According to a study published in the journal PloS One late last year, the Brazilian Amazon has about 2.3 million square kilometers (nearly 900,000 square miles) of land suitable for…
Fungi – a kingdom grouping that includes mushrooms, mold and yeast – have long been heralded for their beneficial properties. They’ve been used to soak up oil spills, boost your…
New maps of forest biodiversity in Peru illustrate the importance of lands held by indigenous peoples in safeguarding a wide variety of forest types, even as more formal protections such…
Until recently, scientists hadn’t systematically compared the levels to which different groups of people across the tropics depend on nearby forests for food. New research shows that, though forest usage…
The palm oil industry’s rapid growth in Southeast Asia brought with it massive amounts of deforestation and associated impacts on local communities and biodiversity. So, as oil palm operations proliferate…
Sometimes for a scientist, the disconnected pieces of years of research come together in a single, “really awesome” point in time. For ecologist Greg Asner, where it happened was about…
Justin Catanoso, a professor of journalism at Wake Forest University and a regular contributor to Mongabay, joins us on this episode of the Mongabay Newscast all the way from Marrakesh,…
A new $88 million line of credit promises to help small shareholders in San Martin, Peru to increase production of the region’s seven largest resources. Last week, the Global Canopy…
A consortium linked to large-scale destruction of rainforests in the Peruvian Amazon is putting one of its palm oil companies up for sale, reports Forest Peoples Programme. According to a…
An international delegation of leaders from indigenous and forest communities in Colombia, Indonesia, Liberia, and Peru are in London to call for action on human rights violations and land grabbing…
Peru has committed to protect its Amazonian forests and to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions. But the way the country is pushing the production of oil palm in the Amazon…
An activist opposing deforestation by an oil palm plantation company allegedly received multiple death threats.
This red-breasted blackbird (Sturnella militaris) is one of the relatively few bird species that is found in oil palm plantations. Photo by Alexander Lees. It may not surprise you to…
Global Forest Watch image showing recent FORMA and Terra-I forest cover change alerts that reveal clearing in concessions controlled by a subsidiary of United Cacao. A company aiming to be…
Aiming to be the world’s largest purveyor of sustainable cacao, a company is developing a plantation in the Amazon that scientists say comes at the expense of primary forest A…
Report argues that a jurisdiction-based approach could be a solution if commodity certification fails to reduce deforestation Cattle pasture and a forest reserve in Mato Grosso, Brazil. Photo by Rhett…
Peruvian official surprised by appearance of 1,000-ha Amazon oil palm plantation. Newspaper report was first the forestry authority heard of the plantation A regional forestry official in Peru has expressed…
Continuing deforestation in the Amazon rainforest could undermine agricultural productivity in the region by reducing rainfall and boosting temperatures, warns a new study published in the journal Environmental Research Letters.…
A palm oil producer has leveled some 7,000 hectares of rainforest in the Peruvian Amazon, highlighting the risks of oil palm expansion in the world's largest tropical forest, reports El…
Intensive palm oil production is expanding at the expense of biolologically-rich lowland rainforests in the Peruvian Amazon, reports a study published in Environmental Research Letters. The research indicates that enthusiasm…
This article is a longer version of story that appeared at Yale e360: In Brazil, Palm Oil Plantations Could Help Preserve Amazon. For years now, environmentalists have become accustomed to…
This article is a longer version of story that appeared at Yale e360: In Brazil, Palm Oil Plantations Could Help Preserve Amazon. For years now, environmentalists have become accustomed to…
Vale, a Brazilian mining giant, will buy palm oil producer Biopalma da Amazonia SA Reflorestamento Industria & Comercio, reports Bloomberg. The deal, valued at $173.5 million, will enable the mining…
Sales of palm oil certified under the leading sustainability standard surged 225 percent in 2010, suggesting growing consumer interest in more responsibly-sourced palm oil. The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil…
Usaha minyak kelapa "yang berkesinambungan" dapat menekan Malaysia dan Indonesia dalam prestasi di area lingkungan hidup dari minyak sayur yang banyak digunakan. Presiden Brazil Lula da Silva, hari Kamis menjelaskan…
"Sustainable" palm oil effort may pressure Malaysia and Indonesia on environmental performance of widely used vegetable oil. Brazilian President Lula da Silva on Thursday laid out plans to expand palm…
Business-as-usual agricultural expansion to meet biofuel production targets for 2020 will take a heavy toll on Brazil's Amazon rainforest in coming years, undermining the potential emissions savings of transitioning from…
Palm oil producers outside of Malaysia and Indonesia pledged to stop developing new plantations on peatlands, circumventing an impasse that developed between palm oil producers and environmental groups meeting this…
Vale, the world's largest miner of iron ore, has signed a $500 million joint venture with Biopalma da Amazonia to produce 160,000 metric tons of palm oil-based biodiesel per year,…
The Malaysian government's federal land agency (FELDA) is now denying its well-documented plan to develop oil palm plantations in the Amazon rainforest, reports Ecological Internet, a forest advocacy group that…
