Business risk and COVID-19 are pushing Asian financiers away from coal
The use of coal as an energy source is steadily declining in the U.S. and Europe, but coal mining and the construction of coal-fired power plants continues across South and…
World Bank-funded factory farms dogged by alleged environmental abuses
A pork and chicken producer has expanded its operations in northern Ecuador with the help of funding from the World Bank's commercial lending arm, despite sustained complaints from local communities…
Report highlights business, political players behind Philippine environment defender deaths
MANILA — Development banks and other investors are fueling the violence against people in the Philippines who are protecting their land and environment from destructive industries, eco-watchdog Global Witness reveals…
Dutch banks’ customers ‘unknowingly’ profit from palm oil companies
Dutch banks ABN AMRO, ING and Rabobank are failing to inform their customers that investment funds they offer include shares in palm oil companies damaging the environment in Indonesia, according…
In funding palm oil giants, banks may share in ‘sins of the companies’
On Sept. 19, Indonesian President Joko Widodo slapped a three-year moratorium on the issuance of new licenses for oil palm plantations. The moratorium was introduced to “improve governance of sustainable…
Indonesian billionaire using ‘shadow companies’ to clear forest for palm oil, report alleges
The owner of Indonesia’s largest conglomerate has been accused of participating in the illegal deforestation of Borneo’s Ketungau peat swamp to make way for oil palm plantations. The Salim Group,…
International investment blamed for violence and oppression in Sarawak
On June 21 last year in Sarawak, Malaysia, opposition politician and indigenous rights campaigner Bill Kayong was shot dead through the window of his pickup truck as he waited at…
Nixed Bolivian highway offers environmental lessons to big Brazil bank
olivia’s TIPNIS Highway — defeated by mass protests from indigenous groups and environmentalists — rates as one of the most controversial Latin American construction projects of recent years. The role…
Indigenous protester killed by masked assailants in Panama over UN-condemned dam
Barro Blanco hydroelectric dam under construction. Photo courtesy of Robin Oisín Llewellyn. A Ngäbe indigenous Panamanian, Onesimo Rodriguez, opposing the Barro Blanco hydroelectric dam project was killed last Friday evening…
Brazilian mining company connected to Belo Monte dam voted worst corporation
The world's second largest mining company, Vale, has been given the dubious honor of being voted the world's most awful corporation in terms of human rights abuses and environmental destruction…
Top 20 banks that finance big coal
A new report from civil and environmental organizations highlights the top 20 banks that spend the most money on coal, the world's most carbon-intensive fossil fuel. Released as officials from…
Special series
Forest trackers
- Brazilian Amazon protected areas ‘in flames’ as land-grabbers invade
- Fires in the Pantanal: ‘We are facing a scenario now that is catastrophic’
- Understaffed and under threat: Paraguay’s park rangers pay the ultimate price
- No choice: Why communities in Paraguay are cutting down forests to survive
Oceans
- Study: Chinese ‘dark fleets’ illegally defying sanctions by fishing in North Korean waters
- Game changer? Antarctic ice melt related to tropical weather shifts: Study
- Dorsal de Nasca: Peru pledges to create a huge new marine reserve
- Science-backed policy boosts critically endangered Nassau grouper
Amazon conservation
- Brazil dismantles environmental laws via huge surge in executive acts: Study
- Brazilian Amazon drained of millions of wild animals by criminal networks: Report
- Scientists launch ambitious conservation project to save the Amazon
- Niobium mining in Brazilian Amazon would cause significant forest loss: Study
Endangered environmentalists
- Life as an Amazon activist: ‘I don’t want to be the next Dorothy Stang’
- In Philippines’ Palawan, top cop linked to assault on environmental officer
- Deaths, arrests and protests as Philippines re-emerges from lockdown
- In Brazil, COVID-19 outbreak paves way for invasion of indigenous lands
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
- On the island of Java, a social forestry scheme creates jobs at home
Conservation effectiveness
- Failure in conservation projects: Everyone experiences it, few record it
- On a wing and a prayer? Evidence for ways to conserve bats (commentary)
- Audio: The sounds of a rare New Zealand bird reintroduced to its native habitat
- Eavesdrop on forest sounds to effectively monitor biodiversity, researchers say
Southeast asian infrastructure
- Indonesia approves coal road project through forest that hosts tigers, elephants
- Experts see environmental, social fallout in Indonesia’s infrastructure push
- Bornean farmers and fishers brace as a new port opens in their midst
- Indonesian levee project serves industry over community, study says
