Conservationists have for the first time adopted a crime analysis strategy developed for urban policing and applied it to assess the effectiveness of counterpoaching measures to protect the critically endangered…
The world’s first marine reserve for sperm whales is set to open in the waters off the coast of Dominica, a tiny island nation in the eastern Caribbean Sea. The…
Intact forests play a vital role in tackling the climate crisis by absorbing and storing carbon. Still, there’s uncertainty around their true carbon-capturing potential, and previous efforts to quantify it…
When it comes to dirty money, countries like Switzerland, Panama and Spain’s Canary Islands have earned a reputation as good hiding spots. They’re rife with shell companies and laundered profits.…
The researchers estimate that 123 childhood deaths during the 2008-19 period are associated with exposure to pesticides from the soy fields, amounting to half the deaths of children under 10 from lymphoblastic leukemia in the region.
Last month, the U.S. agreed to lift some sanctions on Venezuela in exchange for a roadmap to presidential elections, tentatively scheduled for the second half of next year. The deal…
At the COP28 climate summit set to be held in the oil-rich United Arab Emirates later this month, carbon markets are sure to be high on the agenda. And some…
JAKARTA — A palm oil company in Indonesia has finally started paying off a $23 million fine for burning an important Sumatran orangutan habitat more than a decade ago, highlighting…
In 2022, the world’s nations committed to protecting 30% of their land and sea by 2030 (the so-called “30x30” initiative). At sea, this will require a massive buildup of marine…
JAKARTA — Activists have reported four companies — two industrial forest firms and two palm oil firms — to the local police over fires in their concessions in Central Kalimantan…
The Amazon Rainforest is being hit by three kinds of drought at once: an “eastern El Niño,” a “central El Niño” and an “Atlantic dipole.”
Reforestation pledges have promised to replant more than 12 million hectares (30 million acres) in the coming decade.
BRISBANE, Australia — Formed billions of years ago from volcanic magma, the red rocks and hills of Murujuga arise in striking contrast to the surrounding green native grasses. This area,…
JAKARTA — The wild populations that sustain a significant Indonesian fishery are more depleted than the government had estimated, as highlighted by a recent scientific study. The authors have called…
For the seventh year in a row, the international community has declined to establish new marine protected areas (MPAs) around Antarctica. Scientists, conservationists and some governments have been pushing for…
A plan to bring Mennonite farmers to Suriname is drawing backlash from environmental groups and Indigenous communities, who are concerned about the widespread deforestation that could result from large-scale agriculture.…
JAKARTA — New research on slugs has found two types of mangrove forests in the Indo-West Pacific region, highlighting their much-needed protection against deforestation and rising sea levels. The study…
UPPER BARAM, Malaysia — When James Nyurang became headman of Tanjong Tepalit village in 2008, he learned from his predecessor — and father — of the terms set by timber…
Indonesia’s is the world’s top palm oil producer, but the industry has long been associated with environmental ills such as deforestation and habitat destruction, with oil palm plantation expansion accounting…
The state of Amazonas, the largest in Brazil, recorded 3,181 fires from Oct. 1-23, an all-time record for this month, according to monitoring by Brazil’s space agency, INPE.
In November 2018, Pesqueras Echebastar, a Spanish tuna fishing company, received a certificate of sustainability from the London-based nonprofit Marine Stewardship Council, the world’s largest ecolabeling scheme for wild fisheries.…
The veto sparked outrage among Brazil’s powerful rural lobby, which vowed to reject Lula’s changes to the bill, although any decision made in Congress can be challenged in the Supreme Court.
Earlier this month Paraguay approved new regulations meant to improve the country’s carbon credit market and attract more international interest. But the regulations have also raised concerns about land ownership…
JAKARTA — The Indonesian fisheries ministry is considering once again allowing exports of lobster larvae, a controversial policy that landed the former minister in jail for corruption. The ministry says…
With plastic pollution littering the planet, certification organizations are popping up to sell “plastic credits” to companies, allowing them to offset the plastic they make and use with equivalent plastic waste collected and reused. Critics are skeptical.
KATHMANDU — Nepal’s constitutional bench has issued a stay on the implementation of laws making it compulsory for community forest user groups across the country to pay taxes to the…
CAPE TOWN — The endangered African penguin (Spheniscus demersus) could be extinct in the wild in just over a decade. To protect the bird’s food supply and slow its population…
LAS NAVES, Ecuador — The small farming community of Las Naves in the center of Ecuador is surrounded by a rich variety of crops crawling up hillsides next to large…
CHITWAN, Nepal — When Hemanta Malla Thakuri, former deputy inspector-general of the Nepal Police, started training the country’s frontline wildlife crime investigators last year, he realized they operated similarly to…
The measure became even more relevant in October, following the finding of more than 100 dead dolphins in an Amazonian lake — experts suspect that the deaths are directly linked to the extreme drought affecting the region.