Between the cacao fields of northwest Madagascar and the vanilla of the northeast, a chain of rainforests bob along the highland interior. Tsaratanana Reserve, home to the country’s highest peak, has long been a key link in the chain, with abundant primary forest mostly undisturbed by human activity. Yet the reserve now faces threats on […]
Tag: deforestation
Where the logging ends in Indonesian Borneo, the forest clearing begins
Logging for timber by definition reduces tree cover. But what happens when logging stops? Anew study has found that in concessions where timber firms have stopped operating, deforestation actually appears to increase, thanks to illegal clearing for agriculture and industrial plantations. An inactive logging concession therefore creates a conservation risk, but also a conservation opportunity, […]
‘Out of control’: Unprecedented fires ravage Brazil’s Pantanal wetlands
PORTO JOFRE, Brazil – Only fragile wisps of freshly-sprouted grass dotted the charred plot of farmland in Brazil’s Pantanal wetlands. Standing amid the ash and burnt vegetation, Eledilson Nunes de Souza lifted his hand, marking a line halfway up his chest. “Usually, at this time of year, it’s all flooded here – the water is […]
113 Animal Species Identified as Needing “Urgent” Help After Record-Breaking Australian Fires
Australia was having an extinction crisis before the fires hit. There were 511 animal species, 1,356 plant species and 82 distinct ecological communities nationally threatened. But the fires were devastating and record breaking. One-third of koalas (an already endangered species) were killed and scientists estimate that over one billion animals died. And now there are […]
Palm oil processors top plantations in destroying proboscis monkey habitat
JAKARTA — The oil palm processing industry has become the biggest threat to the iconic and endangered proboscis monkeys of Indonesian Borneo, a new study has found. The study, published in the journal Global Ecology and Conservation, analyzed the loss of habitat of the proboscis monkey (Nasalis larvatus) in Balikpapan Bay, home to one of […]
NGOs reject new oil palm plantation in southern Cameroon
KRIBI, Cameroon — Alarm flashed through Cameroon’s conservation community in mid-September, when images of untidy rows of black polythene bags in a freshly bulldozed gash in the rainforest made the rounds of social media. It was soon confirmed that the pictures came from a forest concession adjacent to Campo Ma’an National Park, in the south […]
EU/Chinese soy consumption linked to species impacts in Brazilian Cerrado: study
Ask Europeans how palm oil consumption is impacting biodiversity, and many will be quick to list threats to the emblematic orangutan, whose habitat in Indonesia has been drastically reduced by oil palm plantations grown for the international market. But ask those same citizens how the massive amount of soy imported from Brazil to feed European […]
Petition: Support the Proposal for a Refuge to Save Koalas From Extinction!
Koalas are severely affected by deforestation in Australia. It’s been putting the species’ population at risk of extinction, and then the bushfires this year have only compounded the threats that koalas face. A new proposal, for a refuge however, could help save koalas from extinction and allow the species to recover. Queensland Environment Minister Leeanne […]