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		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/peatlands/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
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	<title>News on Peatlands</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/peatlands/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Singkil peat swamp: The embattled orangutan capital of the world</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/singkil-peat-swamp-the-embattled-orangutan-capital-of-the-world/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/singkil-peat-swamp-the-embattled-orangutan-capital-of-the-world/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Sep 2026 19:04:25 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/04195723/AM8I3043-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=328824</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Aceh, Asia, Indonesia, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Conservation, Crime, Deforestation, Ecosystems, Environment, Forest Destruction, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Great Apes, Habitat Degradation, Illegal Logging, Mammals, Orangutans, Peatlands, Primates, Protected Areas, Tropical Deforestation, Wetlands, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Deep within Indonesia’s Leuser Ecosystem, one of the most important peat swamp forests left on Earth is being cleared, drained, and burned. The Singkil peat swamp is the largest of three remaining coastal peat swamp forests on Sumatra’s west coast, alongside Kluet and Tripa. Together, these extraordinary peatlands form what’s been called “the orangutan capital [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Deep within Indonesia’s Leuser Ecosystem, one of the most important peat swamp forests left on Earth is being cleared, drained, and burned. The Singkil peat swamp is the largest of three remaining coastal peat swamp forests on Sumatra’s west coast, alongside Kluet and Tripa. Together, these extraordinary peatlands form what’s been called “the orangutan capital of the world,” supporting some of the highest densities of Sumatran orangutans (Pongo abelii) ever recorded. But Singkil is being destroyed. A worker inside the Singkil peat swamp, a legally protected wildlife reserve and crucial orangutan habitat, July 2026. Image by Global Conservation. The Rawa Singkil Wildlife Reserve is nationally protected under Indonesian law. Clearing forest and establishing oil palm plantations inside the reserve is illegal. Yet forest is being cleared and burned, peat is being drained, and canals are being dug into the swamp, lowering water tables and transforming ancient forests into land for agriculture and oil palm. Satellite investigations have documented extensive illegal clearing and plantation expansion inside the reserve. And Indonesia’s fire season has now begun. Fires are lit and illegal clearing is taking place in the Singkil peat swamp, Leuser Ecosystem. Image by Global Conservation. An orangutan seen in the Leuser Ecosystem, the last place on earth where tigers, orangutans, elephants and rhinos still coexist. Image by Global Conservation. For peatlands, fire can be devastating. Once drained, peat dries out and becomes highly flammable. Fires can smolder deep underground for weeks or even months, continuing to burn beneath the surface and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/singkil-peat-swamp-the-embattled-orangutan-capital-of-the-world/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/singkil-peat-swamp-the-embattled-orangutan-capital-of-the-world/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-328824</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>On fragile Sumatran peatland, a farmer fights to bring back lost mangroves</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/on-fragile-sumatran-peatland-a-farmer-fights-to-bring-back-lost-mangroves/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/on-fragile-sumatran-peatland-a-farmer-fights-to-bring-back-lost-mangroves/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Aug 2026 11:44:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Suryadi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/12113532/Harisyah-measures-the-distance-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=326031</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Riau, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Coastal Ecosystems, Community Forests, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation leadership, Conservation Solutions, Ecosystems, Environment, Forests, Mangroves, Marine, Peatlands, Solutions, Tropical Forests, and Wetlands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[SUNGAI APIT, Indonesia — Harisyah was still knee-deep in the peatland as the light faded over the mouth of Indonesia&#8217;s Siak River. The 53-year-old palm oil and pineapple grower had been cutting back weeds since morning, clearing the riverbank on the north coast of Sumatra island before driving wooden stakes into the peat at 1.5-meter [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[SUNGAI APIT, Indonesia — Harisyah was still knee-deep in the peatland as the light faded over the mouth of Indonesia&#8217;s Siak River. The 53-year-old palm oil and pineapple grower had been cutting back weeds since morning, clearing the riverbank on the north coast of Sumatra island before driving wooden stakes into the peat at 1.5-meter (5-feet) intervals. “We’re going to use this location as a nursery for the new seedlings,” Harisyah told Mongabay Indonesia. “This new generation will grow up close to mangroves, and they can learn more about them through playing and activities.” Harisyah and others who live in Tanjung Kuras, a coastal village in Siak district, say the weather has become increasingly erratic in recent years. Researchers, meanwhile, have documented a rapidly retreating coastline as the area&#8217;s peat soils continue to subside. Residents also contend with frequent tidal flooding, which many blame on the loss of the mangrove forests that once fortified the shoreline. Last Ramadan, the Islamic holy month observed by millions in the world&#8217;s largest Muslim-majority nation, strong winds lifted off the dome from the village mosque. “It’s because there’s no mangrove forest as a buffer to block the wind,” Harisyah said. “It&#8217;s been turned into an oil palm plantation — so the wind from the sea blows straight onto land.” Harisyah plants a marker stake at the mangrove planting site. Image by Suryadi/Mongabay Indonesia. World’s largest mangroves Indonesia&#8217;s more than 17,000 islands contain the world&#8217;s largest mangrove forest estate, covering about 3.3 million hectares (8.2&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/on-fragile-sumatran-peatland-a-farmer-fights-to-bring-back-lost-mangroves/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/on-fragile-sumatran-peatland-a-farmer-fights-to-bring-back-lost-mangroves/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326031</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia shows elevated fire hotspot activity in 2026 as super El Niño threat looms</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/indonesia-shows-elevated-fire-hotspot-activity-in-2026-as-super-el-nino-threat-looms/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/indonesia-shows-elevated-fire-hotspot-activity-in-2026-as-super-el-nino-threat-looms/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Jul 2026 15:06:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas JongIrfan Maulana]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/04/05111951/fire-used-for-land-clearing-Sumatra-Indonesia-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=324772</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Aceh, Asia, Indonesia, Papua, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Carbon Dioxide, Carbon Emissions, Climate Change, Disasters, Ecosystems, Extreme Weather, Fires, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Peatlands, Pollution, Rainforests, Tropical Forests, and Wetlands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia has recorded more fire hotspot activity by late July 2026 than at the same point in any previous year, including during the devastating fire seasons of 2019 and 2023, according to new data. Data from FireWatch, a new satellite monitoring platform developed by the forest monitoring platform Nusantara Atlas, offers the clearest [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia has recorded more fire hotspot activity by late July 2026 than at the same point in any previous year, including during the devastating fire seasons of 2019 and 2023, according to new data. Data from FireWatch, a new satellite monitoring platform developed by the forest monitoring platform Nusantara Atlas, offers the clearest picture yet of where the country is burning, say scientists. It has raised fresh concerns as Indonesia heads into the months of the year when wildfires historically intensify. As of July 27, FireWatch detected more than 96,000 fire hotspots across Indonesia — more than at the same point in any previous year monitored by the platform. By comparison, about 88,000 hotspots had been detected by late July 2019 and roughly 58,000 during the same period in 2023. Hotspot comparison between 2026, 2023 and 2019. Image courtesy of FireWatch. Those two years produced Indonesia&#8217;s most destructive fire seasons in the past 10 years, burning more than 2.6 million hectares (6.4 million acres) and 1.7 million hectares (4.2 million acres), respectively, according to data from FireWatch. FireWatch estimates that approximately 103,000 hectares (255,000 acres) burned nationwide during the first half of 2026. Burned area comparison between 2026, 2023 and 2019. Image courtesy of FireWatch. While that remains far below the area burned in 2019, Indonesia has yet to enter the period when fire activity historically accelerates. Burning typically increases in August before peaking in September and October. The unusually high hotspot activity in 2026 comes as forecasters&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/indonesia-shows-elevated-fire-hotspot-activity-in-2026-as-super-el-nino-threat-looms/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/indonesia-shows-elevated-fire-hotspot-activity-in-2026-as-super-el-nino-threat-looms/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324772</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Major orangutan study finds Sumatran population fell nearly 20% despite slower forest loss</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/major-orangutan-study-finds-sumatran-population-fell-nearly-20-despite-slower-forest-loss/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/major-orangutan-study-finds-sumatran-population-fell-nearly-20-despite-slower-forest-loss/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Jul 2026 08:30:44 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas JongJunaidi Hanafiah]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/11/01134730/sabah_3983-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=324552</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Great Apes]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Aceh, Asia, Global, Indonesia, North Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Conflict, Conservation, Crime, Critically Endangered Species, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Ecosystems, Great Apes, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Human-wildlife Conflict, Hydroelectric Power, Mammals, Mining, Orangutans, Peatlands, Poaching, Primates, Renewable Energy, Research, Tropical Deforestation, Wetlands, Wildlife, Wildlife Corridors, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — The number of Sumatran orangutans has declined by nearly 20% in the past decade and the critically endangered Tapanuli orangutan remains perilously close to extinction despite years of conservation efforts, according to a new study. The study, published in Global Ecology and Conservation, also suggests that habitat loss alone cannot explain the species&#8217; [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — The number of Sumatran orangutans has declined by nearly 20% in the past decade and the critically endangered Tapanuli orangutan remains perilously close to extinction despite years of conservation efforts, according to a new study. The study, published in Global Ecology and Conservation, also suggests that habitat loss alone cannot explain the species&#8217; decline. While deforestation remains the primary driver, several orangutan populations in Indonesia’s island of Sumatra shrank by a far greater degree than the rate of forest loss might explain, pointing to additional threats such as killing, conflict with humans and habitat fragmentation. The findings come from the first comprehensive reassessment of both Sumatran (Pongo abelii) and Tapanuli (Pongo tapanuliensis) orangutans since the landmark 2016 range-wide survey led by primatologist Serge Wich. The study also signals a notable shift in the Indonesian government&#8217;s public approach to orangutan conservation. Between 2018 and 2022, then environment and forestry minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar repeatedly said &#8220;ground-based evidence&#8221; showed orangutan populations were growing and dismissed projections of continued decline. Those claims were challenged at the time by prominent primatologists, who argued that peer-reviewed research consistently showed that the populations of all three orangutan species, Sumatran, Tapanuli and Bornean (Pongo pygmaeus), were declining and urged the ministry to release the data underpinning its assertions. The dispute escalated when the ministry temporarily barred several of the scientists from conducting research with Indonesia&#8217;s national parks and conservation agencies. The latest assessment of the animals presents a picture that’s markedly different from the previous&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/major-orangutan-study-finds-sumatran-population-fell-nearly-20-despite-slower-forest-loss/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/major-orangutan-study-finds-sumatran-population-fell-nearly-20-despite-slower-forest-loss/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324552</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Lawmakers seek rights probe into Indigenous conflict at Indonesian timber firm</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/lawmakers-seek-rights-probe-into-indigenous-conflict-at-indonesian-timber-firm/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/lawmakers-seek-rights-probe-into-indigenous-conflict-at-indonesian-timber-firm/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Jul 2026 10:23:36 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/03/27180141/Screenshot-2024-03-28-010118-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=322966</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Global, Indonesia, Kalimantan, Southeast Asia, and West Kalimantan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Apes, Biodiversity, Business, Conflict, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Ecosystems, Forest Products, Forestry, Great Apes, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Law, Mammals, Orangutans, Peatlands, Primates, Protected Areas, Pulp And Paper, Social Conflict, Tropical Deforestation, Wetlands, Wildlife, and Zero Deforestation Commitments]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesian lawmakers have called for a government fact-finding probe into a long-running conflict between an Indigenous community in Borneo and an industrial timber company linked to one of Indonesia&#8217;s largest recent deforestation cases. The call came at the end of a parliamentary hearing in Jakarta on June 30, where lawmakers said testimony presented [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesian lawmakers have called for a government fact-finding probe into a long-running conflict between an Indigenous community in Borneo and an industrial timber company linked to one of Indonesia&#8217;s largest recent deforestation cases. The call came at the end of a parliamentary hearing in Jakarta on June 30, where lawmakers said testimony presented during the session strengthened indications of alleged structural and systematic human rights violations in the conflict. Responding to the hearing, Indonesia&#8217;s Ministry of Human Rights said it would conduct a more comprehensive review of the case, including field monitoring and coordination with other government agencies, as it prepares to investigate allegations of human rights violations linked to the conflict between PT Mayawana Persada and the Dayak Kualan community in Ketapang district, West Kalimantan province. The Dayak Kualan community alleges the company&#8217;s concession overlaps with its customary lands and forests, and that Mayawana proceeded to clear the area without obtaining its meaningful consent. Despite the community&#8217;s longstanding objections, Mayawana razed lands and forests that the Dayak Kualan community says form part of its customary territory, according to Tarsisius Fendy Sesupi, the customary chief of Lelayang, one of the Indigenous hamlets overlapped by the concession. &#8220;The company never sought the community&#8217;s agreement. It simply moved in and cleared everything,&#8221; he said at a recent press conference in Jakarta. In cases where community members agreed to relinquish their land, they did so under pressure and received only 1.5 million rupiah (about $83) per hectare, or $34 per acre,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/lawmakers-seek-rights-probe-into-indigenous-conflict-at-indonesian-timber-firm/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-322966</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A possible strong El Niño fuels fears for fires across Indonesian tropical peatlands</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/a-possible-strong-el-nino-fuels-fears-for-fires-across-indonesian-tropical-peatlands/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/a-possible-strong-el-nino-fuels-fears-for-fires-across-indonesian-tropical-peatlands/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Jul 2026 07:49:03 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rendy Tisna]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/02073825/peat-fire-in-borneo-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=322321</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Kalimantan, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate, Climate Change, El Nino, Environment, Extreme Weather, Fires, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Impact Of Climate Change, Peatlands, Temperatures, and Wetlands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA, Indonesia — An emerging El Niño risks fueling devastating wildfires on peatland areas in Borneo earmarked by Indonesia&#8217;s government about six years ago for a flagship food estate program, environmentalists have warned. The warning comes as Indonesia braces for heightened fire risk during the current dry season. “What we are most concerned about is [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA, Indonesia — An emerging El Niño risks fueling devastating wildfires on peatland areas in Borneo earmarked by Indonesia&#8217;s government about six years ago for a flagship food estate program, environmentalists have warned. The warning comes as Indonesia braces for heightened fire risk during the current dry season. “What we are most concerned about is the rice paddy cultivation activity that is being carried out on peatlands,” said Janang Palanungkai, who runs the Central Kalimantan office of Indonesia’s largest environmental group, Walhi. Central Kalimantan is one of five Indonesian provinces on Borneo, a forested island twice the size of Germany shared by Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia. Indonesia’s meteorology agency, the BMKG, and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have both determined that a strong El Niño is likely this year. An El Niño is declared when equatorial Pacific Ocean temperatures remain more than 0.5° Celsius above average for several months. This warmer surface water sets off a global chain of climatic reactions, including hotter and drier conditions over Indonesia, which is home to the world’s largest tropical peatlands. “There is a 50% to 60% chance of a moderate El Niño starting mid-year, and the 2026 dry season is predicted to be drier than usual,&#8221; the BMKG’s Ardhasena Sopaheluwakan said in mid-June. Traditional fishermen are active in the peatland areas of Central Kalimantan. Image by Rendy Tisna/ Mongabay Indonesia. Satellite imagery from NASA&#8217;s FIRMS (Fire Information for Resource Management System) shows the distribution of hotspots in the West Kalimantan&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/a-possible-strong-el-nino-fuels-fears-for-fires-across-indonesian-tropical-peatlands/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-322321</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Conservationists fear fires could erase years of orangutan habitat recovery</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/conservationists-fear-fires-could-erase-years-of-orangutan-habitat-recovery/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/conservationists-fear-fires-could-erase-years-of-orangutan-habitat-recovery/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 May 2026 10:34:30 +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/20/2017/01/02083516/sabah_3982-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=318990</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Kalimantan, Southeast Asia, and West Kalimantan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Ecosystems, El Nino, Fires, Forests, Great Apes, Landscape Restoration, Mammals, Orangutans, Peatlands, Rainforests, Reforestation, Rehabilitation, Restoration, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Fires have burned part of a decade-long orangutan habitat restoration site in Indonesian Borneo, raising fears among conservationists that another severe fire season could wipe out years of recovery efforts before the dry season has even fully begun. A decade ago, Yayasan IAR Indonesia (YIARI), the Indonesian affiliate of International Animal Rescue, began [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Fires have burned part of a decade-long orangutan habitat restoration site in Indonesian Borneo, raising fears among conservationists that another severe fire season could wipe out years of recovery efforts before the dry season has even fully begun. A decade ago, Yayasan IAR Indonesia (YIARI), the Indonesian affiliate of International Animal Rescue, began restoring degraded orangutan habitat in Pematang Gadung village in Ketapang district, West Kalimantan province, after villagers repeatedly reported orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) entering farms and eating crops. The incursions were driven by habitat loss. Large parts of the surrounding forest had already been degraded, including during Indonesia’s catastrophic 2015 fire season, when more than 1,500 hectares (3,700 acres) of land in and around the village were burned. Since then, YIARI, together with the government and local communities, have worked to restore the damaged landscape by planting trees that provide food for orangutans, with the hope that if enough food is available in the forest, the critically endangered apes will stop venturing into farmland. As of early 2026, the group had restored around 300 hectares (740 acres) with 150,000 trees, including fruit-bearing species favored by orangutans. Local community members planting trees at the restoration site of orangutan habitat in Pematang Gadung village in Ketapang district, West Kalimantan. Image courtesy of YIARI. The work is especially important because the remaining orangutan habitat in the area has become increasingly fragmented. Illegal gold mining operations now surround much of the forest, leaving wildlife confined to shrinking patches of habitat. “Once&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/conservationists-fear-fires-could-erase-years-of-orangutan-habitat-recovery/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/conservationists-fear-fires-could-erase-years-of-orangutan-habitat-recovery/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-318990</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia braces for possible ‘Godzilla El Niño’ as fire season escalates early</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/indonesia-braces-for-possible-godzilla-el-nino-as-fire-season-escalates-early/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/indonesia-braces-for-possible-godzilla-el-nino-as-fire-season-escalates-early/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Apr 2026 04:12:41 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/10/05111107/student-in-haze-kalimantan-indonesia-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317563</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Riau, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Climate Change, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, El Nino, Fires, Forests, Health, Palm Oil, Peatlands, Plantations, Pollution, Public Health, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia is entering the 2026 fire season with early signs of escalation, as burned area surges even before the dry season peak and forecasts raise the possibility of a so-called “Godzilla” El Niño later this year. Burned area reached 32,637 hectares (80,650 acres) by February — about three times the size of Paris, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia is entering the 2026 fire season with early signs of escalation, as burned area surges even before the dry season peak and forecasts raise the possibility of a so-called “Godzilla” El Niño later this year. Burned area reached 32,637 hectares (80,650 acres) by February — about three times the size of Paris, 20 times higher than the same period last year — even before the dry season has fully set in. Scientists say this early surge could signal the start of a more intense fire season, especially as climate forecasts point to the possible return of El Niño. Some global forecasts suggest the event could become one of the strongest in at least