Conservation
Meet Magali, the conservation warrior rescuing Peru’s rainforest animals: Video
In the dark, early morning hours, Magali Salinas trails a troop of howler monkeys through the Amazon rainforest. Magali is particularly invested in this troop. She rehabilitated each monkey, brought them together and released them into the wild. Now, she watches and waits. “I care for them as if they were my own children,” Magali […]
Read MoreVenezuelans hit by cooking gas shortages look to forests for firewood
A one-minute audio clip made the rounds on Venezuelan Twitter last year, in which a state official being interviewed on a radio show tells citizens that, because of ongoing national shortages, they should pick and choose when to cook with gas. “Save it to make pasta, rice and those things,” said Dante Rivas, protector of […]
Read MoreEU proposes ambitious ban on products tied to legal and illegal deforestation
The European Union is considering an ambitious new proposal that would regulate imports of products linked to global forest loss. The law would require suppliers to prove their products haven’t contributed to deforestation, whether legal or illegal. If passed, it would force producers to raise their environmental standards or risk losing out on a market […]
Read MoreSomething ‘fishy’ is happening in Congress
If you follow the goings-on of the U.S. Congress, you know that the final months of the year have become a sprint to the finish line marked by bursts of legislative energy and must-pass bills. This year is even more energetic than most. Earlier this month, we saw an “Infrastructure Week” finally end in passage […]
Read MoreSomething ‘fishy’ is happening in Congress
If you follow the goings-on of the U.S. Congress, you know that the final months of the year have become a sprint to the finish line marked by bursts of legislative energy and must-pass bills. This year is even more energetic than most. Earlier this month, we saw an “Infrastructure Week” finally end in passage […]
Read MoreIndonesia slashes 2021 mangrove restoration target, vows to make up in 2022
BALI — Indonesia has revised down its 2021 target for rehabilitating mangroves in light of “technical hurdles” brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic and other factors, according to the nation’s mangrove restoration agency. The new target is 33,000 hectares (81,500 acres), down from 83,000 hectares (205,000 acres), according to Hartono Prawiraatmadja, the head of the […]
Read MoreThe last spotted ground thrush on Malawi’s lonely mountain
Mount Mulanje’s bare granite face looms above the lush surrounding landscape. Said to be the inspiration for J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lonely Mountain (home to Smaug the dragon), Malawi’s highest mountain also holds a treasure: a mating pair of spotted ground thrushes, one of the rarest birds in the world. “Ground thrushes are like the holy grail […]
Read MoreOne in five hectares of oil palm in Indonesia is illegal, report shows
JAKARTA — Indonesia, the world’s biggest producer of palm oil, owes a substantial slice of that output to criminal deforestation, according to a new report showing that a fifth of its plantations are illegally operating inside designated forest areas. These plantation operators are effectively destroying large swaths of carbon-rich rainforests, releasing huge amounts of greenhouse […]
Read MoreUNESCO reiterates road project’s dangers to Papua park as Indonesia doubles down
JAKARTA — UNESCO has renewed its call for the closure of a road running through Indonesia’s Lorentz National Park after the nation’s environment minister said shutting it down would be impossible. The park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, encompasses a variety of biodiversity-rich ecosystems on the western coast of the island of New Guinea. BirdLife […]
Read MoreNew restoration “Playbook” calls for political, economic, and social change
International forest and climate experts have released a “playbook” for ecosystem restoration with a set of 10 principles that they say, if followed, could be a game-changer. The Political Ecology Playbook, published in the journal Global Environmental Change, recognizes that issues such as climate change and forest loss are not just biophysical and environmental problems, […]
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