Palm oil companies continue to criminalize farmers in Sumatra (commentary)
On a late night in December, I arrived in the village of Lunjuk on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. A warm breeze welcomed me as I sat down with 30…
Human Rights News
Journalists reporting on the environment faced increased dangers in 2018
A pair of “French spies” had infiltrated India by sea to commit a “treasonous conspiracy,” an Indian minister claimed in late November. In reality, they were two visiting journalists, and…
With no oil cleanup in sight, Amazon tribes harvest rain for clean water
LAGO AGRIO, Ecuador — Nemonte Nenquimo covers her face and squeezes her eyes shut as a pungent whiff of petroleum hits. She’s digging with a pole into an unmarked lagoon…
Māori community reconnects youth with their ancestral forests
Read other stories in this three-part profile of the Ruatāhuna community’s stewardship of its forest. A Māori community leans on tradition to restore its forest What makes a forest healthy?…
What makes a forest healthy? Māori knowledge has some answers.
Read other stories in this three-part profile of the Ruatāhuna community’s stewardship of its forest. A Māori community leans on tradition to restore its forest Māori community reconnects youth with…
The global community should address environmental issues as human rights issues (commentary)
Last month, the Director General of WWF International, Marco Lambertini, issued an urgent call for what he called a global New Deal for Nature and People, or “a roadmap that…
A Māori community leans on tradition to restore its forest
Read other stories in this three-part profile of the Ruatāhuna community’s stewardship of its forest. What makes a forest healthy? Māori knowledge has some answers. Māori community reconnects youth with…
‘Amazon Besieged’: Q&A with Mongabay contributor Sue Branford about new book
From 2016 to 2017, Mongabay contributors Sue Branford and Maurício Torres traveled to the Tapajós River Basin, in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon, to report on the controversial plan…
Guatemala: An indigenous community rejects, then accepts, a protected area
RÍO SARSTÚN, Guatemala — Riding in a small motorboat along the Atlantic coast of Guatemala, Francisco Cuz Acal looked over his left shoulder at the lush forest cover whizzing by.…
Belo Monte dam Xingu River Management Plan violates human rights: finding
The UN Inter-American Commission on Human Rights upheld a motion filed by civil society organizations condemning Brazil’s continued development of the Belo Monte mega-dam.
‘Light for everyone’: Indigenous youth mount a solar-powered resistance
CUETZALAN, Mexico — Rain clouds thicken overhead as a small crew finishes the installation of a pair of rooftop solar panels. The house stands along a dirt road in a…
COP24: Human rights concerns cast a shadow over U.N. climate summit
KATOWICE, Poland — Concerns about the apparent sidelining of human rights have been aired as the United Nations climate summit in Poland enters its second week. According to the Climate…
For Kenya’s Yiaku, medicinal herbs are their forest’s blessing and curse
Read the other stories in this three-part profile of the Yiaku’s management of their ancestral forest: A forest of their own: The Yiaku as Kenya’s model forest stewards Kenya: Bees…
Kenya: Bees help indigenous Yiaku defend and monitor their ancestral forest
Read the other stories in this three-part profile of the Yiaku’s management of their ancestral forest: A forest of their own: The Yiaku as Kenya’s model forest stewards For Kenya’s…
A forest of their own: The Yiaku as Kenya’s model forest stewards
Read the other stories in this three-part profile of the Yiaku’s management of Mukogodo forest: Kenya: Bees help indigenous Yiaku defend and monitor their ancestral forest For Kenya’s Yiaku, medicinal…
Fracking threatens Aboriginal land rights in Western Australia
The colors of northwestern Australia are profound. In the build-up to the wet season, the deep shades of bloodwood trees (Corymbia spp.) and red-tailed black cockatoos (Calyptorhynchus banksii) take on…
For APEC’s poorest member, flashy cars point to another boondoggle
The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit that opens in Port Moresby this week is supposed to be a showcase of Papua New Guinea’s hosting, but the run-up to the…
Timor-Leste: With sacrifice and ceremony, tribe sets eco rules
Read the other stories in Mongabay’s three-part profile of the Maubere’s revival of tara bandu: Timor-Leste: Maubere tribes revive customary law to protect the ocean Timor-Leste: Q&A with a Maubere…
Evicted for a showpiece project, this PNG community fights for justice
“I lost everything,” says Joe Moses, recalling the day homes in his community of Paga Hill were demolished. Moses is one of thousands of Papua New Guineans who have lost…
The ongoing trade in conflict timber (commentary)
November 6 is the UN’s International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict. A decade after a tragic war in Liberia that was largely…
Special series
Endangered environmentalists
- For embattled environmental defenders, a reprieve of sorts in 2018
- 7 convicted of killing Honduran indigenous activist Berta Cáceres
- Five wildlife conservationists held by Iran could face the death penalty
Indonesias forest guardians
- Smartphone app helps indigenous communities fight deforestation
- Papuan chef Charles Toto serves up sustainability and environmental protection in a platter
- In eastern Indonesia, a forest tribe pushes back against miners and loggers
Amazon infrastructure
- Bolsonaro acts; Brazil’s socio-environmental groups resist
- Brazil: Bolsonaro supporter works to imprison Dorothy Stang’s successor
- Amazon soy boom poses urgent existential threat to landless movement
Asian rhinos
- Deadly tsunami leaves Javan rhinos untouched, but peril persists
- The long journey to saving the Sumatran rhino, via Borneo (commentary)
- For elusive Javan rhinos, camera traps are a benevolent Big Brother
