Peru’s Amazon rainforest is threatened by an ecosystem of environment crime (commentary)
From the Scarlet Macaw to the glass frog, Peru is a land of tropical splendors. At least half the country is blanked by Amazon rainforest. It is one of the…
Exploring the deep wildlife photography legacy of Bruce Kekule (commentary)
In June, the world lost one of its legendary wildlife photographers—Lawrence “Bruce” Kekule, an American who had lived in Thailand since 1964. Born in 1945 in Sacramento, California, Bruce’s family…
Twenty years since a massive ivory seizure, what lessons were learned? (commentary)
In late June 2002, the container ship MOL Independence docked at a Singapore port after a voyage of almost a month from Durban in South Africa. On board was a…
We’re winning with climate activism, ‘just not fast enough,’ says Goldman Prize winner Julien Vincent (commentary)
If you can read, hear or feel this, you have power. It was as if I were being let in on a secret. Obviously, I’d already heard of global warming…
Helping empower the next generation of environmental journalists at Nature’s frontline
MENLO PARK, CA — With the impacts of environmental degradation becoming more acute around the globe, the world needs journalists reporting from Nature’s frontline to provide accurate and actionable information.…
The war on journalists and environmental defenders in the Amazon continues (commentary)
Since I became an environmental journalist six years ago, my family, friends and acquaintances all labeled me “crazy”. Why? Because they were extremely scared after reading my articles and hearing…
Mahogany, a pillar of the rainforest, needs support (commentary)
Mahogany is everything you would want in a tree: tall and majestic, with leaves up to half a meter wide that cast cooling shade on the forest floor below. It…
Environmental paradise or dystopian debacle? Promise and peril of futuristic island communities (commentary)
In an ideal world, perhaps we can learn how to live in coastal areas while coping with climate change and perhaps even pursue cutting-edge technologies in tandem with innovative island…
Indonesia should take a leadership role in the Global Plastics Treaty (commentary)
March 2 marked a historic day for the global effort to eradicate plastic pollution. The United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) finally passed a draft resolution to create an international, legally…
Why Russia should not win the bid for Bolivia’s lithium (commentary)
The Arce government is currently negotiating with various foreign companies from countries including Argentina, the United States, China, and Russia, for the handling of its lithium extraction. The bidding war…
Does citizen ownership of natural resources hold the key to realizing deforestation commitments? (commentary)
Many words and billions in funding were pledged at last year’s ‘Nature COP’ in Glasgow, resulting in a global commitment to stop deforestation by 2030. However, the challenge of how…
Protect Persian leopards, and their defenders, for World Environment Day (commentary)
At times of anguish and confusion we turn to nature to quiet the mind and find healing. We hold on to the miraculous survival of wildlife and ecosystems, to persist…
Can we save the spiky yellow woodlouse, one of the most endangered isopods? (commentary)
In the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean lies a remote tropical island known as Saint Helena. It is a United Kingdom territory that is 1,200 miles (1,950 km) west…
Sri Lankan wins Linnean Medal, the ‘Nobel Prize for naturalists’ (commentary)
Looking at the roll call of Linnean Medal winners is to witness the history of natural history, taxonomy, and nature conservation since Darwin. The medal is tangential to the orbit…
Cambodia: Development threatens a last refuge of wildlife rescued from illegal trade (commentary)
For over 20 years the Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Center (PTWRC), run by the Cambodian Forestry Administration and supported by the international NGOs Wildlife Alliance and Free the Bears (covered by…
From victims to claimants: Mobilizing the IPCC Assessment for climate justice (commentary)
In some respects, it was expected. The same doomsday scenarios. The same periodic reminders of more horror to come. The same organization of working groups. The same approach grounded in…
Malawi steps up action against illegal charcoal trade (analysis)
Daniel Kabichi’s telephone has been ringing a lot lately. As head of law enforcement operations within Malawi’s Department of Forestry, he represents the country’s latest strategy to fight deforestation and…
Putin’s financial interest in Brazil’s Amazon highways (commentary)
Brazil’s plan to open vast areas of Amazon forest to the entry of deforesters via Highway BR-319 (Manaus-Porto Velho) and associated side roads such as AM-366 is undoubtedly the planned…
Partnering with farmers is key to land restoration success (commentary)
Land degradation – the deterioration or loss of the productive capacity of land – is progressing at an alarming rate. Globally, over a fifth of the total land area has…
Reframing trophy hunting’s socio-economic benefits in Namibia (commentary)
With the relatively recent proposal in the British parliament to ban the import of wildlife trophies, the issue has once again taken center stage among factions of the global conservation…
Contorted energy politics of the Ukraine crisis (commentary)
