Dark oxygen made by deep sea 'batteries'

The discovery that lumps of metal on the seafloor produce oxygen raises questions over plans to mine the deep ocean.

An Amazon free from oil and gas

Out of the more than $20 billion invested, 46% of all direct financing for oil and gas exploration in the Amazon comes from just six banks: Citibank, JPMorgan Chase, Itaú Unibanco, Santander, Bank of America, and HSBC.

Air pollution harms pollinators more than pests, study finds

Pollinators experienced a 39-percent decline in foraging efficiency after being exposed to elevated air pollution levels. In contrast, plant-eating aphids and other pests were not significantly impacted.

Planted mangroves' ability to store carbon

Ecologists have published new findings on how planted mangroves can store up to 70% of carbon stock to that found in intact stands after only 20 years.

Allegations widen against Indonesian palm oil giant Astra Agro Lestari

JAKARTA — Allegations of illegal activity and land-grabbing against Indonesia’s second-largest palm oil company continue to mount as a new report reveals the firm’s violations appear to be more extensive than initially documented.

Devastation as world’s biggest wetland burns: ‘those that cannot run don’t stand a chance’

Blackened trees, dead animals and scorched earth – early wildfires have already devastated Brazil’s Pantanal and local people worry they may lose the battle to save them

Amazon deforestation threatens one of Brazil’s key pollinators, study shows

With their metallic-blue-and-green bodies and iridescent wings, orchid bees aren’t just charismatic bugs.

Indonesian palm oil firm clashes with villagers it allegedly shortchanged

JAKARTA — A dispute simmering for years has erupted into conflict between villagers and a palm oil company on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi over the latter’s failure to abide by a profit-sharing scheme.

Cruise Ship Invasion | Hakai Magazine

Take a typical Alaska cruise and see the damage in its wake. The evidence is clear: the industry needs an overhaul.

In Brazil, 76% of deforestation in three Amazonian states occurred in a planned agricultural development zone

The Brazilian government is discussing the creation of an "agricultural development zone" at the confluence of three states in the Amazon region—Amazonas, Acre, and Rondônia (hence the proposed acronym AMACRO).

Malaysia plans to give orangutans to countries that buy palm oil

‘Orangutan diplomacy’ strategy aims to ease concern over environmental impact of palm oil production, says minister

Latest palm oil deforester in Indonesia may also be operating illegally

JAKARTA — The largest case of deforestation for industrial palm oil in Indonesia is happening within a concession on a tiny island off the coast of southern Borneo, according to satellite analysis by technology consultancy TheTreeMap.

How 3M Execs Convinced a Scientist the Forever Chemicals She Found in Human Blood Were Safe

Decades ago, Kris Hansen showed 3M that its PFAS chemicals were in people’s bodies. Her bosses halted her work. As the EPA now forces the removal of the chemicals from drinking water, she wrestles with the secrets that 3M kept from her and the world.

Ecuador: Stop land grabbing and racial discrimination for palm oil!

Communities in northern Ecuador are fighting back against land grabbing and deforestation by the palm oil industry.

Oil palm plantations are driving massive downstream impact to watershed

The global demand for palm oil—the most widely consumed vegetable oil on the planet, in everything from instant noodles to lipstick—is driving worldwide tropical deforestation.

Despite gains in Brazil, forest destruction still 'stubbornly' high: Report

The world lost 10 football fields of old-growth tropical forest every minute in 2023 and despite uplifting progress in the Amazon, the picture elsewhere is less rosy, researchers said on Thursday.

Tropical forest loss puts 2030 zero-deforestation target further out of reach

JAKARTA — The tropics continue to lose primary forest at an alarming rate, with an area of tree cover half the size of Panama disappearing in 2023, new data from the University of Maryland’s GLAD lab show. Primary forest loss last year amounted to 3.

Deforestation harms biodiversity of the Amazon's perfume-loving orchid bees

A survey of orchid bees in the Brazilian Amazon, carried out in the 1990s, is shedding new light the impact of deforestation on the scent-collecting pollinators, which some view as bellwethers of biodiversity in the neotropics.

Ghost roads and the destruction of Asia-Pacific tropical forests - Nature

An effort to map roads in the Asia-Pacific region finds that there are 3.0–6.6 times more roads than other sources suggest, and that unmapped ‘ghost roads’ are a major contributor to tropical forest loss.

PalmWatch platform pushes for farm-to-fork traceability of palm oil

JAKARTA — Farm-to-fork traceability has become an increasingly urgent, and often required, component of global supply chains, with a growing number of commodities now trackable all the way back to their source.

Can Europe save forests without killing jobs in Malaysia?

Brazil: Stop land grabbing and violence for “fair and sustainable” palm oil!

Palm oil from Brazil's Agropalma sports no less than ten different seals: Certified as organic, fair and sustainable, the oil is sold to food giants such as Ferrero, Kellogg’s and Nestlé.

Palm oil deforestation persists in Indonesia’s Leuser amid new mills, plantations

JAKARTA — Deforestation for oil palm plantations continues unabated at the northern tip of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, likely driven by new processing mills that in turn may ultimately be supplying major consumer goods companies.

Deforestation Could Put 84% of North American Lizards at Risk, Study Says

Deforestation is making lizards in North America more vulnerable because of a lack of shelter from extreme temperatures.

Ten years since anti-deforestation pledge, corporate world still not doing enough

It was supposed to be a major milestone, back in 2014, when hundreds of governments and companies came together to sign the New York Declaration on Forests, aimed at eliminating natural forest loss worldwide.

Forests declining globally amid wildfires and deforestation - News Cafe

Authorities struggle to protect Bolivian national park from drug-fueled deforestation

In 2020, a Mongabay reporting team visited Bolivia’s Amboró National Park and Integrated Management Natural Area and found that portions of its protected forest had been cleared and replaced by illegal coca crops.

Dairy farmers accused of ‘radical’ damage to landscape

Natural features are being levelled to improve grazing despite laws requiring government approval for such works

‘Shocking’ mortality of infant macaques points to dangers of oil palm plantations

For 12 years, primatologist Nadine Ruppert and her colleagues have had one recurring task on their calendar: tagging along with a group of southern pig-tailed macaques in Segari, Peninsular Malaysia, as these primates hop between native rainforests a…

Converting rainforest to plantation impacts food webs and biodiversity

Every day, new areas of rainforests are converted into plantations, drastically changing tropical biodiversity and the way the ecosystem functions.

Report shows Peru failed to stop Amazon deforestation for palm oil and cacao

Several palm oil and cacao companies operating in the Peruvian Amazon have systematically contributed to clearing at least 13,000 hectares (32,000 acres) between 2012 and 2021 in the country’s most forest-rich regions of Loreto and Ucayali, shows a n…

Palm oil deforestation makes comeback in Indonesia after decade-long slump

JAKARTA — Deforestation by the palm oil industry in Indonesia increased in 2023 for the second year in a row, bucking a decade of gradual decline, according to an analysis by technology consultancy TheTreeMap.

Jokowi's land reform initiative hits roadblock as conflicts nearly double, report shows

Land conflicts in Indonesia have nearly doubled under President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo as his administration pursues an investor-first economic agenda that has sidelined local communities and the environment, a new report shows.