[This article has been updated to reflect a statement released by the RSPO on November 18.] The world’s biggest sustainable palm oil organization has been accused of ignoring serious flaws…
With devastating fires in Indonesia providing a backdrop for the destruction wrought by unrestrained plantation development, the Malaysian Borneo state of Sabah on Wednesday announced it is pressing forward with…
There’s a huge market out there for forest products, like paper and hardwood floors, that have received some sort of certification for being sustainably produced. In 2013, according to the…
Highly anticipated data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) shows that global forest loss has slowed significantly over the past five years relative to the…
Oil palm plantation in Papua, Indonesia. The country lost 1 million hectares of forest cover in 2013, according to one estimate. Photo credit: Agus Andrianto/ CIFOR. Eighteen million hectares of…
by 8 July 2015
Editor's Note: Greenpeace submitted this commentary in response to an interview Mongabay recently conducted with Scott Poynton of Tropical Forest Trust (TFT). In the interview, Poynton said the forest commodity…
Over the past two years dozens of companies have established "zero-deforestation" or "deforestation-free" policies for the commodities they source, trade, and produce. The pace of adoption has been staggeringly fast…
:00 am; Labuhan Lombok, Indonesia. It's offloading time on the 30-foot-long M/V Nusa Indah 2. Crewmen pop the lid off the hold and pull yellowfin tuna from the icy pool…
Orangutan orphaned after its mother was killed in an oil palm plantation in Sumatra. Photos by Rhett A. Butler. Shoppers may be willing to pay a 15 to 56 percent…
Forest cleared for an oil palm plantation in Sarawak, Malaysia. Photos by Rhett A. Butler. Major global brands and a network of activist investors have joined together to call on…
Logged over forest and oil palm in Sabah. Photos by Rhett A. Butler. Sabah, a state in Malaysian Borneo, is weighing a proposal to produce only palm oil certified under…
A fishing boat off the coast of the Malaysian state of Sabah. Photo by: Rhett Butler. Consumers in the developed world want sustainably sourced seafood and increasingly retailers like Walmart…
Due to its widening impact on tropical forests yet high profit margins, palm oil is one of the most polarizing crops in the tropics. Scientists and environmentalists warn of the…
Deforestation for palm oil production in Malaysian Borneo. Photos by Rhett A. Butler. Last week, the London-based think tank Innovation Forum convened a two-day conference on the subject of sustainable…
Industrial rubber plantation in Colombia. Photos by Rhett A. Butler. Surging demand for natural rubber is decimating some of the world's most endangered forests, putting wildlife and critical ecosystem services…
Brazil's Atlantic Forest has been severely reduced in extent from agriculture and urban expansion. Over the past three years dozens of companies have made 'zero deforestation commitments', establishing policies that…
Part 1 of 5 of a series on palm oil financing Deforestation for palm oil production in Malaysian Borneo. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Palm oil may be the single…
The World in 2050: implications for sustainability Last month, Price Waterhouse Coopers (PwC) published a new edition of its The World in 2050 report. Confirming the findings of previous studies,…
Palm fruit used for palm oil production. Photos by Rhett A. Butler. The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) has purged membership of a number of companies and organizations that…
Washington state rainforest. Photos by Rhett A. Butler. 3M has announced a new sustainability policy that will reduce the impact of its fiber-sourcing practices on forests and wildlife. The initiative,…
Shame's power: new book explores how shame can challenge environmental transgressors Chilean jack mackerel (Trachurus murphyi) are caught by a Chilean purse seiner off of Peru. Overfishing has become a…
Logging in Gabon. Photos by Rhett A. Butler Selective logging is causing long-term changes to tropical forests in Africa by facilitating the growth of weeds and vines, which reduces plant…
New oil palm plantation established on peatland outside Palangkaraya in Indonesia's Central Kalimantan Province on the island of Borneo. Photos by Rhett A. Butler Development of oil palm plantations is…
Logging in Malaysian Borneo. Photo by Rhett A. Butler Five major timber importers are making progress in cutting contraband wood from their markets, argues a series of reports published by…
Oil palm fruit. Photos by Rhett Butler Home products giant IKEA has made a time-bound commitment for eliminating palm oil linked to deforestation and human rights abuses from its supply…
Screenshot of the mapping function of the Sustainable Palm Oil Transparency Toolkit, powered by ESRI. Click image to enlarge. A new initiative ranks the world's 25 largest publicly listed palm…
Oil palm plantation and natural forest in Costa Rica. All photos by Rhett Butler. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has signed an agreement with the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm…
Note: this is the first draft of a commentary I submitted to Yale Environment 360 last month. A final first-person version is available at A Conservationist Sees Signs of Hope…
Deforestation for pulp and paper production in Indonesia. Photo by Rhett Butler. Some of the world's largest companies are making progress in disclosing and addressing deforestation risk within their commodity…
Logging companies threaten to undermine the mining industry's efforts to leave biodiversity better off One of the largest iron ore deposits in Africa is located in a strip 47 kilometers…
