Math campus multiplies threats to Rio de Janeiro’s dwindling Atlantic Forest
RIO DE JANEIRO – Horto, a secluded neighborhood in the south of Rio de Janeiro with a view of the famed Christ the Redeemer statue, is enveloped by forest. Tropical…
Environmental defenders in Nicaragua denounce government crackdown as elections loom
There is a sacred hill in Nicaragua known as Kiwakumbaih, where the ancestors of the Indigenous Mayangna people would go to hold important annual events. To this day, it continues…
Brazil farming co-op carves a sustainable path through agribusiness stronghold
When farmer Mônica de Souza Ribeiro moved into her landless settlement in the state of Goiás in central Brazil in the late 1990s, she was overwhelmed by the sheer amount…
Paper giants’ expansion plans raise fears of greater deforestation in Indonesia
JAKARTA — Activists are warning of “severe environmental and social risks” from plans by two of the world’s largest paper companies to significantly expand their operations in Indonesia. Both Asia…
Loss of oil palm permits leaves Papuan villages uncertain and fearful
SORONG, West Papua — With its lush rainforests and long stretches of beaches, Waimon, a coastal village in Indonesia’s West Papua province, seems like an idyllic place. But some residents…
For Brazil’s persecuted Krenak people, justice arrives half a century later
More than 50 years after the Krenak Indigenous people were subjected to torture, arbitrary confinement, beatings and forced labor in military-run concentration camps, a federal judge has ruled for reparations and an official apology.
Oil pipeline on Native lands ramps up as Canada honors its Indigenous people
Canadian oil company Enbridge is just hours away from completing its thousand-mile pipeline from Alberta through north Minnesota to Wisconsin, with oil set to flow the day after Canada’s first…
Railroad and mine projects stir up anxiety in rural Brazil communities
It happened eight years ago: Elicarlos Ferreira da Silva and his family were returning home one afternoon from the town of Caetité in Brazil’s Bahia state when they were stopped…
For Indonesian MPs, Indigenous rights may be bad for business, report says
JAKARTA — A long-delayed bill on Indigenous rights continues to languish in parliament because most lawmakers have business interests that are threatened by the acknowledgement of Indigenous land rights, activists…
Win for Malaysian forest after government backs down on development plan
Activists in Malaysia are celebrating an unprecedented U-turn by the Selangor state government after it cancelled plans last week to develop the Kuala Langat North Forest Reserve. The forest reserve…
As illegal logging route in Peru nears Brazil, Indigenous groups warn of calamity
On the western fringe of the Brazilian Amazon, lush forest stretches for miles across a protected reserve that is home to the Ashaninka Indigenous people. Just a few miles away,…
Rich countries may be buying illegal gold that’s driving Amazon destruction
Brazil is likely feeding international demand for gold with bullion tainted by violence, deforestation and pollution, given that almost a third of the country’s registered gold production is classified as…
Vale told Brazil communities they were in danger. They say Vale wants their land
On Feb. 8, 2019, two weeks after the collapse of a dam holding mining waste killed 272 people and left a trail of destruction in Brumadinho, in the Brazilian state…
North American paper industry merger sets off environmental alarms
JAKARTA — The planned expansion of one of the largest pulp and paper producers in North America will threaten Canada’s boreal forest, the most carbon dense woodland in the world,…
With their land on the line, Indigenous Brazilians gather for landmark ruling
Thousands of Indigenous people marched in Brazil’s capital this week, ahead of a landmark Supreme Federal Court ruling that activists warn could hamper the official recognition of Indigenous people’s territories…
‘Carving up my country’: Land clearing reignites fracking debate in Western Australia
BROOME, Australia — A cool breeze blows through the savanna country east of Broome, a small town on the far north coast of Western Australia, Australia's largest state. This time of year is known as Barrgana by the…
Indonesian pulpwood firms told to protect peat are doing the opposite: Report
JAKARTA — Pulpwood companies obliged to restore the degraded peatlands inside their concessions in Indonesia are instead continuing to cultivate the land, a new investigative report says. The report by…
They safeguarded nature, but now Malaysia’s Mah Meri face eviction for an eco-resort
An Indigenous community in Peninsular Malaysia is fighting an eviction notice that could see it displaced to make way for a “world-class eco-city.” The Mah Meri families residing in the…
Malaysian timber giant Samling takes conflict over logging activity to court
A Malaysian timber certification authority has halted its review of a conflict between Sarawak Indigenous communities and a forest license holder after the plywood company Samling Group filed a $1.18…
An Ecuadoran town that survived illegal miners now faces a licensed operator
In 2017, the name “La Merced de Buenos Aires,” or simply “Buenos Aires,” became famous throughout Ecuador. This small parish located high in the Andean province of Imbabura was invaded…
