PUERTO CONCORDIA, Colombia — Councilman Ricardo Vargas* sits at the bus depot in the riverside hamlet of Puerto Concordia where narco-inspired corridos play on the radio and a sea of oil palm expands…
JAKARTA — It took Yando Zakaria, an Indonesian anthropologist, four hours to convince the embattled Suku Anak Dalam tribe to get involved in his study last year on the cost…
A gold mine in the remote northern Cambodian province of Preah Vihear is being opposed by local people who claim they have lost their land and are being manipulated by…
SEKALAK, Indonesia — The inhabitants of Sekalak village, in this forested region of southern Sumatra, have for generations passed down the legend of Puyang Baju Lantung, a man who was…
JAKARTA — The Indonesian government says it will revamp the process of carrying out environmental impact assessments, amid increased scrutiny over the legitimacy of many of these analyses in environmental…
BOGOTA, Colombia - A renewed conflict could once again be on the horizon after leftist rebels resumed bombing Colombia's 485-mile oil pipeline early January 10, only a few hours after…
NOANAMÁ, Colombia – One wet November morning deep within Colombia's western rainforest of Chocó, rebel fighters of the National Liberation Army (ELN) scattered across a muddy football pitch in groups of eight to practice their daily drills.…
AZUAY PROVINCE, Ecuador — What happened on October 8 and 9 in Ecuador’s Río Blanco area was not entirely unexpected. On August 12, a group of inhabitants decided to take…
A new $100 million initiative will help indigenous peoples and local communities in rural areas secure rights to their traditional lands. The International Land and Forest Tenure Facility, formally launched…
DAVAO CITY, Philippines – If the street Pedro Arnado was looking down was on the Philippine government’s roadmap for future palm oil development, critics say it would be one highly…
Indonesian New Guinea holds some of the largest remnants of old-growth tropical forest on the planet. Yet the region faces increasing pressure to share its riches with the rest of…
Papua New Guinea announced last week that it is deploying its military to quell violence in Hela Province, home to the country's largest oil and gas project. Tribal conflict in…
Other stories in Mongabay’s series on the Maya Biosphere Reserve: Successes and many challenges in Guatemala’s Maya Biosphere Reserve Communities lead the way in rainforest conservation in Guatemala Controversial park…
n a sweltering February afternoon, the muffled cries of a baby resounded from a thatched pole and dagga hut in the Marange area of eastern Zimbabwe. Villagers in this part…
Often-controversial developmental projects, such as hydropower plants and mining activities, are fueling social and environmental conflict across India, according to the Environmental Justice Atlas (EJAtlas.org). In fact, India has the…
Mali elephant family group which consist of females and their offspring. They are headed by a matriarch who has decades of experience and memories to depend on, including where to…
This is part of a series of articles on market transformation in the pulp and paper and palm oil sectors in Indonesia. Drainage canal that forms the boundary between the…
A fence keeps locals from their traditional lands in Liberia, where Sime Darby has planted a contested palm oil plantation. Photo courtesy of the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI). Investing…
José Cláudio Ribeiro da Silva speaking at a TEDx Amazon in 2010, just a few months before he and his wife were assassinated for their activism. On May 24th, 2011,…
This commentary was originally published in February, but given that South Sudan has just celebrated independence over the weekend, we thought it apt to re-publish. Oryx and WCS Cessna shadow,…
Forests spanning an area larger than Costa Rica—5.6 million hectares (13.8 million acres)—have been handed out by the Papua New Guinea government to foreign corporations, largely for logging. Granted under…
Papua New Guinea, as viewed from Google Earth, covers the eastern half of the island of New Guinea, as well as other Pacific Islands. During a meeting in March 2011…
After the people of South Sudan have voted overwhelmingly for independence, the work of building a nation begins. Set to become the world's newest country on July 9th of this…
Indigenous peoples and their allies have intensified their fight against two oil companies over contamination in the Peruvian Amazon. Last week, a group of indigenous protesters blockaded portions of the…
