonardo-dicaprio-funded-amazon-fires/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/11/brazilian-president-claims-leonardo-dicaprio-funded-amazon-fires/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Nov 2019 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/08/25202736/GP0STTSDZ_greenpeace_amazon_fires_2019x-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=224883</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Celebrities, Environment, Fires, Forests, Greenwashing, Politics, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has accused actor and environmentalist Leonardo DiCaprio of funding fire-setting in the Amazon rainforest. Bolsonaro offered no evidence to support his claims, but his rhetoric echoes comments made in August when he blamed environmental groups for starting fires in the region. Smoke from those fires made international headlines and called global [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has accused actor and environmentalist Leonardo DiCaprio of funding fire-setting in the Amazon rainforest. Bolsonaro offered no evidence to support his claims, but his rhetoric echoes comments made in August when he blamed environmental groups for starting fires in the region. Smoke from those fires made international headlines and called global attention to a sharp rise in deforestation since Bolsonaro took office in January 2019. Bolsonaro has yet to substantiate that earlier claim and later said ranchers and farmers might be to blame for setting fires. COLNIZA, MATO GROSSO, BRAZIL. Aerial view of burned areas in the Amazon rainforest, in the city of Colniza, Mato Grosso state. (Photo: Victor Moriyama / Greenpeace) The latest comments came on Thursday and Friday. “Leonardo DiCaprio, dammit, you’re collaborating with the burning of the Amazon,” Bolsonaro stated in a Facebook live broadcast on Thursday. The president doubled down on the claim on Friday in comments to supporters at the presidential residence. “This Leonardo DiCaprio is a cool guy, right? Giving money to torch the Amazon,” he said. Bolsonaro&#8217;s remarks came after four members of Alter do Chão Fire Brigade, a Brazilian non-profit, were arrested Tuesday and accused of setting fires to raise money. But those arrests have been contested as politically motivated by civil society groups and the Alter do Chão Fire Brigade members were ordered released on Thursday by a court in Pará. PORTO VELHO, RONDÔNIA, BRAZIL. Aerial view of burned areas in the Amazon rainforest, in the city&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/11/brazilian-president-claims-leonardo-dicaprio-funded-amazon-fires/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-224883</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>’Green’ bonds finance industrial tree plantations in Brazil</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/05/green-bonds-finance-traditional-tree-plantations-in-brazil/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/05/green-bonds-finance-traditional-tree-plantations-in-brazil/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 May 2019 06:58:55 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/05/16054630/indonesia_20150864.ef379738ba054eeeb2c5f1e71153b46f-1-768x450.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=218690</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Animals, Biodiversity, Carbon Emissions, Certification, Climate Change, climate finance, Climate Science, Conservation, Corporate Social Responsibility, Deforestation, Ecology, Ecosystem Services, Environment, Finance, Forest Carbon, Forestry, Forests, Global Warming, Green, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Greenwashing, Logging, Mitigation, Plantations, Politics, Pollution, Pulp And Paper, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Soil Carbon, Threats To Rainforests, Timber, Traditional People, Trees, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Investments known as green bonds that are intended to slow climate change can finance the operation of tree plantations in ways that have few, if any, environmental benefits, according to a case study of Fibria, a Brazilian company that turns harvested trees into the wood pulp that ultimately becomes paper. “The example of bonds by [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Investments known as green bonds that are intended to slow climate change can finance the operation of tree plantations in ways that have few, if any, environmental benefits, according to a case study of Fibria, a Brazilian company that turns harvested trees into the wood pulp that ultimately becomes paper. “The example of bonds by Fibria to finance business-as-usual industrial plantations raises the question of whether these self-labelled bonds and weak standards can credibly guarantee that money invested in these bonds will have a positive impact on the [environment] and the climate,” Merel van der Mark, who coordinates the Environmental Paper Network&#8217;s (EPN) pulp finance project, said in a statement. The EPN is a group of some 140 NGOs with the goal of making the pulp and paper industry more sustainable. On May 14, EPN released a briefing that it says demonstrates that the more than $700 million in green or climate bonds issued by Fibria went to maintaining and expanding plantations of eucalyptus trees. The “green” benefits touted by the company from such investments were often exaggerated or misleading, and they sidestep the environmental challenges of growing and maintaining monoculture plantations, the report argues. Eucalyptus plantations, in addition to providing little shelter for biodiversity, require a lot of water and can quickly lower water tables. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay. EPN disputes the climate benefits that Fibria calculated would result from the planting of trees on its plantations. The company suggested that, on one farm, trees would take up&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/05/green-bonds-finance-traditional-tree-plantations-in-brazil/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-218690</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia turns to green finance for development projects</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/06/indonesia-turns-to-green-finance-for-development-projects/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/06/indonesia-turns-to-green-finance-for-development-projects/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Jun 2018 11:11:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/07/17142718/indonesia_20151051.