Conservation news on Sustainable Forest Management

’Unprecedented’ loss of biodiversity threatens humanity, report finds

by Mongabay.com 7 May 2019

Life on this planet, in all its wide diversity, is disappearing more quickly now than it has at any time in human history, and some 1 million species of plants…

Deforestation diminishes access to clean water, study finds

by John C. Cannon 15 April 2019

Deforestation can reduce communities’ access to clean drinking water, according to a recent study conducted in Malawi. A lot of prior research on how deforestation impacts water dynamics has shown…

Malaysian state chief: Highway construction must not destroy forest

by Mongabay.com 26 March 2019

The chief minister of the Malaysian state of Sabah has called on construction crews working on the multi-billion-dollar Pan Borneo Highway project to avoid breaking up the region’s forests and…

Proximity to towns stretches giraffe home ranges

by Mongabay.com 6 March 2019

Giraffes have to search a wider area for food and water when people live nearby, according to a recent study. “Giraffes are huge browsing animals that live in African savanna…

Student government president Gaymon Edwards leads a meeting of his fellow students. Their current requests from the school administration include sprinklers for the kitchen garden, new locks for the classrooms, and full electricity in the dorms. Image by Carinya Sharples for Mongabay.

Guyana: The school where indigenous youth learn about their land

by Carinya Sharples 15 February 2019

ANNAI, Guyana — It’s 8:30 a.m. and the main school building of the Bina Hill Institute’s Youth Learning Centre is strangely quiet. The classrooms are deserted, the newly built dormitories…

Toribio Cabrera, a potato farmer in Concepción Chiquirichapa, Guatemala. Like most of his coleagues, Cabrera attributes the success of the local potato harvest to the use of leaf litter from the forest as a fertilizer. Image by Jorge Rodríguez for Mongabay.

The secret to a town’s perfect potatoes? Its well-preserved forest.

by Jorge Rodríguez 11 February 2019

Links to other stories in this three-part profile of the Concepción Chiquirichapa community’s stewardship of its sacred cloud forest will appear here once they are published: How a Mayan town restored…

Marcelino Aguilar and Rumualdo López pray during a Maya fire ceremony celebrating the spiritual connection with the forest and other natural elements and asking the Creator for protection and wisdom. Image by Jorge Rodríguez for Mongabay.

Ancient spirituality guides a Maya town’s conservation efforts

by Jorge Rodríguez 6 February 2019

Links to other stories in this three-part profile of the Concepción Chiquirichapa community’s stewardship of its sacred cloud forest will appear here once they are published: How a Mayan town restored…

Francisco Escalante (foreground) and Óscar López have been community park rangers in Concepción Chiquirichapa since the mid 1970’s. Image by Jorge Rodríguez for Mongabay.

How a Mayan town restored its sacred cloud forest and water supply

by Jorge Rodríguez 1 February 2019

Links to other stories in this three-part profile of the Concepción Chiquirichapa community’s stewardship of its sacred cloud forest will appear here once they are published: Ancient spirituality guides a Maya…

Guyana signs on to forest management agreement with the EU

by Carinya Sharples 16 January 2019

GEORGETOWN, Guyana - Guyana has initialed a Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) with the European Union (EU) to tackle illegal logging, improve forest management and boost the legal timber trade in…

Rainforest in Sarawak, Malaysia. Photo by Rhett A. Butler.

The biggest rainforest news stories in 2018

by Rhett A. Butler 30 December 2018

2018 was a difficult year for the world's tropical rainforests. Below are of some of the biggest rainforest storylines for the year, but we couldn't cover everything, so if there…

Puke Tīmoti helps local rangatahi (young people) make connections between cultural knowledge and science through the Te Whare o Rehua forest academy program. Image courtesy of Tūhoe Tuawhenua Trust.

Māori community reconnects youth with their ancestral forests

by Monica Evans 26 December 2018

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?…

A kererū (native woodpigeon, Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae). The birds are culturally and ecologically important for Tūhoe. Image by Bernard Spragg. NZ via Flickr.

What makes a forest healthy? Māori knowledge has some answers.

by Monica Evans 21 December 2018

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…

Ten years on, Amazon Fund receives applause, criticism, faces new tests

by Fabíola Ortiz 21 December 2018

The Fund was one of the first UN REDD+ initiatives, and has seen successes, but critics say it must ratchet up to conserve more forest, even as Brazil’s government shirks its role.

Piupiu ferns (families Blechnaceae and Thelypteridaceae) on the forest floor. Image by Monica Evans for Mongabay.

A Māori community leans on tradition to restore its forest

by Monica Evans 17 December 2018

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…

Valentin Suchite patrols the forest searching for signs of deforestation. Image by Anna-Catherine Brigida for Mongabay.

Guatemala: An indigenous community rejects, then accepts, a protected area

by Anna-Catherine Brigida 12 December 2018

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.…

Naisimari Lentula, a Yiaku herbalist, with a community forest scout outside her house. Image by Shadrack Kavilu for Mongabay.

For Kenya’s Yiaku, medicinal herbs are their forest’s blessing and curse

by Shadrack Kavilu 30 November 2018

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…

Lazarus Lentula, a 27-year-old leader of the Yiaku forest guards, who patrol and monitor Mukogodo for illegal activity. Image by Shadrack Kavilu for Mongabay.

Kenya: Bees help indigenous Yiaku defend and monitor their ancestral forest

by Shadrack Kavilu 28 November 2018

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…

Forestry reforms could fall short without PM’s backing in Ukraine

by John C. Cannon 28 November 2018

Ukraine appears to have stalled in a “massive crackdown” on corruption and illegality in its timber sector, according to the group that exposed the practices. Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman launched…

A group of Yiaku youth scouts, who have been trained by the Kenya Forest Service to take part in forest patrols and other conservation activities. Image by Shadrack Kavilu for Mongabay.

A forest of their own: The Yiaku as Kenya’s model forest stewards

by Shadrack Kavilu 26 November 2018

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…

US could cut emissions more than one-fifth through ‘natural climate solutions’ like reforestation

by Mongabay.com 21 November 2018

More than one-fifth of current greenhouse gas emissions in the United States could be kept out of the atmosphere and stored in the land, according to new research. A study…