Methane mystery: fossil fuels spewing less methane, but gas continues to accumulate
It has no smell, but it’s a product of decay. You can’t see it with the naked eye, but it’s in increasingly high-demand. It’s methane: a gas that arises from…
It’s time for the insurance industry to unfriend coal (commentary)
You can’t drive a car or buy a house without insurance. Likewise, the coal industry can’t get its mines and power plants funded without insurance coverage. Insurance companies are supposed…
BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill caused $17.2 billion in environmental damage to the Gulf of Mexico
New research to be published in the journal Science tomorrow quantifies for the first time the damage done to the Gulf of Mexico’s natural resources by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon…
From black gold to wind and solar: How China is turning its back on coal
XI’AN, China — On bad air days, Cao Yiyang doesn't take his 3-month-old daughter out for a stroll. It's too dangerous. Staying inside, near the air purifier he recently bought,…
Indonesia’s clean coal dreams
The Indonesian government is relying on so-called “clean coal” technology to help reconcile its climate goals with plans to rapidly expand coal-fired energy. But even in countries with far greater…
Living above a century-old coal fire, Jharia residents pay the price for India’s mining ambitions
DHANBAD, India -- In the heart of India's coal capital of Dhanbad lies one of the country's oldest mines: the Jharia coalfields, endowed with India's sole reserves of prime coking…
Japanese, Singaporean banks finance controversial Indonesian coal plant
A consortium of Asian banks will provide US$3.36 billion in loans to support the expansion of the Tanjung Jati B coal-fired power plant project in the Jepara district of Indonesia’s…
In response to pollution complaints, a coal plant in Indonesia offered soap and mops
Village leaders in Sumberejo, East Java, once had plans to entice travelers to their coastal town. Tourist facilities were planned for Ndaki Beach where the waves of the Indian Ocean…
Efforts to conserve sea turtles disrupted by coal plant in East Java
The southern coast of Java — from Pelabuhan Ratu in the west to Puger Beach at the Indonesian island's eastern tip — is an important breeding ground for sea turtles.…
Pacitan villagers say coal plant reduced livelihoods, brought little new employment
The waves of the Indian Ocean crash against the breakwater at Bawur Bay, a protective arm shielding the Pacitan coal-fired power plant. A few meters away, a barge full of…
‘Revolutionary’ new biodiversity maps reveal big gaps in conservation
Sometimes for a scientist, the disconnected pieces of years of research come together in a single, “really awesome” point in time. For ecologist Greg Asner, where it happened was about…
World Bank loans support high-carbon development in Indonesia: report
Despite their stated aim of boosting low-carbon growth, World Bank policy loans to countries like Indonesia are creating subsidies for coal, gas and oil projects, according to a report released…
As construction begins on Java’s Batang coal plant, a divided community faces environmental problems
Batang district, on the northeastern coast of the central Indonesian island of Java, will soon be home to what has been billed as Southeast Asia’s largest ever coal-fired power plant.…
Southeast Asia’s coal boom could cause 70,000 deaths per year by 2030, report says
Air pollution from coal-fired power plants is already a major killer in Southeast Asia and that death toll could more than triple in the next 15 years, according to a…
Top climate stories to watch in 2017
2016 was something of a mixed bag for the global climate. On the one hand, renewable energy use has never been higher — but on the other hand, 2016 brought…
Protest against oil pollution ends with accords on pipeline inspection, remediation, compensation
Saramurillo, Peru - Indigenous leaders protesting oil pollution in Peru's northern Amazon region signed a series of agreements with government officials December 15 on issues ranging from inspection of aging…
Forest advocates say zero-carbon goals too reliant on unrealistic tech
MARRAKESH, Morocco – Forest preservation advocates, for decades the overlooked stepchildren in United Nations climate negotiations, find themselves at the center of a raging debate in the 22nd UN summit…
New talks on oil pollution could end indigenous blockade of Amazonian river in Peru
An indigenous protest over oil pollution in the Peruvian Amazon — which is blocking boat traffic on the Marañón River, a crucial transportation route — could move toward a solution…
Pledging to reduce emissions while expanding its power grid, Indonesia walks a fine line
Last week, Indonesia joined 81 other nations by signing United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s Paris Agreement, which replaces the Kyoto Protocol as the country’s commitment to reducing its…
Another pipeline spill reported in Peruvian Amazon as indigenous protests enter eighth week
Saramurillo, Peru — As a protest by Peruvian Amazonian indigenous communities against oil pollution on their lands entered its eighth week, tensions rose on October 23 after a new pipeline…
World Bank money is helping to finance Asia’s coal boom: report
A coal boom in Asia could destroy any chances of meeting global climate goals, World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim pronounced earlier this month at the Group's annual meeting.…
U.S. imports of Amazon crude oil driving expansion of oil operations
Crude oil imported to the U.S. from the Amazon, most of which gets refined in California, is driving expansion of oil operations into the rainforest, according to a new report.…
After game-changing Dakota Access decision, a look at Sioux strategy
n the mornings on the western edge of Camp of the Sacred Stones, the makeshift settlement of tribal and allied protesters trying to stop the Dakota Access pipeline, you can…
Ecuador begins pumping oil from famed ITT-block in Yasuní
n Wednesday of last week, Ecuador began pumping its first crude oil from the Ishpingo-Tambococha-Tiputini (ITT) block in Yasuní National Park, believed to be one, if not the most, biodiverse…
Oil pipeline sparks fierce opposition among American tribes and farmers
hen Joye Braun first got to North Dakota in early April, she found nothing but prairie wind howling over snow. An activist from the Cheyenne River Sioux who cut her…
Amid epic drought, villagers bitter over Zimbabwean ethanol plant
yben Minyizeya’s homestead in Chisumbanje in eastern Zimbabwe resembles a dumpsite for disused tractors and other agricultural equipment. The broken and rusty machinery reminds him of the good old farming…
Health concerns, food insecurity linger months after Peruvian oil spills
n June 24, reports surfaced that once again the Northern Peruvian Pipeline was leaking oil into Peru’s Marañon River. It was the pipeline’s third major spill this year, after one…
Communities brace for impact of Peruvian oil spill
Three days after an oil spill was reported on their land, residents of the small riverside community of Barranca, in northeastern Peru, worry about environmental impacts while also fearing that…
Amazon oil spill puts Peruvian communities at risk
new oil spill from the pipeline that carries crude oil from the northern Peruvian Amazon across the Andes Mountains to the Pacific coast has raised fears of yet more pollution…
Company responsible for last year’s oil spill near Santa Barbara, California hit with criminal charges
Criminal charges have been filed against Houston, Texas-based Plains All American Pipeline, the company responsible for spilling as much as 143,000 gallons of crude oil from a ruptured pipeline near…
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
- Warming seas push India’s fishers into distant, and more dangerous, waters
- No protection from bottom trawling for seamount chain in northern Pacific
- Annual ocean conference raises $11.3b in pledges for marine conservation
- Caribbean startups are turning excess seaweed into an agroecology solution
Amazon Conservation
- 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
- Brazil boosts protection of Amazon mangroves with new reserves in Pará state
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
