Photographers threatening the already-abused slender loris
Slender loris. Photo by: Arun Kanagavel. Caught in a beam of torchlight, the eyes of the slender loris reflect back a striking glow. In an effort to better understand these…
Long lost tribe spotted in the Colombian Amazon
The March 2013 issue of Smithsonian magazine features an account of the flight that confirmed the presence of an isolated indigenous tribe in a remote part of the Colombian Amazon.…
Featured video: Saving the Amazon through maps
In a new video ethnobotanist, Mark Plotkin, talks about recent—and historical—efforts to preserve the Amazon rainforest through map-making and technology. Today scientists like Plotkin are teaching indigenous people how to…
Indigenous knowledge reveals widespread mammal decline in northern Australia
Aboriginal elders from north-east Arnhem Land discuss the plight of native mammals on their lands with scientist Mark Ziembicki. Photo by: Ian Morris. Over the course of four years, a…
Miners win ruling over indigenous groups in Guyana
River and forest in Guyana's Amazon. Photo by: Tiffany Roufs. A judge in Guyana's high court has ruled that indigenous groups do not have the right to expel legal miners…
Uncontacted tribes still exist, but extinction threat looms
AN INTERVIEW WITH SCOTT WALLACE, AUTHOR OF THE UNCONQUERED The world is more interconnected than ever. Globally, there are six billion cell phone subscribers and a billion Facebook users. Nearly…
Featured video: how locals depend on Kalimantan’s vanishing forests
A new video explores local indigenous views of the forests of Kalimantan or Indonesian Borneo. Having depended on the rainforest ecosystems for centuries, indigenous groups now find themselves under pressure…
Legislation leaves future of world’s largest temperate rainforest up in the air
Stream and forest in the Tongass National Forest, the world largest temperate rainforest located in Southeast Alaska. Photo by: Matthew Dolkas. Although unlikely to pass anytime in the near term,…
Penan suspend dam blockade, give government one month to respond to demands
Villagers blocking the road to Murum dam September 26, 2012. Photo courtesy of Bruno Manser Fond.. Members of the Penan tribe have suspended their month long blockade of the Murum…
UNESCO disturbed by gas plans for Peru’s Manu National Park
Rio Pini Pini flowing out of Manu National Park. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Major concerns about the danger posed by gas exploration in a UNESCO World Heritage site in…
Indigenous groups re-occupy Belo Monte dam in the Amazon
Belo Monte location. Courtesy of Google Earth. Construction on Brazil's megadam, Belo Monte, has been halted again as around 150 demonstrators, most of them from nearby indigenous tribes, have occupied…
Indigenous blockade expands against massive dam in Sarawak
Over 300 Penan people are living in makeshift shelters as they blockade roads to the Murum dam construction site. Photo courtesy of Sarawak Conservation Alliance for Natural Environment (SCANE). Indigenous…
World Bank agrees to fund project related to controversial Gibe III dam
The Turkana people fear their ecosystem will be gravely impacted by the Gibe III dam on the Omo River. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Originally refusing to provide funding to…
Scientists name new snake species to criticize mine plans in Panama (photos)
New snail-eating snake from Panama: Sibon noalamina. Non-venomous snail-eating snakes sport bright colors to mimic poisonous snakes as a defense. Photo © Sebastian Lotzkat. While scientists increasingly name new species…
Bushmeat consumption differs between communities in Tanzania
African Buffalo is a target for hunters in Tanzania. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Bushmeat consumption depends on the make-up of individual communities, according to a new study in the…
Indigenous groups in Panama wait for UN REDD to meet promises
Giant ceiba tree in Panamanian rainforest. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. A dispute over the implementation of REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) in Panama has pitted the United…
Survivors say gold miners in helicopter massacred village of 80 in Venezuelan Amazon
UPDATE: An investigation by the Venezuelan government has found no evidence of the purported massacre. In addition, Survival International, an indigenous rights group, which was one of the first to…
Elephant ancestors and Africa’s Bigfoot: new initiative works to preserve a continent’s wildest tales
Africa's Wildest Stories is a new initiative in Kenya to capture personal stories about the relationship of people to nature. Elephant Keeper Mishak Nzimbi (above) has been working at the…
Belo Monte mega-dam halted again by high Brazilian court, appeal likely but difficult
Brazil's Supreme Court overruled the Federal Appeals Court's decision on August 28, 2012. Construction resumed the same day. Belo Monte location. Courtesy of Google Earth. A high federal court in…
Evidence of ‘isolated’ indigenous people found in Peru where priest is pushing highway
View Larger Map Evidence of indigenous people living in "voluntary isolation" in a remote part of the Amazon has been found where an Italian Catholic priest is campaigning for Peru’s…
Human rights court favors indigenous tribe over Ecuadorian government in oil battle