a decade, raising the risk of prolonged drought and widespread fires, although significant uncertainty remains over how intense it will ultimately be. A strong El Niño would also likely reshape global weather patterns and could push global temperatures to record levels in 2027, due to the lagged warming effect the phenomenon has on the climate system. El Niño refers to a warming of sea surface temperatures in the equatorial Pacific Ocean that can disrupt weather patterns worldwide. In Indonesia, it is typically associated with drier conditions and heightened fire risk. Indonesian agencies have at times referred to the potential event as a Godzilla El Niño, a nonscientific term used to describe an unusually strong episode that could significantly intensify drought and fire risk. Indonesia’s meteorological agency, BMKG, says there is a 50-80% chance of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/indonesia-braces-for-possible-godzilla-el-nino-as-fire-season-escalates-early/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/indonesia-braces-for-possible-godzilla-el-nino-as-fire-season-escalates-early/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317563</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Ancient’ carbon venting from lakes in the Congo Basin peatlands: Study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/ancient-carbon-venting-from-lakes-in-the-congo-basin-peatlands-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/ancient-carbon-venting-from-lakes-in-the-congo-basin-peatlands-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Mar 2026 13:35:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/30170255/9_dinghy-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316575</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, Congo Basin, and Democratic Republic Of Congo]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[carbon, Carbon Dioxide, Climate, Conservation, Forest Carbon, Forests, Lakes, Peatlands, Research, and Soil Carbon]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Across the central Congo Basin lies a bastion of carbon that scientists are just beginning to understand. First mapped only about a decade ago, the Cuvette Centrale peatlands are the size of England and hold some 30 billion metric tons of carbon. Over thousands of years, the swampy conditions in this part of Central Africa [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Across the central Congo Basin lies a bastion of carbon that scientists are just beginning to understand. First mapped only about a decade ago, the Cuvette Centrale peatlands are the size of England and hold some 30 billion metric tons of carbon. Over thousands of years, the swampy conditions in this part of Central Africa have slowed the decay of plant matter falling from the forest above. The process leads to the development of peat, and the peatlands in the Congo Basin are the largest known repository in the tropics. Across the millennia, enormous amounts of carbon have built up and been stashed away inside the peat. Recent research now suggests that some of that very old carbon may be returning to the atmosphere through lakes that form amid peatlands — similar to the way smoke escapes a fireplace through a chimney, according to the authors. It’s a finding that opens new questions about how we account for the cycling of carbon through these ecosystems and the resulting influence on climate change. Water draining forested landscapes meets water draining savanna landscapes at this confluence between the Fimi and Kasaï rivers in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The reddish color of the Kasaï River originates from the iron oxides associated with clays of suspended sediments transported by the river, which are more predominant in savanna compared to forest. The much darker color of the Fimi River, which drains Lake Mai Ndombe, stems from organic materials that leach from leaves and soils&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/ancient-carbon-venting-from-lakes-in-the-congo-basin-peatlands-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/ancient-carbon-venting-from-lakes-in-the-congo-basin-peatlands-study/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-316575</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Thousands of peat fires flare across Indonesia despite rainy season</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/thousands-of-peat-fires-flare-across-indonesia-despite-rainy-season/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/thousands-of-peat-fires-flare-across-indonesia-despite-rainy-season/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Feb 2026 06:40:47 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/12/28140328/firefighter-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=314232</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Aceh, Asia, Indonesia, Kalimantan, Southeast Asia, Sumatra, and West Kalimantan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, carbon, Carbon Emissions, Climate, Climate Change, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Ecosystems, Environment, Fires, Forestry, Forests, Health, Peatlands, Planetary Health, Plantations, Pollution, Public Health, Rainforests, Rehabilitation, Restoration, Threats To Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Satellite imagery recorded more than 5,000 fire hotspots on peatlands across Indonesia in January, despite the fact that much of the country remains firmly in the grip of the rainy season. Independent watchdog Pantau Gambut identified 5,490 hotspots within peatlands, perennially waterlogged ecosystems that store massive amounts of carbon dioxide. Official monitoring also [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Satellite imagery recorded more than 5,000 fire hotspots on peatlands across Indonesia in January, despite the fact that much of the country remains firmly in the grip of the rainy season. Independent watchdog Pantau Gambut identified 5,490 hotspots within peatlands, perennially waterlogged ecosystems that store massive amounts of carbon dioxide. Official monitoring also recorded an increase in fire hotspots, though using a different reporting method. Based on NASA Terra/Aqua satellite data, the Ministry of Forestry reported 110 hotspots nationwide in January 2026, up from 29 in January 2025 and 18 in December 2025. The two figures aren’t directly comparable, as they rely on different spatial filters and detection criteria. Pantau Gambut said the rise it recorded is concerning because it’s occurring during the wet season, which has been so intense this time around that it led to massive flooding in Sumatra in late 2025. The spike suggests fire risk in peat landscapes is no longer confined to the traditional dry season, but increasingly driven by degraded hydrology and land-use pressures, said Pantau Gambut campaigner Putra Saptian. Peat soil, which can be several meters deep, is made up of dead vegetation that, thanks to the waterlogged conditions, is only partially decomposed. In peat-rich areas across Sumatra and Borneo, logging and plantation companies have typically dug canals to drain the peat soil in preparation for cultivation, leaving behind vast swaths of highly flammable organic matter. Pantau Gambut recorded 1,824 hotspots inside the concessions of such companies in January, or a&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/thousands-of-peat-fires-flare-across-indonesia-despite-rainy-season/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/thousands-of-peat-fires-flare-across-indonesia-despite-rainy-season/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-314232</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Communities join global push to protect European, Arctic &#038; US peatlands</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/local-communities-join-global-push-to-protect-european-arctic-us-peatlands/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/local-communities-join-global-push-to-protect-european-arctic-us-peatlands/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Feb 2026 16:55:38 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sonam Lama Hyolmo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/05091906/Gray-Jay-Admiral-Rd-feeders-Sax-Zim-Bog-MN-IMG_1096-scaled-e1770283761208-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=313759</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Arctic, Canada, Europe, Finland, Minnesota, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, boreal forests, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Culture, Environment, food security, Indigenous Peoples, Land Use Change, Landscape Restoration, Peatlands, Restoration, Rewilding, Rivers, Wetlands, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[After her father’s death, Bigga-Helena Magga and her sister were determined that their ancestral homeland, Alttokangas, a Sámi boreal forest and peatland in Finland’s Inari municipality, would not be turned into a commercial forestry operation. “We chose to take care and protect our inherited site located along the Ivalojoki river, which held great significance to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[After her father’s death, Bigga-Helena Magga and her sister were determined that their ancestral homeland, Alttokangas, a Sámi boreal forest and peatland in Finland’s Inari municipality, would not be turned into a commercial forestry operation. “We chose to take care and protect our inherited site located along the Ivalojoki river, which held great significance to Sámi culture and way of life,” said Magga, a Sámi leader from the Ivalo community. What began as a personal restoration project gained momentum in 2024, when it was formally recognized as the first Indigenous and community conserved area (ICCA) in Sámi lands located in Finland. That same year, they joined an effort to create what may be the world’s first coordinated restoration hubs across boreal and Arctic peatlands in Europe and North America. A key goal is for communities across Canada, the U.S. and Europe’s Arctic to work simultaneously to find a shared framework for restoration that conserves peatlands’ rich soil carbon and mitigates climate change. Kunnijänkkä intact peatland facing Northeast, the Pallas-Ounas National Park visible on the horizon. Image courtesy of Mika Honkalinna / Snowchange Cooperative. The initiative, part of the Climate Breakthrough Award program, builds on peatland conservation and restoration work led by Snowchange Cooperative, a Finland-based organization that launched its first landscape rewilding project in 2018. At the time, the effort restored peatlands from eight sites totaling 8,800 hectares (21,745 acres) to 188 sites in 2024, affecting up to 62,000 hectares (153,205 acres) in Finland. The program expands on this initiative&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/local-communities-join-global-push-to-protect-european-arctic-us-peatlands/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/local-communities-join-global-push-to-protect-european-arctic-us-peatlands/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-313759</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Ditches on peatland oil palm plantations are an overlooked source of methane: Study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/ditches-on-peatland-oil-palm-plantations-are-an-overlooked-source-of-methane-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/ditches-on-peatland-oil-palm-plantations-are-an-overlooked-source-of-methane-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Dec 2025 14:18:37 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/30075343/Tropical-peatland-clearance-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=312273</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, Malaysia, Southeast Asia, and Tropics]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, carbon, Carbon Dioxide, Carbon Emissions, Climate Change, Conservation, Environment, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Methane, Peatlands, Politics, Research, Soil Carbon, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The water-filled ditches that laced through the oil palm plantation in Sarawak, a Malaysian state on the island of Borneo, nagged at Kuno Kasak when he saw them in 2022. He knew that these canals, used to draw water out of spongy peatlands to make them suitable for agriculture, had been shown to be sources [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The water-filled ditches that laced through the oil palm plantation in Sarawak, a Malaysian state on the island of Borneo, nagged at Kuno Kasak when he saw them in 2022. He knew that these canals, used to draw water out of spongy peatlands to make them suitable for agriculture, had been shown to be sources of methane. But just how much remains an open question, with too few data points to make estimates with certainty. Though methane dissipates more quickly in the atmosphere than CO2, it’s more than 20 times more effective at trapping heat. It’s also responsible for nearly a third of the global temperature rise since the industrial revolution, making accurate methane accounting imperative for addressing climate change. Kasak, a professor of environmental technology at Estonia’s University of Tartu, is the lead author of a recent study in which he and his colleagues report that methane from these drainage canals accounted for as much as 10% of the total greenhouse gases from a given hectare of the oil palm plantations they studied. At the same time, the ditches covered no more than 4% of the plantations’ total area. “This is significant because it means that previous estimates of emissions from drained peatlands likely underestimate the contribution from ditches, which are often ignored in global carbon accounting,” Kasak told Mongabay in an email. They also found that the ditches were sources of CO2. One of the oil palm plantations where Kasak and his colleagues sampled emissions from drainage ditches.