Forest Destruction

World leaders with furrowed brows gathering under the glare of TV lights. Dire warnings that time is running out to solve the climate and biodiversity crises. Proclamations that bold action is finally right around the corner, backed up by glossy declarations unveiled in extravagant press conferences (nonbinding, of course). If this sounds like a familiar […]

JAKARTA — A new web monitoring platform aims to achieve full traceability in palm oil supply chains and help companies to meet their zero-deforestation commitments — a goal that continues to elude the industry due to numerous challenges. Palm oil is a major driver of deforestation in the two countries that produce nearly 90% of […]

Just a day ahead of U.S. congressional hearings on climate change with heads of the largest oil companies in the world, a scathing new report has found that Chevron oil has dozens of outstanding legal cases for environmental damage, and a track record of not paying the associated fines, fees, and judgements. The independent report, […]

Cattle ranching has been destroying the Rama-Kriol territory in southeast Nicaragua for decades. And while many researchers have called attention to the devastating forest loss taking place there, few have focused on another, often-overlooked victim: the rivers. A recent study published in the journal Hydrobiologia shows that deforestation from cattle ranching is taking its toll […]

The United Nations’ Human Rights Committee has found that the Paraguayan government failed to regulate the use of harmful chemicals near an Indigenous community, resulting in severe health issues and the degradation of its culture. The OHCHR said the government didn’t adequately respond to credible complaints made by the Ava Guarani people about two nearby […]

“To summarize my view of where we are at the present time in the conservation movement…we are winning battles in a losing war,” famed biologist, naturalist, and writer Edward O. Wilson said in a phone interview with Mongabay. E.O. Wilson is recognized as one of the leading scientists in the world for his theories of […]

Guatemala is getting ready to implement new regulatory programs for the cattle industry in hopes of slowing the rate of deforestation in some of the country’s most at-risk tropical forests. The government has invested in quarantine pens for cattle raised in Petén, a department that has struggled to prevent cattle ranching from encroaching on the […]

After months of delays, the U.K. is on the cusp of passing a long-awaited post-Brexit environmental bill. But according to documents obtained by U.K.-based advocacy group Earthsight, some of the country’s biggest food importers aren’t happy about some of its stricter provisions. If the bill passes in its current state, it would establish a new […]

JAKARTA — A new report has added to growing concerns that Indonesia’s ambitious program to increase its use of palm oil-based biodiesel will drive greater deforestation across the country. The report, by London-based nonprofit CDP, an international platform for the disclosure of environmental risks, warns of conflicting policies and lack of transparency around biofuel regulations […]

In recent weeks, nine major fires have ignited in the Brazilian Amazon, heralding the start of another fire season which, after a particularly dry year, experts say could be a bad one. “The rainy season is already finished and it was a bad [dry] rainy season,” Marcelo Seluchi, a meteorologist in Brazil’s national space research […]