TELAGA, Malaysia — The district of Pitas in the Malaysian state of Sabah is situated on the 40-kilometer Bengkoka peninsula on the island of Borneo, stretching east into the South…

ISIMICHINI, Kenya — In the 10 years Arthur Inzofu has been growing oil palm trees at his farm in Isimichini village in western Kenya, he has seen few benefits. But…

HOEDSPRUIT, South Africa – Vince Barkas, a grizzled high-school dropout with a sharp tongue and piercing blue eyes, is at war in the grasslands and savannas here in northeast South…

Over recent decades, conservation organizations have started to tap into the wealth of knowledge and experience held by communities living near conservation targets. Listening to the voices of local people…

PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia – On a soft couch in the chilled lobby of a luxury hotel, Mason Campbell shifts somewhat uncomfortably in his dark suit. He’s waiting to head to a…

MIRAFLORES, Colombia – “We can’t move like we used to,” said Joaquin Dajada, a twenty-something displaced member of the Nukak indigenous community, the last contacted nomadic group in Colombia. “The…

SANJIANGYUAN, China — Late at night on March 15, a snow leopard secretly entered the sheepfold of a Tibetan household in a remote pastureland in China’s western Qinghai province, killing…

SUKAU, Malaysia – At first blush, the muddy waters of the Kinabatangan River in northern Borneo seem to laze through a hodge-podge of sleepy fishing and farming villages. The river…

This is the first in a two-part series on logging in the Solomon Islands. Read the second part for more discussion on the topic. The Solomon Islands is a country that’s…

GALACIA, Mexico – On a Saturday afternoon in January, Julia Carabias, one of Mexico’s most respected biologists, was making herself useful – putting a fresh coat of blue paint on…

The Democratic Republic of Congo’s extensive forests seem like a bright spot in an otherwise-troubled country. With forests covering an area larger than Colombia, DRC has managed to sidestep the…

It’s no secret that natural wealth in many African countries often sparks conflict and precipitates decades of the suffering of local populations. Liberia’s ‘resource curse’ is no different. With more…

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 morning after a rainy night, mist enshrouds the lush canopy of the forest at Bawan village. This 1,453-hectare hillock packed with high-value timber sits on the edge of the…

Indonesian New Guinea holds some of the largest remnants of old-growth tropical forest on the planet. Yet the region faces increasing pressure to share its riches with the rest of…

JAKARTA — Six weeks after the last of the Bukit Duri evictees moved into their new dwellings here in the Indonesian capital, the atmosphere was friendly but painful. Some tenants…

Gorillas, chimpanzees, orangutans – our great ape cousins teeter on the precipice of extinction. And it’s not much of a secret that we humans have had a lot to do…

For the first time, Indonesia’s central government has recognized the rights of nine indigenous communities to the forests they call home, a milestone for a national indigenous peoples movement that is…

Large industrial development projects such as hydroelectric dams, oil palm plantations, and mines have an unavoidable impact on the local environment, which in turn can have huge repercussions for biodiversity.…

Palm oil production in Indonesia often comes at the expense of traditionally managed lands as well as the livelihoods of indigenous communities, causing widespread conflict in the archipelago country. With oil…