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/ditches-on-peatland-oil-palm-plantations-are-an-overlooked-source-of-methane-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/ditches-on-peatland-oil-palm-plantations-are-an-overlooked-source-of-methane-study/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-312273</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Stuart Brooks, peat protector, has died</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/stuart-brooks-conservationist-of-unfashionable-landscapes/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/stuart-brooks-conservationist-of-unfashionable-landscapes/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Dec 2025 08:02:17 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/21223629/stuart-brooks-header-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=311832</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Europe, Scotland, and United Kingdom]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Obituary, Peatlands, and Wetlands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Founder&#8217;s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. For much of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, peatlands sat awkwardly at the edge of public consciousness. Neither conventionally scenic nor easily commodified, they were drained, burned, planted over, or dismissed as wasteland. Only gradually did [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Founder&#8217;s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. For much of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, peatlands sat awkwardly at the edge of public consciousness. Neither conventionally scenic nor easily commodified, they were drained, burned, planted over, or dismissed as wasteland. Only gradually did they come to be understood as systems of consequence: for biodiversity, for water, and, increasingly, for climate. That shift owed less to sudden revelation than to sustained, patient work by a small number of specialists who understood both the science and the politics of land. Among them was Stuart Brooks, who died on December 11, aged 56. He spent much of his career explaining why peat mattered and persuading institutions to act accordingly. He was not the first to do so, but he was unusually effective at translating technical knowledge into policy, and policy into practice. His professional life unfolded largely in Scotland, though he was not born there. Trained as a geographer, he encountered peatlands as a student and stayed with them as they moved from obscurity to prominence. In the 1990s he worked on raised bog restoration and helped assemble what was then a scattered body of practical knowledge. That effort culminated in Conserving Bogs: The Management Handbook, published in 1997, which became a standard reference for practitioners. He later rose through the Scottish Wildlife Trust, eventually serving as its director of conservation. From there he moved to the John Muir Trust, first&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/stuart-brooks-conservationist-of-unfashionable-landscapes/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/stuart-brooks-conservationist-of-unfashionable-landscapes/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-311832</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Scientists push for greater climate role for Latin America’s overlooked ecosystems</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/scientists-push-for-greater-climate-role-for-latin-americas-overlooked-ecosystems/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/scientists-push-for-greater-climate-role-for-latin-americas-overlooked-ecosystems/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Dec 2025 15:55:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Antonio José Paz Cardona]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/04155121/Turberas_Leslie-6-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310625</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Carbon Dioxide, Carbon Sequestration, Climate, Climate Change, Ecosystems, Mangroves, Peatlands, Tropical Forests, and Wetlands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Efforts to mitigate the impacts of climate change have focused largely on the protection of tropical forests like the Amazon Rainforest, important carbon sinks that can store between 60 and 230 metric tons of carbon per hectare. But elsewhere in Latin America, other ecosystems have been overlooked by international decision-makers, despite science recognizing their key [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Efforts to mitigate the impacts of climate change have focused largely on the protection of tropical forests like the Amazon Rainforest, important carbon sinks that can store between 60 and 230 metric tons of carbon per hectare. But elsewhere in Latin America, other ecosystems have been overlooked by international decision-makers, despite science recognizing their key role in preventing greenhouse gas emissions and the fact that many of them store even more carbon, hectare for hectare, than tropical forests. A team from Mongabay Latam traveled to several countries in the region to draw attention to these forgotten land- and seascapes: páramos, coastal wetlands, peatlands, mangroves and seagrass meadows — key ecosystems and invaluable carbon deposits. These six stories show how communities, organizations and scientists are coming together to preserve and study these vital ecosystems, whose potential in the fight against climate change remains underappreciated. The IOV team surveying a Thalassia seagrass meadow. Image courtesy of Mayré Jiménez. Putting a spotlight on páramos, coastal wetlands and seagrasses In the fight against climate change, every ecosystem counts. Preventing carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gas emissions from entering the atmosphere is crucial to preventing, or at least containing and limiting, global warming. The Paris Agreement, adopted in 2015, seeks to limit the global temperature rise to less than 2° Celsius (3.6° Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels, ideally capping it at 1.5°C (2.7°F). However, the world remains far off this target. Countries have presented their emissions reduction plans, known as their nationally determined contributions (NDCs),&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/scientists-push-for-greater-climate-role-for-latin-americas-overlooked-ecosystems/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/scientists-push-for-greater-climate-role-for-latin-americas-overlooked-ecosystems/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-310625</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The valuable peatlands of Peru’s Pastaza River Fan: one of the world’s largest carbon reservoirs</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/the-valuable-peatlands-of-perus-pastaza-river-fan-one-of-the-worlds-largest-carbon-reservoirs/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/the-valuable-peatlands-of-perus-pastaza-river-fan-one-of-the-worlds-largest-carbon-reservoirs/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Dec 2025 10:24:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Leslie Moreno Custodio]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/01101934/Turberas_Leslie-3-scaled-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310396</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[carbon, Carbon Dioxide, Climate Change, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Ecosystems, Peatlands, and Research]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On the banks of the Pastaza River, in Peru’s northern Datem del Marañón province, Kietre Gonzales remembers just how close his childhood home was to the aguajales, the swampy palm forests so common in this part of the Peruvian Amazon. But over time, the landscape began to change. The aguajes (Mauritia flexuosa), the palms that [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On the banks of the Pastaza River, in Peru’s northern Datem del Marañón province, Kietre Gonzales remembers just how close his childhood home was to the aguajales, the swampy palm forests so common in this part of the Peruvian Amazon. But over time, the landscape began to change. The aguajes (Mauritia flexuosa), the palms that bear the wine-red fruit of the same name, started to be cut down. “Fifteen years ago, we ourselves were destroying them. We used to cut down the aguaje palm to harvest its fruit, leaving empty spaces where other kinds of weeds would grow. We started cutting them down because there were no initiatives to protect them,” says Gonzales, a member of the Recreo Native Community, part of the Kichua Indigenous people. At the foot of a tree along the riverbank, Gonzales looks up at the broad leaves of the aguaje palms rising above the distant vegetation, where the bright green of the community sports field ends beneath a clear sky and a scorching sun that makes the skin glisten. A rooster crows, breaking his contemplation of the landscape. “Now we understand that we must not cut down the trees of the Amazon,” he says. The aguajal peat bogs that still survive in this part of the Amazon are part of the Pastaza River Fan Wetland Complex, one of the deepest peatland systems in the world — the third-deepest tropical peatland, at more than 8.1 meters (26.6 feet), after Central Kalimantan in Indonesian Borneo and the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/the-valuable-peatlands-of-perus-pastaza-river-fan-one-of-the-worlds-largest-carbon-reservoirs/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/the-valuable-peatlands-of-perus-pastaza-river-fan-one-of-the-worlds-largest-carbon-reservoirs/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-310396</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>What’s at stake for the environment in Chile’s upcoming election?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/whats-at-stake-for-the-environment-in-chiles-upcoming-election/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/whats-at-stake-for-the-environment-in-chiles-upcoming-election/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Nov 2025 18:12:05 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/13175706/AP23170742560995-768x450.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=309501</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Chile, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation, Copper, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forest Destruction, Forests, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Rights, Lithium, Mining, Peatlands, Politics, Pollution, and Protected Areas]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Chileans will go to the polls on Nov. 16 to vote for a new president, 23 Senate seats, and all 155 seats in the lower Chamber of Deputies. The elections could be a deciding factor in how the country addresses a number of ongoing environmental issues, including the renewable energy transition, constitutional rights for Indigenous [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Chileans will go to the polls on Nov. 16 to vote for a new president, 23 Senate seats, and all 155 seats in the lower Chamber of Deputies. The elections could be a deciding factor in how the country addresses a number of ongoing environmental issues, including the renewable energy transition, constitutional rights for Indigenous groups, and the development of its mining sector, most notably energy transition minerals like copper and lithium. Chile has protected more than 20% of its land mass and more than 40% of its waters, and last year passed legislation with a special focus on peatlands, a major carbon sink. But it’s still short of meeting its 30&#215;30 targets, part of the Global Biodiversity Framework to protect 30% of land and water by 2030. The country is also dealing with land disputes in southern regions like Araucanía and Biobío, where Indigenous Mapuche groups often reject logging, agribusiness and an ineffective land titling process for ancestral territory. Earlier this year, the Presidential Commission for Peace and Understanding delivered a final report with recommended solutions to the land disputes, but implementation will be up to the next president. The world’s top copper producer and second largest of lithium, Chile is also a major player in the global energy transition. In recent years, numerous mining operations have been accused