
Endangered environmentalists
Green groups under threat from governments and corporate actors: As climate change, pollution, and habitat destruction worsen across the globe, environmental groups are responding by ratcheting up the pressure on governments and corporations to act. Many governments have responded by increasing restrictions on environmental NGOs, including revoking charity status, increasing sentences for protestors, and passing legislation restricting NGO activity.


“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

Amazon mining threatens dozens of uncontacted Indigenous groups, study shows

The Kichwa woman fighting drug traffickers and loggers in the Peruvian Amazon

Rights groups demand end to Cambodia’s persecution of green activists
Global forest reporting network

A new 100-page report raises alarm over Chevron’s impact on planet

Science refutes United Cacao’s claim it didn’t deforest Peruvian Amazon

‘We are invisible’: Brazilian Cerrado quilombos fight for land and lives

Chimps in Sierra Leone adapt to human-impacted habitats, but threats remain

Cocaine blamed for rising deforestation in Peru’s Bahuaja-Sonene National Park

Devastating Laos dam collapse leads to deforestation of protected forests
Indonesian coal

Stranded coal barge spills cargo, disrupts fishery in Indonesian waters

Indonesia’s gasification plans could be costly for budget and environment

Indonesian bill turns coal-derived fuels clean by ignoring true scale of emissions

As blackouts loom, Indonesia’s energy crisis highlights its addiction to coal

China’s pivot from funding coal plants to gasification slammed as more of the same

Indonesia’s new plan for coal: It pollutes land and air, so why not the sea too?
Southeast asian infrastructure
Focusing on the social and environmental impacts of roads, dams, mines, and other infrastructure projects in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Papua New Guinea.

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

Indonesian farmers refuse to budge for train line through karst landscape

UNESCO calls for closure of road running through World Heritage park in Papua
Amazon infrastructure

Making room in the Atlantic Forest for the largest primate in the Americas

New transport infrastructure is opening the Amazon to global commerce

As illegal logging route in Peru nears Brazil, Indigenous groups warn of calamity

Planned Brazil-Peru highway threatens one of Earth’s most biodiverse places

Amazon dams: No clean water, fish dying, then the pandemic came

Freight train project that railroads Indigenous rights still on track
Asian rhinos

It’s a girl: Super rare Sumatran rhino born in captive-breeding center

Loss of Sumatran rhinos leaves several plant species without a seed disperser

Work starts on new sanctuary for captive breeding of Sumatran rhinos

Low genetic diversity is part of rhinos’ long-term history, study says

Captive breeding of Sumatran rhinos: Where the program stands today

To count Sumatran rhinos in the wild, look for their poop, study says
Indonesian fisheries

Easing of crackdown sees Vietnam boats encroach into Indonesian waters

Small-island fishers petition Indonesian president to end coastal dredging

Fisher groups are the marine militia in Indonesia’s war on illegal fishing

For more fish and healthier coral in Bali, focus on communities and connectivity: Study

A seagrass restoration project to preserve the past may also protect the future

Court setback doesn’t sway Indonesian villagers fighting a mining firm
Global environmental impacts of u s policy

President Biden signs order aimed at protecting old-growth forests across U.S.

FOREST Act bill would hold global suppliers accountable for illegal deforestation

As the rest of world tackles plastics disposal, the U.S. resists

As climate chaos escalates in Indian Country, feds abandon tribes

COP24: Trumpers tout clean coal; protesters call it ‘climate suicide’

COP24: US, Russia, Saudis downplay IPCC report in display of disunity
Conservation in madagascar
Madagascar has been a global conservation priority for decades, receiving hundreds of millions of dollars in conservation funds from international donors, but rising deforestation, commercial exploitation of wildlife, and degradation of critical habitats suggest that conservation investments may not be reaching their full potential. This series investigates the effectiveness of past conservation spending in Madagascar, examining the factors that contribute to or hinder success, with the aim of informing future investments.

Rio Tinto-owned mine is polluting Malagasy water with uranium and lead, NGOs say

Even as the government bets big on carbon, REDD+ flounders in Madagascar

China joins the foreign fleets quietly exploiting Madagascar’s waters

For Malagasy trapped in poverty, threatened lemurs and fossas are fair game

In Madagascar, cultural taboos can protect or harm the environment

Madagascar’s vanishing trees
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?

‘Bad science’: Planting frenzy misses the grasslands for the trees

A Malagasy community wins global recognition for saving its lake
Global agroforestry
An ancient agricultural system, agroforestry combines trees with shrubs, crops, and livestock in a system that produces food, supports biodiversity, builds soil horizons and water tables, and sequesters carbon from the atmosphere -- this series explores how and where it is being practiced by Indigenous communities, traditional agriculturists, and new farmers.

In oil palm-dominated Malaysia, agroforestry orchards are oases of bird life: Study

Podcast: Community empowerment and forest conservation grow from the galip nut in Papua New Guinea

Brazil’s agroforestry farmers report many benefits, but challenges remain

In China, agroforestry serves up tea with a spoonful of sustainability

Inga tree points to way out of slash-and-burn for Central American farmers

For Costa Rica’s Indigenous Bribri women, agroforestry is an act of resistance and resilience
Global forests

Results from mining tax for reforestation in the DRC leave more questions than answers

To conserve the vibrant diversity of Central Africa’s forests, include Indigenous people (commentary)

2021 tropical forest loss figures put zero-deforestation goal by 2030 out of reach

President Biden signs order aimed at protecting old-growth forests across U.S.

Beyond CO2, tropical forests a ‘cool’ solution to climate crisis, study finds

Opium production down as communities in Mexico’s Golden Triangle turn to forestry
Almost famous animals

Conservation win for Bangladesh as efforts to halt vulture decline pay off

‘Resilient’ leatherback turtles can survive fishing rope entanglements. Mostly

Wild bison, taking over Europe and North America, will once again roam England

Thanks to the Yurok Tribe, condors will return to the Pacific Northwest

What the Mauritius kestrel can teach us about wildlife reintroductions