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=207694</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Southeast Asian infrastructure]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, East Kalimantan, Indonesia, Jakarta, Jambi, Java, Kalimantan, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Clean Energy, Climate, climate finance, Economics, Energy, Environment, Finance, Forestry, Green, Greenwashing, Rainforests, Renewable Energy, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[DFFF2019]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Indonesia, one of the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitters, is turning to green finance markets to fund new development projects it promises will be both environmentally and socially friendly. In February, the Indonesian government raked in $1.25 billion from issuing a “green” Islamic-compliant bond, or sukuk, hailed as the first sovereign green sukuk in the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Indonesia, one of the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitters, is turning to green finance markets to fund new development projects it promises will be both environmentally and socially friendly. In February, the Indonesian government raked in $1.25 billion from issuing a “green” Islamic-compliant bond, or sukuk, hailed as the first sovereign green sukuk in the world. (The first corporate green sukuk was issued by a Malaysian company in July last year.) The funds raised will go to finance government projects that are both environmentally friendly and compliant with Islamic financing laws. In the same month, the Tropical Landscapes Finance Facility (TLFF), a partnership between the U.N. Environment Programme, the World Agroforestry Centre, ADM Capital and BNP Paribas, issued a $95 million sustainability bond to finance rubber plantations in Sumatra and Indonesian Borneo, two regions that have been heavily damaged by annual forest fires and high levels of deforestation. This type of bond seeks to guarantee environmental protection and local community empowerment. In issuing these bonds, Indonesia joins a growing number of developing countries seeking to appeal to ecologically and socially conscious international investors. But critics question just how green and sustainable these bonds really are. A wind farm on Sumba Island in East Nusa Tenggara province, Indonesia. Image by Basten Gokkon/Mongabay. Greenwashing? Indonesia did not provide investors with a specific list of projects it was seeking to fund through the green sukuk. Luky Alfirman, head of the budget financing and risk management office at Indonesia’s Finance Ministry, said the proceeds&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/06/indonesia-turns-to-green-finance-for-development-projects/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-207694</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Greenpeace International ends its Forest Stewardship Council membership</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/03/greenpeace-international-ends-its-forest-stewardship-council-membership/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/03/greenpeace-international-ends-its-forest-stewardship-council-membership/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Mar 2018 03:44:24 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/03/30005236/colombia_1160-768x451.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=205374</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Carbon Emissions, Certification, Climate Change, Conservation, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Forestry, Forests, Greenwashing, Indigenous Peoples, Logging, NGOs, Palm Oil, Politics, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Saving Rainforests, Solutions, Sustainability, Sustainable Forest Management, Timber, Traditional People, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The international arm of Greenpeace has ended its membership with the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), a certification organization that aims to ensure responsibly managed forests. &#8220;We believe robust timber certification is a helpful but imperfect tool for protecting people’s rights and improving forest management, which is why Greenpeace International will not renew its Forest Stewardship [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The international arm of Greenpeace has ended its membership with the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), a certification organization that aims to ensure responsibly managed forests. &#8220;We believe robust timber certification is a helpful but imperfect tool for protecting people’s rights and improving forest management, which is why Greenpeace International will not renew its Forest Stewardship Council membership,” Matt Daggett, a campaign leader at Greenpeace International, said in a statement. Greenpeace announced its decision on March 26, saying in a briefing statement that the FSC was not accomplishing its goals of protecting forests and the rights of people who live there. The organization called on the FSC to increase the transparency of its certification process and to do more to ensure that certified companies were indeed adhering to the FSC’s social and environmental standards. Greenpeace also said the FSC needed to go beyond the certification of timber operations to safeguard standing forests. The briefing statement noted that the FSC&#8217;s application of its policies across countries was “uneven,” especially in places where forest governance was lacking. FSC-certified Deramakot Forest Reserve in Malaysian Borneo. Photo by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay. Several national Greenpeace offices, located in countries with stronger forest governance, are sticking with the FSC, including those in the U.S., Canada, New Zealand, Finland and China, according to the FSC. Greenpeace International confirmed that it would not seek membership with other “weaker forest certification schemes” such as the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification. In an interview, FSC director general Kim Carstensen said&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/03/greenpeace-international-ends-its-forest-stewardship-council-membership/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-205374</doi>				</item>
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