Brazilian beef industry plays outsized role in tropical carbon emissions: report
Brazil’s failure to monitor cattle from source, to sale, to slaughterhouse, creates an immense deforestation regulatory loophole according to a new report.
As wildfires roil Sumatra, some villages have abandoned the burning
UPANG CERIA/GELEBAK DALAM, Indonesia — Boat drivers sometimes decide not to work when the smoke is thick on the Musi River out of fear of a dangerous collision. For the…
Fires still being set in blazing Bolivia (commentary)
Despite over six weeks of firefighting, the infernos destroying Bolivia’s forests continue to spread. 5.3 million hectares (about 13.1 million acres) — an area larger than the whole of Costa…
Restoring Sumatra’s Leuser Ecosystem, one small farm at a time
TENGGULUN, Indonesia — Around 20 Acehnese men sit cross-legged while smoking clove cigarettes on the terrace of a simple wooden building in this village on the island of Sumatra. The…
A newborn dies amid Indonesia fire crisis, as parents fear for their kids’ health
PEKANBARU, Indonesia — September 16 was a happy day for Evan Zendrato and Lasma Yani Zega. The young couple gave birth to a boy weighing 2.8 kilograms (6.1 pounds). They…
Top Madagascar beer maker supports investigation into its corn supply chain
Facing growing scrutiny for sourcing maize from a region in Madagascar that is suffering massive deforestation, the Madagascar beer maker STAR, owned by French brewer Castel, announced its support for…
Notes from the road: 5 revelations from traveling the Pan Borneo Highway
KOTA KINABALU, Malaysia — In July, I traveled most of the length of the proposed Pan Borneo Highway route with the goal of trying to understand the aims, possibilities and…
For one Indonesian village, mangrove restoration has been all upside
PAREMAS, Indonesia — Harniati keeps her youngest daughter close as the pair walk along the footpath from this village to the southeast coast of Lombok Island. For years, the people…
Prompted by Amazon fires, 230 investors warn firms linked to deforestation
Major investors with $16.2 trillion in assets warn hundreds of companies to either meet supply chain deforestation commitments or risk economic consequences.
Industrial palm oil investors struggle to gain foothold in Africa
It was the “next new frontier” for palm oil. A “mutually beneficial relationship” that would be a win-win for struggling nations in Africa and multinational producers running out of land…
World’s biggest meatpackers buying cattle from deforesters in Amazon
This story was produced via a co-publishing partnership between Mongabay and Repórter Brasil and can be read in Portuguese here. Brazilian meatpacking giants JBS, Marfrig and Frigol bought cattle from ranches…
Gran Chaco: South America’s second-largest forest at risk of collapsing
The straight, strong trunk of a quebracho tree twisted mid-air as it fell to the ground, its crash the last sound in a cacophony of axe blows that increasingly wounded…
Indigenous communities, wildlife under threat as farms invade Nicaraguan reserve
Torrential rain creates a deafening roar as it strikes the metal roof of community leader Ubence Zelaya’s two-bedroom home on the southern border of the Mayagna indigenous territory. Zelaya lives…
Mexican officials battle a tide of fire eating away at a protected reserve
CAMPECHE, Mexico —When a fire broke out in June in the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve in southern Mexico, more than 200 volunteer firefighters and specialists were deployed to help keep it…
A Papuan village finds its forest caught in a web of corporate secrecy
This article was co-published with The Gecko Project. When a string of palm oil companies arrived in the village of Anggai, in a heavily forested corner of Indonesia’s easternmost Papua…
Expand or Intensify? Balancing biodiversity and rising food needs: study
New research finds that, for a given rise in global food production, the negative impact on biodiversity of cropland expansion is many times greater than of cropland intensification.
Worldwide deforestation rising despite bold commitments, report finds
A landmark pledge known as the New York Declaration on Forests (NYDF) aimed at stopping the loss and degradation of forests is falling short of its goals, according to a…
Climate adaptation begins with how we manage water (commentary)
The world is in a slow-moving, persistent water crisis. Rapidly rising water usage, increasingly uncertain rainfall, and widespread water pollution push more of our world into water stress and intensify…
Beehive fences can help mitigate human-elephant conflict
Human-elephant conflict poses major threats to the well-being of both humans and animals. Crop-raiding by elephants across Asia and Africa can be devastating for small farmers, leading to food insecurity,…
Brazilian Amazon fires scientifically linked to 2019 deforestation: report
At least 125,000 hectares (310,000 acres) of Amazon rainforest in Brazil were cleared in 2019 and then burned this August to prepare the land for conversion to agriculture — Mongabay exclusive.
Special series
Endangered environmentalists
- Deaths, arrests and protests as Philippines re-emerges from lockdown
- In Brazil, COVID-19 outbreak paves way for invasion of indigenous lands
- On anniversary of nun’s murder Amazon land rights activists at high risk
Indonesias forest guardians
- Reforesting a village in Indonesia, one batch of gourmet beans at a time
- Restoring Sumatra’s Leuser Ecosystem, one small farm at a time
- Indigenous Iban community defends rainforests, but awaits lands rights recognition
Amazon infrastructure
- Communities on Brazil’s ‘River of Unity’ tested by dams, climate change
- Coronavirus puts Brazil’s quilombos at risk; will assistance come?
- Amazon road projects could lead to Belize-size loss of forest, study shows
Asian rhinos
- Poaching in Indonesia’s biodiverse Leuser Ecosystem on the rise amid COVID-19
- A new sanctuary for the Sumatran rhino is delayed amid COVID-19 measures
- U.S. fund that supports Sumatran rhino research faces deep cuts under Trump
