At Vietnam’s southern tip, mangroves defend the land from the encroaching sea
HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam — Seen from above, Cape Ca Mau National Park, at Vietnam’s southernmost point, juts into the Gulf of Thailand like a verdant green toe. This…
Forests and Vietnam News
Nearly one-third of all oak species threatened with extinction, report says
The priest class of the ancient European Celtic societies drew their name, the Druids, from the word for oak, revered as “the tree of life.” The Greek god Zeus and…
Sexual harassment rife in Vietnam’s conservation sector, survey reveals
HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam - Five out of six people working in the conservation sector in Vietnam say that they have directly experienced some form of sexual harassment in…
Vietnam creates new nature reserve, possible home to elusive ‘Asian unicorn’
HO CHI MINH CITY — In a move wildlife conservationists are hailing as a victory, Vietnam has established a new nature reserve encompassing critical habitat for numerous species, several of…
Discovery of threatened species drives bid to protect Vietnam forest
HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam — Recently disclosed results from an extensive survey have revealed the presence of several highly endangered species in a forest that is not currently under…
Are forests the new coal? Global alarm sounds as biomass burning surges
The forest biomass industry is booming, with forests in the U.S., Canada, Russia, Vietnam, Indonesia and Eastern Europe cut to provide wood pellets for burning at former coal power plants in the UK, EU and Asia.
Vietnam approves $9 billion development within mangrove reserve
HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam — A $9.3 billion residential and tourism development has been approved within the buffer zone of the Can Gio Mangrove Biosphere Reserve here in this…
Anticipated new restrictions on wildlife trade in Vietnam fall short of a ban
HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam — On July 23, after several months of anticipation within Vietnam’s conservation community, the government released a new directive on managing the wildlife trade in…
Vietnamese agribusiness firm HAGL accused of clearing indigenous land in Cambodia
Hoang Anh Gia Lai, a publicly listed Vietnamese real estate, energy, mining and agribusiness giant, is at the center of recent allegations of clearing land in Cambodia that had been…
Vietnam wildlife trade ban appears to flounder amid coronavirus success
HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam – Conservation organizations in Vietnam sent a letter to the Prime Minister last week asking for an update on planned measures to curtail the trade…
Tigers threatened by a vast network of planned roads across Asia
The Bukit Tigapuluh landscape in Indonesia has been sliced and diced by roads, opening its forests to threats from the outside. As forest vanishes in the region, so too does…
World lost forest ‘the size of Libya’ since 1990, FAO says
The world has lost 178 million hectares (439 million acres) of forest cover over the past 20 years, which the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) equated to as “about…
A vital mangrove forest hidden in Vietnam’s largest city could be at risk
HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam — As the largest urban area in Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City is known for its kinetic pace of life, rivers of motorbike traffic, and…
Vietnam considers wildlife trade ban in response to coronavirus pandemic
HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam — As the coronavirus pandemic continues its deadly onslaught around the world, the Vietnamese government has moved to ban the wildlife trade. Amid scientific theories…
Vietnam’s new conservation plan prioritizes trees and people. Emissions? Not so much
For nearly a decade now, Vietnam has made “payment for forest ecosystem services” its key strategy for protecting forests and improving the lives of poor rural communities. Now, it plans…
Coronavirus outbreak hits Vietnam’s timber sector
HO CHI MINH CITY — As an outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has raged in its northern neighbor China over the past several weeks, Vietnam has been impacted…
Illegal hunting a greater threat to wildlife than forest degradation
The world has long associated plummeting populations of Southeast Asian wildlife with news of forest degradation and poignant images of deforested lands. Recent studies, however, bring to light another human…
Scientists rediscover mammalian oddity in remote Vietnam
VIETNAM, July 2019 – I’m chasing a ghost, I think not for the first time, as night falls and I gather up my gear in a hotel in a village in…
The challenges of campaigning against wildlife trafficking in Vietnam
HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam — In late January, WildAid and the Ho Chi Minh City-based Center of Hands-on Actions and Networking for Growth and Environment (CHANGE) launched a graphic…
As Cambodia swelters, climate-change suspicion falls on deforestation
As the impacts of climate change become more apparent worldwide, members of the public are connecting more weather events to the phenomenon. In March and April, for example, extreme heat…
Innovative methods could transform Vietnam’s robusta farms into carbon sinks
HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam — Coffee is one of Vietnam’s most important agricultural products, a crop that grows so well in the country’s Central Highlands that it has become…
On one island, a microcosm of Vietnam’s environmental challenges
CAT BA ISLAND, Vietnam – While approaching Hai Phong, a major city on Vietnam’s northeast coast, it is impossible to miss signs of the country’s fast-growing economic might. GDP growth…
Questions remain as Vietnam reaches major REDD+ milestone
HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam - In late 2018, Vietnam became the first Asia-Pacific country to reach eligibility for results-based carbon reduction payments under REDD+, fulfilling its safeguard requirements under…
Vietnam a challenging yet rewarding country for environmental reporting (insider)
HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam — As the sun began to set behind the mountains of far northern Vietnam, two plainclothes policemen barged into the country house where I was…
European Parliament to vote on timber legality agreement with Vietnam
UPDATE (19 March 2019): The European Parliament voted March 12 to consent to the VPA with Vietnam by a vote of 632-14 with 23 abstentions. The resolution, including the explanatory…
Graphic anti-wildlife-trafficking campaign tackles Vietnam’s pangolin problem
HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam — On Jan. 28, a graphic new anti-wildlife-trafficking campaign called “Be Their Bodhisattva” launched at a major pagoda here in Vietnam’s commercial center. Under the…
Current threats and future hopes for the greater Mekong’s mangroves
HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam — While Southeast Asia is known as one of the world’s fastest-growing economic regions, home to booming metropolises like Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City and…
Tracing the safeguards against illegal logging in Vietnam
NGHE AN PROVINCE, Vietnam — An agreement on legally-sourced timber imports from Vietnam to the EU that was finally signed in October is now being held up against the reality on the…
Vietnam-EU legal timber agreement signed, but much work remains
HO CHI MINH CITY — The European Union has signed an agreement to support Vietnam’s forest governance improvement goals, aimed at ensuring that the timber it imports from the Southeast…
Cambodia accuses Vietnam of complicity in illegal cross-border logging
HANOI — Cambodia has asked Interpol to investigate Vietnam after accusing its neighbor of knowingly accepting fraudulent permits for rare, illegally logged rosewood timber for transport across their shared border.…
Special series
Forest Trackers
- Bolivia’s El Curichi Las Garzas protected area taken over by land-grabbers
- Authorities struggle to protect Bolivian national park from drug-fueled deforestation
- Poverty and plantations: Nigerian reserve struggles against the odds
- Logging, road construction continue to fuel forest loss in Papua New Guinea
Oceans
- ‘Our life support system is at risk’: Interview with ‘Her Deepness’ Sylvia Earle
- No answers for Ghanaian fishery observer’s family months after suspected death
- Fewer fish and more rules lead to illegal catches, Italian fishers say
- Fishing by dodgy fleets hurts economies, jobs in developing countries: Report
Amazon Conservation
- New ban threatens traditional fishers in Brazil’s Mato Grosso state
- Deforestation haunts top Peruvian reserve and its Indigenous communities
- Amid record-high fires across the Amazon, Brazil loses primary forests
- A web of front people conceals environmental offenders in the Amazon
Land rights and extractives
- Women weave a culture of resistance and agroecology in Ecuador’s Intag Valley
- Hyundai ends aluminum deal with Adaro Minerals following K-pop protest
- Brazil’s illegal gold trade takes a hammering, but persists underground
- Maluku bone collector unearths troubling consequence of coastal abrasion
Endangered Environmentalists
- Indonesian activists face jail over FB posts flagging damage to marine park
- Vietnamese environmentalist sentenced to 3 years in prison for tax evasion
- Son of slain Quilombola leader will still strive for community’s rights
- Video: Five Tembé Indigenous activists shot in Amazonian ‘palm oil war’
Indonesia's Forest Guardians
- Fenced in by Sulawesi national park, Indigenous women make forestry breakout
- In Borneo, the ‘Power of Mama’ fight Indonesia’s wildfires with all-woman crew
- Pioneer agroforester Ermi, 73, rolls back the years in Indonesia’s Gorontalo
- After 20 years and thousands of trees planted, Kalimantan’s veteran forester persists
Conservation Effectiveness
- The conservation sector must communicate better (commentary)
- Thailand tries nature-based water management to adapt to climate change
- Forest restoration to boost biomass doesn’t have to sacrifice tree diversity
- How scientists and a community are bringing a Bornean river corridor back to life
Southeast Asian infrastructure
- Study: Indonesia’s new capital city threatens stable proboscis monkey population
- Indonesia’s new capital ‘won’t sacrifice the environment’: Q&A with Nusantara’s Myrna Asnawati Safitri
- Small farmers in limbo as Cambodia wavers on Tonle Sap conservation rules
- To build its ‘green’ capital city, Indonesia runs a road through a biodiverse forest