of abusing freshwater sources and endangering vulnerable species, raising questions about whether the country needs tighter oversight. The current president, Gabriel Boric, the millennial progressive who promised systemic change when elected in 2021,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/whats-at-stake-for-the-environment-in-chiles-upcoming-election/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/whats-at-stake-for-the-environment-in-chiles-upcoming-election/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-309501</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia flooding traced to corporate canals that drain peatlands: Report</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/indonesia-flooding-traced-to-corporate-canals-that-drain-peatlands-report/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/indonesia-flooding-traced-to-corporate-canals-that-drain-peatlands-report/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Sep 2025 03:43:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/04/07112432/Kota_Barabai_saat_banjir_Kalsel_2021-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=305811</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, carbon, Carbon Emissions, Climate Change, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Fires, Flooding, forest degradation, Forest Destruction, Forests, Law, Law Enforcement, Peatlands, and Protected Areas]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Flooding disasters in Indonesia are increasingly traced not to natural causes, but to corporate destruction of peatlands, NGO Pantau Gambut warns in its newest report. The report reveals how the construction of industrial-scale canals, not just haze, poses a growing threat. Pantau Gambut says its new report builds on earlier findings that peat [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Flooding disasters in Indonesia are increasingly traced not to natural causes, but to corporate destruction of peatlands, NGO Pantau Gambut warns in its newest report. The report reveals how the construction of industrial-scale canals, not just haze, poses a growing threat. Pantau Gambut says its new report builds on earlier findings that peat degradation drives floods. That previous analysis warned that nearly half of Indonesia’s peatlands, about 6 million hectares (15 million acres), were classified as highly vulnerable to flooding due to unchecked land degradation. The new report goes beyond diagnosis of flood risk to trace responsibility directly to corporate concessions and weak laws. The report found that 281,253 kilometers (175,000 miles) of canals have cut through peatland ecosystems across Sumatra, Kalimantan and Papua. Map of peat canals in Kalimantan. Image courtesy of Pantau Gambut. The total canal length — equivalent to roughly 65 trips between Los Angeles to New York — is mostly found within oil palm concessions and industrial plantation forests, covering areas of nearly 4 million hectares (9.9 million acres) and 2.5 million hectares (6.2 million acres), respectively. Draining peat via canals compromises its sponge-like function, causing subsidence and irreversible drying, according to Kitso Kusin, a peat researcher at the University of Palangka Raya in Central Kalimantan province. Once peatland loses its permanent ability to retain water, there will be uncontrolled runoff that damages the surrounding environment. Therefore, floods in degraded peatlands aren’t “natural” but a sign of hydrological collapse caused by drainage canals, deforestation&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/indonesia-flooding-traced-to-corporate-canals-that-drain-peatlands-report/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/indonesia-flooding-traced-to-corporate-canals-that-drain-peatlands-report/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-305811</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Global brands join drive for deforestation-free palm oil in Indonesia’s Aceh</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/global-brands-join-drive-for-deforestation-free-palm-oil-in-indonesias-aceh/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/global-brands-join-drive-for-deforestation-free-palm-oil-in-indonesias-aceh/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Aug 2025 10:11:33 +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/20/2022/07/12174448/orangutan-with-light-flare-leuser-r-butler-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=304783</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Aceh, Asia, Indonesia, Leuser Ecosystem, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Apes, Biodiversity, Business, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporations, Critically Endangered Species, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Great Apes, International Trade, Orangutans, Palm Oil, Peatlands, Plantations, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Supply Chain, Threats To Rainforests, Trade, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Some of the world’s biggest consumer brands are banding together to tackle deforestation in one of Earth’s richest biodiversity hotspots in Indonesia. The companies, including Nestlé, PepsiCo and Unilever, on Aug. 13 launched the Aceh Sustainable Palm Oil Working Group, which brings together major palm oil buyers, producers and refineries to align with [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Some of the world’s biggest consumer brands are banding together to tackle deforestation in one of Earth’s richest biodiversity hotspots in Indonesia. The companies, including Nestlé, PepsiCo and Unilever, on Aug. 13 launched the Aceh Sustainable Palm Oil Working Group, which brings together major palm oil buyers, producers and refineries to align with a newly established road map for sustainable palm oil in the province of Aceh, on the island of Sumatra. The working group, the first province-level initiative of its kind in Indonesia, is “a much-needed, long-overdue step towards halting the devastating effects of palm oil expansion in this vital region,” U.S.-based campaign group Rainforest Action Network (RAN) forest policy director Gemma Tillack said in a statement. Stakeholders pose together during the launch of the Aceh Sustainable Palm Oil Working Group in Aceh in August 2025. Image courtesy of IDH. Forest loss pressures Despite its ecological importance, Aceh continues to face pressure from palm oil-driven deforestation. The province is home to Southeast Asia’s largest and most carbon-rich peatlands, as well as the Leuser Ecosystem — the last place on Earth where critically endangered Sumatran elephants, tigers, orangutans and rhinoceroses coexist in the wild. The Leuser landscape is part of the UNESCO-listed Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra World Heritage Site and is also designated as a Biosphere Reserve. Deforestation in Aceh fell after a peak in 2009, but has been on the rise again since 2021. Between 2020 and 2024, the province lost 41,834 hectares (103,374 acres) of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/global-brands-join-drive-for-deforestation-free-palm-oil-in-indonesias-aceh/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-304783</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>NASA satellites show surge in Indonesia hotspots as 2025 fires send smoke to Malaysia</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/nasa-satellites-show-surge-in-indonesia-hotspots-as-2025-fires-send-smoke-to-malaysia/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/nasa-satellites-show-surge-in-indonesia-hotspots-as-2025-fires-send-smoke-to-malaysia/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Aug 2025 13:08:47 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/07/24234827/indonesia_20150815-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=304212</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Riau, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Business, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, data, Deforestation, Environment, Fires, Forests, Peatlands, Pollution, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Remote Sensing, Satellite Imagery, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia’s 2025 fire season is spiraling into one of the worst in recent memory, with a sharp spike in hotspots and toxic haze already choking parts of Malaysia. Forest and peat fires, mostly caused by deliberate land clearing for agriculture, are an annual problem in Indonesia that strain relations with neighboring countries. July [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia’s 2025 fire season is spiraling into one of the worst in recent memory, with a sharp spike in hotspots and toxic haze already choking parts of Malaysia. Forest and peat fires, mostly caused by deliberate land clearing for agriculture, are an annual problem in Indonesia that strain relations with neighboring countries. July 2025 has seen a dramatic escalation in fire activity across Indonesia with official data from NASA satellites showing a surge in fire hotspots compared with previous months. NASA’s VIIRS (S-NPP) satellite detected 794 hotspots in July — up nearly tenfold from June and more than thirtyfold from May. The hotspots in July also represent a more than tenfold increase from the same period last year (68 in July 2024) and are significantly higher than the 532 hotspots recorded in July 2023. Graph showing hotspots in Indonesia from 2023 to 2025 based on NASA’s VIIRS (S-NPP) satellite. Image courtesy of Indonesia&#8217;s Ministry of Environment. Data from NASA’s Terra and Aqua MODIS satellites paint a similar picture, showing 879 hotspots in July, a more than tenfold increase from May, and are higher than the same period last year (463 in July 2024 and 776 in July 2023). While VIIRS has finer resolution and detects smaller fires, MODIS captures a wider range of fire activity multiple times per day. These are all high-confidence hotspots, meaning satellite algorithms consider them very likely to be actual vegetation fires, not false alarms. The sharp spike in fire activity highlights how the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/nasa-satellites-show-surge-in-indonesia-hotspots-as-2025-fires-send-smoke-to-malaysia/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-304212</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Study maps rare Borneo forests with unique habitats &#038; urgent need for protection</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/study-maps-rare-borneo-forests-with-unique-habitats-urgent-need-for-protection/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/study-maps-rare-borneo-forests-with-unique-habitats-urgent-need-for-protection/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Aug 2025 02:19:24 +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/20/2025/08/12094955/Heath-Forest_Bernat-Ripoll-Capilla-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=304113</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, Kalimantan, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Fires, Forests, Gold Mining, Mining, Palm Oil, Peatlands, Plantations, Protected Areas, Research, and Restoration]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In their latest study, a group of researchers from Indonesia, the U.K., and the U.S. find that heath forests (locally known as kerangas) span 16,586 square kilometers (6,400 square miles) — almost the size of Hawaii’s land area — across Kalimantan. This figure suggests about a 33% loss of forest cover since a 1996 estimate [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In their latest study, a group of researchers from Indonesia, the U.K., and the U.S. find that heath forests (locally known as kerangas) span 16,586 square kilometers (6,400 square miles) — almost the size of Hawaii’s land area — across Kalimantan. This figure suggests about a 33% loss of forest cover since a 1996 estimate of 24,750 km² (9,550 mi²), they write in a paper published July 16 in Cambridge University Press’ Journal of Tropical Ecology. The authors say their research offered a baseline by clarifying the mosaic structure of lowland kerangas and highlighting their distinct role as a unique habitat within the landscape, given limited research on these forests and the resulting gaps in understanding the effects of human pressures and conservation measures. “Research into kerangas forest coverage in Kalimantan was inspired by our discovery of the Rungan forest landscape’s fascinating forest and exceptional conservation value,” Namrata Biligeri Anirudh, a Ph.D. ecologist from the University of Indonesia who is the paper’s lead author, told Mongabay in an email interview. A new study mapping lowland heath forests (kerangas) in Indonesian Borneo reveals major changes in their extent and limited formal protection. Image courtesy of Bernat Ripoll Capilla. Anirudh noted that the landscape was nestled between the Rungan and Kahayan rivers in Central Kalimantan, serving as home to an extraordinary variety of endangered plants and animals, thanks to its rare mix of heath forests on sandy soils, swamps, lowland forests and abundant Borneo ironwood (Eusideroxylon zwageri). “The fact that such