Drivers Of Deforestation
Indonesia, Malaysia deploy ministers to push back on EU palm oil restrictions
JAKARTA — Top officials from Indonesia and Malaysia, the world’s biggest palm oil producers, will meet European Union policymakers in Brussels amid a diplomatic standoff over a new deforestation rule that threatens to shut the commodity out of the EU market. The rule, formally adopted by the EU on May 16, bans the trading within […]
Forest behind bars: Logging network operating out of Cambodian prison in the Cardamoms
This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center’s Rainforest Investigations Network where Gerald Flynn was a fellow. *Names have been changed to protect sources who said they feared reprisals from the authorities. KOH KONG, Cambodia — In April 2022, the sound of a sawmill cut through the murky dawn that was steaming over Cambodia’s western […]
Forest conservation efforts in Peru are failing across the board, study says
Peru has attracted millions of dollars in forest conservation projects over the years, has a series of international agreements and targets to protect forests and has 254 public and private parks and protected areas — but these mechanisms have had little to no effect as deforestation skyrockets in the country, says a new study. Peru, […]
Venezuela’s hidden runways bring both life and destruction to Indigenous lands
SANTA ELENA DE UAIRÉN, Venezuela — Flying over a dense jungle in southern Venezuela, the sea of trees below is suddenly replaced by large patches of bare soil, tree stumps and the turquoise waters of ponds from abandoned gold mines. An airstrip 600 meters (about 2,000 feet) long marks the entrance to one of Venezuela’s […]
Chemical spill in Nicaraguan reserve raises questions about industrial mining regulations
A recent chemical spill in a protected reserve in northern Nicaragua is raising concerns about the contamination of several river ecosystems and the public health fallout for thousands of Indigenous people living nearby. Earlier this month, chemicals believed to be cyanide leaked from a processing plant run by Colombian gold mining company Hemco in Bonanza, […]
Amazon Rainforest loss could reach new height in just 5 years, study says
Within just five years, the Amazon Rainforest could lose half the total forest cover that it lost in the first 20 years of this century, a recent study has shown, as deforestation rates continue to accelerate in almost all nine Amazonian countries. From 2001-20, the rainforest lost 542,581 square kilometers (209,492 square miles), an area […]
New book by Mongabay Indonesia & Kaoem Telapak investigates palm oil industry
JAKARTA — Indonesia has made strides in developing its plantation industry, catapulting the country into the world’s largest producer of palm oil. Its sprawling plantations produce more than half of the palm oil consumed by the global market. With the rapid expansion of palm oil plantations come a number of issues, from deforestation to agrarian […]
EU deforestation tracking regulation sparks division among groups, producers
JAKARTA — As the European Union is set to adopt a landmark regulation that prohibits companies from trading commodities from deforested areas and illegal sources, the proposed law continues to be divisive. On one hand, governments of palm oil producing countries like Malaysia and Indonesia have rejected the law, saying its requirements are too strict […]
Not all parts of the Amazon will survive future droughts, study says
MEXICO CITY — As climate change continues to choke off rainfall, many parts of the Amazon are facing a higher probability of dying off from drought than previously thought. A recent study found that the western and southern Amazon will struggle to survive against increasingly extended periods of drought brought on by climate change, which […]
Guatemala national park nearing ‘collapse’ amid land grabbing, deforestation
Officials are struggling to keep up with an increasing wave of deforestation in one of Guatemala’s largest protected areas, where squatters are clearing the rainforest to make room for settlements, roads, cattle ranching and airstrips for drug planes. Sierra del Lacandón National Park, which sits on the Mexican border, has lost thousands of hectares of […]