Tropical timber has earned a bad reputation. When we think of timber from lush, tropical forests, it conjures up images of valuable old-growth trees pillaged by logging companies and illegal…

The CETA trade agreement was supposed to undo past treaty abuses and be a model for future global trade agreements. But critics say CETA still threatens the environment and national sovereignty.

Oil palm plantation companies are still eating away at the Leuser Ecosystem, one of Indonesia’s last best rainforests, despite a provincial ban on forest clearance to make way for the…

How do you solve a conservation problem? Do you protect a wild leopard that has entered a village by removing it and releasing it into a forest far, far away?…

It’s not uncommon to find ecologist Greg Asner flying transects over the rainforests of the Amazon or Borneo. His specially outfitted plane has helped map out the three-dimensional structure of…

The ivory trade in Central Africa appears to be diminishing, according to a new report from TRAFFIC, a U.K.-based watchdog NGO. But that finding might be misleading, say the authors,…

Scientists know that the carbon released by large-scale deforestation in the tropics inevitably helps boost global temperatures. Now, new research indicates that this conversion of land, often to farms and…

BOKONBAYEVO, Kyrgyzstan – Kyrgyz folklore is laden with stories that warn its adherents against the over-hunting of animals. In one foreboding tale, Kodzhodzash, the leader of the Ak-Bars tribe, brutally…

JAKARTA — Not everyone supports the Indonesian government’s decision to publish information on the location of fishing boats in its waters, via data mapping platform Global Fishing Watch, accessible to…

As Indonesian authorities move to strip thousands of mining licenses from firms that have failed to meet legal requirements, some companies are fighting back in the courts. Claiming that local…

JAKARTA -- Indonesia, a country known for its annual forest and peat fires, is overhauling its peatland management policies, an effort triggered by the great fires of 2015. 2015 was…

AMPASINDAVA PENINSULA, Madagascar — Solondraza, a 63-year-old farmer in northwestern Madagascar, has led a mostly conflict-free life. He and his wife live in a small house made of ravinala, a…

ALAOTRA-MANGORO, Madagascar — Mines, legal or not, are born, die, and spring back to life all over Madagascar. It has been this way since the 1990s. Some become famous, such…

PALANGKARAYA, Indonesia and JAKARTA -- One of the largest drainage canals ever dug through Indonesia’s peat swamps is being blocked in Kalimantan, the archipelago country’s portion of Borneo island, part…

LONDON – A broad gathering of key players in the environmental sector came together last week in London for an international conference on illegal logging. The annual Chatham House conference…

MEDAN, Indonesia — A key stopover site for migratory shorebirds in western Indonesia is imperilled as the area’s mangrove forests are exponentially developed for human land use, according to research…

The Norwegian parliament voted today to ban the public procurement and use of palm oil-based biofuel – purportedly becoming the first country to do so. "The [Parliament] calls on the government…

After coming under public scrutiny, Central Kalimantan Governor Sugianto Sabran halted the construction of a railroad being built to transport coal through forested areas of the province. The governor's decision…

Hundreds of abandoned open-pit coal mines pockmark the landscape of East Kalimantan Province in Indonesian Borneo. Indonesian law requires mining companies to fill in pits that are no longer in…

The West Kalimantan governor wants to exempt timber firms in the Indonesian province from a national ban on peatland drainage, drawing the ire of green groups who say such a…