a&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/study-maps-rare-borneo-forests-with-unique-habitats-urgent-need-for-protection/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-304113</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesian palm oil company sues experts who helped secure $18m pollution ruling</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/indonesian-palm-oil-company-sues-experts-who-helped-secure-18m-pollution-ruling/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/indonesian-palm-oil-company-sues-experts-who-helped-secure-18m-pollution-ruling/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Jul 2025 11:31:14 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/04/22123507/borneo-Dayak-fire-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=303123</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, Kalimantan, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Air Pollution, carbon, Carbon Emissions, Climate, Climate Change, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporations, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Fires, Forests, Law, Law Enforcement, Palm Oil, Peatlands, Plantations, Pollution, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Two of Indonesia’s most prominent environmental experts are facing a lawsuit that activists say is part of a wider trend of silencing scientists who testify against environmental violators. Bambang Hero Saharjo and Basuki Wasis, both veteran forensics experts whose testimonies have helped convict major polluters, are being sued by PT Kalimantan Lestari Mandiri [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Two of Indonesia’s most prominent environmental experts are facing a lawsuit that activists say is part of a wider trend of silencing scientists who testify against environmental violators. Bambang Hero Saharjo and Basuki Wasis, both veteran forensics experts whose testimonies have helped convict major polluters, are being sued by PT Kalimantan Lestari Mandiri (KLM), a palm oil company they helped hold accountable for massive fires in Central Kalimantan province on the island of Borneo. Their expert testimony and damage assessments have proved crucial in securing rulings against environmental offenders. By calculating the cost of ecological destruction, they help judges assign real value to environmental losses — evidence often used to prove corporate liability or even corruption. Bambang has testified as an expert in more than 500 environmental destruction cases, and is currently assisting in more than 15 cases — from fires that spew toxic haze, to mining-caused floods and landslides. The KLM case stems from 2018, when the Indonesian government sued the company for fires that burned 511 hectares (1,263 acres) of its concession in Central Kalimantan. Those fires contributed to the toxic haze crisis that routinely blankets parts of Indonesia and neighboring countries during the dry season, causing widespread respiratory illness, school closures and flight cancellations. Peatland fires in particular release massive amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, making them a major driver of greenhouse gas emissions and regional air pollution. A court found KLM liable for the fires and ordered it to pay 89 billion&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/indonesian-palm-oil-company-sues-experts-who-helped-secure-18m-pollution-ruling/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/indonesian-palm-oil-company-sues-experts-who-helped-secure-18m-pollution-ruling/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-303123</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Deforestation and fires persist in Indonesia’s pulpwood and biomass plantations</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/deforestation-and-fires-persist-in-indonesias-pulpwood-and-biomass-plantations/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/deforestation-and-fires-persist-in-indonesias-pulpwood-and-biomass-plantations/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 May 2025 08:36:03 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/03/27180850/Screenshot-2024-03-28-010827-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=299735</guid>

					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Business, Conflict, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Ecosystems, Environment, Fires, Forestry, Forests, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Landscape Restoration, Logging, Peatlands, Pulp And Paper, Rainforests, Restoration, Threats To Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Industrial plantations of trees to make paper and wood pellets are causing widespread and persistent environmental and social violations in Indonesia, despite claims to the contrary by the industry and government, a new report shows. A coalition of 13 NGOs, including Walhi, Indonesia’s biggest environmental watchdog, looked into the operations of 33 plantation [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Industrial plantations of trees to make paper and wood pellets are causing widespread and persistent environmental and social violations in Indonesia, despite claims to the contrary by the industry and government, a new report shows. A coalition of 13 NGOs, including Walhi, Indonesia’s biggest environmental watchdog, looked into the operations of 33 plantation companies and used ground investigations, satellite imagery and community interviews to find repeated violations between 2023 and 2025 across 11 provinces. Their report details the clearing of natural forests, destruction of peatlands, uncontrolled fires, pollution, encroachment beyond licensed concession areas, and ongoing land conflicts with local communities. The companies in question are all licensed to clear natural forest to plant acacia and eucalyptus, used to make paper and wood pulp, or calliandra and gliricidia, to make wood pellets that are burned to generate energy. “If a company is still clearing natural forests, it’s undermining efforts to meet carbon neutrality goals, since preserving forests within concessions is key to [those goals],” said Difa Shafira, the forestry lead at the Indonesian Center for Environmental Law (ICEL), part of the NGO coalition. The coalition presented its findings to the forestry ministry in mid-April, saying it hoped there would be follow-up action, given President Prabowo Subianto’s stated commitment to turning Indonesia’s forests into a net carbon sink. “Looking at the president’s vision and mission statements, there’s a stated priority to take firm action against polluters,” said Okto Yugo Setiyo, coordinator of Jikalahari, one of the NGOs. A ministry official&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/deforestation-and-fires-persist-in-indonesias-pulpwood-and-biomass-plantations/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/deforestation-and-fires-persist-in-indonesias-pulpwood-and-biomass-plantations/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-299735</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New research finds substantial peat deposits in Colombia’s conflicted Amazon</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/new-research-finds-substantial-peat-deposits-in-colombias-conflicted-amazon/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/new-research-finds-substantial-peat-deposits-in-colombias-conflicted-amazon/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Apr 2025 19:48:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Erik Iverson]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/04/23113910/banner-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=298059</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, carbon, Carbon Sequestration, Conflict, Conservation, Deforestation, Ecosystems, Environment, Forest Carbon, Freshwater, Governance, Peatlands, Research, Satellite Imagery, Soil Carbon, Tropical Forests, and Wetlands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the heart of the Colombian Amazon, the towering mountains of the Serranía del Chiribiquete harbor secrets including South America’s oldest rock art. The remote site was off-limits and poorly known for decades, as Chiribiquete National Park was also a stronghold for the guerrilla Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Now, in the wake of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the heart of the Colombian Amazon, the towering mountains of the Serranía del Chiribiquete harbor secrets including South America’s oldest rock art. The remote site was off-limits and poorly known for decades, as Chiribiquete National Park was also a stronghold for the guerrilla Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Now, in the wake of a shaky peace process that has provided greater security and access to some regions, the park is revealing another secret: In the shadow of the mountains lie some of the densest peat deposits in South America. Peat is the accumulation of partially decayed organic matter in wetlands, compressed by time into dense soils that store more carbon per hectare than any other type of landscape. When left undisturbed, peatlands grow slowly every year, locking away carbon in low-oxygen water that prevents full decomposition. But when people drain and dry peatlands for agriculture, they can become “carbon bombs,” rapidly releasing massive amounts of planet-warming greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The burning of huge peat areas in Indonesia in recent years has covered the country in smoke and made it one of the world’s worst carbon emitters from land use change. A new study, published in Environmental Research Letters, reveals that peatlands in Colombia — poorly known before now — are widespread and carbon-dense, making the country the site of South America’s largest known reserves, after Peru. Carried out with painstaking ground-truthing amid a fluctuating security situation, the study highlights the need to understand and conserve these&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/new-research-finds-substantial-peat-deposits-in-colombias-conflicted-amazon/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/new-research-finds-substantial-peat-deposits-in-colombias-conflicted-amazon/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-298059</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indigenous aguaje tree climbers bring down profits in Peru’s Amazon — sustainably</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/indigenous-aguaje-tree-climbers-bring-down-profits-in-perus-amazon-sustainably/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/indigenous-aguaje-tree-climbers-bring-down-profits-in-perus-amazon-sustainably/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Apr 2025 19:22:57 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aimee Gabay]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/04/10185522/Aguaje-6-e1744311740142-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=297351</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Culture, Indigenous Peoples, Peatlands, Sustainability, Sustainable Development, Sustainable Forest Management, Trees, Tropical Forests, and Wetlands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The large leaves of the aguaje, a tropical palm tree that grows in the peatlands and other seasonal wetland areas in tropical South America, form a rounded crown on its head from which its oval-shaped fruits hang heavily in bunches from December to June. When the reddish maroon reptilian-looking fruits are ready for harvest, trained [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The large leaves of the aguaje, a tropical palm tree that grows in the peatlands and other seasonal wetland areas in tropical South America, form a rounded crown on its head from which its oval-shaped fruits hang heavily in bunches from December to June. When the reddish maroon reptilian-looking fruits are ready for harvest, trained tree climbers from the Indigenous Maijuna communities in the Peruvian Amazon climb the 35-meter (115-foot) gangling trees to collect them. Previously, the Maijuna people harvested the fruit by cutting down the trees. So did many others, such as Kichwa and Kukama Kukamiria communities. While easier, this led to the degradation of the landscape and genetic diversity as aguaje trees (Mauritia flexuosa) are dioecious, meaning only female trees produce fruit. In the 1990s, the discovery of its market potential led to large-scale commercial extraction by both Indigenous communities and outsiders across the Peruvian Amazon. “Our ancestors weren’t aware that they were harming their palm trees,” Edber Tang Rios, president of the Maijuna-Kichwa Regional Conservation Area (ACR) management committee, told Mongabay over WhatsApp voice messages. “They had no knowledge. They cut it down and, little by little, it was dying out.” Climbers climb 40 meters in height to extract the waters from the palm trees. Image by Esperanza Natural Forest Management Association During this time, up to 100 sacks of fruit per day were harvested by cutting down trees, studies have shown. But because of overharvesting, this situation changed in the 2000s. The depletion of female