However horrific, the Ukraine crisis has the potential to finally nudge the world towards a long overdue clean energy future. As one of the world’s top three suppliers of fossil…
Amateur naturalists deserve more support and fewer barriers (commentary)
It may be a straw man argument to suggest a distinction between an amateur and professional naturalist (a word that may still mean something). "Natural history" was once like history…
‘No’ to corporate-driven tourism development in Komodo National Park (commentary)
In early 2022, the public in Labuan Bajo, the gateway to Indonesia’s popular Komodo National Park, was both pleased and dissatisfied with the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry’s decision…
Are conservation trust funds part of the answer for ongoing land protection? (commentary)
Why endow funds for conservation? Some argue that it takes money away from urgent needs now. Conservation trust funds secure finance for long-term costs, typically protection and management of nature reserves.…
Tiger politics and tiger conservation: Where the stakeholders are going wrong (commentary)
Tiger conservation and politics seem two worlds apart, but they are not. In fact, politics is one of the main reasons tiger conservation has become so complicated. On Sep. 5,…
After failure, reflection: effective conservation requires regular assessments (commentary)
Evidence of success has become the holy grail sought by teachers, health care providers, relief organizations, conservation NGOs, policy makers, and foundations. All have the same wish—to either show conclusively…
Climate change causes a run on banks, for crop genes (commentary)
As climate change brings extreme conditions to more parts of the world, the requests to draw down the savings kept in crop genebanks are evolving. European countries facing rising temperatures…
Food security framing increases relevance of biodiversity negotiations to less industrialized nations (commentary)
From substantial philanthropic pledges to studies revealing the increasing threat of extinction, world leaders are paying unprecedented attention to biodiversity. In March, governments gathered to continue shaping the Convention on…
Dams on Brazil’s Jamanxim River: The advancing assault on the environment and Indigenous peoples in the Tapajós basin (commentary)
Brazil’s Amazon dam plans have been slowed down over the past decade due to realization by the country’s electrical authorities that obtaining environmental licenses would be difficult when Indigenous peoples…
EU response to palm oil is opportunity, not threat (commentary)
Indonesia is the biggest palm oil producer in the world. Alongside Malaysia, both countries dominate 85% of the global market. Palm oil is considered one of the strategic commodities in…
Special series
Forest Trackers
- Mennonite colony builds bridge, clears forest in Bolivian protected areas
- Satellites show deforestation surging in Indonesia’s Tesso Nilo National Park
- Large-scale logging in Cambodia’s Prey Lang linked to politically-connected mining operation
- Pasture replaces large tract of intact primary forest in Brazilian protected area
Oceans
- A year before deep-sea mining could begin, calls for a moratorium build
- WTO ban on ‘harmful’ subsidies won’t impact small-scale fishers, Indonesia says
- Experts fear end of vaquitas after green light for export of captive-bred totoaba fish
- Nickel, Tesla and two decades of environmental activism: Q&A with leader Raphaël Mapou
Amazon Conservation
- Swiss pledge to stop illegal gold imports from Brazil Indigenous reserves
- At 30, Brazil’s Yanomami reserve is beset by mining, malaria and mercury
- Pasture replaces large tract of intact primary forest in Brazilian protected area
- Ecuador’s Pastaza province, Indigenous groups collaborate on forest conservation
Land rights and extractives
- Coal mining threatens Ethiopia’s ancient coffee forest
- Proposed copper and gold mine threatens the world’s ‘second Amazon’ in PNG
- In Indonesian Borneo, a succession of extractive industries multiplies impacts, social fractures
- Illegal mining threatens one of the last forest links between the Andes and Ecuador’s Amazon
Endangered Environmentalists
- A look at violence and conflict over Indigenous lands in nine Latin American countries
- Citizen participation: a key achievement at the first COP to the Escazú Agreement
- “We are on the front line”: Q&A with Indigenous land defender Adiela Jineth Mera Paz
- Death threats and friction with military force Guatemalan rangers to flee
Indonesia's Forest Guardians
- From Flores to Papua: Meet 10 of Indonesia’s mangrove guardians
- Why I stand for my tribe’s forest: It gives us food, culture, and life (commentary)
- Reforesting a village in Indonesia, one batch of gourmet beans at a time
- Restoring Sumatra’s Leuser Ecosystem, one small farm at a time
Conservation Effectiveness
- In prioritizing conservation, animal culture should be a factor, study says
- Young forests can help heal tropical aquatic ecosystems: Study
- How sharing and learning from failures can transform conservation (commentary)
- Is planting trees as good for the Earth as everyone says?
Southeast Asian infrastructure
- In Laos, a ‘very dangerous dam’ threatens an ancient world heritage site
- Bali’s new highway project sparks concerns about agriculture and conservation areas
- Deforestation notches up along logging roads on PNG’s New Britain Island
- Plantations and roads strip away Papua’s forests. They’re just getting started