Oil industry infrastructure in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Photo by: Jeremy Hance. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights has found in favor of a Kichwa community's right to consultation prior to…
Brazil decree opens tribal lands to mining, dams in ‘national interest’
Directive also freezes demarcation of new indigenous territories Map of indigenous territories in Brazil as of April 2008. Courtesy of FUNAI A directive signed Monday by Brazil’s Solicitor-General could hamper…
Indigenous tribes hold 3 engineers hostage over Belo Monte dam
Three engineers are being held hostage by the Juruna and Arara indigenous tribes as tensions rise over the on-going construction of the Belo Monte dam in Brazil, reports the Indigenous…
Smartphones promoted as a tool for indigenous forest protection
Ranger using a camera phone on patrol in Java. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Smartphones beeping in the woods may be a welcome presence that augurs the increased ability of…
Experts: sustainable logging in rainforests impossible
Logging in Gabon, Central Africa. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Industrial logging in primary tropical forests that is both sustainable and profitable is impossible, argues a new study in Bioscience,…
Brazil cripples illegal gold mining operations in indigenous territory
Airplane view of Peruvian Amazon landscape scarred by open pit gold mining. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Brazilian police have arrested 26 people and confiscated gold and aircraft in a…
Indigenous tribes end occupation of Belo Monte
Belo Monte location. Courtesy of Google Earth. After occupying the construction site of the massive Belo Monte dam for 21 days, some 300 indigenous people have left and gone home.…
Vietnam buys stakes in controversial oil blocks threatening Peru’s most vulnerable indigenous people
A portion of Block 67 which runs up against the border of Ecuador as viewed by Google Earth. Vietnam's state oil and gas company, PetroVietnam Exploration and Production (PVEP), has…
Building indigenous resilience in the face of land-grabbing, deforestation in Malaysian Borneo
Indigenous protest in Sarawak. Image courtesy of The Borneo Project. In the 1980s images of loincloth-clad tribesmen blockading blockading logging roads in Malaysian Borneo shocked the world. But while their…
Experts dispute recent study that claims little impact by pre-Columbian tribes in Amazon
The Amazon forest along the Tambopata River in Peru. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. A study last month in the journal Science argued that pre-Columbian peoples had little impact on…
Special series
Forest Trackers
- Bolivia’s El Curichi Las Garzas protected area taken over by land-grabbers
- Authorities struggle to protect Bolivian national park from drug-fueled deforestation
- Poverty and plantations: Nigerian reserve struggles against the odds
- Logging, road construction continue to fuel forest loss in Papua New Guinea
Oceans
- To renew or not to renew? African nations reconsider EU fishing deals
- Undercover in a shark fin trafficking ring: Interview with wildlife crime fighter Andrea Crosta
- Twilight zone fishing: Can we fish the ocean’s mesopelagic layer?
- As plastic talks wrap up in Canada, fishers in Indonesia count the costs
Amazon Conservation
- Bird populations are mysteriously declining at an Amazon park in Ecuador & beyond
- New ban threatens traditional fishers in Brazil’s Mato Grosso state
- Deforestation haunts top Peruvian reserve and its Indigenous communities
- Amid record-high fires across the Amazon, Brazil loses primary forests
Land rights and extractives
- Impunity and pollution abound in DRC mining along the road to the energy transition
- Women weave a culture of resistance and agroecology in Ecuador’s Intag Valley
- Hyundai ends aluminum deal with Adaro Minerals following K-pop protest
- Brazil’s illegal gold trade takes a hammering, but persists underground
Endangered Environmentalists
- Final cheetah conservationists freed in Iran, but the big cat’s outlook remains grim
- Indonesian activists face jail over FB posts flagging damage to marine park
- Vietnamese environmentalist sentenced to 3 years in prison for tax evasion
- Son of slain Quilombola leader will still strive for community’s rights
Indonesia's Forest Guardians
- On a Borneo mountainside, Indigenous Dayak women hold fire and defend forest
- Fenced in by Sulawesi national park, Indigenous women make forestry breakout
- In Borneo, the ‘Power of Mama’ fight Indonesia’s wildfires with all-woman crew
- Pioneer agroforester Ermi, 73, rolls back the years in Indonesia’s Gorontalo
Conservation Effectiveness
- The conservation sector must communicate better (commentary)
- Thailand tries nature-based water management to adapt to climate change
- Forest restoration to boost biomass doesn’t have to sacrifice tree diversity
- How scientists and a community are bringing a Bornean river corridor back to life
Southeast Asian infrastructure
- Study: Indonesia’s new capital city threatens stable proboscis monkey population
- Indonesia’s new capital ‘won’t sacrifice the environment’: Q&A with Nusantara’s Myrna Asnawati Safitri
- Small farmers in limbo as Cambodia wavers on Tonle Sap conservation rules
- To build its ‘green’ capital city, Indonesia runs a road through a biodiverse forest