Scientists, communities battle against Philippine land reclamation project
DUMAGUETE CITY, Philippines — Local authorities in the central Philippines pushing ahead with a land reclamation project that will bury four marine reserves face strong opposition from scientists, fishers and…
Indonesian farmers refuse to budge for train line through karst landscape
MAROS, Indonesia — Santuwo straightens the crease in the sarong that he often wears while working in his rice field in the village of Salenrang, in Indonesia’s South Sulawesi province.…
The Kichwa woman fighting drug traffickers and loggers in the Peruvian Amazon
“They may kill one, two, three of us, but others will come to defend the forest, they will not exterminate us,” says Marisol García Apagüeño, an Indigenous Kichwa leader from…
In Peru, a corrupt land-titling scheme sees forests sold off as farms
In September 2015, officials from the agriculture agency of Peru’s Ucayali department arrived in the district of Masisea with one goal: to create a rural land registry in a forested…
Indigenous Brazilians fear surge in violence as ‘land-grab bill’ nears passage
Indigenous people in Brazil are bracing for a surge in invasions and violence on their territories after a controversial bill that could make land grabs easier cleared a key legislative…
On the Colombian plains, a leader stands up for her people against land theft
This article is a journalistic collaboration between Mongabay’s Latin America (Latam) team and Colombian digital news website Rutas del Conflicto. Ana Villa has traveled dozens of times on the highways…
Protecting undesignated forests seen as key to slowing Amazon deforestation
About 14% of the Brazilian Amazon, an area the size of Spain and Portugal combined, falls under the category of non-designated public forests, or NDPFs. These are state or federally…
Mennonites said to deforest ancestral Indigenous land in Colombia
This report is a partnership between Mongabay Latam, Rutas del Conflicto and La Liga Contra el Silencio. In Colombia’s Meta department, a stretch of several miles of reddish, arable land…
For an Indigenous group in Sumatra, a forest regained is being lost once more
PANDUMAAN-SIPITUHUTA, Indonesia — For years, Ganjang, a member of the Pandumaan-Sipituhuta Indigenous community in Indonesia’s North Sumatra province, has been uneasy about extracting frankincense from trees in a nearby forest.…
FSC dumps palm oil giant Korindo amid rights, environmental issues in Papua
JAKARTA — Palm oil giant Korindo Group has had its membership in the Forest Stewardship Council terminated, a move that activists say sends a signal to other companies that they…
Special series
Forest Trackers
- Deforestation notches up along logging roads on PNG’s New Britain Island
- Deforestation threatens tree kangaroo habitat in Papua New Guinea
- Fate of Malaysian forests stripped of protection points to conservation stakes
- Deforestation sweeps national park in Brazil as land speculators advance
Oceans
- Changes to global fisheries subsidies could level the playing field for traditional coastline communities
- Two threatened whale groups had a mini baby boom, but not because of lockdown
- Nitrogen: The environmental crisis you haven’t heard of yet
- Sea turtles: Can these great marine migrators navigate rising human threats?
Amazon Conservation
- Amazon, meet Amazon: Tech giant rolls out rainforest carbon offset project
- Rich countries may be buying illegal gold that’s driving Amazon destruction
- New study offers latest proof that Brazilian Amazon is now a net CO2 source
- With their land on the line, Indigenous Brazilians gather for landmark ruling
Land rights and extractives
- ‘On the map’: App shines light on 5,000 ‘invisible’ families in Brazil’s Cerrado and beyond
- As illegal logging route in Peru nears Brazil, Indigenous groups warn of calamity
- Vale told Brazil communities they were in danger. They say Vale wants their land
- With their land on the line, Indigenous Brazilians gather for landmark ruling
Endangered Environmentalists
- The Kichwa woman fighting drug traffickers and loggers in the Peruvian Amazon
- Rights groups demand end to Cambodia’s persecution of green activists
- With Indigenous rights at stake in Brasília, a territory is attacked in Paraty
- Brazil’s Bolsonaro vowed to work with Indigenous people. Now he’s investigating them
Indonesia's Forest Guardians
- From Flores to Papua: Meet 10 of Indonesia’s mangrove guardians
- Why I stand for my tribe’s forest: It gives us food, culture, and life (commentary)
- Reforesting a village in Indonesia, one batch of gourmet beans at a time
- Restoring Sumatra’s Leuser Ecosystem, one small farm at a time
Conservation Effectiveness
- Is planting trees as good for the Earth as everyone says?
- ‘Bad science’: Planting frenzy misses the grasslands for the trees
- A Malagasy community wins global recognition for saving its lake
- Scientists in Costa Rica are growing new corals to save reefs
Southeast Asian infrastructure
- Deforestation notches up along logging roads on PNG’s New Britain Island
- Plantations and roads strip away Papua’s forests. They’re just getting started
- Indonesian farmers refuse to budge for train line through karst landscape
- UNESCO calls for closure of road running through World Heritage park in Papua
