A local court in Peru today reversed a ruling against employees of a company charged with illegal deforestation in the Peruvian Amazon, effectively absolving them of crimes associated with converting…
As Colombia searches for a way forward after a half-century of war, the cacao tree (Theobroma cacao) could have a significant role to play. Called the food of the gods,…
Eating chocolate shouldn’t mean fueling environmental and social destruction. But, as a stream of news stories and reports make abundantly clear, too often it does. Cocoa production in Ghana and Ivory Coast – the world’s biggest cocoa producers…
A new report examines the “unchecked development” in the Amazon that has driven deforestation rates to near-record levels throughout the world’s largest tropical forest. The main drivers of deforestation vary…
2018 was a difficult year for the world's tropical rainforests. Below are of some of the biggest rainforest storylines for the year, but we couldn't cover everything, so if there…
Peru has lost much of its dry forest in recent years, to the extent that only around 5 percent remains today. To stop further loss, residents of communities in northern…
Augusto Sangama confesses that, twenty years ago, his life was worth nothing. He believes others in the community of Huicungo in the San Martín region in northern Peru felt the…
ZACATECOLUCA, El Salvador — The waist-high trees in Jose Francisco Merino Umaña’s field have sprouted branches and lush green leaves, but their modest size doesn’t convey the full value they…
In Peru, five major instances in which deforestation has successfully been prevented from expanding were detected by the Monitoring of the Andean Amazon Project (MAAP). MAAP followed the development of…
Human-wildlife conflict is an ongoing drama playing out all over the world, from southern India where plantations are forcing humans and elephants into closer proximity to the western U.S. where…
Over the past five years, the landscape of Maximiliano Moreno's property in northern Ecuador and the air he breathes has changed. He went from being surrounded by vast forest to…
A massive cacao plantation in the Amazon rainforest of northern Peru has been dealt another legality blow. Researchers say that the vast majority of the operation is situated on land…
Last week, dozens of indigenous and nongovernmental organizations issued a letter to the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and UK market regulators urging them to remove UK commodity company United Cacao…
Two big palm oil plantations in the Peruvian Amazon have attracted the attention of conservation and human rights organizations that say their development has resulted in the destruction of rainforest…
Tucked away in northeastern Peru, a huge cacao plantation has been taking shape over the past few years. Touted by industry as a source for "sustainable" chocolate, critics say it…
A fishy ghost story in time for Halloween [Nature] Ghost fishing, as it’s known, is when marine life is drawn into nets and traps by the dead and decomposing bodies…
or hundreds of years water has run down the western foothills of Indonesia’s second largest volcano over the nearby Tiu Teja falls. But here on the slopes of Mount Rinjani…
Deforestation continues as United Cacao aims to build the world’s largest cacao plantation
While most people love chocolate, few are aware of the problems associated with the production of its main ingredient, cacao. The cacao business has traditionally been an ugly one, associated…
Two palm oil plantations have recently been established in Peru, supplanting primary forest. Satellite imagery analysis shows extent of the massive development, which is led by a group of companies…
MAAP image of the week #2: Deforestation by United Cacao for eventual chocolate production in Peru. A new platform will provide critical near-real time information and analysis on emerging threats…
United Cacao's plantation area near Tamshiyacu, Peru A prominent group of scientists have sounded the alarm over forest clearing by a cacao company in the Peruvian Amazon. In a statement…
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…