palms&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/indigenous-aguaje-tree-climbers-bring-down-profits-in-perus-amazon-sustainably/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/indigenous-aguaje-tree-climbers-bring-down-profits-in-perus-amazon-sustainably/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-297351</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia’s peatlands face growing flood risks amid widespread degradation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/indonesias-peatlands-face-growing-flood-risks-amid-widespread-degradation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/indonesias-peatlands-face-growing-flood-risks-amid-widespread-degradation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Apr 2025 11:28:08 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/04/07111117/Banjir_Kalsel_2021-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=297154</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, Kalimantan, Papua, South Kalimantan, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Deforestation, Degraded Lands, Disasters, Ecosystems, Environment, Fires, Flooding, Forests, Landscape Restoration, Peatlands, Restoration, and Wetlands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Nearly half of Indonesia’s peatlands are vulnerable to flooding due to degradation caused by unchecked exploitation, with 6 million hectares (15 million acres) — an area twice the size of Belgium — classified as highly vulnerable, according to a new report. The report, by peatland watchdog Pantau Gambut, examined three peatland-rich regions of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Nearly half of Indonesia’s peatlands are vulnerable to flooding due to degradation caused by unchecked exploitation, with 6 million hectares (15 million acres) — an area twice the size of Belgium — classified as highly vulnerable, according to a new report. The report, by peatland watchdog Pantau Gambut, examined three peatland-rich regions of Indonesia: the island of Sumatra; the Indonesian portion of the island of Borneo, known as Kalimantan; and the Indonesian half of the island of New Guinea, known as Papua. Each region has distinct topographical and climate characteristics. Kalimantan features lowland coastal peat with high rainfall. Sumatra has both inland and coastal peatlands. Papua is the most complex, with extremely high rainfall and peatlands spanning inland, coastal and mountainous areas. The report found that at least 25% of Indonesia&#8217;s peatlands are highly vulnerable to flooding, with another 18% classified as moderately vulnerable. This means 43% of the country’s 24 million hectares (59 million acres) of peatlands are at risk, while only 57% have low vulnerability. Peatlands, as part of wetland ecosystems, are naturally waterlogged and capable of absorbing far more water than mineral soils. Peat can retain 100-1,300% of its dry weight in water, while mineral soils typically absorb only 20-30%. However, once degraded, peatlands lose their ability to retain water effectively. This phenomenon, known as irreversible drying, turns standing water into uncontrolled runoff, leading to flooding. “The floods occurring are not a natural cycle commonly found in peatland ecosystems,” said Wahyu Perdana, advocacy and campaign&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/indonesias-peatlands-face-growing-flood-risks-amid-widespread-degradation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/indonesias-peatlands-face-growing-flood-risks-amid-widespread-degradation/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-297154</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Peru’s rare peatland swamps at risk as illegal gold mining expands</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/perus-rare-peatland-swamps-at-risk-as-illegal-gold-mining-expands/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/perus-rare-peatland-swamps-at-risk-as-illegal-gold-mining-expands/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Mar 2025 15:48:57 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/03/26154030/102_3569-1-768x450.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=296509</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Forest Destruction, Forests, Gold Mining, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Illegal Mining, Mining, Peatlands, Rainforests, Research, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Hidden within the Amazon Rainforest are rare, carbon-rich ecosystems known as peatlands, a type of swamp forest that’s key to combatting climate change through its capacity to absorb and store carbon. But in the mining hotspots of Peru, these peatland swamps are rapidly disappearing, one study has found. In Madre de Dios, in southeastern Peru, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Hidden within the Amazon Rainforest are rare, carbon-rich ecosystems known as peatlands, a type of swamp forest that’s key to combatting climate change through its capacity to absorb and store carbon. But in the mining hotspots of Peru, these peatland swamps are rapidly disappearing, one study has found. In Madre de Dios, in southeastern Peru, gold mining has destroyed more peatland in the last two years than during the previous 30 years combined, researchers found. The destruction not only threatens unique biodiversity in the area but could also lead to spikes in carbon emissions. “Mining is spreading fast into these fragile areas because it has become easier to reach these remote mining spots, and there just isn’t enough law enforcement to protect the area,” study co-author John Ethan Householder said in a statement. “If we don’t slow down the destruction, the damage to the Amazon’s peatlands could be permanent, with serious environmental, social and economic impacts down the line.” The study, published this month in the journal Environmental Research Letters, used 35 years of NASA Landsat satellite data to track the spread of gold mining. It found that more than 550 hectares (1,360 acres) of peatland have been destroyed by mining over the last 35 years, with more than half of it occurring in the last two years. Miners working in peatland in Peru. Photo by Ethan Householder. At least 63 out of 219 peatland areas have been affected by mining, putting more than 10,000 hectares (about 25,000 acres) at&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/perus-rare-peatland-swamps-at-risk-as-illegal-gold-mining-expands/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/perus-rare-peatland-swamps-at-risk-as-illegal-gold-mining-expands/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-296509</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesians suing pulpwood firms over haze face intimidation, seek human rights protection</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/indonesians-suing-pulpwood-firms-over-haze-face-intimidation-seek-human-rights-protection/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/indonesians-suing-pulpwood-firms-over-haze-face-intimidation-seek-human-rights-protection/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Mar 2025 04:37:22 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/03/25043038/GP0SU4UJG_Low-res-800px-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=296392</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, South Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Air Pollution, Business, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Environment, Environmental Law, Fires, Forests, Human Rights, Law, Law Enforcement, Peatlands, Pollution, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Residents of the Indonesian province of South Sumatra are seeking protection from the country’s National Human Rights Commission after reportedly facing intimidated for filing a lawsuit against three pulpwood companies over recurring haze pollution. One of the 11 plaintiffs, Yeyen, said she was pressured by a company representative to withdraw the lawsuit just [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Residents of the Indonesian province of South Sumatra are seeking protection from the country’s National Human Rights Commission after reportedly facing intimidated for filing a lawsuit against three pulpwood companies over recurring haze pollution. One of the 11 plaintiffs, Yeyen, said she was pressured by a company representative to withdraw the lawsuit just months after filing it. “The company contacted me, urging me to drop the case. They even offered, ‘How much money do you want? Where does your husband want to work? We can arrange it. If your child is old enough, what kind of job would they like?’&#8221; she told Mongabay. Yeyen said she was given a week to consider the offer. When a company representative later visited her home for a final decision, she declined the offer, Yeyen said. “I told them that I was standing together with my friends in this lawsuit, and I didn’t want to betray them,” she said. “I made my decision to continue fighting for health, the economy, and the environment.” Another plaintiff, Ayu, said a local journalist contacted her, urging her to drop the case and threatening to share her personal information with the companies. Concerned about the escalating threats, the group visited the human rights commission, known as Komnas HAM, in Jakarta on Feb. 26, seeking protection. “There are risks in suing large companies, and we need security guarantees,” Arif, another of the plaintiffs, told Mongabay. “We don’t know what threats might come next. There have already been&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/indonesians-suing-pulpwood-firms-over-haze-face-intimidation-seek-human-rights-protection/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-296392</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Sustainable’ palm oil firms continue illegal peatland clearing despite permit revocation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/sustainable-palm-oil-firms-continue-illegal-peatland-clearing-despite-permit-revocation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/sustainable-palm-oil-firms-continue-illegal-peatland-clearing-despite-permit-revocation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Mar 2025 02:45:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/12/14053750/Peat-fires-Indonesia-2015-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=296182</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, Kalimantan, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Business, Carbon Emissions, Certification, Climate, Climate Change, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Deforestation, Environment, Fires, Forests, International Trade, Law, Law Enforcement, Palm Oil, Peatlands, Plantations, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Sustainability, Threats To Rainforests, Trade, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Palm oil companies in Indonesia continue to operate on protected peatlands and clear forests, despite having their forestry permits revoked and being certified as sustainable, a new report alleges. Local environmental NGOs Pantau Gambut and Kaoem Telapak investigated three companies operating in Central Kalimantan province on the island of Borneo: PT Agrindo Green [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Palm oil companies in Indonesia continue to operate on protected peatlands and clear forests, despite having their forestry permits revoked and being certified as sustainable, a new report alleges. Local environmental NGOs Pantau Gambut and Kaoem Telapak investigated three companies operating in Central Kalimantan province on the island of Borneo: PT Agrindo Green Lestari (AGL), PT Citra Agro Abadi (CAA) and PT Bangun Cipta Mitra Perkasa (PT BCMP). Their findings implicate all three in illegal peatland conversion, deforestation and recurring fires. Two of the three companies, AGL and CAA, are subsidiaries of the PT Ciliandry Anky Abadi, a privately held plantation company with a 120,000-hectare (300,000-acre) land bank in Central Kalimantan. Ciliandry Anky Abadi itself was identified as the single biggest deforesting palm oil company in Indonesia in 2023. The AGL and CAA concessions cover a combined 18,224 hectares (45,032 acres) in Pulang Pisau district, overlapping with protected peatlands and high conservation value (HCV) areas. Around 6,000 hectares (15,000 acres) have been identified as critical orangutan habitat. Satellite imagery from 2015 to 2023 reveals that most of the protected peatlands within CAA’s concessions have been converted into oil palm plantations, with planting beginning in 2022. As of 2023, 2,753 hectares (6,803 acres) of protected peat ecosystems had been cleared for planting — an area the size of 55,000 basketball courts. These peatlands have protected status because of their deep peat layers that hold vast quantities of carbon, and also because of their high conservation value. But converting peatlands&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/sustainable-palm-oil-firms-continue-illegal-peatland-clearing-despite-permit-revocation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/sustainable-palm-oil-firms-continue-illegal-peatland-clearing-despite-permit-revocation/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-296182</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Political