Land Conflict
Calls grow to repurpose land squandered in Cambodia’s concession policy
PHNOM PENH — “Make the bosses rich in Cambodia,” then-prime minister Hun Sen said at the 2012 inauguration of a sugar refinery in Kampong Speu province. “If a country has no millionaires, where can the poor get their money from?” This underscored the ideology at the heart of the policy of economic land concessions, or […]
Indigenous Dayak ‘furious’ as RSPO dismisses land rights violation complaint
JAKARTA — An Indigenous community in Indonesian Borneo that has waged a decades-long legal battle against a palm oil giant has slammed a decision to absolve the company of allegations of land rights violations. The Dayak Hibun community in Sanggau district, West Kalimantan province, had brought a complaint in 2012 to the Roundtable on Sustainable […]
Indonesian police slammed after protester demanding rightful land is shot dead
BALIKPAPAN, East Kalimantan — Activists have slammed the Indonesian police for rights violations after officers reportedly shot dead a villager and injured at least two others during a protest against an oil palm plantation company in Borneo. Gijik, 35, was shot in the chest during the Oct. 7 protest held by residents of the mostly […]
Communities track a path of destruction through a Cambodian wildlife sanctuary
PREAH VIHEAR, Cambodia — Sometime after 10 a.m. on Friday, April 21, sweat poured down the face of veteran environmental activist San Mala as he crawled through the forest undergrowth, some 16 kilometers (10 miles) deep in the heart of Chhaeb-Preah Roka Wildlife Sanctuary in northern Cambodia. Rangers from the Ministry of Environment were closing […]
Indonesia’s Mandalika project a litany of violations for Indigenous Sasak
JAKARTA — Activists have called on the developers of a major tourism project on the Indonesian island of Lombok to immediately remedy the rights violations alleged by local Indigenous communities who have had to be moved from the land. The resettlement phase of the $3 billion project in the coastal Mandalika region was supposed to […]
Ken Burns discusses heartbreak & hope of ‘The American Buffalo,’ his new documentary
Award-winning filmmaker Ken Burns tells stories that shed light on the complexities and nuances of the United States’ cultural tapestry. This time, Burns has turned his lens on a symbol of the vast North American plains: the American buffalo (Bison bison). In a poignant discussion with Mongabay’s Liz Kimbrough, Burns delves deep into his upcoming […]
Rechargeable battery industry needs better mining regulations, report says
Rechargeable batteries have an important role to play in the fight against climate change, especially when it comes to lowering greenhouse gas emissions through the transition to electric vehicles. It’s one reason the rechargeable battery market is expected to grow to over $180 billion by 2030. But the transition minerals that go into those batteries […]
Mongabay’s top Amazon stories from 2021
The world’s greatest tropical rainforest continued to come under pressure in 2021, due largely to the policies of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. Deforestation rates hit a 15-year-high, while fires flared up again, combining to turn Brazil’s portion of the Amazon into a net carbon source for the first time ever. But the rainforest as a […]
‘Land mafia’ makes its mark in a Sumatran village’s fight against oil palm firm
JAKARTA — In 2020, residents of Suka Mukti village in southern Sumatra paid 10 million rupiah each, about $700, to a government agency to obtain titles to their land — a process that is officially supposed to be free. This year, the same agency declared the certificates illegal because, it says, the land falls inside […]
Lack of resolution mechanisms allow palm oil conflicts to fester in Indonesia
JAKARTA — Indonesia has no effective mechanism for resolving its epidemic of land conflicts between rural communities and palm oil companies, according to a new study. Indonesia is the world’s top producer of palm oil, but the industry’s rapid expansion has fueled deforestation and allegations of land grabbing throughout the archipelago nation. The study, produced […]