Brazil’s Temer threatens constitutional indigenous land rights
Brazil’s president approves new criteria for indigenous land demarcation to deny Indians their traditional lands; opens door to elite land thieves, agribusiness, opponents say.
What happens after a mining rush? Photographs from Madagascar
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…
Amazon infrastructure EIAs under-assess biodiversity; scientists offer solutions
Many dozens of major infrastructure projects — including highways, dams and mines — have been given the green light in the Brazilian Amazon in recent years, and hundreds more are…
Norway vexed as Brazil sends mixed message on Amazon forest protection
Last week saw a busy, but contradictory, stream of actions likely to impact Amazonian forests. Brazilian president Michel Temer — supposedly at the urging of supermodel and environmentalist Gisele Bündchen…
Unexamined synergies: dam building and mining go together in the Amazon
In the late 1970s, Raimunda Gomes da Silva and her husband, João Pereira da Silva, moved to Tucuruí in Pará state. João went to work on the dam being built…
Indonesian coal mining firm gets its license reinstated despite a history of violations
As Indonesia proceeds with its campaign to stamp out illegality in the palm oil and mining sectors, canceling thousands of permits nationwide, a Sumatran court has restored a coal company's…
Brazil on verge of legitimizing Amazon land theft on a grand scale, warn NGOs
(Leia essa matéria em português no The Intercept Brasil. You can also read this Mongabay article in Portuguese at The Intercept Brasil) he Amazon is the sort of wild place where…
Judge halts excavation plans for largest-ever Brazilian goldmine
A Brazilian judge dealt a blow to the Belo Sun mining company’s plans to open the largest goldmine in Brazil this week. The proposed mine is slated for the Volta…
Proposed Trump policy threatens Critically Endangered Grauer’s gorilla
For weeks, the primatologists had followed a group of Grauer’s gorillas over rugged terrain — hacking through dense rainforest; following knife-edged ravines; and crossing a nearly impenetrable mountainous landscape in…
Study looks at positive and negative impacts of biodiversity offsets on local communities
Large industrial development projects such as hydroelectric dams, oil palm plantations, and mines have an unavoidable impact on the local environment, which in turn can have huge repercussions for biodiversity.…
Resource wars: Brazilian gold miners go up against indigenous people
In the popular imagination, the Amazon is often seen as a wild, mostly unpopulated place. But, it’s not jaguars and piranhas that stand as the chief dangers here; it’s the…
Thirst for coltan, gold threatens Venezuelan forests, indigenous lands
The price of oil controls much of what happens in Venezuela, determining the nation’s economic health, policies and politics. In 1995, when that price fell to just 16 dollars per…
Brazzaville-issued mining permits dip into Congo’s flagship park
The boundaries of Odzala-Kokoua National Park contain some of the best-preserved old-growth rainforest in the Republic of Congo. Its terrain varies from hills rising to 350 meters (1,148 feet) to…
The Guiana Shield, the ‘greenhouse of the world’
GEORGETOWN, Guyana - Along the northern coast of South America the small nation of Guyana sits nestled roughly south of Venezuela and north of Brazil. Referred to as the “Lost Land…
Deforestation from illegal gold mining spreads to northern Peru
Satellite images released last week revealed evidence of the first known case of deforestation caused by gold mining in northern Peru. Occurring in Peru’s Condorcanqui Province in the Amazonas region,…
CEO and execs charged with homicide in Samarco dam collapse in Brazil
razil's civil police in Minas Gerais have ordered the provisional detention of Samarco CEO Ricardo Vescovi (on leave of absence) and five other mining company executives for dam safety and security…
Illegal gold mining spreads to protected Peruvian reserve
Recently released satellite images show that illegal gold mining activities have now encroached upon Tambopata National Reserve, an important protected area in the southern Peruvian Amazon.
Guerrillas could drive gorillas toward extinction in Congo, warns UN
Gorillas may disappear across much of the Congo Basin by the mid 2020s unless action is taken to protect against poaching and habitat destruction, warns a new report issued by…
Future threats to the Amazon rainforest
Future threats to the Amazon rainforest Future threats to the Amazon rainforest Rhett A. Butler, mongabay.com July 31, 2008 Between June 2000 and June 2008, more than 150,000 square kilometers…
Malaysia rejects coal project in Borneo rainforest
Malaysia rejects coal project in Borneo rainforest Malaysia rejects coal project in Borneo rainforest mongabay.com April 14, 2008 Malaysia has rejected a $408 million coal-fired power plant near a protected…
Special series
Forest Trackers
- Satellites show deforestation surging in Indonesia’s Tesso Nilo National Park
- Large-scale logging in Cambodia’s Prey Lang linked to politically-connected mining operation
- Pasture replaces large tract of intact primary forest in Brazilian protected area
- Deforestation on the rise as poverty soars in Nigeria
Oceans
- Nickel, Tesla and two decades of environmental activism: Q&A with leader Raphaël Mapou
- All eyes on Tesla as it invests in a troubled nickel mine
- ‘The return of land to Indigenous people is key’: Q&A with Shinnecock Kelp Farm’s Tela Troge
- WTO finally nets deal curbing fisheries subsidies, but tables key bits for later
Amazon Conservation
- At 30, Brazil’s Yanomami reserve is beset by mining, malaria and mercury
- Pasture replaces large tract of intact primary forest in Brazilian protected area
- Ecuador’s Pastaza province, Indigenous groups collaborate on forest conservation
- ‘Giving up’: Amazon is losing its resilience under human pressure, study shows
Land rights and extractives
- Coal mining threatens Ethiopia’s ancient coffee forest
- Proposed copper and gold mine threatens the world’s ‘second Amazon’ in PNG
- In Indonesian Borneo, a succession of extractive industries multiplies impacts, social fractures
- Illegal mining threatens one of the last forest links between the Andes and Ecuador’s Amazon
Endangered Environmentalists
- A look at violence and conflict over Indigenous lands in nine Latin American countries
- Citizen participation: a key achievement at the first COP to the Escazú Agreement
- “We are on the front line”: Q&A with Indigenous land defender Adiela Jineth Mera Paz
- Death threats and friction with military force Guatemalan rangers to flee
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
- In prioritizing conservation, animal culture should be a factor, study says
- Young forests can help heal tropical aquatic ecosystems: Study
- How sharing and learning from failures can transform conservation (commentary)
- Is planting trees as good for the Earth as everyone says?
Southeast Asian infrastructure
- In Laos, a ‘very dangerous dam’ threatens an ancient world heritage site
- Bali’s new highway project sparks concerns about agriculture and conservation areas
- 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