appointments in Indonesian climate program spark outcry over accountability</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/political-appointments-in-indonesian-climate-program-spark-outcry-over-accountability/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/political-appointments-in-indonesian-climate-program-spark-outcry-over-accountability/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Mar 2025 08:59:44 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/09/28154349/fire-in-indonesia-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=295969</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Norway, Southeast Asia, and United Kingdom]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Avoided Deforestation, Carbon Emissions, Climate, Climate Change, climate finance, Conservation, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Emission Reduction, Environment, Forest Carbon, Forests, Funding, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Peatlands, Politics, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — The Norwegian government is monitoring growing concerns over Indonesia’s decision to appoint political figures with little climate expertise to oversee a climate forestry program largely financed by Norway. Indonesian Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni has come under scrutiny recently for naming several fellow members from his political party, the Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI), [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — The Norwegian government is monitoring growing concerns over Indonesia’s decision to appoint political figures with little climate expertise to oversee a climate forestry program largely financed by Norway. Indonesian Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni has come under scrutiny recently for naming several fellow members from his political party, the Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI), to key positions within the office responsible for the FOLU Net Sink 2030 initiative. This aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from Indonesia’s forestry and other land use (FOLU) sector by curbing deforestation, preventing forest fires, and increasing reforestation efforts. The ultimate goal is for Indonesia’s forests to absorb more carbon than they release by 2030, a part of the country’s climate commitments under the Paris Agreement. To coordinate, monitor and evaluate the program, the government established an operation management office (OMO). However, in a Jan. 31 decree, Forestry Minister Raja restructured the OMO by appointing PSI cadres to the office, raising concerns over political favoritism. Raja is one of the founders of the PSI and currently serves as its secretary-general, the party’s No. 2. The appointments have also drawn criticism due to the OMO’s relatively high monthly salaries, ranging from 8 million rupiah at the lowest level to 50 million rupiah for leadership positions ($500-$3,000). Critics say these salaries are excessive for a government-backed environmental initiative, particularly at a time when the government is cutting the budget for several agencies, including those related to the environment. Raja has defended the appointments, saying the OMO&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/political-appointments-in-indonesian-climate-program-spark-outcry-over-accountability/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-295969</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Only 17% of peatlands, vital to curbing climate change, are protected, study finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/only-17-of-peatlands-vital-to-curbing-climate-change-are-protected-study-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/only-17-of-peatlands-vital-to-curbing-climate-change-are-protected-study-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Feb 2025 19:05:35 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/02/20141234/peatlands-banner-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=294677</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[carbon, Climate Change, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Peatlands, Protected Areas, and Research]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Peatlands around the globe hold more carbon than all the world’s forests, and yet new research reveals a much lower proportion are protected compared to other ecosystems. Just 17% of these swampy bogs overlap with existing protected areas, according to a mapping study published Feb. 12 in the journal Conservation Letters. By contrast, protected areas [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Peatlands around the globe hold more carbon than all the world’s forests, and yet new research reveals a much lower proportion are protected compared to other ecosystems. Just 17% of these swampy bogs overlap with existing protected areas, according to a mapping study published Feb. 12 in the journal Conservation Letters. By contrast, protected areas encompass 38% of tropical forests and 42% of mangroves. Lead author Kemen Austin, the director of science for the Wildlife Conservation Society’s forests and climate change program, said she was surprised to find such a low figure conserved for “one of the most valuable ecosystems.” Peatlands are scattered widely from the northern latitudes through temperate zones to the equatorial tropics, though they cover just 3% of the world’s land. But if they were better protected, they could play a major role in helping humanity address both climate change and the global loss of species. Besides being a carbon storehouse, peatlands are home to unique plants and wildlife, with some serving as nurseries for fish and other aquatic life on which people and animals rely. Peatlands in Chile’s Karukinka Park. Image courtesy of Nicole Puschel/WCS Chile. Today, Earth’s peatlands hold 600 billion metric tons of carbon. To pull that much carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, you’d need to plant more than 36 trillion trees and keep them alive for 10 years. As vegetation builds up in these bogs over decades, centuries and millennia and becomes waterlogged, it forms peat — a thick, dense, brown, soil-like mat&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/only-17-of-peatlands-vital-to-curbing-climate-change-are-protected-study-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-294677</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Protecting peatlands and mangroves could halve Southeast Asia’s land-use emissions</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/protecting-peatlands-and-mangroves-could-halve-southeast-asias-land-use-emissions/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/protecting-peatlands-and-mangroves-could-halve-southeast-asias-land-use-emissions/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Feb 2025 11:48:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/12/06135320/peats-indonesia-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=294600</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Southeast Asia, Thailand, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Carbon Emissions, Climate, Climate Change, Conservation, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Ecosystems, Emission Reduction, Fires, Forests, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Landscape Restoration, Mangroves, Nature-based climate solutions, Peatlands, Reforestation, Restoration, Solutions, and Wetlands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA —  Southeast Asia’s peatlands and mangroves store immense amounts of carbon, yet they’re rapidly disappearing. A new study finds that conserving and restoring these ecosystems could cut the region’s greenhouse gas emissions from land use in half — equivalent to 16% of the world’s total land-use emissions. An international team of scientists from the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA —  Southeast Asia’s peatlands and mangroves store immense amounts of carbon, yet they’re rapidly disappearing. A new study finds that conserving and restoring these ecosystems could cut the region’s greenhouse gas emissions from land use in half — equivalent to 16% of the world’s total land-use emissions. An international team of scientists from the National University of Singapore (NUS), with contributions from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore and James Cook University in Australia, assessed the potential for emissions reductions through conserving and restoring peat swamp forests and mangroves across Southeast Asia. Their study, published in Nature Communications, concluded that despite occupying only 5% of the region’s land area, these ecosystems hold immense potential for climate mitigation. According to the study, restoring currently degraded peat swamp forests and mangroves in Southeast Asia could reduce 94 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent (MtCO2e) annually. Combined with conservation, as much as 770 MtCO2e could be mitigated each year, representing nearly half of the region’s land-use emissions. The study estimated that there are 5.34 million hectares (13.4 million acres) of drained peatlands in Southeast Asia, an area larger than Costa Rica, and that rewetting them offers the largest emissions reduction potential. Restoring degraded peat swamp forests, of which there are 2.64 million hectares (6.52 million acres) in the region, and mangroves (0.07 million hectares, or about 170,000 acres) could further enhance carbon sequestration, the study found. “These ecosystems pack a climate mitigation punch far beyond their size, offering one of the most scalable&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/protecting-peatlands-and-mangroves-could-halve-southeast-asias-land-use-emissions/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-294600</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesian company defies order, plants acacia in orangutan habitat</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/indonesian-company-defies-order-plants-acacia-in-orangutan-habitat/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/indonesian-company-defies-order-plants-acacia-in-orangutan-habitat/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Jan 2025 16:42:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/07/31135707/orangutan-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=292676</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Kalimantan, Southeast Asia, and West Kalimantan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Apes, Business, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Forests, Great Apes, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Orangutans, Peatlands, Protected Areas, Pulp And Paper, Rainforests, Tropical Deforestation, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — The Indonesian company responsible for the largest amount of deforestation, PT Mayawana Persada, has largely ceased clearing peatlands in the western part of Borneo. However, it has shifted focus to planting acacia trees on previously cleared peatlands, defying a government directive to halt activities and rehabilitate degraded land. Environmental activists warn that the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — The Indonesian company responsible for the largest amount of deforestation, PT Mayawana Persada, has largely ceased clearing peatlands in the western part of Borneo. However, it has shifted focus to planting acacia trees on previously cleared peatlands, defying a government directive to halt activities and rehabilitate degraded land. Environmental activists warn that the company’s actions pose ongoing threats to the critically endangered Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus), whose habitats overlap significantly with the concession. The Ministry of Environment and Forestry issued a directive on March 28, 2024, ordering Mayawana Persada to stop logging in its pulpwood concession and focus on restoring damaged peatlands. Despite this, the company has continued planting acacia trees on cleared peatlands, including in areas designated as protected. “The forestry ministry should act tougher by ordering Mayawana Persada to halt all activities and begin rehabilitating the damaged land,” said Andi Muttaqien, executive director of the environmental NGO Satya Bumi. Satellite imagery and field visits by Satya Bumi revealed young acacia trees planted in areas like Padu Banjar and Sungai Mata-Mata villages. Analysis in September 2024 also detected heavy machinery building canals in the Sungai Mata-Mata village, supporting further planting activities. Newly planted acacia trees in Mayawana Persada&#8217;s pulpwood concession in North Kayong, West Kalimantan, Indonesia, on December 13, 2024. The age of the acacia trees indicate that the planting was done after the forestry ministry had ordered Mayawana Persada to halt activities, according to Restu Diantina Putri, a communication strategist from Satya Bumi who made the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/indonesian-company-defies-order-plants-acacia-in-orangutan-habitat/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-292676</doi>				</item>
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